texts: Estimating postdoc salary with "30% ruling" in the Netherlands and is postdoc a "scientific" position?

texts:
I'm trying to estimate the salary of a postdoc position in the Netherlands. I know that if approved for the "30% ruling," 30% of the gross income is tax-free. But, there are three category in the 30% ruling: (i) Scientific position (for which salary is not a bar); (ii) under 30 with MSc (mainly for the PhDs); and (iii) 'other' category.

I'm using the tool www.thetax.nl to estimate it (I'm not affiliated with it or endorsing it)

Here is the situation:

Gross annual salary (including holiday allowance): 47297
Recruitment: from abroad. She is living (>150kms)
since forever.
Last degree: PhD (this is a fresh start to a postdoc position).
Age: 30 before starting the position.

My questions are:

If a postdoc gets approved for 30% ruling, then will he/she be considered under scientific position (for which salary is not a bar) or 'other' category of the ruling?
What will be rough monthly salary?


texts:
I am from France and want to find an internship in Finland.

Can I use "BAC+n" on my resume? Will it be understood or should I use something else? Maybe the terms License and Master are enough since it is supposedly known in all Europe but this is relatively recent so I think it would hurt to add BAC+5.


texts: I've been invited to an academic workshop in India. As a North American woman, it is conventional to wear business casual (e.g., pant suit or dress) or even casual clothing to a conference or workshop in my field (geography/health). Would it be appropriate to wear business casual in India or to dress more formally? Are pants preferred over knee-length skirts for women?


texts:
I am a graduate student in mathematics, currently working from home due to the COVID crisis. Even though , yea, pure mathematicians can work from home, but I really miss the campus and the environment which drove me to be better.
Do other mathematicians think the same on this platform?


texts:
A paper was uploaded to Arxiv that is very similar to my research. I cited it in the related work section of the paper I am currently working on. I was planning on noting the shortcomings of this Arxiv paper when a few days later I found that it was rejected from the conference via openreview. My questions are:

Should I leave this citation in?
Should I say that it has been rejected?
Should the knowledge of the rejection change the way I talk about the paper?

This is the first time something like this has happened to me, so not sure how I should approach this.


texts: How to persuade my supervisor to write a recommendation letter for P.h.D in the US?

texts:
I am currently a MS student at EE department at my final year pursing my thesis. I could not publish any of my works yet however I am willing to submit one journal paper for publishing at the end of the next December. In addition, I have an excellent GPA at my bachelor study ( > 3.70/4.00) and a current 4.00/4.00 GPA in MS program.  Moreover, I have an assistantship experience.
I want to get accepted in a fully-funded Ph.D program in the US or Canada for the next year, I have researched some universities requirements which I meet. And I asked my supervisor politely to be ready to write me a recommendation letter when I start applying to the universities. He said to me that he can do so, but he totally does NOT advise me to apply now, but be more 'realistic' and apply for the next year since I have no work published yet. He said that I have a very low chance to get accepted, but I find such reason of not applying unreasonable. When people apply to the Green Card, they have also a very low chance of getting accepted, and I am not sure of this low chance's percentage; is it 5% 10% or 35%? He said that I have to E-mail professors working in these universities to have a Ph.D position, but they most probably will not answer my mails due to my empty published research budget. I asked him if writing about my intended paper topic briefly in the 'Statement of Purpose' will help me in this situation, but he said that he does not think so.
All in all, he is a person that I respect a lot and very experienced instructor in his work area as well as helping his own students to go for top-univiersities in US & Europe. But, I think that I either need to persuade him to write a recommendation letter or being more clear with me. Frankly, I am also afraid of arguing further with him since he is considered to be my boss,leading to undesired consequences.
What should I do? BTW: the universities in the US/Canada ask for three recommendation letters which means that I have to be in contact with two more professors as well. I also consider and accept doing my Ph.D in a top-university in Europe, but English-speaking country is my first priority. Unfortunately, applying to US/Canada in the next year will make me wait one more year to start the program. This might not be bad if I gain a real industry work experience at the same time? But forcing my conditions is what I don't like.


texts: How prestigious are the meetings of the Optical Society of America (OSA)?

texts:
Usually, and especially for the IEEE conferences, it is easy to know whether a conference is good or not. For example, top-tier, second-tier and third-tier conferences are known and agreed upon.

For example, the IEEE ICC (1st tier) conference is better than IEEE Globecom (2nd tier). My question is, how to define the tiers for the OSA meetings and conferences.

Is there anyone familiar with the OSA meetings and conferences who can shed the light on how to interpret the acceptance in an OSA conference? What tier does an OSA conference belong to? How to know it, etc....

Kindly note that I am not asking if the acceptance as a poster, or even a talk is prestigious. I am strictly interested in the classification of the meeting and conference.

I know that a poster acceptance is less than being accepted for a talk, and that it is merely for discussions and feedback on new or emerging research topics. However, I believe that a poster presentation in a top tier, is better than a poster presentation in a second tier, therefore, I am asking about the OSA meetings and conference classifications.

Thank you.


texts: How would you give your students a tournament as assessment?

texts:
I am currently teaching calculus and I thought it would be a good idea to do some kind of limit (and later derivative/integral) calculation tournament. The thing is... The students only seem to give their best if the activity is an actual assessment so I was wondering how can I prepare a tournament as a fair assessment.

The main issue is that as an assessment I want every student to be able to get the maximum score (otherwise it wouldn’t be fair), however since it is a tournament only one student can get the first place...

So I was wondering how one can organize a tournament in a way that is fair for all students? There are some remarks to take in consideration:

There should be a prize/incentive for attaining a better place in the tournament compared to the other students.
Everybody should be able to get the maximum score.
There should be some kind of rule which determines whether a student is out the tournament or not.
Every student needs to participate.
The whole tournament shouldn’t take longer than two hours; I can’t spend too much class time on that.

So with those remarks in mind how would you guys organize a tournament? I'd like to compile some suggestions before planning it.


texts: I'm the only grad student who wasn't asked to write a tenure recommendation for my advisor. Should I be concerned?

texts:
I'm a few months away from defending and my advisor is going up for tenure shortly after I finish. I found out that every other student of my advisor, including a student who graduated a year ago, except for me was asked to write a letter for consideration in the tenure process. One of the students just joined the lab and was confused as to what exactly he was supposed to say. These requests weren't sent out by my advisor, but by another professor on behalf of the tenure committee. (That professor just happens to be on my advisory committee.)

Should I be concerned about this or am I just being paranoid?


texts: How to Establish a Community-Scope Means of Sharing Code/Knowledge Across Labs?

texts:
In my field there has been a growing interest in establishing a means of sharing resources (i.e. software and technical knowledge) across labs. Currently, these resources are shared ad hoc, and as such it can be difficult for researchers, particularly students and junior faculty, to find out how to do particular things or avoid reinventing the wheel.  I'm working with a few other people in my field to attempt to establish a centralized, public (within the field) means for sharing these resources across the research community, but have no prior experience setting up anything like this.  We're considering setting up a Google Group for facilitating discussion and announcements, but I am concerned we may have difficulty engaging and growing the user base to the point where the group can sustain itself.  Therefore, my questions are:

Are there community wide resource sharing methods in other fields that might serve as an example for us? How were they established?
What are the critical factors that determine the success or failure of this sort of community level collaboration?  How do successful collaborations handle these factors?


texts: plagiarism and transcription of audio recordings

texts:
Does it count as plagiarism if a student pays a professional transcription service to transcribe an audio recording of a social science interview/focus group for the appendix of their written assignment?

Note that the appendix is not graded as part of the assignment.


texts: Must a co-author of a book have written literally half? Or can her role refer to significant contributions that actually made the book publishable, such as extensive rewriting and editing, knowledge about publishing, navigating manuscript through the publishing process, writing queries, etc., etc. The book, though very steeped in science, is written for the general public. I am the author of many books and the author approached me to navigate her through this process. She is now exploring whether I shouldn't be co-author because of my contributions. I know this is common in scientific journals, but can't find answer re books. Thank you!


texts: What is the proper designation for someone who has not finished their master's degree?

texts: If a person has completed their course work but has not submitted their dissertation or capstone project. what can you call them if they are teaching a class or course at an academic institution?


texts: Can a *reviewer* ask for the status of the paper that is reviewing?

texts:
So, I was asked to referee a paper for a reputed TCS journal which I did. I wrote my report within 3 months from invitation but I was waiting almost 6 more months till I get Editor's notification for the decision (sent to authors but also to myself as a referee).

The authors of that paper prepared a major revision and submitted within 3 weeks this new version, and I was asked by the editor to re-evaluate this newer version. I did, again within 3 months.

Now, more than 6 months have passed since I uploaded my report and still no news from the editor. When I login as a reviewer into the system I see: Status under review and Status Date to be the date I uploaded my recommendation.  From this I conclude that no new referee was asked and simply the 2nd referee is, again, very late with her/his report (6+3 = 9 months at least since we were asked to re-evaluate the new version).

Now, this is a very interesting, difficult and somewhat controversial, paper and I would realy like the authors to see and answer my comments/suggestions/questions as soon as possible . The more time passes, the more I forget about the paper and I would have to read it again and again in a possible 3rd round.

