texts:
I'm currently finishing up my last year of study as an undergraduate mathematics major at a top 2 public school.  I've been interested in getting a phD in mathematics for some time now, but my GPA and work in some classes in my 1st and 2nd years leaves a lot to be desired.   Let's just say I got pretty bad grades in important classes.  Since then, I've worked my but off and currently have around a 3.3 GPA.

Luckily, I was accepted into a Statistics/Computer Science related Masters program.  In this program, I will have the opportunity to take electives and plan to take some higher level math classes.

My question is, will doing very well in my masters program next year override my poor performance as an undergrad? Also, should I be really trying to get a research position this summer?


texts: Professor wants me to accept his school's offer early

texts: I just received my first offer to a Mathematics PhD program at a reasonably good US institution, where one of my recommenders is also working. He sent me an email saying he "hopes I can accept the offer quickly". I love working with him, and have told him his school is my top choice, which is true, but I have some very close second choices whose results are not yet out (expected within next two weeks). The official deadline to accept the offer is in April. Should I politely tell him that I wish to wait for a month before accepting this offer, stating "I'm a bit nervous to accept the first offer without taking a look at one other first" (which is also true)?


texts: Correcting a paper that just came back from review, what should I do?

texts:
After this one paper came back with minor revisions requested, I'm revisiting my data and making sure to check that everything stated in the paper is factual.

Finally, I found a few errors that were not pointed out by the reviewers and need correction.

The first error is that one of the charts had inaccurate error bars, which are much smaller now after the correction and actually support further my conclusions.

The second thing that I want to improve, which is not an error per se, is to get a new set of data for one of the graphs to substitute the current one which has an outlier point.

None of these corrections would alter the final conclusions of the study.

Since these corrections were not requested by the reviewers, I'm afraid the reviewers and the editor might think that this is inappropriate and will end up requesting another round of revisions or, even worse, rejecting the paper...

How do you think that the editor would take these unsolicited changes?


texts: Is there a standard ethical codex for publishing of research?

texts:
I am asking about some kind of standard well known and complete ethical codex with versions of strictness (a list of rules comparable to the creative commons licenses in the field of software/art publishing).
It seems to me that every journal has its own ethical codex stated, although all of the codexes seem to be almost the same (with minor differences). It seems a little bit silly to me.
I would like to know about something usable like:

to tell my team: "all publishing should be done according to the ethical codex XY v1.x", or
I would like to state in my hypothetical journal: "the journal complies with the ethical codex XY v2.x"

What am I missing? Where I can find it? Does some open ethical codex standard exist?  If not, why not?


texts:
I am told that any changes in content beyond correction of small mistakes, like obvious wrong use of a term or typographics is not allowed. This makes sense to me.

Is this a common opinion or are there institutes somewhere where no chances at all are allowed?

Of course one can ask, why the alterations after acceptance of a thesis. But let's assume perfectionist reasons and in case one wants to show it to potential employers where some mistake might be embarrassing.


texts: How to sell my skills in a research statement

texts:
I am a postdoc currently on the academic job market who does interdisciplinary work. My phd is in mathematical physics, granted by a physics department, while working with a research group technically within a computer science department. I do work in quantum computation and lean heavily towards mathematics, unlike many researchers in QC. I publish in all of mathematics, physics, and computer science. There is a body of mathematical knowledge lacking in the topic that I study and, therefore, I work on both building and exploiting the necessary math from the ground up.

I'm reworking my research statement and will be applying to positions in all of mathematics, physics, and computer science. Should I be writing different research statements targeted at each department or will one statement that summarizes my overarching project suffice? Also, will describing myself as a mathematical physicist (as opposed to a mathematician or computer scientist) hurt me when applying to jobs outside of physics proper.


texts: Who is the publisher of the SpringerOpen journals?

texts:
This question is closely related to this one and is also about the (at least for me) confusing aggregation of publishers around the term "Springer". In particular, I am asking about the journals published under the brand SpringerOpen, such as the "EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking".

What is the name and address of the associated publisher?

At least the following terms come to my mind:

Springer Nature
SpringerOpen
BioMed Central
Springer
Springer Verlag
Springer Science+Business Media

Possible addresses include:

Luxemburg
Berlin
Heidelberg
London


texts: How long is too long to wait for a rejection because of a lack of reviewers?

texts:
I am posing this question here because of a mini-controversy that arose on another list on which I participate.

One poster suggested that the poster's "rights were trampled on," because a journal spent two months trying (but failing) to find reviewers for a particular paper. However, the journal did not notify the poster during that time that anything was amiss with the process.

At the end of the two months, the journal sent back a rejection notice, because they could not find peer reviewers. While I believe that the journal could have done a better job in notifying the author that the review was experiencing delays, I didn't find the length of time spent in the review process at all unreasonable—particularly if the journal submission process allows potential reviewers to see the manuscript before electing to accept or decline the invitation to review.

The poster believed that it the journal should have sent the rejection much earlier—but I figured it might take six weeks or more in some cases to find reviewers (particularly given that the paper was somewhat outside the "core" themes of the journal).

So what is a reasonable amount of time for a journal to spend before returning the paper because of the inability to find peer reviewers?


texts: Legal framework for academic recruiting in UK

texts:
This is related to a previous question.
When a university posts a public ad for a vacancy does it only have to follow its internal policy for conflicts of interest or is there also some law that applies? What is the legal framework under which the recruitment happens?


texts: What is the nature of the "assistant professor" position in India?

texts:
In this recent academia.SE question, the questioner mentions that as an undergraduate they did research with an assistant professor.  That faculty member had a master's degree (only) at the time and has since moved on to be a PhD student at another institution.

To my American eyes, it seems strange to have the positions of "graduate student" and "faculty member" intertwined like this.  In a comment, the questioner wrote

  Just to shed some more light on this, I come from India and here it is part of official policy to allow people with graduate degrees to rise to posts as high as assistant professor. I am not sure why this difference in academic practice has not come to the notice of admissions committees in the US in spite of the fact that thousands of Indian students have gone there over the years.

Well, I am the chair of a graduate admissions committee, and indeed this difference in academic practice had not come to my notice until now.  I would like to understand it better -- in particular:

1) What does this position entail?
2) Which Indian institutions and departments are (still) hiring assistant professors with masters degrees?
3) Can a master's degree assistant professor retain that position indefinitely?  Do they?
4) What percentage of higher-rank Indian professors did an assistant professorship between a master's and a PhD degree?

[Here follows more information about why I am asking the question and context about how what I know so far makes it sound different from the US.  It is not necessary to read this part or address it in an answer.]

In the United States there are so many PhDs looking for academic jobs that the days when someone without a PhD can teach advanced undergraduates at a research university or nationally ranked liberal arts college are almost completely past (more precisely: there are still some such people, but they were hired a long time ago).  However there are other institutions of higher learning in which faculty can teach with master's degrees, and I have known some cases.  (I suspect that the window for this is shrinking as well, as we continue to produce many more PhDs desiring academic positions than the market can bear.)

But I don't know of any American institution of higher learning in which a faculty member with a master's degree can be an assistant professor but have no higher rank.  Moreover, the type of institution which has tenure track faculty with master's degrees is quite different from the type of institution in which (i) faculty do research with their undergraduates and (ii) send students to graduate school.  (I tried to choose language to minimize the elitism / academic caste-ism in that last assertion, but that minimum is unfortunately positive, since American academia is elitist...)


texts: Accepted as PhD student, but my funding application was rejected. Now my prospective PhD advisor recommends that I should bail out. What should I do?

texts:
I was recently accepted by a university as a PhD student. During the whole process, my potential supervisor agreed to supervise me along with some of his colleagues as my co-supervisor. Although, I have been accepted as a PhD student by the university, but I didn't get the scholarship. I a mentally as well as financially prepared for the expenses. But now my supervisor is saying that I should decline the offer. I told him that I can manage my expenses, but in every mail he is giving me some other excuse for not accepting this offer. I am confused now as to what I should do. Since the graduate school has accepted me, now it's up to me whether I should accept or not. But I am not able to understand why my supervisor is not willing to take me.
Any suggestions for what should I do now are highly appreciated.
Thank You.


texts: Scholarships in UK _only_ for UK/EU nationals

texts:
It came to my attention the following advertisement (for a UK institution):

  PhD studentships for UK and EU nationals are available.

For UK and EU exclusively? So all other nationals are excluded even to apply for such positions?

What about other nationals that legally work/study in UK/EU?

Is this even legal (not to say ethical) to exclude possible PhD applicants based solely on their citizenship?


texts: If a conflict of interest is not literally declared, is it safe to assume there is a conflict of interest? What does this imply about the findings?

texts:
For the first example below, a conflict of interest (CoI) isn't literally declared, but seems to be implied in the funding section. Additionally, the majority of the studies included have a similar CoI. For the second example, again with funding there seems to be partial CoI. Is there any credence to studies funded from food industry sources not be tolerated?
Example 1
2009 Effects of soy protein and isoflavones on circulating hormone concentrations in pre- and post-menopausal women: a systematic review and meta-analysis
forty-seven studies (11 of pre-, 35 of post- and 1 of perimenopausal women)
isoflavones – soy phytoestrogen (which mimics estrogen in the body, beneficial in combating symptoms and conditions caused by estrogen deficiency)

To our knowledge, this is the first systematic review and
meta-analysis to compare the endocrine effects of different soy
products on hormonal status in women at different lifecycle stages. It
provides weak evidence that soy and isoflavones decrease FSH and LH in
premenopausal women, and a suggestion that they may increase estradiol
[estrogen steroid hormone and the major female sex hormone] in
post-menopausal women.

