texts: What differentiates Bioinformatics from Computational Biology?

texts:
I am a university level student of Computer Science. I like to know what really differentiates Bioinformatics from Computational Biology in terms of the core area of study and the nature of subjects and curriculum. In addition, which discipline is more Math/Stats oriented or in other words which one requires sound foundation and skills in Maths and Statistics and what level of Math/Stats is desired?

I am including these links here so that everyone can look into the right definitions of these interdisciplinary fields of study:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioinformatics
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computational_biology
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematical_and_theoretical_biology

Looking forward to professional academic information and advice. Thank you


texts:
I have two questions about grants:

If someone wins a grant, do they have to perform research exactly
about the questions they proposed in the grant? Or, is there room to
change the research question later?

What to do if there is uncertainty when I do not know which lab
or even country I will be in the coming year. As I understand, the
grant is written with the help of a PI and ideally the research is
done in their lab. Do people set in the stone where they want to do
the research before writing the grant? If the postdoc has to move to
another country, what happens to the grant? Is it divided between
the postdoc and the PI?


texts: Which email address should a student use in a publication?

texts:
So my student and I are writing a paper, my question is:  Among firstname.lastname@student.institution.domain vs firstname.lastname1@gmail.com

which sounds more professional?

I personally submitted a paper back when I was a bachelor student using my gmail address, although I had a similar student account like the one above. But my supervisor back then advised me not to use an @student account

In this related question, a reviewer mentioned that he tends to have a negative a-priori when he sees an author of a paper with a gmail address (he admits that it should mainly be about the quality of the work, but he can't help it)


texts: Is there a dedicated academic principle that focuses on designing systems for human organizations so that corruption is minimized?

texts:
I always had an interest in learning about what other people have discovered about designing a system where people do what they should do or at least never certain things, as in they should have consequences.

For example, You hire a contractor to build a wall. You don't trust him, you hire an inspector. But then how do you make sure inspector isn't taking bribes from the contractor level below him? Hire another inspector?

Solutions with varying degree of success that I can think of are:

anonymize so communication can take place between parties
rotate randomly so it's hard to tell who will be in power
group check; can't bribe all, have multiple inspectors (at least before they form a group)
use computer in a system that documents and eliminate subjective feedback in the system
crypto; plays into anon/random scheme.
seperation of power so collusion by two would agitate the third
game theory stuff

I wonder if there is comprehensive research or academic branch on this. Sociology?

I can't tell which tag to use, and I don't really visit this site much so please bear with me.


texts: Should I mention in my statement of purpose that I am applying because of my girlfriend

texts:
I am applying to a university for a PhD position because my girlfriend is a PhD student there. Our affair is quite serious and it is almost surely going to convert into a marriage. We might even get engaged in 2019.

I have been in touch with professors from this university. Moreover, I am using some of the results of another professor directly in my masters thesis. I have a lot to write in the statement of purpose from a technical point of view.

However, because of my girlfriend, this university becomes a top-priority for me against all other PhD offers I may get and I want to stress this in my PhD application.

Should I mention this in my SOP? How should I mention it, if the answer is yes.


texts: The Wikipedia definition of sabbatical doesn't match how I think of an academic sabbatical. What does it mean to go on academic sabbatical, and does it depend on the country?


texts:
Is it possible to have a double PhD even if the university you are originally applying for doesn't focus on this category? A double PhD is not the same thing as two PhDs. For example, the medical school at the University of Groningen describes its double PhD program as follows:

  A Double Degree (DD) PhD means that you will obtain your PhD degree from two different institutions, i.e. a double diploma, sometimes also referred to as a "dual award". A double degree (two diplomas, each of which issued by a single university) should not be confused with a "joint degree" (one diploma issued by multiple institutions).

I'm applying for a PhD position on a university and it does not have a explicit double PhD program (although I know there are some people on another field that held a double PhD from this same university). However, this double PhD degree would be very helpful to me considering my future plans.

From this, I was wondering: could I receive a double PhD if I find a second advisor from another university? Or the universities need to be associated upfront? In this case, if the university I'm apply on does not have an explicit double PhD program, it is possible (for legal issues of diploma printing) to just associate with another university?

My second question is: for an advisor, what is the advantages of having a part-time student? For last, the thesis needs to be approved for both universities... how this happens? I would have to present for both?


texts: How do I politely ask a teacher to write a reference letter as soon as possible?

texts:
I have 3 days left and I totally forgot I could add more than 1 reference letter to my application.

I need this teacher to write me a reference letter as soon as he can... and it feels so rude asking this.

How can I imply that subtly but clear enough for him to understand my situation?

Should I send him reference letters written by other professors to help him quickly find the form and content for the letter he will write?


texts: What is the most effective way of starting a presentation for students?

texts:
I am a student who has to do public speaking in front of other students at my university.

What would be the most effective way to start the presentation so that my audience doesn't get bored within the first few seconds?

Starting with "Hi, I am Bob. I study Chemistry and I will talk about squirrels today" sounds extremely boring.

Is there any general structure that should be used, so it can be used in any presentation topic?

Is there even any need to introduce yourself? As I've been heard the audience doesn't care about what your name is or what your job is, just what you will be talking about.


texts:
At my college I worked in the back room shredding graded essays from various subjects for hours.

Some of them were very good and seems like a gross waste of data and labor.
I wonder is this the policy of all colleges?

https://law.stackexchange.com/questions/40595/can-database-be-collected-from-essays-written-in-college


texts:
I was wondering what is the correct use of titles in Germany as I am so confused by it all.

My English title is: Mr X HNCert, CertHe, FdSc, AMRSB, Mem.R.E.S, FIScT, FSABM.

Would my German Title be: Herr Bakk. rer. nat. mult. X HNCert, CertHe, FdSc, AMRSB, Mem.R.E.S, FIScT, FSAMB

I am going to work for six months in Germany and was wondering of the correct way to do things. S


texts: Shall I inquire about the status of my application?

texts:
I had a skype interview a week and a half ago. I believe that the interview went well. I had a brief e-mail exchange with the head of the search committee on the 26th.

How long does it take to move from Skype interviews to campus interviews?

Shall I email them to ask about the status of my application?


texts: How to obtain a fair recommendation letter from a professor who knows me via course, not research?

texts:
The normal case is that students should obtain a recommendation letter for graduate school from the professor under whom the student has performed research.

Currently, I am taking a course conducted by a field-famous professor, from whom I wish to obtain a recommendation letter for my grad school application. However, due to some reasons, I am not able to do research under him, which implies that our only connection is that course that I am currently taking.

If so, maybe one year later, he may refuse to write me a letter, because he does not know me well, or even has forgotten me. Even if he is willing to write me a letter, being not familiar with me, he may not be able to write a decent letter for me.

(By "decent", I mean a letter that actually can help. I know that as long as he is willing to write me one, he can simply say "the student obtained a good grade from my course". I don't think this kind of letter will actually help, IMHO.)

So besides obtaining a good grade for this course and frequently asking valuable questions, what can I do to impress him so that I can obtain a decent recommendation letter for my future grad school application? How to make him understand me better?


texts: Value of a online masters degree in computer science to aid a slight career detour

texts:
I'm a software professional with 9+ years of experience. I've been working most of my career (6.5 years) on the server side, and middleware with only about 5% exposure to programming (Java). The specific domain I work in doesn't require excellent programmers; only basic knowledge is preferred and it's even optional.
Even with this 5% exposure, I was among the best programmers among people in my domain. This is not because I was any good, but it's because most of them barely know programming because our domain, since it doesn't require it.

In my last 2.5 years I've been working full time as a Java programmer, because I was interested in programming, and, luckily there was a (rare) programming requirement so I easily got the tasks.

My job is still a good job, and it has decent pay comparable to programming jobs, but I'm looking for programming jobs.

It'll be hard to find a good programming job with a person with 9-10 years of experience since 1) our domain doesn't require it much and 2) I won't be as good as other programmers with 9-10 years of coding experience.

To make my resume more suitable for programming jobs and to improve my skills, I'm considering doing an online masters degree in Georgia Tech, keeping my current job. I'm also looking at other courses, not just in GT.
https://www.omscs.gatech.edu/

I hear good things about the GT OMSCS course and that it's as difficult as a full time, onsite course, so I'm okay there.

Q1: Are online MS degrees from top universities valued by companies? I'm not asking how it should be valued but how it actually is valued.

Q2: Assuming I look for a job in about 1 year, will companies consider offering jobs to people with 10 years experience with about 4 years and no masters degree.

Q3: Assuming I finish my online MS in 3-4 years, will companies consider jobs to people with 12-13 years of experience with about 6-7 years of coding experience and an online MS?

Q4: Is it worth it for a professional with 9-10 years of experience to start a masters degree?

9-13 years of experience is somewhat senior so I'm wondering if I won't be considered at all for programming positions.


texts: In APA, do we italicize the names of wars and treaties?

texts:
For example, is it:

the Korean War or the Korean War?
the Treaty of Versailles or the Treaty of Versailles?


texts: Consequence of declining an accepted offer after the universal deadline 15th April

texts:
This is my cousin's problem.  In the first week of March he was offered a PhD offer (Upper Middle ranked School in USA) in Physics and he  received his I-20 to get the visa.The admit was fully funded. He accepted the offer because he didn't have any offer at that time.  But few days ago, a top ranked school admin said to him that, he might be admitted as a lot of students haven't accepted their offer (it is not guaranteed though plus admission is completed ).

