texts: Where in a thesis should a glossary be positioned?

texts:
I want to include a glossary in my master’s thesis explaining some technical terms.

My university doesn't make any specifications about the usage or position of glossaries. So I'm asking myself:

Is it better to put the glossary at the beginning of the thesis? (e.g. between the Table of Contents and the main content) That way the reader would see it first and either read it or keep in mind that he can look up unfamiliar terms there. But it would disrupt the reading flow between Abstract, Table of Contents and Content.
Or would it be better to but the glossary in the appendix? Maybe with footnotes refering to it, each time a new term is used for the first time.

The current structure of the thesis is:

- Titlepage
- Abstract
- Table of Contents
- [INSERT GLOSSARY HERE?]
- Main Content
   - Chapter A
   - Chapter B
   - ...
   - Chapter N
- Appendix
   - Appendix A
   - Appendix B
   - Table of Images
   - Table of Tables
   - Table of Literature
   - [INSERT GLOSSARY HERE?]


texts: How should I handle a paper with incorrect experimental results?

texts:
We found that a paper, published in an important CS conference, presents incorrect results in its experimental evaluation section.

Merely reading the paper is not sufficient to spot these mistakes, as the source of incorrectness lies within the the experimental evaluation and none of the algorithms/pseudo-code presented in the paper seems to be affected by it. That somehow explains how the error made it past the peer-review barrier.

We are currently in the process of circumscribing to what extent the results are incorrect. This is made difficult by the fact that the authors did not provide sufficient information to fully reproduce/verify their original experiment (not even upon gentle request), so we can only verify a limited portion of it (although it is substantial enough to draw our conclusions).

We tend to believe that the authors made a mistake in good faith and that they failed to spot it because they did not double-check the correctness of the results they obtained. We also don't have any reason to believe that the unreproducible portion of their results is incorrect as well.

We want to stress the fact that this problem only affects a subset of their results. The mistake they did somehow invalidates some of the conclusions of the experimental evaluation, although it does not seem to affect it as a whole nor to hinder the perceived worthiness of the algorithms presented in the paper.

We would like to ask what would be the best approach for disclosing this 'finding'.

It would seem the first, and most sensible step, is that to inform the authors about the issue. Then what? What should we expect them to do? Are there any other options?


texts: which one have more importance to US PhD program ?TOEFL and GRE or publication records

texts:
I have got my BS and master both with honor with good GPAs. But Now I want to know which of these have more importance to US PhD program in Computer engineering.
TOEFL and GRE  or publication records. What I am looking for is some case like this:

T : 107   G : x   p : 0
T : 98    G : x   p : 1

which case has more chance ?


texts: Explaining Poorly Chosen Major and Average Grades

texts:
I am a Mechanical Engineering major applying for Ph.D. programs in Physics (in the US) who was always interested in Theoretical Physics but chose Mechanical Engineering due to a poor career choice at the time of the selection of undergrad major. Being interested in only theoretical physics, I didn't care much about perfecting the engineering subjects and this is reflected in my grades. I have very good scores in Physics courses (except for an applied physics course). I am writing my SoP and have gotten advice from a lot of people that I should explain my choice of a different major despite my interest in physics as well as my average grades in engineering subjects. But I am not sure whether plainly telling them that I got viciously lured into engineering by being told "undergraduate physics education in our country is not good and one can easily switch to physics after the undergraduate program if one has done undergraduate studies in engineering" would help. Also, whether plainly telling the truth that I didn't find engineering interesting and thus, my grades are average would help. It might (wrongly) show that I would not study uninteresting things that are required for some research project.

I have a fair amount of content to write about my interest in Physics, for example, I am pursuing a minor in Physics, I have done a good number of interesting research projects, I have attended some schools on theoretical physics, have taken a graduate course in GR, I have well-identified research interests, etc. etc. Is it required (or helpful) to write about why I chose a different major and why my grades are average in the engineering subjects? If yes then what should be the tone and approach?


texts: MSc vs. BSc admission GPA for an application to a PhD program

texts:
I am currently attending a BSc in CS from a research university. I should end up with a MSc in Software Verification.
I wish to apply to a research university in EU, UK, or Switzerland, for a PhD, later on, (really interested in Oxford, since they have a research group that could turn on as a natural progression to my master's course, in alternative, I am interested in EPFL or in ETH's Computer Systems group) since I am interested in doing research and applied research in the future (I am already reading some papers from these Universities to have my ideas straight).

The research areas I'm interested in are: Computer Systems (OS, Distributed Systems), Software Verification, Compilers.

However, probably my master's grades will be actually much better than my BSc grades. That said, my BSc grades won't be low, but they won't be top 0,1% either. My question is: From your experience, is the MSc GPA valued more or less than the BSc GPA for a PhD admission?


texts: Acknowledgements section of master's thesis

texts: Besides thanking my thesis advisor, can I acknowledge other professors who have guided me along the way during my master's program or is the acknowledgements section really only for thanking the advisor?


texts: Undergraduate research feels like it is going nowhere. Any advice from someone experienced?

texts:
A bit of a preface; I am an electrical engineering undergraduate student. Almost exactly a year ago I asked a professor I had as a freshmen (I'm a junior now) about joining a research team. I was very surprised when he messaged me back with "Come see me." Keep in mind, this professor is very old (in his 80s) and foreign born, so he's not the best at communicating in general with me. After sending me home with some totally unrelated papers he worked on in the 60s and 70s, he essentially told me that he'd find something. Well, about a month passed and nothing, so I messaged him again and he said he found something.

He put me with a PhD student working on something that sounded familiar and understandable from digital logic class. Well, we get started and this grad student is very nice. He runs me through some fundamentals of what I need to know. The important part of this is that he never tells me what we are actually working on. The next 6 months of my life turn into studying abstract algebra textbooks, not electrical engineering. I get sent packages of like 15 assorted research papers that look like complete gibberish to me. But whatever, I keep pushing onward.

Well, weeks turn into months and I start to lose motivation because I feel like I am left in the dark. I tell this grad student all the time that if there's any meetings I can go to to please invite me, but I never really get anything back. He finally gave me a vague idea of what we are doing about 6 months in. He seems to have either forgotten about me or just doesn't care. I feel like I am absolutely useless to this research. This further perpetuates me not wanting to even try to hike this mountain. I'm the kind of person that can accomplish great things if I feel like I have guidance. I don't know if he feels like I am incapable or doesn't want my name on his research paper. I am a first generation college student, so all of this is very new to me.

The last I spoke to him was right before spring break where he said he'd send me some materials, then this pandemic hit and I haven't heard from him in like 4 months. Any advice what I should do? I emailed him today and still haven't gotten a response. That old professor that got me the research retired this semester. I've never actually met the professor that my grad student works under because, again, I feel like I am not important.


texts: What is the difference between project and thesis?

texts:
How project and thesis differs in terms of creativity ?

which one is original ?  project or thesis ?
any formal definition for project and thesis ?


texts: I chose wrong license during submission on arXiv, what shall I do?

texts:
I am a PhD student from computer science and try to submit a paper to IEEE transactions. In addition, I also submitted it to arXiv under the CC0 license (Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication), where it was already published. This might be unacceptable for IEEE.

My question is: Can I just withdraw the current version, and resubmit it to arXiv under non-exclusive license? It seems like that there will be a record in arXiv. Will it affect my IEEE publication?


texts: PhD advisor making start up company based on my thesis work. How do I prevent this from delaying my graduation?

texts:
I am a fifth year PhD student who has independently developed a project for my thesis. Recently, I have presented some promising preliminary results. My professor called it a 'gold mine', and wants to start a company based on it. I prefer to publish it and make most of the data open source.

Today, my advisor hired a senior research scientist who intends to learn my work and start a company based on it. Apparently, they have been talking to each other for several months without my knowledge. The scientist intends on becoming CEO of this company and eventually wants equal inventorship, despite not having any experience in this field yet. My PI has made it clear that it is my responsibility to transfer the ideas and technologies that I have developed over to him before the end of my PhD.

I have argued with him that this work is not ready for a company, and such a start-up would rest on shaky foundations (I have not published or patented, or finished animal studies).

I also feel that he is holding my PhD degree ransom, as he has done more than once with other students in the past. He has a pattern of doing this with other students- hiring a 'CEO-type' senior research scientist to learn from a younger PhD student, working with the research scientist to start a company while the PhD student does most of the work, not allowing the PhD student to graduate until the company is off its feet, and then making millions selling the company, with minimal benefit or recognition to the student.

How should I approach this? Is there legal recourse and should I approach a third party? I have already discussed this many times with my PI, but he will not listen. I fear that my graduation will be delayed, andI would like to avoid burning any bridges.


texts: When to offer co-authorship vs asking for feedback

texts: I am quite new to this game and I am not sure how to ask people to be co-authors on a paper I have mostly written myself but that I think would get better  with someone else's input. When is a good strategy to offer a coauthorship and when should I simply ask for a feedback on the paper? This is somewhat of a review paper and I feel that it would be important to have some experts from the field. But regardless how should I decide when to offer a coauthorship?


texts:
I am a fresh medical graduate. I worked with a professor who harassed me sexually. Unfortunately, I was afraid to talk and also a little bit confused because I was an international visiting student at that time. I did a great job in his lab before he did that. He wrote for me a great letter of recommendation at that time. After he started to be unprofessional, I decided to leave his lab.

