Milanovic is originally from Čačak and went to school in Belgrade.[3] She earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Belgrade,[2] in 1988, with a thesis involving heat transfer for building-level heating, ventilation, and air conditioning. Next, she worked in industry on geothermal energy and energy-efficient buildings.[3] Returning from 1991 to 1995 to the University of Belgrade as an assistant professor in the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering,[2] she began her work in fluid mechanics, earning a master's degree in 1993 under the supervision of Vladan Đorđević.[3]
She came to the Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute (now the New York University Tandon School of Engineering) as a doctoral student in 1995,[2] working there with George Vradis,[3] and completed her Ph.D. there in 1999. After a year as a lecturer at Columbia University, she joined the University of Hartford as an assistant professor in 2001. She was promoted to associate professor in 2006 and full professor in 2012.[2]
Recognition
Milanovic was elected as an ASME Fellow in 2019.[4] In 2022, the American Society for Engineering Education gave her their Northeast Section Outstanding Teacher Award, and the University of Hartford gave her their Roy E. Larsen Award for Excellence in Teaching.[5]