He was always expecting to get admitted in that school. The deadline of the offer letter from first school  is 15th April (He accepted the offer already).

Will it be possible to decline the first offer later/admission  if he gets the offer after around two weeks from the top ranked school? I want to know the consequences of this situation.

EDIT:

I have received another suggestion from academia. He suggested to defer the admission (if he gets from the second university) from the Top ranked school. After a semester completed in the first admitted University, If my cousin feels that he should change the department, he will be able to do it. How reasonable is this?


texts:
What is the difference between "Estimated publication date" and "publication due date"? For example:

Estimated publication date: 8 weeks
Due publication date: After positive completion of peer-review process


texts: How can we measure the subjectivity in the scientific papers?

texts:
The subjective decisions come up many times in the process of paper writing/doing research. These decisions' consequences are added up at the end. I didn't find research that would actually measure somehow this subjectivity in papers.

I'm wondering to quantify the subjectivity individually while the process is on.
I thought first I would just count the number of such decisions... One approach would be to ask people, to note each time when they decide about something that could have been put in another way... Do you know a better approach? I would appreciate any idea!


texts: Is it okay to ask your research paper co-author (first place) to write a letter of recommendation for your PhD admission?

texts: I finished my school almost 10 years ago. Now, I have planned to go back to academics to pursue my Ph.D. Graduate schools usually ask Ph.D. candidates to get the recommendation letter from either your teacher or someone who supervised you in any past research project. In my case, I have no contact with any of my past professors. Also, my last highest degree (MS) was based on coursework (not research based) which means I never worked under any supervisor before. However, I have published some peer-reviewed research papers (as co-author) in collaboration with other researchers (working at different institutions). I would like to know if it is a good idea to ask one of my co-authors (first author) to write a letter of recommendation to support my Ph.D. application. Please suggest!


texts: What to do during Math PhD to have options in industry?

texts:
I have recently been accepted to a top five math PhD program. The department seems to have a good mix of pure and applied math, and there are plenty of opportunities for collaboration with other departments (Stats, CS, Econ, etc.)

I am most interested in pursuing math more on the applied side of things. Moreover, I would like options outside of academia once I graduate. Looking at the previous PhD alumni, this does not seem to be a problem - anyone not in academics is doing pretty interesting stuff in finance, data science, consulting, machine learning. However, I want to make sure I am not missing something along the way that these students did which enabled them to have broad and attractive job prospects.

I am especially interested in Analysis, Probability, Stats, Machine Learning, Econ, Mathematical Biology, Cryptography, and Applied topology. I would be happy to do work involving any one of these.

My questions are these:

What should I do during my PhD to be able to have good non-academic job prospects after graduating? (Would something like a PhD minor be helpful?)
How does it differ by field? If I want to do something like quantitative finance, what do I need to do versus if I want to do something like data science?
How can I find out more information about question two. As things change and evolve, how can I find out what it is I need in order to be accepted for positions and jobs involving areas that interest me?

I am not sure if I am exactly asking the right question, so if someone else has suggestions of what I should be asking, please suggest.

Note: There are a number of questions on this site that ask similar questions, ("I'm doing math but I want to go into industry") However I think my question is rather different. Firstly, I am hoping to pursue research with applications during my PhD, rather than focusing on super pure math. Secondly, I am asking this question before I have even started my PhD, hoping to know what I should do before, during, and after my program. Most of the other questions basically have the theme "I did a PhD in pure math, now what?"


texts: How to share a scientific dataset with the research community

texts:
Background:
I am a PhD student and am one step away from graduating. I have created a dataset in 3D microscopy vision, particularly 3D surface reconstruction from scanning electron microscope images, and the work has been already published in a highly respected journal. I would like to share the dataset with the research community to draw attention and possibly evaluate the contribution(s).

Question:
I am wondering what are the typical channels that scholars use to share datasets?


texts: Should startup-company founder accept peer-review requests?

texts:
I'm a relatively recent graduate putting together a startup company, and I've just received an offer to peer-review a paper for a reputable journal.

As with prior questions on SE.Academia, e.g.

As a Ph.D. student, should I spend time reviewing papers?,
Personal repercussions for those who actively ignore review requests?,
What benefits are there to peer reviewing papers?,
I have been invited to peer review a manuscript for a reputable journal. This is my first so I have a few questions to the more experienced,

I'm basically asking if it's important that I accept.  The difference in this question is that I'm not currently employed by a university, nor do I foresee that changing any time soon, so I'm less concerned with something like a faculty activity report and more concerned with maintaining professional connections.

While I believe that it's virtuous to help build the human knowledge pool, my primary concern is a bit more pragmatic in if I should be focused on building professional connections.  Realistically speaking I'm not currently too concerned with publishing papers, though I may yet need to when it's time to explain to the world exactly what technology my startup's based on.

However, a time sink's still a time sink, and I can't afford too many distractions right now.  I'm also unsure about precisely what I'd be committing to, making it harder to judge how much of a distraction it might be.

Other considerations:

The peer-review request came in on a private email address, so I assume that someone I know well recommended me.  It's a pretty safe bet that both the editor and the person who recommended me are aware of my professional situation and considered it when making the recommendation/request.
The editor has strong connections in a field where I have a patent for a technology that may yield significant royalties if it's adopted.  As a complex technology that I don't currently have time to personally champion, having other experts in the field recommend it could be the difference between investors using it vs. going with a less-effective-but-simpler solution advocated by competitors.

Questions:

Should a startup-company founder be concerned with maintaining a reputation as a peer-reviewer?
In general, is serving as a peer-reviewer important to researchers outside of academia?
Are there potential benefits/hazards to accepting/rejecting a peer-review request?

Context information (if relevant):

The peer-review subject matter isn't closely related to the startup company's core technology, though one expected basket of consumers of the company's core technology is likely to care about the peer-review subject matter.
I haven't officially done a peer-review before, though I've provided unofficially commentary upon request for those that were serving as peer-reviewers.


texts: How to quit a potential paper with my Master's supervisor when I am already doing the PhD somewhere else?

texts:
For 1 year and half I did my master thesis in one laboratory, where although I learned a lot, it was mostly alone, having very reduced supervision and not having a project parallel to any of the PhD students. Finally by the time I delivered my thesis I learnt that I got accepted with a internship in a international institute (application that I did all by myself). My master supervisors were not happy as they wanted me to keep going with experiments to publish a paper. I did what I could before I left for the internship, even taught a new master students with the techniques I implemented. Also I transformed my thesis as much as possible in an article, still requiring just a few more experiments.  Now, one year and half later, having I already done 2 internships and started a very good PhD position in another country and scientific area, they still nag me with questions about the article. They did not contribute with any more experiments for the article and only one of the author corrected once the manuscript, only actually correcting the grammar and formatting. At this point I quitted  the article but clearly they still did not. I am indecisive if I should:
a) just stop replying,
b) sent an email explaining that I want to focus on my PhD now and so I have no longer interest in the article
c) if I send the raw data and tell them to do whatever they want as long as I have the name somewhere and I can read one of the last versions.

The problem with c) is that although is the most "polite", I know they will keep nagging me and I will have a lot of work to prepare all the raw data (which include tons of images) to send them and most probably they will never actually publish it. With the other hypothesis the issue is that I do not want to have bad professional relationships. It is also important to refer that my thesis was presented in a poster in an international conference so it will not really bring much more scientific knowledge to publish it.


texts: How can I find out when an Editor intends to publish my paper?

texts:
My manuscript was accepted in an ISI journal 6 months ago, but it is not published online yet. I found that the journal published online some manuscripts that were accepted after my acceptance date. Therefore, I sent several emails to the journal Editor but, I did not receive any answer.

How can I find when the journal aim to publish my manuscript?


texts: How to create incentive for students to take surveys?

texts: I started to do questionnaires and surveys to assess my teaching methods and the learning gain of my students. How to convince the students to participate in these surveys? Is it OK to give small course credits for taking these surveys (say 1%)? otherwise, what are the incentive for the students to take these survey?


texts: APA Format: When writing the name of a program I used in a study (MyFriendQuest) do I need to italicise the name or add a trademark sign? I am not sure how to stylise the name of the program or if I even need to.


texts: Deciding graduate school... easier way out or face the challenge?

texts:
I was accepted into two good MS programs and need to decide which one to attend next fall.

One program is at the school where I will be finishing my undergraduate degree. I am holding a student intern position and have been told that I could continue to work in the lab if I decide to go here. So it can be said that this decision will leave me within my comfort zone.

The other program is at a new school which is ranked higher. The graduates from the program seem to be doing well upon graduation, either pursuing a PhD degree or getting a job. However, I am still in the process of looking for a faculty adviser with whom I can possibly do a research with.

This process of looking for a research lab is much harder here, since most of the position requires a knowledge in the field that I do not currently have (I'm a CS going into Bioinformatics... with many of the labs requiring some specific biology background). With this decision, I will be facing multiple challenges.

