texts: How to frame incomplete previous studies when applying to new graduate school without being too negative about previous program?

texts:
I had a bit of an unfortunate experience with an academic institution where I completed the coursework for a theology Ph.D. without high enough grades to continue. There were other things that were unfortunate about that experience, but the best advice I have been given is that if I try to return to studies, I need to explain why I don't have a reference from my previous Ph.D. programs, and if I document things that were wrong, that comes across as "I am a negative person who will publicly backstab a university by criticizing it after exhausting his appeal options" rather than "XYZ happened and if you can document it, we will make accommodations." (Additionally, I've tried to document the talent I have, but documenting that I am talented, no matter what talent I document, doesn't seem to trip any light bulbs of recognizing I may be a promising student.)

In graduate school admissions, what is a convincing non-negative way of explaining "I don't have references from my prior program?" And is there any way to get connections made between "gifted" and "promising student"?


texts:
What is the correct format to fill out this field in a form? What if the author has no affiliations? Could you please give some examples?

  Author title(s) and affiliation(s):


texts: How can I thank a senior faculty who's written me a good reference which helped me land a desirable job?

texts:
I recently got a good job and I want to thank a very senior professor in my department, who spent time to write me a very good reference.

I am thinking maybe to give him a thank you card when I go to see him before leaving the department.

I come from a culture where gift-giving is considered obligatory if someone has helped you to achieve something major. I'm not sure this is appropriate in the UK context.

Any ideas?


texts: What are the advantages and disadvantages of doing a postdoc in Singapore and UK?

texts:
I am end of my PhD. I would like to do a postdoc. In UK the average postdoc salary is around 30K (per year). But in UK the tax is very high, after taxes I may get around 1800 pounds (per month). I heard in Singapore the salaries for postdoc are a bit high and the taxes are also very low.

I have my wife and two children, In that case I would like to know the advantages and disadvantages of doing a postdoc in UK or Singapore.


texts: Some weirdo is harassing me via e-mail and knows my physical address at uni; What do I do?

texts:
A particular individual whom I've only had contact with via e-mail is angry that they didn't get to participate in an experiment I ran (yes, just that fact makes me glad I didn't choose them). I tried telling them that the experiment is over and not to contact me again but that simply made them even more aggressive; Taking a cue from stalker victims, I have since then been ignoring their e-mails, but they continue to become even more aggressive.

In my original e-mail contact with them, my signature had my physical address in it, and based on their previous behavior, I'm concerned that they may attempt to come to the department and cause mischief or possibly (in the worst case) even commit criminal acts†. Unfortunately, I do not even have the person's name because they never wrote it in their e-mails, so I don't have much to go by even if I try to contact the police.

I have informed my supervisor of the issue, and he has not told me what to do: He merely explained the two possibilities (responding or ignoring) and the possible outcomes of each. I do not want to be responsible for any craziness which happens; What do I do?

† I am particularly concerned because there is hardly any concept of security at the department at all. In fact, It's already the case that things get stolen from the department every once and a while.


texts: Is the impact factor the sole criteria for selecting journals?

texts:
I am planning on submitting a paper to a mechanical or materials science journal. I am looking at these two journals IJMS (IF 4.6) and JMST (IF 6.2).
First one is published by Elsevier and is an old journal, while second one by The Journal of the Chinese Society for Metals and is a recent one.
Considering, my paper fits the scope of both the journals, should a decision of submitting a paper be made solely on the basis of the impact factor?
Is the second journal better than the first one?


texts: Backlog as a measure of difficulty of submission

texts:
Is the backlog of a journal correlated to the difficulty of submission (with acceptance) to a journal?

I would imagine that a journal with high backlog could be more selective in publishing journals (if they have so many journals to choose from).

At least in mathematics, this seems anecdotally true.
For instance, Annals of Mathematics has one of the largest backlogs (and is also notoriously among the more selective of math journals).

On the other hand, I suppose it could be possible that backlog is merely a measure of how slow or fast the journal is, and could have nothing to do with difficulty of getting accepted submission.


texts: Is there a difference between writing a recommendation letter for MPhil programs & PhD programs?

texts: What I mean is, are there cases in which a professor might decline writing are letter of recommendation for a PhD program, but would accept writing such a letter for a student applying to a MA or MPhil programme? Is the professor seen as vouching for the student more, when he writes a letter for a PhD program than when we're talking about MA or MPhil programs? Or is there virtually no difference?


texts: should I fight to choose journal my work is submitted to?

texts:
I'm a USA grad student in computational biology.  Starting 2 years ago, I tried to get paper X published, with very little feedback from my advisor, and after a year (!) in review paper X was rejected. Meanwhile, I was working on other projects, gaining experience, and drawing closer to graduation. My advisor then asked me to submit X to a kind of shady non-journal "proceedings" (he had some hook-up), and he didn't seem happy that I objected. Now, I hope to graduate in a few months, and with the benefit of my improved knowledge of science, I'm trying to get project X published again.  My advisor only cares about getting things out the door, not about the projects, and he has a connection to this Chinese journal (jmcb.oxfordjournals.org) that I never heard of. He is impressed  by their impact factor because that's how he is (I can tell they are gaming their IF.). He wants me to put it there, while I think a lower IF, less obscure journal would be way better. Additionally, it appears that very few institutions subscribe to this journal (my univ does not).

It's not a spam journal, but I never would want to submit there, and I feel that I should have some control over it as it's my work. But is it worth it to fight him on this, or should I just go along with it because he's the boss? I guess if it's easy to publish there, I should be grateful not to have to keep working on it after graduation? I do want to do a postdoc.


texts: Delay master's thesis: Appropriate to mention personal reason?

texts:
I'm at a European university, where I'm currently writing my thesis to finish a master's degree. The deadline is in a bit over a month. Due to a serious family issue, I have not been able to work much, thus I likely need to postpone the submission deadline (which is allowed without providing a detailed reason).

I have not had much supervision (not unusual at my uni), and, apart from not being able to work much, the project is going fine. My concern is that I could be subject to unconscious lazy-student bias at grading if I dont tell him the (at least vague) reason for my delay.

Is it appropriate or relevant to mention the reason for my delay to my supervisor? Or should I simply tell the supervisor that I have to delay the submission date?

Thanks for your input.


texts: How damaging is it to have been a co-author of a retracted paper?

texts:
Many years ago, when I was very new to the world of scientific paper publishing, I was a co-author to a paper that was subsequently retracted after an investigation of the findings. This was before I did my PhD (was a Master's student in a different field that I am currently in).

To explain, my role in the data collection and analysis was quite specific, and in the investigation it was deemed that my part of the work was verifiable and sound. In hindsight, I have long realised that I should have taken on a more active role in proof-reading the article as a whole, cross checking the findings and being more active in the article writing process. For that, I have always taken responsibility - so, even though I do not have anything to do with the lead author anymore - I am not blaming anyone.

Since then, I have been co-author and first author of over a dozen more papers - many are published without difficulty (we check, cross-check and check everything again nowadays).

But, the question remains, in terms of applying for postdocs, funding, grants and the like - how damaging is it to have been a co-author of a retracted paper?


texts: How to refuse to work with graduate students?

texts:
How do you refuse to work with graduate students when they come to you and explain they want to work with you without necessarily being offered a job (e.g. a project that pays).
My advisor was very selective, he had conditions - students would need to take a course, Ace it, be in a percentage, then take a personality test, volunteer etc etc. He had many projects and million dollar fundings so it was just easy for him to have the authority and the department would be okay with this.
I am only starting and I have realized that I have been kind of soft about this, especially with international students knocking on my door and saying they want to work with me I accepted to be their supervisor. They have their scholarships too so I suppose that shows they have gone through a selection process, and it could be good for me. However, I noticed that it is actually very slow and time consuming to get them to a point where they start working on their own, and if ever happens, work academically (not just applications).
So I decided to be more selective. Then this student comes in and wants to work with me for all the wrong reasons. they have worked in field X for more than 5 years but wants to do their thesis on a new topic just so they will learn it, they didn't bother to take any related courses either. This is a student who deserted their MS some years ago and came back to finish somehow, sees literature review credits as "some checkbox". They signed up for the credits without talking to me (I didn't approve it, but the course is opened without a lecturer on paper, but students are expected to work towards their thesis with their supervisors)
When I explained them they don't have the necessary background, and I really don't have the time to start with a student who doesn't have the necessary beackground. They have insisted which would make me reconsider but the way they insist, using an authoritative language which is outright forceful, and it rubs me off the wrong way really, if I am a couple days late on reply, they send me emails (copy paste) repeatedly to my non work related emails as well (I don't know how they got it btw). Nothing shows up about the student btw as they are super secretive using initials only even for the email, basically a bit intimidating.  Their motivation is again a combination of wrong reasons imho. I don't want to waste my time and also their time. It is obvious that it isn't the right fit, I don't want to take up more students because I feel responsable for the ones I have, besides there will potentially be personal problems as well, my students are respectful and they are motivated by their topic, but I am not sure how to handle a student who thinks an alpha language is going to change my mind. but how to send this message across?


texts: What author position on publications is best for early-career academics in physics: First or last author?

texts:
I am physicist, I do research in theoretical biophysics, and I just got a permanent position. I am still collaborating with my former postdoc advisor, with whom I already published, and we are about to submit a new paper.

