AGENT.md

Objective

Upgrade an existing AcademicPages (Jekyll + GitHub Pages) personal academic website to a more modern research-oriented layout with:

• A research overview page (Zehang Li–style)
• A projects index + individual project pages (Zhenke Wu–style)
• A cleaner homepage with improved hierarchy

The site must remain compatible with GitHub Pages constraints (no unsupported plugins, static build only).

Environment Context

• Framework: Jekyll (AcademicPages / Minimal Mistakes fork)
• Hosting: GitHub Pages
• Content format: Markdown + YAML front matter
• Rendering: Liquid templates
• Build constraint: Only GitHub Pages–supported plugins allowed

High-Level Tasks

1. Fix CV Page

Update the current CV page so it directly opens the PDF instead of sending visitors to a GitHub link.

Behavior:

• /cv/ should resolve directly to the hosted PDF asset
• Keep navigation label as “CV”
• Preserve a clean user flow for downloading or opening the PDF in-browser

2. Add Research Page

Create a structured research overview page.

File:

_pages/research.md

Requirements:

• Render 4–6 research themes
• Each theme includes:
  • title
  • short description (2–4 sentences)
  • keywords/tags
  • optional links
• Layout should support card/grid display
• Add a section for selected publications
• Each selected publication should include:
  • short blurb
  • downloadable paper link
  • GitHub link for code and/or data when available

Data source (preferred):

_data/research.yml

3. Add Projects Collection

Create a Jekyll collection for projects.

Update _config.yml:

collections:
  projects:
    output: true
    permalink: /projects/:path/

Directory:

_projects/

Each project file must include front matter:

---
title: "Project Title"
excerpt: "1–2 sentence summary"
date: 2025-01-01
status: ongoing
tags: [LLM, Bayesian, Global Health]
links:
  - label: "Paper"
    url: ""
  - label: "Code"
    url: ""
---

4. Create Projects Index Page

File:

_pages/projects.md

Behavior:

• Automatically iterate through site.projects
• Display:
  • title
  • short description
  • tags
  • link to project page

5. Add Talks Page

Create a page for selected presentations and talks.

File:

_pages/talks.md

Behavior:

• Highlight selected invited talks, conference presentations, workshops, or guest lectures
• Each item should support:
  • title
  • venue/event
  • date
  • short description or takeaway
  • optional slides/video/recording link

Preferred approach:

• Reuse existing talks content if already present in the site
• If needed, create a lightweight data source for selected talks

6. Add News Page

Create a page for academic and professional updates.

File:

_pages/news.md

Behavior:

• Display news items in reverse chronological order
• Support concise updates such as papers, awards, talks, grants, teaching, collaborations, or media mentions
• Keep the layout lightweight and easy to update

Data source (preferred):

_data/news.yml

7. Add Personal Page

Create a page about personal interests and fun updates outside formal research.

File:

_pages/personal.md

Behavior:

• Introduce hobbies, interests, side projects, travel, photos, or other light personal content
• Include a “fun news” or life updates section
• Keep tone warm and human while still fitting the broader academic site

8. Improve Homepage

Modify:

_pages/about.md

Changes:

• Shorten biography (≤150 words intro)
• Add:
  • research statement (2–3 lines)
  • links: CV / Google Scholar / GitHub
• Add section:
  • “Selected Research Areas” (link to research page)
  • “Selected Projects” (link to projects)
  • quick links to talks, news, and personal page if they improve navigation

9. UI / Layout Enhancements

Override theme defaults where needed.

Edit or create:

_layouts/
_includes/
assets/css/custom.scss

Add components:

• research-card.html
• project-card.html
• publication-card.html
• news-item.html
• talk-card.html

Styling goals:

• clean academic look
• grid-based layout
• subtle borders (no heavy shadows)
• responsive design
• restrained color palette

Constraints

• Do NOT introduce unsupported Jekyll plugins
• Do NOT break existing collections (publications, talks, etc.)
• Maintain compatibility with GitHub Pages build system
• Preserve existing URLs where possible

Preferred Implementation Patterns

Research (data-driven)

_data/research.yml → rendered via include

News (data-driven)

_data/news.yml → rendered via include or page loop

Projects (collection-driven)

_projects/*.md → auto-indexed

Layout reuse

• Use includes for repeatable UI components
• Avoid duplicating HTML

Example Research YAML

- title: "AI for Population Health"
  description: "Developing multimodal ML models for population health insights."
  tags: ["LLM", "Multimodal", "Health Data"]

- title: "Data Quality in Surveys"
  description: "Measuring and modeling information sufficiency in survey and surveillance systems."
  tags: ["Survey Methods", "Data Quality"]

Example Include (Project Card)

<div class="project-card">
  <h3><a href=""></a></h3>
  <p></p>
  <div class="tags">
    
  </div>
</div>

Acceptance Criteria

• /cv/ opens the PDF directly
• /research/ page exists and renders structured themes
• /research/ includes selected publications with downloadable links and code/data links where available
• /projects/ page lists all projects dynamically
• Each project has its own page
• /talks/ page exists and highlights selected presentations
• /news/ page exists and displays updates cleanly
• /personal/ page exists and presents personal interests/fun updates
• Homepage is visually cleaner and shorter
• Site builds successfully on GitHub Pages
• No broken links or layout regressions

Non-Goals

• Do NOT migrate away from Jekyll
• Do NOT introduce React/Vue or dynamic frameworks
• Do NOT redesign publications/talks sections unless necessary

Execution Strategy

1. Create new pages and collections
2. Add minimal working layouts
3. Populate with placeholder content
4. Apply styling improvements
5. Refactor for reuse and cleanliness

Notes for Codex

• Prefer small, atomic commits
• Validate Liquid syntax carefully (common failure point)
• Test locally with:

  bundle exec jekyll serve
  

• Ensure compatibility with GitHub Pages build pipeline