  Question: Does it make sense me, as a reviewer, to contact the editor about the status of the paper stating my reasons about that? What would be, most likely, the reaction of the editor? Did this ever happened? Or simply to stay silent since this is not my paper?

Note that I do not plan to have time after September, due to many commitements, to dedicate myself on re-evaluating such a difficult paper so it is a matter of time (besides the obvious interest) for me and this is an issue that would affect my plan next semester when the other referee decides to send the report to go into the 3rd round.


texts: Visa requirement query for Indian postdoc applying in UK

texts:
I have completed a Ph.D. in India, which is my native country, and am applying for post doc positions in the UK.  However, due to strict visa rules, I am not sure if my application would be shortlisted. In these types of situations, my CV and application file have already been approved by the PI.

However, do universities generally sponsor non-EU candidates like me or  is it the responsibility of the PI to make the proper arrangements? How can I ensure that my job is not denied due to non-academic reasons like visa issues?


texts: Writing my speaker's bio when I have very little relevant experience

texts:
I started a new job a month ago, the first one after my PhD employment. Recently, a conference organizer invited an established researcher from our group to give a talk at their conference. The researcher was not available at that date, but suggested that I hold the talk, which the organizer accepted.

Now I am required to submit a "speaker biography", which I assume will be printed in the conference programme. There are parallel sessions, so I expect the speakers' biographies will have an impact on people deciding which track to attend.

The problem is that I have very done little in my career to interest the conference goers, whose background is in a completely different field than mine. None of my previously published research is of much relevance for this conference. The content I will present interests them, but it is the work my colleagues did before I joined the group.

So I see a few options:

Leave the biography at 50 words stating name, institution and current project. It will probably appear very short in comparison to the other speakers' (upper limit is 250 words).
Add previous work, even though it is neither relevant nor impressive (the PhD is not yet finished).
Write a bit more about the current project, which is relevant for them, but not exactly biographical. And also awkward to phrase without giving the impression that I am responsible for the work that has been done so far.

Due to a tight printing deadline and it being vacation season, I cannot get advice from the conference organizers about what they would prefer. I also don't have access to earlier years' speakers biographies, or to any other material from earlier years of this conference (abstracts, programmes, proceedings, etc).

What would be a good strategy for writing the biography in my case?


texts: Why do companies sponsor academic conferences?

texts: In computer science, I often see companies sponsoring academic conferences. What do companies hope to gain from doing so, and is there any evidence that these hopes are fulfilled?


texts: Contact Prof for Course-Based Master Admission?

texts:
I am interested in applying course-based master program in electrical engineering. Most of them are self-funded, 1~1.5 years in length, and don't require a thesis .

I learnt that it is (usually) advantageous to contact the Prof of your interest in Phd application. Is this still true for application to course-based master degree？ Should I also try to contact Prof in order to "increase" my chance of admission? Is there any disadvantage of doing that?

As an undergrad, I think I have good research experience. (work in 3 different research lab, and produce 1 first-authored publication). Given that I have such experience, do you think it is advantageous for me to contact the Prof of my interested?


texts: What to do when you have obtained very similar results with two different groups and you want to publish them both

texts:
I started a collaboration with some other research group, where the main objective was to model some data. The project was very interesting to me, since I had obtained that data. After some months I got no news from them, I wrote them and they always told me they were very busy and had no time. I understood they were not interested anymore, so that I contacted another research group for the same collaboration objective, and this time, the collaboration progressed quickly, and we reached the stage where we are writing the paper about the modeling of the results. At this same point I got news from the other group, telling me they had obtained very interesting results with their modeling technique, and regretting the previous lack of contact. It turns out they have obtained much better modeling results than the "second" group. My problem is that I do not know what to do now. One option would be to publish two papers, one with each group, that would be very similar. Other option would be to decide for one of the two groups and go ahead, forgetting the other, but that would not be ethical. Perhaps a last option would be to publish both papers, bur giving them very different focus and audience.

What would you do here?


texts: Same literature survey in first and final reports, Is it ok?

texts:
Is it considered bad to copy literature survey from 1st/initial report of the dissertation to the final report?

Does it count as self plagiarism?

Generally speaking one should include more recent researches, if any, related to the topic in the final report but what if there is only a 2-3 months period between two reports that happens for masters students in some countries (and in my case too).


texts: What query language is most common for e-journal searches?

texts:
I need to teach a quick lesson on e-journal searching, e.g. to search for one item, excluding certain terms, or another item.

What is the most common query language that students will most likely encounter?


texts: How do I deal with sending low GPA to a potential supervisor?

texts:
A professor offered to meet with me later this week to discuss some potential projects, and asked for my transcripts to see what courses I have taken and how well I am at them.

I have done decently in my mathematics courses, however, one semester last year was exceptionally bad for me and I ended up getting a C-, C+ and a D- (in discrete math, Introduction to C, and a biology course respectively). The only course that has some sort of relation to the research I'm interested in doing is the intro to C course.

I honestly don't know how to proceed with this. I don't want to keep making excuses for myself because I'm not doing incredibly well in my professor's class, but I know I can get better at the software being used (MATLAB), as I've used it before for maths classes and haven't had much trouble with it. I know he thinks I'm not the best programmer and I don't know how to deal with that idea and this situation.

How do professors deal with this? I don't want to waste his time, and more importantly, I don't want to become disinterested in the project and end up giving up halfway.


texts: Adding Presentation and data in Google Scholar

texts:
I would like to ask whether it is possible to add a presentation and data in google scholar. I am asking that because during conference there were people interested in using my data and presentation, however, these data hasn't been published yet.

So, my question is: could the presentations and data be cited as published articles or not?


texts: How to reference the results of Kaggle and other similar competitions in an academic paper?

texts:
I'm working on a topic in machine learning, and along with formal published journal and conference papers, there are some different approaches which have yielded decent results in Kaggle - but these aren't published in any formal way, the top results are just listed on the kaggle leaderboard and the approaches are described in the discussion section of the competition.

On one hand I feel my review would be incomplete without brining up these approaches, yet I have no idea how to reference them?

On the other hand, I wonder if the lack of rigor that's typical when solving a Kaggle problem (lots of ad-hoc stacking and feature engineering,...) means the results can't be used as a reference anyway?


texts: Access to scientific articles that cite mine after leaving academia

texts:
I used to work in academia. I was lucky enough to publish important papers in peer reviewed journals that now regularly get cited by other papers in peer reviewed journals. I have left academia to work in the private sector, so every time I get a notification that my work has been cited elsewhere in a non open access journal, I can't even see how it was used. I should be able to ensure my work isn't mis-quoted or wrongly interpreted, but I can't without paying extensive fees for each and every article...

Is sci-hub my only non-option because I refuse to use illegal means?


texts:
I've considered applying to the MSt in Ancient Philosophy at Oxford, but I'm a little concerned that I don't quite fit the rubric of students attending the program. Having looked at the program's website quite extensively I've noticed that most of its graduates either studied Classics and Philosophy or studied focused on Classical philosophy as undergraduates. And of course, went on to get PhDs in Ancient philosophy all over the world.

I am currently a Masters student at Tel Aviv University working on German Idealism and French post-Structuralism and Deleuze and Maimon in particular. The only formal experience I have with ancient philosophy (aside from introductory courses) is a seminar I took last year on Plato's Republic. In the past year I've become very interested in ancient philosophy, and in Aristotle and the pre-Socratics specifically. The offering of courses on ancient philosophy at my university is lacking and I, therefore, thought that it would be a good idea to apply for a second Masters with said Oxford program.

Because my interests have so far focused on late modern philosophy, I have no experience at all with Ancient Greek or with Latin. Moreover, I'm not entirely sure that I would like to pursue a career in ancient philosophy specifically, but rather that the problems concerning philosophers like Hegel, Deleuze, Nietzsche and Heidegger cannot be comprehended and seriously thought through without familiarity with ancient thinkers (Aristotle and the pre-Socratic in particular).

Seeing as I have no experience with the language, not much formal training in the relevant philosophy, and will apply after having finished a Masters, I'm worried I might not be a good fit. From the website, it seems that the program is quite exclusive (only 8 students are admitted each year).

I would very much like to get some opinions and advice form anyone who has had similar experiences or is simply familiar with programs like this one.

While I don't have any experience with ancient languages, I still have time to study before applying, and I read both French and German at a reasonable level. (Also, my native language is Hebrew, which I suppose one could count as ancient language. I have no problem reading the Old Testament in the original.)

Thanks in advance!


texts: Wrong email id on letter of recommendation

texts: My professor has entered the wrong email id into my letter of recommendation, gmail.com rather than yahoo.com and signed it. Can it be corrected using white ink? My college is very far away from my home and a reprinting would be extremely difficult. Would corrections on letter of recommendation hurt my application?


texts: Criteria for a Pure Math teaching job at a university

texts:
I'm assuming that all good universities in Europe/North America have PhD as the minimum requirement for a teaching job. What I want to know is:

How much experience (research and teaching both) is generally
required? And how to get this experience during your studies?
How important are grades/gpas for such positions?


texts: Are there any restrictions on applying to the same graduate school in two consecutive years?

texts:
I have the following dilemma: I am finishing my Master's degree in pure mathematics this academic year (summer 2015) and I hoped to apply to a PhD program (US schools) starting from September 2015. Therefore, I have to apply this fall (till December 2014 in most places).

