texts: How do I know that I have truly lost interest in research and should drop out of a top CS PhD program?

texts:
I am a second-year CS PhD pre-candidate in a top PhD program. During my first year, I published a first-author paper at the best conference in my area, which I know is a big accomplishment. My advisor is famous in his area and also very caring and supportive, and my labmates are great too.

The thing is my second project didn't go very well, which caused us to change the entire story right before the deadline. I worked more than 70 hours per week and gave all I could, but there was not enough time to get everything we need in a good shape, and my advisor was frustrated with the progress and pointed out problems that I hadn't seen everywhere. I continued to work, but found myself too frustrated and suddenly lost all interest in research, stopped caring about papers, did as best I could to avoid talking to anyone, and want to leave this place and never come back. I know most PhDs somehow have this feeling, but I notice that this time it's quite serious:

Forcing myself to work resulted in a breakdown every night with the feeling that all I did was nonsense and meaningless.
My first paper has now become a joke, laughing at me that I could never publish with my own efforts.
I have no intention to participate in lab communication and truly don't want to talk to anyone. I can't even bear to hear others typing due to the feeling that I am the only one who doesn't make progress.

How can I know if I truly have lost my interest in research (and should drop my Ph.D.), or if this is something that I can overcome? After all,  if this is the best I can do, why not go somewhere else and use my skills to actually contribute rather than wasting everybody's time? I am so tired of receiving new tasks at 4 am or 11 pm due the next day. I would highly appreciate your advice!


texts: What are the effects of not taking any humanities courses?

texts:
I am in high school but soon I will be going to college. I already have a hard time dealing with the silliness of high school (on an intellectual level), and  in particular I have 0 interest in humanities courses (frankly I think literature is pathetic thing to study). I am interested only in maths and science.

When I get to college, I plan only to take maths and science courses and not attend any humanities courses even if they are required as part of the core curriculum. What are the potential ramifications of this assuming the college is one of the prestigious ones like Harvard/MIT. Will a bad grade in humanities course mean less opportunities later on?


texts: Writing multiple areas of interest in SOP

texts:
So first let me introduce myself. I am planning to apply for masters in mathematics  in this year. I am student of bsc. 3rd year of Mathematics. Although my initial interest was to study about algebraic number theory, to know about algebraic number theory deeply, i think one should know about commutative algebra also. So I started a readership  on commutative algebra under a professor. But as the time passed I also stared to grow liking for commutative algebra. And now I want to explore more commutative algebra before diving deep into algebric number theory, so here comes the problem.

In the Sop while applying to foreign is it okay to write about having multiple subject of interest as one is prerequisite of other. Or should I specify one of them. I really want to study algaebric number theory but I also want to know more about commutative algebra.
Any help will be appreciated. Thanks in advance.


texts: Why do universities require official confirmation of scores before admission?

texts:
Why do American universities want official GRE/TOEFL scores before admission? It seems to be a waste of time and money for prospective applicants. They can easily use the scores claimed by students in first stages and ask them official scores after admission.

On the other hand ETS can send official scores directly to universities electrically via Internet without additional cost.


texts: How to deal with co-PhD student demanding too much time?

texts:
Me and another PhD student have the same schedule. However, they are not pulling their weight and I feel as if I have to do far more than necessary to compensate -- I have to do research, read papers and explain them to them, give presentations, do their work, and have long meetings with them to discuss things that I already know. They read only papers that I specifically recommend, and so are bringing no knowledge/ideas/viewpoints I don't already have. They constantly interrupt me while working and act extremely entitled to (large amounts of) my time. We're at the same point in our PhDs.

They are rude and I don't wish to invest a significant amount of energy teaching them how to be a functioning member of the department. I have already tried teaching them how to find papers to read and research avenues to pursue independently, and how to manage their time so that I don't need to do the work of the 'group' entirely by myself every time. It hasn't worked. At best, they will go and ask someone else to explain whatever topic I've asked them to learn about, and then we're on the same level again.

We are involved in research projects together (without anyone else to notice this behaviour) and I do not wish to abandon the projects. We are also required to take classes together with the same goal (to prompt/produce research projects) next semester, and so I want to know how best to handle this before this repeats itself.

We have to work with one another closely for the next 2 years so I don't want to burn bridges, but I was wondering whether it'd be within reason to tell my supervisor, or whether I should just take action to avoid this person and not burden myself with them as 'co-researcher' or co-TA ever again? I close my office door and let the student know that this means don't interrupt, but this has not been respected. I definitely don't want to isolate myself from the rest of the group but at this point I don't really know what to do except work from home.


texts: Switching from Economics to Computer Science?

texts:
I just graduated undergrad with a Bachelor in Science in Economics with a Minor in Business. I hope one day to get a Masters in Computer Science as throughout undergrad I self taught myself programming and got a job in finance at a very respected hedge fund where I'll be combining my finance and coding knowledge (essentially an analyst position where I'll be doing data analysis to support traders at the firm.)

The job will 100% pay for grad school after 1 year and I want to go for a program in Computer Science or Data Science. I'm wondering what I need to do to prepare for this and what programs are available to me given that my undergraduate degree is in a unrelated subject.

I have an overall GPA of 3.3 due to a particularly poor performance freshman and sophomore year and doing especially poorly in Spanish but I received a GPA of 3.7-3.8 my Junior and Senior years while taking a more advanced and quantitative course load.

I've taken 2 elective classes in computer science and received As in both of them although neither class is a core class for a comp sci curriculum.

I also have around 4 years of self-taught coding experience both in my private life and through several internships that I participated in while at college. I'm proficient in several languages (Python, VBA, Java, and SAS).

What type of programs can I expect to be accepted to and what can I do to increase my chances of success? I've heard that I should take ad-hoc core programming classes and study hard for the GRE but apart from that I'm lost.


texts: What is the average salary of assistant professor in New Zealand?

texts: What is the rough salary one should expect from a research university in New Zealand, say in mathematics or sciences areas, at the beginning assistant professor (called Lecturer in NZ) level professor?


texts:
How would the dutch educational system be represented in a diagram? Or put differently, what are the different roads that lead to the academic world in the Netherlands?

PS. This question ("What are the different roads to get into academics in the Netherlands?") came up in chat awhile ago, so I drew a diagram and it was suggested I share it as a self answered post as well, because it's a neat resource. Didn't do it back then as some parts lacked, but somebody asked me the same question more generally again so looked up the diagram, finished it and wanted to share it publicly now after all.


texts: When is it appropriate to wrap text around an image in a scientific paper?

texts:
I am working on a paper and the prescribed style dictates that we should use a single column of text; however, we have some relatively tall and thin images. If they are included in the paper in line they would take up the better part of a page with significant empty space to the sides of the image.

I realize that there are several possibilities to circumvent this situation

Rotating the image is possible sometimes
Shrinking the image so it does not take up as much vertical space
Creating graphics comprised of multiple images side by side to create a more favorable aspect ratio

However, if none of these options are possible is it acceptable to wrap the text around the image? If so are there any examples? Would this be a convention that differs between disciplines?


texts: What does it mean that a conference is sponsored by ACM or IEEE?

texts:
Some conferences are established by IEEE and ACM, others by only one of them.

I thought at first that such organizations somehow maintain a certain degree of high quality in the affiliated conferences. But I've seen beginner conferences saying they they are sponsored by IEEE, some say "technically sponsored", while they accept poor quality papers.

So what should "having the ACM or IEEE logo on a conference's website" mean to me?


texts: Does self-study leads to fast but shallow knowledge acquisition

texts:
On another SE site i have read that

  Self-study often leads to rapid but shallow knowledge acquisition.

I'm a software engineer and i spend a lot of time taking math and physics courses on different online platforms. And this sentence makes me worry. Is that true?


texts: What are appropriate questions for a closed-door (non-public) part of a PhD (or master's) defense?

texts:
There is a related question about questions to expect for PhD defenses here: What questions to prepare for PhD defense?, but the question (and answers) are referring to the public oral defense.
Generally, at least in Biology in the U.S., there is a "closed-door" or "non-public" part of the defense where the committee "grills" the student about all types of things. I am wondering what types of things are appropriate. It seems that sometimes questions are not related to the thesis or dissertation specifically, but general questions in a large field / body of knowledge. If committee members do not provide you with reading material or potential questions, how would one even go about knowing what to expect? Is it appropriate to fail someone for not answering seemingly random questions - as if they are to have encyclopedic knowledge?


texts: How to make suggestions to professors on how to teach?

texts: This is my first time posting here and I apologize if this is not in the relevant forum or site.  My question is: is it possible to approach professors to changing their teaching style?   and if so, how would it be best to approach this topic?


texts: Should a reviewer critique language and text copy-paste issues?

texts:
While reviewing research papers, I often find that the author's English is not very good. Considering that English is not everyone's native language, I understand their difficulties, and I recognize that they struggle (using dictionaries and translators) to get their work published at all.

That being said, I sometimes find papers that have contain English that is frankly terrible, with a few select fragments in pristine, almost Shakespearean English, using words that sometimes I didn't even know existed. When this happens, a quick Google search will occasionally reveal that these fragments are copy-pasted fragments from textbooks.

