Self-Introduction Page Redesign

Date: 2026-09-05 Status: Draft approved in conversation, awaiting user review of written spec

Goal

Redesign the self-introduction homepage (_pages/about.md) so it reads as an academic profile page for peers and potential collaborators, rather than a chronological biography or CV-like narrative.

The redesigned page should help a visitor understand, within a few seconds:

• who Xin Xiong is,
• what research problems he works on,
• what computational approaches he uses,
• and which representative works best reflect his research profile.

Audience

Primary audience:

• academic peers,
• potential collaborators,
• researchers visiting from publications, GitHub, or Google Scholar.

Secondary audience:

• broader visitors who want a concise overview without reading a full CV.

Design Direction

The page will follow an “academic profile + selected work” structure.

Key characteristics:

• research-first, not biography-first,
• concise and professional,
• direct opening language,
• moderate information density,
• limited background detail,
• selective highlighting of representative work rather than exhaustive listing.

In Scope

• Rewrite the homepage body content in _pages/about.md
• Reorganize content into clearer sections
• Update wording to sound more focused, mature, and collaborator-friendly
• Add a compact “Selected Work” section with 2-3 representative items
• Optionally refine the short author bio in _config.yml so it matches the new homepage positioning

Out of Scope

• Full-site visual redesign
• Changes to Jekyll layouts, sidebar templates, or theme structure
• Building custom cards or a new component system
• Replacing the publications page
• Turning the homepage into a full CV or long-form autobiographical page

Page Structure

The homepage should be organized into four sections in this order.

1. Hero

Purpose:

• establish academic identity immediately,
• communicate current role and research area,
• create a strong first impression for academic readers.

Content:

• name and current position,
• one short opening paragraph in a direct, focused tone,
• 2-3 compact research keywords or themes embedded naturally in the prose or listed lightly.

Writing style:

• direct and confident,
• method-aware,
• domain-specific,
• no long backstory.

2. Research Focus

Purpose:

• explain the scientific questions, computational lens, and systems-level perspective.

Content:

• one compact paragraph explaining:
  • what biological problems matter most,
  • what kinds of computational methods are used,
  • what kind of insight the work aims to produce.

Expected emphasis:

• multi-omics data analysis,
• machine learning and statistical modeling,
• tumor microenvironment,
• cancer systems biology,
• immunology,
• systems-level understanding.

3. Selected Work

Purpose:

• give visitors concrete anchors for Xin Xiong’s research contributions.

Content:

• 2-3 representative papers, tools, or projects,
• each with:
  • a title or short label,
  • a one-sentence description of the problem and contribution,
  • a link to the relevant paper, project, or page.

Selection principle:

• prioritize representativeness over completeness,
• choose items that best reflect research identity,
• avoid repeating the full publications list already available elsewhere.

4. Brief Background

Purpose:

• provide enough academic trajectory to contextualize the current research position,
• avoid returning to a CV-like structure.

Content:

• current postdoctoral appointment,
• PhD training,
• brief mention of earlier research roles relevant to present work.

Constraints:

• keep this section short,
• avoid detailed year-by-year narration,
• use it as context, not as the page centerpiece.

Writing Guidance

The rewritten page should:

• lead with present research identity rather than past chronology,
• avoid vague phrases such as “I have broad interests” unless made more specific,
• reduce repetition across paragraphs,
• use shorter and cleaner academic English,
• preserve systems-level thinking as a distinctive theme,
• sound professional but not overly formal or inflated.

The opening should follow the approved “direct and focused” style:

• clearly state current role,
• state methodological focus,
• state research domains without overexplaining.

Implementation Notes

Likely files to edit:

• _pages/about.md
• _config.yml (only if the author bio should be aligned with the rewritten homepage)

Implementation should be surgical:

• preserve existing routing and front matter,
• keep the page compatible with the current Jekyll theme,
• avoid unnecessary formatting or structural changes outside this page.

Verification

Success criteria:

• the homepage reads like an academic profile, not a chronological autobiography,
• the first screen makes the research identity obvious,
• the page is shorter and easier to scan than the current version,
• representative work is visible without duplicating the publications page,
• background information remains present but clearly secondary.

Manual review checklist after implementation:

• read the page top-to-bottom for flow and tone,
• confirm section order matches this spec,
• check that all selected links render correctly,
• confirm no broken Markdown formatting,
• preview locally if needed to ensure readability in the existing theme.

Notes

• This document is written as the approved design basis for later implementation.
• Per repository safety rules, no git commit is created at this stage unless explicitly requested by the user.