texts:
My question is about master thesis structure according to MIT Thesis Format.

I am working on a computer system that comprises of several components. The focus of the research is how to implement the components of the system. Each component can be researched separately. I've implemented all the components and made a progress in improving the performance of some components.

For each of the component I dedicate a section. The question is about an introduction and a conclusion sections. What is the best way to organize them. Should I put a single introduction (about all the components) just after Abstract or separate this big introduction by components and put them in corresponding sections.

The same problem with conclusion.

Sorry for the naive question.


texts: How to pitch a research idea to a professor as an undergraduate?

texts: I have an idea which I'd like to work on with a professor at my university. In my initial email would it be arrogant to ask if he's interested in working with me on this particular topic (he's published some papers on closely related topics), or should I just say that I'm interested in generally doing research with him? I really do want to work on this particular idea but also don't want to come across as trying to tell him what to do.


texts: What to include in the preliminary part of a Math Masters Thesis?

texts: I just want to ask 2 questions. First, what will be the possible content of a preliminary part of a Math masters thesis? Second, can I use any part of a book in a sense that copy it and then include it on the preliminary part with a proper citation or do I need to restate it on my own words? Thanks a lot in your help.


texts: Education sections in an Job Application Form

texts:
I'm trying to fill in an Application Form for a position as a Spanish Teacher in United Kingdom, and I came accross these 2 sections: Educational/Training and Academic qualifications and Further Education.

What am I supposed to write in each of these sections?

Assuming I have obviously primary school and college, as well as 2 degrees and 2 postgraduate courses (all relevant for the position), where should I put each of them?


texts: How important is the choice of dissertation committee?

texts:
I am currently a PhD student and I need to choose a dissertation committee as I will be graduating soon. (I already have a postdoc lined up.) It seems the only function of this committee is to read my thesis, attend my defense, and decide whether to grant me a PhD.

Assuming my dissertation committee serves its purpose and grants me a PhD, what further relevance do they have? How should I choose my committee? In particular, is my committee still important after I graduate?

The reason I'm asking is because I don't really know who to choose. It seems like I should just ask whoever in my department is available. Should I be considering other factors? For example, it is good to have "famous" researchers on my committee?

I asked my advisor and she didn't voice an opinion and said it was essentially up to me who to choose.


texts: What to use as a identifier for researchers?

texts:
I am preparing the final document of my PhD and I would like to include some kind of identifier to my person – something like a DOI for people. My intention is to to make it easy for the readers of my thesis to get in touch with me and to have a look at my other work. As I don't know at what university I will work in the future, it shouldn't be something related to my current university.

I feel like ORCiD or Google Scholar could be good options, but there are many others out there, such as Mendeley, Scopus, etc. However, I would prefer to include only one or two links.
What are the most professional, persistent, and commonly used researcher profiles in academia?


texts:
Do teachers really need a PhD to teach? I guess the origin of this requirement was that people with PhD's were probably the only source of knowledge (unless someone is willing to go to a library, get professional help, and pour through volumes of books). However, knowledge is freely available nowadays along with organized and structured content on several topics.

On the other hand, most Professors with PhDs are trained well in doing research, but they have minimal to no training in teaching. The incentive structures for tenure processes also focuses a lot more on academic publications and grants, and no so much on professional development in teaching.

So, I ask again, wouldn't the students be better off having a teacher with only a MS degree but with training in pedagogical techniques, as opposed to someone with a PhD with neither training nor interest in pedagogy?


texts: Can I use 'Fortunately' in an academic paper

texts:
When using "Fortunately" in a technical paper, the appending statement can appear subjective; and hence shouldn't be used in an academic context (?). When used to highlight, for instance, the solution to a potential problem:

"Thing X must be able to do difficult task Y. Fortunately, many existing solutions are available that can do task Y"

It seems to me than the subjectivity of 'fortunately' actually depends on context. If task Y is something controversial, such as drone strikes against military hospitals (to take a very extreme example), then the statement following 'Fortunately' can seem perverse to many: It comes across as if the author is in moral agreement of performing task Y.

Now imagine if task Y is something harmless, such as "the envisioned calculator must be able to store user preferences between power cycles.". In this case, 'Fortunately' is a very applicable adverb to use: "Fortunately, many cheap forms of solid state storage are commercially available in the target form factor."

Can I/Is it safe to use 'Fortunately' in an academic paper?


texts: Should I report I might have been snubbed from a paper even if I don't have means to substantiate it?

texts:
For my thesis, I did some programming for a project. My supervisor seemed to be very happy with the results when I was there and promised I was going to be in the publication. Problems started when I graduated and moved abroad. My supervisor said they couldn't replicate my results and started pushing me to continue into the project. I left all my scripts properly organized with README files and was available to answer emails and connect remotely to do minor fixes, but I was already fully dedicated to my masters and didn't have time to do extensive extra programming. Indeed, I was doing field work and didn't have access to computers for most of the time. After almost a month in which I was out of reach, I checked my email and found a communication claiming I have stalled the whole project and lead to its cancellation. I let things pass for almost two years, not having much contact with my then coworkers or supervisor, and just yesterday found the paper was indeed submitted around six months after that final communication and taken into publication! And I'm in the acknowledgements albeit for a menial task that anyone could do in a couple of hours!

I can't be sure if there was misappropriation of my work since the code of the project hasn't been published. They might have rewritten the code, but they might have also indeed used MY code or parts of it. Unfortunately, I don't have a copy of my work, since I was doing everything remotely in the server and I now fear I wouldn't be able to substantiate my allegation to the editors in case they ask for prove to my claims (I know, I should have kept a copy for myself, but I never expected this to happen at all...).

I noticed some red flags before leaving but didn't think they were of real concern. My supervisor seemed to be resented at me leaving instead of staying in his lab. Although my supervisor is very good in his field, I didn't like the overall way in which he treated us, his students -- he is the kind of supervisor that would yell and call you stupid in front of your colleagues –. This is one of the reasons why I decided to leave the lab and even change field. I don't know if this affected his intention to include me as an author, but in any case, I think they should have informed me I was going to be mentioned in the paper, and they didn't.

Is this among the normal things that happened in academia? Should I tell the editors either they include me as author or they drop any mention of me in the acknowledgements? Also, among the authors are other students for whom I have real appreciation and I don't want to spoil their names in their first publication. Should I let things just pass and be forgotten? (The paper has been published already for more than a year and haven't been cited once. -In my opinion it's a good paper, but not a breakthrough). What would be the normal thing to do in academia?


texts: Several questions on this site relate to a situation where someone gets several offers simultaneously: for example, see How to choose between multiple math postdocs offers?.  But how does this situation arise?  In my (limited) experience, offers do not come simultaneously, and need to be replied to almost immediately (within a week or so).  For example, position A could have the application deadline 1 February, have interviews mid-February and announcements mid-March, while position B could have everything one month later.  To have two open offers at the same time seems very unlikely in a specialised field where positions are not open on a weekly basis.  Then how does this happen?


texts: Copyright statement (US Government) in acknowledgments - what to do as a reviewer?

texts:
I am currently reviewing a paper, which has this statement in the acknowledgements:

  The United States Government retains and the publisher, by accepting
  the article for publication, acknowledges that the United States
  Government retains a non-exclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, world-wide
  license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript,
  or allow other to do so, for United States Government purposes.
  Source

As a reviewer, I could simply ignore it. However, it seems rather weird to me, since usually after acceptance you have to sign a form which deals with exactly this kind of right transfer / copyright etc. The editors and referees do not have any legal power over this anyway.

Does my role as a reviewer also include to mention this to the editor who should forward it to the publisher, or should I simply ignore it, on the risk that this statement potentially collides with the journal policies?


texts: For Postdoc positions seeking experts in programming language, what are the expectations and what should my strategy be suitable for those positions?

texts:
I am a 5th year PhD student in mechanical engineering. My research has been about utilising a commercial Finite Element software to model a complex phenomenon.

For my research, I had to write small python scripts for post processing, many matlab codes to implement topology optimization algorithms (available as ready-made functions). I also wrote few Fortran subroutines to implement two constitutive equations to my simulations which involved working around the syntax provided by the software guidebook.

My concern is that, none of the programming aspects of my research required any implementation of numerical methods or any high level of programming. It was just using an available inbuilt function and wrapping a program around it to serve my purpose. So, the only skill set required here was a knowledge of basic syntax, a bit of logic and an idea of the big picture.

The numerical bit of the simulation is done by the commercially available finite element (FE) code. It's not a black box to me as I know the fundamental theory behind it. But its actually just knowing which buttons to press.

However, while I was searching for some good and relevant postdoc positions, they all mentioned one thing; "Must be an expert in some high level programming language."

My question is, what is the expectation of programming knowledge in an applied work as my research area? And what should my strategy be for the next half a year to make myself suitable for those positions?


texts: I believe my advisor doesn't think I am smart. How should I deal with this?

texts:
My advisor is a brilliant new professor and my efforts don't seem to impress him.

When I show him something in person, we always have a very careful intensive discussion for hours. But he does make comments which seem to indicate that he doesn't think much of my abilities. Or he says that I am being very slow and that this stuff shouldn't have been taking months.

I think I work as hard as I can.

