James Mitchell, a native of North Carolina, received the B.S. degree in chemistry at North Carolina A&T State University at Greensboro in 1965 and the Ph.D from Iowa State University in 1970. He joined Bell Laboratories as a Member of Technical Staff in 1970, was promoted to supervisor of the Inorganic Analytical Chemistry Research Group in 1972, and became head of the Analytical Chemistry Research Department in 1975. Under his leadership, the department was transformed into an internationally renowned research organization with leading-edge contributions and first-time accomplishments in the development of new methods, and design of unique instrumentation for the characterization of photonic, electronic and optical waveguide materials, structures and devices, which were previously unamenable to extreme trace and high resolution analysis.
In his personal research, Mitchell and his collaborators pioneered the development of x-ray fluorescence methods for part per billion (ppb) level trace element determinations, innovated high accuracy activation analysis methods for ultratrace analysis, designed and prototyped the first laser intracavity spectrophotometer for high accuracy practical determinations of sub-ppb levels of trace impurities , and invented the cryogenic sublimation technique for ultrapurification of liquid analytical reagents and chemicals for fabricating optical waveguides. For his development and applications of these techniques, which established the characterization chemistry of optical waveguide technology and underpinned the Bell Labs early development of low loss materials for optical waveguide research and development, Mitchell was named a Bell Labs Fellow in 1985 and inducted into the Materials Engineering section of the National Academy of Engineering in 1989.
Mitchell headed the Process
Chemical Engineering Research Department in 1994, directed the Materials
Reliability and Ecology Research Laboratory in 1995, directed the Materials
Processing Research Laboratory in 1997, and became Vice President,
Communications Materials Technology Research Laboratory in 2001. Under his
leadership, these various Bell Labs Research organizations teamed with the
business units of AT&T and Lucent Technologies to implement innovations that
assured the reliability of Lucent switching equipment in global markets,
enhanced the throughput and yield of manufacture of photonic and wireless
components, and greatly increased OFS’s throughput manufacture of high-end
optical fiber by implementation of acoustic process control methods. Chip-scale
power module technology was developed for Agere’s Analogue Products Division,
and research contributions impacted every major product line of the Power
Systems BU . Mitchell’s research contributions enhanced the knowledge-base of
characterization science, while the research units he directed innovated
technology to considerably enhance
the bottom-line of Lucent Technologies .