texts: Disclosing hidden disability to employer

texts:
I'm doing a project-based postdoc in an European university.

I have serious ongoing eye conditions that significantly affect my reading speed and as a result it took me 5 years to complete my PhD in a country where a standard Ph/D/ is only for 3 years.

I have been selected for this postdoc position, I think, mostly because of my particular fieldwork and user engagement experience, which is essential for this post. So I still got hired despite my very weak publication record. And because the interview was via Skype, the PI did not discover my hidden disability, nor did I disclose it.

However, as I've been working in the position for several months now, it becomes apparent that I'm falling behind other colleagues of the team. Despite working extremely hard, I couldn't finish the work designated by the PI on time and I think I'll need a thorough explanation for that.

The question is, will disclosing a hidden disability ruin my employment? This is a 3 year position and the initial contract is only for 1 year. Given this is an externally funded, project-based postdoc, I'm really worried that my contract will not get renewed at the end of the first year.

And also how do I explain this to the PI and the university? For example, the choice of terms, hidden disability vs. chronic illness vs. long term health condition? Do different terms imply different levels of legal protection for employment?


texts: writing a paper as an independent researcher

texts:
I have completed my undergrad degree and don't have any universities nearby where I can find research work. I want to write a research paper in Machine Learning and have been working in this field professionally. I read quite a few research papers as a part of job description but am unable to come up with a new idea for a research paper. How do I go about finding an idea? If I find something, generally its way too broad. Like I read about Hypergraph decompositions or HTMs and got really psyched about them. I couldn't get to a point though which would be a concentrated topic that could lead to a reproducible research.

How do I go about finding ideas for writing a paper considering I dont have anyone to work with me or guide me in the process?


texts: Is it possible to get back into academic research after being dropped due to funding problems from 6 year postdoc?

texts: Due to funding issues, I was dropped as a postdoctoral researcher with a 2 week notice. Due to seniority (6+ years) and funding climate it has been exceedingly hard to find a position within academia in the US. I was good at research. I have publications. I have skills. But I am "old" and where it was easy to get a postdoc, now it is difficult to find anything at all. I do not have an institution, so that makes garnering funding in the US very difficult, and I am not competitive with the other candidates for Assistant Prof positions.  Most "training" programs will not take anyone more than 5+ years out of PhD. I just want to continue my research, now nowhere to do it. I have seen "Research Assistant Prof positions" and other non-tenure track opportunities but these are few and far between, I wonder if that means the competition is as fierce or worse than for TT positions. I have been looking for positions for almost a year now...and that cannot look good. Is this just a pipe dream to continue in academia and research? Any recommendations as to how to get back in?


texts: Search for certain keywords in all articles which cite a given article

texts:
I would like to search for certain keywords in all articles which cite a given article. Is this possible? For example using google scholar somehow?

I am new here. Please forgive me if this question does not fit to the site.


texts: How can I deal with being pressured by my department to pass students who failed?

texts:
Due to COVID-19, I have found myself teaching a course online. I worked with the university teaching center to transition the course online, prepared an online classroom, and updated the requirements of the course to deal with asynchronous leaning. The course went along reasonably well, and at the end I felt good about the learning demonstrated by a majority of the students.
However, some students did end up failing the course, largely due to a poor performance on the final assessments. Here is the situation:

The students failed to turn in early homework. I reached out to them to see if there was any technical difficulties. There were technical difficulties, and I provided a solution that the students confirmed as solving the technical issue.
The students continued to turn in homework late, wherein I often had to reach out to them to get submissions. Trying to be empathetic to the COVID-19 situation, I waved the late penalties (although the late submissions are recorded by the online system).
The final exam was available for two weeks as a take-home. The student turned in very little, earning less than 10%.
Upon seeing their grades, they reached out stating the same technical issue as before (which they had previously said was resolved) and that they needed to pass the course to graduate.

I feel as though I am being pressured by the students and department to pass the students with a minimum grade (the department thinks we should be lenient due to the pandemic). The students never showed up for online lectures (NB: all course materials were available for fully asynchronous learning), their course interaction scores were very low, and I felt I did everything I could to succeed in the course. Yet I feel completely at fault and guilty.


texts: After admission, should I thank a recommender who I suspect wrote a bad letter?

texts:
I have strong suspicion that one of the professors regardless of the professional relationship we had was not very nice in the recommendation letter. This is after knowing him at a personal level and how perfectionist and judgmental he is of other people. But let's not get into why I chose him to write my recommendation letter, you can assume I had my reasons. I got into the master's program I wanted which is one of the top in the US.

But that was the only program I got into while other programs ranked much lower declined me. My grades were good and my record was good the two other recommendation letters were good for a fact, so that only leaves me to assume that this top college did not weigh in so heavily on his recommendation letter to make their decision.

But all this is speculative, my question and concern is, should I let him know that I got into the program I wanted regardless? I want to do this as a courtesy and a thank you message. My fear is that he might go as far as approach the committee and ask for my admission to be re-evaluated. Or bad-mouth me to colleagues in that university if he knows I am attending.


texts: Is Math Overflow representative of how theoretical research works in person?

texts:
I'm a prospective PhD student who has had little to non-existent experience in formal/theoretical research. As an engineering student, the workflow I am used to is to test an experiment, then to debug to see what works and what does not and explore workarounds, if needed.

I've been browsing Math Overflow recently, interested in it being a site for "professional mathematicians." I myself am interested in doing work with provable guarantees in wireless communications using techniques from optimization and information theory.

Unlike Math Overflow, I would expect that you get to interact with less people in person. My question is: how close/different is the Q&A interaction in Math Overflow compared to in-person interactions with a theoretically-oriented research group?


texts:
I have gotten an idea in the field of Computer Science that it can result in a research paper. The problem is that I lack the adequate background in one part needed for this research, mostly mathematical stuff. I have contacted one professor in Europe by email, and asked some mild questions about some topics that could be helpful. The doubt that I have is if I should better tell to that professor about my whole research idea, so maybe he/she would be able to help me more.

Actually I am a university lecturer and independent researcher, but in the university that I am working they do not give any salary or benefits for making research. I am doing this mostly because I like it.

Should I tell to that professor my whole idea? or maybe that person could steal it and because he/she has research funds can do it and leaving me aside?


texts: Submit abstract to conference with no results yet

texts:
I am planning to go to a geoscience conference next year and therefore I would like to submit 1-2 abstracts.

Abstracts' submission has a deadline (of course) and I am not sure if I will have good results by then.

Is it acceptable to submit an abstract to a conference without having results yet?

Surely, the abstract will be very general and broad without 'making up' anything about my research's results.

Thanks


texts: How to cite a method that I describe in my paper since it is not standard in my field

texts:
In one of my PhD papers I am using a statistical model that is not known in my field, and many readers (including my PhD supervisors) will not be familiar with it. I therefore dedicate a subsubsection of the paper to describing the method. Essentially I restate the mathematics of the original paper and describe how certain variables and parameters ought to be interpreted for the research question under consideration.

In light of recent PhD thesis plagiarism scandals in Germany, I try to be extra careful to make sure the audience understands that I am not claiming any original authorship over the method or even the presentation of the mathematics (which by nature of similar) in my own paper, but merely include because it will be difficult to understand my work otherwise.

How would you recommend going about this?

This subsubsection will be 2-3 pages in a paper of roughly 20 pages (excluding all tables and references)
Not describing the method accurately and simply referencing the original paper and ask the reader to look it up themselves, seem like a less appealing solution right now.


texts: How to compile an index for a book efficiently, if at all possible?

texts:
My book manuscript of ca 250 pages was accepted by a publisher. The book contract obliges me to either prepare an index myself or to delegate the task to the publisher, who in turn would hire a freelancer at my expense, which the publisher estimated at GBP 300 (Eur. 340, USD 400).

I have never compiled an index before. Now I am wondering if it is worth it to compile the index myself or if I should rather have it made for me. Of course, this is quite subjective. But those with pertinent experience may know:

How much time and effort does it usually take to prepare an index?
Are there any tools or methods to (partly) automate the task and that still yield an acceptable outcome?


texts:
I've started a PhD recently and seen a few students from other universities visit our lab for a few days or maybe few weeks. The other university pays all expenses which many times amount to thousands of dollars. Most of the time, the visiting student gets a place, brings her/his own laptop and does research the way he does it at his university.

What's the point of this? Couldn't the visiting student just stay at his university and discuss his research with our lab on Skype?

One explanation I thought of is face to face networking but the cost seems to high for that. Or it may be an excuse to travel and see the world, but that's quite ridiculous. I also asked the visiting students, but they told me they didn't know.


texts: What are the important factors to consider when choosing a Master topic?

texts:
I am a computer science, master student. As I am nearing the end of my studies, I am starting to weight my options for the final "thing", the Master thesis. I already had 2-3 meetings with some Professors offering master topics. The more I think on this topic, the more I get confused.

One of the topics is not really within the area of my interests, or close to something that I would like to work in the future, but the Professor is really nice and quality, I have had good cooperation with him earlier before. And I think that I can further learn from him.

One of the other options, is much interesting, however I feel as if I am afraid of it. I don't have much experience in the exact field which the master thesis covers. The professor just arrived in out university and I have not taken any of his lectures.

