James Murrell

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• Bill Jenkins and Jim Murrell recount experiences from the 1970s (10 min.)
  James Murrell and Bill Jenkins collaborated during the 1970s, when both were at the UNC school of public health. They had not seen each other for many years, but got together on May 11, 2018 when Bill visited Chapel Hill from Atlanta. Victor Schoenbach recorded the end of their conversation, at Elmo's Diner in Carr Mill Mall, and asked them to recall the "Survival Committee" that they led to assist students having difficulty with the required biostatistics and epidemiology courses. (At the start of the recording, Bill is recounting how Verlverton Land dissuaded him from causing trouble over a racist incident involving a faculty member.)
• James Murrell brief biography
• This month, let's also celebrate not-so-distant black history in NC
  Rudolph Jackson, Op-Ed, The News & Observer, February 20, 2015 Even before several of the premiere institutions of higher learning in the Triangle became fully aware of the implementation, scope and the institutional implications of web technology, James Murrell, an African-American, became a singular voice extolling the benefits of this new and emerging technology. Graduating in 1964 with a double major in physics and mathematics at N.C. Central University, Jim served a brief stint as the first African-American scientist recruited by the Research Triangle Institute International. Armed with extensive computing experience in modeling atmospheric and mid-air collision events, Murrell later joined the School of Public Health at UNC-CH as head of Computing and Data Management in the Department of Epidemiology. While at UNC-CH, he helped design and implement the first NC Vital Statistics information systems, as well as the first computerized information system for the Office of the N.C. Medical Examiner.