Marko Princevac, a professor of mechanical engineering and associate dean for student affairs of the Marlan and Rosemary Bourns College of Engineering, has been elevated to Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.

His notable achievements in fluid dynamics include the application of fundamental turbulence concepts to environmental flows, urban air pollution, and wildfire behavior.

Princevac received his doctorate in mechanical engineering at Arizona State University in 2003 and his bachelor’s in mechanical engineering and naval architecture at the University of Belgrade, Serbia. At Arizona State, he won recognition for his work with students, and received an American Meteorological Society scholarship. He has worked as an industrial laboratory and field supervisor in Mexico, and for the roller-bearing industry in Serbia. 

Princevac is active in promoting STEM education at the K-12, community college, and university levels through workshops and programs for students and teachers in collaboration with minority organizations. 

His research on environmental flows includes analytical explanations of diurnal flow cycle in complex terrain. His contributions to wildfire behavior include physical models of flame pulsation and flame tilt angle in interacting fires. Princevac’s research group closely collaborates with the USDA Forest Service. Together, they developed a state of the art laboratory facility for wildfire studies. 

As a natural progression of this laboratory setup, Princevac’s group developed a nonintrusive method to measure turbulent and heat fluxes ahead of the propagating flame. While studying smoke formation and dispersion from fires, his group developed a comprehensive explanation and criteria for occurrence of extremely low visibilities after prescribed fires and wildfires, known as superfog.

Starting July 1, Princevac will also serve as UC Riverside’s Interim vice provost of International Affairs.