Results

Twenty studies declared a funding source with a commercial interest in the study results; 25 did not report industry funding; and 2 were
unclear.

Funding

This work was partially funded by the Soy Nutrition Institute, Inc., St Louis, MO, USA. M.J.M. consults for companies that manufacture
and/or sell soyfoods, soy protein and isoflavone supplements and is a
Scientific Advisory Board Member of the Soy Nutrition Institute.

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2691652
Extra for 1
Letters to the Editor

These estrone levels are important because in the meta-analysis of
Hooper et al. (2009) […] evidence indicates that isoflavones will not
increase breast cancer risk in healthy women or worsen the survival of
breast cancer patients.

academic.oup.com/humupd/article/16/1/110/709455

Example 2
2010 Clinical studies show no effects of soy protein or isoflavones on reproductive hormones in men: results of a meta-analysis
36 studies

The results of this meta-analysis indicate that neither soy protein
nor isoflavones affect reproductive hormone concentrations in men
regardless of age or cancer status. Although the duration of most
trials was <6 months, soy protein and isoflavone intake greatly
exceeded typical dietary Japanese intake 2. These results suggest
that consumption of soy foods or isoflavone supplements would not
result in the adverse effects associated with lower T levels
[31][32][33].

J.H.-R while a doctoral student at the University of Minnesota
received some minor funding from the Soy Nutrition Institute for work on this manuscript. G.V. has nothing to disclose. S.J.D. has
nothing to disclose. W.R.P. has nothing to disclose. M.S.K.
occasionally consults for the Solae Company. M.J.M. regularly consults
for companies in the soy food industry.

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19524224/doi.org/10.1016/j.fertnstert.2009.04.038
Supplement for 2
2011 Re: Clinical Studies Show No Effects of Soy Protein or Isoflavones on Reproductive Hormones in Men: Results of a Meta-Analysis
Editorial comment

The authors performed a meta-analysis of the available literature, and
conclude that soy protein or isoflavone intake had no detectable
effect on free or total testosterone, sex hormone binding globulin or
free androgen index. While the study does not include measurements of
semen or paternity, and androgenic status does not tell the whole
story of male fertility, this meta-analysis is a step in the direction
that soy products are unlikely to be harmful to male reproduction.

sci-hub.se/10.1016/S0022-5347(11)60138-9


texts: Most of the research I did during college took place in my classes. How can I leverage this when applying to grad school?

texts:
A friend asked me to post this.

I am an Egyptian undergraduate student who is considering attending graduate school programs in statistics. I studied for a year abroad in the US at the University of Chicago and, during my time there, I realized that many US undergraduate students engage in research outside of their course work. This research can then be listed separately on their resumes in addition to their classes and provides evidence of their competency not only in classes but also in working in a research setting.

However, curriculums in Egypt are not designed this way. During my undergraduate studies, I engaged in research as well but this research is built into our coursework and is not separate. Therefore, unlike a US candidate (or perhaps other international students) applying, I have not had the opportunity to hold a research position because it is assumed in Egypt that our research experience comes from our courses.

My Question

I plan on applying to Ph.D. programs in the US. How should I present my research experience in my applications? What steps will I need to take to demonstrate that I have had significant research experience through my coursework that will make me a valuable researcher in programs that I apply to?


texts: I sometimes find that the reviews I get on papers I submit to various high-impact journals are of surprisingly questionable quality. I typically get the impression that reviewers only read a paper in a cursory fashion, make rash assumptions, and hence make comments that are actually not relevant to the content. Or they might make unreasonable comparisons, along the lines of 'we know fusion works in principle, so why should one bother with research on photovoltaic cells '. I think this is a great waste of precious time and resources. I know that some journals use a public review system (https://www.nature.com/nature/peerreview/debate/nature04988.html), and I'm convinced that more accountability will incentivise reviewers to do a better job. I'm interested in hearing about others people's experiences with this system (does it work?), and if there is an easy way (such as a list) to find publications that use this system (how do I find them?).


texts:
I recently committed to taking a mathematics TA position which begins in a couple of months and entails a weekly exercise class and the correction of problem sets handed in by students.

This is my first teaching experience and admittedly I am rather anxious about it.

My question to those who already have teaching experience is the following:

What piece of advice (with respect to teaching) would you give your younger self before their first teaching experience?


texts: Is not providing lecture notes to math students really beneficial to them?

texts:
I have attended several lectures in analysis, linear algebra and "higher mathematics for computer science students" in two universities in Germany. None of the professors giving these lectures provided lecture notes. Therefore the students had to copy what was written on the blackboard while at the same time trying to understand the material.

The sequence of a lecture was usually:

Professor arrives and gives a short salutation and very brief recapitulation of the last lecture
Professor immediately continues where we left off and starts writing proofs, lemmas, etc. on the blackboard while explaining the material in parallel. Rarely he stops to clarify something.
When he has filled all three blackboard, he stops to erase one or two of the blackboards while usually continuing to explain what he just wrote down or introducing the next concept.
He continues with the now empty blackboard.
The whole process repeats from step 2 until 1.5 hours have passed.

I found it impossible to copy the blackboard and at the same time understand the material he was trying to teach. During the few breaks (question or blackboard cleaning) that we had I was frantically either trying to understand the proof or was squeezing my eyes trying to decide whether an index is i or j and was making sure to not copy i instead of i+1 or i+j by accident.

Although he did encourage us to ask questions and did answer them when someone did, the general pace was so high, that it hardly gave me some time to catch up.

When asked why there are no lecture notes, all professors said something along the lines of: "You can learn/memorize better if you hear and write the proofs yourself." While I agree that having multiple input channels helps memorizing, in practice, all that most students could do was to barely copy what was written on the blackboard, there was no time to understand. I felt like the students were "demoted" to human copy machines because this is all what most could manage to do.

Considering all this:

Is there really proof that not providing lecture notes and forcing students to frantically copy the blackboard is beneficial for learning math?
OR Are these professor just too lazy to create proper lecture notes?
OR Is my perception warped and I was in the minority and just too stupid to study math?


texts: Are concerns about studying in Russia reasonable?

texts:
I'm sorry if this is not the right place to ask this sort of question, but I really need an answer.
I'm from the middle-east and wants to apply for a master's degree in Russia, but lately people are discouraging me about the idea, for the following reasons:

A Russian degree is not perceived as "very good" in other parts of Europe (western countries) & USA
difficult to get a job while (or even after) studying, since you are a foreigner
even if you get a job, incomes are LOW
there have been several racism-related crimes against Black and Hispanic (etc) people, and all-in-all it's a dangerous country.

Don't get me wrong, I love Russia and Russian culture, but I'm paying a big amount of money, so I'd love to get things in return.
My question is: are my concerns reasonable, or are they just the product of American (Hollywood) propaganda? Would you advise me to study abroad in Russia or drop the idea and find somewhere else?
I mean: is it worth the time/money/effort or not?


texts: Choosing Artificial Intelligence after MS in Theory

texts: Currently I am in an MS program with a research concentration in theoretical/formal computer science (mostly spatial and temporal knowledge representation and reasoning). However, I find myself getting more attracted towards artificial intelligence and robotics. When applying for a PhD do you think my MS research is a good concentration for a PhD research in Artificial Intelligence and Robotics? (I have taken courses that cover both artificial intelligence and robotics during the MS)


texts: In what countries/programs is a graduate student bonus common?

texts:
I just learned from this question My professor skipped me on Christmas bonus payment that in some cultures/degree-programs, PhD students get bonuses.
I had never heard of this. However, I'm most familiar only with natural science PhD programs in the US.
What countries/cultures and programs are bonuses common?
How big do these bonuses tend to be compared to salary? (if there's a rule of thumb, or commonly the result of a collective bargaining agreement as stated in one of the comments to the above question)


texts: Student talks about carrying out a shooting on campus

texts:
What should be done about a student who is widely known among students to be a bully and has recently teased another student by threatening to carry out a shooting on their campus?

Should we let the victim student decide whether he wants to report this incident, or do we report it irrespective of the victim student's decision?


texts: What is an example graduate admission grading system? How much is GPA weighted?

texts:
It is said in a variety of sources that the graduate admission committee uses a grading system. For example, if the total score is 10, the adcomm will assign 6 points to research and recommendation, 2 points to GRE, and 2 points to GPA. It is also heard that GPA is only used for the initial screen because different school grades differently.

