Dragan Nikolic is a scientist at Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where he conducts research and technology development of planetary surface instruments. His current focus is developing advanced aerosol inlets for mass spectrometers to be used in aerobot exploration of Venus cloud decks. He published 72 articles in peer-reviewed journals and 30 conference proceedings, holds three patents, published three textbooks and six scientific reports, and has given 35 invited talks at international conferences and workshops. He is a member of the American Physical Society, Canadian Association of Physicists, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, MENSA, and previously served as Editor for the XXVI International Conference on Photonic, Electronic, and Atomic Collisions.
Dragan holds an MSc in plasma physics from the University of Belgrade (Serbia) and a Ph.D. in atomic physics from Stockholm University (Sweden). He received the Michael Idvorsky Pupin Award in 2004 and upheld Professional Physicist Certification from the Canadian Association of Physicists since 2010.