texts: Approaching research adviser with worries about project feasibility

texts:
I'm a brand-new (read: started 3 weeks ago) Ph.D. student in Computer Engineering at an R1 institution in the U.S.  I was offered a position in a particular lab due to some prior experience I had on a topic of interest; my funding isn't tied to this particular lab though.  The faculty member heading the lab offered me the chance to start early and get a head start on research this summer, which I gladly accepted.

As I said, I'm about 3 weeks in now, and I'm starting to get worried about the feasibility of the task they've assigned to me.  Part of me wants to just chalk it up to my own inexperience and tell myself that it's nothing, but I had an unsettling experience with one of the other graduate students  recently.  Specifically, he told me that he had been originally assigned to work on the same task, and after some research he had concluded that it was infeasible at best (due to the sheer complexity of it) and a waste of time at worst (since even if it was completed, its performance would be terrible compared to existing applications).  This grad student is getting ready to graduate with his M.S., so he's not brand-new like I am.

So my questions are: (1) do my concerns about the feasibility of the task have any substance (given my inexperience with large research projects) and (2) if they do, how do I approach my adviser/faculty member with them?


texts: Is it considered cheating if I purchase an essay but then don't use it?

texts:
According to one of my friend's suggestion, I visited a website and was going to find some tutoring support, then I ended up hiring a person to write the essay.

However, I changed my mind and I did work on the essay by myself without reading the bought essay. I am going not to come back to the website again. So if I just hired the essay writer but am not using their work, am I called a cheater? If I pay for a writer am I already cheating, or only when I use their work?


texts: Database location for a paper to be indexed by google scholar

texts: In some fields like architecture and design, repositories are setup for collecting the conference proceedings in one location.  Unfortunately these repositories are not always parsed well by google scholar.  Recently, the largest database in architecture began working with web of science conference proceedings database.  It seems that even with this, google scholar has not found these papers.  Are there examples of papers being indexed from the conference proceedings, or should we be looking for alternative repository methods.


texts: What Qualitative Data Analysis Tool do you use?

texts:
Seems like this topic has not been discussed in quite a while. I am preparing to code a rather large set of qualitative data: over 30 hours of interviews. If the set was smaller, I would just use excel, but given the size I am looking for a less clunky tool. The last time I analyzed a very large set of data, MAXQda was the go-to tool. I see there are others out there now: Atlas.ti and Dedoose being two others. What are your overall recommendations? Some high level needs I have are:

Create my own code book
Apply the codes
Use the tool to output frequencies, word charts, and perhaps see associations
track IRR, therefore have more than 1 person in the data set


texts: What is known about the journal Notes on Number Theory and Discrete Mathematics?

texts:
I don't know whether this is the appropriate place to ask my question but since there is no harm in asking, let me ask. My nephew, who is an undergraduate student, has sent a paper to the journal Notes on Number Theory and Discrete Mathematics about one month ago. Since it has been 1 month, he has tried to know the status of the paper by mailing the required person twice, but due to some unknown reason the person seems silent.

Does anyone know anything about the journal except the information that has been given to its website? What should my nephew do now?


texts: Is it weird to ask a professor you don't know if your potential project is already being worked on?

texts: I am a graduate student in physics who has an idea for a project which I believe to be sound. It is outside my advisor's area of expertise, but I am reasonably familiar with the field. My main concern with this project is how obvious of an extension of recent work it appears to be, and I suspect that someone out there has likely thought of a similar idea and is currently working on it as well. Would it be inappropriate to email a professor who's more well-versed in the field and ask if they're aware of anyone who has begun working on a similar project?


texts: What are the pros and cons of being co-supervised?

texts:
Are there any advantages or disadvantages in having two supervisors instead of one? Why would a graduate student want to do this or avoid this?

The context is in an MA where students usually have one supervisor and two committee members (examiners).


texts: Do US universities publish an official definition of gender in the context of scholarships or admissions?

texts:
Let's say that a person assigned male at birth identifies as a woman. At which stage of their transition process would they be allowed to claim themselves as a woman in the context of college applications or scholarships? Is merely identifying as a woman sufficient? Or maybe legally changing your gender is required?

Or if we look at it the other way around: At which point would a person assigned female at birth be required to identify themselves as a man in college applications?

Note that this question is of practical value as there are presumably hundreds of thousands of people in the US who identify with a different gender.


texts: Are there advantages or disadvantages for a college to give high or low GPAs?

texts:
What are the incentives and disincentives for an American college to give its students high GPAs?
For example, when undergraduate students apply for jobs or graduate programs, their GPA presumably matters. I have been told that many American colleges have cut-off GPAs for their first round, so students need high GPAs to survive there. Hence giving a GPA would help colleges to place their students in graduate programs, which in turn might improve the colleges ranking.


texts: How do I distribute a survey questionnaire to obtain a reasonable response rate?

texts:
I have built a survey questionnaire focused on Software Engineering Researchers and now I need to distribute it, but I am not so sure how. My questions are:

Are there any other means to distribute it to obtain a reasonable response rate while bearing in mind the survey population?
Is it ok to use a electronic mailing list for it? (Regarding both the survey integrity and the mailing list protocols)
If so, are there any appropriate mailing lists to my field?

I have recently subscribed to SBC's mailing list and I got used to receiving questionnaires through it. I have done some research and only found ACM's SIGSOFT.
Editions made to solve any misunderstandings are in bold


texts: Can a university prevent me from choosing any elective module (subject)?

texts:
I am a student in an Irish university and I will be going into my fourth year in September. My problem is that I would like to apply for a MSc programme, for which one of the requirements is previous enrollment in mathematics modules, but, unfortunately, my course did not offer any classes in maths. I would like to choose mathematics as a part of my elective subjects, but administrators in my school told me that I am not allowed to do that, since mathematics is not in a domain of my course. I looked up college policies and none of them specifically mentioned that I cannot do that. Though, they indicate that:

The selection of the module depends on the lecturer and the school concerned. The student is allowed to choose a module provided they are capable of profiting by attendance thereat.
Some schools explicitly point out that if a student wishes to enroll in a module not allowed by the regulations they must make an application to the college.

My question is: is it worth arguing with the college administrators to make an exception or should I just accept that I am simply not allowed to do that. I think they rationale is that no-one ever made such a request and that it could become a precedent.


texts: I changed organizations, but want to publish old work -- what should my affiliation be?

texts:
I used to do research (mostly computer science) at university X, including work on my master's thesis, parts of which I now want to publish.

However, I recently started working at another academic institution, university Y, where my research focus is slightly different – so there's no big topical overlap.

If I had submitted a paper a few months ago, I would have listed myself and my thesis supervisor as the authors, with my old affiliation of university X. But now, should I just change my affiliation to university Y? Would it be considered unethical to publish something that wasn't approved by them? (Even if I did it in my spare time?)

What is the recommended way to follow here?


texts: How may a young scholar without tenure change their field of research?

texts:
So let me elaborate on this question a bit with an imaginary scenario: John is a young, recent Ph.D. graduate in computer science. During his Ph.D. he was mainly concentrating on network science and algorithms, but he has developed a deep interest in computational social science, a related but not that closely related field. He wants to get deeper into this and even perhaps change his primary area to computational social science, but he may not be prepared for this. He has read sufficient materials and research work about this, and the required technology/math for him is not difficult, but he hasn't done any real research on this subject.
So in this scenario, what should a young scholar like John do if he/she is really dedicated to making some contributions? Please note, that we are talking about a young scientist, not a tenured professor who has much more freedom.
A postdoc is certainly an option, but how likely is John getting a postdoc position since it's not his primary research area?


texts: How to withdraw my submitted paper before it has passed screen?

texts: I submitted my paper to a reputed journal two days ago. I got a mail from the editor saying that I need to complete other forms (copyright etc) after he finishes screening. However,I hadn't received my supervisor's approval when I submitted the paper. Now my supervisor has got back to me saying that I should withdraw my paper. Currently the status is "Not Assigned." Do I need to send a withdrawal letter? Or I can wait for the screening result? If I don't pass screen, do I still need to send a withdrawal letter?


texts: How to cite computer terminals like Bloomberg or Thomson Reuters?

texts:
Consider that I looked up some data, more specifically credit ratings for a sovereign, in the Bloomberg and the Thomson Reuters terminal for my thesis:

  The sovereign is rated Aaa by Moody's, AAA by Standard and Poor's, and AAA by Fitch (Bloomberg).

What is the best practice to cite a computer terminal as the source after using data from that terminal? I mean there is no specific author or authoring date other than "Bloomberg" and the date that I've accessed it. And just stating "Bloomberg" as above looks odd.

This question is not directly related to any citation style, however I'm using BibTeX with the APA style for my thesis.


texts: post doc research and problem with its progress

texts:
In order to get postdoc in math I need to write a research statement. But I am thinking about some questions and appreciate your answers.

Is it possible to express several topics in research statement which some of them might be not related to each other?

What should I do when a research subject in my research statement for postdoc will not have any progress during doing postdoc?


texts: Another student used my completed work, what should I do?

texts:
I took a class a year ago, another student currently taking the same class had asked about my assignments to guide her in her work. I explained to her how intense the class is and sent her a copy of my work so she sees how much efforts she needs to put on that paper.

