Jim Russell is a Research Fellow at the Center for Population Dynamics at Cleveland State University’s Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs. As a geographer, he studies the relationship between migration and economic development. Jim has analyzed how migration impacts economic development in San Antonio, Cleveland, Youngstown, and Pittsburgh.

A regular writer for Pacific Standard, Jim blogs about his work. Prior to joining the magazine, he published new ideas about Rust Belt brain drain at his own website, Burgh Diaspora. Born in Erie, Pennsylvania, he and his extended family scattered across the country during the economic downturn of the 1970s. This personal migration serves as inspiration for his research.

As a geography graduate student at the University of Colorado at Boulder, Jim learned about globalization, geopolitics, migration, and international human rights law. He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Vermont, majoring in geography and minoring in Russian studies.