However, I have the following problem - my first article has just been completed and I have to go through a painful publication process which will not be finished in time (surely not till December). Second problem is that I have not particularly high GRE Math results (around 750 I guess, still waiting for results); the exam can be retaken only in April 2015.

Therefore, the only strengths I have are high GPA and solid letters of recommendation. I guess I could send the article to Arxiv.org, but I am not sure if that is acceptable to admissions committee and I am not familiar with the process of placing the article there.

So my questions are:

Is it OK to apply this fall and in case I am not accepted to the desired program, reapply next year, in the fall of 2015?

Or there is some kind of cooldown like the one you have in industry jobs and it is wiser to skip this year's admissions and apply in 2015 with a solid application profile?


texts: Is there a convention regarding frames around plots in engineering?

texts:
I am writing my PhD thesis in engineering at a research university in the US.

My question is about using frames (or boxes) around a plot, specifically simulation results plotted as a function of time.  These figures are intended to span the entire width of the type-area (i.e. paragraph width) and are to be displayed prominently.

Here is a simple example for comparison between the two options (framed and open):

Is there any convention regarding such frames, e.g., as documented by prominent style guides? I am all up for minimalism (use greyscale, avoid clutter etc), but I wonder if removing the surrounding frame itself is too much (and may surprise exam committee in unexpected ways) due to going against existing conventions.

My university doesn’t have a style guide. And when I checked with the research support office, they said that as long as it adheres to acceptable scientific style, it is fine.

PS:

When this question was originally asked on the graphic design SE site, a user recommended that the x-label should not be near the bottom edge of the frame, but rather a horizontal axis should be drawn at y = 0, and the labelling of the x-axis should be done near this. I am skeptical of this advice, since most engineering software (eg. MATLAB) does not do this.


texts:
SLO stands for student learning outcome. At the community college where I teach, what seems to have happened is that our accrediting body told us we had to have them, and since they effectively wield the death penalty over us, we complied. Administrators may also have bought into the idea at some point.

What is the history of SLOs? Is there any published, intellectually rigorous justification for them?

I'm inclined to be extremely skeptical of them. They seem to be an incompetently executed type of standardized testing, without any of the scientific rigor that has been built up over a century of development of the field of psychometrics. In particular, standardized tests are supposed to be both valid and reliable. A typical SLO is probably not valid (because it tests too small a subset of the subject matter) and not reliable (because it is too short an instrument to produce a result with a reasonable variance). We could fix these problems, and then we would have ... a professionally developed standardized test. E.g., in my field, physics, we would have something like the AP physics test, the physics portion of the MCATs, or the physics GRE.

Administrators and accrediting bodies seem to believe that SLOs could be used, for example, to measure whether a particular educational innovation has been successful. The problem here is that one then has to interpret the difference between one set of test scores and another set of test scores, but the difference between two low-reliability (high-variance) numbers is essentially meaningless. This is also a problem that plagues "value added" measurements (Baker 2010), but it would be far more severe for SLOs because of their far lower reliability.

Arum 2011 (p. 140) discusses this sort of thing in the context of the seepage of NCLB-style testing from K-12 into higher education. They discuss the Spellings Commission report (Spellings 2006) as an influential document, although I think the fad for SLOs began to get underway before 2006, and the report suggested standardized tests such as the CLA, rather than what people now refer to as SLOs. A disgruntled member of the commission (Zemsky 2011) says that in retrospect the main outcome was to transform accreditation from a pro forma exercise into an audit-like procedure designed to give the federal government coercive power over colleges and universities.

Is the whole thing a Dilbertish emperor's-new-clothes exercise, or is there some intellectually rigorous case to be made for SLOs?

References

Arum and Roksa, Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses, 2011; summarized online in http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2011/06/06/110606crat_atlarge_menand

Baker et al., "Problems with the use of student test scores to evaluate teachers," Economic Policy Institute briefing paper, Aug 29, 2010, http://www.epi.org/publication/bp278/

Spellings et al., Commission on the Future of Higher Education, "A Test of Leadership: Charting the Future of U.S. Higher Education," 2006

Zemsky, "The Unwitting Damage Done by the Spellings Commission," Chronicle of Higher Education, 2011, http://chronicle.com/article/The-Unwitting-Damage-Done-by/129051/


texts: Is it possible to finish my PhD at a different institute?

texts:
I got into a delicate situation with my supervisor (and the director of the institute -- they are very close friends) and I will not have a chance to get my Ph.D. at the institute, at least not under conditions that I find acceptable.

My thesis will be finished soon; I wouldn't like to lose years of work because of this toxic person. Is it possible to defend my work at some other institute and with another supervisor(s)? Where to look and what to look for?

Institute is not so big and it is placed in Eastern Europe. There is no "postgraduates officer / director or student union or department or college head" or option to change my supervisor at the institute, and this director is the top director at the institute... I would appreciate any suggestions and experiences.


texts: I am about to fail a required course due to difficulties caused by mental health issues. How can I save my degree?

texts:
So I expect to finish my master degree next August, and I was supposed to pass one undergraduate course to fulfill my degree requirements. I took this course last year and I failed it, so I had to retake it one more time.
I have been struggling with severe depression and anxiety for the last two years, and adding to it the uncertainty of the pandemic, my mental health got worse and I literally felt broken all the time, and therefore I didn't do well in the course (yes for the second time!). In order to pass the course, I need 65/100, and it seems my final grade will be something between 58 and 62 (all assignments have been completed).
The thing is that failing this course means I will have to leave the program, which will be so painful after all that I went through. Therefore, I was thinking of reaching out to my professor by email and explaining to him all what I was going through and asking him if it is possible that he gives me some work to do or something to pass the course. I feel like a failure for asking such thing and it is really pathetic, but I honestly have nothing in my hands. I just spend all day crying and self loathing.
Do you think professors in general can offer this kind of help? Is there a good way to approach the professor? Is there another way to save the situation? It is just that it was beyond me.


texts: What can I do when anxiety causes me to perform poorly in oral exams and class discussions?

texts:
I have this class where we have oral exams once in two weeks. I am honestly trying my best. I am preparing for the class and I think I understand all the material. I can do all the assignments (albeit not as good as I want to but still). But I am really nervous during oral exams and class discussions. I don't understand and can't focus on the questions that are asked (when someone's saying something my mind just goes blank and I can't hear(?) what they are saying; like I hear the words and I know each word but I can't make the connection between words at all). I stopped participating in class discussions because I was so anxious during them that I needed to take a rest for a few hours after them.
I always feel confident before exams start, but during the actual exam, I get so lost, and sometimes I can't understand the questions that are asked. I don't think I can email prof about it because I honestly don't know what he can do or what I should say. Everyone is in the same situation but they seem to do way better (he said that everyone is getting 9.5/10 all the time but I only got 9.8/10 once and the rest of the grades are not good).
The worst part is that it is an open book exam and I am writing little notes for each question that I think can be asked, I always put myself in my prof's shoes and trying to figure out what he can ask but I never get it right. I am so tired of this and I really want to drop this class but it's too late right now AND I have a project with another guy that's taking the class. This is my final year, and the low grade for this class would look so bad in my application especially since I don't really have any other experience
UPDATE: I talked to my prof even tho I felt that it wasn't their problem (burden). If you have a similar issue, please talk to your prof/teacher. In the worst-case scenario, they will say that they can't help you but at least they will know that you have a problem. Just want to thank everyone who commented here!


texts: Getting stuck with grunt work in first year undergraduate research internships

texts:
I am a 1st year undergraduate student in a life sciences program in Canada. I have recently joined a lab and I feel very out of place. The lab does biochemistry and I am more interested in physiology. I am supposed to be helping out in research this summer but no-one in the lab helps me do anything. I only refill pipettes tips and occasionally make mixtures.

I was considering doing research for a living but this is killing most of my passion. I feel like my brain power is so underutilized and I hate it. I am starting to email other professors right now but I don't really know how to proceed.

I really don't  want to lose research, as I began renting a place in my area for the summer for the sole purpose of working on research. Can someone give me any advice please?


texts: How can a PhD student seeking to transfer to another PhD program prove his/her research skills when his job is mostly teaching?

texts:
Suppose that our friends Alice and Bob are both academicians (academician: a member of the faculty of a college or university) in universities A and B respectively.

University A requires a lot of teaching and administrative work, whereas university B requires a certain amount of research and only a small amount of administrative stuff.

Alice enjoys research very much but she cannot spend enough time to conduct research and be productive in terms of publications.
Bob, on the other hand conducts research since it is part of his job and does not really spend effort to improve his projects.

Let Charles be a member of the admission committee in university C that has an open PhD position.
If both Alice and Bob applies to the position, he will see that Bob has been involved to more research projects than Alice, moreover, Alice has no publications and has spent her time on teaching.

The thing is, Alice does teaching really nice and gets positive feedback from both professors and students. It is clear that Alice can do her job above-the-average. Bob, on the other hand does not even need a feedback. He proved that he can do research by his projects and publications.

Suppose that both Alice and Bob are started working as faculty when they were master's students and now they are PhD students who want to find a position in a different university because of their own reasons.

Considering that both Alice and Bob are currently faculty members, Bob is one step further from Alice in terms of getting the PhD position, if not many steps.

