texts:
I am going into the field of computer science after getting my original bachelor's and masters (in city planning) a few years ago and finding out I like the technology much more than the actual field I studied before. I took GIS courses and started tinkering around with code and figured out CS was my calling. I am currently taking classes at my local community college to get an AS in CS that I am hoping to transfer to somewhere that offers a BS. I have no regrets because I am in a job I love and take class half-time while I work.
I think that I will be done with it in about 1.5 to 2 years as it is about 27 credit hours and I am taking about 7-8 a semester (fall, spring, and summer). It may take me closer to the 2 because I want to retake calculus and physics (as the college requires) since I took them 10 years ago as an 18-year old and barely skated by. Most BS requirements in CS require 2 calc classes and one physics class. It looks like my local universities can accept them being taken from community college as long as the AS was earned. I just would rather be safe than sorry.

Here is the catch though, I probably need to do it online since I also want to work while in school and will likely be moving out of my state when my SO finishes medical residency in 2017.

I like being in class, but I am 28 now and will likely have a lot more going on later. It seems like going somewhere locally would be more affordable, but then I risk not being done in time. That's why I am considering doing it online since I may have to perhaps have a marriage and hopefully an advanced career from what I am doing now at my current company. Are there any good schools that are non-profit that go fully online? To further make things complicated, I am hoping to go somewhere that isn't insanely expensive because I am already $35,000 in the hole from my past degrees. I have seen that there is OSU, UMUC, and U of Illinois. I have heard that UI and UMUC are expensive and hard to get into. I read somewhere that FSU and Nova may have something as well as some private catholic college. Trying to sort out fact from fiction on good schools and seeing the most up-to-date information. Those degree mills just are not appealing to me in that they are expensive and I would rather have my time be put into something that is on the up-and-up.  It seems like a few of you here may be able to tell me things from personal experiences.

I really am hoping you  can help me get a list of reputable non-profit schools to apply to sometime in 2015 that will accommodate me in that part of life.


texts: Uploading supplementary material to figshare. How to refer to it before making it visible to the public?

texts:
My problem is the following: We want to upload supplementary material for bookchapters I'm editing. We have decided to use figshare.com for this. One advantage is that they supply all material with a DOI. But (as far as I understand) they do only so when material is made available for the public, not for private data.

Now, it would be a little strange to make supplementary material available a long time before publication (possibly more than a year).

How may I obtain a permanent reference (doi, link, etc) to the supplementary material which I can add to the respective bookchapter already without making said supplements visible to the public?

And if this is not possible, what would be a workaround? Make it public just shortly before handing in the edited volume to our publisher (this would still be months before the publication date)? Just refer to the account (not a single file) on figshare the material will be hosted on? Include a placeholder DOI within the chapter and include it after we received page proofs from the publisher? Just publish the supplementary material already because nobody cares?


texts: To share or not to share (your student evals)?

texts:
It's end of term.  If you're teaching faculty, it means you've gotten your student evals.  We can't be the only ones trying to decide whether, how or how much to share our student evals, e.g., by posting them to the entire class.

Arguments in favor relate to openness and accountability, that it's helpful for students to know that we take their feedback seriously, that we listen to what they say and take it as important.  We’re accountable, just as they are.  It also gives them a check on their feelings:  How did their experience compare with others and how much responsibility lies where?

Arguments opposed relate to confidentiality and privacy, that the surveys were intended to be anonymous and that some of the written comments might be more identifiable than intended if the student knew the comment would be shared, so that at most, only the aggregated numeric data should be shared.  Also, if one instructor shares, that may create unwelcome pressure on their colleagues to share feedback they regard as private.

How are other faculties weighing these issues?  Are you having this discussion?
  Is there anything close to a consensus or a best practice emerging?  Has your institution given you guidance?


texts:
In some good classes I've had, I've gone to office hours not because I'm confused, but because I just want "more". I like the teacher and just want to listen to them talk about whatever, even if it's not necessarily about the class. I can usually come up with a couple questions for an excuse to come by, but I wish I could just say "please teach me more".

How do you do that? I don't know how to ask that, or how to instigate it. I usually just try to ask questions but sometimes I honestly don't have many, or at least ones that couldn't be solved by using a book. Usually these classes are ones I like, and thus I try to keep on top of things.


texts: How do I choose research project topics for the project requirements in graduate classes?

texts:
Most graduate classes include a research project component in the grading scheme. I am taking such a class now and I need to complete a research project.

The instructor has presented us with 4-5 areas of applicability of the course material and asked that we choose our topics. We have to do a research project in the range of 75 hours and write a paper on the findings.

This is the first time I am taking a course such as this. I like the idea and I want to build my research skills; the challenge I am not clear at all on how I should best approach this task. The course is an introductory course and as such I am not familiar at all with the material. The research is about addressing some engineering problem and it needs to have some originality but can be based off of other work.

That is the extent of the information the instructor was able to give me and also said that his time is limited and as such I cannot rely on him for help with this part.

This is fine, but I need to understand how to go about finding a problem, make sure it's a problem I can solve, and make sure it's going to be in the 75 hours of effort ballpark in a field I am not familiar with.

What's my strategy here? How could I possibly ensure these aspects?


texts: Negotiating for a higher hourly rate for RA position?

texts: I am a Ph.D student. A professor from another university is interested in hiring me part-time for a project that he just received funding for. I am interested in the work (to hone my own skills) but I have asked and he has said that a co-authorship is unlikely to come out of this. The hourly rate is a bit lower than I have been used to—would it be appropriate to ask for a higher hourly rate? I’m having trouble thinking about how I would phrase it.


texts: Communication difficulties with advisors - starting to impede work

texts:
I could use some advice about my relationship with my doctoral advisors. Some context:

I'm about 1 year and 8 months into my PhD.
My program has relatively heavy course requirements. I have now finished most of my coursework, but much of my efforts until recently were focused on courses.
My field is relatively new, and very interdisciplinary. There are a lot of foundational challenges especially regarding synthesizing methodology from different contributing fields that haven't really been solved yet. My advisor is an expert in one of the fields, but not in the others.
Seven years ago, I was diagnosed with what is essentially schizophrenia and depression. It is still a struggle to manage symptoms, and that is not likely to change. My collegaues know about the issues in generalities, but I have not shared specifics due to bad previous experiences.

With respect to research, I have about 100 typed-out pages summarizing key related/foundational work, outlining my project methodology, system design and research questions. It's a lot of work, and I think it's very useful, but it's not results, and hence no publications. My advisors aren't happy with this.
Besides having no publications, they seem to think that I have focused too much on groundwork, and that my thesis's scope is too large. I know they are right about the scope -- in fact, we recently renegotiated the scope after my initial literature review revealed many unanswered questions that we would've had to address.
Since then, they really want me to (1) get some initial results, and (2) focus on one thing at a time. I am trying to do this, and expect to have initial results within a week. Still, in general, this is a problem for me:

I'm not used to working on one thing at a time. In my experience, working on a project usually involves working on 2-3 sub projects with the intention of integrating them at the next step, so that issues on one sub-task won't invalidate work on other sub-tasks.
I feel like we need a broader vision for where this is heading before we start potentially wasting time heading down one path.
Focusing on one thing is hard for me due to my mental heath issues. I don't always have control over what subject matter I'm able to process. I've found the best way to be productive is to switch between multiple tasks. The problem is related to focus, not to my understanding of the subject matter.

I haven't been able to discuss any of this with my advisors (and the last one in particular would require a discussion of my mental health, which I don't want to do). But leaving it unaddressed is also not working -- whenever I mention anything other than working on this one narrow task that we have all agreed that I should work on, it's shut down immediately under the heading of "you need to focus on this one thing." In fact, this recently led to a condescending and rude email from my advisor, which was really upsetting.
Another issue is an upcoming symposium. The head of my research group recently mentioned an online symposium on a topic that I think will be useful. Further, there is a good opportunity for me to present my "new research directions." I could easily put something together and attend the webinar, but I would have to talk to my advisor first. I have an (I think reasonable) anxiety that if I try to broach this subject, it will immediately be shot down and it will make him even more frustrated.
How should I approach this? Any advice is appreciated.


texts: Is obtaining a PhD from an Asian country really a career suicide?

texts:
There is a proverb going around for a long time

  Doing a PhD from an Asian country is a career suicide.

What is the significance of this proverb in case of Computer Science?
Does this also include high ranking universities in Russia and the middle East?
Does international ranking have any positive effect in this regard (e.g. there are some universities from China and Singapore among the top 20)?

