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Sucking helium and line dancing may sound like unusual ways to demonstrate acoustic resonances and the mathematical operation of convolution, but Jim Leger believes that the best way to engage students is to connect their coursework with real-life engineering experiences. He is just as passionate about engaging "future undergraduates" and is always involved in some sort of outreach activity. In fact, he has become known as "the guy who plugs pickles into the wall" to demonstrate light generation.

This passion for sharing the excitement of engineering and the physical sciences is also evidenced in his mission to participate in virtually every aspect of undergraduate education. As the director of the Lower Division Programs Office, he has created a "home" for freshmen and sophomores in the Institute of Technology and has instituted a program for major and career selection, personally advising more than 1,000 undergraduates. "When I am stopped by upper-classmen years later who thank me for helping them with these life-changing decisions, I see directly the importance of this work." A former student adds, "It is not often that professors get to make a difference in so many aspects of their students’ lives."

Leger is also an international authority on diffractive optics. According to a colleague, Jim Leger "epitomizes the best that a research university has to offer in its faculty: a truly caring and dedicated teacher and mentor and an internationally known scholar of the highest caliber."