James Vincent Brice

James is an MArch degree candidate with the class of 2024. Before coming to MIT, he worked as a zookeeper and aquarist, responsible for the care and welfare of terrestrial and aquatic animal life. Pulling from this professional experience and a BS in Applied Physics (RPI ‘16), he's exploring how equitable design can positively impact human and non-human coastal communities through research into nature-based adaptation, environmental fluid mechanics, and urban ecological systems. His research, co-advised by Dr. Heidi Nepf (Nepf Lab), focuses on characterizing wave-vegetation interactions in urban waterfronts. By applying principles of fluid physics and wildlife zoology into the design of nature-based coastal management solutions, he hopes to uncover new ways climate-adaptive design can strengthen multispecies models of coastal community resilience.

James has been an active member of the MIT community since joining in Fall 2020, participating in several department initiatives including the admissions mentorship program (AMP), GradCatalyst, and as a student representative on the MArch Admissions Committee. He's worked on the department Communications Team as curator of both the student-led resource sharing platform, Open-Source, and the Fall 2021 Keller Gallery exhibition, DESKTOP. In Summer 2021, he co-designed and taught the special subject 4.s24 COHABITATE: Entangling Architecture, Infrastructure, and Living Systems.

James is also a member of the MIT Water Club leadership team and co-directed the Fall 2021 Water Summit, a two-day conference hosted annually by the Water Club that brings together global leaders and industry professionals. This year's theme was titled "Coastal Cities and Ecosystems." 

Outside MIT, James works as a Landscape Designer for Green Urb Gardens, using applied ecological principles to design gardens that promote positive species interactions within the local ecosystem. He loves getting his hands dirty and can be frequently found crouched on the sidewalk taking pictures of weeds and poking around in tidepools.