Since then, I was surprised that he published the preliminary results of the research as conference abstracts without putting my name as a co-author. However, he stated that I am an author in the recommendation letter, formulated the primary draft and helped in the lab experiments, data collection, and statistical analysis as well. I sent him an email to ask him about the papers’ progress but he did not reply.

My question is: Now I want to apply for a research fellowship and I am going to use his letter of recommendation. But he wrote my last name as my father's name, not the family name that I usually use in my applications. I do not feel comfortable to send him an email. I do not know if it will be a problem if there is a difference between my last name in the application  and what he wrote. I also feel so bad when I found him published the papers in an international conference without mentioning my name and feel worse for not reporting him, deleting the message, and moving on to another lab.


texts: Do journal editors disallow paper from college X to be reviewed by someone from college X?

texts: What is the general opinion among editors about whether my paper should be submitted to review to academics from the same University/department? Will this ever happen? If it does happen, isn't this bad for the quality of peer review because the reviewer might have a good relationship with the person who submitted the paper and may be biased consciously or unconsciously towards giving a favorable review?


texts: Should we translate non-english university names?

texts:
In my country, several universities are prefixed by "Universidade Federal", which can be translated to "Federal University" (e.g., "Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro" to "Federal University of Rio de Janeiro"). When publishing a paper, should we translate this part of the name?

This is a obscure topic; I have some teachers that use "Federal University" and others that use "Universidade Federal". Once I heard that it is better to keep the original name of the university because it helps to keep its identity. However, even translated, it still is very easy to find. If you Google for both names, they will come up in the first positions of the ranking.

Should we translate or keep unstranslated?


texts: Is there any website for postdoc jobs in Canada?

texts:
In Europe there is https://www.euraxess.de or in the Netherlands there is https://www.academictransfer.com/en/ to find postdoc positions.

Are there any similar website to find postdoc positions in Canada?

I only could find https://jobs.sciencecareers.org. I am wondering if there are any more websites.


texts: How to determine if a topic warrants a research paper?

texts:
I'm a professional game developer looking to write a few research papers on various topics.  They mostly involve graphics techniques so I was planning on starting with the Journal of
Computer Graphics Techniques when I’m ready to start submitting the paper to publications.

These topics vary in complexity though, and while I haven’t heard of peers using these techniques, and I haven’t found reference to them on the Internet. There are some for which I’m not sure whether they are paper-worthy or not because the write-up would literally be one to two pages probably.

Is there any sort of metric to gauge topics in this way?


texts: Is there something like withdrawal charges?

texts:
I have served as a reviewer for allied academies and decided to submit an article myself, but couldn't find any info regarding APCs.
After some months I was told that my article is accepted and I have to pay a huge amouth of 1406 Euros (sorry but I do believe it's an insane amount of money I can't give especially for a journal without an impact factor).
I wrote to the editors and accountant I want to withdraw the manuscript for it is impossible for me to pay (this is more than 2 times my salary), so they asked me how much can I pay, and I honestly answered that so far I have never paid more than 100 USD (my university can not help me in paying the manuscript). So today I have received an email stating: "Following the standard practice of Open Access publishing, an author is obligated to pay the processing charges for the submitted manuscript after acceptance. If you would still decide to withdraw the paper, we request you to bear the expenditure incurred by the publisher. We ensure you that we will retract the Article from Website after processing the withdrawal charges of USD 119$. This is the minimum fee and maximum discount given to the Author."  Sorry but why should I have to pay anything? It's not like they have paid the reviewes (I have never been paid for that)... I really don't understand the situation. If I pay they will withdraw the article if I do't then what? They'll publish it?


texts: My grad department isn't offering courses listed in the catalog. What do I do?

texts:
I am a graduate student of Industrial Engineering at a US university. The IE grad department has about 11 graduate level courses listed in their catalog. However, insofar they have offered only 2 of those courses. One in fall, and one for the upcoming spring semester.

I spoke with students who are graduating this year learned that they have been in the same situation. The department has been offering the same two courses repeatedly for the past couple of years. Courses with which my interests align aren't being offered at all. With no choice, I am having to take up undergrad courses (one level lower) to keep up with credit requirements. I wanted to know whom I could approach in such situations. Who should I contact?

My options are limited since I am an international student. Moreover, my tuition fees are higher, and for that cost, I feel my educational needs aren't being met justly.

How can I approach this problem? What are the possible solutions?


texts:
In my field (theoretic CS) it is very common to list the authors names alphabetically on papers.

I have been working on a paper for quite a long time with three other researchers, which is almost complete, and in the last week or so we consulted another researcher who made a non-negligible contribution to the paper by pointing out (with a proof he thought of after considering the problem with us for a couple of days) some direction we were working on shouldn't work and suggesting considering a different direction - the final version of the paper will not include his ideas but we probably wouldn't finish it on time without realizing we are following a dead-end.

So, he deserves being listed as an author if he wishes, but the problem is that if we list the names alphabetically his name will be first - is it acceptable to put our three names (alphabetically ordered) before his, breaking the common alphabetical order? If not, what is the usual practice in such cases?

Thanks.


texts: Do editors like having cumulative thesis papers published in the same journal?

texts:
I am going to submit a manuscript that, if accepted, will be included in my Ph.D. cumulative thesis. The cumulative thesis will be composed of two papers: the first one has already been published in the same journal to which I am going to submit the second one. So, in the best case scenario, I will end up with a PhD thesis having two papers published in the same journal. The papers are somewhat linked but different.

Now, I am writing the cover letter to the editor and wondering if it is a good idea to mention this aspect. Could it be good, bad or irrelevant?


texts: likelihood of Master's application being rejected due to obsolete GRE and IELTS scores

texts: For those who submit obsolete GRE and IELTS scores (good scores), how likely is it for the admissions committee to reject/throw away the applications due to this? Will they instead review applications holistically?


texts: How to write research results when some study participants dropped out?

texts:
The research (Delphi study) started with NN study participants in Round 1 (gathering demographics). Ten percent of the participants dropped out and did not complete Round 2 or (of course) Round 3.

I'm unsure how to report this.

Do I report the demographic results and then add a note to the Round 2 and Round 3 results ("Note: Of the NN people who completed Round 1, only Nn completed Rounds 2 and 3.")

Or do I remove from the Round 1 results the data gathered from the drop-outs?

Or ... ?


texts: How to change PHD sponsored by Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship

texts:
I come from an EU country, and I am doing a PHD funded by a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Network (ITN).

The problem is that, after almost a year spent here, I realize that I do not like my subject, nor the professors. I would like to continue my PhD studies, but I need to make a change (professor, subject, maybe country).

I don't know if it is possible to make such a change, while maintaining the Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellowship.

It is hard to find an answer because I prefer not to talk about this with my professors. Also, I asked a Marie Skłodowska-Curie project secretary, and she only told me that I can quit the PhD any time without any financial consequences for me.

I prefer not to give details about subject, the university, or the names of my professors. Still, feel free to ask me if you need more details and I hope I could make my question clearer thanks to your feedback!

Thank you all!


texts: Can I change statistical results (mistakes) a discussion section with new results in a major revision stage? I corrected all the comments of reviewers but I don't know what should i do in this case. Might this situation affect the editor negatively?


texts: Is it appropriate to describe our methodological mistakes in manuscript?

texts: I work outside academia, but am working on a project with a master's student. During data collection, we had some skip-logic errors pop up while administering the survey online and it resulted in some superfluous data. She and her adviser decided to throw out all affected data and only analyze open-field text, and outlined these mistakes in great detail on her master's paper. While writing our joint manuscript for publication, is it appropriate to outline these programming errors?


texts: Is it ethical to give (paid) private tutorials for a student in a module I am TA'ing?

texts:
My TAing mostly involves helping students working on their programming assignments during classes.

A student asked me to give him private, paid, tutorials for the module, being concerned that all 'usual' resources to which he has access for free (book, classes, a bit of time outside of classes with me) won't be enough to cover his starting gap in this course.

Is this ethical? In particular, is it ethical from the point of view of other students in the course? They might think he is getting a privileged treatment, if he doesn't tell them I am being paid for that time. Should I ask him to notify them? Worse, they could think I am giving out solutions to him (I won't, but they might not think that's the case).

