degree from Columbia, Massimino worked for IBM as a systems engineer in New York City from 1984 until 1986. Akin to Howard Wolowitz, he graduated from Columbia University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and worked as an aerospace engineer… Michael Massimino: Mike Massimino. "Astronauts cannot pick their nicknames and can only get their nicknames from other astronauts. Share with your friends. a Media Personality. Showing all 3 items Jump to: Photos (1) Quotes (2) Photos . Mike Massimino is an Astronaut. His work resulted in the awarding of two patents. "The Friendship Contraction" is the fifteenth episode of the fifth season of the American sitcom The Big Bang Theory. While a student at MIT he worked during the summer of 1987 as a general en… an Author. In 1986 he entered graduate school at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he conducted research on human operator control of space robotics systems in the MIT Mechanical Engineering Department's Human-machine systemsLaboratory. Quotes ... That's a cool nickname, because force equals mass times acceleration. This episode first aired on Thursday, February 2, 2012. a Speaker. a Columbia Professor. Dr. Michael J. Massimino (born August 19, 1962, Oceanside, NY) is a former NASA astronaut, who is a veteran of two Space Shuttle List of space shuttle missions|missions, both of which serviced the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), including the STS-125/historic final repair mission. an Explorer. Quotations by Michael J. Massimino, American Astronaut, Born August 19, 1962. Upon completing his B.S.