texts: Applying for post-doc, how to mention mutual acquaintances?

texts:
I am applying for post-docs, and there is a professor I would very much like to work with. I would like to e-mail him and see if he has any open positions in his lab.

I have never met the professor before, though I am friends with several of his former and current graduate students. I feel like this is an important thing to bring up. What is the best way bring this up in a brief e-mail?


texts: Authors in proceeding are dominated by one university

texts:
Recently I want to submit my manuscript to a conference. The accepted papers in this conference will be published in IEEE Xplore, so I thought this conference is reputable. But after I checked the last two years published proceeding (2021 is their 10th), more than 60% of the accepted papers authors are from one university (which is the host of the conference)
As I'm new in academia (as junior lecturer), I'm not sure is this normal and acceptable (the 60%), or is it a sign that the conference not reputable?


texts: Should I make my code and data avaiable online when the article is not accepted yet?

texts:
We have received a set of reviews for an article that we had submitted to a journal. The decision by the journal editor is a Major Revision. That means, there is a possibility that the article could still be rejected.

Two of the reviewers (out of 3) have commented that the data and code to be made available publicly. Sharing of code and data is a very common practice in computer science conferences; it is not very common for journals.

I have the following confusions:

Should I make my data and code public straightaway?
Should I mention in the response letter that "Our code and data will be made available at this link after the article is accepted"?

(There is a relevant question here that looks it from the reviewers' perspective.)


texts: Would it be safe to assume that TA and tutor are the same thing?

texts: I am currently an Australian studying at ANU. I have worked as a tutor for about a year and now I am about to apply for a Ph.D. program in the states. Since the US uses TA (teaching assistant) instead of tutor (at least my institution uses this term.) When listing my teaching experience, shall I use TA or tutor as a title? Are they the same thing?  I run labs or tutorials, I mark exams and assignments and so on.)


texts: Should I tell my advisor I am academically overwhelmed?

texts:
I studied humanities in undergrad but am a first-year PhD student in a STEM field. Until recently, I was very proud of teaching myself the requisite background material to be competitive for a top-tier research program. But now that I am in the program, I realize just how much catching up I need to do and am feeling overwhelmed.

For example, I am only taking two courses this semester with the expectation that I explore research project ideas and secure a research advisor within my first year—I have an academic advisor who may become my research advisor, but that is not required. But one of these courses is taking up all of my time. The last two homework assignments have taken me 30–40 hours each to complete. I know other students also find the course hard, but even undergraduates who seem to struggle the most—those who are at office hours with me every single time—say the assignments take closer to 20–30 hours for them.

I am embarrassed to say anything. I have an academic advisor who seems very helpful, but I worry that she'll think less of me if she knows how hard this is. The alternative is to not really meet with her this semester and hope that I can get started on a research project next semester.


texts: Web scraping/email harvesting to contact survey respondents

texts:
I'm working on a research project that includes a survey of academics in a specific field. One method we've discussed for building a sample frame and obtaining contact information for potential respondents involves using web scraping to automatically obtain email addresses from various University websites. Names would be obtained by downloading citations for papers related to our topic, then we would use a script to search the web for email addresses that match those names. I'm not sure that this is an appropriate method for obtaining contact information, and have found some sources online that suggest my hunch is correct. However, most discussion of these methods relates to marketing research, rather than an academic context.

What do you think? Are there rules or guidance about this that I haven't found (I've read the CASRO and ESOMAR guidelines for research market which suggest that web scraping/email harvesting is not appropriate).


texts: Is it ok to copy/paste a section of a previous paper of mine into a new one?

texts: I'm in the Physics community. I've already published an article on a journal where I've described a solution scheme that serves to solve a certain problem. Now, I've discovered that the same approach can be used to solve a different model. Of course the model, the comments the results, the plots, etc are different, but the technique is the same. So, is it ok to copy the section of my previous article where I describe the solution technique and paste it into the new one? Notice that the old and the new article feature the same identical authors and that the previous article would be, of course, properly cited.


texts: Is it acceptable to ask or present a recommendation letter from a professor who left the university?

texts:
I finished my undergraduate studies around 2 and a half years ago. I didn't directly apply to any university to continue my master's degree.

Recently, I decided to continue. I live in Lebanon and I was searching for some universities in the UK to apply for. I found some local agents that help students with their inquiries. They asked me to provide them with 2 academic recommendation letters or either 1 academic and 1 professional.

If anyone saw my answer around here would know that I am still in contact with one of my professors back in the university. That professor now left this university and even left the country with his family, yet we're still in touch.

My question is the next:

Is it academically appropriate to ask him for a recommendation letter? In case he did write me one, would it be legit to present it since he left the university?


texts: Why do graduate school application forms ask applicants to name the other schools to which he/she is applying?

texts: What do the admission committees learn about an applicant by knowing which other programs and schools one has applied to? Does applying to another program which is more prestigious make the applicant seem more serious?


texts: Should I apply for a position that I am interested but not competitive enough?

texts:
I am interested to an assistant professor (AP) position. The topic is very suitable for me but I think I am not competitive enough (not enough paper etc). Also, I am willing to take a lower grade position (In my country there is research assistant professor (RAP) position, which is between AP and postdoc). However, the job abs did not state specific requirement for papers and grants (like X papers or Y grants), so technically speaking, I am qualified to apply. My questions are:

1) Should I apply and see if I can get an interview, to get in touch with them?

2) How do I express I am willing to take a lower grade position (such as RAP)?

3) Is there any better way to express such purpose, which may be better than applying for the AP position?

4) If say a few months later my papers are published, and I think I am more competitive, can I apply again for the same job (assuming it is not filled)?

Any comments and suggestions are appreciated, thanks!


texts: What if I get assigned to teach topic I know nothing about? Do I have any discretion in what I teach?

texts:
I'm a tenured professor at a national public university.  I was just on a two-year leave of absence (to do a startup) and I'm now returning to the university.  I was just informed I'm going to have to teach a class on X.  I protested that I don't even know what X is, but my chair said "sorry, we have no one else to teach it."

I am tempted to just refuse to teach the class, both for my own sake and the sake of the students.  I've scoured the faculty handbook, but it says nothing about teaching assignments.

I'm sure this varies by institution, but what's your perception?  Does a faculty member have any discretion in what he/she teaches?


texts: Should I mention at my PhD interview that I already got an offer from a first university?

texts:
I have received a PhD offer from University A, but I'm also considering other programmes (say C and D), for which I will interview soon.

I was wondering: should I mention during my interviews with C and D that I received an offer from A? What effect would this information have on my interview? Positive ("university A accepted him, so he should be a strong candidate"), or negative?

And let's say the answer is that I should not mention it, what if they directly ask me which other programmes I am applying to?


texts: Recommendation letter sent from non-institutional email

texts:
Would it hurt the student's evaluation, if I were to send their recommendation letter from my gmail account as opposed to the institutional?

I use my gmail account for all my correspondence, it is listed on all my papers, university website, etc.


texts:
I would like to know, if it is common (in a dissertation) to cite the source of a special figure also in the text. So for example I have the following sentence:

"Figure 1 shows the share of renewable energy in Europe for the year 2018 ."

In the text underneath Figure 1 I cite the corresponding source, like:
'Figure 1: Share of renewable energy in Europe for the year 2018 (Eurostat, 2018)'

Should the source (Eurostat, 2018) also be appended to the sentence in the text like:
"Figure 1 shows the share of renewable energy in Europe for the year 2018 (Eurostat, 2018)."

I'd appreciate every comment.


texts: How to set goals when the challenge is to continually, gradually improve?

texts:
I  work in engineering education in Canada.  One of our biggest challenges is to instill the students with a desire to become "lifelong learners".  This isn't just an academic ideal, either - we are required by our accrediting body to ensure that students learn to learn, and engage with learning throughout their life.  This is notoriously difficult to do - how do you ensure that a student learned such things?

We often teach students to set goals.  However, I'm not convinced that goal setting is the right thing to do when the purpose is to continually, gradually improve.  Goals are, by definition, attainable milestones.  I feel that they are useful tools, especially in the short term, of course.  I set goals for myself all the time.  However, setting goals for the long term (as in, lifelong) is much more nebulous.

How can I encourage my students to continually monitor their own progress in the long term, without being concerned about the "end result"?


texts: Include logo of cooperating company on thesis cover

texts:
I've just finished writing my master's thesis, which heavily relied on data that I received from a municipality. The data was collected within a project that was mainly conducted by colleagues of mine in behalf of the municipality (I'm working half-time).

I obviously mention the municipality and my main contact there as well as the company I work for and 2 of my colleagues in my acknowledgements.

Would you include the logo of either the municipality and/or the company on the cover?
What other options do I have?
(engineering science in Germany, if that matters)


texts: When teaching, which question types are effective for stimulating deep processing of the material in students?

texts:
In our university, we have a discussion about different question types to use in a module in our Electronic Learning Environment called 'self-tests'. We use this module to stimulate active processing of learning material by students in an automated fashion, enabling us to offer courses with a high degree of interactivity while remaining feasible for large numbers of students.

