Paskaleva and her husband, Dr. Philip Shapira, an associate professor in Tech's School of Public Policy, are trying to learn more about how industries in the Burgas region of Southeastern Bulgaria are facing the changeover. Their survey is the first industrial assessment done in post-Communist Bulgaria, Paskaleva says. We've not had anything like this in world history. Research in the Burgas region is especially interesting because of the severe confrontation of heavily polluting industries with tourism and agriculture. The Burgas region is located in southeastern Bulgaria, bordered on the east by the Black Sea and on the south by Turkey.
Tourism still flourishes in the former agricultural area.
However, Burgas has become home to pets chemical, food processing, lumber, machinery, electronics, mining, transportation and other industries during the last 45 years, in part due to central-planning practices. Paskaleva has a personal interest in this research. She grew up in Bulgaria, living there until 1989, when she came to the United States to do research in regional development at West Virginia University. She came to GTRI in 1991. The researchers conducted a survey of 69 identifiable industrial enterprises in the Burgas region, and Shapira followed with personal visits to 20 plants in October 1992.