texts:
Is solving all of the exercises in a textbook a good idea? I'm particularly concerned with textbooks on mathematics. I have this obsession that I should solve all of the problems that a textbook has. It takes a lot of time and energy but usually I'm satisfied with the end result being me having a better understanding of that particular subject.

Any similar experience of this sort? How's this going to work in the long-run?


texts: Is it okay to ask a professor what they expect in a grad student for a research assistantship position?

texts:
I'm joining a grad school for a research-oriented Masters in CS in Germany, early next year. There's a professor whose research interests me, but I certainly don't know enough currently to contribute to his group. His group regularly offers HiWi (tutor/research assistantship) positions and I'd love for a chance to work with him and get to know his research better.
Would it be okay to directly ask him what is expected from a student, to obtain a research assistant position in his group, so that I could prepare myself better? Given that I haven't even taken his classes yet (or even started school!), would this be frowned upon?
By asking him this, my intent is two-fold: (a) directly get to know the prerequisites of commencing research in his field, (b) make myself visible to him, even if it's in a cursory way - I'm assuming a lot of students would want to work with him, so I just figured networking a little early could improve my chances. Would this be okay, or am I being too eager about this? If anyone could tell me experiences specific to Germany, that'd be an added bonus (since university culture varies from country to country) - any advice would be great though!


texts:
I've been thinking about how to improve attendance in my classes as well as how to get my students do the expected work outside of class. I've tried a lot of sticks but the weak students care very little and I end up failing what seems like too many of them.

Lately, my mind has turned to gamification (that is, using elements of the gaming world such as badges, points, and similar things used even here on SE sites) to encourage student engagement.

While reading in English, a lot of what I found is about students in western countries. There has been plenty of research showing that there are significant differences introduced by culture, and to paraphrase Blaise Pascal, what is true in one country is false in another.

Since I teach in Asia, I'm wondering if anyone knows of any studies (or has any experience) using gamification in Asia to improve students' performance.


texts: What to do when you have accidentally submitted an article to a predatory journal

texts:
I'm an inexperienced researcher and I made the stupid mistake of submitting my article to a predatory journal. I realised the journal was fake when they failed to provide the reviewers comments.

I then requested that the article be withdrawn. I received an email back from the 'editor' saying that the article had been withdrawn and guaranteeing that they wouldn't publish the article without my permission. I didn't sign the transfer of copyright, pay any money and the article hasn't appeared on their website.

My question is whether my article is now a write off? Can I resubmit it elsewhere or just write off as a bad learning experience? I would really like to salvage if if possible.


texts: Does going to a graduate school with less prestige than your undergraduate school hurt you?

texts:
I am trying to decided whether pursing a Master's in Computer Science will make me more competitive for a job designing video games. I went to a prestigious undergraduate school and finished strongly. The graduate schools which offer Master's programs with concentrations in video game design are less prestigious than my undergraduate school.

The average starting salary with a graduate degree from one of them is actually $30k less than my starting salary with just an undergraduate degree.

If I attend a less prestigious graduate school, will that cancel out my undergraduate degree? Could I end up making less money with my graduate degree from one of these less prestigious schools? Will employers make the false assumption that I attended a lesser graduate school because I did poorly as an undergraduate?


texts: How to interview undergraduate candidates for research assistants?

texts:
I am at a public high-ranked Canadian university where undergraduates are heavily encouraged to participate in research, and currently recruiting an assistant for myself (and my supervisor). While at this university both as an undergrad, undergraduate researcher, visiting lecturer, and graduate researcher I have seen a very large variance in undergraduate performance:

A good number of students have great research potential, motivation, and creativity; these students typically contribute well to undergraduate research and go on to top graduate schools in their specialties.
A good number of students are here just to prepare for a professional school (typically Med School, but sometimes Law). Typically these students are very hard working, but don't have a passion for research. They apply for research positions just to flesh out their CVs. They typically don't display great creativity and tend to be overworked and over-committed.
The majority of students are hard to motivate, and seldom display great research potential or creativity. It is hard to get results from them on tasks that are not route/mechanical in nature.

Are there any tips and tricks to how to attract students of type 1. More importantly, how can I structure interviews to better recognize students of type 1? Is it impossible to attract type 1 students with high probability and I should just hope for the best, but plan for the worst? Is the division I observed artificial and it is my job as the supervisor to turn every student into type 1?


texts:
I am a new graduate student pursuing a master's degree in computer science. I currently am working in industry as a developer while in school. I see many posts on here and elsewhere about master's research. The university I'm attending doesn't require research (although there is a research path for the degree) but I'm on the course track. Is this a downside? I would like to get the most out of my degree but I am working 40 hours a week and can't really squeeze another 20+ hours working on research, plus my classes.

What are some (if any) of the downsides of not doing research for a master's degree when you plan on working in industry?

Edit: By research I mean writing a master's thesis or a paper on a subject, not research for classes on topics I'm not familiar with.


texts: Common grade curving or scaling techniques

texts:
I'm working on a small application which would hypothetically allow instructors to perform a variety of grade transformation techniques on a given distribution. (I don't intend for the application to actually be used)

What are some of the more commonly used transformation techniques assuming a distribution is ~normally distributed? Online resources on the topic are somewhat sparse.


texts: Endnote: citing highlighted text from a PDF as direct quote

texts: In Endnote X8 for Windows, how can I use the text I've highlighted in a PDF (stored directly in the Endnote library) as a direct quote in my Word document, and cite it properly?


texts: Covid gap year and grad school admissions

texts:
I'm a sophomore at a public university in the U.S. I'm thinking of taking a year off before my junior year, but I'm worried I'll have to explain the gap in my transcript when I apply to math grad school down the road. How concerned do I need to be about this?

The real reason I don't want to "go back" to school in the fall is that an online experience doesn't appeal to me at all. My home environment is a bit difficult and I think I'll have a miserable year overall. I expect I can still get decent grades, but I'd much rather have had four good years on campus, even if that means I have to graduate a year late.

Essentially, I'd like an answer to tell me how admission committees usually view gaps in transcripts and try to give me an idea of how this might play out for someone who voluntarily leaves college for a year because of classes being online. Some more specific questions that have crossed my mind are the following:

Do application forms explicitly ask you to address gaps in your transcript? If not, is there an expectation that applicants will explain these anyway?
Will an explanation like "I didn't want to take classes online for a year" fly? While my home environment is also a factor here, I would be really embarrassed to bring that up in an application.
How important is it that I have something to put on my resumé for the coming year? What I'd really like to do is a lot of reading on my own in math. But if it's something that would make a significant difference to my application, I could try to find work instead. (I don't really expect I'll get anything beyond a typical low-wage unskilled position, assuming it's even possible to find jobs. Failing that, would volunteering be taken seriously?)
Would expectations of progress in math be higher for someone who has a year-long gap in his transcript and has therefore had five years to graduate?

If it makes a difference, right now my impression is that I could probably be competitive for a spot at a top-ten school.

If it's felt that my question doesn't fit with the site rules, I'd appreciate advice on how to improve it.


texts: I was rather surprised that in this answer which suggests that a supervisor giving a side-hug to a research assistant is acceptable behaviour. I try and limit the physical contact with my students/postdocs/assistants to hand shakes and high fives, however if they initiate a hug I tend not to block it. What physical contact, if any, is acceptable between a supervisor and a student? I guess a follow up question would be do the genders of the supervisor or student matter?


texts: I submitted a conference paper that was too long...what now?

texts:
I'm a MA student, and I think I've made a big mistake submitting to my first conference...

I submitted an abstract to a regional academic conference over the summer, and it was accepted. I had to submit the full version of the paper for the student competition a few weeks ago. I was having trouble cutting my material down to meet the limit-- all the conference said was that papers should be "no longer than 20 minutes." The due date crept up on me, and I did my best to cut it down as much as possible, not having enough time to read through my drafts out loud to see how "long" they were.

The conference is two weeks away, and I have started practicing out loud...and it's taking me around 27 minutes to read my paper. What do I do? Is it a big faux-pas to shorten my submitted paper for the presentation so it doesn't go over the time limit? I've had trouble getting in touch with the conference organizers about other things, so I'm doubtful that I'll be able to talk to them about this.


texts: Pursuing a PhD in applied math with a large amount of student debt

texts:
I'm 36 years old and work as systems administrator and lab instructor for a computer science department at a small liberal arts college. I'm also an adjunct math instructor for a community college. I have 1 BA and 2 masters, all from Ivy League Universities. I started college late, at the age of 25.

I always wanted to have a PhD in applied math and do research, but after undergrad, I felt burnt out and instead chose to work so I could pay off my student loans, which did not go well for me, because the economy was terrible in 2012. Two masters and several jobs later, I landed my current position, which I enjoy more than any other full-time job I've had, but would still rather be a full-time mathematics researcher/professor.

So I began applying to PhD programs last December. I was offered two TAships. I'll be attending the one I chose starting this Fall. It's at an R2 university. I'm excited but I'm now experiencing cold feet, because my current student loan balance is about $150K. I'm now beginning to think getting a PhD isn't such a smart idea. In fact, if I don't pursue a PhD, I could pay off $65,000 in about 3 years.

