  Polarized microwave emission from dust is an important foreground that may
contaminate polarized CMB studies unless carefully accounted for. Modeling of
polarization from dust requires a quantitative understanding of grain
alignment. I review the current status of grain alignment theory outlining
recent advances in quantitative description of the alignment. In particular, I
show that the grain-alignment theory is a predictive one, and its results
nicely match observations. Those indicate that the most important process of
alignment is related to radiative torques acting on irregular grains. The
recently developed analytical model of radiative torque alignment has proven to
be a very efficient tool for predicting the degree of grain alignment. We
expect the alignment theory to further mature before CMBPol flight, which would
ensure a better accounting for the dust-related polarization. At the same time,
CMBPol should provide the additional testing of grain alignment, clarifying the
reliability of polarimetry for tracing of magnetic field.