Reference

What are some down sides of doing PhD in a Japanese/ Korean/ Chinese university than that of the USA?
Are there any professors with PhDs in Humanities from Asian Universities working outside of Asia?
Why is a PhD from a university outside of the white sphere called ‘career annihilation’?


texts: Graduating in 4 years vs graduating in 6 years

texts: I'm considering graduating from undergraduate school in 6 years in 2024 to build up my resume and pursue interests for graduate school admissions. I feel that I would not feel ready to attend graduate school if I graduate undergraduate school in 4 years. However, most successful people (past U.S. Presidents, successful scientists, people in high political offices, etc.) have graduated undergrad in 4 years. I've no idea what to do.


texts: I was looking at a conference's deadlines and one of them refers to the "Submission of demonstration proposals". I couldn't figure out what a demonstration proposal actually is.


texts: How to publish your research quickly when it pertains to a topical current event?

texts: I would like to submit my very current research to some Journal. The work is related to recent hurricane in USA (Hurricane Harvey). Since the peer-review process takes months to publish a work, so I am looking for some well-known journal which can publish my research in maximum 2 weeks with no cost. Would anyone have any idea where and how to publish very current research? or already published their very current research in past?


texts: OK to ask a professor at my institution with whom I have no previous relationship some questions relating to hobby-project?

texts:
I go to community college so our professors aren't busy with lab research. They're still busy people though and I wish to respect that.

I'm pretty much just working through some neuroscience textbooks for the sheer heck of it, but I often get stuck. It would take forever to ask every single question on the internet. Plus, sometimes a discussion with a real person is just better in many ways; it could lead to further questions and answers plus instant clarifications.

Thus, would it be weird/wrong to just ask a random professor (with whom I've never taken a class...just one with the relevant biology expertise) for help with specific questions about my side project?

I'm guessing it depends on the professor; but on a scale of 1-10 how weird/ intrusive would this be? I mean, some people would be ok with getting hugged by strangers, but that doesn't mean it's a good idea to try and hug them.


texts: Should I ask about the status of my PhD application?

texts: I applied for admission for a PhD at a university in the US in mid December.  After contacting a potential advisor, he told me that he is interested in my CV. However, I didn't get any response about the status of my application. So, should I send an email to the professor asking him about the decision of my application or should I contact the university directly?


texts: How to obtain a degree equivalency certificate in UK?

texts: I have a degree in Social Education (done in Portugal). I am wondering whether anybody can help me in finding organizations that can provide an equivalency certificate (report) for this degree. I have searched and a degree in Social Pedagogy is very similar to mine. However, I don't know how to obtain an equivalency certificate (report) for that degree either.


texts: Why do some admissions applications ask where I've been living and what I've been doing for the last few years?

texts: What are the intention of the question ?


texts: Should I add profession name with my name in resume?

texts:
[This is a clarification question on whether I should do this or not]

Should I add Dr., Engg. like salutation in front of my name in my resume. For example, if John Smith passed BSc in Mechanical Engineering, should he write Engineer John Smith in his resume or he should write only John Smith?


texts: My co-author is claiming to be the sole author. How should I handle it?

texts:
When I was a graduate student in the 1980s, I translated a treatise written by an important artist into English. A person who at the time was an assistant professor approached me about it. Flattered by the professor's interest, I gave him/her a copy. Soon thereafter, I asked for my translation back, but the professor asked to keep it a while longer. Since I was a student, I was afraid to insist on its prompt return.

A few years later, the professor found a publisher for the translation. We signed contracts with the publisher in which we were both designated as co-authors.  The professor claimed to have "reworked" my translation and we are both credited on the title page as translators. The professor wrote an introduction and edited the translation so the professor's name is also on the title page as editor.

Recently, it has come to my attention that the professor, who is now an emeritus professor, is claiming to be the sole author. I recently attended a conference where the professor gave the keynote address. The professor was introduced as the sole author of this book. I decided not to say anything at the time since the introduction was spoken and I couldn't prove that my name wasn't mentioned. However, I recently came across the professor's written biography on the internet where the claim is made that "[the professor's] book presents an edition, translation and . . . commentary" of the treatise.

Should the professor mention my name in connection with the translation in such a circumstance? If so, how do I go about getting the professor to do this?

I should mention that the professor has done many collaborative projects and in every case other than our book, the other collaborators are mentioned in the biography. Also, there is a long history of my having to remind this professor to acknowledge my work. Before our book was published, the professor gave a conference paper on the treatise and didn't mention that I had translated it. When I call it to the professor's attention, the professor said it was an oversight. The next time it happened and I mentioned it to the professor, I was told that the project could have been done without me. Every time it has come up, there is a new excuse.

There is no question in my mind that the professor is intentionally leaving me out. My question is whether it is worth pursuing since my name is on the title page of the book itself as a co-translator and other scholars will see it there. It really bothers me that the professor is claiming credit for my work by omitting my name.


texts: To use bracket or footnote in the academic writing?

texts:
For example,

  I'd like to introduce the saliency map (also referred as human attention map in [1] and [2]).

Or

  I'd like to introduce the saliency map1.
  1: Saliency map is also referred as human attention map in [1] and [2].

Or

  I'd like to introduce the saliency map. It is also referred as human attention map in [1] and [2].

Which style is better in academic writing?


texts: Can we submit (an updated version) of a work previously submitted to arXiv to a conference?

texts: Is this possible to submit a newer verion of a paper  submitted on arXiv (which was never submited to any conferences before), to a new conference and then update arXiv with the new version?


texts: As a graduate, is creating a log-in in the university online campus considered an acceptance of their offer?

texts: Is creating a log-in in the university online campus considered an acceptance of their offer?


texts: How to pick a research question broad or narrow one?

texts:
I am a PhD student of computer science ( senior year ). I have worked on problems given by my senior collegues in the past. Now I am at a stage where I have to pick a new research problem. I have tried to read as much as possible about particular topic, but still facing difficulty in picking a new problem. I have find out few research problem, but they seems to special cases. I am good with solving special case not a broad problem.

Question : Should I pick a research problem with broad or narrow one (special case )


texts: Are there any examples of legal issues with academic fraud?

texts:
If somebody gets a law/engineering degree or something similar with academic fraud surely they could be sued for malpractice?  Maybe another examples is/are doctors.

Are there any examples of this ever?  If somebody got a Computer Science degree (via academic fraud) and then marketed it couldn't they be sued for marketing something they didn't earn?


texts: Different CV for applying to university and applying to fellowship?

texts: After reading through all (yes, all) questions in the cv tag, I have a thought that CVs for applying to a position of a university are different to CVs for applying to a fellowship. When applying to a position of a university, the quality of the CV is define by your papers, research experiences, education, etc. While when applying to a fellowship, a good CV is the one can show your leadership, volunteering jobs, etc. Yes, there are some overlapped sections, but these two are not the same. Are CVs for applying to universities different to applying to fellowships?


texts: What is a strategy to do theoretical research?

texts:
Thanks to some great SE answers on a previous question I posted, I realized that even though I don't have an RA at the moment (I am a first year PhD student), I must start my research ASAP. I am convinced that this is great advice and want to follow it.

But the concept of 'doing research' is still not perfectly clear to me. I am interested in convex optimization, that's what I intend to do my PhD in. So as of now, for my thesis, I have this vague idea in my mind that I'd solve a problem by maybe coming up with a cool algorithm and give some nice proofs using convex analysis.

But exactly how to start is a mystery. Here's what I think I should do: read a paper that looks interesting to me (this could be because of the abstract, or maybe it's a paper that has suddenly got very popular, or it could simply be based on the author's reputation, etc), thoroughly understand their results by working out proofs of all their statements, and then try to see what happens in slightly different cases than what they mention. Maybe relax some assumptions they make; or go the other direction, add a constraint and see if the algorithm can be improved because of this constraint, etc.

Is this how it's done? I feel so lost right now. When I try doing this, I have so far (in six months) not been able to really think of anything new. Even the existing proofs that I get are so complex, I can't think of any way to come up with something new. Can someone please give me some tips on how one gets started in theoretical research - how to come up with a problem, and how to proceed from there?

EDIT_ Adding more information: I don't have an adviser yet, and this is the post I am referring to in the first paragraph.


texts: Is it stupid to quit graduate program after one year?

texts:
As the title says, I'm thinking about quitting. Everyone I've spoken to seems to think this is a dumb idea (quitting after one year, at least), but I haven't talked to anyone who's actually gone through grad school and been in this position before. I've been having second thoughts about grad school since the month or two before I started, and now that I'm here I know it's not where I want to be at all. I'm in a philosophy PhD program, and I could take a master's degree and leave after two years in the program, but I'm deciding whether I even want to do that, or just leave after this year. I am a teaching assistant, which is why I can't quit before the end of the year.

Last year I had the chance to work abroad for a few months, and I could have prolonged that, but I went ahead and returned to my country because grad school was just what I had been expecting to do long-term. But now I really have no interest in getting an academic job. I don't really have a long-term plan now, I just want to go back abroad while I'm still young, become fluent in the language there, work on my own writing projects, and get broader experience. So that's the plan whether I stick around for a second year to get the master's or not. My classes are interesting enough (I still love philosophy), and the teaching is easy enough. So the issue isn't that I'm too stressed out because of the workload or anything. It's just because I know what I would rather be doing, so I feel stupid for being in this program at all. (When I say that, I always hear "If you weren't smart, you wouldn't have gotten into the program." Sure, but I've made a stupid decision starting this program.) So I am still anxious all the time, and for the last couple of weeks I've had an awful time trying to focus on anything. I'm working on getting help for that, but I'm still worried that being anxious and miserable while I'm here might keep me from learning as much as I otherwise could, even if I did stay.