My end goal is to apply for a PhD program at the end of my MS degree and I think having more research experience and publication will help when it comes to applying for programs. Should I stay at my current school where I can continue to work with a faculty advisor and graduate students? Which decision will benefit me more down the road?


texts: A level as entry requirement to PGCE program

texts:
I would love to pursue Maths teaching but I am unsure whether I would be accepted onto the programmes and whether I should complete an A Level in Maths with a view to apply for PGCE or Schools Direct Route in 2015.

Will getting my A Levels in Maths help to get admitted to a PGCE program?

As background: I'm 26 and hold a 2.2 degree in Biomedical Science from a British university. I took my A Levels in Biology and Chemistry but only got an AS Level in Maths and Art. My work background is that I have been a carer for family members for many years.


texts: Does FERPA apply to university teachers when they are working as private tutors?

texts:
In addition to teaching at a U.S. university, I also do some private tutoring on the side.  I am always scrupulous about observing my university's conflict of interest policy, which prohibits tutoring a student who is taking a course that I am currently teaching (even if he is in a different section of the same course).  When I'm wearing my "university hat", I know I am bound by FERPA, which prohibits me from (among other things) discussing any student's academic performance with his or her parents, regardless of whether or not they are paying the student's tuition.  (Some parents have a hard time with the idea that they are not allowed to be kept informed of their student's grades.)

It's not clear to me, though, whether the same prohibition applies when I am wearing my "private tutor" hat.  In particular, if a parent is paying for private tutoring for their college-aged child, and that parent wants updates on how those private lessons are going, am I allowed to divulge that information?


texts: Should I ask for a LOR from my future Master's Supervisor?

texts:
I start my master's year project in mid November this year and am currently applying to graduate school, most of whose deadlines are 1st of December. I was wondering if it was acceptable to ask my master's year supervisor for a letter of recommendation despite not having actually started in the lab yet? For more context, we have interacted twice in person and over video and have been communicating over email. But as a research lab degree I was wondering if it would be too soon to ask my supervisor for a letter, but at the same time wouldn't it appear odd that I haven't submitted a letter from my supervisor for my graduate school applications, especially considering my masters field is very closely linked to what I wish to pursue in graduate school. Also, when would be the best time to ask - once I start in the lab mid Nov for a 1st Dec deadline or just before starting, giving them a bit more time?
EDIT: I'm doing a Master's in the UK and applying to US graduate schools


texts: Having trouble getting my "assistant" to put in work. How do I tell him to help out more without being rude?

texts:
I was recently asked to train a new undergrad research assistant in the lab I work in. I was then told this new lab member is my assistant. He has no experience working in the lab before this, but I had been there for about a year before he came in. We have been working together for a few months now, but I am stuck.

I did have the chance to talk with him more, and he told me that he is only doing research to get a paper published. After all, if you complete research and do not get published, what is the point? I was a little bit taken back when I heard this, though not surprised. Of course almost every researcher dreams of being published, but me personally, I truly want to learn. I am not boasting and trying to make myself look better, but I personally believe my experience as a researcher will serve me well in my future career. If I do get published, all the better! I do strive to have enough data for publication, but I put my learning first.

After hearing this, my opinion of John changed, though I try very hard not to make it personal. I try very hard to focus on the research, and put all of my energy towards making my project successful. He always mentions to me how his schedule is very full, that he is always busy, but at the same time, I also struggle in giving him work to do. I do not want for him to take credit for something I did (in the long run), but I am afraid that because I may appear weak to him, this will most likely happen.

We had a meeting with our PI a few weeks back, and though John had mentioned to me he would be available for work that morning... once our meeting concluded, and several alarms later (that the professor subtly hinted his annoyance with the constant going off of his alarms), he mentioned to me that he has to get going. He gave me one idea that we could do to improve our project, but then as he walked away, said that his schedule is starting to become busy. I am busy too, I am overwhelmed sometimes, but I simply cannot stand the complaining anymore. I would like to tell him in a nice way, that if we are to work on this project together, he must put in the same amount of work that I do. However, the professor has mentioned he is to be my assistant, so I am not sure if he does have to put in as much work as I do?

I am really stuck on how to stand my ground and not appear weak, but at the same time, I do not want to be mean/a jerk. I am also wondering whether I am just putting John in a negative light because I see him as competition? Any thoughts?


texts: Management after Software Engineering undergraduate degree or separate management masters degree?

texts:
I am currently an undergraduate student studying BEng (Hons) Software Engineering at University of Greenwich. I want to do masters but I am not sure what to do. I am a very talented software architect and programmer. I have two years worth of industrial experience (1 year at IBM and 1 year at NHS).

I am interested in technical side of things in industry which is why I have been considering to do MEng Software Engineering. However, in future I want to move into management side of things while staying technical at the same time. My ambition is to become a CTO. What would you advise?

Would you advise me to do MEng Software Engineering and then MBA? Or shall I do MBA straight away after my software engineering undergraduate degree?

Thanks a bunch in advance.
Manthan Dave


texts: Contacting potential advisors before applying to graduate program - PURE MATH

texts:
I have seen a few similar questions, but the answers are not usually specific enough to math, and it seems this is one of those things which varies heavily based on field. In many math programs, the student does not have an advisor until 2 or more years after being admitted to the program, so I'm really not sure how relevant contacting individual professors could be. Should I or should I not attempt to contact faculty with whom I would be interested in doing phd work? Do students who reach out to potential advisors generally have an advantage over those who don't in the admissions process, and are they more likely to actually end up working with the desired advisor?
Are there any cases known when contacting professors in this way has actually been harmful to a student's career? Suppose I have read some of Professor X's papers, and I like his style and the areas he works in, but I don't have specific questions about the papers -- then is there even a point in writing to him? Should I try to come up with questions for the sole purpose of writing?
If anyone knows of a post where these questions are addressed specifically for pure math, please let me know.
By the way, I am an undergrad in the US and applying to US math programs.


texts: Does better learning affect teaching evaluations? If so, how?

texts:
Arum and Roksa (p. 7) say:

  Research on course evaluations by Valen Johnson has convincingly demonstrated that "higher grades do lead to better course evaluations" and "student course evaluations are not very good indicators of how much students have learned. "

I don't have access to Johnson's book, but a review states:

  [Johnson] found the "grade-attribution" theory the most useful: "Students attribute success in academic work to themselves, but attribute failure to external sources" (96). Regardless of the reason, the analysis provides "conclusive evidence of a biasing effect of student grades on student evaluations of teaching" (118).

Johnson did his work in the US. If I'm understanding correctly based on the fairly brief descriptions I have available, he managed to get permission to spy on students' actions over time, so that he could actually detect not just correlations but the time-ordering of events, which could help to tease apart questions of causation.

Johnson says that evaluations are "not very good" indicators of learning. My question is basically on what the available evidence is as to what "not very good" means. It's possible that someone could answer this simply by having access to Johnson's book and flipping to p. 118.

If "not very good" means low correlation, then it would be interesting to know whether the correlation is statistically different from zero, and, if so, what its sign is. My guess, which encountered a very skeptical reaction in comments here, was that the correlation might be negative, since improved learning might require higher standards, which would tend to result in lower grades.

If the correlation is nonzero, it would also be interesting to understand whether one can infer that learning has any causal effect on evaluations. These two variables could be correlated due to the grade-attribution effect, but that wouldn't mean higher learning caused higher evaluations; it could just mean that better students learn more, and better students also give higher evaluations.

If we had, for example, a study in which students were randomly assigned to different sections of a course, we might be able to tell whether differences between sections in learning were correlated with differences between sections in evaluations. However, my understanding is that most of these "value added" analyses (which are often done in K-12 education) are statistically bogus. Basically you're subtracting two measurements from one another, and the difference is very small compared to the random and systematic errors.

My anecdotal experience is that when I first started teaching, I was a relatively easy grader, I got very high teaching evaluations, and my students did badly on an internationally standardized test that I gave at the end of the term. Over time, I got confident enough to raise my standards, my teaching evaluations went down, and my students' learning got dramatically better, as measured by this test.

References

Arum and Roksa, Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses

Valen Johnson, Grade Inflation: A Crisis in College Education, 2003

related: Do teaching evaluations lead to lower standards in class?


texts: Should one disclose his/her family information in an academic job interview?

texts: Should one disclose his/her family information (i.e. whether he/she is married and have children) in an academic job interview, including postdoc interviews and interviews for PhD, if any? In what situations would disclosing family information in such interviews be considered advantageous or necessary for the candidate? If not appropriate during interviews, then when would be the best time for one to disclose his/her family information?


texts: Should I cite the interviewer or the interviewee when citing a news article?

texts:
I was wondering what would be the appropriate technique to cite an interviewee from a news article. I would imagine this is fairly common in some texts, but I could neither find any mention of it in my school's guidelines nor in stackexchange or google.

So for example, if I was to quote Edward Snowden from an article written by someone else, would I reference (Snowden, 2015) or (Palmer, 2015) or something else?

I'm currently using APA style it must be noted.

