Ruttley received an offer to work for NASA's Biomedical Systems Division upon graduation. She came to work for NASA in January 2001, where her first project was developing a detector for the presence of hydrazine on astronauts' space suits after EVAs from the ISS. She went on to become a project engineer for the exercise bicycle currently on the ISS. Ruttley subsequently served as lead hardware engineer for the ISS Human Research Facility, and later became Associate Program Scientist for the ISS. In 2010, Ruttley responded to criticisms of the cost of the ISS, saying, "I think those who are naysayers haven't given us a chance — haven't given us enough time to show what we can do." In a 2011 interview, Ruttley offered reassurance to scientists concerned that the end of the Space Shuttle program would interfere with ISS research projects, saying, "If you have an investigation you want to do on the space station, we will get you there." In July 2004, Ruttley became an aquanaut through her participation in the joint NASA-NOAA, NEEMO 6 (NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations) project, an exploration research mission held in Aquarius, the world's only undersea research laboratory. Ruttley and her crewmates lived and worked underwater for ten days. During the NEEMO 6 mission, Ruttley represented the JSC Engineering Directorate as an Engineer/Aquanaut and was in charge of leading the hardware experiments. A redesigned version of the CFREU was evaluated for potential spaceflight use during the NEEMO 6 mission. On the final day of NEEMO 6, Ruttley wrote, "The physical and mental challenge for me was the best of my life." Ruttley teaches undergraduate courses in human physiology as an adjunct professor at University of Houston–Clear Lake. In April 2008, she received the Graduate of the Last Decade (GOLD) Award from the Colorado State University College of Engineering. Ruttley is working with the National Science Foundation on an inflatable Antarctic habitat that would serve as an analog for lunar or Martian habitats. In 2013 she was a finalist in NASA's Astronaut Selection program. Personal life Ruttley lives in Virginia, with her husband Paul Colosky, the owner of Valeo Physical Therapy, and daughter Anna-Marie. In her spare time, Ruttley enjoys scuba diving, cooking, home-improvement projects, eating good food, and being with her husband and friends. She has bicycled from Houston to Austin, Texas, for the MS150, a fundraising event for the National Multiple