texts: A PhD program recommendation fell through. How do I deal with this?

texts:
I am finishing up a MA in Global Affairs, and I am in the process of applying to several doctoral programs. Two and a half weeks ago, I asked three of my professors if they would recommend me. I made sure to note in my emails to them that if they chose to support me, one of the program deadlines was substantially sooner than the others. Two responded positively almost immediately, but one did not. However, he has encouraged me on numerous occasions to apply, and speaks very highly of me. Needless to say, I was very surprised when he responded 5 days before the first deadline to say that he was not prepared to recommend me. He said that he normally only write recommendations for students who have served as his GA, and that if I want him to write one for me I have to draft the letter I expect him to write. I said I could do that... but would we be able to do this in time for the upcoming deadline? He said no, and there was no way I could ask someone else with such short notice.

However, I really do not know what I should say to the other people who recommended me. I know they have already submitted their letters. Do I say that I simply couldn't get my act together in time, and risk looking unprepared? Do I tell them that one of my recommendations fell through, and look like I must have done something to change that person's mind? Do I tell the full story, and look like I am just trying to place blame elsewhere? Or, do I just not tell them at all? They all know each other, so they could find out even if I don't say anything. None of the options seems great, and I am kind of at a loss.

Edit to add (taken from comment): My main concern is that asking someone else to submit something last minute or late might not be appropriate.


texts: Searching for PhD theses in google scholar

texts:
It seems like PhD theses are way more rare in the Google Scholar index than globally done.

If my assumption is correct they get published as well, is there a primary search engine for that?

Specifically I am interested in comp. science and information systems mgmt topics.


texts: Moving between universities for PhD studies

texts:
I'm studying for an MSc in Theoretical Physics. I did my undergrad studies at university A. I then moved to another country to do my Masters work at university B.

I did my BA thesis with a big name in the field who gave me great letters of recommendations, and resulted in my being offered a research masters project by another professor at the same university, also a huge name in the field. In the end they both suggested a taught Masters would be a better idea before research. I'm now at B, and it's likely my thesis advisor will end up being an equally big name, with a very long history of collaboration with the professor who offered me the research masters.

I would like to return to university A for my PhD studies. Getting accepted should not be a problem - they know me, I've done good work there, and will have experience with a collaborator.

However, would it be better for my career to perhaps go to university C, for example, which is also full of collaborators of everyone previously mentioned, for the sake of more experience?

Essentially, would returning to university A be likely to have a detrimental impact on future employablity; getting accepted to postdocs, etc? Or would letters of recommendations be most important and my research output?


texts: Backing out of accepted post-doc position in favor of a permanent faculty position

texts:
I got a PhD in mathematics three years ago, and am currently a post-doc. My appointment is due to finish this August, so I am now looking for a new job.

My dream job would be a permanent faculty position in my home country. The problem is that in my home country, the recruitment calendar is considerably later than the international average: if an offer comes, it could be in mid- to late May (most likely) or possibly even June (if I have to wait for people above me in the shortlist to step aside). Also, the competition is very tough; even though my CV (as far as I can judge) seems fairly good, there is a real possibility that I will not get any such position this year.

If I cannot get a permanent position, I would like to do a second post-doc (somewhere in Europe). But the calendar for post-docs, on the other hand, is much earlier: based on my experience so far, it seems that the vast majority of offers that I could get would have a reply deadline somewhere in February.

All of this puts me in a tight spot:

either I could sit idle until the permanent position interviews; and only if I fail all of them, start looking for a post-doc. But the chances of finding, in June, a post-doc to start in September seem fairly slim. If I did this, I am genuinely scared I would end up as a high-school teacher.
or I could apply to post-docs now, and accept one of the offers without telling them anything; then quietly go to the permanent position interviews, and if I pass one of them, renege on the post-doc I had already accepted and take the permanent position instead. But this raises obvious ethical issues.

Of course backing out of a commitment on a job A to take a better offer B is usually frowned upon. However I think I heard people saying that the case when A is a post-doc and B is a permanent position is exceptional, and that in this case such behaviour can be forgiven. Still, I would feel more comfortable if I had more opinions about this. If you were in this situation, what would you do?

Anticipating some objections:

Applying to post-docs now, all while being upfront with them about my parallel permanent position search, seems more or less equivalent to not applying at all. In fact there is already a post-doc position that I failed to get for this very reason (this position actually was in my home country, so I could not hide anything from them).
From what I have heard, requests to postpone the permanent position's starting date by a year so that I could do my post-doc are usually not granted (since they need someone to teach their classes).

(This question: Accepted post-doc and have subsequently received offers for full time faculty position - quandary is similar, but their exact situation seems somewhat different.)


texts: Is it ethical to submit a research proposal to multiple funding agencies?

texts:
I reached the point in my PhD where, besides focusing on performing and analyzing the last experiments and starting to write the thesis, I should also start thinking about the next step - what to do once I finish it?

Since I would like to have some more research time to publish as many papers as I can from my PhD work, I think the obvious next step would be a post-doc position.

I am an international student in the US and I could apply for fundings both from my native country and from US agencies.

The big question here is: is there anything unethical in submitting the same research proposal to two (or even more) agencies? Will I be committing some kind of academic crime if by any chance one same reviewer is called to judge the same proposal submitted to different funding agencies and realizes it?

I should highlight here that I would never accept both fundings. The goal would be purely to maximize the odds of getting research funded. In the unlikely event I would have the proposal granted by both agencies, I would choose the most beneficial or convenient to me and my advisor.

Two reasons I can think of NOT to do this would be:

a) wasting time of a larger number of reviewers (who could be reviewing someone else's proposal);
b) preventing more people from getting funded.

But is this cheating or just part of the business?

I appreciate any input - specially criticism.


texts: When should I stop including talks on my cv?

texts:
When I was applying for grad school, I felt that my CV was pretty empty and so I included all my research related presentations (posters/talks) from conferences/competitions/etc (11 of them at the time). However, I am not sure how much of a role they played in my acceptance at that time (I feel I mostly got accepted based on my papers and two very strong reference letters).

Now I keep a semi-complete (semi- because of infrequent updates) list of presentations on my website; this is mostly so I can post slides. However, I feel the list has gotten too long for a CV (~25 items; about a full page) and other more important parts of my CV (such as publications) have grown to need that space more.

When should I start omitting or shortening the talks on my CV?

If I include a 'selected' talks section: How many talks should I select? Should I select them based on prestige of venue, or uniform-covering of my interests, or uniform-covering of my time (show that presentations are a regular activity)?

More context: I am at the graduate-student level in my academic progression. A related question: Do presentations given during interviews count as invited talks?


texts: What is the best way of breaking a mathematical development into a sequence of articles?

texts:
I am currently in the process of turning my math doctoral thesis into articles to submit to journals. This is my first time writing anything mathematical for publication.

My thesis was on the long-side, and referenced a lot of background material from areas of math that do not often communicate. (The principle field is topology, but it draws heavily on some specific corners of algebra, number theory and relativity theory that most topologists do not study.) It also has a historical component and the first result is a completion of a somewhat archaic classical idea. I then go on to develop that idea to obtain results pertinent to current active research.

Due to this, as well as the common advice of not making an article too long (especially one's first article), I am breaking my results into two articles. The first one will say something about what I intend to do in the second for motivational purposes, and lay all the groundwork, but is focused on generalizing a classical theorem. Then the second will focus on results more relevant to current topology, referencing results form the first but not weighed down by them.

My question is about what I should include in my setup at the beginning of the second article. I summarize a bunch of standard ideas at the beginning of my first article, which really does need to be there because it is not typical for someone working in any one of the fields to be familiar with the other concepts. I also introduce notation. Then in my second article I use all the same stuff, plus some more.

Is it okay to leave out a repetition of that background info, and refer the reader to my first article? I figure I should re-define any original or unusual notation, but I don't want to have all that repetition in the first section of both articles. On the other hand, I want people to read the second one, and not be off-put by being referred to the first one, or feel the background is not well established.

Is there a standard protocol for writing a series of two or more articles that develop a concept continuously, which draw upon the same set of background definitions and theorems? Would it be better to just write one very long article after all?


texts: The Real "Cost" of Open Educational Resources

texts:
Open Educational Resources (OER's) are seeing a rise in popularity in institutions of higher ed, as both colleges and state-and-local governments strive to address textbook affordability and other costs associated with education.

These resources are advertised with positive aspects, including:

OER's are free to students.
Instructors can edit OER's and share them (Creative Commons license type depending) freely.

Criticisms include:

Because many OER's are created without any funding structure, they don't receive periodic upkeep/revisions as commercial texts do. Hence, they may be unreliable as a resource.
OER's undercut commercial products and therefore hurt job opportunities for people in publishing industry (authors, editors, etc.). Hence, there is a financial cost to adopting OER's, paid by those who lose job prospects.
Pressure to use OER's (from colleges and local governments) creates tension inside academic departments because it restricts academic freedom. Therefore, instructors may be told to use a textbook because it's free, and not necessarily because it's good.
OER's stigmatize authors in academia from creating materials and taking them to market. Hence, authors may no longer feel that selling their own texts/materials is appropriate, receiving shame for not offering to give away their work.