Palmer, D. (2015, June 2). Snowden slams UK governments attempts to secretly pass legislation allowing GCHQ to ‘hack anybody’s computer’. Computing.co.uk. Retrieved from http://www.computing.co.uk/ctg/news/2411261/snowden-slams-uk-government-attempts-to-secretly-pass-legislation-allowing-gchq-to-hack-anybodys-computer on 13th November, 2015.


texts: Should I worry that a graduate student somewhere gave a talk using my abstract?

texts:
I was looking for mentions of my work on the internet and I came across a seminar series in which a graduate student had given a talk using an abstract of mine. It is unpublished work which I posted on a preprint server. There was no mention in his talk announcement of who did the work, but it was unmistakable because it was in a very specialised area and got a fair bit of media exposure.

On the one hand, I think it is shoddy to give a talk about someone's work without mentioning them in your abstract. The student also never contacted me to ask if he could talk about my work or to get further information etc.

On the other hand, it seems unlikely that the student wanted to pass the work off as his own because, as I said, it already appeared in various newspapers and blogs with my name attached to it.

I thought of contacting the student or his advisor, but it seems a little heavy-handed, I don't know what I should say, and my default behaviour is just to do nothing.

On the other hand, I have been stung before by ruthless people in academia and I feel like I should be protecting my turf, particularly since I am not currently employed by a university.

Best case: it was an innocent misunderstanding, my work got some extra publicity because this student thought it was cool. Worst case: he makes some minor changes and publishes it under his own name and I am once again a doormat.


texts: Does getting pay to be a subject in an experiment violate an F1 visa in the US?

texts: I am in a university in the US. I need 10 subjects for a 2-hour experiment. The compensation is 100 USD. If a subject is an international grad student on an F1 visa in my university, will it go against the terms of his F1 visa, which restricts his ability to work in the US?


texts: The name of the document which prove my studies at the university

texts:
I am originally from one country but study at university in a different country. Now, my native country asked me to prove that I study at this university and I want to ask my university to bring me document for that. What is this document used to be called?

Can I call this document "study confirmation letter" or "confirmation of studies"?

I found (here) the phrase "proof of study" ans also "Certificate of Enrolment" (here), "proof of enrolment" (here) but "proof of study" as well as "confirmation for studies" both seems to be for those who are graduated already while I'm still student there. I would like to take you advice for the conventional way (that everybody at the university office can understand) to call what I need.


texts: Is it necessary to publish in a "research" internship? (undergraduate-junior)

texts:
I am currently in a research internship where the topic which has been given to me is quite new to me and I don't think I'll be able to produce anything "publishable" by the end of session (4 months). I also have issues as I'm working for home and I wasn't provided any additional compute power via cloud.
If I only generate a report of what I studied and some nominal findings can I term the experience as an "internship"?
I am asking this because I am in the process of structuring my resume now and am planning to apply for grad school.
I am aware this is quite opinion based but a few answers will be highly appreciated and helpful!


texts:
I'm applying to PhD programs in departments with very little funding, especially for their grad students. I've also read that it would help my application if I could subtly mention that I wouldn't need funding.

Is this true and if so, how can I possibly do this in a "subtle" way? I've spent quite a long time in the private sector and am able to self-fund if necessary. None of the apps have a "proof of funding" form and it's not like I can attach evidence of an external scholarship. I'm not exactly keen on sharing tax returns or savings accounts.

Thank you for any advice!


texts:
I am not going to give details about the situation (for obvious reasons) but here it is: I got accepted for PhD to a very good American university, in experimental particle physics and I met a famous professor here who is willing to be my mentor.

I talked to some of his old students and they all said good things about him (both personality related and research related).

The thing is that his students usually finish the PhD in about 3 years (this includes taking classes, written and oral exams), while the average here is about 6. I am not sure if I should go for it or not.

I really like the work that he is doing and a recommendation letter from him would definitely mean a lot and I am totally willing to put as much effort as necessary into the projects he gives me. I am just not sure if a 3 years PhD would be good for my future career.

Will I get to learn enough? Will the post-doc or professor positions I will apply to might view such a short PhD as a bad thing (the students I talked to graduated quite recently so I am not sure about the long term impact of this)?


texts: How many referees is too many for a journal or conference paper submission?

texts:
I recently reviewed a paper for a Math/Comp-Sci conference. The author's response came back with responses to 12 referees.

Am I wrong in thinking it absurd that there are this many referees on a paper?

For one, I, like many researchers, expect a paper to have about 2-3 referees, so make a rule of refereeing about this many papers for every paper I publish.  I will cannot referee 12 papers for ever paper I publish.   What does this do to the referee pool?

Secondly, having so many referees seems to make the decision of any single referee as insignificant. If I spend 2 days on a paper, as is not uncommon in math, I would like to think my opinion counts for more than one vote in 12.

Finally, responding to 12 referees is quite a burden for the author;  especially if referees make suggestions about style or presentation, which could be contradictory.

I am not just ranting. Is there another side to this that I am missing?


texts: Should I choose a "Pass" grade instead of a letter grade due to the study disruption during the Covid-19?

texts:
I understand this question has been asked in this forum. But I still want to have some advice on my case.
I am current a research master student in one of the top universities in Canada. In the last semester, I got two B+. This gives me a GPA of 3.3 which is lower than the PhD admission requirements of 3.5. Now, due to Covid-19, our school allows us to choose to report a Pass in our transcript instead of a letter grade. Students choosing this Pass/Fail option will not have their GPA obtained in this semester counted towards their final GPA. That means if I can obtain a GPA higher than 3.5 in the next semester, I can still satisfy the PhD admission requirements. So should I choose this Pass/Fail option if I am considering the opportunity of apply for PhD programs? Thanks.


texts: In applying for fellowships, is it better for 'majority' students to select "Prefer not to respond" in racial identification?

texts: I am a second-year graduate student in applied mathematics looking to apply for fellowships for this upcoming year. It also happens to be the case that I am a Caucasian male. Would it be more advantageous for me to select "Prefer not to respond" in applications that ask for my race and gender (especially applications that give preference to women and minority students), or is that generally considered to do more harm than good?


texts: Any advice for my first TPC task as a PhD student?

texts:
I'm a 4th year PhD student (in 5 years program) and recently I have been invited by a conference organizers to become a member of the conference technical program committee (TPC) for an international conference in Bahrain. I have discussed with my PhD adviser whether to accept such invitation and he mentioned that it is good to participate in the conference activities.

So, what things I need to consider while reviewing papers since this is my first TPC task, any tips?

I found some question here but mine is a bit different.


texts: Why physics (science) articles and journals differ pedagogically with books?

texts: During the undergraduate, students are introduced to new materials through reading books and lectures. They go through all the semester struggling with solving exercises of different levels. However, when they become new researchers, they face disturbance to familiarize themselves with the journals in concern, i.e., everybody agrees that the researcher should take enough background, even though, the traditional proceedings may not work to dive into a large topic of research that comes up with updates for almost every day. Particularly, reading such articles keeps it fuzzy from what's happening on the ground. In addition, lots of proofs (if we speak in terms of physics) are not clear if not missing. I wonder how this could be solved?


texts: Being asked to pay penalty if fail PhD qualifying exam

texts:
Just to ask, how common is it for universities to ask a PhD student (fully funded) who has failed the qualifying exams to pay back partially or in full their stipend?

I heard some anecdotes that some universities require students to pay the equivalent of masters course fees in order to graduate with a master degree. This is supposedly done to deter students who enroll in a PhD to get a free Master by deliberately (or otherwise) failing their qualifying exams.

Thanks for any input from any professors/ students inside or outside US!


texts: Can I select any of my published paper in journal for book chapter

texts:
I have been invited to submit a book chapter. The invitation email says:

  Due to your involvement in the field, and the research you published in your paper, 'X', publisher 'Y' invites you to extend your work and offer a more comprehensive overview of your studies. Contribute a chapter to 'Z', an upcoming Open Access book edited by Dr.'W'.

Surprisingly, paper 'X' is completely unrelated to the Book 'Z'. The book is edited by a renowned professor, the publisher is InTechOpen.

What to do in such case? Can I select any of my published papers in journal for this purpose? Will it not create any copyright problems?


texts: "Excellent foreign scholar" from Chinese National Science Foundation

texts: I am reading a colleague's CV which lists an "Excellent Foreign Scholar" scholarship from the National Science Foundation of China.  I am not familiar with this program, nor is google particularly helpful for me as a complete non-speaker of Chinese.  Is anyone familiar with this program, and what it would entail?


texts: Mention of open problems in statement of purpose

texts:
I graduated with a first class honors in dual degrees (bachelor of electrical engineering and mathematics) from Australia and would like to study for a PhD in the USA.
One of my dreams is to work on a specific open problem in control theory for my PhD. I got a WAM (weighted average mark) of 95 (out of 100) for my dual degree.
Is it unrealistic to state in my statement of purpose that I like to work on a specific open problem in control theory? and would it have any negative effect on my admission?


texts: What to do if you forgot some proofs while writing your thesis?

texts:
I am currently writing my master’s thesis. It is like a survey and contains lots of theorems with or without proofs. Everything that I am writing, I studied and proved before. However, I see that I forgot some proofs or even definitions and cannot do it without looking at the books. So, I am studying those again, try to prove them my own, and then write them after I understand them – but I feel lost.