Without my authorization, she used my work for her assignment and now we are both in a mess. The school had contacted me about this matter and wants me to call them for a phone conference about this matter. The school policy includes but not limited to "no sharing of old assignment" or else disciplinary action will be taken. So how can one approach this case when asked to report by telephone?


texts: Should I ask a letter of recommendation from a prof who I rarely see?

texts: I'm applying to grad school this fall for math PhD programs and I need to figure out who to ask for letters of rec. I'm doing a summer reading course which is technically under a professor, but since he is really busy it's actually under a grad student. I've seen the professor only once or twice for paperwork, but I mainly work with the grad student. At the end of the course, should I ask the grad student to write about me and give it to the professor for him to write me a letter of rec? Or is this a bad idea?


texts: Would a license chosen during publishing to arxiv affect the paper acceptance in IEEE Transactions on wireless communications?

texts:
Will the selection of CC-BY on arxiv affect the paper acceptance in IEEE transactions on wireless communications?
I have read some similar questions as here, but my question is not about what to select, it is what would be the effects on the paper acceptance procedure. Some people say that CC licenses conflict with copyright transfer, but others recommend using them.
If CC-BY is selected, what should I expect from IEEE side upon acceptance? (only CC-BY not other flavors)


texts: Proper pronoun in a response letter for a single author manuscript

texts:
I am currently in the process of responding to reviewer comments for a journal article submission, and I realized I was using the scientific/royal "we" in my response letter, even though I am the only author. For example, I have written, "We thank the Editor and reviewers for the constructive comments..."

This is my first time as a single author and I know in the actual manuscript it is still normal to use "we" to indicate the author and the reader. There are multiple questions here that address that question about pronoun usage (most refer back to this question which has a great answer: Choice of personal pronoun in single-author papers), but I have been unable to find a question or an answer that directly addresses my question about the use of "we" in a response letter to the journal from a single author. I understand that since it is a letter and not a manuscript, it doesn't have to be quite so formal, but much of the content is still scientific and so I am still apprehensive to use "I" (when using a passive voice would be awkward).

So, should I continue using "we" or would it be more appropriate to use "I"  in a response letter to the journal? Additionally, would these guidelines be any different for an initial cover letter that accompanies the first submission?


texts: Is it okay for a potential post doc to send an email to professor on the weekend?

texts:
I am talking with a professor to apply to a postdoc program. I sent a cold email earlier this week and we have exchanged a few emails.
In his last email he sent me some papers to read.
The thing is, I might end up sending my answer on Saturday, after I read the papers. Is this a problem? Should I just send it and wait until Monday for his answer? Maybe send it but include an apology for writing during the weekend? Or should I just wait until Monday to send it?
I usually text everyone during the weekend including my advisor, but I'm not sure if it might be considered rude, and as I do not know the person yet I want to be as careful as possible with etiquette.
Thank you.


texts: Does affirmative action apply towards international students as well?

texts: I know that when picking and choosing students for a new cohort, many prominent US universities tend to use affirmative action to support those from less affluent backgrounds. Does this also hold when admitting international students, or deciding on which international student to provide scholarships? In other words, would a top school prefer to admit more students from Africa and China as opposed to Germany or Japan, and prefer to provide scholarships disproportionate to the number of students attending; i.e. more scholarships per capita for students from third world countries?


texts: Applying to Ph.D. programs: Should I include my master's degree transcript?

texts:
I am trying to get into a Ph.D. pure mathematics program in the U.S. I have a Master’s degree in mathematics. It took me a decade to figure out I do not see myself being happy without doing mathematics and teaching in a full-time job. I don’t care about getting into an Ivy League or solving famous problems. I would be perfectly fine teaching anywhere and exploring a problem no one really cares about. Given that I have already made up my mind about applying to Ph. D. programs, I have a problem I would like advice for.

My problem: I have a Master’s degree in pure mathematics, but my grad school GPA is a 3.03. It was a painful period of my life as I was diagnosed with a personality disorder and endured strong medication regiments.

Would it be detrimental to me to include my graduate school transcript in my Ph.D. applications? In this case, I would essentially be applying only showing my Bachelor’s degree (where my GPA was a 3.32).

If I do not include my graduate transcript in my applications (apply as if I only have a Bachelor’s degree), the fact I have a Master’s degree will likely be revealed in my resume/vitae, letters of recommendation, the fact it is required to teach at the level I currently teach, or somewhere else. Thus, the schools may ask me for my transcript. Or perhaps not, I do not know.

Can someone please offer me advice on what I could do?


texts: Syllabus change with no warning nor discussion with students worsened grade

texts:
In one of my courses, our syllabus outlined the course material and its contribution to our total grade. Daily homework constituted 10% of the grade, with other major group assignments constituting the majority of the rest.

Recently, due to time constraints, one of the major assignments was dropped; this resulted in the homework being worth 20% of our grade, rather than 10%. Unfortunately, this had a negative impact on my grade, given that my homework performance has been worse than on projects and other major assignments.

The change was sudden, and there was no discussion of the change with us (the students). As I understand the concept of the syllabus, it is supposed to be a contract between instructors and students, an agreement made about how the course material is outlined and how students will be assessed. We discussed the syllabus on the first day of class and agreed on the "terms and conditions". Thus this seems a bit unfair, as it is the last week of classes before finals and the change suddenly worsened my grade.

Should I bring this up with the professor? And if so, what should I say?


texts: Can I take a second Master’s degree program in Biostatistics if I already have Masters Degree in Statistics?

texts:
Is it possible to do a second Masters Degree in Biostatistics if I already have a Masters Degree in Statistics?

During my first Masters Degree, I took one Biostatistics course for my elective, and I found the subject really interesting. I thought about taking a PhD program in Biostatistics, but to me PhD is too long and I have some doubts on whether I will be successful as a PhD student. I am particularly interested in Masters degree in Biostatistics that has co-op option, so that I can gain some work experience as well.

But is it possible to take a Masters program in Biostatistics when I already have a Masters degree in Statistics?


texts: Following up on a postdoc application at an academic conference in person

texts:
I will graduate with my PhD in a few months and I have starting applying for postdoc positions at national research labs and universities. Our field is relatively small (a few hundred people) and most of us know each other and the rest we know by name or by face. My question is that, after I apply for a postdoc position, I then meet the hiring scientist at a conference, then how appropriate is it ask them about my application? If it is appropriate, then what is the best way to do so? In person? In email, this week? In email, after we return? Or something else?

This is in the field of hard sciences in the USA. One potential employer is a friend I have known since my beginning graduate school. Another potential employer, I just know her by name and never had any contact of any kind besides my application. Should I ask/say anything? I am obviously curious how's the process going and if I am high on the list. But what would I say? Or is it better to just be friendly but professional and pretend like I didn't apply and not mention anything at all? I can only imagine a useless "we are still looking and evaluating applications". Is any other response even possible if I ask the right questions in the right way?

It has been about a month since I applied. And yes I asked my advisor but he wasn't helpful. Both solicitations were clear that they wanted the postdoc to start as soon as possible (three months) so a month seems like a fair amount of time to follow-up. And after the application acknowledgement I haven't heard anything from either scientist.


texts: Publishing dissertation chapters instead of a monograph

texts:
I am at the end of my second year of a tenure-track position (my institution uses calendar years instead of academic ones) with a heavy load of service. This academic year I was assigned to work on six committees.

I defended my dissertation in 2013. I intended to turn the dissertation into a book but after three years applying to jobs while having temporary positions I barely could find the time to work on it. My mentor suggested to publish the dissertation chapters as journal articles since the book is not required for tenure and it has been the norm in the department.

I have mixed feelings about this but I know that with the teaching and service load it would be extremely hard to work on the book; especially since I will have to translate it – my specialization is Spanish literature and my thesis is in Spanish.

Should I publish the dissertation as articles and then think of a new project for a future book publication?


texts: Is sharing research progress and ideas on blog acceptable?

texts:
Public outreach is an important part of being a researcher, in my opinion, and blogging is the method of choice for many researchers. Is it okay to share recent research progress, explain publicly what you are doing, what kind of experiments/simulations you are running, why you chose these kinds of simulations, and the main conclusions you could draw from the simulations, and what you think comes next? I am not sure if research group leaders are keen on such being made "publicly available" before a paper is published. Of course, some might read your idea and realize something huge, do it themselves and take credit, and claim they came up with it independently.

I hope to get a  PhD in computational chemistry in the next few years, and I would very much like to share ideas, share my thoughts, and explain concepts as an attempt at public outreach. This would, naturally, lead to sharing of some group-specific ideas and progress. Is such behavior generally supported by research group managers (or the university in general)? How would journals respond to publishing papers where some progress figures and ideas have been "published" on personal blogs?


texts: Is it ethical for professors to ask graduate students to teach?

texts:
Universities require a doctorate degree to apply for a faculty position which involves both teaching and research. Even if the professor did not receive any formal training in pedagogy, it is expected that they will pick up a few things over time.