When I was a postdoc, the best thing for my CV was to be first author. It is not entirely clear to me what would be the best thing now for my CV. Should I aim at being last author, corresponding author, or still first author?

I have asked this question to people working in different scientific areas, and got very different answers.


texts: Does the time spent doing a PhD count towards research experience for job applications?

texts:
There's a job application (UK based) which says something about having to have around 2 or 3 years research experience, but not necessarily have obtained a PhD.

What if I have a PhD and 2.5 years research experience postdoc? Does the PhD also count towards the "research years" ? I increasingly view a PhD as "training" rather than "research"...

EDIT

Of course there is a research element to any PhD, but the emphasis is on training to become an effective researcher.


texts:
I have been visiting some journal websites and I found that
some of them state that they use a double blind review process.

What does it mean?


texts: Senior professional admissions for a PhD

texts: I am an MSc of urban planning with more than 25 years of professional practice. Can someone please tell me if age is in any way negative for being considered by a top university in the USA or UK for a PhD, especially for international applicants?


texts: Do certificates for "Outstanding Reviewer Contribution" matter?

texts:
So, I have recently received a certificate of outstanding reviewer contribution from a good and well-known journal in my field. I admit that I did not even know these things exist until now.

  Do these certificates carry any prestige? Does it makes any sense to include it on my CV? Or, equivalently, at what point does it make sense to include this achievement?

I expect that the less senior I am (i.e., PhD student) the more it matters, but what is the point that it becomes white noise on one's resume?

My initial thought is "NO" (in the sense that nobody in any hiring committee would care). On the other hand, given the constant struggle to find decent reviewers, maybe this carries some signal about my responsibilities towards the community. But I would like to see opinions in this matter, if any.


texts: What is the most accepted time for a pre-tenure move?

texts:
I am a second-year assistant professor who is hoping to make a pre-tenure move to a school/location that is better for my family. It is not a situation where my current department is bad or toxic, but I think my partner (job) and kids (schools, time with relatives) would be happier elsewhere.

I read a lot of advice which suggests that it is best to make a move before tenure rather than after. However, no one seems to specify when pre-tenure one should be looking. I am inclined to begin looking even before my mid-tenure review because the departments I would be looking in are typically small and I can't rely on the fact that they would have an opening in any particular year.

Is there a "normal," "accepted," or "typical" time to be make a pre-tenure move?

Here are some related questions:

What is a better point in an academic career to move to the U.S.: as an assistant professor or after tenure?

Job search when coming up for tenure


texts: How can I cite an company website using IEEE style?

texts:
I would like to use some information about the MathScript RT Module RT module, found at the link: http://www.ni.com/labview/mathscript/

This might not be standard so I cannot find any example online. Any suggestion will be appreciated.


texts:
A group of PhD students and young researchers (where I belong) is preparing a symposium, a single day meeting, for other young researchers, PhD, master and students.

I don't have any previous experience with advertising this kind of events and I haven't received other advertisement, to an event similar to this one, than a place and a date with a link for more info. However, this was from a better known organization (and I get to know this organization through a friend) and our organization is not well known so I doubt this way would work to attract new people.

Which is the best way to increase registrations to the symposium? What information would you like to know before going for a registration or looking for more information?

Some important information I thought to include in a leaflet/ad:

Place, dates, duration (done)
Where to register and how much does it cost (done)
Key speakers (At the moment we don't have confirmation of all the invited speakers)
Sponsors and support (done)
...

There's a similar question question for a similar event, but I am in charge of advertising.


texts: How can I avoid the embarrassment associated with needing a sabbatical for alcoholism and mental health treatment?

texts:
Keeping the need for my sabbatical secret is not realistic. Finding a replacement instructor and delays in my research will cause inconvenience to multiple parties.

What steps can I take to reduce embarrassment and protect my reputation as much as possible? This request will surprise most people in the department.


texts: Should you request graduate school recommendation letters only from those that know you as a researcher?

texts:
In a discussion with a friend of mine who is applying to graduate school in physics, she was worried that she wouldn't be able to get a good recommendation from one of her advisors because she hadn't done much creditable research under that advisor. I suggested that since she has two other recommendations from other professors who she had done research under, she could ask for a recommendation from a professor who thought highly of her academic (i.e. non-research) performance.

I was surprised by how negatively she responded to the idea: she would much prefer a mediocre letter from a research advisor than a good letter from someone who does not know her as a researcher, but does as a student. I reasoned that her research credentials would probably be spoken for with her other letters, but she didn't seem to accept this reasoning.

Is it generally true that a PhD program in the sciences looks more favorably on less-than-glowing recommendation letters about an applicant's research experience than on positive letters about his/her academic performance? Even when his/her research is attested to by other letters?

If it is not true in general, does it hold for programs in the experimental sciences? Does it vary between fields? (I am a mathematics student, and to my knowledge this question doesn't apply as well to mathematics programs.)


texts: Students admit illicit behavior in private communication: how should I proceed?

texts:
I am an adjunct professor at a University for a course where the students have to use a certain software "X" during the course. The software is distributed under a proprietary license; our University has bought a number of licenses, which have been made available for the students. Due to COVID restrictions, I am delivering the course online.
Recently, I have received a couple of... questionable emails from students who apparently have had issues in installing the (legally distributed) student version of X.

One said that he is following the course together with a colleague, visiting his home and using together the same PC. I am quite sure this is not allowed under the current COVID restrictions in my country.
Another one has admitted that he is using a pirated version of the software on his personal PC.

Note that, in both cases, I did not inquire about these issues: they simply mentioned them matter-of-factly.
On the one hand, I realize it is not my job to investigate this kind of behavior; I am not sure I should report it, as I do not even have solid proof. On the other hand, not mentioning at all the legal ramifications in my email replies to the students can be seen as "letting it slide" or even condoning such behavior.
How should I proceed? I am inclined towards reprimanding admonishing the students (privately).
Note: This is not a question about the ethics of software piracy or of flouting social distancing regulations, but about the proper response to illicit behavior (which I have not personally witnessed) that happens off-campus. I am not completely sure that the students' conduct in this case is illicit, though I believe it is questionable at best.


texts: How do good students in medical school distinguish themselves?

texts:
I'm an undergrad in biology, long story short, I was looking a professor's CV (not in medicine) and he had indicated his GPA in his grad school (apparently he had the highest in his program).  But what about medical school? I read somewhere that courses in med school are pass/fail and not graded.  Not sure if that's true but if it is, how do good students distinguish themselves?

Secondly, same question in terms of getting into top specialties as indication of how good of a student someone is.  On a medical school site I saw what seems to be labeled as "competitiveness" of various programs, with dermatology and plastic surgery being highly competitive and family practice and psychiatry being the least.  I assumed this means that only most successful students get into these programs, and so this can be used to indicate how good someone is.  But apparently not so.  I'm not sure exactly how this works, but it seems med students, though they take the same exam (USMLE), they self-select into various specialties.

So how can you tell how good a student is in medical school if there is no GPA and if getting into a specialty also don't indicate that?


texts: How to interpret quality of computer science journals that charge publication fees?

texts:
I usually publish my research work at conferences in the field of Computer Science, I do not have so many papers and the question that I am doing here it might sound foolish for some (or maybe a lot) of researchers in different fields. A situation has arosen when a colleague of me wants to publish a co-join work that we have done in a CS journal. For my experience conferences charge a fee for authors when their work is accepted, but I have some doubts about the fees that I found for some journals in the field:

Some journals I have seen are free and have an open access so that everybody could read or access a research work
Other journals charge some fees for accepted works that range from 200 USD to 600 USD, they are indexed in Scimago
Other journals that are indexed in Scimago in quartiles Q1 and Q2 can charge like almost 2000 dollars for accepted article, I have seen those in an Elsevier table, or maybe am I wrong?

I mean according to some PhD students that I have talked, they told me that usually good journals do not charge publication fees, but why for example the aforementioned editorial does that? I mean sometimes a journal could be accused of predatory because it charges for publishing, but it is not almost the same with some respectable journals in the field that do the same?

Bottom line, should one aim to publish only on free fee for publishing journals? Or one should better look out for the quality of the articles accepted within a journal instead of the fees charged for publishing?


texts: To which point is a paper considered as a "student contribution"?

texts:
I am a PhD student, in the process of submitting a paper and I was asked to check (or not check) a box to state if :

  This contribution was solely written by students and/or doctoral candidates.

This paper was solely written by me as first author, with my supervisors as co-authors for reviewing. It deals mostly with measurements and their interpretation, which were done by me exclusively, the only non-original content is a figure I'm citing from another paper. However, my supervisors reviewed this paper, and also gave me advice during the research.

Is this sentence to be interpreted drastically (meaning I should not check it since the work is done by a supervised student, and not student(s) exclusively). And in a more general way, to which point would a paper be no longer considered as "student contribution" ?