The final option, is one that I feel more comfortable. It might be from a topic that I have worked on for the last 12 months, so I can get into it really fast.

Considering these information and the fact that in the future I want to have the possibility of continuing Phd studies, maybe not directly after the master studies, but sometimes eventually, which one of the thesis should I choose?

Should I go for the most worldly-renown professor, or for one of the others. Which parameters should I bear in mind when making the decision? I have thought about the quality of the professor, the effort that the topic requires, the potential of having a good adviser (on whom I can rely) etc.

I am sure, here are people much experienced than me who can tell what are the important things to consider when making such a choice.

It seems seems that deep inside, I am being influenced by the grading as well. Is the grade of a thesis more important than the topic itself?

I know the question might feel as offtopic, but I really need help.

Thanks

EDIT 1: Just wanted to add a couple of questions in here; To what extent the grades influence future job & Phd applications?


texts: After starting the application process this year, I found a wiki page at UC Davis that lists people who have supposedly been shortlisted, invited for interviews, or given offers for faculty positions in mathematics.  I am listed in couple of places, and I wonder if this can harm my application.  What are the pros and cons of this open source?


texts: How to find case studies for your dissertation

texts: I just wanted to know possible methods of finding some good case studies for a dissertation. I was asked to keep my question generic. I am doing a 1 year MA in Development Studies, specifically I want to look at Social Entrepreneurship. However, if one can tell how to find case studies on any topic, that would be helpful, Thanks.


texts: How to start the Background section of Research Grant application?

texts:
Should we directly cut to the chase in the Background Section of the Grant Application from the very first line followed by the proper (official) background of the problem?
OR
Should we give a proper background (WHY of our research), before introducing the problem (WHAT of our research) in the last line of the first paragraph?
Note that I also have separate sections for (i) Aims and Objectives, (ii) Research Questions and Methodology.


texts: Obstacles in job hunting for US citizens in non-US nations

texts:
I am curious to know the kinds of obstacles a US citizen would come across when trying to find work in academia outside the US and/or those that a non-US-citizen faces when trying to get an academic job inside the US.

It would seem that, logistically, it would be easier on the department to hire a citizen over a non-citizen. Is there any advice applicants can follow that would greater their chances?  Do you have to be extraordinary for a department to hire you over an equally qualified citizen?


texts:
I run a small blog about both the academic and professional aspects of my industry as I both teach a course at the university I am attending as well as work in the industry full time. The blog answers viewer questions and has even made some changes to core industry values which has boosted productivity and efficiency in some schools, and jobs.

One of my posts answered a question that required extensive research and would be unbelievable without my sources. This post is almost a year old and the link that was most important to my reasoning and proof of concept is not longer active.

I am faced with two choices:

Remove the post all together because most of the credibility was in that link.
Leave the post up without the proper accreditation to my research.

This is one of my most popular posts that effects both the academic and professional aspects of my industry and I have no way of contacting the original owner of the website that was removed.


texts: Seeking to pursue research project independently (outside of academia)

texts:
Hello Academia Community,

I hold a PhD and would like to pursue a research project independent of an university (outside of academia on my own or in collaboration with other researchers). First of all, is that even possible? Second, what governing body do I submit my proposal to for review? Third, could you please outline the process?....I wonder whether if it is as simple as  conducting the research and submitting to a journal?

I appreciate your reply,

M


texts: Getting a teaching recommendation as a mathematics postdoc in the UK

texts: I am a postdoc in mathematics in the UK.  When my current position ends, I plan to apply for positions in the US (among other places).  Most of these positions will require some teaching experience, including a teaching recommendation.  My current position does not require me to teach, but I have the option of teaching tutorials, teaching graduate courses, and supervising student projects.  Is one of these kinds of teaching more in line with the experience that US universities are looking for?


texts: Is wanting to quit part of the "PhD experience?"

texts: Do most PhD students want to quit grad school at some point, or is this a thought that only the most miserable students entertain?


texts: Reuse text from progress report in final report of scholarship/grant

texts:
Is it self-plagiarism to reuse text (multiple paragraphs) from a progress report to a grant giving agency in the final report to the same agency?

The specific case is an internal scholarship of my university (no guidelines except length), but I think the question is also relevant for all other grants that require both progress/interim and final reports.

The question is not the same as this question, because in my case both reports end up at the same place, so the whole "no one will ever notice anyway" argument doesn't work.

This question is also different, because it is about dissertation reports, not funding reports.


texts: What to do when you reach a conclusion and find out later on that someone else already did?

texts:
Say you've thought hard about a specific issue in your research and have elaborated a possible answer, interpretation, etc., to tackle it. (I'm not thinking about huge research subjects, but rather small ideas that articulate a demonstration.) You then discover later on, while reading a new paper, that someone has thought about the exact same thing. How do you present your idea on the issue?

On the one hand, you can't pretend that you haven't read what the other paper says about it, both for reasons of intellectual honesty and because the other author (or someone who read his paper) might think that you stole his idea. Citing the other paper is thus somewhat of an obligation.

On the other hand, it doesn't feel right to dismiss your demonstration and just cite the other paper, since, after all, you figured out a solution on your own. Conversely, it seems somewhat pointless (and maybe arrogant), to write explicitly that you reached the given conclusion and only then found the other article.

What to do in such circumstances?


texts: Do undergrads need an Italian language certification to get into a master's program in Italy?

texts: For international students, do applicants need to demonstrate Italian skills for most Master's programs (except of course the ones taught in English) in Italian universities?


texts:
I am a research scholar commencing my research in the field of deep learning. Deep learning uses lot of tools from mathematics. To name a few : linear algebra, probability and statistics, optimization.

My mathematical background is very shaky. When I read research papers in deep learning, I invariably skip the sections that are mathematically heavy. However, I can understand the higher level details, such as what the research work is about, what algorithm the authors have used, and so on. But I never have the feeling of completely understanding the paper.

I feel that I cannot do original research unless I become really strong in the above mentioned subjects in mathematics. Is this claim correct?

That said, can someone publish papers in deep learning without really understanding the mathematics behind it?


texts: Can I submit the results of a poster to another conference as a full paper?

texts: If I presented a poster at a conference that contained the results of some research, can I then write a paper using those same results and submit it to another conference as a full paper?


texts: Is it ethical to have a relationship with a student after my supervision of him is complete?

texts: I am supervising a bachelor thesis and find the respective student attractive. Would it be ethical/acceptable to get into a relationship with the student after the thesis is completed?


texts: Authorship Guideline for unused experimental results

texts:
I am a Ph.D. student and an intern worked with me on a project that is going to be submitted for publication in a prestigious conference.

However, the work that this intern did is not being used up in the paper. It was a supplementary experiment (not strongly related to the core contribution) which could not be used up since the final results appeared to be too obvious and did not add much insight. Also, this being a conference, there are tight restrictions on the maximum size of paper, and we are struggling on the borderline. Hence, it seemed prudent to leave out the said experiment.

With all the results being thrown out, there is now a moral dilemma about authorship of the intern. Me being the first author, I have a say in this matter and my supervisor has not intervened so far. It is likely that what I suggest/recommend will have an impact on the authorship decision. It is true that this particular person has put in considerable hard work to do what was asked of her and it is entirely unfortunate that those data are not being used up in the final paper. I feel bad for her, but at the same time,  as it stands now, there is no contribution of this person in the final draft (except a few grammatical/typo corrections etc.).

From my understanding, simply mentioning her in the acknowledgement seems to be a bit disappointing, but the most appropriate thing to do. However, I would like to ask the broader community, what would be the proper academic etiquette in such a case?


texts: As a post-doc applicant, should I address a professor by their first name in email after they addressed me that way?

texts:
Regarding a post-doc position, I recently wrote to a professor in the US by starting my mail "Dear Professor X" where X is the surname and she replied to me "Hello Y" where Y is my first name.
I am hesitating if I should start always with "Dear Professor Y1" where Y1 is her first name.
I did not find any satisfactory answer by searching here. Personally, I would choose the second option, starting by her first name but I am not sure if there is any social norm for that? What is the best appropriate way?


texts: How much bandwidth should I allocate for reviewing as a PhD student?

texts:
I'm a PhD student in CS and have been receiving quite a few sub-reviewing requests recently.

Each review takes me more than a day (and often, 2-3 days), and I have reviewed 11 papers on the last year alone.

I never declined a review request, but this seems to take far more time than the reviewing load of the other students in my department.

How much time should I be spending on reviews (e.g., 5% of the time?), and how inappropriate is it to declined such a request if the load exceeds the bandwidth that I should allocate for reviewing?


texts:
I am currently in a PhD program for math in the US studying mathematical logic, and I plan to pursue a teaching career at a university after I finish my degree. Philosophy has always been a side interest for me, and I am wondering how feasible it would be for me to teach some courses in it once I can land a position. Almost all my current knowledge comes from self-study. I took some undergrad courses, but no graduate work. Would I be considered qualified to teach an undergrad course in logic or philosophy of math if it is listed with a PHIL prefix? Personally, with my knowledge of mathematical logic, I feel that I am more qualified to teach these courses than many philosophers. However, I don't know that accreditation boards see it that way. Reaching further out, what about the philosophy of science, metaphysics, or epistemology?