So my question is, where I can find an example grading scheme? i.e. How much is GPA, GRE, research, and recommendation weighted? I need to know what is the best thing to work on for the grad admission.


texts: How long does it take for PhD scholarship from DAAD

texts:
One Germany university told me that they might offer me a PhD position.
But they have no funding for me. They are applying for DAAD scholarship.
They told me this a half month ago. However I asked them what is the current progress of my application few days ago. The professor has not replied me.
My question are:
       How long does it take for DAAD application?
       What is the success rate if the university help me to apply DAAD?
I don't know if my PhD application is still being considered?


texts: What does a taught Master's admission board consider important?

texts:
I am currently in my last semester of BS degrees in Computer Science and Mathematics. I am in the middle of applying for a number of taught Master's programmes in both the US and in Asia, most of which are 1-year and full-time.

My grades are fairly good, with a cumulative GPA of ~3.7 and a major GPA of 3.9+ in CS. Unfortunately I have no research experience (that's why I chose to apply for taught Masters in the first place) and frankly have not much besides grades to show admissions.

So my question is: besides having strong letters of recommendation, what can I do to increase my chances?

I understand the "correct" answer differs from institute to institute and from country to country, but some general pointers are very much appreciated.


texts: Official designer designed a logo for my lab but it turns out that it's just a copy from somewhere else, should I report it to the university?

texts:
About 8 months ago, somebody in our university that works for our library designed a logo for my lab. A few weeks ago, when I was searching in Internet for something, I suddenly found out that this logo is just a copy from somewhere else exactly. I mean there is no apparent difference between the one that is given to me and the one that is already on the internet. I'm not sure if it is a violation of academic integrity or not cause it's not a research project, but individual that gave that logo to me claimed that she designed it herself. I don't want to put her in trouble for something that might not be that important and also I don't want to go to so many meetings with university administration people to describe what happened or whatever cause it takes time and just might accomplish nothing at the end. I appreciate any help or idea here.
Update:
One question is that does using this picture actually from this website needs some sort of attribution or it is copyrighted? I can't find any information on that. Indeed the logo is just that graphic at the top of this page: https://www.clicdata.com/blog/the-few-the-proud-11-key-principles-of-effective-data-visualization/
Even I can't find any information about when this page is posted online to find out if it was after that she designed that logo for me or it is just a really rare coincidence.


texts:
As an undergrad I had a couple majors and a couple minors...no big deal. Ultimately all it meant was I took a lot of classes all over the place and went through the time and effort to declare them.

As a PhD student, though, declaring a minor is pretty uncommon. Hell, a lot of schools don't even offer the option. My understanding is that minors are usually for highlighting a certain amount of coursework in a closely related field to the one you're studying. Seemingly obvious pairings would be a PhD in Math with a minor in Statistics, or a PhD in Classics with a minor in Philosophy. However, unlike in undergrad (and really even at the Masters level), during a PhD the emphasis is primarily on research, not coursework. So why is a PhD minor a thing? Does it serve any purpose more than just another notch in your academic belt?

Personally, I am thinking about adding a Math or Statistics minor to my PhD in Computer Science, but I can't come up with a good reason other than "I'm interested in higher level math/stats and it's really applicable to the area of CS I work in." That's enough to satisfy me, I guess, but is there really any other reason to do this?

EDIT: I guess I should add that *in my case* I'm not thinking about a minor for minor's sake, but rather that I'm already taking a bunch of courses in that area so it just means an extra course or two. The question still stands though: why is it a thing? And, furthermore, does it carry different connotations in different areas (e.g. the humanities vs. applied sciences)?


texts: What to do about accidental, easily corrected errors in a conference paper you already submitted?

texts:
I am an engineering MS student (maybe going for PhD).  I submitted a conference paper on some research I was working on last week.  Before I submitted a conference paper, I regenerated all the plots (for a better consistent format).  I realized today that I used an inaccurate, older code to regenerate a few plots in one section.  This means that some of the plots are based on a code that had a theoretical error.  Not good.

Questions:

What do you recommend I do?  Is it ok to send the accurate plots a week later?  Have I damaged my reputation with this forum?  Are there ethical issues here - technically I sent innacurate plots but it was a small technical mistake?


texts: How can I find additional funding for my extra year of PhD in Europe

texts:
I am a third year (3 of 3) PhD student in Italy. I was so stupid during my first year and lost a lot of time, because I didn't put much effort.
Now, my professor says that my current results are not sufficient even for making a publication (I need at least one publication), so I have to take a fourth year if I want to finish. In this case, the fourth year will not be funded.
My question is: are there any possibilities to find any funding outside of the University?


texts:
So I'm doing my senior thesis (undergrad) on the politics of emerging technologies and how that applies to artificial intelligence policy. I've been trying to look at past examples of technologies as they were emerging and how research communities, industry, civil groups, and governments react. A good example being developments in recombinant DNA leading to the Asilomar Conference, or fetal tissue stem cell therapy leading to George Bush's executive order on federal funding on the subject. However, I'm running into a few problems:

1) Research is slow because the main search engines I'm using (G-Scholar, JSTOR) bring up a bunch of irrelevant papers. Even if I use quotes, something like (
 "emerging technology" politics ) will bring a lot of stuff I don't need. Is there something I can do to help narrow it down to papers that are more relevant for my topic, such as additional terms, or another search engine?

2) I feel like I don't know how to do this kind of research efficiently. I've never done something this complex, and I'm pressed on time, so I can't make any mistakes. At this point, I'm just putting in search terms and finding papers that seem to fit within the general area of my paper and taking notes on Evernote. But, I feel like this could be structured/targeted so much better. What's the best meta-research strategy?

Thanks for your time, and if you have any other relevant suggestions, I'd love to hear.


texts: As an electrical engineer, should I study pure mathematics in my spare time or do a second bachelor degree?

texts:
EDIT: Short version: Can a full time engineer ever hope to learn pure math up to masters level on weekends in less than six years without burning out mentally or is full time study required to achieve this goal?

I am an electrical engineer who has 100% decided to learn pure mathematics properly so as to expand my mind. Should I do this in my spare time or quit my job and do a second degree in pure math?

I'm 25, been designing hardware for two years and have learnt a lot related to electronics/magnetics/control theory/ embedded systems programming etc. I've reached a point where work is becoming very repetitive and I feel my brain is slowly dying. However, there are still small crumbs of very valuable experiential knowledge to learn as I do design after design. My salary will also significantly improve as I transition from junior to mid-level if I stay in my industry.

Is it possible to learn pure math properly in my spare time or should I dedicate 100% of my energy to it? If I do it in my spare time, can I hope to reach mastery in a reasonable timeframe (5 years), or is the nature and volume of the knowledge such that it requires full time attention? I don't know the extent of what I don't know. I also don't want to burn out.

Thanks


texts: Overcoming depression and getting back on rails with PhD work

texts:
I'm a first year PhD student (computer science), and I've felt that I lost this year up to now due to some life difficulties. I'm getting no financial support and I was forced to teach to get some money and pay my expenses. I have another personal problems that took me to a state of depression, where I've spent some months completely stuck in my work.

I want to "be back on the rails" and continue to work on this, but I'm feeling lost. I need to go back to the very beginning and find what a PhD is, and what I must do to advance the state of art with my current (weak) capabilities. At the same time I must to show some results to my advisor with what I already have in my hands.

I know that my "question" is pretty obscure, but I need some advices on how to proceed, from people with some experience in this situation. How can I overcome depression and 'get back on the rails' with my PhD?

IMPORTANT EDIT:

Some years later I finally got my PhD. I cannot believe I made it. At the time that I wrote this post it seemed utterly impossible to achieve this. If you are in the middle of a PhD you may try to endure and fight until the end. But if you are wondering about starting a PhD, please make sure YOU ABSOLUTELY LOVE your topic, otherwise you'll end like me when I wrote this. I didn't like my research area and the topic I choose. Everything else seemed to be way more interesting. I wanted to do everything instead of reading papers and conducting my own research. I felt unproductive and useless, and at some point my advisor started to complain about my lack of results. It was my fault since the beginning since I didn't followed a research area that I could have joy with it. I should have choose something that matched my abilities and preferences, for instance, I'm pretty good with programming, but my math skills aren't great, and yet I tried to enter a field that is dominated by math and advanced statistics. I couldn't do what I do the best, neither I was able to catch up with the involved math.


texts:
The tag grants currently has the description "Academic grants are non-repayable funds disbursed by government, trust, foundation or a society."  The tag awards currently has no description.

I am currently in the process of formally naming the forms of monetary support that my university's research council is providing to its employees.  My question is:

  Is there any formal document that describes the difference between a grant and an award?

I'm also interested in how the terms grant and award differ from other terms such as incentive, fellowship, scholarship, professorial chair, and so on.

For example, I know that one who is applying for a grant submits a proposal to be able to get funding for an activity that has not yet been done.  I also know that some awards require nominations (and some disallow self-nomination) and are given for work that has already been done.  I know that grants usually require liquidation of the monetary support given; I am not sure if the same is true for awards.  Grants sometimes have clauses where the recipient is to return the monetary support if he or she fails to submit the expected outputs; I am not sure if the same is true for awards.


texts: How do I ask to draft recommendation letters for my references?

texts:
My references for my graduate program applications include an adjunct professor and an industry professional (both not very academic) and I am not sure if they really have time to invest in writing the recommendations for me, although I am pretty sure they will write for me if I asked them to.

