[1] He was involved in process, manufacturing, and engineering research on advanced aerospace materials, and worked on a joint NASA-JPL/Hexcel project to develop a practical, optically correct, precision segment reflector made entirely of advanced polymer composite materials for future space telescopes, as well as working on cure modeling and finite element analysis.

Chiao also developed and demonstrated a mechanistic cure model for graphite fiber and epoxy composite material (see Graphite-reinforced plastic).

[9] McDonald's presented Chiao with a Big Mac and French fries at their branch in Star City as one of his first meals since returning to Earth after his ISS assignment.

Chiao was the inadvertent developer of the procedure to use the IRED (Interim Resistive Exercise Device) to excite the solar arrays of the ISS.

During an exercise session of squats on the ISS, Chiao sent a vibration through the space station that caused the solar arrays to ripple – a low amplitude frequency response.

However, several years later during an ISS assembly flight in December 2006 (STS-116), German astronaut Thomas Reiter of the European Space Agency was told to do 30 seconds of robust exercise on the bungee-bar IRED machine to help retract ISS solar arrays, specifically to relieve tension in a wire system that was preventing the array from folding up like an accordion.

Chiao performed two spacewalks designed to demonstrate tools and hardware and evaluate techniques to be used in the assembly of the International Space Station.

[1][13] STS-92 Discovery (October 11–24, 2000) was launched from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida, and returned to land at Edwards Air Force Base, California.

During the 13-day flight, the seven-member crew attached the Z1 Truss and Pressurized Mating Adapter 3 to the International Space Station using Discovery's robotic arm and performed four spacewalks to configure these elements.

[17] In July 2006, Chiao accepted a position as the Executive Vice President for Space Operations and a Director of Excalibur Almaz Limited.

In March 2006, Chiao began an appointment in the mechanical engineering department at the Louisiana State University as the first Raborn Distinguished Chair Max Faget Professor.

[18] Chiao is the chairman of the National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI) User Panel, which is attached to the Baylor College of Medicine.

In preparation for lunar and Mars exploration, Chiao and the User Panel will help align NSBRI's science and technology projects with the needs of astronauts on long missions.

[20] This activity was in collaboration with the Mars Institute, the Challenger Center for Space Science Education, The Explorers Club and SpaceRef Interactive, Inc.

He conducted these webcasts from the Haughton-Mars Project Research Station and nearby locations to illustrate how NASA and other space agencies are learning to live on the Moon and Mars here on Earth.

[22] Chiao's role at Epiphan Video is to work with the aerospace industry to define the company's vision and achieve strategic goals in areas such as air traffic control.