texts: MS/PhD Integrated Program in home country vs. going for PhD abroad

texts:
I'm not sure if this question is appropriate for this community, so please let me know if it isn't.

I'm currently in my last semester of undergrad in a Korean university. I've been wanting to go to graduate school since last year and my original plan was to apply to US programs this season. However, plans changed a bit and I decided that staying in Korea for my Master's and then going abroad might not be a bad option, since I not only don't feel ready but with my specs I probably will get into a mediocre program while taking on debt - two things I don't have to worry about if I stay in Korea.

I contacted a professor whose research I'm interested in, and we met and talked. I told him my plans and he said that he strongly recommends applying for the MS/PhD integrated program. That way I can get my PhD in a shorter amount of time and I can go for my post-doc to the US (or wherever). I told him that I think that's a plan that makes sense logically but I'm not sure if I want to stay in Korea for my PhD as I also really miss the US. He replied saying that he also gets homesick (he spent most of his life in the US as well) but his lab "prefers integrated program applicants over regular Master's applicants," and that it "wouldn't be a wise decision to turn down a guaranteed offer over emotions."

My parents who are also professors also tell me that they think the integrated program is a better idea. "If you're going to apply for a PhD why not just take the logical route when the offer is still there?"

The reason that I didn't want to is also something that plays against me. I can't think of a compelling reason of why I want to go back to the US other than "I really miss the US and want to go back," which again is not a very good reason. Also, graduate students in the lab have advised me to set up a meeting with the professor and ask him what his opinion is on me doing a Master's degree here and going for my PhD abroad. I already know that he's going to repeat what he told me before, only this time it might make me look bad because I basically turned down his offer.

Would it still be a wise idea to confide with the lab professor? Or would it just be wiser to go for the integrated program in Korea? Applications are in two weeks so I need to make a decision relatively quickly.

Thank you.


texts: Using my university email address as correspondence address to apply for PhD positions in the same university

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I was just about to send my first PhD application to University XXX. I am currently finishing my master's thesis at University XXX. Would it be incorrect to use my university address to apply for PhD positions?.
Could it be taken as unrightful use of the "university name"?.


texts: Contribution of the supervisors in publishing paper from thesis

texts:
I did my M.Sc. recently and we have agreed to publish it in a journal with my supervisors.
I have got once comments from the first supervisor but it is almost two months I couldn't got the final comments. I have followed up it and the supervisor mentioned he would give comments shortly. I am worry he may want to refuse from contributing, and he couldn't mention it, directly. He may have any convincing reason for him self for refusing from authorship but I am pretty sure the quality is good enough and it can be published in a journal.

How can I politely ask his decision?

Should those papers that are derived from thesis include supervisors name?


texts: How do I get "promoted" as a PC member in a conference?

texts:
Recently I served as a Program Committee member (=reviewer) in several conferences in computer science. In these conferences, there is a "hierarchy" of reviewers: there are "PC members", "senior PC members", "area chairs", and the "PC chair".

Do I need to do anything in order to "advance" in this hierarchy?  Or should I just wait until some PC chair in the future decides to "promote" me?


texts: Lab-meetings: How to establish a good setting?

texts:
I will finish my PhD soon. Until now I worked mostly on my own but tried to talk with my colleagues on a regular basis about methods, approaches, troubles and success. Good settings are coffee breaks or after sport. It can help a lot because I am forced to order my thoughts, try to explain them in a meaningful manner and most of the time I get helpful answers, comments or tips. Additionally, I learn a lot about the topic of my colleagues.

In my area (Biotechnology) we distinguish between upstream (producing stuff using living organisms) and downstream processing (purifying stuff). Usually two different working groups (or more) are covering those areas. It is really important to talk with each other because the downstream part can heavily depend on the upstream conditions.

One aim of the next project will be to bring those areas closer together and to strengthen our knowledge about the implications of the upstream process on the downstream part.

The team will consist of two professors, two post docs, two PhD students one or two technicians and several diploma students. Recently I talked with one of my colleagues about possible setups for the meetings. We came up with following scenario:

One team meeting every month.
Everyone prepares a short presentation (10 minutes max).
Following questions should be answered during the presentation:

What is my current (mid term) goal ?
How do I approach it ?
What was the (short term) goal of the experiments performed ?
Did the experiments worked out like expected ?
What are the results ?
Planned work for the following month ?

I expect the meeting to last for one to two hours. At least one of the profs will attend the meeting. The two post docs organize the meetings (schedule, remainder etc.). The meeting will take place between 12:00 and 13:30. All team members prepare some bread, meat, cheese, fruits,vegetables, drinks and coffee together. That is a bit more work than just going to the canteen but I think this setting may help to establish a relaxed atmosphere.

What experiences do you have with team meetings ? How do you organize them ? Who moderates them ? What worked out well and what did not ?


texts: I sent an email asking for a letter of request almost a week ago and have not received a response, thoughts on how to proceed during COVID?

texts:
I asked my two of my current Med school faculty for a LOR almost a week ago and I have got no response yet from either. It is making me pretty nervous and I am not sure what I should do now. I wouldn't regularly make this request over email, but our school is currently shut down because of COVID-19. For reference: I asked via email a week ago and the application is due May 1, so about 5 weeks ahead, both are doctors at our affiliated hospital, but in specialties not typically associated w handling the COVID crisis. My application will be much weaker without at least one of these two letters and there is no way the school will re-open before the due date. Any suggestions on how to proceed, or should I start preparing emails to other faculty as well?
Thanks


texts:
It came to my attention that some journals in the humanities started publishing poems written by academics. Here are two examples:

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1077800417736333
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0740770X.2018.1477243

It strikes me as odd, that these poems do not seem to be published as historical sources or subject of investigation, but as academic contributions on par with peer-reviewed papers. I used to think that it is a common feature of all academic practices that their result is open to scrutiny of some form. Yet I can think of no form of scrutiny that is meaningfully applicable to poems.

What is the reasoning behind the publication of poems in academic journals?


texts: When to use professional e-mail address during PhD application

texts:
When corresponding with administrators and/or academics regarding graduate school/PhD applications, are there any guidelines about which e-mail address to use (personal vs. professional)?

In the non-academic world, it should be fairly obvious that you shouldn't use the address of your current employer to look for a new job, but this doesn't necessarily translate to academic positions.

On the other hand, an address associated with a position with hard time constraints (such as an address at the university you're doing your Bachelor's/Master's at) seems like a no-brainer, because the people at your department probably hope you get a job somewhere else.

However, what about positions with "soft" time constraints, i.e.: "If we manage to find money for you by date, we might take you on"?-- On one hand, everyone knows that your future is uncertain and so constantly being on the lookout for future opportunities should be understandable if not even supported... but on the other hand, it entails you don't have "faith" that you'll get an extension at your current place... which means you either don't have faith in your own ability, the ability of the department to get funds, or the ability for anyone to get funds (e.g. in times of general cutbacks).

Lastly, irrespective of whatever stigmas (incorrectly) using one's current professional address may be, using an address at a well-respected organization does have an impact in the academic world over compared to using a personal address despite that academic quality should be based only on its own merit.


texts: Should I continue reviewing a paper after having discovered plagiarised content in it?

texts:
I received an invitation to review for the International Journal of Adaptive Control and Signal Processing. I started to analyze the manuscript by reading the title, abstract, introduction, results and discussion and conclusions before assessing the proposed methodology.

I detected that the authors copied approximately 7 pages from another article without a considerable change so that it looks like his own ideas (plagiarism). should I stop analyzing the paper (assessing the methodology), or continue?  because from my experience I think that the editor will reject the paper even though there is a novel contribution.


texts:
I have just received my reviews for a paper I submitted to a CS conference. I would like to address the concerns of the reviewers, but doing so would require adding new results. For example, if Reviewer 2 says, "This method looks great, but it lacks X and Y evaluations", am I allowed to perform that evaluation and say, "Thank you for this feedback. We totally agree. We have run X and Y evaluations and can include it in the final copy."

I can do this extra work, but adding such evaluations would represent a modification to the final paper—in my case, probably adding one plot and one table of evaluations.

I've only submitted to journals before, in which case the above was the norm. In the context of a CS conference, it is not clear whether or not I can modify the paper in this way.


texts: Is there an equivalent in another country of the French "CIFRE"?

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A "CIFRE" in French is another type of doctorate where the French government helps to fund a company to hire a doctorand.
There are several differences between a CIFRE and a "doctorat" in France, or PhD, as far as I know, the main are more are less those following:

You are hired within both a company and a laboratory for a CIFRE instead of only a single laboratory for a "doctorat"
You are generally better paid with a CIFRE, slightly more than a "doctorat" but still less than a regular position within a company as an engineer for instance
You are suppose to do more theoretical and less applied work for a "doctorat", CIFRE aiming to apply your researches for the company that hires you. Also meaning you'll probably publish less while doing a CIFRE.
You have to teach within universities or Engineering/Business schools for a "doctorat" while it's not mandatory for a CIFRE

Here I'm not focusing on doctors of medicine at all (a French distinction exists).
I was wondering if this kind of huge distinction exists in UK or US and if not, in any other country.


texts: Is "flowery language" frowned upon in engineering and STEM related research?

texts:
I work in an engineering field (related to AI, machine learning, etc.) and something I found interesting is whenever I use "big words" or even long words  like "substantiate" or "corroborates" while compiling a draft to be submit to a conference and such, I will get a request from my co-authors demanding me to change them.
For example:

"these related works are germane to our present discussion." I got a
request to change the word "germane" to something else. Really?
Or "...therefore, the scenario considered in [reference] is situated diametrically
opposite to ours." I was told to change "diametrically". Really?
"The experiments in [references] corroborates with our results". I was told to change corroborates to "collaborates".

