NAME: Nicholas J. M. Patrick (Ph.D.,
P.E.)
NASA Astronaut
PERSONAL
DATA: Dr. Patrick
was born in 1964 in North Yorkshire in the United Kingdom, but considers
London, England and Rye, New York to be his hometowns. He became a U.S. Citizen
in 1994. His mother, Gillian Patrick, lives in Connecticut; his father, Stewart
Patrick, in Pennsylvania. He is married. His recreational interests include
flying, reading, fixing & building things, scuba diving, and Tae Kwon Do.
EDUCATION: Harrow School, London, England,
1978-82.
B.A.,
Engineering, University of Cambridge, England, 1986.
M.A. Cantab., Engineering, University of Cambridge, England, 1990.
S.M., Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1990.
Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1996.
ORGANIZATIONS: Dr Patrick is a member of the
Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, and is a registered Professional
Engineer (Mechanical).
SPECIAL
HONORS: Entrance
scholarship ('Exhibition') to the University of Cambridge (Trinity College),
1983; GE Aircraft Engines Development Program Project Award for contributions
to manufacturing inventory reduction, 1988; JSC Center Director's Discretionary
Award for contributions to the user-interface of the space shuttle's Cockpit Avionics
Upgrade, 2002.
Dr. Patrick
holds three patents in the areas of telerobotics, display design, and
integrated aircraft alerting systems.
EXPERIENCE: While at university, Dr. Patrick
learned to fly as a member of the Royal Air Force's Cambridge University Air
Squadron, and spent his summers as a civil engineer in New York and
Connecticut. After graduating from Cambridge, he moved to Boston,
Massachusetts, where he worked as an engineer for the Aircraft Engines Division
of GE.
He then
attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he was a
teaching assistant and then a research assistant in the Human-Machine Systems
Lab in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. His research interests
included telerobotics, aviation psychology, decision theory, optimization, and
econometrics. While at MIT, he worked as a flight instructor at Hanscom Field
and as a statistician and programmer for a medical and robotic products
company.
Upon
completion of his doctorate, Dr. Patrick joined Boeing's Commercial Airplane
Group in Seattle, Washington, where he worked in Flight Deck Engineering as a
systems and human-factors engineer on many of Boeing's commercial aircraft
models.
Dr. Patrick
has logged over 1,900 hours as a pilot in more than 20 types of airplane and
helicopter, including over 800 hours as a flight instructor in the Boston,
Seattle, and Houston areas.
NASA
EXPERIENCE: Dr
Patrick reported to NASA's Johnson
Space Center (JSC) for astronaut
training in August 1998. His initial training included scientific and technical
briefings, intensive instruction in Shuttle and International Space
Station systems, and physiological, survival, and classroom training in
preparation for T-38 flight.
Dr. Patrick
is currently assigned to the crew of STS-116
- a construction
and logistics mission to the International Space
Station - scheduled for launch in December 2006.
Last
updated: July 2006
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