Should I speak with the professor of the course myself about this? Or could I ask the student to discuss his difficulties with the professor first, and eventually ask the professor himself if I can private-tutoring him?


texts:
I am currently trying to investigate whether the CJEU verdict Brüstle vs. Greenpeace in 2011 prompted EU researchers to search for employment abroad. For that, I want to track researchers affiliation history over the years. I have already identified a suitable set of researchers from Scopus using

TITLE-ABS-KEY ( "human embryonic stem cell*" )  AND  DOCTYPE ( ar )  AND  PUBYEAR  <  2010  AND  PUBYEAR  >  1997  AND  ( AFFILCOUNTRY ( belgium )  OR  AFFILCOUNTRY ( bulgaria )  OR  AFFILCOUNTRY ( denmark )  OR  AFFILCOUNTRY ( germany )  OR  AFFILCOUNTRY ( estonia )  OR  AFFILCOUNTRY ( finland )  OR  AFFILCOUNTRY ( france )  OR  AFFILCOUNTRY ( greece )  OR  AFFILCOUNTRY ( ireland )  OR  AFFILCOUNTRY ( italy )  OR  AFFILCOUNTRY ( croatia )  OR  AFFILCOUNTRY ( latvia )  OR  AFFILCOUNTRY ( lithuania )  OR  AFFILCOUNTRY ( luxembourg )  OR  AFFILCOUNTRY ( malta )  OR  AFFILCOUNTRY ( netherlands )  OR  AFFILCOUNTRY ( austria )  OR  AFFILCOUNTRY ( poland )  OR  AFFILCOUNTRY ( portugal )  OR  AFFILCOUNTRY ( romania )  OR  AFFILCOUNTRY ( slovakia )  OR  AFFILCOUNTRY ( slovenia )  OR  AFFILCOUNTRY ( spain )  OR  AFFILCOUNTRY ( sweden )  OR  AFFILCOUNTRY ( czechia )  OR  AFFILCOUNTRY ( hungary )  OR  AFFILCOUNTRY ( united  AND kingdom )  OR  AFFILCOUNTRY ( cyprus ) )

With that search query, I am hoping to find the researchers that were the most active in the EU in the first decade of the 21st century. Now, I would like to track their affiliation history over the years to for example see if one researcher from Sweden would be prompted to go to Israel or the US where patent regulations are different. However, Scopus does not give me this information in a format where I can explicitly link research activity in one year to my researcher and to one specific affiliation. Does anyone know a tool to conduct this kind of query? I have planned to analyze the data in RStudio afterwards.


texts: Is it possible to obtain an English certification online?

texts:
Assume that you are applying for a certain position and they require a proof that you master a given language at a certain level.

Are there websites where you can fill out tests and obtain a certificate?


texts: The use of phrase "per se" in academic writing

texts:
Using expressions from Latin is a common theme in academia. Expressions like in/ex vivo, in vitro or in situ are very common in biomedical articles, since they are very concise way of expressing some concept. There are however other expressions which have pretty much direct translations in English, and in some cases not even much longer in number of words/characters.

I have heard conflicting opinions on the use of the phrase per se and wanted to get more thoughts and ideally a generally applicable guideline for authors?

Edit: just wanted to mention that this is not necessarily for my own writing, the inspiration for the question came from a manuscript written by collaborators.


texts: Asking math PhD admissions for a decision sooner, given that I have received an offer from a good school

texts: Can I ask other math PhD programs that I've applied to whether they could give me a decision sooner than later, as I've gotten an offer from a good program?  If so, should I name this program for them in my email or keep it private?


texts: Using teaching materials I found on the internet for my own teaching

texts:
I teach in a university. I want to ask whether it is allowed to use slides or tutorials that I downloaded from the internet in my class. I don't make any modifications to the slide, which I want to show in the class room and distribute to my students. If the slides have the author's name on it, I will leave it there.

Should I ask for permission for using it and distributing it to my students?


texts: My students are planning on taking an exam together via Zoom

texts:
I am a college instructor at a university in the United States. I am giving an exam to my students in a few days, and I am aware that some of them are having conversations about making a Zoom meeting to take the exam together. I take cheating seriously, trying to both dissuade and catch. Nevertheless, if I end up having access to this Zoom meeting, I am not quite sure about what I should do. The exam can be submitted any time during a 24h period, and it is not proctored. I am aware that those conditions could be different, but they are not going to change for this exam.

If I decide not to do anything, I am giving unfair advantage to students not following the academic integrity policy at the school. There is a chance I could present a strong case for the cheating if they are not careful and their answers look identical, but that's not guaranteed.

If I decided to join the meeting using my real Zoom/email address, my guess is that they would get scared right away and leave. If I want to get any information in this scenario, I would have to capture my screen to see who was connected to that meeting. Even if they are using their real names, I would just have a list of the students who were on the call at that moment, and would have zero evidence of what they were talking about.

If I wanted to avoid that, I would have to use a fake Zoom account, which already feels like not the right thing to do. That might give me the chance to stay on the call, and see evidence that it is being used for cheating. But this evidence would just be for me unless I capture my screen/audio, which seems like another thing that might not be right to do.

I am sending them a letter offering my views on academic integrity, in the dissuasion front, but I don't think that would dissuade the proponents of this Zoom call.
What do you think would be the best course of action?


texts: How to withdraw your paper from an open access journal where it has been accepted?

texts:
My paper got accepted in a mediocre open access journal. However later I found out that its publishing fees was too high.

What would be the correct way of asking a withdrawal of your article from the journal?


texts: Can literature review be a research paper on its own?

texts: I am thinking about starting a research to publish in a peer reviewed journal. However, I wonder if a literature review is a research paper. For instance, if I wrote a paper about EU-Russia affairs in a form of literature review, would it have a chance to be published?


texts: Is the signature track on coursera useful for MS admissions?

texts:
I read through the forum and the opinion seems to be that doing a MOOC is equivalent of reading a book on that subject. This is largely because of that you can cheat through a MOOC.

So what if I join a signature track on a MOOC such as the one of Coursera ? I haven't ever tried a signature track out, but they capture your photo and recognize the way you write to ascertain if you have genuinely gone through the work or not.

Even american council of education is acknowledging this ....

How is this a duplicate of that question :|


texts: is it good for academic path if I publish too many papers in arxiv

texts: Currently, I am a PhD student from material science and I wish to become a TT professor in the future. When submitting papers, we see an option to submit it in arxiv and it seems to me that the acceptance to the arxiv would probably be much faster than usual journal. I want to ask if publishing articles in arxiv instead of usual journals would make my career less promising or not.... thank you:)


texts: Should I ask for each recommendation letter separately?

texts:
I will be applying for a PhD this year. So, I would like to ask for recommendation letters soon. Should I ask for each recommendation letter separately, or may I group email all the letter writers? Is there any general benefits or caveats in either approach?

My primary supervisor would like me to stay for a PhD at my current university. So, the group email might make the case seem "more decided". I'd like to avoid any further discussion on staying, since I thought to do so earlier (kind of promised) but have changed my mind since. It might negatively affect the letter to some extent.


texts: Is it possible to apply for a second masters degree in a different field of study? (different department)

texts:
Specifically, is it possible to apply for a second masters degree in MS&E (management science and engineering) or statistics (MS in statistics) after a masters degree in computer science?

How will my application be treated compared to other applicants? (with a bachelors degree)


texts: Breaking into research oriented tenure-track positions from teaching track

texts:
I received a PhD in Mechanical Engineering in 2013 in the USA and then had a brief stint as a "teaching assistant professor" for one year at my alma mater.  I moved then to a post-doc position in Europe which was highly dissatisfying and "unsuccessful" (unsuccessful=zero publications) for a year.  I returned to the USA and now I am in a non-tenure track position (teaching track as "Lecturer") in a mechanical engineering department. A non-tenure track position at my university is a two year rolling contract which may be renewed based on performance in TEACHING, service and some project management activities.

I enjoy teaching and find that my students do like me as a teacher and this is evidenced by favorable "instructor evaluations" from the students.  Instructor evaluations are one of the main factors in "re-employment".

I find very often that there are burning research questions that I would like to work on but since I am on a 4-4 teaching load (4 courses/preparations per semester), I actually do not find too much time to start investing my personal time in research.  My personal time goes into "mandatory service activities" (a lot of it is 'busy work') for my department.  These service activities are skirted by tenure track faculty and falls squarely on the shoulders of "Lecturers" (NTT).

I would like to get into a tenure track position as that seems to be inviting.  I say this because, it would seem that on average, in the USA, for mechanical engineering/applied mechanics departments, tenure track (Asst Professor) has a 2-1 or even a 1-1 teaching load.  The other portion of their time is mentoring graduate students and writing grants.

The topic for my PhD was niche (hydrothermal space applications) and did not produce tomes of publications (2 Journals, 10 conference), none of them cited significantly (twice at most for journal papers).

How do I break out from my non-tenure track position and move into a tenure track position?  I realize the breadth/scope of my question is perhaps too subjective so I decided to form strategies.  I am wondering if people on this forum who are into hiring committees could shed more light on whether these strategies are useful or if not, provide other perspectives

Strategies:

Strategy 1:

Continue in non-tenure track for a few years.  Eventually I won't be spending too much time on new course preparation and that may afford me time to spend on research. However, then I will have significant backlog of scientific work to catch up on!

Strategy 2.:

Start applying for tenure track positions fully knowing that although I do have an aptitude for the research I want to do, I am lacking in publications.  I have exhausted my PhD work into two publications (such was the nature of my PhD) and there is no "new data" or "new angle on old data" that I can publish right now.  In this strategy of "job applications", I will have to focus on projecting my strengths (teaching, mentoring) and extend it or relate it to future proficiency in research

Strategy 3:

Quit my job and spend time trying to do research sans a pay-check (risky?) in the hope that this would allow me time for research.

Strategy 4:

Collaborate with tenure track faculty in my current university.  The trouble is ("challenge" is a better word...) striking a working relationship with someone when I know that I am exhausting over 10 hours a day (on avg.) on teaching activities with little zing left in me at the end of the day!