Our discussion concerns specifically which question types we need to implement in the Electronic Learning Environment. Some example of question types are the following:

Multiple choice questions
Open questions
Ranking questions
Images with 'hotspots'
'Likert'-type scales and matrix questions ('arrays' in LimeSurvey)
Checkboxes
Sentences (or complete paragraphs) where words have to be entered to complete the sentences

Some applied examples would be:

Please organise these concepts to reflect the developmental stages
distinguished by Piaget.
Which of these types of sampling are appropriate? In
this painting, point out where the artists uses [INSERT BRUSH
TECHNIQUE HERE - sorry, I'm a psychologist, not an art scientist :-)]
Given the above material properties, how much load can the bridge
bear?

A colleague recently voiced the position that all other question types 'boil down to yes-no decisions' and that therefore, there is practically no variation in the types of information processing students engage in when working with the different question types.

However, in this discussion, nobody has as yet managed to produce any meta-analyses of the evidence, or in fact other forms of empirical, or for that matter, theoretical, evidence. At the same time, I can't imagine this hasn't been studied yet. However, queries in Google Scholar using keywords such as 'information processing', 'cognition', 'formative tests', 'interaction' and 'learning' didn't yield anything. Lots of opinions and examples, but no evidence.

So my question is: does anybody know of literature presenting empirical or theoretical evidence regarding differences in processing between different question types (methods of interaction)?

This is the kind of thing academics (as teachers) should all have readily available I guess - but I'm afraid I don't, and I don't know anybody who would.

I don't have any 'dogs in this fight' - if there is evidence that all question types perform equally, that's fine. I just want evidence, regardless of which way it points :-) As long as the evidence is methodologically and statistically rigorous I'm happy.

One answer would be, of course, "it's not about the question type, it's about what exactly you do with it and how you embed it in the course". However, this ignores the fact that different question types enable/prohibit different problem solving approaches. It would basically just change the question into "assuming the question types are applied properly, which serve which goals best?"

I'd be very grateful for any pointers towards literature where (preferably experimental) evidence on this matter is presented.

[this question is kind of like a more in-depth version of this one, which is about whether online quizzes can work in general]


texts:
I am starting my PhD in Statistics soon and while I will try not to burn myself out, I still want to publish as much as possible while I am in my PhD program.

What are some useful tips that allows PhD students to produce many publications of good quality throughout the duration of the PhD? I have no previous experience writing papers, so I don't have any general idea as to how I will do this.

Thank you.


texts: Encouraging team-work while discouraging free-riding

texts:
I teach several courses for computer science undergrads, including algorithms, programming and game development. In all my courses there are weekly homework assignments. I encourage my students to do the assignments in teams of 2 or 3, both to practice team-work and to learn from each other's ideas. Most of them indeed submit in teams.  I have learned from my students that, in many teams, there are "dummy members" - team members that just write their name on the page without spending any work. The other team members are OK witih it, since it does not cost them anything - they do the assignment anyway, so they do not mind helping a friend. Additionally, these "dummy members" sometimes help them out in other courses.
I thought of several ways to prevent this "free riding". One is to require students to present their homework in front of the class. The "dummy members" will probably fail this presentation. The problem is that, in a large class, it takes a lot of time and it is logistically complicated. It also puts some students into too much mental stress.
Now I have thought of a new idea. In every weekly assignment, there will be 7-8 different questions to choose from; each team of n students will have to choose and solve n+1 questions. So a lone student will have to solve 2 questions, a pair will have to solve 3 questions, etc.
On one hand, the number of questions per student decreases with n. Therefore, if all team members share the work equally, they have an incentive to form large teams.
On the other hand, the total number of questions increases with n. Therefore, a dummy member is no longer a "free" rider - he/she costs the team by adding to their work load, so they have no incentive to let him/her write the name without working.
What do you think of this scheme? What other ways are there to encourage teamwork while discouraging freeriding?
The number of registered students is about 40-60 per class, though only about 20-30 come to class - the rest prefer to learn from home.
CONCLUSION: I have just finished teaching a course in game development based on the n+1 scheme. To further discourage free-riding, I also gave a bonus for students presenting their homework in front of the class. I explicitly said that the bonus is given only to the presenter and not to his/her partners. My idea was that, if only one partner works, then this partner will present and get the bonus points. To my surprise, almost all presenting students explicitly asked me to share the bonus points equally with their partners! For me, it is a strong evidence that there was little free-riding. It is highly unlikely that a student who did all the work alone will agree to give away the hard-earned points to a free-rider.


texts: My potential MSc supervisor doesn't visit his research lab ever, should I be concerned?

texts:
My potential MSc supervisor is a surgeon, and he doesn't really focus on his research lab that much. I had an interview with him and his lab members and I was told by them that he doesn't really visit the lab like, ever.
I have very minimal research experience, and his post doc told me that I can ask him questions if I had any, and that I needed to prepare my research proposal by myself. I have an idea about the lab's general research projects, but I feel that I am clueless as to what exactly I'm supposed to propose!
I can't really reject this offer (I had a hard time securing a supervisor and it took me a year to find one), but I also don't want to be taught and helped by a post-doc who is frankly more concerned with his research than my education. I don't feel very comfortable about me starting a project and directing my future questions to my lab partners (I also hate asking my peers for questions and I much rather ask my teachers instead).

What should I do? I need this opportunity so bad, but the lab environment isnt very encouraging and my supervisor is a surgeon who relies on his post-doc students for all the work. How am I supposed to learn about research techniques and method?


texts: To cite a publication with two authors in a presentation, should I write "X and Y" or "X et al."?

texts:
I am preparing to give a presentation after few days. Some papers are authored by two people and some are by three. While referring their work during presentation what should I write for two authors.

Suppose there are two authors only - X and Y. Shall I write X et al. proved that ...... or X and Y proved that....


texts: What usually happens during the conference peer-review process (technical field)?

texts:
Suppose you are submitting a paper to a conference, your draft paper has been submitted, and it will take approximately four month in order for the reviews to come back, the acceptance/rejection will be given and if accepted you will be told to submit the final draft.

  Can an insider shed some lights into what exactly happens in between
  these four months for a typical conference in technical fields such as
  computer science or engineering?

For instance, how many people are usually on the peer-review committee? Are these usually professors or PhD students? How do reviewers inform each other about their opinions and comments? How long does it actually take (during the span of the review period) to evaluate a single paper? Finally, how are decisions made by the reviewers evaluated at the end? What if there is the same number of people in favor of rejecting a paper versus accepting one?


texts: Interview for lecturer in UK but no grants, how do I compete?

texts:
I have a Skype interview for a highly competivite lecturer position at a UK university (100 applicants).

I don't have large sums of money from external grants nor a fellowship but plenty of other things going for me. The question I have is: how can I up sell not having any grants or fellowships to compete with those applicants who do?

I should add that its in the intersection between engineering and physical sciences and healthcare.


texts: I was wondering how long does it usually take to finish a PhD in Canada? (social sciences/studying full time).


texts: Online repository for double blind submissions

texts:
Some conferences in my area require double-blind submissions. I'm a junior faculty member and I would like to put a timestamp on my results by publishing them online, as there is a nonzero probability that someone else might come up with a similar result soon.

The problem is that none of the existing online repositories for publishing research papers that I'm aware of (arXiv, EEE) don't have an option for (temporarily) hiding the authors of an uploaded manuscript.

  Is there any repository that I'm not aware that would allow me to do this. Or is there any other way to get a public timestamp on my results while still being able to submit to double-blind venues?


texts: Setting exercises and assignments when everything is on the web

texts:
These days there is so much material on the web that it is difficult to set good exercises/assignments for students, because they often find the questions on the web simply by googling (or else ask at a site such as http://cs.stackexchange.com).

  How do people deal with this problem? How do you generate unique assignment questions?

For the record, the area I teach is computer science.


texts:
I am presently doing MSc (Information Technology) in India. I really like teaching and have a passion for it. Based on my Masters degree I will get a designation of Assistant professor (hope so I get it!), but to be a Professor we need a PhD degree, so I was thinking of doing a Phd (Computer Science) not right after the Masters but after some years of teaching experience. At present I don't have much knowledge about PhD (nearly zero).

I know we need to publish the thesis in PhD,but my question is do we have to publish books (about courses like Java, Operating System etc, since I am talking about IT/CS i gave these subjects) in PhD? This is because right now in my Masters I was thinking of publishing a book for a local course of Bachelors (BSc IT) in my region.

So if we need to publish certain number books in PhD, then I should wait for writing and publishing that local book till I join a PhD or should I start writing and publish it right in my Masters and this published book will be considered in my PhD?


texts: Which authors to cite for open source software

texts:
While I have worked on open source software myself I'm, strangely, uncertain about how to cite it in a paper. I do know how to cite software itself, I'm just uncertain which author(s) to attribute it to.

I've got two programs to cite, one of which is a fork, with different copyrights over different files, not to mention the many unmentioned contributors to that work.

Do I just cop out and go "main contributor et. al"? And in the case of the fork, do I take the original author of the original software or the author of the fork?


texts:
I have completed a MSc thesis in image processing. But, I can't submit it yet as I don't have the money needed to finish my study. I still have 2 semesters left before graduation.

I implemented a research article so that I can verify its proposed theory and previously found result.

