For the past 21 years, Dr. Umut Yıldız has been working outside of Türkiye, spending the last decade at NASA, a position many of his colleagues would aspire to.
Recently, he made the decision to transfer to a Turkish company focusing on space technologies to share the knowledge and experience he gained with his home country.
The astrophysicist announced this positive development through a post on his social media account. Dr. Yıldız has left his position at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and returned to Türkiye.
"I SAW THE POTENTIAL OF TÜRKİYE"
In his first interview after returning to Türkiye, Yıldız stated: "I saw that the potential in Türkiye is much greater. I felt the need to utilize the experience we gained at NASA for the benefit of Türkiye."
"THERE IS A LOT TO BE DONE IN TÜRKİYE''
In his tweet, Dr. Umut Yıldız mentioned: "A few months ago, I shared the certificate I received for working at NASA for 10 years. They give a certificate and pin every 5 years. Some people, upon seeing it, treated me as if I were a football player reaching the end of a 10-year transfer period. No, I was on an indefinite appointment, had no issues, a very good salary, and was quite comfortable. The lack of problems started to become a problem, comfort became boring, what can I say. There is a lot to be done in Türkiye, and I wanted to contribute and be a part of it."
"I LEFT NASA TO COLLECTIVELY EXPERIENCE TÜRKİYE'S SPACE LEAP"
Expressing that he left NASA to utilize the experiences gained abroad in Türkiye and to collectively experience Türkiye's space leap, Yıldız stated: "Returning to my country 21 years after leaving it might seem like a significant decision, but I had never truly left. To further raise awareness of space in my country, I found opportunities to engage in continuous travel or deliver hundreds of online conferences, engaging in direct correspondence and conversations with tens of thousands of students. I made a small contribution, motivating thousands of students to pursue scientific or technical fields. I want to do even more. There is much work to be done in my country in the fields of space and science. With the hope of doing it together, to brand new beginnings."
WHO IS DR. UMUT YILDIZ ?
Dr. Umut Yıldız worked as a researcher in deep space communication and astrophysics at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) for 10 years.
He completed his undergraduate studies in the Department of Astronomy and Space Sciences at Ankara University, his master's degree at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, and his Ph.D. in Molecular Astrophysics at Leiden University Observatory.
He was part of a team that made the discovery of water and oxygen molecules in star-forming regions using the Herschel Space Telescope.
His research areas include deep space communication, star formation, and information mining with big data analysis.