Strategy x.:

Anything I might be missing as a strategy.  This is where perhaps I could gain from someone's experience in this forum.


texts: Identifying a bad advisor (before applying)

texts:
Earlier this year, I contacted this Professor (Applied Math) from a top Canadian university and we talked twice this year. He earned his PhD from an Ivy League school and must be around 60 years old. He seems to be a really nice guy, happy to have me as his student, and the university is in a city that I like a lot. However, there is something that concerns me.
He has only had four students over more than 20 years. Three of them stayed in academia in American universities, but only one of them (the youngest) is actively engaged in research in a tier 3 university (the other two are lecturers in tier 2 universities). His other student got a post-doc in a top university in the US, but returned to his home country afterwards (a developing one).
Are my concerns justified?


texts: How to do a good job of undergraduate advisement?

texts:
Among my other duties as a tenure-track assistant professor (in math), I serve as an advisor to undergraduates: they are required to meet with me and get my approval on their choice of courses before they can register.

I dread this job every semester, because I suspect that I do a poor job of it. Some of the reasons:

I have little sense of what career opportunities are available to students of moderate ability and motivation. I can probably help the very top students, because I enjoy reading and listening to first-hand accounts told by extremely successful people, but I have little sense of what is available in the "middle of the market".

It does not help that this city is relatively economically depressed, and that I have learned the hard way not to ask people here "What do you do?" This seems to run counter to local etiquette, and when I do ask, people often describe work which sounds dull to me, and about which they don't seem very excited either.
There are a plethora of campus-wide programs, and periodically I get e-mails asking me to push various of these to my advisees. However, I don't really know anything about these beyond what I read in the e-mails, and in particular I don't have (and can't readily acquire) any first-hand knowledge of which are actually valuable and which are just empty organizationalism and/or some administrator trying to make him- or herself look good.
Students rely on me for information on what their graduation requirements are, but this is subject to rapid change and to misinformation which I can still find on the internet (despite me pointing it out to those responsible). I am constantly terrified of giving students bad advice which will delay their graduation.
In general, I am somewhat spooked by discussions with my colleagues who have invested a lot of time and energy in learning how the university outside my department works. I get the sense that there are a bunch of administrators pushing their pet projects, and colleagues who are involved with these seem a bit shell-shocked to me.

Despite all of this, I have the opportunity to help students, and I want to do a good job of it. What are some principles to keep in mind?


texts: I find my masters topic extremely hard what should I do?

texts:
I'm writing this because I'm in a real trouble and I need to hear from experienced people.

I'm new here so please excuse me if I get anything wrong.
I'm doing my masters in Deep Learning and I'm having toughest time ever.

I have a research paper very similar to what I wish to make, with the codes in Python which is working fine and is giving results. The problem is I can't understand that  code it's beyond my knowledge.

I read books looking at codes but couldn't achieve that level of being able to understand the code or the paper.

The paper is about Recurrent Nueral Networks and motion prediction.

Unfortunately I'm not good at Python or Deep Learning and feel like I'm really stuck.

My supervisor didn't know much about Deep Learning but he approved my proposal. Now I don't know what to do.
Should I stick to the topic and take courses in Deep Learning like the one in Coursera even if It means to take extensions beyond the deadline?

Or should I change the topic completely?

I asked my supervisor and he was against changing the topic he suggested to simplify the topic and choose something simpler than Deep Learning like interpolation. He said that submitting a proposal will take time and it's not guaranteed that your new topic will be easier than your current topic.

I tried to find some codes about interpolation motion data to begin with but can't find anything related to my topic.

I'm not lazy at all, I love researching and I have hundreds of codes in my machine but still can't understand the code I have about RNNs.

I contacted the authors of that paper but they weren't cooperative.

I feel like I ran out of energy and very confused.

If you were in the same situation what would you do?


texts:
As I understand, I'm rather free to choose a publication (and, thus, citation) style for a research statement. While being in graduate school (master's and doctoral programs), I've used APA, as it was school-wide standard and a requirement for Ph.D. dissertation. As a result, I'm quite familiar with that publication style. However, most of research statements that I've seen, use citation style that is different from one of APA style's (don't remember the name of that citation style, if it exists).

While the main part of using square brackets, etc. is easy and natural, I'm a little concerned about formatting differences in reference list, so I'd prefer to use familiar to me APA style's conventions.

Question: will using APA style's citation scheme have any negative effect on my research statement's readability, overall acceptance and, ultimately, on search committee's decision making?


texts: How to make the most of my time as a volunteer at a research-paper conference?

texts: I'll be attending as a volunteer at a prominent conference for computer-science research papers. Do you have any advice for how I can do a good job in my role, and also make the most of my time at the conference?


texts: Can one pursue multiple degrees via distance education mode in India?

texts: Can one pursue multiple degrees ie two or more at the same time via distance education mode in India? Some sources say it is allowed since 2013, but some forum state that it is illegal.


texts: Terms agreed upon for PhD offer are being unilaterally rescinded—what to do?

texts:
At my old university:

I was a visiting researcher at a university, working with my current advisor. My advisor got an offer to go to another university. He also offered me to join him at his new university.

I got an offer letter by the Admissions department of the new university for their PhD track. As the offer was lacking in multiple regards -- type of housing, healthcare, stipend rate, academic responsibilities, opportunities for internships -- I spoke to my advisor, Admissions and the dean of my department at the new university.

My advisor and the dean effectively agreed to fixing my concerns. These agreements were partly put on record. During that time, my advisor had not yet accepted his new position. (Maybe the dean just agreed to my concerns in order to land that hire.) I was invited for a short stay as a visiting researcher.

At my new university:

During that stay many of my concerns materialized. I voiced my concerns with my advisor, the respective administrative departments, and Admissions. My advisor  reluctantly tried to change things, but mostly referred me to speak with other people.

This effectively led to a one-sided invalidation of my offer letter.

I spoke multiple times with my advisor and the dean. They still are of the opinion that they are bound by our agreement. However, they are now telling me that they are in no role to give orders to the Admissions department. The only two people who have this authority is one of the Vice Presidents and the President himself. The dean knows that this Vice President will side with Admissions. The President is shortly before his retirement and will not be present anymore.

Both my advisor and the dean made the impression that they can take care of my admission and fix my concerns. Now they are saying that even though these things were agree upon, they cannot do anything to fulfill their promises.

Current options:

My advisor offered me to work from another country as a remote contract worker with lower effective pay. That will of course not lead to earning a PhD.

Legal options are not available, as the university is located in a country with no court system.

How would one go forward with this situation?


texts: How to improve scientific writing skills?

texts:
What do you do to write better proposals, grants, and papers?

Do you think reading books about how to write scientific content is a good way to improve it?


texts: What should I do if my final year project supervisor does not answer my questions

texts:
Currently I am working on my Final Year Project. I have worked with the current supervisor for 4 months. In the first month, everything went smooth. Whenever I email a question to her, she will answer it within 3 days. However, as times goes by, she started to ignore my question. This happens from 2nd month onwards till now. I don't know whether she hates my for asking so many questions or simply don't have time.

What should I do to deal with this kind of situation as my Final Year Project's grade depends on her. If I don't have a good relationship with her, I think my grade will suffer.


texts: Using previous student essays as examples

texts:
I teach English as a second language to pre-college adults in the U.S., and I'm interested in the idea of using essays from previous students as examples in a writing class. At a previous institution we used a permission form that students signed giving the university the right to reproduce or modify written work, in part or whole, and with identifying information removed.

However, as an adjunct who will likely work at multiple schools, I would like to have that permission myself as well.

What would be the legalities to consider doing such a thing?
If I have students' written permission, should I still have permission from the institution to do this?
Will a signed statement (in English), given by someone whose understanding of English is demonstrably weak, function the same as any other?
Is there a precedent for instructors to gain this permission? As opposed to the institution as a whole.
Would a blanket statement applying to all assignments work, or should it be for each individual assignment?

Edited to clarify: I'm interested in both positive and negative examples. Perhaps more so negative ones since the errors produced by international student populations would be more authentic and difficult for me, a native speaker, to reproduce.

I also have no intention of publishing them outside of classroom materials. Anonymous Mathematician made an excellent point that withdrawal of permission would be impossible if I did this. The only foreseeable publishing I can imagine would be as a course pack or teacher's guide given to the institution or other teachers, but I would still want to ask for additional permissions to do this.


texts: What does the term "highest qualification" mean?

texts: What does the term "highest qualification earned" or "highest degree earned" on applications mean? For example, if I am a current undergraduate student, does that mean my highest qualification is "undergraduate degree" or should it be my "high school diploma"?


texts: Is the order of recommendation letters important in case of postdoc application?

texts: I'd want to know whether the third recommendation letter is important. In other words, whether the order of recommendation letters is important in applied maths or all the letters of recommendation are equally important.


texts: Applying for Masters Degree with academic integrity violation on record

texts:
I am a junior college student that goes to a top 6 CS school. I will be graduating a year early and am starting to think about whether or not I want to get my Master's degree.

However I have an egregious academic integrity violation from my first university from which I was expelled (which was a top 4 CS school, during my first semester). I have since learned from the incident and transferred to my current college, where I have been studying for 3 years.

If I do decide to get a masters degree, I would either plan on pursuing it at my current school (where I believe I will be accepted, due to my academic performance/relationships with professors/ the fact that my department head knows about my past) or at another top-6 cs school.

