Sooshin Choi is the Director of School of Design and Associate Professor of Industrial Design at University of Cincinnati. He studied industrial design and transportation design at Seoul National University of Technology, Hong-Ik University Graduate School, Royal College of Art, and The Ohio State University. Before joining UC, he worked over 25 years as an automotive designer at Daewoo Motors and Kia Motors, design director at Fursys and Iloom, and innovative design director at DEKA Research and Development in New Hampshire, USA. He was involved in a number of vehicles, furniture projects, and innovative products such as iBOT Mobility System.

He has been teaching industrial design studios, theory of industrial design, and universal design seminar at University of Cincinnati since 2003. His research focuses include product innovation and inclusive design, and he has been an active speaker at institutions and conferences in Canada, Japan, Sweden, Mexico, China, Korea, and in the USA. He established Designnovation Studio, which allows students from diverse disciplines and various levels to tackle design for innovation projects. This rather unconventional format of studio, which appealed to corporate sponsors and students alike since 2008, helps students learn to be connectors, which is a new role for designers.

He enjoys his life as a designer -- designing products, designing future designers, and designing ideal design education models. In his role as a director of school of design, which oversees seven majors in industrial design, graphic design communication design, and fashion design program, he has been focusing on creating a permeable silo model of design education in a collective effort with his colleagues.

He has been actively serving design community in various capacities -- Vice Chair of Southern Ohio Chapter of Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA), a member of Korea Industrial Designers Association (KIDA), US Director of Korea Society of Design Sciences (KSDS), and Founder and Moderator of Korean Designers in America.

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What is TEDxHanRiver?
The Han River is one of the greatest historical significances of Korea. The Han River has been the source of inspiration for new ideas and businesses to blossom. It has also contributed to the establishment of the capital city of Korea, 'Han Yang,' which was later renamed as 'Seoul.'

The TEDxHanRiver would like to serve as the foundation for Koreans to communicate and share ideas across the Globe: our goal is to spread creative ideas, foster competent professionals, and to develop a strong community that will support Koreans to make great impact in today's society.

We are proud to be the first culturally focused TEDx conference in the nation!

TEDxHanRiver 2012 Registration is available! Click to register! For more information visit http://www.tedxhanriver.org or http://www.facebook.com/TEDxHanRiver

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About TEDx:

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)