Dr. Pachamanova's research interests are in the areas of optimization, simulation, and statistics, and their applications in finance, management, computing, and engineering. Her primary research area can be defined as the theory and practice of robust optimization. Her secondary research areas include education, engineering and telecommunications, open source software (computer science and management), and simulation.

Dessislava grew up in Sofia, Bulgaria, and attended the Bulgarian National High School of Mathematics and Sciences. At age 16, she was one of five Bulgarians to win a scholarship to study at the system of United World Colleges. She attended the United World College of the Adriatic in Italy, where she received the International Baccalaureate. She then graduated from Princeton University, where, in addition to receiving an A.B. in Mathematics, she obtained a certificate in Public and International Affairs from the Woodrow Wilson School. While completing her Ph.D. studies at MIT, Dessislava worked for Goldman Sachs (New York, USA) and WestLB (Duesseldorf, Germany). She has also worked for Creditanstalt-Bankverein (Vienna, Austria), now part of BankAustria, and Bulbank (Sofia, Bulgaria), now part of the UniCredit Group, and continues consulting for companies as a professor at Babson.

A copy of Dr. Pachamanova's CV can be found here.