There are a lot more examples, especially in the latest draft. But I don't want to point them out just in case my colleagues are reading this forum. :-)
Mind you, this is all in the introduction of the paper, hence no way to confuse it with any technical terminology. This happens to me so frequently that I became almost clairvoyant as to which sentences I will need to rephrase in the upcoming revision.
My intention is merely for the writing to be conversational, and this is done in order to distinguish our works from some of the truly monotonous writing styles pervasive in this field.
Also worth noting is that some of the top authors in this field uses very flowery language (sometimes in my opinion excessively so), so you can say that I'm perhaps subconsciously trying to imitate them.
We are working in a North American university. However, some of my colleagues are non-native speakers (who have stayed here for something like 20 plus years). I wonder if this phenomenon is more wide spread or it is just happening to me.


texts: When should you move on from a postdoc position?

texts:
Suppose that in your sub-field there are half a dozen research groups on your continent that are acknowledged to be "world class". You have had the good fortune to do your MSc research in one, and your PhD in another. You are now a postdoc in a third. Your current group is large and well-funded, and your position there is secure for the foreseeable future. You realistically hope to get a faculty position in a good research university within the next 3-5 years.

One day, you are offered a postdoc position in a second-tier research group. Should you consider taking it, in order to broaden your academic horizons? Does the answer change depending on how long you've spent in your current postdoc? Are there other relevant considerations? Assume that you cannot expect to get a better offer within the next year.

Bonus discussion points:
What if you're instead offered

a faculty position at the second-tier institution?
a postdoc position at one of the first-tier institutions you've already had an association with?
a postdoc position at a first-tier institution that you haven't already had an association with?

I have some views on these questions that I'm happy to share, but I'd like to see what other people think first.


texts: How do I register a paper URL into doai.io or oadoi.org?

texts:
oaDOI.org and doai.io are services that give open-access links based on DOI.

How can I register a paper into doai.io or oadoi.org?


texts: Can I write Research Paper on improving results of a Phd thesis

texts:
I do not have any prior experience of publishing any kind of research material, it would be a huge favour if you can give your comments in the following matter:

In a thesis related to Seismic Image Processing, the author has proposed a method for Automatic Fault Detection, I have implemented that method and I have improved the results of the method by introducing some more equations.

My question is, given the above situation can I publish my findings ? and how should I quote that thesis in the publication ?

Any suggestion/comment/idea is welcome.
Thanks!


texts: Does it make sense to appeal the reject decision made by the journal editor?

texts: A manuscript that my supervisors and a collaborator and I have been working on for so long recently got rejected twice by different journals, the main reason being that the findings are considered as "nothing new" and didn't "add anything to the field". However, we do think that our findings contribute to the field and can justify this major reason for rejection. I am thinking about whether we should appeal against the decision. I know it is risky and most likely won't be successful. But I would like to hear what you think about this.Thank you!


texts: Do I benefit my professors by publishing papers with them?

texts:
I am currently working towards a master’s degree in computer science, after which I’d like to pursue a PhD in mathematics. Talking to some professors, it sounds like: If I can get some things published, I’ll have a better shot at getting funding for my PhD.

I’m currently working on a research project that I plan to use for my thesis with one professor (Professor L), but I've recently received an e-mail from another professor (Professor K) with a research project in mind that sounds more publishable.

My question is: Would I be acting out of line asking Professor K to conduct this research with me with hopes of publishing a paper even though he won’t be my adviser and graduate me from my master’s program?

Are there any benefits for him from working with me, or am I just being selfish by wanting to do both projects? Note that he’s not yet tenured (will this help on his track?).


texts: Is it secure to use Microsoft Teams for quizzes?

texts:
So far, at the institution I work at, we have taken our quizzes in a proctored environment. Either on paper or sometimes online. But under the prevailing scenario, we need to resort to some fully online method, where the students will appear in the quizzes from home.
Among other Learning Management Systems, Microsoft Teams is one of the possible choices. Do you think that it is safe to use Microsoft Teams for quizzes?
The quizzes comprise mostly multiple-choice and true-false questions plus some other short questions with textual answers.
Can a student try viewing the quiz source while taking the quiz which is likely to contain the correct answers for the MCQ and TF questions?


texts: Does auditing a class and taking it later for credit look bad on my transcript?

texts:
I am currently a freshman and I'm thinking of taking 3 upper division math courses next semester: Linear Algebra, Abstract Algebra 2, and Topology. However, I think that 3 math courses for credit would overwhelm me. I still would like to learn all 3 of them.

I was considering auditing Topology instead. I do plan to take the course again in my sophomore or Junior year for credit. Will this hurt my graduation school admissions?


texts: What are the advantages and disadvantages of making the review content public?

texts:
In websites such as publons, reviewers can declare that they reviewed papers for some journals. In addition, they are encouraged to upload the full text of their review.

On one hand, the review content might be useful for readers of the paper: it contains ideas and perspectivese that are often not visible in the final manuscript.

On the other hand, if the review content is made public, the author will know exactly who the reviewer is, which apparently harms the blind-review process.

Are there any other advantages/disadvantages to publishing review contents publicly?


texts: Academic with fellowship cannot land a permanent position in her department. Should she stay or move elsewhere?

texts:
My PhD supervisor who I consider a friend is hoping to get a foothold on the academic ladder at a presitgious univeristy in the UK. She's held a fellowship for several years now and has a few more to go before it runs out. During this time she managed to build a pretty sizeable research group, is teaching her own course to good feedback and her publication record is on par with, if not better than, other junior academics recently employed by her department. However, despite applying for several junior vacancies at her department where she wants to stay, she hasn't come close to getting one. I can't think of many reasons why other than perhaps her field is not considered sexy enough and the department wants to get rid of it altogether.

I want to bring this up next time I see her. It seems it would make sense for her to jump ship and land a position elsewhere while she still holds the fellowship as I'm sure many other departments elsewhere would be glad to have her. On the other hand that's a bit unfair to her students and it may split the research group. If only a hendful of people agree to go with her, this also means that it would take her a while to get back on her feet after the move. Has anyone been in a similar situation and has any advice? Are there other less obvious reasons why a university would snub someone with a good track record who's bringing funding to the table?


texts: What to do if a colleague is reviewing an unchanged paper that has been rejected before on my recommendation?

texts:
Around a year ago, I reviewed a paper for a journal. The originality of the paper was questionable, and content and presentation were severly lacking throughout. Consequently, both another reviewer and I recommended rejection and gave detailed explanations to which the associate editor agreed. The decision including the review reports were sent to the authors.

Now, a colleague of mine just told me of a review request from another journal. Briefly summarizing the content of the paper, I realized that this sounded quite familiar. Expressing my concerns to my colleague, we compared the authors and the papers, and realized that this was exactly the same paper that was reviewed and rejected earlier, nothing has been changed (apart fomr some journal style specific things).

How should we proceed?


texts: Restroom and lunch breaks in medical school

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My apologies if this is not the right place to be asking this question.

My pregnant wife is an osteopathic medical student in New Mexico, and she tells me that the school does not always give them a lunch break or bathroom breaks during the day. Today she tells me that they are expected to stay from 8 am to 5 pm without a proper lunch break, and that they are required to take bathroom breaks during lectures because they only get enough time to walk from one class to the next.

So my question is, does anyone know if this is legal? Should the students be allowed at least a proper bathroom break a few times in the day?

I know the academic environment is a little different from the workplace, and that medical school is extremely challenging, but this seems to violate a moral code. I have tried the typical google searches, but nothing of substance presents. Beyond that I don't know where to check without paying for a lawyer or directly asking the school, which could potentially damage her reputation.

If anyone is able to help me out, please provide a source that I can refer to as well (I know this is standard practice). Thank you!

Edit:
Thank you for the feedback. I forgot to mention that the school is private (but not religious), though next year students can start using federal loans. They haven't treated her any differently than other non-pregnant students from what she tells me, I suppose I mentioned her being pregnant to underline my concern with this problem though.

Really the concern comes down to how someone (or a group of people) can be expected to work/study for 8 hours or more without even 1 proper bathroom break or an opportunity to get a proper meal. They are allowed to snack in class and they have a coffee shop in the building that sells muffins and such, but again they have to use these facilities during lecture times and it's hardly a way to get something substantial.

I don't think this is the day to day routine, but it is still common enough that it concerns me. I have trouble understanding why someone would subject themselves to these conditions or worse for 7 years at least (including minimum residency time), but I do have great respect for the sacrifice and perseverance.


texts:
Usually, empirical studies are built on theoretical backgrounds. When I am writing on a specific subject and would like to cite an empirical study which has been done on this subject and discuss its results. Can I simply cite the study and discuss its findings WITHOUT citing the studies which formed the theoretical background of the empirical act?