So...I want to know  the real costs of OER's.

First, is the above list of criticisms correct, and do you know about any evidence to support them?

Are OER's damaging publishing markets? If so, do we know any particulars (numbers, examples)?
Have any institutions adopted an OER text, only to have it become unusable because of a lack of editing attention?
Are any faculty forced to use bad OER's in order to cut costs? Are they receiving pressure or stigma for wanting to use for-pay, commercial texts?

And...are there other costs associated with OER's not mentioned above? Please note that I am not positing as true any of the above positives or criticisms -- rather, these are things I have heard in conversation with other instructors.

Thank you in advance for your help here.


texts: How do I ask a professor whether his seminars & lectures will be available to students from other departments?

texts:
I will apply for a PhD soon. I would be applying to the Politics department, but there is a professor in a different department who holds really interesting seminars on political topics. However, as I said, he is not affiliated at all with this department. How do I ask him / how could I phrase this best?

PS: My question is not whether I can attend his lectures as a guest -I would love to take these seminars for credit, if I can. I just don't know whether that's an option, or whether students from the politics department will be allowed in these lectures/seminars.


texts:
I am a first year PhD student, and since starting, I’ve had worsening mental health problems which I have tried to deal with to no avail. I ended up failing quite a few things in the second term earlier this year and am on a very very fine ledge with the exam board.
One of the biggest factors upsetting me during this time is my inability to read a paper. It’s incredibly important to read as many papers as I can in my field, and I find so many excellent and relevant ones, but once settling down to read them, I just don’t. My brain refuses to take in the words. It causes me a lot of pain and sadness and makes my mental health worse. I found that I am self sabotaging myself on an extreme scale especially when I need to have read it by a certain time, but I just don’t. I focus really hard on objects on my desk and end up breaking down and taking a long time to settle myself down.
I have spoken long ago to the universities mental health services and the counsellor was very vague and seemed to skirt my immediate problems instead offering suggestions that didn’t really help. I don’t understand what is happening to me so I don’t know how to speak to colleagues or advisors. I’m just a poorly performing student right now who doesn’t seem to know what’s going on in their field.
I don’t know what I am suffering from, but I feel like I’m slowly drowning in despair. I am on here to ask for advice. This website has helped me a lot.


texts: Does it makes sense to publish new math whose primary significance is its applicability to another field?

texts:
I have come up with a new mathematical method that has applications in a field outside mathematics. I have described the mathematics of it, and proved relevant theorems to show how it works. The sole importance of this method is its applications to field X.

If I go to mathematicians, they are saying that the theorems are right, but the mathematics of it is nothing unusual but expected. They don't readily know much about X, and have no inclination to know. So it’s difficult to impress a math journal editor for a publication acceptance. So the mathematicians are advising to go to experts of field X.

On the other hand, If I go to experts of X, they are reluctant to comment, as they don't readily understand the relevant math (unless they take some time and refer to a few books). Moreover the concept is a bit counter-intuitive to the latest beliefs in field X.

I need better workstations and some time and funding to apply and solve harder problems in field X, for which I need some support and funding, which is possible only if someone buys my idea and sponsor, as a form of startup. My strategy is to first publish this mathematical method, in a math journal, so that it gets some authenticity and help me get some serious attention from experts of field X for providing labs/infrastructure or attract venture capitalists for a startup.

I appreciate some suggestions whether my strategy is good idea. If so, what are type of math journals can I target for this purpose. I don’t expect to go to mathematicians and say that I have done something incredible, but I just want to garner enough interest to get published in a decent journal, so that it will be easy for me to gather attention from community of field X.

Note that I am not asking for a specific journal, but types of journals, and even if it makes moral/practical sense to publish at all, and if so under what philosophy?


texts: What masters degrees can I apply for with an undergraduate in Computer Science?

texts: I'm a Computer Science student in the UK who is about to go into my last year and I'm looking into applying for a masters programme and I'm not sure what subject areas I can apply for. I've heard that doing a Masters in Computer Science after doing your undergraduate degree in Computer Science is essentially useless. I'm on track to hopefully graduate with a first if that effects what I can do after I graduate. I was particularly interested in pursuing something maths related.


texts: Can I submit an abstract to present already published work?

texts:
I recently finished a project that has accepted for publication in a preventive medicine journal.
I was hoping to submit the abstract to some conferences to improve my presentation skills, and my supervisor informed me that I should make sure my paper is not published before the abstract is presented.
The journal has given us a 12-week ETA on publication, and both conferences I was hoping to present at are much later than that (16-24 weeks). As a result, I was wondering what my possible options are? So far, I have four questions:

If my paper is accepted for an oral presentation instead of a poster presentation, could I still present them if the paper has been published?

Could I ask the journal to put a hold on production so I can present at these conferences?

Does it matter if one of the planned conferences is not international / if they do not publish abstracts?

Should I contact the managing editor to ask if I may present the abstract at the planned conferences?


texts: Is it worth it to add substitute teacher work in a CV?

texts: As a graduate student, i've had to substitute teach a number of times for a variety of classes.  I'm wondering if it is really worth while to add this information into my CV.  Obviously, it won't hold as much weight as teaching a full class.  But if it is worth mentioning on the CV, what category should I add it to?  Teaching?  Volunteer Service?  Something else?


texts: Students who want to take higher courses early

texts:
I'm a first-year undergraduate student (studying Pure Mathematics) at a university that has a mediocre mathematics department, in a country where there are no really good math departments compared to other countries abroad (as an example, there are only 2 known professors in my country that work on research in Algebraic Geometry)

Through what I've studied on my own, currently I have completed everything up to mid 3rd year courses at my university and I shall within the next 6 months/1 year have learned the content offered in all undergraduate honors (fourth year) courses and some graduate-level courses.

I however feel that the courses offered by my university's mathematics department are not at all challenging for me, and that is quite frustrating. I currently achieve 100% on every paper I write and I do not attend any lectures. Instead I opt to study on my own.

I spoke to the head of our university's mathematics department, explained my situation, and asked if I could be granted permission to take higher courses, and his response was essentially 'Who are you to ask me such a question?'

The difficult part is that there is almost nobody whom I can talk to about mathematics that I'm studying. It feels as if I'm working in complete isolation. The only people I can really talk to are some of the Masters and PhD students, who are perhaps the sole reason I even go to university to study.

I feel that this lack of competitiveness and being forced to go through courses that have content which I've already studied on my own is hindering my development. What's more, my university's math faculty does not have any official undergraduate research program, nor do faculty members interact much with undergrads (apart from lecturers taking questions from students of their courses).

I feel stuck, frustrated and depressed as if I'm being held back. In the US I've heard that it's fairly common for students to take courses at higher levels as they choose to do so, but alas I'm not in the US and don't have this option at any of the institutions in my country.

So in my situation, is there any advice one can give me? Also if there are any students who've been in the same situation as I find myself in, I'd be highly interested to hear how you managed to stay motivated and competitive.

(As a side note, I would like to mention that I learned what I learned not to complete courses but out of a genuine interest in what I was learning, it just happened to be that what I learned were the courses offered by my university.)

Also I do plan to move abroad for my graduate studies, if I receive a scholarship to do so, however if I don't, I won't have the necessary finances to pursue this.

My main problem is on how to stay competitive and motivated, and pushing myself in an environment that is not challenging nor conducive to research or to those who want to progress faster than the normally accepted rate.


texts: How can I motivate the teaching assistants to grade more strictly?

texts:
I am a lecturer in charge of a course with over 250 students and several TAs. The TAs are partly responsible for grading the homework assignments.  Since these are assignments in programming, no two submissions are identical, so it is impossible to cover all possible cases in the grading guidelines, and the grading has some subjective element.
I noticed that one TA is consistently stricter than the others. For example, if the guidelines say that "code efficiency" is worth 20 points, then this TA would deduct 15 points when the code is inefficient, while the other TAs would deduct only 5 points for a similar issue.
A potential problem here is that it might be unfair to the students in the strict TA's class, but this can be solved by allocating the assignment task "horizontally" (each TA grades all 250 submissions in some of the assignments) rather than "vertically".
But I have a different question: I noticed that students who are graded more harshly, take the feedback comments more seriously, and tend to become better programmers. So, rather than just being "fair", I would like all TAs to grade in a stricter way - for the sake of the students. The problem is, most TAs are not motivated to grade strictly - they gain nothing from it; all they get is having to  handle students' complaints and appeals, and risking lower marks in the students' feedback (since the students do not understand that it is in their favor until after they graduate).
The TAs are not lazy - they do put a lot of effort in teaching and helping students; they just don't like to be the "bad guys" who give low grades. How can I motivate them to give stricter grades?


texts: Presenting a mathematical model at a technical conference

texts:
I am supposed to present my work at a technical conference with mostly software/network scientists or engineers and my work is centred around a mathematical model, a MILP, and the related performance evaluations with it. I'm a little confused about whether to present the mathematical model in its full detail (with all the constraints) or just explain using bullets about the constraints in the model and completely skip the mathematical notations.

