texts: Social science/humanities PhD in UK: Take partially funded PhD, or work for a year and reapply for full funding?

texts:
First, I am aware that there are already several posts about self-funding a PhD. I'm posting this question, however, for the following reasons:

Many threads are mostly about US schools, whereas the PhD I'm considering is in the UK.
Also it is sometimes unclear what exactly counts as 'self-funding' - if I can teach to earn some income, am I still self-funded? Again, I understand that in North America, normally an offer of admittance includes a TA contract in some form, while this is not the case in the UK. So an unfunded offer in the US might look quite different from in the UK. Also, I do have funding to pay the full tuition fees and teaching is available, so at least I won't go into debts.
Many questions are about PhDs in science and engineering, while my field is in social sciences/humanities.
A lot of questions were about how a self-funded PhD is perceived both by funded peers and after completion in the job market. This however is not my main concern.
I have to decide between a job offer and a PhD, rather than between two different PhDs one funded and another unfunded, for example.

I am not wealthy, but I can manage by combining teaching with family support for the next 3-4 years. The average income from teaching for TAs in the UK was about £400 per month in 2012, so while it might be slightly more than that now, it's certainly not great. It's just enough to survive on (combined with family help). The university I was accepted at is a non-Oxbridge Russell group university. My potential supervisor has been very happy to help me with scholarship applications and answer my questions. Also the fit in terms of research interests is great.

I also have a decent job offer in the public sector in the UK. I could take the offer and quit in October to start the PhD, but I'd rather not do that because it'd be somewhat unethical to take the offer knowing that I'll quit in a few months. The job itself is unrelated to my academic interests, nor is there any way I can come back to academia through this job. Of course, I could stay in this job and reapply for full-funding although there is no guarantee that I'll get any funding at all, even the tuition waiver I have, next time. In any case, if I accepted this job offer, it wouldn't be because I am enthusiastic about the job itself; it'd simply be so I can make a living until I can do a PhD. My career goals might change and new opportunities might arise, but for now I am set on staying, or at least trying to stay, in academia.

What advice would you give to someone in my situation? What I tell myself is that I'm relatively young (early 20s), so investing in my goals at this point in my life is not terribly foolish. I would have felt a bit differently if I was, say, 30. But I do feel a little foolish to turn down the job offer. After all, a year of work experience can't be that bad even though the work itself is not terribly interesting. Should I take it, turn down the funding offer, and reapply?

Edit: My question is: Assuming that my goal is to stay in academia, should I take the partial funding offer and do the PhD this year, or decline this funding, take the job offer, and reapply until I get full funding?


texts: Including teaching statement in RA position application package

texts: It seems to me that it does not make sense to include my teaching statement in an application package for a research associate position (UK), which is focused on a specific research project (the only teaching-related activities there might be presentations, seminars or similar events). Could including teaching statement hurt or, vice versa, benefit the application and subsequent decisions?


texts: Why do reviewers need to be selected again for a revised paper?

texts:
I submitted a paper to a marketing journal and the reviewers recommended a major revision and a minor revision. I had to shorten the text and get professional help for proofreading. I addressed the every single comment of reviewers.

Now, it is in the “Awaiting Reviewers Selection” mode once again. Does anybody explain why the journal editor needs to select new reviewers at this step of review process?


texts: Including false attempts in resarch statement

texts: I am Masters student in Mathematics.Currently I am studying modular forms.I am interested in integer partitions, Modular forms. I am working and thinking about problems which are arising during my studies.Besides this I am trying to understand connections of these problems to another field of Maths and physics. Actually I am preparing application for fellowship grant , there is requirement of Research statement.So How can I write down research statement having no strong result? Should false attempts during thinking about problems be included in resarch statement?


texts: How to check citations and references match in a manually prepared document with APA author (year) citations?

texts:
I like to use bibliographic software (e.g., Endnote, BibTex, etc.) to manage my references. However, sometimes I am working on an existing article that has been written with APA citations and references written manually. For example, I might be working with a collaborator who has written the first draft or I'm adapting a student thesis for journal publication. As a result, citations get added and deleted, and there are reference errors: (1) citations present with no reference;  reference needs to be added (2) references present with not citation;  reference needs to be deleted.

So, a common task when such documents are being finalised is to go through the document and pull out all the citations and check them against the reference list and fix any errors. This is generally a frustrating task, because (1) unless you are careful errors can be made, and (2) if the document is edited further, the document may need to be rechecked.

Question

What is an efficient strategy for identifying citations without references and references without citations in a  document with author (year) style citations (e.g., APA, Harvard)?
Are there any automated tools that perform this checking?


texts: What are some good ways to figure out one's interests in mathematics, before applying to PhD programs?

texts:
Are there mathematics seminars to attend in the summer, or do they typically only occur during the academic year?  I am referring to American universities.

An idea I had last night was to YouTube some math seminars to see what talks I can watch quickly - talks are about an hour long.  I found a good PDEs talk from a Princeton seminar.  I hope to find more talks that are available online.

Is this not advisable?  These are talks given by experts, and as a lowly master's student, I naturally do not understand about 90% of the mathematics being talked about and written on the chalkboard.  I am mainly just trying to get some sense of purpose of, say, studying PDEs, its difficulties, etc.

I am also making progress on a master's thesis, but my gut feeling is that this problem is too narrowly focused and in the end may not help me figure out better my research interests in a PhD program.

What else could I do?


texts: How can I keep my ideas of a new theorem safe?

texts:
This post is similar to this one except this is a little bit of a special scenario, I have yet to graduate high school.

I know what you're thinking, oh THIS conversation again, check if it exists, make sure your theorem works, etc. etc.

I have gone through all of this, for over a year I have looked for my theorem online and nothing has come up. I have tried disproving my theorem for over a year, and I have contacted professors and have conversed about this and they all say that it is definitely publishable, but that I should prove it myself. My big worry is that due to my position my ideas can easily be stolen, and I am starting to get a little on edge.

How can I ensure that my ideas are not stolen, Can I provide direct proof that the idea is mine somehow? Should I just publish it without a proof, Can I even publish without a proof? I am kind of stuck at this point.

I have a document that has the theorem on it written in permanent ink, dated, and it is signed by a witness. But what more can I do?

EDIT:

For those curious about my conjecture click here, there are two pages so click next to see the other page.

Feel free to comment


texts: What makes a publication (or a publishing forum) academically acceptable for inclusion in a literature review?

texts:
I'm in the process of conducting a systematic literature review and an integral part of this is the definition of inclusion and exclusion criteria for filtering the search-result-publications.

A common criteria for these reviews is that the publication is an academic publication or otherwise academically acceptable. I haven't been able to find a proper definition for this. The ones that I can think of are that the publication fora must exercise peer-review on the papers and that the fora are widely accepted by (inter)national funding agencies.

Hence, my question is what makes a publication or a publishing forum academically acceptable?


texts: My PhD thesis does not include a Literature Review chapter

texts:
I am due to submit my PhD in a week and I am starting to panic over not having a dedicated chapter with a literature review. My topic covers different fields of study so I have added some literature review within the content of every chapter when that field is explored. Now I am worried because my thesis does not follow the standard structure.
Do you think it will help to make this clear in the Introduction?


texts: How to balance project tasks with finishing old work and how many publications should one have as an early career PostDoc?

texts:
I recently finished my dissertation, and now have a PostDoc position in a relatively large project for the next two years, with good chances of being extended into the next phase. The position is fairly technical (simulation method development), and I am trying to find time "on the side" to finish publishing the studies that went into my dissertation, in order to demonstrate that I wish to remain in active research, rather than just model development.

I was curious if I could gain some advice or insight on the following problems:

How can I balance new project tasks with finishing old work?
How many papers would be considered "normal" shortly after finishing a PhD?

I'm aware that this question is likely to be difficult to generalize, as publication count and time are very field-specific (I work as a climate modeller), but I'd nevertheless welcome some hints.


texts:
I want to know how much does it matter to include poster paper list in an academic CV. I see some researchers and professors put poster list in their CV, however, it is not widely used. Note that, I am talking about the poster papers that are often accepted as a separate track e.g., Demo/Poster Track in top-tier computer science, electronics and communication engineering-based conferences.

(I am aware that some flagship conferences put some paper as poster presentation instead of oral presentation due to the huge number of accepted papers, however, all of them are included in the conference proceedings irrespective of oral or poster presentation.)

Here is some relevant discussion:

How do you include a poster in an academic resume?

Poster author added me as coauthor after abstract was submitted. Can I include it on CV?


texts: Efficient way to determine potentially good AI research groups in mainland Europe

texts:
So I want to go about and compare different research groups for their standing, their potential for an exciting and fruitful environment etc. My field is Software Engineering with a heavy tendency towards AI in Reinforcement Learning. I'd prefer to stay in mainland Europe, more specifically the EU until the dust has settled on Brexit.

I googled a few times and found some answers. But as one person correctly noted, that is highly biased. I read "the best" several times and there obviously cannot be 5 number 1. While I don't need "1" everyone is obviously aiming to optimize their future and so am I.

In the past I have been looking at Barcelona, Brussels, Berlin, Zurich, Amsterdam, Vienna, Munich, Karlsruhe, ...

Finally, I decided to go about it a little different and download a few papers to base my decision on the publication / research level of various institutions. So I got myself scrapy and downloaded 2600 papers from ECAI, IJCAI and AAAI. I got them all stemmed and indexed with recoll and thought about doing some kind of structured analysis on them to get an overview of citations, referencing, publication count, names, institutions etc.

