CMU professor here.  Currently on leave at Google for the 2015-16 academic year, returning in August.  (Not, in my case, for the money - I actually left a startup I co-founded a few months before it was acquired because I decided that I&#x27;d probably learn more at Google.  Ask me in a few years if I regret leaving that money on the table -- but thus far, I&#x27;m exceptionally glad about the decision.  Having a total blast.  Sabbaticals&#x2F;leaves are one of the under-advertised benefits of being a faculty member.  Which is useful, since the salary delta to industry sucks. :)