texts:
I am a new faculty member.  My chair is simply crazy in my perspective.

I am an assistant professor.  However, my teaching assignment is "offering individual statistical consulting/workshops", not "teaching any classes". This was indicated in my job description when I applied for this job.  However, several times, she says, "you are not teaching" - so she says that I need to do what she asks me to do because she pays my salary (I really do not know why she pays).
What she wants me to do is to write research/funding proposals and articles, then put her as the PI/the first author although they are my research ideas/works.  She has taken three studies so far.  More seriously, when she took the first one, I refused it.  Then she sent out an official letter including some other faculty, saying that she took my research proposal because it was originally her idea and I stole it.  Worse still, she then forced me to write the paper for her.
My Ph.D. is in statistics. She said that I couldn't get tenured unless I change my research field into an education field which she wanted to do. Her point was again "paycheck" - I should do something because I am not teaching.
Worst of all, she claims I am a bad person and faculty member because I refuse her unethical requests as a researcher.  Furthermore, she talks about me to all the other faculty members, causing them to hesitate to be friends with me.  Whatever I say goes to the chair.

I am preparing to leave this crazy medical school. However, my concern is the possibilities the chair could ruin my future career by using her connections.  What should I do?


texts: “System”, “software”, “application” or “tool” – which to use in my paper?

texts:
I am in the field of computer science, I developed some software to solve some problems and would like to write some papers about them. But I don’t know what to call the software in each of my works.

For example I developed software to extract structured data from web pages, (I called it system). In another project I developed software for foreign language learning (I called it software tool, however I may rather to call it system again).

In general, what is the difference between software and system?
When I should use the terms application or tool?


texts: Is it appropriate to give a gift to a teaching assistant for helping outside of work time?

texts:
I am thinking of buying a small gift, like coffee, for a teaching assistant, who helped me solve problems in a particular subject, even outside of work time, to thank for the effort.
Is this appropriate or even allowed?


texts: Is it better to write "Related Work" at the start or in the end?

texts:
As per title, which one is a better way to go:

to write the Related Work part right after Introduction and before System Architecture

OR

to write the System Architecture right after Introduction and dump Related Work in the end just before the Conclusion?

In my field, I have read both ways. I personally find Related Work a bit unnecessary and I usually skip them while reading a paper. It is reasonable in the sense that a researcher would have already read nearly all the related work within his or her field. So he or she may not bother to read those sections of the similar papers.

In this sense, I prefer to adopt the latter that dumps this part at the end. However, I see most of the papers that I have read adopted the former.

What are the pros and cons of these two approaches? How do I choose wisely?

I am in EECS field, but any generic advice is also very much welcomed


texts: Is it common for research disciplines to have a large gap between theory and practice?

texts:
TL;DR: Is it normal that the theory sub-community and the applied sub-community of a single research field to have different goals and different standards for peer review - to the extent that the research field itself suffers?

I work in a subfield of computer networking. During the last two years I've been in a quite unusual position (for the subfield) as a person whose job was to bring some mostly-theoretical results of big research project to practice. Personally I've greatly enjoyed this role; however, the job also brought a lot of frustrations. It seemed that neither the theory people nor the applied people are particularly interested in a work that bridges these two sub-communities.

In general, there is a very little overlap between what the theory subcommunity cares about and what the applied subcommunity cares about. To give one example, the assumptions made by the people in the theory camp often are wildly wrong. In my opinion, that renders most of their results quite useless; however, they do not spend a lot of effort trying to recognize and correct these invalid assumptions, as it's possible to publish their results anyway, especially in sub-premier conferences. On the other hand, I feel that applied conferences in the field are resistant to novel ideas; a paper that simply demonstrates how to achieve state-of-art results a different approach is not recognized as novel enough. In my opinion, the typical top-level applied paper is therefore quite boring; due to the peer-review standards, they must focus on the engineering work and on applying known ideas to existing problems, rather than on novel ideas and novel problems.

To give some other anecdotal examples:

after I reported that a specific algorithm (developed by one of my
theory-oriented collaborators) does not seem to give good results on a
real dataset, I was suggested that "maybe we should evaluate it on
synthetically generated data instead";
in a different conversation, a senior applied researcher commented
that "we skip over any mathematical parts when reviewing a paper".

To me it seems very likely that the progress in the subfield was faster if both communities were working closer together. The objective of science, after all, is not to simply produce more papers; it is to discover more knowledge.

Are other disciplines facing a similar problem, and how do they deal with it?


texts: What is the recommended option for a faculty applicant after accepting an offer and getting another better offer?

texts:
As universities provide short deadlines for faculty position offers, applicants can accept an offer-1 (verbally or by signing a contract) and which is not the best. What is the recommended option if a late and a better offer-2 arrives after accepting offer-1?

Reject offer-2 and stay with offer-1.
Reject offer-1 and accept offer-2.
Accept and delay offer-2 for a year or two if possible, and work for a year or two with University-1.
other options?


texts: Can a college drop-out successfully re-enter academia?

texts:
Obviously, the college drop-out in question is me, so allow me to supply as much detail as needed for you to answer this question as it pertains to my situation.

I come from a "disadvantaged" background; bad schools, bad home-life, the works. The high school I attended was one of those under-performing schools that undergraduate admissions romanticize as containing token diamonds in the rough. Entirely ignorant of the concept of financial aid and misinformed about college admissions, I didn't work hard enough to become one of those angels. Regardless, I did well enough to barely graduate with honors and earned a near-perfect ACT score, and I earned a scholarship to a private college.

My mental well-being imploded during that freshman year. I transferred out with a GPA of 2.9 to a local state school for my sophomore year. Unfortunately, this wound up being the worst mistake of my life.

My sights have always been set on higher education. On top of my personal issues, however, that developed into a paralyzing fear of failure and perfectionism. I spent the next five years barely keeping my head afloat, being dismissed once, re-admitted once again, and then finally leaving out of my own volition to seek out the healthcare I desperately needed from day 1. It's been about three years, but for whatever reason, The bureaucratic nightmare that is my former school still lists me as a student with a GPA below 1. Complications regarding financial aid and my change in majors make returning to finish that degree an impossibility, as I cannot pay for the rest of my degree out of pocket or through private loans.

I've worked odd jobs to save up to move out-of-state to work for a year to gain in-state tuition at a community college, and to begin a bachelor's degree that's actually relevant to my field of choice.

The choices that I would make regarding my futures studies are predicated on contingencies that I'm not familiar with. The biggest looming question in my mind is, assuming that one day I complete a bachelor's sufficiently well enough to entitle me to the prospect of graduate study, would my first attempt at a bachelor's be too big of an obstacle to overcome? What general advice would you have for me in my situation?

EDIT: My question presumes that I start and finish a bachelor's degree now with a decent-to-strong GPA and then apply for graduate admission. That's a different scenario than compensating for a low GPA earned with a completed bachelor's degree.


texts: Should I work at a lab prior to getting my PhD in Education?

texts: Do applicants to the field of education even apply to work in labs prior to applying? Does it truly help?


texts: How do academics with teaching responsibilities, etc. find the time to do research?

texts: How do academics manage to do research when they are lecturing and running courses, helping students, writing up assignments and tests, marking assignments and tests, supervising graduate students, going to meetings, doing admin, having personal lives, etc. ?


texts: I am going to send an email (including my CV) to a professor who has offered a postdoc position. Regarding recommendation letters or (any other contacts such as exchanging emails about me) between potential mentor of postdoc and my Ph.D. advisor, I would like to know that : Will the professor of postdoc send email to my adviser directly to ask a recommendation letter or any other questions about me without informing me?


texts: Can the future career damage associated with staying in the same lab between PhD. and postdoc be offset by massive high-impact productivity?

texts:
I am going to be finishing my PhD at a top-10 ranked US institution in the next 6 months in a biosciences related discipline. My advisor (and the lab in general) is extremely well known and well respected. I have been very productive in my current lab (10-15 papers in high-impact journals, many additional manuscripts in preparation, invitations to present at 5-10 conferences, and I am well known in the broader research community).

Upon graduation I may be geographically limited to stay in the same city. If I were not geographically limited I would, largely, be able to postdoc anywhere I wanted. This is not intended to sound arrogant, but I want to paint a picture (I have investigated the possibility with a few best case choices and all have responded favorably).

If I stay in the city, I am considering whether to remain with my current advisor or switch labs.

I have many reasons to stay in my current lab: I believe I will be very productive, the research direction is very appealing to me, I have a great relationship with my advisor, I have a lot of autonomy already and my advisor will help me move into a more independent position, and I have had and will continue to have opportunities to spend time at other labs around the world.

There is no one else in this city with whom I'm as excited about working.

However, I'm concerned that if I stay:

I would largely be perceived as a mini-version of my PI. This would hurt funding options in the short and long term (e.g. F32 awards, K-99 awards). Unclear how badly it would hurt them.
My work might all be perceived as my advisors work (though to be fair he is extremely good at explicitly crediting people)
I would not experience a new lab environment
It could be looked on as lazy/unimaginative
It might (would) hurt my ability to get a faculty position later

Is it possible for me to offset the future career damage associated with staying in the same lab between PhD. and postdoc by massive high-impact productivity? Or would my record still be "damaged" by staying in the same place, even if I was extremely productive there?


texts: How do grad schools view early High School graduation?

texts:
I graduated from High School after only 2 years and because of that I don't have a record of extra curricular activities and I also can't get most scholarships/grants because most require doing something for 3 years.

