Javascript: Populating Table Based On DropDown List

I borrowed some code from another post, so I realize that the col1 designation isn't necessary for my example, but basically this just needs to populate with a certain employees information when you choose a certain topic (payroll, tax, etc.):

HTML:

<table class="table table-bordered table-striped">
    <tr>
        <th>
            <select class="col1 selectTopic">
                <option>Payroll</option>
                <option>Tax</option>
                <option>Accounts Payable</option>
            </select>
        </th>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td class="col1 name"></td>
    </tr>
    <tr>
        <td class="col1 photo"></td>
    </tr>
      <tr>
        <td class="col1 email"></td>
    </tr>
      <tr>
        <td class="col1 phone"></td>
    </tr>
</table>

Javascript:

var data = {
    "contacts":
{
        "contact": [
{
            "name": "Payroll",
            "photo": "Emp 1 Photo",
            "email": "[email protected]",
            "phone": "4113834848"},
{
            "name": "Tax",
            "photo": "Emp 2 Photo",
            "email": "[email protected]",
            "phone": "4113834848"},
{
            "name": "Accounts Payable",
            "photo": "Emp 3 Photo",
            "email": "[email protected]",
            "phone": "4113834848"},
]}
}

$(".selectTopic").change(function() {
    var jthis = $(this);
    var whichCol;
    if (jthis.hasClass("col1")) {
        whichCol = "col1";
    }
    $.each(data.topics.topic, function(i, v) {
        if (v.name == jthis.val()) {
            $("td." + whichCol + ".name").html(v.name);
            $("td." + whichCol + ".photo").html(v.photo);
            $("td." + whichCol + ".email").html(v.email);
            $("td." + whichCol + ".phone").html(v.phone);
            return;
        }
    });

});