He is a fluid mechanician and creator of the Stokesian dynamics method for simulating suspensions of spheres and ellipsoids in low Reynolds number flows.

He completed his dissertation entitled Inertial effects in closed cavity flows and their influence in drop breakup advised by Professor Andreas Acrivos.

[1] Following his research in France, Brady joined the faculty in chemical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as an assistant professor in 1981.

[2] In 1999, Brady was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering for his work in elucidating the basic mechanics of and developing methods for the simulation of multiphase flows.

Brady and collaborators discovered the micromechanical "swim pressure" that contributes to the unique self-assembly and phase separation in a broad class of active matter.