The award honors assistant professors for their research accomplishments and published work within the past year.
Through his research, Miljkovic strives to understand phase transitions by using nanoengineering, heat transfer, fluid mechanics, and thermodynamic principles. His work finds broad application in electronics cooling, power generation, thermoelectric energy conversion systems, solar thermal energy conversion, atmospheric energy harvesting, air conditioning, heat pumping, refrigeration, water conservation, and desalination, to name a few. Miljkovic conducts truly multidisciplinary research seeking transformational enhancements in energy and water applications.
Some of his significant research contributions during the past academic year include: an Office of Naval Research (ONR) Young Investigator Award; United Kingdom Royal Society of Engineering Distinguished Visiting Fellowship; American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Gold Medal; the ASME ICNMM Outstanding Early Career Award; and a U.S. National Academy of Sciences Arab-American Frontiers Fellowship. He was also an invited participant in the Arab-American Frontiers of Science Symposium organized by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences in Morocco. Miljkovic and his group published 14 peer reviewed journal papers and 17 papers and presentations in refereed conference proceedings.
In January 2018, he also began a leadership role in the Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Center (ACRC) at MechSE. Miljkovic has made significant contributions to the field of nanotechnology in the past year by enabling the use of structured surfaces in conventional industrial applications. His focus on developing fundamental understanding of phase-change heat transfer on these surfaces, as well as his work on their scalable nanomanufacturing, has had a large impact on the design and engineering of enhanced heat transfer systems.
Miljkovic earned a BS in 2009 in mechanical engineering from the University of Waterloo (Canada), and an MS (2011) and PhD (2013) in mechanical engineering from MIT. He joined MechSE in August 2014.