I did think about taking some philosophy courses at my current institution, but it is a small department, and they seem to be interested in what I would call "soft" topics - nothing like what I normally read and am interested in.

If I must take some graduate level philosophy, should I consider online courses? Are there even any decent places that will allow you to take courses without working toward a specific degree? Probably not, I fear.

Edit: I am particularly interested in the accreditation aspect here. Not what I think I am qualified for, but what I would be considered to be qualified for.


texts: How should I tell my professor that I want to quit my integrated program midway?

texts:
I'm currently enrolled in an MS/PhD integrated program (computer science) at a university in Korea and I just started my first semester. My undergrad is at the same university, by the way.

I've always wanted to go to the US for graduate school and took the GRE and everything, but realistically looking at things it was highly unlikely that I'd get into a good program or get funding, which was pretty important to me. That's when I found out about this lab and the professor. I got in touch with the professor and decided to start out as an undergraduate research intern. Everyone at the lab is amazing (very nice, helpful, well-experienced) and the professor is also a nice person.

When I first told him that I wanted to go for my PhD in the US, he advised that from his and the lab's perspective, they usually prefer integrated program students over regular master's students as they're usually at the lab for a longer period of time. I expressed my wishes to receive my master's here and go for a PhD abroad, and he strongly advised that I just finish the entire PhD program here and go for a postdoctorate position abroad.

All of this didn't seem like such a bad idea at first, but I'm starting to slowly realize that this lab may not be the place I want to receive my PhD from - and it's only my first semester.

First off, I'm sure that many professors and advisors out there are the same, but my professor has his own personal research interests and tries very hard to "nudge" (i.e. force) students to work on those projects. This isn't too terrible, I suppose it's how labs work, but the problem is that those interests aren't the same as mine and it's stressing me out quite a bit.

For a bit more detail, the lab I'm at works on deep learning algorithms and applications. When he advertises his lab (he did this to me) he always says that the lab does a variety of research (e.g. bioinformatics, social media analysis, finance, NLP, etc.) and that if you enter the lab then you'll be surrounded by people who are great and have similar interests. His main field of interest is bioinformatics and drug development using AI, and I've recently been semi-forced by him and another PhD student to participate in a project despite me having absolutely zero background knowledge in the material and not wanting to do it.

I've had thoughts of just staying in this lab until I complete the PhD portion of my program (our school allows you to quit midway and receive your master's if you fulfill the requirements) but these days the thought that I need to go somewhere else is becoming increasingly more imminent. In my mind, a PhD is something where you receive guidance and counsel while pursuing research in a specific subject. If my advisor's interests don't align with mine I have a feeling I'd be setting myself up for something disastrous.

I'm still in my first semester, and so I have about 3 more to go and have plenty of time to work hard and plan things out. I'm curious though, how should one normally approach this kind of issue? My largest fear is that he would be very reluctant to let me go and may write a subpar letter of recommendation for me.

Thanks in advance. Any tips or opinions are greatly appreciated.


texts: Should I publish a working paper in several different websites?

texts:
I understand that it is a good idea to publish my working papers and preprints so that they are accessible to other researchers. But there are many different ways to do this, e.g:

ResearchGate;
arXiv;
CiteULike;
Academia.edu;
The university website;
My personal website;

etc...

Is it a good idea to put my working papers in all these websites?

An apparent advantage is that it increases the visibility of the paper (however, with Google Scholar, I am not sure it matter).

An apparent disadvantage is that, if I update the working paper, I have to remember to update it in all these places. Otherwise I risk having old versions of my working papers flying around the web.


texts: When submitting a CV as part of my graduate school application, should I include hyperlinks?

texts:
I am currently in the process of applying to different PhD programs. As part of my application, I am required to upload a CV. On my CV, I have included hyperlinks to my GitHub home page, my Google Scholar page, and to other GitHub projects that I have worked on. More precisely, my CV was written in LaTeX and uses the hyperref package to create these hyperlinks. I submit these CV's in PDF format with the hyperlinks embedded in them.
Once I upload my CV and preview it, for some universities, the hyperlinks work fine after I upload my CV and preview it. However, for others, the preview seems to remove the hyperlinks from the CV. I use sentences like "see here for details." in my CV, where here is hyperlinked, so removing the hyperlink makes this sentence meaningless. Note that different universities have different methods of previewing the CV, such as opening the CV in the Adobe PDF viewer or in a non-Adobe PDF viewer in another window. Hyperlinks usually work if the CV is opened using the Adobe PDF viewer.
Are people on the graduate admissions committee able to see these hyperlinks and download my CV in PDF format regardless of what the preview looks like?


texts: Mentioning possible PhD principal investigators in graduate application w/o being asked to do so?

texts:
My title is pretty self-explanatory, but I was wondering how it looks to mention specific researchers to work with in graduate school via my personal statement/s. I'm applying to PhD programs in neurobiology (neurological disease/therapeutics research).

I know the general consensus is "yes, mention researchers you would want to work with," but I'm worried that this may pigeonhole my application or limit it in certain ways. For example, if a new PI is not listed on the page but does research I like, and I don't list him, I lose that opportunity. Similarly, I'm worried that if I list, say 4 PIs to work with, and none of them care to have me work in their labs, I may get denied all together from the school's program (when I could have gotten accepted if I listed other PIs that may have wanted me).

Also to note, at each graduate school I'm applying to, I have made sure that there are at least 4 labs I would want to work in throughout completing my PhD thesis.

This is a minor nuance in my application's personal statements, but I would appreciate any insight. Thank you very much!


texts: How does a tenure track professor get money to recruit PhD students?

texts:
Does the university/institution or department give money to their tenured-track professors to hire PhD-students?
Do they have to write grants to get funded to recruit PhD students?
What are the possible ways a tenured-track professor can hire PhD students?
Edit:

I am thinking of European countries (France & Germany in particular).
My field is computer science.


texts: What to do about a proposed research idea during the waiting period after submitting a grant proposal?

texts:
Grant proposals can take months until you hear back. What should researchers do during that period?

Start working on the research since the idea could be implemented by others and publish without acknowledging the funder.
Similar to point 1 but in publishing wait to hear about the results and acknowledge the funder if you were funded.
Wait since you don't know if the idea will be funded and there are no funds to support students but the idea could become obsolete after 6 months.
Something else


texts:
I graduated in 2016 from one of the best-known private engineering universities in India with 3.97 GPA (just got my WES report). All i knew till Undergraduate is self-study and attend classes and score decent marks in Exams. I was guided in that way.

Unfortunately, No professor of mine encouraged to conduct any research or help publish the research that i have done on my own. Having no experience with research and no support, When I saw research papers i thought they were just more talented and I am not up to the mark.

I have done decent projects in my undergrad and have contributed my work to my company. All my research work has been going into my projects, but not papers. Because I have no experience. May be I am lazy or shy/afraid to ask help.

I am taking my next step in my career, I am currently applying to US universities for MS in CS for Fall'19.

Will Masters program help me get a kick-start for my research experience, leading to PhD program?

If so, should i know anything before going to college?

PS: your answer can change a life, Please answer if you feel you have something to say. Thanks.


texts: Financial aid sources for dependent, disabled student?

texts:
I am disabled and have to live with my family. I don't want to go into detail about my condition.My experience in the public education system here was less than happy, including being used as a pawn to fill roles in programs that needed funding. My education history is confusing, but essentially has left me with no chance to qualify for scholarships.

I've applied for financial aid at a local university. In response, they offer only loans, telling me that I do not qualify for anything else due to being claimed as a dependent. However, a loan would be financial suicide for me. Their disability counselors just shrug their shoulders or basically tell me to go die somewhere.

I've been finishing prerequisites here and there, though most of my learning has been done independently. I can easily test out of these classes (and most of their "graduate" curriculum as well, in fact), but they don't offer credit for doing this.

My parents make a comfortable income, but are not very intelligent with money and getting on in age. They will not be able to support me when they retire. They have to keep claiming me, otherwise I would no longer be classified as disabled and would lose my only pathetic source of income (disability pay requires that I am dependent, or so the SSA tells me).

I want to transfer my credits somewhere and get the hell out, but I'll basically need to be funded entirely by financial aid. What can I do?


texts: How can I import my BibTeX file to my Google Scholar Library?

texts: I have a large library of articles in CiteULike, but recently it does not work very well, so I would like to move to using the Google Scholar library. I exported my CiteULike library to a BibTeX file. Is there a way to import this file to my Google Scholar library?


texts: I refused adding a gift author to my paper and my advisor threatened me that he won't let me graduate

texts:
I am a phd student and I am writing a paper with my advisor, which is also part of my thesis. When we were going to submit it for publication, he asked me out of the blue to include in the paper the name of another phd student, who had just started a phd with him. This person had not done any work for my paper in any way. Once I refused, he threated me that he won't let me graduate, but I didn't cave in. Then, he started saying that this paper was no good and had to be removed from my thesis, otherwise I won't be able to graduate. If I comply and I exclude this from my thesis, can he steal it and publish it without my name? On the other hand, if this paper remains in my thesis, and my thesis is officially submitted, would he be able to steal it?
Update: Thank you all very much for your answers! The paper is completed, there isn't anything the new PhD can do to contribute. What I would like to know is if my advisor can take my paper and publish it without my name. Can he do that if my paper is included in my thesis?


texts: Is paraphrasing Jack's sentence considered plagiarism, given I cite the original author Z?

texts:
I have a specific question. I am working on my academic paper.