I heard that often time the reference would ask the students to draft the letter before they even edit and send away online because they are usually busy and really don't give a damn on your application or simply because they haven't written any recommendation before. So I wonder if it is okay to just ask in the first place something like "I can also draft the letters for you if you don't have time (Are there better ways to express this request?)" when I reach out to my references to write the recommendations for me?

Another good thing about this is I can basically write in a way that includes what I think the admission committee would consider valuable in my letter. I mean, after all, I know about my program much better than my references, and I know how to better phrase my experience to make them relevant.


texts: Professor expressed interest in working together, is not responding to emails?

texts:
Recently I received contact info for a professor close to me, with similar interests (Professor B), from another professor I have a long-standing working relationship with (Professor A).

I spoke with her at the beginning of the month, and had what I thought to be a great call.  She expressed interest in having me work with her on an upcoming grant remotely, in preparation for applying to her graduate program in the upcoming application cycle.  We ended the call with the decision to have me touch base with her in a week, when she would know more about her grant.

The next week, I sent her an email to follow-up, and set up a call to talk more about the project and set up time to visit her lab (something we discussed on the call.  No response for one week.

I sent another email, and received a one sentence response: "Things are hectic now, please touch base in a few days".  I waited 4 days and sent another short message.  It has now been a few days and I still haven't gotten a response.

What are my best next steps?  Should I write this lead off, and not bother sending anymore emails if I don't hear back?

EDIT: That is to say, how long should I wait for a response before reaching out again?  I don't want to be bothersome, but I also don't want too much time to elapse and this project to possibly be scrapped or forgotten.

I also have the option of going to Professor A and starting some work on the project while Professor B is otherwise occupied.  But at the same time, I don't want to seem like I'm "going around" or otherwise excluding Professor B.


texts: Should I edit reviewer quotes (typos, etc.) in a response to reviewers?

texts:
I am writing a response to reviewers. One reviewer's comments included typos and other incorrect English phrasing, but the intent of the reviewer's points was clear.
When I reproduce or quote the reviewer in my formal response, should I correct these minor errors? I don't want the editor or other reviewers to think that I made the mistakes.
And if I do correct the errors, should I say anything about how the quoted portions included minor edits? I don't want to "correct" the reviewer (and it's really not necessary), but I also don't want to be seen as changing what the reviewer said.


texts: Recommendation Letter: How to properly mention the grade and the rank of a student in multiple courses?

texts: I am writing a letter of recommendation for my student as he is applying for a master's degree to study in the UK. The GUIDANCE FOR REFEREES states that I should mention the grades of the applicant in the courses I taught him, as well as his rank in each one in comparison with other students (i.e., with how many students am I comparing the applicant?). If fact, I taught him five courses, and I need an example of how to properly state the required information without repeating the same sentence multiple times.


texts: Why do reviewers summarize a promotion application?

texts:
In another question, it has been justified that reviewers summarize a manuscript to help busy editors who cannot read all manuscript. I do not agree with this even for manuscripts, as the Abstract should do this.

However, I have seen a similar behavior for reviewing job/promotion applications. For example, the report started with this paragraph "the applicant has graduated from ..., worked at X from 2010 to 2013, has published x papers ...". The judging committee already know these facts, these are in the application.

A job/promotion application is different from a research article. These are facts, which can be read in a brief CV (the committee can ask for 2-page CV). IMHO, the report should be straightforward, and clearly telling why the person is or is not recommended for the position. Summarizing the application is waste of time, like summarizing the CV in his cover letter.

I think it is vital responsibility of the promotion/search committee to carefully read the application.

Is it really necessary?


texts: Professional goals in pursuing a doctoral degree - Statement of Purpose

texts:
I am a prospective Ph.D. applicant in the area of Robotics Controls and Biomedical Engineering (US universities). As a part of universities' SOPs, I am supposed to talk about my professional goals in pursuing a doctoral degree (or current degree goals).

I am really confused over what to discuss about it in my SOPs. If you ask me about my goal of enrolling in a doctorate degree, I would say that I want to be able to make a contribution in my field through my research, and subsequently develop core expertise in the field so that I can join some top-level R&D organization/startup after completing Ph.D. (This answer might be a cliche and other applicants might have written the same thing.)

Is it literally that easy to talk about one's doctorate goals? Or do I need to work on it more and come up with a better answer?

Any direction/feedback/critique is welcomed.


texts: Mistook new faculty member to be a student, how big a faux pas is it?

texts:
Today I was introduced in the cafeteria by a professor who I know to someone new by just their first name.  Because of admissions season, I thought that the new person was a prospective grad student and I asked, "are you here for admissions?" and the reply was that "no, I just joined as an assistant professor here a month ago." I was already embarrassed enough but I think I stuffed my foot further in my mouth, when I said "oh sorry, sorry but you look so young."

The problem is that the person who I was introduced to is female, and I am afraid that I might have offended her. Am I just being paranoid or will some people really feel offended from such a comment?


texts: Can a professor accuse a student of cheating on an exam without witnessing it firsthand?

texts: Can a professor accuse someone of cheating after checking his or her test? How is that possible, if the professor has not caught the student cheating red-handed?


texts: The editor cannot find a referee to my paper after one year

texts:
I submitted a manuscript to a journal one year ago. The journal is well known and has already published papers on the same subject including one of my previous papers. The paper I submitted went under review after two weeks. After eight months, I contacted the journal to inquire about the status of my manuscript, I got no response. I contacted the journal again after two months, and the managing editor informed me that the handling editor is trying to secure a referee for my paper. I sent another email three months later, the managing editor said that the handling editor is still trying to secure a referee for my paper. I asked them if I could suggest some referees and they agreed.
My question is: what should I do after this long waiting period?


texts: Working for one professor, want to write paper with another party

texts:
I am a PhD student working for a professor as a research assistant and being paid with stipends. One of my friends in the same department asks me if I can collaborate on a project branched off his PhD research. That project is a completely different field than my current research, despite of that some of the background ideas can be used in my part.

He has done all of the theory work, and just needs someone to implement using computer programs. To me the task is not really hard at all, since he has streamlined the theories. I expect to finish the programming part without spending too much of my effort, and there is no (hard) time limit.

Now he has generously offered me a chance to be in the authors list (I believe only us two, and he's the first), as the credit of my work. I understand that working for somebody else while getting paid for my own job is not good, but the publication is really luring to me. I talked to him about the chance of my name being included only in the acknowledgement, but what a bad idea of that.

My question is what should I do? Should I ever talk to my professor? My friend is like hard to refuse since the work isn't really a burden to me.

While I wish to keep anonymous, I truly thank you all for any idea, suggestion, or criticism.

EDIT: As I mentioned before, our work isn't really very related. But it happens that at present I need to improve my own research methodology, and the techniques to be used in his project exactly fit my need. (I think this is a good lesson to me; never be "too" focused in my own research, and learn from other fields) Is it okay to talk to my advisor in this way, that while I'm helping him, I also make my own stuff better?


texts: Why are most universities reluctant to offer open-ended contracts to research-funded-staff (such as postdocs)?

texts:
In some countries, labour law requires that if an individual has been employed on temporary contracts for a certain amount of time, the employer must offer them a permanent contract (or let them go).  They may be reluctant to do so when labour law stipulates they need a reasonable cause to fire employees; however, if a company cannot afford to hold on to people, they can and are let go.

Somehow, different principles seem to apply within universities, where postdocs¹ and other research-funded staff are often held on contract after contract, up to an entire career long.  The postdocs at my university want to persuade the university to offer postdocs a permanent contract, but with the understanding that if the money source for their salary runs out, they will be let go; just like employees in industry would.  I'm told some universities already apply that principle.  It would not increase the de facto job security for postdocs much, but it would open up the option of getting a mortgage for those who expect to stay in the same city for a long time.

Considering that universities could let go of staff if they can show they can no longer afford to hold on to them, why are they so reluctant to offer postdocs a contract that doesn't stipulate an ending date?

NB: to the best of my knowledge, this phenomenon is global; therefore I am interested in answers that are either generic or specific to a particular country

¹By postdoc I mean anyone employed by the university with a role primarily to do research.  Formally my employer calls this "research funded staff" but colloquially this group is referred to as postdocs regardless of age.


texts: How to complete laboratory courses after building fire?

texts:
A couple of weeks ago there was a fire in my department. While it only directly affected one research lab, the whole building is currently closed due to safety reasons while the place is cleaned. The current timeline has the building closed for months (well into the fall semester).

We've already started to recover from the shock. Courses have been relocated, grad students near graduation have been sent to other institutions to finish their work and researchers have started to find friendly labs to work in.

However, we've been having problems with our undergraduate laboratory courses. These courses consist of three to five experiments, each of which takes several weeks to complete. The experiments require specialized equipment, which is now trapped in the building, and cannot be moved before the cleaning is complete. We are the only department in the university that has this specific equipment.

We are currently at a loss about what do to with the students that were taking these courses. Some options that have been proposed are:

Give everyone an incomplete.

