Patricia S. Cowings facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Patricia S. Cowings
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NASA photograph of Dr. Patricia S. Cowings
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Patricia S. Cowings
December 15, 1948 The Bronx, New York City, New York, U.S.
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| Nationality | American |
| Education | State University of New York at Stony Brook (BA Psychology); University of California Davis (MA Psychology; Ph.D. Psychology) |
| Occupation | Psychophysiology |
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Dr. William B. Toscano
(m. 1980) |
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Patricia S. Cowings (born December 15, 1948) is an amazing aerospace scientist. She studies how the human body and mind work together, especially in space. She was the first American woman to be trained as a scientist astronaut by NASA. Even though she was chosen as an alternate for a space flight in 1979, she didn't get to travel to space. Dr. Cowings is best known for her research on astronauts in space. She has helped find ways to cure and prevent motion sickness for space travelers.
Early Life and Learning
Patricia Cowings was born on December 15, 1948. She grew up in The Bronx, a part of New York City. Her parents were Sadie B. and Albert S. Cowings. Her mom was a preschool teacher's helper, and her dad owned a grocery store. Patricia was the only girl among her three brothers. Her parents always told them that getting a good education was important.
Patricia loved science from a young age. She also enjoyed African dance and step. In 1970, she earned a bachelor's degree in arts from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. She became very interested in psychology, which is the study of the mind. Later, she studied psychophysiology, which looks at how the mind and body affect each other. She wanted to learn how to help people reach their full potential.
Her aunt, who was also a psychologist, inspired her greatly. Her aunt had earned a PhD from the University of California at Davis. Patricia also took an engineering class in graduate school. In this class, she helped design a space shuttle. This experience made her want to work in space technology.
Her Career at NASA
Dr. Cowings did most of her important research at the NASA Ames Research Center. There, she created a special training system. It's called Autogenic-Feedback Training Exercise (AFTE). This system helps people learn to control their own body responses. They can learn to control up to 24 different body reactions in just six hours!
Her work was first tested in 1985 on space shuttle missions. She used her AFTE training method on the Space J-Lab Mission. This was the first Japanese shuttle mission. Her main goal was to help astronauts get rid of motion sickness.
Later, she trained four cosmonauts (Russian astronauts). They learned to control both motion sickness and low blood pressure. This training happened after they spent six months on the MIR space station. Her methods worked very well.
Dr. Cowings continued to teach people how to control motion sickness. She also helped improve the skills of search and rescue pilots. Her work has even helped patients with nausea, dizziness, and fainting. She has written many scientific papers with her husband, Dr. William B. Toscano. They have a son named Christopher Michael Cowings Toscano. He even traveled with them when they trained space crews.
Today, Dr. Cowings still works to prevent motion sickness for astronauts. She helps them both in space and when they return home. She leads the Psychophysiological Research Laboratories at NASA Ames Research Center. She has also been a professor at UCLA and other universities.
Awards and Recognitions
Dr. Cowings' research and teaching have earned her many awards. These include:
- Candace Award from the National Coalition of 100 Black Women (1989)
- NASA Individual Achievement Award (1993)
- Black Engineer of the Year Award (1997)
- AMES Honor Award for Technology Development (1999)
- NASA Space Act Award for Invention (2002)
- National Women of Color Technology Award (2006)
- NASA Space Act Board Award (2008)
- Ames African American Advisory Group's (AAAG) Achievement Award (2010)
- Celestial Torch Award from the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) in Los Angeles (2014)
See also
In Spanish: Patricia Cowings para niños