What should I do in these cases? I feel that being too harsh might come of as being mean, but I would really like to emphasize that the practice is very bad for the scientific community.


texts: Is there research on the extent to which complexity of the proposed method(s) impacts the acceptance rate?

texts:
I heard this speaker at IJCAI complained that his paper got rejected because the methods he used were too simple despite the results being highly competitive (twice the state of the art, at least according to one metric). The complain can be listened in this video at 29'30''. Excerpt:

  (Addressed to reviewers) Accept simple papers if they demonstrated what they were trying to
  show.

It wasn't the first time I heard such a complain, as simplifying existing solutions is arguably a contribution, yet sometime despised.

Is there any research/study/survey that looked at the impact of the complexity of the method(s) proposed in a submitted paper on its acceptance rate?

I am mostly interested in the field of computer science > machine learning / NLP / data mining, and English-speaking venues.


texts: how to handle double affiliation in a research article?

texts:
I would like to know how to handle the following situation:

I was working previously as a part time lecturer, or lecturer paid by hours, in an X university. While working there I developed a lecturing system that helped the students to cope with a subject in computer programming.
I moved for working in another university Y, in which they employed me for performing lecturing and research tasks. Actually university X did not pay for research, but only for lecturing tasks.

I have made a research paper based on the lecturing system that I implemented and tested in university X, but the place that will be paying for its actual publication, if accepted; will be my current place of work. So the question that I have is how should I handle that situation?

Should I put a double affiliation like:

Author: Layla
University Y (the place that is actually paying for the research task)
University X (my former place of work where I developed that methodology in my free time)

or should I only put University Y as my main affiliation?

I was wondering if that is possible, because if I put only as my affiliation university X (in which I am not longer working) they would not pay for the research, leaving me with financial problems to publish the article.

Any help?

Thanks


texts:
I m glad to be here.
I m planning to start a phd in computer science, but i cant find a computer science field to fit my needs.
I am working on web applications and app applications over 7 years. I know php mysql jquery java javascript and asp. Furthermore i am working on setting up servers.
My supervisor want some proposals as regard my phd subject.
I need a field that i can search new things and offer my services to the science.
Can you help me?


texts:
For an assignment, I was paired up with a professor who also has an administrative role within my college. The assignment was unique to me, with a competitive process to be chosen for the assignment (or put on to a different one). The assignment was to produce some software for the college.

The assignment did not require me to completely finish the software. The assignment has now ended, and the professor has informed me that he expects me to receive a good grade.

Outside of my studies, I make a living doing the same work that was required of the assignment (hence why I took it). The professor has asked to meet me to discuss completing the software to the college's specification. The professor is also the one currently marking the assignment. He has offered me an extremely modest sum of money for this - I would never work for this low rate under any circumstances in my job.

I'm concerned that refusing to work for such a low rate will jeopardise my mark as there is a conflict of interest. I do not have any feelings either way for the college and do not feel that I am obligated to complete the software, other than to appease the professor, and the college is very wealthy and so could afford to pay me a reasonable rate. Furthermore, during the course of the work I will graduate and no longer be a student of the college.

I am looking for advice on how to approach this. Would you suggest that I complete the work for, basically, free? Otherwise, how can I sensitively reject the work without affecting my grade?


texts: Are fear and concerns stemmed from being sexual assaulted generally understandable by grad schools? Would it be seen as a negative trait?

texts:
I am a victim of sexual assault and I need to talk to the school (in the US) about it for accommodation reasons. I feel if I don't disclose enough I may not be able to get the accommodation, yet I don't feel comfortable of disclosing that much to the school. I am trying to decide what is safe to say. I am scared and nervous about saying something wrong or causing any consequences. For example, I don’t want to disclose the identity of the people who did it. I don’t want to bring them more back into my life.  The people who did it are not related to the school.
Are these concerns generally immediately understandable by grad schools?
Would any of the above I mentioned be considered negative traits as a student? For example, sometimes I get nervous and clumsy when I talk about it.
Thank you!
Edit: Thank you very much for all of your comments and answers. They are all very helpful informations to know. I am sorry if some aspects are not very clear in the questions because I am trying to avoid specific details but still ask questions. In reality it is a very complicated situation.


texts: Is it reasonable for an anonymous reviewer to add the completion date to their report to show they completed the review in a timely manner?

texts: As a referee, I like to submit my reports in a timely fashion in order to avoid unnecessary delays in the publication (and also because I hate when referees spend months and months reviewing my papers). However, I have noticed that sometimes the journal does not make a decision on the paper until several months or weeks later. I have an example when I submitted my report in July and the decision was made in November. I was wondering if it would be correct/ethical to put the date on my report in order to show the authors that my report was submitted on time, even if I am an anonymous referee, and that other referees or the editors are to blame for any delays.


texts: What can we do about being dissatisfied, morally and practically, by the business-like tactics shown by Universities (in the US and elsewhere)?

texts:
I asked this question: Are universities run more and more like businesses? What are the consequences?
A couple days ago. The title was edited by someone and I believe the conversation got a bit derailed. I think the title was edited because my original title implied that universities are run like businesses which might be seen as unfair to people but I am just guessing here.
Anyway, although the responses on my original question were very interesting and I appreciate them, as a young academic myself who will go into the job market in the next 2 years (hopefully) what I am really asking is: Given that you believe the following:

Universities are run like businesses and put profit above quality
Tenure-track positions are declining while "abusive" positions like post-docs and adjuncts are increasing.
Meanwhile super highly paid administrators are getting paid more and more.

What can we, as academics, do to fight this trend or get out of it? Do any of you feel guilty for supporting what I feel like is straight up corruption? Or am I being dramatic?
I never complained about the low pay I received as a graduate student because I felt very grateful to be paid at all to learn high-level mathematics. I didn't mind teaching and I love my research. However, I always believed I would do a post-doc or two and become a tenure-track professor if I worked hard enough and published good papers. However, after witnessing what our post-docs go through and seeing some numbers about how pay is distributed within the university, I can't help but thinking that these are not the kind of organizations I want to be a part of even if I do become one of the few successful ones who gets a decent job. So rather than gripe about it, what are some things that can be done? Or is there basically nothing that we can do? I mean, whatever happens, universities are useless without their professors right? Don't we have some kind of power?


texts: How to complete homework more efficiently?

texts:
I spend way too much time on homework. I find that I eventually get the material, but this goes after perhaps 7-8 hours wasted daily. I tend to get bogged down by the details of readings, etc.

What is a way to stay consistently on track, moving quickly, and finishing homework ruthlessly and efficiently?

I know some people simply do not do homework that is not graded, and I don't see how it is possible to do well in a course if you don't keep up with the concepts presented in class and reinforced by the homework. Therefore, not doing it is not an option for me.

Any suggestions?


texts:
My husband has accepted a postdoc position in a city in Australia with two great institutions where I think I'll have a good shot at securing a postdoc for myself. I have some great connections to researchers there through my advisor and committee members. I'm now doing the groundwork to get my foot in the door as I've not met any of these researchers in person.

How/should I get around mentioning that I'm moving there as a trailing spouse? It will be pretty obvious, correct? Why else would I be moving there? Should I just be upfront about it?


texts: PhD salary and teaching assistantships in German-speaking countries

texts:
I am currently searching for a master and then a PhD in Finance/Quantitative Finance. Since I have a certificate in German Language, I could choose German-speaking countries (Switzerland, Germany, and Austria) since their master programms have low fees and PhD students get paied in contrast with other countries as UK,etc.

My question is about pursuing a PhD and whether I could enhance my income by providing teaching assistance in the University. In these countries, are classes based explicitly on German or English?
Moreover, do these countries offer a salary for a PhD student, or is the cost of living prohibitive?


texts: Should I cite the book and ancient text in my paper?

texts:
I'm writing a paper for an undergraduate philosophy class and I am not sure how I should make the citation for the text. I will provide an example.

  However, we do read from the dialogue Apology, that Socrates had a friend named Chaerephon who visited the oracle at Delphi (Plato and Allen 83, 21a).

1.) Should I include the page numbers and the DK numbers? The text I'm using is: Plato, and Reginald E. Allen. The Dialogues of Plato Volume 1. New Haven: Yale Uni. Press, 1984. Print.

2.) Furthermore, how would I format the "Ibid." citation?


texts: Should I tell my PhD supervisor that I am looking for an other position?

texts:
I am not satisfied with my PhD and the research group and I was thinking of looking somewhere else. I would like to stay in Academia for now and I want to apply to other programs (in an other country and university).

Should I tell my supervisor that I am looking for an other position? Or is it better to tell him once I have found something?

The problem is that I have to contact some professors and there is a minimal possibility that they know each other...


texts: What are some of the task planning tools people use in academia?

texts: I have used simple excel-style Gantt Charts to create a high level plan of tasks for the academic semester, noted the end times depending on conference and grant deadlines, and then managed my time according to the deadline. I have also added details under each task as the semester proceeds. I am wondering if there are better task planning & management tools that people have used, especially when they are working on multiple projects with different deadlines?


texts: Change of interest for PhD after BA & MA? Does it look 'academically' immature?

texts:
So I have studied philosophy : BA, MA (UK). Both my BA & MA dissertations are on 18th & 19th century German Philosophy. Nothing political. During my MA, however, I noticed that I would much prefer to continue with political philosophy (PhD). I attended a great seminar with a superb professor that made me realise this.