So, my question is whether leaving after a year (rather than staying another for the MA) for reasons like these is a horrible idea, or how common it is. Since I don't plan on pursuing an academic job, the degree would just be a piece of paper; it's not like the philosophy MA is a hard requirement for anything else I plan to do (and it wouldn't be from one of the top ranked universities anyway), and I think the experience working abroad will be valuable in the long term too. I just really don't want to feel dumb and like I'm stuck in this program while I'm still young (in my early twenties), especially when I know what I would rather be doing.


texts: Can you file a complaint about editors selling your contact information?

texts:
If you are in academia, you might have noticed that your contact information is being sold, sometimes you collaborate with a person with a very specific research line and background and get an invitation to review, submit to this journal you never heard of despite not working on these topics - I got one on veterans medicine - luckily they responded to my requests to not receive reviewer invitations anymore after a couple of times. But more disturbingly, when you submit to some journal, you are bombarded with "submit to us" emails citing the title of your work around the EXACT time of a revision or refusal. So this is clearly organized by an insider to the journal, and can be quite taxing and borderline manipulative, different to than say, when a predatory journal finds your arXiv preprint and starts randomly bombarding you.
Can I make a complaint about this to the publishers? I don't think this is ethical, and it is outright manipulative to get those aggressive emails just around the time of reviews and decisions.


texts: Should I indicate an invited paper on my CV, when I am one of the authors, but not the invited author?

texts: Should I indicate on my CV that one of my papers is an invited paper, when I am one of the authors, but not the invited author? If yes, how do I do this? Should I list it with my other conference papers but with a remark, or should I create a separate 'Invited papers' heading?


texts: Why are some computer science conferences not included in the CORE ranking?

texts:
So CORE is the de facto standard benchmark to check the quality of a computer science conference.
However, there are some premier events that are not covered by this ranking.
For instance, I'm quite puzzled with the IEEE International Conference on Software Analysis, Evolution and Reengineering (SANER). It will be the 28th edition of this conference in 2021, and yet SANER has not been included in CORE! What is more, it is a well-established venue, recognized in the software engineering community for the quality of the accepted research papers.
Any thoughts why SANER is not ranked A, or as a matter of fact not ranked at all?


texts: Citing sources of problems in assignments

texts:
This question was raised by Dave Clarke here.

When a textbook author approaches a topic in a novel way or presents a particularly interesting example, I believe that a teacher who creates lecture notes using this novel approach or interesting example would be doing the right thing to cite the originator of the approach or the example.  Similarly, whenever I copy a clever (and clearly unique) problem from a textbook and give it as a question in an exam or an assignment, I try my best to indicate (in the exam or assignment paper itself) the source of the original problem.

Does anyone know of any written document indicating whether or not it is considered unethical to copy a published problem and put it in an exam or an assignment without citing it?


texts: Taking a job whilst waiting on PhD application decisions?

texts:
I've applied to a number of PhD programs for admission in fall 2016, but I've also just been offered a decent job in industry starting in mid-january. Would it be  unethical to take the job then leave if I get accepted into one of my priority schools for a PhD? If this happened, I'd be leaving the company after about 7 months. I also plan on returning to industry upon completion of my PhD, but if I get a good offer to enter in fall 2016 it would make no sense to turn it down.

I did mention to the company that I was planning on doing a PhD at some point but didn't say when exactly.

To compound things, I'm currently going through a bit of financial hardship (just graduated) and the job market here is awful... so if I reject this job, it could take a while to find another. In addition, it doesn't make sense to me to reject a job for a PhD that I haven't even received a decision on yet! Just concerned how such a move would affect my reputation etc if I wanted to move back into industry at some point after completion of my studies.

Thanks in advance for any guidance!


texts:
In my country, the graduate school and department assign you to a supervisor based on your research and specialization. After admission, you are expected to formally meet your supervisor.

I never met my supervisor before. How should I prepare for this meeting?


texts: How do I motivate pursuing a PhD in Computer Science (CS) after a BSc in CS and MBA in Finance

texts: I've developed a strong urge to pursue CS again to deepen my understanding of specific fields of interest while contributing in high-tech and R&D industry. I graduated with 3.0 and 3.7 GPA in a BSc in CS and MBA in '12 and '17. I've 6 years of experience as a software developer and manager unfortunately none of my work was research oriented. From the research I've conducted most entry requirements prefer applicants to master computer science as it's most ideal but a 2nd master's degree (in CS) is rather deterrent from a time and financial perspective. Has anyone had success getting into a decent PhD in CS with this sort of combination?


texts: How common is spousal hire (academic or non-academic) in the Australia/New Zealand system?

texts: I am an academic with hoping for an offer at an Oceania university. I want to know how common in this system is it to ask the university to give my spouse a job? It is common and often successful in the U.S. universities, but I don't know in the Oceania (which is largely the same as the British) system.


texts: Opinion on accepting a grad school offer after having already accepted another offer

texts:
I applied to graduate schools this year, and at the tail end of February, my first pick school sent me an email that to me, sounded like they had filled all the available TA positions. So naturally I chose my second pick school (that did offer me a TAship).

Today (April 16th), I receive an email from my first choice school saying they would like to offer me a TAship (apparently somebody declined their offer).

The graduate adviser at my second choice school had told me before that sometime she made offers to candidates in the summer, so I am thinking if I were to contact her and ask to be released from my agreement, she might be OK with that. (I realize there are formal rules that apply)

Would it be such a bad thing to ask my second choice school to release me (if they say no it will be somewhat awkward for me and if I just walk out on them, I am not sure what they can do).

TIA,
GB


texts: The drop/switch major rate for people "intended" major in engineering in US?

texts:
The drop/switch major rate of engineering bachlors programs for people "intended" major in engineering except software engineering in US?

Please notice that the attrition rate from most source are for student who already declare major typically in their junior year/very end of their sophmore year, but what is the average drop/switch major rate in the US for the "intended" freshman student who go to college of engineering? In another word, what is the rate of these intended engineers did not get a eningineering bachlors?

Related question: What is the dropout/switch major rate for engineering bachelor?


texts: citing work that definitely won't be published

texts:
I imagine this is probably a duplicate, but when I search I can only find questions about citing work that is likely to be published.

I'm writing a math paper for publication, and I want to cite a paper available only on the authors website.  It is unpublished and it won't be published anywhere else.  How appropriate is this and if the answer is not "completely inappropriate", how do I cite it?


texts: No GRE offered in my country and I cannot really afford traveling elsewhere

texts:
Would there be any hope in applying to a doctoral STEM program (geared toward EE) in the US without the GRE?

Simply put, there are no test centers offering the GRE in my country, for this year and the upcoming one. In other words, my potential applications for fall 2021 are essentially ruined. And I can unfortunately not afford going elsewhere to take it.

Should I apply without it and take the risk of having my application rejected right from the outset?

I sincerely hope the GRE will be abolished once and for all, for it serves  only
private interests. It is such a financial hurdle for those living in low-income countries.

Any advice or suggestion is more than welcomed.


texts: Reviewing Manuscript Which Misinterprets My Own Work

texts:
I am reviewing a manuscript which cites a study I published (yay!), but appears to misinterpret the results (rats!). This misinterpretation does not invalidate the manuscript under review, which is otherwise quite good - it occurs in the discussion section as somewhat of an aside, and does not seem to be an intentional misrepresentation. However, I'd prefer that my work is properly represented to avoid confusion on the parts of those who read this new paper.

I would like to know if anyone has good techniques to correct a mistake like this without making it quite obvious that you are the reviewer and inadvertently revealing your identity. (I am not necessarily opposed to revealing my identity since my review will be positive overall, just curious about ways to do this)


texts: how to decide on first coauthorship for a paper

texts:
I know this topic is kind of depending on which school each researcher is from, so i would like to gain more information regarding the topic.
I am a phd researcher and I have a specific task to do, a colleague of mine have similar task but using different agents. this colleague came up with an idea to compare both agents and write a paper about it, s\he performed his\her experiments and started writing the paper, s\he then approached me with the idea to compare, so I agreed, performed and analyzed my data, which took me weeks to finish, and shared it with this colleague. As I was working on another manuscript and s\he wanted to write this new manuscript by him\herself, I only contributed to read and correct writing-wise (plus of course my data and results) but the most recent version was never shared with me, last one shared was around Nov-Dec 2020, and till this moment I dont know how my contribution was written in the author statement. I got to have a fast look at paper after submission and saw that the graphs always had one part regarding my data, yet i am only a co-author and this colleague is the first author. My question here, was I supposed to have an equal contribution and supposed to be a first co-author? my other colleagues pointed this out and that s\he should have put me as a first coauthor with him\her, and I am not sure if its true or not, i dont have much experience writing manuscripts, and my (our) SV never pointed this out to me. Now its anyhow late to ask for a coauthorship, but I would like to avoid such situation in the future, so would really appreciate if someone has an experience on how to handle such situation.
Sorry for the long message and thanks in advance!


texts:
A journal asks to upload/link the data and code used in your article. I have a Github repository with data and code. One of the questions in the form is:

Are you linking to original data reported in your research, or are you linking to reference data which is supporting your article?