While this would seem logical, since the students will end up with only half of the course material, the courses are both a requisite to graduation and usually taken in the final year. This means that we would be pushing the graduation of many of our students. Additionally, we would not be able to handle the doubled demand for the courses when we can give the again.

Try to complete the experiments in other departments

Another department at our university has some labs that run somewhat similar experiments. However, they would not be available for at least two more weeks (when their students are expected to finish their courses). By that time the semester will have less than a month left, not enough time to fully complete the remaining experiments. To do this, we would have to design new experiments that attempt to have the same teaching value and that can be completed in the new labs in limited time. Some of the professors running the lab courses are understandably reluctant to do this at short notice. Additionally, some of the experiments are pretty much unique to our department, so that it might be impossible to do them at the other labs.

Give the students experimental data to analyze

My preferred option is to give the students experimental data, and have the students analyze it and file reports as if they had actually run the experiments. However, some professors argue that this would betray the point of the laboratories, which are meant to focus on the experimentation.

Stop the courses and give everyone a grade based on the work completed so far

Some professors prefer the idea of just stopping the courses as they stand, and basing the grades on the work the students have completed so far. However, this is difficult since the labs are run in groups, and different groups have managed to complete differing amounts of work. Additionally, this is likely to affect students grades negatively, since historically their grades are boosted by the final exam, which they would not take in this situation. Additionally, I don't see how this is better than option 3, since stopping the course midway also leaves unmet several course objectives.

Are there really no better alternatives? Is there some way to allow the students to complete the lab courses without compromising its objectives?


texts: Applying Economics Ph.D/Agricultural/Applied Economics Ph.D programs with low GRE

texts: I am trying to apply for Ph.D. programs in either economics or agricultural/applied economics. I believe the other aspects of my application are good. I have high GPAs in both undergraduate and graduate education. I have 3 years of research experiences working at the think-tank. And, I have one publication related to my research interest. My GRE quant score is only 77th percentile. I am now trying to apply a school. The school's admission website describes that there is no minimum GRE requirement but those I am competing will have GRE quant 85th percentile or above. Can some people suggest me if I should still apply that school? I am afraid of my application being filtered out. Your thoughts would be highly appreciated. Thanks.


texts: How do I address research gaps in my Thesis (Research article)?

texts:
I have gone through some papers and Ph.D theses in my field but haven't found an explicit discussion about the 'research gap' in their field.

Can anyone give me an example where the author discusses their research gap in detail?

For example: my working domain is 'Networking' and the gap I am addressing is about precise time synchronization requirements. How can I write this in a convincing way that raises it to an issue that should be addressed?

I have got a comment from a reviewer where the reviewer says,

  One thing I was wondering while reading: If the time synchronization
  is such a big issue as described in the paper, why is it rarely
  mentioned as an issue in other experimental papers.

So I need to address his comment by explicitly saying that, it is the 'research gap' I worked on to cover on that paper. Although the significance, benefits, and others are well mentioned in the paper. But somewhere in the paper, I have to demand that this is 'research/knowledge gap' where work needs to do.

The expression that I have adopted so far:

  Until now, there has been little work [references]
  in specifying or detailing the importance of time synchronization and
  the stringent timing requirements for Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks. In
  its underline reason we believe, as the time, time quality and
  synchronization techniques in VANET have been adopted straightforward
  by following the WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) standards, it gets
  the impression of settling down with the achieved developments already
  in WLAN. But WLAN is an infrastructure centered asynchronous network
  where the Access Points (APs) are fixed infrastructures that enable
  and support routing and communication among low mobility wireless
  nodes. Such networks are not time critical; therefore, neither precise
  time synchronization is required nor be achieved due to the message
  transmission and various layer level delays of the system. Compared
  with that, VANET consists of both infrastructure based (V2I) and
  ad-hoc based (V2V) communication. This two sets of communication make
  the system more challenging. VANET is also exclusively time critical
  due to its unique characteristics such as high mobility, ad-hoc based
  dynamic topology, and bandwidth constraint. Road efficiency and life
  depend on the successful deployment of any such networks. Hence, the
  synchronization issues in VANET need to be explored in details are
  discussed in this section.


texts: Request not to be named as a co-author on my own paper

texts:
In a semi-hypothetical situation, assume that I'm a postdoc at a certain university and my supervisor pushed (forced) me to work on a journal paper that I hated but finished eventually. I say I hated it because the work is so silly, not at par with my previously published excellent work and will be published in a mediocre journal. My concern is that it may hurt my CV and compromise my profile. I should also say that it is not in the exact field in which I have been building a profile.

Although I have finished the paper, can I possibly tell my supervisor that I don't wish to be named on it?


texts: Studying strategies for a full-time working mathematician

texts:
I am currently a fixed income trader and I work 10 hours a day from 5 am - 3 pm. I am a mathematician by education but unfortunately I am not doing much math and programming at my job. So, I try to study an hour during lunch and three hours after work to keep up with my skills and learn more. Specifically, I focus a lot of time in C++, computational mathematics, stochastic calculus / differential equations, and machine/deep learning as a little hobby.

Until I find another job where I actually use my education I feel a bit frustrated with the little time I have during the week to study. On weekends I plan to devote more time to studying but I have to be realistic and relax a bit and have a life.

I guess this post is more for advice as to how I should study and gain as much time as I can to study because now I feel like I am kicking myself in the butt for not continuing my PhD and just walking away with a masters.


texts: When the letter of recommendation will be asked for by the hiring committee?

texts: I have already applied for a postdoc announcement in Europe. During the online process of uploading my documents, I was asked for the name of two references as well. According to the time table of evaluation process, in the first month the committee will evaluate the applicants. It seems that up to now (one month after uploading documents) the committee have not demand letter of recommendations from my references. What is the meaning of that? Does it mean that my application is unsuccessful? Need to say, after the first month of pre-selection, they will give priority to the pre-selected applicants. Might the committee ask the letters of recommendation during the second stage?


texts: Examples/anatomy of good tenure track recommendation letters

texts: I'm wondering if anyone has a link to some (obviously anonymized) tenure-track recommendation letters.  I'm in the processing of putting together some applications and I've been curious to know what a good letter looks like versus a bad letter.  There have been a few relevant questions asked here, such as this one, but it seems like for the most part I'm just seeing categorical philosophy about letters.  I would be interested in reading a "great" letter and a "mediocre" letter, just to get a feel for what the difference looks like.


texts: Distinctions between programs, departments, and institutes

texts:
I am applying to tenure track jobs at high research activity universities in the United State. Wading through open positions, I've become increasingly confused about what is the meaningful distinction between "programs", "institutes", and "departments". I understand faculty are organized into departments, and may participate in multiple institutes or graduate/undergraduate programs. However, for the particular position I am considering, the position is being offered by a particular program, and time is said to be split between the program (0.6FTE) and the appropriate academic department (0.4FTE).

My question is broad. What are the meaningful distinctions between programs, institutes, and departments within a research university?


texts: Classroom participation – is there a gender issue?

texts:
I recently talked with my advisor and several other professors from the same field about student–teacher interaction in class. Several of them said they had noticed that men participated in class and interacted with them significantly more than women, and that they thought this is a problem because:

Classes work better when students participate and there’s a dialogue
If students do not ask questions, they (professors) have no way to know whether the students are actually learning.
It is easier to recognize/get to know/appreciate a student, and therefore eventually write him/her a good recommendation letter or invite him/her to work with you if you notice said student in class.

All this got me thinking: is this a real phenomenon and if yes, why is it an issue? I think perhaps, it’s also a matter of perception: at some point in the conversation my advisor said he considered I was very quiet in class too, and I’ve never perceived myself as such.


texts: What are the biggest changes when transitioning from graduate student to professor?

texts:
I often hear the adage that graduate school never actually trains you to be a professor. I would be curious to know what were some of the biggest hurdles assistant professors had to overcome when they first obtained their jobs. Were these mainly interpersonal and managerial skills? If so how did you sharpen your skills in those areas?

Are professors as overworked as graduate students? It is a common fact that graduate students frequently suffer from mental illness and depression. Is this the same for professors? If professors are even busier than graduate students, how do they avoid burning out? How is the stress different?


texts: How to mention an implementation tool in thesis?

texts:
In my MSc thesis implementation section, I have used two tools: Matlab and Python scripting. How should I introduce and mention them in my implementation chapter?

Thank you,


texts: Oral vs Poster vs Workshop. Which is the most prestigious in the context of Computer Vision and Artificial Intelligence?

texts:
This question is mainly about the perceived prestige of various events at conferences. Is there a hierarchy to it? Asking this in the perspective of being the presenter. Another way of putting it would be is "10 oral papers on my resume better" or "3 oral, 3 posters, 3 workshops, 1 tutorial on my resume better".

Oral
Posters
Workshops
Tutorials
etc.

A detailed post regarding which is the most prestigious and why would be appreciated.