What can I do to make the best use of my thesis?


texts: I am a postdoctoral fellow on applied mathematics and I am applying for a scholarship, they asked to estimate the expenses of the scholarship. My laboratory pay for me the conferences, so do you have any suggestions that are useful for my carrier? my project concerns problems related to air transport industry.


texts: Are there intellectual property concerns if I submit "under review" papers as part of my application?

texts:
In my statement of purpose I talked about the papers that I worked on and two of those papers are currently under review.

Is it acceptable to submit such papers as part of my application? And are there any concerns on the intellectual property of the work (since it is yet to be accepted)?


texts: Submitted to arXiv with a different title. How to make Google understand this is the same paper?

texts:
After having a paper published, I submitted the preprint to arXiv, but with a different title.

Now, Google Scholar has identified the arXiv version as another paper, and by merging the two articles using the merge button, I cannot make the arXiv version appear next to the published paper when someone searches for it.

I guess that Google looks for the title of a paper (in the PDF, not the file name), and decides if this is the same paper. Anyway, is there any way to make Google Scholar understand that the arXiv version is the same paper and show the PDF in the search results?


texts: Should I ask a professor for the third time for a letter of recommendation?

texts:
I contacted two professors six weeks before the deadline. One prof emailed me back immediately. The second one still hasn’t. It is due in 3 weeks. I emailed him last Friday asking him again if he would be willing to be a reference but still no response. I don’t have his phone number and he doesn’t work at the university. I really don’t want to annoy him, but should I email him again? I do have his gmail address (I’ve been emailing him from his work one). Usually he contacts me from his work one but I have received ones from his gmail account in the past. But I am afraid this would be frowned upon and looked on as being too invasive? I am really at a loss. I do have another reference, however, she is more a professional reference and I am not sure if that is allowed (the school isn’t getting back to me on this question).

This question is not a duplicate. I am wondering if I should email the professor for a third time or if that would be considered inappropriate?


texts: How to write side-note reviews on assignments without sounding testy?

texts:
I'm an undergrad teaching assistant of a physic BSc student's lab. My job is reviewing the (usually 8-10 pages long) reports the students make, arriving in electronic format. During the review, I add short comments (1-2 sentences) to the document: things like "that's false because this and that", "this would've been better such and such", "you also could've check that and that", etc. The students then get their commented report back graded by the professor. Related to the course, I never meet the students in person.

The main purpose of these comments, among letting students know what they did wrong, is to help them improve their experimental skills. Observing and documenting everything reasonable, interpreting the results, thinking further, being consistent, etc. As such, there're usually a lot of comments on every student's report - usually 3-5/page - even on A-graded ones.

My concern is it's kind of hard to write even constructive comments of this kind without the possibility of sounding somewhat cantankerous. The relatively lot of "that"s bad, that's wrong/missing/false/etc" comments I make on small, but not unimportant errors set up a negative tone as is, and in this atmosphere even writing something like "that wasn't strictly in the task, but it's interesting to think about this and that" may come down as negative. I try to add as much positive comments as I can - but the simple "Good!", "Clever!", "I like the approach" kind of notes feel falsely in large amounts, especially when the student didn't really do anything outstanding, only did what he was told. Expanding them with something like "That's good work. You could also check that and that" also turns into education.

I'd like to avoid coming down too testy: it would kill the purpose, making students dismiss my comments as "nah, that guy finds error in everything". I want the students to feel that I actually want to help them, and I'm on their side. The professor - of course - told them the purpose of the reviews, but I know that when I did this same lab course (a year ago), there were still (silent) words like that about our teaching assistants.

How could I make my coments more encouraging, without sounding false?


texts: Is a university that grants me a PhD for $1000 and a copy of my unpublished book fake?

texts:
I have paid $1000 for PhD in mathematics. And I have sent them my book to be considered as a PhD thesis.

Now I suspect that I have lost the money.

But as far as I know they are not accredited by the U.S. Department of Education.

So, is it possible that I will find a job requiring a degree, using this (fake?) PhD?

Now they have told me that the U.S. Department of Education will send my diploma to US foreign affairs department and then they will make some "stumps" on my diploma. Do these stamps mean anything? Are these stamps just a formal thing which mean nothing and don't make my degree "official" ("real")? Moreover, to send my diploma to the departments costs additional $1000-$1750 (dependent on whether I pay right now or later).


texts: whether my phd interview might have gone well or not

texts:
I had applied to a top-10 university for a PhD in mathematics, and the funded vacancies there are limited. I knew that in case of being shortlisted I was going to be interviewed. Hence, I recently checked all the university’s guidelines of how I should prepare myself for an interview. For example, according to those guidelines, I was going to be asked such questions as why I chose that university, what are my strength points, and so on.

Around one month later after my application I was invited for an interview by two leading mathematicians there. However, they directly started asking me ONLY technical questions ranging from foundational mathematical questions to advanced topics, and questions about my CV and the like. Anyway I answered the foundational and CV-related questions normally but I could not answer only two advanced phd-level questions, one of which was not related to my master’s major at all. I also talked about a rare but relevant mathematical topic which I have been reading explaining to them in general what this topic is about and how it is related to my major.

In the end, one of the interviewers asked me if I have an external fund, my response was no and as far as I remember he said in one week I will be informed of the interview’s result, and finally he said “nice to meet you”.

1) Does mentioning the means of funding in a PhD interview imply that the applicant did well enough in the interview? 2) Moreover, it may look funny to ask this but what can “nice to meet you” in the end of a PhD interview imply? Is it a commonly used expression by interviewers or does it mean that the interviewer is pleased to admit the applicant?


texts: Why do some documents have more than one DOI?

texts:
I was looking for the DOI of a paper (namely Evaluation of Antibacterial Activity of Asparagus racemosus Willd. Root) on http://search.crossref.org/, and found two DOIs associated to it:

http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/(sici)1099-1573(200003)14:2<118::aid-ptr493>3.3.co;2-g
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/(sici)1099-1573(200003)14:2<118::aid-ptr493>3.0.co;2-p

Both DOIs point to the same document (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/(SICI)1099-1573(200003)14:2%3C118::AID-PTR493%3E3.0.CO;2-P/abstract).

How comes?


texts: Applying for PhD in mathematics as Third-Year Undergraduate Student

texts:
I am currently a sophomore majoring in mathematics. I plan to pursue PhD right after my graduation. According to my current schedule, I will be able to graduate within 3 years if I only take classes to satisfy minimum graduation requirement. Alternatively, I can choose to graduate in traditional 4 years and take graduate-level classes in my senior year.

I personally want to graduate early so that I can save my family cost. However, I am not sure if graduating in 3 years will put me under some disadvantages in compare to other applicants who graduate in 4 years.

I am thinking, is it possible (and recommended) for me to try applying for PhD during my third year and see if I get accepted to schools I want to go?

If I am not accepted, I will stay in college for the fourth year and improve my portfolio by taking graduate-level classes and engaging in more mathematics-related activities. Will there be any disadvantage of reapplying to the same PhD program?

My course schedule in the third year:
Fall: Algebra I, Topology, Combinatorics (as an elective)
Winter: Algebra II, another Combinatorics (as an elective)


texts: Accepting and then Declining Grad School Admissions Offer

texts:
I've applied to a 5 grad schools for Engineering Management and I'm yet to receive the decisions from 4 schools.

One of the schools has offered me admissions as well as a scholarship offer. However, I've the deadline to respond to this in about another week's time. This school is my 5th choice among the 5 schools. Can I accept the offer now and then later decline it if I get into any of the other schools?

Or should I ask for a date extension as to when I can accept or decline their offer?


texts: I will be doing a presentation on fracking in the United States, and in the current president's book, "Crippled America", he states his administration plans to endorse fracking within the United States for the sole purpose of "creating more jobs." Would citing a political book be considered credible?


texts: How to obtain a copy of my own article from an APS (American Physical Society) journal?

texts:
I recently published an article in one of the journals of the American Physical Society (APS). Our university library does not have a subscription to this particular journal, so I don't have access to the published version of the article.

On the other hand, APS allows to share the published version of the paper with colleagues and even to put it on the university website (see FAQ at APS, also this question).

In the past, other journals have provided me with an (electronic) copy of my article after publication, which I'm not allowed to share. However, it seems that APS won't give me automatic access to my paper. At least I haven't found any option on the authors page and no email was sent to me.

Is there a way to obtain a (electronic) copy of my article from APS?

I know that I could buy the article, either through the library service or our own group budget. But it feels kind of strange to buy one's own paper back from the publisher.
I could also ask someone from another university who does have access to it to send me a copy.

But is there an official way to obtain the paper?


texts: Median age at doctorate by field of study and country?

texts:
This excellent answer to another question offers some statistics on median age of doctorate recipients from U.S. universities in 2009, across different disciplines.

However, we know that there is quite a bit of variation in PhD length internationally, as well as variation in the age at which students typically enter a doctoral program. So I would expect the age at doctorate to vary by country.

Is there any data available on median age at doctorate by field of study and by country?

