Dr. E. Russell Johnston, a native of Philadelphia, holds a B.S. in civil engineering from the University of Delaware and a Ph.D. in structural engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He taught for twenty-six years at the University of Connecticut, where he was Chairman of the Civil Engineering Department and taught for Lehigh University and Worchester Polytechnic Institute (WPI).

Russ was honoured by the Connecticut Section of the American Society of Civil Engineers in 1991 with the Outstanding Civil Engineer Award.