James E. Brady (2) (1948–)

[from Academia website]
Dr. James Brady is best known for pioneering the archaeological investigation of Maya caves. Between 1981 and 1989 he directed excavations at Naj Tunich (National Geographic, August 1981, Archaeology Nov/Dec 1986) and from 1990 to 1993 he directed the Petexbatun Regional Cave Survey (National Geographic, February 1993). Moving to Honduras, Brady headed a three-year archaeological investigation of the Talgua region ("Cave of the Glowing Skulls", Archaeology May/June 1995). From 2001 to 2007, he directed Cal State L.A. research projects in Guatemala. During the same period, he co-directed a study of Ulama, a modern survival of the ancient Aztec ballgame Ullamaliztli (Archaeology Sept/Oct 2003; Smithsonian Magazine, April 2006). From 2008-2010 he directed the investigation of Midnight Terror Cave in Belize and from 2013 through 2015 he led projects with the Programme for Belize at La Milpa. Since 2017 he has worked with the Gran Acuífero Maya at Chichén Itzá (Arqueología Mexicana No. 156, 2019).

Dr. Brady is widely published with over 150 publications to his credit. He has edited, with Keith Prufer, In the Maw of the Earth Monster: Mesoamerican Ritual Cave Use, from the University of Texas Press and Stone Houses and Earth Lords: Maya Religion in the Cave Context, from the University Press of Colorado. He has edited two monographs, Exploring Highland Maya Ritual Cave Use: Archaeology & Ethnography in Huehuetenango, Guatemala, (Bulletin 20), and Heart of Earth: Studies in Maya Ritual Cave Use (Bulletin 23), with the Association for Mexican Cave Studies.

Dr. Brady's research has been supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies, two grants from the Explorers Club and three grants from the National Geographic Society. He has also won two Fulbright Fellowships, a Dumbarton Oaks Fellowship and a Samuel H. Kress/Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study of the Visual Arts at the National Gallery of Art. He was a visiting professor at the University of Copenhagen in the Fall of 1998.

Brady joined the Department of Anthropology at California State University, Los Angeles in 1998 where he has been named Distinguished Faculty Alumnus (2006), Outstanding Professor (2008), and Presidential Distinguished Professor (2014-2015). He was also named the College of Natural & Social Sciences Outstanding Mentor in 2019 and given the Faculty Innovation and Leadership Award by the California State University system in 2020-2021. He was named Cal State LA's Outstanding Faculty Innovator in Student Success in both 2019 & 2020.

Dr. Brady's work has received considerable media attention. He has appeared in television programs on National Geographic Explorer, The Discovery Channel, A & E, The Learning Channel, and The History Channel. He has also been featured in Newsweek, National Geographic, Archaeology Magazine, Science News, New Scientist, Américas, The Economist, and Smithsonian Magazine as well as a host of newspapers including the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times.