For example, assume that study X measures the impact of social media use on teens. X states that, before empirically testing the effects, 'we relied on study 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 to form our 10 statements' (effects). 'Findings revealed that the top 3 effects were effect A, B and C'.

When discussing the results, can I simply say that the study X found that the top 3 effects of social media are A, B and C (X 2010, p. 20). Am I obligated to add that the effect A was drawn from study 1, effect B from study 2, etc... you get the idea.


texts:
In one of my undergraduate courses, I found that one of the required texts was particularly well-written. It is a textbook about computer architecture, and I found that it explained intricate technical concepts in understandable language, and it managed to exemplify and summarize often difficult concepts quite nicely.

Just so it happens, this textbook was written by someone currently in our Computer Science department (not my professor). Would it be well-received, or at least appropriate, if I sent an email to the author to compliment his textbook? I have no ulterior motive; I'm not trying to win his favor or anything like that, I just simply want to express my gratitude for a resource that was useful to my learning.

(A similar question has already been answered, but I am curious if the answer would still be the same for a textbook.)


texts: Where did the "Cited by" link go on Google search results?

texts:
For as long as I can remember, Google search results that contained hits to papers in Google scholar were accompanied by a clickable "Cited by xxx" link that led to a list of all the citing works in Google scholar. Recently, this behavior seems to have been disabled. Now instead of a link, all I see is grey text with the citation count:

Mundane though it seems, being able to easily pull up all citing papers was a huge time saver, and I find myself sorely missing this feature. Is there a way to re-enable it? Why did Google disable this helpful feature?


texts: Cheated on an exam when I was eight years old. Should I tell graduate admissions?

texts:
I cheated at a language exam when I was eight years old. I finished early and noticed that I had accidentally left a dictionary in my drawer. I double-checked my answers and promptly got caught.
The incident is probably unverifiable at this point: The physical evidence is long gone; the teacher probably retired; the school probably didn’t keep records or has already destroyed it. I might be the only person on the planet who still remembers it.

Should I mention this incident when being asked about academic integrity in job interviews or similar?
Should I tell graduate admissions?

I suspect the answer is no since it was so long ago and I was eight years old, but I’m afraid I might be rationalizing.


texts: How far should I develop the main ideas in my paper before publishing it?

texts:
Note: this question was already asked at MathOverflow but deemed off-topic. I think this is a better place to post it.

The purpose of a research paper is to present new results in a given field. But how far should an author go in developing his results? Since the discovery of a single new theorem could affect a variety of other fields/subfields, should the author go a step further by dedicating one or more sections of the paper to discussing several implications of the paper's main result?

Or should the paper "draw the line" once the main results have been established, and let other authors derive its implications in further publications?


texts: How much is the scale of startup packages in the UK universities?

texts:
I've been offered a tenure-track position (organic chemistry) in Cornell University and I was able to negotiate a startup package of close to $1 million. I've just been invited for an interview for a similar position in a UK university. I decided not to give a definite answer to Cornell before completing the latter interview to have the chance to choose between two offers.

However, a friend of mine advised that the US universities are much better for starting an academic career. The job advertisement of the UK position mentioned generous startup package, but my friend tells that the startup packages in the UK are ridiculous in comparison with the US. And I should apply for a startup fund in the scale of $100K through a detailed proposal to the national funding agencies. He concluded that, in the best case scenario, I can get a fraction of my negotiated startup package in Cornell. Then, I must immediately accept the Cornell offer.

My question is, how is the scale of startup packages in the UK?


texts:
When writing the notational conventions of a paper, do you explain them in present or future tense?
For example, which of the following is preferrable:

In order to not confuse the meta-level equality with the object-level operator, we write a ≙ b for the former.
In order to not confuse the meta-level equality with the object-level operator, we will write a ≙ b for the former.


texts: What category does a collection of mathematics tricks come under?

texts:
I am currently researching on Recreational Mathematics - Mathematical Tricks and I have come across this article:
Ten Amazing Mathematical Tricks
.

This article is of free style and does not follows the pattern/format I have seen in all the other articles/research paper so far.

My question is: Is this a research paper? Is it a paper? If not, what is it? Can such a paper be cited as a reference? I want to know more about these freestyle articles.


texts: How to write a scholarship press release?

texts: I recently won a scholarship related to my career focus. I was chosen as a winner in part because of a recommendation from a former professor. She is now asking me to draft a press release about winning the scholarship. I am hesitant because I do not want to appear press-hungry, but I would like to allow a write-up to be used as a means of increasing the visibility of the college and this professor. I do not want the focus to be on myself and my accomplishments. How should I handle this?


texts: What are benefits of author's personal copy of article and how I can order it?

texts:
I have some publications in Elsevier and Springer journals. After publication, I received an author's personal copy of one of my articles. I don't know how they sent it to me because I don't remember ever had requesting a personal copy. After that I did not receive any personal copy for any of my published articles. Lately, I had a conversation with my supervisor and he asked me to provide him the author's personal copies of my published papers as I was the communicating author. He told me that the author's personal copy is mandatory for official use.

I could not understand that. How could the author's personal copy be anyway different from original copy for the purpose of official use?


texts: Postdoc application: having your own funding vs. depending on your mentor's funding

texts:
I wonder, in the general field of electrical engineering and computer science and in the USA, how often does a postdoc applicant secure her own fundings before applying to a certain open position? Or is it the norm that the applicant will be on her mentor's funding during the postdoc study?

Thanks a lot for helping!


texts: How to write a very good curriculum vitae for a summer school application?

texts:
I have just graduated with a bachelor degree in Mathematics and Physics. I joined a master's program in mathematics and I have just finished my master courses with a 3.8/4 CGPA. I don't have publications yet, however, I went to a summer school in 2019 and wrote a report.

How should I write a very good and professional cv?

I divided my cv into 7 sections:

Education
Conferences (I listed all the academic conferences that I attended)
Other academic activities (I listed the summer school and the name of the project I joined)
Languages
Programming and computer skills
Work Experience ( I listed that I worked as a math TA  the last semester)
Interests and Personality

Is this good enough? Do you have any tips or remarks?

I was hesitated a bit to add the last section, also I included my college photo in the cv so is this professional?
Also, I was thinking about asking a professor who knows me to review my cv but at the same time, I don't want to seem unprofessional or dependent. Do students normally do that?

Thanks


texts: The unfortunate case of a paper with extremely slow review process

texts:
One of the first papers I ever wrote has a rather unfortunate history. Mistakes were made, especially by me, and after around 3+ years the paper remains unpublished. Below is a rough timeline of how things progressed (or rather failed to progress). Any advice on how to proceed would be greatly appreciated.

04/2015: The paper is first sent to the journal. At the time, I'm in the second year of my PhD.

06/2015: The paper gets sent back to me because the bibliography is missing (basically: I accidentally run latex one too few times before sending). I promptly return the corrected version.

10/2016: I write to the Editor to ask about the status of the paper and receive no reply.

01/2017: I consult my Supervisor about the situation and he writes an email to the Editor.

02/2017: I receive an email from the Editor explaining that they had trouble finding reviewers and giving me suggestions about how to improve the paper. The gist was that the result is interesting but the exposition is inadequate, and I wholeheartedly agree with the second part (the 2015 version of me was a terrible writer).

06/2017: I finally receive the review, which is mostly positive but also points to problems with exposition. The email also mentions that the paper is "tentatively accepted for publication (...) subject to revision".

Now, what I should have done at this point is to correct the paper and send in the revised manuscript. Unfortunately, two issues came in the way. First, my thesis defence was approaching and I honestly could not find time nor energy for much else. The thesis ended up being rather unrelated to the unfortunate paper (the paper answers a question that somebody asked and I realised I could answer, it's in my field but not quite my subfield) so these two tasks were not related. Second, I came to realise that to make it a decent paper, the technical sections would need an almost complete overhaul, which made the task very unappealing (not only would it be very time consuming but also it would be a constant reminder of the poor quality of my previous writting). (The material was formally correct, but extremely inelegant.) In the end, weeks and then months went by, and there was always something that required more urgent attention (at least in my mind). Finally, I reworked the paper this summer and so:

08/2018: I send the revised manuscript to the Editor, with apologies for the highly inappropriate delay. I receive no answer.

09/2018: I send another email with apologies, politely asking if they could tell me what the status of the paper is (are they still willing to consider it for publication, etc.). Still no answer.

Now I'm at a loss of what to do, and unsure about what will happen. Should I keep badgering the Editor hoping for an answer? Should I take any other steps, or should I just wait for their reply? Is it likely that the paper eventually gets published?


texts: Can a Pell Grant & Student Loan be awarded retroactively for the previous semester?

texts:
I just graduated undergrad in December, I'm starting grad school this month. My question is can a pell grant & student loans I was eligible for in Fall 2020 be retroactively awarded?
I was doing a (Student Academic Progress) SAP appeal and the college really dragged their feet and took a long time to respond to each step of the appeal. And eventually, the semester was up & I never received my financial aid. The financial aid officer I spoke to said they sadly couldn't award aid for a semester that had ended. However, this link I found that federal regulation does seem to allow pell grants & loans to be awarded retroactively.
So any thoughts about that or if that is even possible?


texts: My PI is irresponsible and I worry about my career as a postdoc

texts:
I am a postdoc in life sciences in the US and have started my postdoc around 6 months ago.
I am at a great (top-10) university. I like the university, lots of smart people and friendly environment.
I love my work and plan to stay in academia. I am from europe and have left home just for the postdoc.