This may seem obvious but I'm not familiar with publications processes since it's the first time I submit something.


texts: Is ignoring emails acceptable in academia?

texts:
As a grad student, I just find it tremendously frustrating when emails are ignored by faculty (both at my institution and at other places). Is this acceptable? I'd be content with a simple response with one line along the lines of "I have read this email and am busy right now, will respond in X days when I can write a more detailed email." I understand that, as a first year student in my field, I'm not really in a position to request anything of anyone, but it just seems like common decency.

Instead, I never hear back, as if my email has been jettisoned off into oblivion.


texts: Should I accept an invitation to give a talk on dated work?

texts:
I'm a recent math PhD, working in Subject X.  I had the good luck to give a counterexample to a conjecture in Subject Y, using ideas from X.  I don't know much about Y -- in fact I learned the conjecture in a "Y for dummies"-type paper and immediately saw the example.  The people I met in Y seemed to be pretty happy about this.

Now I've been invited to give a talk at a big conference about Y.  I would of course be delighted to do so, but by the time the conference happens my paper will be about 18 months post-arxiv.  I don't really have plans or competence to do further work in Y, and I'm concerned that my paper will be getting stale by the time the conference rolls around.  On the other hand, I could give a basic introduction to X and my example, which I think would be interesting to the audience.

Any suggestions as to how to proceed?  Should I accept and give a dated talk?


texts: What to Do About Inaccurate Dates on Letters of Recommendation?

texts:
As part of the application for a fellowship at an university, I acquired two letters of recommendation.

Apart from a factual inaccuracy in the body of one letter, which I am going to mention in the motivational letter, both of the letters I've got are stamped to a wrong date. One is dated earlier than the application for the fellowship was released (January instead of February, though the day isn't accurate either, lol). The other one is dated to the day before the application is due, while I received it a couple of days before that.

Should I worry about these inaccuracies and mention them in the motivational letter? I don't think it's particularly important, especially for the latter one, which contains a sensible date (though the 'date created' definitely shows a different date from the one signed), but I want to be sure.


texts: At what point in the rankings is having a PhD from one university no different than a PhD from another (differently ranked) university?

texts:
There are some websites like topuniversities and times higher education that rank universities based on several criteria.

I don't know if the ranking of a university is directly proportional to its actual reputation.

It is obvious that top universities such as MIT, Harvard and Stanford in US or ETH, Uppsala, KTH in Europe should be considered apart from the rest, but at what point is having a PhD from one university no different than having another? Is it after 100? Between 300-400? Or is it due to another criteria than the ranking?


texts: Pros and cons of including mathematical equations in presentation slides

texts:
As a researcher in CS, I give often presentations, where I always ask about the feedback from my colleagues. I personally don't like to put equations in my slides because I believe that nobody will have enough time to read the understand the equation (especially because in CS the equation is a tool to solve the problem and not the heart of the topic). Instead, I enrich the slides with intuitive figures and demonstrations. I've heard some professors encouraging the same approach, but in my current group, my professor and my colleagues believe that equations illustrate the complexity of the method and we should put them.

I don't think this is a question of preference, therefore, I would like to have more opinions about putting or not putting equations in presentation slides and why.


texts: Can/should math majors consider graduate school in physics?

texts:
I am a math major in my early years of undergrad, and I'm wondering if math majors can or should consider pursuing graduate school in (theoretical) physics. I don't think there's a barrier in terms of logistics, since there's quite a bit of overlap between pure math and theoretical physics — but I'm not sure if math majors fulfill the prerequisites (if any) to pursuing graduate school in physics.
Would a typical math major be required to take some more physics classes than usual, or have some research experience in theoretical physics before trying for grad school in related areas? Or are schools (and advisors) happy to accept pure math majors with minimal physics background whatsoever (maybe to start certain things from scratch in grad school)?
My question is specific to PhD programs right after undergrad, and schools in the U.S. or U.K.


texts: Dealing with late assignments as a teacher assistant

texts:
I am a graduate student and I'm T.A. of a graduate course. The professor asked us to give some assignments to the students. I have done so and a homework assignment, which contains an optional part for gaining extra marks, I designed.

Moreover, I have set a policy for late assignment being as follows:

One day: Losing 25%
Two days: Losing 50%
Three days: Losing 75%
Further outlasting ones: 100%

My intention was turning in both mandatory and optional parts together in one single written document. However a couple of students turned in that mandatory part by its due date, and optional parts after the due date.

Now, I am in a dilemma whether should I penalize their assignment or not. Also how about that optional part? Should I award extra marks or not?


texts: If a paper has been accepted at a conference does it mean that it will be published?

texts: I have a paper that has been accepted at the International Conference on Advanced Computational and Communication Paradigms (ICACCP).


texts:
I finished up a final exam right before the holidays, it was 10 questions, fully mathematically explained questions, and just after the holidays, I got an email from my professor saying that I am being investigated for cheating and have a meeting with my professor next week.

Apparently the guy I'm being accused of cheating from is a guy that sat in the same row as I did and he had some questions that had NEARLY the exact same text. This guy was my friend, but that's because we entered the classroom and sat in the same row, I had absolutely no plans of cheating,

I don't have that kind of thick skin and would never pull that mess - especially in college. Apparently my friend and I had some similarities between questions that suggested that we cheated, whether it was a collaboration or whether one cheated from another.

The problem is that I have no clue if my friend looked at my paper or was trying to cheat from me but I can be sure that I was not cheating from his work. I was doing my own thing during the exam period. If I get the exact same test with the same questions, I would get about 90-95% of the same answers I did for that final exam if I remember my material still, which I hope I do because I actually studied my best for it.

Anyways, I'm just curious, what exactly should I do when confronted - should I just tell the professor everything I just wrote here - Like what was going on. I'm getting anxiety over the fact that I might fall in to deeper pit if I sound aggressive or say things that might turn against my favor. I am willing to retake the same test in front of the professor on the spot to prove to the professor that I will get more or less the same result. On top of that, the professor allowed everyone to bring in a double sided piece of paper with information about the course on it to help us (like a legal cheat-sheet) during the final exam, and my cheat sheet covered about 9/10 questions on the test. What fricking reason would I have to cheat off of someone else?!

On top of all that, I took 3 different courses last year that pretty much covered 90% of the math course I took this year, and a lot of people didn't take those courses in my field. I took a course that covered probability, another that covered linear algebra and another course that covered proofs, all of which combined to create 9 out of 10 questions from that test. I knew all my material going in. What should I say or do? I don't want to spook the professor in to contacting the dean because this is phase 1 in the scholastic offence book - to contact the student first before deciding anything else to make sure there is enough evidence to continue further. Should I just say everything I wrote here?


texts: When do I tell my advisor that I'm leaving the PhD?

texts:
I am doing a funded PhD in humanities and don't really enjoy what I am doing (the topic and area). I applied for another PhD and got admitted. The problem is that I need to apply for visa and wait a few months to see if I'll be granted visa.
I don't want to leave my current position before I know I have the visa (don't want to lose everything and don't want to be forced to go back to my home country as I'm on student visa here).
The question is when and how should I tell my advisor that I'm leaving?


texts: What is the most important aspects of Ph.D. application other than previous university and GPA?

texts: I'm just curious to know what are the most important requirements for filling up Ph.D. application, generally. is job resumes important if available? Or for example GRE, Publications or Research interest? What is more important?


texts: Free Database to Verify the Accreditation of any College or University in the World?

texts: Is there a free, authoritative, trustworthy online database where one can look-up the accreditation of any college or university in the world?


texts: Seeking advice with dissertation chair: possible theft of idea and possible blackmail

texts:
I am hoping for advice in how to move forward. Last spring I submitted two proposal ideas to my dissertation chair. He told me that the first idea was 'inappropriate.' I proposed a comparison of statistical methods, and my advisor said that I could not compare the 'new and novel' method to the 'traditional' analysis method. He felt that it was inappropriate to make a comparison between these methods. Before telling me that I could not continue with this idea, he asked me to type up notes about each statistical procedure (background, assumptions, how to complete, coding packages, etc.) as well as to send him the relevant literature supporting the 'new' methods. I sent him approximately 28 pages of typed notes discussing each method in depth and my entire file of literature sources. Then, he told me that I could not move forward with this idea.
So, I selected a new topic. One semester later, my advisor sent me a draft paper that he was submitting to a conference. He told me that if I completed the statistical analysis, I could be the fourth author on the paper. I was shocked to read that paper, as it was my original dissertation idea of comparing methods. I refused to work on the paper. I attempted to discuss my concern that the paper was very close to my original dissertation proposal; while my chair says that I 'motivated' him to explore a new area of research, he denies that he is using my idea.
Now, I believe that my chair is holding up my dissertation. I was supposed to defend my proposal in July, but he has refused to allow me to schedule the defense. This summer, he told me that I was ready to defend, that my proposal was solid, and that my first three chapters were in good shape. However, he thought a fall meeting date would benefit the faculty committee members. In the meantime, he instructed me to begin conducting the proposed research in anticipation of committee approval in the fall.
This semester, I have had two meetings with my chair. In both meetings, he has brought up that he wants me to perform the statistical analysis of his new project (which I believe to be my original dissertation proposal). He even suggested that I should extend my studies for an additional year and apply to be his research assistant. I have not agreed to participate in the research project or to delay my graduation. After telling him that I would not participate in the research project, he sent me an email questioning if my proposed dissertation (representing three semesters of work) was sufficient or if I should start again with a new topic.
So....
I have reached out to the omsbud office and I have debated filing an ethics complaint against my chair. I also reached out to the program coordinator of my program to request a change in dissertation chair. To change chairs, I may be required to file a complaint because I am in my third semester of dissertation hours.
I am hoping for advice. I worry about repercussions if I file a complaint. A student filed a complaint against this particular professor two years ago and that student was ostracised by both faculty and her peers. She dropped out of the program. This summer, I thought that the best course of action was to keep my head down, ignore my concerns, and finish my dissertation. Now, I wonder if I will be able to finish my dissertation as my chair will not allow me to schedule the proposal defense. I am further restricted from contacting any members of my committee; one of the covid policies that my department adopted was that all communication must go through the committee chair. So, I have five members on my committee, but I am only allowed to communicate directly with the chair. I tell you, I would not believe this story if I was not living it myself.
Currently, the path of least resistance seems to be quitting the program but then I forfeit all the time and work spent towards this degree.