Anyway, I'm finishing up my undergrad and am looking into pursing a graduate degree. Does graduating early from High School put my at a disadvantage because I didn't do any extracurricular activities? I was always told while in High School that you need 3 years of a language and 2 years of EC activities to get into a Grad program.


texts: Is it possible to work on independent research project with a professor from previous university?

texts: My Undergraduate education will be ending soon, and I want to work on an independent project with one of the professor even after my graduation before joining another university for my masters. Is there any possible way this can be made possible, if so, will I be able to publish the particular work in a top academic journal.


texts: Supervisor submitted without consent of co-author postdoc. Postdoc also submitted to another venue with consent of supervisor. Plagiarism problem?

texts:
My previous postdoc supervisor submitted our work to a conference venue in December last year. He was the first author in this submission while I was the second author. It got accepted in March 2020. He did not inform me about this submission. The conference will be held next month; however, they already put this accepted paper online in IEEE Xplore last week. I get to know about this submission when I was searching for some of my papers online in the IEEE Xplore last week.
Now the problem is we have also submitted the same work in April 2020 to another conference (me as the first author, and he as a second author). He was fully aware of that submission, however, at that time, he did not inform me that the work is already accepted in another conference venue in March. Now I know that my work is accepted in one conference while it is in the review at another conference. So there is a clear plagiarism problem.
In this situation, when I informed him, after some argument, he now suggests withdrawing the paper in review with some excuse, and go with the accepted one.
Kindly suggest what should be done? Should I inform everything to both the venues and withdraw from both the places. Other options are to withdraw the accepted paper citing that it was submitted without my consent, or should I go with my supervisor's suggestions? I do not want to face any plagiarism related trouble.


texts:
In an editorial on the topic of Sci-Hub, Marcia McNutt (Editor-in-Chief of Science Journals) lists a few reasons why Sci-Hub may be bad for scientists. One of the drawbacks she lists is (emphasis mine):

  Authors do not benefit from download statistics, for example, which are increasingly being used to assess the impact of their work.

This surprised me, as I have never come across any mention of download statistics being used to measure the impact of papers / scientists. Are download statistics really being used in any meaningful way when assessing the impact of scientists?

I'm also asking because sites like ArXiv does not provide download statistics, and neither do other secondary publication servers (university paper repositories, private homepages, ...), which would hurt the impact rating the same way.


texts: Do PhD admission committees prefer prospective professors over practitioners?

texts:
I am about to submit my application to a PhD in Statistics and I was wondering whether writing in the SoP about being willing to work in the industry to make a tangible impact would downgrade my application with respect to writing that I would enjoy being a professor in the future.
They already make clear that they prefer recommendations from academics rather than practitioners but I do not know what figures they expect to train (professors vs. practitioners).


texts:
I help with typesetting of one scientific journal: I recieve the articles in the form in which they were finally accepted, and I re-format them etc. to make them ready for publication. Currently, my title in the journal colophon says: "Graphic Design and Typesetting: M. Name".

However, I get the impression that this position is in the scientific jargon usually called "Copy Editor", which would suit the colophon quite well since there are other "Editors" listed there (Language, Guest, Editor-in-charge, etc.). I want to make sure whether this is appropriate or not.

So: Who am I?


texts:
I have a background in Physics and am currently pursuing a research career in experimental Biophysics. I've spent over a year on my project and am struggling terribly. I'm considering switching to doing theory.

Having done some research on neuronal networks, I'm assuming that transitioning to a group that works on Biological Networks would be ideal. I'm also planning to take courses on Bioinformatics and Non Linear Dynamics. Besides this, how do I prepare myself for the same? What kind of topics do I need to have a strong hold on as far as quantitative aspects are concerned?


texts: A professor of mine pronounces an author's name incorrectly, what should I do?

texts:
My literature professor pronounces the name of a very famous novelist incorrectly (I've searched quite a bit and I'm sure of it). I'll have an oral examination soon, and I'm not entirely sure whether I should adapt and pronounce it like she does, or correctly. I'm afraid that if I choose the last option she will tell me I'm wrong, and I'd have to explain she is, which might embarrass her.

What's the best thing to do? If the second, what would be the most polite way to explain I'm right?


texts: I received an F32, how do I ask for more money?

texts:
The F32 pays for my salary, and my benefits.  This is going to be more than 58,500 dollars that my boss saves per year, for the next 3 years.  That is a lot of money.

I think it is only right that I ask my boss for more money on top.  She has 1 large non federal grant.  And since she is relatively new, she still has start-up funds.  NIH stipulates that the F32 can be supplemented with more money, given the money is not from a federal grant.

To start, i want to ask for an additional $15,000 per year.

Have any tips for me?

Thank you!

Update: I talked to my boss a 2nd time.   She said supplemental funds were really rare and that she could not justify it.  But she said she would give me retirement benefits starting July 1, 2019 (start of fiscal year).   At this university, that amounts to 14%.  I am relatively happy.   My salary is going from 47.5k to 50.3k thanks to the NIH, and I do not have to pay FICA.  This is an increase of almost 6,000 dollars from 2018 to 2019, not including retirement benefits.   With retirement benefits,  that is another 7,000 per year, approx.

I won't be able to get another car,  but I'll be able to repair my clunker when it breaks down!

Thank you.


texts: Nature "Communications Arising" how recent must the original article be?

texts:
Nature's guidelines for authors say that

  Critical comments on recent Nature papers may, after peer review, be published online as Brief Communications Arising

What actually counts as recent in this case? One year? Five years? It would be helpful to know before initiating the communications arising process which begins with direct correspondence to the author of the original paper, so carries consequences which may not be worthwhile if Nature consider the original paper too old to be of note.


texts: How do I correctly abbreviate compounded first name for academic publications?

texts:
My first name (legally) consists of two names separated by a space, but I only go by the first in everyday use. I'm from Scandinavia and having a first name that is a compound of two names is not that uncommon.  I also have a middle name that I rarely use.
Let's say my name is "John Andrew Smith Fitzgerald" in which "John Andrew" is my first name, "Smith" my middle name, and "Fitzgerald" my last name.
What would be the appropriate way to cite the author's name in an academic publication?

John Andrew S. Fitzgerald
John Fitzgerald (omitting second first name and middle name).
John S. Fitzgerald (with second first name omitted)

Personally, I would prefer to use the last format.
Does it actually matter or is consistency key?
I apologize if this has already been answered. Most replies that I found pertained to the use of middle and last name, not a compounded first name.


texts: Who pays for travel for a conference paper completed at previous job?

texts:
I'm currently a Postdoc at Research Institute I.
I had a paper accepted at a conference. The conference will be in two months. I'm the single author.
Next month I'll start working as a Postdoc at Research Institute II.

Question: In this kind of situation who pays the travel? I should note that both research groups have enough money for travels.

On the one hand I'm hesitating to ask my current advisor to pay for a trip to a conference which I will attend after leaving the group. On the other hand, I'm hesitating to ask my next advisor to pay for a trip to a conference about a paper which was completed before I arrive there.


texts: Study technique for courses that involve reading and understanding research papers?

texts:
Previous quests for the ideal study technique usually led me to "solve problems" (mathematics courses) or use spaced repetition (+ e.g. ANKI) for courses which require at least some level of memorization.

Now I'm taking courses which require reading (and understanding) research papers and I'm not sure about the best way to study. Should I print out quizzes for each paper? Or just read them again and again? Are there study techniques specifically for "paper-based" courses?


texts: What are some options to do over the summer that will help me in grad school?

texts:
I'm currently finishing up my second year of undergraduate studies and overall I've gotten some pretty average to good grades. Over the summer, I would like to focus a little bit on myself and my health, but I'm worried not using my time to work on some academia would be detrimental when I want to apply to grad school.

What is something I could do that would still leave me with a lot of time to focus on myself?


texts: Where to find journals or other publications for my work?

texts: I have written papers on the topic of network security.  Now I am trying to find a place to publish one of them.  Is there a list of publications by topic, somewhere?  If I come across such a list, how can I determine the reputation of the various publications?


texts:
I am most of the way through my freshman year at Washington State University, pursuing a BS in  Computer Science. Going away to school has been rough, and I have been pretty depressed for most of the time there. Right now, I am leaning towards not wanting to continue my education, but my parents are strongly opposed.

Why I don't think I need college

One of the main factors that is pushing me away from school is the fact that I already spend plenty of time working on my own software projects. On my own, I have gained extensive knowledge and experience with web application development, using platforms that are far too new to have a undergraduate class that teaches them. These are platforms used in real workplaces and production software, and I would not gain these skills in school.

Second, I have lost a lot of faith in my school after seeing so much incompetency from people who are meant to be educating me. The professors outsource a majority of their work to their TA's, who I feel I know more than. My Computer Science class is really just an entourage of TA's parroting the words of the professor, with embarrassingly little of their own understanding.