If a graduate student who does not have a doctorate degree, nor has any formal training teaches a course, wouldn't it be unfair to the students? In many situations, there are no quality/standard checks in place before a graduate student is allowed/asked to teach a course.


texts: Is it normal that the PhD research proposal of a candidate be completely written by his/her supervisor without them being involved?

texts:
I am enrolled in a doctoral school in which we have to submit a research proposal by the first year and it has to be accepted by a board. My advisor gave me the complete proposal and told me to submit it. However, on the website of the university it says that I should develop it with the collaboration of my advisor. I was wondering if it is normal that I am not involved in writing it? (The research topic was already clear in the position advertisement, i.e. the proposal was almost a copy of the ad description and it got accepted.)

(I study in Europe.)


texts: How to prevent an idea / innovation from being stolen or plagiarised

texts:
I have come up with an innovation to obtain linear motion without using any external source of energy. The idea arose from a paper I wrote on an alternative model of magnetism. I have built and tested the innovation and have written a paper describing it, which I wish to submit for publication.

My worry is that considering the novelty of the idea, it may get stolen or plagiarized. How do I prevent this from happening?


texts: How is it best to put an unfinished PhD if you want to continue in academia?

texts: I left a PhD position that I did for a year and then changed to a different area in psychology, the subject I do my PhD in. I am just wondering how to put that unfinished PhD on my CV. After my current PhD, I would like to continue on academia and apply for postdoc positions, maybe even in the same university in which I dropped out but on a different department. So I don't know how could I put that antecedent on my CV so that does not really affect me later on. Or would you think that with my achievements during my PhD the previous academic history remains irrelevant? I was thinking I could just leave it as one year of research internship, but I am not sure about this.


texts: How should I mention the period between the end of my post-PhD and the beginning of my work as research staff?

texts:
I finished my post-PhD, after two years working under a scholarship, in April 2015. In September 2015 I was notified that I was accepted as research staff in my institution (I applied in December 2014). In September 2016 I was finally added to the "payroll" as a staff member.

Between the period April 2015 - September 2016, I kept receiving my post-PhD scholarship in what is known in my country as an "extension of the post-PhD". This is done because the time that passes between the end of the post-PhD and the final addition of your name to the payroll (if you are accepted) is rather long. In my case it took about a year and a half (which is the standard period), and this way one is not left with no monthly income.

The question is: how should I describe that period in my CV? Anyone from my country will be able to tell immediately what happened, but I'm not sure how to explain this to people from other countries.

In rigour my post-PhD ended in April 2015, so I can't really say I was working on it for an extra 1.5 year. What I did for that period of time was what I do now: research. But I can't say that I started working as a researcher after April 2015, because my first actual paycheck as such didn't come until September 2016.


texts: Is it possible to work on extra activities (start-up project) during PhD?

texts:
I am about to get my bachelor degree in computer science. I have applied PhD programs of US universities to earn doctorate degree in computer architecture subject. I kept my hopes high and applied the most of top US schools, but rejected from the most of them (mostly because my GRE, TOEFL grades are not top for these schools, I think). Hopefully I will be admitted some of the schools that I applied.

I know pursuing a PhD and conducting research is not easy, but it is a serious process that requires the one to devote himself or herself to. Luckily I like working on computer architecture and learn about new innovations, techniques, ideas proposed by researchers. I think computer architecture is a field fully open to innovation, research and development. However, at the same time I love spending time on web technologies. I have been developing new applications related with web services, mobile services, social media, content management systems etc.

Do you think would it be really possible to pursue a PhD and simultaneously work on a start-up project?

I am not looking for answers saying that it would be possible as long as you manage your time to work on them both or it is up to your advisor or program etc. I know after some point everything up to you, but I don't know the PhD experience and that's why I am asking this question here.

PS: I hope this question would help others in the sense that it is about the possibility of serious extra activities during PhD process, rather than being an personal issue.


texts: Letter of recommendation from a deceased advisor

texts:
A PhD advisor usually sent all his letters of recommendation for his students through his secretary. He wrote a letter for his PhD student who is currently applying for academic positions, and unexpectedly died a month after. The secretary has a letter. Should this letter be submitted as a part of application? Should it be stated in the cover letter that the letter is from a deceased advisor and how the submission should be handled (for example, for MathJobs should an account with the secretary email be created)?

The advisor worked in the US and the applicant is considering both American and European universities.


texts: Special character from an arXiv paper title displayed incorrectly in Google Scholar

texts:
Recently I uploaded a paper to arxiv.org, the title contains the letter (α), I wrote it in latex form $\alpha$ in the website, it recognize it and it is displayed correctly, but when the paper is indexed in Google scholar, it appears as $\alpha$ in the title, any idea how can I fix this?

arxiv Link

Google Scholar Link


texts: Encouraging students to be more social with each other via course wall exchanges

texts: I find that students do not always use the course walls to talk to each other.  I want to help them be more social, but don't necessarily want to tie this to class participation grades.  I want them to create a sense of connection with each other, foster peer support, and decrease some of their dependence on me as the instructor.  What are some creative ways that others have succeeded at making the course walls a robust and vibrant social and learning space?


texts: Are publications in IEEE and ACM journals and conference proceedings considered decent quality by prospective employers in academia?

texts:
Both the ACM and IEEE have their name attached to a host of conferences and journals.  Some are known to be better than others, but I feel generally that any conference or journal with the ACM or IEEE brands attached are considered decent quality.  (Questions like this indicate I'm not the only one to think so.)

Question: Are publications in IEEE and ACM journals and conference proceedings automatically considered decent quality by prospective employers in academia?  (When applying for postdocs, assistant professor positions, and so on.)  Or is it more nuanced than that?

Essentially, I'm asking what weight do these brands have.

The ARC ERA2010 rank these journals and conferences from A* (the best possible ranking) to C (the lowest possible ranking).  But it's possible that these rankings are not an accurate gauge of the community's attitude towards a particular journal or conference.


texts: How to study for the GRE exam? (e.g.memorizing 3500 words, Math problems, AWA)

texts: I am so worried about the GRE exam! I have not any experience about it, but need to take it in order to do my PhD in the USA. So far I prepared a vocabulary notebook and wrote the definitions of 3500 words. Now, I am thinking of how to memorize those words in a short time. Moreover, I need to study for the Math and analytical writing sections.


texts: How can a new PhD Student objectively evaluate how well they are doing?

texts:
I'm a relatively new PhD student, and I'm faced with a new (for me) situation. Before, I always had grades and the likes to tell me how good or bad I was doing: if I was at or near the top/bottom of my class, if I passed my exams or not... were all more-or-less objective indicators to tell me how I was doing.

But now that I've started to do research, I have none of that anymore, and it's quite discouraging. It's not that I need constant validation to boost my self-esteem, but rather I'm afraid that I'm not working hard enough, not learning enough... and that it's all going to crash down on me at the end ("welp, your funding has run out and you've produced nothing good enough, no PhD for you"). I sometimes find results, but they always feel rather insignificant. And the fact that I used to be good as a student whose only job was to learn about well-established topics from good professors doesn't mean I'm good enough at research, either.

I've read several Q&A's here (How should I deal with discouragement as a graduate student?, “I've somehow convinced everyone that I'm actually good at this” - how to effectively deal with Imposter Syndrome) and they've been helpful, but simply telling myself that maybe it's just the impostor syndrome talking isn't helpful – maybe I'm really an impostor, too...

Of couse I can ask my advisor from time to time, but if I start asking every month I don't think he's going to appreciate it, and if I ask that bluntly he may not want to hurt my feelings and tell me the truth. So how do I, a PhD student, can evaluate how well I'm doing?


texts: Is it possible to write two separate Master's theses?

texts:
This question doesn't seem to have an answer anywhere, which makes me suspect I'm missing a fundamental point.

Is it possible to do 2 separate Master's theses on topics related to your degree, but for 1 degree? Are there any benefits to doing so? I'm really not satisfied with the one I'm currently working on. It started out optimistically, but my advisor chose to take on something in which he has no specialist knowledge.


texts: collaboration with a professor from other school

texts:
Is it acceptable/advisable to seek to collaborate with a former professor (e.g. from undergrad school) while doing research with ones adviser at grad school (the two schools being different)? Of course, under the assumption that a conflict of interest is avoided (the process being transparent with both professors in agreement with it, the narrow research subjects don't overlap, etc.).

The main benefit of this over-hour endeavor is co-authorship in published papers and an additional recommendation source, along with satisfying ones desire to work on that specific problem.


texts: Summer programs for European undergraduate mathematicians

texts:
There are many summer programs in the US, aimed at motivated undergraduate students of mathematics, that offer lectures and mini-courses on a variety of topics. However, as far as I know, most programs require that the applicant is American or a permenant resident in the US.

My question:

  Are there any such summer programs in the US, Europe, Asia, South America,
  or Africa to which a European student can apply?


texts: What are some of the serious consequences that someone can suffer if they omit part of their academic record on their application for admission?

texts:
What are some of the serious consequence that my friend could suffer if he tries to pretend that he has never gone to a Community college before?

