Content and professionalism audit

Generated: 2026-06-19. Phase 1 of WEBSITE_PROFESSIONALIZATION_WORKFLOW.md.

Pages reviewed

Page Source file Live URL Main purpose Issues
Homepage index.html https://scottcoff.in/ Professional intro, entry point Uses archive layout (shows blog posts); no selected impact, no audience pathways; no “why it matters”; hobbies appear in sidebar instead of lower on page; links to “Data Science” (not renamed yet); title is very long
About Me About_Me.md https://scottcoff.in/About_Me/ Biography and context Good but short; no career timeline; expertise list undersells current OEHHA work and omits microplastics/PFAS/toxicokinetics; no institutional disclaimer
Research Research.md https://scottcoff.in/Research/ Publication list and research themes Role-naming inconsistency (“Staff Toxicologist Specialist” vs “Pharmacokinetics Research Scientist”); no curated featured publications before full list; no “why it matters” per publication; two duplicate entries (Coffin 2018 papers); no audience intro sentence
Expertise Expertise.md https://scottcoff.in/Expertise/ Expertise summary Workflow §10 says: delete this page; currently shows as a standalone page that largely duplicates Research themes
Data Science Data_Science.md https://scottcoff.in/Data_Science/ Tools and open science Stale language: “scheduled to launch in Summer, 2021” for ToMEx 2.0 (now launched years ago); no structured tool cards with status/role/audience; title appends “Scott Coffin, PhD” creating malformed visible H1; “AI Art” section is low-value for professional audience
Media Media.md https://scottcoff.in/Media/ Press, talks, and podcast archive Typos: “Califorrnia’s” (line 91), “tocurb” (line 97); stale talk count: “Total = 175 as of May 25, 2022”; no featured/curated section before the chronological archive; no descriptive summaries for audio/video embeds; LAMPOON item says 2020 but is under 2020 section (date inconsistency)
CV N/A (PDF) https://scottcoff.in/CV.pdf Full curriculum vitae Not inspected in this audit; linked correctly in nav

Audience usefulness

Audience Can they quickly find what they need? Missing or confusing elements
Researchers and collaborators Partially — Research page has themes and publications, but no curated “featured” layer or data/code links per paper No “featured publications” with why-it-matters; no collaboration contact path; open tools scattered in Data Science page
Journalists and event organizers No — no media kit, no short bio page, no topics list, no headshot download No /For_Journalists/ page; Media page is a raw chronological archive with no intro; no speaker bio text
Community members and public-interest readers No — jargon-heavy; no plain-language explainer for microplastics or PFAS No explainer pages; no “why this matters” framing; audience pathways not labeled
Policymakers and regulators Partially — Research has regulatory-relevant work but it’s buried in lists No “regulatory science” framing up front; no quick summary of what policies Scott has contributed to
Students and early-career scientists Partially — open tools and code links exist No “start here” guidance; career timeline absent; mentoring or collaboration signal not present

Identity consistency

Location Current title/role text Issue Recommended normalized wording
_config.yml author bio “Ecotoxicologist, rock climber, DJ, surfer, yoga instructor, dancer.” Entirely personal; no professional role Move personal hobbies to About page; set bio to: “Environmental toxicologist specializing in microplastics, PFAS, risk assessment, and open environmental data tools.”
index.html (homepage) “Staff Toxicologist (Specialist)” Parenthetical notation inconsistent with other uses Use: “Staff Toxicologist Specialist”
About_Me.md “Staff Toxicologist (Specialist)” Parenthetical notation Same: “Staff Toxicologist Specialist”
Research.md intro “Staff Toxicologist Specialist” Consistent with above — OK Keep
Research.md (second section) “Pharmacokinetics Research Scientist” in “Previously (2024-2025)” block Past role is clearly labeled “Previously” — OK, but dates 2024–2025 at OEHHA need context clarification Clarify: this role was at OEHHA before current Water Toxicology role
_config.yml site description “environmental toxicologist specializing in microplastics, PFAS, risk assessment, toxicokinetics, computational toxicology, regulatory science, and open environmental data tools.” Good Keep
index.html title tag “Scott Coffin, PhD | Environmental Toxicologist & Microplastics Risk Scientist” Slightly different framing from elsewhere Minor; acceptable

