His research interests are in theoretical astrophysics, with particular interest in the rich physics of the interstellar medium. He has worked on a range of topics, including the theory of interstellar shock waves, and the structure of photodissociation regions. However, after getting involved with interstellar grains during his graduate study, he continues to be obsessed with interstellar dust, and much of his work has been in this area. Draine was a member of the Spitzer Infrared Nearby Galaxy Survey (SINGS), a Spitzer Space Telescope Legacy project which studied a sample of 75 nearby galaxies. He is a member of the KINGFISH collaboration, a Herschel Key Project using Herschel Space Telescope (a 3.5m telescope in space with a cryogenic focal plane) to study 61 nearby (d < 30 Mpc) galaxies using both far-infrared imaging and spectroscopy.