Nick Ouellette is broadly interested the behavior of complex systems far from equilibrium. In particular, a running theme in his research is dynamical self-organization. He seeks both to understand the physical principles that govern the spontaneous emergence of low-dimensional structure in high-dimensional systems and to harness this self-organization for engineering applications. His current research includes studies of turbulent flows in two and three dimensions, in both simple and complex fluids; the transport of inertial, anisotropic, and active particles in turbulence; the erosion of granular beds by fluid flows and subsequent sediment transport; quantitative measurements of collective behavior in insect swarms and bird flocks; and emergent, self-organized structure and dynamics in cities.