I am, however, very worried because my PI does not seem to bother too much about our career prospects.
Some points:

He is often away from the lab due to family-related problems. He spends a lot of time with his family (has 2 kids). Although that is great, he does not spend much time in the lab, forgets meetings, is not up to date with current research and often does not have time for supervision (this was the case even before the pandemic). He always comes up with some excuse but after a while it has become clear that his priority is just very much somewhere else than research.

Currently, the lab is supposed to write a grant. He has left that to us, he says that he is too depressed because of the current situation with COVID-19 to be able to focus on work.
This is very worrisome, because our future is dependent on the grant, yet at the same time
he wants us postdocs to go back to the lab as soon as possible (presumably to keep face and show the university our lab is active, while at the same time he does not seem to care about what happens to us postdocs).

In addition, we have currently submitted a paper (~2 years of work from the lab) which gets rejected from all top-tier journals.

He has a lot of good properties, he listens to our opinions, accepts criticism, leaves us a lot of freedom. As mentioned the university is great too. I am highly motivated and love research, but
worry extremly that I am just wasting my time. I have my own money for now but can't change labs easily and would prefer to stay at the uni.

What should I do?

Edit I do understand that as a postdoc it is important to be independent. I am. I have learned several relevant skills, have my own ideas, I am generally quite pro-active. But typically as a postdoc you can also join an environment which allows us to find your own goals within the work of the lab. My PI is just so out of touch with everything, that his ideas are completely outdated. He just does not take research seriously (even though he still wants me to publish asap again under the current circumstances). Hence he can't also give me any guidance (he suggests experiments which have been done many years ago already) and, worse, does not even bother to change that.

Edit2 The PI just fired the other postdoc in my lab. I am under a complete shock. Basically a mix of blaming the other postdoc for not advancing with the grant proposal (PI promised many times to finally get it together and work on the proposal) which was never really officially discussed as being our task to begin with. Yet he has the audacity to whine during the "crisis" meeting with me about how sad his family life is (his kids can't go to school which they don't like yada yada) and then to interrupt the meeting to go and play basketball with his kids. I have told him now that I want to have a co-supervisor and he has promised to reach out to people. He is so reckless, selfish, if he does not get it together I will change labs even if I lose my fellowship.


texts: "I am looking for a job" on a student website, a good thing or a desperate sentence?

texts: I saw that some students, even from top schools and who are giving faculty candidate talks are posting a sentence like, "I am actively looking for a job in ..". Is this a good thing or only shows a desperate job candidate?


texts: I don't know what to say when meeting the supervisor after he has suggested me to leave the research group

texts:
I am a PhD student in Germany and my supervisor has suggested me to change the research group because he has told me I cannot write a good quality dissertation within the time framework of three years. He assumes that the maximum possible time for doing the PhD is three years and this time framework cannot be extended.

Now I want to talk with him face to face, but I don't know what to say. Has anyone had a similar experience? Should I fight to keeping this position or I should find another position in another university?

edit 1: I personally prefer to leave the group because I never felt I'm part of the research group even after one semester. I didn't get that feeling even from my supervisor.


texts: How to tell if a journal was in SCI or SCIE at a particular date

texts:
My institution cares a lot if an article was published on a SCI/SCIE indexed journal. I need to find a way to determine, for instance, American Journal of Surgery was indexed in SCI/SCIE on August 2009 (I need to find such information for dozens of cases). How would you advise I go about this?
Web of science tells me if the journal is indexed in SCI/SCIE now, but I need to find out if it was indexed at a particular date.


texts: How should I deal with very negative feedback from some students?

texts:
I am a lecturer of a computer course in a university. Two months (almost 20 hours) of lectures have already finished. Very recently, I planned to get some feedback from my students on my lectures.

I asked a couple of questions such as 'how motivating the course is ...', 'how do you rate yourself on topic X', and many more.
I also asked them to fill a comment box that would improve my teaching.
This feedback is open to all the students registered for the course that also includes those guys who never attended a lecture.
I used a Google form for the process and made the responses anonymous.

From the multiple-choice feedback questions, I learned a lot of things and actually, I got to see a few strengths and weaknesses of my lectures. However, the comment section of the feedback has made my life difficult for last few days. I am really disturbed after going through and thinking over a few comments.
Here are some examples of comments:

You do not teach what is in the book. Plus, you ask very difficult questions in the test. What do you want to prove?
Who recruited this guy to this university?
One should learn how bad to teach from this faculty?

At the same time, other comments look like the following:

He is the best in the field.
He explains the most difficult concepts in a very simple and clear way.

The students (all are undergrad) are pretty straight-forward and have been really not-so-formal about it. I don't want my frustration to reflect on my lectures. I am new to teaching and that is why I wanted to get feedback.
How should I deal with this? Is it normal for an early-career academic?
Update:
After going through the comments (discussion) on this question, one may find out that the students are confused, probably during the discussion. However, there are two more points one should consider:

Since the feedback is anonymous, it is difficult to track a student and personally talk with him/her regarding his/her confusion.
If the students that have given such comments just came for one or two lectures, and they are judging the faculty's strength just based on that, then it is unwise.
If the above (second) point is true, then the concerned instructor should not take seriously those comments.

Is it a good summary?


texts: How should I properly cite an author with a variously credited name?

texts:
I have recently been dealing with an interesting conundrum.  I have several papers written by the same author, but in which the author's name is credited differently.

Some of these articles credit this author as:

Schön, with an umlaut.

Schoen, where the name is written according to the convention of adding "e", where an umlaut cannot be typed.

My citation style would ordinarily place a ---- under duplicate articles by one author, but the typographical variation in the credited names in the journal means that a reader of my references, who has not verified as I have that these articles are by the same person, might have the impression I was citing two different authors.  Equally, I worry that it would be quite inappropriate to alter the style in which the author's name was printed in the original journal.  Is there anyway I can indicate in my references that these are articles by the same person?


texts: Copying the format of a past journal article as a model

texts:
Is it right to copy the format of past journal articles in one's research as an upcoming researcher?

To give an example assuming there is a research article on "the dynamics of informal urbanism in Asia - the case of Indian cities." Can I pick up the same reasoning, albeit slightly, and apply it to, say, "the dynamics of informal urbanism in Africa - the case of Kenya"?

Will that be acceptable?


texts: Am I allowed to share a final copy of my published paper privately?

texts:
Suppose I published a paper in a journal with no open-access policy, but with the usual constraints regarding copyright.

A researcher that I do not know in person has asked me for a copy of a this paper I coauthored. Am I allowed to share the final-version PDF file with him/her (by e-mail)? I mean, does it make any difference with sharing it publicly (which I do know I am not allowed to)?

If not, what would be a polite way to tell him/her so?


texts: Tips for Conducting an Experiment without Stress

texts: I have been working independently on a research project for the past few months and I am almost ready to actually conduct the experiment. The experiment itself should only take two hours. However, I seem to get a lot of anxiety when thinking about carrying out the experiment (especially because I will be conducting it completely independently): what happens if I do something wrong, forget something, etc? I was wondering if anyone had any tips on conducting an experiment without too much stress. I am sure that once I started the experiment, it won't be too bad; getting started is the hard part. Thank you!


texts: Telling where I am originally from at the first lecture?

texts:
I am going to start teaching next year in a university in the UK. One common question I get with students in one-to-one conversations is about my origin. I certainly have an accent, and they are naturally curious about it. I was wondering if it is fine that, when I introduce myself during the first lecture, I tell them where I am originally from?  This is not an issue for me.

I understand that some lecturers get offended with the question "where are you originally from?", but I think sometimes students are genuinely interested on knowing this inconsequential information. I was, when I was a student, so I understand.


texts: Should a professor write a LOR if he does not remember the student but remembers that the essay was excellent?

texts: Should a professor write a Letter of Recommendation if he does not remember the student but does remember that the essay the student submitted was excellent?


texts: Is it reasonable and ethical to apply for two PhD positions with two different professors at the same faculty and the same institution?

texts:
Note: I saw this link, however I'm hoping to get wider range of opinions to help me make my decisions.

Problem statement: I sent an enquiry email to professor A of faculty X at university Y. Today, I saw another PhD offer posted on the web for another PhD position with professor B of same faculty X at same university Y.

Questions: Is it ethical to send enquiry email to professor B? Should I mention that I've sent an enquiry email to professor A earlier?


texts: Worth applying to PhD Programs with a very bad Math Subject GRE

texts:
I just took and received a very bad math subject gre score of 600, or 37th percentile.
Would it still be worth it to apply to any school that requires the subject test? I've been working at several tech startups for a few years so some of the material wasn't as fresh as it maybe would have been.

A bit of my background, I'm finishing up my masters in math at a top 10 university, I don't have any publications yet but I'm working on a thesis under a very well known professor. My grades are good and I'm a TA and grader at the university.

I guess the question is whether or not admissions committees would use the poor score as enough of a reason to reject a candidate. Or would it make more sense to wait until I can retake the exam in April and put academia/PhD aside for a year.

Thanks


texts: How to weigh these pros and cons of applying to PhD programs?

texts:
I know people have posted LOTS of questions about whether they should apply to PhD programs, but I haven't seen some of the issues I'm currently facing addressed.