What can I do about this situation?


texts: Publishing paper after graduation without advisor's name

texts:
I recently submitted a paper derived from my masters thesis to a journal. Before submission, I sent an email to my masters adviser but did not get any reply. I guess he might have forgotten my name or my email was put in the trash (it happens sometime as I cannot use my school email anymore). I went ahead with the submission as the sole author. The paper was accepted, and when the paper entered the proofreading stage, I sent him another email. This time he replied to me that he would look at it.

Is it ok to publish this paper without my master adviser's name? I have graduated for more than 5 years and did not touch base with him for a while. I used my own money to pay for the journal publication fee and wrote acknowledgment to his effort during my master study.


texts: How marketable is a BS in Economics for different Masters degrees?

texts:
I'm currently an undergraduate Economics student with minors in both business and mathematics. As I look towards my future, I'm trying to see what options I have and ultimately make the best decision.

Anyways, I am hoping to find out more about graduate school and the different masters degrees I could obtain. Is it fairly common for students with my academic background to get into a quality masters in finance program? Obviously I could go for economics, I was just wondering what different options I have available.


texts: Is it normal for professors to twist the truth about their labs?

texts:
This is related to my previous question here.

I'm enrolled in a MS/PhD integrated program in computer science at a South Korean university and have just started my first semester. In the linked question, I discuss my desire to quit my program, get my master's degree, and go for a PhD abroad.

The reason I want to quit is that when I first talked to my advisor in March, I told him that I noticed his lab does a lot of work that I'm interested in (NLP and finance). He told me that he'd be happy to have me and that there are "many research projects in those fields going on."

This is partially my fault, but when I entered the lab, I found out that the professor's main interest is bioinformatics, and that he's pretty much only involved with work relating to that. This is also where most of the lab's funding comes from. The fact that my professor's interests don't align with my own is more than enough for me to not want to do my PhD here.

Most of the students here, including myself, barely get any guidance from the advisor and usually teach themselves or learn from upperclassmen. I'm currently involved in a bio project that I don't want to be a part of. I've told some upperclassmen about my plans to go abroad after quitting my program midway, and they told me that there's a lot of people who are in the same boat. They said I just have to do the bare minimum to not get on my advisor's nerves and then I can do my own thing in the meantime. I was also advised to talk to the professor early on about my plans - despite having me told him twice before already - so that there aren't any misunderstandings in the future.

Is this normal? Do professors usually twist the truth to entice students into joining their lab?


texts: Do you contact the search chair before applying for a position?

texts:
In some job advertisements, the chair of search committee is named for informal inquiries.

I contacted them with a brief resume, asking if they are interested in my line of experiences or not. They simply replied me "send the application, we will review it".

I am curious what is informal inquiries? What should/can I ask?

In general, is it a bad idea to contact the search people before applying, when I am serious about a specific position? (most applications are shot in the dark, but we are extremely interested in some positions)


texts: What are the steps for republishing imagery held in archives?

texts: I want to reuse, in a new work, some period drawings and paintings that are held in various libraries and archives. Presumably this means paying for their time spent helping me. To make the process go as smoothly as possible, what is the correct process for obtaining high-quality copies of these materials and permission to republish them? Will I need to already be working with a publisher before acquiring the artwork? Will I need to sign a terms-of-use contract with each archive? Will I be allowed to crop and adjust color levels to improve print quality? Is there anything in particular to watch out for?


texts: I'm trying to build a large dataset of images for training a machine learning model. My idea is to generate these images by grabbing frames off YouTube videos. My question: would this violate copyright laws if the frame comes from, say, a movie? Would I be safe to openly distribute this dataset for other researchers?


texts: Professor does not provide feedback, grades, or lecture - Do I have the grounds to file a complaint?

texts: I am in a graduate level (online) mathematics course. At the beginning of the course, the professor told us to post all of our homework solutions to the online learning forum which is open for everyone to see.  While I do not have any issues with this per se, we are not graded on the homework nor are provided any feedback.  The lack of involvement on the professors side has led to many students not even posting worked through solutions (i.e. provide a couple steps and skip to the solution).  Moreover, we are given weekly reading out of the main text (usually a chapter) for which we are supposed to read, then watch the recorded lectures, and finally complete our problem set.  That said, the lectures do not actually cover the reading in the book or provide any worked through examples.  This is a theory based course and none of the proofs are worked through in the lectures either.  The lectures simply consist of the professor reading aloud the theorems and moving on.   The course costs nearly $5k and I am wondering where the value is.  It would seem that the cost of the course is to have access to material, most of which is openly accessible to anyone with internet. I could just as easily buy the book and read it at home for free and get just as much out of it as I am going through this course.  I know this is a bit of complaining on my part but I admit I am very frustrated that this has happened in more than one class.  Do I have any grounds to go "up the chain" and file a complaint?  Is a complaint of this matter likely to fall on deaf ears?


texts: Do all PhD programs have publishing requirements?

texts: At the bottom of this webpage are publication requirements for PhD students at Skolkovo Institute of Technology. Is it common for PhD programs to have specific publication requirements like this?


texts: How to choose the right institution for pursuing tenure-track?

texts:
I've got 2 offers for a tenure-track position (computer science). One at a well known "tier 1" institution and one at an institution that would be considered "tier 2", both in the US.

Most people I know in academia would immediately go for option 1, considering it a great opportunity. While I do agree that this would look great on my CV, I'm somewhat cautious due to reports that tier 1 institutions are very reluctant granting tenure to anyone who doesn't find the cure for cancer...

I'm well aware that getting tenure at a tier 2 institution won't be a field day either, but looking at their previous record, a high percentage of assistant professors at that institution did make the cut.

Any advice?


texts: How do we know that regression results are real and not the result of bias?

texts:
Edit: this question was originally about political science alone but applies to any field that relies heavily on regressions.
I am an undergrad pursuing a double major in physics and political science. The combination gives me a really interesting view of how different fields do things. Physicists tend to view political scientists as "not real scientists", so I was surprised to find that most of my entry-level political science classes go into the details of the scientific method (what makes a good theory, how to do research, etc.) quite a lot more than my physics classes.
But then I took a political science statistics class and now I'm filled with enormous doubt about the entire field. It seems like regressions are really easy to manipulate - even unconsciously - not just because of the never-ending problem of omitted variable bias, but also because of the huge number of different combinations of variables that can go into those regressions. You can easily get sixty different results using the same data.
So my question is, how do we know political scientists aren't just confirming their own biases? For example, this article on FiveThirtyEight shows how scientists in a bunch of studies looking at who got red cards in football games arrived at the same general conclusion despite having slightly different results. (They concluded that referees were more likely to give a red card to dark-skinned players than light-skinned ones.) I don't really doubt that result because I know about racism in general, and it makes sense that referees would be unintentionally racist with red cards. But how do we know that the scientists weren't just all finding a conclusion that lines up with what they thought the result should be? How do we know which studies were right in finding a relationship (vs. the ones that found no significant relationship)?


texts: How to overcome a mistake you make in your proof and regain motivation?

texts:
I am an undergraduate student in computer science, and I have been working as an undergraduate researcher in theoretical computer science for 7 months. There was this problem that my supervisor mentioned, and I worked on it for a while. But I only managed to solve a sub-case of the problem, which didn't interest my supervisor at that time. However, he wanted me to write a manuscript about it anyway. I put a lot of effort into writing it, but he didn't bother to read it. And we have moved on to other things.

A week ago, my supervisor called me, and he said that he found an interpretation of the sub-case of I've solved, that economists are interested in. And he said that we can publish it in a journal. So, I was really hyped. We met the next day, to review my proof. But when I arrived, I learned that a friend of my supervisor found an implicit assumption at the beginning of my proof which was clearly wrong.

As you can imagine, I was devastated. I've tried to find a workaround, and fix my solution, but I've just found another thing that I've overlooked. So I've lost my enthusiasm and self-confidence.

However, my supervisor claims he found a completely different idea to solve the problem. He explained it to me, however it has some parts to be completed. So he wants me to write a manuscript about it and fill the gaps. However, I cannot find any motivation to do so. I am overwhelmed by the feelings of failure and anger.

I know that I should be working on my supervisor's idea, but I'm so distracted with the mistake I've made. How can I overcome my mistake, and start to work again?

UPDATE: A month later, we solved the problem :)


texts: I got the following comment from a reputed math journal. What does it mean?

texts:
I got this comment after more than 75 days of submission:

  The considered problem in this manuscript is a practice in high mathematics and can not be a paper for publication in high-level journals.

What does it mean?


texts: Professor doesn't respond to notice of inability to take a test in his class

texts: I currently have a concussion that has hindered my ability to do work or study. I went to the doctor and got it diagnosed (got a medical note and all that). I have a midterm tomorrow, and I emailed my professor yesterday regarding my concussion and asked to make it up sometime the following week as I am in no shape to take the test. However, he has not responded (even after I followed up on email). He also posted on my classes discussion board, so I am not sure what to do.


texts: Including desired rank in a cover letter for an open-rank faculty position?

texts: I'm an assistant professor in my fifth year and have decided to go on the job market this year.  Obviously I prefer tenured positions to pre-tenure positions, but I'm interested in either one.  Would it be weird to leave this ambiguous in a cover letter, that is, to simply say "I am applying for a position in your department" without specifying the rank?  It  seems to me that if I say I'm applying for an associate position, then some departments might say "oh, she's not ready for an associate position, too bad, we would have hired her at the assistant level", whereas, if I apply at the assistant level, I might be passing up opportunities for a tenured position.


texts: Where can I look for announcements of tenure-track positions?

texts:
I am looking around to land on a tenure track position in the area of systems and control (engineering) and I would be grateful if anyone can suggest a good strategy to identify possible opportunities. I keep seeing people around me getting interviews for positions I have never heard of, so I guess my search strategy needs some improvements.