My plan prior to last December was to work at my current job for about 3 years and then find a full-time professor position at a community college or technical college, or to find a full-time lecturer position at a four-year college. I'm thinking I should forego the PhD and stick to this plan instead. Sure I won't be a researcher mathematician as I would love, but it's the smart and safe option. And maybe I can pursue a PhD once my loans are paid off. I'll probably be in my mid-40's by then, but who cares. I don't have kids and I'm not planning on having kids. My girlfriend of 6 years, who I'll probably marry, is unable to have kids anyway.

Any thoughts/advice? Thanks.


texts: How to find out if a preprint has been already published

texts: I found a preprint from 2012 in the internet, how can I know if this preprint is now published or not?


texts: What does it actually mean by the sentence "tuition is paid by the supervisor"?

texts:
What does it actually mean by the sentence "tuition is paid for by the supervisor" ?

Why would the supervisor pay the tuition fee for a PhD student?


texts: I found a published paper that looks dodgy. What to do?

texts:
I looked into an article published rather widely in the media, but on a fairly marginal topic (perceptions of grammar use), so noone will die or ever bother to replicate or correct it.

The contents of the paper looked dodgy in analysis and setup, but more than anything else, the statistics look very suspicious and possibly erronous or at least probably mistaken in assumptions. I contacted the corresponding author for their data, and their editor for an overview of their data sharing policies. No answer from either for more than a month.

What can I do? Is there maybe an online web-environment, where I could flag potentially dodgy studies for further discussion? If the contents are as dodgy, what leverage is usually in process for a retraction to happen? Thanks!

The question is about this particular paper, but this kind of thing can come up a lot. If this was a paper in my own specific area of interest, I would maybe write a public answer, but as this is not, I'd just point it out to other interested parties.


texts: PhD interview - how to explain why I left a previous PhD?

texts:
I previously quit a STEM PhD program after 1 year. The reasons were complex but included burnout, mental health, pressure from the industrial sponsor, lack of support and loss of interest in the project.

Following some time out of education, I decided to reapply for PhDs. I have been invited to interview for a very competitive PhD program. It is stated in my application that I started a PhD previously, and I expect to be asked about this in the interview.

The answer is messy and difficult to talk about - how can I explain it in the best light possible?


texts: Interested in doing Master's in ETH, how hard is it?

texts:
I have been researching universities and I'm really interested in pursuing Master's at ETH Zurich in Bioengineering. I noticed a plethora of information in their website and it differed from the information found in the websites of U.S. and Canadian universities (e.g. they didn't mention obtaining a supervisor before applying to the program).

I have a bachelor's degree in Biology from Canada (with a somehow low GPA). My question is, how is it hard to get into ETH? I realize it's competitive, but what is the general portfolio of attractive candidates?
I noticed they required GRE, is it absolutely necessary for students who studied in North America?


texts: Interpreting recommendations for a rejected paper

texts:
In 2016 I submitted an image processing paper to IEEE TSP

The reviewer rejected the paper, but recommended I try IEEE TIP.
The reviewer at TIP said:

  While TIP is an appropriate venue for this work, this paper needs to be significantly improved before I can recommend that it receives a full review

Over the last few years I've made the recommended changes to the paper and resubmitted. I received the following rejection letter:

  I am writing to you in regards to the manuscript, which you submitted to the Transactions on Image Processing. The submitted manuscript was reviewed by our editorial board to determine whether it meets the standards of this journal in terms of scope, presentation and technical depth. Please note that only the submissions which pass the preliminary review are scheduled for a full peer review. Regretfully, the review concluded that the paper is not suitable for publication in the transactions because it is not matched with the scope of Transactions on Image Processing due to its presentation and focus and lack of adequate experimental validation.  This assessment is made primarily considering the expertise in our editorial board and their ability to recruit reviewers and gauge the quality of the work you submitted. Note that while this is the primary reason for the recommendation, the prescreening may have found other deficiencies. Some specific comments from the editorial board members are below:

  While the method appears novel and mathematically interesting, it is demonstrated on a single image. Other papers in the same area (which are cited by this paper, link below) demonstrate results on more comprehensive datasets. I believe this unbalanced emphasis between mathematical results and experimental evaluation makes this paper out of scope for TIP.

  https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=6963376

  The manuscript is hereby rejected without further review. We recommend you examine articles published in TIP for the style and presentation requirements as well as the requirements for experimental validation. We recommend that you consider submitting the manuscript to a journal better aligned with its contribution and presentation style, where the work would be better assessed and appreciated.

  Please note that according to IEEE Signal Processing Society policy 6.16 "Handling of Rejected Papers" (https://signalprocessingsociety.org/volunteers/policy-and-procedures-manual), the Society strongly discourages resubmission of rejected manuscripts more than once. Authors should carefully review the aforementioned policy before resubmitting their manuscript.

  Thank you for considering the Transactions on Image Processing for the publication of your research.

Two different reviewers at IEEE have recommended TIP as being appropriate for the work, but one has stated that it is not. The reviewer who said the work is not appropriate for TIP stated that the reason was due to not having enough test images. This is something that I can easily fix.

Once I've added more test images, do I resubmit at TIP or find another journal?


texts: Proper ways to contact US academics from outside academia?

texts:
Forgive the question for being silly, but I do not live in the US and work in a different field.

I am developing an application I believe would be a wonderful (free) asset to the study and comprehension of a particular subject (history, which I suppose brings with it philosophy, sociology, and many others really) for students and docents alike.

I would thus like to gather the opinions of any number of actual professionals (maybe pique their interest and earn their cohoperation), who may be kind enough to waste a few minutes, on the concept, which is handily laid out in brief at the project's URL.

A quick look at a few universities' websites made it clear that is not the way, unless I wish to enroll.
I briefly considered contacting PhDs through LinkedIn, but it feels wrong.

So the question is:
what are the proper (sensible, respectful, appropriate, expected) ways and channels, if any, for a complete professional stranger, to contact a US Professor and hold some expectation that they may react after some fashion (or at least a suspect they may have actually received the message) ?

Why the US ?
Because it seems like a good starting point. There are so many people and learning institutions in the US. And American history is quite unique. And the geography is vast, it fits well with the concept. Plus, english.

The Answers all raise very helpful points, I wish I could pick at least 3. It being a question about new tech, students may be the ones to pursue. Thanks all.


texts: When applying for PhD in US or EU, do universities give any importance to the summer schools (7 days/15 days) candidate has attended? I mean, are the summer schools a worthy addition to the CV?


texts: How do I recognise a peer-reviewed journal article?

texts: I have lots of research papers, but can I tell which of them are peer-reviewed. Also, on Google Scholar, is there any way of finding only peer-reviewed articles?


texts: How to submit a computer science paper to arXiv when I am a physicist?

texts: I am member of the Physics Department at my uni. I did the arXiv registration and automatically was allowed to submit papers in maths and physics. However I am interested in submitting a pre-print work in computational linguistics (mixed with acoustics). I found the right place in arXiv to do this: https://arxiv.org/list/cs.CL/new. Unfortunately, I am not allowed to sumbit papers to computer science -> computational linguistics. How can I do this?


texts: Promoting research papers with targeted ads

texts:
I've seen a targeted ad on Facebook about a new study by a public university (linking to a news blog). The ad was paid for by the university.

Is it common in academia to use targeted ads, paid for by a project's money, to disseminate research findings? Does it have any ethical issues?


texts: When is the best time to reach out to potential advisers while applying to PhD programs?

texts:
I am specifically applying to computer science PhD programs in the US.  I have read the other posts similar to this, but I have some specific questions.

1) When is the best time to email professors I would like to work with to maximize my chance of admission to programs for Fall 2020?  I've seen lots of disagreeing advice. One post said that it was best to reach out right after application deadlines so the professor will remember your email.  This is what I have been planning to follow.

2) If my contact with the professor goes well, is there a risk I could be "locked in" or risk damaging my relationship with them?  Say I reached out this week, if they  said I would be a good fit would I be expected to reply now?  Or could I wait until I hear from other schools in February/March?

3) How do I balance these concerns of maximizing my chance of admission and being "locked in"?

**I only plan to email professors that have specifically mentioned on there web page that they wish to be directly contacted by potential PhD students.  Any other advice is welcome.

Thanks.


texts:
The APA style recommends the use of either footnotes or endnotes.

The term 'endnotes' means notes are placed in a separate page in the back matter.

The term 'footnotes' means notes are placed at the bottom of relevant pages.

However, I have seen official sample APA papers with a page in the back matter entitled 'Footnotes.'

Why does the APA style call it 'the footnotes page' even though the notes are not placed at the bottom of pages?


texts:
Let's suppose a paper uses an interesting rhetoric element to present idea A. So let's say it says "Wise men have had the brilliant, although not fully correct idea that A". Is it plagiarism, to say in a different paper (even different discipline) concerning (completely) different idea B something similar, like "Wise men have had the brilliant, yet slightly wrong idea B"?

My intuition is no, because plagiarism is the process of presenting ideas as ones own. As long as the rhetoric element is not the idea in itself (lets say a poem) it seems to me it cannot be plagiarism.


texts: What is important in choosing a Ph.D. program?

texts:
I'm now choosing a Ph.D. program between two schools and am struggling a lot. Please let me know your thoughts and I'll greatly appreciate any help! The two universities are very similar in reputation and compensation.