and you have to select either Original or Reference. This is rather confusing to me. What would constitute "original data"? If I downloaded some data and processed, arranged, and/or classified it, is is still "original"? Furthermore, all data used "supports my article".
Could someone explain the difference between the two, preferably with examples?


texts: Inability to secure any research position after PhD and postdoc. I am stuck with my low prospects research field. How do I proceed with my career?

texts:
My PhD research was in computational modeling of shot peening process using finite element analysis. An example publication can be found here. I did my PhD and currently pursuing my postdoc in the same Canadian university.
My research was entirely computational. It was not a high impact research nor complex. Nor did I publish in any high impact journal. The highest impact factor journal I could publish in was 3.8.
I have published 8 publications till date (4 First author, 4 co-authored). I can publish many papers on my topic as there's countless parameters to play with and so much physics to learn.
However, all jobs in my field are experimental. I have been searching for jobs (industry and academia) for the past year. I can't find any job in computational modeling. All openings are in experimental work.
I made a mistake in not carrying out any experimental work in my research. I should have thought about future aspects 6 years ago before selecting this field.
Any advice on how to change a career path after PhD and Postdoc? I have to get experimental experience in my repertoire. Also, everyone wants machine learning experience from computational researchers now. I don't have time to gain knowledge in it.
Currently, I am a postdoc with my PhD advisor and I am actively searching for positions elsewhere. However, I am not getting response from any university/industry elsewhere. I seriously need some guidance.


texts: Does paper acceptance mean an on-site talk is required?

texts:
I am sorry for naïveté.

I found a workshop that fits my research and I want to submit a paper to the workshop. The problem is that the location of the workshop is far away from my hometown and I don't have funding to cover the travel expenses.

Do you think it is obligatory to visit the workshop (conference) and to give a talk in case the paper is accepted?


texts: Keeping in contact with professors after graduation?

texts:
I just completed a CS undergraduate at University A (top 50 rank for CS), and am taking a gap year after graduating.  This past summer, I did an REU/summer research at University B (~top 15 rank for CS).  I hope to get recommendations from professors within both universities, and I have been thinking of asking if there are any opportunities to gain extra research experience within the 1.5 years of gap year that I will have, hopefully to gain another recommendation that can speak with regards to my research ability.

Has anyone kept in touch with professors you've known since graduating, and how do people generally do so?  I was thinking of asking one of the professors how I can best spend the gap year time that I have, but I was wondering if people maintain academic contacts like this after completing their undergraduate.


texts: Finding an internship - resources for a middle school student?

texts:
I am interested in the fields of mathematics, physics, and computer science (broad, I know) but if I had the ideal internship it would be in a quantum computing lab. Really, though, I'm looking for anything this summer. While this may seem like a somewhat normal thing (student looking for internship) I have a small problem in that I'm in middle school.

I am in 8th grade, and I am old enough to legally work (just getting that out of the way). I am located in the United States. I have taught myself some physics and mathematics (the basics of calculus and linear algebra, etc) and I have been told I learn quickly. I'm willing to work hard and do just about anything, but I'd like to start getting experience with research in a lab. (If you need any further information, please ask.)

What are some resources I can use to find an internship? Also, I've read that you're supposed to put together a resume/cv, but reading about it it seems a bit difficult to do when the only things you've done are K-8th grade and some personal projects.

If this is off-topic, I apologize; this seemed the place to ask.


texts:
I've applied for a position in the library of the local campus of the state university, and they've asked to set up a phone interview. I'm not a naturally outgoing person, and I'm even worse on the phone, so I'm going to be preparing for this as heavily as I can. I would love as much information as I can get on the interview itself. I'm comfortable speaking about the job & its responsibilities, since I exceed their list of necessary & desired qualifications. But if I know whom I will be speaking to and what, specifically, we will be talking about, it would help me be more comfortable during the conversation.

So what I'm wondering is whether it's kosher to ask for any info as we're emailing to set up the interview — who's on the search committee, what issues they will want to focus on, that kind of thing? I don't want to look like I'm trying to game the system or anything (much less actually do so). Is there any way for me to get more info without that appearance?


texts: What time of the year do government agencies in the United States typically hand out funding?

texts: Are there any specific seasons, months, weeks which have shown to be the time at which the majority of funding is handed out by Government agencies in the US? Are there any reliable studies that have answered questions around this topic in the past?


texts: Sending a manuscript to editor of journal before submission to journal

texts: I submitted my manuscript to two journals online (not at the same time). During the process of submissions I was asked to determine the editor and I selected the same editor in both journals. Need to say, the editor whom I selected is a specialist in my field word (mathematics). Unfortunately, in both journals, my manuscript was rejected. In the first journal, I received no report about rejection, that is why I submitted to the second one. The second journal rejected my article with a report on the technical reason of rejection including some reasoning. Now I have already tried to solve the errors and prepared a new version of that. I would like to try to submit it again to another journal again with the same editor of previous journals. Does it have a bad effect if I submit again for this editor? Can I send an email to potential editor to ask his opinion on my new version of manuscript, then I submit it formally to the journal who is its editor? I am asking this because I suppose he probably has a presence of his mind about my manuscript and it helps me to speed out the publication of paper.


texts: How much does it cost the publisher to publish an academic article?

texts:
I am interested to know the cost of publishing an academic article. I do not mean in the simple sense of "what does a given journal charge an author to publish?" or "what does an association or publisher charge a library for access to the journal?"

Instead, I want to know the actual costs of translating a manuscript into a final publication (for web or print). This matters for open science - and open access specifically - because there is an enormous amount of debate about the financing models for open access journals. The two dominant models are one where the end-user pays (library, reader, etc.), which is often seen as antithetical to open science, and one where the author pays a fee after manuscript acceptance. Neither the charges paid by libraries nor the charges paid by authors necessarily illustrate the true cost of publishing an article (due to "prestige", between-publisher variation, profit margins, journal bundling, discounts, etc.).

So, what is the actual cost? And what are components of that cost (e.g., copyediting, typesetting, server space and internet bandwidth, etc.)? In short, if an author (or someone else) were to express academic publishing costs on a per-article basis, what would that number be?


texts: Can I include online reading guidance as research experience?

texts:
I graduated back in 2015 and have been serving my military obligation. Though I was off from academia, time to time, I kept in contact with former research supervisors. They gave me a list of papers to read and when I am free in the army, I read some and reproduced results of the papers in the list. I even ended up publishing a paper with my supervisors.

As my service ends in early 2018, I plan to apply for Ph.D. programs this fall and I am wondering if the activity I described above can be seen as a research experience. If so, I would like to put it on my CV, however, unlike my other experience, which was done in a specific institution as a research intern, I had no affiliation nor was a member of any institution. How can I elaborate my activity in CV?


texts: What do you do when you find yourselves with an unreadable/inaccessible paper?

texts:
Since I started my life in Academia, I sometimes found that there are some seminal papers to which I cannot get any access.

Either they are very old, and the journal that published them charges for it, or they are simply not to be found anywhere in the internet. I have to admit I never went to look for the physical copy in the library, but I'm not sure they would have it either.

When I asked a labmate about a reference he had in his paper and I could not find, and that seemed to be ubiquitous in any other paper in the area, he mentioned me he had never read it, but that reviewers usually demand that you should put that seminal reference.

How do you try and solve this problem?


texts: Advisor and co-advisor withholding information, should I leave the lab?

texts:
I am a second-year PhD student in Biomedicine and I was assigned to my current advisor and co-advisor since day one. My advisor is very busy. So, most of the meetings and discussions about my PhD project is done only with my co-advisor. My advisor knows about my research plans, but since we only have meetings like 3 times so far, my co-advisor is the one who understands most about my project. However, I just discovered yesterday (by accident) that my co-advisor published a study, with my advisor as the last author, about something related to my project that would make my project pointless. They never told me about their analysis and never updated me about their results. I don't feel like I need to know everything that they are doing, but isn't it their job to let me know things related to my project?

My project is making prediction based on data that is expensive and time consuming to generate. What they published was that they made a prediction model for the same outcome based on the same dataset, but using a more cost-effective method. In the paper, they claimed that this grouping predicts 100% the outcome in our data. I do not understand why they would give me the green light to do this project and say nothing about this better method. Also, I learned about this paper not from them directly, but because I happen to subscribe to the journal they published in. I was so surprised reading the title.

I feel lost and would appreciate your advice. Is this thing common? I never met such behavior during my undergraduate and Master's, but this is my first time studying in Europe. My previous advisors (in Asia and in the US) always lets everyone in the lab/team know what everyone is doing (eg through lab meetings or proofread each others publications). Also, does this warrant changing advisors? I feel tricked and so stupid for trusting them. It seems that they do not have my best interest in mind, there is a lack of good communication, and makes me question why they accepted me in the lab in the first place.


texts: Required items for undergraduate's CV who is applying to grad school

texts:
There are many guides for writing an academic CV available online, but nearly all of them are not clearly addressing undergraduates who are applying to graduate school. This group obviously need to include different items on their CV than those applying for a post-doc or a job.