Example conferences:

Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR)
International Conference on Learning Representations (ICLR)
Association of the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI)
International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML)


texts:
I am a second year under-graduate student in mathematics. My school (3 years under-grad) has a great history of sending its under-graduates to top graduate level math programs of the US universities. However, I do not know to what extent top universities expect an under-graduate to have done graduate level courses.

The math courses I will have done in my under-grad are: Calculus I-II-III, Analysis I, Analysis II, Linear Algebra I, Linear Algebra II, Complex Analysis, Real Analysis, Intro to Algebra, Discrete Math, Introductory PDE, Stochastic Processes. I do not know if I will have done Topology and Number Theory as they are not offered in a regular basis.

So, my question to those who are studying or working in graduate level math departments is: Are there any specific (number or name of) graduate level courses that a student should have done to be accepted in top math schools for PhD? I know that many things other than the transcript would be considered by admission committee. But just looking at the transcript of an undergraduate, which graduate level math courses would the committee like to see in applicant's transcript?


texts: Can I submit two papers to the same conference event as me the first author?

texts:
I have two studies that are not related to each other but in the same domain (Social Media Analysis) and I already submitted one of them to a conference as my name the main author.

-Can I submit the second paper where I am also the main author to the same conference event? I have read the conferance regulation but did not find any related information for such an issue.

EDIT: I also tried to contact them, but since two weeks, still no answer and the deadline is within 2 days. And normally if it ok to submit two papers, will I be having two-time slot for the presentation, or will it be one slot to manage both?


texts: How should I politely address an email to two professors, one who holds a PhD and one who does not?

texts:
I am planning to request an override via e-mail for a class which is taught by two professors; one of them holds a PhD, while the other hold a master's; I have never met either of them. Usually my first line would be something along the lines of:

"Hello Dr. X, Dr. Y"

However, I feel like if I say

"Hello Dr. X, Mr. Y"

it would seem a little weird. I don't want to be over the top formal, but I still want to be polite. I've thought of using "Pro. X, Prof Y" but I'm not sure. How should I address them?

My location is the U.S.


texts: Difference between "Referee-reviewed articles" and "Referee-reviewed conference contributions"?

texts:
I'm a new PhD student.  The specific demands on me are for me to agree to do the following, during my PhD:

Publish two Referee-reviewed articles and
Publish four Referee-reviewed conference contributions

I completely understand what is 2.

However, I'm not sure what is 1. (but is not 2.).

So my only question is, what is the difference between 1. and 2.?

Thanks!!!  Todd


texts: Is there a publication that critically reviews the effectiveness of academic accreditation bodies?

texts:
It seems there is a general belief that when a university fails to meet some accreditation body's standards then the university is somehow less than genuine.

  Is there any objective proof that accreditation produces excellence in higher education ?

I ask this because I see my university always trying to game the system. Little effort is placed towards the real goal of being a better university. Rather, we merely try to jump through whatever hoop has been placed by the accrediting body. Rather than trusting faculty to have the best idea of how to structure the university (in which we build our careers, so, you'd think you might trust us) we instead restructure things merely on the whim of an external body which does not know nearly as much about what is best for the university!

It seems to me, at many universities the assessment process is largely financial with no real attention to excellence in education. Faculty pretend to engage in the assessment process, but, we don't really care or respect the process because it:

reduces the autonomy of professors
it has half-informed "experts" trumping the opinion professors who are actually already performing real assessment all the time.

It is by now obvious to me that assessment at my university is actually damaging to academics! Is this a quirk of my institution (which values the input of faculty at a tragically sad rate) or is this common?

My larger question, is there a publication in which a critical review of accreditation bodies and how they fail in their supposed mission ?


texts: Letters of recommendation: what information to give to a recommender

texts:
The head of our department is writing a letter of recommendation for me for MD-PhD (MSTP) programs. I have two graduate level classes with him. He is very busy and writes letters regularly for students. I want to make sure that he does not end up using a canned letter.

I will be sending him my C.V., Cover Letter, and letter of intention. What else should I provided? He knows me in a classroom setting--I have not done research in his lab.


texts: Is sci-hub also used in places having institutional access?

texts: Has there a study been done regarding the issue? Because I've seen a lot of people directly pasting the doi at scihub without even checking if our institution library wifi has access to the particular journal (even when they are right in the lib).


texts: Master thesis: emails to a dissertation supervisor

texts:
i have finished all my classes and now I should start my master thesis.
But first of all, I need to write an email to prof. and ask him about the available topic for the master thesis.
How to write this email?
does anyone have experience with that?


texts: What is the process for PhD applications and contacting professors in France?

texts:
I would like to apply to a PhD program in France, but I am having trouble understanding the admission process.  How should/could I submit my application?
Is it proper to contact the Professor I would like to work with and ask about any openings? If yes, what should I include in my mail?

I am only familiar with the admission process in US institutions.


texts: Legislation efforts to protect student employees in high education?

texts:
For student employees in a higher education institution, what laws are there to protect them?

From my experience, university human resources does not provide much help if at all to student employees. A good amount of student employees depends on the financial aid (assistantship, some sort of tuition waiver etc) to stay in school.

these seem to be very common for student employees

low pay, usually not much higher than minimum wage
not eligible for benefits
no vacation days (paid or unpaid)
expected to work after hours, weekends, holidays without compensation (grade, financial aid often used as leverage to enforce the expectation)
discrimination in workplace
unsafe work environment, work related injury


texts: Do supervisors take a person as PhD students who abandoned his graduate program?

texts:
As a professor, would you take a person as your Ph.D. student who abandoned his graduate CS program 3 years ago (hence incomplete), but has published 2 research papers per year  (total 6) in a peer-reviewed journal?

Why or why not?


texts: How do commitees evaluate candidates from foreign / unknown universities?

texts:
I'm asking out of curiosity / because I think the answer may be of general interest:

A bit of context: When I applied to PhD programs, I had degrees from two institutions. One (let's call it "A") is more selective and trains students a little more in depth than the other (which we'll call "B"), but doesn't really have a great international reputation (being very teaching-focused).

During interviews abroad, it felt like I was considered as a "serious" applicant because I studied in the other institution, B, which is much more famous because of its research programs, but actually didn't contribute as much to my training. Clearly, nobody had ever heard of institution A. During one of my interviews, an interviewer even saw my grades from university A, where grading is very strict, and asked me: "do you think your grades are good enough to go to [our prestigious university]?". In a live interview, I had the opportunity to explain these grades, but what about the other programs that did not invite me for interviews? I can't help but think that this kind of misunderstanding may have played a bigger role than it should have.

Fortunately I joined the program that I wanted the most. But I started wondering: what if I had only studied in institution A?

So here's the question: Those of you who, at some point, were part of selection commitees (for college, grad school etc.), how did you evaluate candidates who studied in small, foreign and/or unknown universities/high schools, as opposed to big, local, well-known universities/high schools?

In particular, how did you take into account :

Different grading standards - in institution A, the equivalent of a 70% was considered an unusually good grade, whereas in some prestigious universities, an A or a B is quite normal; that difference does not always appear on transcripts.
Different curriculum structures - some universities may require that students in their first/second years take classes  that do not seem very relevant for certain grad school applications
Different opportunities to perform research - this time in university B, a students would only perform research once at the end of their masters, so significant undergrad research experience is unusual and would require a lot of extra commitment
Different prestige - the "best university of the country" may not be as famous as MIT or Harvard, depending on the country. For example are you familiar with the best university in, say, Kazakhstan (no offense meant, Kazakhstani friends)? Would you "trust" a degree more if it came from a more famous institution?
Different academic culture - Europeans, for example, do not typically have a long list of "dean's list", "undergaduate award for (XXX)" etc.; it's simply not a thing there, so even exceptional students just don't have these. Writing SOPs is also not common in certain countries, so students are not trained to "modestly praise themselves" and might seem a little clumsy when they try to do so.
Anything else?

Have you ever faced this kind of issues when evaluating candidates? Did you at any point take extra steps to make sure this kind of differences would not penalize international applicants?

Edit: this question is not entirely similar to other questions like "How handicapped am I in graduate admissions if I graduated from a lower tier university?". Indeed, this question focuses on applications within a single country, with a priori homogeneous definitions of what a "good" university is, with known grading standards... Answers to this question clearly assume that it is possible to define "good" and "bad" grades by looking at a transcript, for example. My questions challenges the notion that the application documents (SOP, GPA etc) are meaningful, because unless a commitee member knows the high school / university of origin of an applicant, they really have no way to tell whether grades are good or not, because standards are not uniform.


texts:
I am a Ph.D. student in a country where everyone is addressed by their first name (professors etc.). I call my advisors by their first names and when we have visitors in our research group I go by this rule. However, now I am visiting a German university and I don't really know how to address the professor who has invited me. Before my stay, I would call him by his first name - but now that I have met him at his university and his Ph.D. students (who seem to call him Prof. X) I am becoming unsure about it. Consequently, I have been very inconsistent with how I have been addressing him.

My questions are:

should I apologize for being inconsistent/possibly being rude? Or am I overthinking this?
how should I address him?


texts: Grad student overseeing (undergrad) student: how much to help?

texts:
This summer I'm lucky to have an undergrad extending some work I did for my thesis.

