John Dabiri: Aerospace Engineer who makes Nigeria Proud

John Oluseun Dabiri (Yoruba: John Olúseun Dábírí ) (born 1980) is a Nigerian-American aeronautics engineer and the Centennial Chair Professor at the California Institute of Technology (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. He is best known for his research of the hydrodynamics of jellyfish propulsion and the design of a vertical-axis wind farm adapted from schooling fish. He is the director of the Biological Propulsion Laboratory, which examines fluid transport with applications in aquatic locomotion, fluid dynamic energy conversion, and cardiac flows, as well as applying theoretical methods in fluid dynamics and concepts of optimal vortex formation.

 

In 2010, Dabiri was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship for his theoretical engineering work. He established the Caltech Field Laboratory for Optimized Wind Energy (FLOWE) in 2011, a wind farm which investigates the energy exchange in an array of vertical-axis wind turbines. His honors include a Young Investigator Award from the Office of Naval Research, a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), and being named as one of Popular Science magazine's "Brilliant 10" scientists in 2008. [6] Bloomberg Businessweek magazine listed him among its 2012 Technology Innovators.

John Dabiri is Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering and of Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University. His research focuses on science and technology at the intersection of fluid mechanics, energy and environment, and biology. Honors for this work include a MacArthur Fellowship, an Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award, and a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). Popular Science magazine named him one of its "Brilliant 10" scientists for his research in bio-inspired propulsion. For his research in bio-inspired wind energy, Bloomberg Businessweek magazine listed him among its Technology Innovators, and MIT Technology Review magazine named him one of its 35 innovators under 35. In 2014, he was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society, and in 2018 he won the Eugene L. Grant Award for Excellence in Teaching. He currently serves on the Editorial Boards of the Journal of Fluid Mechanics and the Journal of the Royal Society Interface.

 

John received his B.S.E. summa cum laude in Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering from Princeton University in 2001, his M.S. in Aeronautics from Caltech in 2003, and his Ph.D. in Bioengineering with a minor in Aeronautics from Caltech in 2005. He joined the Caltech faculty in 2005, was granted tenure in 2009, and he was promoted to full professor in 2010. During his 10 years on the Caltech faculty, he served as Chair of the Faculty Board and as the Dean of Students.