Joseph Makin, Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering

New Faculty Spotlight: Joseph Makin

Hometown: Bethlehem, PA

What inspired you to get into engineering?

I've always been interested in the basis of intelligent behavior, in animals as well as machines.  In college, I actually did a second major in philosophy: I was deeply interested in those aspects of thought and language as well (I still am).  But to understand things is to build them [Feynman probably didn't mean exactly this], and the types of theories that, e.g, neuroscience needs are mathematical and computational--the tools of the engineer.

What are your research interests?

Computational neuroscience, brain-machine interfaces, machine learning

What drew you to Purdue ECE?

I was attracted to Purdue ECE for the department's history of excellence and the university's strong new support for neuroscience.  (It also helps that my wife grew up in West Lafayette!)

What are you teaching this semester?

ECE Fundamentals II

What do you like to do in your free time?

play guitar, run, read, watch football, spend time with my family (not necessarily in that order)