I'm currently a master's student in computer science at a top 15 university and am faced with the current pros and cons:

Pros

I strongly prefer research to software engineering. Apparently this is the only valid reason to get a CS PhD (other than wanting to become a professor, which I don't), and this reason is certainly true for me. I've worked on 3 research projects, all of which I have found vastly more interesting than the software engineering internships I've had. I'm especially excited about finding solutions to unstructured problems, which apparently is the core of doing research.

Cons

According to what I've read, it's likely that even if I get a PhD, I'll end up in software engineering anyway. That's a lot of time and energy spent on something that will end up having little effect on my career. Ideally, I'd like to get an industry research position somewhere like Google, but from what I can tell, only a select number of superstars get those types of positions. I spent my 20s chasing a similarly uber-competitve pipe-dream, and I'd rather not waste my time on another one.
I'm 34 years old. This fact has two repercussions:

Continuing to get paid very little for 5-7 more years seems flat-out irresponsible at this stage of my life. I wiped out my savings and took on loads of debt to quit my job and go back to school. I'm afraid that if I don't to make as much money as possible as soon as possible, I'll end up having to resort to eating cat food when I retire.
If and when I do graduate with a PhD, and if I'm unable to secure a research position and go the programming route, I'll be a new entrant to an industry that is notoriously ageist in my 40s rather than my 30s.

PhD programs are, infamously, very stressful, and I'm not sure I want to put myself through that. I've had chronic depression for my entire adult life (albeit managed and medicated), and I honestly wonder if I could handle the anxiety that PhD programs apparently bring. The PhD application process alone seems enormously intimidating and demoralizing to me.
I frankly just don't think I'm a competitive candidate. My grades are excellent, but I'm not currently at even a top-10 school and I have no publications or good connections to professors at other schools. I also just had a sort of falling out with my current advisor, who's famous in his field, and I'm probably not going to get an LOR from him. I've heard that publications don't really matter in PhD admissions, but I'm looking to apply to top-five schools, where, based on bios I've read and students I've met, they do matter.

Given all these considerations, does it seem obvious that I shouldn't apply to PhD programs? Research seems very alluring and fulfilling to me, but these various drawbacks make it seem like it may not be worth it.


texts:
In the introduction of my thesis I want to motivate the use of alternative neutron converters to helium-3 by mentioning the exploding cost of latter.

I am not directly involved with helium-3, since I work with the alternatives. Online research yielded for instance a congressional research paper by Shea and Morgan from 2010, and the wikipedia page for helium-3 links to an IEEE site also from 2010, mentioning the price explosion in that year.

Is one of those source apt for citation? Is there a best way to cite prices in academia?


texts: Applying for a PhD before or after finishing master's

texts:
I'm currently working towards a master's in mathematics, and I would like to continue with a PhD. I have good grades and I'm aiming at something equivalent to a first class honours, at a highly ranked university in maths.

The problem with applying for a PhD now (starting next fall) is that I have barely begun work on my thesis, and therefore wouldn't be able to get a reference from my advisor (at least not one that would describe my work on my thesis, the closest thing I'll have to research, and the crowning project of my master degree). I could try to solicit a couple of half-baked references now, send preliminary transcripts and detail my plan for my master thesis, but I feel my application would be much more convincing if I submit it after I get my degree. My transcript would be a complete diploma, and my references would be able to speak to the whole of my work, including the last (and most important) part.

Although this is what I'm inclined to do, it would inevitably result in losing a year. I would be ok with that: I could try to find a job/internship somewhere, prepare my applications with more time on my hands (including prepping for possible interviews) and maybe even work on a couple of independent research projects. However I'm afraid that time spent away from academia might be a big minus for my application, considering that if accepted, I would be starting my PhD at the age of 26, pushing 27 (and although this might not show up explicitly, it would be abundantly clear from my cv). I see that most of my class mates are applying before finishing their master, and I'm therefore also worried that my taking the extra year might be perceived as an unfair advantage to other applicants.

I'm also worried that submitting applications twice might also not work, since being rejected in this round might play against me next time.

I would be very grateful for any suggestions! Thank you :)


texts: Would giving a talk in a colloquium aid my application?

texts: I'll probably give a review talk about current discoveries in applications of mathematics (not my autorship) on the colloquium series of my school soon (small school, accepts undergrads for giving talks). Would this help in any way my application for PhD programs in applied mathematics?


texts: Which US universities publish cohort ranking - position in class?

texts:
For example when you take the GRE you get the percentile score, is there such statistics and how is it called? Do US publish such data or does it have to be asked specifically?

For example you are in a committee and have to evaluate how applicants performed compared to their peers during their bachelor or master's degree. For example in the UK first honors is around top 9% of the cohort.


texts:
I was part of a university project team, and at the end of the semester we decided to submit a review paper related to the topic of our project. Our advisers gave us feedback and made suggestions on our draft. We submitted our draft to a journal and many months later, one of my team members got a notification that our paper needed to be edited to respond to reviewer comments and resubmitted. However, he did not contact us until a few months later, when he said he thought we should not submit because the necessary edits were too demanding. However, when he went to talk to our advisers, some of them decided to continue working and resubmit. The other student did not let any of the other team members know, and told the adviser no one wanted to help him without consulting us.
 A month later, we were all notified that they were resubmitting that week and they needed our consent to remove us as co-authors. They have made very significant additions to our paper, adding more sources and detail to our claims and rewording the majority of it. However, the overall idea of the paper is quite similar and there are aspects of the paper that resemble portions we wrote. I feel it is quite ungenerous of them to cut us all out from being co-authors, when we wrote the majority of the initial submission, even if the final draft is quite different. Did they do the right thing?
EDITS
To clarify some points -
The main issue is that they have to resubmit in a few days, so any changes in authorship need to be approved by everyone very soon. I agree that our adviser should be changed to first author, but there's no time to get everyone's consent for that, unless he can get an extension.
The adviser has not been hostile in any way and I don't want to make things too awkward, but I don't quite feel comfortable signing off on cutting us all out.
I guess my real question is should I insist they include us? How much of the initial draft must be modified before you can just remove co-authors.


texts: arxiv put my first paper submission on hold , does this mean it will be rejected ?

texts:
Before few days I've submitted my first paper , it is a review article about Dirac monopole. After 2 days the arxiv moderation put it in hold and then after few hours they send me this mail.

  arXiv is intended as a forum for professional members of the
  scientific community to communicate their formal research results.
  Please provide the following information:

  Do you have a conventional publication record? In what field? Please provide us with a current list of publications.
  What is the precise nature of your institutional affiliation?

I'm an undergraduate student , I have complete my thesis this month and I've not published anything before so I tell them this and tell them also about my university which is well-established and many of my professors and postgraduate students have a publications and many of them used to put almost all of their papers on arxiv. They did not response and I don't know why all of this happened. So can anyone had a similar problem like this tell me what is the problem with my submission and if it is suitable for arxiv ?


texts: How to tell my current project adviser that I want to try working with someone else next semester?

texts:
I have been working with Professor 1 for a semester. He has been very helpful and we have spent some time together this semester discussing problems. I enjoyed working with him and also find his research interesting.

However, there is also this other Professor 2, whose work I find interesting and he works in related areas. So, I want to work with Professor 2 for a semester before deciding whom to stick with.

Meanwhile, I want to continue the work that I have initiated with Professor 1. I want to convey this message to Professor 1 in a manner that will leave the possibility of working with him after next semester open. So, how should I tell Professor 1 that I want to do a small project with Professor 2 to try out things, without sounding rude?


texts: What is the impact factor of my short communication paper?

texts:
Recently I published a paper in as a short communication in a Springer Journal in Natural Science discipline (Impact Factor 3.56). It was a short paper within 2500 words and 3 figures although the figures can be split up to 8-10 independent figures to make it a full length research paper.
I shared this paper in the social media after it got published. A few of my contacts asked me why I published it as a short communication, rather than as a full research article. They also mentioned that short communications are in general not treated as peer reviewed articles even if it underwent a rigorous review process. They have now suggested making it a full paper with some additional results.
My questions are:

Does this publication really have no Impact factor as of the Journal?
Does people cite the results published in short communications?
Is it always possible to extend the short communicated articles to
full length? If possible, then can I copy all or some of the point-to-point texts
and results already published in the short communications? Will it be
considered as self plagiarism?


texts: Why do universities share test questions?

texts:
I have had quite a few take home exams, mostly because they required you to be online and were a lot longer than 2 hour exams.

When taking these exams and answering questions (all essay questions) I've typed in the question into Google and bam. I find the same questions used from some PDF associated with, often, a different university and the PDF has either the answer or guidelines as to whether or not the student gave a close enough answer.

This has happened in 3 courses so far and I brought it up to a professor a year ago and she had no idea that the PDF she got test questions for had the answers on the same PDF online.

I assume it isn't students putting these PDF's up because the PDF's often have more questions than are on the exam and will have pages with a university name, class, and symbol which are not given on the exams handed out.

So, why would a university use questions from another university when a simple copy and paste reveals the answers or at least guides as to how to answer?


texts: How does the PhD experience differ for paying students?

texts:
Some PhD programs offer students an opportunity to either pay for the PhD themselves or to take a teaching assistantship in exchange for a tuition waiver.

