James D. Kent

Research Associate at the University of Texas at Austin, building open tools for neuroimaging meta-analysis.

Black-and-white photo of James D. Kent reaching up to touch one of a string of hanging light bulbs

I apply informatics and software engineering practices to help researchers do better, more reproducible science. I started out in neuroscience, and I picked up programming and data science skills along the way. Now, I build open-source tools and platforms that make it easier to turn research methods into reliable, open software.

I’m currently the technical lead for NeuroSynth 2.0, and the lead backend developer of Neurosynth Compose—a web platform dedicated to transparent, PRISMA-aligned neuroimaging meta-analysis.

Current focus

  • Neurosynth Compose: AI-assisted tooling for study curation, annotation, and meta-analytic execution — the primary entry point for the NeuroSynth 2.0 ecosystem. You can sign up and explore the platform at compose.neurosynth.org.
  • NiMARE: the NeuroImaging Meta-Analysis Research Environment (maintenance, releases, onboarding, and community support).
  • Open and reproducible infrastructure: containerized execution, CI/CD, APIs, and standards-based model specifications that help “bespoke” analysis code become community tools.

I also enjoy mentoring and teaching researchers how to build sustainable, open science software and/or how to adopt open science practices in their work.

Contact

Email is the best way to reach me: james.kent@austin.utexas.edu.