NB: This is a reference-request question. As per the tag wiki excerpt, I am looking for answers that are backed up by a supporting document or citation (not opinions).


texts: Data publication basics - where, why, how, and when should I publish my unpublished data?

texts:
Many researchers have unpublished data. Some of this data may never be published as a manuscript. But I would like to make scholarly contributions of data that I have no intent on publishing, e.g. by publishing a "data paper"

The term "data paper" may be too new to be familiar, so here is a description from the Ecological Archives website:

  Data Papers are compilations and syntheses of data sets and associated
  metadata deemed to be of significant interest to the ESA membership
  and the scholarly community. Data papers are peer reviewed and are
  announced in abstract form in the appropriate print journal as a Data
  Paper. Data papers differ from review or synthesis papers published in
  other ESA journals in that data papers normally will not test or
  refine ecological theory. Data Papers can facilitate the rapid
  advancement of ecological knowledge and theory at the same time that
  they disseminate information. In addition, Ecological Archives
  provides a reward mechanism (in the form of peer-reviewed, citable
  objects) for the substantial effort required to compile and adequately
  document large data sets of ecological interest

This brings up the following questions:

What makes a good data repository?

Which data repositories provide a doi: for raw data?

Should published data be separate from articles on a CV?


texts: Exemptions to taking IELTS/TOEFL/Regular GRE

texts:
IELTS/TOEFL

I haven't read up on IELTS/TOEFL, and I don't want to waste time on that if I don't have to. As far as I know, they are testing your fluency in English.

Generally:

Is a significant amount of north american/first world universities really that stubborn as to require their applicants to take IELTS/TOEFL without any substitutes to demonstrate fluency in English?

Well if you graduate bachelor's or master's from an English speaking country like Canada, the US or the UK, I'm guessing there wouldn't be need to take IELTS/TOEFL if you haven't already, but what about graduating bachelor's or master's from a country whose primary language isn't English?

My case:

I was born and raised in a first world Asian country but then later on moved to a third world country (where my parents were born and raised) where I got my bachelor's and master's.

It's sad but despite the above, I'm monolingual. I even got to a foreigners class for the (third world country) language classes in my university even though I wasn't a foreigner.

The school where I got my bachelor's and master's says its medium of instruction is English. My thesis in master's was written in English. All my papers and exams in bachelor's and master's were in English.

Given all that, do I still have to take IELTS/TOEFL?

Actually, doesn't a subject GRE or the regular GRE assume fluency in English? I'm planning to take the math GRE.

Regular GRE

Do a significant amount of north american or first world universities require applicants to take the regular GRE even if they are going to take the subject GRE?

I don't know about the rationale behind taking the regular GRE. It seems that you take such if your intended study doesn't have a subject GRE such as political science or economics?


texts: Is there more competition for postdoc/faculty positions in the biological sciences, compared to similar positions in the health sciences?

texts:
I am seeking advice/input from graduate students and faculty within the fields of health sciences and integrative physiology/biology regarding employment opportunities, competition, and compensation in each field.
My research has led me to believe that the health sciences has more job opportunities/flexibility, less competition, and higher compensation for a given position when compared to the life sciences.

Are post-doctorate positions necessary in the biological sciences to earn a faculty position at a tier 1, research-intensive state university?

Is it true that there is far more competition for post-doctorate/faculty positions in the biological sciences at these institutions when compared to similar positions in the health sciences?


texts: Can I ask conference chair to give me an early result?

texts:
I have submitted a paper in one of the top conferences in our field (IEEE Globecom 2018). Now, since this was my first time, I submitted to the symposium and now I realize that there are Workshops coming in as well. After submission of my paper, now that it is nearly 4+ months and I have written (and submitted) two journal articles. I realize the "written" quality of the Conference paper is not good and I am afraid it might get a rejection for this reason.

Can I ask the conf. chair to give me an early result so that I can submit the same paper in the Workshop with improvements?

conf (symposium) acceptance notification with come on 15th July.
Workshop submission deadline: 14th July.


texts: Can a bachelor of software engineering study masters of electrical engineering?

texts:
I'm currently in the process of applying to college for undergraduate degree in software engineering. I really love everything about electronics from hardware to software. I find it difficult to choose between electrical engineering or software engineering till I decided to take software engineering then continue my education for master in electrical engineering. Though, I'm not looking to offer myself more job opportunities, I literally want to know every single bit about hardware and software. My question:

Is it possible to study software engineering and then masters in electrical engineering?


texts: How to remove gender bias from an academic job search?

texts:
I overheard some professors discussing the next round of hiring at my university and several were concerned about gender bias possibly playing an issue in the hiring process.  An initial thought is to just go through CV's and black out an applicant's name.  However, an academic job search makes it much more difficult to do this.  Not only do applicants have CV's, but there are also typically 3 letters of recommendations as well as publication lists (which might reveal the identity of an individual if the paper is known by some of the hiring panel).

Some suggestions that were thrown out involve trying to find a way to scan through 2-300 applicant materials and black out/replace gender pronouns and names.  From browsing StackOverflow, there is apparently quite a bit of difficulty with this from a programming perspective.  Still, it seems the most efficient way to remove as much gender bias as possible in the process but doesn't seem to be widely used.

  What are some of the best ways a hiring panel can remove gender bias from the application process?

This question could also potentially extend to ways to generally remove other forms of bias, such as ethnic bias.


texts: PHD: Same core idea but in context of different country?

texts:
I am thinking of carrying out PHD research in a subject in context of my country. But, I found out that the same topic (or same issue) has been researched by somebody else in context of his country i.e. “xyz in abc country”. It’s not a scientific research and most of the research work-findings are based on his specific country which is relatively different than my country. So, though the core research idea is same, overall contexts are totally different. I am planning to research on “xyz in context of my country”.

So, can I do it? Any suggestions?

I am bit concerned as I was thinking of similar qualitative and quantities research methodologies (off course in different country), so overall structure, especially literature review part (references) may look somewhat similar in some places (as it is study of same core thing but in different context).
How may potential supervisor perceive it? (Acceptance?)
What about overall value of research?

I am confident that research will add value to knowledge in the industry as it has not been done in context of my country (context) before. Findings may be useful also for countries (context) similar to mine.
Or I can also expand the focus of study to two countries-not that country the research was done (making it bit wider). But that may complicate the things.

What may be a better idea?
What do you suggest?

Edit: I am NOT saying that only locations will be different or not that same thing will be researched again. It will be more like 'challenges for x in xyz country' and 'challenges for x in abc country'.I have been using word 'different context'. Only problem is the study is about 'challenges for x' which may overlap in some places. Challenges, research responses, finding may be totally different.


texts: How much do grad schools care about my dismissal experience in my application?

texts:
I am an international student from China and currently pursuing undergraduate degree in Canada, majoring in computer sicence. My academic experience is very tortuous and I want to tell my story and ask my chance to be considered for the phd study.
This is my second undergraduate study. I got my first honor degree in ECE at University of Windsor, Canada with distinction in 2015, standing at the top 15% of graduated students with a GPA of 83/100 (It doesn't look amazing but the university gave low grade to students). Afterwards I worked for 2 years in related industry. During the work, I found what I was more interested about is computer science. However, without a single computer science course taken, I find myself lack appropriate academic training. I planned myself to pursue a master degree in US. After getting a GRE score of 324 with 4.0 in analytical writing, I fortunately got admitted by Columbia University in 2017. This turned out to be a horribly overwhelming experience possibly because I lacked the foundations of computer science, I got academically dismissed 1 year after for not being able to maintain a gpa higher than 3.0. After a thorough retrospection, I made my decision to get a second bachelor degree in computer science in Canada. Right now, I'm 1 year to graduation with a GPA of 89/100 (not sure about the rank but should be close to top 1st or 2nd). I do get involved in some research projects with professors during summer, though I got no publications. However, the experience in Columbia seems to haunt me. So here I have some questions regarding the application:

I acknowledge that I have to include the dismissal experience in my application. The question is when calculating GPA, does the grades in Columbia take into account for the overall GPA or the GPA's are seperated for each institution I've attended?

How much will admission committee care about the dismissal experience? I did perform poorly in academics during some period of my life, but I think I have recovered from that not only in terms of mentality and maturity but also improvement in my ability of study. Will this experience kill my chance to get considered?

Thanks for any comment


texts: How to do evaluation when the methodology is unique?

texts:
When it comes to the evaluation of a methodology (or an algorithm (CS)) we usually see how well the methodology actually is by comparing it with other similar methods that achieve the same thing.

However, in my case, the method we are proposing is unique and novel and, to best of my knowledge, isn't used anywhere else. Is it valid to evaluate it on its own, for example by simply measuring its time/complexity against n datasets? How would we perform evaluation for methods that can't be compared against others?


texts: How to convert percentage (Indian) grade to German grades

texts:
What is the exact procedure for converting percentage grade to the german grading system. As of now what I understand is that the conversion is done by the modified bavarian formula. Is the average percentage score directly converted using the formula, or is the score weighted/adjusted from the data in transcripts before it is converted? If the grades are directly converted  using the formula then it seems US grading system has an unfair advantage over systems that use a percentage system where a score around 60-70% is very high, but still has some gap from the 'maximum possible grade'!

I am particularly worried because my University follows a very tight grading system (especially for arts courses) such that a first division (which is the best division) is a score above 60%, but the bavarian formula uses highest possible grade that can be obtained while calculating the converted score. Thus in my case 100% is the theoretical limit but in reality the highest attained grade in the entire university for my course tends to be in the mid seventies. The agency called uni-assist which is responsible for converting the grades have been giving very evasive answers when asked about the procedure.