(He thinks that it will make the 4 year college admission officer look down upon him.)


texts: My previous university email account got hacked and spam messages were sent to many people. What should I do?

texts:
I am having serious trouble with my previous university email account (Office365), provided by the university where I finished my master’s studies last year (I am currently pursuing a PhD at another university in a different country). The account is still active but I am no longer using it to send any email, although I have been receiving messages for alumni.
A few days ago, for a reason I still do not understand, a blank Teams meeting invitation was sent FROM my account to multiple professors and faculty members. The account seems to be hacked. I noticed it today when I received a notification saying that one of the recipients “rejected” the invitation. I am very confused and embarrassed.
I successfully cancelled the Teams meeting (which was automatically added to my calendar), but then, I logged out of that account (just to check my other account), and now I can no longer log into it again.
I am going to contact the university for technical support, but here is my question: Should I send an apology email to the recipients of the invitation? I want to apologize, but it’s been more than half a year since I graduated, and I no longer get in touch with any of them. And more than half of them are the ones with whom I interacted only once during my studies (e.g. to ask for an internship opportunity), and they probably do not even remember/recognize me. Also, except for the one who rejected the invitation, none has reacted to it in any way, so I am assuming that they haven’t yet seen the invitation or simply ignored it, noticing that it was mistakenly sent.
Would it be appropriate for me to send them an apology email? Or would that just end up bothering them, given that they are all busy and keep receiving numerous emails every day?
Any advice or suggestions are highly appreciated.


texts: What's expected in a UK postgrad letter of recommendation

texts:
Note: This is specific to the UK. My experience of recruitment more generally is that it varies a lot internationally.

I've been asked to write a letter of recommendation for an undergrad applying for further study.  I'm happy to do it, and want to pitch it at the right level for a good student who's well suited to .  I'm more familiar with writing references for job applicants (students moving on from academia), and I'm not sure if the same tone is appropriate.  Most of the advice I can find online (and there are plenty of related questions here) is tailored to the American system, where such letters (i) seem to carry more weight, and (ii) seem only to be helpful if they describe the candidate as the most amazing student the referee has ever met.

In this case I'll be using an online form, so the format isn't really an issue, just the content


texts: I was part of a research group in a research institute I called 'X'. In this research we used a very interesting, colorful technique so I take some pictures for myself that are very artistic. Now I want to present them in a Scientific Photography contest organized by the same institute 'X'. I signed a confidentiality agreement with the institution and my research advisor. The thing is I need an author's written authorization for reproduction of the images in order to participate in this contest. At first I thought I was the author since I was the one who took the photo, but seems that in the agreement I signed says that all products of this investigation are property of the institute 'X' and I don't know if this has something to do but the camera was also property of the lab. So, who should I ask for the authors written authorization? Or I don't have to ask for it at all?


texts: How does the government shutdown in the United States affect research projects at universities and national labs?

texts:
Has federally funded research at universities and work done at the national labs in the United States been halted due to the government shutdown?

If so, what typically happens then?

Do researchers just stay at home and not show up to work? Or do they show up, and do something similar to what you would see at a labor strike, e.g. megaphones, demonstrations, make demands?


texts: communication after job offer and acceptance

texts:
I am a US-based researcher and was offered a position as a postdoctoral researcher at a Swedish institute. The offer came in December, and I have negotiated some terms, which the school accepted. All of this happened via email and very quick. As the school accepted the various terms exactly as I wanted, I decided to accept the offer and wrote back saying that I will be joining the team.

Now, this is where the issue comes in. I know I need to file some paper work to proceed, which exact steps I am not yet sure about. I have sent two emails inquiring about the issue to the professor in charge, but I have not gotten any response back.

I find it strange that my emails are being ignored and this is making me worried. Some acquaintances over in Stockholm has suggested that because many people take time off during the holidays, things can slow down considerably in December-January (I haven't been there and I have no idea how things work there), but it is almost end of January and I do need to get the paper work done soon to be able to relocate on time. What should I do?


texts: Is it a good idea to put the logo of the university in my motivational letter?

texts:
I'm applying for a master's program, and one of the required documents is a motivational letter, in which I should briefly expose the reasoning behind my choice of program.

I'm using a LaTeX template which has a nice place to put a logo, and I'm thinking about putting the university logo there. Is this allowed? Is it common? Is it a good idea?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.


texts: Do I need to contact the author before using data available in supplementary material or open data linked to article?

texts: More and more journals require authors to make their data available, as an increasing trend to open science and reproducibility. If I want to use some data openly accessible that is linked to a publication, do I just need to cite the data source in my manuscript or will I also need to contact the authors to let them know I am using their data or to ask for permission?


texts: How do you do “research” as a fresh PhD student?

texts:
I started a PhD in applied mathematics and things seem to be going well after an initially terrible start. My supervisor and I have devised a clear set of objectives for the next three years and I’m slowly starting to learn the ropes of independent researcher life.
I recently hit a snag when my supervisor decided to take a more hands off approach with my learning insofar as they told me to “continue with my research”. Naturally this left me feeling a bit overwhelmed having only just started a few months ago. How exactly does one “do research”? Am I simply expected to keep reading articles and analysing their findings?


texts: Combining research related work and dissertation topic en route to PhD

texts: I am finishing up a part time masters degree at a mid tier state school. I am really interested in moving on to a PhD at the same institution. I have enough credits beyond the masters and I have a science related role at a large company. I was hoping to kill two birds with one stone by somehow carving out a topic that would leverage my current work. I would self fund obviously, but I wanted to ask the community to see if anyone had been successful in merging work with their thesis topic. Also what is the best way to try and set up a scenario where one works and completes a thesis level project?


texts: Pose lots of unanswered questions in a PhD thesis chapter?

texts:
I am just finishing my computer science PhD. It has five research chapters. The first four pose many research questions and answers all of them; they are complete in this sense.

The fifth chapter is a bit odd. We have just launched a three-year field trial of vehicles. I was responsible for many of the field trial design parameters: Who are the participants, how do we measure and gather data, how do we transmit data, what hardware/software do we need, etc.? Most of the chapter is methodology-focused and talks about all of these design decisions and how we made them. However, I am graduating (my defense is in a few weeks), and many of the interesting research results of this trial won't be available for months/years after a significant amount of data is collected.

So my question is, is it odd to have a chapter of the following form? “Here are a bunch of really interesting research questions, and here is how I helped design a trial to answer them, but that said, I do not present all the answers here because they are not known yet.”


texts: I was offered the admission one months ago but I didn't accept right away. What would be best language to accept a PhD offer?


texts: What's the proper way to (APA) reference a settlement agreement?

texts:
I want to reference an exhibit from the following document (it's been split into separate parts):

Exhibits:
https://targetbreachsettlement.com/Portals/0/Documents/Settlement%20Agreement%20Exhibits.pdf

Agreement:
https://targetbreachsettlement.com/Portals/0/Documents/Settlement%20Agreement.pdf

Part of a class action lawsuit settlement agreement proposal / notice.

Court: UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
District: DISTRICT OF MINNESOTA
Case & MDL: 14-MD-2522-PAM/JJK
Document: 358-1
Filed: 03/18/15

Pursuant to: 28 U.S.C. § 1715

But I'm unsure of the proper rules to format such a citation.
I can't seem to find any information regarding the APA style for referencing settlement agreements and/or proposals in particular.

PS: More info on the settlement can be found here:
https://targetbreachsettlement.com/mainpage/Home.aspx


texts: Why should data mining be minimized in research?

texts: According to this paper by the previous editor of Journal of Finance, Campbell R. Harvey, authors of papers should "convince the reader that there has been minimal data mining". Why is it so?


texts: How does one try to make a journal cover?

texts: Though fewer and fewer scientists actually read dead-tree editions of journals, being featured on a journal cover is still a nice way to highlight your paper to a large community, and is usually considered a great recognition of one’s work. So, how does one go about getting on a journal cover? If you feel you have extraordinarily attractive graphics, do you submit them for consideration to the editor? Or is it useless, and should only be done when explicitly asked (or suggested) by the editor?


texts: Is it possible to be known in academia by a different name?

texts:
I am currently a Canadian grad student about to publish my first paper. However, I really dislike my real legal name, to the point where very few of my real-life friends know my real first and last name. This is mostly because I come from China, and my legal name is a difficult-to-pronounce transliteration of my original Chinese name, which itself sounds very tacky and funny in Chinese. Even my parents are embarrassed at how they named me and use a totally unrelated nickname to address me even in Chinese. (to use an English analogy, I go by "Jake" when my real name is "Alexander")

Is it possible to publish consistently under a pen name that has no relation to your real name? I am not seeking to use it as a throwaway name for a single publication, but rather to simply be known as a different name. I don't even intend to hide my real name - it'll likely end up being in parentheses on my personal webpage or something. I just don't want to see a name I'm embarrassed of on every single thing I publish.


texts:
2 schools I applied to accepted me in early Feb.

The other schools I applied to have yet to respond and their sites say their admission decisions typically occur mid-march.

Is it accepted to contact the departments ahead of time requesting information on your app status given that you don't want to make the other schools wait too long?

My apologies if this is the incorrect forum to ask this question.


texts: What to tell professors to persuade them to let a pre-college student work with them

texts:
This is a follow up to the question Is it possible take take part in a research project if I'm not a part of a university?

I'm a student who has not yet entered college (though I am planning to as soon as I graduate highschool; that's a little ways away now though) located in the United States. I am old enough to legally work (just to clarify) and I'm interested in doing research. I've been teaching myself various subjects in math, physics, and programming/computer science (I've learned how to program in Python, the basics of calculus and linear algebra, and I'm reading about quantum computing, for example). Reading the question linked above, the advice seemed to be to contact a professor, whether through family, at conferences, or by emailing, and that it was certainly possible. I don't have any family that is in academia, and I can't exactly attend conferences (though I might try to attend some open talks that the nearest university gives, though that's a bit of a long shot) so the best option seems to be to email them.