I find it really hard to decide either of these options and I would love to know your experiences in presenting your work to someone not related to that field. I've observed at some presentations about some of the audience being a little bummed out or not showing much interest in it. But, it would be foolish on my part to presume that whole audience is averse to math. So, I'd like to strike a fine balance between both these themes so as to not to disappoint myself and ensure the audience understands the content. Some of your comments or real-life experiences may come in very handy for my presentation. Oh, and btw, I use beamer for preparing my presentation.


texts: Teaching Special Adult Populations: How Much is Too Much?

texts:
I teach in a social services environment, where adult dropouts are working toward a GED and perhaps furthering their education.  I embrace a transformative education model (Mezirow, 1991) and strive to instill confidence in my students.  Most of the learners are female with multiple lifestyle challenges, such as addiction, domestic violence, and so on; when they enter the class, they face an uphill battle.  Some give up; others stay, but constantly complain about the time commitment or workload.

I am considering some kind of point system or reward to motivate the students who complete assignments on time and are prompt with meeting deadlines. I wonder if this incentive idea is going too far with adults?  Should it not be enough to pull themselves up out of their situation and move forward? Unlike young learners, where candy and snacks are shamelessly used to motivate, I wonder if this too much?


texts: Why are the registration fees for academic conferences so high?

texts: I was actually thinking about submitting one of my papers in a conference which is to be held in Spain (LATA 2014) but alas I might not be able to do so since the registration fees for this conference is 400 Euros (discounted since I'm a student) which is virtually impossible to afford (since in addition to the registration fees I will have to travel to Spain as well). In fact just to get a sense of how much money this is, this 400 Euros is almost equivalent to half the salary (in terms of basic pay) a senior professor earns in my country (India) and I see that this conference is not the only one when it comes to such high fees. What are the real reasons behind such high fees? Isn't this in some away discouraging genuine contributions in academia?


texts: Paper accepted three hours after submission

texts:
I have submitted a paper to a conference sponsored by IEEE. After 3 hours, i received an email that said

  your paper has been accepted and recommend to present paper. Your paper will be recommended for publication in IEEE Xplore�. The conference date is after 23 days.

Note: I didn’t receive any reviewer comments on my paper. Only 6 points are written which seems to be general for every paper.

Is it really possible that they have reviewed the paper or did they just accept the paper without review?


texts: I want to do research in A about its applications in B. Don't know exactly what people in B need from A. What's a good way to acquire this knowledge?

texts:
Issues related to climate change, mitigating it and making humans deal better with its negative consequences are super important to me. I am not an environmental scientist though - I'm an engineer. I have a varied background and experience, which fits in well with a discipline I'm very interested in - robotics. I feel like pursuing a PhD in robotics, researching its application in environmental science would be good for me and for the field(s).

Now, the problem is I don't know the exact problems (in environmental science) that I could propose to work on in my research proposals. I really want to have a conversation with someone in the field about this, but I don't know how to go about this. I'm one year out of school now, so it's not like I can swing by a relevant professor's office and drop in for a chat. On the other hand sending a "cold-call" email also seems not fully appropriate, because asking "What kinds of problems do you have that can be solved by technology?" seems far too general.

So the question is - what is a good way to acquire this kind of knowledge?


texts: Should I include non-winning positions in my CV?

texts:
Recently I applied for a hackathon and joined a team / idea that was very intersting for me both professional-wise and hobby-wise: an autonomous tennis ball picker robot. The whole team worked really hard for the 48 hours non-stop, we built a working prototype, we presented the prototype to mentors and they really liked it, found clubs interested in testing the device. However, we failed to get into finals....

Currently, I'm applying for a University and thinking wether or not I should include it application.


texts: How to identify future directions in a saturated field without getting discouraged

texts: I am close to finishing a PhD in applied mathematics and I'm looking to develop future projects that go beyond my dissertation topic into other domains.  One of the major subjects my advisor has suggested that I look into is an extremely saturated - but still largely "unresolved" - field.  While I find the subject incredibly fascinating and challenging, I am also intimidated by the amount of work that has already been done, and I worry that I might loose the niche I've dug out for my dissertation by trying to play in someone else's big pool.  I feel like I might have something to contribute, if nothing else from a "translational/interdisciplinary" perspective (applying the expertise gained during my PhD to a different field), but is there a good way to feel out where exactly I fit in?  I suppose a logical answer to my own question would be to identify a post-doc position with a leading group in the field, but I am interested in hearing other opinions.


texts: Removing a grant number from a published paper

texts: How can I remove a grant number from the acknowledgment of a published paper? since my institution refused to pay the reward for publishing this paper.


texts: Should all recommendation letters be research- or teaching-related?

texts:
I am applying for junior faculty positions at research universities.  Most job postings request three references (either just names and contact details, or actual letters of recommendation), and I've already secured these from the three full professors who can best attest, in different aspects, to my research and teaching skills.  One of these professors was my thesis advisor, and the other two are faculty at other universities with whom I have worked closely.

A few job postings ask for five references.  Now, I could approach two further senior academics who could also vouch for my research and teaching abilities, though there's no one I have worked with nearly as closely or as recently as my three top references.  I have no doubt that they could supply positive references, and while their names alone might carry some weight, they wouldn't be able to write about me in as much detail.

On the other hand, I do have some notable collaborations with professors on work other than research and teaching—namely, on outreach and knowledge transfer activities.  That is, we have cooperated on projects aimed at disseminating scientific knowledge and research results (not necessarily our own) to the general public and/or industry.  Would getting a reference from one of these professors be of benefit for a faculty application?  Or would most selection committees be looking exclusively for research and teaching references?


texts: How can I fix previous name misspelling in publications and how should I avoid them in future?

texts:
I worked in a research laboratory last summer and some of my work was used in a paper that was published this year at a conference. This is my first paper and I am listed as a co-author, however, my last name was spelled wrong.
I have a capital “i” in the middle of my last name that was mistaken for a lowercase “L”.

Firstly, what steps should I take to correct this? Is it best to contact my supervisor from the lab and ask them to correct it or should I attempt to do so myself?

Secondly, in the future should I change my last name spelling to use a lowercase "i" in the middle to avoid this occurring again? I am an undergraduate student, but I am interested in pursuing a career in research.


texts: How is a tenure-track appointment in Sweden?

texts:
I have been offered a tenure-track position in Sweden starting this September. I am very excited. Due to both cultural and working system differences, many things are unclear to me. I do not want to ask them to reveal my over-excitement. Besides, some of my ideas as you can see below might be silly and premature.

Can you narrate a typical appointment procedure?

For example, I have these silly questions:

Is there any formal inauguration? Do I need academic gown?
Do I need to deliver a lecture about my previous works?
What documents should I give to the administration? Should I give my awards and other certificates of merit?
Should I teach a course right in September?
Will I immediately given a space to set up my lab?
When can I get graduate students to start research?

Sorry for the silly questions but you have no idea about the combination of over-excitement and chaos in my head right now.


texts: Can I become a professor if I were expelled from the uni?

texts:
I’d just like to know your opinion on this issue (whether you think it is ethical or not).
The point is, for three years, I was a straight A-student. But towards the final year, I simply started to burn out, but then I didn’t know how to handle the situation and my mental and physical health deteriorated.
As a result, I got an F. At our university, if you get an unsatisfactory mark (F) you have to take summer classes. Even though it was the final year, students were still allowed to take them.
I didn’t consider taking a leave of absence since the reason is not considered serious enough in my country.
Then I thought about taking a year off by withdrawing. But I was recommended to stay since a few years of my studies were financed.
This year, the rules were changed and now, as it is the final year, those who got unsatisfactory marks are expelled. So was I.
In my country, however, one is allowed to be enrolled in the college again, retake some classes and get a diploma. And this doesn’t prevent you from getting into grad school.
So the question is, do I still have a moral right to become a professor at another university?
I think that if I’m going to pursue Master’s degree in another university and (on condition that my performance is great) this university is interested in having me as an academic, I should be transparent about this fact.
Or do you think that it is better for me not to pursue academic career at all?
Would a student like that have a chance in your country?
Update: I was eventually given the opportunity to withdraw (since the documents are yet to be signed) and enrol in the same university next year.
Thank you everyone for your answers!


texts:
Two months ago I submitted a manuscript to my advisor for reviewing and submitting to a journal. He didn’t reply to that and when I asked him about it, he said we should think about publishing after two months and we don’t need to rush. He didn’t even bother to look into my paper.

I feel very anxious and have written a second paper this time with no discussion or involvement from him. I have put his name in the acknowledgement section for allowing me to use his lab computer. Do I stand a chance in publishing it without his name? The idea was never discussed by us and his involvement in this paper is almost not existent.

I have only a year to graduate and am worried for job hunting without publications. (About the quality of paper: Last year, when I came up with an idea, he rejected it claiming it was not good enough; six months later I saw it published by someone else. This time I am confident of getting accepted in reputed journals.)


texts: Is it possible to study in China without knowing Chinese?

texts: Is it possible to enroll into and complete a graduate school in China while having only English language skills, without speaking Chinese at all? In particular, I am interested in (theoretical) physics.


texts: Should I add references to a conference poster

texts:
I read the "Ten Simple Rules for a Good Poster Presentation" article by Thomas C. Erren and Philip E. Bourne. It gives me the general idea of how to prepare a poster.