My main target is the US, but I am open to positions in UK or Canada as well.


texts: Citing personal communication from a paper

texts:
Can (should?) I cite a personal communication from another paper?
In my specific case, I want to express that a certain metric is not available yet, but it is the focus of ongoing research. I know this from the following section of Warton et al. 2012:

  but it is the subject of ongoing research (M. J.Anderson, pers. comm.).

Do I just cite the Warton paper or use the approach suggested in
Citing a Work that Cites a Personal Communication for tabular data?


texts: How does the author's native language impact the likelihood of having his publication accepted in an English-speaking venue?

texts:
I've heard a few authors whose native language wasn't English complain that they are put at a disadvantage with respect to authors who are English native speakers, when it comes to publication acceptance in English-speaking venues.

Is there any research/study/survey that looked at the impact of the author's native language on the likelihood of having his publication accepted in an English-speaking venue?


texts: Why shouldn't an unsolicited email asking for opinion include the links to the articles?

texts:
I have a precursory research – that is, an article posted in my website to know what I want to pursue – and want to send to a professor to have his opinion. However, I was advised to ask him if he has time to read my ideas first before sending links to long blog posts.

I wonder why that is a case. I understand that this is to show that I respect his time – a professor has many duties – but I think in the end it depends on the interestingness of the content. If it is interesting enough, then no matter how long it is, it is still, well, interesting. And I think this factor is basically the relevance of my email to his work. As explained in this answer, as long as the email is relevant it can be answered.

In my case, it has raised some interests to others in tangient fields, and matches one of his research interests, so I don't think there should be a problem. What may be a problem is that he may be reluctant to click on an unsolicited link, or the articles are long. But I suppose this is a normal thing that researchers do all the time? All of the problems here – sending unsolicited email to ask for opinion, putting the article in a link or attachment to keep the email short, putting the ideas in blog when they are just initial observations – don't seem to be problem to me.

Think of the email like this very question: I ask you unsolicitously, you may have a lot of duties, and there are three links on it. If I don't need to worry whether I am wasting your time reading this question, then why should I worry I'm wasting his time?  The email is much shorter than this question. I don't see why there should be extra cautious.

So why does the person advise this? The full draft of the email can be read here.

Minor question: Should I put tracking links?


texts: Should I cite all the open source python packages I used like numpy in my paper?

texts: I used many open-source packages in my research, such as matplotlib, numpy, pandas, scipy, etc. And I found this on the website of SciPy: Citing packages in the SciPy ecosystem. Should I cite every one of them in my paper? (I'd like to cite them but there are so many of them which will make my paper even half or one page longer)


texts: Why would a professor write many recommendation letters?

texts:
A practical question:
I have now read a few times that to get a PhD position in the US you need 3 reference letters.
I assume most people apply for more than one position, so you need those 3 letters for every position.
Also, there are a lot of applicants.

So how does one get a professor to write more than one letter?
If I apply for say, 5 positions, I would need 15 different letters, 5 per person if I am always referring to the same persons, even if not probably more than one letter per person---and I am probably not that person's only student who wants letters.

I cannot possibly imagine professors in Europe going along with this (which is why it is becoming common here to just give the address of the referee, not send in a complete letter), so how is it in the US?

Do US students only apply for one or two positions and simply abandon the thought of grad school if they do not get it, or do they really get their professors to write that many letters?


texts: Asking to not present in a conference on Saturday

texts:
I am about to submit a paper to a conference. I just found out that the conference falls in Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Since I am an observant Jew, I don't want to present on Saturday. What are my options?

I thought to submit the paper, and if it is accepted, explicitly ask the organizers to schedule me to another day. Is this possible/acceptable?
Another option is to submit the paper, and if it is accepted and scheduled on Saturday (and the organizers don't agree to change this), then withdraw the paper. This is of course less preferable as it, probably, creates bad reputation if I don't present an accepted paper (I am also not sure if it will be published: Presented a paper in a conference, but my paper did not get published in proceeding )
The third option is not to submit at all, in order to prevent the option that I have to withdraw an accepted paper.


texts:
I got my PhD in quantum gravity 2 years ago, not from a top university, publishing only 1 paper, no conferences. Couldn't get a post doc, and it has been 2 years struggling in the job market, teaching part time here and there.

I am thinking seriously about getting an MS degree in something that can open job chances for me because all jobs outside academia I looked at required certain skills I do not have, or knowledge never needed during my PhD, all my work was very formal.

My questions are:

Would graduate schools/ master committees accept me being with a PhD? (I expect to pay my own tuition for that MS of course.) Do I have any chance?
Of course I am not planning to do MS in physics. How about geophysics MS programs? engineering MS programs? Scientific writing MS programs? MBA programs?

I am still evaluating my options for what career path I should pursue, but I just want to know if it is acceptable to do an MS after PhD or I will be rejected right away. (I would hate and regret my PhD if I will be rejected because of it.)


texts: Internships and their bearing on securing tenure track faculty positions

texts:
First off, my field is computer science (data mining and machine learning). I have noticed/observed that many individuals who have secured tenured track faculty positions recently had, while in pursuit of their PhD, done at least one internship. Based on this observation I was wondering:

(a) Is it necessary/expected that, to be a top candidate for a tenure track faculty position, one should have at least one internship under their belt?

(b) If not necessary, to what degree does an internship positively impact the chances of getting a tenure track faculty job?

(c) Given the answerer's  (your) response to (a) and (b), what is the thought process associated with observing the internship experience on a job candidate's CV (e.g., "This individual worked for company X and therefore, if this person is hired, our department will have better ties to company X.")?

-- As a quick note: I'm talking about an internship at major labs such as Yahoo!, Microsoft Research, etc.


texts: Does GPA/Transcript matter for academic jobs after the PhD?

texts:
Courses taken and GPA can matter quite significantly for undergraduates, both for applying to graduate school and applying for jobs. What about courses taken and GPA during PhD? Do they matter at all for postdoc/professorship application? Do postdoc/professorship application usually ask for a transcript? What about for industry positions? Are there positions that would care about "good grades" or "advanced courses taken" during PhD?

I would guess the answer is largely negative, but I'm willing to hear other opinions.


texts: What are some good ways to provide computer labs for the students?

texts:
Our university provides computer lab rooms for the students. We will soon build some new ones, and possibly re-build some of the old ones, and we are looking for new solutions.

What we have now looks like this:

From my experience, and a Google image search on "university computer lab", it seems similar to other universities all around the world.

But we would like to re-think the old ways and provide a better environment for the students, as envisioned in CDIO workspaces ("Workspaces and laboratories that support and encourage hands-on learning of product and system building, disciplinary knowledge, and social learning").

Perhaps a new floor plan with smaller rooms,
or new furnishings, something like what is described in
New Design and Synergistic Collaboration Revitalize Gallaudet University's Harkin Computer Lab?

We would like to hear from others who can share experiences from some alternatives. What have you tried? Did it work?


texts:
I just saw an ad for a new Statistics course that will be offered this fall semester and it states:

  For postdoctoral, graduate, and advanced undergraduate students ...

I am surprised and a little bit shocked from seeing "postdoctoral" in the ad as a potential attendee of that course. Is it usual to have postdocs take courses?


texts: Importance of PhD pedigree when applying for tenure-track jobs

texts:
How much weight does a department's hiring committee give to the prestige of a candidate's PhD program when looking to hire tenure-track professors?

Does someone coming from a top 5 university with a short publication record have a better chance than someone from a ranked ~50 school with a better record?


texts:
APA says that "U.S." should be typed out with periods if the abbreviation is being used as an adjective. If you are using this "common" abbreviation, do you need an earlier parenthetical explanation of the abbreviation?

In other words, if the progression of the text is:

"He lives in the United States ... He is a member of the U.S. Navy."

should it be:
"He lives in the United States (U.S.) ... He is a member of the U.S. Navy."

?


texts: Scholarship asks for copy of diploma, old university slow to print it

texts:
I have just completed my undergraduate studies in the United States this June. I have completed all degree requirements and have paid off all financial obligations. I received a scholarship for my masters for a school in Europe but I need to upload a scanned copy of my Diploma by the 15th of this month to be able to maintain the scholarship, otherwise I will lose it.

Last week I was told that the school would pre-order my diploma for me, however, when I went there today I was told that I would not be receiving my diploma until four weeks from now. None of the people working there seemed to care about my scholarship.