It would be great if someone here knows a bit more about the procedure and is willing to share their knowledge.


texts: How to respond to someone plagiarizing my work?

texts:
I have recently come across a paper that copy-pasted entire paragraphs of one of my papers which is already published in an international journal.  This paper appeared in a journal which is not very popular, and I did not get a courtesy citation.

How should I proceed with this?  I was thinking of reporting the issue to the editor of the journal where the paper appeared but then I thought that it may not even worth the effort. On the other hand, I still have this in my mind since this is clearly unethical behaviour.

What would you suggest?


texts: Uneven skill set and customer service attitudes of University Support Services

texts: I was wondering if anyone had any guidance on how to handle/manage the uneven skill sets and lack of customer service attitudes on the part of administrative units.  I'm talking about concrete issues, such as a person in the grants office who can't figure out research budgets and grants.gov and IT staff who can't keep email up and running.  Keep in mind, these are folks who are not directly under the supervision of my department, but who we are compelled to use.


texts: Shoud I accept an offer as editor of a journal as an undergraduate?

texts:
I’ve recently received an offer from a reputable (but not top-tier) journal in my field asking if I would like to serve on the editorial board. I believe they reached out to me based on my publications in the area.

Although this would be great experience and a way to get more involved in the community, I’m not certain if I’m qualified for the role. What would you consider while making this decision?


texts: What is the etiquette around blogging about conference talks?

texts:
I've attended a couple of conferences, and just standalone public talks held at universities and I've found the topics interesting, so I've written a summary on my blog to share with others (and also as a way to help myself remember the content).

It just occurred to me that I'm potentially "stealing" someone else's IP. I always mention the name of the person / people giving the talk, so I'm not passing it off as my own research, but perhaps the presenter may not want this information shared via a channel other than their own. Some of them aren't just presentations, but may involve a panel of experts answering questions from a presenter / the audience.

What is the general etiquette when it comes to writing about this on my blog? Is it enough just to cite the author(s), or should I contact them beforehand and ask if they mind me writing about them?

(I don't know if it's relevant, but I get about 4 people a day reading my blog, so it's not famous or anything.)


texts: Can I change the referee once the letter of reference has been submitted?

texts:
I am applying for a PhD position in US universities. I started an application for a specific university and suggested my referee names. My referees have already submitted their LORs. But I did not submit the application later. But they are in the application portal.
Now I want to submit an application for the next semester and I have a hunch that one of the letters was not that strong or impact my application in a negative way. So I want to change my referee. My question is- is it possible to change because she already submitted the letter.
Also, how important a referee is? I have a referee with whom I worked on one project and have good relations. On the other hand, there is someone with whom I have 3/4 publications but I have a doubt he will write something good (because he wants me to finish the remained projects first and does not want me to leave the lab right now).


texts: Duration of courses: hours to weeks and self-study time

texts:
I'm trying to apply for a Master's program and on the application form I have to list all subjects I have taken for my Bachelor's degree. For each one, they are asking for the duration in weeks and then Lectures (hrs./week), Tutorials (hrs./week) and Practical courses (hrs./week).

In the documents I have from my university, the duration is only given in hours and the number of weeks taken for a single subject can vary greatly. Some may have been in the form of a block within two weeks, some have been spread over 10 weeks.
Is there any common conversion from hours to weeks? I'm sure they are only interested in the total time spent on this subject, not in the number of weeks in which I actually had lectures on it.

Secondly, my current university lists lecture time and self-study time, which added together make up the total course time (workload). As far as I can see, this self-study time does not match any of the three categories given. Should I just leave it out / substract it?


texts: Is it okay to cite the same source in two consecutive sentences?

texts:
I am writing a paper (about the usage of renewable energies) and I have the following sentences:
"In 2016, wind and PV contributed about 12% of Europe's electricity supply [SOURCE1]. A study carried out by the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission concludes that a tripling of this contribution is needed in order to reach the 2030 target [SOURCE1]"

Is it okay to cite SOURCE1 in two consecutive senteces. I am talking about naming the source. Or is it more advisable to use the source information only once at the end of the second sentence like:
"
In 2016, wind and PV contributed about 12% of Europe's electricity supply. A study carried out by the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission concludes that a tripling of this contribution is needed in order to reach the 2030 target [SOURCE1]
"

I appreciate your input. Thanks in advance.


texts: I have a paper in review. Can I send to to NIPS (Neural Information Processing Systems) conference as well?

texts:
Question is in the title.  I'm not in computer science but I have a paper that I think is a novel application of machine learning.  It's now in review.

I'm not sure how competitive I'll be, but I think that it's worth sending to NIPS.  Most of the conferences in my field don't publish the papers that comprise them, but NIPS does.  If my paper is published in the NIPS proceedings, would that constitute prior publication?

Does it depend on the journal?  If so, what about the top interdisciplinary journals, like Science/Nature/PNAS?


texts: What is the Latin term "pace" used for when referencing other scholars?

texts:
I frequently come across references to other scholars like:

  In period P, syntactic construct C did not have function F (pace Smith 2000).

I understand that pace here signals that Smith (2000) suggests that C did have function F in P (see this related question for the basic meaning of pace). But I'm having trouble relating this to the literal meaning of pace ('in peace'). Does the above mean:

That the author holds Smith in high regard (suggested here, but this seems odd to me since the relationship between the author and Smith is irrelevant to the content).
That no offence to Smith is intended (suggested here, but this also seems odd in an academic work: Smith is aware of the scientific method and the fact that his claims may be challenged).
That the author acknowledges that there are currently different opinions on the matter and that the author accepts Smith's point of view because the matter cannot be settled with the evidence currently available?
Something else?

I am looking at a dissertation here where the author at times rebukes another scholar quite strongly, without pace, ("the analysis of Smith is a step backwards from the 100 year old description by Jones"), but at other times uses pace to describe a difference of opinion more neutrally ("pace Smith who does not differentiate further here"). This suggests to me that pace signals something about the content of the referenced proposition rather than the author's attitude to the referenced scholar.

It's just unclear to me what pace signifies exactly.


texts:
I have already completed two bachelor's degrees in law and social sciences.  And a master's degree in political science. My field of study is interdisciplinary and focuses on social inequalities.
I want to continue my career as a teacher and researcher at the academy.  But I realized that I need to improve my knowledge and techniques in methods.
What is not clear is the way in which to do this.  What would be better?  Another bachelor's degree in economics / statistics (to deepen model studies and econometrics) or pursue graduate studies with a doctorate?
It is important to say that here in Brazil we do not (usually) have sufficient training in political science methods, so I want to try another bachelor's degree that fills this gap.
Thanks for the help!!! Anyone could help with ideas and opinions, please I would be glad to read.
Edited
An relevant aspect that I didn't mentioned: another bachelor's degree or the doctorate will are both funded.


texts: Bullying at a previous affiliation, but now moved on. What to do?

texts:
This question is a personal one. I feel like going in circles inside my mind, so I might as well formulate it here for my peace of mind. Apologies if it is not in the right format, or if it does create discussion rather than precise answers.
Academia is rife with bullying, and there is little doubt about that. I have been to counseling to deal with the effects of the lowest self esteem that I found myself in, during my previous job. I couldn't be promoted, I was actively avoided by the colleagues in my research group and my (many) requests for collaboration shunted. Counselling helped a lot, and it made me stronger and more resilient. I found a better job, including the promotion I was after, and now I am well respected and have a group that I can call 'home'.
I was recently called on a duty by a former colleague (nothing fancy, just reviewing some papers for them), and I was tempted to spill all the beans, an aggressive reply and Close the door to the past. I slept on it, and the morning after I accepted the duty. Now I finally realised that the grand scheme of things was for this same colleague to boot everybody else, and become head of the group there, with only lower ranking colleagues around.
So people, what to do... a bloody (well, relatively speaking) revenge that lasts a second but cleanses my soul, or a forgive&forget attitude, swearing not to become the same despicable bully myself?


texts: What are the benefits of getting a PhD in statistics?

texts:
I've been working as a statistician in the marketing world for two years, and I have an M.S. in applied math.  I want to change industries a bit (maybe epidemiology or engineering) and I also want to live overseas (ideally, a job where I'd live in one country for a few years and then move on to another).

So, my question is: to accomplish these life goals, does it make sense to get a PhD?  Or, is there some other route that would be more beneficial?


texts: How to prevent my introvert nature from being a barrier to success in grad school and future academic life?

texts:
I don't ask questions during class/meetings/seminars out of the fear of embarrassing myself. I am also not able to intiate interactions with people I don't know beforehand e.g. Visiting professors/industry-experts or professors in my department other than my advisor.

I got away with not asking questions in class during my undergrad as I was able to resolve my doubts after reading the lecture notes/ textbook and thinking by myself and this still applies to the classes I am taking in grad school. But a few months into my PhD, I feel this nature of my personality could be a barrier in many ways during my PhD and also in future.

I am looking for any answers which can do one or both of the following :

Articulate the "many ways" in which this could be a problem for me during and after my PhD
Suggest some steps which can help me overcome these problems.