What can Alice do to prove that she can be a way more better researcher given time and opportunity?
Is there any "Charles" who is ready to give that chance?

If you are "Charles" (a member of an admission committee), would you give that chance to Alice? If you would, under what conditions?


texts: Should applicants send an email to check the status of their faculty application?

texts: After sending a faculty application online, should the applicant send an email to check if all documents were received and whether the application is complete or not? Some suggest to send an email, while others suggest not to, since sending unnecessary email to the committee could raise a flag.


texts: Should a journal ever reveal the name of an anonymous reviewer?

texts: Recently, the single-blind peer-review process failed to appropriately deal with highly sexist comments. An anonymous reviewer provided a sexist review and the Academic Editor forwarded it on. They have since blacklisted the reviewer and asked the Academic Editor to step down. While I think that blind peer review provides useful protection for reviewers, are Academic Editors generally provided anonymity? Further, is there any precedence for when a journal should reveal the name of a reviewer?


texts: Is tertiary education free of cost in Spain and Portugal?

texts:
I know that in some EU countries tertiary education is absolutely free (i.e., supported entirely by taxes) if someone knows the languages up to C2 level.
For instance, I know that irrespective of country of origin (EU or Non-EU) tertiary education is 100% free of cost in Germany and Poland if someone is proficient in the native language of those counties up to C2 level.
Is tertiary education free of cost in Portugal and Spain if someone is proficient in the languages of those countries?


texts: What is life as "Head of Department ____" like?

texts:
In the past few years, I've become very interested in staying in academia for as long as possible. I really wanted to be a professor, and I still do. Using the internet and meeting with a few professors, I've researched various aspects of life as a professor, including daily schedules, salaries, etc. While trying to get an idea of what a typical professor's salary might look like, I always stumbled upon "Head of Department" salaries, which were considerably greater than other professor salaries. I liked the idea of being paid more, but I always dismissed the idea of becoming a "Head of Department" because I thought that their work was more related to administration than teaching or talking about the field of their department. (One of the main reasons I want to be a professor is the opportunity to be directly involved in the fields I'm passionate about every single day.) However, I recently traveled to a university in my state with the company I am interning at, and I met the head of the department of mechanical engineering. Though that is not my field of interest, I was very glad to have the chance to meet with her. I learned all about her day-to-day life as head of department: I learned that she is quite actively involved in many PhD students' projects, and oversees many research projects. There is also an administrative aspect in her job, but it isn't nearly as overwhelming or burdensome as I thought. Since the visit, I've become very interested in a job like hers.

Is my perception of "Head of Department" skewed? What can I do to be involved in my field like she is in hers?

I would love to learn about and teach my passions for a living.

Side question: How involved are deans of __ in their respective fields?


texts: Why do some fields care so much more about citation styles?

texts:
On this website, there are 120 questions tagged citation-style, and probably many more without the tag (a search for APA returns 244 results).

I work in applied mathematics, and among my colleagues the general approach to citation styles varies between "it doesn't matter as long as it's consistent" and "I use Bibtex and that's it; frankly I don't even know how this style is called".

Why is citation style considered important in other fields and receives so much interest? What is it that I am missing?


texts: Curriculum Vitae advice for PhD (non-US)

texts:
I am asking this on behalf of a relative of mine. He has a PhD with a concentration in Policy Analysis and Environmental Science and is trying to get a position in either a university/public sector or the private sector (research/policy analysis). He has been searching for a while and has had little success and is getting pretty discouraged. I recently looked at his CV and it seems like it needs a lot of improvement.

There is the catch though: he is not able to look for a position in the US at the moment due to visa requirements. Therefore, he is limited to looking outside the US (anywhere really).

Does anyone have any recommendations or advice as far as CVs go for academic positions outside of the US, particularly Canada or Europe (what should be avoided, what helps/hurts your chances, etc)? Any advice regarding online resources or CV editing services that cater specifically for someone with a PhD would also be appreciated.


texts: How to handle Co-author who is not listening the suggestions to improve the paper quality

texts:
Assume I am involved with a work and the lead author is writing a paper. However, after every draft version, I see that not all my comments are well addressed in the revised version. I expect that if the comments or major suggestions are not addressed, then some explanation must be given.  During the previous conversation, the coauthor did not raise any doubts or concerns about my suggestions. Thus I pointed out these issues in the paper again and they again fell on deaf ears  this loop continues.

As I already spent a huge amount of time on this paper and made a significant contribution, I don't want to withdraw my coauthorship.
Topic is relatively new, in addition the current version is good enough to have a decent chance of getting accepted into a medium level conference.
Some minor issues (may be major) are bother me. I am not sure whether I am wrong. However, there is no discussion on on my concerns even after they are explicitly highlighted.

Should I just let the paper go? or make some statement? I don't want to burn bridges with any of my coauthors.


texts: Citing a collection of work (i.e. literature review) by 1 citation?

texts:
There comes a time when one is reviewing a certain model of a certain author (let's call him X) who claims that his/her model was built upon the work of Author A, Author B, Author C, etc... with detailed investigation of such authors and their works.

If I want summarize and not repeat everything, can one simply say something like this:

  This conceptual model/scale was developed  by X in 2010 and was based on his review and analysis of the various available literature in the domain (X 2010, p. 2).

By 'available literature', I'd want to mean Author A, B, C, etc... Sometimes though and if the studies are really limited (2-5 studies), I'd be citing them all or mention a few such as in this way:

  This conceptual model/scale was developed  by X in 2010 and was based on his review and analysis of the various available literature (e.g. Author A, Author B) in the domain (X 2010, p. 2).

However, sometimes the reviewed literature is too large and so based on that, can I follow the first example?


texts: How to deal with a mentor asking for sudden tasks

texts:
Consider the following conversation:

Mentor: What is your progress?
Me: blah.... blah... blah...
Mentor: Okay.
Me: What about other tasks (if any)?
Mentor: Do not worry about them, I can handle, if any. You focus only on your own
research work
Me: okay.

After a week, while I am doing research work, the mentor comes to the lab suddenly, and then the conversation will be like

Mentor: There is a class today with the syllabus X for batch Z.
Me: Okay.
Mentor: Go and deal. It will be in an hour.
Me: I am aware of X, but don't know in detail.
Mentor: Not a big deal. Carry on with today's class.

This is a sample scenario. There will be many tasks like this with very shorter deadlines.
The only issue I face is maintaining a trade-off between personal accountability and stress. By behavior, I want to be more accountable for any task done by me. But due to the shortness of time, I sometimes experience so much stress (in order to maintain accountability).
How to deal with such mentors?


texts: Is it appropriate to send a gift to a professor for an online course?

texts: I'm immensely grateful for the online courses on theoretical physics provided by the Perimeter Institute for free. A particular professor stands out for me, as the lectures were excellent, and the course was structured very well. Would it be appropriate or acceptable to send a small token of appreciation to the professor via (physical) mail?


texts: What does it mean when a school asks for a missing GRE score that I submitted?

texts:
I am getting very anxious about being rejected from a PhD program in US school. I was told today that they did not receive my GRE score, which I definitely sent in.  I immediately replied back and sent the score back to them.

My question is:

Are they asking for my missing score because they are actually considering me as a potential candidate?

I know that the question is very silly and self-serving but I am so curious what you guys think because I have been losing sleep over this little thing.


texts: Graduate admission for mature Computer Science school teacher

texts:
The mother of my friend is a senior computer science high school teacher in India. She did a masters in Information Technology around 25 years ago in India and wants to restart her education. She want's to pursue a (preferably funded) PhD in CS from a decent university in North America or Europe.

Would her 20 years long experience as a CS teacher be of help ?

Since her Bachelors is not in CS (in another STEM field) would this adversely impact her chances ?

And finally how much will her age (40s) impact her application ?


texts: Is it a bad idea to mention informal PhD offers in a job application?

texts:
I am about to get my master's degree and have published a few papers in highly reputable computer science journals. I have gotten an "informal offer" for a PhD position from a world-class university. An informal offer here means that a well-funded professor has e-mailed me, strongly encouraging me to apply and to make sure to mention his/her name in the application so it gets routed to him/her.

For various reasons, I'm leaning towards not pursuing a PhD so I'm currently working on my resume. I'm wondering if it's a bad idea to mention anything about this informal offer in the personal letter. The professor making the offer will not be the one writing my letters of recommendation. Verifying the claim would not be hard, but it's not really a tangible accomplishment. On the other hand, why shouldn't I highlight the fact that I could get into the best graduate program in the world if I wanted to?


texts: Possible career path for a pure math student

texts:
I am a student of mathematics, pursuing masters degree at a reputable institution in India. My course is algebra intensive and my masters thesis is based on commutative algebra (until now, I have been learning about Hilbert syzygy theorem, free resolution and betti numbers etc etc). Also I am good at programming. I participate in online coding competition and regularly solve SPOJ problems. Recently I am working in revamping our departments website (We use Drupal by the way).

Areas that I am specially interested are, commutative algebra, group theory, cryptography and writing codes (C, C++, PHP, Python).