I came across this unpublished paper online written by a PhD student. Although, his topic is different, some parts of his paper relates to the background section of mine. For my background section, I am using three different books as source material. This person, let's call him Jack, has also used the same books.

  Question: If my sentences are similar to Jack's (i.e. I reworded parts of his sentences) is it considered plagiarism, given, I cite the original source (that we both used): the books?

Example (made up):

Jack: According to Greene (2001), the program was implemented in 1991 to ensure a more efficient organization of the workers and, subsequently, to facilitate their unionization.
Me: The Unity program was created in 1991 to efficiently organize the labour force and, subsequently, to help workers join the labour union (Greene, 2001)

Some terms are hard to replace with alternatives without fully changing the meaning or using too many words.

I have read the book, the main source material, and have cited it in my sentence. But, my sentence is very similar to Jack's. Would this be considered plagiarism even though the idea is not Jack's?

I have no problem referencing Jack's paper in my Reference section at the end, but I don't want to use intext citation citing Jack's paper.


texts: Editor not taking action after I reported plagiarism. What steps can I take?

texts:
Some people erased three author names including mine from a paper previously submitted (and rejected by three different journals) and got it accepted by Case Reports In Emergency Medicine.

I presented the publishing editor of the journal multiple clear proofs of the plagiarism. Although the journal declares that it complies with COPE, the publishing editor is dragging feet not to publish a retraction about this article despite the proofs. Instead, they are trying to overlook the situation by involving the politically driven hospital administration from where the paper was submitted from. This in turn caused  violation of my rights both as a human and as a researcher. I am currently subjected to serious mobbing by the hospital administration secondary to the inconclusive behaviour of the journal. This mobbing includes the change in my workplace and an official warning because "I ruined reputation of the hospital by contacting the publishing editor".

I also sent a message to COPE but there is no response.

Would anyone suggest any further action?


texts: Wearing a suit for a presentation and meeting with potential postdoc supervisor in Germany

texts:
I'm visiting a German university (in one of the big cities) for a couple of days for the purpose of discussing a postdoc for myself. I work in maths.

I'm supposed to give a talk on one day for a research seminar and discuss with a potential advisor the next day.

Should I wear a suit for either of these events? I would have said no, but someone has told me that the Germans look down on "casual" clothes.


texts: Difficulty in thinking properly during exams

texts:
I am a student of science preparing for the JEE (India). When I normally practice problems, I find no difficulty in thinking straight. Solutions occur to me when I look at a problem, because for the most part, my fundamentals in Physics, Chemistry and Math are clear.
But each time I sit down to take a test, I experience some sort of blockage in the mind, as if I'm not paying attention to the question (when actually I am paying attention). I find it harder to work my way around a problem during the exam than I would during practice. Had this difference between practice and exam been little, I probably would have ignored it. But it is so huge that I can feel how drastically it is affecting my score. It just feels like somebody has switched off a valve in my mind, drastically reducing my brainpower. And it's so frustrating to come home from a test and find easy questions that I could have solved, but didn't because their simple solutions didn't occur to me.
Is it because of the pressure that comes with a timer going on or could it be something else?
And how do I deal with it?


texts: What do I do if there is an error in a figure in my not-yet-defended thesis?

texts:
I submitted my thesis some days ago and I am currently preparing for viva. I have found an error in a figure which is a summary of four other figures. In fact, by means of Excel I did calculations and made a mistake regarding some numbers. I have prepared a new file with  corrections but I confess that I am scared.
Anyone has experienced such a situation or may give any tip about what to do.

Thank you very much indeed


texts: Is it a good idea for a nonnative English speaker to have native speakers help make the English in statement of purpose perfect?

texts:
I am applying to doctoral programs in the US.

Since I am not an English native speaker, I am wondering if it is okay to have native speakers help make my English perfect in my statement of purpose?

I ask so because I am concerned with that, since the committee definitely knows that I am not a native speaker in English, my perfect English in statement of purpose could lead them to suspect. By "suspect" I mean the argument: If this person's writing is this good, then this person's TOEFL scores must be almost perfect.


texts: I'm an optimistic, open-minded, big-picture person. What's my ideal role in research?

texts:
I am getting towards the end of my Ph.D. and pondering future career options. I want to stay in research, though not necessarily academia. I have noticed that in comparison to some successful researchers I know, I am generally more open-minded and optimistic when it comes to new ideas. This does not mean that I don't recognize bad research or am unable to criticize, it's just that when we encounter a new idea in a paper or talk, my first impulse is to say This is great and will help us solve our problem!, whereas other people's first impulse appears to be Well, I'm kinda skeptic - this guy's surely exaggerating - show me some more evidence.
Both personality types have their benefits and drawbacks of course, e.g. I often initially support ideas that later turn out to be unsuccessful, while other people sometimes miss out on important new ideas because they dismiss them too easily. I believe (and I think this is also what organizational psychologists teach?) that in groups both kinds of personalities - let's call them idea-givers and reality-checkers - are generally needed.
Finally, I also noticed that I much more enjoy thinking about the big picture than about the details: I love to work out the relationships between important paradigms, come up with ideas for solutions to general problems etc., as opposed to some of my colleagues who I feel are happy working out one specific and possibly very complex application in details.
Given all this information, what might be my ideal role or position in research? I realize that I will always need someone to reality-check me to be successful. Aside from that, are there particular positions where people with my personality profile can shine?


texts: How to refer to an author whose last name can be confused with a pronoun?

texts:
I am currently writing a research paper and am having an issue referring to an author of a paper whose name is "Dadi He". I know that it is common practice to refer to an author by their last name when referring to them or their findings.

Though I find myself writing sentences starting along the lines of "He found that...". I assume that the simple solution is to refer to the author by his full name. But this seems to become repetitive after a few sentences.

Is this correct, is there a more formal or accepted way to do so?


texts: What are the chances of being rejected in situation when applying for post. doc. without PhD supervisor's reference with valid reason?

texts:
I have a horrible experience with my PhD advisor. He is the worst person to have as a PhD advisor. I should have judged him before but after 4th year of my program, I got what kind of a person he is.

Despite all these, I continued for my degree and will finish it in a year. I have almost decided if I apply for post-doc position, I'll not include his recommendation letter.

One big reason for this is the a "very serious academic misconduct" He did with me. I have documentation with proofs.

I will be very grateful for your suggestions/experience regarding my situation.


texts: Difference between Computational Science and Engineering (CSE) doctoral degrees and traditional math, physics, cs, engineering and biology degrees

texts:
What's the difference between these newer computational science PhD programs and PhD programs in the traditional math, physics, cs, and engineering depts?

From checking out a few of these CSE programs online, it seems that they are programs, and not departments, in general, so that the programs have faculty with different home departments.

The interdisciplinary nature of these programs sounds appealing but I wonder if it's better to land up at a traditional engineering dept or a math dept, etc.?

For example, here's some material from Stanford's CSE program:

  Ask Big Questions.

  Solve Big Problems.

  Doctoral Program We develop innovative computational and mathematical
  approaches for complex engineering and scientific problems, attracting
  talented PhD students from across the globe. Advised in research by
  more than 50 faculty from 20-plus departments, PhD students are
  immersed in a wide variety of fields including statistics and data
  science, machine and deep learning, control, optimization, numerical
  analysis, applied mathematics, high-performance computing, earth
  sciences, flow physics, graphics, bioengineering, genomics, economics
  and financial mathematics, molecular dynamics, and many more. PhD
  graduates find outstanding positions in industry and national
  laboratories as well as in academia.

The last sentence seems that the CSE program is more aimed to prepare their PhD graduates for work in industry, with academic jobs not being the primary goal.


texts: fix non-significant errors in a manuscript that is not accepted and currently under review after 1st round of revision?

texts:
I'm in the field of Psychology. One of my manuscripts is now under review after the 1st round of revision. However, I found one of the variables was calculated in a wrong way, the results are better with the corrected variable because the significance levels were higher (i.e., p values were lower), but it didn't change the conclusions of my study, all the significant results still remain significant and non-significant results are still non-significant. I would like to know what would be the best option to deal with it.

option 1: ignore it.

option 2: correct it when I receive reviewers' feedbacks WITHOUT letting the reviewers and editor know.

option 3: correct it when I receive reviewers' feedbacks AND let the reviewers and editor know.

I'm worried that letting the editor and reviewers know would leave a bad impression on me and the quality of my work.

Thank you in advance!


texts: How to deal with a guilty feeling after graduating with very high grades as MA student?

texts:
The question seems quite clear, but here is my situation:

Recently, I have graduated with a MA degree in humanities with the highest academic distinction in my country (Northwest Europe). In fact, as my supervisor told me, the last time that a student in our department reached such a level was a decade ago.