Now before I spend a day on this: Has anyone else done this before? Is there some tool that helps doing such analysis already? And is it an appropriate way to get the quantitative side of the research quality of various groups?


texts: Is there usually an on-campus interview when hiring a lecturer with a one year contract?

texts: In this case, I am asking about "Lecturer" in the North American sense, which means a faculty member who teaches but is not required to perform research.


texts: Terminology: Pagraph subject identification prefix text

texts:
Reference books, technical manuals, MIL standards, etc., prefix every paragraph with a short subject identification statement. For example, paragraph 1.3 in the 16th ed. of the Chicago Manual of Style (CMoS) begins,

  1.3     Rectos and versos.  Publishers refer to the ...

Is there a common terminology for the bolded and italicized (in this case) subject identification prefix text? What is this writing practice called? In particular, does the CMoS define this practice (I've looked extensively in the CMoS but I couldn't find anything).

(FWIW, the MIL standards I checked typically identify this text as "paragraph identification", "subject identification," or "paragraph and subparagraph identifications". But I can't find in other style guides a description for this paragraph summary text.)


texts:
I am currently looking to apply for a PhD program in physics. I was wondering what sort of information I should include on my CV/how it should be formatted?

Given that the PhD is a research degree, I thought I should highlight research experience? I am currently working on a paper from a summer internship that will shortly be submitted for peer review. How do I draw attention to this? My Master's research project is still ongoing - how do I mention this at such at early stage in the project?

Any tips at all will be very helpful.

Thanks


texts: What affiliation to put on a research paper as a college student?

texts: I am an undergraduate, and I want to know what to put as an affiliation on a research paper.


texts: Where to find computer science conferences which accept engineering work?

texts:
I'm studying Master in a school where it's required to publish 1-2 papers in conferences. My lab focus on computer vision/machine learning but I'm not so good at mathematics. I tried to learn but I'm quite overburdened because English is not my native language.

I'm quite good at engineering, coding but not in comprehen math works (the more symbolics & less natural language interpretation --> more scary for me, I don't understand). I don't think I like to be a researcher much because I recognize that every paper is just a node of a huge knowledge tree. Sometimes to understand one node (one paper) I have to also read a lot of dependency papers too. The more I read, the more I get confused and messed up.
(Please not advise me to drop out, my parents and siblings always push me for that).

So I have 2 questions. Is there any chance to get published with only engineering work in machine learning? (Not something too academic/scientist much with math work)
And can you recommend me some conference in CS with some more focus on engineering/application using existing techniques ?

Thank you very much.


texts: Publishing on arXiv effect online scholarly profile

texts:
This question is closely related to this:
Options to publish a paper "as is" without being able to produce "more results"

I'm curious if posting on arXiv adds to your online scholarly profile, such ason Google or CiteSeerX. I know some arXiv papers indexed by Google scholar that have quite a few citations in good peer-reviewed journals directly, but conversely I can't find an example of an arXiv paper in the publication list of any author on their scholarly profile (though I have found the subsequent peer-reviewed versions listed).

Are arXiv papers somehow excluded on such profiles? Do they not affect you h-index on such sites?

This seems relevant if you don't want a low tier publication on your CV but do want your results to be out there and visible for someone viewing your track record.


texts: Should I contact my advisor again about a meeting? If so, how?

texts:
I finished the next step of my project and sent it along to my advisor last Friday. In my email I said "When would be the best time to meet to discuss these results?". I do have access to her calendar so I know when she is free, but I wanted to ask her when would work for her as I want to give her enough time to review what I sent her. My field is quite busy at the moment since there's some major occurrences in the world right now, and she is dealing quite a bit with it so is quite busy. Also, there has been an instance in the past where her work calendar was not up to date. Plus, I didn't want to seem too forward by just sending her the project and then immediately sending out a meeting invite.

Anyways, I haven't heard back from her at all. Should I send her a follow-up email? Or should I just go ahead and send out a meeting invite?


texts: Is it acceptable to use a microscope in the office and not in the laboratory?

texts:
I often see microscopes inside the office rooms of professors as well as other teaching members. They may not use them on daily basis but once in a while, or sometimes heavily used by a few of them. Some of them examine hospital slides received by that department from patients sputa to look for hazardous organisms (e.g. TB bacilli).

My question, according to the quality assurance standards of teaching laboratories, and from the safety point of view, is it acceptable to use microscopes inside offices instead of laboratory rooms? Is it acceptable to use them inside the office while wearing the casual clothes instead of the lab coat, and without gloves?


texts: Beginning PhD in related field without subject area expertise, will that be a problem?

texts: I just finished an undergraduate degree in psychology, with a focus in biological sciences and pre-medicine courses. In looking at my options for graduate school, I've taken an interest in biomedical engineering; tissue engineering, medical devices, medical imaging, etc. My biology is pretty solid, but I'm not much of an engineer, aside from a few math courses. My question is, are students entering a PhD program typically very well-versed in the field, or is there a lot of "learning on the job"?


texts:
A student is asking for an alternative exam because he was "completely exhausted" due to overwork the last month or so of the semester, including the exam day.

He provided a doctor's notice validating the claim and explaining the physical symptoms. He also provided another notice proving he did actually took an excessive number of courses recently and did well.

Should I give him the opportunity to retake the exam?


texts:
Consider the following sentences:

foo is bar (see, for example, baz).
foo is bar (see, e.g., baz).
foo is bar (cf. for example baz).
foo is bar (cf. e.g., baz).

Which of these are valid to use, and which is better? Or - does it depend on what we actually instead of foo, bar and baz?


texts: Would this be considered a case of plagiarism?

texts:
I finished writing a report for a course (in my undergrad) and I submitted it to Turnitin for a similarity check (8%) and in one part I noticed it highlighted fragments of one sentence.
The flagged sentence has about 8 words in a row in a 26-word sentence that matches another report but the sentence itself is different than the one Turnitin says it is similar to.
I did paraphrase this sentence from a completely different source with appropriate in-text citation and bibliography and ensured I wasn't using any direct quotes from that source. That being said, I am concerned that because the technical wording is so similar to what Turnitin picked up (those 8 words in a row that are the same) it might be cause for concern.
Sorry, I don't know if I'm being paranoid or if I should legitimately be worried.


texts: I want to remove an article in IEEE, accepted but not published yet

texts:
Now I am facing a very serious problem that I have to remove an article which is accepted by IEEE but will be published till the end of 2019.

Due to some conflicts of interests(we finished this manuscript last year, this is my idea at the first place, and I finished the data analysis and processing part, all of the experiments, professor X wrote part of the document), he wants to hold the paper and wait for a top journal, but I'm in an urgent circumstance to graduate. So after half a year anxious waiting, I submitted this paper without noticing him.

Until this paper was accepted to be published, I struggled for a very long time, so after I realized my mistake, I took action on this matter immediately. Firstly I negotiated with the professor X, He was tough on this thing and disagree with my behavior. After mature consideration, I want to completely remove the article and contact with IEEE Journals Coordinator immediately.
This negotiation has lasted several months，and now I hold the firm attitude that I have to remove this article no matter what kind of excuse it will be given. It cannot be seen on any version no matter online or offline. Still waiting for IEEE's reply, and could you all please give me some advice under this circumstance? Many thanks!!


texts: I would like to cite one of the descriptions present on the DIEHARD test battery, which is located on a CD-ROM here. Specifically, I would like to cite the craps test. If I could have the citation in the form of a BibTeX entry, I would be very glad. Thanks.


texts: What does 'Ex:' in Google Scholar results signify?

texts:
Any Google Scholar gurus out there?

When I run a search in GS, in this case for the term 'webometrics' for the year 1988, the results all contain the following in parenthesis...

(Ex: webometrics)

My assumption that this means this particular result excludes the term 'webometrics' - which confuses me a whole lot as that is the only term I am searching for so I cannot understand why that result would be shown.

Is that assumption correct?

(As an aside, the term webometrics was first coined in 1997 so any reference before then is pretty much guaranteed to be an erroneous result!)


texts: How to write an academic paper for the first time?

texts:
While writing an answer to that question, I realized I don't really have a good list of resources that could be useful to first-time authors, like MSc or PhD students who write their first paper. I often direct my own students to these two papers:

G. M. Whitesides, “Whiteside's group: writing a paper”, Adv. Mater. 2004, 16, 1375–1377 (PDF).
P. E. Bourne, “Ten simple rules for getting published”, PLOS Computational Biology 2005, 1, 0341.

I also make sure that they read the journal's editorial policy and authors guidelines.

