Research Spotlight: Phuong-Trang Maria Vu’s “Echoes of Expressions”

When Phuong-Trang Maria Vu, '27 BFA Pictorial Art, became a digital scholarship fellow at the Digital Humanities Center (DHC) in the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library last year, she couldn't have predicted that her work would soon be viewable to thousands of visitors through their smartphones.

During the 2025 Research Week at SJSU, Vu digitized artwork by several fellow SJSU student artists and made them available via Adobe Aero, called "Echoes of Expressions: An Augmented Reality Art Exhibit." When library patrons visited the DHC last April, they could use her app to visualize 3D versions of her classmates' digital art, and view physical risograph prints made in collaborations with creative writing, digital printmaking, art and art history students. The experience awakened a desire not only to create art, but to share it.

Fast forward a year, and Vu has prepared a deep dive presentation into the benefits and potential of using AR for artistic collaboration for the 40th Annual California State University Student Research Competition . This prestigious, three-day statewide event showcases outstanding research, scholarship and creative work by undergraduate and graduate students from all academic disciplines across the CSU's 22 campuses.

"I didn't expect artists or creative students to apply for the competition," says Vu, who soon learned that students of all majors are encouraged to participate. Vu's mentor, Nick Szydlowski, a digital scholarship librarian at the King Library, urged her to submit her research last fall.

"Once I applied, I realized that there is more to my work than an art show; it's a commentary on how art can be placed in various public places, especially using augmented reality programs," she says. "We can use these tools to [transform] how art looks in the digital realm, as well as how it exists in the physical space, and how these two can coexist."

Vu first presented a ten-minute explanation of her work at the SJSU Research Competition earlier this semester. She was selected as a finalist, qualifying for the CSU Student Research Competition, where she'lll compete against top students from across the 22-campus California State University system. Throughout this process, she has relied on support and feedback from the Division of Research and Innovation at SJSU.

"Maria has really made the most of her role as a digital scholarship fellow in the Digital Humanities Center," says Szydlowski. "Maria's work is particularly relevant right now because it combines art and technology in a way that supports and values artists. Her focus has always been on using technology to create new opportunities for student artists to share their work. Her work is not about removing the human aspect, or automating parts of the creative process; instead, it creates new opportunities for human connection."

Vu envisions a future where digital and pictorial art combine to increase accessibility and also to multiply the promotional impact for emerging artists.

"As a pictorial arts major, I do a lot of drawings and paintings, but beyond that, I like creating spaces for artists to bloom," she says. "As an emerging artist myself, it is very appealing to uplift other artists who, like me, want to share their work out in the world."

Vu's work is also included in Immersion 2026 , an interdisciplinary collaboration between San José State, King Library, the City of San José, and many other partners.

The 40th Annual California State University Student Competition takes place April 23-25 at SJSU.