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Payette holds a multi-engine commercial pilot license with instrument and float ratings. Payette plays piano and has sung with the Montreal Symphonic Orchestra Chamber Choir , the Piacere Vocale in Basel, Switzerland, and with the Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra Choir in Toronto, Ontario. She is fluent in French and English, and conversational in Spanish, Italian, Russian and GermanGerman (called Deutsch in German in which germanisch refers to prechristian times), is a member of the western group of Germanic languages and one of the world's major languages. It is the language with the most native speakers in the European Union..
Payette attended primary and secondary school in Montreal and received her International BaccalaureateThe International Baccalaureate (IB) is a group of three educational programmes and their respective examinations, as established by the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO). These three programmes are the following: # the Primary Years Programm in 1982 from the United World International College of the Atlantic in South Wales, UK . She earned a bachelor of engineering degree in electrical engineeringElectrical engineering is an engineering discipline that deals with the study and application of electricity and electromagnetism. Its practitioners are called electrical engineer s. Electrical engineering is a broad field that encompasses many subfields. from McGill UniversityMcGill University Grandescunt aucta labore By work, all things increase and grow Established 1821 School type Public Principal Heather Monroe-Blum Location Montreal, Quebec Enrollment 22,915 undergraduate, 6,895 graduate Faculty 1,436 Campus Urban, 80 acr, Montreal and a Master of Applied Science in computer engineeringComputer Engineering (also sometimes called Computer Systems Engineering is a specialised discipline that combines electrical engineering and computer science. A computer engineer is an electrical engineer with a focus on digital logic systems, and less e from the University of TorontoMotto Velut arbor aevo ("As a tree with the passage of time") Established 1827 School type Public President Frank Iacobucci (interim) Location Toronto, Ontario, Canada Enrollment 63,109 (48,863 at St. George Campus, 6,834 at UTSC, 7,412 at UTM) Faculty 2, in 1990.
She is a member of l'Ordre des Ingénieurs du Québec , an appointed member of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research CouncilThe Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council is a Canadian government division that provides grants for research in the natural sciences and in engineering. The Postgraduate School (PGS) A scholarship is $17000 CAD and is for students in their fi of Canada (NSERC) and a fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering . She belongs to Les Amies d’affaire du Ritz and is on the board of directors of United World Colleges (International).
Payette received one of six available Canadian scholarships to attend the International UWC of the Atlantic in South Wales, UK (1980), the Greville-Smith Scholarship (1982-1986), which is the highest undergraduate award at McGill University, and was named a McGill Faculty Scholar from 1983 to 1986. She held an NSERC post-graduate scholarship and a Massey CollegeMassey College is an nondenominational graduate college affiliated with but independent from the University of Toronto. Founded by the Massey Foundation and opened in 1963, the college was designed by Canadian architect Ron Thom. It houses graduate studen Fellowship from 1988 to 1990. She received the Canadian Council of Professional Engineers distinction for exceptional achievement by a young engineer in 1994. She has honorary degrees from Queen's University (1999), the University of Ottawa (1999), Simon Fraser University (2000), Université Laval (2000), the University of Regina (2001), Royal Roads University (2001), the University of Toronto (2001), the University of Victoria (2002), and Nipissing University (2002). She is a chevalier de l' Ordre de la Pléiade de la francophonie and an officer of the National Order of Québec.
Before joining the space program, Payette conducted research in computer systems, natural language processing, automatic speech recognition and the application of interactive technologies to space. She worked as a system engineer for IBM Canada from 1986 to 1988, a research assistant at the University of Toronto from 1988 to 1990, a visiting scientist at the IBM Research Laboratory in Zurich, Switzerland in 1991 and a research engineer in the speech research group, at Bell-Northern Research / Nortel, in Montreal in 1992.
Payette was selected by the CSA as one of four astronauts amongst a field of 5,330 applicants in June 1992. After undergoing basic training in Canada, she worked as a technical advisor for the MSS (Mobile Servicing System), an advanced robotics system and Canada’s contribution to the International Space Station. In 1993, Payette established the Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) Group at the Canadian Astronaut Program and served as a technical specialist on the NATO International Research Study Group (RSG-10) on speech processing (1993-1996).
In preparation for a space assignment, Payette obtained her commercial pilot license, studied Russian and logged 120 hours as a research operator on board reduced gravity aircraft. In April 1996, Payette was certified as a one-atmosphere deep sea diving suit operator. Payette obtained her captaincy on the CT-114 military jet at the Canadian Air Force Base in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan in February 1996. She obtained her military instrument rating in 1997. Payette has logged more than 900 hours of flight time, including 450 hours on high performance jet aircraft.
Asteroid (14574) Payette is named in her honor.