What are other sources of good information for students and first-time academic authors?


texts: Can I use my manuscripts in prep in my PhD thesis and then publish them later?  I will need to defense my PhD first for an upcoming post doc appointment and plan to publish them later as a post doc.


texts: In the writing phase of masters thesis, is it advisable to take a course that is unrelated?

texts:
I'm supposed to be writing my master thesis now in numerical optimization and I have a chance to attend an online course in Analysis. It is unrelated to my thesis topic and the course will require me to work hard and I can't withdraw from the course. I want to take this course because I'm planning to shift afterwards to mathematical analysis and I might need a recommendation letter from the lecturer.
I'm hesitant because I'm afraid to get behind in my writing?
Do you think it is advisable to take the course?


texts: How is it possible to buy and publish a Q1 paper?

texts:
A few days ago I saw an advertisement that claimed that they could write and publish Q1-Q4 (Q: Quartile) Research paper (with various prices e.g. 200$-500$) in less than 6 months and sell it to anyone (as the author of that paper) who wants a Research paper like last year PhD students, academic peoples, M.Sc. students, etc.
Q1: I wonder how it is possible that they are so confident that their paper will be published in less than 3-6 months?
Q2: How it is possible to buy and publish a Q1 Research paper?
Q3: Does this count as plagiarism?


texts: Should one list the journals of submitted papers on a CV?

texts: I am a mathematician and am updating my CV for this hiring season. I am wondering if there is any upside, or downside, to listing the journals of submitted papers on a CV. I have heard advice given in both directions on this issue.


texts: Should examination questions be ordered in the same way as they are presented?

texts: I'm writing my midterm and am currently coming up with questions that relate to important course concepts that I want to test. This is being done in a somewhat ad-lib manner, and my questions are out of order in terms of how the concepts were presented in class.   Is there a compelling argument to ensure that the order is the same as that in class?


texts:
I had some Ph.D positions available to me after my undergraduation which I could not take owing to some personal reasons and instead chose to take an industrial job which basically is also research based. However, the environment is not heavily research based and the collaborative opportunities are less, with . The prospect of doing a Ph.D while being in the industry is also miniscule. I have published research in good journals during my undergraduation and while in job too, and deeply desire to publish more and enjoy the research process. However at times, I feel directionless and without guidance, I have to spend too much time going through relevant papers/books which at times lead to diversions which I realize at a later time. I have some questions which I would be grateful to, for the answers.
a) How should I increase collaborations in this scenario? I participate in conferences whenever I can get chance, however I feel I don't have the pre-requisite subject knowledge in depth which a Ph.D student would have. Thus I feel hesitant in communicating with researchers. For this, I try to study course books relevant to the topic.
b) How can one avoid and know diversions from the research topics in absence of someone to discuss with? What role does peer group play in a graduate school in such scenarios ?


texts: Should I ask POI for update on PhD application?

texts:
I applied to several top social science programs this cycle, interviewed at two (both fly-outs), and have received a decision at School A.

It has been a month now since I interviewed at School B, but I have not heard a peep from them. I recently spoke with a mentor of mine, and he indicated this likely means they've sent an acceptance to someone and are waiting to hear back from that person before finalizing outcomes. This would therefore mean that I'm unofficially on a waitlist. But I feel like the silence could also mean I was likely rejected, but they haven't sent out rejections yet. If I think hard enough, I can buy into any situation, really. Note that it appears two of the other interviewees have not heard back either (thanks, thegradcafe). We were a group of six.

I would like to know what the current status of my application is, so that I may begin planning for the next stages of my life (!!). Is it okay for me to email and ask my POI (or should I contact someone else?), and what sort of phrasing should I use so that I don't seem pushy?

Thanks.


texts: How to cite in an appendix (and where to put the Citation list) of a PhD thesis?

texts:
I have a table of studies and formula per study in the appendix, so sth like

study A     E = mc²
study B     v = ma

etc. For each study I need to cite a source. Now normally the citation list for the main part of document appears before the appendix. How do I handle this? Do I create a new citation list after the table?


texts: What to do when you have small yet additional results to a submitted paper?

texts:
Suppose I finished work on a manuscript and submitted it to a journal. After X weeks, I suddenly realized I can prove one of the conjectures I left open in the concluding section. It seems that X is small enough (e.g. 1) so that nothing visible has happened to my submission yet.

The proof is not long, and wouldn't be important enough to merit its own paper. Will it reflect badly on me if I contact the managing editor to have the current submitted version updated? The smaller X is, the less annoyed people would probably be. I could just submit to arxiv, but I would like to make the manuscript stronger, and don't have results scattered around giving a hasty impression either. Or is there another solution I'm overlooking?


texts: Do referee lists of journals compromise the single-blind peer-review process?

texts:
Many journals maintain a preface in their print versions (usually available online) where they list those people who acted as a referee for the current issue.

Does this compromise the anonymity of the peer-review process? As an author you could get a good guess who reviewed your paper from such lists even though you cannot pin it down to a single individual.

Why are such lists maintained? Is there a reason not to bother about it?


texts: What to do on finding a major flaw in a conference paper?

texts: Most new findings in Computer Science are now published in conferences. While journals have some policy on reporting of errors in the papers that they have published, I have not seen any conferences having anything related to problems. I have found a major flaw in a paper published in a top conference. So what should I do in this situation?


texts: Is referencing online solution acceptable when completing assignments

texts:
I'm not sure if I'm overthinking this.

Recently I had an assignment that is intended to be completed individually in which I cannot understand one of the questions at all. Lectures didn't help as the question assumed we have known some mathematical concepts before this class.

So I searched online for solutions because I realized that I would have learned nothing by keep looking at the question myself. And not surprisingly I found a solution.

I read through it, understood the solution, and wrote in my own words on the assignment paper. However since it is a simple proof my solution is essentially the same, so I cited the webpage and explained that I have written this proof after reading through the solution.

I know this does not constitute plagiarism. What could I have done better in this situation?


texts: I am wondering how a mathematician can find a sabbatical in the US. More specifically is it necessary to have people interested in a collaboration with them in the department they wants to visit? Is it possible to find a department for sabbatical in order to start working in a new field?


texts: Is it normal for students to ask for a lot of reference letters?

texts:
I'm currently trying to apply to as many grad schools as I can (France) and all of them require one or more reference letters.

The past few months I feel like I have already bothered me enough with this matter. But unfortunately, some schools requires that the professor sends it personally, instead of having me acting as a middle man.

If I could just get them to write once and send that copy everywhere I would do it but in the current circumstances I cant. And I feel bad for asking more reference letters when their workload is already heavy.

Fortunately, the next deadline is 1 month away.


texts: What is the maximum reviewer score for IEEE conference papers?

texts: I am wondering if conferences supported by IEEE follow the same score scale. I could not figure out if there is a scale from 1 to 10 or from 1 to 5.


texts: Should one avoid using the phrase "note that" in math writings?

texts:
I always thought that the phrase "note that" in a mathematical writing is simply something you say to express that what comes after "note that" is a fact. Due to its neutrality and versatility, I use it a lot, without even thinking the possible sentiments that might possibly make some people get me wrong. Moreover, many times we have to prevent symbols to appear directly after a comma or a period, so "note that" is convenient in this aspect too.

However, some incidents lead me to presume that perhaps those readers who are not that mathematically experienced could take "note that" as an imperative or even a condescending sign? This is much to my surprise. So, if I am writing something to someone that is senior than me in academia and that is not that mathematically experienced (say an applied engineering scholar whose math background is all from the school curriculum), would it be suggested that I avoid using "note that"? Thank you.


texts: Can I mention the LinkedIn account of a suggested referee?

texts:
I'm submitting an article to an Elsevier journal which asks for suggested potential referee list. One of the people whom I want to suggest as the referee is a doctor and instructor in a university. I have found his page in the corresponding university, but unfortunately the page is not written in English. Unfortunately there is no other English written pages for his introduction except his LinkedIn page.

Since it's common to provide an introduction page and the email address of the suggested referees, Is it OK if I mention the LinkedIn page of the referee that I want to suggest? Should I provide his web page in the university that he is working too (The page is not written in English)?


texts: Is it a good idea to take a break from studying a mathematics PhD and revisit academia at a later stage?

texts:
In September I started a mathematics PhD at a UK university straight after my undergraduate MMath degree at a different university. On the whole, I am enjoying the experience. However, I've been having recurring thoughts that perhaps I am not cut out for doctorate level work and it might be a good idea to revisit mathematical studies at a later stage.

Basically, since coming here I've been feeling consistently like my heart isn't in it (and this has had a negative effect on my work ethic). This is not necessarily because I’m not capable of doing it, but rather because I never had a proper break from academia and I feel like I've been running out of steam. I know PhD students very frequently go through spells of feeling dispirited, but I feel that if my heart is really in mathematics that this shouldn't be happening. I would rather go into doctoral studies with a running start knowing that I am adequately trained in the area I am in, rather than adjusting to a learning curve (and an inexperienced supervisor).

Here are some options I have considered:

Having a complete break from academia (6 months to a year), followed by a period where I slowly ease myself back in at my own pace by reading.
Taking CDT (Centre for Doctoral Training) courses. I had previously applied to this and been rejected, but now I think I would be more competitive. I think this rigorous training would be helpful for me.
Doing something altogether different -- learning another programming language and doing a programming job, or working in simulation/modeling at the Met Office, or another company that relies heavily on fluid dynamics. Or maybe even the EPSRC (which is where a lot of the funding for PhD mathematics students comes from)
Getting a normal job to demonstrate people skills, and saving up money to do another Masters programme, which will put me in a very good position for my PhD.

After doing the above, I could return to a PhD programme much
   later, when I am a much more mature person with a
   better mindset towards my work.

Thankfully, my parents are willing to support me emotionally and financially while I pursue any of these.

