UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- In high school, Jonathan Russell spent his spare time recording music for the Trabajabas, a ska band he formed with a few friends. A trombone player, he became more fascinated by the recording equipment and how it was built. Russell recalled, “Mechanical engineering seemed like the most fitting major to learn more about it.”
During his first year at Penn State, Russell switched gears and played guitar and bass instead of trombone. His decision had less to do with a lack of interest and more to do with courtesy. “I figured no roommate would want to hear me practicing my trombone while they were trying to study,” he laughed.
The following year, the Murrysville, Pennsylvania, native joined the Penn State Jazz Club. He enjoyed the camaraderie so much that he became vice president last year and now, as a mechanical engineering senior, serves as the club’s president.
In this role, Russell leads weekly meetings and organizes a jam session every Sunday evening in the Music Building. “The jam sessions are open to anyone, so we welcome all musicians to join us,” he noted.
Russell is the first point of contact when someone requests entertainment for an event. “It’s difficult to get everyone together at the same time, because many club members are also in other bands, but we can usually offer at least one musician to play.”
He also makes it a point to keep the rest of the club members informed of local live music events. “We get together occasionally to hear bands that are playing within driving distance of campus.”
Russell said his favorite aspect of jazz is that it entails every genre of music. A teacher and vice president of Penn State’s Guitar Club and a member of Penn State’s Music Therapy Club, he asserts that his interest in music, in general, will serve him well as he prepares for his career. “Research and development has always been my primary interest. You need to have the creativity that music also requires to do research well.”
Last summer, Russell had an opportunity to acquire hands-on research experience with Richard Tutwiler, a senior research associate in the Applied Research Laboratory. “We worked on photoacoustics, which is medical imaging that uses aspects from both ultrasound and optical imaging.”
The first in his family to attend Penn State, he is currently applying to graduate schools to study acoustics. “There is a chance I might stay here another couple years.”