I wanted to know the specific requirements of this kind of CV in addition to the general guidelines of writing an academic CV. specifically, I wanted to know that:

Should I include my research interests? I understand that many senior undergraduates may not have specific research interests, but there are many others who have, and I think this can be a positive point in their application to research based programs.
Should I list courses I've taken in addition to my main courses, that are important for the program? For example, during my undergraduate I have taken many graduate pure math courses (voluntarily), that are very important in the discipline I'm applying to. Should I list them under Education section?
Should an activities section be included, in which my favorite, relevant activities are listed? As an example, I have written many  bots in Python for daily repetitive Wikipedia tasks, and this shows my proficiency in Python (a positive point). Can I list under activities that I have written many scripts for Wikipedia?
Should an Objective section be added at the beginning? (I will write and submit a statement of purpose separately)
Is a References section required at the end of the CV? (I've already made all of the mentioned names in the CV a link pointing to their homepages)


texts: Is "cum laude with honors" meaningful or a tautology in the US?

texts:
In the following video, an expert witness is relating her academic background and, at one point she states that she graduated "cum laude with honours".  Having looked at various sources I can see that different countries give somewhat different emphases to these terms.

Skylar Richardson Trial Day 3 Dr Susan Brown - Forensic Pathologist
Part 2 & Dr Christa Latham
video

Question
As a US citizen, is the doctor:
(a) making a valid distinction between the two terms "cum laude"
and "with honours;"
(b) explaining/translating cum laude to the jury;
(c) making her qualification(s) sound grander than they are; or
(d) something else?
EDIT - See comment by @Dan Romik pointing out that (b) and (c) appear to be asking for mind-reading on the part of anyone who answers. I accept this criticism but won't change the question at this point.


texts: How to politely, mildly, and tactfully ask for a minor revision before the presentation of the conference paper?

texts:
I just have a paper accepted at a very selective conference but now I am going to make a minor revision before my presentation because I found a few grammar errors. The organizer seems unaware of my errors.

What is a mild and roundabout way to inform the organizer that I would like to "update" the paper? I do not want them to think that I was ignorant or negligent.

Does saying something like "I would like to do a minor revision" sounds too formal and could potentially scare the organizers, making them double-think about the acceptance?


texts: Is it inappropriate to tell my students to check their school email?

texts:
I am a new STEM faculty member at a primarily undergraduate institution. I emailed my students (through the school-mandated online course management system) before the beginning of the term about the availability of the syllabus online, as well as other things. Several students told me that they hadn't checked their emails and didn't know where to find the syllabus. I have also sent emails to students about their testing accommodations, only to learn that the students hadn't read my email to them even though it concerned an upcoming quiz.

Would it be inappropriate for me to make a general announcement in class that it is important for students to check their school email accounts frequently, as that is how I plan on communicating with them? I certainly won't call out any students or mention any specific scenarios that prompted this announcement.


texts: Can someone really be assigned to review in the APS’s editorial system for over a month without reacting at all and if yes, why?

texts:
From observations as an author and reviewer that I made myself and that have been reported to by others, it seems that the editorial system of the American Physical Society (which in particular publishes the Physical Review journals) works as follows:

  The editor selects a reviewer.
  The reviewer receives an invitation to review, which he can accept, decline or ignore.
  If the reviewer declines, inform the editor to select a new reviewer (i.e., go back to step 1).
  Otherwise, wait approximately one month for a review.
  If nothing has happened, inform the editor to select a new reviewer.

This means in particular that if the reviewer does not react at all (for an extreme example, because he died years ago), it takes one month until another reviewer is selected. In contrast, with all other publishers, step 3 seems to be instead:

  3. If the reviewer declines or does not accept the invitation within a few days, inform the editor to select a new reviewer.

which seems much more reasonable to me, as a reviewer who does not accept to review (which usually is little work) for whatever reason is very unlikely to review a paper.

My questions regarding this are:

Does it really work like this?
If yes, why is the system not switched to one, which requires the reviewers to give some positive response within a few days?

Note: Just in case, somebody mistakes this for some disgruntled bashing: Apart from the above, my experience of publishing with APS journals has been rather positive. I am just puzzled by this seemingly nonsensical mode of operation.


texts: Being a post-doc for most of your career and get a faculty job later; how likely is it?

texts:
Is it possible to spend most of your academics career as a post-doc, or senior researcher in research institutes or in research groups, and get a faculty job later in your academics career? I mean, of course, it is possible, but how likely is it?

Field: Physics & Biology. Region: mainly Europe


texts: How acceptable is it to ask a professor a question such as "so you think it's justifiable to take points off my proof for this?"?

texts:
TLDR: Professor apparently only takes at most one look at a student's answer to determine correctness, doesn't award full marks kind of unfairly (clarifications below), is offended by hearing the question in the title, and grade reviews end up taking up to 5 hours due to complications I try to make clear here:

Last Thursday, our professor lets us know he'll be in his office doing grade reviews for everyone so that we have a fair grade, see if everyone agrees with his correction and all that stuff: I'm the first one in and I start reviewing my answers to the first and easiest items on the exam... and I find that the professor could have been a little fairer.

After disagreeing with a few marks taken off because of small stuff, I ask:

- Then you think it's justifiable to take points out of the exam because of things as small as this?

- Watch your tone! If you want a 10 right now, just walk out of my office right now, don't speak to me again and I'll give it to you!

And then, before I even had a chance to say anything at all, he crossed out my 8.2 and wrote a gigantic 10 where the 8.2 was before. When I had a chance to say my piece, all I did was apologize and try to emphasize as much I possibly could that I meant no disrespect at all, I was just trying to gauge how rigorous of a standard I should expect so that any mistake I made in the past wouldn't be repeated.

After a while of my apologies, he said:

"Alright, forget about it, let's just start over and pretend it never happened"

A while after that, I was still pretty anxious, so he gave me some time to calm down and my grade went from 8.2 to 9.6. I guess what I'm looking for in an answer is advice on what I could have done better so that I don't mess up like this in the future.

  Some helpful background but not absolutely necessary: A colleague of mine had an initial grade of 9.3, after the review, it was 9.9. The reason was that in his answer to a problem asking for a proof of a certain statement, he actually stated and proved a much more general result and said the initial statement was just a particular consequence of that result - the professor didn't like that and thought a 10 was undeserved. Another colleague mentioned a story of grades going up so far as 9.5 after the review (with an initial grade of 1.5) in another exam of some other course he gave on the past. Yet another colleague shared that his initial grade was 3.8, but he managed to convince the professor that a lot of his other arguments were right too - his grade would then go up to something between 5.5 (the bare minimum for a C is 5) and 7, and in order to avoid that the professor took points of another unrelated answer which had initially been awarded a full mark, said "alright, you got a 5, it's good enough" and left it at that (my colleague was the first one after me in the office and heard what had happened before because the door to his office was open, so that's why I think he didn't argue anymore). Finally, I and another colleague whose grade went from 8.3 to 9.3 agreed that a general impression of his correction was that he just read your proof once and if he didn't agree that was it (where it also happened to him that he proved more general results than asked and the professor didn't like it or hadn't read the arguments carefully). All in all, the review started at 2 pm and ended some 4-5 hours later and a lot of people got their grades up.


texts: Transferring PhD programs because of location

texts:
I am a first-year PhD program at a certain top-10 graduate school in my field on the East Coast. I wish to transfer to a certain top-10 graduate school in my field on the West Coast.

I have been dealing with health issues that have made living a normal life in addition to carrying out my academic duties quite difficult. While I haven't allowed it to affect my performance at all, my life has become a living hell. I wish to transfer to the West Coast school because it is about 10 minutes away from home and I will be able to live at home with my parents which will be a huge support to me and my health and make it easier for me to perform my duties. In addition my doctors actually suspect that the "harsher" weather may be worsening my condition (and anecdotally I always do seem better when on the West Coast). I have no qualms about getting the required recommendations.

Complicating matters: The West Coast school was my first choice all along, but I was rejected. I accepted a position at the East Coast school hoping my health problems (started in undergrad) would be resolved, but they have not gone away. I do not want to disclose these health problems for fear that they may hurt my application. However, I don't have a really good reason to transfer without that, unless I make up something about departmental fit which is really not true since my current department is honestly a pretty good fit too.

Advice?


texts: What are "getcited.org" and "getcited.com" for?

texts:
What is the purpose of getcited.org and getcited.com?

I am completely new to researching and paper publishing and I frequently get results from this site in Google Scholar Search.

I am absolutely not able to make out what this site does, it just gives the name of the paper, the author and the publication. It does not give a link to download them, neither does it give any abstract.

There are these link buttons which ask you to enter a username and password each time. Even after creating an account and logging in, I am asked to log in each time I click on a link button and the link button just opens my profile on the website.


texts: Graduate Admissions and Earlier Programs

texts:
I began an undergraduate program in subject A and because of circumstances outside of my control (receiving threats from someone with a history of violence against me), had to repeatedly withdraw from courses in that program.

I am considering going back to school in a totally different subject, and I very strongly feel that I have the ability to do well. If I do well in this subject and want to enter graduate school for it, would they be willing to only consider my grades in the relevant second program and overlook the earlier unrelated one, especially considering I had a legitimate reason for it and did well afterwards in the related program? Or would the withdrawals send up too many red flags?

