Since joining ECE and CSL in 2004, he has consistently been recognized by colleagues and students for not only his outstanding research, but also his teaching innovation, particularly at the undergraduate level. The department honored him with the Ronald R. Pratt Outstanding Teacher Award in 2009, and he received the IEEE Education Society’s Mac Van Valkenburg Early Career Teaching Award in 2014.
Makela has had a positive impact on students through many other capacities, including chairing the University Faculty Senate’s Student Life Committee, as well as serving on the College’s Academy for Excellence in Engineering Education (AE3) Council and as an Education Innovation Fellow. He is also the faculty advisor for the Promoting Undergraduate Research in Engineering (PURE) program and the Alpha Chapter of the IEEE-Eta Kappa Nu honor society.
Within ECE, he has been active in curriculum development, both through development of courses and the curriculum committee. For the past year, he has been leading the development of academic programs for the College’s partnership with Zhejiang University through his role as the Director of Academic Affairs for the UIUC-ZJU Partnership. He is also a researcher at the Coordinated Science Lab at Illinois.
"This is an exciting time for Illinois Engineering," said Interim Dean Tamer Başar, Swanlund Endowed Chair and CAS Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. "Our national and international reputation continues to be strong. We are actively improving many of our core courses and providing our undergraduates even richer and more meaningful research and entrepreneurship opportunities. We are admitting even more competitive classes and retaining them. We have made great strides in our diversity, particularly in increasing the percentage of female students pursuing their education with us. However, there is still more to be done, and Jonathan has much to offer us as we press forward."