Nevertheless my satisfaction, I feel already that I don't deserve such a distinction because:

I studied for a semester abroad and took 4 courses in a country where A's and A+'s are traditionally "easier" to earn than in my country. I, thus, think that I was in a better position to get this distinction than my classmates who stayed at home.
More importantly, I feel guilty because I once "recycled" a paper from my undergrad years for one of those MA courses abroad, while I only vaguely referred to my previous work. Note that I did certainly not use somebody else's work, but I feel that I could have avoided such an act of self-plagiarism during my MA by referring more clearly and directly. The professor of the MA course did not seem to be bothered with my practice, even when I told him twice that I was planning to recycle an old paper.

Good to know:

1° My supervisor told me already not to bother with the first issue because I received even better grades for my thesis and for some courses at my home university during the second semester.

2° I would like to start a PhD program in the near future, but I feel that someone will call me out for my current issues or, even worse, I can lose the current distinction/get my degree revoked.

3° Regarding the paper, I used some major parts of the undergrad paper, rewrote the introduction (adding a literature review) and conclusion. I was also able to publish the paper in a low-tier journal for graduate students (and corrected my mistake by that time.)

How should I deal with my situation? Should I contact the professors in questions and explain the situation? Is this normal to feel like this (aka impostor syndrome) or are these serious issues?

Any advice is helpful!


texts:
I can't find an answer to this question anywhere. How do you properly cite an advertisement from a website online in APA formatting?

Is it just:

Company. (Year, Month Day of Ad Retrieval). Ad title [Advertisement]. Title of webpage. Name of website. Retrieved from URL


texts: PhD thesis Report has questions from reviewer

texts:
I submitted my PhD thesis to a EU university and I already have the review reports of the two reviewers.

They both accepted the thesis for the viva.
One reviewer left a couple of remarks, while the other left some remarks but many questions.
My supervisor told me what I should provide a response letter to both reviewers, addressing all the questions in the case of one reviewer.

-Why do reviewers ask questions on the report and ask for the answers before the viva?

-They both told me that my thesis is very good.
I am able to answer all the questions well, at least in my opinion. Can I still fail the viva?

-People tell that PhD defense is just a formality, however, I am afraid of failing it after so many years of hard work.

Please let me know your experiences on this matter

Thanks in advance,
Best wishes,
King Baboon


texts: Using Cambridge's "short-title reference system"

texts:
Does anyone have experience using the Cambridge UP's "short-title reference system" or even just know of a work that uses it. I'm copy-editing for some extra cash but the style guide they have online is really not very helpful.
The very first reference I've tried to come up with, for example, is a translated work, and they have no indication of how to include the translator in the citation other than saying that it should be there.
My best guess is:
Author's name, Title of Work, Translator's name (trans.)(Place of publication: Publisher, Year), p. page number.
I guess the main issue is I can't tell if "(trans.)" should be in parentheses or not. This is just my best guess based on the example given for a book with an editor, which is "Editor's name (ed.)"
Thank you for any advice!


texts: Etiquette when talking to a researcher whose work you do not think highly of

texts:
What do academicians need to keep in mind when they are conversing with a fellow researcher whom they do not think highly of? I was reminded of A Beautiful Mind, where Nash (Crowe) says the following:

  I imagine you're getting quite used to miscalculation. I've read your preprints... both of them. The one on Nazi ciphers... and the other one on nonlinear equations... and I am supremely confident that there is not a single seminal or innovative idea in either one of them.

This is as forthright as it could possibly get! Suppose there is a situation where you have read a paper in some detail, and are sure that it is not just worth its salt. If you happen to strike a conversation with the author about the work itself, how do you go about it? How do tactful researchers react to this situation?


texts: Some questions about math postdoc offers

texts:
I am a math PhD student and on the postdoc job market for the first time. I would like to know how job offer (hopefully) comes and what I should keep in mind in accepting the offers. I am interested in the US job market.

The first question is: When do most job offers go around? I am aware of the earliest deadline (most math department agreed with this).
So I think the early offers go around in January and only the best people get an offer in January. I would appreciate it if someone could tell me about your experience.

Is it appropriate to ask about my application after a certain time? I think once one accepts an offer, one cannot decline the offer. So I may want to send inquiry to the school I want to work for before accepting the offer from some other schools.

I also heard of short lists (for assistant professorship). Could anyone explain how short lists work (I have only vague idea of what they are)? And are there short lists for postdoc positions?


texts:
I am applying to a university in the US. In the online application, they've asked about:

  Additional Educational Experiences; Which of the following have you had experiences in? (select all that apply).

In a sub-section, they've asked to explain:

  Recognition of achievements over time.

What is it exactly? Many thanks.


texts: Drawbacks of making public which journal a manuscript is submitted to, while it is under review?

texts:
Many researchers list out their submitted manuscripts on their website. Some specify the journal name, like

  Smith J, Oliver J (under review) My awesome paper. Nature.

while others don't, like

  Smith J, Oliver J (under review) My awesome paper.

One reason I can think of as to why some don't mention the journal name is that they may get embarrassed in the case where the current journal rejects the paper. Then, the "circle" will know this paper gets rejected from Nature first and then ends up in an inferior journal.

Besides this, are there any other considerations preventing people from mentioning to which journal they submit a paper to?

P.S.: I am asking because my advisor is a researcher who only mentions accepted  papers on his webpage. As a student hunting jobs, I feel it is advantageous for me to mention my submitted papers on my webpage. I hesitate to do so, as I worry I may make my advisor unhappy by announcing in which journal our papers are currently under review.


texts: What to expect, prepare, bring to a short-noticed meeting solicited by a University Press editor?

texts:
How to prepare for a meeting/discussion with a major University Press editor when they solicited/sought you out on short notice (4 days)? Because I didn't solicit them, I don't have a full manuscript -- just my conference paper, abstract, and general research ideas. What is expected in these impromptu meetings solicited by University Press editors? What should I bring to the meeting? Do they expect me to become prepared with a pitch and write a book proposal overnight? Or do I simply bring an abstract and a CV?

I would like to make the most of this opportunity, but I was solicited out of the blue during a conference and feel so unprepared. I don't want to blow an opportunity or ruin future prospects, but I have no idea what to expect. Are they meant to be low-key casual?


texts:
In this application cycle, I got a PhD offer from Nanyang Technology University at Singapore and will study in the field of programming language. However, I recently received a mail from my supervisor which is said that he will soon leave NTU for some reasons. After searching the faculty list of NTU I found there is no other professor who works in programming language.

I don't want to compromise on the topic I will do during my PhD. Maybe it is a good choice for me to find a matching supervisor in some other universities.
But I have to go to NTU to do my PhD because I have no alternative choice now since this application cycle is ended.

What I want to know is that is it possible to transfer my PhD from singapore to US if I re-apply for some American universities after my current supervisor's leave?

Any advise will be so much appreciate for that I somehow don't know what to do.


texts: Do "News and Views" articles count as publications?

texts:
Several journals have short digest articles highlighting specific research publications. One of the best known examples are the Nature News and Views articles.

They describe these articles like this:

  ... short, accessible articles focused on one scientific advance independent of the author's own research. They are almost always commissioned by the editors, but suggestions can be made. News and Views articles generally describe a published research report but sometimes take the form of scientific meeting reports. News and Views articles are personal views by specialists in the discipline, and are not usually peer-reviewed. See each journal's guide to authors for more details.

This is common also in other journals, sometimes they're called "Spotlight articles" or "Research highlights". Whether they are peer-reviewed likely differs, but their common ground is that they discuss and highlight a recent paper in the same journal. They always have doi nr and are citeable.

My questions are

In CVs, do people list them under publications, and if not where do they list them?
What about book reviews?
Do people add these type of articles to ResearchGate and Google Scholar?
Do people in general view them as a positive thing for your academic career or a waste of time?


texts: Applying to a new position after a few months?

texts:
Last summer, my current funding ended and I had to look for a new position. I managed to find a lectureship at a university. Unfortunately it is one which is more focused on undergratuates rather than on research. At the time, it was either that position or face potential unemployment.

I recently became aware of a position that would be the ideal one, however it really is a long shot. I recently published a paper in a world-leading conference in my field (and on the domain of the lectureship) which I believe improved my academic profile considerably, if compared to when I was looking for jobs last summer. The problem is that I'd have to ask my previous referees to send another letter and I guess that wouldn't reflect too nicely on me, especially considering the possibility that I could not even be shortlisted.

Considering the situation, should I seize the opportunity and think about the consequences later? What would you think as a referee if someone who was hired somewhere asked you for another reference some months later? I normally wouldn't do this but I believe that it's not in my best interests to stay in a university which is not research oriented for too long.


texts: From a financial standpoint, how much more can I expect to earn after my degree?

texts:
While certainly there is value to learning something you are passionate about, one might also have to consider the finnacial responsibilities after college. Thankfully for me, what I am passionate about is also what I can expect to make a decent career out of.

