He also serves as the assistant director of Rutgers' Program in Cultural Heritage and Preservation Studies. He received his PhD in 2008 from the University of Pennsylvania on the Islamic representations of the Mediterranean. His research and teaching focus on the art history of the Middle East and North Africa. Dr. Kahlaoui was active in the student movement in Tunisia in the 1990s and was banned from leaving the country until 2000. He has been a leading figure recently in the anti-censorship movement in Tunisia ("Sayyeb Sale7") and was very active in disseminating the information throughout the net (especially via Facebook and Twitter) during the Tunisian Revolution. He was interviewed in Al-Jazeera TV Channel and Al-Hiwar TV Channel and writes frequently in Arabic about politics in Al-Jazeera.net, Al-Quds Al-Arabi, and Middle East Online.