Stoch Lab Website

Source repository for the Stochastic Robotics Lab website. The site is built with Jekyll and published from the master branch through GitHub Pages.

Update Rules

• Make content changes in source files only. Do not edit generated files in _site/ or .jekyll-cache/.
• Keep changes focused and use relative site paths such as /img/people/name.jpg for local assets.
• Add images and videos under img/ and commit them with the page or data-file change that references them.
• Preserve existing YAML indentation. Use two spaces for list items and do not use tabs.
• Preview every visual or content change locally before publishing.
• Check git status before committing. Do not include _site/, .jekyll-cache/, or unrelated local changes.

Local Setup And Preview

Requirements: Ruby and Bundler. Python is also needed only when rebuilding the legacy BibTeX include with make.

bundle install
bundle exec jekyll serve

Open http://127.0.0.1:4000. To use the Makefile's local server instead, run make serve; it serves at http://127.0.0.1:5000 and may regenerate _includes/pubs.html.

Before publishing, verify the production build:

bundle exec jekyll build

Common Content Updates

People

Edit _data/people.yml. Each entry needs a unique key, display_name, and a valid role. Optional fields include webpage, github, image, and bio.

newperson:
  display_name: "New Person"
  role: phd
  webpage: "https://example.com/"
  image: /img/people/new-person.jpg
  bio: Research area or program

Available roles are defined in _config.yml. To move someone to alumni or past interns, change only their role and update their bio as appropriate.

News

Create a file in _posts/ named YYYY-MM-DD-short-title.md. The filename date controls ordering, so use the announcement date. Use shortnews: true for announcements displayed directly in the news feed.

---
title: Announcement title
layout: post
shortnews: true
icon: newspaper-o
---

Announcement text.

Use a descriptive title and omit shortnews for a full blog post. Do not use a future date unless the item should remain hidden until that date.

Research Projects

Create or edit a Markdown file in _projects/. Project cards are ordered by last-updated, newest first. Set status: inactive to hide a project from the active project listings.

---
title: Project title
description: Short card description.
people:
  - person-key
layout: project
image: /img/project-image.jpg
last-updated: 2026-08-12
category: learning
---

The people values must match keys in _data/people.yml, and category must match a research-area key in _data/areas.yml.

Research Areas, Sponsors, And Publications

• Edit _data/areas.yml for research-area names, copy, and media.
• Edit _data/sponsors.yml and add the matching logo under img/funding/ for funding updates.
• Edit _data/pubs.yml for the publications page. Preserve the existing record structure and confirm the entry appears in the correct year and section.

Site-Wide Configuration

Edit _config.yml only for configuration shared across the site, including navigation, homepage news count, people roles, and Jekyll settings. Review all pages affected by a configuration change.

Publish

After the local build succeeds and the preview looks correct, commit the intended source changes and push to master:

git status
git add <intended-files>
git commit -m "Update website content"
git push origin master

GitHub Pages deploys the master branch. Confirm the update at https://www.stochlab.com/ after the GitHub Pages build completes.