However, I feel kind of stuck now. I am worried it will look very unstable and immature to say that after the MA, I now want to not do anything with German Philosophy at all anymore.

Should I maybe aim to do a second MA (or 1 year MPhil in the UK) and then focus more on philosophy? Or is this silly? I only had one class in political philosophy during my MA, which I got a A+ for, but apart from that not much.

I would also like to contact that professor and possibly discuss working with him, but I don't yet have a good idea for a topic, I am worried I will sound super undecided with this story, and I am also reluctant to tell him that his seminar inspired me, because it can easily sound super cheesy.

Any advice?

PS: I am only considering applying to PhDs in the UK. This makes a difference I guess, because in the US it's not that important to not know what exactly one wants to tackle when applying for a PhD, whereas in the UK PhDs are 3-4 years and people expect you to know your topic.


texts: Can I write an article in a reputable CS journal not with results but conjecture?

texts: I work in industry and some interesting idea has struck me. This is a conjecture which will take a year or two of full time research work to confirm it although it looks very realistic. Unfortunately I cannot apply for post doctorate or a grant due to my work commitments but I would be glad to publish an article if a reputable CS journals would be interested. This may solve very hard practical problem but surprisingly it is difficult to monetize so I cannot do it in industry.


texts: University subscribed its entire community for a mailing list which is impossible to unsubscribe from

texts:
I realize that this is a very atypical question for this forum. To be frank, I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask. But it is part of my academic life, so I'm going to give it a try.
In the beginning of Fall 2020, our university (in the U.S.) created a mailing list and automatically subscribed the entire university community to it. It comes from a certain non-academic unit within the university, newly created to address certain social issues both within the university and in the wider community. Now, there's nothing abnormal about that. Of course, a university is a social organization, and there are multiple non-academic facets in its life. Our university has many such mailing lists on various academic and non-academic topics, which can be crucially important for everyone (payroll) or optional for interested persons only (university sports).
But one thing makes this new mailing list different: it seems to be impossible to unsubscribe from. I believe the university has a uniform mailing list platform for many of its newsletters, including this one. There's an unsubscribe link at the bottom of these emails. Clicking the link takes you to a subscription profile page. There's an option to unsubscribe from the publication at the bottom of the profile page. I checked the unsubscribe box months ago... and it had no effect whatsoever. The messages keep coming despite my unsubscribed status.
This was never an issue with any other mailing lists that used the same platform and that I was able to unsubscribe from (say, I'm not interested in sports, so I unsubscribed from that one). So my question is:

Are there any legal and/or ethical regulations and/or guidelines for non-commercial mailing lists within an organization, in particular within an academic organization?

I tried searching online. Clearly, CAN-SPAM doesn't apply here, because this is a non-commercial setting.
EDIT: In response to a comment below. Yes, I thought that it might be a bug. I emailed the university tech support about a month ago. They said that they don't know of an immediate source of the issue, and promised to escalate my request to a higher-level email team... and now it's been a month, and I haven't heard back from then again.


texts:
Hello everyone and thank you for your attention!

I have been just offered two different scholarships which are pretty much the same. However, the first one requires me to apply to the university and will be granted only if I am accepted. The second combines an acceptance offer + the scholarship itself (Erasmus +).

I can't be 100% sure that I will meet the requirements of the first scholarship but it appeals to me. Only if I get rejected here (I will know that in several months), I will choose the Erasmus +.

I have just a week to accept Erasmus + and want to have this option if anything goes wrong. Can I now accept their offer and decline it later? How will that affect my academic future or whatever?

Any suggestions on how to deal with that?


texts: Which year do I use for an in-text APA citation?

texts:
The first year is when the data was collected: 2013
The second year is when the paper was written: 2015
The third year is when the paper was published: 2017

"In total, 121 women and 61 men completed the experiment over the course of several months across 2013." is where I am getting the 2013 from, so if I was to say, in a study conducted in 2013, blah blah blah, very specific to the data itself, and I do an in-text citation in APA format, which year do I use?


texts: Listing Research Universities (Highest research activity)

texts:
Universities' rankings are misleading, because various institutes publish their ranking results by taking various factors.

I have found a classification of research universities as R1 , R2 adn R3 here. How reliable is the listing?


texts: If I've decided to go to Grad. School for Mathematics... a little late?

texts:
Two questions following a bit of background:

I'm currently a 4th year Physics/Mathematics major to graduate in the spring, and I'm beginning my applications for Grad. school. My goal is theoretical/mathematical physics. Just the idea of applying pure mathematics to physics is exciting to me.

I've taken the Physics GRE Subject tests and all that great stuff, but the more I think of it... the more I feel I prefer mathematics, and as a result---mathematics graduate studies; I'd still like to apply this to physics, eventually, but what I really want is the pure, abstract math first.

1) The next Mathematics Subject GRE is in April. If I want to get into a mathematics graduate program, have I missed my shot?

2) How viable of an option would it be to switch from a physics grad. program into a mathematics one in the same university?


texts: Will they send offer letter within 15th April

texts:
In this fall 2016 I have applied  for graduate admission (PhD, Physics) few universities and I have received an admit from one of them. The university gave me a deadline (April 15)  to accept or decline the offer.

On the other hand, I emailed the other few universities(my priority university selection where I would love to join.) to know my application status.  They have put me on a waiting-list.

What is the possibility of these university that they will send another round offer letters within the 15th April ?


texts: Acknowledge previous advisor/collaborators for ideas in article

texts:
A PhD student switches to another PhD program and writes an article based on an idea or proposal on which the PhD student has worked, but which was written by the former advisor.

The PhD student leaves in good terms, and then contacts 2-3 times the former advisor to know whether they are interested in contributing to the article, without never getting a response.

If the PhD student publishes said article, should a note be added to the acknowledgments mentioning something like "we would like to thank Dr. Smith for some of the ideas that generated this article"?

Note that none of the original proposal is part of this article but some similar ideas are mentioned.


texts: International differences between "adjunct professor" and "visiting professor"?

texts:
I am interested in the differences between levels of professorships in the countries:

USA
UK
China
Germany

I read the Wikipedia Article about Professorship in United States but as far as I can tell - in the end - both take up the position of a professor:

for a (short) time - but tend to stay for quite a while, even if that is not the idea (both possibly receiving bad contracts)
which is non-tenure track,
are not involved in administrative tasks,
might come from a different university, but don't have to.

In an international context: What is the difference between an "adjunct professor" and a "visiting professor"?

Additionally: Which one is more prestigious?


texts: On-campus or off-campus residence for a married couple?

texts:
My friend has been recently admitted to a Ph.D. program at a university in US, west coast. His wife has a specific situation, suffering from Parkinson's disease.

In one hand, his wife needs tranquility, and the chaotic atmosphere of the campus might annoy her considerably .

On the other hand, living alone in a private house sounds daunting for them, because of the unstable status of the aforementioned lady.

He is fully funded, and no concern would be asserted in view of the financial restrictions to rent a private house. An on-campus residency is also available. The situation is messy and they have to decide between on-campus or off-campus residency, as soon as possible.

Any idea to identify the better option?

Thanks for your contribution


texts: How do MIT OpenCourseware and real MIT courses compare?

texts:
Are MIT courses much different from MIT OpenCourseWare? I am curious, because as a high schooler, I have some intent to study from MIT OpenCourseWare.

Will this allow me to be more comfortable if I am admitted to MIT?

Also, how are MIT courses so different from those at other places? I heard that these courses are hard..


texts: How can I effectively switch fields from physics to math post-undergrad?

texts:
I recently graduated with a BA in physics. Towards the tail end of my undergrad career I took the Putnam exam (scored 28 w/o having taken any upper div math), and subsequently took a couple core math courses (one quarter of real analysis, one quarter of proof-based linear algebra). These were the probably the three most enjoyable learning experiences I've had in undergrad, and for the past month or so I've been trying to think about how I could possibly switch to a research career in mathematics but it seems very unfeasible due to the small amount of core classes I took and my inability to do any substantial math research both due to lack of knowledge and lack of faculty connections.

Right now I am taking a gap year working in a physics lab. I am technically able to audit more core math courses at my undergrad institution but wouldn't reasonably be able to do more than two (maximum three) more. I could self-study but am worried about the lack of grades to reflect my learning (although I could take the math GRE and hope for the best). It's my understanding that I'd need a strong foundation in analysis and algebra before being able to do any sort of meaningful research, so my hope is now to get into a master's program where I could fill in my gaps and start working on research, but even these programs require a much more thorough foundation than what I'd be able to build on paper. Is there any way that I could switch to math at this point, with the goal of entering a math PhD program, or is my best bet to try to do theoretical physics and segway that into mathematical physics?

Thanks in advance for your time and answers.


texts: Why do conferences and other academic events still mostly happen offline?

texts:
Despite the fact that most of the world is now connected with high-speed fiber and even phones can record 4k video, it seems to me that there is a large focus on offline events. Universities invite guest speakers, hold seminars, organize conferences, etc, and most of the content is not even posted online afterwards. Often the events themselves don't include anything more than the speakers doing their presentations, answering a few simple questions and leaving shortly afterwards - all of which could be done on Skype or a myriad of other platforms.