I am entering college as a mechanical engineering student, however I feel like I would very much like to pursue a double major, the second degree being in math. While what drives me to this is my interest and passion in the subject (Ive always been a fan of numbers), I can't help but pause to consider if the extra time and money spent is practical. In short, how much more can I reasonably expect to make with a bachelor's degree in math and in mechanical engineering, upon graduation?


texts: What's the exact criterion of dual submission?

texts:
Does submitting two (substantially different) versions of a same paper count as dual submission?
To be specific, let me take this as an example:

Say I've done a research and a paper A was written about the research. However, later I found that I can make some improvements on the method of A, and after making these improvements I've got B, a second version of A. A and B are same in their abstracts, introductions and related works, but largely different in their methods and experiments.
I've submitted B to conference X which will inform its final decision to authors in late June and I'm going to submit A to another conference Y whose submission deadline is in late April.

Question is, will this be considered as a dual submission? If the answer is positive, then which part(s) of the content of A should I modify to avoid such a problem? Thanks.

Note that my field is Computer Science, and most conferences in this field consider their proceedings as publications.


texts: Should I communicate to a researcher that I'll apply for a postdoc position is his lab in approximately two years?

texts:
I started my first postdoctoral position one year ago in a new university.
In two years (or so), I'd like to apply for another postdoc position in another university, in a research team that works on subjects that are quite similar to mine.

Sometimes (like once a year) I meet at conferences the group leader of this research lab to which I'd like to apply in two years.

If I met him again, should I tell my intentions to him?
Should I say to him that I'd like to apply to his lab in two years?

For similar questions here on Academia, I read different points of view: some people wrote "It's better he already knows who you are when your resume will arrive on his desktop", while some other people say "The more you wait, the more scientific results and published papers you get, the better you resume gets... so it's better not to apply to early, when your resume is incomplete of your future accomplishments"

What do you think?


texts: Paper published in peer-reviewed student journal that appears to have shut down. How should I present evidence of article publication?

texts:
While I was in academia, I co-authored a research paper and submitted it to a peer-reviewed student journal for publication. They sent me a PDF copy of Volume 3, Issue 1 in 2014 as proof.

However, the journal itself appears to have went defunct afterwards. Searching for the journal's official websites reveals PDF copies of their issues from previous years, up to 2013, meaning that the 2014 issue isn't even publicly available.

Nevertheless, since the article did get published, I currently have this article listed on my professional resume. In case anyone had any questions about that publication, what proof should I show explaining that the article did get published?


texts: How do I stop assuming that someone is male?

texts:
Consider the following situation. I'm talking to a friend who says "One of my friends is a student of so-and-so,", and I immediately ask, "Oh, what's his name?", before being told "'her name', actually, is Alice."

How do I stop doing that? The underlying problem I want to fix is the bias in my own head -- I'm not just looking to fix the problem by replacing "his name" with "their name" in my question. I would hope that sufficiently many episodes like this would be enough to fix it eventually, but I fear that there are too many situations of the other kind, wherein I ask "What's his name?" and get "Bob", for my subconscious to ever fully absorb it.

Regardless, my question is this: are there any concrete, actionable things I could be doing to get rid of the bias in my head?

I'm not sure how much my own gender is relevant, which I'd like to keep hidden to encourage broader answers.

I'm also aware that this question isn't strictly academia-related, but it is worth pointing out that this only happens to me in an academic (possibly field-specific) setting, i.e. if told "One of my friends recommended this book to me," I am fairly sure I would respond "Oh, what's their name?".

Edits, for more detail: I work in a male-dominated field, and I think/speak primarily in American English.


texts: Difference between Computer Science, Computer Engineering and Systems and information engineering master'sdegrees

texts:
Good Morning!

I'm a French student graduating this year in Computer Sciences from Paris Dauphine University and I'm applying to master's degrees at the University of Virginia. I was wondering what was the difference between:

Computer Science
Computer Engineering
Systems and information engineering

Reading the handbooks, I understood that the second one was more focused on hardware than the first one. Yet, I have no idea of what the last one was about or where would it lead me.

I'm asking because I'm not sure whether to apply for the second link or for the first one and the second one or for all of them.

Thanks in advance for your enlightenment.


texts: How to write an Statement Of Purpose for Masters' in Computer Science given it covers a broad range of topics?

texts:
All the guidelines for writing a Statement of Purpose emphasize on how you need to properly explain why you would like to pursue an Master's in the specific branch along with proper examples
However, a Master's in Computer Science is a very vast branch. So how do you mention that you want to do a Master's in Computer Science with examples to explain why when every example in itself will talk about some specialization or another?


texts: How to write a research statement for a math postdoc position?

texts:
I am a graduate student in mathematics working on functional analysis of quantum information (basically using matrix techniques in some well-known problems). I am presently applying for postdoctoral positions (in both Mathematics and Quantitative Physics departments). However, I am not getting any reply from most of the places and got a few rejection letters as well. Since I am from Mathematics, I cannot apply to experimental groups (where there are more openings). Again, being a Mathematics student and working in Physics (even though there are obvious connections between them) is not seen as a good example among certain parts of the physics community and the majority of the Mathematicians in this part of the world (personal opinion based on certain bitter experiences). I do not know whether it is the same in other places as well.

I feel that I have not projected myself by writing a good research statement. I have written it after reading the first few entries of Google search results as well as advice from the AMS. I have mostly highlighted my present work, with only a short discussion of future ideas.

To make my life more complicated, I want to move out of the present problems which I am working presently and choose some new problems for my postdoctoral research. I have a peripheral knowledge about the works of different groups. However, modifying my research statement according to the research work of each group is, I think, difficult (as I need to spend time to read their works and spot exactly where my knowledge can be used in their problems and so on). The reason for not having time is I am simultaneously working on some research problem as well as writing my thesis, which I need to submit in the coming months.

In this situation, how do I write a good research statement? I want to convey the message to potential employers that, while I have not done research on their problem yet (though I know them to certain level), given an opportunity I can learn and do work in their areas.


texts: Why should I write a good undergraduate thesis?

texts:
I am nearing the end of a semester-long bachelor thesis in computer science. My supervisor suggested I set aside the last month (around 20 working days) for actually writing the thesis document. As such, I have begun this period now.

Why is a thesis important?

Given limited time, I am confused as to why I need to write a good thesis. I am not against writing it, I just want to understand why a good thesis is important so that I can optimize my time accordingly and focus on the important sections.

For instance, if I were writing a paper for a conference, my goal would be to convince potential reviewers (as well as the research community in general) about the merit of my proposed ideas and their novel contributions. As such, I know the intended audience and the intended message for such a paper. Along these lines, who is the intended audience and what is the intended message for a bachelor thesis? Firstly, I doubt many would be interested in reading a bachelor thesis, so this confuses me when I think about who I am writing this thesis for. Secondly, should I consider the intended message as convincing the reader of my ideas, in which case the thesis essentially becomes a long research paper?

I am dealing with these questions because I've found that I can write better and more persuasive matter when I think from the reader's point of view with a clear message to convey to him/her. But currently, I am neither clear about the audience nor about the point to make with my thesis.

I spoke to my supervisor about this. He said the thesis document is a report of all the research activities I did during the time allotted for it, which includes all experiments irrespective of their results. In contrast, a research paper focuses on one method which worked very well. With this in mind, one could say that the intent of my thesis is to inform, so that all experiments (with positive or negative results) serve as some kind of knowledge contribution to the research community. However, this still leaves the question of who the reader is, what should I assume about them, etc.

Which sections are the most important in my thesis?

Part of the reason for asking the former question is to obtain an answer for this question. Which sections are the most important in a thesis and why? From my understanding, the sections which stand out (like the abstract, introduction and conclusion) are the most important as they're the most likely to be read by potential thesis examiners, peers, etc.

Is there any other section that I should especially focus on?


texts:
I understand that open science is based on open data, open access, open source, open methodology, etc.

However, what does "open" exactly mean in context when we talk about "open science"?


texts: Can academic teaching and quality research go hand-in-hand?

texts:
[Long]

I have been working in a very well known university in India. I am a faculty member in the department of Computer Science. My appointment to the university is somewhat temporary given the condition I have to finish my PhD within x-years (Please ignore x for the time). If I can not finish my PhD within this duration, I have to leave the job and/or PhD.

Given the following conditions, you could see that it is difficult.

This is one of the premier and oldest university in India which is very well known for its quality teaching.
The university also expects top quality research for acceptance of the PhD thesis.
All the faculties of the same level as mine, are one of the back-bone of the department(s) of the university.
All the faculties must contribute towards institutional development in addition to quality teaching and research/PhD.

I can understand that this is a good sign that we can learn teaching/research with time. However, for me it seems very tough. I have been planning for a full-time PhD somewhere abroad with a stipend. However, I am tensed about future opportunities post PhD.

I understand that PhD students are given some amount of teaching load as a part of stipend policy. But, this academic teaching load is really incomparable and is too high.

Considering above facts, how to manage these two things together?

[Short]

Can academic teaching and quality research go hand-in-hand given a time-bound on job?

P.S. I belong to computer science and mathematics community and an independent scholar. Research is my passion.

