texts: What is the role of advisor in writing a PhD thesis?

texts:
I am about to write my PhD thesis. The process is to first write the synopsis which will be read by examiners prior to agreeing to read the thesis. Now, I provided my advisor with copies of the synopsis and thesis a few months ago for review. But he was not able to read either the thesis or the synopsis. Since time for conduction of synopsis and subsequently thesis submission has arrived, he is now asking questions like "have you written the thesis", "if I will proceed with the formal procedure, make sure you submit on time".

I understand that during the course of PhD I have written many good papers, yet the situation leaves me wondering what is the role of supervisor in writing the final thesis document?

Note: To be honest, I have not written many theses' (my bachelor's thesis was the most ridiculous document I have written till date). My university is in India.


texts: I am moving to Paris for a postdoc in spring 2021 and I have received funding from Denmark for two years. I am considering whether administering the grant myself or having it administered by INSERM. I would like to have detailed information on how the salary will be calculated in each case and how to get a work contract and social security, as well how to pay taxes in case I administer the grant myself. I know in other places this kind of contract would be a visiting researcher contract. I am an EU citizen (IT). I do not speak French at the moment but I am starting language classes. Any useful link for where to gather information for this situation would be highly appreciated.


texts: I am interested in doing a PhD in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research at any of the premier American Universities. I have a postgraduate degree in Industrial Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India, which I completed in 1983. I have about 30 years of working experience in India as an Industrial Engineer.


texts: How to respond, safely, to a student's 'risky' email?

texts:
A student I had emailed me to ask about working in the industry-because I have years of experience in it-after they finish school and how their past may affect how an employer will react to them. To paraphrase the email:

"I'm afraid that even though my grades put my at the top of my class that a simple search online about me will have some risky results"

"I used to work in the adult pornography industry and when you look up my name on a google search this becomes VERY apparent."

"If this is an issue how can I talk to an employer about this without eliminating all chances of my gaining the job?"

I want to give them an honest response but I don't want to step over bounds and get in trouble myself.  What's the best way to approach this email?


texts: How should I select the correct path for doing my higher studies

texts: I have already completed my four year degree in Computer Science. Now I'm working as a trainee software engineer.However I wish to continue my studies further, and want to do a MSc or phd as I am interesting on doing higher studies. But I'm afraid of applying for a phd because I feel I'm not good enough to do a phd yet.(I have a second upper class). Therefore I think to follow a MSc and I'm very interesting in data science field. But I have doubt, whether I am going to take a right decision or not when selecting the path for doing higher studies. Please could some one help me to understand the way of selecting the correct path for doing higher studies for a fresh graduate student. Highly appreciate your suggestions.


texts: Are Nature Letters still considered primary articles?

texts:
I have an article that I want to link as a primary article. I found a really interesting Nature Letter article and I was wondering if this is categorized as a primary article, since it is a "letter":

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v508/n7497/full/nature13144.html

What do you folks think?


texts:
I am a PhD student in computer science. I work on some problem for last 3 -4 months and it work out, but it will not be a complete paper. I am working on one more problem and then i will combine these two problems and make a one paper. I am thinking about writing about first problem.  I am thinking that I should write my work and make it upload on ECCC - Electronic Colloquium on Computational Complexity or in arxiv.

Questions :

When I should make my work available?
What is the arxiv and  ECCC other than that ECCC is for complexity theory and arxiv is open computer science, mathematics etc ?


texts: Final check for dissertation; what are some common bugs?

texts:
I am currently in the process of completing my dissertation.
I am a big fan of unit tests, so I would like to implement a procedure that corrects my writing ( or removes bugs so to speak.)

A few examples:

check spelling of all text
do all figures have a description that is up to date with the picture
search for "like" and replace it with "as" or a better sounding word
has every head and subhead one or two sentences of introduction
are the figures at the right place in the pdf?

I am looking for a lot more of these "Bugs" that I was unfortunate enough to introduce into a text and found them only at the last-minute check. What else are common bugs that need to be eliminated?


texts:
How do you search arXiv by sub-subject?

For example, underneath the subject Computer Science, you have the subject 'Artificial Intelligence', and under the subject Quantitative Finance, you have the subject 'Computational Finance'.

How do I search for papers specifically within these subjects? Clicking on the subjects only brings up recent submissions, but I want all of them.


texts: Is it ok to share/show(for review) the proof that you made for your research paper on stackexchange

texts: Some time I have to use some mathematical proofs in my research papers. In many situations it happens that the proof is my own and I have not seen it in the literature. In these situations the proof works fine for me but I can not say for sure that its 100% correct (because there may be some fundamental errors which I do not realize). In this case is it ok to have it reviewed from the experts on the stackexchange. If I submit it through a research paper then it may be very late. Does sharing it on stackexchange risks its originality (if there is some) and subsequent lesser chance of being accepted as the research article?


texts: Why do some publication venues add the degree type next to the author name?

texts: I've noticed that some publication venues add the degree type links to the author name, like MS, PhD, MBA or  MD. What's the point? (example)


texts: Because of past conflicts, I don't believe my advisor will write me a good LOR for postdoc positions. What should I do?

texts:
How essential is having my advisor's letter for post doc application?

I had a pretty bad relationship with my advisor for more than 4 years since I joined his lab and sometimes the relationship feels like slow inflammation that can easily flare up. We had very different opinion on how I want to approach my thesis and we argue very often on the experimental approach and the angle of attack. After that, he turned passive aggressive and completely hands-off. I noticed that he started slow to response to my email and given me very small amount time for meeting in comparison to other people in the lab. However, I proved to him that my approach was right and wrote the full paper myself and got published.