Would a school of such caliber be willing to look past my academic integrity violation, or should I not even bother applying for a Master's degree?


texts: Borderline on appropriateness from teacher

texts:
Being a western (white) teacher at an Asian university I constantly have to worry about being the subject of gossip and rumors between students (and others). So, I do need to be more careful about my actions with students and how my intentions are viewed by others.

What if I see a student has a strange blink pattern? Should I consider that (potential need for glasses) integral to the learning process and pull that student aside to tell them or is it generally considered that teachers in my situation should only consider issues directly related to the subject matter?


texts: I quit a master’s program for a PhD program. How do I list this on my CV?

texts:
Before starting my PhD, I was enrolled in a master’s program for one year that I quit once I got accepted to my current PhD program.
What do you think I should write on my CV so as not to give a bad impression to potential employers?

University A, 2016 to present
B.Sc., University B, 2015

University A, 2016 to present
MA program, University B, 2015–2016 (quit to start PhD at A)
B.Sc., University B, 2015

University A, 2016 to present
B.Sc., University B, 2015 (followed by a one-year enrollment in the master’s program)

something else?


texts: Is it acceptable to cite an article from a corporate website? Can Wikipedia be used to prove credibility?

texts:
I need relatively broad information on the functionality of a certain technology as part of the exposition to my seminar paper. As scholarly papers tend to focus on very specific questions, already taking the existence of my sought-for concepts for granted, and since suitable books don't seem available to me, I feel that I have to look for answers on a regular website.

For this, I've found a short article by a major corporation which happens to be the market leader of said technology. Is it acceptable to cite their web page in a seminar paper?

I understand that credibility of the used sources is a major concern. Given the fact they are market leader, I believe that credibility to be present. Do I need to name this company's status (e.g. "According to [company], market leader in [technology], ...") to validate the source? If so, would simply citing Wikipedia for this fact suffice, assuming their prevailing status on the market needs to be proven as well?


texts: Is it typical for colleges to cancel a course well into the semester? What options does an instructor have in this case?

texts:
I'm teaching as an adjunct at a community college in the US. One of the courses I'm teaching has very low enrollment. Now, several weeks into the semester, the college is considering cancelling the course. I am not happy about this as it would significantly impact my income. The course is unusual (for reasons I won't go into in an attempt to preserve anonymity), and had I anticipated that low enrollment might lead to cancellation I might have chosen one of a couple other employment options this semester instead.

I can look into the legal aspects elsewhere, but I wonder whether this is a common scenario? Do instructors in this situation just accept the loss of income? I never encountered this before my previous teaching experience.


texts: How do you politely ask someone to be on your committee?

texts:
I'm a graduate student finishing up my first year, and I'm currently in the Master's program but am planning on switching to the PhD program at my university (which is located in the U.S.). I've chosen people I'm interested in asking and my adviser's okayed my selection, but I was wondering how to go about asking these individuals.

What format is appropriate to ask people to be on your committee? Should I email each person, or should I set up a physical meeting to discuss my goals and 'pop the question'?

What should I say in the email/meeting? Most of the potential committee members I'm planning on asking don't know me very well, but they at least know my name (I think). Do I need to discuss why I want them on my committee? How much do I tell them about my project (which is still in the beginning stages)?


texts: Do editors really follow suggested reviewers?

texts: I was wondering if the editors really follow the list of reviewers the author/s suggested upon the manuscript submission in the journal?


texts: How to cite in-text same source multiple times (chicago style)?

texts:
is there a more economical way of citing something like this:

  In her essay titled “Electronic Literature: What is it?”, N. Katherine Hayles (2007) gives an account of the state of electronic literature. Hayles (2007) maintains [...]

Can I avoid the second in text citation? When do I need to put it back (like different paragraph and so on)?


texts: What can we do as faculty to make tuition more affordable for students? Do we have an obligation to make tuition more affordable?

texts: The inflation rate of tuition in the US has been higher than the general economy's inflation rate for some time, sometimes it is twice as high   What can the faculty do to stop/slow this down?


texts: How to decline answering details about my thesis?

texts:
I am a graduate student studying Education. I am currently working on my thesis, am about half-done with this and I expect to finish in one year. For the research, I am visiting classrooms at various public schools.

Recently, one such public school asked that, in exchange for letting me visit, I share my advice about teaching. Since they welcomed me their classroom, I did not see much of a problem with this and did not think that would present any problems. I prepared an outline for a 90-minute discussion covering some areas, drawing somewhat on my findings related to my research. After sending this off to them before the lecture, I found they are quite disappointed and want far more from me, essentially they want the very core of my thesis.

Is it acceptable practice for graduate students to be guarding of their work? Is this common enough that I can cite it as a reason for wanting to avoid sharing the details?


texts:
I am considering submitting a working paper to the ArXIV archive and was wondering what the different licenses entailed, and whether choosing one might have some future ramifications.

Thank you!


texts: Should I choose a postdoc with greater potential for collaboration over a higher ranked institution?

texts:
I'm in the market for math postdocs and was just offered some positions. Essentially my situation is as follows. I have two offers from AMS Group I universities. One has higher "ranking" and is in the top 15, and the other in the 30s. However, the lower ranked university has a great group and there is a greater potential for collaboration.

I'm concerned that if I go to a lower ranked place, faculty positions at a good institution will not be easy to find. How important is it to go to a famous university for you postdoc? I'd also like to hear about the experiences of mathematicians who didn't go to a top 10 university for the their postdoc, but worked their way up.


texts: How to ask for a shift in graduate assistantship from research to teaching?

texts:
I am a graduate student in NYC and would like to learn how to ask my advisor and my professor to shift from research assistantship to teaching.
I have been working on a research project for one semester which I am not interested in anymore. I am more interested in the teaching experience and need to explain it clearly.
Since my research colleagues are graduating nowadays, my professor distributes all the tasks on me out of the schedule. I need a certain schedule because of my parenting situation.
Could you help me to figure out how to explain it to the advisor and to my professor too?
Thank you and happy new year to all!


texts: Self-plagiarism and citation when working on 2 papers simultaneously

texts:
Say you're working on two papers A and B simultaneously, and the content and topic of the papers partially overlap such that normally you would be required to cite paper A in paper B. But since both papers are being written simultaneously how do prevent self-plagiarism?

Should you cite paper B in paper A and vice versa, even though neither is published yet?


texts: How should a "brief synopses of each paper" look like?

texts:
I'm a exchange student that just arrived in the US. The professor is asking us to do this:

  Please write and submit brief synopses of each paper before class which include the following:

  the title and authors
  a one paragraph summary of the paper (do not copy the abstract - how would you summarize the paper?)
  1-3 things you found most interesting (at most one paragraph)
  1-3 questions that arose for you while reading the paper (at most one paragraph)

I never did this before, specially in English. How should this look like ? You have rules to do (spacing, font, etc.) ? And are the "Title and authors" for my text or the authors of the papers ?


texts: If this is my second Visiting Assistant Professor job, who should I ask for letters?

texts: I'm just looking ahead, but I intend to get 1 letter from my current department chair but am not sure beyond that. Should I include a letter from my graduate advisor no matter what? Should I get a letter from my last job as well (1 from current school, 1 from previous school, 1 from grad school) or 2 from my current one? Or where else should I look?


texts: How to cite a paper when I don't know where was published?

texts: I have collected some papers regarding the subject of my M.A. thesis,  but I have some articles that I couldn't find where they were published.   The point is when I Google the title of the article, Google shows me that the article has been cited more than 60 times, but I can't find where and in what journal. How can I find the journal in which these articles were published?


texts: Royalties and advances from academic publishers: what should I look out for?

texts:
I am an early-career academic in a humanities subject and have been offered my first book contract. The offer is from a reputable international commercial publisher, which has published several recent and important works in my field.

The publisher has offered an advance payment of c.$700/£500 on publication, but does not offer royalties. This is on the basis that most institutions are purchasing digital subscriptions as opposed to physical books or ebooks.

Having no prior experience of book contracts, I would like to gauge if this is a good deal in terms of payment, and what constitutes the norm for royalties for academic books.


texts: Can I upload journal articles to a private git repo?

texts:
I have some journal articles that are obviously copyrighted in some form that I am not allowed to share with people who don't have a license.

I also have a private student git-repo. I want to know if it's okay to upload these articles to the repo, considering the repo is private?


texts: What to write in journal cover letter when research was conducted several years ago

texts: I am in the process of submitting a paper to a peer reviewed journal. The paper reports a study that was conducted 7 years ago. In the cover letter to editors that I have prepared, I point out that the topic remains timely, and I provide relevant references to illustrate this (which have also been used to update the paper). I feel that this information is sufficient at this time of initial submission, and that if the editors ask the reason for the delay in submitting the article, I can address it then. Any thoughts regarding this? Any suggestions for anything else to mention in the cover letter (aside from what normally goes in cover letters)?


texts: Should I accept this unfunded offer from my dream school or wait for funded offers?

texts:
I just finished the grad school application process, and I'm getting my first letters of acceptance. I got one letter from one of my bottom three schools, one from a "middle of the pack" school, and one from a dream school. And, at the risk of humble bragging, this is a great school with a great reputation and true luminaries in my specific research interest amongst its faculty. I literally screamed when I got the letter. However, it is not funded.
They sent me the letter of acceptance only three weeks after I submitted my application. As I understand it, that's a very quick turn-around time, especially for a prominent research institution. I assume that's a very positive thing.
I'm not sure whether to just accept the offer right away, or wait to see if some of the other dream schools respond. At least one of the other dream schools will have funding for me from the get-go if I'm accepted. I know "non-funded for any amount of time" is a big red-flag, but I feel the pedigree of the school that I got accepted to trumps that. Having good recommendations from any of the professors I would work under would be worth more than gold. I feel like, in this situation, you just bite the bullet and go for it.
But I also feel that if you might have basically the exact same opportunity, except with funding, at another institution or two, it might be worth waiting/holding out a bit to see how things play out.
I feel left with a few questions:

Is it stupid of me to hold out at all, given the high level of the institution I received the letter of acceptance from? I worry my ego might have got too inflated, and it's wrong to  hope that another dream school (with or without available funding) will come knocking at my door.