So why is there still such a strong focus on physical presence?


texts: Can students finish much of their PhD thesis before applying to a PhD program?

texts:
Are students allowed to complete a large portion of their research independently, then enroll in a PhD program, apply for a defense panel within the first semester, and quickly finish the thesis? Has this been done before?

Update: Question trimmed. I'm looking for an answer whether students can be admitted with much prior work on the thesis already complete, to finish in a short time (perhaps one year fix and improve the work), and whether there are real examples of people who did this. I not asking whether I myself am personally capable of completing this prior work to sufficient quality.


texts: Is there such a thing called native speaker bias when publishing?

texts:
This has been a subject that has occupied my thoughts for the past years but haven't really managed to formulate it completely for myself. I have this feeling (and I can't say it's more than a feeling at this point) that native speakers of English have an easier time with getting their article published.

I should make it clear, right away, that I don't mean just because you are a native speaker you can get whatever published, but given a particular project, if the main author is a native speaker the article is more likely to get accepted, or at least draw more positive reviews. I motivate the potential existence of such a bias on the fact that it's likely that a native speaker does a better job in writing than someone who has English as a foreign language.

Since I do not have any data to back this theory up, I would like to ask if you have come across any numbers/facts regarding any such bias in the publication/acceptance rates in general, as well as high-IF journals specifically.

EDIT: I should perhaps rephrase and add a bit more details to the question here. I do not refer to small grammatical mistakes, misspellings or anything of that nature. What I am referring to here, is the wider vocabulary a native-speaker has in his/her disposal, the phrases and expressions that they use that might not be readily and easily available to non-native speaker. I could perhaps summarise it the differences as the metaphorical chocolate chips that a native speaker can and most likely will bake into the cookie that is the manuscript.

I am clear on the point that the clearness criteria is still the most important and that's why I did not talk about the rejections (it's natural that non-native speakers get their papers rejected based on language more often compared to native speakers). As a non-native speaker myself, it is beyond any doubt that I need to write my manuscripts with a clearly understandable language in order for them to get published, but again that's not really what I am asking here. I am more interested in whether or not articles written by native speakers come across as "better quality" based on the fact that they are more likely to utilise their edge with the language.

There are of course other factors at play, but it would be interesting to see if there are any stats involved.


texts: What if a faculty member is not successful in obtaining the summer salary from a funding agency?

texts:
I am a postdoc in Physics areas and trying to get myself ready for applying for tenure track positions. However, the US academic salary system seems still mysterious to me.
In several salary surveys, a reasonably close figure for starting salaries of starting assistant professor positions emerge as $75-80K per year. The point is that, as far as I understand it, the salary is based on the calender year basis. However, the contracts for the assistant professors are usually academic year basis (except that probably in the first couple of years they may get this full salary in their start up package).
This means that practically they get $55-60K for 8-9 months. The rest of the salary, called the summer salary, needs to be obtained via applying to the respective funding agencies.

However, funding is obviously not guaranteed every year. So it is obviously out of question that people should be based on the full year salary amounts shown above. Truthfully, their salaries are $55-60k per calender year and if they are able to get some funding, they can get some bonus over the summer.

Now, the first question is: isn't it way too low of a starting salary for a PhD in STEM areas?! Especially, people are normally already in their mid 30s when they get a tenure track position so they usually have a family to support. Sure, there are many people survive with much lower salaries and also the stereotypical argument that you don't enter academia if you want to earn money is also around. But I am talking about skills, experience and qualification. Anyway, it just seems too low salary to me and I would really want to know if there is something crucial I am missing here.

Secondly, what do faculty members do if they don't get the summer salaries, what other options are there for them to compensate the money.


texts: Changing university and advisor midway through PhD

texts:
I have read several posts regarding this question such as "Is transferring to another university an option for an unhappy PhD student?" and
"Changing University in First year of Phd", but none of them apply to my situation.

Background: I am a first-year computer science Ph.D. student, I started my Ph.D. in the spring semester and so I am in the second semester. I am fully funded, but the problem is that the income I get from the university is very low and I did not know that I have to pay about 2000 each semester for insurance. My mind is always busy thinking about how can I provide this money. It's hard, as I have the potential to do really well but most of the time I am struggling with financial issues.

The second but minor issue is my advisor, she isn't an expert in her field, we just go forward with trial and error, and I am the kind of person who needs to read deeply to understand all aspects before trying. We have to have a strong reason to test an approach so before testing we should take a good amount of time, but she just likes to force me to test without in-depth understanding. It's disappointing for me. Most of the time the results are not good. I said this is a minor issue as I am self-learner and I will find a way to do the way I like.

I talked with my advisor regarding this, she said we have to survive in this time, and I don't have any other sources, she tried to make me happy by not giving me the TA of a subject that I don't like, but it does not work for me. I need to make my mind free and focus on the research.

With these explanations, how can I convince another university and professor to accept me?


texts: When do you switch a student membership to a non-student membership for a professional society

texts:
Students enjoy discounted memberships to many professional/academic societies. However, membership renewals rarely align with one's degree date. So when do you switch your membership from a student member to non-student membership? I see two obvious possibilities

When your degree is conferred, and you are no longer officially a student

or

The first renewal notice you receive while not being a student

Surprisingly, it seems like very few societies address this issue in their guidelines.


texts: Correct in-text citation, according to Harvard's referencing style

texts:
I read somewhere that you can reference, the Harvard way, by stating the author, before ending the sentence with a date - like so:

  Author said this bla bal blabd bdalab d... (2017).

But, after reading through my dissertation, my teacher told me this was invalid Harvard referencing; and, he said I should cite the author like this:

  Author said this bla bal blabd bdalab d... (Author, 2017).

Is this true, or can I indeed use the proposed method?


texts: Acknowledgement of submission to the Annals of Mathematics

texts:
Does the Annals of Mathematics always to reply every submission within a few days? I submitted a few times to them before, and every time I hear back from the  editorial office very soon (within three days). But this time there has been no response to my submission for more than one week.

Is this normal? Or I should inquire about the status of my paper?


texts: Advisors and publishing - new field for postdoc

texts:
To what extent does ones ability to publish depend on their postdoc advisor, especially in a new field? I switched fields from my PhD to postdoc and it's taken my entire first year to build up the knowledge and understanding I need to make contributions to the new field. However, my postdoc advisor is overstretched and barely has any time for me, and I would've thought they'd give me MORE of their attention seeing as the field is new to me.  Should I consider leaving and finding a more hands-on postdoc advisor or try to hope this second year will be more productive? Or should I not focus on publications if my goal is an industry position (so I only plan 2 years maximum as a postdoc)? Already a year has gone by and I am worried I will spend 2 years with nothing to show.

(Note: I am not a bench scientist.)


texts: Is it OK to include a personal (non-science related) statement in the final slide of a presentation

texts:
Is it OK to include a personal note telling intention of hard-work on the topic,

  e.g. I am looking forward to work on this problem

in the Conclusion slide of a presentation related to possible research topic in the future?

I believe the Conclusion slide is used to collect the scientific conclusions about the work in the end of the presentation as a takeaway message, how would such a statement stand in the end?


texts: I discovered a mistake in my own published workshop paper, how do I handle errata?

texts:
I am PhD student and the main author of a research-in-progress report in computer science. The paper is already published at a workshop (in the proceedings, this is not a journal paper) and was presented there a few months ago.

While continuing to work on the topic of the paper, I discovered a mistake I did in the already published workshop paper. A value that is referred to twice in the paper is wrong; it is still unusually high but lower than reported. The value is also mentioned in the summary of the paper. First I told my coauthors who sit in the next room in the same institute.

Now I want to publish an Erratum on my academic website.

My first idea is to publish a text file next to the download like that is labeled "erratum" (it is a single mistake). As an example for this "text file", I looked at the following webpage.

My second idea is to change the author version of my workshop paper that is downloadable as PDF file from my website. My current idea is to solve this via a footnote in the PDF version of the paper. So how would I handle that? Do I correct the value and add a footnote saying that the original published value was wrong and explain the mistake? The other option that I think is unsuitable is the following: to leave the wrong value in the paper and add a footnote that explains that this value was a mistake and give the correct value in the footnote?

Also, are there websites on how to handle errata for conference/workshop papers in technical fields like computer science? Please note also that in my field conference papers are quite important (e.g., the POPL conference) while in some other fields only journal papers count (sort of).


texts: Searching for collaborators in a specific university

texts:
My university has signed a cooperation agreement with a different university overseas, and we are encouraged to find potential collaborators in that university. I looked at the university's website, but could not find an easily searchable index of the faculty members by their research topics (I can go to the homepage of each and every faculty member and check, but they are very many).

Is there a way to do such a search in a tool such as Google Scholar? In particular, can I search in Google Scholar for papers with certain keywords, with the constraint that one of the authors should have a specific affiliation? Such a search could lead me to a very focused list of potential collaborators.


texts:
I am an undergraduate in the U.S. and have worked part time (~15-20 hrs/week) for a research group at my institution for about 5 months now. Since beginning the research I have enjoyed every aspect of it. I have gotten to read literature, submit an abstract to a conference and even work on an open source software project. I love what we have been doing so far,  and can not imagine not doing research in my future. Therefore, I am considering applying for a Phd in the next application cycle.