texts:
I am a post-doc in economics. I know that rejections are quite usual but I feel very sad (I think more than necessary) because of rejections.
For a paper on which I worked for four years, I got two rejections since last year.
I already have two accepted papers but I am overwhelmed with a rejection that I received this morning and I am wondering whether academia is really a good choice to me. I know this is an unnecessary feeling. What to do in order to deal with these situations?


texts: How to re-use information that is itself a conclussion drawn from another source

texts:
Example of what I want to address:

"For characterizing emotions, either for synthesis or for recognition, suitable emotional speech database is a necessary prerequisite (Ververidis and Kotropoulos 2006). An important issue to be considered in evaluating the emotional speech systems is the quality of the databases used to develop and assess the performance of the systems (Ayadi et
al. 2011)."

I am an undergraduate working on my final project. I am not sure if it is because of the way I work, but I am finding myself time and time again in the process of quoting some text I found that is exactly what I need, and that specific paragraph or phrase comes from somewhere else.

I get that is very useful, in order to get a better understanding of the paper, to follow and read said sources. But I find overwhelmed under the amount of sources most paper provide, and I feel like it makes sense at some point to stop digging and write something about it.

I find two options and I do not want to be dishonest at all, it's just that sometimes I don't know what is the proper way of doing things.

A) I could quote the paragraph entirely, and with the proper notation, show where I got it from. For example: "In [source A] is stablished that a database is a prerequisite and that the quality is an important issue to be considered"

B) I could say the same, but using either both sources, or just the one addressed in the text, since it's where apparently the info comes from (AND source number 0, where I am getting the explanation, is been referenced anyway). Example: "In [source B1] is stablished that a database is a prerequisite and in source [B2] that the quality is an important issue to be considered".

What is the proper way of addressing this? I don't want to sound lazy but am I being lazy by not following every source that sustains certain ideas/phrase I am writing in my text?


texts: Why do US flagship state universities vary so much in quality?

texts:
In the United States, it is typical for each state to have one or more flagship state universities. All of them are reasonably good institutions, but some are absolutely top-notch, such as in Michigan, California, Virginia, and Wisconsin.

Typically, tuition at these universities is extremely expensive for out-of-state students and much cheaper for in-state students. So, at least in principle, these universities principally serve the best students from their respective states who choose to study at public schools.

How is it then that some schools became absolutely top-notch and others less so? To my mind there is no obvious factor explaining which of the state schools became top-notch; for example, Wisconsin is not, and never has been, an unusually populous or wealthy state.


texts: How to deal with non-cooperative team mate?

texts:
I just started a research position coming from the industry. I am supposed to work on an ongoing project and branch it out to a new direction.

There is one member of the research group that did quite a lot of work on what I am supposed to modify. So I asked him if he could share his work and code with me. He told me that it is still unpublished work and there is no way he is going to give me his code. He said this is the way he does research.

I'm sort of stumped and don't know what to do. He told me that I should go and do it on my own what he has done for about a year now. My supervisor agreed to my suggestion that I should work with this person, but when I told him that he wouldn't share the code with me, he was just laughing nervously and didn't say anything.

Is there a way that I can persuade this person to collaborate with me, or am I banging my head against a wall?

So just to clarify. My supervisor is (one of) the project lead. I first talked to the supervisor suggesting, then talked to the person who rejected, then to the supervisor again. This project has been going on for a year. There are about 5 people working on it in this lab. I joined the lab to extend on the work done here and to contribute in the final stages of the project. To my surprise, there is no shared code repository, but rather each person does their own thing and in meetings discuss it.

I told the person that I will not steal his code. He replied to me that he doesn't share the code because I will not understand it. I told him that it helps me understand the work by looking at the code. He told me that no.

So my plan is to read the draft papers again and try to understand it that way, then try again in a few days. I don't want to re implement the same thing he has done...

I was given access today to the research group server and I could view everyone's work (around 15 people) and all project material... except his directory and implementation which is permission denied. I talked to him again, and clearly he is afraid that I will steal his work and possibly has to put one more name on his paper if I find something interesting, thereby diluting his achievements. He kept telling me that this is his work, and he is the first person on the paper and I should do something else or re-implement the whole code on my own.


texts: Are there any industry related jobs for a Discrete Mathematics (Combinatorics, Graph theory) PhD?

texts: Apart from being an academic, what can a Discrete Math PhD do?


texts: About the information on Professors who write Reference Letter

texts: I applied for some research positions and send the name of my references. I would like to know that: Do the full list of my references will be forwarded to each of professors by institute which I applied for. In other words, Will professors whom I add their names as my references be informed about the name of other references of mine?


texts: Why is there less funding or scholarship opportunity for business students compared to other background students?

texts: If one compares the funding state between the business background students and the science, technology, engineering, math (STEM) background students in university, one will surely see much difference in the portion or extent of funding. Scholarship opportunities for business students are rare and small.  Why is this the case?


texts: What percentage of applicants on a wait list for masters program generally get accepted?

texts:
My application has been put on the wait list at my top choice institution (unfunded masters, about 10% acceptance rate). The Department said they may not be able to let me know the final decision until after April 15 (which I understand). However, I need to know the decision before April 15 to respond to other offers. In order to determine my chance, I have the following questions:

While this may vary depending  on the programs, is there a general percentage of applications out of the entire pool being put on wait list? If not what factors determine this?
Are wait listed applicants ranked? if not, how do programs determine which one to accept off wait lists?
Should I let them know that they are my top choice and if accepted I will almost surely attend?


texts: If, where and how to talk about personal problems during master in PhD application

texts:
I am applying to become a PhD student in some institutions. My master record isn't exactly perfect mainly because I didn't complete it in time: I should have completed it in two years but it took me far longer.

Now, during the master I have had some serious healthy and personal issues that can partially justify not finishing in time: I had to stay several months in my hometown without the possibility to study or do anything university related because of a certain situation. Even when I came back to University it took me quite a bit of time to fully recover physically and mentally.

I wish I could tell this in my application since it can be important to not put me at a strong disadvantage with respect to people that took one year less than me to get to this point.

Should I talk about this?

If yes, where and how? I was thinking about writing a few lines in the cover letter but I have no idea how detailed such things should be. From one side I wouldn't like to give detailed informations on my personal issues to random people and from another side I'd like to be clear on how affected I was by them. I'd also like to be extremely clear that this issues, in my opinion, don't completely justify my delay in finishing the study.

Maybe I should simply not worry about it and just apply and see what it comes out of it, but I'm not in a mood to waste chances right now.

Clarification: the question refers to the programs that require some sort of cover letter/personal statement, as far as regards the programs that don't require it, I can do nothing about them.


texts: Should I revoke my recommendation request for a particular letter? Is this impolite?

texts:
I am in a bit of a bind. I've been taking a reading course with a professor, and at first it was going fairly well. After a while (when the material got hard and I got busier), the readings were just going okay, meaning that I wasn't progressing very fast, and had trouble with almost all exercises.

I feel that I don't impress this professor as much as I might have in the beginning. I am, however, doing well in his class currently, but not the best student I'd say. I have asked him a while ago if he'd write me a letter of recommendation for graduate school (my apps will be completed in a few weeks). I have even sent requests in the online applications for his letter. But I am thinking of revoking the requests online (this is possible). I asked him if his letter would be strong, and his reaction was not very clear. He said he'd mostly talk about how I'm doing in his topics course, and some of what we've been reading.

I have three other letter writers, all of which should be very good. Two of these professors I've done research with, the other I am in his course, but he says my solutions are very good. Now, the latter guy does not know me as well as the professor in question, but his letter, he says, will be strong based on my course work.

So my question: Should I cancel the letter request? Is this weird to do? Should I talk to him first (if so, how?)?

