As part of the expanding academic partnership between the University of Illinois System and the University of São Paulo, UIUC faculty members Jessica Li of the College of Education and Fatima Husain of the College of Applied Health Sciences recently participated in a faculty exchange at USP, contributing to teaching, research collaboration, mentorship, and cross-institutional engagement. Signed in mid-2025, the agreement between USP and the University of Illinois System enabled faculty members from the University of Illinois System to spend time at USP, sharing expertise across disciplines and enriching the academic environment for students and researchers alike.
In her interview, Jessica Li described her experience as a visiting professor as highly positive and formative for her work in international collaboration. Visiting São Paulo for the first time, she emphasized the welcoming and collaborative academic culture at USP and the strong engagement of students. New research ideas were developed during the exchange focused on the implications of artificial intelligence for human resource development, particularly how workers and organizations can become competent and ethical users of AI. This focus aligned closely with the interests of her USP collaborator, Liliane Vasconcelos, allowing the exchange to serve as a catalyst for a new joint research project on AI in Human Resources Development.
Li also highlighted the importance of in-person collaboration for sustaining long-term academic partnerships. During her visit, she met with multiple PhD students to discuss their research and explore opportunities for future collaboration. One such mentorship relationship led to a USP PhD student applying to a Brazilian mobility program to spend several months at UIUC, where the student would work with Li and her graduate students. In addition, Li delivered multiple invited talks during her stay, including keynote presentations and workshops at major academic events, such as SemeAd and the PPGA FEA USP 50-year celebration expanding the reach of her research while strengthening professional networks between the two institutions.
In her interview, Fatima Husain reflected on her month-long visit to USP as intensive and deeply impactful. While she noted that working within a new institutional and cultural context required adjustment, she emphasized that the exchange enabled sustained mentorship and collaborative neuroscientific research that would not have been possible remotely. Husain’s work at USP focused primarily on mentoring PhD students—many of whom are practicing and busy clinicians—by supporting data analysis, manuscript development, and publication strategies for international journals. Several of these mentorship efforts resulted in co-authored publications and ongoing research collaborations.
Husain also continued her long-standing collaborative research on misophonia with USP colleagues, using in-person meetings to advance complex study design and funding plans more effectively than virtual collaboration had allowed. In addition to research and mentorship, she participated in departmental academic programming and national professional conferences, sharing her work with clinical and research audiences across Brazil.
Together, Li and Husain’s experiences highlight how faculty exchange programs support meaningful academic outcomes at both the individual and institutional levels. Their participation represents an important step in the continued growth of the partnership between the University of Illinois System and the University of São Paulo. At a micro level, their work underscores the importance of humility, cultural exchange, and relationship-building in international collaboration. More broadly, these exchanges contribute to a more inclusive and globally connected model of higher education—one built through sustained engagement, mentorship, and shared scholarly goals.