School 1's lab: The professor is very nice and supportive. He would support a broad range of research topics and I have the freedom of choice. The students are very hardworking. They published 8 top conference papers last year.
However, the students in this group are from not good universities. And the professor is very young, his oldest Ph.D. student hasn't graduated yet, so I don't know the students' outcome. Also, the students are so hard-working that the work-life balance might be bad. Also, the professor doesn't have as many connections in my desired place of work.
School 2's lab: The students in this lab are all from top universities. The professor has advised many Ph.D.'s and all of them are going to great labs and universities now. The professor has a lot more citations and more connections in the country I want to work in the future.
However, the group only published 3 top conference papers last year. The professor is also not as committed to personally advising me.


texts: How important academic affiliation really is for getting published in a reputable journal?

texts: More specifically how likely it is for me to get published as an independent researcher working as hard as an affiliated researcher? How much difference does it really make?


texts: Should I include extra information in quiz questions?

texts:
I'm curious about the pros/cons of including extra flavor text in quiz/exam questions.

For example, which would be better?

What is the product of this reaction?
The following molecule is found in a marine plant species, and has shown to inhibit cancer cell growth. One possible reason is due to the following reaction of this molecule. Provide the correct products of the reaction.

I've jumped back and forth between the two options. One on hand, I think it is beneficial to have students learn to parse text to determine important pieces of information. On the other hand, am I primarily interested in their passage reading skills or the content of the course (I realize the answer could be both)?

I also want to consider english language learners in this. Does it make things more equitable for students if there is less text to process through to get to the "actual" question?


texts: Pretending pure math is applied math for grant funding

texts:
It would be nice to make a case for funding pure mathematics projects strictly on their own terms, as good mathematics, but this is increasingly not the world we live in. Legislators and funding agencies want to see "useful" proposals, which puts anyone who does pure mathematics in the position of having to come up with (often tenuous) real-world applications for their work.

My question is: How do review panels perceive this practice? Do they really find largely hypothetical connections with applied sciences convincing? At what point does it become shameless BS that damages an application?


texts: The importance of positive GPA trends in PhD admissions?

texts:
For admission committees, how important are the (upward) trends in your GPA and how much will it remedy lackluster performance in the past?

Background: I'm an international CS applicant with an overall undergraduate GPA of around 2.8 with a GPA of 3.5 in the last two years (undergrad took 5 years total). I'm also finishing my masters with a 4.0 GPA. Considering these facts, how much should I expect my overall undergraduate GPA to hurt my chances for Ph.D. admission in the US/Canada?

(I'm aware of other factors such as recommendations, GRE and research experience. However, I would like to keep this question specific to the effect of positive GPA trends vs. overall GPA)

P.S: I have looked at seemingly similar questions/answers on the site but none of them cover this specific question.


texts:
I am doing a lot of reading and experimenting to dig deeper into my research topic. In our institute we have weekly meetings, were we present our latest research. Often my professor asks me questions about specific details or numbers in ongoing discussions during the presentation, which I cannot recall so fast. For example, what is the current GDP of X country? I have understood, what the GDP is, but I do not know the number, which he would really like to hear in that moment.

I often have read this, and also re-read it in other reports and papers, but I cannot recall it in his moment exactly and I do not have the number available during the presentation? Btw often it is unclear before the presentations, which numbers are relevant during a presentation and also my peers feel that way.

How do you structure your research?
Which tools are you using?

I really appreciate your answer!


texts: How to deal with non-reproducible research?

texts:
For context, I am a PhD student in bioinformatics, working partly in development of new statistical models and partly in applying models to data.

I recently came across a paper which describes an interesting approach to clustering data. This method would have direct use for data I was working with at the time. The model itself was also interesting, and I am interested in using ideas from their paper to solve similar problems in my field.

I tried to use their published modelling software to analyse my data. It crashed my R session. For context, errors in R code rarely cause the session itself to crash; usually they result in an error message, which one may easily find the source of.

Unsure of whether this was my mistake (due to a coding error or data misspecification), I retrieved the data from their publication and attempted to run the code which they state produces the outputs in their paper. This lead to the same issue. I flagged this issue on the software repository, and another user mentioned having the same issue. I have replicated the issue in multiple independent environments using different software versions. I have also informed them that I have narrowed the error down to one or more lines of code, though I cannot exactly explain why it occurs (it would be too time-consuming to debug as I am not familiar with their code).

The authors initially did not respond to the issues raised on the repository, and only did so after I emailed the corresponding authors several weeks later. They have only stated that the software works on their system and suggested that I try different software versions, which I have now done with no change in outcome.

My initial goal was to ensure the issue was reproducible, and to raise it to the authors' attention. If the issue remains unresolved, and the authors largely absent if not uncooperative, how should one deal with this? I do not feel that this amounts to research misconduct, however I also feel unable to trust the results in their paper, given that the code which should replicate their results does not function in any respect.


texts: Should I write a conference proceeding of my master's thesis work so far?

texts:
I'll be attending to a conference and do a poster presentation of my master's thesis work so far. What I'm concerned of is that my tutor wants me to also wirte a short report to be submitted as a conference proceeding.

What I've done so far is nothing new. I've just applied already existing theory and numerical codes to specific cases... which should be easy to do for people that already understands the topic and has technical expertise with the numerical code I'm using (I know there is people that do have it).

Should I just write the report or talk it with my tutor?


texts: What valid reason can I give for my low CGPA to a prospective PhD advisor?

texts:
I am applying for PhD in US universities and my CGPA is lower than they ask for. But I believe my research experience is good enough to get a position. When I contacted a professor with my CV, he showed interest. Also, he asked why my CGPA was low, and if there was any specific reason for that.
Honestly I don't have any valid reason, I did not pay attention earlier to my academic studies. But I think I can't mention that. What can be some possible reasons that I can tell him?


texts:
I have realised that my performance improves when I make my progress publicly accountable. For example, my jogging times improve and I lose more weight when I enter myself onto a public rankings list. I would imagine that my academic progress would also improve if I make my progress publicly visible.

I'm wondering what online rankings or any other publicly visible progress reports might be available in academia? I've heard of impact factors, but is there anything else? I'm sure there are people against turning academia into a competition, but I find some sort of competitive element really improves my performance.


texts: How to leave PhD program without causing problems

texts:
I am a second year fully-funded PhD student in a stem field at a large American public university. In my department, most students spend the first two years (and sometimes three years) only doing coursework and working on the qualifying exams. This is unusual in other programs, but here it is normal. Consequently, I do not have a research advisor and have done no research since I came here. Since I've passed my qualifying exams, I am now at the point where I am expected to find an advisor.

Here's the problem... I never liked research as an undergraduate. I absolutely hated it, and I even had multiple "prestigious" experiences at different institutions with different research mentors and groups. The only common denominator is me and I don't think I can blame my former research mentors for why I was miserable. I applied to PhD programs after my undergraduate career because it was suggested to me and I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life. I was also advised to apply to PhD programs and leave with a master's degree if I decided I don't like it (since masters programs are unfunded).

I want to leave with a master's degree and move on with my life. I don't know how to explain this to my department. I fear they will try and force me to leave without a master's degree even though I have met the requirements. I also fear how they will react in general... I'd rather not burn bridges or experience intense pressure to stay. I have never heard of someone quitting after passing the qualifying exams, so I imagine the department will find this to be very bizarre.

Any suggestions on how to navigate this situation are appreciated.


texts: Unable to present accepted conference paper after mentioning it on submitted applications

texts:
I'm applying to PhD programs in Computer Science. I recently had a paper of mine accepted into a conference workshop. In my graduate school applications (which I have already submitted), I mentioned this paper, citing it as "To be presented at [Conference/Workshop name]", with a link to the paper. I have it in my CV, and said a few words about it in my Statement of Purpose as well.

However, due to unforeseen circumstances, it's likely that I will not be able to attend the conference to present the paper. Might this be an issue with admissions, and if so, how should I go about notifying them?

EDIT: Workshop papers are included in the proceedings in this conference, but only if the author is able to register for the conference and present the paper.

Thanks!


texts: How to tell an over-confident student they still have a lot to learn?

texts:
In one of my classes, I had a student who generally understood stuff faster than the others. In tutorials, he would ask a lot of questions, mostly of the kind

  "I tried this method instead of what you suggested, is it correct?"

Now, this probably sounds like the dream student, but I quickly realized that he was not really after my input, but rather seeking acknowledgement of his superiority (possibly showing off before his friends).

The exchange would often go like this. If what he suggested was correct, fine, I would say "great!" and move on. But quite often there would be flaws in his argument, which I would naturally point out. He would always assume that I misunderstood him and when I was (finally) able to show him that his argument did not stand, he would say something like

  "Oh yeah, that's what I meant to say, but I phrased it wrong"

Note that this was an math class, so "phrasing it wrong" really means "failing to prove". When he asked a genuine question and I started providing an explanation, he would cut me off halfway through with something like

  "Right, I get it, it's because this and that"

and convincing him there was actually more to it was yet another struggle.

I am concerned because I really feel he could be an amazing student if he would only accept that he does not know everything beforehand and therefore sometimes makes mistakes. Also, it seems like my time could be better used than in convincing a student that I'm worth listening to.

How can one explain this to such a student without humiliating him? Simple reasoning and proof by example (you'd think after the tenth time I pointed out his mistakes he would have learnt that he sometimes does them!) apparently just bounces off of him.


texts: Separating academic identity from social identity

texts:
I would like to start publishing scientific papers soon. This issue pertains to the name I will use when publishing.

