In 1987, riblets on the America's Cup boat Stars and Stripes sparked Dressler's life-long fascination with fluid mechanics. Along the way, he spent many years rowing, sailing, coaching rowing, teaching sailing, teaching mathematics and finally, back to teaching Mechanical Engineering. After giving up competitive rowing and sailing, he took up sea kayaking, which helped shift his research interests from wall shear in turbulent boundary layers (drag) to a study of heat transfer in two-phase annular flow (waves, films and droplets) albeit scaled down to 100 microns.
Dressler's fundamental goal in teaching, both mathematics and engineering, is to make connections from the mathematics, physics and engineering theories to the natural and technological wonders of every day life.