Another big reason is that for 10 weeks this summer, I will be travelling to Silicon Valley to take part in a 'startup accelerator program'. This is a program where already-established tech entrepreneurs and investors help people who are new to the game with building their product and starting their company. At the end of the 10 weeks, investors decide how much they want to put into each company, in exchange for some equity. Of the companies that go through these kinds of programs, a very high amount succeed. I feel that if the developers I am working with and I do well here (no, it is not guaranteed that we will make money), college is pointless for me.

What college is like for me now

College has been hard for me. Not because I am not capable of understanding the material, and not because I don't have enough time to get all my work done. I have been suffering in my classes because instead of going to class or finishing assignments, I work on my own projects.

Of course, if I forced myself to put time and effort into this work, I would achieve satisfactorily. However, that is much easier said than done.

In order to start caring about school, I would need to drop all my other software side-projects (or at least greatly limit the time I spend on them). Essentially, this is a choice, and right now I will always pick my own projects over school.

Do I really need school?

After all that I have seen about the limited job market (even for degree-holders) and all that I have experienced in school, I am really questioning whether I need to stay in school. Convince me whether or not I really need a BS, or any other advice you can give about the subject.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read and answer this. I normally feel bad taking time away from other people for my own benefit, but this is a major life-decision, and I cannot properly come to consensus on my own.


texts: Is Ph.D relevant in academics because of the university under which it is done or the paper publications? I am planning to join for Ph.D under a relatively new university but I hear often that it's the papers that count and the quality papers in it. The university as long as it's registered with the government / legal doesn't matter. Is that true?


texts: I am a 2nd year Math Major, and I am aiming to recieve a PhD in Mathematics. I love mathematics, but I also have a longing for African American studies. I want to be a college professor, so I was wondering is there any feasible way I would be able to teach both subjects? If so, would it involve me double majoring now or am I allowed to start two PhD tracks in different fields. Thank you.


texts: Does anybody receive printed copies of new journal issues nowadays?

texts:
Everybody I have met in academia uses recently-published journals entirely through electronic means. They may print out articles for their own use, but they will not receive printed subscriptions.

Does anybody receive modern journals in printed form nowadays? If so, who and why?


texts:
How do I judge a professor's quality while choosing  a PhD?

I have completed my Masters in Pure Mathematics.
I want to work in fields which involve Algebra,Functional Analysis,Complex Variables.

I also have my own funding to pursue my research.I have passed a qualification exam which will fund my studies for 4 years.

But I have the following questions:

Most of the questions asked here for example How to judge the reputation of a potential advisor or research group for good quality research for PhD? asks to visit the labs.
In Mathematics we don't have any labs.
I searched some Professors working in the areas I have mentioned.
Some of the Professors had great citations in the period 2005-2010 but now they don't get enough citations hardly 1 or 2.
Also should I try to join a reputed University as I believe all professors will have great publications there?
Or should I not judge a Professor on where he/she teaches?
Also it is not possible to visit every Professor personally

In other words I am confused.
I don't understand what to see and what not.

Can you kindly say how I should judge a professor or what factors should be taken into account ?


texts: Is it OK to accept that your name be included in the authors list of a paper you have done next to nothing about?

texts: Is it ethically OK to accept that your name be included as an author of a paper you have done almost nothing about when all the parties agree on the matter and there is mutual consent?


texts: Can I upload a national report which I reference in a paper to a preprint server so it has a permanent location and/or DOI rather than a URL?

texts:
I recently wrote an editorial article which referenced several national (UK) reports. These are typically freely available as pdf files online via institutions like the British Medical Association, the General Medical Council and so on. They are not published articles in peer reviewed journals but are major and important pieces of work. When I referenced these reports in my editorial, I initially referenced them as online sources (with date accessed, date published and the URL where they are available from).
During the course of peer review and submitting to journals, one of the national reports (from 2015) disappeared from its URL which was not permanent. The organisation probably removed it as it was old. I had saved a pdf copy of the report. It was no longer easy to find a copy online and the one place I found it was not a professional website URL (just some person's blogging site or something like that).
My question is, to future-proof my article from reports like this disappearing from non-permanent URL, can (and should) I load my "hard copy" pdf into a repository and provide a permanent location to the report. This can be done with OSF, Zenodo etc and it would then be permanently available with a DOI.
Otherwise any URL cited can just be changed or the report can be made unavailable any time.
Alternatively, should I just leave the "date accessed" as an old date (from a time when the report could be accessed) and readers would understand than the reports might not be there in future?


texts: How can an undergrad from a country with little 'international' research improve his chances of being a "good fit" for a top PhD program?

texts:
I am in my senior year of studying electrical engineering in an african university. I intend to apply to grad schools(Ph.D) a year after graduation, possibly to the top EE programs in the US (MIT, Berkeley, Stanford...) Despite the fact that ground-breaking/stellar research is virtually impossible to come by for undergraduates in my country, I have sort of gathered some. I have an accepted poster presentation(based on independent research) at the major national conference in my field, and  my present senior year thesis/project may yield three-five papers at IEEE conferences around Africa. I should also be able to get two publications(also independent research) in a continental journal which is popular only among  African Engineers in my field and not much outside.

My degree is a five year bachelors programme interspersed with three internships/co-op experience. One was a summer spent in a local R&D electronics lab/company in which we completed several design projects although all were adaptations/imitation of existing projects to solve problems facing developing societies like ours. Another one was a long internship (~8mths) in the EE division of a world-renowned company with huge presence in my country during which I worked on a major design project which required a lot of technical knowledge and was evaluated. I have also done some remote/virtual research for a foreign, not well-known, research institute in my field and I have completed a technical report (no peer review) of my research(not particularly breath-taking) which they publish in their report series.

My gpa though not near-perfect is on a 'first-class' (we use the british system) and so I am a high-ranking student in my university. We do not use the four point system and as much as I would not like to compare apples with oranges, if I convert my cgpa to the 4.0 scale it is just over 3.6 although our scale is much larger and high-end grades are more difficult to attain than what is obtainable in the US system. I am also a recipient of several national awards/recognition for academic merit.

Given the aforesaid and also assuming that I ace the GRE (math especially since I'm in engineering), my questions are these:

How do you think I can improve my chances of being a good fit for top U.S. graduate schools noting the difficulty/impossibility in doing any ground-breaking research especially as an undergraduate here?


texts: Daily Habits to Prepare for Graduate School

texts: I'm currently interested in pursuing a graduate degree in computer science, but right now I am working full time and will need to continue to do so for a few more years until I can pay off my undergraduate debt.  I also have very limited research experience as an undergraduate. That said I was wondering what are some small things I could incorporate into my daily routine to both prepare myself for graduate school (I've noticed the work in the corporate world is very different than school) and make myself a more attractive candidate when I am able to apply?


texts: What more should I do to increase admission probability to a top math graduate program?

texts:
Everyone learned in high school that admissions to top colleges for undergrad is not a meritocracy because there are simply too many qualified candidates and not enough spots. After getting rejected from 9 top colleges and having to go to a state school, I knew that that at least would change for graduate school because achievements in college are easier to compare, harder to fake, and represent real effort. But now I have to question this belief given how acceptance rates are below 10% and taking tough courses, having a high GPA, and having great recommendations doesn't set you apart from the average applicant. So I wish to know what I could do that I'm not already doing or planning to do. To that end, here is a list of some things I've done:

Courses taken by the end of this semester: MATH 340, 341, 403, 410, 411, 432 on this list, and STAT600, AMSC466. A+ in all courses so far.
Established a good reputation with one professor after excelling in a seminar and a few math competitions, these being organized/proctored by him. Still need one more reputation like this to have 2 strong letters.
Joined a directed reading program, currently reading through Graph Theory by Diestel.
Published papers in high school journal and on arXiv.
4.0 GPA, more than half of credits towards degree done.
By the end of this semester, will have satisfied all requirements outside math except for one writing course, and will have satisfied all criteria about specific math courses or topics. Thus, I have time to take plenty of graduate courses and the freedom to choose.

Here is what I'm planning to do:

Summer 2021 REU. Didn't get into any REUs this year, probably because I only applied to several programs and had just one recommendation letter.
Do even better in math competitions, simply for the fun of it.
Take math subject GRE sometime in 2021 just to get it over with. I looked at a few practice tests and the questions look easy even once the time constraint is taken into account. However, I will still officially time myself on a few tests just to not let my guard down.
Take more graduate courses, graduate with math department honors, and maintain a high GPA.
Ask professors interesting questions outside of lectures so that they remember me. An instructor for a course I did very well in last fall told me he wouldn't be able to provide a good letter because interaction outside class was minimal (I never went to office hours or sent an email). This strategy should make me more than just a student who showed up to lectures and got good grades.

Is there anything significant I'm missing that would make me stand out among the applicants to top PhD programs? I heard that students from lower ranked colleges are expected to have higher statistics, but my academics with regards to grades and course offerings already seem to be maxed out, leaving only the option of making muself look better outside of courses.  Surely the answer isn't to just continue doing what I was planning on doing given how competitive admissions are in the 21st century. These lists aren't complete, so a correction will be made if someone I already had in mind is mentioned.
A note about time: I should be on track to graduate spring 2022. If I don't get into a good math program for fall 2022, is taking an extra semester or 4th year and then reapplying for spring/fall 2023 a good idea?


texts:
I'm wondering in general how courses from outside statistics/math are viewed in general PhD admissions.

