Space Psychiatry Expert to Speak at Florida Tech April 22

Nick Kanas Will Discuss Impact of Cultural Differences on Missions

MELBOURNE, FLA. — Dr. Nick Kanas, emeritus professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco who for 35 years researched the effect of psychological and interpersonal issues on astronauts and others, will offer the lecture “Culture and Space” at 1:30 p.m. Friday, April 22, in Florida Institute of Technology’s Harris Commons, Room 244.

The lecture is part of the Institute for Cross Cultural Management’s Leaders Engaging Globally series. It is co-hosed by the Buzz Aldrin Space Institute at Florida Tech.

The author with Dietrich Manzey of the award-winning book, Space Psychology and Psychiatry (2nd ed.), which was given the 2004 International Academy of Life Science Award, Kanas spent more than 15 years as a NASA-funded principal investigator doing psychological research with astronauts and cosmonauts. He continues to serve as a NASA consultant on the psychosocial aspects of human space travel and in 2015 published, Humans in Space: The Psychological Hurdles.

His lecture will center on how cultural and language differences among crewmembers and mission control personnel can have an impact on long-duration space missions. He will provide insights regarding how three aspects of culture – national, occupational and organizational – affect these missions using data from on-orbit space missions.

Kanas believes that a better understanding of the importance of culture can lead to better, more successful planning for future multinational long-duration space missions, such as an expedition to Mars.

For more information, contact ICCM Public Relations Manager Keemia Vaghef at kvaghef2012@my.fit.edu.

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