My question is whether this is a good plan. In particular:

Is it a good idea to take a break from studies if wanting to
continue them at a later date, especially for mathematics? Would it
hurt any opportunities later on down the line to take up a PhD a
year or so from now?
Would my department or supervisor think badly of me for wanting to
terminate my studies - and (generally speaking) would I not have to
pay back the studentship instalments that I've been paid so far?
(I've been funded solely by the University, not by a funding body
such as the EPSRC).
What would be some worthwhile things to consider doing during a
break from academia?

Update: it sounds like this would not be a great idea, and I should only make the move if I am really, really convinced about it. Nonetheless, I'm leaning further and further towards it because I think it's better to take a break from my studies now rather than 3 years down the line. I don't seem to have the motivation required to be a good doctoral student at the moment. This is something I might speak to my advisor about.


texts: What are your responsibilities if a student announces their intention to commit a crime?

texts:
As a faculty member, it can happen that a student tells you that they are intending to commit a crime (while also attempting to swear you to secrecy). This might be something as simple as buying illegal drugs but it may also be something more serious.

It seems you might have three sources of responsibility.  A moral one to do the right thing, a second responsibility to follow university guidance and potentially a legal responsibility to report the intention.

Assuming the university has no clear policy on this question, what is the right and legal thing to do?


texts: Can any study answering or finding more about a relavant question be done as a research paper?

texts:
Can something like
'How does quantum computing accelerate mathematical modeling ?'
OR
'Variation in smartphone radiation with signal strength and age'
OR
'High speed object recognition with the HB100 radar module'
OR
'Effect of social media on human behavior'

Be published as a research paper ?

I know this is trivial, but most research papers I read had very deep and highly specific topics so I was wondering anything along the lines of the above can become a research paper.
(I included these samples above because I thought they were all broad and different kinds of stuff)


texts: Including Results in Dissertation Before Publication in a Journal

texts:
I am in the final phase of my Ph.D. research. I need to defend my thesis before my fellowship funding runs out in a few months.

I won't have time to carefully prepare and polish my results for journal papers before I defend. I need to include some preliminary, unpublished results in my thesis, as per the work I agreed to do in my thesis proposal.

But is submitting results (to a journal) that are already "published" in my Ph.D. thesis an issue? One issue I'm wondering about: journals run a "plagiarism" check, and I wonder if "self-plagiarism" will be an issue.


texts: Can I use these letters of reference later?

texts: I was working with some startups as their tech advisory and with some others as tech lead. But now I want to concentrate on my main goal, that is research. That requires me to work with researchers and study. So I asked people I was working with, for a recommendation letter. As I am aiming towards Waterloo for my masters for research. The real problem is I was not so much focused on my academics as I was busy here. Though I still have last two years to cover up at Waterloo, usually checks last two year scores. I just want to know will these LORs will help me, when I will apply, in Waterloo, after my engineering and giving my GRE.


texts: Can I decline a PhD program I have already accepted?

texts:
Can I accept a PhD offer and later withdraw from the program before it even starts? Is there an etiquette for that?

I really want to do a PhD but they have put a deadline in accepting and I am currently interviewing with companies. Please advise.


texts: Is there a canonical paper to cite the benefits of active learning in post secondary education?

texts: I would like to reference the benefits of active learning in my teaching philosophy. I have been to a variety of talks discussing the researched benefits (eg. increased class averages) of active learning but I do not know if there is a specific paper people are referencing. Is there a canonical paper that is usually referenced or is it more common to reference any paper on the subject. If it makes a difference, I am in Mathematics.


texts: Should a reference letter for a student always be positive?

texts:
I am finding the following moral problem, and possibly people with more experience could help me.

One of my Master students (who recently finished his master studies) is applying for PhD positions. Despite my good scientific opinion about him (and his master thesis research), my personal opinion is starting to change. He is a good student, but not an exceptional student. This means that he can of course prepare a good PhD. The problem comes when I start suggesting places he could apply (and you know, getting PhD funding is not straightforward), he has many obstructions: things like 'I do not like this country', 'in this country phd's are of 3 years and with teaching', 'The subject of this phd is the same area of my master, but not directly related', and things like these.

I am happy to help, but this is becoming tiring. As a master thesis advisor I am the one who is expected to write the recommendation letter.  After having these encounters I do not feel I should write a very positive letter.

How should I manage this situation?


texts: Tool for obtaining a BibTeX entry from a key, without creating it manually

texts:
I am looking for a tool, where I only need to write something like alessandroni2015bibtex (this very question) to obtain the BibTeX entry, without needing to rewrite it.

I am aware that Google Scholar always offers a BibTeX link and uses AuthorYearFirst_Word as a scheme, but I do not know how to use this key for searching, because Google uses an internal ID for each BibTeX. Thus, when I feed the data of my citation to Google Scholar, sometimes I do not find it. For example, in case of books, I find only new editions (maybe due to a wrong use of the tool).


texts: Decision letter: disagreed with few comments

texts:
I received the decision letter for the manuscript I submitted to one of the top journal in the area of network security. The editor recommended the publication of article after minor revision but I disagree with few arguments made by a review and also highlighted by the editor in his own recommendation.
I know it is acceptable to disagree the reviewer's comments but in my case editor also emphasized same argument which is made by the reviewer.
The reviewer and editor appreciated the performance evaluation we made in article but also asked for adding the simulation. Even though we already implemented the scheme in an automated protocol analysis tool, presented the results and discussed comprehensively.

I am a bit confused because at this stage I don't want to miss the golden opportunity of publishing my work in a top notch journal. Maybe I am misunderstanding what exactly editor want to ask. I decided to write an email to editor but my colleague stopped me and said it will not give a positive impression.

What should be my next step?

Implement the protocol scheme in another tool (which in my opinion is strange thing)?
Submit a response with my revision that addresses the rest of the arguments and explains why I disagree with few comments (which might push our article for another cycle of revision or can be rejected)?
Send a personal email to the editor asking for clarification (which might make a poor impression on the editor)?
Something else?


texts: What fraction of scientists are members of professional societies and/or associations?

texts:
I've been looking for some statistics that shed light into the professional society/association market of academia. Some questions I'm looking to answer in addition to the title are:
How many societies does a single scientist belong to at a given time?
For those that are members, what are the average annual fees associated with their membership(s)?
Overall, how much revenue do these societies generate from membership fees?


texts: Why doesn't the academic year start on January first?

texts:
The academic year starts somewhere in the middle of the normal calendar year in almost all schools. Even if the courses are divided into semesters, the Fall term is essentially considered to be the beginning of a new academic year. It is also true for the financial year in most places.

Why doesn't the academic year start in January?
If the reasons are so prevalent, then why didn't the normal calendar year start in the month of August, for example?


texts: For a future in physics, should I pursue a dual major as opposed to just taking extra physics courses in mathematics degree?

texts:
I'm an undergrad studying mathematics right now. I have a very big interest in mathematical applications of physics, and I have been debating whether or not I should change my degree to a dual major (math/physics), because of this annoying little fear that only the math degree won't prepare me for a career in physics research later down the road, at the graduate level. However, the Mathematics is the degree I want (I believe there are more opportunities - I'd also enjoy going into a [bandwagon?] research field like Artificial Intelligence)..

Would a BS (and of course grad school) in Mathematics alone be enough to prepare me for a decent graduate school future, if I decided to pursue research in theoretical/mathematical physics? Or would it be better for me to tack on the dual major in physics? I would rather not stay in school an extra year and a half (it's already taking long enough after the A.S. in computer science!), but if it's necessary, I could do that.

I found another thread on ASE about this, with someone recommending that of course a mathematics major take physics courses - and I have.

My specific question is if it would behoove me to pursue a dual major as opposed to just taking extra physics courses (or a minor).

This is essentially the bare minimum I have to do for just the mathematics major.

These would be the physics courses I could tack on. The darker colors are required for the dual major, the lighter ones are electives.

The grad program I'm looking at, by the way, has a Master's program in Math that offers courses like Riemannian Geometry, Riemann surfaces, Group Theory, etc, which I think are useful in theoretical/mathematical physics at the graduate research level. Here's a picture

Thanks!


texts: Does publishing a research chapter in a book advance my academic career?

texts:
I am a soon-to-graduate PhD student.

Recently, I received an e-mail from an academic society,
which was a call for research chapters.
I have quoted the contents of the e-mail below,
stripping out the unimportant details:

  We are editing a new volume titled {THE TITLE}
  for Springer International Series in {THE FIELD OF RESEARCH}.
  We are inviting high quality research chapters
  that would open new research stream in {THE SUBFIELD OF RESEARCH}.
  Interested scholars are requested to send us
  their chapter proposals in the form of an abstract (500-1000 words) by {THE DATE}.

Questions:

How does publishing a research chapter in a book
advance my academic career
compared to publishing a journal article?
Does submitting work to a journal article
preclude submitting the same work as a research chapter in a book?


texts: Are there "gig economy" resources in academic research? Are they fundable?

texts:
In many fields of research, there are some tasks that are self-contained and could be done effectively by someone who is not a full time member of a research group, but has the required skill and background. The task may be time-sensitive but often everyone is already fully tasked.

One might call them part-time or contract or temporary post-docs.

There are plenty of situations I can think of where this might not work, or would be a bad idea, but perhaps there are cases where the benefits outweigh any potential academic risks. They might involve a side-project, or an early foray into a potentially interesting area where there is no current expertise or time for someone to start from zero even though things might not pan out.