However, it worries me that I am in a honeymoon phase of research, using the definition from here:

  The short amount of time at the beginning of a new relationship, activity, or pursuit when everything goes well and seems to be free of problems.

I am a very passionate person and, as a computer scientist, know all too well the love of starting a new project only to become deflated and uninterested after the preliminary work.

There are numerous posts on this site similar to "Is a Phd/research right for me?" ([1], [2]) and "How to deal with burnout/loss of interest in research?" ([3], [4]). The existence of the latter questions seems to suggest that a honeymoon phase exists in research.

So my questions are:

Is this sort of phase common in research? Should I be worried about it?

How can I assure myself that this is not a fleeting pursuit? That I will still enjoy research in 5 years?

I understand the latter question might be difficult to answer, but are there any objective tasks I can carry to further explore if research is right for me (i.e. more breadth in research-based tasks)? Also personal anecdotes of how you decided your love of research was permanent would help.


texts: I was wondering if there still exist universities (in the US or in Europe) where one can obtain a PhD in Philosophy by only presenting an original and well-developed work around a subject or an author.


texts: Editor assignment pending after "review competed"

texts: I submitted journal in the field of psychometrics about one year ago.  Three weeks ago, the status was changed to "review completed".  However, today it is changed into "editor assignment pending".  I am not sure what this means. Can you help?


texts: Is it a faux pas to ask for a colleague's figure in a separate but related publication?

texts:
I'm an undergraduate with virtually no experience with the expectations of academia (so I apologize in advance for the silly question). I'm finishing up a paper describing my research and would like to include a figure to describe something in my "Background" section.

There is a graduate student in my lab who has a paper dealing with the background topic and has a perfect image that I'd like to use as said figure. The paper has been accepted but not yet published. Would I be violating some protocol if I asked to use the identical figure? If not, what is the proper way to attribute the figure to the original source? In the caption?


texts: Letters of recommendation only from employers and managers

texts:
I am looking to apply for a professional masters program in computer science (M.E. in Computer Science). This program is designed to for the working software engineer and thus not advised for those interested in doing computer science research in academia.  As part of this, I am going to need to submit 3 letters of recommendation. It has been a few years since I graduated with my bachelors and I did not have a significant relationship with any of the professors in my undergraduate program. Thus, I would not be comfortable asking them for a letter of recommendation.

I am now working and I am highly regarded at work. I am confident that I could get very strong letters from various managers that I have worked with at my company. Will 3 strong letters of recommendation from these individuals be enough? How will they be weighed against a less strong letter from an undergrad professor?


texts: Publishing open-source code similar to unfinished master's work

texts:
My electrical engineering master's program was a disaster. My advisor gave me three different projects:

The first one was interesting, challenging, and solvable, but initial peer review of the paper revealed it to be irrelevant to the field. Essentially it was a very marginal improvement on an obsolete technology. The reviewers used colorful language.
The second assignment was too vague to be actionable, and would have amounted to re-creating a huge, expensive physical modeling package. In order to understand this scope problem, I did a ton of research and coursework. (It would've been easier if the advisor had told me about the pre-existing software in the first place.)
The third was basically just a programming task. I coded it up without learning much — no coursework related to this one. The program solved most, but not all, of its problem set. The advisor said this didn't matter, and to write it up anyway.

At this point, the degree seemed to lack validity, the field had lost its luster, and I was very literally losing my sanity. I stuck around and took some humanities courses, then in December 2008 told my advisor I'd take a hiatus. It was our last communication. I moved to another state and quit programming for a while.

I hate giving up. In September 2009 I started a writing a new program related to the third project, solving the same problem set. I worked on it on-and-off for a year until I got a job. (The problem was an open challenge. Unbeknownst to me, competitions were held in 2011 and 2012.)

Now, six years later, I'd like to polish up my independent work and post it to GitHub. Do I have any obligation to the advisor or to the university, or can I just go ahead and release it?


texts: Is it ethical to use already existing material to complement teaching?

texts:
As background, I have a MSc in Chemical Engineering, and I am currently teaching in one of the first Fachhochschule-type institutes that have been established in my country. This institute stands as the middle ground between high school and university or industry, and I have been appointed as a teacher for one of the mandatory courses.
Due to COVID-19, all lectures are being performed online, and I have prepared the course material, such as slides for lectures and practicals. The lectures I have prepared cover about 80% of all course material.
I have found that one of my former professors' research group has published in their webpage the slides of a university course which comprises the missing 20% material of my course. Moreover, their slides are really well done, and it would take me lots of time (1-2 months) to prepare the same material from scratch. I have the idea of using said material directly in my lectures, by citing very explicitly the source, since it is very well made and clear.
Is it therefore ethical to do it?


texts: Is it okay/possible to quit a PhD program in the 4th year and apply someplace else?

texts:
I am a 4th year PhD student in Mechanical Engineering at a Tier 1 University. I have joined the current research group due to funding reasons but never really liked the project. The project is not academic in nature (Not possible to get any decent publications, no design or innovation aspects), more like the sponsoring company had an engineering problem that needed a solution.

My advisor is a good person but he is not an expert in this field and not sure why he accepted the project. I have struggling for some time and my hate towards the project has recently increased and I feel that I cannot carry on with research anymore. I tried speaking to my advisor but he did not like the fact that I was belittling the project, and said I was ungrateful towards him even though he funded me.

That coupled with scare of poor job prospects in mechE have been haunting me. I am also sacred that if I tough it out and finish I might end up being overqualified for industry.

Did anyone else face a similar problem? Would like to know how acceptable is it to leave a PhD program in the 4th year and apply to a different program?

EDIT: Thanks for the answers everyone. I probably should have given more background information. I was unable to secure any funding in my first year (spent time doing courses on my own dime) and towards the beginning of my second year I was ready to accept whatever project came my way and chose this project when there was an availability.

The project was a collaboration between a simulation group (Prof. B) and a mechanical testing group (My advisor's, say Prof. A) and was already halfway through when I joined. Prof. B was the lead PI and had dictated the terms and I spent the next few years just doing the required testing for simulations. Regarding the project (can't name it due to privacy concerns), it has very little academic value, we were able to get out only one article in a low impact journal in the entire duration of the project of which I am the second author. People in my lab usually publish 4 journals for graduation. The project was also very hectic with meeting the sponsors twice a week. It felt more like working in a company and the skills I acquired are more of a master's level.

That is the reason I called it overqualified (a PhD with Masters level skills). I had tried a few times to change the project but was met with resistance from my advisor and I did not oppose strongly for fear of being fired. Now I am really scared of job prospects. I understand that I am responding very late. I did speak to a few people in the department and most are suggesting it is stupid to start another PhD at this stage. Another option I was suggested is quitting with a Master's and finding a job. Frankly, I am not sure what to do.


texts: How should I plan my course schedule given that my wife is due to give birth during the semester?

texts:
I have been teaching for a few years at my university,
and have mostly gotten into the rhythm of teaching and doing research.

This semester, I am teaching two courses.
What is different this semester is that
I am faced with the happy but unfamiliar circumstance
that my wife is due to give birth during the semester.

Question: How should I plan my course schedule around the birth of our baby?

Here are some of the issues that I have considered:

The unpredictability of the birth date.
We are expecting that our baby will be delivered naturally.
While we were given an expected due date by the doctors,
we don't really know when the contractions will start,
when we will go to the hospital,
how long the labor will be before the baby is born, etc.
The day of week effect.
I am teaching on Mondays and Tuesdays.

If my wife goes into labor on Saturday, Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday,
I will probably be needed to help my wife give birth or recover,
so I plan to cancel class.
If my wife goes into labor on Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday,
we will probably be in a good enough situation
that I can teach on Monday or Tuesday.
But should I cancel class regardless?

What to communicate to students.
If my wife suddenly goes into labor,
I may have to suddenly cancel class.
This could happen shortly before the class starts,
or even possibly in the middle of the class.
Should I communicate any information about my wife's pregnancy
and the baby's expected due date to my students beforehand?

I would appreciate wise advice about
how to plan my course schedule
in a way that balances my family's needs and the students' needs.

Response to comments

Question: Can you arrange paternity leave/cover?

Answer: I'm asking Human Resources about the paternity leave policy.
Both of these courses are course which I developed,
so none of my colleagues in the department can teach them well
without investing a significant amount of time.
So I don't think I can find a colleague in my department to cover the course.


texts:
Is it wise to upload the published patent application file on arxiv?
what will be the consequences of copy right?


texts: While in Phd I developed a lot of code that I want to turn into start-up. Can I do this?

texts:
I was working 3 years on a project, that I came up with on my own, worked on my own, published 2 papers on it. I want to drop out of Phd (or take leave) and do start up at this point using my code.

Can I do it? Or because I developed this code while doing my Phd it cannot be used for commercial purposes?