In particular, are courses in graduate economic courses like macroeconomics valued at all or is it just econometrics and nothing else.


texts: Can I upload final camera ready version of IEEE International conference to arxiv or academia.edu?

texts:
I have sent final camera ready(CRC) version of accepted papers to respective IEEE Conference organizers. The CRC does not contain copyright or something. They are not yet published into IEEE Xplore.
May I upload final sent versions (preprints) to arxiv or academia.edu? Is it legally acceptable to do it?
Can I upload the preprints to my personal website?


texts: How random is the graduate admission process in the United States?

texts:
I wonder how random the graduate admission process is in the United States. I am mostly interested in the fields of computer science, and PhD programs (i.e., not Master programs).

One way to quantify it would be following a similar methodology as in this study  (mirror), which showed that half the papers appearing at NIPS would be rejected if the review process were rerun. Of course it may not be flawless, but might give some decent approximations.

I am looking for referenced numbers, not guesses.


texts: Pure maths "dropout" wanting to finish MSc thesis

texts:
Personal background
I'm currently in my thirties. I began my math path with self studying some of the university courses while in high school thanks to the guidance of a prolific mentor at the university ( he passed away a few years ago in a tragic accident). Then it continued a bit backwards and by the time when I entered university I started out with PhD and masters level courses in pure mathematics. Mainly because those were the interesting courses that kept my motivation high. I took the more mantatory courses towards the last years as "fillers".
I was in the process of starting out with my 4th year thesis in my third year of studies (older type of Master degree) when my PhD programe application that I had good letters of recommendations for got rejected. This rejection together with becoming a bit burned out and feeling a bit of general social abstinence from the solitary nature of my self studies led me to abandon pure maths. Instead I started to study applied maths. I got into finance/insurance without a thesis where I'm working ever since with mainly mathematical modeling.
Current situation
Maths has always been my passion. I generally feel motivated by my work but there's a longing for some more of an intellectual challenge. I opened some of my old books in Algebraic Geometry during the COVID-19 quarantine and noticed how much I actually remembered from back then. This lit my spark in a way I have not experienced with my otherwise mundane work. My motivation other than the pure interest I have in the subject is that I feel that not having a thesis is a failure that I want to remedy. It will also be useful for future work prospects I believe. I don't think I will become a researcher because I don't have the time and dexterity with two kids or the brain plasticity at this age. It's a long road after all.
I'm currently self studying algebraic geometry from the "bible" Hartshorne amongst other books. I have a past PhD course in algebraic geometry but since it was so long ago I'm attending a masters level course in the subject. I'm also thinking that completing it will help convince potential advisors that I'm serious and that I'm not just talking.
I have enough credits from my past studies for a masters in pure mathematics. The things I lack is a thesis. Two actually, one B.Sc which is a prerequisite for a M.Sc these days.
Questions

Given my perhaps a bit unorthodox experience with mathematics and the fact that I don't have any degree. How do I approach professors and ask them to take me on to write a B.Sc thesis? I feel like my age and long hiatus might put many of them off. Normally I would probably visit them in the office and talk, but these COVID-19 times when everyone's working from home that's not possible. I don't want "anyone" as a supervisor because I'm not doing this only for a degree but because I see it now as my hobby. So I want to write it about a subject that I will enjoy.

When I was in the process of thinking what I want and how I asked a few professors about  supervising a M.Sc thesis (even though I don't have an actual B.Sc degree yet, I didn't know this was required) through mail. Everyone of them replied that they didn't have the time in the coming period but that I should ask professor X. Did I burn my bridges with them?

Taking a semester off from work for the B.Sc (I will take time off once I get to the M.Sc, however), is not an option and I do fine currently with studying on the side of my other obligations. I want to combine my work and writing the B.Sc thesis by planning to write most of it during the summer and some as I am on parental leave with my our newborn next year. This seems very specific and might put off many potential advisors. How do I touch on this subject in my contact?


texts: How to learn how to pronounce and remember names of Chinese students?

texts:
Most Australian universities have a large number of international students. Common countries of origin include China, Singapore, and Malaysia. When interacting with students, it's much nicer if you can learn their name and pronounce it correctly. To reduce the scope of this question, I thought I'd limit it to Chinese names, but it could be broadened to include other Asian countries.

Several challenges emerge with Chinese names for an Australian (and presumably others from North America, Europe, etc.):

challenges of pronunciation
challenges when reading a Chinese name of knowing which part of the full name is the name to address the student by
challenges in remember the name. In particular, I find it difficult to remember a name that I can't pronounce. Furthermore, the less familiar I am with a name and the fewer associations I have with a name, the harder I find it is to remember.

Questions

How can I learn how to pronounce names of Chinese students?
How can I better recall names of Chinese students? e.g., get acquainted with common names, build some semantic knowledge around Chinese names.

I'd be particularly interested in any good online resources for this purpose.

UPDATE: Following the suggestion of @scaaahu I have asked this question also on Chinese Stack Exchange.com . I normally would not cross-post, but I think that this question might be a rare exception to the rule where cross-posting will provide complementary perspectives.


texts: Research statement for second time PhD applications to a different graduate program

texts:
Context
I was admitted to a graduate program(in chemical physics) in US during the fall of 2019 and after a year of coursework I realized that my research interests were more aligned towards another subject(condensed matter physics/ quantum information). As an international student I had some exposure to research in these related fields and it was until I got into graduate school that I could explore different research areas. When I first applied to graduate programs, I decided to apply to certain programs(in chemistry) based on my majors in undergrad. I decided to graduate from my program with a terminal masters' degree(M.S.), having taken basic graduate courses that align with my research interests and a summer research credits by working with a professor in the other department.
Question
How would a statement of purpose for the second time applications to graduate programs differ from the previous one? Are there any specific details that the admissions committee would expect me to include in my application package?


texts: How can I get better at Learning Things?

texts:
I am currently a Software Engineering apprentice, doing a related degree as the academic side.

I have noticed that despite how passionate I am about software, things never 'click' with me when I first read about them or when someone explains them to me. This can be both academic and practical.

It sometimes takes me so long to get a grasp of a simple theory concept because I overthink and get muddled in my head, I am not that good at math and situations requiring intense thinking (as an example of basic situations that perplex me). And I've noticed my practical knowledge at work isn't up to standard, I'm not as 'good' as I should be for this for how far into my job I am (almost a year).

It's becoming increasingly embarrassing having to watch 4 different videos on basic topics so I can understand, or worse getting someone at work to keep varying their explanation so I understand. I find myself mapping technical concepts out on paper a lot which works but it shouldn't be required of me for basic things and I can't go about my life having to set aside pen and paper every time someone explains something to me.

I believe with effort I can achieve anything and am not phased by people who say you are 'born an engineer'. Instead I guess I should to better my skill of learning.

I am seeking an answer as to how one can get better at learning, techniques, methodologies, books etc.


texts: Are multiple PGCE required to teach multiple subjects in the UK?

texts:
I'm currently finishing the 3rd year of my Computer Science course at University. My expected classification is Second-class honours, upper division (2:1). After I finish this course, I'd like to go ahead and study further for a Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) and become a teacher.

The question I have, is how do people / teachers approach teaching multiple subjects? Do they do a PGCE in the subject they've gained a degree in and then move on to study teaching another subject after they have their teaching capabilities? Or do they do 2 PGCEs at the same time?

The reason I'm asking this question is because I want to become an ICT & Computing teacher, but also a P.E. teacher on the side and I'm unsure of which path to take (or which path I must take?)

It's worth noting that my interest for P.E. has purely been from a personal  experience as I've become keen of the gym and realised the importance of staying fit and healthy since University. I don't have a GCSE (or any equivalent qualification) in P.E. as it's something I never liked when I was younger.

Any advice from fellow academics would be greatly appreciated!


texts: Additional correction after paper publication

texts: My journal paper has been published on IEEE Xplore website. I noticed a typesetting issue which I didn't notice when I was evaluating the proof version. Is there any chance to contact IEEE staff editor to modify that or it's now impossible to make any corrections? If yes would they change the "date of current version" printed on top of the paper?


texts: Resources/methods to teach how to perform research logically

texts:
Can you point me to resources (e.g. book, articles, etc.) or methods on teaching students how to think more logically/systematically about doing research?

I've seen a number of intelligent graduate students who do great in performing experiments, but struggle to make logical arguments about their research and conclusions. For instance I see students making statements without providing evidence/arguments for such statements (e.g. "increasing the temperature will cause the experiment to proceed better" but no evidence/reasoning is provided). I see writing from students that is an organized mess with no clear path or direction. I often see short confusing descriptions in written drafts when thorough explanations should be given. I see students put together graphs that are incomprehensible. On and on...

It seems that many students don't "get" how to think scientifically or research-oriented. I know this comes with time and experience, but perhaps there is a way to teach students the underlying principles and approach to doing research?


texts: Asking for recommendation letter from manager for graduate school

texts:
I asked a mentor on my research team to write my letter, but he has not been responsive (he normally is terrible at keeping up with e-mails, this is no different). My manager only saw the high-level aspects of my research, but the mentor isn't responding and asking my manager might prompt my mentor to help him write the letter.

