Dr. Dabiri is the Centennial Professor of Aeronautics and Mechanical Engineering at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). His research focuses on unsteady fluid mechanics and flow physics, with particular emphasis on topics relevant to biology, energy, and the environment.
This research has led to the discovery of principles of optimal vortex formation used by biological systems from jellyfish to the human heart, in order to function efficiently in nature. Dr. Dabiri has used these bioinspired engineering concepts to design a new generation of wind turbine arrays with the potential to concurrently reduce the cost, size, and environmental impacts of wind farms. Concurrently, he has developed new experimental techniques to explore biological fluid dynamics in the ocean. This includes a recent demonstration of bionic jellyfish---freely swimming organisms with embedded microelectronics that swim both faster and more efficiently than their non-robotic counterparts, giving them promise as a tool for low-cost ocean exploration.
Dr. Dabiri is a MacArthur Fellow and a Fellow of the American Physical Society. Other honors include the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Program Award, MIT Technology Review Magazine?s ?35 Innovators Under 35?, Popular Science Magazine?s ?Brilliant 10?, and numerous named lectureships. Dr. Dabiri holds patents including ocean instrumentation, wind energy technology, and tissue engineering. He serves on the National Academies? Committee on Science, Technology, and Law. He is also a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Fluid Mechanics and the Journal of the Royal Society Interface. He has previously served on the U.S. National Committee for Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (USNCTAM), the Defense Science Study Group, and as an Advisor to X at Alphabet (formerly GoogleX). His work has appeared on the covers of Nature, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Science Advances, and other major scientific journals, as well as in the popular press. Dr. Dabiri?s commitment to teaching was recognized by the 2018 Eugene L. Grant Award for Excellence in Teaching at Stanford University. He is also committed to mentoring a diverse cadre of future leaders in science and engineering, as exemplified by his 15 Ph.D. alumni to date.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