Because this would not be an employee situation, work would have to be done off-site. It might involve reading, writing, searching, programming, thinking, checking for errors (grammatical, logical, arithmetic...), or other tasks that could be exchanged electronically, and where the results could be checked and confirmed afterward. (You wouldn't want you primary data analysis done for example by "someone on the internet"!)

However I've never really heard of such a thing except in special circumstances where the individual has a previous relationship with the research group, and even then it can be difficult to work out the proper monetary mechanisms with the university administration, or funding agencies. "Consultant fees" are not a common line-item in research proposals.

Are there situations where this is changing? Are there any examples of micro-grants to get small jobs done in non-standard ways such as this? Is there even some better vocabulary to use to describe this kind of arrangement than "gig-egonomy" jobs?

edit: Seeing some the comments below it struck me that this might not be a very popular concept among regular post-docs. I don't think this type of resource will ever put normal post-doc positions at significant risk. But here I'm just asking if it happens, how might it be funded, and what it might be called, not if it's a good idea.


texts: How to reconcile interest in two (somewhat related) disciplines

texts:
I have two separate in-depth interests in two academic fields.  One of them in pure math (PhD in probability, also interested in complex analysis and differential geometry).  The other one is in software/computer science systems (privacy, distributed systems, this is where my current day-job is).
I do not want to spend my life having to give up one of them because I find both very interesting.  But apparently Morera once said that having very in-depth knowledge about a narrow field is better than superficial knowledge in several fields.  Is his advice correct?  Is it possible to make contributions in both areas?  I am currently 34 and in between early-career mid-career stage.

Thanks,


texts: Is it pragmatically beneficial to pursue a master degree before applying for a math PhD in the U.S.?

texts:
Question

One is supposed to be devoted to pure mathematics. Is it beneficial for one to pursue a master degree before applying a math PhD in the United States?

Backgrounds

The question is due to the harsh situation of undergrad students who are outside the U.S. and want to apply for a pure math PhD in the U.S. After an application process, one received no offer or no satisfactory offers. I wonder whether it's beneficial to apply for a master degree first, as a springboard towards a PhD position?

I googled online and found some similar posts. However, I found nothing exactly matches what I want to ask, such as:

One can determine whether he/she really wants to do math via a master life. while I suppose that one is devoted to pure mathematics.
To attend some required courses (for PhD applicants) which aren't available in his/her university. They don't require a lot, and in the situation I'm interested in, there is not shortcoming from this kind of restriction.

I want to know the pure pragmatic effect of a master degree. Does the fame or honor of the graduate school increase the chance of admission for students? Do (good) scores in the graduate school de facto prove the strength and ability of students? Are these more convincing than scores/works in the undergraduate school?

Thanks for information.


texts: Is it allowed to ask for help in community for thesis?

texts:
I'm writing on my master's thesis. A specific part causes some troubles and I hadn't any progress here for several weeks.

I'm now considering to describe my problem, my ideas and my accomplished work so far in detail in a community and ask there for help.
Would that be plagiarism, if I got some help from the community? So I would be using someones idea.

The thing is, my problem is very domain-specific, so I can't really generalize it and ask at anonymously.

My adviser already tried to help me, but still I'm not really making progress.


texts: I filled the crucial gap; co-authors did the rest–who should be first author?

texts:
A fellow researcher shared with me his notes where he attempts to solve an open problem in maths/computer science. Both he and his student have been trying to solve it for over a year, and by now they are not actively working on it anymore.

Shortly after he shared with me his notes, I found a trick to solve a crucial step they were struggling with, leading to a resolution of the open problem.

Who qualifies for first authorship in this situation if this leads to a journal/conference article (where the authors are not listed in alphabetic order)?


texts: Including unofficial teaching experiences in CV

texts:
I'm going to apply for a PhD Program and for writing my CV, I'm wondering either include my experience in teaching some courses in online learning platforms or not?
Can such experiences be regarded as official (and acceptable for academic people) teaching experience? All in all, including that is positive or not?
More specifically, I have two video tutorials (collectively 15 hrs) on most prestigious Iranian online learning platform (see it as Iranian Udemy) and I want to apply for an Australian university. Content of the courses are strongly related to my proposal. So, is it considered relevant?


texts: Why don't first-world universities use video surveillance to catch in-class cheating?

texts:
With so many first-world universities upgrading their academic buildings with state-of-the-art classrooms that have advanced technology, eg, capability to record lectures and post them on websites shortly after, why don't these universities consider utilizing similar technology to catch in-class cheating on exams?

Implementing a procedure where the classroom exams are videotaped and audiotaped could reduce cheating dramatically, in turn reducing any huge headache cases that department chairs and university deans would have to deal with.

If appropriate notice is given beforehand, I don't see that such procedures violate any privacy laws for students.

Or is utilizing technology to catch cheating a really impractical idea?

ETS, the organization that administers the GRE exams, already videotape and audiotape their exams, at least in American test centers.


texts: How can I find out which digital libraries include a given journal?

texts:
When I am looking for a journal online, I have to do search for it in every electronic database one by one.

Is there an easy way to find which electronic databases provide that journal?

I am doing legal research.


texts: recommendation letter from professor who doesn't know me very well

texts:
A master's program that I want to apply to is asking for two letters of recommendation. I can get one of them, because I am very close with a professor that I'm doing a research project for, and I'm doing a good job in it.

But the second letter might be a problem. Basically, I have other professors and instructors to choose from, but none of them know me as well as the professor mentioned above. In their classes, I did well, but I wasn't top of the class.

There is one lab instructor that I had, and I always did very well in his lab (I'm good with hands-on work), but I don't know if he remembers me. He would always give me a bunch of extra credit for the lab reports.

Another professor I was thinking of asking is a statistics professor. I'm thinking he might be willing because at the beginning of his class, I was struggling, and failed the first midterm, but I studied and improved greatly in the end. I finished that class with a 3.5.

So my question is, how can you ask for a recommendation letter from a professor that doesn't know you all that well? I've seen others do it, but it always seems like they are the students who either did very well in their classes, or who have a much closer relationship with the professor.

Also, I'm on a time limit, as the masters application is due in about one month.

Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks!


texts: switching fields from experimental chemistry to theoretical chemistry after PhD?

texts:
I am currently a second year PhD student in a 5 year direct-entry PhD program, studying experimental chemistry. Another important consideration is that I am on the first year of a 4 year top-tier doctoral scholarship. Also, I haven't written my comps yet and I haven't really started my thesis research (I have worked on a several small, unrelated projects). My research focus is on spectroscopy of inorganic complexes, but we are kind of a jack of all trades lab. I do synthesis, crystallography, spectroscopy, and computational chemistry.

I have a lot of experience in computational chemistry, but I have never worked in theoretical chemistry (i.e., quantum chemistry). Since I started doing computational chemistry, the topic has always interested me. I read some textbooks, but my math/physics/programming skills were never really good enough to test whether I really understood by writing codes. I am now of the opinion that the subject is specialized enough that the only way to learn it is to do research in that area. During the lockdown, I spent a lot of time studying math and elementary programming, and I have realized that I actually like this kind of thinking. I feel unsatisfied by the lack of rigorous math and physics in my current research. I talked to some theoretical chemists and they are convinced that I can learn the field well enough to do a PhD on an electronic structure theory topic if I apply myself, so I am seriously considering making the switch. Moreover, I think the career prospects are better with that skillset. My research area is fairly niche, so I think it pretty much only leads in the academic direction, which, as we all know, is far from a sure thing, whereas quantitative skills are useful in all industries.

I don't know what to do and having the decision hanging over my head is really stopping my from progressing. The way I see it, I could master out and apply into a new PhD program in this area (possibly in Europe), however, I don't know how it would look to master out on a doctoral scholarship. I could simply transfer to a new school/lab and put off my comps, which would make my PhD much longer. this seems more feasible, but I don't know how the topic switch would fit in with my scholarship, which is based on a proposal related to my current research topic. Or I could complete my PhD, take some relevant courses, and try to pursue this later.

I have talked to my PI about it and he thinks it is totally feasible to pursue such a change of focus after my PhD, but my understanding is that postdocs are supposed to already be experts in their field, so I don't know how I would go about learning such a specialized topic after my PhD, short of doing another degree. Is something like this really possible?


texts: Are Japanese professors responsible for their students' behavior outside the university?

texts:
The question How should I approach a Tokyo University professor to join their lab? has an answer by RoboKaren saying:

For professors in Japan, taking on students is a tremendous
responsibility and burden. Unlike in the United States or Europe,
professors are responsible for even the extracurricular activities of
students (i.e., getting arrested; showing up drunk and groping
someone; having an apartment so messy that the landlord complains,
etc.). They are also responsible for the student's career after they
graduate.

This sounds very interesting as I have never heard such things about any other country before.
So, I want to ask:

What happens/could happen to a Japanese professor if their student has e.g. a messy apartment?

Is there something similar for undergraduate students (who, I suppose, do not have a professor in the sense above)? Is the university somehow responsible for them?

Where is this responsibility stated? Is it e.g. in the law, or is it rather some non-official convention that everybody follows, or something in between?


texts: How long should I wait for graduate admission decisions before moving on?

texts:
I really searched for advice on this issue but without any luck. So here goes.
Background: This concerns PhD admissions to Computer Science in the US. In the current cycle, I applied to ten programs with application deadlines ranging from early December to mid-January. As of today (March 5th '21) I have only heard from three schools and with two accepts and one reject. The schools that accepted me are in the middle and lower end of my preference, and the program that my application was rejected from is at the higher end.
The issue: That leaves seven schools I haven't heard back from (not even waitlist). People have told me that "it isn't over till it's over", but it seems far too late in the cycle for these schools to still be evaluating my application. While I want to be hopeful, I also have to send confirmation of attendance to the program where I have been accepted.
My questions:

To anyone who has been part of these committees, why do universities withhold decisions this late? Is this a special case, or is this typical for graduate admissions?