[Edits]

There are two different courses (full course) assigned each with a student strength of 100 (approx.).
The courses involve labs as well.
So, in every 1.5 day, you could assume to have a class for which you need to plan your day properly (such as preparing materials, teaching slides, assignments, lab assignments, surprise tests if any, and few other things)

The point of writing I have been planning for a full-time PhD somewhere abroad with a stipend. is to get advises from experienced persons here on Academia.SE on whether should I go for it or not.


texts: How serious it is not to disclose full academic history in your grad school application?

texts:
Here is my story.

I was accepted to top-30 world university to MS in Electrical Engineering(EE) progaram. In total I already have 3 degrees: MS in EE (GPA:4.0/4.0), BS in EE(GPA:3.9/4.0), and Bachelor in Economics(GPA:3.8/4.0).

In my application I misunderstood instructions, which wanted me to list "all universities attended". As far as all my degrees were from one single university I though that I was not obliged to enter all of them, because formally I did list "all universities" by mentioning at least one of those degrees. That is why I decided not to enter "irrelevant" Bachelor in Economics degree and entered only BS in EE and MS in EE degrees.

After few months I was successfully accepted to the degree program I had applied to.
But after talking to some other applicants I understood that in application form they wanted me to enter not "all universities" but rather all degree programs attended. So I believe that I should have listed that economics degree as well.

Apparently, concealing this degree didn't give me any benefits during admission, but most likely even might have "downgraded" my application to some extent. So I unintentionally presented myself to be worse that I am in reality.

What do you think I need to do? If I contact admission office I can end up being rejected and I cannot risk that much.

On the other hand, If I enroll and then they disclose this fact what they most likely will do?


texts: Author without institutional or professional affiliation

texts:
Here is the case: An author has made substantial contribution while not been related to any institutional or professional  affiliation.

The question I sent to Nature:

An author has made substantial contribution while not been related
to any institutional or professional  affiliation.

Is it okay for this author to include his personal email and postal
address as his affiliation in the manuscript?

Nature answer:

  Thank you for your email. At this stage, please just include the
  author and mention this in your cover letter so that the editor is
  aware of the situation.

The question I sent to PLOS ONE:

According to your submission guidelines "Each author on the list
must have an affiliation". However an author has made substantial
contribution while not been related to any institutional or
professional affiliation.

Is it okay to include "Independent Researcher" as an afilliation
in this case?

If not, what is the recommended Affiliation for this Author?

PLOS ONE answer:

  Thank you for getting in touch and for your interest in submitting your
  work to PLOS ONE.

  Your suggestion of recording the author as an "Independent Researcher"
  for their affiliation is acceptable.  May I ask you to clarify in the
  cover letter if this co-author is self employed (i.e. charges for
  their advise/service) when submitting your work.

  If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact
  us again.

Any thoughts and previous experience with something like this is greatly appreciated.

Thank you!


texts: How to choose a topic for a PhD in organisational behaviour?

texts:
I want to do phd in organisational behaviour. However, I am confused about how to chose a topic.

Beyond general strategies for choosing a topic discussed here are there any specific strategies for choosing a PhD topic in organisational behaviour?


texts: How do you study a PhD without a supervisor and other PhDs?

texts:
The situation is as follows:

1) I and supervisor dont understand each other

2) supervisor keeps the PhD group fractured

What it means ?

The supervisor is way off from my research area. But I know that happens. Unfortunately, he is the one speaking the most during meetings. To me it seems he want to prove himself as knowledgeable. This led me to ignore his advice, as it is usually inapplicable, since he doesnt understand my research. (I want point out, that I know this happens, that the supervisor may not be able to provide a profound advice, due to the differences in research interests. But what I consider a bit odd, is a lack of interest in listenening, as he needs to be the one that talks.) Therefore, I dont have a supervisor that would give a hand in research.

The other thing really bothers me though. We have never held a full PhD group meeting (there is about 5 other PhDs I barely know). Furthermore, there are "secret" projects among the PhDs managed by the supervisor, which fracture the relations and communication even more. This actually happens in very exclusive way. They just switch into their native language, right in front of me (including the supervisor), when such topic is discussed (I am international student).

For me this is both personal and professional problem.

On personal level, there is loneliness and the feeling of being different, as explained by the language exclusivity.

From professional/academic level, I have no ground under my feet. I need to progress on my own, without the feedback from supervisor or other PhDs.

Questions:

How do I progress on my own ?

Do I search advice from other professors ? Do I try to connect with other PhD groups on my own ? Is this practically manageable, to force myself into other groups ?

Is it sustainable to manage PhD stress AND to put quite an amount of energy to "join" other people just to sustain myself from psychological point of view (this situation is very heavy on mental state) ?

And maybe on more personal level, is this a very bad situation to continue the PhD ? Does the academia really look like this ?

Lets say I would change supervisor/university/etc. What could I expect from regular similar supervisor, BUT that can manage and keep the PhDs in touch ? How much does this helps in PhD ?

P.S. This is a long term situation, lasting more than a year and half.


texts: Can I allow my personal life to influence where I do my PhD?

texts:
I am about to become a Ph.D student in mathematics. I am having some doubts about where I should do my Ph.D and I would appreciate some advice, or anything really.

I could do research with a very competent professor that is internationally well-known and is also very interested in me succeeding, having helped me with much already. He is also a really kind person. The area he is working in is one of the most fascinating areas in all of mathematics to me. However, it is in a different city from where I live now. As I live now, I have a really good apartment and a girlfriend too who lives here. She would be OK if I moved, although a bit sad. I am afraid of moving to a new city, and more than that, also somewhat scared that if I am not as good as my advisor belives me to be, it will all go terribly wrong.
I could do research where I live. However, the advisors are not as competent as he is, nor as interested in me (so far, I am not their student yet). Further, the areas are not as fascinating (although very fascinating!). I could continue with living my life as of now.

So, what should I think about regarding these choices when it comes to making a future career? I am a bit vague here, since I want general advice to think about.


texts: Is it okay to discuss multiple interests when writing statement of purpose for attending a conference?

texts:
Question: I am interested in two fields, mathematical biology and cryptography. Is it okay to discuss both of these interests in my statement of purpose?

I'm currently a junior majoring in mathematics. I have to write a statement of purpose so that I can be able to attend a mathematics conference. During the conference there will be a time where we can submit applications to graduate schools there. I'm not sure if it is for seniors only, but I am writing one just in case. I don't know which schools are going to be there. If I did I would just choose one depending on the degrees offered by each school, but I don't know who is going to be there.


texts: Who should I specify as my affiliation if re-writing an undergraduate paper?

texts:
Years ago, I, as well as a team of other engineering students, conducted some pretty solid research for an undergrad project. We didn't end up commercializing it or anything, but I believe it would be a great fit for an upcoming conference.

I am no longer affiliated with the university where the research was originally conducted. The original paper was horrible, and needs to be re-written (I've been published before and am familiar with writing styles and the process of submitting a paper, despite not having an adviser).

Can (or should/must) I use the university as my (and my team's) affiliation? What does this actually mean? Does the university have to know I'm publishing a paper with their name on it? If so, who typically signs off on this?

I've tried to find an answer online and have come across this answer, but I'm not sure if it applies since I am not currently enrolled as a student, and because the paper is being re-written.


texts: What to do when another researcher used my results without credit in a science documentary?

texts:
A former colleague (not collaborator) used main results of two of my published papers in a science documentary featuring their work. They had briefly mention to me at some point, that they wanted to use my work, including images from the paper to help explain their work. Of course, I said it would be fine, as long as they would contact the senior author of the work (images are copyrighted) and cited the authors/project name. This researcher never contacted the senior author and in the documentary there is no credit to any of the studies, not during the doc nor in the final credits. Also, the person never even mentions it is not their own work, so it makes it seem they did the work themselves. I would already be happy with something along the lines of "previous research has shown". But not one word indicates the work is not theirs.

I want to take action about this, but not sure what to do. I am no longer in the University where I published both papers, nor in the University where we were both colleagues. I emailed the senior author already and I am awaiting reply. But I want to take further action as the documentary just aired a couple of days ago.

Would it be advisable to contact the makers of the documentary (it's a big US TV network)?
Should I contact the University where this researcher is now working at? (The University name appears in the documentary as the person's affiliation)
Should I approach them directly by email? What should I say?
What would be the appropriate steps to take?

I want to take action, but don't want to get myself in legal issues either... so any advice is appreciated!

Update: One of my former advisors (not involved in any of the studies) strongly encouraged me to let it slide arguing that published information can be used by anyone in documentaries aimed to the lay public. And that documentaries cannot cite everyone involved in the research, as this is not interesting to the public. I am surprised this is their position. Does anyone else thinks this is the correct way to think about it?


texts: Reviewer signs name on review. Should the editor censor?

texts:
Say a reviewer writes something like

This paper is [yada yada blah blah].
Sincerely,
Professor John Smith, Big Name University

Should the editor just forward the review to the authors because Professor John Smith, by signing his name onto the review, is presumably willing to reveal his identity to the authors? Or should the editor keep the review anonymous by deleting the signature?


texts: How to carry a scientific poster as hand luggage?

texts:
Sometimes I have to present at different conferences. Usually I print the poster at the print office at home and cary the poster with me to the conference. With the more and strict luggage rules, it is not always allowed to carry the usual chunky poster cylinders on board.