Is this a good way of approaching the situation? If not, what would be a better way?


texts: Take advantage of coursework based masters program

texts:
As mentioned in my other post [How negative to go in a statement of purpose? I tried grad school once before and now I am applying again. The first time I did not feel I got much from the experience for lots of reasons. The program then and the program I am applying to now are both coursework based not research based.

For this question I want to focus on the feelings of the courses. Mostly the class topics were interesting, like in the catalog, but lectures and homeworks were not very hard. Almost like intro level classes even though it was grad school. Or like an extra year of undergraduate. I thought I would be expert or closer to expert but I did not feel different at all after those classes. I feel like I should have got more out. And yes it was a real accredited university not a for profit school or diploma mill.

I want things to go better next time around. My question is what I can do different to get more from the experience? Appreciate the advice!

EDIT:
The answer helps but I asked because I feel like I do not know enough even to know where to start with approaching instructors with higher order questions. I did not mean the class was so easy because I am expert. I meant the class did not add much to what I already know. The program is designed for skills for industry not preparing for academia or research if that matters. In other words I did not really feel I got new skills.


texts: How can a prospective PhD student know beforehand which universities have the most reputable teams/supervisors?

texts:
I am interested in astronomy/astrophysics and cosmology. It is my understanding that choosing the best supervisor/team to work with for the PHD is more crucial than choosing the best (and most reputable) university.

If the above statement is correct. How can one identify the desired supervisors/teams? Probably the best way to to this is to read papers. The researchers that publish the most papers are clearly active in their field. But how can one, without even knowing these researchers find a way to locate the researchers who seem to be making good contributions to their field?

To put it in a simpler manner, does a website like arxiv.org and others have a way to identify the most active researchers (or teams that work on a specific problem)?


texts: Is it conventional to acknowledge someone who read a draft of paper but didn't suggest any improvements?

texts:
Let us say you have a paper drafted up and asked someone to comment on it. If this someone replied to you with compliments but with no suggestions on possible improvements, is it academically conventional to mention this someone's name in the acknowledgement of the paper?

I intend to do that, verily. However, my concern is that I am not sure if doing this is appropriate, for doing this may be not fair to other people who made substantial suggestions and whose names are also listed in the acknowledgement.


texts: Why are some graduate schools' students so much more productive?

texts:
I'm a math PhD student. I've noticed that graduating students in top 5-10 schools, by the time they apply for postdocs, will regularly have several math research papers and several articles in preparation, usually with senior faculty. In contrast, at my (Research I university) PhD program most students will only graduate with 1 publication - their thesis. I came to graduate school with a solid knowledge of the "standard undergraduate math major curriculum" but no graduate courses, and no real idea of which adviser I wanted or what area of math, and I struggled to get to the current state of knowledge in a specific field. Looking back I don't see how it's possible for me to write several good papers during grad school. I just don't understand the phenomenon that I'm observing. I definitely think that I've worked hard. My guess is that most entering math grad students at top schools will have taken math graduate courses and will have already been reading research papers and know which research projects they want to work on - in other words, they are 2-3 years ahead of the game.

Question: Is there something fundamentally different about these top programs, independent of the knowledge, work ethic, etc. of the grad students, that makes creating an impressive publication record easier and/or more efficient? Is there some "secret"? What are the underlying mechanisms that allow students at Stanford or MIT to be so much more impressive on average than a student at a less prestigious place?


texts: Нow to start an academic career if you got your PhD five years ago and didn't do science for these five years?

texts: I think that it's too late for postdoc. Also, I think that my PhD thesis is weak and not many people would be interested. What is the way to start academic or near-academic career, if not teaching? Thesis is on CS and applied mathematics. I live in Ukraine and could move if it's needed. Volunteering or studying for some period is also acceptable.


texts: What to do if I have seen an exam before I have taken it?

texts:
Today I saw a photograph of an upcoming exam at my university. At first I thought it was last year's exam; so I took a closer look at it as I think it is okay to see last year's exams even if they aren’t officially published.
Anyway, later someone revealed to me that it was the upcoming exam which we’ll take in about three weeks.
It was taken by another student in my course, who took it while the teacher was on a break outside the room.

I feel bad and unethical about seeing it, as it seems to be cheating for me, and even more I’m worried about my further career if this ever comes out.
On one hand I don’t want to harm the other student who took the photo, on the other hand I don’t want to risk my career.

It is a semi difficult exam; I would say you should pass it quite well if you learned for it.
So what should I do? If I tell the university I’d probably have to reveal the identity of the person who took it, which I don’t want to do under any circumstances.

There have been some questions on how the pic was made: the prof brought the exam to a lesson to give a rough guideline on what to learn or not. During the break he went outside (as I and many others as well) to get a coffee and that's how the pic was made. I know for sure that it is the upcoming exam as it had a big heading with our course name and year.

For those who say it is also cheating to look at old exams:
I think you agree on that seeing an actual exam before you are going to take it is another dimension than seeing a year-old one.
Also this is very common where I study. It´s not like we are using really illegal copies, it is just that we often see pics of post-exam reviews. It is allowed to make them and there is no NDA on it (at least I never had to sign one), the exams just aren't published officially. I also bet every prof knows that this is going on here and tolerates it (some said so explicitly).

Also some said I should "rat" the guy who took it: I don't know the punishment for taking a photo of an exam, but I doubt it is modest, considering the - in my eyes negligent - prof. Also I don't want to be responsible for "destroying" the career of another, very young, student. Also it would probably come out who "ratted" him out, and I doubt that I would have much fun in the next two years then (I think you can say that in our course it is considered worse to "rat" somebody than to do to reveal something unethical, but I really doubt that this differs anywhere in the world).

Anyways: Today I have created a new Mail-Address and send the Prof a letter, including one question I remember as a proof, where I told him that the exam probably has been leaked. I asked him to keep the matter as private as possible and I also asked him not to write back to me what he decided to do or to ask any person-specific questions as I don't know any thing more than I told him already. For me the matter is therefore hopefully closed.


texts: Why is my published article seemingly not indexed by Google or Google Scholar?

texts:
I am a Masters student, in the Faculty of Science in Canada. I have a question to ask regarding literature review. I am doing a bit of studying to find protocols for my experiment (where I hope to conjugate a certain linker to a nucleic acid). I tried looking for papers with different keyword searches on Google Scholar, as well as the WebOfScience.
There could be different possibilities here - either there are no papers that have been published, or the Search Spider was not able to find the papers (which is a False Result).
I therefore tried looking for a paper which we had published 4-5 years back in Journal of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Research. It does not show up in the search results, probably because it does not have enough citations (you can try by searching this paper on Google standard search, and on Google Scholar: Potential inhibitors against acetylcholinesterase and glutathione S-transferase associated with Alzheimer's disease).
Doesn't this give false hope to certain researchers, that the work they are currently doing is novel; or make it difficult for other researchers who are trying to find a protocol to adopt?
Hoping to get some insight from the community.


texts:
I am a PhD student (mid stage) and my work includes the use of mathematics. I try to learn as much as possible. I am facing a problem: I spent enough time on the mathematics required for my research, and according to my research supervisor I am good at understanding proofs, theorems, etc. at an intuitive level, but in writing I still have some work to do. Many times I try to write things and, although I think I am not that so bad, there is still a problem to be resolved.

Question: Is writing in research so very important? I have seen some research papers of some star people whose writing does seems to be very impressive to me (although I may be wrong).

Edit: Please note that I don't consider myself a star: that's why I am asking this question. I am trying my best to improve my writing skills and it has improved to some extent, but to me it appears that I may not get that much better at writing. Let me tell you a story: once during my PhD I worked with a professor other than my supervisor, and then we got some result so he ask me to write a paper. I took 4-5 days write a paper 8-9 pages long, then he told me that I wrote in a cryptic manner. (This happened in my first year.)


texts: How to find out whether a PhD dissertation is ready to submit?

texts: How one may know that his/her work is good and enough for getting PhD? Does it depend on the number of words, pages, number of published paper or some things else?


texts: Is attendance to seminar worth mentioning in 500 words application?

texts:
In an application for an internship I am required to talk about the list of preferred projects.

One of these project is a generalization of the work I've seen being presented in my department and thought it was interesting (and I've somehow looked into this internship because I knew the author of the project).

Is it a good idea to mention it? I've also interacted with the speaker (whom I previously invited to speak at summer school and works in a field similar to mine).

I am unsure on whether it is something that is worth flagging or if I should focus on more concrete reasons for my interests given the short amount of space.


texts:
I'm a contractor hired by a software engineering company that is branching out into research. For the last two years I have been working almost solo on a research project for the company. A number of other people have come to help out on the project at some point or another, but currently all code in the codebase is written 100% by me. All of the novelties developed throughout the project were also done solo.

My boss has just written a research paper about the project which has been accepted by a low-tier journal. I got to read the paper today and while a number of my coworkers are credited, I am not. The credits consist of every non-contractor that has touched the project, as well as a number of higher ups in the company.

