Faculty Focus: KCH Assistant Professor Emerson Sebastião

Q: You’re from Brazil and did your undergraduate work there. How did you end up at Illinois for your Ph.D.?

A: My story might not be different than many others. But I’ll tell you what happened. During my master’s in Brazil, I had a very important mentor [Sebastião Gobbi]. He was my advisor and he completed his Ph.D. abroad in Canada. But when he got back to Brazil to start his lab he would stop by every single day and say, ‘I’m not going to advise anybody for the Ph.D. You better go away, preferably abroad.’ I loved that idea, and I always wanted to know different places. When I was doing my master’s, we started looking at potential places and potential advisors. And, obviously, we started with Canada, where [Gobbi] completed his doctoral studies. But we were unable to find anything there. And then he ended up going to a conference in Tsukuba, Japan, back in 2008 where he met Wojtek Chodzko-Zajko. And Wojtek was presenting something related to older adults, and he ended up talking to Wojtek. And when he got back, he said, ‘I believe I found the perfect advisor for your Ph.D., so you’re going to Illinois.’ That’s how I ended up at Illinois. Things ended up being facilitated because of [KCH Associate Professor] Dr. [Andiara] Schwingel, as well. That’s how I ended up in Illinois, a world-class university, well-known researchers. So I was more than happy to join the cold land of Illinois.

Q: You’ll be teaching at your alma mater. Does that lower your anxiety about a new job?

A: I’ll tell you that does not lower my anxiety. It helps a little bit … I know that I’m coming back to a world-class university and a world-class program and that sets the bar pretty high, right? So it’s a different deal when you are a student. You are being trained and learning, so we are somehow protected. But as a faculty member, you are going to be involved in everything. You’re going to take part in big decisions not only at the department level but college as well—to fulfill the mission of the college, the university, the department. But I feel well-prepared for that. I believe that my five, almost six years at Northern Illinois provided me with the skills and abilities that I need to navigate all the things that I’m going to have to be doing as a faculty member at UIUC. And I love that. I love new challenges. To be honest, coming back to teach at Illinois and work at Illinois as a faculty is a dream come true. I’m going to work with people that have been really moving and shaping the field of kinesiology for many years. So I’m really happy and excited for that. 

Q: What influenced you to study your research field?

A: In Brazil, it’s different than in the United States. For specific areas, like kinesiology and many others, you don’t really have a career outside academia to do research or even to really apply your knowledge as a researcher in the industry. So it’s either you go to a practical field, like professional, or you go to academia. I was having a lot of doubts until my sophomore year before I was invited to be part of Dr. Sebastião Gobbi’s lab. I studied physical activity and aging which was connected to an outreach program that was attending over 300 seniors in the university. So that really sparked my interest because we were conducting research and putting the knowledge we were creating in the lab into the community. So that where I fell in love and said, ‘OK, academia is the right place for me because I like to teach, but I also like to do research.’ And academia, at least at that time in Brazil, was the only environment that you could be doing that.

Q: Has having Pedro Hallal (director of the MPH program) created a pipeline for Brazilians to come to Illinois and AHS?

A: We hope so. That pipeline already exists in other departments. If you look at the economics department, by the time I was part of the doctoral program, I learned about this pipeline from Brazil, particularly, I believe, the Federal University of Pernambuco. And now I hope that’s going to be the same with kinesiology and Applied Health Sciences with Pedro. Pedro is a great scholar, a well-known researcher. He really is a scholar that we look at when it comes to physical activity and health. He led a very important study in Brazil regarding COVID, and he has a lot of connections, not only where he completed his studies in Pelotas, but throughout Brazil and across the globe to be honest. So I believe that he being there, now, is going to draw even more attention to Illinois, and not only for Brazilians that want to come and work but for students, as well. That’s very important. Brazil has a really good, strong scientific program … they send visiting scholars and students for a short period of time—say, one year—to work and learn new techniques and come back to Brazil and apply that there, to help training the future researchers in the field. So I believe, with Pedro being there, that will increase drastically. 

Q: You look at the factors that influence physical activity participation and the consequences of physical activity. What were your influences to study that?

A: Since I was seven years old, I have been involved in sports—competitive sports, leisure sports. I come from a poor family, and growing up we did not have access to color TV or video games, VHS to watch movies. So most of the way I had fun was outside, mostly playing soccer, running around, those old-school type of activities, and I think that shaped me. Before college, I was thinking about something related to computer science—people said it was among the professions of the future. I wasn’t happy, and I found myself in kinesiology. And then my mom—my mom was almost 63 years old when I got into college. She had little time for leisure activity because she had to work. But she was always walking to everything—for work, to go to places. I saw how, based on the amount of movement that she had in her life compared to people at the same age, how different she was, physically different—being able to walk, do things, never getting so easily tired. So by the time I got into college, and I met Dr. Sebastião Gobbi, who was studying physical activity and aging and coordinating the physical activity program for seniors, I started to be more curious about it. What are the benefits of physical activity for older adults? Are these people participating because it is free of charge and close to their home or because of the social element involved in it? [Does] the environment matter? So all of these questions and talking to people and other researchers involved in that aspect shaped my interest to pursue this career. 

Q: The college has been more intentional in recent years to address the lack of people of color in faculty roles. Did that influence you in coming back to Illinois?

A: I am aware of the efforts that the college and university have been doing to address this issue. For me it is very important, and I’m happy that the college is taking those concrete steps, drawing upon the Office of the Vice Chancellor on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Representation is important not only for students but also for faculty and staff. So, yes! That did influence my decision to coming back to Illinois. In Brazil, for example, throughout my education, I noticed that I was the only [person of color] in my class. And that was not different during college. Although I had excellent teachers, not a single one of them looked like me. So I started being more curious about it, and wonder, why is that? So definitely, this is something that I looked at when I applied to Illinois. I think this is very important, not only to provide an environment that people feel more comfortable but also for, as you said, a diverse student body to recognize that they can follow that path. Being intentional about faculty hiring will help create a more diverse next generation of leaders and researchers. Applying for jobs in academia, people normally look at the directory, at least I did. And if you see diversity, you immediately link that to place committed to the cause, so probably it is a good environment to work. Knowing all the college efforts, I am happy to join the department/college and help support the initiatives, and put my ideas to help move that agenda forward. 

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