Dr. Hwang began his governmental career as an engineering trainee and has devoted his professional career to public service for four decades in federal, state and local governments, and academic institutions. Born in Shanghai, China, he immigrated to the US and completed his secondary education in Sacramento, California. Dr. Hwang received his B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of California – Berkeley. Upon completion of his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Mathematics at the Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, he served as an officer in the US Army, a weapons analyst and a director of military command and control in the Department of Defense. As a member of the US Senior Executive Service, he completed his 30-year federal service applying information technology to emergency management at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, including an assignment working for the US Vice President Al Gore at the White House.
Appointed in 1996 by Mayor Richard Riordan, Dr. Hwang was General Manager of the newly-created Information Technology Agency, City of Los Angeles. In 1999, he joined the California State University, Long Beach, as a professor of information systems. Appointed by elected Board of Education, he was a member of Audit, Business and Technology Committee of the Los Angeles Unified School District, 2004-07. From 2004-06, he supported Governor Schwarzenegger to reform the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Sacramento. In 2005 and 2007, he was Visiting Professor at the International College, Ming Chuan University, Taiwan. Currently, as a professor emeritus, he is Principal Investigator at the University Foundation managing a DoD-sponsored research project entitled “Strategic Mobility 21” to develop novel logistical supply chain concepts.
He co-founded Asian American Government Executive Network in Washington, DC, and Asian American Professionals Association. He served on numerous advisory boards; published scores of articles; lectured regularly in Asia; and was an editor of IEEE Computer Society.