How long should I wait before sending a confirmation of attendance? In other words, is there still some hope that one of my better choices might offer admission?

I do have until April 15th to decide but there is also the anxiety of waiting.
Edit: An important additional detail is that I am an international student currently in the US on a student visa (Master's) and I have to plan my travel (home country and back) and make visa arrangements etc. which also takes a significant amount of time.


texts: What is the process for getting a non-EU PhD "validated" in Germany so I can continue working as university associated faculty?

texts:
I am a medical doctor in Bosnia and Herzegovina (which is not in the EU). I also hold a PhD title and am an associated professor on the medical faculty. I am moving to Germany (Oberbayern). I have already done all the necessary additional work so that I can continue practicing medicine in Germany.
I also want to continue my career in research and possibly work at a German university. I have several publications. For this, I assume my PhD will have to be "recognized" by some German institution. How does this work? Who do I contact?


texts: How closely should my research proposal align with existing projects in the department?

texts:
I am hoping to apply for a PhD in mathematics in Germany, where the most common method of pursuing a PhD is to put together a research proposal and then find a professor who will support you. This is vastly outside of my experience in the US and UK, so I am struggling to understand the norms and expectations.

So far, I have identified a university with a research group in my subfield of mathematics, and on their website, they have a list of about a dozen projects, each with 4-6 people and a smattering of papers on that topic. Most people are listed under more than one group, especially the professors.

Would I be expected to propose a topic that fits with one or more of these projects, or would I, as a prospective student, be expected to bring something more original to the table, creating a distinct project?


texts: Am I less likely to get into a masters in finance or economics with a bachelors in business administration than I would with a bachelors in finance?

texts: I had always thought I have going for a bachelors in finance, but it turns out I am getting a bachelors in business administration with concentrations in finance & applied analytics. I plan on going to grad school for a masters in finance or economics and even a possible doctorate if I go the research/econ route. Will this hurt my chances of getting into grad school with a more common and not as prestigious degree? Are my employment aspects lessened?


texts: Benchmarking my research results with related work's results

texts:
I have an accepted paper in CS, in which I proposed a new method in data-science related topics (data-intensive analysis, a lot of hyperparameter tuning and design decisions).

The reviewers opinions are positive, the method is clearly described and the results are validated properly. Thus, the conclusions of the work are valid.

However, one of the reviewers wrote that the paper lacks an empirical comparison with other similar works.

From my point of view, comparing the result of my method to the results of the related work is not viable for many reasons, such as the problem I am tackling is slightly different, the type of the dataset I am using is also different.

So, I see a fundamental difference between my work the related work that makes any comparison really not valid, though both my work and the related work are in the same area.

Any suggestions to improve my paper?


texts: Submitting journal version of an article while conference version is still in review

texts:
In my field (electrical engineering) it is a commonly-accepted practice for publications to be produced at various stages of the "evolution" of a research project, meaning that preliminary results can be published in a workshop paper, intermediate results in a conference paper on the same topic, and "final" or "definitive" results in a journal article. This paradigm is supported by the IEEE, for instance. As long as you cite the original work(s), state that the work is an expanded version of an earlier work (published at the lower stage of the "evolution") and obtain copyright clearances, this is a generally accepted practice.

This leads to a significant reuse of content across generations. I have heard multiple times that the threshold for jumping from a conference to journal paper is "30-40% new material".

My question is this-- do you need to wait for a conference paper to be accepted/published to submit the journal version of an article?  If you do not wait, does this violate the "multiple submissions" principle, even if the submissions are not identical, and not at the same "hierarchy". If so, why does waiting for the conference paper to be accepted make this "okay"?

The reason for this question is the case where you are on a tight timetable to submit a journal article, but you want to include some conference results that are currently in review (and may be for several more months).


texts: Why do some professors with PhDs leave their professorships to teach high school?

texts:
I can surmise that some of them mightn't have gotten tenure and needed to find another job, but wouldn't these former professors be bored teaching the same (relatively basal) material yearly?

Let me know of other examples, but I was riffling some fee-paying schools and lighted upon:

Audrey Budding, of the Harvard Academy for International and Area Studies

  B.A., Swarthmore College 1982
  B.A., University of Cambridge (UK) 1984
  M.A., Harvard University 1991
  Ph.D., Harvard University 1998

Eric Casey, former Associate Professor of Classics, Sweet Briar College. Now at Trinity School NYC.
David Gomprecht at Dalton School.

  Gomprecht, PhD, graduated from Wesleyan University, where he majored in mathematics and physics, and then went on to receive a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of California at Berkeley. After working as a research mathematician for a few years, David returned to his hometown of New York City, where he has now been a math specialist and private tutor for over twenty years.

Mara Naaman at Dalton School.


texts:
I want to know whether the grant of a PhD position should cover the fees of travel to conferences or is it an additional funding that is offered for PhD students every few months to do their conference presentations ?
Thanks


texts: Guidelines for creating/designing an exam?

texts:
Are there (general) guidelines for creating an exam? I am a TA, and one of my tasks is it to design a written exam for the students. The students know that it will be based on one book, and on which chapters. I am using the questions after the chapters as guideline (and modify them). Course theme is (from nature science) derivation of formulae (which are also done in the book) and calculation of values by using formulae from the book.

Now my problem is: How many points should I award to which part? The students can choose between either using a hand-written cheat sheet or nothing. In the first case the formulas will not be awarded with points, in the latter they will. But I am not sure how much points I should give to a specific formula. 1 Point, if correct, 0, if not? 5, if completely correct, 2.5, if partly correct, 0, if not?
Thus, is there a general way of doing that, or do I have to experiment with it?


texts: Do prestigious mathematics journals discriminate against young (undergraduate) authors?

texts:
I am an undergraduate mathematics major. I have made a draft of a paper on group theory. My paper is not a breakthrough. After scanning through a lot of journals I have come down to Journal of Group Theory and Journal of Algebra. Both are prestigious math journals. And the recent history of both journals doesn’t support undergraduate authors.

I do have the support of my advisor so editing will not be a big problem for me.

Do undergraduates have a decent shot of publishing in these journals?


texts: As an artist and retired visual art professor, I'm updating my master thesis written in 1997 as a hand-crafted art book. Today I'm self-publishing a rewritten thesis as a paperback book to include more of my artwork since graduating in 1997 with my master's degree. Is it legally okay for me to use the same Acknowledgement Page in my current self-publishing book with the same title as my master's thesis, or drop it completely?


texts: Writing Statement of Purpose As a Bachelor Student (Physics)

texts:
I'm a third-year bachelor of a science student. I'm shortlisted for an interview for the Integrated Ph.D. course. I'm Physics major student. It's asked by the institution for a Statement of Purpose.

One-page original research write-up by the candidate (research statement of purpose).

I have never written a statement of purpose in my whole life and this is the first one. Now after searching for what it is. I found several posts which help me a lot and the most important one is this one. If I summarize the points given in the answer as

What have you already done?
What are you working on now?
What might you want to work on in the future?
How does my department fit your research goals?

Well, this is it, and for me, it's quite satisfactory.
Now the shortcomings as a bachelor's student are that we are not exposed to real research. We just get an introductory idea of different branches of physics. Now the problem is, As a bachelor student, I haven't done any research work in the past (I did an intern on Astrophysics but it was based on introductory knowledge) nor I'm currently working on any project and apart from a little glimpse, I have not a big picture of what I'm going to do in future. I know I want to be a particle physicist but I don't know what specific thing in particle physics, I want to do work in and It might possible that the interest might divert to some other path, say Astrophysics.
This eliminates the first three points. The fourth one, again, I can only say, the department itself help me decide what I need to do in future. It gives me an understanding of the subject and so on.
So It seems there Isn't much to say in the Statement of Purpose as a bachelor student. So I want advice on How should I write my statement of purpose?
Please ask any information you need about me if necessary.

I'm not studying in United State. I'm a student from India. And I don't understand what's common between this and

How does the admissions process work for Ph.D. programs in the US, particularly for weak or borderline students?


texts: What are some techniques to get some work done during the Christmas period?

texts:
Given the fact that at the moment I am working with no strict time frames and I can manage my time and other activities on my own, I wonder is it possible for someone to maintain the concentration during the Christmas period and keep working on important tasks? And what are some techniques to enable that?

I am asking this, because I want to plan my vacations during December, but I am not quite sure if it is a clever idea to do the vacation in the first half of the month (so I can save some flight costs, because prices go up as the end of the year approaches),  and keep the latter part to work, having in mind that everyone gets into the festive atmosphere and it is hard getting things done?


texts: Should I postpone my MEXT scholarship application process until 2021 due coronavirus outbreak?

texts:
The next month I plan to apply for MEXT scholarship for a PhD study. My study proposal is almost ready and I have my thesis already written in English. But due coronavirus outbreak I was thinking to do anything I can to be prepared and on the next year actually apply for.