But let me tell you I have no intention of becoming a professor. I would love to be a researcher but not a professor. That is why I want to work in some R&D. I don't know what to do after my masters degree. People are saying that you should pursue PhD in Math, but I  don't know if this will help me or not. Data science seems really good and lucrative but I don't know whether I am fit for it or not. Or how to proceed from here to have a career as data scientist. I really do like cryptography and its link with algebra and number theory. So being a researcher in this field is also lucrative option for me. But I don't know what to do next. Thanks !


texts:
We submitted a manuscript to a reputed journal and we are asked for a revision. One of the reviewer commented

The results are rather straight forward and would be useful to the community of specialists working on optical properties of anisotropic crystals

What does it mean when the reviewer says "the results are rather straightforward"?


texts: Should I quote Wikipedia if I can't rephrase it?

texts:
I want to write down this idea that I get from Wikipedia: both (James Watson and Francis Crick) thanked the Schroedinger's book for their inspiration.

(More specifically, that page is What Is Life?, and that idea comes from the last sentence of the second paragraph.)

This is what the wiki writes:

  each respectively acknowledged the book as a source of inspiration for their initial researches.

Of course that statement has a reference back up. My problem is that I can't figure out how to write that idea down without using the exact one used by the wiki. In my opinion, that sentence is better than any sentence I can think of to rephrase it. If I just use it anyway without quoting it, I'm afraid that I will be plagiarism. If I say that it is from Wikipedia, well, you know the result. My best solution I can find is using this clause:

  stated by Wikipedia, with Julian F. Derry (2004) backs up

But it is super awkward. In case I can't think of any better sentence, do you know how should I do?


texts: Possible internship topics for a second year undergraduate student interested in astrophysics

texts:
My question is about a specific field.

I am currently studying as a second year undergraduate in BSc program and I am genuinely curious about the field of theoretical astrophysics. I accept, at this level I do not know how research in this field is going to be, but since later I would be taking most of the courses related to the same, I am asking the following question.

What can be few possible research fields(preferably theoretical) to work in summer(as an intern) so as to get exposure to the field of astrophysics?
Given that I have completed courses in the following topics-
Special relativity, Linear algebra, Electrodynamics, Optics, Mechanics, Thermal physics, Probability, Biophysics.


texts: How to transition into a PhD in Theoretical Physics?

texts:
I am currently a graduate student in Theoretical chemistry/Chemical Physics at one of the higher-ranked R1 universities in the US. After a year of taking graduate-level courses in Physics, I have realized that an academic career in theoretical physics is something that I really want to pursue. Soon I would be graduating with a MS in chemistry from my current graduate program in August and I plan to re-apply to graduate school again, specifically to programs in Physics. Here are a few things that aren't clear to me about executing this transition:

Will it be possible for me to make this transition given my academic background in chemistry?
Can anyone who's been through this before, made a similar transition.... give me a couple of pointers?

I don't know if most or any of this matters but, here are a few details.

Academic Background

Prior to joining my current program I went to a college in India to get my bachelor (3 years) and Masters (2 years) in chemistry. I did have rigorous coursework in basic mathematics covering most of the essentials in Differential Equations(ODE and PDE), Linear algebra, Multi-variable calculus, etc. In terms of Physics, I have taken courses in classical mechanics, optics, electronics, and basic E&M. Beyond this most of my advanced knowledge in quantum physics and statistical mechanics comes from personal reading. From both my degrees I have had slightly more than above average to really excellent grades.
After I came to the US in the past year I have taken about 6 graduate-level courses ranging from quantum mechanics to quantum optics, offered by the Physics department at my university and some reason to believe that I have had a fairly decent performance in them.

Research Experience

In terms of research I do not have any research publications yet. But, I have worked for a year in an experimental lab during my masters in India and two summer research internships in experimental condensed matter physics and chemical physics(theory). Also currently, I am working on a summer research project in theoretical condensed matter physics with one of the faculty members at my current university in the US.

I am mainly looking to transition into a Ph.D. in either condensed matter field theory or something more aligned towards quantum physics(like quantum information or ultra-cold physics).


texts: Can a research group be formed without a PhD in charge?

texts:
In my place of work, which has a very incipient progress in the field of research in Computer Science, has occurred this dichotomic situation:

It has arrived one lecturer that has finished his PhD students in a foreign country. Because he has some research already on the way from his doctoral studies, he has formed a research group within our Faculty.
There is another lecturer that has only a Master degree, also in CS, but he has some good ideas but he suffers from imposter syndrome.

In this situation the former group minimizes the attempt of the second group to form a research group; stating things like "a research group to be successful should always be led by a doctoral graduate if not is doomed"

The question is, is it needed to have a doctoral researcher inside a research group (sorry for the redundancy)? or in what ways we should encourage the formation of research groups even though they are not lead by a PhD graduate?


texts: How to summarize the contributions of co-authors where they advised at all stages of the study, but technically only stepped in at the writing stage

texts:
My conundrum is this. All my coauthors have provided advice from conception to completion, on the study itself, data analysis, write-up but haven't actually done anything at those stages other than provide me with advice. They have however, contributed critically to some parts of the writing. I have to complete a statement of authorship and am not sure how to accurately describe this. If I said:
"All authors contributed to conception of the study, data collection, and analysis."
This would be over-selling co-author contribution.
BUT, if I say:
"ABC conceived the study, collected the data, and conducted the analysis, all authors critically contributed to writing of the manuscript."
I am worried this undersells the input from others.
Is it better to over-sell, in this scenario?


texts: How to Cite With Inconsistent Use of Initials

texts: There is a paper I want to cite where, on the title page of the article, the authors names appear without any middle initials (i.e., one of the authors is Mark Smith).  However, this one author frequently publishes using his middle initials (i.e., Mark E. Smith).  What is the appropriate way to cite this-with the name as it appears in the article, or the name as the author typically uses it?  For what it's worth, the source article appear in a mathematical journal, and I want to cite it in a paper that will eventually appear in a mathematical journal.


texts: What are the diffrence between the quality of top 20 universities PhD programs over top 70s for USA?

texts:
I  am a Computer Science M.Sc. Student in a university in a developing country. I am planning to apply for PhD this year. Actually my main reasons to not continue my PhD here, are the issues related to my country economics and infrastructures. Poor dorm conditions, no funded PhD, unstable internet, no proper study place in university are some of them where decrease the quality and contributions of a PhD student and I think that those issues will be solved by the migration to USA itself and is not related to the rank of the destination university. to make my question clear, actually I want to know what are the benefits of a top 20 university in USA saying, Caltech over a top 70 university saying, Oregon State University .please note that I am not asking about the after-graduation job perspective, I mean What are the effects on the quality and contributions of a PhD student that studies in a top-20 instead of a top-70 university.

P.S: if it matters ranks are according to the US News portal.


texts: Accurately Documenting Dates of Attendance at Previous Institutions for Ph.D. Applications

texts:
I am in the process of applying to Ph.D. programs and I am asked to list my previous institutions along with dates attended. It should be a straightforward question but in my situation: I attended institution X from 2013-2015, got an A.A., then went to institution Y from 2015-2017 for my B.S., but in between I took classes at institution X over the Summer of 2016. Institution X is in my hometown and I was there over the Summer of 2016, so it was convenient to knock out some credits while back home.

Because of this, it is also a bit confusing as to whether I should list my GPA from institution X at the degree confer date, or to list my cumulative GPA (which factors in the classes I took over the 2016 Summer), as both show up on my transcript. It seems like a minor issue but I want to make sure it doesn't appear as if I'm misleading the admissions committee in any way. Any thoughts would be appreciated!

Edit: The format on most applications is: "Date Attended: From-- to--" without the option of listing several date ranges.


texts: Is it a good idea to provide course detail in teaching statement?

texts:
I am applying for Assistant Professor position at a technical university which requires teaching and research statements as a part of application.
In my teaching statement, I have suggested two courses which I would like to offer in due course of time. I have significant clarity over the content of the courses. The courses would be general purpose (advanced level) but would  be in accordance with my future research plans. The idea for these courses have emerged from my research experience and based on my learning during PhD.
I am wondering if it is a good idea to give the course content in the teaching statement.
PS: I have also mentioned a few courses in my statement which are currently offered by the University and lies in my expertise. These two courses I am talking about are my proposed ones.


texts: Doing a thesis as an RA/ Lab Coordinator? (Cognitive Neuroscience)

texts: I'm in a neuro masters program where you can do your thesis at any lab (in the world), as long as you can demonstrate that it is related to biological neuroscience. I was in a lab for a year and due to a personal illness had to leave, unfortunately I also ran through my savings that year. Now I am better, but I have medical debts. I don't want to keep putting off my education for the time it takes me to pay them back and save money to support myself for another year. I've been thinking about applying for RA and lab coordinator positions, but I'm worried that I might not get the kind of focused project I need to complete a thesis. Is it fair to ask that of a lab that is paying you?


texts: In the US, an F1 STEM student can have an OPT after graduation and work without a work visa for up to 3 years. But the work has to be related to the major of F1. How to determine if the work is counted as being related to the F1 major?


texts: Will I be allowed to reapply for a mathematics NSF postdoc next year after declining one this year?

texts:
I am a mathematics PhD student in the US graduating this year. I recently received a very good 3 year postdoc offer in Europe, which I have to accept or decline in early December. Not being a big risk taker, I am leaning toward accepting the offer.
I have also applied for an NSF postdoc, which I would prefer to the European offer but am obviously not a shoe in to get--and the results of which won't be known until February. If I accept the European offer, I will have to decline the NSF postdoc if awarded.