However, I wonder whether I should add references to the poster as many parts have strong (advanced) knowledge acquired from other works? If yes, where is recommended for references in a portrait A0 poster. Thanks.


texts: Grad student protecing ideas in a research paper for futher development

texts: I am working on a graduate school research paper in finance/accounting. My adviser is really excited about my paper and this professor is a prolific publisher. The paper has progressed enough to hand in for the course. I want to develop this paper further after the course is over. However, after meeting with my adviser, (her student assistance's desk is in the professor's office) three other graduate students are doing their papers on the same subject. How can I turn in the paper but protect the work so I can develop it further on my own time? I put a qualifier (not to use without my permission) on the paper but the professor wants it removed. I explained that I wanted to further develop it but she said it is for others to use.


texts: Will it affect my academic career if I leave my PhD programme in the middle?

texts: I am currently doing my masters. I have done my bachelors and masters from the same university in a remote part of Asia. My experience in my university as an undergrad and grad student is not good. My department environment was not conducive to learning or research. As undergrads, we were encouraged to memorize rather then understanding, developing intuitions or solving problems. Whatever I have learnt, I learnt from the resources available on the internet e.g. OCW, YouTube etc. Only a couple of professors are involved in research. They are not at all helpful or encouraging. They always need to boost their ego, never ready to discuss anything, never ready to accept their mistakes if they made one. The teacher-student relationship is more like, dare I say, a master and slave type of relationship. I actually didn't work with any of them. The main reason I want leave my university and do PhD somewhere else is because of the toxic environment here. Now as I am thinking of applying for PhD abroad, I have this fear that I may not feel at home with the university/ department/ professor/ colleagues that I get into. If I then leave the programme, would that decrease my chances of getting into another university? I know that I might need LOR from the faculty members but since I don't have much experience in academia, I would really appreciate if someone can explain how the situation would become. Thank you.


texts: Cyclic trend through generations of excellence, Top researchers -> Their PhD students -> Top researchers ->

texts:
I was reading about one of the prominent researcher in my field of study. Out of curiosity I read his PhD theses. It was supervised by yet another prominent scientist. I further went on to see his supervisor's PhD thesis and yes, it was a trend, it was supervised by yet another groundbreaking researcher. I stopped in a while, otherwise I think, I would have surely reached the pioneer of the field.

I went on for like 5-6 people down. I would like to know if this happens in your field of researchers also?

What can be the reason for this, are there any secrets passed on :P ?


texts: What do I do if my part-time master's program is changed to full-time?

texts:
I am stuck in an unusual situation. I was admitted to a part-time master's program. The classes were supposed to be held in the evening and the expected degree duration was 6 years.

After only one year, the graduate school decided to change its policies, and abolished the part-time master's which meant that all classes were now held in the morning. Needless to say this, this made it very difficult for people like me who were doing a full-time job in the morning, to continue their master's. It became really difficult to adjust classes in such a way to cause the least interference with my work shifts, and I could not afford to leave my job.

Four years forward, i have managed to pass almost half of my courses, but my grades have suffered heavily due to unattended classes and missed assignments.

I am also quite dissatisfied with the quality of teaching and the general environment of our department. The teachers seem disinterested, there is general mismanagement and very little scope for research, not to mention almost no research funding.

My questions are:

1.) How common is it for gradate schools to change policies like this? What can a student do in such a situation?

2.) If I decide to drop out from this current program and decide to apply to a more accomplished program abroad (now that I have some savings), how could I explain the unfinished master's and the bad grades in my application? Would the previous unsuccessful stint in Master's hurt my chances of being admitted to a reputable graduate program?


texts: How to cite a reference which disappeared?

texts:
During my PhD, I wrote a couple papers referencing and using a set of notes available online, which constitute(d) the draft of a textbook (and laid down techniques and lemmata I used). [1]

Now, I am in the process of writing my thesis, and noticed that this online resource (originally title Asymptopia) had disappeared from the website of the author, which now states:

  A few years ago I decided I might actually finish if I split the Asymptopia manuscript into two parts. Currently I am working on the empirical process bit, which has acquired the temporary working title MiniEmpirical. Some chapters have reached a reasonably complete form. Those chapters are in the Mini subdirectory.

In particular, the material I want to reference is gone.

Of course, this is entirely up to the author, and I have nothing to argue against this. But that does put me in a bit of a pickle, as I don’t know of any equivalent resource to cite (the exposition of the techniques was both very clear, and adapted to what I am using). I personally have a PDF copy of this resource which I saved before it disappeared, but—of course—it is not up to me to make it available.

What is the correct way to handle this? Cite the previous draft as if it were still there, possibly with a relevant link to a cached version? Something else?

[1] Bibtex entry:

@misc{Pollard:2003,
    author = {Pollard, David},
    title = {Asymptopia},
    howpublished = {\url{http://www.stat.yale.edu/~pollard/Books/Asymptopia}},
    note = {Manuscript},
    year = 2003
}


texts: Is it a good idea to write one's own recommendation letter for a postdoc application?

texts: If a professor asks to write your own recommendation letter, is it really a good opportunity to grab? There may be multiple reasons for him to ask this, but I want to know what if you write your own LOR? What are the pros and cons, keeping in mind the person who is reading it?


texts: Do most professors in North America eventually have to give up directly doing research for a purely managerial role in research?

texts:
I enjoy doing research directly and this was my motivation for seeking an academic job in the first place. I am aware that many professors at some point cease directly doing research and transition to purely guiding the research of postdocs and graduate students. My PhD advisor, for instance, did not set up and run simulations himself during most of the time that I worked for him. However, I had the impression that this was due to his personal tastes (I saw him as valuing prestige and advancement rather than gaining joy from science itself, which might have been unfair). However, I just spoke to a recently tenured professor in my field who seemed to have a lot of passion for the details of the work (as I do) and was quite shocked when he told me that he hadn't run a simulation himself in several years.

As a tenure-track professor at a North American university with a few years of experience, I am quite aware that the demands of writing proposals, teaching and administrative tasks make it difficult to spend a lot of time "with your hands in the dirt" directly performing research tasks. However, I would like to know: Is it common for successful professors to still directly do significant research themselves? Must I give up all day-to-day research tasks to be a successful professor? Is moving toward a purely managerial role inevitable? Will I grow to gain more satisfaction from directing my students in research than doing it myself? Do many professors miss directly performing research, but feel that they can no longer do it due to other demands?

In my field, doing research directly involves setting up and running simulations, as well as writing code to analyze the results. However, I'd like to also hear about people's experience in experimental fields, where the analog of running simulations would be going into the lab and directly running samples on laboratory equipment.

The following thread covers the reasons why professors don't spend a majority of their time directly doing research, but I'd like to know if successful professors can spend some of their time directly doing research or how they feel about no longer being immersed in the details of their research.

Why professors spend most of their time to write proposals than doing research?


texts: Emailing a professor about a potential research idea, is there a risk?

texts:
I am an undergrad who worked at a computer vision related lab. The lab I used to work at raised some red flags by saying that even if I contributed, my name could not be on the paper. I also transferred schools, so I left. The problem is, I have this potentially great research idea that I'd like to test. I still have the data (a one hour video) and was either a. going to ask if I could use it for solo research, of course crediting them b. try to find a new professor at my school to supervise me.
I decided I want to find another professor to supervise me, cause I have never written a paper before and this is kind of a big project. I have been reading papers and research this for 5 months now, and I have never seen my idea done before. It basically takes something from a different area of the field and applies it to the research area I am interested in. I have seen it tried before, but not in the exact way I plan on doing it.
My concern is, what if I email professors about this and they steal me idea? Sure, if your ethical you won't, but could that happen? I want to email this professor with my idea, and ask if has any data / ways I can explore this at their lab. What if he says no and runs with my idea? either way, I am hoping he can offer me some perspective, but even if he says no he can be wrong - and isn't that the point of research to explore things that may not work?
Another reason I want to work with him is because all though there is another professor who would be able to help, he publishes a lot in IEEE and Civil engineering journals. I am trying to get noticed by the AI/ML and deep learning community, and that is where this other professor mostly publishes in. Would it be bad to ask him if he knows of any professors I can work with, if my idea doesn't suit his lab?


texts:
I notice that coming up for tenure/getting tenure is often an opportunity to move to another institution (even if tenure is granted). How does this work in practice? Is it common for assistant professors to formally go on the job market the year that they are up for tenure? Do they do it only informally, by asking around? Do schools just make offers to up-for-tenure APs without prompting?

I'm curious how this works, because it seems that often times these moves are worked out shortly after tenure decisions are made, so it seems like they must have been in the works before hand.

