texts: How to make CS conference standards clear to academics in other fields

texts:
There have been a multitude of questions about the fact that in computer science and a couple adjacent fields, the standards conferences are held to is quite different than in most fields. CS conference papers in general are peer reviewed and count just as much as journal papers, the most prestigious venues in Theoretical CS are conferences, and it seems that CS poster presentations are assigned a higher credence than in most fields. These statements are very different than what you'd find in many other fields (political science, philosophy, physics, biology).

I work in an interdisciplinary field in industry adjacent to computer science, and some of my work is submitted to CS people and CS venues and other work is not. I don’t expect everyone reading my resume to know the differing standards, and it seems misleading to list, e.g., computer science and political science conferences next to each other.

I was thinking that on a CV/resume I might draw a distinction between “Peer Reviewed Conference Papers” and “Conference Papers,” but I was wondering if anyone had suggestions about how to best disambiguate this in contexts like writing a CV or grant application or whatever where you might not be able to just explain the difference and it matters that people understand.


texts: May copying a particular statement be considered as a plagiarism?

texts:
"A definition is a statement of the meaning of a term... In mathematics, a definition is used to give a precise meaning to a new term, instead of describing a pre-existing term." - Wikipedia.

Suppose, I have mentioned a standard definition of a mathmatical term, exactly copied from a textbook, in my research article. May it be considered as a plagarism?

Similarly, I use an earlier proved theorem in my article. I mentioned its statement exactly as it is stated  in the original artile along with its proper reference. May it be considered as a plagarism?

Is there any standard rule regarding plagarism?


texts: How much of a share should I have in a startup based on my PhD research?

texts:
I am about to conclude my Ph.D. work. The research has led to a possible commercial product which I always pushed. So now, after four years of work, we've filed four patents with three already granted. A year and a half ago, the PI moved to another position, so now I communicate my progess once a month).

I developed the scientific product along with software, electronic hardware, web apps, and so on, not to mention journal papers on the way. The technology is promising and we have businesses interested and willing to invest.
Along the way we got a part-time master's business student, who supports us when we have to write proposals and do interview calls and meeting possible business leads. I always join those meetings and often take decision on what should be the way and what is achievable.

Now we are on the verge of legally founding the company and possibly soon begin sales.

My dilemma is finding out what share of the company is fair for me.

The partners in the business would be me, the business student, and my PI. (I think the PI should get a fair share; after all, it was research done in her lab, however I have seen opinions saying this should be no more than 10 percent.)

Of course, on the way, there were master's student with whom I worked and taught them the lab work and tricks and all that I could to have them their work done in timely manner, also I offered them opportunity to be part of startup but they were not interested.

I don't want it to be a quarrel but also don't want to feel exploited.
If I leave there is no one on the team who understands how the technology works, or how we can produce with alternative methods (I might be overestimating, but this stuff I did for my PhD and mostly it would be another PhD who could do it. It is countless hours of labwork.) I am a co-inventor along with PI on all the patents filed/granted.

Please help me out in figuring what share of the company I should expect.


texts: Week before Master's thesis deadline, found publication that explores same concept with slightly different results

texts:
My Master's thesis is due in a week and I am currently writing up all of my results. To my horror, I have just found a paper that seems to explore virtually the same concept as I do, although they appear to generate results that differ slightly from my own. How should I treat this? In my defense, the other paper has only been cited four times according to semantic scholar, but I can't simply ignore its existence despite not having used it to write my own paper.
Edit: this is a master's thesis and my current plan is to add it to the related literature section and mention how and why the two models generate some different results.


texts: Does the person who downloaded the data deserve to be a co-author?

texts:
As a part of my post-doctoral project, I am working on some problem. Apart from my post-doc mentor, another junior member had been added to the project to assist me and been given the position of ``Junior Research Fellow'' (JRF). Initially, I thought that a proper person who would be able to learn the methods of my field would be chosen to do the job but the person X was chosen who is from a different background. I still hoped that X would learn at least basic things (which are not very difficult) and would be able to help me. However, X kept telling me that they want time to learn and in my frank opinion, never tried even a bit to learn anything.

In the meantime, I gave a very simple work to X : Download around 150 data-files from the Internet and name them as I want. Even this took long time but this is the only thing that X has done during the whole year.

On the other hand, I studied the whole problem, did literature survey, discussed with various experts in the filed, found a proper way to solve the problem and built 3 complex codes to work things out. Now we have nice results which can be published in my opinion. Now my mentor tells me to add X as the second author of our paper. I am quite unhappy with this and I expressed my opinion to the mentor. But according to the mentor, we must add X because we must show funding agency that everybody worked together. I am surprised at this and hence I am asking whether this is really normal and how should I handle the situation.


texts: What is the difference between "Author Rebuttal" and "Paper Discussion" in Academic Conferences?

texts:
In academic conferences and their important dates, I know what "Author Rebuttal Period" is but it is not particularly clear to me what is meant by "Paper Discussion Period"?
Are authors also involved in the discussion, or is it only between area chairs and fellow reviewers?


texts: what is the usual time to start applying for jobs and other positions during a phd?

texts: I have started writing my thesis ( just yesterday:) ). My advisor asked me to submit it in one or two months. Now am wondering should I start applying for jobs at this time period. I plan to talk about this with my advisor. But I thought of other opinions as well. Please share your experience also.


texts: How to balance application for a faculty position between exceptional and ordinary?

texts:
Following the opposite factors described in answers to the question What makes securing faculty positions difficult?, I came to conclusion that an application for an academic position should be balanced. It is understandable that there is a high competition for faculty positions, and a qualified applicant may be not even invited for interview; thus, everyone tries to even overestimate his/her achievements.

However, the interesting points in answers to the above-mentioned question was that too good application might scare the committee, then preferring not to take a risk. Thus, an exceptional application will be simply ignored.

In addition to obvious evidences in the CV, how to highlight exceptional features in the cover letter? For example, potential research achievements, which are not obvious in the CV, promising plans, etc.

Or the strategy must be in this direction to convince the committee that this superstar applicant is a good chance for your department!


texts: I have one question: if i did some contribution to experiment setup design /software /process model development but it I did substantial contribution to other criteria  (Drafting -Logistics- Industry support financiallyand technically , reviewing and modifying paper....)  which raise the paper to be accepted by the journal and also follow up and provide advice as from industry to direct the research , do i still not be qualified as a co-author at least the last one? then what my credit in this work, just an acknowledgment ?


texts: Do teaching evaluations lead to lower standards in class?

texts:
In the somehow recent past, teaching evaluations have become obligatory in many universities/departments in Germany. I've also heard that sometimes these evaluations are used in formal ways to decide about salary raises or even hiring. For me it is pretty clear that a purely formal use of teaching evaluations is not a good idea, but my questions goes in a different direction. From time to time I read in newspapers and other kind of media that a side effect of these teaching evaluations is that

  "the solicitous professor who aims at good teaching evaluations usually lowers the level in class and gives good grades in general."

Myself I never did it like that and I have the feeling that giving an "easy" course where everyone is able to score good grades but does not learn very much will not be appreciated by the students.

My questions is:

  Do you know of any evidence for the claim that teaching evaluations encourage professors to lower standards and give better grades?

Note that I am not trying to deduce that the use of teaching evaluations in a formal way to decide about hiring or salary is a good thing; I am just not sure that "lowering standards and pampering students" is a major side effect of teaching evaluations.


texts: I am going to submit my doctoral thesis, one of the optional things we can do in our university is having a photo of author on the back cover of hard copy of thesis. I have no idea for that. How do you think about that?


texts: Journals similar to Journal of Chemical Education in style

texts:
What are the journals similar to Journal of Chemical Education which are helpful from middle school through graduate school? I mean the journals which publish articles which are good resources for learning the basics (complementary to books).

[Note: The journals need not be necessarily in the field of Chemistry]


texts: Applying for graduate programs in different subfields?

texts:
Suppose you have done work in two subfields of a main field, and have a keen interest in both of them. Some examples might be,

Main field: Physics, Subfields: Experimental Quantum Optics and Condensed Matter Theory
Main field: English, Subfields: American Literature and Medieval Studies/Literature
Main field: Mathematics, Subfields: Topology and Numerical Analysis

Is it a bad idea to apply to some programs in one subfield and some programs in the other subfield? I'm faced with this dilemma, and my hope is to choose which subfield to go into based on my acceptance offers.

Or is it better to just buckle down and only apply for programs in one subfield? Certainly that would make you more focused, and thus more desirable as a candidate (and also more focused as a researcher).


texts:
a) Is it discriminative or non-democratic to require that the senate of a university or faculty should contain at least 2 (or 3) professors, or associates?

b) Is it discriminative or non-democratic to require that the senate of a university or faculty should contain at least 2 bachelor students, 2 master students and 1 PhD student?

c) Can your dean influence the composition of the senate at your faculty?

d) How do you elect the members of senate at your university/faculty?


texts: How to phrase the title in a presentation at an academic interview?

texts:
When delivering a presentation at an academic interview, what are some keywords which should be included in the title of the presentation? Should the title be in the first person? What are some good examples?