I understand that the school in not contractually obligated to provide me my diploma any sooner. How could I solve this problem?


texts: How should I put a disclaimer in my thesis indicating that I am not responsible for any misuse of my work?

texts: My thesis project for my bachelor's degree is a type of electronic military helmet. I want to insert a disclaimer in the thesis paper that I'm not responsible for any misusing of the book contents, but where I can put it? And what should I write?


texts:
I am submitting a revision to paper I submitted to a IEEE journal.

When I wrote out the letter addressing the revisions, I included some graphics in my comments as well. But when I look at the ScholarOne website, it seems like the letter to “Respond to Decision Letter” is a text only format. Does anybody know whether you can submit a word document/pdf to respond to the decision letter instead of submitting a text-only letter?
Do you typically have to submit a new Cover letter if you revised the paper/letter? Or should I just keep the cover letter the same as the cover letter that I used to submit the original paper?


texts: Writing Thesis: Copying from published papers

texts:
I'm aware that some institutions offer something that is called 'Thesis by Publication' (sandwich thesis) but that's not available to me. I'm trying to work out what pitfalls there may be to simply copying from papers that I have previously published in order to form large sections of my thesis.

The papers that I've published were largely designed to solve major problems encountered within the larger frame of research, so altogether they should follow a single coherent line of thought.

Must one's own work be cited in a thesis? This would be standard when submitting a paper for publication, but there is a stipulation when publishing papers that that work has not been already published elsewhere, and the same sort of thing does not really crop up with a thesis, does it?

Are there any other potentially pitfalls in this course of action?


texts: Use of data that may contain future ethical complications

texts:
Suppose that you are afforded an opportunity to examine data that was, on the surface at least, collected legally and ethically, but that may contain hidden ethical dilemmas. What precautions, if any, should you take when working with this data?

Two examples that came to mind for me were data collected from a social media site and DNA/genetic data obtained by a genomics company that is supposed to trace your genetic ancestry. These data sources are covered by a consent waiver that gives the service provider certain permissions to use, distribute, and monetize your data. To use those services, a patron is required to sign a waiver/terms of use agreement. A person's data is only collected with their "consent," albeit at times a blind consent.

If I was a geneticist, suppose, and obtained via appropriate means genetic data for a population of interest that had submitted their saliva/DNA to one of these genomics companies, what would be some ethical issues I would need to consider? The subject consented to giving their data, but many times did not necessarily give informed consent. In this example, could it still be unethical to do research on data that was likely obtained from people who just quickly passed through the consent agreements and signed blindly?

This issue is even more relevant in cases of social media data. Most users likely had no idea their data was even being collected because the did not read the user agreement they consented to. Would it be unethical to then use data collected from this social media site, even though it was legally obtained?


texts: Naming of subchapters which deal with same topic in different case

texts:
Is there any naming convention or strategy for subchapters, if they are about the same phenomenon but observed within a different case?

Let's say my structure looks as follows:

4.1 Usage of Software-as-a-Service
4.1.1 Usage of Software-as-a-Service at Company A
4.1.2 Usage of Software-as-a-Service at Company B

How should one select the titles for a thesis?


texts: Are there standard terms to say source was already cited (1) above (2) below?

texts:
I screen shot pp 5-6, Oxford University Standard for the Citation of Legal Authorities (4 edn 2012). It doesn't answer question up in title.

I want terms for "already cited" 'cause I don't want to write down same source twice, but some authors always cite long form - even sources they already cited. But they never say they already cited it, and I write down the same source like 5 times until I re-read my notes. If they did, much time saved!!!!


texts: New to USA - Masters vs. Staying with my mentor

texts:
I'm 23, I recently immigrated to USA (legally lol) and I'm loving the amount of opportunity here and I sure want to make good use of it. However, I'm confused about a major decision and need your opinions.

I graduated from India with a Bachelors in Engineering degree (Computer Science) from an okay-ish standard University. Lots of people I run into tell me that I should get into a Master's program, as it will not only give me a great education and name of a USA school on my resume but also teach me a lot about culture and life in general.

But on the other hand, I have my uncle who is a CEO and founder of a multinational and multi-million software development company, which is where I'm working right now. Since I live with him too, we talk a lot and he is my mentor. Despite his insanely busy schedule, he is always willing to talk to me and answer my questions and teach me stuff. Its good for me since my life goal is to start a software company myself in future and learning from him can be a game changer. Its bad for me because I'm kinda immature, and staying with him keeps me on a safe side (CEO's nephew).

My question is, what would you do if you were me? Sticking with mentor vs. getting a master's degree.


texts: I recently submitted my replies to peer review to a journal. After submission I found out I had missed out on turning on track changes to the last part of my manuscript. Will this cause a problem? Do issues like this irritate journal editors and reviewers and lead to rejection of a manuscript?


texts: Can I fix error in submitted conference manuscript after submission due date

texts: I recently submitted a manuscript to a conference but I found there is a formula error. Now it is about 2 weeks after submission due data. Should I email the chair asking whether I can update? Or should I just wait?


texts: How to address the issue of the widespread use of protected material in informal publications?

texts:
One thing that always bothered me is the liberal use of protected material in informal academic publications (for example Powerpoint presentations, handouts and internal reports rather than published papers).

It seems that the "everything on the Internet is free" attitude is also widespread in the academic world. And while I regularly spend a considerable amount of time either creating the graphic material I need or search for it on the Internet, nearly everybody else is not even thinking about it. Need a nice picture of a sunset or a little fish to include in your graphic? Just google and use the first one, without thinking twice!

This does not happen on single occasions only, I've made that experience in several countries, working in different environments.

Sometimes, among co-workers and friends I raise this issue and am usually met with understanding. Most of them see the problem with the additional time they need to spend to search for relevant material or the creation of an appropriate space to include copyright notes or references to graphic material. Some also mention that it would be considered unprofessional including a user name on the Internet as the source for their imagery.

My questions therefore is, how do I sensibly raise this issue among supervisors (which may consider this a waste of time) or an unknown crowd, especially considering above-mentioned criteria?


texts: Are professors not allowed to work on what they want to work on without a grant?

texts:
In this video on mathematician Maria Chudnovsky, she says "with the MacArthur Fellowship, I'll be able to work exactly on the problems I want to work on."

Are professors not able to work on what they wish to work on without some sort of grant?

Do professors need a grant before starting research?


texts: Where to draw the line between support, plagiarism and academic dishonesty?

texts:
I received some help during my thesis under the following circumstances:

Took "neutral" classes for coding from a online tutor
The tutor helped me in sharpening my coding skills
I took his help (held discussions) in understanding a solution (how to code, which library to use)
The Tutor helped debugging at times when I got stuck

I wrote everything by my own but this person helped by "tutoring", "discussions", and "debugging".

Am I fine here?


texts: Considering dropping Computer Science Master

texts:
Background knowledge about me: I'm 26, have done a Bachelors in Mathematics and now I'm in my 3rd year in my masters in Computer Science in Germany.

I have found it very difficult in general to decide what to study, I've always been into learning things without specifying a passion and I've been a very good student. When I started my Bachelors in Math I really struggled because it was very theoretical but during the first year I decided that I would go into Applied Math and Computer Science.

Starting my Masters the courses were difficult and again I couldn't decide where to focus so I went with Machine Learning, since it was closer to my previous studies. Although I've finished all my courses I am really struggling with my Master Project(which is in Machine Learning), it doesn't seem interesting to me so I am just procrastinating. I decided not to change the project and try to find something else, because I thought that all of this time I have spend would be wasted.

I'm considering dropping the master and searching for a job, but that's also a problem since I don't have any experience.

Since it has taken me some time to finish my Bachelors and now I am really strugling with my Masters, should I leave it and try to acquire some knowledge from online courses about things that would be more relevant for a job?


texts: Is is possible to study mathematics PHD with another bachelor degree like Business Administration?

texts:
Is it possible to enrol in a mathematics PhD program with a bachelor degree in Business Administration? Have you heard of someone doing something similar and if yes, how did they do it?

I am a BBA student. I found that I love mathematics after taking some analysis courses and want to keep on studying mathematics and doing research. However, since I didn't really enjoy studying BBA, I have a poor a GPA and I suspect I won't be able to enrol in a competitive mathematics PhD program.

I currently have some background in analysis, including metric space topology, some basic differential manifold, functional analysis, real analysis and of course some other basic math courses.

What is the best way to continue my academic career in mathematics coming from an unrelated field?


texts: progressing from high school teaching into academia

texts:
I have been a high school teacher for coming on 14 years, in 8 schools, in 2 countries. While teaching still is enjoyable, I feel with the near completion of my PhD (in physics), that I am ready for a new challenge in academia.

I have no illusions though, it will be challenging to even get into academia.  I know I also have to be published (have 3 peer reviewed papers published).

How should the skills developed in high school teaching be touted to be relevant for academic postions?


texts:
My viva is coming up, and one of my supervisors is planning to attend. I know that he won't be able to say anything during the viva itself, but I'm a little worried what he might say afterward while the examiners are discussing my fate. He's a good supervisor, and thinks very highly of my work, but he does have a tendency to agree with whomever he's speaking to at the moment. For example, if the examiners were discussing a small potential change to my thesis, I'm afraid his enthusiasm might get the better of him, and he might "volunteer" me to make a bigger change than the examiners expected or even suggest additional experiments which are beyond the scope of my PhD.

