After considering a move out to the Western United States, Hwang chose to return to the Texas Gulf Coast, where she would be closer to her sisters, brother, and new nephew. Her decision to return to Texas also involved the opportunity to work again in the space industry for Wyle Laboratories.[1]
Hwang joined Wyle in September 2001.[5] Initially, she worked as a scientist in the Sensors Group under Dr. Antony Jeevarajan, researching and developing oxygen, carbon dioxide, and pH sensing techniques for monitoring the health of cell cultures that would be grown on the Space Shuttle or station. In 2002 she became a scientist with the Neurosciences Group under Dr. Bill Paloski, which studies the effects of space flight on balance control problems which astronauts experience upon return to Earth, and develops possible countermeasures that will help astronauts to adapt more quickly to both the microgravity of space and the 1-g environment on Earth.[1][5] As of 2011, Hwang is working with the Integrated Science & Engineering (ISE) Group at Wyle's Houston office as Exercise Physiology and Countermeasures Project Manager.[2]
NEEMO 5
In June 2003, Hwang became an aquanaut through her participation in the joint NASA-NOAA, NEEMO 5 (NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations) project, an exploration research mission held in Aquarius, the world's only undersea research laboratory. NEEMO 5 was the longest NEEMO mission to that date, with the crew living underwater for fourteen days.[3][4] During the mission, Hwang took part in a telemedicine simulation in which two fellow crew members, directed remotely by a doctor in Houston, used an ultrasound machine to diagnose a supposed kidney stone.[6]