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Titans of Science INVENTOR JESSE RUSSELL: STILL IMAGINING THINGS THAT DON’T EXIST breaking. Y
ou have to be careful when asking technology inventor Jesse E. Russell what he is working on. For a scientist of Russell’s stature, the
answer, of course, may be something ground-
As chairman and CEO of incNETWORKS Inc. in Ea- tontown, N.J., Russell’s company, founded in 2000, designs privately owned broadband wireless communications’ equipment and networks for emerging broadband cellular applications. Out- lined in a wide-ranging conversation with US Black Engineer & Information Technology, Russell is intent on revolutionizing how cellular networks will respond in the future to the wildly voracious demands of highly expectant wireless communications users.
In fact, Russell has spent a career seeking to reconcile the accelerating bandwidth needs of communications users with the capacity of cellular networks. But before getting immersed into specifics about Russell’s current research and business focus, restating his origins in the lab and his brand of science is always worth doing. Russell’s story, indeed, is well told -- this magazine named him a US Black Engineer of the Year award winner in 1992 for best Technical Contributions in Digital Cellular and Microcel- lular Technology -- but worth repeating if only for the enlighten- ment of new generations of scientists following his path. Since coming out of Tennessee State University and Stan- ford University with electrical engineering degrees, the 63-year- old Hicksville, Tenn., native has been at the center of innovation and leadership in crafting the future for wireless communica- tions. Russell, who holds some 75 patents for his work in digital cellular communication, base station design and other innova- tion, has been involved in just about every generation of cellular communication development. Some 20 years ago, for instance, the New York Times quoted Russell in an article examining what then was a novel product – the “pocket telephone.” In those days, of course, cellular networks largely were limited to voice applications.
Among his accomplishments, Russell can claim status as the
first African American to be hired directly from a Historically Black Colleges and Universities school at Tennessee State by the legend- ary AT&T Bell Laboratories. He was the first African American in the United States selected as the Eta Kappa Nu national honor society Outstanding Young Electrical Engineer in 1980. As an AT&T Bell Labs Technical Staff member, Russell is credited with being one of the first designers to use micropro- cessors in designing equipment for use in traffic data collection within the Bell System Network. Through his career at AT&T
48 USBE&IT I WINTER 2011 by M.V. Greene
mgreene@ccgmag.com
Chairman and CEO incNETWORKS Inc.
Jesse Russell
Bell Labs, he held a number of top-level positions, including as director of the AT&T Cellular Telecommunication Laboratory, vice president of the Advanced Wireless Technology Laboratory; chief technical officer for the Network Wireless Systems Busi- ness Unit and chief wireless architect for AT&T. An inductee of the National Academy of Engineering, Russell serves as a mem- ber of the Federal Communication Commission’s Technological Advisory Council.
So what is the cellular communication science Jesse Russell is working on?
Interviewing Russell, one hears terms that likely will be unfamiliar to the public – such as small-cell networks, high tele- density areas, celluLAN, and bandwidth tsunami. What Rus- sell is talking about is the unfettered global explosion of smart, multimedia communications devices, such as smartphones and tablets, which are straining bandwidth requirements of today’s wireless networks.
www.blackengineer.com
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