Furthermore, I created a number of figures used in the paper and edited the abstract.

Is this standard practice? Would it be reasonable to ask to be included in the authors list?

Edit: Just to update, my boss said that he had me in the authors list on the first draft, but when he ran it by my contracting company they said to take it off. I'm following up with them now.


texts:
I am currently writing my "research proposal" for my PhD in Statistics application, basically I am asked to provide:

Project description (activities, methodologies, expected results).
State of the Art.
Objectives.
References.
Working program.

I am not sure what a "working program" really is given that in practice I've described every aspect regarding my future research in the previous items.
I've contacted the PhD office but I didn't received an answer, I've contacted my advisor and he was as clueless as myself.

Hope you guys could shed some light over this.

Thanks in advance.


texts: How to get lab resources back from a post-doc who resigned while on vacation and not coming back?

texts:
I am posting this on behalf of my advisor.

A post-doc in my research group at US told that he'd be going home to meet his family who are in a different country, but after two months he emails that he is quitting. He has the laptop which my advisor paid for and important research data. He hasn't communicated in email that he will return the things he owes. Besides, he was playing tricks by procrastinating his return, even confirming his return tickets, only to finally resign.

What are the legal ways to get the resources as well as the monetary compensation made in his absence back, in case he doesn't respond?

(Note: The research data needs to be surrendered because it belongs to unpublished work from other groups, not because it wasn't backed up.)


texts: MS in Physics after Bachelors in Mechanical engineering

texts:
I am in the final semester of my mechanical engineering bachelors, though I could have finished my bachelors about  4 months ago, but I failed to clear 2 of my subjects, for which I would appear again in the December examination. Physics has always caught my attention, but then, everything I see catches my attention.I want to study physics now after I get my degree. The problem is my grades. I have scored an aggregate of 65% in my bachelors, but I can learn and understand things once I decide to do so. I am from India. How can I apply in foreign universities for MS, considering that they take engineering graduates for MS in physics, what kind of entrance/competitive exams would I have to give.
Thanks.


texts: Where do academics obtain HTML website templates with no attribution?

texts:
I have noticed that most .edu domains have a very "academic" looking simple HTML websites (Do academics look down on well-designed academic websites?) for professors and departments. My graduate school follows a template for the main department website and the professors and graduate students upload their own HTML websites on their sub domains.

I was recently tasked with uploading a simple HTML website for our group's research page. I have created websites before but my advisor asked me to put in minimal effort as I am busy writing research papers right now and should not be spending a whole lot of time playing with HTML and CSS.

I have noticed that a lot of professors have the same minimalist design of HTML websites. I know professors are pressed for time and so will adopt a minimalist HTML template and tweak it.

My question is: are there known resources where free simple HTML templates are available that require no attribution? I found several HTML templates that require attribution (linking back) to original designer and I would like to avoid that as I need something very simple that I can tweak.

I understand that professors might be writing the HTML from scratch. But if someone knows of a template I could use, that would be great.


texts: How many papers should a PhD student in math try to publish before graduating?

texts:
I am wondering how many papers does an average academia-bound PhD student in math try to get published? I want to eventually work in a research-oriented university rather than a teaching-oriented university. Obviously the more good mathematics one gets published the better, but what would be average for someone who goes on to work as a professor at a research university?

I am particularly interested in the field of combinatorics.


texts:
I am trying to come up with a method to live broadcast my lectures to parties connected to the internet.  Up to now, I have been using FaceTime to transmit my work on a whiteboard.  This method works, but the quality is lacking.

The crux is I do not want to record "my person," but rather what I write on some surface.  This previously asked question (Device for writing a lecture with a stylus for video lecture recording) solves the problem for non-live transmission.  That is, for the previously answered question, the individual records and subsequently uploads the lecture.  I would like to do something similar, but live-transmit the lecture.  Does anyone have a reasonable method by which they do this?

My ideal solution would be something like an interactive pen display (e.g., http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=113&cp_id=11314&cs_id=1131401&p_id=12076) which could somehow be transmitted in real-time.  The software side of this is where I get iffy.  (Also, I am running a mac.)

Another solution could surely come from a document camera, but again the software leaves me dry.

To summarize:  I am looking for a hardware/mac-based software solution to live transmit document-based lectures over the internet.


texts: How to correct a fundamental error in a series of papers made by a colleague of your adviser?

texts: I am a PhD student in mathematics. I recently found a fundamental error in a method used in a series of papers. My adviser confirmed that. One of those wrong papers was authored by a researcher who had several works with my adviser. I found that this error can be fixed using an approach which I found in some old works. So I started to write an article about this. I am just asking if I should tell my adviser to contact him and inform him about this error. Or contact all the authors of those papers. Or just continue writing my paper and cite their works explaining how their approach is wrong.


texts: Is it appropriate to make a pun that references a highly charged topic in current events, in a lecture on an unrelated subject?

texts:
For example, when discussing red-black trees in lecture, is it appropriate to use the phrase "Black Nodes Matter?"

The proof that red-black trees are balanced relies heavily on the property that each downward path originating from a node contains the same number of black nodes.  Given this, I am wondering if it is appropriate to say #BlackNodesMatter.


texts:
If I request say 3 months summer salary at the rate I'm being paid by my academic institution, where would that money come from?

(a) Would I be paid directly from NSF?

(b) Would the NSF pay my institution, and then my institution funnels that money to me?

(c) Would my institution pay me directly from its budget?


texts:
This question is for those of you who have been on the hiring committee.

I am wondering if the following scenario could happen.

Applicant X applies to University Y; University Y looks at applicant X's profile, and says "applicant X has very strong records. There is no way University Y is the best applicant X can do; hence we will not offer Applicant X a position (postdoctoral, or TT)"

This seems worrying, because:

perhaps applicant X is just so mediocre, that he falls through the crack; University Y turns him down, but universities slightly better than University Y might think that applicant X is not up to their standards.
what if applicant X actually really wanted to go to University Y for personal reasons? Of course, maybe applicant X was hoping for something slightly better than University Y, so maybe he did not contact the department (in case he decides not to go to University Y).
even from the university's perspective, this is fairly complicated: University Y could take a chance and hope that applicant X will accept their offer, but perhaps it is more advantageous to extend the offer to the applicant next on the list instead of applicant X. There is no way of knowing which is the better choice, though.

In particular, if such scenario happens, and if I want to prevent the first point, what do I need to do? I am wary of contacting the departments, because should the department be excited about me, and should someone push for my being hired in the hiring committee meeting, then I would feel obligated (to some degree) to accept that offer (even if a better offer comes along), since that someone has advocated on my behalf, on my request.


texts: How to get others to understand that my first name consists of two words?

texts:
I live in the UK and I have a foreign name of the form

Abcd Efghjk

where both words and the space are part of my first name. Due to common UK standard everyone usually assumes either that Efghjkl is my surname or, more often, that Efghjkl is my middle name and proceeds to omit it.

I am fine when people omit it in speech, as Abcd is an acceptable shortening of my name, but I really detest it when I receive emails starting with

  Dear Abcd,

instead of the appropriate

  Dear Abcd Efghjkl,

I usually let it slide whenever I know this is a one off interaction and point it out at some point otherwise.

Lately I have been at times adding a remark at the end of my emails:

  Just to let you know, my first name is Abcd Efghjkl, with the space. I know, it's crazy!

I would like suggestions on how to deal with this very common occurrence. I see two options, but feel free to add more.

Keep such a message on a need-to basis, in which case I am looking for suggestions to make it more pleasant. Especially, I am not trying to make the other party feel guilty for the misspelling. I am not mad, this is a minor mistake and it's comprehensible given the running convention in the UK. Ideally, if there was a graphical/non-confrontational way to silently point this out, I would resort to that.
Add a fixed message in my signature either with the same tone of the above or a little more formal. I am a little concerned that this might look odd and somewhat aggressive though.

Any suggestions?

PS: I write here as most of my daily contacts where this interaction happens are academics.

Edit: I am referring to my first name in the above, I do have a family name or surname as well, which in our notation and taking some suggestions from the answers, would be: MNOPQR.


texts: What should I do if I have published a paper that I did not write?

texts:
To start with, let me confess a sin that I have committed a few years ago. A friend of mine asked me to proofread several of his papers before sending them for publication. After helping him several times without expecting anything in return, he offers to included me as one of the authors of another paper after I proofread it. Being immature and greedy, I have accepted the offer, which is a great mistake. Later the paper was published and I was listed as one of the authors of the paper, and I understand nothing about the paper itself. Now I am facing the mistake that I have made and have decided to do something about it.

Should I always exclude the paper from my resume? Although I was officially listed as one of the authors, I do not feel that I contributed to any part of the paper except proofreading.
Is there anything else that I should do about this situation?


texts: How can I make my thesis supervisor be more responsive?

texts:
This question is related to this one and this one. My Masters' thesis supervisor is incredibly superficial as in he doesn't respond to messages in a timely manner; I am not talking about understandable delays such as a few days or perhaps even a week but 15 weeks all in all.