(Edited in later) I think this question is rather different from the How does the admissions process work for US Ph.D. programs question because that's a more general question about making up for bad grades or things, but I am asking about special consideration for extenuating circumstances. There's a difference between getting a bad grade in a class because you weren't good at the material as opposed to having to withdraw from it because you are receiving violent threats from someone who has previously beaten you.


texts: Is it more acceptable to list interview talks on CV if they're also part of a seminar series?

texts:
Consider someone invited on a job interview (in the sciences) at a university or a national lab or something of that sort with a regular seminar series. As part of the interview, the person is asked to give a talk as part of the seminar series.

Is that appropriate for inclusion on the CV as an invited talk?

I saw one related question to this but it was different enough that it didn't really answer my question:
Do presentations given during interviews count as invited talks?

However, the thread really just has a couple answers with equal support for opposite positions. The difference here is the distinction that the talk is given as part of an interview but also is part of a regular seminar series. I was wondering if this changed people's feelings on the matter at all.

It seems to me that any other person would list that as an invited talk. It also just seems to get grayed a bit by the fact that it is technically being used as part of a job interview.


texts: Professor that refuses to fail students - should I talk with him?

texts:
I am an instructor, and the head of my department is a professor that refuses to fail students.

I found out about this situation through multiple semesters where students would complain about this professor treating them unfairly, both to other students within my classroom, and to me directly; my ultimate question is: Should I talk to this professor, who is also the head of my department?

For context:

The professor assigns a group project with 6-8 students in each group. The projects take most of the semester and each group does 2 projects at the same time. Each student has a very heavy work load for these projects and teamwork is essential.

The issue is when a student refuses to do the project. I've heard reasoning from, the student didn't agree with what everyone else in the group agreed to, or the student just didn't bother showing up to any group meetings.

When students mentioned how one of their team members would not participate, which was only increasing the work load for other students who also had to worry about their other courses, the professor seemed to take the right action at first by talking to the non-participating student about the project and how important it is for them to contribute.

If the student continued to argue with group decisions (sometimes they do the project their own way) then the professor would just tell the group "find something for [the student] to do." And if the student never did anything, they would still pass the course, despite never participating on the 2 biggest assignments, which equated to 60% of the grade (including participation).

Back to my original question -

Should I speak with the professor - head of my department - or let it go?


texts: My Anatomy and Physiology professor is charging for the outline

texts: My class already requires two books for the lecture and one for the lab. Is it actually legal to charge $15 for the course outline, written by the professor and published by the community college. I think its unreasonable and kind of suspicious considering it could easily be uploaded to blackboard these days...at no cost and no excuse for any student not looking at the doc or powerpoint. Also, who would i need to speak to at my college concerning the matter and try to persuade for the syllabus.


texts: The best way to refer readers to other paper(s) for more details

texts:
Sometimes you need to refer readers to a reference for more details about a subject. I wonder what is the best way to accomplish this. Or if there is a specific way to do it for scientific papers that target journals in the field of computer science and engineering.

I use something similar to this "For more details about flying monkeys see [1,2,3].", but I feel there's something wrong about it (other than the flying monkeys).


texts: How to make a presentation that includes math symbols?

texts:
For many years, I've used Latex to create my presentations, because I need to include mathematical formulae and symbols. However, it's sometimes quite cumbersome to use, and it's much harder to do "visual" effects (I'm not talking about animations, but for instance about arrows emphasizing a particular word, or connecting two words together, etc) compared to, say powerpoint.

I'm now trying to keep the maths to a minimum in my presentation (that was actually a really good advice given by a good speaker I talked to), but I still need them a bit, so my question is: what good (combined?) solution exist to create nice presentation that involve mathematical symbols?


texts: Master's degree vs. Master's degree without thesis

texts: I'm a doctoral student (in a fully funded applied statistics program) opting for the terminal master's degree with thesis due to personal reasons and the lack of fit in the program. However, I'm unsure whether it is better to write the master's thesis (option #1) or to take the master's degree without a thesis (option #2) - which option best puts me in a position for industry and the possibility of reapplying to a PhD program (in a different field) in a couple years.


texts: My supervisor wants to put someone else as first author on one of two papers when I have done most of the work on both. What should I do?

texts:
I have completed experimental research on a novel topic. I was the instigator of the direction of the research and the one to find the results. Then, theoretical work was performed to support my experiments. While the theory confirmed all my work, there was nothing original or new in the theoretical support. I wrote the paper and drafted the manuscript.

The group supervisor wants the theory paper to have the theory researcher as first author. The group leader's arguments is that "there will be two papers, so share the first authorship".

I think this is unfair. Why should I have to share my work just because there will be two papers out of it?!

I am asking for guidance on this. In particular as scientific supervisors, is it fair to put the main researcher as an "et al", just because someone else in the group has not got a paper?


texts: Should I be honest with postdoc candidate about awful lab working environment?

texts:
I work as a postdoc in a lab that is extremely mismanaged.  The head of the lab micromanages all the staff, often claims successful work as his own, and rejects new ideas that are not from him.  All the employees (both scientists and technicians) are miserable, and some of the team has become destructive, creating regular conflicts between team members that the lab head refuses to resolve.
The head of the lab is hiring a new postdoc, and I, as the only other postdoc, will meet with the candidate as part of the final interview step.  I am already planning to leave, but haven't told anybody yet.
My question is:

If asked by the candidate, should I be honest about the working environment?
If not asked by the candidate, should I tell the candidate anyway?

I feel it is dishonest to let someone enter a destructive work environment without them being prepared.

UPDATE: I had no chance to speak to the candidate alone; the lab manager stuck by the candidate's side the whole time.  Interestingly, the candidate later declined the offer, so perhaps they were astute enough to recognise the environment for what it was.  Thanks to everyone for the help and advice!


texts: Is it common to have no MathSciNet version of a paper in Mathematics?

texts:
For papers/books in mentioned in MathSciNet there is a way to get a BibTex version of the citation.

I wanted to cite a paper and it is not in MathSciNet. It is a published paper in  International Mathematics Research Notices in the year 2018. I do not see any reason why it is not in MathSciNet.

Could it be possible that I am not searching correctly?

Is it common to have no MathSciNet version of a published paper in Mathematics?

In case if it helpful (or relevent) I am looking for MathSciNet version of the paper  Principal Actions of Stacky Lie Groupoids. It is not available. I have checked in pages of all three authors of the paper.


texts: Supervisor published my thesis figures without including me as an author

texts:
The supervisor for my PhD thesis has recently published a paper with another student. In this paper, the other student has replicated one of the chapters of my PhD thesis for publication.

For reference, after completing my PhD I moved into the public sector and did not publish my thesis work myself, due to concerns with the underlying methodology.

However, of the five figures in this new paper, two figures have been taken directly from my published thesis. This is very easy to prove, as some of the figures are photographs and are identical to the work published in my thesis. My thesis is available as a digital download online at the same research institution my supervisor currently works at.

I wasn't consulted regarding the publication or use of my research, and was not listed as an author on the new paper (or even in the acknowledgements). The figures they have published were produced solely by myself, without assistance from my supervisor or the other student.

This finding makes me question whether they did indeed repeat the initial experiment, or whether they instead used the leftover materials from my research (specifically, extracted RNA/cDNA) to re-run a handful of analyses and republish my thesis chapter without me.

I have contacted my supervisor by email for clarification, but my questions are:

Is this academic misconduct and/or plagiarism?
If so, what is the appropriate avenue to follow to correct/resolve/dispute this? (e.g. is it appropriate to contact the journal or my supervisor's university to report this? What are the first steps?)


texts: Missing optional resume in graduate application

texts:
The department I am applying to doesn't explicitly require a resume (and doesn't even recommend it), but there is an item named "resume" in the "supplemental material" dropdown menu which I have overlooked. I realized that I didn't upload the resume only after the application has been submitted. I have contacted the admission office, but the auto-response says "We cannot update submitted applications with new SOP or CV or other information."

There is some information in my resume which isn't mentioned in the SOP, e.g. my experience as a teaching assistant. While I have requested a professor from my home university to include the TA experience in his recommendation (because I am his TA), it is said that most institutions in the U.S. don't read letters from Chinese professors. Besides, I suppose a resume serves a nice overview of my previous preparation, so I feel like the absence of a resume is going to hurt the probability I get admitted. On the other hand, there must be some reasons why the resume is made optional, unlike most institutions.

Should I be concerned? Is there anything I can do at this point?


texts: Could not get along with any advisor, is it ego?

texts:
During my academic studies, I have always been ambitious in pursuing academic research with no luck. I have not gotten along with any of the professors whom I attempted to set up an advisor-advisee relationship with. This was not due to my lack of knowledge or incapability because they acknowledged my competency many times.

I have started to think that they were too lazy to adjust to my eagerness and wanted to take it easy. Maybe they thought that I will be a burden for them. Also, I get the impression that they hate me, because of the disgust they seem to exhibit when I talk about the work of leading researchers in the field. If I do not follow or discuss the leading researchers work how can I contribute to the field?

Please give me some advice on ego problems of academics, and how to politely show them that their research is inferior without making them hate me.