EDIT: I am in US, top university for CS.


texts: If I get selected for a diploma in Australia from a recognized University, can I use it to get an education visa?

texts: I am from Pakistan. I want to move to Australia. One way to get points is to have an Australian diploma. I want to know if I am selected for a diploma from a recognized University in Austrlia, are there chances that I will be eligible for a education visa?


texts: PhD in finance/econ vs PhD in mathematics

texts: I earned a Bachelor's and Master's degree in finance. Eight years later I am thinking of going back to school to earn my PhD. I am currently a high school math teacher but I want to be a professor at the university level, so I want to do a PhD. The question is which one is easier and faster? Finance, economics, or mathematics? I know finance and economics require less math and more practical experience and knowledge of business and economics culture (which is something I am lacking). On the other hand, finance and economics are in-demand fields. Has anyone been through the same experience? Please advise, thank you.


texts: Is it common for a published paper to have some small mistakes?

texts:
I submitted a paper for publication several days ago. This was a resubmission after I had responded to the critique from the reviewers for my first draft. However, while I was looking at my data again, I saw that there was a section where my data points increased between phases, but I had written that they decreased. What's more, I had qualified why it made sense for the values to decrease, according to literature, so it's possible that the data I acquired was flawed. The reviewers had not marked this, and I had missed it upon reading through everything.
Apart from this, there is a missing comma and a missing word at another spot in the paper.
What I'm wondering is, is this a common occurence? And would it harm my credibility as an author/chances of getting published?


texts: Should I start my CV by telling about myself?

texts:
Currently, in my CV, the first section is the About me section. It goes like this (I'll reserve the format of the text):

  Broad knowledge, is why my friends are proud of me.
  Never stops asking questions, is what my advisor values in me.

I wonder if writing like this gives makes me look bad. Will the recruiters see me as a confident person, get a better picture of me (which is the impression I want to convey), or will they see me as just arrogant, lacking self-esteem and paranoid?

Next sections are Education, Research Experience and Activities. They are about one page and a half long.

What do you think? Please be frank. Thank you so much.

Thanks to the many people who answered my question, I get that I should save it for the SOP. However, there are some occasions where I'm only asked to send my CV and not a cover letter with it. Should I still keep the "About me" section as a mini SOP in such cases? If it sounds like "platitudes, clichés, and self-compliments" (thanks for being frank, I do need it), how about this idea I just came up with?

  I chose science because I want to know everything. I chose physics because I think it is the buttress of other disciplines.

I can make it better later.


texts: Found published work that doesn't reference previous related work

texts:
I have been researching a specific topic in computer science for a couple of years now and a well established professor and his students have recently published a couple of publications in that topic too. In their work they do reference the well known and well cited previous work that basically everyone in that topic references, but I have noticed that they ignore (don't reference) a couple of publications that are doing essentially what they are publishing about, i.e. extremely related work. And I am wondering even though there is a gap of a couple of years between the work they have published and the available previous literature how did they miss referencing the relevant previous work? Was it done intentionally or did they just do a hasty job at finding more recent related work?

Either way my main concern here is if there is anything that can be done to remedy the situation now, since the paper has already been published?


texts: Is it common for universities to have scientific development plans?

texts: Many times, research teams and departments just perform research on topics that the Department Chair or Research Head initiate -- but do some universities structure their research, postdocs, and departments according to an encompassing plan or agenda?


texts: Proposing a sub project within a main project (tone)

texts:
I am writing a project proposal aiming to fit it in main project that is been developed in the faculty I am applying for a postdoc position. Guidance suggests that I need to propose something that will work as a subproject, obviously it needs to show high proximity to the main project. Thus, I wonder, is it wise to show I am willing to negotiate my proposition or I have to make it look like I know exactly what I want to do.

Thanks


texts: Where can I find academic CV samples containing minor research projects for PhD applications without publications?

texts:
Context:

Prof messaged me, interested in my CV
During my master's in mathematical finance, I may have had one "publication" if a quasi-thesis, that wasn't exactly a thesis, counts.
While applying to (more) grad school (pure not applied), I'm currently working in the tutoring industry (I'm not teaching in a university) as I have been since grad school (tutoring industry is very serious in country A compared to country B), and my industry CVs/resumes consist mainly of tutoring jobs (I've never had a finance internship, but I did have a sort of statistics/economics research internship).

I do not believe I have formal pure math research experience, but I have a lot of applied math research experience in our "thesis" (or technical report as Nate Eldredge might suggest) and class projects.

I have so far not found academic CVs for PhD applications that include minor research projects in master's (I don't know the terms. They are "research" projects but are not published or as long as theses. They're simply class requirements that are not exams or "homework"/"problem sets") so please provide references.

Examples:

UTexas - Ella Fitzsimmons

GOOD: has master's, no PhD
BAD: thesis only. no minor research projects in master's here.

UCSF - Rembrandt Van Rijn

GOOD: mentions minor research projects pre-PhD
BAD: has PhD and so mentions minor research projects pre-PhD without further elaboration

Academics - Anna Mustermann

GOOD: has master's no PhD
BAD: For master's: thesis only. no minor research projects in master's here. has publications

Surrey - ROBERT BROADSTONE

BAD: No master's. Has PhD. Has publications

Harvard - Anjan Lo Subramayan, Keisha Thomas

BAD: Has PhD/Is PhD candidate, No master's, Has publications


texts: How should I convince my parents about a career in mathematics?

texts:
I am an 11th grader and studying undergraduate mathematics and living in India.
I want to become a mathematician, but there is one problem in this path. My parents want me to become a medical doctor, but I have no interest in biology. My parents say there is no career in mathematics and it is a total passion job, you can't get anything from it. They say: "There is no demand of mathematics and you can't go anywhere after few years. The salary is not good and no job as a mathematician. You will only get a job if you do your Ph.D."

So my questions are:

Is it true what my parents are saying?
If it isn't, then what are the careers in mathematics? It is fine if it is a bit long; I don't want any shortcut to success. Also will studying mathematics take up a lot of money?  It is a huge issue in my house.


texts: What steps could universities take to reduce Ph.D. drop-outs?

texts:
One of the major issues in universities with respect to PhD is the high dropout factor. Demotivated students cause a big loss to the university - a lot is spent on assistantships, but in the end, the students quit without making any meaningful contribution.

What steps do/should universities and faculty members take to reduce alarming drop-out rates? One step is obviously to choose the right women for the job, which we expect the admissions committee to do anyway. PhD involves years of wading through uncertainty and possibly it is in these years that students get distracted and unfocused. How should universities ensure the students remain unwavering in their efforts during these uncertain years?


texts:
I am a 5/6 and 7/8 split French teacher with students ranging from anglophone, all the way to francophone.

I am having difficulty finding ways to make lessons that will include the whole class, and I feel like I'm either way above the level, or way below the level of half of my class.

Does anyone have any techniques that may be of use to me? All suggestions are very appreciated!


texts: Clarifying email instructions with advisor

texts:
I receive sometimes one line instructions from my PhD supervisor on work I need to do and send. Not always clear though.

He sometimes forgets what he had discussed in our last discussion, or does not explain the rationale. Under such circumstances, how do I communicate with him? Redoing done work is I believe a waste of time and energy.


texts: IEEE Referencing: Same source, different page numbers

texts:
I'm fairly new to IEEE referencing and have a slight dilemma.
If I'm going to be citing the same paper twice in my writing but want to cite specific pages of it, do I include the source twice in the reference list or is there a different way round this?
For example:

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet 100 [1], consectetur adipiscing elit. Phasellus vestibulum nunc nec velit iaculis viverra [2].

References:

[1] M. Abramowitz and I. A. Stegun, Eds., Handbook of Mathematical Functions (Applied Mathematics Series 55).
Washington, DC: NBS, 1964, pp. 32-33.

[2] M. Abramowitz and I. A. Stegun, Eds., Handbook of Mathematical Functions (Applied Mathematics Series 55).
Washington, DC: NBS, 1964, pp. 84-86.


texts:
I submitted a paper to an Elsevier journal which is now in 'Submitted to Journal status'. Now I want to remove it to improve the write up, though the content is good. I don't want it to be rejected after waiting for 7 months which would be a lot of time wasted. I would rather remove it now and improve it  myself or with the help of editing services. Should I email editor to remove it?  I am worried because the reasons for withdrawals mentioned on their website are serious and I don't want to give that impression when my reasons is just to improve the manuscript.

When you feel your paper does not have high chances to get accepted, do you keep on working on it during the review and re-submit to a different journal when it gets rejected eventually? Or remove it immediately, work on it and submit again.


texts:
Two days back, I got a favorable reply from a professor who is happy to be my supervisor for a PhD program. The university is one of the famous universities in Australia. Unfortunately, the deadline for submitting the application is today. Even though I had only two days to prepare all the documents, I sorted out all of them except the project proposal. Currently I am almost done with the project proposal too, but I did not check it for plagiarism since I have copied some parts from the internet.

If I submit the proposal with the application as it is (with the parts I have copied from the internet), and if I am rejected, will it affect me when I apply for the same program next year? Will they keep that record and draw it back when they evaluate my application for the second time?


texts: Is there any age criteria in selecting new faculty in STEM universities in the USA?

texts: I plan to start my Ph.D. quite late at age 31. I wanted to know if this would have any implications on my career if I decide to stay in academia and apply to faculty positions after completing my Ph.D.


texts: Do social behavorial and economics (SBE) PhD students get funding in the US?

texts: I am a Banking and Insurance graduate from India with 7.5 years of banking experience. I wish to pursue a combined MS and PhD in the SBE field. Do universities in the US fund such PhDs? By the way, I am on an H4 visa.


texts: Are there any undergraduate research/internship opportunities in math/science education/history?

texts:
(Apologies if this isn't the right place for such a post. I see lots of advice for undergraduates hoping to pursue research in math and science, but haven't come across anything for the "soft" stuff like their history and pedagogy.)