What I have tried up to now is to have a professional discussion about my progress so far, feedback and future directions. All seemed well, I received feedback regularly (for two weeks) and then I had to redo the discussion. This wouldn't normally count as an issue but he is incredibly inconsistent in his feedback. For example, the suggestions I have received this week are inconsistent with what he requested the week before, but consistent with what was needed two weeks back. There is always this back and forth between what I should modify within my thesis (he doesn't keep any records of what he suggested and always ends up in giving advice that contradicts what he mentioned previously). I've resorted to taking pictures of the sheets (sometimes feedback contains figures and tables) and actually including them in my thesis draft prior to sending it to him. Another issue is related to his organization of these drafts. Somehow, he never seems to read the latest submitted version the thesis draft, doesn't sort files by date, etc.. As a solution, I am now prefixing the thesis name (the name of the .pdf file) with the date in which I submit it. Unfortunately, it didn't help (I'm still at square one).

Sometimes feedback is lackluster, he regularly takes a week to read two pages and give advice on them. The problem is that they are from a chapter that has long passed review (and was agreed upon by him that it is correct, both theoretically and grammatically).

Any help as to how I may actually complete this thesis? It's pretty infuriating because I've finished with moderately high grades and am now stuck because of this supervisor at the end.


texts: Postdoctoral applications - informal enquires

texts:
I have seen many Postdoctoral advertisements where they mention that an informal inquiry can be made to a PI. What are the kind of questions that can be asked?
Should we attach our CV and mention our research interests while writing to them?

I have also seen advertisements where they tell  to send applications to HR. While writing a covering letter should we address to them or to the PI of the project?


texts: Is it ethical to share a controversial reason for declining to review with other editors/journals?

texts:
This question is a follow up to How to handle a paper by a reviewer who wants to be paid? Most actions by a reviewer are logged in the editorial management system, such as:

Whenever a reviewer agrees or declines to review
Reasons for declining (if given)
The text of the review itself
The date of submission of the review, which allows one to work out whether the review was early or late.

This information is visible to other editors of the journal. Depending on settings, it can also be visible to editors of other journals who are sharing the reviewer pool. Quite often, other editors are appreciative of this data, for example the following things are all things an editor would want to know before inviting a reviewer:

If the reviewer says "I can't review this paper because my research interests have changed".
If the reviewer says "I can't review this paper because I'm busy until [this date]".
If the reviewer has an ongoing review.
If the reviewer has reviewed five papers in the last five months.
If the reviewer says "This paper is acceptable, but you should cite these papers written by me". The review itself might not be visible, but the editor can leave a note on the reviewer's profile that this happened as a warning to the next editor.

For the first two points, the reviewer is likely to appreciate editors sharing the data, since it saves his time. #3 and #4 helps editors not overload a reviewer, #5 helps get a constructive review.

In this case the reviewer left a controversial reason to decline to review, and I'm wondering if it's ethical to share it, especially with other journals. If I share it, then who knows how far it'll spread, and other journals might wind up dealing with the same issue as in the linked question. It could give others negative impressions of the reviewer (c.f. Fortnite's answer), even though the reviewer might have expected them not be aware of the decline reason.

On the other hand I can't tell the scope of the reviewer's intention. It's possible he only wants to be paid to review for this journal or publisher. It's possible he wants to be paid to review for all subscription journals (this wouldn't make sense, but not mine to reason why). It's possible he's declining for all journals. If any of these are true, then the other journals will want to know, so they can save time. It could even be that he would rather we broadcast his decline reason so he can inspire other reviewers to follow his example.

Some of the things I can do are:

Delete his reviewer profile, leaving only a note not to invite this reviewer again.
Keep the decline reason, but for editors of this journal only. No other journal will learn about this (via the system at least - they still might via word of mouth, or e.g. if the same person is an editor for two different journals).
Do nothing, and if another editor/journal discovers it, let them figure out what to do.


texts: My PhD work is too simple. I don't feel good about my work, my abilities and my future career

texts:
I am about to defend my PhD in materials engineering. My work is related to numerical modeling of an additive manufacturing process. When I joined for my PhD, I was offered a different topic which was rigorous and 100% in my interest. However, my research topic was changed after few months into something much simpler and less rigorous but still aligning 70% to my interest.
I have couple of papers and I am decently published at my particular field. But I feel that I am doing very simple work, something even a master's student could do in a year.
I was an experimentalist before my PhD. However, I was frustrated with carrying out experiments and thus opted for a completely computational research. I think it was a mistake. I used to find doing a good Experimental work much easier than a good computational work.
Even though I like them, I am objectively bad at mathematics and physics. I shouldn't have gone for computational studies. I am good with simple work but I will never be able to get published in computational mechanics and numerical methods intensive journals (Journal of solid and structures, Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering).
I publish in applied journals like additive manufacturing, surface and coatings technology, materials and design, where new numerical methods need not be developed or theories need not be implemented for successful simulations. Existing models can be repurposed for my work. I just use a open-source software to carry out my simulations without changing anything in the software's source code. I just write python and Matlab scripts to analyze the simulations.
I am worried about my future career. My work is too simple for academic or industrial positions. I don't know what to do after graduation.


texts: Is it weird to give your new PhD supervisor a "thank you" gift for supporting your application?

texts:
There is a similar question here as well as elsewhere.

However my situation is somewhat different, so please read for marking it as duplicate. The questions I've seen asked  has been about giving a gift to a supervisor after completing your PhD, and whether that would be innapropriate before/after defending your thesis.

In my case, I had a lot of difficulty finding someone willing to support my application (as I'm doing it in a completely foreign country). I'm very grateful to my supervisor for being willing to take me on and supporting my application.

I was thinking of bringing him some chocolate from my country (which is very popular here and abroad) as a small thank you gift.

Would this be weird/inappropriate?


texts: As an ambitious female PhD student, should I avoid dating people?

texts:
I am a female PhD student, studying computer science at a top school in the heart of Silicon Valley.  I have a wonderful boyfriend who probably never wants to leave the Bay Area because he is (a) a software engineer, and (b) owns a very expensive house.  So if I go into academia I probably have to break up with him, and I think I would encounter similar problems with almost any other guy I date.

Would it be better to get married and take a nice job in industry, or go into academia and never date anyone?  I only sort of want to go into academia, but I can't shake the nagging feeling of being limited.  It's like a voice in my head saying "you could be so much more successful, if you wanted to."  I do not want to be like the other ambitious women who reach a glass ceiling and have to compromise on their ambitions because of their partners.


texts:
The papers I write contain all the source code required to reproduce results. I have written a series of papers that build on each other over the years. My intention has been to release an open-source libary that encapsulates all of this, but I have not yet done so.

Before releasing anything I was contacted by the employee of a large company. They have been using my techniques and have decided to release an open-source version of their library. Their library contains code almost exclusively from my papers, copied verbatim. They clearly acknowledge my work in the documentation of their library.

My question is whether I ought to ask to be an author of the library. While I didn't commit code to the particular repository of that library, I did write the original code in papers. I'm worried that I'm not getting credit due for the work I've done if I'm not listed as a developer. I don't want to upset the authors of the library because a large ecosystem now depends on what they have done.


texts: Is there a standard English translation of ausserordentlicher Professor?

texts:
Of course the exact status of the title has changed in different places and times.

I mean it most specifically in the sense of Emmy Noether's title at Georg-August-Universität Göttingen in 1923: nicht beamteter Außerordentlicher Professor.  But I doubt there is a standard translation for that specific situation.

My question is, as in the title, is there a current, standard English translation of the basic phrase Außerordentlicher Professor?

By a standard translation I mean one that is currently in widespread use, in contrast to one that I or another person thinks should be an accurate way to describe the position.

However, a look at the confusion of the English language Wikipedia Ranks in Germany convinces me there is none so I was in process of deleting this question when an answer appeared.  Now I will wait and see what happens,


texts: How should I approach this unfinished research that I do not want to do?

texts:
I am about to finish an undergraduate degree, with a good enough GPA that even if I got C's in all of my current classes, my final overall cumulative GPA would remain above 3.6.

Assuming I graduate with all the whistles in my diploma it would be:

Honours Bachelors of science in computer science with distinction and a minor in pure mathematics (quite pompous).

In order to complete all of those whistles I had to do supervised research for two semesters. Being a naive undergraduate, I knocked on proffessor's doors, asking for a supervisor, and one of them, very generously agreed. He suggested a problem I thought was interesting and so I started the research. I originally started throwing analysis at the problem, and started trying to solve some really complex differential equations (which kept me motivated). However I did not make much progress, so after my supervisor marked that I needed to get something, I fully changed my approach and started using some geometric approximations to solve the issue. This generated some results, but was too simple. I'd like to say that my results were inversely proportional to how much effort I was putting in the research.

Time passed, I had multiple potential solutions and a way to evaluate them. On the last week before the final submission I realised there was a bug in my code base that was destroying the results (they were mathematically impossible). I tried to find the error, but the best I could do was identify an area where a mistake could have happened.

Finally I got my evaluation on the course after presenting it. The feedback said the methods were a bit naive and could be improved on, and it was dissapointing that I didn't get numerical results (I had visual results, not numerical), however since I was not a seasoned researcher they decided to be lenient and gave me an A anyway.

