About me

Hi, I’m Orey.

I turn ambiguous AI ideas into prototypes people can use, test, and argue with. Studio artist turned HCI researcher, now building toward forward-deployed and design engineering.

01 — Story

From materials to models

I started in studio art, thinking through materials, images, and physical space. Interaction design introduced new materials: code, sensors, interfaces, and eventually AI.

At CMU HCII, I moved into LLMs, agents, product design, and evaluation, learning to turn uncertain systems into things people can actually use (Learnvia, Answer Verifier).

Now I’m drawn to problems where the requirements are still forming: understand the workflow, find where intelligence helps, and build something concrete enough to test with real users.

Make it. Watch people use it. Iterate.

02 — Capabilities

What I do

Research, design, and engineering: one person, end to end.

AI systems & evaluation

Building LLM pipelines and testing them honestly: where they help, where they fail.

→ Source-Grounded Answer Verifier · n8n Reasoning Pipeline

User research & discovery

Turning ambiguous, real-world problems into clear requirements through interviews, observation, and data.

→ LOCAI · Learnvia

Product & interface design

Designing end-to-end experiences, from flows to high-fidelity prototypes in Figma.

→ Ancestor · Learnvia

Prototyping & front-end

Shipping working prototypes in React and HTML/CSS/JS, fast, with AI-assisted coding.

→ Ancestor · this portfolio

03 — Tools

Stack

The tools I use to go from research to working systems.

Py
PythonLLM pipelines & evaluation · pandas, pydantic, pytest
ClaudePrompting & LLM app building
OpenAI APIGeneration & LLM-as-judge
Google AI StudioMultimodal prototyping with Gemini
n8nAgent & workflow automation
CursorAI-assisted coding
ReactInteractive front-ends
GitHubVersion control & deploys
FigmaInterface design & prototyping
NotionResearch notes, specs & docs
04 — Path

Where I’ve been

  1. Start

    Studio art

    Wheaton College. Thinking through materials, light, and physical space. Collaborated with artist Xu Tan on Sweet Ruins (2023), a research-based video work at the Red Flag Sugar Factory, Zhuhai.

    Lumière, an installation by Orey Xia: iridescent film on a white plinth casting a golden light pattern onto the gallery wall.
    Lumière
  2. Summer

    Harvard GSD · Design Discovery

    A studio program at the Harvard Graduate School of Design: space, critique, and making at a larger scale.

    A Harvard bear holding an instant photo of Orey and two friends in Harvard sweatshirts.
    Cambridge, MA
  3. 2023

    Interaction Design & Installation

    Sensors, data, and physical interaction. Carbon Farm at Duande Art Museum.

    Orey sitting on the floor, wiring the control box of the Carbon Farm installation.
    Wiring Carbon Farm
  4. 2025 – 2026

    CMU METALS · HCII

    User research, customer discovery, rapid prototyping, and mixed qualitative methods. Advanced interaction design, edtech development, and LLM evaluation. Learnvia capstone.

    Selfie with the HCII sign at Carnegie Mellon.
    HCII, Pittsburgh
  5. Next

    Forward-Deployed / Design Engineering

    Building at the edge of product & deployment. Working directly with users to turn messy workflows into usable AI products.

    Orey on a New York street with a coffee, looking ahead.
    What’s next
05 — Contact

Let’s build something
that works.

Resume
zichunxia78@gmail.com
Art portfolio LinkedIn GitHub