Publications Page Setup Guide

What Was Changed

Your publications page has been updated to display a small image next to each paper along with a 1-2 line summary.

Changes Made

1. Individual Publication Files (`_publications/`)

Created 12 publication markdown files, one for each paper:

Each file includes: title, authors, venue, excerpt (summary), paper URL, and teaser image path
Files are named by year and paper name (e.g., 2024-risk-averse.md)

2. Publications Page Template (`_pages/publications.md`)

Updated to use Jekyll loops to automatically display publications by category
Publications are organized into sections:
- Coding and Inference Time Search
- Reward Modeling
- RL for LLM Reasoning and Alignment
- LLM Agents and Tool Use
- Safe and Adaptive Sequential Decision Making
- Deep Meta-RL and Imitation Learning

3. Custom Display Template (`_includes/publication-single.html`)

New template that displays:
- Paper thumbnail image (left side)
- Title, authors, venue, and year
- 1-2 line summary
- Links to paper, poster, slides, talk (when available)

4. Styling (`_sass/_archive.scss`)

Added responsive CSS for publication items
Images are 120px wide on desktop, flexible on mobile
Clean, professional layout with proper spacing

5. Placeholder Images (`images/paper-thumbnails/`)

Created directory for paper thumbnails
Added placeholder images for all 12 papers
Each image is currently a generic placeholder

How to Add Your Paper Images

Option 1: Extract from PDF

Open your paper PDF
Take a screenshot of the first page or a key figure
Resize to approximately 400x300px
Save as images/paper-thumbnails/[paper-name].png

Example filenames:

maxcode.png
vericot.png
risk-averse.png
etc.

Option 2: Use a Key Figure

Export a key figure or diagram from your paper
Resize to approximately 400x300px
Save with the appropriate filename

Option 3: Create a Custom Thumbnail

Create a simple graphic with your paper title and/or main idea
Use tools like Canva, PowerPoint, or Keynote
Export as PNG (400x300px)

Customizing Summaries

To edit the summary for any paper:

Open the file in _publications/ (e.g., 2024-risk-averse.md)
Find the excerpt: field in the front matter
Update the text to your preferred 1-2 line summary
Keep it concise and descriptive

Example:

excerpt: 'Introduces risk-averse objectives for LLM finetuning to ensure robust and safe model behavior across diverse scenarios.'

Adding New Publications

To add a new publication:

Create a new file in _publications/ following this template:

---
title: "Your Paper Title"
collection: publications
permalink: /publication/2025-your-paper
excerpt: 'A concise 1-2 line summary of your paper.'
date: 2025-01-01
venue: 'Conference/Journal Name'
paperurl: 'https://arxiv.org/abs/...'
citation: 'Author list. (Year). Title. Venue.'
authors: 'Author1, <strong>Sapana Chaudhary</strong>, Author3'
category: 'Category Name'
teaser: 'paper-thumbnails/your-paper.png'
---

Add your paper image to images/paper-thumbnails/your-paper.png
If using a new category, update _pages/publications.md to include a section for it

Testing Locally

To preview your changes:

bundle exec jekyll serve

Visit http://localhost:4000/publications/ to see your updated publications page.

File Structure

├── _publications/           # Individual publication markdown files
│   ├── 2026-maxcode.md
│   ├── 2025-vericot.md
│   └── ...
├── _pages/
│   └── publications.md     # Main publications page
├── _includes/
│   └── publication-single.html  # Display template
├── _sass/
│   └── _archive.scss       # Styling (see bottom of file)
└── images/
    └── paper-thumbnails/   # Paper thumbnail images
        ├── README.md
        ├── placeholder.png
        ├── maxcode.png
        └── ...

Next Steps

Replace placeholder images with actual paper thumbnails
Review and refine the summaries for each paper
Test the page locally to ensure everything looks good
Commit and push your changes to GitHub Pages

Enjoy your enhanced publications page!

Sapana Chaudhary