If I do that, would I be allowed to reapply for the NSF next year?


texts: Should a personal statement for grad school discuss large challenges in personal life?

texts:
"Large" includes "health issues", among other things.

I know someone facing this situation. She has successfully used her story in applications to important programs during undergraduate, and it did explain some time she had away from school (I believe this includes broken time during her undergraduate study in total, I also think it was earlier on.)

There are reasons grad school may be different: "Can she finish?" is arguably top concern and this concern is agnostic to reasons and may be as simple as "troubled past, troubled future." And also simply the fact that people discriminate - conscious biases and unconscious biases are both common. There's a reason employment law (and I believe similar laws hold for grad school admission in the U.S.?) protects against asking about stuff like this.

Plus my general feeling is that a personal statement can really only hurt you. It helps them know the person they are evaluating but obviously the rigor of course study and research experience is what counts.

In short, would the professionals here corroborate my instinct? Or does personal story like this sometimes add positive weight to an application? And, often enough that it may in fact be worth it?

I'll specify this is a science field for U.S. schools, I'm guessing that might help understand the circumstances but probably I don't need to be more specific than that.


texts: If you disclose an invention, are you still able to file for trade secrecy?

texts: Say I have an invention that I have already disclosed. I am now trying to seek a form of Intellectual Property for it. Am I still able to seek trade secrecy since I've already disclosed about the invention? If I can't file for trade secrecy, am I still able to file for a patent?


texts: I am a college student considering applying to PhD programs both in the US and internationally. Currently I research in a lab affiliated with a top US university and run by my older brother, an instructor at that university. I really enjoy my research here and hope to continue with it; however, I worry about getting letters of recommendation for grad school. I will ask professors in project based classes at my university, but if I continue with this lab as I hope to, only my brother will be qualified to write one about my research abilities. Although the group has other affiliated instructors, my brother oversees the division I research in and my work. Will an admissions committee simply chalk a letter from him up to nepotism or, provided I demonstrate meaningful research, understand the circumstances?


texts: Where can I find someone to proofread my article?

texts: I am a amateur biotech enthusiast not affiliated with any university or institution. I recently wrote a Review article about animals that are (more) resistant to cancer (blind mole rats, naked mole rats, elephants, bowhead whales, etc). I want to publish it in a peer-reviewed oncology journal, but before this, where can I find someone to proofread this article for free?


texts: How important are CS courses for a pure mathematics PhD admission?

texts:
I am a junior majoring in math and I am thinking about doing PhD in pure math, but my transcript got low grades (two Cs) from the two CS courses in hardware systems and programming languages.

How much will these two courses affect my application chances? My general GPA at this point is 3.5, while my math GPA is 3.8. Also, I have research experience with letters of recommendation from my professors.


texts: What should a PhD student do when he receives no feedback on his work except some reviews on his papers?

texts:
I am consistently facing this issue: NO one (except some reviewers when I submit a manuscript) provides me with a detailed/core criticism of my PhD work.

My supervisor usually gives me general advice; sometimes he tries his best to understand and propose some trial-and-error approaches for the problem (most often I have tried these approaches before he proposes them). I simply cannot find someone who will smack me on the face and tell me the truth about my research.

After chatting with another PhD student, I found he has the same issue. However, he told me it is because PhD students have very specialised knowledge on a particular topic that makes it very hard – even for supervisors – to comment on it in a detailed manner. Well I still can't believe that's true in general.

So:

  What should you do when you can't find smack-on-the.face feedback?


texts: If a research project leads to potential financial benefits, who owns such benefits?

texts:
I am deciding if I should follow the academic path or work in industry. One of the perceived benefits of academia is the ownership of your own work, be it papers or patents. I want to know how much academia and industry differ in intellectual property (IP) rights.
If a postdoc or a principal investigator (PI) works on a project and their work leads to results that can be monetized, who owns the patent and profit derived from it?
There seem to be four players at work: the postdoc, PI, the university, and the funding agency. Will the lowest ranks of these, the postdoc, be part of the patent owners?
I want to compare this to what happens in industry, so I asked a similar question at Workplace. In case the place is important, I am mainly concerned with Europe and North America.


texts: Why does professor prohibit me talking to people?

texts:
I'm considering a PhD and asked a professor at my university. I suggested a topic to him that he accepted. I applied and he offered me a position but I didn't accept yet.

Later he changed my project's topic to one that suits his interest. I said I would like to do the original topic that I got accepted with. Then I asked more about the project and it turns out he works in collaboration with another university. They divided the work up between themselves, but what the other university researchers is a lot closer to my personal interest than what he works on.

I asked my professor their contact details, so that I could ask them if I could work with the other university. He explicitly prohibited me from talking to them. He told me I would give bad reputation to him if I contacted them.

I am extremely confused as to why he prevents me talking to people. Even a simply inquiry email is not allowed. So I contacted the other university anyway. They told me that they would be happy to see me but they don't want to poach students from their colleagues.

I keep asking my professor if I could do my original topic with the other university that works on that exact topic that I'd like to do. But he keeps telling me that I either do his topic or I should do my PhD somewhere else.

I am utterly confused now and have no idea what is going on. Can someone please explain?


texts: How do researchers affect the funding opportunities of their department

texts:
I am mathematician, and I am interested how math departments view my activities.

Clearly, they view me as somebody who can carry teaching load. But I am also a researcher. What and how much I publish has an impact on my own career and my opportunities in getting grants and funding.

But what about the department? How does my work contribute to the department's possibilities when it comes research grants for individual researchers of the faculty, grants by several researchers on a project, or maybe huge grant schemes? Do I enter a statistics anywhere?

To be more concrete: when a researcher gets employed at a department, they not only do it for the sake of science. For example, they have keep an eye on their departments competitiveness. When I coauthor work with people at the department, then this certainly helps the individuals involved, e.g. in terms getting cited.

However, there are grants on a larger scale. For example, a department may apply to fund a huge center of research by the NSF. How does being productive at the department help in acquiring such a grant?


texts: What is the role of processing editor in a journal submission?

texts:
I submitted a paper to a high impact factor journal in my field a 4 days ago. Today, I received a email from the journal editor with the following description:

Thank you for your recent submission to TTT journal. XYZ will be the processing editor for your paper referenced above.
Your submission has been been assigned the following manuscript number: ARBITRARY007.
You will hear from the processing editor's office when the review process is complete (please allow 2-3 months for this).

So, what does this mean? Will it go to the reviewers and take 2-3 months for review? Or will it take 2-3 months for the processing editor to decide if it should be sent to reviewers for getting reviewed or be rejected?
What's the role of processing editor in this workflow?


texts: Choosing course reading materials for students

texts:
I'm planning (somewhat technical, but not very technical) undergrad courses in the fall with relatively little lecturing in class, primarily using class time for group work and discussion (as explained in and as a follow-up to: How to motivate students to do readings).  I'm trying to choose reading material that students are more likely to read.

  Is there any evidence (preferably actual research, but ancedotal if necessary) that certain "formats" of required reading are more likely to be read by students?  Specifically I have in mind the following tete-a-tete's:

physical books versus e-books versus online notes
free versus low-priced versus expensive books
one long book versus several short books


texts: Paper status changed to “Decision in Process” rapidly after initial submission

texts: I submitted a paper to one of Elsevier’s journals. After a couple of days, its status changed to “with editor”. But now after about ten days from the submission date, it changed to “Decision in Process”. Is there any hope that it will not be rejected?


texts: Statement of purpose addressing expected contribution and outcomes

texts:
I am writing the statement of purpose for a PhD application (applied math, in the US) and wondering about how to address these two questions:

What are your expected outcomes from the program?
What do you expect to contribute as a student and later?

The university I am applying to expects answer for these questions in the SoP.

I am confused because at this point, I do not know which professor I will work with. And more importantly, what the professor (And I) will work on during PhD. Of course, it is possible to write a general statements such as I will conduct original research and expect to gain deeper understanding of the matter being investigated, and I will acquire skills of publishing a scientific article, etc. However, I do not think these sentences add any value to SoP.

Can someone comment on how to address these questions?

Edit:

I have a clear idea about the professors I will work with and the area I will work on. However, it is difficult to decide on a single professor because of many reasons. For instance, the said professor may not be able to accept any new student etc. Looking at the group's website, I can get ideas what the professor is working on, in general. But, one cannot say what projects will be worked on in future.


texts: How could I reply an email from a potential professor?

texts:
I'm applying to a PhD program. I contacted one professor and told him that I would like to join in his research team. He replied to me as below. Was this a positive response? How could I reply to this email?

  "Good luck with the PhD applications! Happy to talk with you if you come to XXX (university name)."


texts:
Does anyone know if there is a tool that takes a paper (pdf) and is able to produce a directed graph of the citations, and if possible take the papers that are cited and use the citations of those papers and include it in the graph. So it is easy to see what is an important paper, and what I've missed and so on.

An example I hardcoded:


texts: How much would an outside second Ph.D. supervisor get paid in the U.S.?

texts:
I have been asked to consider being a second supervisor on a Ph.D. project for a doctoral candidate at a U.S. university. As I am in the Netherlands, this does not fall under my normal employment. Does anyone know where I might find information about the normal fee for this type of supervision?

