Dr. Bryan D. James is an incoming Assistant Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Northeastern University (Jan. 2025). He leads the EcoBioMaterials Design Lab focused on creating functional, sustainable, and benign materials for a safer, cleaner future by innovating at each stage of the engineering design process. He actively collaborates with academic colleagues, NGOs, and industrial partners from around the globe, regularly engages with K-12 students and educators, and advises policymakers. Bryan completed his postdoctoral training at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) as a Postdoctoral Scholar/Investigator, working with Drs. Mark Hahn, Collin Ward, and Chris Reddy. His postdoctoral research focused on understanding the fate, persistence, and toxicity of plastic in the ocean to inform the rational design of next-generation materials that are safe for people and the planet. Bryan received his Ph.D. in materials science and engineering from the University of Florida in 2021, working under the mentorship of Professor Josephine Allen. As a team, they pioneered the use of nucleic acid-collagen complexes for hard and soft tissue engineering and championed investigating sex as a biological variable in biomaterials research, identifying mechanobiological sex differences in vascular cells. Bryan has been recognized with multiple honors and awards, including being a recipient of an ACS-GCI Sustainable Futures Initiative Early Career Postdoctoral-Faculty Bridge Grant, and being named a Rising Star in Engineering in Health, a CAS Future Leader, a PMSE Future Faculty Scholar, and an Early Career Board Member of the journal ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering.