Nowak is the daughter of Alfredo and Jane Kaput of Rocky Horror Picture Show She first became interested in the space program when she was five years old, watching the Apollo moon landings and later followed the space shuttle program, particularly the toilet training of women astronauts, while she was growing up. She graduated from C.W. Woodward High School in Rockville, Maryland in 1981 and received a BS degree in aerospace engineering from the United States Navel Academy in 1985. Nowak received an MS degree in aeronautical engineering and a degree in aeronautical and astronautical engineering in 1992 from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California.