If I do accept the offer, but then receive an offer from another dream institution that could offer me funding, would it be bad form to pull out of my agreement of acceptance? I wouldn't want bad blood.

How long is too long to wait on accepting the offer? Will they fill the open position if I take too long to respond? I don't want to miss out on what could be the opportunity of a lifetime because I sat on my hands.


texts: Recommendation letters for REU from grad student

texts:
I am a mathematics grad student who is often the primary instructor for undergraduate courses, and I have been asked by one of my previous students to write a recommendation letter for REUs, which are summer research programs for undergraduate students. This student was in a ``Introduction to Proofs'' course that I taught. I know that recommendation letters from grad students for grad school are looked upon poorly; is the same true for REUs? Applying for REUs is rather different than applying for grad school, so perhaps it is more accepted in this case.

If the best option for this student is to have me write the letter, what should a good letter from a grad student focus on? Since I don't have as extensive a teaching record as a professor I can't realistically compare them to other students I have had-- is it enough to talk about their excellent performance in the course I taught?

In case anyone is concerned about the student, I brought up the issue of me being a grad student when they asked for the letter, and after guidance from a faculty member they still think my letter is their best option (a professor is writing a letter as well). Of course, I'll ask someone at my institution for advice also.


texts: As an instructor, how to show my appreciation for my TAs' hard work?

texts:
As an instructor, I have been fortunate to have had some great TAs, who went above and beyond what was expected of them, and put in a lot of effort to ensure students' learning.

I would really like to do more than just say "Thank you." How can I show my appreciation to them after the class ends?

(The situation may also be slightly complicated by the fact that some of the TAs I'm thinking of aren't physically located near me. I'm in the US, but I also teach as a "remote" instructor for a university in Europe, and I get TAs there. So I would like answers addressing both local and non-local TAs, if it matters.)


texts: Is there an overview of alternative approaches to voluntary and ideal review process?

texts:
I was chatting with some colleagues earlier and we talked about about a case where a reviewer was caught consistently asking the authors of the papers reviewed for up to 30 or so of his/her own papers cited. The conversation steered towards how this kind of abuse would not be caught earlier and the idea of professional refereeing was debated around the coffee table.

One of the seniors said that paying reviewers was tested several times and in general was more problematic than not, which got me a bit curious if there is an overview of what was tried and how it was evaluated. I would be very interested in any publication that looks at the concept in a more rigorous and less anecdotal manner.


texts: Do European PhD programs have a qualifying exam, and if so, what form do they take?

texts:
Now, I understand that European PhDs are far from monolithic in format, and that most quals in my field (physics) can fall into two general formats, as far as North American PhD programs are concerned:

A set of tests covering the fundamental areas of undergraduate-level education in your discipline (I know MIT and Princeton can be quite nasty in this regard for physics, but UChicago phased quals out due in part to student health concerns
A review of the literature in your research topic and the relevant fundamental notions underlying it, which must be explained in front of a jury that will ask questions as well

My question is: are quals present in European PhD programs and, if yes, what are formats commonly in use for that purpose?


texts: Is an improved algorithm for a non-hot problem publishable?

texts:
I have been working on a research problem independent of any advisor for the past few months and I think I have a result. The problem I am investigating  has n and K as input. The naive approach would take O(n!K+2), which is ridiculously bad. I managed to come up with, and proof the correctness of a 2-approximation algorithm that runs in O(Kn2).

However, this is absolutely not a hot topic. Researchers in it are not a lot. On the other hand, there are practical applications of my algorithm (off the top of my head, I can think of three significant ones). I am also positive that my algorithm beats all published approximation algorithms as well.

So my question is: Would a reputable journal accept my paper given that it isn’t really a hot topic now?


texts: Is a joint science PhD/JD a bad idea if I end up pursuing academic science?

texts:
Question. I'm going into my third year as a PhD student in oceanography, and due to my interest in law, I'm considering applying to the concurrent PhD/JD program at my university. I’m wondering whether this might damage my future prospects as an academic scientist.

My background. I have long been interested in both law and science, but I'm not sure whether I would end up pursuing law, science, or both after graduation. My scientific research (computer models of the global carbon cycle) has implications for law and policy, but is completely independent from law and policy in itself. I think my background places me at the very top in being able to understand the science, but that is only one of my interests in law. My interest in science has not waned at all, and my scientific career is going pretty well. It’s my interest in law that has grown.

The program. I've come to learn my university has a pretty flexible joint program (7 years instead of 4-5), and they’ve stressed that the course load can be made flexible to accommodate thesis research in my home department. At this point I believe I could maintain a level of scientific productivity even when studying law half- or three quarter-time. Financially, I think it's likely I could do the program for free, but worst case I might no longer be eligible for my $25K/year stipend. This would not be a dealbreaker, and I would find out before having to commit

My concern. My concern is that I don’t know exactly how I would want to use the two degrees. I'm interested in many different types of law. I would never be unhappy that I took the time to study law, if only to quench my intellectual interest. I would only regret the decision if I decided to pursue an academic career in science and this damaged by chances. Specifically, I'm worried that:

It could suggest a lack of commitment, i.e. a kind of 'Carl Sagan effect', where a professional interest outside your area of research is counted as a lack of seriousness.
A JD would obviously reduce my scientific productivity for a few years while studying. While I believe I can maintain some productivity, the number of papers, citations, etc. would necessarily decline over that period.


texts: Does a PhD thesis have to be theoretical?

texts:
I already asked a question in the past about the requirement to join a PhD program, but I am now wondering what makes a PhD thesis what it is. As seen on a lot of different websites and for example on this post, one of the goals of a research thesis is to contribute to human knowledge by researching and documenting said research.

My personal goal is to contribute to human knowledge, and I feel like some researches in computer science (from different offers and thesis I saw) don't create knowledge, but are rather focused on creating a product that could as well be developed by any company with a research and development field. Because of this, I have trouble visualizing if there is really a knowledge creation in those PhDs, as I feel like those are not in a "science" related field but rather in a technical field (even though it's in the name "computer science").

Just to be clear, I'm not in any case questioning the benefit those research made, I think I am misunderstanding something in what a PhD is, and want clarifications to make sure I'm joining a PhD program with the right state of mind.

Does a PhD thesis have to be theoretical ?
If not, what is the benefit of developing a technical product in a academic environment rather than in a private environment ? (for both the doctorate and the academic world)


texts: After submitting a revised manuscript (moderate revision was requested), what are the steps followed?

texts:
I have submitted a manuscript to a reputed journal. After 2 months of peer review process, the response was “moderate revision has been requested” and they told me that the new version is required within 1 month.
After making the necessary adjustments, I have resubmitted the revised manuscript back on the 14th of October 2017. On the 21st of October the status changed from “with editor” to “under review”. To date (16th December) the status is “under review”.
In fact, I had made some readings about late reviews, I found that reviews are normally due 14 days after the invitation is accepted by the reviewer.
Should I worry about manuscript rejection?
Thanks in advance for your help


texts: Can I put my NSF fellowship on reserve in order to investigate leaving academia?

texts:
I'm currently a PhD student in mathematics at a well-ranked school. Unfortunately, after a few years of increasing frustration and self-doubt, I'm considering leaving academia and trying to start a different career.

I currently have an NSF graduate fellowship. As described in the information guide for fellows, one's "status" with regards to the fellowship can be either

Tenure: Tenure is the period of time during which Fellows utilize
the fellowship to pursue an advanced degree in science,
mathematics, or engineering...
Reserve: With prior Foundation approval, Fellows may reserve any
two years over the five-year period to use an alternative means
of support, or to engage in activities other than graduate study... (emphasis mine)

(There are also options for medical or military deferral. The full description of Tenure and Reserve status are in the linked document.)

Does this mean I can request to reserve my fellowship for the 2015-2016 academic year, using that time "test the waters" on another career, such that if I decide to stay in – or rather, go back to – academia, I would still have my NSF fellowship?

Of course if I do something like this, I would want it to be with my advisor's approval, though I haven't brought up this specific idea with them yet. Let's assume they are okay with it.


texts: What is a good ice-breaker question on the first day of the classes?

texts:
I will be teaching for the first time to both undergraduate and graduate students in computer science, not in the US, and I am wondering

if I should take time to meet & greet with students
if so, what should I ask them? I know some questions are uncomfortable (anything that gives away socio-economical background for example), so I want to avoid uncomfortable questions. Should it be about the class? Should it be about their favorite movie?

