Lorella Margaret Jones joined the Physics faculty in 1968 and was the first woman in the College of Engineering to receive tenure. Lorella was a high-energy theoretical physicist and an early adopter and promoter of Illinois’ PLATO (later known as NovaNet), the first large-scale computer-assisted instructional system in the world. She became the director of the Computer-Based Education Research Lab (CERL) in 1992. Today, the Physics Department honors her by conferring the Lorella M. Jones Summer Research Award on worthy students.

Women featured in our weekly series are part of the 150 for 150 website Celebrating the Accomplishments of Women at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The website was created by the Gender Equity Council and the University Library to highlight women who have made significant achievements during their time at the University either as students, staff, faculty, or alumni.