Mr. Russell began his career in 1986 at the Naval Aviation Depot in Pensacola, Florida. In 1989 he joined NASA's Kennedy Space Center as a Quality Engineer. In 1992, he moved to the Shuttle Engineering Project Office serving as a Materials and Processes (M&P) Engineering expert. In 1996, Mr. Russell left NASA and worked in aircraft manufacturing and design at The Aerostructures Corporation in Nashville, Tennessee and Bell Helicopter in Ft. Worth, Texas. In 2001 Mr. Russell rejoined the Shuttle Program working for the United Space Alliance at Kennedy Space Center, serving as lead of the ground operations M&P Engineering Group.
In 2004 Mr. Russell rejoined NASA serving as the Aging Aircraft Principal Engineer for the Orbiter Project Support Office at the Kennedy Space Center. He served as chairman of the Orbiter Corrosion Control Review Board and of the Aging Orbiter Working Group.
In 2009 Mr. Russell became a member of the Materials Science Division at the Kennedy Space Center. In 2012 Mr. Russell was named the Chief of the Materials and Processes Engineering Branch. In 2014 he left his management position to support the Commercial Crew Program as both the spacecraft and launch vehicle Systems Manager for Specialty Engineering (Materials and Processes and Fracture Control). He also served as the chairman of the KSC Fracture Control Panel.
In 2016 Mr. Russell joined the NESC as the NASA Technical Fellow for Materials.
Mr. Russell has a B.S. degree in Metallurgical Engineering from the University of Illinois and a M.S. degree from the University of Florida in Materials and Science and Engineering.