Basically, I would like to keep my personal and academic life separate and my question is "how can I do this?".

To make it clearer why I want to do this, I'll mention that my current legal name is associated with a certain subculture which is quite unconventional. I want people searching/Googling my professional name to only be exposed to my "academic identity", and people searching for my legal name to only be exposed to my "social identity". There is nothing illegal going on. I'll give an example which is close to reality but I'll refrain from giving exact information. The example is that my "social identity" is an author of erotic novels while my "academic identity" writes papers in mathematics. That's not too far from the reality.
I would assume I am not the first one to have unconventional interests outside academia, the issue I guess is that my legal name is already tied to such an interest, which is a problem. And yes, this is quite amusing; feel free to laugh

I would be thankful for any ideas which would allow me to fulfill both my passions, despite their disharmony.
Basically, I don't want the names to mix together when someone searches for one of them, but I still want to be able to prove that I wrote the papers (in case I want to use them when applying for a job or for grad school). Hopefully there is some way to achieve this.
Other creative ideas to solve this issue are always welcome; maybe I am focusing too much on the name thing and there are other solutions.

I'll wrap this up with some ideas that I had:

I could just use a pen name for my academic papers I guess. I have finished my BSc lately. Problem here is that if I later want to apply to grad school, and I want to show that I have published papers, it could be hard to prove that I have written them (will it? maybe I'll have a pen-name on the papers but prove ownership by other means? like the email address on the paper?).
I could use a different spelling of my legal name on the papers (my legal name is not in English anyway, though I graduated from an English speaking university so my BSc has my name in English). That seems like they could still be linked relatively easily though and one could potentially show up when someone Googles the other name.
I could take on a new middle name (e.g. I could use a variation of my late grandfather's name, which I would gladly do) and use that as the first name in published papers (that seems like it could potentially work).

Some more comments

My last name is very common; my first name is very uncommon
I am aware of course that if I go to grad school they'll probably Google my legal name as well, and of course people who know me personally would be aware of what I do. It would be nice to limit it to those scenarios though.
Yes, I know I should have thought of this before linking my legal name to unconventional topics. I did not tell the whole story though and there was a reason for that.


texts: Selecting license for personal professional site's content

texts:
It seems that creating personal professional websites by aspiring and experienced researchers is a mainstream trend today (that includes full-featured sites as well as blogs). Based on multiple recommendations from people's answers and comments on this site as well as my own opinion on the subject, I have decided to jump the bandwagon and create my own full-featured personal professional site. I still plan to maintain my profiles/pages on various professional/social sites, such as LinkedIn, ResearchGate, Academia.edu, about.me and some others. However, I envision the planned site as a centerpiece of my personal professional branding strategy due to higher independence (no platform lock-in), much more flexibility in creating, managing and styling content, thus, providing much better opportunities to express thoughts, which is essential to any scholar.

Working on my website, I included slightly customized versions of free templates of Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. The latter document contains references to software licensing, but does not address the licensing of the website's contents and users' contributions, which I think is important.

In this context, I am curious about pros and cons of selecting particular content license, including the Creative Commons license. When answering this question, please keep in mind that, while significant part of the website's context will be related to academia and research, some planned materials will (might) be of dual nature, that is, focused on either academia or consulting, or both.


texts: When should I send thank you letter or email to my thesis committee members?

texts: When is the proper time to send a thank you email to the committee members? After the defense or after getting the certificate confirmation from the registrar office? To me saying thank you after defense is such a nice gesture. I just had a long conversation and question-answer session and everything is still so fresh in the mind of the members! But I would like to know about your suggestion (and probably would like to go with that too!).


texts: Criteria of experience recognition for "TV-L 13" position

texts:
I know that the topic of stufe for "TV-L 13" contracts in German universities has been discussed several times, but I was not able to find the answer to my question. I am offered a post-doc position with salary level "TV-L 13". I have a 3 year PhD and 3.5 year research experience. However, the administration wants to put me on stufe 1. They argue that although my experience is relevant for the current position, the type of contracts that I had are not suitable. Is TVL experience really dependent on the type of contract rather than the actual tasks performed? Also if you managed to successfully argue for inclusion of you PhD as experience, how did you argue for that?

I understand that they base it on the following document (I used google translator so only roughly understand that point):

  Liegen die im Weiteren erläuterten Merkmale vor, findet zwingend eine Anrechnung statt:
  Berufliche Erfahrungen setzen das Bestehen eines Arbeitsverhältnisses voraus (im Umfang von mind. 25 v.H. einer Vollbeschäftigung). Ausbildungszeiten, Volontariate, Praktika (mit Ausnahme eines Anerkennungspraktikums i.S. des Tarifvertrages), Stipendien, Werkverträge, freie Dienstvertrags- oder sonstige Vertragsverhältnisse können nicht als berufliche Erfahrungen angerechnet werden.
  Eine einschlägige Berufserfahrung liegt nur vor, wenn die frühere, prägende Tätigkeit im Wesentlichen unverändert fortgesetzt wird. Ausreichend kann auch eine gleiche oder gleichartige Tätigkeit sein, sofern sie in der Wertigkeit der jetzigen Eingruppierung entspricht. Maßgeblich ist das für die frühere Tätigkeit nötige Wissen und Können und die dort erworbenen Kenntnisse und Erfahrungen als prägende Elemente auch für die neue Tätigkeit. Beide Tätigkeiten (konkrete Aufgabenstellung) müssen nach Aufgabenzuschnitt und Niveau gleichartig sein.
  Liegen die vorgenannten Voraussetzungen vor, ist des Weiteren nach der "Herkunft" der beruflichen Vorerfahrung zu differenzieren - Zeiten bei anderen Arbeitgebern dürfen auf dieser Ebene grds. nur bis zur Stufe 3 (!) angerechnet werden. Die nicht zwingend anzurechnenden Zeiten können aber als förderliche Zeiten anerkannt werden, dazu s. u..
  Zu den vorgenannten Tatbestandsmerkmalen ist die Sonderregelung im Hochschulbereich zu beachten: Zeiten mit einschlägiger Berufserfahrung an Hochschulen oder außeruniversitären Forschungseinrichtungen werden bei Beschäftigten der Entgeltgruppen 13 bis 15 grundsätzlich anerkannt; bei Beschäftigten der Entgeltgruppen 9 bis 12 dann, wenn sie im Rahmen der Planung, Vorbereitung, Durchführung, Aus- und / oder Bewertung von wissenschaftlichen Vorhaben einen wesentlichen Beitrag leisten.


texts: Is it inappropriate to apply to a long list of PhD programs?

texts:
So I plan on applying for a PhD program pretty soon. I’ve done quite a lot of research into the people who do interesting things in my area and I’ve come up with a list of universities that I want to try to get into and people in those universities with whom I’d like to work. My problem is that the list is too long...

Is it wrong if I apply to too many places? I’m a good student and I can get pretty impressive recommendations, so there is a good chance I’ll be accepted in more that one place and I don’t know if I’ll look bad if I turn down offers after having talked to several professors and everything.


texts: open-note essay exam with the questions given ahead of time, what is considered cheating?

texts:
I'm taking a class this semester through an online program.  We have an essay exam due on Thursday every week that is open-book, open-notes, etc., we're even asked to cite the textbook and other course materials.  The professor emails us the question or questions two weeks in advance.

I've been preparing my essay responses ahead of time, then submitting them after I open the exam, I work 2 jobs and so I rarely have the time alotted to sit and write the essay, I figured this was ok since it's open-notes.  Last week I was slammed with work and didn't have as much time to proofread my own essay for grammatical errors so, not really thinking of it as a test so much as a regular essay, I asked my mother to look it over and sent the rough version to her in an email, she found one sentence fragment and on run-on sentence which I only changed when I put the exam into the online submission portal.

Jump forward to today, I was trying to look up my grade and there was a note saying there was no submission for my essay exam.  I knew I had submitted it but freaked out and in a rush, emailed my professor offering to send him the email sent to my mother (early in the day on Thursday) as proof that I had basically finished the essay Thursday morning so there was no reason not to have submitted before it was due that night.  (We get no confirmations on submitted work and there are no timestamps on past work submitted online) I also sent him the word document on my computer with the basic essay, pre-changes.  He responded basically just saying he would forward it to his grading assistant, and that's it.

My question is, could I get in trouble for cheating since I had my mother proofread the essay ahead of time?  I have the emails from her proving she only looked at grammatical stuff but it didn't occur to me until after I sent the email this morning that this could be considered academic dishonesty since it's called an "exam" and technically I received outside help.  Thoughts?


texts: Are four 3-credit classes a typical burden for full-time faculty? Assume all are in-person courses, no new preps, no new books, no TAs, 15-25 students per class, no research/publishing required, and committee work is required.


texts: Grad School Interviews with Multiple Programs at same School

texts:
I applied to 3 programs within the same school (2 of which are joint with another institution). All of the programs are related to my research interests, and the main professors I would want to work with are affiliated with all 3 programs.
I ended up getting interviews at all 3 programs which brings me to my question - for the interviews I have to provide a ranked list of the faculty I want to interview with. Would it be strange to interview with the same faculty multiple times? For example, a specific PI (that is the PI I most want to work with), actually encouraged me to also apply to one of the programs after I talked to him and mentioned I was applying to the other two programs - I'm unsure whether I should interview with him at the interview sessions for each of the 3 programs (since I wrote about his work in my statement of purpose so it may be weird to the admissions committee if I didn't). It also seems weird, however, interviewing with the same person 3 times.
Thank you!!!


texts: Possible to accept GRE score and view it, but not report it to a university?

texts:
From what I've read from the ETS and other sources, after finishing a GRE exam the system will give you the option to keep your scores, before you actually know the score.

