Leone was born in
Queens,
New York City on May 19, 1948, of Italian descent. The family moved to
Rochester, New Hampshire, and later
Batavia, Illinois, where Stephen attended primary and secondary school. Leone earned a bachelor's degree from
Northwestern University and spent a summer working at
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory prior to attending the
University of California, Berkeley for graduate study. In 1974, Leone began teaching at the
University of Southern California, and later moved to
JILA, a research institute at the
University of Colorado Boulder. Leone returned to Berkeley in 2002. He was
editor of the
Annual Review of Physical Chemistry from 2002–2011, retiring as editor in 2011; and is credited for organizing the volumes for 2012–2013. == Awards and honors ==