Associate Professor, Nelson Mandrell, studied composition at the University of Illinois with Salvatore Martirano, John Melby, Paul Zonn and Scott Wyatt. His setting of beat poet Gregory Corso's poem, "She Doesn't Know He Thinks He's God," was featured on the 25th Anniversary Celebration of the Experimental Music Studio's recording and concert series. He has received grants from the Illinois Arts Council and the National Association of String Teachers.

As a songwriter, his work has been recorded on Rounder Records by Alison Kraus. This includes one Grammy nominated project and two Grammy winning projects. The song "Sleep On" was featured on Kraus' double platinum "greatest hits" recording. His music has been performed and broadcast in the United States, Europe and Asia. His work is published by Happy Valley Music and Warner Bros.

He is past Chair of the Department of Music and he currently teaches theory, composition and music technology. His work explores his interests in audio recording as well as combinations of electro-acoustic and rural American music.