Assistant Professor

Education:

Ph.D., 2003, Cornell University
B.S. Magna Cum Laude with honors, 1999, Cornell University

Office:

316 CSL

Phone:

(217) 265-9470

Email

jmakela@uiuc.edu

Research Interests

Professor Makela's research interests lie in multi-technique remote sensing of the Earth's ionosphere. He works with ground- and satellite-based instrumentation to study both the quiet-time and storm-time behavior of this region. Instruments he uses include portable imaging systems, Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers, ultraviolet imagers on various spacecraft, and large radar systems, such as those at the Arecibo Observatory and the Jicamarca Radio Observatory. He is currently working on developing new techniques and algorithms to simultaneously analyze these multiple datasets to better understand the underlying electrodynamics of instability processes in the equatorial and midlatitude ionosphere. These instabilities can cause problems for satellite navigation and communication signals that have to propagate through them.