The stuff I work on requires you to use complicated software, as well as strong familiarity with Linux commands. However, these have nothing to do with the work itself; it's just the "scaffolding" needed for us to do our actual research.

Since the start of the summer term, I've been encouraging this student to ask for my help they encounter difficulty with these "unrelated" aspects of the work. However, I'm wondering if this is actually counterproductive?

Here's the theory: though more frustrating for them, would it be better to force the student to "figure it out"? These are useful skills, after all, and maybe this will make their work more productive in the long run?

In other words, I have two opposite choices:

Trying to reduce the student's time spent on fiddling with Linux commands and our development software (at the cost of of my own time)
Forcing the student to become more familiar with these tools (but potentially running out of time)

What is the "accepted wisdom" in this situation?


texts:
I have submitted a manuscript to a reputable journal, the article was rejected because it didn't pass the grammar check. The journal editor also mentioned the low quality of the figures.

My ex-supervisors never trained me how to write a research article. I would be grateful for recommendations to improve my writing style.


texts: Could applying to a PhD program this year, reduce my chances for being admitted if I reapply next year?

texts:
I applied for a bunch of direct PhD programs in my senior year (of undergrad) to start right after my undergrad. For two of my top choices, I was shortlisted for interview but rejected off the interview. I'm thinking of reapplying this year, but I could also reapply next year with a better application profile, and I'm worried if I apply this year and get rejected again, then my application for next year will not receive a full and fair consideration.

I'm doing a 1-year MSc this year, which covers the subfields I missed on in my undergrad very well. By doing this, I'm actually addressing the main reason I was rejected for one of those two, and trying to turn that weakness into a strength. So, if I get invited for interview again, I think I'll have a much better chance. but I'm worried they may not invite me to interview this year, given that they did that last year and were not happy with my performance.

Since my interviews were held near the end of my senior year and the application deadlines will be before the end of the first semester of my Masters program, I think my application profile is not going to look much different (and in fact, since my GPA went down in my final semester, I think it may actually look worse).

However, if I wait until next year, by the time I am going to apply for those programs, I'll have completed my MSc with the grades on my transcript, two research projects I worked on this year and last year may finally be submitted for publication. So I might have publications (as the nth coauthor though) to list on my CV, and I will probably start a new (and hopefully more serious) research project at the end of this year. So I will have more research experience as well (this last one will probably be in very early stages though). On the other hand, next year itself, would be probably a much less (academically) productive year for me, compared to the scenario that I apply this year, get admitted, and start my PhD there next year.

Ideally, I'd like to try my chance this year, and if I don't get in, try it next year. But I'm afraid given I was rejected last year, if I get rejected this year again, they may be very skeptical of my application next year and feel like reviewing my application and giving me a third chance is going to be a waste of time, so they don't give a full and fair consideration to my application for the third time.

Could that be the case, or am I overthinking it?


texts: How to contact a prospective supervisor for undergraduate research at another university?

texts:
There are many helpful posts explaining how a hopeful graduate student should contact a potential supervisor (example 1, example 2). However, I cannot find any advice about how an undergraduate should contact a supervisor regarding undergraduate research experience. As an undergraduate, I do not know what to include in my email because I do not have any distinct experience (or much knowledge) in the professor's field.

For hopeful graduate students, the common advice seems to be:

introduce yourself/your previous work
explain why you are interested in his/her work, papers, etc.
emphasize what differentiates you from other candidates, besides grades/scores

The reason I am interested in this particular professor is just because their research sounds fascinating and exciting. I am taking a class related to their field and I enjoy it. I have looked at some of their publications but I find it difficult to understand the details; I do not have the background knowledge. I am just interested in working in their lab so that I can learn more about the field.

For context, I do not go to the university where they are a faculty member. I have undergrad research experience at my own university. I also have research experience at this professor's university (but for a different faculty member in the same department). I have good grades, but no publications.

Since I have a general interest in her research, but not much background knowledge or experience, what details should I include in my email?


texts: How do you re-learn a subject that you've started to forget?

texts:
Due to my lack of revision I've realized that I have started to forget most of the organic chemistry that I had learnt a few months back (spend about 3 m/o on a textbook). I'm trying to think of how to get back my edge but I can't seem to figure out the best way to get back the working knowledge I had.
A brute force approach I thought was to reread the whole textbook, but it is a horrible idea to do as it sounds. So, other than direct prevention methods (revision) , how does one relearn what he once knew in the most efficient way possible?
Note: Currently my understanding is vague recollections of all the chapters I've done. Btw I've solved most of the textbook exercises already :p (though I'd probably  not be able to answer a particular question offhand right now)


texts: Does getting a PhD in a language 'L' from a non-'L' country have any drawback in case of academia?

texts:
It is a common belief that "if you want to learn/study English, you must go to an Anglophone country." This belief is compounded by the fact that English teaching franchises are constantly advertising ELT as a commodity and their authority on that commodity. Some language schools do not even recruit language teachers other than the native speakers.

But, my question is about academia.

So, if someone acquires a Ph.D., say, in English  1  (linguistics) from a university, say, in Israel 2  (where the native tongue is Hebrew), would he be considered on par with a Ph.D. from an anglophone country in an anglophone country?

What kind of problems may he face if he moves to an Anglophonic country to be in academia either as a researcher or a professor?

Note: 1 might be any language other than [2] and vice versa.

Note-2: I am talking about academia.

Edit: the context is the following:

If someone is refused a visa in any one of the “Five Eyes” countries, does this affect his subsequent visa applications in other “Five Eyes” countries?


texts: Can a list of scientific numbers be shortened with only the final having the exponent?

texts: If I have a list of numbers 24 x 105, 15 x 105, 2 x 105, etc. In a medical journal article, is it acceptable to write 24, 15, and 2 x 105?


texts: How often are poster presentations rejected from conferences?

texts:
I've never given any sort of presentation at a conference before, but I was under the impression that poster presentations are less prestigious and also much easier to get accepted.

I submitted a late abstract in the second round call for "late breaking" posters. I will hear back supposedly by the end of the week whether the abstract has been accepted or rejected.

The abstract is definitely on-topic for the conference (it's a very large, general applied math conference with multiple sessions in various subfields, but the poster session is for all applied math fields). My PI/advisor is very well-known within my field. We worked on the project together, although I would be the one presenting the poster if it gets accepted. She read over the abstract and helped make corrections/suggestions as well.

Just wondering generally how often a poster presentation would be rejected in this case.


texts: Is it appropriate to put a scientific/technical document about code developed by our group on arXiv?

texts:
Basically, I have written a tutorial for a code which performs a specific type of electronic-structure calculation. The code has been developed by the group I belong to and writing this tutorial/manual is part of our efforts towards achieving greater visibility and getting people to use the code.

I have put in sections on the underlying theory, some technical details, usage guidelines, and some examples of actual calculations that can be done with the code. As such, there is no original scientific contribution, since we already published the new scientific bits pertaining to the implementation in another paper. However the document is a (rigorous) scientific and technical document.

I have seen manuals uploaded on the arXiv before, but I do not know if this fits the arXiv's purpose. Hence, I was wondering whether it is appropriate/a good idea to upload my tutorial to the arXiv.

(Note: I have been browsing the arXiv help but have not found anything on this. Let me know if I have missed any policies stated somewhere on their website.)


texts:
What is the best way to cite non academic books in papers, for example, if we are writing a paper on economics, and want to say that "Charles Dickens presents a good portrayal of the English society in his book Oliver Twist",

Do we cite it as just another paper:

"Charles Dickens presents a good portrayal of the English society in his book [2]"

Is it enough just to mention it by name:

"Charles Dickens presents a good portrayal of the English society in his book Oliver Twist"

Do we do both?

"Charles Dickens presents a good portrayal of the English society in his book Oliver Twist[2]"

Third option looks nicer, but perhaps there is an unspoken standard.


texts: Ph.D. work seems like a drag sometimes, is this normal?

texts:
I am a math researcher working in number theory. During my college years I heard all the stories of great mathematicians, icons of the subject who dedicated most of their time to mathematics research (think Gauss, Euler etc). And that motivated me. I always seemed to do well in math at college. I secured top ranks at  graduate and undergraduate exams. I cleared the national entrance exam in mathematics (CSIR, India) and got admitted into a Ph.D. programme. Now that I'm pursuing a Ph.D things are not as I had envisioned. There are days where I just don't feel like it. Some parts of math are hard and it seems like a drag. Also I conduct classes thrice a week which I am not enthusiastic about and on some days I just don't wanna do it.

I have this idea of a perfect job where you come in to work everyday and are captivated by what you do and everything just flows. But that's not what I am experiencing. Is this normal? I’m confused. Its not like I have lost interest  rather that I'm not as in to it as I would like to be.


texts:
I am currently in a lab that I feel I cannot grow sufficiently in and am considering changing labs. The background is I chose to join this lab because it was aligned with the work i wanted to do, but I didn't really look into it any further since this was my first experience joining a lab.