If you decide to accept the score and then view it and realize it's bad, do you still have the option to not send it to any school, or is the step in which you select the schools to send it to before the step in which you view your score?

I'm wondering if I will be in either of the following situations:

I think I did well, but I have to select the universities before I actually see my score. I select the universities, and then see my actual score and see I didn't do so well.
I think I did poorly so I choose to not send my scores, but then I see my actual scores and find I did well, but now I have to pay extra to send my scores.

Ideally:

I accept my scores, then I'm able to view them. If I did well, I select my universities. If I did poorly, I don't select any university and just redo the GRE on a later date.

Thanks!


texts: Length of a Dissertation Summary for a Postdoc job

texts:
For a job application I am currently putting together, they request a document of Dissertation Summary and Other Recent Scholarly Endeavors where I need to, of course, "Summarize your dissertation and other recent scholarly endeavors."

The application page says this is to be a maximum length of 3 pages (excluding references). However, much of what I am finding online says that dissertation summaries should be pretty brief.

What is the typical length of a dissertation summary?


texts: Is taking ideas from an art critic plagiarism?

texts: A student submitted a paper in an art history class that contained some ideas from art critics she read about, and whose ideas she agreed with. The student didn't cite the critics as source, but claimed it wasn't plagiarism because their ideas were merely their own subjective judgments, or opinions, not facts or findings; furthermore, they were opinions she agreed with.


texts: Has it become harder for Chinese students to be accepted into graduate programs in the US?

texts:
There've been ominous news articles recently about the prospects of Chinese students (here meaning students from the People's Republic of China, as opposed to ethnic Chinese students from other countries such as Singapore) in the US, e.g.

Survey: US Public Opinion of China, Xi Drops Decisively
US blocking visas of some Chinese graduate students and researchers: DHS
Chinese grad students at US universities may soon be expelled

I am wondering how things are on the ground. I'm also interested in whether fewer Chinese students are applying to US graduate programs, if available. I know some parents are worried, but I don't know if that has translated into fewer applications.
Edit: rephrased in concrete terms, are US universities now taking the applicant's country of origin into account in graduate admissions?


texts: How can I avoid having a specific teacher?

texts:
I am mostly very happy with my teachers - they are almost all good or excellent at teaching, nice as people, and knowledgeable about their subjects. However, my chemistry teacher is a poor teacher, has behaved very unprofessionally in the past, and I suspect possibly does not know much about the subject.

The bottom line is that this teacher is, in my opinion, lacking in both subject matter knowledge as well as knowledge about how to behave with students. I want to study chemistry but I do not want to study with them. Changing schools is a tremendous challenge for me and because of my other teachers, I would strongly prefer to stay in my existing school.

Are there any options here to avoid this teacher in the future?

Edit: The issue was resolved, as the teacher failed to pass the exams they would have been teaching (teachers at my school have to do the exams every so often, presumably to check that they are competent), and I am very happy with the teachers I have instead.


texts: Teaching subjects as an instructor which I scored average grades in

texts:
As a final year PhD student, I have been asked to teach a short introductory course on solid mechanics for undergrad students. Now, my PhD research has been applied mechanics where I developed tools and carried out fundamental research on a manufacturing process. But, it was quite away from what we get taught in our undergrad and grad courses.

I had taken solid mechanics course during my undergrad time, but I remember not scoring well in my tests and assignments. Infact, I had got a B+ grade in the subject. I am confident about my knowledge on the important concepts, derivations and theories, but I am poor in solving problems at the back of the chapters.

I am wondering if anyone can give me some advice on how to prepare assignments and questions for the course? I will be taking 6 lectures, 2 out of which will involve giving a hands-on training on a software that I use for my PhD research.

I am worried about the first 4 lectures and developing assignment questions for the class. I have 3 weeks to prepare.


texts: Why do some MOOCs close their enrollment?

texts:
I have noticed that quite frequently MOOCs close their enrollment, and content is made available only for students who are enrolled. Why?

Example:


texts: Will it hurt you to leave a tenure track position (for another) after one year?

texts:
I'm a new assistant professor in my first year of my first tenure track position.

For several reasons, I am seriously doubting whether my current position is a good fit and am considering applying to a couple open positions that may provide a better fit. I'm not sure whether the nature of my reasons is relevant but assume

My reasons do not involve salary or any personal conflicts (they are more related to the teaching load, the types of classes I'd be teaching, the background of the students I'd be teaching, and the possibility of advising PhD students)
I have no two-body problem or moving reasons for seeking a new job (the open positions are relatively nearby)

My question is: are there any serious problems with attempting to change tenure track positions this early?

From the perspective of the hiring committee, will this (even with an explanation in the cover letter) raise a red flag that will cripple my candidacy?
If I did apply, would my current employer be justified in being upset? Is it generally considered unacceptable to leave a tenure track position this early?

Thanks for any perspectives on this.


texts: Make changes to (my own) already published IEEE paper?

texts:
The initial copy of IEEE paper that I had submitted required some changes which the conference convenor requested after reviewing.

So I made the changes and submitted again but the convenor accidently must have forwarded the original submission to IEEE and it got published. So how can get make necessary changes (to a published) IEEE paper. Please help!


texts: seeking reimbursement after faculty interview

texts: After an on-site interview, should I seek reimbursement for meal expenses that occurred to and fro the interview? They did give me a expense report so I know it is legit to fill it out but just not sure if this would give a bad impression.


texts: What should the startup package consist of at US (primarily) undergraduate institutions?

texts: What should one list in the startup funds if you are taking up a tenure-track position at a public undergraduate university in the US, mostly focused on teaching? I'm asking specifically for mathematics/applied mathematics/computational mathematics.


texts: How should I help students establish career goals?

texts:
Every time I get a new research student, I ask them what they want to do after they graduate.  I want to help them achieve their goals.  Invariably, it goes like this.

Me:  What do you want to do after you graduate?

Student:  I don't know.

Me:  Make an appointment with career services.  They are experts in helping you make career plans.  The earlier you plan, the greater your chance of success.

One month passes.

Me:  Did you go to career services?

Student:  No

I have never worked outside academia.  How can I improve on this process which has been failing miserably?


texts: How does closing down a department affect a PhD student?

texts:
How does closing down a department affect the value of a PhD and your later academic career?

If someone has joined a university for a PhD in transportation, and that department is closed down, and everyone is moved to / absorbed by management engineering , does this have any ill effect on the quality of education that you will recieve, possible research opportunities, publications and academic career in general?

I have read this related QA, but it's about an undergrad student. PhD students have very fewer and much more specialised courses. In addition, a PhD student is supposed to assist in teaching some courses, how is someone with completely unrelated background (transportation/rural/survey engineering) teach management courses? I'm guessing that this curriculum will have some engineering courses as well, but it sounds to me too generic to be of any use to a student (I have never heard of management engineering before today, pardon my complete ignorance).

Given that some of the faculty will either lose their jobs, or quit, I do not expect their courses to be available, thus the available courses for a PhD student will be much worse (irrelevant to the field of transportation). Given that undergrad students have more generic courses, it is possible for someone to teach those, in contrast with the very niche courses of a PhD curriculum.

I should mention that I am posting this in behalf of someone else, who is only 3 months in that university. The person of interest, claims that it matters more to collaborate with a certain supervisor (who is a Computer Engineer, specialising in machine learning), as they had a great relationship and collaboration in the past; furthermore, since computational science courses are available, the lack of transportation courses seems acceptable to that person, but I am afraid about the fact that they are completely unrelated (computational science can be used in any field, from biology to sociology and statistics).


texts: Department head said that group project may be rejected. How to mitigate?

texts:
I'm a Computer Science student in Bangalore, India, doing a part time MTech at an autonomous university.

My classmates were avoiding working with me, and formed their own groups. I tried approaching one group but they were not willing to reveal their topic idea. So I spoke with students of three different branches: Electronics, Civil and Automotive, to see if I could work with them. While they were initially okay with it, they later backed out citing lack of time from company work.

A Civil dept teacher said I could do the project alone, so I told my department head that I would be doing the project alone. He mentioned by email that university norms require 4 people working on a group project and the Academic Registrar's permission would be required to do it alone. I replied (CC'ing my mentor) asking if I would have to meet the registrar. I received no reply. Subsequently I created my pre-project presentation and initial demo and showed it to my mentor and the department head. I got an okay for the project topic. Yesterday I presented the completed project. My mentor and two other faculty members loved it. My mentor asked if I got the Registrar's permission. I said I thought department head sir was going to handle that. I asked if it would be a problem and she said it might not be a problem.

Today my department head emails this:

  I recall that your topic was okayed but not that you alone would work on the group project as it was mentioned that university has its norms.
  So if your project is not accepted by university for the reasons that you are not in a group, your project  may not be considered. Please be aware that this may happen. This was also about working in a group.