This is my future career, so dealing with awkwardness and animosity may be worth it in the end. I should also say that the readings we are doing I am no longer interested in - they were more of a test-the-waters thing for me to see if I wanted to do research in that area.

edit. I've decided to live with my mistake and move on. Hopefully the letter isn't too bad.


texts: Should a "good" Ph.D. student still get some strong supervision?

texts:
I am getting closer to the end of Ph.D. studies and in some months I expect to stop the research to seriously work on the thesis. My supervisor has two other students working on slightly different fields than mine. He is involved in many projects and loves to help other people.

I think he trust me deeply, sometimes he tells me about his issues with his other students/people he is following and when I have chance to attend their seminars I understand that they require much more supervision than I do.

We keep talking, off course, but in the last months he welcomed every my initiative without critics. I prepared three conference papers and he basically only corrected few typos, while other people gave me more constructive comments (together with compliments) that boosted the quality of the papers. Getting closer to my defense I would expect a bit "stronger" supervision, maybe some suggestions on how to polish my work. Overall, I am still a student, not an independent researcher. I am worried that at a certain point he may examine my work with more attention, spotting some bad holes and that this may happen too late to properly fill them.

This doubt is stressing me quite much and I think that is also starting to have some negative impact on my productivity. Should I somehow address this issue to him?


texts: Publication Strategy for book manuscript

texts: What's the best strategy to submit a book manuscript (on media literacy)? I assume I'd start sending my prospectus to the top publishers in that area (Teachers College?) and then I'd slowly work my way down the "prestige ladder"?


texts: Do students needs to be specifically mentioned on grant proposals for projects funded by government agencies in the US?

texts:
Let me start by giving some background.

I joined a research group about 3 years ago and at the time the PI (who became my advisor) told me that he would not be able to support me until either one of his PhD students graduated or he landed a new project from the agency that funds the research group. He told me that the wait wouldn't be too long because two students would graduate within the next six month (however he did say that it was not guaranteed) and I would be next in line to receive funding.

Well, it took those two students another two years to graduate. However, before they graduated the PI told me that their contract with the funding agency was being restructured and all current projects were being abandoned. He was proposing new projects instead of them however that meant that I was pushed back 3 or 4 places in the line to receive funding (which was based on seniority).

About a year later now, I am first in line again and the next project was suppose to be mine. However, my advisor just told me that they forgot to put my name on the project proposal and that although the project was approved I would not receive any funding. There are several staff members in our research group who are part of each project and he tells me that they are the only ones that were named on the proposal.

Does this sound plausible? I don't know much about how project proposals are structured and how funding is awarded. I'm getting a feeling that my advisor isn't being completely honest with me. I get the feeling that because I haven't complained much about funding to him in the past three years he is assuming that I can afford to go without it.

I've actually had to hunt for a TA position every single quarter which would pay my tuition but provided a very small stipend (not enough to cover expenses).

P.S. these "projects" are separate from our thesis related research and are really just a means for supporting the students in our research group.


texts: Is an ungraded pass going to affect my PhD applications?

texts: Currently my MA gpa is a 70/100 and I'm studying in the UK. I just received the grade of my latest assignment, that is a 68. That means that my gpa is now bellow 70. However, the university is giving me the option of an ungraded pass for this assignment, so that my gpa will not be affected. If I select to apply for an ungraded pass, instead of a 68 in that assignment, are my future PhD applications going to be affected? I am concerned that an ungraded pass might not look good on my final record and in my PhD applications. Additionaly, I am still working on my dissertation, so if I achieve a high grade for it I can still improve my gpa. What do you think is the best course of action? Thank you!


texts: Submit a new version of my paper if my supervisor only commented on an old, very different version?

texts:
As a PhD student, I face the requirement to publish at least one of my papers at one conference from a defined list of conference. In late November, I submitted a "draft version" of my work to my first and second supervisor.

In mid-December, I received feedback from the second supervisor. The feedback I received affected mostly writing style, making it appear more like a concise journal article instead of a book chapter suitable as part of a final PhD thesis, etc.

Since the holidays, I worked on my paper substantially, implementing ideas and criticism from befriended PhD candidates as well, and could send a new, final version to my supervisors Friday. My fist supervisor now explicitly told me that he read the first version of my paper, and now he wants to give me feedback, most of which he believes may have been included in the second supervisor's feedback and hence addressed in my new version.

However, he cannot give me feedback before Wednesday due to time constraints on his part, not even a phone call. Instead, he stressed that the first paper is not ready for submission.

I am now facing the problem that the submission deadline for the journal is on Tuesday. Hence, I must choose between

skipping the deadline and not submit anything,

which would be undesirable. Although there is nothing preventing me from choosing a later conference, the message this would send to my environment (and myself) about my work standards, communication flow and time planning would be demoralizing.

submit the renewed version anyway,

without my first supervisor having approved of it (the second supervisor promised to still give feedback in time). I submitted the draft, with two months left to the deadline, to identify problems with the general direction, and I knew it was not ready for submission. The fact that the differences between the draft and the current, polished version are very large now tells me that the current version may be very well suitable for publication, even in his eyes, if he read it.

Essentially, my possible errors here are:

submitting a paper that, even in the second version, is bad.
not submitting a paper that would have been perfectly fine.

Regarding the first error, how strong is the effect of having been rejected from one journal or conference, as to not being allowed to submit to other conferences work that was already submitted once before? The research field is the intersection between management and corporate finance.

Is there an effect on my, or my supervisor's, or my university's, reputation from submitted a (potentially still by far sub-par) paper--after all, this should be anonymous?

Furthermore, there could be a negative effect of my supervisor feeling undervalued if I meet him Wednesday for feedback on a paper (although not the same paper) that I submitted the previous night. However, my supervisor is quite pragmatic, and I am sole author of this paper, so I am convinced he would understand my reasoning--but also the possible negative effects I mentioned above.

Regarding the second error, I would lose time, the opportunity of valuable feedback, and disappoint my research group, as this conference was defined as my submission target past summer already; all this over underestimating a possibly quite nice paper.

Edit:
I saw this question, and want to stress that I honestly believe that my paper is not incomplete, and could be published (but then again, I am just a PhD student in my second year).


texts: In 2015 or 2016, there was an experiment by a group of post-docs and graduate students to ideate, research, and publish a scientific article (on a pre-print site like arxiv.org) in 24 hours. The topic was something to do with social networks, but the speed of writing the paper was the main point. Can anyone point me to that paper? A group I'm in is going to attempt a similar experiment. Thanks!


texts:
Is the following common? An editor for a journal sends a paper out to, say, three or four referees. After getting the first two referee reports, the editor makes a decision and tells the third and fourth referees not to bother (so that they have potentially been wasting their time).

I can see this happening in some circumstances, e.g. if one referee finds a substantial error. However, I was asked to referee for one journal, and I get the impression (which I have not yet confirmed) that they typically send the paper out to lots of referees and take only the first couple of referee reports.

This practice, if it is indeed what they are doing, seems likely to produce quick turnaround times, but also seems disrespectful to referees who might be half-finished when they are told their reports are no longer needed.

Is this common? (In particular, in mathematics?)


texts: Is it ethical to apply for a short-term grant with a partner/spouse/girlfriend?

texts:
My partner and I live in different countries, and we have been discussing a research topic for some time but have had difficulty making progress due to the distance, local responsibilities, etc.  We have recently found a visiting researcher grant that would allow me to visit her for a couple months and work exclusively on our project.  We would both continue to receive salaries from our respective institutions (the grant requires this), and we plan to request only enough funding for travel and basic living expenses (i.e., a round-trip flight, daily meals, and daily transport; the latter two, because her country is more expensive than mine).

Are there any ethical issues with us applying for such a grant?  We do not, for example, plan to request housing funds, since I will stay with her.  We are not sure whether we should disclose our relationship status in the application, because it's a small grant, and it could be seen as distracting or superfluous information. (See also the discussion under @DanRomik's answer.)

Edit: to be clear, we are each qualified in our fields to carry out such a project.  Indeed, we've already been carrying out the project, but at a slow pace, and the main goal is to have a couple months of focused effort on the project.


texts: Is it okay to mention family background in SOP?

texts: I'm applying for MS in Mathematics. My grandfather was Math professor and my uncle is also Math professor. Such family background was one of my reasons to  study Mathematics and I was wondering if I can mention my family background briefly at introduction in SOP?


texts: Should I use my university's letterhead for abstract for a potential talk?

texts:
I am planning to submit an abstract for a potential talk at a school. I was wondering if I should use my university's letterhead for the abstract? If not, is there a specific format that I should use?

Thanks!


texts:
If a department places no limit to the number of recommendation letters, how many are appropriate?

Are 5 OK? Are 7 too many?

Of course this depends on how strong the letters are - but let's assume that all of them are equally strong.


texts: How do I get rid of google scholar recommendations

texts: I find google scholar recommendations for me to read to be of very poor quality. They are also distracting and are seldom refreshed. How can I disable this function or have the recommendations hidden?


texts: Should I use this Google research paper as a reference if it has clear evidence of bias?

texts:
Google Research recently published a paper, Pushback: Characterizing and Detecting Negative Interpersonal Interactions in Code Review and in the Method section 2.2 Interviews about Code Review Pushback, the paper details it's method for selecting the 14 developers used in the interview portion of the research.