What information do I need to give the professor? I've read about a CV, but my educational record is, you know, Kindergarden through 8th grade (with straight A's, but, you know, plenty of people get that) and the electives I've taken haven't yet differentiated much, and they won't until around 10th grade. I have taught myself a decent amount, but I don't know how to convey that information. I've found several professors at a university near me that I'd be interested in working with, and I'm working through some of their papers, so I can talk semi-educatedly about their research (hopefully, anyway). I also have an idea for a research topic that I've been working on for a bit in the field of quantum computing.

Should I try to compose some version of a CV? Should I  explain that I'm teaching myself various subjects, and am interested in their research, perhaps referencing some question I have about one of their papers and/or stuff I'm working on? I assume you're not really supposed to say, "Dear Professor so-and-so, Can I work with you?" I also assume they're not going to take reputation on stack exchange as any sign of intelligence. =)

Tl;dr, how can I a. get a professor to take me seriously and b. have a shot at getting accepted as a volunteer or assistant or summer intern or whatever for the professor/lab/group? Or should I not be emailing them (instead calling them, setting up an appointment, whatever)?


texts: What field of study allows a hobbyist to make a potential contribution

texts:
What are some fields in which a professional  programmer (specializing in Data Science technologies) can pick up hobby projects that can actually contribute something to that particular field.

I have heard rumors that astronomy is a field where hobbyists make serious contributions, is it true? What is the reason for this, i.e why astronomy of all fields has this special feature?


texts:
I'm a math TA and I find that my most consistent comment for improvement involved my board handwriting. Anybody have some tips or techniques I can use to make things a little neater on the board?

There are, of course, time constraints with teaching any course, so I don't want to simply write more slowly in order to assist in writing more neatly. Thankfully in a math course much of what I write is symbols which are easier to (borrowing a typography term) kern than sentences, but I still feel like I need to vastly improve my handwriting on a board if I plan on teaching for any length of time.

This is a sample of my handwriting:

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

EDIT: After checking the room in which I'm assigned to teach this semester, it turns out I do actually have a whiteboard instead of a chalkboard. Like I commented below somewhere, I'm sure 90% of the answers mentioned (those not expressly about chalk, anyway) will be completely cross-transferable and I'll try to make them all work. Thanks again for all the great answers!


texts: Can we put some documents which are not listed as required documents for jobs

texts: I am going to apply for non-tenure tack academic position and I have already prepared all documents. They did not list Cover Letter as a required document. I would like to know whether it is necessary or not to put this document in my application?


texts:
How are journals evaluated?

A researcher is evaluated on the basis of his/her publications.
If a researcher has good publications in his/her PhD he/she is offered a Post-Doc position and eventually a faculty position.

My question is:

How is a journal judged?How does a faculty search committee evaluate a person's publications based on the journals where one has published?Is it done on the basis of impact factors of journals?


texts: What would happen if I took my professor's accusation of cheating to court?

texts: I was caught cheating during an university exam. The professor promptly failed me for the class. If I decided to take this issue to court, claiming that the professor has no evidence of my cheating, could I get away with it? At the time, there were no cameras in the room, and the professor did not take a video or photo of my cheating. In this scenario, who has the greater power, the student or the university?


texts: Will publishing a first author paper in ICECE2020 conference help me when applying for a PhD admission in the USA?

texts:
I am in undergraduate. I wish to apply for scholarship to do PHD in the USA. Will publishing a paper in this conference (http://icece.buet.ac.bd/2020/) help me get funding?
It does not seem like a very reputable conference. However, I am not sure if my paper will be accepted in top tier conferences. So, is this conference 'better than nothing'? How much can a paper here help me?
thank you.


texts: Central deposit for recommendation letters

texts:
A while back, I remember seeing a service, and I believe more than one, that claimed that they would store letters of recommendation for you and send them on your behalf or the person writing the letter. That is, the letter writer would submit the letter to them, and then you could submit that same letter to different places requiring a similar letter through them, all without you ever seeing the letter. The idea is to avoid repeating work for the writer and avoiding constant asking for letters for the applicant.
The thing is, my Google-fu has completely failed me and I cannot find them again. Does anyone know what I'm talking about?


texts: Is it possible to get a PhD in field X with research that isn't really in field X?

texts:
People obviously change their mind sometimes. So it is possible that someone starts out with a PhD in a certain field, but may want to switch to another field.

I am wondering, is it possible, or generally deemed acceptable, for someone to receive a PhD in a field, let's say political science, but for the PhD thesis to really not be political science related (e.g. it could instead be a piece of research in economics, or theoretical statistics, without any reference to political science)?

Edit: it seems that it is required to at least relate your PhD to field X. What would one do if one really did not want to relate it to X at all?


texts: Is it okay to critique my already published paper?

texts:
After publishing a paper even with multiple proofreading and rerun the experiment, there is a feeling of "I should improve this" or "this section is so vague, I should explain more" or maybe the worst is when spotting an unintentional error in a graph or data.

Is it ethical If I make some kind of blog or extension about the paper that critique or extend my own work?
I don't want to write the extension in journal though because there is still a lot of work to be done for the next paper.

My fear is it can backfire me instead, if I show what I thought a minor error then the editor or someone read that and try to retract my paper. Or it will become a judgement of my poor work.


texts: What is most gracious way to exit a doctorate program?

texts:
I've made an internal decision to leave my doctorate program of 3.5 years. The reasons are many, but the major one is that I have realized that I don't need a doctorate to fulfill my career dreams, and that I am at a point in life where I prefer to start a family and build my marriage with my husband. I'm a more conservative girl in many ways, so some may not understand, but that's ok. I own my values 100%.
I got married to the love of my life who is also a PhD student about a month ago. He is defending in about a month from now and has a job offer in another state. I am younger than him in both age and my graduate progress. If I were to stay in my program, I probably would defend in about 1.5 to 2 years.
To me, at this point, it is simply not worth it to stay. I have learned so much from my program and the field I'm studying and am extremely grateful to be surrounded by a network of highly motivated talented scientists and engineers. However, there has also been tremendous toll taken on my mental health, and I dread the 60 - 80 hour work week that is required to be "successful" in my field.
So I have made my decision to leave with my masters after I wrap up the project I'm currently working on. But does anyone have advice on how to go about telling this my advisor without marring our professional relationship?
She doesn't see it coming, and I don't think she'll fully understand my reasons, but this is a necessary conversation to have.


texts: Do I need to do revision on my accepted paper?

texts:
I just received an email of my paper which was submitted to a conference.
The paper submission webpage has the following type of status:

  active (under review),  discuss,  withdrawn,  rejected,  minor
  revision,  major revision,  accepted,  no show,  published

The status of my paper shows "accepted". However, the reviewer of my papers have pointed out some shortcomings of my paper. (Personally, I think what the comments meant is that it would be nice to have things include in my paper). So the question is, do I need to make that adjustment for the "camera-ready" version? Is it true that only if the status says "minor revision" then you will have to adjust according to the reviewer's comment?


texts: Humanities for people with poor preparation?

texts:
As someone in a math-heavy field, the advice one is generally given if one's preparation for potentially going into graduate school is poor boils down to the following:

Do better in a class that succeeds the class you did badly in. The example, I think, was something like "if you did badly in algebra, take algebraic topology." But in undergraduate humanities programmes, there isn't necessarily as obvious a succession unless one looks at course numbering and intensity (e.g. presumbly a small seminar in the high 200's will be more intensive than a large survey introductory lecture class).
Do RA work for a year or two after one's undergraduate years (which might allow one to take discounted classes). But I am unsure if RA work is as plentiful among, say, scholars of Marx or medieval theology as it might be to biochemists or economists. Naturally, it would seem that there's probably some demand for translators or archivists, and I know people who have interned at museums as researchers, so maybe I'm not aware of something.

So I feel like it's hard to map advice in more overly structured programmes that may also emphasize things like hard data more to the humanities.

Is this true, and if so, what would be good advice for such situations?


texts: Which countries in Europe have teaching positions that do not require doing research?

texts:
The question is regarding Computer Science field. I wish to know which countries have such teaching positions that do not require doing active research.

Also, what are these positions called?

And, is a PhD required for these positions or Master's is sufficient?


texts:
I'm a software engineer in the process of building an information system for a UK university, and one of the staff members' (whose details I have to house in the system) highest qualification level is listed as "L.Mgt".

