Discovering Exoplanets with Dr. Diana Dragomir

Dr. Diana Dragomir, a new research assistant professor of Physics and Astronomy at UNM, finds and studies the properties of small extrasolar planets called exoplanets. In this video, Dragomir shares the how and process to find exoplanets with new NASA telescope called TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite), as well as future goals in her career.

During her trajectory as an exoplanetologist, Dragomir has mainly done research and public outreach, but now she is excited to do something new, teaching. “What I really hope to do here is get a lot of young people also excited about doing research. […] I would like to see [gender] get more balanced in other areas of astronomy, so I’m really hoping that I can inspire women also to start studying science physics and maybe even astronomy.”