I am very respectful. But my former professor asked me if I do not like his work. I criticized the professor's work, and professor could not tolerate to it. If I was wrong prof could have told me the true value of the work, instead he stayed quiet and took revenge on me. I always choose wrong persons - I can't recognize good and bad people in my relationships. My love life is also a disaster. Always credit bad ones in every aspect of life.

I am in a 3rd world country in the Middle East. Here, finding someone with an inferior work is like finding a water in a desert. My intention is using them for future Ph.D admissions in the western world. I am interested in their connections and network. But, they hide it from me, they want me to stay with them forever, and then they hate me. They are usually western educated PhDs - from the ones that return back and usually produce low-quality papers.


texts: If I abandon my PhD program, will it prevent me from continuing elsewhere?

texts:
After some bad experiences in a master's program, I decided to become a PhD student in the same program. My plan was to finish a paper and leave as soon as possible, meanwhile earning the recommendations that my bad early experiences prevented. That's basically been the situation for a couple years now - longer than I ever expected. At this point, I'm finally finish my projects and I've presented at a couple conferences. I genuinely like the professor I'm working with now. However, I never intended to specialize in this research area; the idea of doing my PhD in this area is very disappointing to me. And (selfishly?), I very much want to move to a new institution.

At this point, I'm not sure what to do. My ideal situation would be to finish my current projects and move to a new institution to work in a field I was more excited about. However, I'm afraid that if I reveal my desires the professor I'm working with will try to sabotage me. I'm also concerned that leaving now will look strange on a graduate application: why admit a quitter? I'm also starting to feel a little old to be starting a new program.

I'd really like to just be done with all this, but the question I keep asking myself is, "Why get a PhD in something you're not interested in?" Maybe, though, there are good reasons.

I'd appreciate any advice you may have.


texts:
I write many letters of recommendation for students applying to graduate school, fellowships, or faculty positions.

Some universities have a letter service, where the letter writer can upload a letter to the service and the service takes care of uploading the letter to each individual school/fellowship/etc. that the student chooses to apply to.  However, my university does not.

How can I make this process as efficient as possible?  Or, are there external companies that provide this service?

(I realize that most universities and fellowships have moved to online submission of letters.  However, it still takes some time to upload my letter to each university and fellowship's individual system, so it would save time if there is a service to help with that.)


texts: How do I respond to a review of the wrong version of my paper?

texts:
I have just had the revised version of a paper rejected from a well respected journal.  However, one of the reviews is clearly a review of the original draft of the paper, rather than the revised version.  I pointed this out to the editor, and his response was

  Please revise your paper again, and submit it as a new paper, by mentioning your old paper ID number, together with replies to reviewers.

I don't see how I can reply to that review.  How should I proceed?


texts: Can mathematical ideas applied to CS problems count as "undergraduate research"?

texts:
I ran across this thread, in which the accepted answer mentions to "[..] Start on a research project (independently or otherwise) if you have not already ASAP. "

I'm an undergraduate studying mathematics and physics. I have an Associate's degree in Computer Science, and am very comfortable with programming. I'm currently taking a course in numerical analysis, and this has really motivated me to apply things we're learning to problems I come across while programming.

As an undergrad, with a lack of proper training/education to perform real mathematical research, would it look good (to future graduate schools to which I will apply) if I, for example, write a paper or two based on things I do applying mathematics to Computer Science and programming, e.g.- solving optimization issues in GPU processing of large data sets, etc?

Even if the papers aren't so interesting, would it at the very least look good on my "resume", so to speak?

For the record, I'm hoping to go to graduate school to study mathematics, not computer science, which is why I can't quite answer this question myself.


texts: Which institution's logo to add to research poster when research was done at institution different to main affiliation as student?

texts: I am a student at the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, but did research over the summer at Duke with a mentor from Duke, as part of a program run by NCSSM. I am currently creating a poster to present my work, and I do not know which institution's logo it would be appropriate to include. When I am adding a logo to my poster, what am I acknowledging that the owner of the logo has provided? It seems to me that both institutions have provided me with support, so I do not know which one I should acknowledge. I suppose that I could add both, but I would rather save that space for content. What is the protocol for situations such as this one where two institutions have provided support to a project?


texts: Dressing etiquette for interviews in academia

texts:
Are there expected dressing norms at faculty interviews? Will a casual tee-jeans be discouraged?

In the same vein, what is expected when a student visits the campus for an interview?


texts: What words to describe "revisions" and "resubmission" to distinguish revise and resubmit versus submission to new journal following rejection?

texts:
This question was motivated by a desire to have a clean set of terms to describe the life cycle of a manuscript from draft to publication from the perspective of the author.

I could say:

  I am "revising" my paper and "resubmitting" it.

Obviously, this could apply to (a) the situation where you have submitted a paper and been given the option to submit an updated manuscript (i.e., a revise and resubmit); or (b) you received a rejection letter and you are improving the manuscript with the intention of resubmitting the manuscript to a new journal.

I was wondering what concise language can be used to distinguish these two types of revising and resubmitting?


texts: Measuring the Effect of Public Relations on Scientific Journals Impact Factor?

texts: I’m looking at the correlation between communications outreach and a scientific journal’s impact factor/citations. I intern for a communications department at a University’s engineering school and we are trying to motivate more of our scientists to share their publications with us for media and press release. The biggest issue we have with convincing scientists to become interested in this is the lack of quantitative data that shows the benefit of us publicizing their journals. I’ve done some prior research and the most I could find was others acknowledging the lack of research done in this area and proposing that social scientists should look into this. Do you have any suggestions for further reading into this topic, either previous studies done, or potentially how to best go about this research on my own? Potentially what factors would be the most useful to compare between journal articles that we have/have not done press releases for, or if this would even be a useful measure?


texts: Is a student eligible for PhD in Mathematics from top US universities with just B.Tech (Bachelor of Technology) in Electrical Engineering?

texts:
I have completed by B.Tech (Bachelor of Technology) in Electrical Engineering from India,  and I have since then been teaching Mathematics to the students aspiring for the IIT-JEE examination for almost 3yrs now.
I now want to pursue a PhD in Mathematics from a top university in the US. I have worked on some papers on alternative proof of Pythagoras theorem and another paper on new perspective into Catalan Numbers (which are yet to be published).
Please guide me and provide some valuable suggestion which would help me to become eligible for PhD programs in top universities in the US. Thanks in advance!


texts: Discussing avoidable flaws in my work in a master's thesis

texts:
I am in the final stages of M.Sc. in bioinformatics and am currently writing my thesis. While I was writing I noticed that one of the datasets I used for a major part of my project is quite problematic and may have somewhat biased the results (if it matters, the data was obtained from a published paper. A postdoc working with me on the project had reviewed the paper and suggested that it would be appropriate for our work). I do not think this is very major bias, and I can give a concrete explanation as to the source of this bias, but still there is a bias.

I am considering of referring to all of this in my thesis as part of a broader discussion of the limitations of my work.

Knowing my thesis supervisor I suspect that his reaction will be something along the lines of "why did you use this dataset in the first place? You should have looked at the data before using it." In retrospect I wouldn't have used this dataset and yes, I should have looked at the data more carefully. However, at the time I was doing this I had no prior experience with this type of analysis, and therefore did not know what types of problems to watch out for (I was also put under continuous pressure from supervisor to produce results, which did not give me much time to ensure the quality of the data, but this is a different problem).

From my perspective, learning to identify and avoid such problems is a valuable part of my learning process, and I therefore consider it important to demonstrate this learning process in my thesis, but I don't think my supervisor will be appreciative of this, and I really fear backlash from his. To make things more complicated, we are currently writing a paper based on these results and I fear my supervisor will blame me for undermining the paper by using this dataset.

My questions therefore are:

Is it at all appropriate to use a master's thesis to demonstrate my learning process in such a way?
How do I balance between my desire to be honest and show what I have learned and between the harsh response I am likely to get?


texts: In the United States, is associate professor a subset of professor, or a distinct category?

texts: In the USA, if someone writes that they are "professor" with no other specification, does this mean full professor, or can it also mean associate professor?  In other words, is associated professor a subset of professor, or is it a fully distinct category?


texts: How/should I modify my ethics review proposal when asking questions not stated in the original application?

texts:
We submitted an application to our HREC (Human Research Ethics Committee) and received their approval to conduct the study. In our application, we submitted a base questionnaire with some of the questions we were interested in asking. However, we want to conduct a study with semi-structured interviews following a grounded theory approach. That is, as we interview participants, we want to adapt our questions to explore emerging topics. For context, we are in Europe. However, I'd be surprised to find that there's much deviation across the globe.

How does the ethical approval work in semi/un-structured studies in which you don't know about all the questions you might ask in advance?
How much freedom do we have to deviate from the original questionnaire?
Should we constantly keep the HREC in the loop after each interview? SOLVED

UPDATE1: Question 3 answered (for this case, at least). Our HREC is currently asking us to share with them any changes to our questionnaire. It is unclear yet whether we have to report ALL questions that we asked that were not originally part of it.


texts:
I was planning to apply for fall 2014. As the application required a Hard Copy Letter of Recommendation, I had obtained a Letter of Recommendation from my College Professor on the college letterhead.  But due to some reasons, I was not able to apply.