I've Googled the hell out of the internet and for the life of me I can't figure out what this qualification is. Can someone tell me what this is exactly?


texts: When to start contacting possible PhD supervisors (Europe)?

texts:
Currently I'm a master in statistics student in a European country and I'm planning to graduate in June 2021. During my master's thesis, I became interested in doing research and therefore, I have decided to pursue a PhD. I've already started looking for PhD vacancies at different universities but they all seem to look for someone who can start immediately. I've also made a list of potential supervisors and research groups that I want to contact, since sometimes not all available PhD positions are mentioned on the websites of the universities. My question now is: when should I start contacting potential supervisors? I'm afraid to contact them too early and that they haven't got time yet to look for funding or projects.
I'm mostly interested in doing a PhD in The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany or France.


texts: Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) 2nd Year Graduate Student Eligibility

texts:
I am a bit confused about the Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) academic level requirements. There seems to be a contradiction. The application implies second year graduate students can apply, but also says that no more than one academic year of graduate study should be completed. Either that or I am not familiar with the academic meaning of the terms "2nd year grad student" or/and "one academic year of graduate study".
I am a second year graduate student. I started in Fall of 2020, and have completed three full-time semesters : (1) Fall 2019, (2) Spring 2020, and (3) Summer of 2020. Does this mean I am not eligible to apply?
https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2016/nsf16588/nsf16588.htm

As a general rule, applicants must not have completed more than 12
months of full-time graduate study or its equivalent as defined by the
universities attended as of August 1 of the year the GRFP application
is submitted.

Academic Level: Only one level can apply
Level 1: Undergrad/Bachelor's
Current Senior, or completed Bachelor's degree; never enrolled in graduate degree program, ready to enroll full-time by Fall 2021.
Level 2: 1st year grad student
Current first year graduate student in eligible Field of Study at US academic institution. Currently enrolled in joint Bachelor's-Master's degree (must have completed three academic years in program).
Level 3: 2nd year grad student
No more than one academic year of graduate study in eligible Field of Study at US academic institution. Joint Bachelor's-Master's degree holders who progressed to a doctoral program the semester following award of joint degree (summer break acceptable), who have not applied previously as graduate students, may apply as first-year doctoral students only.
Level 4: Returning grad student
NOT enrolled in graduate school. Two-years post Master's degree. No terminal (doctoral) degree holders.


texts: Too busy with coursework to do research, can I transfer from CS Masters to a PhD in another school?

texts:
I just started my Masters in CS at EPFL. I got accepted here with their university wide scholarship as well as a unique opportunity to do research in a lab. My problem is that the course load (typically 7-8 courses per semester) is so much for a Masters degree here that I don't have any time to dedicate to any research. Of course there is the Masters Thesis but that only comes after all course work is finished.  In the mean time I see that the PhD students and other researchers in the lab are working on really interesting stuff and I won't have the time to participate in such work. So I was thinking about just applying directly to PhD programs either at EPFL or ETHZ or in schools in the United States. I wanted to do a Masters to get a better understanding of what exactly I want to research but I have realized that just by picking the research lab here at EPFL I know what field I want to do research in.

I was wondering how common it is for people to apply to PhD programs without completing their Masters studies. How should I explain this in my application, that I am deciding to leave a program? Would it be fine to explain that I am deciding to leave as I want to enter a more research oriented program? How open will admission committees be to that? Will the admission committee be worried that if I decided to leave this Masters program I might decide to leave the PhD program, which I don't intend to?

Any advice in this matter will be helpful. Thanks.


texts: Suggestions for official PhD/department visit (not interview)?

texts:
I realize this question may not have an explicit answer - if so I will remove promptly as per guidelines.

I have an upcoming visit to my top-choice program where I will be meeting potential committee members and the grad program director. I am very nervous.

Details about the visit itself:

morning breakfast with committee member
lunch with other grad students
several meetings with different professors/grad program director
last meeting is with primary supervisor

Suggestions can be more structured around the following considerations:

how can I stop freaking out
do i need to sell myself 100% of the time, or try to be more amicable

This isn't an official interview (app isn't due for a couple months) but I've been talking with several profs in the department for a while.


texts: Google scholar changes my profile into non English language, how to fix this?

texts:
Hi Google Scholar changes my profile into Thai language, how do I change it back? My Google account language is English. I contacted Google several times but never got any response: Google seems don't have any client service, disappointed...

Thank you very much @Anton @GoodDeeds @ Solar Mike.
I tried the way shown by Anton and find my own language setting is already English. I also know the way to manually change the display languages by GoodDeeds. The problem I encountered is that whenever other people searching my name in Google, my Google Scholar profile will be popped up, which shows only in Thai. I hope to find a way to let Google Scholar automatically display the languages in English as what they did before. The main purpose is to help others to read my profile in English.  This problem happened about one year ago, I contacted two or three times Google through certain online feedback form, but was never replied and the problem was never corrected. I will probably try to use Twiter or Facebook to contact Google


texts: When applying for grants, does the NSF care that I'm "poor"?

texts:
When applying for US NSF grants as a PI, does it help my case to discuss how little funding I've had?

To give some background: I am a new-ish faculty member; so far in my career I've received 1/2 of a rather small NSF grant (shared with a co-PI), which didn't even come close to covering the actual cost of a PhD student.  On this shoestring budget I've been able to produce a bunch of good work, but in ways that are not sustainable as a long-term funding strategy (getting financial help from senior colleagues, begging my department to let me use startup funds past the original deadline, sending students away for internships so that I don't have to pay for them some semesters, etc.).

Question 1: When applying for new grants, will the NSF panelists consider my productivity relative to my budget?  Or do they only care about productivity full stop?  If the former, how do I effectively convey this lack of funds in my proposal?

Confounding the situation is that I am at a very highly ranked place in my field.  In past talks with programme managers at the NSF, I have heard the message, "we try to spread the funds around and not give it all to people at rich institutions like yours."  The problem is that I'm not rich, and if my university has money, I'm certainly not seeing it.  Ergo, my impetus to ask this question: how do I convey to the NSF panel that I'm actually pretty "poor"?

Another confounding factor is that students at my institution far more expensive than the national (US) average: I have to ask the NSF for about USD $92k/year for each PhD student I want to fund, whereas I have colleagues at other places who pay about half as much. So even the small amount of money I do get from the NSF doesn't stretch very far.  I don't get the sense everyone on the NSF panels realises how big this discrepancy can be: for instance, after receiving the grant above (which covered <1 student) I asked my PM about submitting another proposal; the response was along the lines of, "Why don't you just have fun and enjoy doing research on your current grant?" Which leads to my second question:

Question 2: In my proposals, should I address the fact that PhD students are particularly expensive at my institution?  Or will this just turn off panelists who think I am "too expensive?"

To put all of this another way: I once had a vagabond friend who told me, "if you want to beg for money in the rain, you should hide your umbrella."  Should I be making it clear that I don't even have an umbrella?


texts: Will the asterisk (*) next to merged articles in my Google Scholar profile disappear?

texts: After merging two articles in my Google Scholar profile, an asterisk (*) shows up on the profile next to the merged items. Will it disappear after a while, or will it remain forever?


texts: What constitutes an academic publication for people in the Creative Writing field?

texts:
Based on my observation, Creative Writing degree programs seem to be heavily focused on learning a few timeless principles of storytelling followed by the production of a massive portfolio of stories (short stories, novels, poems, plays, etc.) demonstrating mastery of these principles.

Once someone has a degree in Creative Writing, or especially has become a professor of Creative Writing or aspires to be such, what sort of academic publications are expected or typical? My instinct would be to say that they simply write more (and hopefully better!) stories and publish them, but then that would imply that there is a difference between fiction intended for the academic community that is subject to rigorous peer review by fellow Creative Writing academics and fiction intended for a mass-market audience that is selected based on what the editor thinks will sell the most copies - does such a distinction actually exist? E.g. perhaps there is some writer today thinking "Hey, I think this story I wrote about wizards getting revenge on a king on Halloween is one of the best of its class in the past few hundred years, I'm going to submit it to the peer-reviewed Trans-Celtic Journal for the Advancement of Bardic Storytelling rather than Spooky Tales Quarterly. Tenure here I come!" Do separate peer-reviewed venues for publishing "academic-grade" creative writing not exist as such, and academics publish wherever they want (fanzines, pulp mags, blogs, Cosmo, wherever) and let their stories stand on their own?

Am I wrong on this? Do professors of Creative Writing actually concentrate on publishing research articles on the effectiveness of various writing techniques, tropes, themes, plot devices, etc. (e.g. "I did this study where half of my readers/subjects read my story [Appendix A] with the side love scene and half without, and the ones who read the story without it rated it higher [Graph B]. Conclusion: Don't include side love scenes.")? Do Creative Writing professors write literary analysis like Literature professors in the Liberal Arts?


texts: Should I send a mail to query the process of my manuscript since it is in the "Awaiting EIC Decision" status for two weeks?

texts:
One of my manuscript was submitted to a journal in one year and four months ago, and after two rounds of reviews, its status was changed to "Awaiting EIC Decision" two weeks ago. As far as I know, the "Awaiting EIC Decision" status is the final time when the chief editor to decide whether to accept or reject the paper, but it seems the editors handled with my manuscript a little slow. Is there a chance the CE(Chief Editor) overlooked the status change of my manuscript? and should I send a requesting e-mail to speed up the process?

I am not sure my e-mail will affect the final decision of my manuscript, and whom should I sent the e-mail to, the AE or the CE? since the manuscript is in the "Awaiting EIC Decision" status.


texts: How do I tell my professor that I am volunteering with another project? Should I?

texts:
I am working on a project as an undergraduate researcher in Prof A's lab.