The position I am considering is assistant professor / lecturer

I imagine some choices to be:

The interview presentation for JACK JAY
The presentation for lecturer at Uni Awesome by JACK JAY
JACK JAY'S presentation as candidate lecturer at Uni Awesome


texts:
I am PhD applicant in mathematics.
One of my recommender refuses to make an account on webpage for recommendation submission and he wants me to find a way to submit it via email.
Is this okay and possible? I know some schools require recommender to fill out the survey when submitting the letter. Will this hurt my application? Whom should I email to? a graduate program assistant or graduate program director? How can I politely ask about email submission? I know they are receiving many emails from applicant so I don't want to be another burden but want to make the process simple so that my recommender don't get frustrated again.
P.S.: also some school explicitly said on their webpage that they do not receive rec letters submitted by email. In this specific case, what should I do? I don't have alternative recommender and the deadline is approaching.


texts:
I have an issue with my Masters' dissertation. I was supposed to complete it for May, however when I submitted my proposal on February 24 but I had no reply about confirmation until I emailed my tutor multiple times and she only responded on March 20. So, because she took nearly a month to approve it, I have missed the chance to hand it in in May and graduate in July.

I have emailed my tutor with questions regarding the dissertation on April 19 and heard nothing back, I emailed her asking for an answer again on the 19th of May and still nothing. It is really hard because she is also the module organiser so I can’t email anyone else about this.

S,o not only did I miss may deadline and now need to hand it in in August, but I don’t know what’s going on exactly and also don’t get replies to my emails regarding the dissertation.

What would you suggest I do because clearly emails are out of the question and I am getting really frustrated. Because it’s a distance learning course, I can’t go to university to see her.


texts: Is a 3 year Ph.D. too short for MA/MSc graduate?

texts:
Or put simply, 3-year vs. 5-year PhD?

Many programmes in UK (and EU) take up 3 years, as opposed to a minimum of 4-5 years in North America. For a masters degree holder, with a goal to stay in academia, is a 3-year Ph.D. too short to prepare one for postdocs and academic roles? Or would the extra year(s) in a 5-year programme be a repetition of the masters?

Is the short duration enough in preparing an academic and his/her career? While the additional year(s) in a longer programme costly and dispensable? This question is informed by the many discussions here and elsewhere lamenting the competitiveness and difficulty of staying in academia, especially in the UK. I am asking from a UK/EU point of view (more specifically, social science), as I am not sure if this (potentially unwarranted) concern is generalizable in other countries and disciplines.


texts: If an IRB approved a study, does it need to be mentioned in the papers that results from the study?

texts: An institutional review board (IRB) approved a study. I wrote a paper reporting results from the study. Do I need to mention in the paper that an IRB approved this study?


texts: Can a researcher get his full salary from a European Project?

texts:
I would be interested in creating with some colleagues a FET Young Explorers project, in which I would be Work Package leader.
I've been involved in several european projects, but always as a postdoc recruited by a PI (or WP leader), and I don't have a permanent position yet. So basically, the idea of applying to this project would be to get my full salary paid by the EU project, but I don't know if it's possible.
Indeed, in the FAQ, they say that the applicants need to have a position somewhere. I don't think getting a position would be a problem, but only if I come with my own salary. The question in this case is whether the hosting institution still needs to pay some part of my salary?
EDIT: A precision on the question. From the Guide for Applicants, Section A3/Budget, p. 47, the part about the requested European Commission contribution:

The requested EC contribution shall be determined by applying the upper funding limits indicated below, per activity and per participant to the costs accepted by the Commission, or to the flat rates or lump sums.
Maximum reimbursement rates of eligible costs

Research and technological development = 50% or 75%*
Demonstration activities = 50%
Other activities (including management) = 100%

(*) For participants that are non profit public bodies, secondary and higher education establishments, research organisations and SMEs.

So, if the salary of a researcher is included in the Research and Technological development, then does that mean that it's possible to only ask for 75% of it to the EC? (assuming the researcher is employed by a university).


texts: How much time should you spend on reviewing a paper?

texts:
A German colleague once told me, he reviews 4-6 papers per year, and for each, he spends at most 15 mins.

It is no good for him to review a paper. It is better to save the time for writing his own paper.

Personally, I myself recommend all papers  falling onto my lap for publication regardless of the quality. The quality of a paper is up to the readers, not the few referees.

On my side, I also notice that for most papers I got to review, I have not really the expertise to judge the 'quality' of the paper. It seems that the editor sent the paper to me just because I had some paper sharing some keywords in common with that paper. I do not think the second referee is more suitable than me if I reject to review the paper. It is quite random!

Post-publication review is the choice for today's communication technology. You review it if you are interested in it.


texts: Is a Masters Degree required to pursue a PhD?

texts:
I recently heard someone saying that you don't need a Masters to pursue a PhD. Since I have never heard of people who got PhDs without Masters, I wanted to know whether this is true and how common is it for people to get a PhD without Masters?

I would also like to know if this is true for Engineering related fields specifically.
In other words, can someone who has just finished their undergrad apply for a PhD?


texts: Value of multi-author vs single author papers in academic performance review

texts:
I am having some disagreement with my VP Academic. She claims that being one of three or four authors (not necessarily the first) in a published paper has the same value of being the only author.

Does anyone know of academic evaluation criteria for publications published or used by reputable institutions? Or, can anyone suggest other effective ways to prove her wrong?

Post comments edit:

1) I publish in the field of statistical methods with data analysis included. My papers are being compared with papers in social sciences.

2) For value I mean time and effort put in writing the papers and getting them published.

3) I would like to find out if there exist some guidelines or criteria for evaluating publications, maybe considering the discipline.


texts: Is acceptable for international conferences to use your own simulator in your paper?

texts: I want to propose some approaches in wireless networks and I want to simulate it to prove that it is better than others; but I don't want use commonly-used simulators and I want to create new simulator according to requirements. Is there any difference in paper acceptance for international conferences to use your own simulator or famous simulators?


texts: How will this departmental restructuring plan affect students and faculty?

texts:
I am an undergraduate Computer Engineering student at the University of Florida. In response to recent budget cuts to higher education in Florida, my department (Computer and Information Sciences and Engineering, CISE) could be undergoing some restructuring, namely the following:

All of the Computer Engineering Degree programs, BS, MS and PhD, would be moved from the Computer & Information Science and Engineering Dept. to the Electrical and Computer Engineering Dept. along with most of the advising staff.
Roughly half of the faculty would be offered the opportunity to move to Electrical/Computer Eng. (ECE), Biomedical Eng. (BME), or Industrial/Systems Eng. (ISE).
Staff positions in CISE which are currently supporting research and graduate programs would be eliminated.
The activities currently covered by TAs would be reassigned to faculty and the TA budget for CISE would be eliminated.
Any faculty member who wishes to stay in CISE may do so, but with a revised assignment focused on teaching and advising.

(click here for additional information)

The Dean of our college claims that eliminating research and TA support within the CISE department will have no effect on the quality of the education future students will receive. She also claims that existing research in the department will be unaffected, except that it will be moved to ECE, BME, or ISE.

As an undergrad, I don't feel qualified to challenge these claims. Therefore, I would like to hear your opinions:

Will the quality of education in the CISE department be the same after this restructuring?
Can software-oriented research take place in a department which, until now, has concentrated solely on hardware/electronics?
Since only half of the faculty will be moved to a research department, half must remain in CISE and focus solely on teaching (with no TA support). Do you think these professors will remain at UF given the circumstances?
Will the teaching-only CISE department be able to attract quality professors? Top students?
Will employers value a UF CISE degree as much as they do now? [thanks for pointing this one out JeffE]

Faculty and graduate students in the department know exactly how these changes will affect them (and they aren't pleased!), however many of the undergrads are a bit uncertain. I (and the rest of us undergrads) would really appreciate any wisdom to help clear things up. Thanks in advance!


texts: Are there post-doc grants available for non-US citizens in the US?

texts:
I was looking for postdoctoral grants/fellowships for a potential post-doc opportunity in the US. It appears as the entire grant/fellowship system is geared towards US citizens, or permanent residents of the US. It is understandable with respect to use of federal resources, but slightly discouraging nevertheless.

Are there any funding opportunities available for non-US citizen? In terms of field I'm interested specifically in Biomedical and STEM fieds.


texts: For a student, what is the optimal usage of a solution manual?

texts:
During coursework if a solution manual is available for the textbook, it is always a huge bonus for the student. While the student is exposed to a variety of relevant applications and tricks in the problems, the solution manual ensures the student's hard work spent trying out the problems does not go waste. The solution manual's availability is akin to the presence of a "Cheat" button in crossword applets - the earlier you press the less you try, but still the presence of the button is useful as such.

What are some useful tips for a student who wants to utilise the solution manual optimally?


texts: I was rejected from my dream graduate school...what should I do?

texts:
I applied to a prestigious university in the States for my PhD but was unfortunately rejected. I had a great undergraduate track record... but still didn't quite make it. The faculty I really, really want to work with are at this University... I really don't know what to do. I spent the whole day refreshing my email, waiting on the off-chance that an acceptance would come... but it didn't. I'm honestly devastated right now. I know I shouldn't feel so strongly about this, but I'm an incredibly competitive person my nature and I've wanted to attend this institution since I was a freshman in high school.