Does that scenario seem plausible, or am I worried over nothing? If there is reason to be concerned, I might ask my supervisor not to come, explaining that his presence might "make me more nervous" to avoid hurting his feelings.

If it helps, I'm in a small country which has an academic system very similar to the U.K. I have read Benefits to supervisor presence at viva in the UK?, but my question is a little different since I have a specific concern, and the supervisor in question has already invited himself.


texts: How to find all the articles citing particular two?

texts:
It is quite easy given a single article to find all the articles citing it.

However, having two or more articles, how do I find all the articles simultaneously citing these?


texts: In text listing style - how to use? Any downsides?

texts:
I'm currently considering to use a in line (in text) listing style, such as:

'Some things are quite good. (i) Thing A can do this and that, which is awesome because of this and that. (ii) Thing B can do, ... . (iv) Some people also say that this and that, therefore thing Z is great.'

I've got more important points already highlighted through bullets, therefore I don't want to use bullets again for this minor information, plus I want to logically link the single points through sentences, but still provide an easy way to pick out the key words quickly.

First question: I've seen this style in quite a few papers. Is it considered to be a "good" style, or are there any downsides to this approach? Should I not use this style? Does the reader get confused by this?

Second question: Shall the brackets and latin number be bold, only the number, or nothing?

Third question: Should I place the enumeration element right infront of the keyword, or at the beginning of the sentence containing the keyword?


texts: I want to use this picture for one of my presentations. Do I have to mention the author there, and if yes, how do I mention him? It will be my first talk in English, so I don't really know how to correctly use/cite a picture from someone else.


texts: Are physics conference abstracts ever screened?

texts:
Do conferences ever reject low quality abstracts? I've never heard of anybody wanting to attend conferences and being rejected.

If they do screen abstracts, will they reject abstracts that are not of low quality but are too broad in theme? Will organizers give applicants a chance to revise abstracts?


texts:
I started working on my master thesis a few weeks ago. When I talk to my supervisor and try to discuss new ideas she always starts to explain very basic material that is only tangentially related. Sometimes even repeating what she said in our last meeting.

This leads me to believe my supervisor assumes I do not know what I am talking about when presenting my ideas. And even worse not knowing some very fundamental stuff even after she explained it to me.

I know it is hard to judge what other people know, but this makes it very hard to discuss my thesis with her.

How can I politely let my supervisor know of the level of my knowledge to have more interesting discussions about my work?


texts: Identical projects by students at two different colleges: still plagiarism?

texts: Me and my friend attend different colleges, both of which are part of the same university. My friend has done the project and as well as me too. Our projects are exactly the same - not a single word is different.  Is this considered plagiarism?


texts: Style for first introduction sentence - citation required for lurid statement?

texts:
I'm trying to write my first introduction sentence, which should be catchy. I came up with a sentence along the lines of "imagine the world without this super thing, all these things wouldn't be possible". Obviously, this case will not occur in the next million years and I guess I won't be able to find any paper supporting my claims. However, the described consequences still seem realistic.

As the rest of the introduction is very technical and dry, I think a fresh start is quite nice, but I'm worried someone might say that this first sentence is not scientific as nobody can back up my statement.

Is having a bit more colloquial or lurid kick-off sentence considered to be a "good" or "bad" scientific writing style?


texts: Putting a scholarship received for upcoming summer school in CV

texts:
I applied for a summer school and received a scholarship to attend. In the meantime, I am planning on applying for a Masters, in a field related to summer school, before attending the summer school. Is it acceptable to put the scholarship in the CV?
What would be the appropriate place to put the scholarship? I have a honours and awards section in my CV. But I'm not sure that's the proper place to include the scholarship for the summer school.


texts: Can an article published in a non-peer reviewed venue later undergo peer review?

texts:
As we all know, once a paper has been published in some form (whether or not in a peer-reviewed format), most journals will balk at the idea of publishing it again. Does this apply solely to publishing a work, or does this also apply to the entire idea of peer review?

If someone has already published a finding in a non-peer reviewed venue (e.g. popular magazine, trade paperback, newspaper, radio broadcast, etc.), and then later realizes that the findings would have been significant enough for a scientific publication, is there a process by which they can "go back" and get the peer review that they realize they should have gotten? E.g. a person could then claim:

  I published this in 2015 as an article in The New York Times, but in 2018 I paid Science $10,000 to peer review it and they gave me a piece of paper saying that it is 100% Genuine Science (TM) and would have been published by them had it not already been published elsewhere. For this reason, my article can be cited as a peer-reviewed paper (or "equivalency") and should count toward qualifying for faculty positions, even if Science did not actually physically publish it. Please cite me as "Columbia, R. (2015 Jan 12), Radical Deconstruction of Spline Reticulation in Eightspace with reference to Post-Modern Patriarchy, New York Times, Peer Reviewed Science Aug 6, 2018."

Is there a general procedure for handling such cases? Will a journal do this if you pay them a reasonable amount of money to cover expenses and profit? Are there non-publishing academic institutions that specialize in the service of peer reviewing existing publications and giving them their Stamp of Good Science Approval? Is this technically possible but extremely rare or nearly unheard-of?

I found this question : Can non-peer-reviewed work be recognized by the community? , but it seems to more be asking about getting non-peer reviewed results de-facto accepted by the scientific community over time rather than about how to get a formal one-and-done post-publication peer review.

In summary, I'm not asking whether or not a paper already published in a non-peer reviewed venue can later be published in a peer-reviewed journal. I'm asking whether or not a paper already published in a non-peer reviewed venue can later receive peer review and be "upgraded" in status to a "real" academic publication without needing to be republished. Whether or not any particular non-peer reviewed publication meets, or even has a remote chance of meeting, the standards of peer review is out of scope.


texts: Should I cite a paper when a sentence is not a findings of a research work but mentioned in the paper?

texts:
Problem

In the methodology section of this paper, authors mentioned that

  Compared to other social network sites such  as  Facebook  and
  Twitter,  Instagram  has  been  less  studied and understood.

I need to cite a sentence like this. However, this is not a findings of this paper.

My Question

Will it be okay, if I cite this sentence?


texts:
Planning to do PhD research about to find the link between 2 things.

What if there was no link between these 2 things?

does that mean all years of research is worthless? and no PhD degree?

is the PhD more about the results of the research or about the research itself?


texts: How to efficiently organize my PhD data, papers and notes?

texts:
I will start soon my PhD in natural sciences, and I would like to get some advice regarding project organization in general. I wouldn’t say I am particularly disorganized, but I could certainly make some improvement. For instance, sometimes I find it difficult to understand what exactly I was doing or thinking when I acquired or analyzed some data months or years ago, even when it’s dated. I often underestimate the quantity and/or relevance of the data I got when some time has passed and I start forgetting details. So, I would like to know:

What’s your filing system for raw data, analysis, programs,
graphing/drawing, figures and papers files when you work with many
different techniques over time? How do you name your files (in the computer)?
How do you organize and/or separate your handwritten notes, ideas,
calculations, and laboratory procedures and results?
How do you keep a clear connection between your ideas, files, papers
and tasks, especially when they were done some time ago?

I know there isn’t an ideal answer to it. I just want to define a good system to get started with.


texts: Soft money tenured profs in schools of medicine

texts:
I am a PhD student focusing in psychiatric genetics, hoping to become a professor someday. It is my understanding that a lot of the PhDs in my field end up working in schools of medicine in positions that are 80-100% soft money (even though they are tenure-track).

That sounds... terrifying. You're not a clinician so you can't make up salary with patient care, you're in a school of medicine so there isn't much opportunity to cover part of your salary with teaching... it sounds like you would have to spend your entire career living in fear of a grant dry spell, even once you had tenure (no grants = no salary).

Am I misunderstanding how this works, or is it really that bad? How do people survive in that situation?


texts: Should I take PhD application recommendation letter from academic advisor?

texts:
I am applying for PhD in engineering and wondering whether should I take recommendation letter from academic advisor during master's program.

He has 'professor' in his title. He was not my thesis advisor and I did not take any courses from him. His role was more like advising students which courses to take, approving their courses for the semester, judging whether a student meet with course requirements, etc.

This recommendation letter would be based on generalization, such as GPA. I know a recommendation letter should be specific, but can a letter from such professor help or harm?


texts: Is there any such career as a medical researcher?

texts:
A little context here: I graduated from medical school in 2012, practiced briefly till 2016 and stopped. I simply got bored with traditional medical practice and then decided to pursue my first love - research. I'm naturally a curious individual and I would prefer doing research all my life. My medical background makes it best suited for me to do research in medicine or health in general.

However, it appears that it is difficult to simply just leave medicine to do ONLY research. People say that there are no support structures for researchers outside academia or medical practice, and that worries me. Now, I have been out of medicine for about two years and not really making much headway with research. I have gotten to a point at which I am confused and thinking I might have made a mistake focusing solely on research.

Is it normal to feel this way? Is there any hope/opportunity for any researcher outside academics or clinical medicine?


texts:
I have seen various questions regarding PhDs in the EU vs US, but none I've seen address this. The subject area is Maths/Physics.