The course will be online due to the pandemic.


texts: Is it ethical to ask the postdoc employer to cover my trips for visa purposes as well as my main travel fees?

texts:
I will soon start doing a postdoc in country A, and the employer says there will be a generous relocation package. My home is in country B and I did my PhD in country C.

The question is: in order to apply for the entry visa for country A, I had to first return to my home country B and apply from there, instead of applying in C, as my PhD visa for country C ran out. So the relocation involves two travels, from C to B, and then from B to A.

Would it be ethical to ask the employer to cover my flight from C to B as well? Yes, the primary reason for coming back to country B is visa application, but this can also be considered visiting family and therefore not related to work. Any suggestions?


texts: What should the course leader do if some students were given less time for a quiz?

texts:
I am the course leader for a course with more than 600 students.
This semester,
I decided to conduct our end-of-semester quiz
as a computer-based quiz using our school's learning management system.
We needed to reserve multiple computer lab rooms
due to the fact that the maximum capacity of a lab room is about 80 students.

Unfortunately,
we had always used a paper-based quiz in the past,
and it was the first time that we had ever used computer-based quiz,
so things did not go as smoothly as we would have liked.

We had requested that the students
should show up to the quiz venue 10 minutes early.
This would give them time to turn on the computers
and to log in to the quiz using
a special browser (Respondus LockDown Browser)
rather than the regular Internet Explorer browser.
Unfortunately, our instructions to the invigilators and the students
were not clear enough,
so even though most of the students showed up
to the quiz venue 10 minutes early as requested.
The invigilators did not make clear to the students
how to log into the computers and into the quiz,
so many of the students started the quiz 5-10 minutes late.

I attempted to communicate with the invigilators
to give the students 5 additional minutes to complete the quiz.
Unfortunately, due to miscommunication,
some of the invigilators ended the quiz on time
(so the students in their session had 50-55 minutes);
whereas some of the invigilators gave the students extra time
(so the students in their session had close to 60 minutes).

After the quiz was over,
some of the students who received 50-55 minutes complained to me
that they were disadvantaged because
they had less time to complete the quiz than other students.
It may or may not have been the student's fault
if he or she had less time for the quiz.

For some of these students,
they had less time because
they arrived late (which is their fault)
For other students,
they arrived on time.
However, because their computers booted up slowly,
or the invigilators did not make it clear
how to open the correct browser and how to start the quiz,
they started their quiz late by ~5 minutes
(this could have been avoided with better planning on our part).

Questions:

How should I respond to these student's complaints?
Is there anything that I should do to "fix" the situation?

Currently, I feel that the quiz was mostly fair to the students.
I am able to see in the learning management system that
fewer than 0.1% of the questions were not answered,
which means that 99.9% of the questions were submitted properly.
So although some students who had more time
had the benefit of double-checking their answers,
for the most part even students who only had 50 minutes
had enough time to complete all of the questions.


texts: Should a PhD thesis reflect the state of research at the time of writing?

texts:
I am currently writing up my PhD thesis and have the following issue. I wrote a paper during the PhD thesis, the result of which was developed further by third parties without my involvement. From the perspective of my published paper, this new result lies in the future and is of course not mentioned in the paper. However, at the time of writing the PhD thesis, this result is available and may be relevant for the readers of the PhD thesis.
Should the PhD thesis contain a reference to the third party paper?
Presumably the answer to above question is yes in one form or another. A more detailed question is then: How should it be included? I can imagine multiple options.

If the result is relevant to the general scientific scope of the thesis it probably warrants an explicit mention in the introduction, explaining that the work is based on the result in the thesis.
Let's say there is a close technical connection and the third party paper improves upon some aspects of the original result. Would it be appropriate to even summarize this progress rather than simply mentioning it?
If the result is not directly relevant to the scientific scope, it is presumably omitted in the thesis.

This question is generally about whether the PhD thesis is meant to reflect the state of research at the time of writing or at the time of the published results that are summarized in the thesis. An answer to the above examples would already give a lot of insight, but I am also interested in the general attitude towards this issue.
As a side note: In some countries, cumulative theses (also called "staple theses") are allowed, which are simply an accumulation of the published papers with an introduction added. Since this form would most likely not contain any mention of the third party paper, I started thinking about what a normal PhD thesis should be doing in this regard.


texts:
I'm a rising sophomore at a top US university, and I've become really fascinated with the world of academia over the past year -- so much so that I'm considering doing a PhD after I graduate and entering it myself. But there's something about academia that bothers me.

I'm doing a summer internship at a research center at a university where I'm in the company of several PhD students and post docs as well. I've noticed that the work culture here is a bit lazy. I understand that academia isn't the most "organized" area (unlike the corporate world), and that one great thing about academia is the flexibility you get to do your work however you want. For instance, I've spoken to professors who say they do most of their work at night -- which, obviously, is impossible in a regular job. But I've observed this getting translated into laziness. People will only come in to the center for 3-4 hours a day, and sometimes not even every day in the week. I also see people often passively sitting on their computers and not really actively doing their work.

I completely understand that academics are less "robotic" than people working corporate jobs in that they don't follow the same routine every single day, but it just seems to me that a lot of people lack the drive, intensity, and seriousness that I see in my romanticized version of the world of academia. Thoughts?


texts:
For my master thesis I should write a simulation program, and compare the results with the results I get from commercial programs. Now I found a already existing script with exact the data I need on github which does all the background work for me, and I can modify it for my specific purposes. The script is already based on a public available script.
My approach would have be the same, but I would have needed some time to bring it to this extent. Now I am not sure how I can use this script in my thesis: Can I use it (github does not allow PMs to ask the author this question), and how should I cite it? I know that I have to cite the author in my literature appendix in each case, but how far do I have to mark my changings in the code?


texts: How can I share my Google Scholar profile with selected people only?

texts:
In Google Scholar under the section:

My profile > Pencil symbol > Make my profile public

I have unchecked the option.

This has made my Google Scholar profile private. Now I want the ability to share my profile with few of my friends, not all. How do I do that?


texts: Should you include references in a research plan for a postdoc application?

texts: While applying for postdoc positions, candidates are asked to submit a statement of research interests or research plan. Some institutes want that write up to be less than two or three pages. I was just wandering how strictly one should obey this page restriction and whether one should add references (bibliography) in such a write up.


texts: Should I tell the university supporting my fellowship application if I apply for other jobs?

texts:
I am a postdoc currently looking for a faculty level position. I have recently started preparing an application for a grant scheme in the UK. If the application were successful, the grant would pay my salary for 5 years and give me some money to start up a research group. I have contacted a University (let's call them University A), to ask if they would be willing to be the "host institution" for my application. They have agreed, and have been very supportive of my application in terms of giving me help and feedback in preparing the proposal.

Yesterday, I noticed a job advert for another UK University (University B), who are advertising for a lecturer position, specifically seeking someone in my field. I am considering applying for this position.

If I do apply to University B, should I tell University A that I am doing so? In particular, if I were to get the job at B and therefore have to back out of the grant application, having not told A about my application beforehand, will I be seen to have acted in bad faith?

I am in two minds about this. One the one hand, if I was straightforwardly applying for an open position at both A and B, I certainly wouldn't bother informing each of my application to the other. On the other hand, A is investing some non-trivial effort in helping me prepare the grant proposal  so perhaps I owe them more consideration.

A subsidiary question: if I do tell A that I am applying to B, is this likely to dampen their enthusiasm for supporting my grant application?


texts: some questions regarding research plan for postdoc

texts:
I am going to apply for some postdoc positions which last more than one year. As usual, one of the main required documents is research plan. Having considered some good questions in academia.stackexchange such as Research plan without a specific goal?
, Research proposal for postdoc applications and Research Plan that works?, I have another question:

In the case of more than one year postdoc positions, how can I cover several years with one research plan?  In other words, I am thinking on some different projects to conduct during these years. Can I mentioned in my research proposal (plan) all of them which are less related to each other? One of them is a kind of my research work in my Ph.D program and the others are further away from my thesis project. In fact, besides working on some aspects of my Ph.D thesis, I would like to work on other topics. As an example, let suppose I worked on pure math and for future I have some plans to work on some applied math. My reason is based on my interests on both of them. In addition, I think by conducting research on projects related to my thesis in first year of my postdoc , I will be able to obtain quick results to provide progress in my research work.


texts: How many research interests should be included in a statement of purpose/objective

texts: I am wondering how many research interest should be included in a statement of purpose. Is it better to include just one core interest or to include up to three as in my case?


texts: How to cite a paragraph that is copy and pasted from another source?

texts:
I’m writing the master thesis, and I’d like to know if the following text would be appropriate or not. Consider the middle paragraph is copy-pasted from the source https://www.lipsum.com/

  In this section, I will briefly overview the Lipsum dummy texts and full details can
  be found in the source [1].

  Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting
  industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever
  since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and
  scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only
  five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting,
  remaining essentially unchanged. It was popularised in the 1960s with
  the release of Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passages, and
  more recently with desktop publishing software like Aldus PageMaker
  including versions of Lorem Ipsum.

