Bulgarian-born scientist Dr Ellie Hadjhiyska Schmelzer is leading a team working on NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission, a space project dedicated to identifying planets outside the Solar System, BTA reported.

Hadjhiyska has lived and worked in the United States since 1993, having left Bulgaria during a period of uncertainty and limited opportunities for young researchers. Encouraged by her engineer parents, she pursued a career abroad where her ambitions could be supported.

As a leader within the TESS mission, she oversees activities ranging from spacecraft operations and coordination of the science team to budget allocation and cybersecurity. She works with engineers and researchers from MIT, Northrop Grumman, Princeton University and NASA. TESS searches for new exoplanets through space-based observations and has already made several discoveries, including a planet that is gradually disintegrating under the influence of its star.

Hadjhiyska advises young scientists to focus less on where they hope to work — NASA, JPL or Harvard — and more on the questions they want to explore.

“Young researchers who value a systematic approach and stability will thrive at NASA. Those who prefer a faster, more dynamic environment and are not afraid of risk may feel more at home at companies like SpaceX. A third group, interested mainly in pure science and teaching without involvement in hardware projects, would be happiest in universities,” she said. “What matters most is that young people understand their strengths and interests before deciding where to apply them. Someone who aims blindly for NASA without knowing what it is like to work there is unlikely to be happy.”