At the end of the semester, one of my class professors, Prof B, proposed an idea for a project, so I and a few other students volunteered to research with him. Since this is all over the summer (meaning no classes), the topic was interesting, and I have nothing to do due to the pandemic, I thought it was okay (time management isn't an issue). The work with Prof B isn't part of a dedicated lab either, and I expect it to last just a few months in the summer.

However I came across this question (https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/47981), and now I am concerned that I am lying by omission. How do I let Prof A know about Prof B, or should I even worry about this? Was it wrong of me to volunteer with Prof B this summer? My question is different because I have no other obligations.

The last thing I want is to worry Prof A or make him unnecessarily think that the lab is boring, or for him to get a bad impression of me. Time management isn't a problem, and I've been attending & contributing in all meetings and deadlines, etc.


texts: Including incomplete or complete BS after MS in résumé

texts:
I have just got a MS in Math and I'm about to start a PhD program also in Math. The problem is that before starting the Math program I dropped out of a combined BS+MS program in Computer Science after ~3 years. I'm not sure about how, or even if, I should include that info in my résumé.

I'm considering some possibilities and I'd appreciate it if you could give me some advice on them.

Include that incomplete BS+MS program in Computer Science in my
résumé.

Pro: show part of my undergrad academic background. Con: being percieved
as a dropout.
Stop including that incomplete BS+MS program in Computer Science in
my résumé.

Pro: not being percieved as a dropout. Con: not showing a part of my
academic background.
I need only four credits to finish the BS part of the Computer
Science program. It will demand me only a light additional workload to get
them in two or three semesters while working on my PhD. I could finish
the BS part of the Computer Science program and start mentioning it in my résumé only after having completed it.

Pro: I'll be showing a BS diploma in a related field. Con: the
graduating date for the BS in Computer Science will be after getting
the MS in Math, so that could be seen as a lack of direction in my
career.

I think that this question is not a duplicate of this one because I'm considering also the possibility of actually finishing the incomplete BS program and how it compares to inlcuding or not information about it if I don't get the diploma.

EDIT for clarification

I already have a BS and a MS in Math and I've been admitted for a Math PhD. I want to know how I should expect to be judgen when applying for a future postdoc or applied math job if I happen to add a Computer Science BS diploma in between the Math MS and the Math PhD.

The intuitive answer to me would be that, if after finishing my PhD I'm able to prove that I've work hard, adding in that BS in the résumé should not harm. But I'm also considering the possibility of being judged as lacking direction in my career.


texts: How to answer a non-specific point of a review?

texts:
I'm in the rebuttal stage of a conference paper and I'm having trouble to answer in a specific way to a point raised by a reviewer. The reason is that is completely non-specific:

  [...] and some subtle conditions are not discussed by the authors.

and the previous sentences are unrelated with the final one, so I don't have a clue on what he's speaking about.

It's quite frustrating, since it seems to me very unfair that he/she doesn't give me the opportunity to defend my paper. How can I answer in some constructive way?


texts: In which countries are academic salaries published?

texts:
This is a simple question but I am not sure how to find out the answer. Where in the world are the salaries of (senior) academics published and freely available? I found this amazing web page  from Canada. Is it unique?

So far we have learned: (See answers and comments for more details.)

Many US states give full salary details for public university employees.
The province of Ontario in Canada gives full salary details.
Switzerland  gives full salary details (although no URL given yet).
In Denmark you can infer the salary fairly accurately from seniority and job classification.
In Finland (and possibly Norway and Sweden), everyone's basic tax records are public information although you can't access it online.
In Germany salaries for individual professors are secret, but salaries for other researchers can be inferred from public salary tables.
In the UK salaries for individual professors are secret, but salaries for more junior academics can often be inferred from published salary tables.

It would be great to get a fuller picture for Europe. What is the situation in France, for example?


texts: Reference on the authors' willingness to receive public, online feedback on their work

texts:
Is there any research/study/survey that looked at authors' willingness to receive public, online feedback (e.g. public comments on the publisher' website) on the papers they publish?

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


texts: Can a conference paper with all weak reject get accepted at the end?

texts: Those who have experience in setting in conference program committees: can a paper with all "weak reject" reviews get accepted for publication at the end?


texts:
I have studied for eight years at University and have at the moment achieved a masters degree in Mathematics. During my first 4-5 years or so, I suffered on and off from depressions and my performanes varied. I did a bachelors project in physics and was supposed to do a masters there too, but a combined factor of the depressions with a professor who has a bad rapport with students made me interrupt the education. For a year or so I considered whether to leave academia or to actually fulfill the masters, but the experience left such a bad aftertaste that no interest seemed to come in finishing it.

After a while I decided I wanted a masters after all, but it had to be in a different subject - Math. I took some courses and talked to a lecturer about doing a masters project (he knew about my situation).

I finished much of my remaining course work (doing well in most courses, getting the equivalent of As or Bs pretty much all way through) and did a project under him. By this stage I had essentially overcome my depressions and was at full health. The project went really well and is now considered one of the better works done in recent years and several independent senior people have told me that chances of getting a PhD with such a thesis will be very good.
Considering my history though, it has been explained to me that I will not get one at my current Uni. (Guess it would be too talked about, and I am well-known at several departments). I was however enouraged to apply to other Unis.

So I did and only a bit more than a week ago I got an interview. Having had it I thought it went fine, but now after 10 days or so I havent heard back and am believing that perhaps I havent gotten a position (they announced three). During the interview I was asked about why I wanted to leave my current Uni and the answer I gave was that they didn't have the direction of reasearch I wanted to persue (which is true). I think in retrospect that they wanted to now about this history (that I assume my supervisor mentioned in his letter to them).

My questions:

is it wise to disclose my history of depressions? They can obviously see my registered masterproject that was never finished and probably contact the department for more info. If I can convince them that the depressions is not a problem anymore I think it is only good, but to what extent will this be the case? Will it look better to avoid the question altogether?
10 days having passed and no confirmation, but am I really out? (After the 20 minute interview I had a private discussion with one of the potential supervisors and he did mention that my master project was very strong and that they seemed interested in the commite. The discussion felt good)
I wrote an email after 4 days or so, asking how things went. The response was very short and went '' The decision is not quite made yet. We will announce shortly.'' Is it OK to email him again after a week from the first letter if there has been no response? Or would this potentially ruin any remaining chances?


texts: Is the Chegg Honor Shield tool an effective promotor of Academic Honesty?

texts:
Many college instructors have been struggling with a significant rise in cheating in the last year, notably in the context of required distance learning and online testing during the time of the COVID pandemic. Among websites that facilitate such cheating, foremost may be the Chegg website.
In the last month it appears that Chegg have updated their "Honor Code" with a new tool which they are calling the "Honor Shield". In brief, this tool appears to promise the following:

Chegg will now create and verify registered accounts for course instructors.
A registered instructor can upload a copy of an upcoming exam.
Inquiries or answers are blocked for those exam questions in a set timeframe.
Chegg will delete information from the uploaded exam one month later.
"Presently, there is no charge to use the Tool."

Chegg page for the Honor Shield tool here.
More terms for the tool under the Honor Code page here.
More context in this Forbes article that mentions the Chegg Honor Shield.
Would making make use of this new tool at Chegg be an effective tool for promoting honestly?  Are there any drawbacks?


texts: My professor cancelled research for the summer, unsure what to do

texts:
Around halfway through my spring semester (around April), I met up with my CS professor for research opportunities and he said he'd be happy to take me on for a project. He sent me papers to read over the course of the month, but also said he wasn't expecting me to finish them all since finals started in mid-May. He also said if I'm in town for the summer I can do research throughout this period.

I told him in May that I can stay for the summer by dorming here and would be happy to continue the research through this time, but my dorm wouldn't open until June 1st. My professor was fine with that and said we could meet starting then.

The first month or so was rather good; we would meet and discuss papers, he would give me more papers, etc. We even talked about me continuing this research in the Masters program if I applied and got in. However, around June 20th he just disappeared. I emailed the PhD Student under him and he told me the professor was out of the country, but he'd be happy to take questions. I went with him for questions for the rest of June, but he ended up leaving town prior to the start of July. I never heard anything back from the professor until July 16, who asked if we could meet at a certain date/time. I told him that due to my summer job I couldn't meet at that specific time , but I could definitely meet at another date/time.

I never got an email back, and with work and all I was too busy to follow up immediately. But I followed up the next week telling him my dorm stay would be coming to an end in a week and I was hoping we could meet before then or meet once classes resumed. He emailed me back saying he decided to cancel the research because his fall/summer semester is too busy and he doesn't think he can advise new students any more, and encouraged me to reach out to other professors for research.

I'm not sure if he cancelled research for another reason, or if he genuinely realized he doesn't have time for the research with new students. I feel for investing time and money for my summer to do research, for him to cancel without at least providing a reason or giving me some sort of advanced heads-up is really unfair. How should I proceed with this issue? There was another student doing research alongside me, I plan on emailing him to see if the same thing happened to him. I told my parents and they were pretty mad and said I should take this up with the school, but I want to at least clear this up on the ground before I do anything like this. I won't get reimbursed and I effectively wasted my summer (although I did make money through a summer job, so there's that), but should I just let this die or pursue it?


texts: Colleagues exaggerate problems in department

texts:
I know this is a topic that some people have strong opinions about, but a toxic culture is developing in my department whereby several postdocs have convinced themselves that they are being mistreated because of extremely small -- often imaginary -- confrontations.

