John O. Dabiri, Ph.D.
Centennial Professor
California Institute of Technology
Phone: +1 (626) 395-4450


B.S.E. summa cum laude, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering
   Princeton University, 2001
M.S., Aeronautics
   California Institute of Technology, 2003
Ph.D., Bioengineering with Aeronautics minor
   California Institute of Technology, 2005

John Dabiri (Photo: Alan Vidali)


Biography

John Dabiri is the Centennial Chair Professor at Caltech, with appointments in the Graduate Aerospace Laboratories (GALCIT) and Mechanical Engineering. His research focuses on unsteady fluid mechanics and flow physics, with particular emphasis on topics relevant to biology, energy, and the environment. Current interests include biological fluid dynamics in the ocean and development of new experimental methods. Dabiri is a MacArthur Fellow and a Fellow of the American Physical Society as well as the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. Other honors include the Alan T. Waterman Award from the National Science Foundation, the G. Evelyn Hutchinson Award for Aquatic Sciences, the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), the Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Program Award, and being named one of MIT Technology Review's "35 Innovators Under 35" as well as one of Popular Science's "Brilliant 10."

Dabiri serves on the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), the Energy Secretary's Energy Advisory Board (SEAB), the Board of Directors of NVIDIA Corporation, and the Board of Trustees of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. He previously served as Chair of the American Physical Society Division of Fluid Dynamics, as well as a member of the National Academies' Committee on Science, Technology, and Law; the editorial boards of the Journal of Fluid Mechanics and the Journal of the Royal Society Interface; 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).

Dabiri received his B.S.E. summa cum laude in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Princeton University (2001); his M.S. in Aeronautics from Caltech (2003); and his Ph.D. in Bioengineering with a minor in Aeronautics from Caltech (2005). He was a Professor of Aeronautics and Bioengineering at Caltech from 2005 to 2015, during which time he also served as Director of the Center for Bioinspired Wind Energy, Chair of the Faculty, and Dean of Students. From 2015 to 2019 he served as a Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering and of Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University, where he was recognized with the Eugene L. Grant Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Curriculum Vitae
(PDF)