updated profile pic, CV, news, talks, font and styling

Author: siminliu99

_config.yml

@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@ repository               : "siminliu99/siminliu99.github.io"
 #               Additional customization can be done by editing /_includes/author-profile.html
 author:
   # Biographic information
-  avatar           : "simin_circle_crop_profile.png"
+  avatar           : "tight_crop_profile_circle_cropped.png"
   name             : "Simin Liu"
   # pronouns         : "she/her"
   # bio              : "PhD candidate at CMU's Robotics Institute. Research in planning and control for autonomous systems."

_includes/head/custom.html

@@ -14,4 +14,7 @@
 <link rel="icon" href="/images/favicon.ico"/>
 <meta name="theme-color" content="#ffffff"/>
 
+<!-- Support for custom fonts -->
+<link href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Inter:wght@400;500;600;700&display=swap" rel="stylesheet">
+
 <!-- end custom head snippets -->

_pages/about.md

@@ -21,7 +21,8 @@ You can reach me at simin.liu.1314 -at- gmail dot com
 
 ## News
 
-<!-- - [Feb 2026] Talk at CMU Manipulation Seminar: "Global Planning for Contact-Rich Manipulation" -->
+- [March 2026] Talk at Duke Robotics Seminar on [planning for contact-rich manipulation](https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.10827) 
+- [March 2026] Talk at CMU Manipulation Seminar on [planning for contact-rich manipulation](https://arxiv.org/abs/2601.10827)
 - [Fall 2025] [Passed defense!](/images/defense.jpeg)
 - [April 2025] [Paper](https://arxiv.org/abs/2408.00117) accepted at ACM Transactions on Cyber-Physical Systems 
 - [Sept 2024–May 2025] Research internship at the Robotics and AI Institute, with [Tao Pang](https://pangtao.xyz/)

_pages/cv.md

@@ -9,4 +9,4 @@ redirect_from:
 
 {% include base_path %}
 
-<iframe src="/files/Simin_Liu_CV_02_17_26.pdf" width="100%" height="900px" style="border: none;"></iframe>
+<iframe src="/files/Simin_Liu_CV_03_02_26.pdf" width="100%" height="900px" style="border: none;"></iframe>

_sass/_themes.scss

@@ -15,7 +15,8 @@ $indent-var                 : 1.3em;
 
 /* System typefaces */
 $serif                      : Georgia, Times, serif;
-$sans-serif                 : -apple-system, ".SFNSText-Regular", "San Francisco", "Roboto", "Segoe UI", "Helvetica Neue", "Lucida Grande", Arial, sans-serif;
+// $sans-serif                 : -apple-system, ".SFNSText-Regular", "San Francisco", "Roboto", "Segoe UI", "Helvetica Neue", "Lucida Grande", Arial, sans-serif;
+$sans-serif: "Inter", -apple-system, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, sans-serif;
 $monospace                  : Monaco, Consolas, "Lucida Console", monospace;
 
 /* Sans serif typefaces */

_talks/2026-03-23-duke-robotics-seminar.md

@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+---
+title: "High-Performance Planning for Contact-Rich Manipulation"
+collection: talks
+type: "Talk"
+permalink: /talks/2026-duke-robotics-seminar
+venue: "Robotics Seminar, Duke University"
+date: 2026-03-23
+location: "Pittsburgh, PA"
+---
+Invited talk at Duke Robotics Seminar on hierarchical global planning for contact-rich manipulation using a graph of reachable sets.

assets/js/_main.js

@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 // "system". Default is "system".
 let determineThemeSetting = () => {
   let themeSetting = localStorage.getItem("theme");
-  return (themeSetting != "dark" && themeSetting != "light" && themeSetting != "system") ? "system" : themeSetting;
+  return (themeSetting != "dark" && themeSetting != "light" && themeSetting != "system") ? "light" : themeSetting;
 };
 
 // Determine the computed theme, which can be "dark" or "light". If the theme setting is