Leshell Hatley is a computer engineer, educator, researcher, and innovator who leads teams of enthusiastic students and professionals towards innovative technology-based product designs to improve human performance such as projects focused on educational media, tangible learning technologies, intelligent tutors, improved oral hygiene, robotics, and augmented reality goggles.

Leshell has also logged over 15,000 hours teaching African-American and Latino Pre-K through high school students in formal and informal educational environments as the Founder and Executive Director of Uplift, Inc., a nonprofit STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Mathematics) Education organization. Over the past several years, Uplift's trailblazing work with students in the areas of robotics, mobile app development, and culturally relevant learning technology has provided inspiration, insight, and guidance to similar organization's across the globe. Uplift was one of the first organization to offer app development courses to young people in the United States. Leshell is also the creator of Myles & Ayesha, African-American animated characters that are positioned as learning companions for early childhood and elementary school students.

Leshell received a BS in Computer Systems Engineering and a Masters in Computer Science from Howard University, a Masters in Library Science with a focus on Human Computer Interaction from the University of Maryland, and is now a PhD candidate in Learning Technologies at George Mason University.