Aside from a lack of teaching duties, are the work requirements and responsibilities of a paid PhD student any different from those of the teaching assistantship students?


texts:
I have a quote spoken by a person in an interview, how do I cite it?

Chinua Achebe, the prominent Nigerian novelist and essayist who died
on Thursday, said in a 1994 interview with the Paris Review, "There is
that great proverb — that until the lions have their own historians,
the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter."

i would like to know how to cite a quote in:

a chat
a speech
and a citation of spoken word

I've looked in the documentation for Chicago manual style for how to do this and searched on google but could not find how.


texts: Which of these works to cite when critiquing?

texts:
I'm citing a study that brings context to my work and some of its methodology is questionable so I am highlighting this aspect. This study was published twice in slightly different forms, once in a lower scale journal with the PhD student as the sole author, and once in a more known journal with both the PhD student and their professor as second author.

This question partly addresses my problem. At first glance, I would cite the most recent, most prestigious piece. It's shorter but sums the bulk of what I need. However it does not address etiquette. If I cite the study by both authors, the professor's name is joined to the student's questionable methods (IMO).

Would it be preferable to stick to the work authored by the student only in this case?


texts: Taking PhD course with potential advisor?

texts:
I have been told by other grad students that it is a good idea to take the Ph.D. course given by a professor who you would want to be advised by in the future and even joining their lab.
In my case, there is a course given by a professor who I would want as a graduate advisor and possibly having him on my committee. This is an applied machine learning course in the PSYC department (I'm a social science Ph.D. student). However, there is also a graduate machine learning course given in the CS department that is more advanced, and I would obviously get more out of it.
So, should I take the course given by the potential advisor, or the more "interesting" course risking the lack of exposure?


texts: Is research experience in a different field relevant for PhD application?

texts:
I am a economics major undergraduate student who will apply for grad schools in the coming semester. I think I have quite a strong research experience in mathematical statistics (asymptotic statistics to be specific), but, unfortunately, not much in economics itself. So I am curious if economics departments in graduate schools will care about my research experience in statistics?

Maybe a broader question is if grad schools care about applicants' research experience in a different (maybe even unrelated) field at all? I guess in my case statistics and economics are still quite correlated, but what about other more distant combinations of target departments and previous research experience?


texts: Is there a Plain English dictionary/glossary for education terminology

texts:
I am looking for a plain English dictionary (or glossary) for terms in education.

My friend has stated a Math Education degree and is having trouble reading the material (e.g. the lecture slides), It is full of education jargon (e.g. constructivism, ) but these are defined in terms of more jargon so it is very difficult for her to make sense of the definitions. Furthermore, English is a second language for her.  Even for me for whom English is my primary language, I have difficulty reading the slides and other material and making sense of them.

Does anyone know of a plain English dictionary or glossary of education terms that I could recommend to her. This would help her to learn the jargon.

thanks,  Glenn


texts:
I am thinking about a career in synthetic biology, but I am not sure what route should/needs to be taken. I don't want to do technician work--I want to be involved in the planning. Y'know, the exciting stuff. :)

[By 'planning' I mean things like, for example, looking at symptoms (assuming we are looking at a person), pinpointing underlying causes, designing a molecule that stimulates X, modifying it to avoid inadvertent binding to Y, etc]

I'm wondering whether I should go for a Master's or a PhD (or is a Bachelor's enough?)

It's a young field, so I'm having trouble finding this kind of information online. Any help would be much appreciated!


texts: Can applicants answer faculty campus interview questions while checking their notes?

texts:
During faculty campus interview, is it possible for applicants to check their notes from papers or laptops, or should everything be memorized? In other words, are faculty interviews open book or closed book? Does it make a difference for the search committee if applicants want to check their notes? Having the ability to check personal notes would be useful to list all relevant points in order, unless this is not allowed or can affect applicants. In addition, I found that some suggests to prepare notes for phone interviews, however, can such notes be used in on-campus interview?

Examples of using notes while interview:

List future research plans - 10-15 points
List names of collaborators - 10-15 names
Style of teaching - 10-15 points
Names and research area of the department faculty members - 15-20


texts: Busy professor failed to finish recommendation letters

texts:
My application officially ended on Dec 1, but the admission offices are still accepting recommendation letters. One of my professor just finished the letters recently, but there are two letters were not submitted. My professor insisted he has finished all the letters and he won't have time for this until Dec 15 because he is applying for an important grant that concerns the survival of his lab. Although the office are still accepting letters, I fear Dec 15 may be too late to submit the letters. What should I do ? Should I prompt my professor at the risk of irritating him ?

He is very busy, and that's also why he did not start writing the letters until the deadline after I called him. I always wrote very kind letters, and he was a very nice person, but I don't want to be bothersome and force the professor to prioritize my needs before his own. The grant is definitely much more important to him, and he promised to write the letters simply out of kindness.


texts: I am close to admission to a PhD program. How should I get a co-supervisor from another school?

texts:
I am close to be admitted to a PhD program. How can I get a co-supervisor from another school ? U21 is not the only alternative, but I did explore it. My potential school participates in U21. However, the other school did not respond to U21 emails.

Can I get a casual co-supervisor from another school?
Will the other school be mentioned on the degree as well?


texts: How does graduate admission committee detect plagiarism in letter of recommendation?

texts:
If my current recommender recycles the letter from previous recommender after each other's consent, will this be classified as plagiarism?

This is for MS programs to US universities FYI.


texts: A question about thesis supervisor responsibility

texts:
I have heard many people in academics state that a thesis is a students own project and that only the student is responsible for its quality and completion. Unfortunatelythis does not agree with my own observations. I see many supervisors who have very specific demands but take very little responsibility for the consequences of these demands. For example some supervisors demand that the subject of the thesis is in a very small area of research closely related to his own work, even if the student prefers a slightly different subject. Or have very specific requirements for a subject on other non-academic grounds. Switching supervisors can delay the progress of the student significantly. In this case the supervisor severly limits the possibilities of a student. However when this leads to problems with selecting a subject the supervisor does not grant any leniency in terms of deadlines. Isn't it then appropriate that the supervisor helps more with topic selection/ assumes more responsibilities in issues related to this particular demand? For example the supervisor could be more tolerant on allowing a student to continue work with a new topic if the one the student suggested is not feasible.

This leads to two specific questions:

What kind of demands are reasonable for a supervisor to have, particularly regarding scope and topic?
What kind of responsibility does the supervisor bear for the consequences of those demands?

This question is about master and bachelor theses. I am not sure if it matters but my university is in western europe. My personal opinion is that saying that the student is one hundred percent responsible is a facile argument, since as soon as a supervisor has demands that are not solely to the benefit of the academic value of the thesis, or normal order of business , he should at least take some responibility. However I am very much on the fence about to what extent a supervisor should facilitate their students in this type of situations. If the issue remains unclear I can add specific examples but I want to avoid discussing issues particular to a student, university or even field.


texts: Acknowledgment as technician. Do I list them in the CV? How?

texts:
I’m a technician that has done some work in a research group, and I get some acknowledgments in the papers. A fellow technician in the university has told me that for us, technicians, they are important for our CV, as we don’t get publications (we usually just assist, so getting in a publication is really weird).

Should I put my acknowledgments in my CV? If so, how should I put them? I tried to put them with the name of the paper and the authors, but maybe my future employer won’t understand that part if he is not in academia (but e.g., in a company).


texts: Is it unusual for a professor to submit recommendations to other universities more promptly than their own?

texts:
I am applying to graduate programs at several universities, including the one that I am currently at.  My professors sent their letters of recommendations to the other universities promptly and quickly, but have not sent them to their own university yet, despite sending them at least over 5 automated requests.

I am highly worried because the deadline is coming up in two days.  Is this a common occurrence, and what I should do about it?


texts: Should I reply to emails for grad school that appear to be non specific?

texts:
I am getting emails from schools about their grad school programs, most likely due to attending a grad school fair and clicking certain check-boxes after taking my Biology GRE.

I have not taken my regular GRE exams and will not get to take them until the spring of 2016, when there deadlines for the programs they are "advertising" are December.

Should I respond to these replies in anyway?


texts: Do I need to explain or justify sources that I use to build an argument? (Academic Philosophy)

texts:
I am writing an essay to outline one of my philosophical theories. My current argument builds upon the work of others that are in the fields of neuroscience, statistics, epistemology, and ethics. If I want to explain my argument am I expected to provide a summary of the two works I am building off of? They are by no means popular so I intend to provide a basic summary but how long would one typically make it? Does this differ in the case of a book v. an essay?

Additionally, am I expected in any way to justify my belief in these works as a basis for my theories? My argument is based on the assumption that aspects of these theories are correct (and they may or may not be). Is it common in modern academic philosophy to explain to the reader that the assumptions in my argument rely upon the theories expounded in these works and then move forward from there? Or do I need to provide justifications of my own?

Other Information: I do not have any sort of degree in philosophy but I have been writing some essays and have been trying to follow the general academic guidelines used in the field. I don't know if any publisher will take it seriously but it's a personal project so I may just self-publish.


texts: What are pros and cons for an adjunct professor job at a community college for an IT professional?

texts:
I've just been contacted by a friend's friend who decided I'd make a great adjunct professor at a community college, IT department, application development. Suddenly I heard myself agree to an "informal" job interview, and now am freaking out. What am I getting myself into?