It states:

  Participants were recruited in two samples by randomly inviting
  developers from the company’s human resources database. Although
  Google has developers in multiple countries, all interviewees were
  based in US offices. The first sample was developers who replied to
  the recruitment screener ( = 7), consisting predominantly of white,
  male, and senior developers. As this uniform sample might not include
  experiences more common to less tenured developers or those from
  underrepresented backgrounds, we rewrote our recruitment materials to
  be more inclusive and adjusted our sampling script. Consequently, the
  second sample ( = 7) included more junior developers, included
  racial/ethnic diversity, and consisted entirely of women.

Unfortunately, the study did not include any more information about what adjustments were made to the recruiting materials.

I am troubled by this methodology for many reasons and am unsure of how to feel about it. I would like to cite this paper in my own research, but I'm dubious of it's credibility.

Here are my concerns / questions:

If Google's demographic comprises of majority white, male, senior devs, wouldn't that mean a random sample would be representative of the group?
What is meant by underrepresented backgrounds? Google makes no mention of what this means. I genuinely am not clear.
Wouldn't a proper research paper explain in detail what changes were made to the recruitment materials to make them more inclusive and most importantly, what adjustments were made from the sampling script.

The way the paper reads, it implies that Google adjusted their selection script to exclude white senior males. Nevertheless, it would be impossible to replicate this study without these details.

Please help understand a context or view-point and the validity of the aforementioned research paper and concerns so that I can make an informed decision on how much, if any, of this paper I can use for my academic research project.

Thank you.


texts: Can we see the reviewers decision in the rebuttal phase?

texts:
I have a question about the conferences with rebuttal phase. I know we can see the reviewers comments on our paper and we need to feedback properly according to them. But do they make any decision on "accept/reject" prior the rebuttal phase, and can we see it in the rebuttal phase?

I mean do we have to guess their decision based on their comments or we can see whether they already have decided to "accept/reject" based on the current state of the paper?

For example does anyone know how is it for the CVPR conference?


texts: What to do about students who miss my lectures and then want me to repeat entire material?

texts:
I teach at a top undergraduate college of a highly ranked university in India. We have a centralized system where the syllabus is designed at the Central level (with some input from teachers) and exams are set and evaluated centrally as well. We have an attendance policy, wherein students are required to attend at least two-thirds of the classes to sit for the exam (for all courses).

Some students are engaged in extra-curricular activities and miss a lot of lectures. While a lot of students don't bother, some want me to "teach" the portion they missed, by meeting them separately. Is it reasonable for them to ask me to teach everything from scratch because they couldn't attend the class? I teach a rigorous microeconomics course.

Edited:
I forgot to explicitly mention: since it is a centralized system, teachers can't specify their own attendance policies for a course. Moreover, I teach a compulsory course, and it can't be dropped/taken in any other semester. Further, students go for competitions scheduled outside college during lecture hours, and I have no control over that. We are not a residential University, so extra-curricular activities can't be held after class hours.


texts:
Apologise if this question isn't relevant to this forum, I tried my best to look for similar questions but couldn't find one.

I am a computer science major enrolled in a not-so-renowned university in India.

I am in my pre-final year and have taken four math courses. While I did well in the first two (got an O grade i.e the highest grade possible), due to some personal problems, I got a D and a C in the next two courses. Unfortunately, my university does not have a provision to retake the courses.

My eventual plan is to apply for grad school in fields such as machine learning where they require a strong math background.

My question is: how can I show that I know the required math for the courses beyond my uni courses?

One way I thought was of doing MOOCs on the subjects and uploading my solutions to them somewhere? But the general consensus which I found here was that MOOCs don't hold much value when it comes to showing proficiency in a subject.

What are some other ways in which I can demonstrate my proficiency in the subject?

Thank you.

EDIT: The courses where I fared poorly included the following topics (since it's an engineering course, we don't have specific courses like Linear Algebra or Statistics - we instead learn an overview of mixture of a few math subjects each semester) - Fourier Analysis, Laplace Transform, Vector Algebra, Complex Variable and Mapping, Z-transform, Complex Integration, Matrices, Probability, Sampling Theory and Mathematical Programming.)


texts: Does undergraduate course load matter in graduate admissions?

texts:
So I get that most people take 100% course load which for my school is 5 courses a semester, I know some people take lower course load and only take 4 courses per semester but end up taking 5 years in total to get their degree as opposed to 4.

My question is does someone who take 5 years to complete undergrad studies(because of lower course load) at any disadvantages to someone who took 4 years to complete their undergrad? Graduate admission for example, does it look bad if you took more than 4 years to get your degree?


texts: Will the Ph.D. stipend be enough to support my parents?

texts:
I am considering to do a Ph.D. from the USA and I wonder, if the stipend would be sufficient to support my parents.

I estimate that I need to send about 400 USD a month to my parents. Will I be able to afford it?
Am I correct in assuming that the typical USA stipend would be about 20K a year?
Will I be violating any terms of employment of the university, if I take up part-time employment during my Ph.D.? What is the typical nature of part-time jobs one may find? Is it worth it?
Is one eligible to seek part-time employment under F1-visa (I am assuming that is the typical student visa)? If not, what are the other options? Are the other visas significantly harder to obtain?
Are graduate school stipends taxable in the USA?


texts: I believe a publisher is infringing copyright when reproducing a figure I created. What can I do?

texts:
A few months ago an Elsevier representative contacted me asking for permission to reproduce one of my thesis figures in one of their books. Since this figure is only in my thesis (introduction section) and is not published elsewhere, I retain full copyright.

Because I am truly concerned about the negative effect of Elsevier policies on science at large, I am boycotting Elsevier. I considered not granting them permission, however I thought that this would mostly affect the authors of the book and have very little effect on Elsevier. I asked my Facebook contacts what I should do, and one of them proposed a very nice solution. Basically, he suggested that I publish the work under some terms so that everyone, and not only Elsevier, can be directed to the specific conditions under which this work can be reused. So I posted my figure on Zenodo (this actually makes sense because I have been asked many times for permission to reproduce this figure - mind you, that's the only reason why my thesis gets cited at all).

I replied to the Elsevier representative referring him to the Zenodo entry, and specifically letting him know that the modified version of the figure that they want to use does not comply with my terms (since it removes the text stating I own the copyright).

Last week, I noticed that a preview of the book is available in Google Books. To my surprise, I noticed that the version of the figure (fig. 11.1) that they ended up using does not comply with the terms I communicated to the Elsevier representative. What can/should I do about this?

Edit

I contacted the Elsevier representative who apologized and corrected the image. The Google Books link above now shows the copyright notice as it should (hopefully this settles the nonsensical debate initiated by @user71659 depicting increasingly weird scenarios in which Elsevier had recompiled the figure from scratch).


texts: Using sentences verbatim from a referee report without attribution

texts:
Two part question

Part I

For a revised paper following a review by referees, to what extent is each of the following acceptable or unacceptable:

Use the exact sentence from a report without quotations or acknowledgement of the source?
Use a series of sentences (almost) verbatim from a report without quotations or acknowledgment of the source?
Repeatedly engage in 1. or 2., possibly to the point where sum total of a page in the revised draft are unattributed quotations from a report?

Part II

What the reviewer should do in case #3 above, when reviewing the revision in a subsequent round.  Should this be brought up in the report for the authors?  In private communication with the editor?  Both?  Neither?


texts: Should I talk to my advisor regarding undergrad advising workload?

texts: Recently one of my profs (other than my advisor) told me that I am not doing well in his subject. Should I tell this to my advisor? Actually the reason of me not doing well is  doing other jobs assigned by my advisor to me like advising undergraduates. Undergraduates don't let me do my work. And whenever I am busy doing my own research and due to this when I politely refuse them, they say that they will go and complain about me to my advisor. Please help I am really stuck as to how to deal with the situation?


texts: Is there a place for publishing ideas (no tangible results)?

texts:
While working on my thesis in neutron imaging I got an idea for a new approach to data analysis, involving Machine Learning solutions that are not available at the moment (please note that I am a physicist, with little computer science background). I spoke about it with a few colleagues and I got good feedback, even if nobody wanted to collaborate on it (sounds too abstract, I guess). I contacted a few computer scientists, and nobody had time for this ;-)

I am now job hunting and I can't work full time on something where I need to start from scratch, but I still think it would be worth try to publish the idea somewhere (it seems none is working in that direction). Do you know if there is a journal or something similar for publishing suggestions on possible research directions in computer science and/or data analysis and algorithms development? Thanks


texts: approximate time for indexing a conference proceeding

texts:
Maybe some of you could help me with this matter based on your experiences. I presented an article for an IEEE congress which was held in March of this year, and accordingly, to their webpage, the proceedings will be indexed on IEEE Xplore. I have checked that previous versions of this congress, for example, the one held in 2018, was indexed in Scopus. We are on August, and still, the proceedings do not appear on IEEE Xplore either in Scopus. Is it normal to take that long time for the articles to get indexed? By the way, we sent the final versions already ready to be put on the conference proceedings, so there was no need for a new review for style.

Also, I got an article accepted from a journal which is also indexed in Scopus, which has a monthly basis. For what I saw on the website of this journal, which is Q3 or Q4, from the 30 articles published, only two are appearing actually in Scopus. The articles from July are completed; why is that? Did maybe Scopus decided not to put the other articles?