How do I reply to this? During the entire two months my mentor, the department head and even classmates were aware that I was doing the project alone. Is this a way of setting a precedent for other students? Can the university reject the project? I'm a working professional. Working in groups is an everyday job. Even companies have realized that certain people perform better when not in a group and are hired as "individual contributors". What is a university's purpose in forcing people to work together.

I'm scared now. What would be the right way to respond to him without sounding defensive? (I have cordial relations with all my teachers and department head. They know me as a good student)

Update 29th May: acknowledging my error was crucial. I did that and the HoD, my mentor and the registrar gave a retrospective approval, knowing that my not obtaining permission was not due to disobedience and that I had genuinely tried hard to find and convince project partners. Big relief. Thank you all for your help. And y'all were right. There was a good chance the university could have rejected the project.


texts: How long are "brief statements of research and teaching interests"?

texts:
I'm applying for a computer science tenure-track assistant-professor position in the U.S. Some job announcements ask for brief statements of research and teaching interests. How long is this "brief" typically? I.e., how long is a

a brief research statement
a brief teaching statement?

If that helps, you may assume single-spaced, 12-point Times New Roman font, 1.25-inch margin on letter-size paper.

(An aside: such job announcements remind me of cake recipes containing "add nuts according to your taste". Such a phrase always drove me crazy. Does it mean 1 g, 5 g, 25 g, 125 g, or 625 g of nuts? I am in great difficulty when I am reading "add 1 cup of milk, 3 or 4 apples, and cinnamon according to your taste". My gosh, how large is your cup and how big are your apples? Sour ones or sweet ones? And how much cinnamon do I really like? Having said that, when seeing brief above, I am feeling hopelessly lost.)


texts: Are student evaluations of teaching assistants read by others in the faculty?

texts:
Are student evaluations of teaching assistants read by faculty who assigns teaching duties to TAs or by the primary instructor of the course for which the TA is assisting?

I recently met the professor whom I was assisting and he said: "...and you got good evaluations last semester...". I was not expecting that.


texts: Should I include a citation every time I refer to the same thing from the same publication?

texts:
In my dissertation, I compare my results to the ABC model presented by John Doe.  It seems excessive to include a reference every time I have a statement such as,

  Compared to ABC, our results show a much larger size distribution.

Unlike the related question, How do I cite same reference multiple times in a paper?, in my situation, I am not referencing new information about the model contained in the publication describing the model; I am just referring to the model.  I am inclined to only include a reference the first time I introduce the ABC model. Should I instead include a reference every time I refer to it?

My real issue is that it seems appropriate to include a citation for some of the references but at some point it will become excessive. For example, if I only refer to the DEF model in my introduction and conclusion, but the ABC model 50 times throughout the text, do I only reference each one once, or reference both of them every time.


texts: Listing a low-level expository work on your CV

texts:
I'm a PhD student. Just before starting my PhD I wrote up an expository paper about the basics my domain of study, in a peer-reviewed journal for graduate students, with almost no new results (the only new result is from my master's degree thesis, which is not published anywhere, and it's not groundbreaking by any means). It recently got accepted and published.

Should I list such a paper in my CV? If so, where should I put it: in the "Publications" sections (hoping that the name of the journal makes clear what kind of paper this is), or somewhere else?

If it makes any difference, this is my first and only "publication" so far (I'm in pure math, I have preprints but the review process is insanely long). On the one hand I feel like I should list it because I think I should list everything on my CV and omitting something is akin to lying by omission; but at the same time I don't want to make it seem like I'm "padding" my CV.


texts: How to cite a conference paper with no pagination?

texts:
I want to cite a conference paper that is in IEEE format. Unfortunately, the paper doesn't have any page range and volume number as I've downloaded it.

Here you can see the paper that I want to cite.  I tried Zotero as well, but there was no success.

Please help me to cite this paper correctly.


texts:
My question concerns terminology in computer-science MSc/BSc education in universities. Let us consider the following terms:

course
module
lecture
seminar

in the US and the UK.

Which terms denote one-off events, which events last a term, and which events denote a whole BSc/MSc program? (Yes, I've read the Wikipedia entry, but it seems controversial.)


texts: Which Universities admit CS graduates for their theoretical physics course?

texts:
Hello am currently an undergraduate student. My major is CSE. But I am very much interested to do my masters and then PhD in theoretical physics/mathematical physics. Is there any university that admits CS graduates for these courses?
I have looked up some universities that offer these courses.
Queen Mary University, University of Edinburgh and Durham University sounds perfect to me (I can meet their minimum requirements).
But I am not sure whether they admit CS graduates or not. I have not got any reply from them yet.
Would you suggest some Universities both in the UK and US that do? Would any university admit me directly for PhD (without masters)? Will having research paper help?
I could not find any university in the US that offer this course for masters.


texts: How do I get to a European university after Dutch MBO 3

texts:
First of all, I would like to explain my current education situation.
I have moved a lot when young, and have been part of different educational system, when 10, I was in the UK for 2 years, when 13, in Brazil for one year, and from 13-19, I was in The Netherlands, and from 19-22 (current), I was back in Brazil.

Computers have always been my main interest, I started programming at a young age (12 years old), and when 15, I had my first backend developer's job, however, I was never a good student, I got kicked out from a few schools, had some low grades and etc. In The Netherlands, the school systems works a bit differently (for the dutch readers: I was doing MBO), which is a like a "low technical school". I wanted to go to the university and start studying what I really wanted: Computer Science and Computer Security. So I finished my MBO 3 (you can only go to a university after 3 years of MBO 4), so clearly I was not allowed to enter the university. Fair enough.

When I arrive in Brazil, I decided to give a go, and translate my Dutch education papers, and voila, I was allowed to officially start a Bachelor of Computer Science, and so I did.

It's been 2 years now that I am studying a private university. However, I would like to return back to Europe, due a few personal reasons (I am completely alone here, and the way my current university works is not how I like it, mostly because they don't really care about anything, and so do the students. There is no organisation, and it seems I am not involving much, professors don't seem to be able to answer most of your questions and etc).

However, every university I tried to apply back in Europe, they ask me for my high school degree, and of course I "don't have any!" because of the MBO I did in The Netherlands. So I decided to get a transfer, again, all the universities I tried asked me for my High School grades. I tried one in which accepted a "university transfer", so I sent them my university papers, and my MBO paper (hoping they would accept me), well, no, they sent me a letter saying "due to the school you did in The Netherlands, we are not allowed to accept you".

This is starting to make me very upset, so I am trying to make a decision weather I should drop out of university, return back to Europe and start doing some certification on the area I mostly like. Though I am not sure if this is a good idea. It saddens me because I really like to be part of a university (not the current though). Currently, my aim would be to follow as a independent security researcher.

How worth is dropping out of university? What should I be aware and what are the main steps I should follow to be a security researcher on my own?

Update
If relevant, I have the following citizenship: German and Dutch.


texts: How can an international student get accepted into a PhD program in an area different from his MSc?

texts:
First off, I realize my question is too broad as it depends on the country, but I would be interested to hear mostly about the process in Canada and in western Europe, where it is common to complete a Master's degree before one's PhD.

I am an MSc mathematics student, and I am considering to switch to a different field for my PhD studies. I am thinking about certain directions in Computer Science or Electrical Engineering, which are completely unrelated to my current research.

Within my university such a switch is not uncommon, as the duration of a PhD has quite a soft upper bound, and a student coming from a different background can be accepted and simply required to learn the necessary basics of the new topic. Also, students who have received their MSc from the same university are not required to present official letters of recommendation when applying for a PhD, and the acceptance depends pretty much solely on the new advisor.

However, I imagine such a process would be much more complicated when applying to a different university, especially in a different country, as the department (or the potential advisor) has no way to evaluate the student's potential in the new field (assuming his MSc has nothing to do with the new field), and the student can't present letters of recommendation from researchers in said field.

Are such cases common? Are students coming from a different background at a significant disadvantage when competing with applicants from the same field, and how could one raise their chances of acceptance?

Thanks!


texts: Is it typical to work 60 hours per week as a PhD student?

texts:
I was wondering whether this was just a local phenomenon or it's the generally accepted status-quo around the globe.
Preface:
In my part of the world (German-speaking Europe), we have a terribly underfunded scientific landscape. I have to caveat that by stating that students don't have to pay tuition to attend university, so it's, broadly speaking, free. If we had a system like in the US (where we would have to take out loans for undergraduate), I never would have gone to college.
As a PhD student, I was given a 30 h/week contract but expected to work loads more, since this was a totally unrealistic workweek if one wants to get one's own thesis done while doing all the lab work required to do so. Moreover, since I dealt with microorganism, I spent a considerable amount of my weekends in the lab and my overall time in the lab amounted more to like 60h+ of which only 30 h were actually paid. This put me in a tricky financial situation, since salaries for PhD students are not terribly high especially if you are only "working" a 30h contract.
I saw this happen to lots of my colleagues who were struggling as much as I was, yet they went along with it. One of the issues is that PI's and professors know that there are tons of willing PhD candidates out there who will replace you at a moment's notice, if you are not conforming to the situation. On top of it, you only get a contract for a limited amount of time after which you likely have to relocate to another city or country if you want to stay in academia.
I abhor the fact that this is a situation where someone trying to get a PhD has almost no way of making the situation any better and, on top of that, everybody seems to be accepting of it and going along. Hardly ever has anyone of my colleagues commented on the situation they were in. I cannot be the only one who noticed these issues.
Hence my question: is this common practice around the globe? How can we change it?


texts: Europe: Central Academic CS Job Market Service like CRA?

texts: When searching for faculty positions in CS, I find the service http://cra.org/ads/ very useful. There you can find many job ads from North America based institutions. Is there any similar service for Europe?


texts: How do you leverage a good transcript in PhD admissions?

texts:
A lot of the posts here are about getting a bad transcript through PhD applications - my question is the converse.

