Dr. Mindy Howard - Future Astronaut - Founding Director and Lead Trainer, Inner Space Training

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Dr. Mindy Howard is a Future Astronaut, and Founding Director and Lead Trainer of Inner Space Training (https://www.innerspacetraining.com/), an organization focused on psychologically preparing commercial astronauts for their space flights, including psychological acclimation to the different flight phases, as well as optimizing conditions for creating peak performance and a peak experience in space. She also serves as Director of Inner Space Training at Blue Abyss Diving, a unique human physiology and space sector research, training and development facility with one of the world’s deepest diving pools. Dr. Howard obtained her Bachelor’s and Master’s of Science in Industrial Engineering at SUNY Buffalo and University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from the Technical University Eindhoven in The Netherlands, and after obtaining her Ph.D., applied to NASA and was placed on NASA's "Highly Qualified" astronaut candidate list. Dr. Howard began her career at the Royal Dutch Shell Group of companies, and held several technical and leadership roles in the company, including responsibility for creating strategy and leading implementation globally across four main specialist areas: Sustainable Development, Social Performance, Environment, and C02 management, within the Gas and Power Division. She also served as Corporate Responsibility Manager, Aramco Overseas Company, of the Saudi Aramco oil company, as well as Sustainable Strategy Manager, Aegon N.V., the Dutch multinational life insurance, pensions and asset management company. Dr. Howard has also written publications on a variety of subjects, including human factors design of cabins of spaceships, expert systems to help pilots with fault diagnosis, and quality of group decision making as groups undergo several tasks. Dr. Howard has successfully completed her certification at the National AeroSpace Training and Research (NASTAR) Center's Suborbital Scientist Training Program, which provides space flight physiology training for prospective "Suborbital Scientist-Astronauts" wishing to fly experiments on upcoming suborbital space missions. Dr. Howard has appeared on the Discovery and Travel Channels, and on the radio, both in the United States and in Europe, as a space correspondent and commentator. Dr. Howard is also a TEDx speaker (“Train your fear away, like an astronaut”) and is a Guest Lecturer at the International Space University. She is the author of her book entitled, “Blast off! Train like an astronaut for success on earth.” Blast Off! is the first book to use the techniques of commercial astronaut training to help people on earth maintain the anxiety-free emotional equilibrium and sustained mental focus needed to successfully overcome the day-to-day challenges and obstacles in their personal and professional lives.

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