What are my options? I did apply to some backup schools...but I don't know if I should consider going to one of them or just waiting a year and reapplying... Any help would be greatly appreciated.


texts: What powers does a Department Chair have in a University setting? For instance, is a Dept. Chair the "boss" of a tenured full professor within the department?


texts: Why are there no DOIs for NeurIPS papers?

texts:
It is nowadays pretty standard to have a DOI with every item-to-be-cited (papers, algorithms, data, etc.), and they are really useful for all kinds of purposes. Considering this, I am quite surprised to be unable to find DOIs for NeurIPS papers, especially considering that it is one of the major CS conferences... Is there a reason for this?
Related question: Why do some papers not have a DOI? The highest voted answer there relates to the time/cost required to obtain a DOI, both of which I would assume not to be an issue for NeurIPS...


texts: Will taking unpaid leave hurt tenure process?

texts:
I am in the last year of my tenure clock and will be submitting my tenure package this Fall.  However, I will not be able to teach on campus this Fall partly due to COVID-19 disruption (school closing means I will have to stay home with my children).  If teaching on campus is required (not yet finalized), I would have no choice but to take an unpaid leave.
Will taking an unpaid leave hurt my tenure process?
I did some basic research.  There are nothing specific in faculty handbook, nor can I find anything in the official tenure procedure book.


texts: Does a Meta-Study contribute to the Body-of-Research and how?

texts:
The website sciencealert writes the following in one of their entries:

  The new meta-analysis of 20 studies updates the body of research regarding the phenomenon by including studies conducted more recently than 2007...

While I do see the value in a meta-analysis I am a bit unsure how it can add to the body of research since no new information/data is obtained.


texts: Distinguishing between my personal acknowledgements and those of all authors

texts:
I am an undergraduate student and intern publishing a conference paper with a company I have been working with for about a year now and am trying to nail down the acknowledgements. I have never written a paper before. I have a few specific questions:

I am the only student-intern author and also the head author – how do I separate the acknowledgements of the group from my own personal acknowledgements?

Is it acceptable to thank the co-authors for guidance, encouragement, etc.?


texts: Who applies academic CS research in the industry and how?

texts:
After a paper is published, say in CS, who reads the paper? How are the ideas presented there applied to business and industry? How is industry collaboration done?
I'm asking this question per this comment.


texts: What do I do if someone studied the same topic before, but did so inadequately?

texts:
I am planning to research on topic for masters by research course. Googling, I found that a "micro-research" study on a similar topic (some objectives matching) has been done by somebody as a part of coursework master’s thesis (project) work. But there is nothing online except some initial pages of thesis (as a blog post on the student's website), so I am unable to read the whole thesis and understand  what has been done. It has not been published in a peer-reviewed forum, and it looks like it was done in around 4 months with a small sample size for coursework thesis. Moreover, it seems to be in a different field of study.

From the available pages it looks like research has tried to touch most of the things but at a very superficial level: three pages of data analysis and one page of findings also make me question how in-depth the analysis was.

I am writing a research proposal and really confused how I should include it. Especially in previous works, do I need to validate or justify each of my objectives against its objectives? (or show the difference)

I am thinking of expanding the scope, objectives of research and planning to use different data analysis methods. What should I do?


texts: Why are there no computer-friendly versions of papers?

texts:
I believe that many people read articles from their computers. So, tiny fonts and many columns have no advantage.

Why don’t journals make alternative computer-friendly versions of the articles? For example, with a gray background, single column, double-spaced? I guess it wouldn’t be difficult because they are compiled with Latex, so, adding a single line of code would suffice.

I have heard about this problem from many students and professors. Aren’t journals aware of this demand? What can be done about it?


texts: PhD student working as a substitute teacher | interview tips

texts:
Our university is looking for a substitute teacher in Computer Science and I have an interview for the job this week.

My academic profile is making me a little bit nervous and makes me think that I might not be suitable for the job: I have a License degree in Mathematics and a Master Degree in Computer Security. Now, I'm a 2nd year Phd student in Computer Security and AI.

Keep in mind, I am really really used to reading and learning new domains, and diving in the details of each subject, and I am planning to defend my profile using this argument.

So my question is: What are the skills that a Phd student should have to work as a substitute teacher? Knowing that this Phd Student's skill set is a little bit narrow and the potential SA will teach in more general areas.

PS: I am pretty aware that Computer Security is present pretty much in every field of Computer Science (Networking, Web, Programming, etc.). And I am planning to use that to as an argument to nail the interview :).

Bests,


texts: Getting into a decent Ph.D. program with 3.3 GPA

texts: Long story short, I was caught up in the party life in my early 20's and my GPA was a 2.5 when I came back to school. Since returning to school I have done a 180 with straight A's for two of my last 3 semesters. From my current school, my GPA is a 3.5. I have yet to take the GRE but I know I will have strong letters of recommendations from professors and one offered to turn my research design for our final into an independent study with me the summer before I apply for Ph.D. programs. My question is will GPA reflect too poorly on me with a high GRE, strong letters of recommendation and research experience?


texts: I received an ESR Marie Sklodowska-Curie fellowship from low-rank university, should I accept it if I don't want to go into academia?

texts:
I just got an offer to become an MSC ESR fellow in a low-rank university (100-150 QS world), which leads to a PhD. The uni is ranked within the top 30 in my field and my potential supervisor is widely known as well (~30,000 citations).
I became discouraged after reading several complaints about PhDs at this university: no one knows the university, ranking is inflated, non-international environment, etc. My goal is to switch towards international industries after finishing the PhD (not in my home country), but I fear I won't find a job after reading all these comments.
Furthermore, my master's supervisors went to high-ranked universities (within the top 20). They tell me the uni is not that good, but the supervisor is well-known... and that's it. They also tell me I have the potential to go for a top 20 uni as well.
This is the third position I've applied to, and I really don't think I've put much effort into the PhD search yet.
What motivates me are the research poject, the fellowship, the partners within the ITN (involving other very high-rank universities), and my potential supervisor. I believe I could use all these opportunities to create a great network. Maybe, do a postdoc in a high-ranked uni afterward. However, I think this is the hard way.
Do you think I am being unreasonable? Should I reject the offer and continue searching? Have you been in a similar situation?
Thank you!


texts: How much do patents impact an academic career?

texts:
Patents are not normally considered as publications in scholarly journals, as they are not subject to peer-review. They are actually new ideas, but patenting does not guarantee the impact and importance (whether good or bad idea). However, academics tend to patent inventions and discoveries for the sake of possible commercial benefits.

I wonder if they have any considerable impact on academic career? e.g., promotion, getting academic jobs, and in a different context, impact on proposals for getting grants and research funds.


texts: Finalist for fellowship at prospective grad school. Does this mean I'm admitted?

texts:
I was recently emailed that I am a finalist for a fellowship for a prospective grad school I've applied to (this is for math PhD), and that I need to email back to confirm that [school] is a top choice of programs for me. I have not received an admittance letter.

Does this usually imply that I'll be admitted? I've tried asking the grad coordinator, but she was pretty vague and said something along the lines of "After assistantships/fellowship decisions are made, the admissions chair will begin the admissions process."


texts: As a department head, what to do if a professor leaves without giving out grades?

texts:
I am department head. An adjunct professor teaching two courses in my department left without notice. He did not deliver the grades to me.

We have no staff in that field to give the final exam again. Even so, I wouldn't know how to convince the students to take the exam again, and I do not know what to do with the class activity, which should be part of the final grade.

The registrar is forcing me to deliver the grades, but I have no idea what to do.

Does anyone have any experience to share? What do department heads normally do in this situation?


texts: How can somebody get an admission in a graduate science/technology/engineering program US university without GRE?


texts: Etiquette for effective workshop comments

texts:
After a few years of graduate school, I've noticed that I may not be asking questions and making criticism in the workshops in the best way. By "best," I have two goals for comments. The first (selfish) goal is to develop a reputation for being a intelligent, insightful colleague with good comments. The second goal is to effectively communicate my concerns to help others improve their research. Luckily these goals are mutually reinforcing.

Observing others in my department's weekly workshop, the questions that usually get the most attention are those that are phrased quite strongly, even aggressively.

My tendency has always been to be polite and not try to put someone on the spot about their work. I gently communicate the problems I see with the work. As a result, presenters often do not listen. They brush off the questions as if they are unthreatening and thereof of limited concern.

I do not want workshops to be a threatening or aggressive environment, but it seems like only questions that get the presenter's adrenaline flowing regularly warrant proper consideration and response. Maybe I'm going too soft and I can find a middle ground without being one of the aggressive (sometimes rude) ones.


texts: How to move your field away from a widely accepted practice that has a catastrophic error?

texts:
My sub-field has been haunted by the fact that for slightly over fifty years the key foundation of everything we do has been in empirical dispute.  The empirical anomalies have generated tens of thousands of articles.  There are over 3800 for just one anomaly alone.

The problem came about because the key work was done before the mathematics had been settled and so assumptions replaced theorems.  I know this because the original core set of papers have a math mistake in it.  Mathematicians ultimately did learn how to solve this class of problems, but the two fields never realized that the other didn't know what the other didn't know.  I found the mistake.  It is subtle, but catastrophic.