P.S. : I know I cannot change my personality overnight with a magic trick but I am looking for small steps I can take in order to gradually improve and not let my introversion come in the way of my research career.


texts: Can I add an inscription on a bachelor thesis that I have been working on for almost a year?

texts:
I have been working on my bachelors thesis for 10-11 months now and am about to hand it in. Without bragging, my topic was by far harder and more work than most bachelor theses.

Now I am wondering whether I should add an inscription to my parents in it. I really want to show that I am grateful for giving me the opportunity to study. Now I have read up on some advice on the internet saying that I probably shouldn't do it because bachelor theses are generally only meant for a small amount of people.

With my thesis this is different as I am planning on releasing at as a documentation of my work (my bachelor thesis was to write an improved version of an existing API).

What do you think?

EDIT:

I am talking about a short "To my parents." on a separate page in the beginning.

EDIT2:

Please remember, a Bachelor thesis is different to a dissertation.


texts: Remote lecturing: best software approach

texts:
With the recent outbreak of covid-19 many of us will need to think about remote means of teaching.

The option for me that seems ideal would be the capacity to broadcast exactly what is on my screen to a a large audience (a minimum of a couple of dozen).

There seems to me an ideal solution, but there are a dizzying number of options available, many of which do not quite fit that spec. Software that is free and readily available to educational institutions (such as something on google apps) would be ideal of course.


texts:
I am writing a follow-up thank-you email for a teaching position that I interviewed for at a place where I am an adjunct. If I have had a (good) idea based on something the committee discussed, can I include that in the email, or does it come off as over-eager and/or desperate?
For what it's worth, the committee did say to get in touch with them if I had any further questions.


texts: How to politely reply to adviser for his mistake

texts: I sent one abstract to my supervisor, which he approved and said it is fine. Later on, when the same abstract was published and circulated on university email, he sent me an email and stating that this Abstract is not good and you should have checked it with me before sending for circulation. I have his email of approval and I know he also does know that I checked this abstract with him before submission but seems he want me to take the blame. How do I cope with this situation, I don't want the relation turning bad or aggressive for both of us.


texts:
After finishing a paper, I'd like to show it to a few people for review. I'd like to establish publication priority somehow. The site arXiv won't do because my paper hasn't been reviewed to that level of quality. On the other hand, viXra won't do because I don't want to look like a crackpot.

Here are some desirable functions. The site:

Lets me upload a file
Lets me share the URL so that anyone can see it who has the URL
Shows the time I uploaded the file in a trustworthy way
Prevents others from modifying it-- it's view only

Bonus:
5. Shows versions of the file, together with their upload times

How many of these can be satisfied? Would a file sharing site suffice? Thanks for your advice.


texts: What's the real difference between a postdoc and a research fellow? (Which one is considered a 'better' experience?'

texts:
As the title suggests, it's not clear to me the actual difference between a postdoc and research fellow, especially when looking at the typical academia road. I understand that (maybe?) there is a difference between how the two are funded, but which one that (naturally) shows more qualities that can be appreciated when looking for a job as a lecturer? Qualities like 'Independent researcher that can design and lead high quality research programs'.
Edit:
If it helps, I am talking specifically about the UK system.


texts: I have only one name shown in my ID card. How do I write my name (surname) in research paper or article?

texts: My name is SALMAN. No Middle and Last name. How do I write my name in research paper or article?


texts: How to follow specific journal or conference in google scholar for new paper?

texts: I want to follow few journal and conference. IS it possible to create alert for such specific item in google scholar? or is there any other system available for these kind of tasks?


texts: Introduction depends on preliminaries. What to do?

texts:
I am writing a paper but have the following problem. The introduction section requires basic knowledge of things introduced in the preliminaries. As I understand it, it is customary (in computer science) that one has an introduction and than preliminaries which would mean that most people would not understand the introduction section.

How should I deal with this kind of dependence?


texts: When updating a preprint on arXiv, should I update my affiliation?

texts:
I have a preprint on the arXiv, a couple of years old, and will shortly be re-submitting an updated version.  The changes are fairly limited — more than just typos, but not so much as to change the section numbering, let’s say.

I and a co-author are postdocs, and have moved institutions since the original version.  Should we update the author affiliations as given in the article, or leave them as they are?

The article hasn’t been published and probably won’t be any time soon (it’s expository, and a bit difficult to find a suitable venue for).  However, it’s been fairly widely read and cited as a preprint.

The field is pure mathematics.


texts: Ask thesis supervisor for permission to include his name as co-author of a journal paper and risk being denied?

texts: I did my Masters Thesis at a reputed organization, under a supervisor who is an expert in the field. The organization is notoriously protective about the data I acquired from there which I need in my calculations in my thesis. I would like to publish a paper with his name too, though he had very little to do with my actual work. But I am afraid that if I ask him, he will say no, owing to the over-protective nature of the organization (though it was I who took the readings and collected the values myself). I have the option to publish it without naming my supervisor or the organization. What would be the right approach here?


texts: my professor said she would like to write a recommendation for me and when I told her the deadline, she didn't reply any more

texts: Last week, I wrote my professor a email and asked her whether she would like to write a recommendation for me. She seems quite positive and asked when would be the submit time. I replied promote about the deadline would be in two weeks. Since then she didn't reply any more. I asked early this week whether she need extended time to write the reference letter. She still didn't reply. The deadline will be next week. So does the submit time didn't work for her? how can I do now?


texts: Job market in academia: applied/computational math vs. pure math

texts:
Many people told me it is much more easier for an applied/computational mathematician to find a job in U.S. than a pure mathematician. I believe that it is largely due to the fact that applied/computational mathematicians have many advantages in finding jobs in industry. I wonder if this is still the case in academia, in particular research-oriented schools. Well, at least in the department I am studying at, most postdocs and newly-hired assistant professors are doing applied\computational math or potentially applicable math.

Specifically, Is it generally easier to find a job in research-oriented schools (regardless of ranking) if one works in applied math rather than pure math? (I naively believe that there is no special advantages for applied mathematicians to apply for a job in teaching-oriented schools. Please let me know if I am not right)

To avoid the tag that "this question strongly depends on individual factors", I want to clarify the words "generally easier". I want to know whether or not most research-oriented math departments (specifically refer to those with both pure and applied mathematicians. I know in some universities, pure math and applied math belong to different departments) are more interested in hiring applied/computational mathematicians as postdocs/APs and the reasons behind it.

Answers based on personal experience and objective evidence/statistics are both welcome here!


texts: Going from an Individualized Masters to PhD?

texts: I'm about to finish my Bachelors in History, I'm currently in a exchange as a research intern and I was suggested by my research director to do a Masters in a Individualized Program, as my interest of research is interdisciplinary (Oral history, geography/urbanism, agriculture/environment). After speaking with a teacher who works in similar topics he told me that it could be harder to me to get into a PhD after doing and INDI, as I wouldn't have a Masters background in History. I want to do a PhD and keep researching, but I really want to be working in a more interdisciplinary and holistic way. Any views? Experiences? Have any of you done a PhD after an INDI?


texts: Which is better: to achieve my master degree in usual time or use extra time to prepare myself for a PhD?

texts:
I am currently a master student at UFMG, a university in Brazil. I am at my last semester (out of 4) and, due to the pandemics, it was given to us the possibility to extend our study for one semester.
Here goes some details: I'm studying Homotopy Type Theory (HoTT), I have a scholarship, I'm  a bachelor in Physics, my grades are OK, I have completed my credits and the only thing remaining to get my master degree is to finish a dissertation. I have attended to graduate courses such as Advanced Algebra, Complex Analysis, Algebraic Topology and some others less relevant ones.
I can finish everything in the usual time if I want to, but I really would like to use the extra time given to us to read more interesting stuff, attend to some extra advanced classes, prepare myself a little bit more to engage in a PhD.
The thing is: what do you think is, in general, more valuable in regards to a PhD admission process, to finish all my duties in the usual time or to have some extra advanced classes in my transcript?
For instance, my department will offer a course on Homotopy Theory, which is quite relevant for the area I am currently studying (HoTT).
Thank you.


texts: What is the best way to explain the change of my research interest in my Statement of Purpose for a PhD application?

texts: I've been an research assistant in a lab of my department for a while. I've gained some research experience and skills but I've developed some new research interests during my internship and I found them more interesting to pursue in my graduate study. However, I have no related research experience. How do I address that in my SOP for the Ph.D application?


texts: I have been invited to peer review a manuscript for a reputable journal. This is my first so I have a few questions to the more experienced

texts:
Are PhD students generally invited for such reviews? I was under the impression they would prefer someone with a Doctorate degree or more experience in the field.
What are the advantages/disadvantages of accepting to review?
The general discipline that the paper treats is related to my field of study but my active research is not necessarily related. Is it still OK to accept the invitation to review?


texts: Should you answer 'are you interviewing elsewhere' honestly when you don't have other interviews yet?

texts:
A bit of context. I am about to get my PhD soon and a few months ago I started applying for R&D positions1  , both in academia and in the industry. A few things to note here:

I am interested in applying to positions in a limited number of countries (in Europe)
The positions I applied to may be very competitive (especially the ones in industry)
The COVID situation may be impacting the job market

So the result is that I ended up with a very limited number of applications (~15) and absolutely no feedback from them, except one rejection and one invitation for an interview. The latter is in an academic research lab.
Now I have been thinking, if in this upcoming interview I'm asked: “Are you currently interviewing elsewhere?”, should I be honest and say that I’m not?
My concern is that I don’t know how this could be seen. I thought of 2 options:

they will think that I’m not “in-demand” and that I don’t have successful applications so perhaps that may discourage them from hiring me.
they instead would be understanding of the fact that I don't have other options, given the global context and my personal preferences. Then, if the interview goes well and they do make an offer, I'd have to provide them with a response fast since they know that I don’t have other options. My concern here is: what if (miraculously) another/better option opens up for me in the meantime such that it would be better for me not to respond to the first offer right away.

