Phil Choo was appointed the head of the Graphic Design program in Penn State in December 2018. Prior to arriving in Happy Valley, he was head of the M.F.A.program in graphic design in the Department of Art, Graphic Design and Art History at Oklahoma State University.

A national and international award-winning designer, Choo’s research focuses on branding design and user experience design. In 2017, he was named the Oklahoma State Riata Center for Entrepreneurship Faculty Fellow of the Year. He recently conducted a branding project, White Box, by using virtual reality with both the Department of Architecture and the Riata Center. White Box is a project intended to highlight Oklahoma State entrepreneurs by placing their products in a student union pop-up store for both selling and research purposes. Choo is also a collaborator at the Oklahoma State Mixed Reality Lab, which focuses on virtual reality, augmented reality, 3D printing, motion capture technology and eye tracking. He is a founding member and on the steering committee of the Oklahoma State University App Center, a hub for app development where students, faculty and the university community converge.

As a freelance designer and consultant, Choo has completed numerous print and UX/UI design projects for diverse clients. During his sabbatical, he worked as a UX/UI design consultant for SST Software. SST Software is a nationally-recognized company in the design of software that supports precision agriculture services. He consulted with the company’s leadership and helped to create a new department for UX/UI design. Also, he facilitated SST scholarships and a summer internship program for graphic design students at Oklahoma State.

Choo has received top honors in the University and College Designers Association (UCDA) Design Competition; Graphis; International Visual Identity Awards; American Advertising Awards (formerly Addy Award); the annual Graphex Design Awards from the Art Director’s Club in Tulsa; the Art Design Institute (ADI) Award Exhibition at the China Academy of Art; and the National Educators’ Design Exhibition (DENE), among others.

Choo received his M.F.A. from Iowa State University, where his emphasis was visual communication and human interaction design. He taught at Iowa State University and the University of Minnesota before joining the Oklahoma State faculty in 2005.