I had assumed that writing a paper and doing a population test on the data we have would bring about change.  Turns out that was very naive.  Other than continuously presenting at conferences, what else can I do to move my field away from a technique that can be proven to be completely uncorrelated with nature?  How do you get people to stop using the accepted practice?  It isn't a secret that it doesn't work, but it has always been assumed to be close in some very loose sense of "close."  Or rather, for a long time it has been assumed to be a poor approximation and that if the one thing causing the phenomenon were found, it would be added to the existing model and all would be great.  How do you move academics when it is in the undergraduate textbooks, it is being accepted for publication, and there are seminars every year on either a new anomaly or some other factor in how it does not work?

Any strategy would be welcomed.


texts: Mathematics undergrad to theoretical physics phd

texts: I'm a Second year math undergrad with another year left. I want to continue my academics further. Really interested in theoretical physics and Applied mathematics. Can I get into a   theoretical physics Phd with math undergrad degree if I ace Physics GRE?


texts:
If I graduated from a university (named X for example) in 2014 and my average (or GPA) was the highest among all students who graduated that year from the same major (let's call it Y). So I want to say in my CV that my rank was the first. How to say that in a proffesional way?

What I'm currently using:

  Graduated from X with a B.Sc degree in Y with an average of 90% (class rank: 1)


texts: Undergraduate prerequisites for a Ph.d. in combinatorics

texts:
I am a double major in mathematics and electrical engineering. Towards the end of my mathematics major, I began to develop an interest in combinatorics (specifically graph theory), and am seriously considering a Ph.D. in the subject.

Having developed the interest late, my senior thesis will be in a different topic (complex ODEs), but I would have completed one course in combinatorics/graph theory (an upper-level undergraduate course using a grad-level text - I expect a strong reference from the professor teaching this course).

The courses I have completed are basically both the undergraduate and graduate-level algebra sequence,  analysis in R and R^n (without a formal introduction to Lebesgue measure), discrete math (for EECS), applied probability, one course in numerical methods, PDEs, applied complex variables, and a "mathematical methods for sciences" course (focusing on special functions, variational calculus, and integral transforms).

I won't have the standard math major courses(i.e,  topology, measure theory, and number theory.) I plan to focus more on applications than theory in my combinatorics Ph.D.

Would additional coursework be necessary for a Ph.D. in combinatorics (specifically graph theory)? (I could potentially delay my degree by a year and spend time as a non-degree student at another university, or complete a non-thesis track master's degree before applying for a masters/Ph.d.). Any advice would be appreciated.


texts: Citing antichronistic works -- worth commenting that the publication order is counter intuitive?

texts:
In my related works section of the paper I am writing,
there are two papers by roughly the same group of authors.
Paper A (2015), and Paper B (2014).

Paper B (2014) is based on Paper A (2015), and cites it as a unpublished work.
But for some reason or another Paper B was published first.
(Possibly because Paper A was a more significant work, so was targetted at a better venue with a longer review time, whereas paper B was a relatively minor extension published as a relatively unknown workshop.)

I'm only briefly discussing them in my related literature section.
Do I need to call attention to the fact that Paper B is based on Paper A, even though the dates don't line up.

I currently have something like:

  Paper A (2015) prepared the dataset using methods Foo.
  This dataset was uses in the evaluation of the models of Paper A (2015) and Paper B (2014) which were based on the principle of Bar.
  Paper B (2014) extends Paper A (2015) by adding support for Buzz.


texts: Did it become easier to land an academic job in the UK after the Brexit referendum?

texts:
This is a companion question to Why is Brexit bad for British science? Judging from the responses to that question, a significant number of academics are unhappy with Brexit and are not intending to stay in the country for the long term. The implication is that it's become easier to get a British academic position, since there are fewer people interested. Is this borne out in actual data? I'm particularly interested in whether the number of applicants for faculty positions / postdocs dropped, and if so by how much.

The closest thing I've seen to this is Royal Society president Venkatraman Ramakrishnan saying they have anecdotal evidence of people not wanting to come / wanting to leave, but no statistical evidence. It seems to me it should be possible to get that statistical evidence, e.g. universities probably keep a record of applicants for each position, so if there's a change in number after 2016 it should be noticeable. There was no drop in international student applications, but it's not obvious if that also applies to faculty positions.


texts: Are there statistical techniques specific to computer science research?

texts:
I once read that, for example, there are statistical techniques that are applied in social sciences that also are applied for Computer Science and other fields, for example: sampling, hypothesis testing, and so on. I was wondering if there are some statistical specific techniques that are used in the field of Computer Science and related to topics like information systems, software engineering and so on.

I know that there is the field of Computational Statistics, but that is more related to the development of algorithms for statistics, so it is somewhat different.


texts: How should I format code words in my personal statement?

texts:
I'm applying to Master's programs for Statistics. In my personal statement, I mention the names of some R packages like car, ggvis, and effects when I talk about professors that I would be interested in working with and some of my own research. Typically when people write about these, they are just all lowercase letters, not italicized or anything.

It looks really weird in a regular Word document, especially since "car" and "effects" are regular words. I'm afraid that it may look out of place. Is it okay if I change the font to the code font so it looks like ggvis and effects? I wouldn't use the grey background, but the serif typewriter font is pretty standard for bits of code, right? I'm afraid it will look unprofessional for academic/business writing.


texts: What to do when reviewers want you to expand on introduction and discussion but you have space limitation?

texts: I have just received a revise and resubmit for a manuscript. A couple of the reviewers want me to expand the intro and discussion sections but my manuscript is already at the word max. Should I ask the editor if the will approve a longer paper? Should I assume that if the editor didn't say anything that it's ok for me to lengthen the paper? How else can I handle this situation?


texts: What are some faculty positions focused purely on research in Europe?

texts: In the UK we have fellowships at various levels depending on experience, in which there is no obligation to teach. What are other similar positions in Europe (including the UK)?


texts: Standards of making slides in a presentation

texts:
I have heard many things about making a good set of slides for a presentation. For example, one of my professors at the university told us that the background for all the slides should be black or dark because otherwise, it will be harmful to the eyes of our audience. But then I found many templates (e.g. Latex Beamer) which are completely the opposite.

I wonder if there is a book or some papers or other kinds of good resources which introduce a set of rules for making slides in such a way that those rules are accepted by the majority of educated people. I'm going to have a presentation about these rules.


texts: What is the minimum expected from a math PhD

texts:
I had a hard time deciding whether this question is more suitable for here or mathoverflow. I'm posting here if you think it is better to be on mathoverflow please let me know.
I'm a PhD student in mathematics getting close to end of my program and I have to wrap up my PhD thesis. My PhD has been pretty much a failure. Some of that can be attributed to my own personal characteristics and some for lacking a proper PhD advisor (I do have an official PhD advisor but never received any advising and was on my own for most of the time). What I decided to do during my PhD was to choose a group of well known conjectures in my specific sub-field and try to solve them. As you can already guess I didn't end up solving them and spent my PhD time on them (Partially because I couldn't give up and partially because my advisor didn't have problems for me). Now I have few months left. So far I have no publications (excluding the undergraduate era).
If I start writing my thesis right now what I could write up are a bunch of hypothetical methods that could end up solving one of those conjectures. But along the solutions I have made even more conjectures. I can  give some evidence that why these new conjectures are probably true and if true why they imply the well-known conjecture. Do you think something like this is acceptable as a PhD thesis in math? (The bottom line is that I haven't solved the problem, haven't solved a known problem with a different method or built any theory)
Well of course I should ask my advisor's opinion at the end, but before that I just wanted to know your opinions on this. (My advisor as of right now is pretty much unaware of what I've done so far)


texts: Do I need to attach the letter of acceptance of an accepted paper along with the paper itself to my CV for applications to phd programs?

texts:
In an application to a phd program, if I claim that some paper of mine is accepted and the paper has not yet been published, then should I attach the letter of acceptance along with the manuscript itself to my CV?

I assume logically the stuff should be done, but I am not sure if attaching a copyright-transferred manuscript is legal or ethical. So what is the best strategy with respect to a situation like this one?


texts:
I'm starting in a phD program in September, and am in the process of finalizing my three lab rotations. The two PIs I'm really interested in working with are not available for the first rotation, so I'm going to do my second and third rotations in their labs. In our program, we hand in a list of lab preferences for the first rotation, and are placed in a lab on that list. However, none of the PIs I listed have agreed to take me on as a rotation student, and I've only talked with one of them (my first choice), as I was hoping that I could do my first rotation in his lab. I just got my rotation placement though, and was placed into another lab where I've had no communication with the PI.