I'm most interested in highly ranked US based research universities.


texts: Not citing a secondary source for a reason

texts:
I have already read the relevant questions, but mine is really different;

I found useful information in a paper, it (basically) says for a specific case that "they use up to %60 more torque" but when I go to original source I saw that, in the original paper one of the values was "%63 torque", so I wrote, "they expend about %60 extra torque" and I couldn't give reference to a secondary source, because it was wrong, and my sentence became different.

Similarly, a paper said that (just a part of it) "during walking on a flat surface". However, when I open the original source, I saw that the original source says "for unrestrained walking" which means "during normal walking", so I couldn't give citation to secondary sources for that sentence because I corrected a part of the information.

Similarly, again, another paper (briefly) said that "in that country 159.000 amputation occurs per year" but when I open the original source, I saw that it was 143.000 so; I write "in that country each year more than 140.000 limb loss occurs." so, I couldn't write reference to a secondary source, because information became different. But sentence structures are similar I do not know if it is plagiarism?

Note1: Please, do not choose "duplicate" because my question is different, I'm correcting some missing or falsified information and I need a help about it. Is it correct to citing just original source, because secondary source reflects the information in a different way/and I can not find that information in original source, so, I modify the information, and I just cite the original source? Because at secondary source, information is a bit or more different (falsified or reflected secondary author's interpretation)? (as I explained above)

Note2: For some of them, I use a summary of secondary sources but I do correction for wrong parts or falsified numbers/interpretations. So I think it becomes my summary? I do not know where to draw the line.


texts: Do academics get paid for examining thesis?

texts:
Easy question, I know, and it may be obvious to some people.

I am an academic, so, let me be specific. Universities usually pay their external thesis examiners, and, I have heard that some pay their internal examiners as well.

I want to know if it's common practice to pay their internal examiners?

Thanks.


texts: How to handle a student's public speaking anxiety when teaching a class that requires presentations?

texts:
In one of the courses I'm teaching this semester, each student has to give a 20-minute in-class presentation of a paper relevant to the topic of each class. One of the students has approached me asking to be excused for this requirement, on the grounds that she is terrified of having to speak in front of others. She is willing to do an alternative assignment that doesn't involve a presentation; more significantly, I think, is the fact when I pressed her a bit about this, she seemed willing to straight up forgo this assignment and get a zero grade for this particular part of the course. Conversations I've had with other faculty who have had her in previous courses confirm that she is, in fact, a good enough student that she should be able to properly understand the kinds of papers we are reading in this course. So, this seems to be a genuine anxiety problem.

Given that I had my own mental issues way back when I was an undergrad, I know that a just-suck-it-up type of attitude on my part is likely to cause more problems than it solves. I'm willing to accommodate her request for an alternative assignment. On the other hand, there are two reasons why I'm in principle against this decision. First, it is unfair to the rest of the students (and also, it might get me a reputation as a lecturer that students can sway). Second, giving her an extra assignment effectively amounts to kicking the can down the road: the more she delays dealing with her problem, the harder it will become to solve, and chances are that the kind of environments she will encounter after graduation will not be as speaker-friendly as my class is.

How would you proceed here?


texts:
I would like to ask you some clarifications about the relationship between postdoctoral fellow and supervisor. In particular, does the postdoctoral fellow need to work only on the supervisor's research or there is some room for its own research?

Thanks!


texts: Is it a good practice for teaching assistants to sit in the lectures?

texts:
Has anyone tried this technique and how has it worked out for you?

Essentially, there are several problems with doing teaching assistant work (TA),

You might not even be from the institution where you are doing the TA, you are unfamiliar with the course structure and the textbook, but you have learned some equivalent courses before.
Courses can have several lecturers, each going at a slightly different pace. You don't know what your students know and get blank stares from them during tutorial hours.
You want to enhance your teaching material by identifying spots where students might be more easily confused, where in the lecture might question for exams be drawn from, the emphasis of the lecture versus textbook, and so on.

I think an easy way to overcome these problems is by sitting in the lectures with the students. I have never done this because it sounds too time-consuming, also it might look "strange" to the professor AND to the students.

Has anyone tried doing this and how has it worked out for you?

For lecturers/professors: do you think it is a good idea for your TA to sit in your lectures?


texts: Where can I find good examples of personal statements [BSc, MSc, PhD]?

texts:
In my country, there is basically no culture of personal statements for university admission. However, now I find myself in the need of writing a convincing one (note: my field is mathematics). I've been searching the web for some examples to get to know what an academic personal statement looks like, but unfortunately I couldn't find any good example.

So my question is:

  Could you point out where I can find some well-done personal
  statements from which I can really see what a good one is like?

I would appreciate if you could point out references to personal statements for admission to (a) bachelor degree, (b) master degree, and (c) PhD [indeed, I have to do mine for a quite peculiar purpose and for this reason I'd prefer to read examples from each of the above categories].


texts: I am equally interested in two fields with no hope of overlap - how can I maximize my chances of ultimately being able to pursue both?

texts:
I'm extremely and equally interested in a subset of cognitive psychology (a research question pertaining to individual differences in attentional control) and in Lie algebras/representation theory. Unfortunately these are disparate topics that aren't conducive to being tied together via interdisciplinary work.

I'm currently in a postbac program and will be applying to PhD programs this coming winter. (I'm familiar with both research "lifestyles" and don't feel that taking additional courses or doing further independent research would significantly elevate one interest over another.) Given that academic jobs are fiercely competitive, which path (e.g. apply to math PhDs and try to do a psych master's, apply to psych PhDs and try to do a math masters, or some other path) would maximize my chances of ultimately being able to productively research both topics alongside one another?

Some factors I'm aware of (but am struggling to coalesce into a decision). Please correct me if I'm wrong on any of these:

Jobs in academia are limited and competition is fierce, but it seems
there are fewer jobs and greater competition in cog psych than math.
In other words, the probability of obtaining a faculty job is
significantly greater for math grads than for psych grads. Math 1
Psych 0
Math is primarily a pen and paper field (and collaboration appears to
be relatively easy to make happen, contingent on usefulness), whereas cog psych research requires funding (equipment/software) and resources (subject pools). It would be possible for a cognitive psychologist to work on Lie theory as a hobby, but the reverse would be very difficult to impossible. Math 0 Psych 1
It's much easier to teach yourself math and how to do math research than it is to teach yourself cog psych and how to do cog
psych research - the latter is heavily dependent on learning from
experienced others and hands-on practice. Math 0 Psych 1
I am, at the moment, able to piece together a stronger application to math PhD programs than to psych PhD programs - and
this difference is amplified by the fact that most departments have a
bunch of faculty working on Lie algebras/rep theory, whereas there
are currently fewer than five people in the US doing research on that
sub-sub-topic of cog psych (or at least fewer than five
people that I'm aware of, but I've done my research). I could try to piece together a stronger application to my top choice psych programs (or rather, advisors), but it would either be risky and expensive or risky and financially unethical. Math 1 Psych 0

If anyone is familiar with this type of situation, could you offer advice on which academic path one should take to maximize their chances of doing research in two nonintersecting fields, particularly given the factors listed above? What kinds of PhD programs should one focus on applying to? (I realize this question is similar to another that's been asked, but most of the answers to that question involved tying together the two fields, which isn't an option in this case :)


texts: How to build bridges between mathematicians, computer scientists and biologists?

texts:
I am part of a recently founded laboratory in computational biology and we are trying to get all the parts (biologists, computer scientists, mathematicians, and so on) to speak the same language, or at least one we can all understand. To do so, we want to figure out some strategies beside seminars and weekly lectures.

I am not the only one who went through this challenge, see: [1]. For example, How to explain core biological concepts like evolution and selection to a mathematician? How to explain a mathematical formalization to a biologist (beyond the very basic models the majority of biologists know, such as predator-prey and logarithmic growth)?

There must be strategies; for instance, books that are in an effective middle (mathematically rigorous, but stepped enough that a biologist can understand it). This is a long term project and we need to devise strategies to progressively "retrain" ourselves. (Bibliography suggestions are welcome.)

[1] https://liorpachter.wordpress.com/2014/12/30/the-two-cultures-of-mathematics-and-biology/


texts: Apply to PhD after expulsion from another

texts:
I was in a math PhD program for one year during the 2009-2010 year in US (with funding by school). I was expelled due to low grades (nothing related to violence/cheating). During the Fall of 2010, I took some classes at a local university and applied to Master's programs during that time. I went to a Master's program in math in Canada from 2011-2013 (currently there).

My plan is to apply to top PhD programs in the US in math this Fall and enter at the Fall of 2013. I have a 4.0 Masters GPA, >95% GRE math scores, publications, and excellent relations with Master's advisors. I have developed great focus and motivation and have rid myself of procrastination which plagued me the past. I am also sure I want to continue doing mathematical research.

I am sure that when applying to PhDs, mentioning the expulsion from years ago will only hurt me so I intend to not mention it (I have not told anyone about this either). My question is if PhD programs will discover this hidden information when I apply? What if when I apply for fellowships?


texts: Apply too many schools? Prof tired of sending out recommendation letter?

texts:
For grad school application (US univerisity), we need recommendation from prof. I guess the process is that system send out recommendation letter request to prof's email.

Do you guys know how long does it take to submit these recomendation letter? Does it need to fill extra form while submitting these letter?