Note that my question is not very related to: Should I tell other interviewers where else I've interviewed?, as that one deals with the case where the candidate had other interviews and it is about graduate school admissions, while mine is related to a later career stage. In addition, as there is an academic component in the situation, I preferred to ask the question here instead of Workplace SE.
Any thoughts would be welcome.
1 What I mean by R&D positions are those positions where you work in the context of EU R&D projects. I hope that's not too vague as a definition.


texts: How to address a military officer with Ph.D?

texts: What is the proper way to address a person who is an office in the military (USA) who at the same time has a Ph.D.? Would it be Dr. General John Doe or General Dr. John Doe?


texts: Writing Statement of Purpose after answering prompts in the application that already cover the material

texts:
I apologize in advance if my question wasn't very clear. It only allowed for 150 characters.

I was wondering how to approach writing a statement of purpose after answering prompts or short answer questions that pretty much cover the material I have mentioned in my essay.

The application asks for in separate spaces to write about my research interest, reason for applying to the school, and steps I have taken to prepare for graduate studies.

What would be the best material to include after covering the above material? (150-250 words ,as instructed in the application)? Should I elaborate more by providing details to the answers to the above questions or should I write about my character and work ethic?

Thanks.


texts: I got a major revision and I will prepare a revision letter. The editor asked me to review my manuscript for grammatical errors, in addition to the scientific comments he made. Should I present all the grammatical changes I made on the manuscript one by one? There are lots of minor changes (i.e addition/insertion of commas, "the", "a/an").


texts: Do I need to be in a constant touch with the community to get the admissions?

texts: I just completed my masters degree. Some of my seniors are constantly advising me to "increase" my touch with the academic community. They say that this increases the chances of getting the admissions. Per se I have no problem with maintaining some contact with the academic community, but what irritates me is the second part of this advice. I am of an opinion that I will or won't get admissions on the basis of my work. If somebody likes my work they will accept me as their student, otherwise they won't. Probably this is my romantic idea about the doctoral studies as a new student. Is it really necessary to constantly attend conferences, mail the professors, be in someones good books to conduct a good doctoral study?


texts:
There are some prominent summer schools in CS (ML in particular) like MLS (Machine Learning Summer School).

What is the impact of attending such program on academic careers? (or applying for graduate programs)

For example,
LxMLS (Lisbon Machine Learning School) this year has ~ 150 selected participants from all over the world.

The summer school offers the following things:

Lectures (from basics to advanced topics)
Lab sessions
Talks
Poster Session (based on which the students were selected)

Would it be a worthwhile investment of 1000-1200$ (Assuming I have the means to fund myself) or are such opportunities common and easily funded in US and I should be looking at not attending and saving money?

What else would this summer school bring forth for a recently graduated undergrad student?

Some of the summer schools have courses which can be treated as university credit equivalents. Is this true for all summer schools?

Background: A student interested in Machine Learning and Natural Language Processing and has taken online courses in these subjects.


texts: A student answered exam question with a method she's working on her thesis. What should she do to keep the authorship her own?

texts:
My friend, a graduate student answered an exam question (in Data Mining field) with a method she's going to propose in her thesis, which has not been published yet as it is still unfinished. The (soon-to-be) thesis itself propose a single new method.

What caused her anxiety:

Her lecturer is currently on a research in data mining too and they are not in the same research group.
The exam question itself contained a statement like this, "Use whatever method you know of".

The point is that my friend is afraid that her lecturer may pick that method to incorporate or develop in his research while he wouldn't know that it is actually a part of his student's research. If that happened her thesis would be in jeopardy.

From my previous question in SE, I get that lecturers really rarely mine ideas from students' exams, but my friend is still worried because her thesis is basically proposing that one method.

What could my friend possibly do in this complicated situation and state of mind?


texts: Improve my relationship with this professor?

texts:
When applying to graduate school, I didn't asked for a letter of recommendation from a professor who offered one.

Now I have a course with him and he seems to avoid me. How I can fix my relationship with him?


texts: What are the advantages and disadvantages of Preprints.org compared with arXiv?

texts:
Preprints.org is a new site for sharing preprints of papers.

arXiv is one of the longest standing, stable and mature places for many people.

I'm wondering where to upload a paper (which is already open access on GitHub, but not very visible).

One downside of arXiv: Google Scholar seems to direct people to the arXiv and not the latest versions.

One upside of arXiv is that it is open, stable and mature.

In summary, where should I put my preprint for maximum benefit?

Update

Thanks to the first link in the 'correct' answer below, I think I've discovered the OSF affiliated preprint services. See here for more info: Preprint services other than arXiv (for other fields)

Check it out (and potentially submit your preprints) here: https://osf.io/preprints/


texts: Is it acceptable to contact the PI for a research position, in addition to applying through the careers site?

texts:
At my institution there's an on-site cancer research center. I applied to a lab through the center's careers page for the position Research Associate 1. Basically they took my resume, cover letter, personal info and there's a message in an automated system saying I'm currently being considered. I do meet the requirements for the position, but as for the hiring process they don't provide a way of contacting a hiring manager, HR, etc. (I've looked deep, there's nothing except a "we'll get back to you if we're interested").

I have the email for the PI of the lab, but I'm unsure if it's acceptable to contact him about the position. What would be acceptable to say?


texts: How to apply for Habilitation positions in Germany - Physics/Chemistry

texts:
I'm a postdoctoral researcher in physics in the USA right now (my Ph.D. is in physical chemistry). I want to move to Germany and eventually become a research professor. I am aware that one route I could take is by applying for Junior Professor positions, but my understanding is that a Habilitation is a bit more collaborative with your advisor. As I am planning to move to an entirely new system, I think it would be good for me to have a few years working closely with someone who already knows the system so I will be in a better place to help my students navigate it. Anyway, I can find Jr. Prof. positions on the job boards, but I have no idea how to find Habilitation positions. Can any of you help me with this?
Many thanks!


texts: How deeply should one understand other people's work before building on them?

texts:
I have a few results during my math PhD that I used in a black-box or grey-box sense. I have a rough idea of how it is proved but the proof itself is extremely long and detailed. I cannot reproduce it off the top of my head without looking at the paper and going through it line by line again. Some of these proofs also themselves refer to other lemmas and proofs in different papers and it can become quite a deep rabbit hole.
I am at a stage now where I can either spend some weeks studying these proofs in detail or I can focus more new research and take these results as black box results. What is the right/expected thing to do from a scientific mindset? On the one hand, understanding everything from scratch would be nice but on the other hand, the reason we write lemmas is so that others can use them as a springboard to develop new ideas.
TL;DR how deeply do mathematicians understand other people's work before using their results? My practical concern would be my thesis defence but the broader scientific "best practice" would be good to know too.


texts: Is a recommendation letter that documents self-study a strong letter?

texts:
In my undergraduate I studied neuroscience, but tried to learn more maths, which is not included in the curriculum. I wanted to do a more computational/mathematically rigorous field, such as computational neuroscience.

Because we had restricted number of free modules, I self studied several maths modules, and took advanced math modules. I did very well in those maths classes.

I asked my programme tutor (professor) to write a letter of recommendation describing these.

I've read that when the admissions committee look at letters of recommendation they look for research ability.

I believe, in the best case scenario, the letter would document self-study, and overcoming fixed restrictions set by the program (that did not make sense in my case). These would indicate drive and ability to self study. For the purpose of admissions, would this make a strong letter?
Or is it still a 'did well in class' letter?


texts: How acceptable is it to submit a paper where most of the references are written by the same group of authors?

texts:
I am preparing a conference paper. I have been looking for references for a specific topic related to my research. I have not found any that were not written by current/former members or my research lab.
How common is it and how acceptable is it to submit a paper where most or all of the references were written by the same group of authors?

In other words, my adviser is an author for most/all of them with a subset of his students.


texts: Acceptable to do significant work on PhD before officially starting?

texts:
This question concerns PhD programs that, unlike most U.S. programs, don't start with a 2 year coursework program. That is, programs where you're expected to do a 2 year master before the PhD and then finish your PhD in about 3 years consisting solely of research. Let's say this concerns a PhD program at Oxford or Cambridge, UK.

I came to this question after reflecting on the fact that some PhD students finish their PhD in significantly shorter amount of time than average. I thought: What if we carry this to the extreme:

Consider the following scenario: Let's say that after obtaining a master's degree, a student spends 3 years working independently on their own research, and produces papers that in amount and quality would be sufficient for obtaining a PhD. Would it be acceptable for this student to simply register for a PhD program, and immediately hand in this work?

In this way, the student is registered for the PhD program for only a very short time (the time required to hand in the work, and do the thesis defence). Therefore presumably the student has to pay tuition only for this short period rather than for 3 years.