This lab does research in an area I'm interested in and I'm looking forward to the rotation, however, I'm really kicking myself for never having reached out to this PI before. I think this really makes me look unprepared and not that interested in his lab, which is not a great start to graduate school. I now need to email this PI for the first time to ask for reading material, rotation projects... and I'm at a loss for how to set up this email. Ideally, this sort of introductory email should have been sent before this point. So I'm really interested in hearing from any professors whether you would reflect negatively on an incoming student who has never contacted you. As well, how would you phrase the first introductory email at this point? Obviously, I'm going to first introduce myself and attach my CV, but should I request a meeting with him to then talk about rotation projects? The problem is that I live about three hours away from the school, and so it would be a little difficult for me to go in for just one meeting (but I will do it if that is the best way going forward). Alternatively, should I request a skype meeting, or simply ask questions in the email? Also, should I apologize for having never reached out to him before this point, or just not mention it at all? Thanks!


texts: Advancing my academic career in mathematics without university support

texts:
I am about eight months away from completing a Bachelor's degree in Mathematics. I am what you would call a "non-traditional" student - I am an adult who decided to change careers and I'm pursuing my current degree online (read: I work for a living at the moment and have adult responsibilities). My school, despite having a physical campus, has zero support in the realm of undergraduate research or mentorship (this is no program for any student looking to do research). I've tried connecting with a number of my instructors, but as the program is exclusively online, it seems that they are not particularly interested in helping.
I hope to attend graduate school where I would also study Mathematics. It doesn't necessarily have to be a Ph.D. program, though I know that some schools do not offer Masters's degrees - I would opt for on-campus learning in either case. Since I have no support, I have no idea how to prepare for the application process nor do I have any primer for how to jump into the world of mathematical research. I have a superlative GPA and have aced all of my math classes, but this seems trivial when reading about how difficult it is to get into a graduate math program. I recently applied for a short-term research program for undergraduates (outside of my school), for which I was soundly rejected (I can only assume the many things about my background that seemed inadequate). I've tried perusing papers to get a sense of the research landscape, but all of it seems well beyond my abilities to dissect on my own. I'm in a really low place and it seems that things are quite hopeless. Does anyone here have any insight that might point me in the right direction?


texts: Undergraduate thesis main author credit and prestige

texts:
Our thesis instructor, after rejecting our proposals, became one of our thesis advisers after we've accepted his suggestion. Every time he's telling us that our proposal doesn't seem like a thesis (in a mocking way), he inserts that we should do the "nobel" method he had discovered in detecting a feature/property in a sample. That's what his previous advisees did. Eventually, somehow against our will, he became our thesis adviser because he's the only one who knows the methodology and because he said that it was his idea.

One of the reasons why he also got us as his advisees is because he wants to submit an international paper (IEEE). He said it to our other thesis adviser.

I mentioned a while ago that his previous advisees applied his "nobel" method. We cited their paper as, let's say, A____ et al. with A being the last name of the student in their group who comes initially if their last names are sorted alphabetically. When we presented our paper to him, he said that it should be his name and not theirs because it was his idea and method.

I am asking this question because he might do it to us too -- claim that our thesis is his. Who shall get the thesis main author credit? If I may be permitted, I'd also like to know how to deal with our adviser who only got us as his advisees because he wants prestige after he claims that our thesis is his.


texts: What if someone else published an article on the same topic as my accepted unpublished article

texts:
I submitted my paper to a journal in July 2017 and I received an email of acceptance on May 2018 but it hasn't been published yet. Suddenly, while I am searching on my topic I found that someone else through another journal published an article on the same topic of mine (same basics and main idea with some little differences) and I found that his paper was received in January 2018, accepted in July, and published in August 2018.

Is there any risk that the journal will not proceed with the publication of my article after acceptance?


texts: Taking a risk working with a new professor? (Math Grad School)

texts:
I will be starting a math PhD program in the Fall with hopes of working with a professor who graduated recently (between 4 and 6 years ago). This professor is working in my desired field, but I'm not so sure how established he/she is. Their previous advisor is very famous in this field of math. This professor has < 11 publications so far and is assistant professor (the university is ranked in the 70's on US News).

I would like to work in academia after my PhD. Am I risking a lot by working under this professor? Is there a way to see how well-established or well-known this professor is in his/her field? I have read a couple of their papers, but I don't know how to gauge the caliber of the research.

I should also say that there is another professor at this university who has been around longer, and is doing research in my "2nd choice" area. There's a third professor who is well-established in his field (I think), but whose research is more general and classical with little connection to my desired field.


texts: In what situations would it be appropriate to include one's photograph in a CV?

texts: I think I have only seen one CV where a photograph of the CV owner was included. I personally wouldn't want to put my photograph in my CV, but I was wondering, in what situations would including a photo if oneself within the CV be appropriate?


texts: Made an error in the graduate application

texts: After submitting the application I found my undergraduate education was mistakenly classified as a graduate degree. All my other transcript and CV say the correct things. What can I do besides contacting the admission office? The admission office is non-responding.


texts: Is it common to contractually require that a professor works with other faculty members in their department?

texts:
My adjunct contract states that I have to work with other professors and share information with them about the work. While I'd love doing that, I find it bizarre that it is part of my contract. This is particularly concerning to me since the head of the department has been pushing me to work with/learn from a certain faculty member whose teaching methods and approach are radically different from mine. I don't want to be "forced" to meet and chat with people just because the department's head thinks it would be good for me.
What would you do in a situation like this? Thank you!


texts:
I have published a review paper a few years ago in an important journal which was recently (last month) cited by a review paper related to the topic (published in another journal).

However, a significant part of that new paper (basically an entire section of a few pages) is extremely similar to my paper. It is not copy/pasta, but very close. There are several sentences that are almost alike and even match my writing style and line of reasoning, which I consider paraphrasing plagiarism. On top of that, there is a table which was copied/pasted exactly as in my paper.

I feel that my work is not acknowledged and I feel that the authors are publishing this information as it was collected and critically analyzed by them. It took me months of reading and cross checking dozens (if not hundreds) of papers to be able to make the review and summary of that information with confidence and with a critical view.
The authors of this new paper do cite my work as a reference here and there, but they present all that information as collected from their own sources.

I just feel that this is not fair and honest, but maybe it's just my feelings and maybe are not doing anything wrong...

Can you tell me if I have reasons to act on this, and how should I proceed to get my work acknowledged properly ?


texts: How credible is an application for a PhD in Computational Fluid Dynamics from an MSc in Computer Science?

texts:
I am currently in the second year of a four year Computer Science MSCi program in the UK.

I would like to know how credible is an application for a PHD in Computational Fluid Dynamics, from an MSCi in Computer Science?

I understand that these courses are usually delivered by engineering, physics, or maths departments, but does the computational aspect stand me in good stead?


texts: Extensive introduction in an incremental paper?

texts:
Suppose I'm writting a (mathematics) paper proving that a famous conjecture is true in yet another special case. Should the introduction to the paper include extensive background explaining why this conjecture is important and what is already known?

On one hand, my first instinct is that, of course, if I'm writting a paper on a certain subject, I should explain the relevant background to my reader. If there were relatively few papers on this subject, there would not be any need for this question.

However, if I were to be totally honest, my introduction would go something like this:

  A lot of people have worked on Conjecture X. For instance, in [1] {insert name of a famous mathematician} proves that Conjecture X is true for all flabby sheaves*. Here, I show the same conjecture for fine sheaves, for basically the same reasons. I could explain why, but you'll be better off reading the introduction to [1] instead, so I won't bother.

Is it a bad practice to write a more polite version of the above instead of a genuine introduction?

There is also a matter of citations, which work out very differently in the two sceniarios: in the latter case there would be much fewer. It's not the most crucial consideration, but I would be interested to hear if it is a separate reason to avoid minimalistic introductions like that.

*) The conjecture I'm talking about has nothing to do with algebraic geometry and I myself know nothing about algebraic geometry beyond the very basics. I'm only talking about sheaves because I'm enamoured with their terminology.


texts: In the social sciences, does it make sense to embark on a longer-term project but write a dissertation on one part of it?

texts:
I realize this is field- and topic-specific but I'm hoping some of this is generalizable.

I'm in the social science side of information science and narrowing down dissertation topics. Some of what I'd like to do is frankly probably too ambitious for a dissertation, involving randomized control trials in the field (a developing country) that may take a while to get right. So I've thought of doing the dissertation as mixed-methods, based around interviews and surveys, but in such a way that it plants the seed of an RCT that will bear fruit after I write the actual dissertation.

Generally speaking, in the social sciences, does it make sense to embark on a longer-term project but write a dissertation on one part of it?
What external resources could help me figure out the trade-offs here? Obviously my adviser and committee will be the best resource, but it could also be helpful to network with people who have done something like this. Where would I find them?

Again, this may be so context-specific that it's hard to give useful general answers, and I can try to rephrase it in a more helpful way. But info science is a pretty small field, the part that deals with international development smaller still, so asking a question specific to that niche seems unlikely to benefit anyone else.


texts: How does one properly indicate a translator's explanation of a word within a translated passage

texts: I have a paper with one or two multi-sentence translations from classical Chinese.  How do I explain certain things in the text that are assumed by the author but would not be known by modern readers? I have seen where a translator presents within his translation comments or explanations; however, I don't know the proper way to format and mark these.  Is it (xxxxxx xx xxxx x, tr.)?


texts: How often do the arxiv moderators reclassify submissions?

texts: I submitted my first paper on arxiv and my submission is currently "on hold." I'm guessing this happened because of the category I chose. In the second to last page where I chose my category, there was an automated category that was chosen for me from an arxiv machine. I chose to dismiss this recommendation and keep the one I manually put in. My question is how long will the "on hold" status take and how often does arxiv reclassify submissions? Have any of you experienced something similar to this?


texts: Verbal warning based on student complaints without evidence and investigation

texts:
I am working as a lecturer at a university. My students hate math and stats. Due to that, they hate my class. There is a group of students who are always shouting, yelling, and showing disrespectful behavior. This includes:

Dr., I will not let you give us the lesson, till you show us our marks (yelling).
Who are you to give us these regulations (yelling)?
Waving their hand, showing disrespectful emotional language.
Sending shouting, disrespectful, and bad behavior emails.

