assoc. prof. Nikola Vukašinović PhD.

Short CV

Nikola Vukašinović graduated in 2004 and received his PhD in 2010 from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Ljubljana. He is currently an Associate Professor and is Head of the Laboratory for Engineering Design - LECAD.

At the undergraduate level he teaches the courses “Computer-aided modelling of geometry”, “Technical drawing and computer-aided modelling of geometry”, “Engineering-design methodology” and “Reporting in mechanical engineering”, and at the postgraduate level he teaches the courses “Engineering-design techniques”, and “Research in mechanical engineering”. Since 2009 he has also been continuously co-organizing the faculty course called European Global Product Realization, which has resulted in several Erasmus projects and research publications in the field of engineering-design methods or education. The course represents a new way of teaching at the University of Ljubljana, where students from different European universities in interdisciplinary teams solve complex industrial challenges provided by companies.

His research areas include: (1) Data-driven design and new product development: using data-driven methods to define input requirements and guide the development process. Product integration with services and smart component deployment, I.e., diagnostics, data analysis, etc. Introduction of generative design and topology optimization; (2) Modern CAD tools and methods: focusing on model-based definition and its application during the entire process chain of product development, production, control and use, including their use in mixed and augmented reality. He also combines these topics with other emerging research activities, e.g., use of topology optimization in packaging design or use of 3D printing for highly customizable features of mass products.

Nikola Vukašinović has published 20 scientific articles with an SCI impact factor and published 33 articles in other scientific journals and conferences. He is also the co-author of a book: “Advanced CAD modeling: explicit, parametric, free-form CAD and re-engineering”, 2019, published by Springer.

He is a mentor of 1 completed doctoral dissertation, and mentor or co-mentor to more than sixty BSc and MSc theses. He is the author of several R&D industrial projects as well as 5 patents (2 international patents and 3 national patents), all with full examination.

Between 2019 and 2022 he was part-time employed in the IT company LIT Tranzit d.o.o. where he was responsible for the R&D of new ePaper electronic-paper-based, outdoor, ultra-low-power, digital, cloud-connected signages for real time passenger information at bus and train stations. He contributed to the development of a whole line of products for Papercast displays and set-up a team of mechanical engineers who are independently continuing his work after his return to the faculty while he collaborates with the company as an external advisor. In this period, he recruited and trained all together 7 engineers. Since then, several thousands of these displays have been produced and installed worldwide, fostering green mobility and the use of public transportation (e.g., for FlixBus, L.A. Metro, TFL London, RTA Dubai, Perth, etc.).

In May 2021 he took over the lead of the LECAD Laboratory for engineering design, which is a well-established research unit that has been working in the field of computer-aided design for 40 years. The research group is highly interdisciplinary, with researchers from mechanical engineering, physics, mathematics, computer science and industrial design. Complementary expertise is provided by selected researchers from other institutions and experts from industry. In the first year of his management, the primary objective was to consolidate the staff and maintain its diversity, and then to implement the transition to the new study program, while keeping the balance of educational and research activities for laboratory members. The main research objective at that point was to increase the competence and references of the laboratory in the field of design and CAD technologies assisted by new technologies such as artificial intelligence and data analytics, while at the same time continuing activities of HPC-supported engineering design and fusion engineering. In the area of HPC, he was also involved in the management of the faculty supercomputer.

Functions:

• Head of the Laboratory for Engineering Design - LECAD (since 2021 to present)
• Committee for HPC FME member (Since 2021 to present)
• Master's Degree committee member at the UL FME (since 2021 to present)
• Member of Erasmus Committee at the UL FME (from 2017 to 2021)
• Member of Strategic Group SA10 at the UL FME for the internationalization of teaching and research process (from 2018 to 2021)

Membership of societies and participation on committees:

• ASME – American Society of Mechanical Engineers
• Design Society

Projects