Hi! I'm
Zhiyu Cao

Profile Picture

UX Designer.
Educator.
Digital Artist.
Researcher.
Songwriter.
Gamer.
Lifelong Learner.

I’m a recent Columbia University graduate deeply passionate about psychology, technology, and education.

My journey through undergraduate study at Purdue and graduate study at Columbia sparked my intense interest in how humans learn. My particular focus has been on the relationship between human cognition and language, leading to my master's thesis on numerical cognition in preschoolers. Following my graduation, I transitioned into hands-on educational roles, initially at a preschool and currently at a coding school, where I've witnessed firsthand the incredible ways children interact with technology. Beyond academia, I'm a big fan of virtual reality, Gen AI, and creative media like songwriting and drawing. Under the alias 'Karaz,' I craft illustrations for indie visual novel games (check out my recent work on this GalGame) and produce chiptune techno music using Vocaloid and UTAU (listen to my tracks here).

Contact: zhiyucao000@gmail.com

PROJECTS・PROJECTS・PROJECTS・PROJECTS・PROJECTS・

PROJECTS・PROJECTS・PROJECTS・PROJECTS・PROJECTS・

project2501

2025 . 01 
Squarespace Redesign for Kid-Focused Education
UX Revamp / Marketing

project2402

2024 . 02 
WordPress Overhaul for Environmental Advocacy
UX Revamp

project2310

2023 . 10 
Python-Based Scraper
APP & GUI Development

project2302

2023 . 02 
Retro-Inspired Portfolio Platform for Indie Creators
Full-Stack Web Design

ABOUT・ABOUT・ABOUT・ABOUT・ABOUT・

ABOUT・ABOUT・ABOUT・ABOUT・ABOUT・

SKILLS

Qualitative Research
Quantitative Research
User Experience Research
E-learning Development
Literature Review
Data Collection
Interview
Survey
Data Coding
Data Analysis
Data Visualization
Academic Writing and Presentation

CODING

Python
R
HTML/CSS
JavaScript
SQL

SOFTWARE

Figma
Sketch
InVision
Adobe XD
Qualtrics
Adobe Photoshop
Tableau
GitHub
SPSS

HOBBIES

Drawing
VR
Generative AI (LLM, TTS, Text to Image)
Song Writing
Video Games

LANGUAGES

Mandarin Chinese (Native)
English (Fluent)
Japanese (Fluent, JLPT N1)