As I like to travel light, this sometimes is a problem. One solution would be to look for a print shop at the destination (eg. Paris or Berlin).

But then again, you also want to bring back the poster with you.

So my question, how can I bring a a1/a2 poster with me as carry-on luggage?


texts:
Software piracy is obviously illegal as well as being wrong for a variety of reasons. However, from my experience it is extremely common to see pirated software being used by research students. This appears to be implicitly condoned/encouraged by some academic staff.

Usually software piracy is done by an individual for their own use. In academia it is being done with implicit consent by the organisation and for the purposes of conducting research which may end up with commercial applications, or be built upon by others.

How can software piracy in academia be reduced/eliminated?


texts: My name was misspelled in a citation, what should I do?

texts: Recently, a newly published paper in a journal cited one of our papers and managed to misspell my name in the reference list. How should I deal with this? Simply ignore this? Or should I contact the authors or publisher to mention this?


texts: Graduate training programs from other departments, how helpful are they?

texts:
I notice that there are quite a number of graduate training programs across departments in my university that encourage multidisciplinary researches. For my case, I am an EECS/ Computational Biology grad student, and I am considering a training program in biophysics/nanotech.

I don't mind taking one more course per semester, and finding co-supervisors from other departments as the program requires. My main concern: will there be any real advantages of getting that certification in term of (academic) career prospects?

In one of his famous blog post, Sean Carroll advised:

  Don’t dabble. Another slightly counter-intuitive one. You might think that, while most of your research work is in area A, the fact that you wrote a couple of papers in area B will be taken as positive evidence of your breadth and intellectual strength. Very wrong. What will actually happen is that your work in area B will be compared to the best people in the world who spend all their time thinking about area B, and you will probably come up wanting. Even worse, it will be taken as evidence that your interests may wander over time — so that, whereas you were hired to be an expert in area A, maybe in a few years you won’t be doing that at all. Kiss of death. Deep down, there is a strongly anti-intellectual strain within academia; you were hired to work in a specialty and that’s what they expect you to do. Once you get tenure, of course, you can do whatever you want; so it’s important that the department be reassured that you don’t want to do anything else.

I wonder if people will look down on me if they deem biophysics/nanotech a discipline too far away from computational biology (even when my thesis are dealing with all of them)?


texts: Applying for different PhD positions in the same research group

texts:
Suppose there is a research group X under the supervision of two professors. They put out an advertisement seeking 2 PhD students one for experimental research and one for theoretical/numerical work.

If a student has experience and necessary skills in both experimental and theoretical/numerical research of that particular field, is it ok for him to apply for both the positions?

And if he tailors his CV and motivation letter for the specific position he is applying(individual application has to be sent for each position) for, will it look good if the professors read the both application. Or will they think that the student is an imposter?

Given that the PhD positions are highly competitive, the student is ready to work on either experimental or computational.

So, is it ok to apply for both the positions?


texts: How do withdrawn courses in my transcripts affect my PhD admissions application?

texts:
I'm currently finishing up my masters degree and hoping to apply to quite a few good PhD programs. I've gotten perfect scores in all my classes thus far as a graduate student and as an undergraduate, I got perfect scores in my major classes.

I'm currently taking only one class because I'm working full time (and I've taken all the graduate courses in my field already (at my current university), so there isn't really much left for me to take), and it's taking it's toll on me quite a bit (I'm barely sleeping, constantly stressed, anxious, etc.).

I'm considering dropping the one course I'm taking, but it's halfway through the semester and I would end up receiving a W (withdrawal) on my transcripts. I plan to leave my job at the end of the semester, so this shouldn't be a problem in the upcoming semesters.

How does having a W on ones transcripts affect PhD applications?
How do admissions committees look at it?
Any advice to students in a similar position as my own?

Note: I've read this post with a similar title, but it doesn't directly address my concerns; it's primarily asking about the proper protocol to follow when sending transcripts; in this case, the transcripts will be sent regardless.


texts:
I'm not sure how to reference two items related to my current paper. The first is a CSV giving the entries of a 200x200 transition matrix. The second is a web application I developed.

Obviously, the results in the CSV won't fit in the paper. So should I provide a link to it somewhere? If so, how should I go about doing that? And for the web application, should I just provide a link to the website? Any suggestions would be much appreciated.


texts: Examples of when to use "Accessed" in citation and references

texts: I once found an example of "Accessed" from or date accessed in citation and references in the current 6th edition of the APA publication manual.  Would somebody please give me a proper example of how to use Accessed to cite and reference a website?  Also the page number in the APA manual would help.  Thank you.


texts: Should a TA point out a professor's mistake while attending their lecture?

texts:
I faced the following situation a few days back. I am doing my teaching assistance work under a professor.

I attended one of his classes as a TA during which he was teaching some technically wrong stuff, which he assumed as true. Since most of the class were students of the course, they do not know which statements are correct and hence are not in position to rectify the professor's mistakes.

There are more than five other TAs but no one pointed out the problem. I don't know whether the TAs know what is correct.

I stayed silent and observed whether anyone would point out the mistake but the class ended without anyone realizing the professor's mistake. The reason for my silence is this question.

Is it offensive to the professor to point out such mistakes? My question boils down to: Is it proper etiquette to point out mistakes that a professor makes during their lecture?


texts: How can I invite open comments or reviews of my published papers?

texts:
I would like to attract more discussion, comments or reviews of my papers and so would like to add the ability for comments or reviews to be made by the public in relation to my papers. Ideally I would like a comments section similar to those found in blogging software which allows comments to be moderated. I would like to provide this ability in an easy to maintain way but also maintain mediation control. I would rather not use blogging software.

What would be the best way of allowing open comments/reviews on my work? What are the pros and cons of allowing open, but moderated comments like this?


texts: Do I have any chance to acquire funding for a PhD after admission?

texts:
I've just received this email from a university in the US:

" Hello Ernesto,
Thank you for applying to our program! We have received your application and you are a strong candidate.  Do you require funding?
We are happy to accept you if you do not require funding, but we do not have a GA position for you.
 Please let me know your needs and if you have any other questions.
 Sincerely,"

I don't know how to reply them to have any chance to acquire funding; Indeed, scholarships and funds are necessary for my academic life.


texts:
My last question about making a career as a research scientist/staff scientist hasn't gotten many replies from people in that career, and when I tried to look for someone at my university who has that job to ask them about it, I didn't have much luck finding people. I am starting to wonder if that might be because this career path is not as common as I thought it was...

Are there PhD-level people who decide that they don't want a tenure-track position, but who really like coding/study design/analysis and decide to specialize in doing that for other people as part of their research team(s)? Or is that pretty much unheard of (or seen as extremely undesirable and only a short-term arrangement, not a career) in academia?

I know there have to be other people like me who decide they really like coding/study design/analysis, and would rather do as much of that as possible instead of taking on all the teaching/management/service responsibilities of a tenure-track professor... where do people like this go? Is it best for someone like this to head into industry, or is it common for us to end up at schools of medicine/etc. helping PIs to carry out their research?

(If this varies by field, my field is epidemiology, and my main focus is genetic epidemiology. I live in the United States, but would be happy to move to a European country too if it was possible to get a work permit.)


texts: Most websites mention that APA is preferred for the business and management disciplines, and resources regarding Harvard as not as widespread as APA.


texts: Should such CS coursework be subject to plagiarism?

texts:
I just joined a new CS course and have some trouble understanding whether I should be worried that my coursework is to be considered plagiarized or not. The following is the situation.

I am doing a systems programming project with math. Our professor gave us numerous working code samples and math which can be directly copied over to a program with few changes. Some trivial details about the codebase structure was omitted, but can be easily derived by simple reverse engineering from the provided code samples with some effort; it is very intuitive.

Very few non-trivial details were omitted in the provided code samples and that is where the real effort to distinguish one solution from another is at in my opinion; this is less than 5% of the entire codebase.

The matter becomes more complicated because the answer to this coursework is available online by other students. Looking at the solution of other students,
one can't help but to see more or less the same solutions with minor variations.

Because I have looked at the solution of other students while developing my own solution, I can't help but feel guilty for having absorbed some of their ideas and thus leading to similar program structure. At the same time, all of us have been using the professor's code samples as our main resource. Where I thought I could improve the structure of the program or add features which were incorrect or omitted by other students, I have done so. So there are some differences from other solutions, but not that much.

So I am conflicted regarding whether I should be worried that my solutions is considered plagiarized in this scenario or not. I guess my solution resembles more a "highly patched up copy" rather than being different from the "ground up".


texts: Self-plagiarism and supplementary information

texts: I am curious if it is acceptable to produce an identical (or at least only slightly edited) account of a particular, known methodology in the supplementary information of two submitted journal articles, or if this would count as self-plagiarism?


texts: When and how should the content of courses in a sequence overlap?

texts:
My Computer Science department uses a three-course sequence (A, B, C) in which A is optional. Because both A and B are on-ramps, their contents overlap a good deal, and students who take the slower, gentler approach see several of same topics twice.

My colleagues and I have diverse views on the value of this approach. While we appreciate the subject review that students get in this model, some of us would like the courses to be more complementary. A theoretical basis for our planning would help. Are there established best practices for sequences of courses with overlapping content?