Let Art Be Your Superpower!
A journey into the future of artistry — spotlighting the transformative power of AI in art and creativity, and the artist already waiting inside each of us.

Assistant Professor of Information Systems & Operations Management
University of Washington · Foster School of Business
Bonjour! I am Léonard, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Information Systems and Operations Management at the University of Washington, Foster School of Business, with an adjunct position at the Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering and an affiliation with Harvard's Laboratory for Innovation Science. I earned my Ph.D. in Operations Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
My research combines operations research with artificial intelligence. Through my research group, the Human-AI Operations Lab, I work to accelerate problem solving and innovation with Generative AI, and to understand how such technology is reshaping the future of work. I emphasize multimodal frameworks and data-driven, explainable decision tools, especially in healthcare, climate, and sustainability.
I deliver AI education to over 800 students annually and have created new generative AI courses built on novel teaching methodologies. I am fortunate to have been recognized by Poets & Quants' 40 Under 40 Best Business Professors, by six teaching awards at the Foster School of Business, and by three awards from MIT, including the Goodwin Medal, the institute's highest teaching honor for a graduate instructor. I was also named to the Puget Sound Business Journal's “40 Under 40” for my impact on Seattle's ecosystem. I have contributed to the MIT Universal Artificial Intelligence initiative, which brings state-of-the-art technological insights to wide audiences, and I currently serve on the AI task force at Foster.
Earlier, I worked with Oxman to explore nature's intelligence through AI, was a PhD resident at Google X, the Moonshot Factory, visited Mila with Prof. Yoshua Bengio, and studied at the Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology at UC Berkeley. I also conducted research at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and earned my Master of Science in Applied Mathematics from Centrale Paris (now CentraleSupélec).
Operations research, ML/AI, computer science, applied maths, engineering, and entrepreneurship at MIT, UC Berkeley, and Centrale Paris.

PhD, Operations Research — Sloan & Schwarzman College of Computing2023
Advised by Prof. Dimitris Bertsimas · Goodwin Medal, MIT's highest graduate teaching award.
Visiting Scholar — Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology2018
MSc, Applied Mathematics2019
Bachelor of Engineering — Maths/Physics/CS2017
For research on multimodality for sustainability and health
The world's best graduate business-school professors — tied youngest on the 2026 list · Poets & Quants
Seattle's most influential young business leaders
MIT's highest teaching honor — to one graduate instructor a year
Including the Charles E. Summer Memorial, Lex N. Gamble Family, and Dean's Excellence awards — across MIT and UW
TEDx MIT · TEDx Boston

Building multimodal intelligence
for wildlife, climate, and the world we share.

I am a passionate naturalist, birdwatcher, and wildlife photographer.
Discover more
On day one, I encourage every student to define a project they want to build, and the rest of the course is reverse-engineered to get them there. They learn how to vibe code, leverage agentic systems, and ship products, tools, and websites at every step. I teach annually to over 800 students and industry professionals, through two flagship graduate courses at UW Foster and numerous tailored workshops and seminars elsewhere. You can find the approach and open-source materials on my GenAI page.
UW Tacoma · Milgard School of Business

Columbia University · New York
University of British Columbia · Vancouver

Trilogy Birders
AI-SCORE Summer School · Chicago (with Ferdinando Fioretto)

UW Foster School of Business · Founders Hall

MIT Sloan Management Review · Work/26

MIT Horizon · Live Event

Stanford University · Sustainable & Responsible Operations AI

Berkeley Global Venture Lab · Sutardja Center, UC Berkeley
Rotman Young Scholar Seminar · University of Toronto

University of Washington · for fellow faculty
INFORMS Annual Meeting · Atlanta
Recent interviews on AI and the future of work
UW Foster · 2026
UW Foster · 2026
UW Foster · MSIS Program · 2026
AI@UW · Educational Innovation Grant · 2026
Poets & Quants · 2026
Puget Sound Business Journal · Class of 2026
Field experiment on GenAI-augmented evaluation of early-stage innovations
Field experiment on GenAI-augmented evaluation of early-stage innovations

The New AI Enterprise
Two short talks on what AI can unlock — for creativity, and for the planet.
A journey into the future of artistry — spotlighting the transformative power of AI in art and creativity, and the artist already waiting inside each of us.
A collective approach to the UN SDGs. With generative AI, even those with minimal data-science background can drive real-world impact.