I'm applying to engineering PhD programs and I have quite a good GPA (3.92/4.00), was part of some design projects (team-oriented in nature, more buildy than researchy), and researched at a lab that is outside of my field (no publications, just a few posters presented at university symposia).

I learned from my research experience (though limited) and from my internships in industry that I'd like to pursue a career in academia.

Not having proper research experience in my field is clearly a problem, so how can I undermine this shortcoming by leveraging my grades, industry experience, and design projects to showcase a person who tried industry but wants a career in academia, instead?

Also relevant: will I run into funding problems and/or be looked down upon because I'm someone not bred into research from undergraduate studies, but instead am trying to come in as an outsider?


texts: Would it be appropriate to mark down a student who selected all the answers in this exercise as "correct"?

texts:
I was in a library and by opening at random a book about university tests I crashed against this page

This is meaningless, a finite set of numbers can't define a succession and this is a multiple choice test that doesn't ask to justify the choice: the student can answer peacefully randomly. For example in the question 3 the book say that only E is correct, but we can answer A, if we consider for example the sequence

or B, if we consider for example the sequence

or any other answer. The authors of the test implicitly consider the simplest law the only correct: is this way of proposing the thing acceptable? Am I too pedantic? I only contest the fact that this kind of question is not compatible with the closed form. It would be correct to reject a student who provocatively check all the answers? Please note this is not a question about mathematics (things are simple about that), it concerns the right, or maybe the duty, of a student to respond provocatively to a question he deems wrong. Would it be inappropriate?

Edit

Of course strictly speaking this is not a university book, this is a book thought to admission tests. Anyway the target are men and women who are preparing to enter the university, decidedly not kids. I add that if "quickly" is the point, I could think to:

This is simple, quick, correct, but it would be marked as wrong. I didn't know the Stack Exchange room about teaching mathematics, is it possible
 migrate the question there?


texts: What is research, specifically in Computer Science?

texts:
I have a Bachelor's in Computer Engg from India but the education system here is pathetic and I have no idea about research.
I'm about to join an Ivy league university in the US for the Master's program and I'd like to experience research now that I'll have the perfect opportunity to, but I'm not even sure if I know what research is. So I have a few questions:

When you say you're into research, what do you exactly mean? What are you doing? Why are you doing it? If not this, what else could you have done that would still be classified as research? How did you come up with the idea of what you're doing right now? What can I publish and what can't I but I'm likely to think that I can being a rookie? And most important, how do I come up with an idea to carry research on?


texts: "Professors do talk, you know" - What exactly does that mean?

texts:
This is a phrase that I have heard on multiple occasions, both on this forum and in real life. But what exactly does that mean (in reference to talking about students)? When I hear this, I can't help but imagine a group of emeritus professors with grey beards sitting around in a room gossiping about the latest incoming student, with pipes in hand. An image that is both comical and scary if true, although hopefully far from accurate. So what I'm wondering is:

When do professors typically discuss students (performance or otherwise)? When they are going out to lunch with other colleagues or after committee meetings...?
What do the conversations usually revolve around? By that I mean are these conversations typically strictly professional, or are they more gossipy in nature like you would expect at some workplaces?
Have you ever been in or heard conversations that were "malicious" towards certain students? Like warning other colleagues off on advising someone?
Are these conversations more likely to be positive or negative? Do profs tend to spend more time praising star students or complaining about the non-star students?


texts: I have solid projects but the papers have not been published yet. How can I mention this in my SOP?

texts:
I have a few solid projects, however I have not yet been able to write papers on them. I am in my final year of Computer Science & Engineering.

How can I tell them that I have done useful work but have not written papers yet. Since, I want to apply for MS in CS for Fall '19, I want to submit the application ASAP.

I know that I will probably get a paper or two published by the time I am done with my engineering so how can I incorporate this in my SOP?

Any other recommendations on what I should do?

Mainly applying to Canadian Universities and 2 schools in the US.

Graduate program: MS in CS (course-based)

Interest: AI, Image Processing, Computer Vision

Thank you!


texts:
The maximum possible score is 800.

Divided by sections:

AWA: maximum is 6 (from 0 to 6);
Integrated reasoning: maximum is 8 (from 1 to 8);
Math: maximum is 60;
Verbal: maximum is 60.

If to summarize these maximum results in each section then we will have 134, but not 800.
What is the right way to calculate total GMAT score?


texts: How to write abstract for conference when you have no results yet?

texts:
This situation is not uncommon; in my case, I have to submit abstract for conference in September by the end of January already. But the problem is I have no results yet. I'm pretty sure that in those 8 months I will get pretty interesting results. But..

How to write smooth abstract without reporting results?

I started something along these lines:

This and this is an important factor ...
However, few studies on this topic have been done ...
In our study, we compare this and this
??

Now the problem comes in point 4, where I should report some results.

How should I go around that?
What formulations should I use?
Shall I speak in present, future, or past tense? The studies are usualy written in past tense like "we analysed, we compared...", but in this case I would tend to present tense.

Thank you for your help. Examples are welcome!

P.S.: this is an interesting discussion however didn't give me actual guidelines of how to write it.


texts: How do researchers ask others for comments and advices for their research?

texts:
I have self-funded, 8-page long research which is highly suited a famous researcher, in both their academic and personal interests. How should I ask them for comments and advice? I am not asking them to be my advisor or to provide me funding, but a direction to continue my research. A letter of recommendation would be great, of course.

Should the research be written in an attachment, or in the email right ahead? They have to read the research anyway, right? It has a preamble, which conveys the mathematical results in Apple's advertisement style, and has received extremely positive feedback. Should this be placed at the top of the email, even before the salutation? Many presentations do this way, and it does create more impression than the traditional approach. How would other researchers normally do in this situation?

My current approach:

A salutation and a hope that the letter isn't sent when they arn't too busy.
A three-line paragraph just for choosing a proper pronoun. I want to show the respect, but using "professor" multiple times feels distant, which they might not want to be.
A five-line paragraph telling how they fits me (not because they're famous, but because they have niche expertise on the topic), and what my goals are (funding, advice for career path)
A five-line summary of the attachment
A three-line sentence to introduce referees
A thank-you conclusion, re-acknowledge that they're busy but still spending their time reading my letter. Hoping the best for them and their family.

My worry is that they wouldn't open the mail at the first place, or find the summary to be too "astonishing" to be true.


texts: Should I put my marked assignments online?

texts:
I am working my way through an Masters and as assignments are completed and results have come back, I would like to put them online as a way of contributing back to the community.

However generally I do not see people doing this. Is there an etiquette or other implications that I am not considering?


texts: What happens if letter of recommendation to a university contains a wrong fact?

texts:
My teacher recently uploaded some letter of recommendations for post graduate applications but the letter was a generic one she typed for me and in the last paragraph, she wrote "applicant wants to apply to a masters program in USA....." but she uploaded the same document to UK universities as well including University of Oxford, Manchester, Sheffield.
Since this was a tiny mistake and she was using a generic letter for me to every university, will this be considered an issue to the university and can be rejected for admission?


texts: How do I tell the professor that I am burnt out and I want to move on

texts:
I am a first year CSE grad student. I have been working with a professor for more than half a year now. The topic looks like a deadend and I do not know how to tell him the same. Ironically, he is a nice guy and has supported me all the way through.

My prof meets with me twice a week and brainstorms with me about possible avenues of this research. The sad part, I think, my prof is not sure if a particular line of research of work may be successful or not. I am not looking for a foolproof way of doing research. At least, 5 out of 10 attempts should be successful, I guess. Correct me, if I am wrong. Currently, I just feel like a mule trying to implement his ideas. There seems to be no theoretical justification for why a particular avenue could lead to good results.  I could as well implement my own ideas and probably could have a better success rate.

This is not how I expected my project to turn out. Around 90% of the time, I just keep working on Code (writing code and fixing bugs), without any learning I can take away for future. Only 10% of the time, I just read some conference papers related to this topic. It is just too much of study in a small highly specialized area.

I love to understand new concepts and teach them to others, hence the reason I started out for Ph.D. (so that I can settle down as a Prof).  Now I am not sure if I am preparing myself for a career in academia as most of the time I just keep working on Code - There is nothing new to learn so that I can teach to my future students.

I expected research to be more theoretically enriching but it is turning out to be the exact opposite.

These long hours have already taken a toll on me. I am missing out on the 'enjoy your research part'. When I started out, I had this zeal for research and enjoyed the work. It has been one year.  Now, I just want to publish whatever results I have already with us, in any 2-tier journal/conference, without further go down this route.

But, my professor expects me to keep trying.