Bottom line, should I contact the editors?

It might sound like particular cases, but I was not able to find any information about the time-lapse from presentation or publication to appear on Scopus or other sites like IEEE.

Thanks


texts: What are the requirements for admissions to a masters degree in computer science in Canada for an international student?

texts:
I am a double major in Physics and Computer Science from an underdeveloped country. I would like to apply for a masters in computer science in Canada. What requirements do you think I should fulfill?

Currently, I have a CGPA of 4.0 (and I have only four additional semesters to go), although that CGPA is likely to go down by a small margin over time.


texts:
I'm currently in the last year (aka 3rd - 2019/2020) of my bachelor's degree, and I'm planning to apply for a PhD in the US, just after earning my degree.

Assuming everything goes nicely for me, then I'll expect graduate in September/October 2020 (this is the fastest I can do here in Italy). Let's also assume that I can fill all the PhD's prerequisites (recommendation letters, TOEFL, ...) during this period.

At that point, I would be ready to apply, but the application would be for the next year. If I do get admitted I would start my PhD in the 2021-2022 fall! An entire year would be basically wasted.

Am I arriving too late? Is the fall of the 3rd year the "proper" time to apply?
Is there anything useful I can do during this period? Should I start a master's degree in the meantime? Maybe I can convert some classes to the PhD program?

I apologize for the naive questions, but I couldn't find anything on the internet, and I don't know really have experience with the admission process /timeline in the US.
I hope you can help me and maybe even report your experience. Thanks!


texts: Timeline on mathematics postdoctoral reasearch proposal

texts:
I am applying for a postdoc in mathematics and I have to include a research proposal with the usual info and also timescale. This bugs me a lot. I am doing theoretical research, I don't have any simulations or experiments of any sort. So this question about timescale seems absurd to me. I could guess approximately how long it will take me to de the task I am listing, but honestly I see no point in that. How can I know how long will I need to do something? For my PhD I spent a whole year completely stuck at on (vital) point and once I moved from there everything was sorted out rather fast.

So should I guess some timescale and ignore the possibility of being horribly wrong? How detailed do I have to be? Are there any examples I can look at?


texts: Should I contact the journal after "with editor" for two months?

texts: I submitted a paper to an Elsevier journal two months ago. I checked the status today and it was "with editor". I understand the reviewing process may take a while, but apparently it is not under review yet. I did a bit research and found that most papers in the journal are accepted less than 6 months. I am wondering if it is appropriate for me to send inquiry message to the editor in this case? Or a more general question is how long should I wait till sending them inquiry/reminder messages. Thanks.


texts: How to determine if the presenter will attend as a session chair

texts:
As a session chair, it’s important to maintain schedule.

As shown in SPIE’s responsibilities of session chairs:

  If you find a presenter has failed to attend:

  Note the no show on the Session Report form
  DO NOT move to the next paper.
  Attendees plan for the talks they want to hear based on the published schedule.
  Choose one of these options:
  […]

My question is how to determine if the presenter will attend? Maybe he will appear later.


texts: I regret declining a PhD offer and accepting another PhD offer. What should I do?

texts:
I got offers from school A and B, both of the schools are in the States. I made my decision in mid-April and deferred my offer for one-year master program in the UK. I turned down PhD offer from school A and accepted another offer from school B. But I feel very regretful now.

I know this is not ethically correct but I don't want to feel regretful for the rest of my life.
Should I ask school A to accept me one more time or reapply? Applying to other schools will violate the deferring rules of School B, but I hope it would not be a big issue if I have valid reasons.
Could I get any advice about this situation?


texts: Should I spend my summer as an independent researcher?

texts:
I am a Masters student at a mid tier school (and perhaps getting dangerously close to low tier for my field specifically). I am planning on applying to PhD programs this coming Fall. I applied for close to two dozen internships for this summer, both at research labs and in industry. I was rejected from all of them. Needless to say this was pretty emotionally devastating, and made me question my career choice altogether.

My options for this summer are to get a job, which is not related to my research field, or use my savings to self-fund research.

On one hand this seems like a completely crazy idea, but in my field I don't need any serious resources beyond a powerful computer to do research, so I should be perfectly capable. My past research has essentially been independent with light guidance from a professor at my university.

And for context, I have one conference publication as first author, and I am finishing up a project from this last semester which I expect to be publishable in the near future.


texts: Do people actually buy research articles?

texts:
Research articles are often priced at 20-40 USD. I know that typically a researcher's institution subscribes to myriads of journals, and that some research articles are accessible online for free either legally or illegally, but I am curious to know some numbers that would help quantify how many / often individuals buy research articles, and how much money journals make from this source of income.

I am not looking for guesses or opinions, but actual numbers.


texts: Should I ask my professor to change my project group?

texts:
I am a grad student.

I am taking a course wherein we were asked to do a group project. I asked around a few people but people seemed "paired up". I found a group of two people willing to take me in.

First few days it was fine. Then the presentation came by, one member vanished and the other one "deleted" the slides he was supposed to discuss, made up an excuse, and in the end I ended up giving the presentation. The person was also controlling the slides while I was talking and at a point pretended that he couldn't move the cursor as the system hung up. We had to abort the presentation then. Moments later, another person came to help us out and as it turns out the system was perfectly fine. The guy only did that to sabotage my presentation. Why would he do that? Also the person who actually didn't show up got to the presentation last moment and started talking about it as if they knew everything about it(they made some wrong facts).

Its only later I found out that the aforementioned person (ppt killer ) is actually a really dishonest person (fabricated data due to which was kicked out of his phD program, got a masters instead and will be allowed to graduate sooner) and the other person is chums with him. Now we're working on something only I'm knowledgable about because of my previous work in the field (they are completely relying on my expertise, even the project title and content was chosen by me). This weekend we were supposed to have a meeting, just before the meeting I sent a paper which would form the crux of the whole project. After making it to the place, no one showed up and they suddenly made up excuses of not being able to make it.

I feel cheated, like they're only using me for my knowledge and excluding me out of all the real discussions and work for the project.

Should I ask the professor to change my group? As its still early on. Is this the right thing to do? Crossing those two seems bad, they look like the department "shitmouths" to me, always engaged in the latest gossip. What should I say to the prof, please give me some advice.

Thanks.


texts: Unsatisfactory grades for unsatisfactory reasons

texts:
I am currently doing Algebra in a college in India. The professor asks students to note down solved examples in class, and then poses the very same questions in the tests.

I don't go to class for these very reasons. Hence, I end up writing alternate proofs for such problems. The professor is incompetent to the extent that he does not understand proofs written by an undergrad, and gives me zero on all those answers.

When applying for grad school, I will have bad grades in Algebra and other math subjects (I suspect). How do I convey the this to the Admissions committee when applying for a PhD?

I believe this is relevant to a lot of students studying in the sub-continent.


texts: Why do graduate student contracts state "RAs shall work no more than 20 hours per week?"

texts:
I recently signed a graduate student contract.  I had outside funding for some time but recently became a normal research assistant (RA) again, so must have missed a contradictory clause when I signed a similar contract a few years ago.

I am a US citizen at a US university.

In the contract it explicitly states that graduate students "shall not work more than 20 hours per week on duties given by the advisor."

I have found similar language in other graduate student contracts at other universities, an example is here (scroll down to Duties and Time Commitments).  This example, however, states that RAs "shall not work on duties unrelated to research for more than 20 hours per week."  My contract seems to imply the opposite.

This certainly applies in the first 2-3 years of a Ph.D., since class loads typically require enough effort that RA's will not have enough time to work more than 20 hours per week on research.

But, after a graduate student has completed all class requirements, why is this clause still included?

It is clearly contradictory, as I'm expected to work 40-50 hours per week on my research, especially when I have no more classes to take.  I have signed a legal document explicitly promising that I will not work the hours needed to finish my dissertation in a timely fashion.


texts: Is it realistic to apply to a Master at MIT, Harvard, Yale, Berkeley, Stanford with a Bachelor of a German Fachhochschule?

texts:
I am a 31 year old German Bachelor-student in his 5th semester in a University of Applied Sciences, studying in Business Information Systems. The total time for receiving the Bachelor is 7 semesters.

I am starting to search for a good university for my Master (same area of studies) and I was thinking of the big ones like MIT, Harvard, Yale, Berkeley, and Stanford. Having checked on their websites, the costs got my main focus, as they are all quite expensive.

