Jim Russell has been an active member of the Commonwealth of Virginia Search and Rescue (COVSAR) program since 2014.
He is the Director of the Search and Rescue Tracking Institute (SARTI), former Group Commander of Tidewater Search and Rescue (TSAR), and owner of IS IT HUMAN, LLC, specializing in Search and Rescue/Recovery training including bone identification, land navigation, and human tracking.
Jim holds certifications as a Search Team Leader (STL), Management Team Member (MTM), and Tracking Specialist (TS) from the Virginia Department of Emergency Management (VDEM).
In 2019, Jim became a VDEM Adjunct Instructor for the Virginia Ground Search and Rescue (GSAR) Academy and has been part of the instructor cadre for the Tracking Team Operations (formerly called F.A.S.T.) class, Search Team Operations class, and the Search Team Leadership class.
Jim is also an instructor for the Natural Awareness Tracking School (NATS) and teaches SAR for First Responders, Tracking Team Operations, and Land Navigation.
In 2025, Jim became an instructor for the W.I.L.D. Institute in Minden, West Virginia, offering his "Is it human? Comparative Osteology for First Responders" class teaching bone identification across West Virginia and sponsored by the West Virginia Emergency Management Department.
In addition to his instruction with VDEM and NATS, Jim is a recurring presenter at the Virginia Search and Rescue Conference providing classes in land navigation, human tracking, bone identification, and searching for skeletal remains using ultraviolet light.
Also in 2019, Jim launched The Russell Bone Atlas (www.RussellBoneAtlas.com), a free comparative osteology website that first responders can use while in the field to help identify bones. He has also been developing and teaching his own workshops for comparative osteology, comparing and identifying human and non-human bones that are found during searches. He has attended comparative osteology workshops at Radford University, Western Carolina University, Virginia Commonwealth University, and University of Tennessee in Knoxville.
As the Director of SARTI, Jim has been heavily involved in recent research associated with the use of ultraviolet light in the recovery of human remains. SARTI works closely with the Virginia Department of Emergency Management and the Virginia Commonwealth University to advance the science of this new technology for search and recovery missions. Jim co-authored Assessing the Effectiveness of Alternate Light Sources in Search for Skeletal Remains with Olivia Thompson et al which was published in the July 2025 edition of the Journal of Forensic Science. Jim also co-authored Detecting Scattered Human Skeletal Remains with an Alternate Light Source: Case Studies with Rob Speiden et al which was published in the July 2026 edition of the Journal of Forensic Identification.
Jim was awarded the Tidewater Search and Rescue team award in 2016, the Search and Rescue Tracking Institute team award in 2019, the United States Department of Navy's Civilian Service Commendation Award in 2024, and the Virginia Search and Rescue Council's Lisa Hannon Award in 2025.
PUBLICATIONS
Russell, J. A., (2019). Animal vs. Human Bones: Vol. 1 - White-Tail Deer. Virginia Beach, Virginia.
Lucia, J., Simmons, T., Russell, J. A., Stockman, S., & Swall, J. (n.d.). Evaluation of the use of alternate light sources in the search for burned skeletal remains (Master’s thesis, Virginia Commonwealth University). Department of Forensic Science, Virginia Commonwealth University.
Freakley, K., Simmons, T., Russell, J. A., Walcott, S. (n.d.). The Detection of Lead Residue on Skeletonized Remains using Radiography and Sodium Rhodizonate (Master’s thesis, Virginia Commonwealth University). Department of Forensic Science, Virginia Commonwealth University.
Koester, R. J. & Russell, J. A. (n.d.). Detecting human remains with an alternate light source: Bone detection trail experiment (Draft manuscript).
Speiden, R., Pyeatt, R., Russell, J., Simmons, T. (2026). Detecting human remains with an alternate light source: Case studies. Journal of Forensic Identification.