From what I've seen, in the EU you do a Masters (I'm soon to be finishing) and then PhD. In general this might take 4-6 years total for both. In the US you apply for a PhD after finishing undergrad studies and it takes 5-6 years total. There are classes in the first two years or so which make it roughly comparable overall to Europe.

My question: Is it possible to do a PhD in the US after completing a MSc in Europe, without have to go through the class component in the US? In other words, can one go straight to research?


texts:
I have just started a thesis-based masters degree.

My supervisor has asked me to help with another student's project. So I am working with another student of my supervisor. We work together and send him a report weekly. We send reports on time.

One time our report had a mistake, the professor got mad at me (at that time I sent the report to him). He told me unpleasant things and I got really disappointed at that moment and it happened two times. It was weird because firstly he was very good with me and this behaviour was very unlikely. Secondly, he was not mad at my colleague (another student) we were working together.

Both of us wrote and sent that report and both of us made that mistake. Why he was not mad at him? did he tell any bad thing about me to the supervisor?
What should I tell to my professor? I feel very bad. He made me feel that I am useless.

I heard that my colleague has a bad reputation of gossiping about others to the supervisor.

I should add that my colleague, thinks that he is the boss in the lab and he sometimes bullies me and tries to correct me in everything even when we are filling a form which is not related to the project.

How can I handle this situation?


texts:
I have a question about plagiarism: are these two sentences plagiarised versions of each other?

In a cited paper, it says:

  This paper describes the design for a novel passive mechanical knee-ankle prosthesis that provides knee flexion during swing to provide additional toe clearance that makes the device safer.

Can I use the sentence like given below? I will use it in state-of-the-art part of introduction where I give examples of studies:

  Knee flexion was provided by the prosthesis at swing motion.


texts: Consequences for publishing final-version PDF, in violation of publisher policies?

texts:
Are there consequences that are typically enforced when an author puts the publisher’s PDF on a personal website or social media (e.g. ResearchGate) in violation of the publisher’s policy? I see many journal policies which prohibit uploading the final-version PDF on repositories (see Sherpa/Romeo). But at the same time, I see many final-version PDFs freely available if you look on ResearchGate, Academia.edu or an author’s website.

If these are cases of technically breaking the publisher’s rules, are there typically consequences for researchers?


texts: Re-apply to a PhD position that is re-posted after being rejected?

texts:
My application to a specific PhD position was rejected. I was informed about it last week and I wasn't even invited to an interview. The information was a standard email telling me that "despite your evident qualifications, there were better candidates". Now, I see that the institution re-posted a job ad for the exact same position, and only changed the starting date to a later one.

I'm a bit puzzled by this situation and don't know what to do:

Should I re-write a better motivation letter and apply again, or does the early rejection means I have no chances at all?
Should I contact the thesis supervisor and ask him what could improve my chances, like this answer to a similar situation suggests?
Or should I wait a bit, get other experiences as research staff/assistant or something similar and apply for another position later?

My biggest worry is that I might appear too "pushy" and that my future applications in this institution will be automatically rejected, even if I have more experience. On the other hand, having a feedback from the supervisor could be useful for future applications.

I am aware that similar questions have bee posted already, like this one. However, my situation is slightly different, as I would apply to the same position without any new experience (against what is advised there). The cultural setting is German-speaking Europe.


texts: Community College or extension programs as a way of preparing for a Masters in Mathematics

texts:
I wanted to get some directions on how to prepare for a MS Degree in Mathematics.

Background:

I'm interested in getting a Ph.D in Statistical Learning or related area in 5-6 years.
I took some courses in Mathematical Statistics and I struggled because I do not have recent coursework in Analysis, Measure theory, etc.
I studied electrical engineering with a very heavy mathematical component from a very decent University 20 years ago however, it is amazing how much I've forgotten.
I've always been fascinated by mathematics and I'm very tempted to build a solid foundation before partaking in doctoral study.
I am working at the moment - my job is flexible and I'm saving to take off a year or two for the final years of my doctoral work.
I have a couple of graduate degrees in the area of Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence

Plan:

I'd like to build up to where I was 20 years ago: calculus, linear algebra, diff equations, calculus of complex variables, frequency domain analysis.
I'd also like to take courses that are typically reserved for math majors like proofs, analysis, group theory, algebra, etc.

I think the best way to accomplish the plan would be a decent community college or extension program like (UC Berkeley extension) that offers online classes -- any recommendation?


texts: What does "NN" mean (submitting a proposal to a publisher)?

texts:
I recently heard about the possibility of submitting a proposal for a book to the publisher as "NN". I assume it has something to do with the fact that a couple of possible contributors have not yet confirmed their contribution but the editors want to go ahead anyway and submit the proposal already.

Am I right with my assumption? If so, what does "NN" stand for?


texts: I am between academic institutions. If I submit a paper what do I say my affiliation is?

texts:
Basically, I was a student at University Y when I wrote a paper. I am no longer a student there, but work at Company Z.

Do I still list University Y as my institutional affiliation? Their resources helped make the paper possible and all of it was written at University Y.

But on the other hand, I am currently working at Company Z.


texts: Referencing someone else's Appendix with news articles URLs, or putting the links in my own appendix?

texts:
I am referencing someone else's work, specifically an Appendix which contains ~100 news article URLs. For example, "bla bla bla (Author, Appendix A, article 5)". The reason I do this, is simply to avoid duplication. If someone needs to know the article URL, they can simply check the appendix in the reference work.
However, at the same time, one should generally try to cite primary sources in academia, and also the article was not written by the Author but by a news site, so from this point of view it would be better to include the article URLs in my own appendix, would it not ?


texts: Is it ethical for an instructor to use their own textbook in an undergraduate course?

texts:
Students in an undergraduate course often have no choice of a textbook for the subject and are expected to buy the book recommended by the instructor. The expectations can be advisory or mandatory. Given the degree of control that an instructor has over their undergraduate students, especially freshmen and sophomores, is it ethical to use a textbook authored by the instructor in an undergraduate course? Does such requirement not constitute a conflict of interest?

P.S. I understand that practically this is done times and again, but I would like to sense the general feelings.


texts: Is having a personal blog that addresses controversial political topics possibly damaging to an academic career?

texts:
I am a Ph.D student, and I've been considering for some time starting my own blog as a hobby, to write mostly on philosophical/political topics that interest me; these are definitely not related to my field of research (at least, not most of them). As it happens, some of the topics I want to address are controversial, and much of what I would write could be interpreted as being offensive to one group or another.

Let's assume I want to look for a tenure-track position, and later on get tenure. Ideally, I hope everyone would agree that such a personal blog should not alter in any way my case for obtaining the position. In practice, I am concerned that the existence of such a blog could be used to attack my case for the position (and later on, my case for tenure) on the grounds that the opinions therein found are "offensive" or even "hate speech" (as might be interpreted by some very sensitive people in these modern times). More subtly, one imagines it could cause some decision-making persons to develop an effective bias against me, which would probably have a negative effect.

Thus my question in the title. I am looking both for personal experiences that people have had, and for some statistical data that may answer the question or a closely-related one (such as, does non-trivial political participation affect academic career? etc.)


texts: How can I tell if an unsolicited offer to publish a book with Springer is legit?

texts:
Our team had a paper recently published in Energy and Buildings, and one of us (not the main author) received last week an email from someone claiming to be an editor with Springer.

According to this email, the editor was "impressed" with our paper and invites us to write or edit a book.

I have a nagging feeling that this is one of thousands of similar random emails sent to the authors of published papers. How can I know if this is a legitimate email, and whether it would be worth the effort? The email address comes from a springer.com domain, so it's probably not a random spammer.


texts: Is it unfair to regrade prior work after detecting cheating?

texts:
I teach various undergraduate courses. I make the cheating policies clear on the first day of lectures, check the student's understanding of this with an on-line quiz, and remind students of the policy almost weekly in class. I try hard to detect cheating, but cannot catch everyone.

Sometimes I discover cheating mid-way through the semester. For example, I caught some students submitting duplicate assignments. After making the discovery, I looked back to past work that they submitted to the course Web site, and found the students sent identical papers for all past assignments, but I already awarded them A's.

Is it unfair of me to go back and regrade prior assignments when students cheated?


texts:
Do accreditation agencies limit academic freedom?

Specifically, have there been instances of accreditation agencies revoking a college's or university's accreditation status because of ideological conflicts—e.g., because the sorts of classes taught conflicted with the accreditor's ideological views? Did this restrict restrict the school's academic freedom?


texts:
I have been admitted to a PhD at an american university. The practice there is that the university provides the fellowship for the first year and thereafter the group you are working with gives you the stipend.

I have 4 years of relevant work experience in my area of research. I believe that I should get a stipend that's higher than the minimum requirement set by the university. How should I go about doing this at an american university?

(Note: I have already accepted the offer)

I came across this related question which is for a German PhD where he succeeded, but he had multiple offers which he used to negotiate this.
Safely negotiate a salary for a PhD offer - Germany


texts: What are the pros and cons of having two supervisors for my Ph.D. thesis?

texts:
I am going to be taking a Ph.D. program in statistics, and I kind of want to have two people for my supervisor (for my Ph.D. research), but I don't know if this would be a good or bad idea. I have two questions:

What are the pros and cons of having two supervisors for my PhD research?
In case of having two supervisors, would I be expected to choose the one of the two professors who will act as my "main supervisor" (can both supervisors be my "main supervisor")?