Thanks in advance for any assistance.


texts: Open access journal with editor's summary

texts:
I'm looking for open access journals, whose scientific articles come with an editor's summary (not written by one of the authors!).

The articles and summaries will be used as data for benchmarking automated summary methods, so ideally the raw text would be easily accessible (not pdf if possible).

Perfect example: PLoS Medicine

Thanks for helping me out!


texts: How to write a good essay for phD application?

texts: I have completed my Bachelors of Engineering and I now want to purse my PhD in Computer Science. I have written essays for my Masters application before and I am familiar with the context of those essays. How different are they from PhD application essays? And how should I proceed with writing my PhD application essay?


texts: Publishing academic research in more than one field

texts:
I have an important question, so please try to answer it precisely and carefully as possible.

If I want a career in one field in academia, would it be inadvisable to publish some other academic researches in other fields.

I have seen an article in a blog that suggest against it. But on the other hand I think that ability to publish research and practise this process is important for academic persons.

Nevertheless, lately I browsed Shanghai ranking and they have a rule that divides the researcher contribution by the number of departments they published in.

To expand my point,for many fields it is necessary to combine expertise from different disciplines in order to sythesis some new approaches. So frankly, I really do not understand the logics behind such an archaic approach.

So the question is, will it help publishing in more than one discipline or will it really make everything more difficult?


texts:
I did a Ph.D. in the area of engineering mathematics. The thesis used some of the concepts from Mathematics, such as basic probability and statistics (Bachelor/Master level), calculus (Bachelor/Master level), optimization (Bachelor/Master level), etc. Mostly, the works applied the existing mathematical tools to some physical problems instead of developing methods.
However, it was possible to publish some of the works in good applied mathematics/mechanics journals.
All my undergraduate and graduate degrees were obtained from the mathematics department of a reputed institution in India. Being a student of Mathematics background, I now want to learn and work in the area of applied numerical analysis/scientific computation.
I am currently working as a postdoc researcher in a reputed university in the USA, but that also in the area of engineering mathematics. Is it possible to get a postdoc opportunity in the area of applied numerical analysis/scientific computation or other related areas where mathematical techniques are developed rather than using it? In that case, how to convince the supervisor that I am capable of learning the research topic and work on it when I have no such publication record yet? Please give your suggestion on how to proceed.


texts:
I have two questions.
1. I am a high school student, and due to the amount of work I have, I generally sleep around 6-7 hours at night.
Can I compensate for this by sleeping for about an hour in the afternoon? (Afternoon rest for me occurs  before 3 pm.)
Or is it good for me to sleep in the afternoon just generally to refresh the brain?
Also, 2. how much sleep would be advised for me at night? I know it's 8-10 hours recommended, but few individuals really do that, especially those wishing to pursue medicine or science higher up.


texts: Effectiveness of grouping students to balance skills

texts:
In the past, when forming student groups in class I've always allowed the students to form their own groups, which has certainly made them happy as they tend to form around social circles. As a side note, students at my school go together as classes so they have years where they know all the other people in their class quite well.

However, I'm considering doing things differently this time. I'm thinking to actively form the groups in such a way that strong students are in groups with weak students and average students - that is, groups are balanced and there are no 'strong' or 'weak' groups. I believe I can simply randomly pick students for each group and as long as strong, normal, and weak exist in roughly equal numbers, I will naturally achieve my goals, at least for the most part.

What I'm really wondering is if anyone knows the effects of student groups being formed by teachers as opposed to being formed by students themselves when those students have a strong social connection because of traveling though university as a group.

Edit: The class size is 70 and the group size is five.

Edit(2): While the studying will be done in teams, individual members are assessed individually - social loafing will hurt the loafer the most.


texts: PhD requires technology - is this something I will have to fund?

texts:
I'm applying to do a PhD in Computer Science at a UK university. While I'm up for some funding I've been told it's very competitive so I shouldn't count on it. That's fine, and I'm prepared to self fund.

However my PhD proposal will require wearable tech, and my supervisor had advised that I think about having a group of 15 or so in the initial test stages. Does anyone have any experience of whether or not I'll have to purchase this myself, or if this is something the university will help cover the cost of? I appreciate it's probably the former, but it's something I need to know prior to starting.

On top of the PhD costs it could easily be another £3000 or so in order to buy all the tech - so I'll need to work out whether I can afford it!


texts:
I just have graduated university and currently am applying for a master degree and various positions on different labs as I am eager to go deeper into science. I have been asked for two references together with other documents. As I had two different internships I have asked my former supervisors to write me a recommendation later, one of them wrote me a very good reference but my bachelor thesis supervisor besides explaining what experience I have gained in a lab wrote not a very positive reference stating that the analysis of data I have done were hard to understand and not on time. In my defense she never (in two years) gave me actual requirements for data analysis or dead-lines. So I guess it all was just pure miscommunication that was not solved on time. At the end of reference she wrote that in order to avoid such mistakes I should communicate more with my future supervisor and complete all tasks in time.

My questions are:

a) is it such a bad reference and situation as it seems to be?

b.1) is it likely that a very good reference from another internship supervisor will outweigh the image to my benefit?

b.2) Shall I still include reference if it is lowering my profile?

c) is it better to ask a reference from another lab colleagues and not include reference of my supervisor at all? Most likely it would raise a question why I am not providing a reference from my former supervisor instead :(.

d) shall I send only one reference?

It is such a pity that I can not rejoice the great deal of experience I have accumulated during two years work with this supervisor because it seems to be more as an obstacle rather than a step closer to my further academic career.

Thank you for your answers in advance!


texts: Is it possible to know about the research quality of a professor from the number of citations of his/her papers in Google Scholar?

texts:
I am in the process of advisor searching for a PhD in mathematics.
I came across this site called Google Scholar which lists nearly all the publications of a professor.
I found that many professors don’t have any citations of their papers in the first three years
If at all, it is two or three citations per paper.

Does this reflect that their publications are of poor quality?
If yes what are the parameters other than Google Scholar to know about research work of the professors?
Are there any alternatives to Google Scholar which serve the above purpose?


texts: How can I find journals in my field that do not charge author fees?

texts:
I am in search of an algorithms journal that does not ask for publication fee.
It doesn't matter to me whether it is an open-access journal or not.
I have been searching for journals with no publication charges journal for a while, but have been unable to find any such journals.

Are there any resources that can help me locate journals that do not charge authors publication fees?


texts: Prerequisite for research in discrete mathematics

texts:
I hope to apply graduate math department for MS/PhD in math. My area of interest are discrete math, combinatorics, graph theory... etc.Now I have few questions :

Which are the prerequisites for these courses ? and Which grade of my undergraduate are more important ?
I am also a bit confused that whether I will apply for a pure or applied dept ?


texts: How can I get a list of citations for a DoI or PubMed ID?

texts:
I'd like to be able to submit a DoI or PubMed ID and find all the papers that cited that paper.

In other words, I need a publicly-available citation graph database that covers papers in PubMed.

The bottom comment on this question refers to a publicly-available citation graph: How do I get a citation dataset with full text articles in PDF format? but does not give any details of where it can be found.

Does anyone know of any such citation databases?

UPDATE: To be clear, I really need a database - not a service like Google Scholar - because I want to do it programmatically for many hundreds of thousands of articles.


texts: How are interactions with professors on postgraduate open days taken into account in admissions decisions?

texts:
I am applying for a masters in the UK and I attended an open day where I met various professors. I met with a professor who also happened to be the postgraduate admissions tutor. We spoke for a while and we really clicked and got on really well. We email each other and he has given me his thoughts on my suitability. He  identified areas of concern but he said he may be able to make me an offer.  It has become really clear to him that I am really passionate and enthusiastic.

When he is looking through the applications and he comes across mine, will he take into account how much we clicked and how we met on the open day?
Is he allowed to take into account things about me outside of my on-line application? Or is that unfair?


texts: When to apply for postdoc positions if papers will be submitted to journals after submitting the PhD thesis?

texts:
My field of study is Computational mechanics and branch is mechanical engineering. I will be submitting my thesis in September.  Subsequently, I will be submitting my 3 manuscripts to journals for publishing. At this moment, I have just one paper published. So, I was wondering what should be the correct time to apply for post doctoral positions in the US?

I also have an offer of continuing a small (7-12 months) postdoc position in my PhD lab till I get my pending papers published and get a position somewhere else. Also, I will get to work on a new project that would help me learn and implement a new numerical methodology. This will help me to expand the scope of my research interests (would make study of different length scales possible), which might help me to secure a better position.

What should I do? My mind says to stay with my advisor's offer and make my CV strong. Will that be a good choice?


texts: Should I report apparent conflict with handling editor during peer review?

texts:
I have been dealing with an awkward situation regarding evaluation of my submitted paper. The publisher is one of the big well known OA, and the journal is one of their leading journals (in terms of niche visibility and impact factor). We were invited to submit a paper by a colleague who'd be preparing a special issue in that journal.

I have submitted a paper for their evaluation, providing few names of potential reviewers under request by the submission system. I eventually received the evaluation results by three reviewers. Two reviewers suggested structural and grammar adjustments, and one produced overly negative vague remarks which mostly missed the point of the paper. The managing editor (not our colleague) rejected the paper but offered the option to Revise & Resubmit.

