Thomas Russell

Dr. Thomas Russell became the fourth Director of the U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) during an Assumption of Responsibility Ceremony Monday, March 11 at the Adelphi Laboratory Center. ARL consists of approximately 2,000 military and civilian employees with annual revenue of over $1 billion. Most recently, Russell was the Director of the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), Arlington, Va. He oversaw the management of the entire basic research investment for the Air Force; leading a staff of 200 scientists, engineers, and administrators in Arlington, Va., and foreign technology offices in London, Tokyo, and Santiago, Chile. Russell's government career began as a research scientist at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, White Oak Laboratory, Md. In 1994, he joined the Naval Research Laboratory, serving as a research scientist and Head of the High-Energy Materials Section within the Chemistry Division. In September 2000, he was assigned to the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Indian Head Division, where his assignments included Director, Chemistry and Detonics Division, Research Department; Head, Research and Technology Department; acting Technical Operations Manager; and Head, Research, Development, Testing and Evaluation Directorate. In August 2006, he was selected as the Director of the Aerospace and Material Sciences Directorate, AFOSR. He was responsible for the Air Force basic research program in aerospace, chemical, and material sciences. Russell has a bachelor's in chemistry from Muhlenberg College and a doctorate in chemistry from the University of Delaware. He has been a visiting scientist at the National Institutes of Standards and Technology, an adjunct professor at the Washington State University Shock Dynamics Laboratory and a part-time faculty member at Montgomery College. His principal fields of interest are energetic materials, decomposition/combustion chemistry, detonation physics/chemistry, high-pressure chemistry/physics and spectroscopy. He has authored more than 100 publications and inventions in these areas. Dr. Russell was appointed to the Senior Executive Service in 2006.