High-priority content gaps

  1. No “For Journalists” / media kit page. Journalists have no fast path to a bio, topic list, or headshot.
  2. No audience pathway section on homepage. No labeled “For researchers / for journalists / for community members” routing.
  3. No “Selected impact” section. The homepage and About page don’t lead with accomplishments from the CV.
  4. No career timeline. New visitors can’t quickly understand the arc from PhD to OEHHA.
  5. No “How I work” / values section. Open science commitment, regulatory relevance, and plain-language communication are not stated explicitly.
  6. No institutional disclaimer. No footer or About-page text distinguishing personal views from employer positions.
  7. Sidebar bio is entirely personal hobbies — gives no professional context to first-time visitors who see the sidebar first.
  8. ToMEx 2.0 stale launch language in Data Science page — undermines credibility of “current” status.
  9. No plain-language explainer for microplastics or PFAS for community-facing audience.
  10. Expertise page exists but workflow says to delete it — it largely duplicates Research themes with no additional value.

Professional/design issues

  1. Homepage uses layout: archive which pulls in recent blog posts. If the blog is not actively used, this creates a cluttered or confusing homepage. Consider layout: splash or layout: single.
  2. Data Science page title in frontmatter is “Data Science & Open Tools Scott Coffin, PhD” — the site appends the site name, creating: “Data Science & Open Tools Scott Coffin, PhD Scott Coffin, PhD” or similar H1 weirdness. The visible H1 at page top is missing (no # Tools & Open Science heading).
  3. Media page has no intro paragraph before jumping into archive items.
  4. Research page has no curated “featured publications” section; jumps directly into themed lists. Non-specialist visitors have no entry point.
  5. Navigation includes “Expertise” (to be deleted), links to “Data Science” (should eventually be renamed), and lacks “For Journalists.”
  6. Long publication lists with no contextual framing for each section — no “why does this group of papers matter.”

Accessibility/plain-language issues

  1. Audio elements (KALW radio clip, ABC radio, Talking PFAS podcast, EcoJustice Radio) have no nearby text summary or transcript link.
  2. Podcast/audio embeds (Libsyn, Castbox, SoundCloud) lack descriptive context beyond the list item title.
  3. Video iframes in Media page often have no text summary below them.
  4. Link text in some places is generic: “here” (not found in page scan but watch for it), “Full text” repeated without context in long publication lists.
  5. Acronyms (PFAS, NAMs, OEHHA, SB 1147, SCCWRP) are used without definition on all pages.
  6. No “why it matters” per publication — the Research page is not accessible to adjacent scientists or policymakers.
  7. Long walls of citations in Research page with no visual breaks or curated entry points.
File Line Issue Fix
Media.md 91 “Califorrnia’s BIG little plastic problem” → “California’s BIG little plastic problem”
Media.md 97 “tocurb plastic pollution” → “to curb plastic pollution”
Media.md 179 “Total = 175 as of May 25, 2022” → Update or remove stale count; the engagement data table below is the better reference
Data_Science.md 35 “scheduled to launch in Summer, 2021” → Remove stale language; ToMEx 2.0 is live; update to reflect current status
Research.md 118 Duplicate of line 107: both cite “Coffin, S. (2018). Plastic as a Vector…” from eScholarship → Remove one duplicate
Research.md 155 Duplicate of line 104: “Coffin, S., Magnuson, J. T., …Environmental Pollution, 263, 114617” → Remove one duplicate
_config.yml 97 Author bio is entirely personal hobbies; no professional context → Update to professional bio (details above)

Note: “little or not toxicology testing,” “ShareMicroplastics,” and “https.://doi.org/” were checked — not found in current source .md files. Those may have already been fixed or were only in archived versions.

Following workflow §21 phase structure:

Phase 2 (next): Fix errors and credibility blockers

Phase 3: Normalize identity

Phase 4: Homepage restructure

Phase 5: Research page portfolio structure

Phase 6: Tools & Open Science

Phase 7: Media kit

Phase 8: Plain-language resources

Phase 9: Timeline and CV highlights

Phase 10: Accessibility and final polish

End of Phase 1 audit. No page content was edited. Awaiting confirmation to proceed to Phase 2.