Dr. Caroline Boudoux is a passionate ‘Fulbrighter’ in biomedical engineering. In June 2024, she published It Goes Without Saying: Taking the Guesswork Out of Your PhD in Engineering. The book is a compilation of her notes from her experiences while completing a PhD at MIT.
Caroline Boudoux described her career as "half ambition and half serendipity," with a deep admiration for institutions like MIT and the Fulbright Program. "I never planned for this to happen. But when it did, I started dreaming bigger," she recalled when expressing her enthusiasm as a young researcher.
Caroline pursued her undergraduate studies at Université Laval in Quebec City, where she discovered her true passion: biomedical engineering. "I wanted to use optic tools to see what was going on in people's bodies, to improve their well-being."
Caroline's passion for biomedical engineering began at age five when her mother took her to a Leonardo da Vinci exhibition. "After the exhibition, I was left with a vivid impression of how the body works. A surgeon can cut and open the body, but engineers can use radiation or other tools to look inside, and that's what I wanted to do.”
As a first-year student at Université Laval, Caroline worked in an MRI unit at a local hospital. She began experimenting with the hospital's MRI scanner during the first two years at Laval. “After eight months of math, I was finally doing some Biomed. I was hooked.” Eventually, after receiving some advice from her mentor, Caroline applied for an internship at TRIUMF and UBC Hospital. The internship gave her the tools and the confidence to apply for the joint Harvard MIT program in health sciences and technology.
Serendipity and mentorship played crucial roles as Caroline explored a new medical imaging technique called optical coherence tomography. Her PhD research at MIT focused on advancing optical coherence tomography and endomicroscopy for medical diagnostics. This interdisciplinary approach allowed her to apply engineering skills directly in a hospital setting, conducting research at the Massachusetts General Hospital. After completing her PhD, Caroline found an exciting opportunity at Polytechnique Montréal, specializing in biophotonics, where she secured an assistant professorship.
Resilience is a hallmark of Caroline Boudoux’s career. Her academic journey was far from simple. It involved trial and error in the lab and the search for funding and mentorship. "Whatever project you are working on, take a moment to internalize it. A PhD is hard, but there's always someone willing to help, whether it is publishing your next paper, peer-reviewing it, or experimenting with a new project," she emphasized. These topics are central to her book, offering critical insights into managing stress, the work environment, navigating the psychological aspects of writing a dissertation, understanding the importance of a supportive peer network, publishing, dealing with imposter syndrome, and more.
Caroline’s passion for writing grew during a sabbatical at Stanford, where she saw the need for educational resources in biophotonics and engineering design, leading her to author several books. “I owe my first book to Fulbright.” Reflecting on her journey, Caroline attributes much of her success to serendipitous moments, mentors, and bestseller authors like Adam Grant, whose insights into organizational psychology have been invaluable to her.
Dr. Boudoux’s research lab currently focuses on developing advanced photonics technologies for medical applications, such as mode-selected photonic lanterns and high-efficiency fibre optic couplers. These innovations advance medical imaging and find applications in fields like LiDAR and sensing.
Looking ahead, Caroline remains driven by a passion for innovation and education. She has several projects in progress and is exploring opportunities to expand her research into integrated systems for medical diagnostics.
In addition to her academic pursuits, Caroline is committed to mentoring future scientists and engineers, emphasizing the importance of curiosity. "My new book is about asking questions," she highlighted, and continues, “If I have one piece of advice to give to my younger self, I would say, don't be afraid to ask questions. But, sometimes, especially if you do a PhD abroad, you don't master the language, the culture is different, and you don't know what you don't know. Given that my father has a PhD, I had a head start. Still, there are so many questions, things that I did not know, and so many questions I did not even know how to ask.”
To learn more about Dr. Boudoux's work as an academic researcher and entrepreneur, we encourage you to read It Goes Without Saying: Taking the Guesswork Out of Your PhD in Engineering (available at MIT Press )
We congratulate our amazing Fulbright Scholar for her success and future publications!
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Notes from an interview with Carolina Celi, Fulbright Canada
Infographic by: Caroline Kirkey, Fulbright Canada