I took my evidence and showed them to my boss. No actions were taken against the students (the students still show disrespectful behavior). I spoke to the dean, but she was very biased against me. She said that these students are still young. Also, these students are very rich and used to have home services at their home, so they look at you like this. I was so angry and told that this is not acceptable at all. later, my boss' secretary, send me an email:

Tomorrow you will have a meeting with Dr. X and Dr. Y at "time".

End of the email. I had no idea about that meeting and was not asked if this time was suitable for me or not. Last semester, Dr. X told me, while shouting and pointing her finger at my face, "You are zero and will be zero forever, in my eyes". Also, "You are bad raising women". No action was taken from my dean or head of the college.
I went to the meeting, their emotion was so bad. Sometimes, they used signal emotion with me. Which is disrespectful behavior.
At the meeting, without listening to me, or even showing me anything, the dean said:
"I have a verbal warning for you".
I was so much shocked and asked why. She responded to me that,
"Some students complain about your communication with them".
I said, could you please show me their complaints? Did you ask me, whether this is true or not?
Did you investigate the cases? You present the verbal warning and want me to sign it for no evidence. Then, I said, how about my complaints against these students with my clear evidence?
She said, in response to me, hold on, do not shout. I was not shouting at all. I felt unfair behavior from them. Then, I said if you will keep going with this, then I need to show this to the court as this is not the first time. She then said I will remove this verbal warning at all.
Now, I would like to write a minute for our meeting and send it back to them. My questions are:

Can the dean or the head, show, or process a warning report to any employee without evidence?
How can we describe their behavior against me?
Is it a good idea to write a minute?


texts: Knowing that most students submit assignments right around the deadline, is it advisable not to set deadline that is very late at night?

texts:
Like many on this site, I use a Moodle-type online Content Management System to give assignments to my students, and receive the finished work for grading. This is in a traditional context where the students are physically present in the classroom, and the online part is seen as a simple tool to be used in addition to the classic paper-based route. Students' first class for the day usually begins at 8 a.m.

For the last few years, I put the deadline for assignment acceptance at midnight, with plenty of time (2-3 weeks) to do the work, so each student can handle his/her workload as they wish. These are young adults aged 18-25, and are in theory very much responsible for their acts. Observation gives us actual hand-in times with approximately the following distribution:

1-2 days before deadline: 5%
3-24 hours before: 10%
1-2 hours: 10%
less than 1 hour: 65%
emails in distress after the deadline has expired saying they have encountered a computer glitch or some other excuse: 10%

Which I guess is about par for the course. :-(

So it is clear that while in theory these students are responsible young adults, in practice they tend to plan ahead in a less than stellar way. The impression that is perceived is that the online nature of the submission system makes students take slightly more liberties with deadlines than when assignments had to be handed in, in a face-to-face situation - although it is clear that even then there will always be a certain percentage of people with difficulties respecting deadlines.

OK, here is the question: without getting into considerations on whether students should plan better (and possible ways in which I and other teachers could help them do so), would changing deadline times from midnight to, for example, 10 p.m. be a good move from the standpoint of their getting enough sleep (moral considerations welcome) and actually attending class at the beginning of the next day? Do I get to patent this Great Idea?

No, that last bit was a joke. ;-)

Reactions from people who are not actually teachers, but have experienced this context as a student are also welcome.

Update

I have ended up accepting the answer by Superbest below, basically because I liked his discussion of alternative possibilities. This is a bit subjective, since many other answers are also of very high quality IMHO - and I would certainly encourage the reader to peruse all the answers given here, and the varying points of view expressed (also in comments). Much appreciated.


texts: During your undergrad, how much time did you put into assigned journal readings?

texts:
I feel like I can study one academic article for a very long time. Usually I end up spending many hours mulling over one specific article on the first pass. When you were going through your undergrad and reviewing the assigned readings, how much time and energy would you put into a single article on average? I know articles vary in length and density so this is hard to put a number to, but I'm looking to compare myself to a "normal" length of time.

How much time on average do you dedicate to article readings, per class, during your undergrad?


texts: Students' illicit access to answers for online homework systems

texts:
I teach physics. Back in the 90's, people teaching freshman physics were pioneers in creating open-source systems such as LON-CAPA for checking students' homework answers. Today the use of open-source or home-grown systems has become uncommon and has largely been replaced by the use of MasteringPhysics, a product of Pearson which functions both as a revenue stream for the publisher (students pay per semester) and as a way of killing off used textbook sales. During this same period of time, we've seen the advent of web sites such as Chegg that sell students access to answers to homework. Physics homework seems to be the killer app for Chegg. If you read about Chegg et al. in the media (example), physics homework seems to be a dominating presence.

In a 2010 paper, Palazzo et al. study students' cheating in MasteringPhysics using an ingenious technique applied to their classes at MIT. They make the following claim:

  Our survey shows that copying written homework is more
  prevalent than copying electronic homework. [...] This may be because the most common self-reported
  mechanisms for copying written homework on our survey,
  “copying a borrowed assignment” (58% of survey responses)
  and “finding the solution online” (34%, often using the MIT
  Open Courseware site), are not available avenues for the
  electronic homework.1 Furthermore, online students who are
  stuck on a problem or unsure whether their solution is correct benefit from the feedback and hints available, reducing
  the need to “borrow” others’ assignments.
  [footnote 1] Pearson
   regularly searches for posted solutions to its Mastering-
  Physics problems and requests that they be removed from the web.

Question: Does anyone have any reliable information about whether it's true that Pearson is (or still is) successful at this?

It seems unlikely to me, given what I've read in the media and what I've heard from students. However, I'm not in a great position to evaluate this for myself. In my classes, I use an open-source system rather than MasteringPhysics, and I also haven't paid for access to Chegg, so although I can search for the text of a problem in a printed book and see it pop up in Chegg, I can't see what the solution is. I also don't have access to the text of the problems in MasteringPhysics, so I can't search on the text of those problems. My impression is that most of the problems in MasteringPhysics are actually just minor variations on the problems in the printed text, but I don't actually know for sure. I wonder whether this statement by Palazzo is out of date, or was perhaps unrealistic even in 2010 and influenced by assurances from Pearson's sales reps. From what I can tell, Chegg's business model is designed to make it practically impossible for a textbook publisher to do what Palazzo claims Pearson does. It seems like it would be an endless game of whack-a-mole.

Palazzo et al., "Patterns, correlates, and reduction of homework copying," Phys. Rev. ST Phys. Educ. Res. 6, 010104 (open access)


texts: Decision and PhD. Take a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity or pursue a life dream

texts: Young male student soon to receive an Engineering Degree unsure about the next steps to follow. Undecided whether to go for a PhD directly or do a Master studies first (if he goes for the Master, he will first have to do a thesis work anyway). Has to decide between a PhD position to which he has promising chances to get a scholarship funded by a top company in the world, or apply for a prestigious scholarship for a Master's degree to which he stands good chances and that could probably lead to study in a top US university. His goal is to study at a top university and do research at the highest level. Seeks advice from experienced or knowledgeable advisors and academics about what to do next.


texts: How to publish under a Creative Commons license?

texts:
I will defend my PhD thesis soon and I currently have a bunch of papers in a finalization phase. As first author of these papers, and as my work is funded with public money, I am very uncomfortable with the idea of giving my rights to a private editor, for ethical reasons. I would like to release my papers under a Creative Commons-like license or in the public domain (CC0?) but I want them to go through a peer-review process.

How can I do this? (And why do so few researchers seem to be concerned with these ethical problematics?)


texts: Article submitted and clearly referee cannot understand basic premise-What to do?

texts:
I have submitted a mathematical investment article to a new journal (maybe two years old), based on the suggestion of the editor-in-chief, whom I had sent it to earlier, and who claimed he liked our article very much. A version of the article had been sent to a number of individuals, one or two senior mathematicians who are very capable, and a number of these people had good suggestions and helped us find appropriate extensions. Basically, it has been read a good many times and many people seem to think it important and well-substantiated.

So, we formally submitted the article to this new journal, partly because we cited an article that appeared in the journal last year, and partly because we thought it appropriate given that our article was at the junction between mathematics (probability), theoretical statistics, and algorithmic investment.

The referee report came back and it was clear that he understood the importance of our goal, but it is also clear he had no idea about the underlying mathematics. It was accepted (rejected?) conditionally. Conditionally on redoing the entire paper  (i.e., even the report recommendation was wishy-washy).

Basically, he said that the basic premise of the paper was incorrect, and if we revised it, he would accept it. It was also clear, the referee was not capable of understanding the math in the paper or hadn't bothered to do so. The error in his review was so basic, that any grad student in math should know it--the sum of two (or any finite number of) Guassian random variables is a Gaussian random variable.

I have two basic solutions:

Write a nice letter to the referee, spelling out exactly why we have already addressed his concerns in the paper and that perhaps we could spell this out more explicitly, showing him how.
Submit to another journal, and write to this first journal's editor-in-chief, questioning the quality of his referees (who may be capable in terms of 'investments' but no in terms of 'mathematics'). Perhaps it was not a mathematical enough journal, anyway and is not the most appropriate for our submission. Then again, it could be that this new journal has growing pains.

