Academic CV for Adam Pollack

This repository contains the source data, templates, and scripts used to generate my academic CV.

Most sections of the CV are stored in .yaml files. The publications and conference presentations are maintained in .bib files in a separate bibliography repository, which is included here as a Git submodule.

This repository separates content from formatting:

• .yaml and .bib files contain the CV data.
• templates/cv.latextemplate defines the LaTeX structure and formatting.
• filters.py contains custom processing and sorting logic.
• generate_cv.py processes the data and template and generates the final .tex file in docs/.

This makes larger changes to the CV substantially easier because the same template and processing logic can be applied consistently to all of the underlying data.

Python environment

The repository uses a small Python environment to process the CV data and generate the LaTeX source.

The environment is defined in environment.yml. The main script is:

python generate_cv.py

This reads the configuration and section data, processes the information outside of the LaTeX template, applies the custom filters, and generates:

docs/Pollack-CV.tex

The generated .tex file should not be edited directly. Changes should instead be made in the relevant YAML/BibTeX data, template, or Python processing code, and the document should then be regenerated.

Compiling the CV

The generated LaTeX document is compiled locally in Visual Studio Code using the LaTeX Workshop extension.

The CV uses XeLaTeX, including because the document uses locally stored fonts.

My LaTeX Workshop configuration is:

{
  "terminal.integrated.commandsToSkipShell": [
    "language-julia.interrupt"
  ],
  "julia.symbolCacheDownload": true,
  "latex-workshop.latex.autoBuild.run": "never",
  "latex-workshop.latex.recipe.default": "latexmk (xelatex)",
  "latex-workshop.latex.tools": [
    {
      "name": "latexmk-xe",
      "command": "latexmk",
      "args": [
        "-xelatex",
        "-file-line-error",
        "-interaction=nonstopmode",
        "-synctex=1",
        "%DOC%"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "latex-workshop.latex.recipes": [
    {
      "name": "latexmk (xelatex)",
      "tools": ["latexmk-xe"]
    }
  ]
}

With docs/Pollack-CV.tex open in VS Code, the LaTeX Workshop build command runs the latexmk (xelatex) recipe. latexmk handles the compilation steps required by the document, including updating the bibliography with Biber when necessary.

Automatic builds are disabled, so saving the .tex file does not trigger a compilation.

There may be additional operating-system-specific configuration required to get the LaTeX toolchain working locally, particularly for MacTeX, Biber, fonts, and related system tools.

Typical workflow

For a typical CV update:

Edit data
   ↓
generate_cv.py
   ↓
docs/Pollack-CV.tex
   ↓
LaTeX Workshop / latexmk / XeLaTeX
   ↓
CV PDF

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Vivek Srikrishnan and James Doss-Gollin for doing all the hard work