After being in the lab for some time Ive found out that communication between the labs 8 members is very limited and there aren't any group projects, assistant professor etc. The professor is a nice person but is usually busy with other things so doesn't really give students much direction or input and leaves the students to figure pretty much everything out on their own. I'm aware this may sound great for some people, but I'm the type of person that requires more direction and to be pushed a bit more or else i tend to procrastinate. This coupled with the lab atmosphere just being very cold and not good for brainstorming with members etc has made me feel that I wont be able to grow much in this environment.

There is a similar lab in the university with more members an assistant professor, group projects and a professor that engages more with his students. I'm thinking I would like to join this lab but think my professor could take it badly since the other lab is in the same uni, and is a friend of his he will probably feel like ive slighted him, or am making an indirect comment on his skills. Which isn't really the case, I just want to be in an environment that allows me to learn as much as possible.

Has anyone else encountered these sorts of issues ? how did you deal with it ?


texts: Can I include an author URL as part of the affiliation block in an IEEE Conference Paper?

texts: I have an OrcId.  When I publish papers, for example to IEEE conferences, I'd like to include my OrcId URL, in addition to my email in the author block in the document (in case my email changes and for collecting search results).  Is is allowed, for example with IEEE "related" events, to include an author URL, in addition to, an author email?


texts: How to handle getting offers from two PhD supervisors who know each other?

texts:
The problem: I have a professor that accepted me to take on a thesis when i'm ready but another one offered me one also. The second one did it while the first professor was in the room and I felt the obligation to deny it, even though we have way better communication with the second one.

Both of them know each other very well (they even have neighboring offices) and denying one of them will complicate things and the worst case is that none of them will give me a thesis because I will seem too selfish.

The question:
How can I choose the second one (if the offer is still on) without making a mess?


texts: Visa and funding options for undergraduate internship in US

texts:
I wrote to a professor (let's say Prof. X) in a US university (cannot disclose the name) for an internship over the next summer. Prof. X is happy to have me work with him.

The university has a program for interns (that takes students through the J1 visa program) but the dates do not match with my home university's summer break schedule and I cannot overstay. I asked Prof. X about this and whether I could work as a student independent of the program. He's not sure if he can help me with the visa process if I don't come through the program but he said that he's looking into it. I also sent a mail to the program manager's office 2 weeks ago but they haven't replied back.

Also, I cannot apply for a J1 visa without a source of external funding. My country does not have any government scholarships to fund such research internships. I'm unsure of asking Prof. X for funding because I don't know the proper etiquette in the US and if it's polite to ask for funding. I could make do with personal funds, but it would be a big help if there were some external funding.

My questions -

First and foremost, is there any way I can help Prof. X with looking into possible options? I feel bad about not being able to do anything from my side right now.
Should I ask Prof. X if funding is available? If it's not impolite to do so, how should I phrase my request?
Are there any scholarships in the US that I can apply to that would fund me (I have a very good resume)?
If the university is not able to provide a DS2019 for the J1 visa to students wishing to work independent of the program, what other visa options do I have and would they also need external funding? I know that the F1 visa is not an option as that requires enrollment in a university.

Edit 1 - My home university's summer break starts and gets over a month earlier than the specified dates of the program at the US university. I will not be allowed by my home university to register for a semester more than a week late.


texts:
I'm writing a paper that contains links to documentation that lives as a collection of web pages. I'm looking to host these webpages somewhere such that I can create a direct link to a page from my paper, and such that the website is persistent. This means that I would like to get a DOI or something similar for the website.

Is there a service or other means so that I can accomplish this?


texts:
The importance of a recent PhD’s GPA was recently dismissed in another question (What does an industry recruiter want to know my Ph.D. GPA for?).

Why isn’t GPA considered relevant for graduate study?


texts: Was offered a PhD position, I accepted it but no replies afterwards from the potential supervisors

texts:
I gave an interview for a Phd position and I was offered the position within a day of the interview. I accepted the offer withing two days (before the deadline) and sent an email stating my acceptance of the offer to the supervisor who interviewed me. No acknowledgement was given  and thereafter I have not received any further emails from their side. I sent another email to follow up and ask if they received my first email, but still no replies. It is now been 2 weeks since they last emailed me. Should I keep waiting, or send another email or just move on and apply for other positions.

I tried all emails I could find to contact them. It is not an email delivery problem, since I corresponded with them using the same email many times before the interview took place and I am receiving emails from other people without any problem.

Edit : Now I have another PhD offer and have a deadline to acfept and reject. Still no replies from the first offer. It is almost been a month now.

What would be the best way to go ahead in this situation? I don't want to be dishonest by accepting both offers and but I also don't want to lose both in case the first offer doesn't work out.
The first offer was not an official one. The email read ' We would like to offer you in the position.'


texts: Is a PhD needed after an MD or DO if one wants to pursue a research career?

texts: I have completed my MD. I am more interested in research than in clinical practice. I know there are post-doc positions available which accept post-MD candidates. Still I am thinking of doing a PhD in my specialty of interest. However I would like to know what are the benefits of pursuing a PhD after receiving an MD? Is it really necessary to obtain a Ph.D. degree for a research career?


texts: Ethics: How to deal with a professor who will not accept their inaccurarcy in judging my work?

texts: First, I am a mathematics major who is doing an REU (Research Experiences for Undergraduates) in mathematics at my school. Initially, I wanted to do an REU outside of my school because I have had this professor before, and being in his class is difficult, but not unbearable. Right now, it is unbearable. For the first project, he has asked me to prove a proposition in category theory, and his criticism is not helpful nor is it actually advice. He has went as far as to say "this is your project, not mine", even though my proof is actually correct for the problem at hand; I have seen other verified proofs and had mine verified by mathematicians. It just makes me feel stupid, and I feel depressed and stressed coming to school everyday. What are my options in this situation and what is the most ethical?


texts: Who should I address and what format should I keep for letters in a PhD application?

texts:
I am trying to apply to some PhD programs and I have some questions regarding the required letters.
First, I looked for many differences between a cover letter and a motivation letter as such a cover letter is asked mostly by a company than a University and a motivation letter is vice versa, so, when a university asks for a cover letter which format I should keep when writing? For example, as explained in most online sources, a cover letter should explain your CV and experiences while a motivation should your motivation as it is clear from the name. So, when writing a cover letter for a university can I also talk about my motivation? if not, then how can I show it?
Second, I am applying for a PhD position that on the advertisement it is mentioned to send my application to an email with a recipient name (who I found to be the scientific coordinator) while the leader of the project is also mentioned for inquiries. The question is that, should I address my cover letter to the leader or to the person receiving my email?
thanks...


texts: Can a professor tell you that you can’t use your phone before or after their class?

texts:
So, I have this one professor who refuses to let anyone use their phone. I understand this during class hours but now he’s saying he will give a demerit to anyone using their phone even if it’s before or after class.

I personally am at the school from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and his class is my last one for the day and I have a 2 1/2 hour wait until it starts. Most days I get into his class room anywhere from 30 mins to almost an hour before class starts. The teacher is in the room as students aren’t allowed in otherwise. In that time I’m generally on my phone as in my opinion it’s my free time and I’d like something to do or have people I’m talking to over text.

Everyone is of course adults as we are in college so it’s extremely irritating that another adult would tell me and other students to put a phone away when there is literally no one else in the classroom and no work is being done. Even after class he threatens to write me up for having my phone out whether it’s just to check the time or look something up. (I’m usually the last to leave as I don’t feel the need to rush out of the room and generally try to clean up pretty well before I go)

Maybe I’m just being unreasonable but I do believe some boundaries of respect are being crossed. I don’t talk back or stand up for myself when he tells me to put it away either as I grew up being taught to respect anyone in authority or older than you. Though, he’s the first to make this difficult as the respect doesn’t feel as though it’s being reciprocated.


texts: What to do when online instructor not giving meaningful feedback on research project?

texts:
I am enrolled in an on-line graduate course (US public university). I do not live near the campus, so I cannot attend office hours (which aren't even offered).

For 3 months, I've been working on a research paper for the course. At regular deadlines, I've submitted my progress electronically, however, the instructor's feedback was sparse in each case:

No feedback on whether my chosen topic was okay.
No replies to my public posts/E-mails about some concerns I had in approaching the topic.
Only minimal markings, e.g. pointed out a few grammar/MLA mistakes, no comments focused on my ideas, organization, etc.

I do not even know if the instructor read my work. The project is worth a significant portion of the course grade, but the instructor has given such little input and I have no idea if the paper is good or terrible. What can I do?


texts: Age limit rules for postdoc position in China

texts: I got a postdoc position at age 34 years in China. My documents are verified and I got the invitation letter. My employer applied for a work permit which is in process. I am waiting for that to apply for Z visa. But it is delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic and travel ban. If it is delayed further I will be more than 35 years which is supposed to be maximum age limit for postdoc. Can I still get the position?


texts: Is it possible to download magazines as single PDF in IEEE Xplore with an institutional subscription?

texts:
In the past, as a subscriber of IEEE Security & Privacy, I was able to download the entire magazine as a single PDF.

Since I started using IEEE Xplore from the university, however, I can only download an article at a time which is quite annoying. Is there a way to download a full magazine as a single PDF using an institutional subscription?