Sometimes, I feel I am better off with any supervisor. At least, I can study stuff which I like to.


texts: Oral presentation or poster presentation, is it always our choice? (paper submission)

texts: I submitted a paper for a conference and I was just wondering since it's a paper submission is it sure that it will be an oral presentation or they can still ask for a poster presentation?


texts:
Currently I am on the second year of my PhD. I started more than a year back and I doing phd in basic science and I am not from basic science.
My problems are:

I don't cope with the ideology people have in my work station. So, I ended up having issues with them.
I lack quiet a bit of knowledge on the subject area.
I lack communication with my supervisor.
Now, I supervisor wants me to quit but I don't. I still want to try even if it's just getting harder and stressful.
I am an open person and have strong personality. I like to make changes about me and on my surroundings.

I don't really know what to do, since if I loose the position now I will be into more trouble. Since I don't have any safety net.

I also will not be able to prolong my residence permit in Europe also if loose the position, which is also a reason that I don't want to quit now.

I am passionate about everything that I do. I have enough will power as well, but being with my supervisor is getting too hard. My study mentor have suggested me to sick for another supervisor but to keep the position I have to find someone from the department. Hopefully there is a possibility there.

Unfortunately, my supervisor is highly known scientist and he told me that he will write everything on my reference letter, which means it will be much harder to find something later.

Please let me know what you all think about it.


texts: A private, third party wants to fully fund one's PhD studies. How would one mention this in an admissions essay?

texts: If a private, third party wants to fully fund one's PhD studies, how would one mention this in an admissions essay?


texts:
The airline forced me to check my poster and now it's gone lost. The session I was supposed to participate in is today, so there's little chance of finding a printer in town in a few hours†; What do I do?

† In Germany, no businesses may operate on Sunday except with explicit exemptions, and a German printer would rather go out of business than work on a Sunday anyway. Also, this is a small town in the middle of nowhere; when I write "little chance" I really mean "no chance".


texts: Should I be looking at the market while under first year of two year contract?

texts:
I have a two year contract as a visiting assistant professor. Is it normal to be keeping an eye on the market and perhaps selectively sending out applications now in my first year, or should I be holding off completely until next year?

I suppose the tricky thing is I'd ideally want a letter from my current chair, and I haven't discussed it with them. A postdoc who also started this year though asked if I'd be looking around, as it seems they will be, so there seemed to be some consensus perhaps that this was normal? Figured I'd throw out the question to see if anyone has had similar experiences.


texts: Is this a correct way of using a literature review in a thesis?

texts:
I'm writing a thesis and I'm supposed to find existing mechanisms about a topic.

The literature review papers can be called B and the primary literature B uses is called A.

I have found 2 literature reviews [B] that cover more than 30 state of the art mechanisms and I use their papers to list all the mechanisms. I basically mention all the mechanisms they mention and explain them briefly, and of course I give credit to the [B] papers. And those mechanisms I want to test out my self I will go to the primary source [A] to write in more depth about them and give credit to the [A] papers.

I have listed more than 30 mechanisms. If I were not to use these [B] articles I'd have to go trough 30+ [A] papers and basically recreate [B] papers and recreate a redundant literature review of said mechanisms that already exist in earlier papers.

Is this the correct way of using a literature review, or should I read it, and use the original [A]? I will later take the ones that fit my domain and make my own review. So I use existing reviews and use the primary sources [A] to make my own review.


texts: Should I talk to my professor about my grade?

texts:
I just found my grades for the fall semester, in an introduction to international relations class that I took, I got a B.

I got a 93% on the midterm, which was worth 25% of the grade.

I always came to class prepared, having done the reading, and actively participated, so I probably got an A in participation, which is 5% of the grade.

There was a mock UN simulation which was worth 20% of the grade that I felt my group did pretty well on, but I never got an actual score back. I made some small mistakes, but worse case scenario, I think I got around an 85%.

My final paper, worth 25% of the grade, everyone said that it was a really good paper, and that it deserves an A, even people who took the same class from her, as well as writing tutors that I went to.

The other 25% of the grade was reserved for quizzes that according to the syllabus, we're supposed to take place every two to three weeks. However, she only gave us two. The first one, she failed everyone, and said that she did that to scare us, and make sure that we read the material. The second one, I got an A on.

I asked her about the quizzes, and she said that they were used for extra credit, which doesn't make sense according to the syllabus.

I am really confused about why I got a B, and I think that she might have made a mistake.

Should I talk to her about it when I go back to school, and if so, do you think that she made a mistake?


texts: Will my "the finalist certificate of the best paper award" be underrated if I co-chair a session at the same conference?

texts:
A paper of mine did recently reach the final competition for the best paper award of a prestigious conference in my field. Although mine didn't end up with the best paper award, yet I'd like to note that in the "honors and awards'' section of my CV because the conference is arguably one of the bests in my field, and even getting through the roster of its finalists means a lot.

On the other hand, I was also the co-chair of one of the sessions of the conference. I had neither any impact on the selection of the finalist nominations nor any vote on the overall award process whatsoever. Since I'm a rookie Ph.D. student, I'd also like to quote this role in the "academic experiences'' section of my CV (next to my reviewing roles, TAships, etc).

Now I'm wondering if I take both ideas above into account, one may think that my co-chair responsibility would have influenced on my finalist achievement. How would academicians interpret this case? Do I have to pick one to avoid such a misinterpretation?


texts: Can we start a page with an equation on top left side, then an image and then other content

texts: Can we start a page with an equation on the left side,  then an image and then other content in IEEE format. Is it not compulsory to start the column with an image only?


texts: What are the opportunities to do research under good professors/organisations?

texts:
I am an electronics and communication engineering final year student. I have a 6.5/10 GPA. I do not have an exceptional academic record, or any finished research papers in my name to boast about. But I always wanted to be a researcher and problem-solver. I love computers and electronics.

This is why I took up engineering. But being taught lots of theory without being provided with practical implications for the same killed my interest. I tried to find out things myself, but after the first year, workload caught up.

But now I am doing my final year project and it has rekindled my interest in applying what I learn. I feel stupid for not having done anything productive for the past 3 years, but I want to change that. I want to learn about embedded systems and HPC, from a practical point of view.

I wish to pursue M.S, but I am afraid I do not have enough understanding of the subject, or grades to get into a good university.

Is there any way I can work as an intern/research assistant under a good professor/organisation with my average academic grades, so that I can gain experience and learn the subject more thoroughly?


texts: I saw an offer in a research group described as 'Research position at master 2 level'. Can anyone clarify for me what that means? Is it a 2nd masters or anything else? Does it always need a masters degree for applying (sorry, it's not clear in the requirement, that's why I am asking).


texts: How can I convince my students to speak louder?

texts: Freshers sometimes speak almost inaudibly, even after asking them to speak loudly. Now, with facemasks, it's even worse, I am not allowed to approach them too much, and it demands a lot of energy to be able to hear them sometimes. What strategies do you suggest?


texts: When to answer and when not to answer a brief e-mail from a busy academic?

texts:
I frequently receive brief, usually confirmatory e-mails (such as "Can do. Best" in response to a request for a letter of recommendation) from academics with considerably less time than myself.

Each time this happens, I am very indecisive about whether the nuisance caused by responding -- and adding an e-mail with essentially no information, such as "Many thanks; this means a lot to me! All the best" to their inbox -- really weighs more heavily than the risk of being perceived as ungrateful.

Any thoughts, ideally from the referee's perspective are greatly appreciated!


texts: Travel Budget for Faculty Members in USA

texts:
How much budget do faculty members in US  have to travel to conferences every year?

I am looking for the average travel support in CS or Engineetring  departments (not out of my own contracts) across US top 100 schools, for tenured professors with accepted papers at conferences. Consider places like University of Washington.

The background of the this question is, I like to find out, once my tenure track funding package is finished, would there be a minimum research support from the department, or I am on my own. It makes sense that if my paper is accepted, the university pays for it (I present my work under the university banner). Before asking my department, I like to equip myself with prior information.


texts: Confusion about writing acronyms in section title

texts:
In writing one article, I came across situation where my section title has one long word which I wanted to use with acronym later on. Now should I put acronym in section title or repeat word in text and write acronym there ? Take a following example for illustration...

Option 1

  Section 1: Effect of Very Long Word (VLW) in section title

  It is seen that VLW used in article sections are confusing part.

Option 2

  Section 1: Effect of Very Long Word in section title

  It is seen that Very Long Word (VLW) used in article sections are confusing part.

Which one is legal or appropriate in scientific writing ?


texts: Word for the practical portion of my Ph.D?

texts:
Is there a (reasonably common) verb I can use meaning to perform the practical work of one’s PhD thesis that I can use to put in the following blank:

  I have ____ my Ph.D. in the laboratory of Professor M. Hatter.

I can’t use completed because I’m lacking my defence as of I-don’t-yet-know-when-exactly.


texts: Practical strategies for increasing one's passion and excitement about research?

texts:
I am a second year PhD student in computer science. I see other students craving to find new problems, read papers and it's like they are enjoying it and when they find a problem, they spend endless hours trying to come up with a publishable results about it.

I talked to some people and they said, many times you get to like what you do, it's not that you always end up doing what you like - implying that this kind of excitement and motivation is something that can develop in time.

Can you give me some practical strategies that help towards gaining and maintaining a high level of excitement and motivation about research? What keeps researchers like those I described constantly interested and excited to do research?