USC and Max Planck: The Double Life of a Top Robotics Researcher

When Stefan Kai Schaal decided to earn more money in the future, he took a leave of absence. It took the researcher more than two years to integrate his new German life seamlessly and inconspicuously into his old American life. Schaal's employer, the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles, was accommodating. It granted the renowned computer scientist the sabbatical in the middle of the semester - a sabbatical he had applied for on the day he was thrown out of his home and his wife filed for divorce after nine years of marriage. That was six years ago.