I ask because I want to know how time consuming it is. Should I limit the # of school I apply because it might be too much work for the prof?


texts: Are Graduate Schools Less Likely to Fund and/or Accept Nontraditional Students?

texts:
I once heard that nontraditional students are less likely to be funded for graduate school. Supposedly (according to this person), this is because 40+ year old students rarely get tenure track positions. Thus, I guess they aren't profitable for the school/program (perhaps unless they're self-funded). I wanted to ask if there was any truth to this.
I'm in my late 30's and am deciding if/where to apply for a master's degree (in a humanities field), but my long term goal is a PhD. Even at the master's level, however, would I have difficulty getting funding at my age?
Also, are nontraditional students more likely to be rejected? I know we present more of a risk for the program, as we're statistically more likely to develop health issues, have fewer productive years in the field, etc. Do admissions committees take this into consideration when evaluating nontraditional applicants?
*Edit- I understand that discrimination is illegal, but this can be difficult to prove since all they have to find is one flaw in your application or decide that you're not a good "fit" for the program. (And my questions is not about winning a discrimination case but about initial acceptance vs. rejection.)


texts: Activities for welcome event for incoming PhD students?

texts:
My department is planning an event (2-3 hours) welcoming incoming PhD students and giving them a chance to meet the rest of the department.

So far, the proposed activities for this year's welcome event are: welcome from department head and graduate program director, happy hour, followed by dinner and more drinks. (The idea behind all the alcohol is to "lull them into a false sense of what a PhD program will really be like.")

Any ideas/suggestions for what to do at this kind of event?


texts: Relevance of computer science degree to pursue a career in cognitive science

texts:
This forum looks like the perfect place to ask a question that is being bothering me for a long time.

I'm 22 and a college dropout for numerous reasons (economic and mostly because I didn't like the major that I was studying, which led to depression, etc.)
Anyway, I recently discovered MOOCs (coursera, edx, udacity, OCW-MIT, etc.) and khanAcademy and I immediately fell in love with science and more precisely computer science. I also fall in love with the brain and love to think about thinking, decision making, logic, critical thinking, neuroplasticity, etc...
I also appreciated cognitive psychology and the philosophy of the mind but I haven't gone any deeper to those two.
So, you can say MOOCs changed my life because I'm able to learn things that I never would have consider ever studying.

I'm thinking of pursuing a Cognitive Science degree which can expose me into computer science and some kind of neuroscience, philosophy, and psychology.

The only thing is that here in Greece, Cognitive Science is only a postgraduate degree so I have first to finish an undergraduate degree in Computer Science or in Philosophy and History of Technology (those are the only two majors from which students are accepted for the Cognitive Science degree).

My question is, should I spend the next year of my life into studying for a test that will get me to the University (in order to get to a University you need to give exams in May, I'm not ready to give it this May so I have to give it on the May of 2015)?

Is it worth it to study Computer Science for four years to pursue the Cognitive Science degree which is my primary goal ?

PS: The possibility of studying abroad is out of question given the economic situation of my family, unless a scholarship for studying abroad is available.


texts: How to teach programming to first timers at a college level?

texts:
I am currently teaching at a local college an Introduction to programming using C#. Most of these students have never had any programming experience. The only prerequisite is an ICT course that teaches basics of computing.

I am finding that the students are facing issues with comprehending the concept of program structure and execution. I tried explaining with flow charts however they still face issues linking the flow of the code to the flow of the solution of to the problem being solved.

Those who are more experienced probably know of techniques or ways to structure the lesson or even curriculum to teach programming in a much better way (I am even guessing there might have even been studies about teaching programming).

What known techniques are there for teaching students at a college level programming? Especially those who have had no prior experience before?


texts: How do I convince my professor to allow me to go to a conference?

texts:
I am an international PhD student of 2nd year (my PhD is supposed to be for 3 years). When I just came to this lab, my professor mentioned a possibility to go to an international conference or visit some other lab. Later when I asked him, he said that I don't have any result (I have done a lot of work but didn't get the result which he was expecting) and why then go to a conference. I explained that I would like to a) discuss my work with other people and possibly get some new ideas and b) I want to get a postdoc later and need to do some networking, if possible, at an international level. My professor responded that a conference is not necessary for getting a PhD degree, and as I don't socialize much in lab (I am rather shy), he doesn't understand how I can discuss with others at a conference (he thought it is a very funny joke).

In my PhD 1 year progress report presentation, one of the opponents said that it could be beneficial for me to go to another (specific) lab for a couple of weeks, but my professor ignored it and when I tried to remind him later, he changed the subject. This opponent is from another institute, unfamiliar to me and I can't just contact him and ask for assistance.

I am concerned because I am new in this domain and thus without going anywhere I am unlikely to meet people for possible collaboration in future.

All other students here (around 10) have already participated in 2-3 conferences minimum (and in some cases, research visit for several weeks), including two other students of my professor (but they both have a second supervisor, so my professor doesn't have as much control there as in my case). Many have found the funding through the lab, so I don't think that the lack of funding is the reason.

What should I do? How I can convince him that it is really important for me? Any idea is appreciated.


texts: How to find out the terms used for a topic, so that I can find the appropriate literature on it?

texts:
My English is not perfect, moreover I am not familiar with the exact phrases for a topic of research or a technical term in the literature

I have some ideas or projects done, if I knew the exact word for the topic to which my idea belongs I could search better and find more appropriate resources and write better papers

For example suppose I have done an image processing projects which detects damages of an equipment in a manufacture, I thought its belong to the fault detection area but then I found the fault detection could be something more general or a different area ..... and defect detection is more close to the topic

As you see I need a website where I can mention what I have done or what is my idea and get the research area where I can find the proper resources


texts: What English expression resembles the German "Tutor"?

texts:
In Germany, it is common for students to hold “Tutor” positions, which entail a weekly teaching class (e.g., 90 minutes) and the correction of exercise sheets handed in by students.

I would like to list such a position in my CV, which is in English.

What English expression should be used for this type of work? Is teaching assistant suitable?


texts: Second phd in top rank university but online.

texts:
Folks,
I have received my phd from a university ranked 60 in usnews and had one year of post doc work after. Right now I am a non tenure track teaching professor at a wellknown university. Eversince I was student I had a dream of being in MIT, Stanford, Caltech or UC berkley. However, since I was neither genius nor rich, I was not able to do this. I even had a phd admission from USC but since it was partially funded I was not able to attend. Anyways, now that I am done with everything, I am still thinking of doing another phd in the above mentioned universities. But, I do not want to leave my current position since I really enjoy teaching and do not want to risk my future for just a dream. A solution I come up is to get a phd while I am working and this is only possible if the above universities are offering online phds. My field is civil engineering and due to my research area I am also interested in applied math. So far I was not able to find any top rank university that offers civil eng. or math completely online. I can get a phd in math from the university that I am teaching with a tuition waver but it is not really what i want. The best university for online math is University of Washington. But university of Washington is not a top rank university and I do not know if it is worth my time and money.

Any suggestions highly appreciated. And please do not call me a loser for trying to get a second phd. :D

Regards,
Jason Ray


texts: Is it ok to have a paper with no academic citation but just think tank and investigative journalism?

texts:
I'm writing my first paper for a conference about an issue enquired just by think tank, investigative journalism, ONG and United Nation Agencies but not directly from academic research.

So, is it correct to present that paper with only collateral academic writing?


texts: Is it normal/ethical for student grades to be assigned according to quotas?

texts:
In my undergraduate Physics courses, I have heard from my Professor last semester that he got in trouble from the physics department for passing too many students.

This semester, the TA in the lab portion of my class (who grades our lab reports) came flapping around a memo he got, also from the Physics department, stating that the average grade needed to be 75% and he will now be grading accordingly, after a few weeks of normal grading.

I typically spend up to 4-5 hours on these reports, typing up formulas and doing analysis, calculations, etc. I have gotten a 100 on every lab report in my first semester and up to that point in the second. Now, after the ultimatum, I'm losing points for things I didn't before, and being asked for additional analysis that has never been required. I already spend as much time as I can, and this harsh grading feels out of nowhere and undeserved.

Questions:

Is this normal that teachers have quotas?
Should it affect students who actually put in the work?
Does this seem like an ethical issue of arbitrary grading that I should bring up to the department or my professor?


texts: Is it appropriate to ask journal review status after not hearing back in quoted timeline?

texts:
I submitted a paper to a journal three months ago and was told that the review process could take up to three months but that they aimed to do it faster.

Since I haven't heard back within the quoted timeline, would it be appropriate to contact them and ask how the process is going?

On one hand, I could see that they may be very busy and have received more submissions than they anticipated.

However, I also wonder about the possibility that something has slipped through the cracks - like perhaps the review is over and they lost my contact info or something.

What's the appropriate action to take?

The journal is free to submit to, free to read, so I know that folks aren't getting paid, which makes it harder to expect the timeline to be met, but I'd still like to make sure things are on track.

