Academic Credentials
  • Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), 2022
  • M.S., Mechanical Engineering, University of Maribor, Slovenia, 2017
  • B.S., Mechanical Engineering, University of Maribor, Slovenia, 2015
Licenses & Certifications
  • 40-Hour Hazardous Waste Operation and Emergency Response Certification (HAZWOPER) (CA)
  • Certified Forklift Operator for Sit-Down Counterbalanced Forklifts (CA)
  • FAA Part 107 Certified Commercial Drone Pilot
Professional Honors
  • Zois Fellowship for Academic Excellence at University of Maribor, Slovenia, 2012-2017
  • The Sole Recipient of the Best Student Award, University of Maribor, Slovenia, 2017
  • The Frank Kerze and Therese Kerze-Cheyovich Research Assistantship for the Study of Transport Phenomena in Complex Systems, UCLA, Los Angeles, California, 2017-2022
Professional Affiliations
  • American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)
  • National Fire Protection Association (NFPA)
  • The Electrochemical Society (ECS)

Dr. Frajnkovic specializes in heat transfer, computational fluid dynamics (CFD), transport phenomena, and fast charging battery systems. Dr. Frajnkovic has performed experimental and numerical analysis of advanced electrochemical energy storage systems. He has experience with measuring the heat generation rate during cycling of batteries and capacitors via isothermal operando calorimetry technique.

Dr. Frajnkovic has extensive experience with experimental techniques such as galvanostatic cycling (GC), cyclic voltammetry (CV), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), galvanostatic intermittent titration technique (GITT), and isothermal operando calorimetry. These non-destructive/non-invasive techniques can be used to monitor the heat generation rate and the state of health during cycling of batteries and capacitors. In addition, Dr. Frajnkovic has working experience with battery thermal runaway incidents, CFD simulations of the thermal/mechanical systems using commercial software packages, such as Star-CCM+, Ansys CFX and Fluent, and Comsol, as well as three-dimensional computer aided design (3D-CAD) modeling with software packages such as SolidWorks and Catia.

During his time at Exponent, Dr. Frajnkovic has worked on product testing and development of custom-made testing setups and protocols. He regularly performs thermal/mechanical system failure testing with interdisciplinary teams. Dr. Frajnkovic has worked on steam service and operations both experimentally and computationally to ensure regulatory compliance of industrial facilities. Dr. Frajnkovic has also performed field work with sample collection and origin/cause investigations related to wildfires as well as structure fires.

Prior to joining Exponent, Dr. Frajnkovic was a research assistant at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) where he carried out his doctoral work. His focus was on measuring and identifying the thermal signature of physicochemical phenomena occurring in hybrid supercapacitors during cycling. Dr. Frajnkovic also used numerical simulations to develop expressions for irreversible heat generation rates which exceeds Joule heating in hybrid supercapacitors. Moreover, he measured entropic potential evolution to elucidate the kinetics and structural evolution of novel battery electrode materials.