 He has taught at Pomona College, the University of California, Los Angeles, and the University of Texas at Dallas.In practical development work, Leaf has served as Senior Social Scientist on the Irrigation and Water Management and Training Project, in India (1987-89), Senior Socio-Economist for the Bangladesh Flood Response Study (1990-1993), and as a consultant to the United Nations Centre for Regional Development, Nagoya, Japan (1991-95).He has served on the editorial board of Regional Development Dialogue, the journal of the United Nations Centre for Regional Development, and the online anthropological journal Mathematical Anthropology and Cultural Theory.