I have all the hard skills necessary, in fact probably overqualified as far as the hard skills go. Soft skills, different matter. I am shy and fear public speech. Counselling one-on-one is no problem, but I do get a bit shaky in the knees thinking about standing in front of an audience. Which is why a part of me wants to do this job - to overcome my fears, to develop leadership skills, which I could then use in private sector. I also have a few interesting curriculum ideas I'd like to try. From tutoring my nephew through his university years (different school), I saw much in the Comp Sci curriculum that I think could be improved.

I wonder though whether this will help or hurt my career in the private sector. First of all, the very fact of being an adjunct professor at a community college (one of the weaker community colleges actually) - is it a resume builder? From looking at the faculty, it just might be.. the staff seems to have good bios.

Then there is the RateMyProfessor.com. As a newbie, and a pretty anxious one at that, there is a non-zero chance of me screwing up and getting a bunch of low reviews that will then haunt me for the rest of my career. The HRs do google job candidates' names.

My current career as a software developer has had its ups and downs: have worked for a few prestigious, big name corporates, left for a startup of my own, the startup is imploding, time to get a day job. While the bottom of my resume (where the old jobs are) looks great, I need to build up the recent part of my resume, need references. Would  this be a good move or not?


texts: Should I mention the names of several professors that I want to work with in my statement of purpose? (US)

texts:
Background
I am a second (and final) year Master's degree student (with thesis) in my university's Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) department. I am currently trying to shift my career focus from ECE to Machine Learning (ML). More precisely, I am taking courses related to theoretical ML and I am currently undertaking research using applied ML techniques.
I am currently trying to apply to PhD programs in theoretical ML. I am only interested in a small subset of theoretical ML, namely Reinforcement Learning and interpretable ML. However, I don't have any research experience in either of these two fields or in theoretical ML as a whole. I only have experience in applying ML techniques to existing problems. I have 1 paper published from my undergraduate degree in an unrelated field (electromagnetics).
The Questions

If I am applying to a university that has faculty that work in both of these fields, how can I phrase my statement of purpose to reflect that I am interested in working for both of them?
How much do I need to explain about where my interest in these two fields comes from? Do I need to write a paragraph or just mention their names?
Is it ok that my interest does not stem from past research experience but from reading papers and watching YouTube videos related to this field?

Thanks for the help!


texts: Requesting Alternate Ph.D. Interview Date

texts:
Good afternoon all,

I am currently experiencing a (good) dilemma of having to choose between two schools who have their interview date scheduled for the same day. At first, I was contemplating just asking for a phone/skype interview, but I am now thinking (after reading some threads here) of requesting an alternate interview date. How do I do this while staying professional and committed? Also, any feedback on how to respond if they say no?

Thank you!


texts: Should I consider getting an extra degree if I plan to go to graduate school in that field?

texts:
I plan to apply to graduate programs in a field unrelated to my current undergraduate studies. Other questions indicate that this is relatively common, but my question is: is there any value in obtaining a degree in my desired field over only taking relevant courses?

I think that having a relevant degree could only be beneficial, but talking with advisors and professors gives me the impression that there is no need to have a relevant degree. Surprisingly to me, there is even some agreement that this could be harmful, since I would require an extra semester to graduate. I'm in no hurry to graduate (currently planning for four years) so I don't quite understand their concerns. Am I missing something entirely?

Do I even need to consider getting the extra degree or is it really unnecessary?


texts:
Is there a way to know if the authors of a paper filed a patent related to their content?  Is this usually documented in the paper, or is it not notated for some reason (i.e. information asymmetry)?

I just want to know if I can use the techniques described in a paper without infringing on a patent.


texts: In what sense are UK universities public?

texts:
You often hear that almost all UK universities are public.  Wikipedia, for example, says "There are four fully-fledged private universities in the United Kingdom, the University of Buckingham, BPP University, Regent's University London and the University of Law."

However my understanding is that funding for UK universities comes almost entirely from tuition fees and grant income.

What is the legal/technical/practical difference between a public and private university in the UK?


texts: Three questions on (finding) permanent positions in France

texts:
I've a few questions about permanent positions in the universities in France. P.S. if you think question # 3 deserves to be asked as a separate question, please let me know, and I'll do so. As far as I'm aware, there're three main types of permanent positions there: (are there more? If yes, please let me know then!)

Maître des conférences: (word-to-word English translation: master of conferences, MCF for short) which is a teacher-researcher position.
Chargé de recherche: (word-to-word English translation: charge of research, CR for short) which is a researcher's position, very coveted, with teaching being optional. Offred by CNRS.
INRIA permanent researcher's position: very coveted, offered by INRIA. Research-only like the one at CNRS.

My questions are:

Are CR and INRIA permanent positions necessarily more competitive than the MCF ones? I do know that MCF's are also not easy to get by any means, and I myself have neither, but I'm only asking. My respect to anyone in their MCF positions, and this is not an attempt to belittle anyone by any means!
If you get an MCF position, is it possible to "switch/transfer" to a CR one after a year or two? I wrote the two words in quote, because I don't even know if that's a meaningful or possible transition.
(I can ask this as a separate question if you like, just let me know!) Is it possible that as an MCF, you can do the teaching in the math(s) department and research in the computer science department? This question is very specific to my case, as I've an unusual CV, where I did my PhD and taught for and was a teaching assistant  during 5 years for several courses in pure mathematics in the US (not in France), but I transitioned to statistical machine learning using heavy pure math machinery like differential geometry and functional analysis. Now this makes me naturally eligible to do research in the Computer Science (CS for short) department, but after having a few initial interviews, I'm getting a feeling that I'll need to teach CS courses like data base etc., which I've no idea about. On the other hand, I'm not a pure mathematician any more (although much of my applied research use heavy pure math), so I don't know even if they'll consider my CV? This is why I ask this question. If the answer is a resounding no, then I'd appreciate it if you could please be so kind to let me know how I can apply for an MCF position given my trajectory, where I can teach pure math(s) (and selected stats, e.g. probability theory, statistical machine learning, statistical inference etc.)

I greatly appreciate any help and your answer!
Thanks a ton in advance!!


texts: Can't prepare lesson material. Should I cancel class?

texts:
I'm a grad student teaching assistant for a freshmen undergrad non major multivariable  calculus class.

What they didn't tell me is that the second half of the semester is not calculus but "finite math". This week's topic is game theory, which I've never learned myself.

In preparing tomorrow's material, I realized I was getting all the answers wrong from one of the sections, and have no idea how to do the problems I'm supposed to teach. Normally it only takes a day to read the textbook and prepare.

I've been up for hours struggling with the same problems and need to leave in 5 hours to get to class on time - and would still like to sleep.

My school never gave me any training or told me any rules; am I allowed to just cancel class?

I'll take any advice at this point.

Edit: I would just like to say how much I appreciate everyone's responses. I'm running on little sleep, (and extremely new to Stack Exchange so still learning how the site works) but you've all given me great ideas when I was truly stressing out.

Edit/Update: turns out I was not doing it incorrectly, just did algebraic work when I should've used a graph so I considered points that I didn't need to which is why my answers were wrong. I met up with the individual who TAd for the course last semester and that's how I figured out my mistake. I sorta winged it in presentation and got the correct answer, now just have to repeat the lesson for the rest of the sessions.

Thank you all for your input.

Edit (from comment): Game theory is just one week of the course; they have two lectures with the professor prior to one 50 minute session with me. This is the only session with me out of a year long course that has been or will be like this.


texts: Is the arXiv a good way to get feedback on one's work?

texts:
I have developed a method to process images I use for my research. It's nothing revolutionary but I think it might be useful to others than me, and why not, be worthy of being published somewhere (at least for me to cite when I use it).

As it is outside my primary field of research, nobody in my direct lab vicinity can help evaluating its scientific value or novelty (I did a bit of literature research and didn't find any obvious precedent). Normally I would just put it as an appendix in the first article where I use it, but this one is quite long to describe and completely out of my field. It would thus be off-topic in the journals in which I usually publish.

I though of seeking collaboration from someone in my university who works in signal/image processing, I don't know anyone personally and I foresee possible political issues, authorship quarrels, etc. I would nonetheless like to get some sort of evaluation before submitting to a journal. As an outsider, I wouldn't like to waste an editor's time and make a fool of myself.

I have zero experience submitting to the arXiv, by looking at the website it's not clear how/if there is an active system of feedback, even informal.

Is it advisable to submit my methods paper there and expect a feedback?


texts: Part-time UK lecturer - how much admin and what counts?

texts:
Can anyone give me a guide to how much admin a part-time university lecturer should be doing. My employer is so very vague and I have no idea if I'm doing too much, or if I can just say no. It seems as though everybody knows how the system works but doesn't want to say it out loud.

I have a 0.6 teaching only contract. 3 classes per term.

People seem to do admin roles to work towards promotion etc, but I have no interest in getting more hours or progressing to senior lecturer etc. My work outside of teaching is what I want to progress in.

Thoughts or advice?


texts: Handicap for PostDoc and Academia Jobs from having a PhD from low ranked universities

texts:
I am located in the U.S. and the field in question is pure mathematics.