My tendency is not just option 2, but to be somewhat more ballistic.

Edited question:
I am asking, given the combined experiences of academics in this forum, there must be creative means of dealing with this problem which are deemed to be more successful. I'm sure going balistic feels immediately rewarding but doesn't help one bit in achieving our goal of getting published quickly.

Is there a way to both educate without belittling someone who seems really lacking in basics in the topics we cover in our paper? Is there a subtle way to suggest that the referee may be ok for non-mathematical papers but not appropriate for any paper with more serious math?


texts: Is it correct to tell a professor that solutions to exercise sheets are online?

texts:
I'm a MSc student (second year) in  a math department in Europe and I have to check and correct the  exercise sheets of the students of the first year of Master degree attending a course this semester. Those points can add up to +2 extra points in the final mark.
These exercise are taken from the course of the last year, which was given by another teacher.

Unfortunately, in the e-learning platform of the past year all the solutions by the previous teacher are still available and anyone can access it.

I think I should tell this to the teacher, but I'm afraid to be inappropriate, as I'm a student like them.

Best regards


texts: Can I hide my master degree permanently?

texts: I am doing an undergraduate masters (4 year course) in Cambridge and end up having a first class honour in the BA and upper second class in the Mxxx. I have emailed the uni to abandon my fourth year result but seems that it is too late to withdraw. Can I just destroy the degree letter and hide my Master degree?


texts: How many candidates are usually invited for a campus interview?

texts:
I am currently a candidate for a few jobs, and have a few campus interviews.

How many candidates are typically invited for a campus interview?

I am mostly interested in answers for positions for the range of positions, tenure-track, non-tenure track, lecturer positions, and postdocs.


texts:
I’m thinking about taking a 70-year old math professor as my PhD advisor, in a US school. I like his teaching and research. If I don’t choose him, I would probably have to switch fields, which I can do with some pain, since I have not specialized deeply yet. My main concerns are:

As he is far more likely than a young supervisor to pass away suddenly due to his age, how should I best plan for this scenario? What will happen to me if it happens?
He is also far more likely to retire than a young supervisor – could his retirement (in the unspecified future) cause problems for my future career in academia, with respect to references and networking?

Related: How should I take a potential PhD supervisor's age into account, when planning to follow PhD with habilitation?


texts: How to do on-site institute evaluation as a member of the evaluation panel?

texts:
Many academic institutes are routinely evaluated by an advisory board. In addition to the public performance metrics, such as publications and funding, the board usually goes on site to meet the personnel and get a better picture of the institute, its culture and its performance.

As a panel member, what information should we try to obtain in priority during the site visit? How should we evaluate what we see and hear, and how much importance should we give it?


texts:
It is encouraged to cite relevant software in research papers (e.g. MIT guide). The question is,
Are these citations indexed at all by any engine?
I can hardly find any software on e.g. google scholar to navigate the citations. For example, SageMath devs request to notify them manually about each citation to collect them on their page.
I am of course talking about software without an accompanying research paper.


texts: Research comparing paper and online student evaluations of instruction

texts:
What research exists (point me toward references) that compares the effectiveness, validity, and security (or at least a subset of these) of paper and online student evaluations of instructors?

At my institution, a working group of faculty and administrators have proposed switching from a paper-based student evaluation system to an online system. I do not doubt that an online system will save time and money. The current system involves printing, sorting, distributing, collecting, sorting again, reading, and processing three pieces of paper for each student enrolled in each course, followed by data entry and number crunching. I lose an entire period of class time when these happen so that we can guarantee most students participate. According to the office that coordinates this effort, the time and cost involved are equivalent to one full-time employee above and beyond what people are already paid to do.

However, many faculty members have raised concerns, among which are the following:

Participation will decrease. Only the motivated (very conscientious and very irritated) will participate, potentially skewing the results.
In order to increase participation, instructors will be required to offer "carrots" that amount to grade inflation.
Since all students on the roster will be notified by email, even students enrolled in the course, but who have never come to class, will be evaluating instructors. These students who have not participated, do have a right to evaluate instructors, but usually do not because it occurs during class time.
Student evaluation of instructor surveys will no longer be anonymous. Students will have to log in with a certified log in to verify that they are who they say they are and to match them to surveys for specific classes. While this data will be "anonymized" prior to processing and distribution back to instructors, it will always exist somewhere with identifying information attached to it.

Members of the working group have responded to these and other concerns with statements beginning "Research shows..." However, as an academic, I do not believe "research" until I have seen it myself. The working group has not yet provided a list of references.


texts:
I finished reading a textbook of about 250 pages. For my personal reference, I created a summary in note form of about 30 pages. Formulations are close to the original text with some variation on my part, and there are literal quotes. I don't consider it a replacement of the book (obviously?).

What can I do with this summary? Is it fair to give it to friends who are interested in the topic? What about students? Can I even publish it online?

I am aware that laws may play into this. The book has been published in the U.S., I live in Germany.


texts: Should I continue a project someone else started?

texts:
I think there are two situations where your supervisor might ask you to continue a project someone else started:

Someone produced some data, but never wrote a paper about it
Someone wrote a paper and your supervisor thinks there is more to investigate

My question is: How can I decide whether it is worthwhile to continue a project or not?
And I ask this question independent of whether the field of research is worthwhile.

You might also ask my question this way:
What are clear indications that my predecessor did sloppy work that might look good in a paper or presentation, but might become very annoying if you trie to understand in detail how he/she did it.

I mean first of all there are technical things:

Did your predecessor leave a structured folder system of his work?
Did he (I'll stick to he) leave all raw data?
Are the sampling methods well documented?
Did he document more about his analysis than you can find in his paper? (papers are sometimes not very informative about how it was done, I mean how it was actually, actually done)
What analysis tools did he use? Will it be available to you? How good will it be replicable? (Think of software compatibility and licensing issues)
Is there a "source code" of the analysis that you will be able to reexecute and modify or will you get only vague descriptions of how the analysis was done?
If it involves code: how well is it documented (commented)?

The social component:

Is your predecessor still approachable and how (meet in person, phone, e-mail)?
How willing is your predecessor to still contribute to the project?
How much time does he actually have to support you?
Is he still interested in further insights about his past project?
How much does your supervisor really know about the project? Will he be able to help you with details?

There might be other things to consider:

Will I be able to produce substantial additions to my predecessor's work? Or will my work be the "and someone else tried this with it". You either might benefit from the fame of your predecessor's work or might stunt in the shadow of it.

Of course my supervisor should know better than me, whether its worthwhile. He has a better overview in the field of knowledge and he probably supervised the project, so he was somehow involved and should know what was done and how it was done.
But I think you can't always trust the judgement of your supervisor. Especially if he is a visionary, he might see more in the data/project than there actually is. He might see more what he wants to see in the data than what there actually is. And my experience is, the higher up someone is, the less he really knows about the projects he is "involved" with.

It would be good to have sort of a checklist. When most of it is checked you could say "Ok, let's start the project" and if not it is a clear indication of "Keep your hands off this project".

Maybe in a continuing question I could ask "How to leave a research project for someone else to continue" or "How to work in a way that someone else can join in or continue on his own at any time".


texts: What are the pros and cons of publishing a positioning paper based on a grant proposal?

texts:
We are preparing a grant proposal, which is planned to be submitted in about a year. A part of the proposal is an critical analysis on the state-of-the-art in a particular field. From there we identify some research topics that seem important and promising on which to the best of our knowledge no other people published on. Around these fields we build the rest of the proposal.

We were thinking about the idea of using the text of the literature analysis and the identification of these new topics, to write a positioning paper for a conference or journal.

The main question is: What are the pros and cons of doing so?

We are also interested in your feedback about the timing of doing so?
Your recommendations on the type of venue of doing so (important journal, or small workshop conference, research group website)? And maybe even some general recommendations related to this topic, that we did not thing about.

Is it a good idea to publish it before submitting the grant request (such that we can cite it in the proposal)? Or is it better to wait after one knows if the proposal is accepted or rejected?  We understand that by publishing, other people could also get inspired to work on it, or even ask funding on it. We don't worry to much about that, but maybe we should. Are there other risks? For example if the proposal gets rejected how many years do we have before the ideas get to old to receive funding in revised/recycled form?


texts: I submitted the correct personal statement to the correct schools, but I realized I left highlights in my submission what should I do?

texts: I wrote my personal statements for two schools and they had the correct information for each school and submitted each statement to the correct school. But in my excitement to be completing my final two applications, I left highlighted sentences and words that I reviewed and finalized in my submitted essays. Being that I did this over the holiday, I labeled my drafts as "final" stepped away for a couple hours and just uploaded them to the portal and submitted my payments. I had a random epiphany scrolling through social media and realized my mistake. The Statement is completely edited and grammatically correct, but the highlighting is going to raise eyebrows. What is the best course of action in this instance? I do not believe that the portal used to upload my statements will cooperate to let me upload new versions of the statements since it is finalized. Thank you in advance!


texts: What are the main goals of administering preliminary / qualifying exams to graduate students?

texts: If I were a Spanish Major as an undergraduate and decide to pursue a PhD in a completely unrelated field (like Theoretical Physics), it makes sense to give a qualifying exam to check that I had the necessary skills to begin the program.  But if I'm coming from a B.S in math to a PhD program also in math, it doesn't seem to make sense to give a qualifying exam, as if the knowledge I gained in my undergraduate was insufficient.  I presume that one is accepted into a PhD program because he/she has already demonstrated the "qualifying" skills.  Thus, I'm baffled by the notion of the qualifying / prelim exam.   I'm curious about the ultimate goals of these exams, and how they relate to the professional development of a graduate student.


texts: Should I publish in a journal that appears on Beall’s list?

texts:
I have written an article in the field of Information Systems and I would like to publish it in a journal. I downloaded the Scimago journal rank, and decided to publish in a journal called Journal of Theoretical and Applied Information Technology. This journal appears to be in the quartile Q3 of Scimago, but one thing that caught my attention is that they publish three volumes per month. Each accepted submission must pay a cost of 300 USD.

