During his first tenure at Caltech, Dabiri was the director of the Biological Propulsion Laboratory. The lab conducted research on fluid transport applications in
aquatic locomotion, fluid dynamic energy conversion,
blood flow, and theoretical methods in fluid dynamics and
vortex formation. He established the Caltech Field Laboratory for Optimized Wind Energy (FLOWE) in 2011, a wind farm that investigates energy exchange in an array of
vertical-axis wind turbines. To further develop digital
particle image velocimetry measurements of propulsion in aquatic animals, Dabiri and his student K. Katija designed and patented a device to measure the kinetic energy induced by swimming. Noting constructive interference in the hydrodynamic wakes of
schooling fish, his research suggested that extracting energy from flow vortices could aid more than locomotion. The design of an array of vertical-axis turbines was reported to increase power output per unit land area by more than an order of magnitude compared with horizontal-axis wind farms. Dabiri partnered with Windspire Energy for the use of three of the twenty-four turbines that stand approximately 30 feet tall and 4 feet wide. He founded Scalable Wind Solutions, a company focused on software for wind-turbine array placement optimization. After returning to Caltech, Dabiri’s research has focused on the hydrodynamics of electromechanically modified jellyfish, which has been proposed as a mode for oceanographic sensing and exploration. Dabiri and colleagues have reported experiments in which low-power microelectronics were embedded in live jellyfish to modify propulsion and swimming behavior. An additional area of research in Dabiri’s lab focuses on the physics of turbulence transition. His recent work is exploring the role of the fluid-solid interface in theoretical predictions of turbulence transition. == Teaching ==