Paul Vernon Jewell '26 earned his Bachelor's in Economics (Course XIV) from MIT in 1926. He went on to earn his Masters from Ohio State University in 1932 with a thesis entitled "On the crystal structure of sulphur nitride".

A native of Cambridge, MA, Jewell was a licensed Mechanical, Electrical, and Chemical Engineer in the states of Indiana, Maryland, and South Carolina. He taught science and physics at A&T College, State A&M College in South Carolina, Maryland State College, and Tennessee State A&I University.

In addition to teaching, Jewell worked with a South American engineering consulting firm and with the P.R. Mallory Corporation in Indiana, where he helped to develop and install high-speed, heavy-duty aircraft bearings and to develop the cyclotrone for atomic energy. 

At the time of his death in 1961, he had completed residency requirements for a PhD at the University of Indiana and was in the process of editing his doctoral dissertation on the growth and development of scientific and technical information.