I have never taken a Ph.D. program before, so any answers would be appreciated.


texts: What should a student do, when a professor delays submitting his letter of recommendation?

texts:
I'm applying to Stanford, which requires 2 letters of recommendation from teachers, due in 2 days.

Both teachers have known about this since mid-September, but one of them hasn't submitted his letter.  I've asked him, and he tells me that he has one prepared, but he hasn't submitted it yet.

I can't add a third letter that would qualify because of the way that the common application works.

Should I wait for the deadline to pass, hoping that he turns his letter in at the last minute?

Or should I ask someone else to write a letter in his place?

I'm mainly considering the first option, because I have no reason not to trust him, but I'm not sure what will happen if he doesn't pull through.

Turns out that they do accept letters of recommendation after the deadline, so long as the application is in on time.


texts: Should I not hire someone who does not get along with me?

texts:
When I was doing my postdoc, there was a PhD student who shared the same office with me; he didn't get along very well with me or anyone in the office. He could be described as unfriendly and a little bit rude.

As we were working on different projects, I didn't know much about his research ability.

I am now a lecturer (at the same university) and have just received funding to hire a postdoc. The same PhD student applied for the position and has since been shortlisted along with another candidate. Based on the CV alone, the PhD student is comparable to another candidate. However, based on his behaviour in the past, I don't want to consider him for the job (my department lets me make the final decision who to hire).

Is it ok to not hire someone because, from past history, I believe that we will not get along?


texts: Reply ‘no position’ while the job posting is still there (‘HiWi’ position in Germany)

texts:
I am third year undergraduate and I am not studying in Europe.
I plan to apply for a master at a German institute by the end of this year which is the time for application.

This institute advertised a ‘Hiwi’ (student assistant) position on their website.
They link to a PDF file which provides more detail, and in this file they refer to the job as ‘student assistant position’.

I wrote them an email asking about this position. But the group leader replied to me: ‘I could not offer you a position at this point’. This makes me a little confused. I know group leaders face many quite complex situations, but I don’t know how to interpret this. Is it just because he think I am not good enough at the first read of my email and make a polite refusal?

I did not mention that I intend to apply at this university and also that my main motivation is to get research experience (i.e., I am okay with not being paid). Should I mention these two points?


texts: To whom the follow up email must be sent?

texts: I interviewed for a Math faculty position including with four persons. I want to know about follow up email. Should I send the follow up email for each an every body in the interview board?


texts: Is verbal commitment to work with a potential advisor binding in a moral sense?

texts:
I have been doing my due diligence in preparation for graduate school by reaching out to potential PIs and evaluating each one for fit. I found a brand new PI, at a T-30 with whom I "think" I mesh well (cannot be certain since I would be his first graduate student). I have met with him in person on a few occasions and he has stated he would like to take me on as a graduate student (this is a direct admit program with no rotations). Naturally, I was excited and agreed to work with him. Fast forward to the admission season, I applied to other schools and I did not anticipate I would be viewed as favorably at "higher ranked" institutions and I found other PIs I meshed with as well.

I have sound reasoning other than rank for waffling,

Better support programs and network post degree for both industry & academic paths
Better financial package (I am older married with a child)
established mentors with track record ( I have to get in and get out for same reason)

So I ask can I renege on the agreement without a) messing up this PIs startup?
b) Without looking like a flake professionally by going back on my word?

Also, Are PIs expected to have grad students their very first year?

Thanks in advance.


texts: Does research require a certain kind of personal abilities or is it a matter of hard work?

texts:
I've failed to finish my master thesis, I thought this was attributed to the minimal supervision of my adviser - he/she wasn't an expert in the domain of thesis and didn't give me any kind of insights or help - only general advice - and I was let to do all the work alone and I failed to finish a good thesis (Another reason I thought was the lack of my background courses and again I had to study everything from start without focus on the target which took too much time).

Now I have a chance of interning at a good research lab, the problem that I face now is that I'm afraid that I don't have the ability/skill to do a good research. Does research require a certain kind of personal abilities or is just a matter of hard work?


texts: What is the difference between DBLP and Microsoft Academic Search Graph Dataset?

texts: Recently Microsoft has released a dataset, Microsoft Academic Graph. I have used DBLP dataset before. I want to know what is the difference between these two datasets.


texts: How many graduate-level courses should one take to maximize chances of getting into graduate school? (PhD)

texts:
This is somewhat similar in broad topic to an earlier question I've asked, but not the same. I intend on applying to interdisciplinary mathematical/computational science/engineering programs like this: https://icme.stanford.edu/ . As a result of the interdisciplinary nature, there are a lot of junior-and-senior-level courses that are relevant, and I want to take as many of these as possible so I have a good grounding for whatever more specific path I follow, within the field of computational science. However, I also know that graduate classes are looked upon favorably by many admission committees; so, should I drop some of the undergrad courses (that may be more relevant in subject matter) and take some grad ones? Because of scheduling and prerequisite issues, I would otherwise not take any graduate-level courses (or take at most one) until my senior year, by when it may not even matter in terms of admissions because some graduate programs don't look at your senior grades)

[As a follow up to this, would it be considered a bad thing to take a undergraduate course that may be considered important or even "crucial" in the final semester of senior year - when admissions decisions are already coming out - because of taking graduate classes earlier on instead?]


texts: Switching from PhD to MRes, taking a Leave of Absence, or dropping out of PhD due to mental health

texts:
If a similar question has been asked before, then I'm sorry; it's just that so far I haven't found much here or elsewhere related to the specifics of my situation. Maybe I'm not using the right key words. Also, I'm posting anonymously because I don't want my university to know (yet) that I'm considering these options.

I'm a first year MPhD student at an English university and I'm considering either switching to the Master's degree or taking a Leave of Absence, all due to my mental health, if not dropping out entirely.

I've had First Episode Psychosis for a couple of years but it's under the control of risperidone, a drug that might be making me feel sleepy. It's either that or I've developed depression, since for the last six months I've felt fatigue, having lie-ins until midday and hours of naps in the afternoon most days, so I'm ridiculously behind on my studies. I've been referred to a psychiatrist (again) and I've been getting therapy via the university.

I absolutely adore Mathematics and I've wanted to do a PhD in it now for over a decade. Thus it's strange that it's gotten like this. I came in strong, having prepared for such a long time, but around January of 2018 my mental health started to decline.

I'm fully funded by a scholarship that was awarded competitively by dint of my academic background (but it's not ESPRC). This makes me feel extra guilty that I'm not doing enough.

My supervisor said recently that I should be doing at least five hours a day but I rarely do over an hour.

  What should I do?

I know my health should be my number one concern.

I don't know whether I'm able to take a Leave of Absence with my funding situation.

Switching to the Master's degree is an option that might take the pressure off, meaning I'd get an MRes and graduate in 2019 instead. To be honest I kind of want to do that, since then I could apply for a PhD elsewhere; it's not that I don't enjoy the research project - because I do - it's that the topic was a compromise to start with: I wanted to do algebraic X but ended up doing combinatorial X.

I've had better PhD offers in the past, really, like from The University of St. Andrews, but I missed out on them because I'd had a panic attack during my very last exam, meaning I had to resit it the next year and they were ESPRC funded - they couldn't defer. I might get a stronger offer the next time round.

Then again, I might not get any . . .

I'm scared for my future. If I switch course or drop out, it might result in a bad reference and, in turn, an inability to get onto another PhD programme.

  Could I reuse my 2016 MMath degree references in the event of a bad reference from my current university?

I don't think I can stick to the full PhD programme. I doubt I could make the confirmation from MPhD status to PhD status following my next supervisory panel meeting, even, especially if things continue with my sense of fatigue.

Please help.

My goal is to become an academic.

Update: I have taken a Leave of Absence.


texts: Where to define a symbol that also has an abbreviation

texts:
I have a symbol μ, which is the linear attenuation coefficient for a material (X-ray tomography). I've already defined that symbol in my document's list of symbols, but the problem is that I also refer to it by its abbreviation, LAC, in my text (LAC is well known in the field, hence I prefer keeping it, only using μ in equations).

Should I add that abbreviation to the list of abbreviations, resulting in their being two entries for linear attenuation coefficient, one in the list of symbols and one in the list of abbreviations, or should I just leave it in the list of symbols?


texts:
I just had a job interview (permanent lecturer position not connected to a grant) and, immediately afterwards, I found out that the person who is the group leader and responsible for recruiting is the sibling of one of the candidates.

I made sure that this is actually the case. It is not a suspicion; it is a fact.

Could this be justified under some circumstances? This seems ridiculous. Should I raise a complaint?

This in the UK.


texts:
When submitting papers, I often see some elaborate requirements for submission formats, but none pertaining to accessibility. Which journals or conferences have publication accessibility requirements? (put aside accessibility conferences)

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


texts: I am really interested in doing phd, need help for title/topic, please help me

texts:
Me having master in communication engineering and degree in computer science, i am really interested in persuing phd to follow my father footstep.

