Cleland is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and of the American Physical Society. He received his bachelor’s degree in engineering physics in 1983, and his PhD in physics in 1991, both from the University of California, Berkeley. He then conducted research at the Centre d’Etudes-Orme des Merisiers in Saclay, France, and later at the California Institute of Technology, before joining the UCSB faculty.