What should I do and what have you done when you face a problem like this?


texts: Can I Change a recommendation letter provider after being invited for Campus interview?

texts:
I have recently received a campus interview for a Faculty position ECE (I had applied for the position much earlier time). They invite me just by looking my CV (Top 100 ECE schools of US). Currently, I am working with two postdoc supervisors (outside US). While we were in the process of setting the interview date, the university has asked my reference providers to submit their letter. Two of my references have provided letters (one PhD supervisor and one Postdoc supervisor). However the other postdoc supervisor is not willing to provide a letter.

The application requires me to provide 3 names of references. Now my questions are

Is it good to ask the committee chair to change the name of reference at this stage?
Could the school change their decision not to proceed with me (i.e., cancel the invitation).
Will they inform me give them alternative reference?

Thanks


texts:
Another problem I personally struggle with in peer-review publication process is the situation when review takes really, really, really long. The precise definition of "long" is probably very area-specific: for example a paper in Maths will probably took longer to review than one in Physics. Many well-established journals and major publishers, sadly, prefer not to specify the "rules of the game" precisely, particularly how long the review process should normally take. Fortunately, I quite often serve as a referee with the very same journals and know the amount of time I am given to write a review. Unfortunately, when I am an author, I do not observe these deadlines to be always met. For example, a notable U.S. publisher would ask a reviewer to send a review in 2 months; but in practice a first review of my paper once took as long as 8 months.

As a rule of thumb, I usually start writing to editors with questions about "the status of my paper" in X+1 months time, when X is a deadline time for a reviewer to submit a review. This strategy is not particularly successful — what I usually get is a recommendation to be more patient. Since there is no "official" deadline time announced, there is no formal ground for complaints here.

Of course, such delays lead to a whole bunch of funny situations, particularly if a preprint is put online (e.g., on arXiv) and the results are presented in some conferences. Follow-ups with no official paper to cite, grant applications in which you can not justify by a solid publication, good research but bad bibliometrics or CV, to name just a few.

Could you recommend an efficient way to deal with this problem?


texts: What is the performance expectation for promotion to full professor (from tenured associate) in the US versus in the UK and Australia?

texts: For roughly equivalent-tier universities (e.g., similar according to world rankings), what is required to be promoted to full professor in the US, versus in the UK and Australia?


texts: How to politely request payment for extra hours of TA service rendered?

texts:
My TA letter indicates 90 hours working. However, I worked for 120 hours due to the volume of the students. Now my work is finished I want to let them know by writing an email to the professor. I want to be nice and thankful for the given position.

Note, my goal is to get paid for these 30 hours. I had already raised the issue with the professor before doing the work, and was told to do the work, record my hours, and then the professor would follow up with the head of department.


texts: How to review a revised paper I have already rejected?

texts:
I reviewed a manuscript submitted to a high-impact journal. The quality was low and I believed it could not reach the journal’s standards even by revision. I clearly recommended rejection.

Now I received the revised version for review. Two of three reviewers (myself included) had suggested to reject the original paper. The third reviewer suggested a major revision. Nonetheless, the editor had asked the authors to revise the manuscript (I never experienced this before).

Clearly, the editor is in favor of publishing this paper (for personal or professional reasons; I cannot judge). What should I do? I publish 80% of my works in this journal, and it is very important for me to avoid any conflict with the editor.


texts: There is some indication that I am not that good at teaching – should I still strive to become a professor?

texts:
Since I was an undergraduate I have been a tutor many times, either a drop-in tutor or a private tutor. However, somehow these students politely turned away from me for reasons I do not know. In all conscience, I am very meticulous in preparing lecture notes and every class. I thus am tempted to think that if it is possible that I just have no that kind of teaching charisma.

Is it still possible for me to become a professor?

Please first let alone the other various necessary conditions for becoming a professor.


texts: UK Postgraduate student loans for 2016-2017 intake

texts:
The UK government announced that from 2016-2017 student loans for masters degree will be available up to a value of £10000.

I will complete a masters degree in August this year and I intend to do another masters degree starting in October this year.

Will I be eligible for these new student loans?

Or will only people who are doing their first masters be eligible?


texts: Simultaneous submission short version to conference and full version to journal

texts: I know that it is a common practice in computer science to submit a short version of article in conference and extended version in journal. What if I submit same article one short version to conference and full version to journal simultaneously? The journal has already mentioned that they accept the extended PUBLISHED conference articles; but in my case the conference article is not published at the time of journal submission. Moreover, the review process will complete almost within same time frame for both the conference and the journal. I also want to know what does it mean when journal say that they accept the conference paper if it is 30% extended? It means 70% of text and results can be duplicated in both conference and journal article?


texts: Query regarding possible status of submitted paper

texts:
I have submitted my paper in June, 2016 in an Elsevier math journal. Around first week of June, 2017, replying to my personal query, the handling editor informed me that he has sent the reviewer's decision to the editorial board. The current status of the paper (for almost three weeks now) is "decision in process". Now I am quite confused regarding the possible outcomes. In my experience, after reviewer's report, author gets the information within a week. Therefore it would be really helpful if somebody could help me in the above matter.

PS1: After my submission, the journal has not asked for any revision and the status went directly from "under review" to "decision in process".

PS2: I am quite aware of the typical workflow of a journal. But my question is not regarding the process.


texts: What does a PhD application rejection mean for other applications?

texts:
If you applied to several PhD projects, all in the same "level" of university prestige.

Could a refusal from one of these applications be interpreted as a inadequacy for the rest?. Could it mean the applicant should start aiming for one "level" lower?


texts: Applying to PhD programs - One reference just quit his job

texts:
I am applying directly to several Professors for a PhD. As part of my applications I usually attach a CV, two references (one is a professor, the other is a research project leader in industry), and if asked I add a note transcript too.

My second referee just told me he quit his job as project leader. As contact info I had attached his work phone and address. Obviously, he will no longer be reachable at those.

What makes things worse is the fact that I recently submitted two PhD applications.To professor A: I sent it a month ago, and he recently replied asking me for my note transcripts. Regardless if he is satisfied or not with my academic performance, when he calls/writes my second reference, the fact that he is unreachable would be a red flag. To professor B: I sent the application a week ago, and have not got any response. Same problem applies, he won't be able to reach my second reference. In such case, he would probably not even bother to ask for my transcript.

What would be the correct course of action now?


texts: Does taking on an assistant professor position prevent me from doing post-docs later?

texts:
I have been offered an assistant professor position at a university in my home country. As I don't have any other offers at the moment, I want to accept. However, I believe that a post-doc or two will help me improve as a researcher, and also will help with my two-body problem.

I want to know that if I take this position, am I still eligible to apply for and do post-docs? My field is physics.


texts: Applying for a Physics Masters as an international student

texts:
I am a citizen of Bangladesh, an underdeveloped country in South East Asia.

I would like to apply to universities in Canada for a Masters degree. In particular, I would love to secure an admission to York University or the University of Waterloo. However, I've learnt that students coming from the Indian sub-continent must have already done a Masters to apply for a Masters degree. How true is this?


texts: How do professors spend their NSF grants?

texts: If a professor receives $200,000 as the PI (not co-PI) from the NSF, how many PhD students can he/she take as Research Assistant (with yearly salary of $18,000)? I am asking about the most usual cases. How much money does he/she need to handover to the department? How does this budget usually work? Does the professor also need to pay the tuition of the funded PhD students? Or does the department pay it? Very interested to know.


texts: When a graduate/fellowship application asks about research activities, am I allowed to talk about expository pieces that I have written? For example, one semester I read a highly influential and important paper in my field. I then wrote a significant length expository piece based on it. Would this be considered a research activity? Or does this imply that it has to be original research? I looked everywhere through the application guidelines for the explicit definition of "research activity" but I couldn't seem to find it anywhere.


texts: What are some tips for crowdfunding science off websites like PetriDish?

texts:
What are some perks that would increase the amount of dollars that people spend on a venture? And what level of transparency would be useful?

Petridish is a recent KickStarter-like startup for crowdfunding science.


texts: Monochrome vs grayscale in scientific journals?

texts:
Many scientific journals accept only black & white articles.

Does this mean that only monochrome (black and white only) articles or also grayscale (gray is OK) article are OK?

The same question holds for books.


texts: Journals selection - alternative criteria to impact factor

texts:
While trying to select the journals I can submit my present work and future work, I realize the time between the date the authors send the article to the journal and when the revised article is submitted. Usually this is something between 6 months and more than 12 months.

Althought I am focusing on the Impact Factor (IF) to select journals, I think that 12 months to have a feedback that might include "add more variables analysis","this article will be more valuable if you test also model x,y and z", can have a huge impact on you work. It will make you stop what you are currently doing and possible spend up to 2 months making the changes. This might make a big mess on your work if you have deadlines to respect, however this happens to everyone in academia.

My question is, besides the IF journal based selection, how can we select a journal with enought quality with lower IF? What alternative criteria should one use to select the journal? Should we choose newly created Journals?


texts: How do I turn the acceptance offer down gently?

texts:
I am from a developing country and finished my BA in February 2011. I was a very good student and my university is one of the best in my country (It is in TimesHE top 200 global list so its prestige is somewhat acknowledged)
Last year I decided to go back to school after 4 years of fulltime employment (sector and position irrelevant to my research areas) and applied to 9 different M.S. programs in US. I was very uncertain about the strength and quality of international credentials, and gave myself no credit but to my surprise, only a month after my applications were in I have recevied 2 acceptances. By now I have 4 acceptances, 2 of which were my top choices. I am over the moon. I do not even want to hear from other 5, because I'm in for my top choices.