Now, can I use this same Hard Copy for Applying to Fall 2018, or do I need to get a recent LOR? Is there any validity period for these LOR's.


texts: Does the NSF commonly ask for removing acknowledgments?

texts:
How frequent is the following scenario?

  A researcher on an NSF grant posts or publishes a paper which is thematically unrelated to the NSF grant, but acknowledges the grant for financial support. The NSF demands that the acknowledgment be removed.

Is this an extraordinary scenario, or is it considered normal? I have heard different accounts from different people.

Moreover, does this usually cause troubles to the researcher down the line, like extra scrutiny on their next NSF application?


texts: What is the code of ethics and citation in course development

texts:
Say you are developing a new advanced course in Computer Science in a fast-developing area.

You may look at equivalent courses given elsewhere that partially overlap with your new course, while structuring your slides and Syllabus.
You may give reading assignments explicitly directing students at going through materials publicly available online from other courses.

At what levels should you give attribution and/or personally request permission from the prior authors of these materials?


texts:
I'm having trouble writing a believable CV. I want to apply for masters degree. I'm a professional in IT industry. I have done dozens of high-tech projects. The problem is my bachelor G.P.A is low(3.2) and when I list my abilities and projects in my CV, most of readers won't believe it. I had this problem with companies when applying for job. Now I'm having this problem with universities. For example my grade in Networking course is very low(C) but I was actually a network designer in my previous jobs.

Another reason why people don't believe it is the diversity of my knowledge. I have done projects in networking, embedded systems and big data which don't relate to each other. This problem yields to rejection from universities either with low or high global rank. Unfortunately I work on very very back end side of projects which means I don't have something to present like designers. Most companies I work for don't want to give me a reference letter because some of them are military or government dependant.

How can I write a CV that is believable?


texts: How is auditing a course viewed by professors teaching the course?

texts:
I'm a first year math Phd student. I'm undecided between focusing on mathematical computer science (MCS) and pure maths, so I'm taking courses in both. To keep my workload light enough to avoid stress, I've opted to audit one of the courses in MCS. The course is not in my research interests, so I'm taking it primarily to prepare for an exam required by my program later. My hope is to just drop into classes and be exposed to material, without taking the time to do all homeworks/prepare for exams, etc.
However, I'm interested in the professor as a potential advisor later, so it has the double benefit of helping me see if that would be a good fit down the line. My question is: could my auditing, rather than taking the course for credit, be perceived as lack of interest, laziness, etc? How is auditing a course perceived in general? Do I have the right attitude towards auditing?
Note: The course is not in the professor's research area either, so not being interested in the class doesn't contradict my interest in the professor.


texts: Some tenure track positions require you to submit a CV and fill out online forms with the same information. Do search committees use the online information or just the supporting CV and teaching and research statements?


texts: Looking for sources of online graduate-level education

texts:
Can anyone suggest sources of online graduate-level education, as well as some criticism of them? Both free and paid are valid. I'm familiar with these sources:

Academic Earth
MIT OpenCourseWare
Kahn Academy
NYU Open Education

and I'm curious to know what other resources are available.


texts: How to include periods of non-academic work on an academic CV?

texts: I have, since completing my PhD (in pure mathematics), worked in both non-academic and post-doc positions. I am brushing up my CV, and I would like some advice as to how one should detail non-academic work. My non-academic work has been quantitative, but otherwise entirely unrelated to my field of academic expertise, so my gained skills (in eg statistical packages) are of no use to the purely research position I am aiming to apply for.


texts: Can you add nouns/adjectives/articles in a direct quotation in Chicago MoS keeping the message intact?

texts:
I need to quote something from an author.

  ... during an economic downturn, it is no easier to find a job in a region with lower prevailing unemployment than in one with a higher unemployment rate.

As you can see, the sentence is a bit awkward as it does not have a parallel structure. I am wondering if in my quotation, I can edit it without changing the meaning. Are the following additions acceptable? See the following edit.

  "... during an economic downturn, it is no easier to find a job in a region with a lower prevailing unemployment rate than in one with a higher prevailing unemployment rate."

Mine has a parallel structure. My guide, the Chicago Manual of Style does not say anything about putting in such words to improve clarity. It does however allow changing spelling, punctuation, and capitalization.


texts: Is it common practice to remove an author's name from a paper?

texts:
I work as an instructor at a university. I am not a graduate student there and my responsibilities end at teaching. Recently, a supervisor from another department asked me to prepare an article for their department to use, for some extra pay. The subject aligned well with my background and recent research.

When I finished the article, which involved additional research and several weeks of work, I put my name as author, as I would any other paper. After I finished, the supervisor requested that I completely remove my name, as he wished to submit it to the leader of his department, assembled together with some students' work.

Is that at all unusual that someone would request that I remove my name from a paper?


texts: Is it appropriate for an advisor to add a student's name (who has no contribution) to a paper because of his nationality

texts:
I'm a PhD student working in the USA. My advisor has funding from a foreign (say Country X) agency. I worked on a problem that was proposed by the agency. However, I am not using their data. I am about to publish my findings. However, my advisor wants to add another one of his student's name to the co-authors, despite him having absolutely no contribution. This student is a native of Country X. My advisor's argument is that he does not want to upset the agency, hence wants to add this student to the author list.
Is it possible that such a discriminatory clause would exist as terms of funding. One piece of information the makes me super suspicious is that earlier, another PhD student (not from Country X) worked on the same problem and my advisor did not raise such a concern.
I also strongly suspect that my advisor is quite partial to students from Country X, due to prior instances where he tries to involve them in everyone else's projects and looks for avenues to add their name to those projects.
What makes it even more strange is that my advisor is not from Country X, although I am not sure if he has other personal ties.


texts: Is US experience usually required for TT jobs?

texts:
Update/follow up: Can this have something to do with the specific rank? I mean, does it make sense to require this for the rank of Assistant professor for some reason?
Link for the posting: http://cra.org/job/umass_lowell-assistantassociate-professor-computer-science-2-positions/

I was checking some postings from cra.org, and found this remark:

  For appointment at the rank of Assistant Professor, by the time of appointment, applicants must either have a PhD degree from a US university, or have at least one year as a post-doctoral researcher in a US university or US research lab.

However, I didn't find that in other postings. Is this unusual or so common that isn't usually spelled out?


texts: Moving from Switzerland to Germany during my PhD, how do they count working experience I already have?

texts: I am currently doing my PhD in Switzerland. Since my professor recently get a job in Germany and will move the whole lab there, I need to go with her. That brings up to the question of working experience on the table. Both in Switzerland and Germany, the salary increase with the year of PhD. However, I am not sure if I move to Germany I would be counted as the level starting from the first year or they will consider the time I already had in Switzerland. Anyone has related experience?


texts: How common is faculty members changing jobs in the US?

texts: Faculty members switch between universities for many reasons, but how often does this happen? Has there been any study/report on the frequency of job shifts and resignations in academia, especially in the US?


texts: How much background detail should go in the introduction section in a paper?

texts:
I have been trying to write a paper. Reading the introduction part I am getting different behaviours from different papers.

Some papers cover themselves more than 50% with introduction content as if they are the only source of information present anywhere while some give it very briefly expecting user to be well aware.

As a reader I never expected to learn the concept from paper intro part itself but from books and then read papers. I rather think that introduction section shall be used to provide very brief intro and references for further understanding. Repeating an algorithm that's present in 500 books makes no sense.

I need some tips on writing introduction part that its just about enough or is it mandatory to repeat info to make it somewhat complete in itself ?


texts: How long do I study on my own before applying to math grad school?

texts:
I'm one of those who realized near the end of their Bachelor's in Business Mgmt that they really really love math. I'm interested in research in pure, theoretical math. I am confident in my ability to learn advanced math on my own. I admit this is based on a small sample of experiences I've had so far with self-studying. After a year of working, I decide to do it full time.

Since I'm behind my peers, I was thinking to just learn the fundamentals (Logic, Real Analysis, Abstract Algebra and Geometry) on my own, and then apply for a Master's. The reason I want to do these on my own is that I find I understand things better at my own pace taking the time to solidify the fundamentals. I took a year of math courses on an exchange program at London School of Econ and it felt like learning disconnected facts. Something like saying object x is round, black, with 4 holes etc. vs showing you a picture a black shirt button (which I find more efficient mentally). Concepts were introduced which were too new but no time was given to "form a picture" of the objects. As a result, it felt like very "syntactic". If I understand the basic concepts used over and over in math, rather than things built out of those facts like calculus, linear algebra, applied math and other "less abstract" branches, I feel I'd do well in my Master's course. I love taking the time explore mathematical concepts on my own, seeing how things fit. I find quite often I make my own concepts (simple ones though) where the picture feels incomplete, which is why I want to do research.

I was wondering how long I should continue this approach (i.e. when have I learned enough fundamentals)? More objectively, what should aim to master on my own, before applying to a master's program? (unless you disagree this is the right approach)

PS: I'm 22, and I have financial support at the moment while I get this done. I've started with Logic and Set Theory and becoming good at proofs. I find calculus and linear algebra intro books skip over too many of the more abstract underlying concepts, hence the bottom up approach.