Thanks!


texts: Asking University to reimburse renting a car

texts:
I'm shortly going to a conference which is held at a centre pretty much in the middle of nowhere (or, to be more precise, in the middle of a hiking region). The suggested way of reaching the destination is by taxi, and the public transportation is nearly non-existent.

Me and a group of other junior researchers (PhD's and PostDocs) have decided to hire a car to make transportation easier and to take full advantage of the attractive region. Split four ways, the cost is quite affordable.

I am wondering whether it is acceptable to ask my university for reimbursement. We have an allowance for travel expenses, so there is certainly an available source of money. However, I have two problems with making the request. First is a moral one - can I ask the university to reimburse a car which we'll partly use for our own enjoyment? Second is more practical - is the university likely to agree? Will they be able to process the kind of receipt car hire company will issue? How do I explain that I paid exactly 1/4 of the quoted price?


texts: Writing a single authored research paper in a math journal: Is this a significant achievement?

texts:
An engineering graduate with a below average grade, being in industry not related to math, for almost 10 years, with no previous publication record in any field, while still working full time, publishing a single authored research paper in a reasonable mathematics journal with zero guidance from anyone. Is this a significant achievement, and would this be a substantial factor for getting a PhD position in an applied math department at a US university or European university with good reputation or if not a reasonably good university?

Edit: (added as per suggestion)
Journal Name : Journal of Applied Analysis


texts: How to avoid crossing my advisor if I write a paper as a sole author?

texts:
A bit of a controversial question here. I am a PhD student currently away from campus on an internship in another state (in the US). I left campus with my advisor-provided laptop and some dataset I collected while working in my advisor's lab. We had the mutual understanding that me taking the official lab's laptop to the place of my internship was in the spirit of me being able to do my research effectively while I am away from campus.

For the past four months, I have been working at my leisure hours at my place of internship and during weekends to investigate an algorithm with respect to the dataset I collected while working under my advisor -- in his lab. I should mention that since I am away on an internship, I am not his Research Assistant at least for now (until I return to campus).

Aside from using the dataset I collected from his lab, I have scraped publicly available datasets from other research labs online and used them to rigorously test my algorithm. My algorithms are starting to yield promising results which I think are about right for a publication. Because my advisor has made little or no contribution to my work so far, I am not sure how appropriate it is to put his name on the paper I am writing which reports my findings so far. I have tacitly brought this up with him in emails  so far but he has not expressed any enthusiasm about whatever work I am doing remotely (perhaps he doesn't trust what he hasn't seen?).

Since the deadline of the conference is coming up soon, how would you suggest I do not cross him if I write the paper as a sole author?


texts: How should I answer a question about my "personal goals" when being considered for a graduate position?

texts:
I'm applying for a graduate position. One professor answered my email and asked me some questions. Two of them are listed below:

What are your short- and long-term academic/professional goals?
What are your short- and long-term personal goals?

I can talk about my professional goals in the first question, but I don't know how to answer the second question. To what extent should my goals be personal?


texts: Link to ORCID when revising a paper on editorial manager

texts:
When I started revising my paper on Editorial Manager, it required me to link to my ORCID (see the attached). I do have an ORCID account, and after I logged in, nothing happened, i.e., the ORCID was not linked.
I checked my ORCID account, and it listed the Editorial Manager there. Still, I couldn't proceed to build a PDF for the revision at the last step.
What's the solution?


texts: On the possibility and legality of bulk downloading papers from IEEE Xplore

texts:
Is it possible to download all available literature from IEEE Xplore? Is it allowed?
I was thinking that now, while I still have access due to being in academia, I might download everything I could possibly need.
Bonus question: If it is allowed, how do I do it?


texts: Attending university as an adult freshman

texts:
After graduating high-school, I did not attend a university and instead decided to enter the work force. Eight years hence, I would like to pursue a university degree but I am not entirely sure which credentials are important for an adult freshman. Are my high-school transcripts still relevant almost a decade after the fact? Do universities consider professional experience in their admissions process (I have 6 years professional experience related to my intended field of study)? Do I have a shot at competitive university even though my academic history is essentially nothing? With sufficient review, I expect I can achieve high standardized testing scores, but I wonder if that will be enough to compensate for such a huge gap in my academic career.

The crux of my question is: how should an adult freshmen prepare before applying to a competitive university?


texts:
What is baseline funding in academia? What does it mean for professors to have individual baselines and where does the money come from?

Edit:
My professor says he is paying for my travelling expenses from his baseline. I am doing undergraduate research under his supervision. This is in the Middle East.


texts: What are the perks of being a tenured professor at U.S. universities, besides having academic freedom?

texts:
For instance, one of my professors went to Princeton (for his undergrad math degree) for free, because his parents are tenured faculty at Princeton.  Is such a benefit available to tenured faculty at most U.S. universities?  This is assuming that a tenured professor's children are qualified to be admitted to the school.

Besides having academic freedom, what are some other, lesser-known, considerable perks of being in academia as a tenured professor as opposed to being tenure track?

(Main motivation for the question is to follow up on a previous question in which the OP asked about the stresses of academic life, specifically, in mathematics research.)


texts: How to put the upcoming experience in Grad School Application?

texts: I am applying for Masters program in Computer Science and hoping to specialize in AI/ML. I will be the Teaching Assistant (T.A) for Machine Learning  class in the spring and most of the admissions deadlines are in the end of December. I think having this experience can make my application strong but how can I add this experience to the application as it will be in the coming future?


texts: Sending a paper to a conference with indicating that it is a preliminary version

texts:
I am a PhD student in economics and I try to finish and send a paper to an international conference but the version that I will send will be a very preliminary version.

I see sometimes in my field that there are papers in which people write under title a little note that the current version is a "Preliminary Version".
I know that most papers sent to conferences are always not complete but I wonder if it is  good to write "Preliminary Version" below the title of the paper.

I ask this question myself because it is sending directly a signal to reviewers and I can not expect how they will react to this note.

Two possibilities : 1) If they like the main idea of the paper, they would be more tolerant for accepting it.

2) They could be more harsh as the author has already wrote on the paper that it is a preliminary version, with thinking that author has not completed it yet.

PS. The papers sent to this conference are blind copies.


texts: How common is it for people to apply for a PhD from industry?

texts:
I have been working as a Senior Engineer in Industry for about 13 years since I graduated. However, I am seriously considering applying for a PhD program, because I am feeling acutely unchallenged in my job and I am very interested in getting involved with cutting-edge research.

So, I am wondering how common it is for people to do a PhD after first doing a stint in Industry? Roughly what percentage of PhD applicants are coming from industry?

My impression is that a large proportion would be applying to do a PhD course straight after their undergrad degree, but I would like to know if that is true.


texts: Is it advisable to cite a lot of commecial product web references in a survey paper?

texts:
I'm currently writing a survey on a specific topic in biomechanics. In one of the sections, a tabulation of tools with columns name, type, description, and study is included.

The plan was to cite the home page of the commercial product next to the tool name and cite the relevant literature that use them in the study section. This would mean 20+ product home pages in the in the reference section out of around 200 references. My intention was to allow the reader to refer the product page for more detail regarding the tool concerned.

From a reviewer's standpoint, is it a good idea to cite so many commercial product links in an academic article?


texts: Can I copy an image from another paper (that I am citing)?

texts:
I am in the process of writing a paper on the results I have obtained recently. One of the steps where I have innovated is extracted from a paper published some years ago.

My idea for the paper was to compare the original method with my modifications and thus present the different results.

Is it generally accepted practice to simply copy the "results" image from the original paper (that I am extensively citing and discussing in mine)? Or should I somehow recreate it? (this last option is presenting some difficulties, as some implementation details* are not explicitely stated in the original paper and thus I cannot be 100% sure that my reproduction would be actually representative of what the authors originally did)

*: yes, we are speaking (also) about code


texts: When did it become inappropriate for a professor to smoke during lectures?

texts: Sidney Coleman smoked during lectures he gave. Was this universally acceptable behavior at the time? When did smoking during lectures become inappropriate?


texts: How do you deal with extremely timid/shy students in small classes?

texts:
Note: I'm not an academic, but I had a student like this as a colleague while in high school (12-18 in a school for students with Asperger's)* myself and I think that this is a worthwhile subject to discuss.

Sometimes you have one or two REALLY shy students in a class with a small headcount. Students that never raise their hands in class, never ask questions, never notify that they have a problem,... The really severe cases will internally panic when you ask them a question and just shut down completely, not even making a sound or a response.

They aren't bad students, far from it. They make their assignments, score well on tests and succeed in the exercises. They just are REALLY passive in the classroom, to the point of almost starting to cry when the teacher asks them something. They also only have that problem in class: when they're among friends during non-class time, like lunch or break, they're quite open and talk rather freely.

As an example, the student from above was so shy that he couldn't introduce himself during the very first week. In the first 2 years, he couldn't give any public speeches, even after much encouragement from the teacher. You couldn't get any more than 2 consecutive words out of him. When the teacher addressed him because they wanted to involve him, he did the above mentioned shutdown, even after repeated encouragement. He loosened up somewhat over the years, but it was still such a surprise when he first willingly raised his hand (sometime in the 4th year), that he got a positive note in his weekly report just for that.