I am interested in:

1) networking

2) image processing

4) Data mining and automization

5) Information technology

Or relevant

What i am good:

1) strong in math
2) strong in computer literature
3) fundamental of programming
4) strong in networking
5) strong in IT


texts: How to mail a professor informing that I am interested working at different place

texts:
I have asked a professor for summer reading project(he agreed). Later, I was also selected for summer internship programme a top institute in the country, how do I tell the professor that I don’t do the summer reading project and want to go there?

The professor is a very chilled guy in person to the people he knows. I have barely talked to him. He knows that I exist on earth and that’s all. I don’t want to sound like a poser. Please help me.


texts: Improving work conditions of student assistants, PhDs, Postdocs etc

texts:
I have been following threads on this website for a few months now. However it's my first time posting. I am a postdoctoral researcher from a Western European country who has done reasonably well since my PhD a few years ago in terms of attracting funding, publishing, teaching etc. My professional situation for the next 2-3 years is secure (I have won a competitive European grant) and I am very happy with what I am doing research-wise. To be clear, this is not a rant & it isn't about me specifically.

I have recently completed a three-year postdoc in Austria in a humanities subject. What I have witnessed there has greatly upset me: I saw careers being shattered, research being stifled or appropriated, young researchers being exploited with promises of jobs that never came or work conditions that were so bad that they never finished their degrees, students 'bound' to their supervisors in ways that I would not have imagined possible in the 21st century, etc. In short, an incredible waste of talent and resources...

Now I am moving to another European country but I still feel very strongly about my experience in Austria and I wish I could do something about it. I know that what I have witnessed isn't unique to Austria, although things are perhaps worse there than anywhere else in Europe. In Austria I felt a sense of hopelessness I had never experienced before - people were just afraid to speak out and lose their jobs; in fact it was so bad that several co-workers turned to me for advice and support, despite my own situation being precarious.

At the time I realized that we had no-one to turn to for help. Works' committees were mostly for people with permanent jobs in the institute - not for students or people like me on short-term contracts. So here is my question: do you know any young researchers' professional associations or unions, perhaps at European level, with whom I could share my concerns? Surely the sort of problems described here are common in academia and there must be structures to represent us?


texts: How should I interpret a suggestion to "synthesize" two sections of a paper?

texts:
I have submitted a manuscript to a journal. After some months, the submission is in the revised statute.
One of the referees suggested the following to me.

  Sections 2 and 3 should be synthetized

What should I do over Sections 2 and 3?

My field is math.


texts: Importance of supervisor support in being accepted for PhD

texts:
this may seem like a silly question, as I know every institute is different. However, I was wondering how likely is acceptance to a PhD program when you have a supervisor on your side?
Background: I am applying for an incredible PhD in Ireland. I have very interested supervisors, who loved my proposal and I had two very promising meetings with them, one via Skype and one face to face. They offered me a desk and a new lab to set up, but they informed me it's now down to the academic council. They informed me it’s a formality and there is a high chance of acceptance unless something dramatic happens.
I will add I do have a weak undergraduate degree, but a strong masters which resulted in a publication. I also have worked as a lab technician in Italy and London so have a good bit of experience outside academia.
I may be overthinking a bit as I am waiting for feedback from the college, and starting to feel the nerves.


texts: 45 and wanting to start Ed.D am I too old?!

texts: I am in my 23rd year of teaching at the public schools.  I love what I do and as some refer... I am a 'lifer.'  I am 45 yrs. old and wanting to start my Ed.D. The program is estimated to be completed in 3yrs as I already have an MA and 18 additional graduate course work hours that some will likely transfer.  I believe I will be 48 or 49 when I finish.  My goal is to take the Ed.D.  and my 26/27 yrs public education and move into a university setting and apply and pour into aspiring students who wish to become teachers as well as be a supervisor of student teachers.  I have thought of other ideas too like working more at a district level within a school district where my Ed.D. in Educational Leadership with the emphasis in curriculum and instruction or special education could be of value.  My greatest concern is I will do all this work for nothing and be considered too old and overlooked.  Anyone have any wisdom to impart as I ponder this decision????


texts: How are these kinds of published errors managed?

texts:
Context: Say author A writes: "the authors B in Ref [30] found two consequences of the standing posture i.e sitting in the workplace on the health of industrial workers".

Actually, it should be "the authors B in Ref [30] found two consequences of the standing posture i.e not sitting in the workplace on the health of industrial workers".

From the original reference i.e [30], the authors B have implied the latter i.e "not sitting" and A didn't include "not..." mistakenly.

Also, it is well known that standing posture does not imply sitting. A has made and detected the error in his published survey paper and its a mistake on his part.

Should this error be overlooked? or Does it require an Errata or Corrigendum?

Note that this error does not in anyway affect the conclusions, deductions and contributions made in A's paper. It is just a portion where he/she reported from literature. Also, the mistake can be verified by everyone who checks back at the original reference.


texts:
In a recent question on how to deal with submitting several papers on similar subjects at the same time, one of the (good) practices suggested by the answers is make sure that they cite each other, and that each result appears as original only in one of them.

One may want to put informative references from one to the other; for example:

paper A "An application of this result is in paper B";
paper B: "We apply this result from paper A".

From the point of view of providing all the relevant context to the reader, this might be the most informative thing to do. However, the other use of citations is for computing metrics, and in this respect this practice could be seen as a dishonest way to improve one's citation count, since you get two (self-)citations instead of the one you'd normally get if the two paper were not written simultaneously.

Hence, the question in the title: Is this practice recommendable and/or acceptable? Or should I decide an implicit temporal order for my simultaneous papers, and only cite older ones from newer ones?


texts: One of the authors changed idea before submitting paper

texts:
I have just finished a paper together with a number of colleagues and collaborators from other universities.
We were about to submit it but one of the authors does not agree anymore. His explanation is that, while he thinks the paper is fine, he has a new idea and does not want to publish this as it would make his idea ‘‘less original’’ (because some parts of his idea are already in this paper).
Mind that it would be difficult to  include his idea in the paper as while the methods are the same, the applications are totally different.
What would you do in this case?
I am the main contributor and another professor had the idea. He wants to cut out some other authors, including the professor who had the idea. He’s quite a powerful and famous academic though, that’s why I think he’s feeling entitled to do so.


texts: What is an acceptable failure rate in an entry level programming course?

texts: I'm teaching an entry level programming course at a local college.  About 2/3 of the class is getting a b or higher.  The last 1/3 are getting f's.  I attribute most of the f's to failure to do assignments and pay attention in class.  Is it okay to fail a third of the class?  Are there any strategies anyone has that could help me out? Thanks in advance.


texts: Salary and Rank Discrepency: assistant profs with better records than associates in the same dept

texts: Is there anything to be done when a department has hot young assistant professors with much stronger research records (in books and peer-reviewed publications) than the associate professors? Must the assistant professors just accept that they are less well ranked and less well paid than associates who have been less productive?


texts: Questions to speaker per Smartphone in University lectures

texts:
I was at the MIT-Vienna-Conference and they had a pretty nice App-System (Superevent), where Questions to the Speaker could be asked per the Superevent-app, upvoted from others and finally answered by the speaker, all without hand-raising, etc.

I now would like to try to implement that sort of "Guerilla" in my University for Lectures, since the Professors will never agree to use something like this in the near future. Therefore i also don´t have the money to buy a Conference App. Most of them are restricted to 25-75 people in the free plan, but we normally have 150-200 people sitting in a lecture.

So here´s my question: Does anybody know of free solutions of this?

My primal need is: Question to speaker-App for Android and iOS

My wish would be: An own "Help-area" for each lecture, possibility to provide resource-links, up and downvote(Evaluation) of lecture.

I could get my hand around some money by asking the student committee, but most of the conference apps work on a plan per conference, which would be way to expensive for all the lectures in my study.


texts: Difference between HS & college math teaching

texts:
I have been teaching math at HS level for some years, for this Fall I am applying for instructor job at local community colleges. Because of my background, I anticipate that the interviewer will ask me the difference between secondary and post-secondary math teaching.

In a non-interview setting, I would answer there really is no much
difference considering that vast majority of HS graduates are
deficient in math skill. I was even told that community college is
just an extension of high school. The upsides are that I do not have
to deal with the pesky parents, students are more matured and
motivated since college is not free. Are these assessments correct?
But in an interview setting, I think that this honest answer won't
be politically correct. Any suggestion on a politically correct
response?

Thank you for your time and help.


texts: Thesis writing: context or literature review?

texts:
I am currently attempting to write up my doctoral thesis, which covers a couple of domains. It's heavily involved in farming data, but the PhD itself is in computer science. Naturally I start the thesis with the introduction, which talks about the problem definition etc. However, the following step is proving problematic.

It seems typical for a literature review to come after the introduction, but a literature review of... what? In order to ground the research the context must be discussed, and the research surrounding that context. This seems particularly important when the examiners are unlikely to be familiar with the farming context that the research is based. However, this leaves me with a structural problem. It seems odd to go from talking about terms relating to dairy farming, and research about cattle, to talking about particular algorithms.

Moving from one domain to an entirely different one within the same chapter seems conceptually jarring. "... and that concludes the discussion on milk yields. Machine learning has a lot of uses in industrial fields and the focus of much current research...."

I haven't heard of a separate chapter for research context and literature reviews on techniques though... is this something which is "done"?