For example, a postdoc encountered a senior staff member in a doorway. The staff member apparently gave her a "funny look", which confirmed the postdoc's view that this staff member is abusing their position of privilege. Anyone who points out that this is a total non sequitur is accused of allowing bullying to flourish.

This situation has been building steadily over the last few years and now five or six postdocs keep a running tally of "microaggressions" so microscopic that it is very difficult to see how they can exist. For example, one postdoc sits with their back to a door, and a professor came in to talk to another colleague, and didn't acknowledge them. This incident was talked about for weeks as evidence of the professor's "rudeness". In other cases, some people are labelled "creeps".

To be clear: I absolutely do not condone abuse. I know power dynamics are real, and that many minorities (of which I belong to several) experience daily microaggressions and othering. I have been on the receiving end of workplace bullying myself, and would never wish to silence real problems. I too am a postdoc, so have no additional power and gain nothing from allowing abuse to flourish.

What worries me is that none of these incidents are being raised with any of the staff members in question. Therefore, many junior researchers have accepted as fact that their professors are horrible and selfish people. I'm concerned about this mindset, because in at least three cases, these "selfish" professors have some form of autism (I know this as I'm a wellness officer). Perfectly ordinary behaviour is framed as malicious.

Personally I've found it very upsetting. Many of the people on the receiving end of this gossip are very kind, if not socially awkward, people. It scares me that so many people uncritically accept that everyone with a permanent job is some kind of bogeyman; of course, I cannot betray confidentiality by informing my colleagues that many of these incidents didn't occur and indeed it's kind of ableist to assume you can read minds all the time. Abuse and power struggles certainly can, and often do, occur... but if any of these complaints were substantial they should be raised with HR.

The sad truth is that I think my colleagues just get their power from trash talking others, and aren't actually interested in the truth. Dissenting voices get shunned (and accused of being privileged / not being woke). Anyone who isn't in 100% agreement gets immediately shut down. But, also, my colleagues are just upsetting themselves for no reason. They're scared of encountering these "terrifying" professors, most of who have done nothing worse than dressing slightly shabbily and being uncomfortable with eye contact.

Anyone have any advice on dealing with this kind of situation?


texts: Is it impossible to find a PhD position for someone who has failed courses during their master's degree?

texts:
Suppose a computer science student who has had lots of life problems and failed courses during their master's degree, but eventually defended successfully with an excellent score, seeks PhD positions.
Is it impossible for him to get accepted into a PhD position and a professor who's willing to work with the student or is there still a chance, even a little?
The student is from Iran, seeking PhD positions in Canada or Germany.


texts: How is literature that contains racially charged language treated in the context of academic discourse, and what is the etiquette for using it?

texts:
One of my good friends is a history professor at a local college; in order to preserve anonymity I will not specify which one, but it is a conservative Christian private school in my state. We were discussing some of his curriculum and he mentioned that he is feeling nervous about one of his literary choices, since a paragraph of the document contains one instance of a racially charged word (ne---) and he is not sure if this is appropriate to present to students in the context of an academic discussion. He is not going to read the passage aloud or say or write the word, but the word does exist in the passage and the students are probably going to bring it up. He doesn't want to just not use the passage because it feels wrong to just discard a historical document for that reason alone.

I was intrigued enough by our discussion to ponder what I would do in that situation, since I am hoping to become a professor or educator in my own career, so here is my question:

How does academia treat literary texts that contain offensive/racially charged language? What is the etiquette around presenting texts in class that include these words? Would it be better to simply present the passage in a censored version where the words are modified or removed, or is it better to use the source without any modification but carefully explain it to the students and make sure it is treated in its proper historical context? How would you handle this situation as an educator?


texts: Mathematics journal publishing colour diagrams for free

texts: I have a paper with colour diagrams that I wouldn't like to convert to grayscale for publication. I think colour greatly helps to understand some complicated patterns. I know most journals accept colour pictures upon payment, but I'm not willing to pay for letting others publish my own work and get benefit out of it. Forum Mathematicum is a nice journal which publishes colour pictures for free, but I recently published a paper there and wouldn't like to repeat. Do you know of any other nice options? The paper is on algebraic topology bordering with quantum algebra.


texts: Dealing with a friend who always leans on me

texts:
I study Mathematics and Computer Science. I have a classmate who  excessively depends on me when it comes to coursework . He wants me to explain definitions, proofs, share code, check his proofs and bugs in programs. It seems to me he does not pull enough efforts when he doesn't get things in the first try and approaches for help.

I have tried to advice by saying "you should work on this for more time" as most of his questions are trivial. I think that he finds it easier to get help from somebody rather than reading again or spending more time. I also think that I am spoiling him by helping. This is also ruining me as this eats up my time.

What is a good solution to my problem? How can I convince him to put more effort from his part? I tried to avoid him especially when exams get near, but he ends up finding me.


texts: Choose a referee who knows me better or one who is better known?

texts: I'm currently choosing my second referee for a masters application. I did an academic internship and I worked closely with two people while there. One of the people was the Director of the institute and is more experienced than the other. However, I know the other person better and believe she would write a better reference. Should I go for the person who may be better known in the world of academia, or the person who will write a better letter?


texts: Should I email potential supervisor when I've already applied

texts:
I applied last week for a PhD project at a European institution (the deadline was Friday 13-Nov). Due to seeing the position fairly late, I did not make contact with the project supervisor prior to applying (though it didn't say I had to do this).
I'm now wondering whether I should email the supervisor to say hello and let them know that I applied.
Pros:
Means I don't interact with them for the very first time at an interview.
Cons:
Seems slightly weird? Ideally, I would have emailed them before applying. I don't have much to say in the email, the project was fairly well described in the advertisement. I could ask for more detail, but I don't want to sound presumptive?
I'd love to hear what people think, and what they think I should include in any email.


texts: Should I ask the expected level of technicality in the research statement while appyling to a potdoc position?

texts:
I am currently in process of applying to open postdoc positions.
As a global regulation, universities require for me to provide research statements as well as cover letters.
Many articles in the web advise to avoid technical language. This is understandable, because the person who is reading the statement might not be competent in the field I have worked so far.
I have also read this excellen answer from JeffE, which attempts to draw a clear line between a technical wording, and a very technical wording in the statement.
I am applying to a position in the field of theoretical computer science/computational geometry. Because of the nature of the position I am applying, I must use some technical language to demonstrate my knowledge on the topic.
However, I am really doubtful about writing a statement which contains not enough technical language, misleading the hiring committee of thinking that I do not have deep enough expertise.
As a result,
I now have two different research statements. One is technical, one focuses on the everyday applications of my research.
I don't have a strong publication record. Thus, the only strength I can highlight is the significance of my publications. I cannot decide which one to submit.
The only solution comes to my mind is to contact with the corresponding faculty members whom I will potentially work under, asking the acceptable level of technicality in my research statement.
I wonder if this seems unprofessional.
Should I send a mail asking about the level of technical detail?


texts: Experiment by using a Matlab's demo data set and publish to journal/conference

texts:
I hope my question is within the topic of this forum.

I would like to test an algorithm to a real application data and publish in a journal/conference. However, I cannot acquired my own data set myself and I am thinking to use one of Matlab's demos data set that is mentioned from a real experiment.

Is it acceptable to use those data set for a conference/journal publication?

Thank you


texts: What is the best methodology to select a major? (Diploma and academic courses)

texts:
Alright this question needs a little more context. This is not about me but I will define the situation as if it were for myself, so feel free to ask me directly for clarifications.

I'm a German student currently in my second year of a university course that combines both teaching (to children) and art. The problem is with the actual practice during internships: I quickly realized that teaching is not for me; plus, art doesn't guarantee me stable outcomes at all, the jobs are very rare and underpaid.
So now I'm fully decided to change my course,I've already started searching by:

Looking up the available diplomas in different universities in my country, and the contents of the classes they are made of. This didn't give me the inspiration I expected, and didn't give me a relevant sense of what was really taught.
Going through various online orientation tests, but their questions are not precise or numerous enough to give me relevant tracks; most of them lead me up to the legal field, which I highly dislike.
Going through various lists of jobs, also to get inspiration and know about stuff I didn't know. But it still does not give me a solid overview of what the  careers actually entail.
Talking with as many people as I can about it, to share experience and knowledge.

But all this brought me no closer to my goal as I'm still stuck at the same point. So my exact question is: what would be the best tools/ways/methods to find and analyze relevant programs that I could enjoy, as well as their outcomes ?

P.S.: I didn't find any other relevant SE community in which I could ask this; if there are, I would be happy to move my post.


texts:
I am graduate of Toronto University. In my master program, I, unfortunately, fail an elective course. I took an extra course to offset the credit and I pass.My overall grade is A- (except for the FZ one!).

I am intending to apply for a PhD. However, my transcript has an FZ which may be will interfere with the application procedure since UofT is very competitive Uni.

Can anyone please suggest me if it would be a good plan to retake the course (fail course)? Suppose I got a good grade, what would be the improvement?
or, any other way I can impress the admission authority.

NB. Other than this FZ (I call it as a disaster in my academic career), I have a good academic record.

Thank you in advance for your time and be with my worries.

A person with a passion for research!