The main reason is because I plan to wait for a vaccine first for coronavirus, because my N5 level of Japanese may not be enough to communicate with a doctor in order to receive a vaccine. Though I was successfully examined and received a JPLT N5 Certification.

Do you think that is a good plan?


texts: How do I learn to recognise what is worth publishing

texts:
I am a PhD student starting my second year of PhD. I don't expect any major publications to come out of this within the first year or so, but I often find myself wondering if something smaller - a measurement setup, comparison of simulation techniques, etc - is worth publishing or not.

On the one hand, my Promoter says that we as a research group should publish more. I get the feeling he doesn't say this purely from a publish-or-perish perspective - rather, we spend a year or two working on something to get one big publication from the high-ranking journals, but along the way we learn a lot of little things, or come up with new tricks for measurements - all of which could be worth sending to smaller conferences or journals.

Due to the personal self-image struggles I have, I find it very difficult to feel like my work is good or new or worth talking about most of the time. How can I improve my ability to see if something is worth sending in or not? Will this just come with experience?


texts: Possible for ABD (all but dissertation) to return?

texts: Can an ABD (all but dissertation) return to the university to redo the dissertation? If yes, how do they proceed?


texts: Joining a professor's research group that is full

texts:
I am starting my graduate studies in CS this fall. I had 1 particular professor in mind whom I wanted to work with. Before joining, I had a few emails exchanged where prof. asked to setup an appointment once I join to discuss projects.

Last week after joining, prof. told me that advising won't be possible in the fall since his group is already full. My research interests align very strongly with his, so I really want to work with him.

What I am not sure of is whether the group is actually full or he is not interested in working with me anymore. Any advice on how should I approach him again to inquire politely about possible openings in the future will be really helpful.  I am also taking his course to gain more knowledge and expertise as well as to demonstrate my interest. Would this be a good segue to discuss advising opportunity in the future?


texts: Fewer publications hinder postdoc opportunities?

texts: I graduated with PhD in a STEM field from a good university in the US with only one "good" journal paper published currently. I am working on another one but it won't appear in my CV since I am sending out applications for postdoc jobs starting this month. I would like to have a reality check on whether I stand anywhere near to getting a postdoc position? or it will only be a futile activity on my part. I am considering applying in both US and EU. Your insights much appreciated.


texts: How do some PhD students get 10+ papers? Is that what I need for landing good faculty position?

texts:
I've been looking up some PhD students' websites, and there are people who somehow got 10~30+ total papers with 5~10+ first author papers. Many such students are in computer science, but there are a few in fields like bioinformatics. Some garnered 100+ citations before graduation.

How did they do this? This makes me uneasy about my chances for a tenure track position in the future. I just finished my 3rd PhD year at a decent US institution. My field is closely related to bioinformatics, and I am aiming for a tenure track position in a similar field. But if my top competitors are of such caliber (10+ papers 100+ citations), I'm guessing my chances are slim.


texts: A very complicated F1 visa administrative processing issue... What are my chances if I reapply?

texts:
Greetings from Turkey,

I got a fully funded PhD offer from Illinois Institute of Technology on last April. I applied for an F1 visa to enroll in for Fall 2016 semester. Even though I got an approval on my interview, my application status remained under administrative processing for almost six months. I had to defer my admission twice, regardless of my efforts and the university's efforts to contact the embassy several times, since they were extremely indifferent and unhelpful. At the end I got really upset and sent the embassy a veeeeery long e-mail that contained literal sentences like "I can't take this anymore", "WHAT COULD I HAVE EVER DONE TO DESERVE THIS?" and "Even if I get cancer and the only cure is in the US, I will never set foot in your country" (I wasn't drunk or high). At the end of the e-mail I requested the withdrawal of my application, which they instantly agreed to like they had been waiting for me to give up already.

My supervisor is trying very hard to help me and he is the coolest person on earth. So, I don't want to let this chance slip away. My question is, what would happen if I tried to apply at the same embassy. %100 administrative processing again? refusal for life? Should I apply for this visa at a different country with a valid excuse (I might do an internship abroad). Any suggestion will be highly appreciated. Thanks in advance.


texts: Why some issues are not listed (skipped) in online list of journals?

texts: I want to know where I can find the articles published in "Journal für die reine und angewandte Mathematik" Volume 2013: Issues 675-682? These issues seem to be missing.


texts: Masters by Distance Learning accepted for PhD?

texts:
I have done by B.Tech in Biotechnology couple of years ago. Since then I am working with a company on bioinformatics research. I also did 1 year PG Diploma in Bioinformatics from classroom program.

Most of the Indian and UK universities have this prerequisite that I need to have a masters degree for PhD. As I am currently working in a company, will correspondence or distance learning masters will be valid?

I already saw these:

Distance learning: taken seriously?

Are Master's becoming required for USA PhD programs?


texts: I'm going to start my PhD with weak foundation in research

texts:
I did my masters in Computer Science last year and it was a taught masters so I didn't do any type of 'Research'. The problem that I encounter now is that I'm going to start my PhD in the next few days and I don't have any idea about how to do it (I don't know how to write a literature review, for example.)

So, Is it possible to do it or will be very difficult in my case? And do you know any books that can help in building the foundation for me to be able to do the research?

Cheers!


texts: Will my advisor regret taking me if I start slacking off?

texts: I just found an advisor, and the semester after that, I took a much harder courseload because I'm behind on my course requirements.  As a result I haven't gotten a lot of research done.  Is my advisor going to regret taking me or think I've somehow deceived him?


texts: What are CNRS research units and how are they staffed

texts:
The Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) is the major funding body in France. With nearly 32,000 staff members it is bigger than the US NIH and US NSF combined, yet only has a 1/10 of the budget.

Both CNRS and NIH have multiple institutes (although the NIH institutes are all health related and CNRS covers a range of science). The CNRS then has 952 mixed research units, 32 proper research units, 135 service units, as well as 36 international units while the NIH has a large number of intramural labs.

What are these different research units and how are they staffed (full time researchers or academics with other teaching duties)? Is it at all like NIH intramural labs or MRC centres?


texts: How has your joint / secondary appointment in another department turned out?

texts:
I am curious about the experience of faculty who hold / have held appointments in multiple departments. Has it helped you researchwise? Any unexpected challenges?

I am thinking primarily about people in research-focused universities in science and engineering, but other perspectives are most welcome.


texts: How can I prepare myself to advise students for jobs outside of academia?

texts:
The consensus on academic jobs seems to be that we are sending far too many students to graduate school to train for jobs that will not be there when they graduate.  Despite this, most of my undergraduate students have aspirations for graduate school. In part I believe that this is due to a saturation of exclusively academic role models during their time in college.

Since virtually all of my experience is in academia and I have basically succeeded in getting a tenure track position, I feel ill equipped to advise these students in making decisions about their future and showing them alternative role models.

Where can I get the experience and resources to show students that would potentially benefit from considering alternatives to an academic career that high quality alternatives exist?

(NOTE: I am in the natural sciences so answers specific to science would be great but if a cross-discipline answer exists, that would be ideal)


texts: Differences between German computer science doctorates

texts:
The faculties of some German universities offer a choice of doctoral degrees.  For example, Technische Universität Darmstadt's Department of Computer Science allows candidates to apply for either a Doktor-Ingenieur (Dr.-Ing.) or a Doctor rerum naturalium (Dr. rer. nat.).  Candidates choose which degree they want to apply for shortly before they submit and defend their thesis; the only guidance provided is as follows:

  Der Dr.-Ing. wird im allgemeinen auf Grund einer Dissertation
  verliehen, die überwiegend ingenieurwissenschaftliche Erkenntnisse aus
  der Informatik enthält.

  Der Dr. rer. nat. wird im allgemeinen auf Grund einer Dissertation
  verliehen, die überwiegend theoretische wissenschaftliche Erkenntnisse
  aus der Informatik enthält.

Roughly translated:

  The Dr.-Ing. degree is generally awarded on the basis of a thesis that contains predominantly engineering-related findings in computer science.

  The Dr. rer. nat. degree is generally awarded on the basis of a thesis that contains predominantly theoretical scientific findings in computer science.

Other German universities may offer yet other degrees.  I know some computer scientists who hold a Dr. phil. (Doktor der Philosophie).

In some cases where the university offers various doctoral degrees, a thesis may meet the criteria for several of them.  (For example, in the TU Darmstadt example, the thesis may contain engineering-related and theorical scientific findings in roughly equal proportions.) In such cases, is there any reason for the candidate to prefer requesting one degree over the other?  Do the various computer science degrees have different standings or reputations?  Will having one or another make it easier or harder to get certain types of jobs in academia or industry, either in Germany or abroad?


texts:
Do graduate committees follow links, to personal websites, the applicant provides on his statement of purpose?

How common is this? If there are no visits one has to assume his application was not accepted / no one is taking a look?


texts: Can online recording of work area at home be made a mandatory criterion for passing exams midway through a course?

texts:
Right now with the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada I believe most Ontario universities and colleges have their classes online, and my university decided to do that as well. With this in mind, many of our final exams are now being taken online with a camera and microphone recording, a lockdown browser to make sure you cannot access the web, and a proctor watching you over the internet. Before the exam begins, you must do a 360 environment scan of your entire workspace (your entire room, table with nothing on top, your wall and ceiling, etc). Recently my prof made an announcement saying that if a student did not do an environment scan properly, did not have their eye on the screen the entire time, or as long as they felt that a student is cheating, they can reject and invalidate the exam without any proof. Out of curiosity, is this actually allowed?

