Dr. Leonard has a BA and MA in biology from San Jose State University and taught high school biology in San Jose for thirteen years. After earning a Ph.D. in biology education from U.C. Berkeley, he taught biology at the University of Nebraska. He later taught biology and science education at LSU and Clemson University, where he is now professor of science education. He has received several university awards for both teaching and research.

Dr. Leonard published over one hundred fifty articles on science teaching methods and science education research in journals. He was an author or coauthor of many biology curricula, notably the BSCS Green Version and Biology: A Community Context. He is a member of Science Teacher Editorial Review and Editor for the Journal of College Science Research and Teaching Section. His role with the Clemson University G K-12 Project is to help teach the Fellow's summer orientation course and handle some project administration.