My question is this: I have been accepted to very good 2 M.S. programs for my research focus, and for both, program directors contacted me in person to congratulate and to state their interest to take me on as their student. Furthermore, both of them also offered me a TA position, one of them partial tuition waiver and the other one full waiver, while both give me a generous stipend and health insurance. However I cannot decide which one to go for.

One of them is sufficiently prestigious, my research interests are 50% in line with those of program director's, but their financial reward is great. I kinda negotiated the offer from her by sendind a follow up email and she finally sent me the offer. The school is also located at a nice city to live in, and I'd love to live there.
The other school, on the other hand, has the coolest program director a student would ever want, she is very friendly with me and I can tell she is genuinly interested in me. She'll be taking me on as one of her research students. Her research topic is 100% in line with mine. But this school waives only half of my tuition, so I'll be covering the other half myself. It is also located in a not-so-interesting city.

Which one should I go for? Cool mentor-bad city-half tuition rates or OK mentor-cool city-fully funded? I'd like to turn the other down very gently and keep the bridges "unburned". How do I do that without getting anyone offended?

I plan to stay longer in US so to eventually get a PhD.


texts:
I work full time as a bit of a mix: sql server DBA, BI developer, DW admin, ETL developer…

I hold a BS in Systems Engineering, and wanted to continue studying…

What are my options to balance a possible Masters in business intelligence and at the same time working full time?

I live and work in SouthWest London. Work is a bit flexible (I would be able to modify my working hours a little bit).

I have no knowledge in current options, but; is there any university in London where I would be able to do a masters in BI, attending to classes maybe only Friday and Saturdays?!


texts: Recently published paper does not cite my very relevant work

texts:
Before I start my PhD I worked in a group that researched on the application of a particular area to a particular domain. No other research group published work in this area+domain. So I can safely say that my previous group is among the first if not the first to research in the application of that particular research area on that particular domain.

Now I find a paper published at an IEEE conference where a major part of its contribution is introducing a system that does something I did in a previously published paper, and it does it in the exact same way and even gives it the same name!

I know that some conferences could accept non-novel contributions. Also the paper talks about other aspects so I find it perfectly fine that this paper has been accepted and published. But what I find annoying is that they do not cite my relevant work which was published a year earlier and fairly visible online; A simple (unpersonalized) search on Google would show up at least three links to my work.

This is the second time I face this problem, but the first time this happened it was actually by the same group I worked with before; they published a related paper without citing the paper I co-authored with them.

I try to give the maximum possible exposure to my work by making it publicly available on my personal website, ResearchGate, making sure it appears on Google Scholar, etc..

I find it worrying that my work misses citations, I am keen on improving my h-index and citations count. So my questions are:

Is there anything I can do regarding that already-published paper?
Is there anything I can do to prevent this from happening in the future?


texts: Should online notes be cited in reference of paper for publication?

texts:
I find that some lecture notes available online as well as some websites (e.g. wiki) provide important sources of information for various scientific fields (e.g. mathematics), and are sometimes better than officially published papers or books in certain senses.

My question is that if I write a paper for official publication, can I cite them in the reference of the paper? If so, what is the format to cite them? For examples, to cite an online lecture note, may I simply write as preprint, or have to add the weblink to the note? For web sources, may I add weblinks of the websites to be cited?

For example, is it valid to cite something like: "P Schlicht. Lecture Note: A Introduction to Model Theory, Online...(or Preprint...), 2018"?
I think there is no need to add the actual link to it because the link can be changed later.

Edit:  This question is different from the suggested question for duplicate because I ask also what is the format to cite online notes and websites.


texts: Is it frowned upon to go to office hours as a graduate student?

texts:
I'm a graduate student (PhD, first year) in physics, and there have been a few times where I just can't figure out something regarding the material/subject of the class. Normally I just tell myself that since I'm a graduate student, I better be able to figure it out myself without the help of the professor, or any other "higher-ups" in my department for that matter. This usually leads to success, but not without a fair amount of work. Sometimes the end of my problem seems to recede faster than I make progress, and I usually have other stuff to do, so I get really tempted to just ask the professor, specifically by going to their office hours.

My question is, is going to office hours in a graduate course seen as a bad or "inferior" in US grad schools? I'm obviously not talking about spamming the professor with impulsive and ill-conceived questions.

EDIT: Some people in the comments are saying "Well you're a graduate student, and there are office hours, so obviously you can and should make use of them." Life isn't as simply black-and-white as that. The focus of my question is on the unspoken, possibly subliminal, perception of going to office hours as a graduate student which, by its very nature, is not explicitly stated in "official" text (e.g. syllabi, student conduct guidelines, etc.). Such latent social phenomena are present in every situation and culture. Stated explicitly or not, general academic culture expects graduate students to become independent researchers. I was wondering whether this underlying expectation affected the perception of going to office hours as a graduate student, which by definition is a partial dependence on the professor. This topic is nuanced by the various ways in which one could "go to office hours" (e.g. fully prepared, unprepared, in-between, etc.) and by the variation in perceptions of those various ways. Therefore I think it's nontrivial and worth asking about.


texts: I Plagiarised, what punishment can I expect?

texts:
I am a university student, doing a scientific bachelor study. I plagiarised multiple exercises from multiple homework sets for three different classes, all in all about 50% of all the homework for those three classes. I passed the final exams of those three classes. Realizing what I have done, I am considering turning myself in, unless the punishment would be too severe. What do you think?

Edit: I actually got caught once before for plagiarising on a single homework set.

Edit2: I calculated that redoing the courses would cost me at least $7000, this is also a consideration for me personally.

Edit3: I actually copied the homework of a friend who gave it to me because he trusted me. I broke this trust, and now he terminated our friendship. I asked him about it and turning myself in is the only way to earn back his respect.

I'd like to know from more people what kind of punishment I could expect. If I turn myself in, I would find it fair to only have to redo the three classes.


texts: Less desirable graduate school vs. more undergrad

texts:
I finished my B.Sc. in physics 3 years ago, did a year of research, worked a year in tech, and have spent the last year off the grid living in the bush and running away from reality for a while. Now I'm going back for my master's or PhD, but I'm pretty rusty. I'm hoping someone out there might read this and have some good advice on the best way to do this.

My options are basically the following:

to do a master's in a field/at a school/with an advisor that are all
not ideal to me, because that's where I have experience and
connections
to spend a year or so doing a second degree in math and then going
    on to do a PhD after that.

My reasoning for the second option is that this will afford me better opportunities for better grad schools in fields I have more interest in. Simply put, I don't believe I have a strong enough application right now to get into the programs/schools/advisors that I want to get in with.

My undergraduate grades are fine (A-/A average), but not extraordinary enough to carry me by their weight alone. I have two publications and a dwindling number of connections who could write me strong recommendations. Maybe one or two at most, with two others who would write generically positive letters. I don't think this is enough to get me where I'd like to be.

Grad school seems like too big of a commitment to go somewhere/work with someone I'm not 100% on board with. Is this "greedy" to think this way? Am I being too picky/asking too much? Should I take what I can get now and not waste my time trying make things "perfect"? Every grad student I speak to has the same advice: "Unless you're 100% sure this is what you want to do, don't do it," so I'm kind of going by that.

Is it worth taking a year or so to pad my application with a second degree in math (new networks, fresh good grades, strong recommendations from professors if I can build relationships with them), so that I can get in where I actually want to go? Or should I just suck it up and do the master's that I don't care about, do it well, and then go where I want from there (keeping in mind that I'd be wanting to switch fields at this point)?

Thank you very much in advance to anyone who takes the time to read/respond!


texts:
My PhD advisor liked me during the exams. Then, when I came with the thesis I wrote, he got very angry, maybe because I did not do what he suggested, maybe because what I did is not quite in his domain. The tension between us did not diminish with time, because I like my thesis and don't want to throw it away and start over. I proposed him that I move to another advisor, and he agreed, maybe relieved. But if I will ask another professor to be my advisor, this will raise suspicions on the reason I move. I don't want to make the current advisor look bad, and certainly I don't want to look bad (this is more likely to happen, because he is very respected), so I am in a delicate position. Possible issues which may trigger suspicions about my thesis (and maybe they are the reason my advisor got angry in the first place):

the main claim is considered a lost cause,
my solution is developed in a large number of steps which are difficult to understand.

Could you please suggest how should I approach the problem of finding and asking another professor to be my advisor?


texts: Impact of holding non-TT positions on potential for a TT position

texts: Is there any (negative) effect of prior holding of one or more non-tenure-track (TT) positions on the potential of being hired (and promoted) at a TT position at a university (mostly interested in US)?


texts: What should I do with a paper I've translated?

texts:
Aside from reaping the personal benefits, what should one do after translating a paper? It would be nice to offer it to others, but I assume it is a copyright violation to post it online. Sending it to the author(s) to deal with seems like a safe but potentially presumptuous option.