Another thing that was ridiculous about these online exams is that on the exam information document, it said “if you do not wish to be recorded, you should not take this course.” But this decision of everything going online was made after 3/4th of the term and some profs decided to have online exams a week before the exam weeks, so why do we have to do an online exam when we never had chosen for it to be online? Can I interpret this as "either do the exams online or drop the course, and we will not refund you any tuition"?

I really felt uncomfortable showing my room to people I don’t know, and I think that it violated my privacy. (I live in an off campus residence and my room is the only place where I can make it like an “exam hall”). Is there a place I can complain about this, and will they actually listen?


texts:
I have a Criminal Justice AA degree & ten years of law enforcement experience. I'm considering going back for something like a Master's in Law Enforcement Administration or Criminology, however financially I would need to be in a master's program because of the funding tier that opens up.

Can one enter a master's program with an associate's degree instead of a bachelor's degree? Is this an something that anyone has seen done before?


texts: Software engineer vs research associate in not-so-related subfield for CS PhD

texts:
I currently have 2 job offers: high-paying software engineer at a top tech company (return offer from internship) and a computational biology research associate 2-year pre-grad school position.

I want to pursue theoretical CS (mainly computational complexity, maybe approximation algorithms) so I don't know how much weight the comp. bio research job would carry. The research job also pays less than half of what I would be making at the software engineering company. I would much prefer the comp. bio job since it is at a very innovative non-profit company and the PI and I click super well. I am also really passionate about their mission and the work that they're doing and I'd love to be a part of it.

However, the pay is far worse and I would have to work there for at least 2 years as opposed to the software engineer job which I could quit after 1 year and apply to grad schools during that 1 year.

So I'm wondering, despite which job I would enjoy more, which is the more logical choice? Would either of these add to my PhD application at all?


texts: Is it legal to withdraw a signed offer letter from grad school?

texts:
I am asking for my little cousin who is going to graduate school this year.

He has just signed an offer letter with school A, but just yesterday he got a better one from school B (may know school A quite well in the field). Is it legal for him to withdraw the signed letter from school A and attend school B, as long as he does it before the inter college deadline of April 15th? School A has also not yet issued any I-20 form to him (yes, we are international students).


texts: I can't figure out why my professor hates me

texts:
I now have Professor X for the third semester in a row. I have not interacted with him very much outside of class, but I am positive he used to like me. But now, I can tell that he dislikes me.

I can only think of 1 or 2 reasons of why he would hate me (possibly valid, possibly not; for one, I complained about him to some classmates). But these reasons seem somewhat unlikely to be the cause. I have an (unfounded) fear that perhaps he mistook someone else's course evaluation last semester for mine (I did not actually complete one).

Is there anything I can do to alleviate the situation? I have considered asking him directly in person, but I think that he will either evade the question, or at best give one of the above-mentioned reasons; and if he does give one of the above-mentioned reasons, I wouldn't agree that they justify the professor being so upset.

I am emotionally disturbed by my professor's behavior. Additionally,  I will probably have to take him for two more semesters, so I would like to rebuild a decent relationship. I am at a very small school so at the same time I fear that this professor might talk negatively about me to his colleagues.

Do you have any advice on how I could improve the situation?


texts: Can I publish a technical paper on more than one publishing sites?

texts: Can I publish my technical paper on more than one publishing sites? The paper content is the same while only the formats differ. I am the author of the paper.


texts: Could anyone judge whether or not what I have experienced are types of abuse?

texts:
I am in a Ph.D. program. In my program, I declared my preliminary advisor who is supposed to guide me when writing my first field paper.

Firstly, after I passed my qualifying examination in the last summer, I asked my paper advisor to visit his office to discuss and determine my research topic. He just ignored my email and did not reply at all.

Secondly, one month later I sent an email again and visited his office. I got a research question from him. I read some papers and then visited his office to discuss the next steps. I told him about my rough ideas, then he told me that they will not work. He told me to change my research topic if I would not have a skill set to deal with the problem. I majored in a field of study which specializes in the required skill, so I kept going on doing my research. Then he refused to see me when I asked him to visit his office later and get some feedback on my research work.

Thirdly, he had not given me any guidelines on my research as a paper advisor other than giving me some papers.

Fourthly, he ignored my email later when I asked him to write a letter. I can understand that he would not write a letter for me, but he just ignores my reasonable emails several times.

Fifthly, he would not advise me anymore as the main advisor since I did not know some stylized facts when I started my research and since I did not produce an immediate result within a few weeks.

Lastly, all the Chinese Ph.D. students in my research group only insisted to work with my paper advisor because he is also Chinese, though there are at least three other professors. So he said to me that he has too many students, which is an excuse to support his decision that he does not advise me.

I am wondering whether or not these are reasonable. What should I do if there is no one other than him whose research interests lie in mine? Looks like I just have to endure several year's loss in my life due to a bad decision of mine. The intended field of study is very narrow, so it is difficult to find another professor at another University since my Ph.D. program is evaluated around the margin of ranked universities that have professors in my field of study. Do I have to transfer to another different program with a different major?


texts: What are the possible grants/stipends/scholarships that are available in the Republic of Austria?

texts:
Yesterday I was offered to join Central European University (now situated in Vienna, Austria). The dream came true, and I was invited to get a MPA degree.
CEU Admissions Committee gave me a very generous tuition discount (more than 70%), but I still cannot afford this. It's too expensive for me and my home country - >3000 euro. I could afford this offer in case of selling all my properties. Obviously, I will not do it.
What are the possible ways to find additional financial support? What scholarships or grants options are available for Austria? What are the most suitable and reliable ways of receiving a funding for the non-EU resident?


texts: Including a stackexchange account in graduate school applications

texts:
I'm writing this with a throwaway account, for obvious reasons; if this is inappropriate or runs counter to the rules of the site in some way, please let me know.
I'm an undergraduate student in the UK, and am planning on applying to PhD programs next year. For context, I'm looking primarily at programs in the US, and am hoping to specialize in applications of model theory to algebra and geometry. For the past year or so, I have been a reasonably active contributor on math.SE; at present I am self-studying some material, and so have been asking occasional questions when getting stuck on a proof or exercise in the textbook I'm reading, but for the most part I enjoy answering questions on the site, generally in algebra or logic. (I'll avoid specificity, again for obvious reasons.) Most of the questions I've answered are pretty standard, with a handful of (at least for me) less obvious ones, but my activity on the site has been largely well-received, at least as far as I can tell.
So, in short, my question is whether a stackexchange profile can be a worthwhile inclusion in graduate school applications. I see a few pros and cons; on the one hand, I'm (embarrassingly) a bit proud of my contributions here! I really enjoy sharing my love of math and helping people resolve questions (teaching is one of the things I'm most excited for in the future), especially questions that are particularly interesting or thought-provoking. I also enjoy mathematical writing, and one of my favorite parts of the site is that it's an excellent venue for sharpening one's expository abilities. These are important things to me, and I feel that including the math.SE profile in an application would be a good way of indicating this. I also believe (read: hope) that the questions I've posted are worthwhile, and indicate a good understanding of and level of thought about the material I'm studying.
On the other hand, I'm concerned an application committee might see the time spent on the site as frivolous or wasted, somehow; the site is certainly a source of procrastination for me, and my involvement may give an undesirable impression of being too vested in virtual things. Furthermore, while I'm generally happy with my contributions to the site, I'm also aware that one's own view of such things may be very different than the view of an experienced mathematician; what if my answers seem overcomplicated or my questions seem silly?
In any case, these are some of the things I've been thinking about; any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.


texts:
I'm writing a paper on graphs. Personally, I've always disliked the vertices/edges terminology. I found it very confusing when I started working with graphs, and I much prefer the alternative names nodes and links respectively. These terms are used, but far less than vertices/edges, and it depends highly on the field. I think nodes/links is more intuitive (to a modern audience) and I would like to see people move to this convention.

Now, I have a habit of choosing less common conventions if I don't like the common ones, sometimes to my own detriment. On the other hand, if nobody ever bucks the trend, there's no chance of poor conventions ever improving.

So my question is, specifically, is it acceptable to use nodes/links, and would it give a reader/reviewer that immediate slight sense of distrust towards the paper? Are there fields where it would simply be unacceptable? My paper is somewhere in between practical computer science and machine learning, but I'd be interested in the unwritten rules of other fields as well.

As a secondary question (if you care to elaborate), how should these situations be judged in general? Is it ever smart go against the most common convention, just because you don't like the common way? Are there good heuristics for such decisions?

EDIT: I edited the question to make it a bit more subtle. The original phrasing suggested that I'd made up the nodes/links terminology myself, when it's more about choosing between a popular and an unpopular convention, rather than introducing a new one. Apologies for changing the question after answers have been given.


texts: What are best practices for reducing cheating in online tests?

texts:
I would like to know how can universities conduct exams of mathematical subjects during coronavirus.
My university is not willing to let us be tested from afar because of the claim that in this case, everyone would cheat and the grades wouldn't be truthful.
I think it's crazy to endanger the students for this reason (my country has a significant amount of coronavirus cases).
So I would like to know: how can an university deal with possibility of people cheating in online tests? I know prestigious institutions such as MIT, Harvard, etc, did online exams, so I don't see why my non-prestigious university can't.