9/28/2015 Christina Oehler, MechSE Communications
Toussaint poses in front the famous Incan ruins of Machu Picchu. His travels included a trip to Peru this past summer.</p>
Written by Christina Oehler, MechSE Communications
Toussaint poses in front the famous Incan ruins of Machu Picchu. His travels included a trip to Peru this past summer.
Kimani Toussaint, Jr., an associate professor in MechSE, recently returned from a sabbatical at MIT, where he spent a year as a Martin Luther King, Jr. Visiting Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Toussaint received his MS and PhD in electrical engineering from Boston University, so the trip back to Boston wasn’t just a learning experiment in terms of academia—it was a return to the city where his career began.
At Illinois, Toussaint has been using his training as an electrical engineer to study biological imaging, as well as nanomechanics and nanomanufacturing, specifically in the field of light manipulation and control. He has also taught a variety of mechanical engineering courses, including some on signal processing, optics theory, and subsurface imaging.
During his time at MIT, however, Toussaint wasn’t restricted to his specific field. He worked in the university’s mechanical engineering department, where he focused on ways of adapting his biological imaging technique (second-harmonic generation microscopy) to neuroimaging. He also spent some time investigating the harvesting of solar thermal energy; he has always had in interest in both fields.
“Sabbaticals allow faculty to have an opportunity to go deeper into their skill set or more broadly into other areas,” Toussaint said. “Part of the reason I became a professor was because I wanted to continue to learn about things that were cool and interesting to me while also contributing to a particular body of knowledge. The sabbatical gives faculty the ability to reinforce this idea.”
His new studies weren’t the only thing occupying his time while he was away. Toussaint’s family made the move with him—a big change for the family of three—and his wife also spent the year on sabbatical at Harvard, where she furthered her studies in epidemiology. The couple and their son battled the intense Northeastern winter together, learned to play musical instruments, and adjusted to life away from their home in Illinois.
Ultimately, Toussaint said that his acceptance into the sabbatical was an incredible opportunity to learn more both in and out of the classroom.
“The really exciting thing about the position was that I had such a great opportunity to explore—something, unfortunately, not a lot of people get the chance to do,” he said.
Toussaint also holds affiliate appointments in Electrical and Computer Engineering, Bioengineering, the Beckman Institute, and the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at UIC. He also leads the Laboratory for Photonics Research of Bio/nano Environments (PROBE Lab) at Illinois, a research group that focuses on problems in both biophotonics and nanophotonics.