This question is not about whether trying this is advisable, but solely about whether universities will accept this.


texts: I am currently taking a master by research in biostatistics in my home country (Not really well-known though). I recently saw the importance of machine and deep learning in the field of biostatistics and had seen about the OMSCS master program by GaTech. Will attending both master by research and OMSCS master increase the rate of admission to a better PhD program? Or should I put all my focus on publication?


texts:
DOIs are specified in ISO 26324, but can I refer to that standard by DOI? In other words, is there a systematic mapping from ISO standard numbers (possibly including parts and release years) to DOI names? Ideally, this would work in a similar way for different standard bodies as well.
For international standard book numbers there is such a mapping, for instance: the DOI name 10.97812345/67890 and the 13-digit ISBN 978-12345-67890 have the same referent, just different syntax.


texts: Two PhD's in different UK universities, simultaneously, part-time: absurd idea?

texts:
I have what might seem like the nicest problem in the world: I've got offered funding for both of my dream PhD's. I am stunned, incredulous, gobsmacked, but also deeply confused: both are with supervisors I would absolutely love to work with, both are topics that genuinely fascinate me. Having to choose one feels like Sophie's choice to me - as soon as I imagine choosing one I start grieving the other.
My question is, would it be madness to switch to part-time mode and pursue both? One is funded by ESRC and the other one, by AHRC; there are parallels in the subject matter but the projects and research methods are completely different, so there is no way I could unite the two (although my two prospective supervisors know and extensively quote each other). The field is humanities (cultural/visual studies in one case, same but with a good dash of social sciences in the other).
Thank you!


texts: Thesis or published papers for PhD application?

texts:
There are two types of programs (maths - Turkey) that I can apply for MSc : With and without thesis. I agree that writing a thesis is a writing task to learn and important but I can also learn how to write when writing a paper.

But also I believe that writing a thesis (i.e. a book!) is very time consuming and instead I prefer spending that time on producing research papers. My question is that would it better to have published papers than having a thesis in MSc when applying for PhD or quite the reverse, Master-with-thesis program is more valuable for PhD application for a Canadian universities?


texts: Why conferences are the main venue for CS research?

texts:
Based on @JeffE's suggestion here, I see many CS researchers care mostly about conferences deadlines. Even when they want to read papers, usually they check the recent proceedings of different conferences.

Having a paper in IJCAI or AAAI for example, worth more than publishing in many ISI indexed journals with good reputation. I have no hard evidence for this but being in touch with CS research, I see little discussion about journal publications. why is that? is it good for the spirit of research in the CS field?


texts: Is it common to not send rejection letters?

texts: I have been applying to some summer programs for undergraduates recently and I am seeing that some of them do not send rejection letters or emails, and instead only notify accepted applicants. I was wondering how wide spread of a practice this is in academia, meaning do graduate schools do this, do grants do this, et cetera?


texts: Getting Letters of recommedation with no professor suport

texts:
How does one obtain letters of rec after he/she graduated from university?

I am currently enrolled in a  post-bac biotechnology program where I could identity one potential candidate for a letter. I have one letter from my former boss where I dealt with computers. But what are my options getting another letter? BTW I haven't known my professor in the biotechnology program forever (just 2 months). How long do you have to know a professor before asking?


texts: Footnote vs reference for API documentation

texts: As a computer scientist, I'm not sure whether I should be using footnotes or references (as in, those that go in "thebibliography" at the end) when referring to Javadocs. I think there is some valuable research even in the documentation of the Java standard library but I'm sure many will either gloss over these references or those who don't will probably already know about them. What is the appropriate style, in LNCS format?


texts: Is pasting an excerpt from Wikipedia in a paper without reference plagiarism?

texts:
Assume you are reviewing a paper and discover that some general definitions therein have been copied from Wikipedia without mentioning the source. Should it be considered plagiarism or can it be considered legit because Wikipedia is freely available and anonymous?

Surely this behaviour shows poor effort in literature research because if something is on Wikipedia it surely is also in some more authoritative document. However, generic definitions of centuries old concepts should now be copyrightless and Wikipedia is as good as any textbook or giving one in your own words.


texts: Balancing between finishing past projects and working on current ones

texts:
Personally, I never feel done with projects, as there are always a few open projects, in which I'm involved in. (And typically 1-2 which "I should have finished year ago or so".)

First, what are good strategies of balancing between finishing past project and working on current ones?

On the one hand, concentrating only on current ones means that there will be a lot of "almost baked" project, in a form of partial results, never published drafts or papers stuck in the revision process. (Assigning second priority to something means that it is never going to be taken seriously.)

On the other hand, focusing only past projects would:

look as if I were slacking off (also, as some past projects are from previous afflictions),
have me stuck in working on projects, which are going to be "90%" for the eternity.

Second, being put in situation with constant (internal) pressure and no calm sense of finishing things (as even after polishing results, polishing a draft, going through a few rounds of revisions... there are still n-1 open projects), is there a way to feel accomplishment and not blame oneself when resting?


texts: How to validate and submit for publication a paper as a graduate student?

texts:
While attending a graduate course on an engineering subject (reliability of complex systems) I had an idea about a different approach to a known problem. The application of this different method to a known topic would simply require to build a model of the physical system under study and to do a few simulations. I have already done a test to see if this approach makes sense at all on basic problems (the one you would see in an introductory course on subject). After a quick search, I found that there is no literature that covers this aspect in our field of application (electrical engineering).

I told my idea to a colleague student that has "real world experience" on the subject and he was very enthusiast. Our cooperation would involve him bringing his experience (to evaluate the process and the quality of the results) and I would bring the computational skills (set up the simulation etc...). The paper would be about 5-6 pages plus results (and scripts if they can be attached).

Now I'm asking you: what is the correct iter we could follow to see if this paper is worth publishing? And then, assuming it is, where do we submit the paper for publishing? I'd be happy to publish it on my blog anyway but I think there is some potential for "more than a blog work" (if you can allow me the use of this bad description) and would like to know what are the options.

Also, I would like to add that I came up with the idea of a publication of this work because I came across a lot of short papers in this format (new solution/method to old problem). While I think our idea is not revolutionary, it might add some useful perspective.

TLDR:

We are 2 graduate students that have an idea for a new approach to a relatively old problem.
We already did some tests and the idea seems sound.
The paper would be approx 5-6 pages plus results.
The subject is related to realiability calculation in electrical engineering applications.

Where do we go after having written the paper for "proper" validation and publishing request?


texts: Would showing up only for tests be frowned upon by most professors?

texts:
Because of a personal situation, I'm currently unable to attend most lectures (lately none) of a particular math class. However, I have a friend in  my section who keeps me updated with the material covered, homework assignments, and exam dates.

I had previously spoken to the professor, explaining that I might be missing sessions throughout the semester, and she seemed understanding; lately, however, I stopped going altogether, and I've exclusively shown up for mid-term examinations (on which I do ok). To my surprise, I've been able to teach my self quite well, and, given that it saves me a considerable amount of time, I've been thinking of adopting this practice in the future.

My question is, given attendance isn't compulsory, would professors mind this, or develop any kind of resentment toward students who engage in this behavior? I'm a third year undergrad in a public university in Texas.

I'm not really sure whether this question is off-topic for this stack, so I apologize in advance if it is. Please feel free to change the tags as appropriate. Thank you


texts: How do open science practices affect tenure and promotion decisions?

texts: Does engaging in open science practices (e.g., reproducibility, data sharing, study preregistration, open access publication) affect tenure and promotion decisions for academic scientists? One can imagine that these would be viewed favorability and scientists would be rewarded for being open. At the same time, however, open science seems to be a movement driven by younger scientists and openness may have no bearing on promotions or even be seen as a distraction from the core production of research. Is there any evidence of the effect of open science on individual career success?


texts: Two professors declined to write LOR for me because they are busy?

texts:
I had my M.A. degree in a public university in the States. After working in media for two years in China, I want to pursue research and teaching career so I started to plan for PhD in media psychology (under communication).

I had my GRE tested (the last one has expired) in Sept and got good scores. But due to my heavy workloads and procrastination, I hesitated to contact two professors who instructed my thesis and know me relatively well until I finished SOP in November. After a week, with my follow-up letter, both of them refused to write me strong LOR.

My thesis advisor said "as the Director of PhD studies I am unable to write letters this year."And he suggested me to ask the other instructor.

But the other one replied: "It is good to hear from you and nice to hear that you are applying to doctoral programs. Part of the reason that I was so delayed in my response is that I am a bit overwhelmed with work right now.  Given all of my existing demands,  unfortunately I do not think I am in a position to give the time and effort to write you a strong recommendation. I am sorry about this."I discussed about possibility of pursuing PhD with him when I took his seminar, but he was not very encouraging.

But reading between the lines (especially "part of the reason"), I feel like they are not confident that I will succeed as a researcher. I asked my thesis advisor for more feedbacks like whether he thought I am less than qualified and where to improve and if I should take another M.A in Psychology. But he did not reply.  ：（

I know to a large degree it's my ill plan to blame. But I am not certain if they are making excuses and whether to ask them for LOR next year. Is it often for faculty to refuse LOR because they don't see your potential with other excuses?