(Motivation: I recently tried my hand at translating a paper from French into English,  Quasi-positivité d'une courbe analytique dans une boule pseudoconvexe by Michel Boileau and Stepan Orevkov.)


texts: Is it OK to add another author during page proofs?

texts:
I am a masters student and recently I got a paper of mine published in a journal.
The paper contains my name and another authors name that helped me with some minor things. I didn't know that this paper was going to be published but after it did I told my professor about it and he said that the paper  could be part of my thesis. The problem is that for that to happen the paper has to only include my name and my professors name. After telling the second author about this he said that he doesn't mind if his name is replaced with my professor's. Can I ask the journal to do this during page proofs or is it too late?


texts: Do I cite the article or the article's sources?

texts: I am writing an article that is analysing an existing article, that only uses secondary research (research that wasn't conducted by myself - and that I'd obtained from this article). When citing this information in my essay do I cite the same article over and over again when talking about each piece of information? Or cite the article's bibliography? I am only obtaining information from this one article.


texts: Master's Degree Curriculum and its Effects on Teaching Opportunities

texts:
I have been working as a entry-level web developer for approximately a year now.  I am looking to go back to school to get a Master's Degree in hopes that I will be able to teach programming/development at the community college level (which requires a Master's Degree).  I'm not interested in a PhD because I have to work full-time to support my family and I'm not interested in doing research.  I have narrowed down my options to 2 programs:

Brandeis University has a Master's in Software Engineering, which teaches a lot of very specific, high-level courses (primarily Java programming and development).
Boston University Master's in Computer Science - Web Development, teaches a more holistic approach that spans several domains, but doesn't go into as much detail.

Do you find that a particular academic background makes one more marketable for teaching at the community college level?  I feel that having a deep mastery of a specific technology is great, but community college courses generally do not get that deep into the material.  I'm also a little nervous that if I take a more general curriculum that introduces me to many topics, my transcripts may not show that I have a deep enough understanding of a specific subject to teach at the college level.

Does anyone have any recommendations/insights or experiences with this type of career transition?

Thank you and have a great day.


texts: Does posting a paper on an online forum establish priority?

texts:
I have finished writing a paper and am a high school student. Since I'm sure this has no chance of being accepted to arxiv, I want to simply post it on a public forum. (This also has meaning for me because the forum helped me develop in the field where I wrote this paper, and I have friends there.)

My question is: Even if this is a not-that-important paper, imagine hypothetically that someone more prominent (ok, this is highly unrealistic, but just imagine) steals the main result of my paper and publishes it in a renowned journal, or at least somewhere more prestigious than a forum. Would he get credit for the discovery? This seems unlikely since the date I posted it on the forum will show that I came up with it before him.

Note: Although I don't wish to name the exact forum I'm talking about, it's similar to Physics Forums.


texts: Is it bad style to use time-related adverbs (like "recently") in academic writing?

texts:
I was going through my supervisors corrections and comments on a particular section of my thesis and I realised that he consistently removed words like "recently" when referring to literature, i.e.

  "In a recently published study, monkeys were taught discrete algebra when listening to Beethoven through one ear, and Beyonce through the other"

I haven't had the opportunity to talk to him about it, so I figured I might get a reason as to why words/phrases like that are not desired in literature. Besides it might be helpful for others as well.

Question(s): Is there something wrong with using phrases like "recent study"? If so, is it specific to a field (biomedical science in my case) or to a particular type of publication (thesis vs a regular article, for example)?


texts: Is it acceptable to ask a university professor to add his/her name to a paper?

texts: Is it acceptable/normal to ask a professor to add his/her name to a paper to increase the opportunity to publish the article in high-impact journals?


texts: Explaining academic probation as an undergrad on PhD application, after doing well in masters

texts:
There is another answer sort of regarding this topic Academic dismissal from PhD program. What next? . but my situation is different.

I am currently completing applications for PhD programs in Economics and Statistics.  I have a Masters degree in Economics from which I just graduated.

I absolutely love these two fields and want to continue with a career in research.  When I was an undergrad though I had a lot of trouble and was put on academic probation.  It was 3 years ago, and I feel that I have matured a lot since (I did very well in masters program GPA: 3.77), but I do not know how to explain it on my applications.

Some schools specifically ask for you to do so.  Others do not.  The later are the most challenging since I do not know whether or not to even mention it in other materials (such as the Statement of Purpose).

I can say that I managed to turn it around for two reasons

I developed an incredible passion for econometrics that kept me motivated to perform.
I learned how to work with others more productively.  I developed specific areas in which I was very strong, like statistical programming, and because I was willing to help others with their work (mostly students but a few faculty too), I would receive help from them as well in areas I was weak.

It is a shame that I have this on my record, because I feel I would make a great fit for some of these programs, and believe I have a lot to offer.  Any advice on how to approach this issue would be appreciated.  Thank you


texts: Can a university retract a degree for actions taken after the degree is awarded?

texts:
I was looking at this question on The Workplace, where in the asker was considering doing homework for students for a fee. My initial thought was that it's possible he went to the same university*, and if discovered they would attempt to revoke his degree. I considered that this would be analogous to failing and expelling a current student who was found to be breaking the academic honesty policy. I know that some universities have recently retracted honorary degrees awarded, but of course, the course work was never done to deserve these degrees. So my question is...

Is it possible for a university to retract a degree that had previously been awarded for a full course completion if the individual does something that would clearly harm the university/violate the ethics of the university?

*this is completely speculative, and the question is theoretical at best


texts: Finding research papers for undergraduate research

texts: I am seeking some help to find research papers (preferably in the area of Markov chains) for my undergraduate research for reference. Any guidance on how to find research papers in general for undergraduate level research will be much appreciated. Thanks in advance


texts: Is it possible that a school only has one student enrolled in a particular undergraduate degree program?

texts: Suppose that a certain school is very popular for its computer courses, but its non-computer related courses are virtually unknown.  Is it possible for that school to have only one or few students finishing, say, a degree in economics?


texts: Is it possible to get DOI from ISBN of a book?

texts:
I need DOI number of the book with ISBN 9780723437512. There is a kindle edition so it should have some electronic identification.

How can you get DOI from ISBN?


texts: How to handle unprofessionalism in academia?

texts:
This question is in part related to this question and this one. In my case, I’m part of a double-degree Master’s programme¹, and am having a lot of difficulties at my German exit university. There are two coordinators/supervisors:

one that handles more of the organizational aspects of studies (recommends courses, seminars, internships, thesis topics, etc.);
one that takes care of all matters concerning thesis work.

Both have been incredibly unprofessional; because of the first, I was the only student who:

was not paid for his contributions while working on the thesis, the others enrolled at the same university and company (we have to develop our thesis project in an “outside” company)
due to some bogus reason, which was not made entirely clear, had to retake a seminar while working on the thesis even though it has been passed. The main issue was that I had to commute from the company to the university in order to participate in it.

Other aspects include:

I have to deal with inconveniences such as being called to the coordinator’s office for meetings scheduled by him, that he would not show up at (this can become incredibly infuriating after a while). When contacted, he mentioned that he was on a trip for two weeks.
Extreme favoritism towards other students. There were students who did not finish their thesis, but “graduated” nevertheless.
Very, very high unresponsiveness to e-mail messages (I always keep them short and to the point – usually between 5 and 10 sentences).
Toxic attitude; when confronted with the situation, the coordinator mentioned that he doesn’t care. I stated that, because of him and his thesis recommendation I had lost little over 23000$ (the amount that the other students earned during the more than one year period of study/thesis work at the company) and a few months of my time. He again mentioned that he doesn’t care.

What would be the most preferable course of action to take?

¹ The first year of my Master’s studies is spent at one university while the second at another. The second university is the one at which I’m working on my thesis. The double degree means that I will get a degree from both universities, when I graduate at my current university.


texts: Should I write to invite a professor to be my PhD thesis examiner?

texts:
My supervisor has already invited formally the professor to be my examiner.
Do I need to invite the professor personally as he may learn more about my work?
Is there any conflict of interest to do so?


texts: Sources of information about postdoctoral/PhD grants and funding

texts: We are a research group in Spain. For first year postdocs and PhDs from other european countries that want to come to our lab, there is no support for spanish ministry of science. Therefore we wonder where can we find information about such funding from any other country in the world.


texts: Handling several acceptance letters from different schools

texts:
If an institution tells you, look here is an admission offer, and you should let’s know if you accept it or reject it by the day after tomorrow. Meanwhile, you are still waiting for a word from other places that you applied to.

So, what is the most diplomatic and tactful way to communicate “Hey, I can not  accept/reject the current offer right now. That's because i am waiting to hear back from other schools, and I need time to decide upon that”? At the same time, I do not want to sound like careless about the offer.


texts: What are the potential pitfalls of putting a PhD on hold to be employed by the university?

texts:
I am a PhD student in an applied science subject at a UK university, part way through my first year. I have two supervisors: 'A' is a senior professor, and 'B' is a PDRA. Most of my work is centred around a large multi-university project. A is the PI on this project, and most of B's time is spent on it. B and I often work together on the same problems.

B has recently informed us that she is pregnant and will be going on maternity leave next year. By that point I will be a few months into year 2 of my PhD.

A has told me that that there is a possibility that, if I am willing, my PhD could be put on hold for the duration of A's maternity leave, and I could be employed as a RA to cover the work that she would have been doing.