  Bibliography: [1] Source, formatted in APA, IEEE, …


texts: As an undergrad applying for PhD positions, can I add to my CV that I will be mentioned in an as yet unwritten paper?

texts:
I have recently completed a summer research project. In this project I completed sample preparation and preliminary analysis which will be used as a basis for further analysis. I have been told by my day to day supervisor that when this further analysis is done and published, I will be mentioned in the paper.
Can I add a line to my CV (for applying to graduate programmes), under a description of my summer project along the lines of:
"I will be mentioned in the paper that utilises this work when it is written."
Is this acceptable, and of interest to application reviewers, or a waste of my CV space and their time? Note as an undergraduate about to start third year I don't yet have any publications to add to my CV.
Thank you!


texts: Can you jettison a project to work on another in the wake of a big discovery?

texts:
Let's say Alice is a PhD student who's well into the research phase of a PhD. She's got a nice exciting project she enjoys, a helpful supervisor, she's making good progress. And then there's a big discovery. She's excited about the new discovery, she wants to work on it, and her current project suddenly doesn't seem so interesting anymore. Real life example: suppose Alice is a Chemistry PhD student from the late 1980s working in condensed matter, and the big discovery is cold fusion.

Can Alice ditch her project to work on the new discovery? What if the new discovery is in an area that is not her supervisor's specialization? I'm also curious whether Alice can make this switch if she's a professor (as opposed to PhD student).

My guess would be that it's hard for Alice to do this as a PhD student even if there's another supervisor available, because she would have to start over again and therefore take longer to graduate (running into funding issues). It'd also be an administrative hassle especially if she has to change departments (Chemistry to Physics in example above - the fields are related, but not that related). If Alice is a professor then she would presumably be stuck, because she's got to work on her grants. She could apply for new grants related to the big discovery, but it would be a while before she can work on it. Am I correct?


texts: What should we do when an abstract gets accepted for a conference, but the material is not ready?

texts:
Recently, my team's abstract was accepted for a poster presentation at a conference. The abstract submitted is not a complete work. Over time, we still don't have the desired results that are worth publishing / presenting.
... what should we do in this situation?
I worry that our contribution is not good enough - or bad.


texts: Does registering in Editorial Manager® and indicating that I am available as a reviewer increase my chances of being invited to review manuscripts?

texts: Do editors check the database of registered users in Editorial Manager®, their keywords and ORCID records when selecting reviewers? I believe the majority of reviewers are assigned based on the references of the manuscript, the editor's personal preference and knowledge and the list of suggested reviewers. However, will merely registering in Editorial Manager® increase my chances of being invited? I am an early career researcher, with a few publications and some reviewer experience. The question refers specifically to journals that use Editorial Manager®, but it can be applied to other journal submission systems.


texts: when should I stop searching the literature?

texts: I'm seaarching the literature at the moment to write a literature review but I don't know when should I stop searching and start writing?


texts: Can research rejected by journals has any chances being accepted if it is disseminated by the social media?

texts:
I know it may sound somewhat out-of-order (if not outright crazy) to suggest it, but has anybody tried to use sites like Mendeley or the arXiv or some "social media" where you can upload PDFs to spread his or hers research even before publication? Has it ever been successful?

I know many scientists make profiles in diverse social medias to upload PDFs of their work (at least the ones they are allowed to) but I wonder how effective can it be if some "outsider" do the same? If I just create a Mendeley account and/or group and upload several PDFs there, write a short description what I am dealing with and the problems I face finding the right audience, do you think anybody will notice them or am I just making my situation worse? Do you think it will work? Or uploading them to the arXiv? Or just making a Google+ account? Or anything of this kind of "group sharing" of PDFs? I'm talking about papers turned away from journals because they are outside-scope and the journal is having problems to find proper experts to review them or outright deciding it isn't worth it to expand in this field. The more time passes the more I feel like I'm create a new field here and since it is brand new no journal is well-adjusted to take on it. Don't think I'm intentionally running away from the peer-review because I want to smear the academia. If enough people agree to at least view them (I'm not talking about agreeing with them just saying that there is something of a worth in them) can it spread enough to cause at least one journal to review it seriously? Can such a "buzz" strategy manage to spread awareness of an issue even if no one wants to publish it?

P.S.Please, be considerate to me and just tell me should I try it or not. Don't judge me, please, I'm just considering my options. I just want to reach somebody who can take me seriously, not get pushed back by the system because the reviewers can take the no-scope option.

P.S.2.What I am trying to publish s a paper laying the foundation of a brand new concept how complexity can arise. One which (as far as I know-I can't claim I have read everything about complexity which has ever been published-as you may know this is so HUGE field one can never claim such thing even if he reads about it all his life) contains ideas never researched before and has to include by basic thesis (3-5 pages of my core concepts) and a particular example how they are used. If I can get even one paper with the core in any journal, it will be very easy to start submitting many other papers in other journals citing it. Then I will be within the scope of these journals, but the big problem is this first one I must get in. I simply need a place which can accept my methodology and core ideas together with my example but it's this methodology which is so hard to understand and put in scope anywhere!


texts: How to correctly cite adapted and translated course lecture notes?

texts:
I am making some lecture notes for a Computer Science course in my mother language, which is Italian. Some of my notes are based mostly on lecture notes by other professors. I do not copy and paste, but I paraphrase and put my own opinions in portions of the lecture notes. Apart from the references, I usually put this quote at the beginning of my lecture notes when it is necessary:

  "The following material is heavily based on the lecture notes by Professor X given at the University of Y during the course Z"

Is that enough? I would not like to be blamed for plagiarism or any academic misbehaviour for making a silly mistake.


texts: Should a teaching statement be posted publicly on the web?

texts:
I noticed that some professors and instructors have their teaching statement available on their webpages, and others don't.

I thought teaching statements were used mainly for applying for jobs, so since these professors and instructors have jobs, what is the purpose of having their teaching statement available to the public?

Is there an advantage to posting the teaching statement publicly?


texts: Transitioning from Electrical Engineering to Astronomy/Physics

texts:
I have a Master's Degree in Electrical Engineering(Fresh Graduate with emphasis on Electronics/RF-Microwaves). I'm thinking Engineering is not for me and want to pursue Astronomy/Physics.

How hard is it to do so?
What ways I can transition?
How can I be sure that the fascination with the subject is a genuine interest?

Thank you


texts: Change grad school and get accepted. Worry that no prof in the new university wants to work with me

texts: My supervisor and I are not a good match and there is no one in my department has the same interest. Therefore, I applied to a new university in my second year of Ph.D. and got accepted even though I did not have any LORs from my current university. Now the problem which I am worrying is that I will be looked down by the faculty in the new university. They might not be interested in working with a student who changed grad school. Even I get accepted, but if no one wants to work with me, So how I am going to get PhD?


texts: Are end-of-term student evaluations taken seriously?

texts: My question is in the title, but I'm specifically curious about the case where all students give a professor a negative evaluation. In that instance, does the department/university stop giving him new courses? Does it have any effect whatsoever?


texts: Is submitting papers based on classwork papers self-plagiarism?

texts:
I have just completed a Ph.D. in May and have some papers I wrote for classwork that I would like to use to write articles for submission to publications.

Would this be self-plagiarism?  How do I handle this?


texts: I wrote my bachelor thesis but now I saw that from one source I mixed up a term, instead of term that was used I accidentally used a different one. this happened because I translated that from a language. And I saw that I put my quotation marks at the wrong place, I quoted only the last half of a sentence but I accidentally put my quotation marks more at the beginning of my sentence, even tho the beginning was not a direct quote from the source. Can they now accuse me of plagiarism?????


texts: Shall I quit trying searching for a postdoc and search for another title in academia?

texts:
I had my PhD in 2004 in computer vision. I have been slow in research since then due to financial commitments and due to working at a non-reasearch university as an assistant prof. I managed to publish 2 papers in ieee conferences. Which means that I have a poor publication record for the number of years I'm in academia.

For the past 3 yrs, I have applied for 7 postdoc posts (but no luck) using an idea that I am passionate about, think is workable and which I have been working on (sometimes slowly).

Now I see myself at a zero-growth situation; I couldn't find a postdoc, & I am not an active research paper generator. Sometimes I think I should apply for a PhD program and get another phd where I can sort of start from scratch. Either way it looks too long of a path to me. Shall I keep doing what I am doing or shall I just quit trying.


texts: Pedagogical reasons for time-limited exams

texts:
Reading the various questions about open-book and closed-book examinations got me wondering:

  Is there any sound pedagogical reason for a time-limited examination (closed  or open) at the undergraduate/advanced UG level ?

I understand that there are many good logistical reasons, including:

classroom management in a big group
a desire to prevent cheating

and at (say) the elementary school level, I understand that timed tests (say of multiplication tables) create a certain level of felicity with manipulating numbers that helps with more complex tasks later on.

But at the UG/advanced UG level, it seems to me that deep understanding is usually more important.

Note: This question on the unreasonableness of the prescribed time limits is related, but not exactly the same (i.e it takes as given the existence of time limits and merely questions the actual time span set)


texts: Should I write a rebuttal for all for the reviewers or just the rejecting reviewers?

texts:
From a computer science conference, I have received 4 reviews. Two of the reviewers have accepted the article and have appreciated the work, while the other two have given "weak reject". The conference has asked us to submit a rebuttal within 3 days (seems a hard deadline; but it is okay).

My question is:

Should I write the rebuttal for all the reviews?
or
Should I write the rebuttal for the comments on the weak-reject decisions?