When I was searching for the reputation of this journal, I found that it is listed in the famous or infamous Beall’s list. My questions are:

Why does this journal appear on Scimago if it is a predatory one?
Would it be a good idea to publish in it?


texts: Should I quit my Ph.D. program in scientific computing to become a software developer?

texts:
I’m three years into a Ph.D. program in scientific computing and I’ve just received my M.S. I’m thinking about leaving school to go to a programming bootcamp and become a software developer. I’ve done pretty well with my coursework, I enjoy learning (at my own pace), and I’m good at teaching, but I have doubts about my ability to do solid research. I’m working in an interdisciplinary area and I don’t really have a deep understanding of any of the fields involved, so I am pretty dependent on my advisor for direction and ideas. I’ve put in a lot of (mostly coding) work on a project, but haven’t published yet. I always tell myself that if I stay, I will dig into papers and textbooks and learn as much as I can, but it feels like a pretty big mountain to climb at this point. I’m already in my thirties, having been a teacher for many years, and the lack of money is starting to get to me. I also have a serious hobby I’d like to pursue, but I’m not sure how realistic that is.

So why would I stay? Partly a desire to finish the project I’ve started. Partly a conviction that this research is at least tangentially related to some very important problems (climate change). Partly a fear that my domain-specific (mostly mathematical) knowledge will go to waste. Partly a bias for academic over business pursuits (my parents and my sister are all scientists). And partly a longstanding habituation to an unstructured schedule, with freedom to study what I want when I want. Are any of these good enough reasons?


texts: Are non-Western University PhD's really frowned upon?

texts:
I am completing my master's by thesis this year at a small university in the West. I would really like to pursue my PhD (Maths/Stats) in Hong Kong, but I've been told by my supervisor and others that  a PhD from a non-Western country is looked down upon by employers. Especially in my desired industry (finance).

This doesn't really make sense to me because Hong Kong is obviously a very developed city, the language of instruction is English, and it's a big financial center. The universities I'd want to enter (University of Hong kong and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology) are also ranked in top 100.

Is my supervisor wrong here, or is this something I should seriously be considering?

I am particularly concerned about Hong Kong or Singapore employers, but also of ones based in Europe and Australasia.


texts:
I'm 26 and an Bachelor-Student in the Electrical Engineering field.
My interests are Control-Theory and Robotics.
My Grade are good (maybe i get an 1.x Grade for the Bachelors Degree).
My Control-Theory Prof is very convinced of my knowledge and gave me the advice to go to an University.

Im currently studying at an Fachhochschule and want to go to an University for an Master Degree in my interest field.

The Problem is, that Im not very conviced about myself. Im thinking that I have to learn everything (math, physics) from Scratch to be prepared for the Study there.
The Problem is not that Im not ready to invest a lot of time for it (I am!), but I think that i should learn the Mathematics from Scratch again for getting an feeling about whats happening (control-theory is very mathematic).

I can calculate a lot, but developing own Ideas and get behind the Ideas of other People is at some point very difficult and ends often in accepting things. I want to have an intuitive feeling for whats going on, and for that I think I should repeat the mathematics (Analysis, Linear Algebra, Integraltransformation) and start to dive in Functional-Analysis.

At this University the Master-Course starts twice a year, April and October.
I have emailed the Faculty and being told, that I have to complete the Math III Exam with is part of there Bachelors-Degree Course, and maybe another exam which i dont know (maybe theoretical electrical engineering).

My idea was, to spend the first Semester to get skilled in mathematics and consist the 2 Exams, and maybe If the time allows, to finish some other Courses which are held in the first Master-Semester.

My problem is, that Im 26 and I think Im very old. Im working since 2016 as an Working-Student at an Global Player in the Research&Development of Photovoltaic Systems.
If I see other students which maybe starts with me.. they are 21,20..
But I think Im doing right, if I want to employ in that Field, I have to learn. Im living only once, and If that is my dream, I have to forget my age.

What do you think about my Plan?
Sorry if this is very confusing to you.

Have a nice day!


texts: Is it a bad idea to ask professors questions weeks before the class starts?

texts: I am a graduate student, and my fall classes start in a few weeks. I have already began reading the textbook for one class, and I have come across 1 or 2 things that I couldn't figure out. It's not the end of the world if I don't figure these out; for one, I can probably get an answer on math stackexchange. However, I like this professors field and would like to develop a little bit of a relationship with her. I would also like to show her that I am motivated. Would it be a bad idea to send an email with questions about the material before the class actually starts?


texts: Should I mention in my SOP about one of that of my relatives studying at the university inspired me to join the same university?

texts: My cousin is stuyding in a university and I wish to apply to the same. Will it help mentioning her in the SOP that she has inspired me to apply there? Our areas of interest are different (she is more inclined to telecommunication and I am to ML). Will I be looked on favourably because she is one of the top rankers there? I know nepotism doesn't work anywhere but will it help in some way at least?


texts: Review article in an area already published few years ago

texts: I want to write a review article in a particular narrow area of interest as part of my Doctoral research. But there is already a review article on that area published 2 years ago. So can I write a review paper on that area ?


texts:
I am preparing a paper for a conference in EECS field. (Generic suggestions are also welcomed!)

What should one do when he or she wants to emphasize one particular word?
Should that word to be emphasized be in italic or bold?

I myself rarely see text in bold, which makes me wonder whether bold should only be used in section or subsection headings?


texts: What is the legal status of using copyrighted images in academic/conference talks?

texts:
I am told that we can use copyrighted images in our lectures to students now as they are for purely educational purposes, as long as we correctly attribute them. That is to say there is no need to ask the permission of the copyright holders.

What is the status of using copyrighted images in conference talks? Does it also count as education?

As pointed out, this will depend on the country in which the talk is given. Let me restrict the question to the US and UK in that case. If anyone knows the situation in another country then it would be great to hear that too of course.

In the UK, the reason why I suggested you could use copyrighted material in lectures without asking permission was http://lti.lse.ac.uk/copyright/copyright-2014.php#education .


texts: Is there any way to find Donald Knuth's undergrad/master's thesis?

texts:
Just what the title says. As far as I know, Knuth's undergrad thesis was so good that the faculty at his university decided to honor him with both an undergrad degree and a master's automatically.

I wonder if this thesis is available for the public to see. I suppose students at Case Western have full access to it, but I'm unfortunately not one of them. Is there a way to get access to this thesis?


texts: Permanent document identifier requirement for DBLP indexing?

texts:
First of all we are holding a conference which is the 12th year of this conference. All english papers of this conference from the 7th year are indexed in IEEE, however for the first 6 years there exist no document identifier over internet. We would like to index this year's conference papers in DBLP in addition to IEEE. I have read this page about the requirements to index proceedings of conferences in DBLP.
So there are my questions:

Since there are no permanent identifers for the first 6 years of this conference is it possible to index papers from the 7th year up to now in DBLP or it should be a complete collection of all 12 years of conference?
In the DBLP help page, it's noted that

  All contributions should be registered for permanent document
  identifiers, such as DOI.

May an Arxiv identifier be accepted as a permanent document identifier for indexing in DBLP?

Any answer would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.


texts: Life as a financially independent academic

texts:
I hope this is not to much rambling, but there is a concrete question in the end. I really like being a mathematician. I like the constant learning, I like working on problems at research-level and I even like teaching university students. I did my PhD and definitely had fun, but during the time, I have also seen aspects of academia that I do not like, most of which fall under "publish or perish", namely the constant struggle for grants, publications and the all-elusive tenured positions.

I'm obviously not alone in this, but let's assume that I have some money, not enough to be overly rich, but enough to keep a modest standard of living without ever having to work. (The details of this are not part of the question, just assume that salary will not be much of a job-motivation.)

Now this got me thinking. I would never want to "retire" at an early age, but on the hypothetical, what if I do not join the fight for tenure and instead effectively tenure myself?

I know that there are many people without university affiliation, who occasionally publish some papers, but are there any who do this full time?   There would be enough time to talk with collaborators, write articles I am actually interested in, visit guest lectures at the local universities and  the occasional conference on a holiday. Apart from teaching, I would do what everyone else is doing, just on my own. But would it work the same? A possible doubt is, would many people even be interested in working with me? I'm a reasonably competent mathematician but would probably be ineligible for many sources of funding, couldn't offer a big name or any return visits, and would be less motivated to get joint work published in the best possible journal. To put the question succinct:

Is life as a full-time "independent researcher" feasible?

What are other pros and cons? Are there precedents (apart from bored 18th century noblemen)?