I'm an undergrad math student (will have one more term left after the summer) and I'm hoping to get some advice on summer plans. While I really like math, and I'm considering grad school, I've always been really interested in science education, science in pop culture, and the history of science. I love the book A Short History of Nearly Everything and Youtube channels like Vsauce. Working as a science writer or museum curator would probably be a dream job for me. I'm hoping to do something in that realm in the future.

Does anyone know of any good ways to get involved in this sort of thing? It seems like people in this arena come from a pretty wide range of backgrounds. When I think about the parts of math and science that I really like, I keep coming back to the historical, cultural, philosophical, and pedagogical aspects, so something along those lines would be awesome.

I'm living in Canada right now, but I'd love to travel so I'm open to any location. I also have good grades (just under 4.0), if that matters for anything. That said, I'm really open to anything, academia or otherwise.

~~~

If anyone has any suggestions I would be very grateful. Thanks in advance!


texts: How to acknowledge my professor who isn't helping much with my master's thesis?

texts:
the main advisor for my master's thesis is a doctorate student of the professor who oversees my thesis. I had one conversation with the professor at the beginning of my thesis and I'll probably see him the next time at my thesis defense.

The professor will have final word on the structure and phrasing of the written piece, the topic however is not part of his research. I'm fine with that as the doctorate student is a great help and also knows what the professor wants to see in a thesis.

Other theses I've read usually praise the professor at the beginning of the acknowledgements.
How can i acknowledge the contribution of my professor in a honest and tasteful manner without making it look like he did nothing compared to the doctorate student?


texts:
First a little bit of background.

I am a graduate student (Bachelor) who will finish the Master degree in June or July at most. I am working on my thesis at my university with a professor which I know quite well. I am getting a Master of Electronics Engineering, thus my thesis includes some practical work and I got to know a lot of people at the Information Engineering department. I think that the work they do here is great and valuable, and so is the people.

Meanwhile there's a friend of mine who works for a quite big company near my local university. They are hiring young graduates for open-ended positions and I am very likely to be hired if I do an interview. My friend was with me at the university for five years now, we did much work together and I'd love to work with him, plus he tells me that the work environment is great.

The problem is that I would love to teach. Some people think I am quite good at what I study and quite good at explaining things to people. I love the idea of spreading knowledge, helping students understand things and pretty much all what's involved in the teaching process. To achieve this I will need to apply (and hopefully win) for a PhD, that I thought I can do at my local university because of what stated in the first paragraph, and because my girlfriend is currently studying here too so moving is an option that I'd like to avoid for now.

What keeps me to just jump in the Academic world is the fact that in my country (Italy) things seems to be a little stagnant, there are great people in their forties that are still associate (or researchers!) while some old professors (very, very bad at teaching) hold more than one chair. And of course from the economic point of view there might be a gap as high as 10x between industry and academy, but happiness can't be bought of course.

My question then is: given the fact that I am sure I would love to become a professor but the road might be hard (too hard maybe) would you advise me to take a PhD (that's three years here) and at least try the academic path or leave it already and hit the job market head on? Are there many downsights in starting an industry career after a PhD?


texts:
What do different people in the department expect from a postdoc?
By different people I mean the advisor, graduate students and PhD students.

I know it mainly depends on the job description but there are few basic things that a postdoc must be expected to do. How aggressive (proactive) must one be? This question is important since a postdoc cannot just wait for the adviser to give him/her inputs. Rather the postdoc must take the project(s) as another PhD research of his own but be completely accountable to the adviser in terms of what he/she is doing and how is he/she doing that.

The above are my thoughts. My question is divided into the following sub-parts:

What would you as a professor expect from your postdoc?
What preparation one must do to rise to the expected level?
Is the preparation merely restricted to having sound academic record and experience?


texts: IEEE conference not allowing presentation by a non-author: how can I get the organizers to reconsider?

texts:
I have a paper accepted at a reputed IEEE conference. Since my visa arrived late, I may not be able to attend the conference personally (need to apply for a transit visa). I contacted the organizers if a friend of mine who is attending the conference may present on my behalf. The have replied that they can't allow a friend to present my poster and would rather withdraw my paper from the proceedings as per IEEE policy.

I am rather disturbed now since booking tickets via a non-transit visa country at the last moment would be exorbitantly expensive and rather impractical for me due to financial constraints.

I have read here at ASE and heard from many people that such things are very common, but I was surprised by this kind of reply. How can I convince the organizers to allow someone else to present my paper.


texts: Is it okay to submit article to Journal B despite contacting editors of Journals A & C?

texts:
I've been trying to find a suitable journal for my manuscript. There are many journals that seem to be acceptable homes for my paper, but their aims and scopes do not overlap with my paper 100%.

I've been asking editors of various journals whether they believe my paper is suitable for their journal by sending them the abstracts (which these journals encourage on their website).

A few editors have gotten back to me and a few have not,
But while waiting, I found a journal that seems like a better fit than the other journals, which we'll call Journal B. Suppose that Journal C's editor has yet to get back to me and Journal A's editor said to submit the paper so that they can get a closer look at it beyond the abstract.

Assume that in this case, all the journals are relatively equal in impact factor.

Is it rude to submit to Journal B anyways even after contacting the editor of Journal A and not yet receiving a reply from the editor of Journal C?


texts: Pursuing a Master's remotely while working in industry?

texts:
I'm currently approaching the end of my undergrad, and I'm faced with a dilemma (my field is computer science). On the one hand, I have  a professor that I've been working very closely with on some promising research, and he's pushing very hard for me to go into grad school. On the other, I have the (extremely lucrative) world of industry beckoning. I don't really have a chance to get into grad school anywhere but with this professor, because my grades are terrible (I'm a better researcher/programmer than student), and I would very likely do it if I wasn't trying to get away from the town I'm going to school in (which is also my hometown).

Being in CS, I know that productive long-distance collaboration and research is possible. My question is, what are the potential pitfalls of essentially doing a Master's "on the side", while working a full-time (or possibly part-time) industry job in a different location?


texts:
I'm a CS master student working on my thesis. I'm 25 years old and still until now when I wake up in the morning to start studying I wake up stressed and my stomach hurts. I also feel a very bad headache. When I had courses I used to wake up in this situation everyday because I had to. Now I started my thesis and I don't have a deadline for it. So now when I try to wake up very early in the morning (7am) I end up surrendering to stay in bed because I don't want to have that ugly feeling in the morning. I noticed that now I wake up at 9 or 10 am. This is making me waste a lot of time. I'm not working as hard as I used to be.

My questions are:

does everyone has this feeling in the morning? and how to overcome this feeling?
how do you motivate yourself to work?


texts: What is an effective way to copyright my teaching material?

texts:
I am an adjunct instructor at a technical college in the US. I was tasked with creating a new class which I would teach in the spring. I have finished all of my course materials (.pdfs, lab sheets, power points, etc etc). When I was first hired and told to create the new course, I was informed by some of my colleagues (former adjuncts at the same institution) that I would be paid for my course content. However, in speaking with my directory I was informed that I would not be paid for my course content as it is part of running the class.

Now whether or not that is right or wrong, I'm not too horribly concerned. However alot of my own personal time goes into creating these materials and I would like to protect my time investment.

Would it be wise or prudent to try and protect my course materials through some sort of copyrighting process of some sort, or something to that effect?

If so, what is a sufficient way of documenting my materials and ensuring that any party who obtains them sees them as "copyrighted" or possessing whatever protection that is applied to them?

My interest is in ensuring that my course materials are not gobbled up by someone else in the program, then taught by someone else without having been properly reimbursed for my development work in my personal time. Everyone else I have spoken to has said it sounds "not very kosher" that I am not being reimbursed for developing the course work.

I would simply like to protect my personal investment into these materials.

Thoughts? Insights? Experiences? Thank you!

I went through my contract, and there are two subdivisions that outline IP and copyright goodies, etc etc. The first paragraphs in essence state "The faculty member is entitled to the results of their research, IP, etc, EXCEPT when we pay for the research to be done, OR give you a break in your work load but still pay you to do the research, OR" - now this is the line I'm not sure about, "C. Under an assigned duty and/or work-for-hire arrangement with an external sponsor.
" I was very informally asked "Hey, would you be willing to put together and teach a class on subject X?" Me - "Sure.". (That's fairly literally, the extent of the request and my response). Would that fall under either of the definitions of C?


texts:
My understanding is that Masters and PhD students often need to TA -- even if they're already research assistants to a professor.

I'm a first year undergraduate who took courses heavily TA-reliant last semester. My impression is that my TAs (oh they were helpful people) don't really get much out of TAing. The job just covers some of their costs and their tuition.

Sure, you may learn a bit about teaching others, but I doubt that you may learn much after three weeks of doing so. Many of the users on this site were once or are TAs. Do you agree with my view?

If TAing is really a necessary evil, are there better ways to fund your education?


texts: What to do to speed up the paper publication process?

texts: One month ago, I have submitted a paper in a journal under Taylor and Francis. 3/4 days later after the submission,  the status changed to "under review" and till now the status remained unchanged. I am in a hurry and need to get the final decision as soon as possible. What can I do to speed up the process? Should I send an email to the editor? How long it will be in "under review" stage?