I applied to the grad program at my university, and asked the same proffessor to be my supervisor for the grad program. I am in desperate need of financial support until the grad program starts, and so my supervisor said I could do summer research for him and in the meanwhile we could discuss what the grad project could be. What he wants me to do is finish my previous work and get a publication.

The issue is that I legitimately feel that dinking bleach would be more motivating (I am using this metaphor to convey just how much anxiety this is giving me). This research really does not appeal to me in any way or form, and the interesting part is over, all that is missing is finding the bug, which could take more than two weeks to solve and implementing a couple of modifications to make my naive methods less naive if things go well, or complete failure to finish it in the worst case.

In addition to that I have been doing independent research simultaneously as I have been taking courses and doing everything else. Although this independent research still needs a lot of work, it's in a good place, I have already improved many of the papers I have read and have multiple ideas to explore. In an ideal world I would win the lottery tomorrow and I could just support myself while I carry on with this research.

I am not sure how to approach my supervisor and tell him I don't want to finish this research, nor how to suggest to do my research instead and get a publication out of that, or even if I should touch on this topic at all.


texts: Why are some "online first" articles assigned to a journal issue much faster than others

texts: While searching online, I discovered that some "online first" articles in a particular journal are assigned to an issue within few weeks. However, others in the same journal take several months or years. What is the reason behind this?


texts: Attribution when creating images from other sources

texts:
I'm writing a paper where I've created several images using clipart from various sources. Some sources are Creative Commons, some just require attribution while others require a specific disclaimer (e.g. Microsoft and Android logo usage) with specific wording.

My first thought was to have a 'Credit' section:

  CREDIT

  Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the
  United States and other counties[53]. The Android robot is reproduced
  or modified from work created and shared by Google and used according
  to the terms described in the Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution
  License[54]. Figure 1 Physical System Architecture incorporates
  derived works for an aerial vehicle[55], surface vehicle[56],
  submersible vehicle[57] and a communications server[58]. Figure 9
  Testing Configuration incorporates derived works for the drone[55] and
  clock[59]. This diagram also utilises the following third party
  images: server[60], node.js logo[61], laptop[62], server[60], penguin
  tux[63], Microsoft Windows™ logo[53] and Android™ logo[54].

In my references section I then have the correct references as per IEEE formatting style, for example:

  [60] mimooh, “Clipart - Server,” 12-Aug-2011. [Online]. Available:
  http://openclipart.org/detail/155101/server-by-saisyukusanagi.
  [Accessed: 13-Oct-2013].

So my question is two fold:

Is above approach is valid?
Do I meet creative commons requirements by the above (see Android reference)?

I've tried finding style guide information on composite images and how to deal with creative commons but not had much luck. I have also not been able to find any example papers that deal with this.

The images are as follows (I'll have to add credits below):

N. Halftermeyer, Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 flying. 2012.
U. S. N. photo by J. S. J. Ebalo, Camp Lemonier, Djibouti (Oct. 26, 2004) (RELEASED) Robot used by Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit (EODMU).
MKFI, Bofors Double Eagle Mk II remotely operated underwater vehicle used for naval mine clearing by Finnish Navy. Photographed in Turku Forum Marinum during the Finnish Navy 2011 anniversary.
C. Berscheidt, Built-to-Spec Raspberry Pi Case. 2012.

Windows is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and other counties.
The Android robot is reproduced or modified from work created and shared by Google and used according to the terms described in the Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution License.

rihard, “Clock + Calendar,” link
mimooh, “Server,” link
“node.js.” link
metalmarious, “Laptop,” link
L. E., Simon Budig, Anja Gerwinski, Penguin Tux, the Linux Mascot. 2012.


texts: Sub-referencing work from the referenced work

texts:
Sorry for the tricky title. I am working on a (IEEE) conference paper and in the related work section I have sentence that goes like this:

In [X], the authors derive YYY metric from the Gov. Institution Name's Obscure Parameters Database. Should I put a reference after the "Obscure Parameters Database"? My understanding is that whoever is interested - will be able to find it wither by looking up the [X] work or by searching the Internet for the database (it is open to the public). Am I correct?


texts:
It took 5-6 months to hear from the referee in both of my accepted papers.  In my one rejection it was only a couple of weeks.

I do not think it could possibly take 5-6 months to read and understand my papers.

Should I conclude that my referee's wait a few months to even begin reading my papers?  Are they trying to answer questions I posed, to piggy-back before others see the publication?  I just am having a hard time understanding the delay.


texts: When bidding for papers on softconf.com as a reviewer, does it make any difference between answering no or not bidding for a paper?

texts:
When bidding for papers on softconf.com as a reviewer, does it make any difference between answering no or not answering for a paper?

I.e., is there difference between:

and

?

Answering some comments:

http://softconf.com a.k.a. START:

  START V2 is an integrated web-based solution for managing peer-reviewed conferences and workshops. START helps streamline all steps of the editorial process, including paper/abstract submission, committee formation, paper reviews, on-line technical committee meetings, report compilations, author notification, preliminary conference program creation - and a lot more.

Also, what is “paper bidding”?.

I have crossposted the question at:

Quora


texts: Are undergrads applying to top math Phd programs expected to have taken core graduate clases?

texts:
Is doing well in the standard core undergraduate math courses (complex analysis up to the Riemann mapping theorem, abstract algebra including Galois theory, point-set topology, and algebraic topology, as well as integration on real manifolds and Stokes' theorem) good enough to get into a top-20 math PhD program?
I started with linear algebra after placing out of second-semester calculus. I ended up taking almost all the undergraduate courses offered at the liberal arts college I went to but I still think it's not enough, because most of the Harvard PhD students apparently take lots of graduate courses while undergrads.
To be competitive, are applicants expected to have undergraduate research and do additional math programs in other countries (Budapest Semester, for example), and/or take graduate courses while still an undergrad?
In American universities there are more distribution requirements, whereas in universities in Europe, my understanding is that you declare a major right away and only take classes in that subject. Because of that, they learn a lot more math than American students. I've also noticed that at places like Stanford or Harvard, the undergrad senior theses that students write are super advanced and get into current research. Here are some examples: http://abel.harvard.edu/theses/index.html
Are math undergrads expected to know things like Galois cohomology, the Local Langlands Correspondence for tori or Lubin-Tate theory or the Jacquet-Langlands correspondence?
What could I have done as an undergrad to be able to write a senior thesis on stable homotopy theory or the moduli stack of G-bundles? I am thinking that I did not get a good math education in college.


texts: In which situations can I claim that additional data is needed for an existing research paper?

texts:
I wanted to write about a certain computer science topic, and after a while I figured out that the same research question was taken already. Still, I think that not all problems where addressed in this paper so I believe there's still room for me to conduct my research, and additional data would do be needed. Also, looking at the current research paper, I think it lacks enough motivation.

I'm finding it tricky to justify that. Any help or similar experiences are appreciated.


texts: How much political influence is involved in the academia in Germany?

texts:
I heard that German national politics influences the appointment of tenured positions in their universities.

E.g. if some party is in power, they would like to see somebody loyal to them as the head of a faculty or even the rector of the university. Also, if someone is loyal to the party in power, his PhD students have better chance of getting into the university and obtain tenure.

I also heard that, even getting a "Habilitation" requires a lot of political backing.

To what extent is it true?


texts: Uppercase/lowercase paper titles on a CV

texts:
I have two papers from different conferences. The first has a title with all words beginning with an upper case letter. The second has a title with only the first letter of the first word capitalized.

On a CV, would it be acceptable to write both paper titles in the same uppercase/lowercase format, for consistency? Or should the CV titles be exactly as they appear on the papers?


texts: What correspondance for corresponding author?

texts:
I was wondering what kind of correspondance should one have with persons denominated as corresponding authors ?

Let's assume one was reading through a paper and did not understand a specific point. Is that a reason to mail the corresponding author ?

I've read through the different answers that it is in general the main contributor of the work. So, what are the reasons one can encounter being sufficient to make contact ?


texts: Acknowledgment to a referee of a different journal who previously rejected an article

texts: I received a referee report on one of my articles. The report is amazing and gives me wonderful directions to improve my work however he rejected the article. Now I rewrote the article considering his comments and I am going to submit the article to a different journal. I would like to thank him or to say this version is thanks to this referee. Is this regular and how to say it?


texts: Advices for writing the research statement

texts:
I am writing my first research statement to apply for a faculty position. what are the most important parts to focus. I am thinking of dividing it into 3 sections. One for current Research, the second for future research and the third one is for previous research works. Is this a good organization?

What are common mistakes to avoid?


texts: Can one or two emoticons be used in a PhD Thesis?

texts:
I have a very dumb :-) question:

Are emoticons (if rarely placed - one or two times) in a PhD thesis considered unorthodox?

I have an introduction where I give an apt example and appended some small footnote where I make fun of the author (that's me) and I was so laughing when writing this I almost liked to put a smiley at the end of the footnote.

The reader of this question should note, that the thesis is already enough serious such that a smiley might be surely a relieve for the reader maybe :-)?

What is the general thought about this?

Update:
After all these enlightening, entertaining and thoroughly funny thoughts, I decided to go with a humorous footnote but of course without a smiley. :-P