The problem is that it's not always immediately obvious if the student struggles with something. Sometimes, a student like this hopelessly fails an entire class because he didn't understand something from the first year and was too shy to ask for help.

What methods can a teacher use for students like this?

*While I mention a student from SEN education, this question also can apply to non-SEN students. And while this question mentions a high-school student (which I understand is not entirely on-topic in here), it also applies to higher education with smaller groups.


texts: How much help should one expect from their PhD advisor to get a job (academic or industry)?

texts: How much help can one expect from their PhD advisor to get a job (academic or industry)? Is it true that graduates often get positions just by having their advisor make a "phone call"?


texts: Where can I donate print academic journals?

texts: Like many people, I have a lot of print journals that I got over time with association memberships. However, I never use them, given online access at my institution. Does anyone know where I can donate them? I've looked at a lot of university libraries and often, it doesn't look like they accept them, as a policy. Most of the online guidance that I have found is fairly old, at this point.


texts: Is it appropriate for a student to have their phone face down on the table when in class?

texts:
I was wondering if it is appropriate to have my phone out on my desk face down during class. I have done this for some time and have never been told to put it away.

On the one hand, putting it out shows the teacher, Here is my phone, I'm not using it.

On the other hand, putting it out might imply, I am waiting for something more important than your class.

Is it generally inappropriate or acceptable to have my phone out during class?


texts:
I worked on a paper in computer science (CS) from half a year approximately, so I decided to send it to the JUCS journal. They kindly informed me that they were not able to find enough reviewers for my article and so I decided to send it somewhere else. After that, I sent it to another journal that covers general topics in CS, but it got rejected. The justification was because they said the article lacked of the necessary algorithmic formalism but the problem is that only one reviewer sent out their comments after almost six months. I thought my paper was almost forgotten, because when I wrote to the editor I never got an answer.

After this rejection I submitted my work to a conference, and it finally got accepted. The recommendations were to proofread the paper, and well just to add more references. I consider that is valuable to mention that the journals and this conference are indexed in Scopus.

The problem that I have is that I found that there is a top ACM conference in this field. So, I do not know if I should withdraw my paper from the conference that already accepted it and re-submit it for this new conference. The reason for doing this is because I am very curious about what would be the feedback of the reviewers in this conference. I know that maybe it will get rejected, because I saw that the submissions come mostly from well renowned universities such as MIT or Stanford.

Bottom line, what should I do in this situation? Any advice? Should I just present my research into the conference that already accepted it, and after that to send it for comments to a professor in this area?

Thanks


texts: Can one earn money from a product developed during research?

texts:
I have recently shared a video on LinkedIn about a project I was involved in while working as a part-time Research Assistant. Besides this project, I have a number of other robots that might be commercialized.

Having shared this video, I received several messages asking whether this robot will be soon on the market or whether we have an early adopter program.

This is something we have not even remotely considered. Can a product that has been developed in University be conceptualized or made commercially available by the University or the Research laboratory?

I know some people that started a company and turned their PhD research into a startup. But this is not something I am considering. In this case, the University is the owner of the product that has been developed and we are not allowed to take anything outside the campus.

If I invent something while I am working in the domain of the University, can revenue be created by selling this product?


texts: How to manage publications on a local computer

texts:
I would like to find a better way of naming publications which I store on my local computer as PDFs. So far I have been doing something like this:

Albano R., Sole A., Adamowski J., Mancusi L. (2014) - A GIS-based model to estimate flood consequences and the degree of accessibility and operability of strategic emergency response structures in urban areas.pdf

This presents a couple of disadvantages:

Titles can be extremely long. This causes problems in certain operating systems or software such as OneDrive. You can only have so many characters in a filename...
Not all publications can follow this format. The above is OK for journal papers and theses, but not so much for books or other kinds of publications.

I would like to have a consistent way to manage such a database. I thought of keeping the publication metadata such as authors, date of publication, type of publication and type in a separate text or excel file and naming the PDF files by ID, like 1.pdf, 2.pdf, etc. This could work, but it would require referring to and managing a spreadsheet which would contain all the meta data.

Is there a simple method or perhaps lightweight software that I can use which can help me with this sort of task?

EDIT

I didn't really like the way @Jonas Stein's script is set up, though I do owe him the inspiration and indication to use JabRef. Here's my alternative script:

import bibtexparser
import os
from shutil import copyfile

filename = 'db.bib'
out_folder = 'out'

with open(filename) as bibtex_file:
    db = bibtexparser.load(bibtex_file)

for entry in db.entries:
    print(entry['file'])
    id = entry['ID']
    file = entry['file'].split(':')[1]

    copyfile(file, os.path.join(out_folder, id)+'.pdf')

print('done')

It's much more compact and does the job.


texts:
The Wikipedia page for “Curry–Howard correspondence” has a section on ”Synthetic papers”.

What precisely is a synthetic paper?


texts: How to be confident that my background for my research is adequate?

texts:
I am a third-year PhD student in Computational Algebra with a B.Sc. in Computer Science.

While doing my research, I often need to check my old textbooks for definitions, and I am concerned that I may not be adequately prepared despite having done the course work seriously.  Due to this to me I feel like I should read a textbook for 2 weeks then start doing the research.

Others have suggested to only read a book when you need a particular lemma/proof/etc., however I am conflicted on whether this is good advice.

Question:  What should I do?

Please note that my supervisor told me that you know enough for research. Is this kind of feeling common among PhD students?


texts: Choosing one's best papers for job applications

texts:
I'm a postdoc in the physical sciences, currently writing some job applications.

I have noticed that sometimes, particularly for research oriented faculty positions but also some postdoc positions, you may be asked to list your three best/most significant papers. Presumably the goal here is to enable a meaningful evaluation of your research, without the need to read all of your papers.

My question is: what is the optimal strategy for choosing which papers to put forward as your best three?

Should one simply choose the ones which are in the highest impact journals?

I imagine that long papers might be off-putting to busy people with lots of applications to evaluate, so is it best to only choose short papers? On the other hand maybe throwing one long paper into the mix can, if it's good, demonstrate a capacity for deep scholarly research?

How heavily does first authorship weigh? Does it look bad if one of your best three papers is one where you aren't the first author?

In my specific case, I'm submitting a faculty application where I have to choose three papers and I'm fairly sure of two of my choices. For the third, it comes down to a choice between a well-cited paper in a fairly high impact journal, but where I am second author versus a paper where I am first author, and which I think is a good paper, but it's in a less high profile journal and hasn't attracted very much attention in the field. Are there some general principles for deciding which is a better choice?


texts: What can I do if a student in my lab threatens to tell lies about me, and my advisor doesn't want to fire her?

texts:
I'm doing my Masters right now and I am a new lab member (I've been there for just 4 months). A undergrad student didn't like it when I told her to follow biosafety rules when handling dangerous chemical reagents. So by e-mail she said she would tell our advisor lies about me and that he will believe in her because she's there for 2 years and he likes her, and I am a newbie.

I took that issue to the advisor, who read the e-mail that she sent and he was 100% supportive of me. However, they used to go the same church and he either pities her or really likes her, I don't know. Then he asked me to forgive her. But I can't, I can't even look her in the face anymore. I think she's evil and mean: she even told me I'm making my own grave and would spread lies about me to him. Now he knows the truth about her, but I think their personal relationship is blinding him. He should fire her! But he wants her there, so...

I don't want to change labs because I really like my PI. How should I deal with this situation?

She and I will have a one-to-one meeting next week, and my advisor told me she will apologize to me in that meeting, but I'm still worried she can sabotage my experiments in the future.  We are not in the USA.

UPDATE: I had another conversation with my PI today, and he's dealing with this situation as "teenage fighting" - his words, not mine. He's being complacent about all of this and laughs about my worries and insecurities. He does not think that abusive and threating language from a student to another to be a big deal.

Religion plays a big role here I guess. He does not want to fire her in ANY hypothesis. Same religion; knows her parents and so on...

I really really like him, but I don't know if I do anymore. I think he's not providing a safe mental health environment for me...

He was too perfect to be true...

UPDATE 2

She lied, lied and lied again and it blew up on her face! Now, ALL* lab members wanted her to go. The PI cut her funding, and she finally left our lab! Now we can live at peace, right? Not so fast...

*She has a friend (just one - and also an undergrad like her) that is still here. And he's full of revenge! Another sociopathic liar. Sabotage is being a big issue here. All mice from a PhD student were found dead inside their cages. We cannot prove anything, but they had a fight two days earlier... Also, controlled drugs are now missing, and my PI is being once again complacent about it. I can denounce him to our correspondent DEA, but it could backfire somehow, I don't know. He still likes me, but I don't think I like him anymore. Actually, nobody in our lab trust him anymore.


texts: Does APA style require a cover page for short student papers?

texts:
My students are required to use APA style. I'm familiar with the research paper format, which requires a separate title page (like a cover page). This makes sense for longer papers, but how should students format the first page of a one- or two-page assignment?

My question is: What do students do if the paper is one to two pages? How do they format their name and information w/o a title page?

In the style guides, I can only find information for research papers.