texts: What is the academic job market going to be like in September-November 2020?

texts:
Is there any good reason to be optimistic? I have the impression that this may be the worst job market year in the past ten years.
Edit to be more specific: I am referring to hiring grad students, postdocs, and tenure-track assistant professors, primarily in the U.S., but in other countries as well. Have many universities instituted hiring freezes for this upcoming year?


texts: How does one denote that a cell value is not available / doesn't make sense in a table?

texts:
I have a table that compares the performance of different systems according to different error measures:

System   | Error 1 | change | Error 2 | ...
--------------------------------------| ...
Baseline | 0.6     | -      | ...
A        | 0.1     | -0.5   | ...
B        | 0.3     | -0.3   | ...
C        | 0.7     |  0.1   | ...
D        | 0.6     |  0.0   | ...

I currently chose - to denote that the value does not make sense. Of course, I can subtract the error of the baseline system from itself and get 0. But I don't think that makes sense.

Should I put - in that cell? Or -- or --- (I write the document with LaTeX) or eventually something different like N/A? Or make the cell black?


texts:
I work as a post-doc and do 1-2 hours of tutoring each week (approved by the university), to keep on top on my mathematical and pedagogical skills. Usually, students pay me after each session, but one of my recent students did not pay me the first, or even second session. After that, I have not managed to get in touch with the student again (via email).

Of course, something could have happened, but I believe I am being cheated. What is proper action here? Should I contact the professor for the course, or perhaps the students main department? Or just forget about it?


texts: Is it ok to put old papers on the arXiv?

texts:
In my field (I am a condensed-matter theoretical physicist) it is such a normal thing to put papers on the arXiv, that people sometimes look at other people's arXiv list of papers instead of their publication record to get to know what they do, etc.

It just so happens that a few years ago I did a PhD with a supervisor that does not like the arXiv that much (he apparently had some conflict with some authors of a paper that was very similar to one of his papers, but one was already published while the other was just an arXiv preprint -or something like that). As a result, from my list of less than 20 publications, there are four of them from my PhD that are missing on the arXiv.

I was thinking of submitting the latest versions I have of them as arXiv preprints now, four years after their publication. For this I already have the agreement of all co-authors (including my supervisor), and all the journals involved seem to allow to put preprints of the material they publish. Do you see any problem with this? I fear that some people might take it as a way to advertise as new something that was already published a long time ago (though I would of course give the full reference to the published version). There may be other issues I am not aware of. The reason why I would like to do this is that I am applying for fellowships, positions, etc. and I am afraid some of my (best) publications may go unnoticed if somebody looks me up on the arXiv.

Thank you,
Stephen


texts: Declining a fellowship opportunity for PhD research

texts:
I applied for a fellowship with the help from a potential PhD supervisor back in October. I had to write a research proposal and personal statement. The professor helped me edit it, and build the research proposal. I have been notified I have passed to the next round of the fellowship selection, but won't know the final result until march.

Meanwhile, I have applied to other PhD programs. I have been offered a place at one rotation phd program, which is fully funded. I really like the program and would prefer to go there. This program is also asking me to send them my decision by the end of this week.

How can I go about telling the first professor I have decided to play it safe with a fully funded offer rather than wait for a fellowship I don't know I will win? I feel really bad because they put the effort into helping me write the research proposal and personal statement. I also don't want to be burning bridges and hindering my academic career.

Most questions on this site mention being honest and overall fast with my response. I wanted to ask my question, though, since I went through the process of applying for the fellowship with the professor, and I feel that makes the rejection a bit more delicate.

Thanks in advance for any advice.


texts: Is it possible to finish PhD quicker than formally possible?

texts:
I said to my supervisor that I would like to finish my PhD very quickly. He said that formally I can submit my thesis 2 years after starting my degree at earliest, but that I am doing very well and it should be possible.

I verified the institutional requirements and indeed I cannot submit my PhD thesis in less than 2 years. However, I would like to submit the thesis in 1 year and 3 months. But I would like to ask you if this could somehow be possible and if yes, then how and what I should do.

I could talk to my supervisor in person about this, but the problem is that he would find it hard to believe me that much and thus he would be reluctant to help me or what is even worse, I may hurt the relationship with my supervisor. I have been doing my doctoral degree for 9 months in mathematics and some big parts are coming together, yet still there is a lot of work.
I believe that I could finish it in 6 months, but my supervisor would believe me only if he saw everything completed. The problem is that by then it would be too late for me.

Edit: I study in the UK. If I can finish my PhD thesis earlier, and then move to a preferred place for a postdoc, I do not see a reason to delay. I need to know now if I can finish early, so that I could apply for the scholarships supporting my postdoctoral visit. The scholarships I am going to apply require that I start within certain dates and can be applied for only at specific times during the year twice or once a year.

I have fulfilled all the credit requirements already and meet my supervisor every week while formally it is required only once a month.

The specific rule is:

In some cases the graduate board may allow you to submit your thesis early, before the end of your standard period of study. A Postgraduate Research Tutor can only recommend this if:
(a) the thesis is complete and ready for submission and
(b) has been read by your supervisor in its entirety. Your supervisor must confirm in writing that they have read your thesis and that their view is that it is ready to be examined.

The earliest date you can submit your PhD thesis is at the end of 2 calendar years of full-time study.


texts: Ethicality of continuing my Ph.D. with intentions of leaving

texts:
I am currently in my first year at a funded Ph.D. program. I have a graduate teaching assistantship in the form of teaching three introductory biology labs (1 credit per) plus the other responsibilities of being an instructor. I also have a six credit (tuition waiver) course load and a stipend.

Prior to coming to this program, I declined an offer from another funded program. It was due to financial reasons such as making a big move to the city and whatnot. I was a fresh undergraduate out of college and I was not ready for that move. I am in the position to make this move now and the offer is much better than my current program.

I have many different quarrels with this current program. There is a lack of structure and much of what I expected at a Ph.D. level course/program was not met.  I dislike the current field I am in and I don’t believe I would be happy doing this for the next 4 years. I did not have intentions of leaving prior to starting here, but as I mentioned things here are not as what I expected. Through discussion with the head of the department I declined, I was able to get my declined admission deferred to next fall. In February, I will hear if I receive funding again.

Now my issue is that I am currently in a lab rotation with my prospective advisor and I have not told anyone that I will be leaving. I am afraid that if I tell anyone that I plan to leave after the year, I will be looked down upon and it would affect my courses for the year. I want to withdraw from the lab rotation because the program I will be going to does not have any use for such a course. However, I am worried that if I tell my advisor why I am withdrawing, it will impact me negatively. In the off chance I do not receive funding, I will most likely be staying in this program and if they know I wanted to leave and didn’t because of funding, I fear I will be looked down upon.

How unethical is it to continue this year and finish up without mentioning any of my intentions to leave the program for another?
If I do withdraw from the lab rotation, should I mention why I am doing so or just mention that I was not expecting the course work to be so intense (which is true due to my teaching taking up so much time, I am behind).
How unethical is it to use my 6 credit tuition waiver to take courses in the spring that would hopefully transfer to my other program?

My contract runs 9 months so I can’t just leave.


texts: Request for additional documents for faculty position

texts:
I applied for a faculty position about two months ago through an online system for a university. For some reason, I did not receive any email on a request (apparently from the search committee) to upload additional documents. In fact, I had not been asked to upload these documents (teaching evaluation, unofficial transcripts and two more publications) during the initial submission but they just asked for a cover letter, research stat, teaching stat, CV and two publications.

My question is that does it mean I have been shortlisted? I should note that the recommendation letters were (and have not been) asked (yet). They have indicated in the ad that the letters will be asked for the semi-finalists.


texts: Is there a standard of professionalism in academia requiring me to hide self-harm scars if I'm otherwise comfortable leaving them exposed?

texts:
I'm a student intending to stay in academia, and I'm reaching the stage where I've begun to TA classes. If all goes well I'll be teaching courses for the rest of my career, so I want to make sure I'm doing it right.

I have a series of scars across my arm that anyone with experience or awareness of the issue will immediately realize were self-inflicted. I have not added to them in enough months that they are old and a little faded, but they are still very visible. Personally, I've grown comfortable with leaving them exposed – a stare from a stranger now and again won't hurt me.

But in a classroom environment I'm uncertain – is it possible that the emotional vulnerability implied by the scars would compromise my relationship with my students as a teacher, that they might lose respect or trust in my competence? Should I perhaps cover them because they may bother students who have been affected by the issue?

I understand that a great deal of this is based on the individual: whether they're comfortable, the way they wish to present themselves to their students, how private they wish to be, and so forth. Setting this aside, is there simply a standard of appropriateness with respect to how much I should implicitly reveal? Obviously it would not be appropriate to launch into a ramble of my mental health history while holding office hours, but would the existence of the long story implied by my scars be something I should take measures to keep from my students? And are there guidelines that would generally apply to people in similar situations (for example, if a recovering addict had obvious needle marks)?

I should add that I'm a Canadian studying in the United States and that I have seen one instance of a graduate student in the same situation as I am – she did not choose to cover her scars.