Fine: we applied changes suggested by reviewers and replied to all comments, in a politely manner. Through the new cover letter we raised concerns regarding the rather aggressive behaviour of a reviewer. After a while we received further comments. The two previous reviewers accepted the paper, and the one negative reviewer produced further negative vague remarks, unrelated to the previous ones. In short, this reviewer clearly ignored the goal and technical background of the paper. Two additional reviewers were added, who made further questions and structural suggestions. Editor recommended major changes, and gave a deadline of five days to respond.

We did respond within five days with the suggestions applied and a cold, technical rebuttal to the one negative reviewer. Again we appealed to the editor via submission system claiming a suspected conflict of interests.

After a while the paper was rejected, no specific reason given. We read the comments by the reviewers: the additional ones accepted the paper whilst the one negative reviewer made further vague, one-line derogatory remarks without any mention to our previous response.

I wrote to the colleague who had invited us and asked him to take a look into the situation. He said he gave instructions that the paper should be accepted. The managing editor now contacted us suggesting minor changes but now presenting personal concerns about our paper followed by general comments which are beside the main scope of the manuscript alongside a long list of cherry-picked typos and grammar suggestions. This person states:

  "I suspect that the MS is peppered with more mistakes and great care should be taken to ensure that these are corrected before the MS gets published."

We are given three days to respond.

I have submitted dozens of manuscripts and never went through such an awkward situation. I now strongly suspect that the conflict of interests stems from the managing editor itself, and wouldn't be surprised if the resilient nonsensical reviewer proves a sock-puppet.

I am not sure on what is the best to be done. I suspect the paper will get accepted ultimately, under request of of the inviting colleague.

Regardless of the final decision which is certainly coming, should I later contact the EIC and report this situation and managing editor? In case an editor is playing games other authors might be affected.


texts:
My PhD research is about AI and the topic I choose is relatively new.

As far as I know, the only organisation that has worked on that area is Google.

by searching this topic there wasn't enough info of that it was done, techniques, methodology, statistics, etc.

I wonder if there is a certain process to follow so I can get access to Google's research?


texts: Benefits of doing Part III at Cambridge (Pure Math) for US PhD applications

texts:
I applied to various US Pure Mathematics PhD programs for entry this fall and the responses from my top preferences were not favorable, though some of my lower preferences were. I also have an offer to do "Part III" at the University of Cambridge, which is a 1 year masters degree via coursework (although there is an essay component worth about 1/6th of the assessment). I'm considering the option of accepting this, and then re-applying to the US schools with the hope that my application has improved and I get accepted into one of my higher preferences.

  My question is: How do US Mathematics departments view the Part III
  program, and if I do it then will it have a good/bad/no effect on my
  subsequent application?

Some things to consider: The Part III program is intended as preparation for a PhD degree, unlike many Masters degrees that are intended as terminal degrees. Is this well known?

An essay is part of the course - it usually involves giving a unified exposition of several recent papers on a certain topic. Though the content of the essay can be quite advanced, it often does not contain much original research.

The course is from October '14  to June '15, while applications to US schools are due around December '14. This means I will not have had enough contact with Cambridge faculty to get a letter of reference from them. The marks for all the subjects taken are released around June '15, so I won't be able to include any of those marks in my application either. However in the time between now and October I will continue work with my undergraduate supervisor, which should improve my main letter of reference at least a little. My field is algebraic geometry, and my supervisor has said that it would be better for me to go through Hartshorne in the next ~6 months rather than forcing myself to research just yet. So I won't be getting any original research done by the time I apply again.


texts: Any way to sync my Papers 2 library to my newer iPad?

texts:
Background: I purchased Papers 2, a reference management program for the Mac, from its publisher (Mekentosj Software) way back in 2012.  At the same time I also installed the Papers iOS app on my (then-new) iPad Mini. I really appreciated the simplicity with which I could sync my entire library of research papers (references, PDFs and all) between the two devices -- it really lived up to its nickname of "iTunes for PDFs", which was all I wanted.
Shortly after I got all set up, Mekentosj introduced an updated version of their software, Papers 3, but based on what I read online from dissatisfied users I decided to pass on the update.  I continue to use my older versions to this day and am still very happy with them.
However, I recently purchased a newer iPad (7th generation) that runs iOS 14.1, and the original Papers app for iOS will not work on the newer device.  It turns out there is an updated "Papers 3" app for iOS, but it can't sync with Papers 2.  And the Mac version of Papers 3 is not even available for purchase anymore -- Mekentosj has since sold the product to Readcube, which has rolled out yet another version ("Papers App by Readcube") which I am uninterested in, not least because it requires a monthly subscription rather than a one-time purchase.
All I want to do is sync my Papers 2 library to something that will let me read PDFs on my new iPad.  (I can still do this on my old iPad Mini just fine, but that is no longer my primary device.)  Does anybody have any recommendations for how to best do this?  If I have to start all over on a new platform (e.g. Mendeley or Zotero, neither of which I have ever used) what is the easiest way to migrate everything over and get up and running?


texts: Is machine learning causing a brain drain in math, science and engineering academic community?

texts:
Engineering undergrads that I talk to often express a desire to go learn about machine learning, AI, or data science.

Even students in specialized fields, e.g. computer architecture or pure math, often relate their field to machine learning.

Examples:

In differential geometry, there's "manifold learning" and "topological data analysis".
In FPGA pipeline design, there's "FPGA for deep neural network".
Machine learning courses are so popular now a lot of courses offered at my university changes its name to "X + machine learning applications".

A traditional course titled "Nonlinear Optimization" is now "Nonlinear optimization for machine learning application".
A course on basic Neurobiology is now "Neuroscience and Artificial Intelligence" (or maybe "Human Intelligence and Artificial Intelligence"?).

Questions:

Can anyone who is working in math, science or engineering comment on the phenomenon of the prevalence of machine learning in their own department?
Is the popularity of machine learning taking away students from doing work and advancing traditional research disciplines?
Do you see this as ultimately a good thing for academia as a whole?


texts: What are the pros and cons of choosing my own research topic?

texts:
(This question is one of three correlated questions: Can I get enough help? (first part), How should I do it? (second part).This is the third part.)

I am an undergraduate student (in Computer Science and Engineering) and I will be starting undergraduate research for my thesis. I have talked with many professors about possible projects and all the projects they proposed to me seemed interesting enough.

During summer, though, I read a paper and I was very interested and excited about it, but this paper was not for the projects that were proposed to me, but in a different area. I would like to do research in this area but I have some questions, because none of my professor is doing research in this particular field.

So, my questions are:

What are the downsides of choosing my own project instead of
doing a project that a professor is working right now (with his
Ph.D. students)?
How harder will it be to get something good out of it (in
comparison with doing a proposed project)?

P.S. I want to understand whether it will be beneficial to do a project that I want to do because of some paper(s) that I read or it will be better to do a project that was proposed to me. Also, I would like to go for a Ph.D. after I graduate.


texts: My research paper was published as a conference document. I signed the copyright.  In accordance with it the publisher is a copyright owner. Now, I found that my abstracts is written (literally) on the website of some organization which is unknown for me. The abstract on the publisher's website is open and can be copied without restriction and without payment. So, as I understand the abstract is considered as an open access publication and can be borrowed by anyone and without my or publisher's permission. Right? Or there is some rules which can regulate such issue?


texts: What is arXiv.org for? Should I upload my unpublished, but submitted manuscripts there?

texts:
I know arXiv.org for several years (3 to 4 years), and have used it to access extended versions of conference papers, corrected versions of published papers in a peer-reviewed journal and also search it to find whether my idea about a topic is new or not.

However, I have written several manuscript in the last two years and today, one of my friends offered me to upload my manuscripts to arXiv.org before publication, so others won't spend their time reinventing what I've done.

I have asked my supervisor, but he prohibited me from doing so, because of possible abuses might be caused by cheaters, e.g. using my work to publish somewhere else or stealing my ideas without citation. Also, he told me about the copyright forms we have signed which transfers the right of publication to the journals.

To this end, I have googled for an hour, however as time passed I found less and now I am totally confused! What should I do? What is arXiv.org for? Is it legal to upload a published paper there? Is it illegal or does it have a bad impact on the referee and the editors to see a submitted manuscript online at arXiv?

Sorry for the long text.
Regards,


texts: Can PhD students take a semester or two to study abroad, similar in nature to a sabbatical?

texts:
I know that it is common for professors to take sabbaticals and conduct research at other institutions, but I was wondering if this is something that is available to PhD students as well?
I ask because there is a professor at another university that I would like to collaborate with at some point in Australia (I'm coming from Canada) who works in my field of interest. I think that given the interconnection between research areas may have a direct benefit to my own dissertation or other research projects, but at the same time it could be easily just become a distraction from the dissertation.
I'd be curious to know if this is something that could happen while working on my dissertation (assuming proper discipline can be maintained to balance priorities) or if it is something that requires patience for later on in ones career?
For context, the field would be in mathematical biology / applied mathematics / bioeconomics / wildlife resources (from a math / modelling perspective)


texts: When citing a foreign-language article, do I need to translate the journal name?

texts: Internet sources seem to agree that, in the list of references,  the title of an article written in a non-Latin script should be transliterated and also translated. Similarly, the title of the journal should be transliterated if necessary. My question is: should non-English journal names should also be translated in the references?