My initial thought is that if this comes to pass, it would be a win/win: It would provide continuity for the project, and give me more experience and more time around the subject before my funding runs out. While the work that I would be doing would be slightly different to my PhD topic, it would be relevant and closely related.

My question is: What potential pitfalls are there here? What questions should I ask if this is formally proposed? What pros & cons can you see?


texts: How necessary it is to have PhD students?

texts:
If a person has a tenure/ tenure track position on a math department, how obligatory it is to have PhD students? While some people like to have students, there are people who do not like that.

I am particularly interested about the situation in American universities.


texts:
I am starting a MS program next fall (in statistics). At the time, I had a personal circumstance that limited the schools to which I could apply, and this was the outcome. Those circumstances however no longer exist now and I am entertaining the possibility of applying to a PhD program this fall. I am an older, returning, student so another year I didn't have to spend advancing my career is something I would rather not do.

The problem is that I would not finish my MS program and I am wondering how departments feel about that. I know that I am investment to them and they would have to approve renewal of my gta next year,so I am wondering if applying to a PhD program this fall would be a wise idea.

I am wondering if anyone can give me advice based on their own experiences relevant to my situation.


texts: What are examples of appropriate journals to publish new mathematical conjectures?

texts: The paper I want to publish is just a conjecture.


texts: Can work experience overcome bad undergrad grades for admissions to masters programs in Germany?

texts:
I did my graduation in Electronics and Communication engineering, and now I am working as a software engineer for more than two years.

I have this problem that during my graduation I failed in a few subjects like analog electronics and organization behaviour. (Yeah!! It sucks that I kinda failed in Analog and Organization at the time, but now as I have experience working, I feel that they are very interesting and knowing there practical applications)

I cleared them in the following year, and passed my graduation all clear in the 4 year period.

I have three questions

Will I get into a high ranking German university?
Will the work experience count?
What else can I do to improve my profile.


texts: Should I admit to cheating when it appears I cheated but I did not?

texts:
One of my TAs is accusing me of cheating.

The professor had shared a 2-question quiz through our online portal (Google Meet). One of the questions contained a 9-digit sequence. Somehow, I misread this sequence and ended up solving the problem using a different 9-digit sequence. My incorrect sequence exactly matched the sequence used on a different version of the quiz, which had been administered to a different section of the class several days before. I do not know how similar the two sequences were; I assume they were very different.

I understand how bad this looks, but I actually did not cheat. I am baffled as to how this could have happened given how careful I normally am about reading the question. I have no history of cheating in other classes.

I don't understand how I can prove that I did not cheat. The other question of the quiz was, of course, exactly as given on my quiz, so I'm thinking I may argue along the lines of "if I were to cheat why would I do it on only 1 question", although this seems slightly weak to me.

One complication is that the professor said that anyone suspected of cheating will be required to take an incomplete on the class and do the exam whenever university resumes. This is not ideal, as I am bound to forget a lot of material. On top of this, the classes I am taking next semester require this one as a prereq and this will derail by entire class schedule. I don't think there are any classes I can take for my major without this prerequisite filled.

The professor is offering that I can admit to cheating and then he'll give me a warning for the final and get a 0 on the quiz. Assuming the warning for the final does not come with the above requisite of webcam, should I falsely admit to cheating?

While I am normally against false admissions, I need to resolve this quickly, as the final is the day after tomorrow. Also, given how bad this looks, if I don't accept this and am found guilty, then I will probably fail this class and have to retake it anyways.

Update: For anyone who finds this later, I requested the Prof to let me take the exam without a webcam, given that it may be dropped later. He agreed and also stated there would be no need to drop it later. After the exam, I laid out many of the points given below, which the Prof said he would take into consideration and look into overturning the decision. I had an easy out, where I could take the 0 on the quiz and still get an A in the class, but there is a lot of good advice below for those who are still stuck.


texts: Developing a work ethic, or learning/doing things you aren't interested in (prelim topics)

texts:
Short version: Graduate prelims include lots of topics which are only distantly related to your particular research area. How does one motivate oneself to learn and do this stuff?

Long version with personal background: I'm a 3rd year undergrad who's planning on applying to graduate schools in the US next year (in mathematics). I'm taking a graduate course (Galois theory) which, in the graduate programs I'm looking at, typically amounts to less than 1/3 of the material on the algebra prelim, which is one of the usually 3 topical prelims. For me, the concrete consequences for failing this class are academic probation with possible loss of funding/scholarships; if I were in the graduate school here, this would be possibly ejection from the program.

Unfortunately, I find this topic to be horribly uninteresting. I did very well in the first half of the class because it was essentially a very fast-paced redux of group and field theory, but I can't find a single drop of inspiration or interest in my mind for these classic Galois theory results that we're developing. I've done some undergraduate research in algebra (factorization theory) and, if I were to go into that as a professional, I feel confident that I will never touch Galois theory ever again. So for me, Galois theory being mandated to be learned by me for only this one purpose, a prelim exam. Therefore, I'm having trouble finding motivation to learn it.

The lectures are in the usual "lemma: proof, theorem: proof, corollary: proof" style (occasionally throwing in a sentence or two of motivation, why we study this topic), with weekly homeworks which heavily supplement the lectures (only a small percentage of grade), and 2 tests (midterm and fnial). These homeworks are pretty in-depth and are expected to take upwards of 5 hours to properly complete. (Usually 1-2 pages of proofs for each problem, and 3-5 problems per week.) Nobody is holding my hand any more and walking me through the class like in undergrad classes. (E.g., the homework problems aren't even close to self-explanatory and often cover topics not even mentioned in lecture.) Even though I'm showing up to lecture and taking detailed notes, I haven't even started the last 3 homeworks. The final is still 3 weeks away so it's not impossible for me to catch up, but it's going to take a lot of hours to get this material learned so that I don't fail the class.

As far as I can tell, this class structure is more or less standard in graduate mathematics, so if I'm serious about wanting to continue in academia I'm going to need to find out how to manage this problem (lack of interest). How do others handle this? Where does the motivation come from? (other than Adderall.)


texts: Is it okay to submit a modified journal paper that is still under review to a conference?

texts:
I have a paper submitted to a journal that is currently under review.

My research supervisor now wants to then submit a similar paper to an upcoming conference, by taking an older version of this same paper, and removing some content to fit the conference page limits.

I would understand the conference paper to make sense for a work-in-progress, to have been submitted at an earlier time before a submission to a journal for review, but the work has already been completed.

Would there a possible ethical problem with submitting a purposefully stripped-down version of a work to a conference, after a journal submission had already made?


texts: What can we do after entire class failed/barely passed?

texts:
Completed an essay worth 30% of our grade over the Xmas period and were given incredibly strict instructions (no sources other than the 10 pages given, 1200 word count, marked 50% language and grammar [german] and 50% content). Got my grade back and got 32% which is my first ever fail of my life. Was slightly discouraged until I learned that nearly the entire group failed or got 42/43/44?

The essay was also given to another branch of the course (politics and computer science) and they all passed with quite high marks (60% upwards). I completed a similar essay for another subject and got 57% and another where I got 65%.

We all feel that we have been unfairly marked, but despite being in the best university in our country, we are too scared to ask anyone in the department. All the colleagues stick together and would definitely take the side of the markers and imply we're all stupid.

My essay wasn't amazing but I definitely don't believe I deserved to fail and others don't either...

So my question is: is there anything we can do to change this?


texts: How to handle being removed from a paper for (perhaps) unethical reasons?

texts:
I was recently replaced in my role of analyzing data in a project by another person on the project. It's not clear that the person has the authority to do this. He is a resident in neurosurgery with no formal training in research.

This removal came nearly immediately after I communicated to him unequivocal null results that a colleague of mine confirmed. When I asked, he offered no explanation for this removal. He will replace me with a statistician who works for the device whose efficacy we were testing.

If I learn that he publishes observation on the current data set that completely contradict my findings, do I have an ethical duty to make this known?

This was a side project for me. My removal from it has no adverse professional impact for me. Nor do I think that speaking up will have an adverse impact for me, it may even not for him.


texts:
Why do many universities require strict format on theses, when the most important thing in them is the content? A beautiful design will make a good thesis better, and a bad one worse. The work can be creative and practical at the same time, and as long as the latter is guaranteed, why restrict the former? If academia is a place for creativity and logicality, then where are the creativity and logicality in strict designs?

Note, it is practical to have a nice design.

Related: Is beautifying a dissertation looked upon unfavourably by the examiners?


texts: Advice and etiquette for building up collaborations

texts:
I'm going to start a tenure-track position in fall. I'm planning to start some collaborations with some researchers that are a lot more senior than myself, who I met at some conferences and with whom I have joint interests.

When contacting them regarding a visit, should I straightaway offer to take care of the travel/accommodation costs or should I postpone that question for now?


texts: Does the choice of programming language affect paper acceptance in mechanical engineering?

texts:
I have published papers in the field of mechanical engineering, combustion, engines, etc. Previously I relied on MATLAB for most of my data processing, and C++/Fortran for computations. I duly cite languages used.

Recently I switched to Python for its great comprehensive library, plotting capabilities, support and above all I don't have to struggle with the licensing issues. Now I am worried if citing Python would affect paper acceptance, since it is based on an unconventional approach.

Will using an unconventional programming language increase my chances of rejection?