My question here is, whether there are studentships to support the costs. Does anybody know whether my idea of studies in these universities is realistic? How big can I expect my chance given my age, nationality, university in Germany, money situation?


texts: on a CV do you list both a paper and an associated oral presentation?

texts: I attended a conference that accepts short papers as well as accepts the papers for oral or poster presentations.  I had four papers, for two of which I gave the oral presentations.  My conundrum is that on my CV do I list both the papers as well as the associated presentations or just the papers as that is in some sense the higher priority?


texts: CS Master's admission after academic dishonesty

texts:
I got a B.S. in Math several years ago. I'm applying for CS MS this fall, but I still need some coursework before admission. I spent the past year at College X as a non-degree student. I did well last fall (all As), but was caught cheating on an elective CS class this spring (googled some answers on one homework assignment). The result is a B- in the class (instead of a B). I realize I'm fortunate for a pretty minimal penalty -- I just got a 0 on the assignment, and a one-semester probation (which doesn't affect me since I was only a non-degree student here and I'm not continuing here anyway). I don't have an excuse for this, and I don't know why I decided to do this. This is the only time I've cheated. For whatever it's worth, it's not indicated on my transcript, only in some confidential file the university has somewhere. My questions are:

How badly does this affect my chances for admission? I was planning on applying to just one top 20 school that I doubt I'd get into anyway, but most of the schools on my list are still ranked in the top 50.
More importantly, is there anything I can do to repair the situation? I don't have years of time before application season to be able to say it happened a long time ago. That said, I'm taking two classes this summer at College Y, and another class in the fall at either College Z or Z'. The advice given in a similar thread here was to do very well in classes from here on out, but would people reading my application even believe the rest of my work is honest after committing academic dishonesty?

If I go to College Z this fall, I could also retake the same class from this spring. It wouldn't do anything to help my GPA at College X, but my GPA there is > 3.6 anyway. I believe I could do well, at least an A-. The class also covers an extra couple chapters, one of which is related to my CS interests. Would it be worth "retaking?" It's basically the same class, so it feels like it might be a waste of time, especially since one B- isn't that bad. If I go to College Z' this fall, I could probably take an advanced class related to the class I took this spring. This advanced (joint undergrad/grad) class seems to cover a lot of material specifically related to my CS interests.

My overall application is pretty strong (3.7 GPA, GRE 170Q, 158V, 4.5A, 2-3 strong LORs, 75%ile Math Subject GRE). Hopefully it helps that three schools I'm considering are Colleges Y, Z, and Z', so maybe having a little bit of coursework done at two of them could help.

Thanks for any advice.


texts: Send updated manuscript before referees' response

texts:
Is it common to send an updated manuscript to a publisher before the initial referees' report, if you have fixed a number of typos and ambiguities in the meantime?

EDIT: By fixing ambiguities, I mean for example writing down definitions that were previously just implied, or adding short examples every here and there.
That is, I think the changes I made are likely to help the referee understanding the manuscript.
The manuscript is on a mathematical subject.


texts: Penalties for disclosing student grades without consent

texts: Is it illegal to share students' grades with somebody else (e.g their parents) without their consent in the US? What are the most common penalties for such a violation of privacy? Is jail time possible as a punishment?


texts:
I have seen several questions and also announcements that mention the term "brown bag" seminar. I understand that in American English "brown-bagging" means bringing your own lunch:

  the practice of bringing one's own packed lunch to work.

I would like some sort of a definition in academic setting.


texts: How do I reassure myself that I am a worthy candidate for a tenure-track position, when department would likely have interviewed me even if I wasn't?

texts:
I am a woman currently on the market for tenure-track positions. I will not disclose my department since I think this is not relevant, and I am about to describe a particular department in detail.

I have a couple of interviews for the tenure-track positions, and while all of them are from schools that I would happily be at, one interview is from my dream school (research fit, compatibility with colleagues, location, and familiarity are all important factors in my job search).

While doing my research on this school, I made the unfortunate mistake of reading the hiring policy of the university. The policy says that if there are no applicants of minority status (such as being a woman) on their interview shortlist, the hiring committee must go back to the applicant pool and find the best applicant of minority status and add her to the interview list, or justify in writing to the Dean why they did not find any minority candidates suitable.

Clearly the second option is tedious, and I believe that most hiring committee would rather throw in a minority candidate rather than trying to justify the lack thereof. I am the only minority candidate. Furthermore, this department has never hired any women through the proper channels. The only women they have (the percentage is in the low single digits) were all hired through spousal hires. This makes me strongly suspect that maybe I am the candidate that they begrudgingly added to the interview list to avoid the paperwork.

This knowledge is impacting me severely; even though I am preparing for my interview, I keep thinking that all of this is hopeless, and I wonder if it's already agreed on among the hiring committee that I will never be hired. I feel that I am wasting my time. And although I have never acknowledged that being a woman was a disadvantage, or even that I was subject to sexism up to this point of my career, this time, I know that the other white males who are interviewing are not having these worries, and I am intensely jealous.

How can I talk myself through this, and believe from my heart that I can actually get this position? I read a similar question on this site just now, and it seems that unless I believe that I can get this position, often the defeatist attitude will show during the interview and become self-fulfilling. It really is my dream job and I want this job more than anything else.


texts:
I am new to Europe and have a well funded research project (but limited funding for human resource). Since the topic is very interesting, I though I can attract some graduate students to join my group under Erasmus program.

I appreciate if you give me some hints, where and how should I advertise that I accept graduate students (funded by Erasmus) to join my research project.


texts: Transitioning from a PhD to Postdoc. Is it acceptable to stay with the PhD advisor for 6 months to a year after graduating?

texts:
My PhD advisor has offered me a postdoc position in her group with specific projects and duties post graduation. However, she has time and again advised me to do a postdoc from somewhere else as according to her, doing postdoc from PhD university is not seen in a positive sense in academia.

I on the other hand want to stay for 6 to 12 months in the same group as I have lot of additional projects to complete which would be impossible to attend to in a new environment. Also, my PhD research was in a modeling technique which was far away from my advisors expertise. And, I want to learn the new modeling technique and work in a project for which my advisor is known for. So, that way I can get the direct expertise of my advisor.

Also, I love the city I am currently in. I am not ready to leave it for someplace else.

What do you think I should do?

(Here, I have made an assumption that I will surely be getting a good postdoc position somewhere soon).


texts: How commonly do researchers spend a long time (>10) years on soft money?

texts:
In Academia, a soft money research position is one where uncertain money comes from an external source.  The employee or xyr supervisor/boss might need to secure funding every couple of years or so, in order for the position to continue.  The way out would be tenure or a government job.

An obvious soft money position is the post-doctoral fellowship, but many post-docs might not find a faculty position directly.  For example, if the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) advertises a soft money assistant researcher position, they have a defined path of promotion steps.  UCLA defines four steps of assistant researcher (2 years max), three steps of associate researcher (2 years max), and nine steps of researcher (3 years max until step IV, possibly indefinite from step V).   If coming in at step I of assistant researcher, it might, theoretically, take 4*2+3*2+4*3=26 years of positions in steps of 2 years (first 14 years) and 3 years (last 12 years), until one might be appointed indefinately, if I'm reading things correctly.  Needless to say, not ideal from an employee's point of view.

Although time-limited positions and soft money might not mean exactly the same thing, I suppose they often go hand in hand.  That raises the question: how common is it for researchers to spend a long time, say more than 10 years, in soft money positions?  It's one thing to "drop out" of Academia when finishing a PhD at 28 years, it's another thing to move from postdoc to assistant researcher to associate researcher, only to finally discover, at age 45, that you're not good enough for tenure, and lack the necessary skills and experience for a teaching position.  Oops.

In Science, Technology and Engineering (STEM) fields in the USA and Canada, how common is it for researchers to spend more than 10 years in time-limited soft-money research positions?


texts: Withdrawing a journal article after acceptance?

texts:
I'm a college student, and this summer I submitted an article to a non-profit journal, which only accepts submissions from college students. About a week ago I was informed that it was tentatively accepted, pending significant revision.

In that intervening time, I had some very significant personal events come up in my life. I don't feel like I'll be able to truly dedicate myself to the revision process.

Is it ethical to write to the editor and ask to withdraw my paper? Had I known this is how I would feel, I would never have submitted the piece. I feel that it is incredibly unprofessional and risky to ask out at this point... but for my own sake, I feel that it is what I need to do. I don't know if this is something that is ever done, and I would also hate to come across as ungrateful.

Any advice you could share would be greatly appreciated!


texts: Identifying assumptions in a research article

texts:
Sorry if this is a very basic question but I have to clear my head.

When reading a research article, how can I identify the assumptions it makes? Can I "assume" any non referred part/sentence to be an assumption by the author? For example, if an article in the field of computer science states in the normal flow of the discussion that "micro-controllers have become the bedrock of automation systems" OR "open source operating systems are more secure than propriety operating systems", but the author does not refer to any source for his/her claims, Can I consider these sentences to be "assumptions" by the writer?

Am I right? If not, can anyone explain it to me?

The other question is that whether stating a universal truth should be considered as an assumption by the writer? e.g. "mobile phones have communications easier and more reliable".

Cheers


texts: Lab tech had research project that is now being developed by honours student: Who deserves to be first author?

texts: I worked in a lab as a lab tech and developed my own research project that I've been working on for over a year. I'm currently only working part time as I have a full time job. My supervisor recently got a new honours student who's been working on collecting data for the same project and has expanded the project for her thesis. My question is, when our research gets published who should get first author? I developed the project, collected data, created a poster for a conference, and will most likely be involved in the writing process. However, the new student has expanded the research project, is collecting data (more consistently than I am, because I'm only there part time, and will be writing a thesis for her honours. Who should get first author if the project gets published?