I am wondering, as a doctorata degree holder at a lower tier institution (AMS Group III), how much of a disadvantage will I be at when trying to obtain a postdoc and academia tenure track jobs at say a Group I/II school after graduation? How realistic is it to have such goals and are there anyone out there that has accomplish such feat?

If all hopes are not lost, are there anything I can do to improve my chances down the road (aka polish my CV)? Otherwise, should I drop out and reapply to another program?

Thanks.


texts:
Nowadays, people in biology make huge collaborations, so of course they're all having loads of publications.

Therefore, I was wondering if there is a way, on Google Scholar or on other sites, to filter for a PI's publications as last author. That would be really helpful!

Thanks in advance


texts:
I am currently writing my thesis.

How should I refer to the thesis itself? "This thesis", "this text" or maybe "this work"?

I think that the fact that the text is currently used for my graduation (which makes it my thesis) is no inherent property of the text itself.
I am therefore hesitant to refer to it as "this thesis".


texts: What are duties for jobs like Professor, Lecturer, Research Scientist, Research Assistant, and Research Fellow in the UK (Oxford)?

texts:
In Oxford's job website (here and here), I see positions including Professor, University Lecturer, Departmental Lecturer, Research Scientist, Research Assistant, and Research Fellow. What are the differences between the roles/duties and salary between these?

These job titles are discussed in answers to Translating British faculty titles into American equivalents but only in terms of career progression,  without much detail as to roles, duties, and salaries.


texts:
UPDATE:
So, am I to understand there is no such thing as a "verified research statement" besides an actual "recommendation" ? I already have a sense of the department(s) and professor's in the target phd proram know me from some elementary classes (but not that familiar with my academic background/research etc...)

ORIGINAL QUESTION:
I am planning on applying to graduate school (phd). However, before that I plan on talking with relevant professors at these schools, I would like to take a portfolio if research work I have done already. So, can I goto my current/previous professor to write/sign my research statement to PROVE/VALIDATE the contents of the research  which I did under them. Although course description/syllabus will have general statements about research, specifics can only come from the professor. I do not want to wait till recommendations for application to mention my research experience.  Questions are:

Is this the norm ?
If not, what is the alternative way?


texts: To eventually become a mathematics lecturer in the UK, does undergraduate degree have to be from a good university?

texts:
What is the initial process to become a Mathematics's lecturer at a University in London. I want to be able to lecture in a top university in the United Kingdom such as Kings College.

What is the academic ladder that I will have to climb?

Would my undergraduate program have to be from a good university or could I graduate from a mediocre university and then enroll in a masters program at a well known university followed by a PhD?

My goal is to become a lecturer and go into research in Mathematics.


texts: Do non-Russian technical universities use Olympiad-style math/problem solving entrance exams?

texts: In the U.S., colleges typically don't use entrance exams to select students. For test results they rely instead on standardized tests like the SAT or ACT. I heard that the top technical math/science schools in Russia administer entrance exams which are similar to math Olympiads. I am wondering: is this a Russian thing or do universities in other countries use difficult problem-solving/Olympiad tests like this?


texts: How to evaluate foreign credential evaluation services

texts:
I am considering earning a degree abroad. In order to do this it seems that I would have to hire two separate credentials evaluation firms: one to present my transcripts in the application, and later one to explain my foreign degree to my employer.

What are best practices for hiring such a service? Should they be able to do translation in-house, or will that definitely be a separate charge? Should they necessarily be located in the same country as the target institution?

I am aware of the U.S.'s National Association of Credential Evaluation Services; maybe many countries have such an accrediting body.


texts: I am seriously struggling in online classes, what do I do?

texts: I am a senior computer science and math double major and am seriously struggling with online classes right now, what are some of the things that I can do? Before this semester, I had all As and only 3 B+s(excluding first semester freshman year cause that was when I partied all night and slept through exams, etc etc) but right now I think I might end up getting 3 Bs and potentially a C this semester. I talked to my professors and TAs but their advices aren't helping. Actually, I don't even know why I am struggling so much in my online classes, I just am. Please help! I feel so powerless. I am applying for grad schools and I think potentially getting a "downward trend" this semester will seriously hurt my prospects


texts: Prefix Dr. or Mr./Ms. if I have an MD but not a Ph.D. in medicine?

texts: I am sending in an article to a ScholarOne journal: should I mark my prefix Dr. or Mr./Ms. if I have an M.D. but not a Ph.D.?


texts: How to stay on top of recent literature?

texts:
When I started my Masters thesis one advice I got for getting good material to read was to subscribe to several journals' alerts system, so that I would get mails with eTOC (electronic Table of Contents).

This was pretty cool then, for months I could stay on top of what's been published out there and was up to date in my own little narrow area. Now almost 3 years later that list of journals have expanded a bit, and the more work I have at the lab more mails that accumulate in my mailbox. What used to be no more than 10 unread mails is now about 900. The output is more than I can handle, what more restrictive method can I implement?

I guess it is pretty clear that this way of following literature is not sustainable in the long run. So I wonder if there are other and perhaps better ways of staying on top of recently published articles?

Please note that I have checked the following two questions prior to asking this one. I do feel though my question differs from these two in its essence.

Am I reading enough of the scientific literature? Should I read for breadth or depth?
How do we know if something relevant is already published?


texts: How shall I report my education and calculate my GPA?

texts:
I studied in program A, and received a master degree in A, and at the same time received a master degree in another program B by taking a certain number of courses and doing a thesis. Then I continued to study for a PhD degree in program B, but without finishing it.

In my resume for either graduate school application or job hunting,

How shall I report my education?

First master study in the two programs, and then PhD study in program B, or
master study in program A, and graduate study in program B receiving my master in B but not finishing PhD study in B.

I was wondering how to report my GPAs for my studies in program A and B?
In particular,

for my master studies, can I calculate my GPA for program A using all courses I took, and my GPA for program B using only the courses that I used to meet the master degree in B?
for my PhD study in program B, shall I calculate my GPA by including those courses that I took to meet the master degree in B or not?

How much flexibility do I have to calculate my GPAs? My university doesn't calculate GPAs for graduate students.


texts: How do I cite a paper by a person plus a company?

texts:
There are some papers by consulting firms etc. where the authors are listed under the copyright section like:

(C) 2009 by A. A. Person and The Company Inc.

When referencing this paper do I include the person only, the company only or reference both?

In APA a combination would look like:

  Person, A. A., & The Company Inc. (2009). Title of Paper. Place:
  Publisher.

Does that look correct?


texts: What are effective strategies to work through 'drafting fatigue'?

texts:
Similar to my previous question "Strategies to overcome “academic-apathy” in the final stages of the PhD?", one thing I am noticing as I am drafting papers and the thesis, I seem to becoming overcome by 'drafting fatigue' - where things that usually don't bother me, for example:

Punctuation and grammar fixups
especially when my supervisor (advisor) suggests a change, I make the change, then he suggests changing it back on the next draft.
wanting to add additional figures

and all things like this.  After the 2nd draft, I find I am getting 'over it' (for want of a better term).  So, this leads to my question - what practical effective strategies are there to overcome this 'drafting fatigue'?


texts: How do academics come up with new ideas all the time?

texts:
I don't quite understand. How can some academics after hundreds of years of research on, say, Plato, still come up with novel, publishable interpretations, ideas, readings, solutions to these texts?

Plato is a good example for this, I think. But i am generally confused how this works, and how people can still come up with new ideas all the time.

Doesn't it get more difficult after some time?


texts: Topical tag cloud generator for researchers/academics

texts:
I've seen a few academic homepages with tag clouds indicating their topics near the top of the page. I quite like the idea... it gives a nice simple/quick overview of the topics the person is interested in.

Thus I was looking for a tool to (help) generate a tag cloud of my own topics. I'm not looking for a generic tag cloud generator. Rather the tool should take a list of PDFs of papers, extract the topical keywords and then generate the tag cloud. Ideally the tool should be clever enough to rule out noise or common stop-words like "related work", "funded by", and so on.

Alternatively, multiple tools could be used: e.g., one to do the extraction of weighted topics from the papers and another one to generate the image.

Just to pull a nice looking example from some random topic searches on Google images ("tag cloud logic programming" in this case):

Source.

EDIT: Why can I not use a generic tag cloud generator like Wordle?

If I use Wordle or generic tag cloud generators, I get "et", "al", "logic", "programming", "figure", "table". I can filter stop-words manually but I still get single words with no n-gram detection ("logic" and "programming" do not convey "logic programming").

On the other hand, there are tools for topic extraction that will intelligently extract n-gram topics from PDFs (using k-means, gazateers, tf-idf, that sort of stuff ... I'm not an expert). However, these are typically not weighted for sizing in tag clouds. Hence it seems you need a tool that connects/does both.


texts: Can MEng Students Get R&D Jobs in Robotics Area in the US?

texts:
I got the Mechanical MEng offer of a top university a few weeks ago. I'm still not sure if I want to peruse a PhD but I do want a job about R&D related to robotics in the future. I'm sure there must be some people in the same situation like me. So here is the problem, can MEng students get R&D jobs in robotics area in the US? Or it is necessary to get a PhD or MS in order to get in such jobs.
I have several specific questions:

How likely can MEng students get into PhD programs of top
universities after the MEng program? Comparing with MS students?

For the R&D jobs in robotics area, is PhD required? Or MS students also have a great chance?

Thanks a lot!!!!!