Recently, I got contact by a post doc employer who interested in my own work and request letter of recommendation. I asked my advisor for letter and he told me that I should write my own from which he can modify. I feel this is quite strange as he had wrote for all the other people in the lab, including a departing post doc who is currently interviewing for job. He told me he had done the same for other people but obviously he lied to me.

I further asked if he can provide me a copy of a completed version of the recommendation but he refused.

My question is should I still trust him to write my letter and is it essential? This post doc position is a great opportunity for me and either way I do is a big gamble.

Update: I decided to let my advisor wrote a letter for me and I think I may have made a big mistake. Since he wrote my letter, I asked the post doc lab head if my letter is completed and I no longer be able to hear back from him. Before that, he was quick to response to my email and showed great enthusiasm. As an insurance, I use one opportunity I have less desire to as bait to test the water and I still have one more shot at another position I really want.  Now, I'm thinking requesting open letter from advisor from now on for any future position or use letter service to check the letter.

Any suggestion? Thanks.

update: Great news! Got interviewed and offered at top ones! Thanks everyone!


texts: Open Source Software and Reproducibility in Computer Science

texts:
As a PhD researcher in computer science, my scientific results often take the form of algorithms, which in turn come with implementations. I am convinced that releasing these implementations under an open-source model has various benefits especially for scientific codes, one of which is reproducibility of results. I also believe that "Release Often, Release Early" applies to science, as it opens up the possibility of feedback that ultimately leads to better software and better research.

However, my advisor is concerned with the danger of plagiarism in case the code is released before the respective paper is published, and therefore disagrees with that philosophy. To me it seems like a very theoretical threat since I have never heard of a comparable case of plagiarism. However, we just got a paper rejected in which one major criticism of the reviewer was that it was impossible to reproduce results since the code was not available. My advisor thinks that this is unfair criticism because the conference has not explicitly asked for a release of the source code.

What do you think? Is it sensible to keep implementations secret until the paper is through, or is open-source actually a requirement for reproducible computer science?


texts: Is it a red flag for a PhD program if their graduating students cannot find postdoc?

texts:
I got accepted to one of my top choice schools for a math Ph.D.
However the graduate students there said in the past few years, the Ph.D.s before them (both pure and applied math) had quite a bit of trouble finding postdoc positions after graduating. But they are able to find nice jobs in industries.

Would this be a red flag? I know that finding a postdoc or a tenure track position in math is especially hard in the recent years, so this might not be a complete measure about their Ph.D. program.

I have also gotten accepted into another public university and the graduate students there said they didn't have much trouble finding postdocs. This one is not as prestige as the one above in term of general ranking.

I have professors that I would like to study with in both universities, and I am  leaning toward the second one.

Could you give me some advice?


texts: Losing confidence after a series of paper rejections

texts:
I don't think I have a concrete question to ask but I want to hear other researchers' opinions. I am pretty sure that there are many researchers who went through this and others will go through it in the future unfortunately.
I am a postdoc researcher with a limited contract and aim to apply for professorship positions. Therefore, I am actively submitting papers (working more than my contracted hours as there are no PhD students to co-supervise and publish papers with) to come up with a good and long list of publications. However, a lot of my papers are getting rejected with a huge disparity in the reviewers' scores. As a reviewer in almost all conferences I submit my work to, I find that my submission is better or equal to top accepted papers (I don't know whether this is a bad lcuk or just an illusion).
I focus mainly on top conferences with acceptance rates of less than 30% or 25%. I was almost sure that my last paper would be accepted because I am an expert in the area and because I learnt to assess paper quality, but it got rejected a few days after another rejection. Now, I am doubting my research capability (although I used to publish easily to these conferences when I was a PhD student). I am wondering whether I am a bad researcher or just an unlucky author.


texts:
So far this year, I have been asked to be an assessor for proposals submitted to three different international funding schemes, with the value of the proposals ranging from $0.5M to $10M. I acceded to the first two requests (one of which has me assessing 7 proposals, the second only one proposal) because I thought it would be useful experience to see how proposals are assessed, in case it brought insights that would be useful next time I submit a proposal of my own. The time commitment is starting to become an issue, though, and starting to clash with my other commitments, so I am hesitating about the third.

So: apart from the small honorarium that some of these schemes pay assessors, is there anything in it for me? Is assessing grant proposals simply seen as part of one's academic community service, to be performed as a good citizen like reviewing papers, or is it seen as a measure of esteem that is therefore worthy of putting on a CV?


texts:
As some of you may have heard, Barack Obama recently published a paper in JAMA describing the US health care reforms (link). First of all, I am not trying to start a discussion on the validity of the content of the paper.
Maybe I am overreacting, but as an academic, that specific publication raises a number of concerns. Within scientific research and publishing we have a number of ethical principles that should always be adhered to (e.g., authorship, conflicts of interest, plagiarism, ...). When I look at that publication, I can't help but wonder about a number of things, such as:

Authorship: Obama is listed as sole author on the manuscript. I personally highly doubt that he has done all of the research and writing himself. That constitutes a problem in publication ethics, as is often discussed at length on this site. He does name a couple of people in the acknowledgements, but in my opinion these people should have been authors while Obama should've been in the acknowledgements. Quoting the acknowledgements:

I thank Matthew Fiedler, PhD, and Jeanne Lambrew, PhD, who assisted with
planning, writing, and data analysis. I also thank Kristie Canegallo, MA; Katie Hill, BA; Cody Keenan, MPP; Jesse Lee, BA; and Shailagh Murray, MS, who assisted with editing the manuscript. All of the individuals who assisted with the preparation of the manuscript are employed by the Executive Office of the President.

Conflicts of interest: the paper essentially "finds" that the reforms done by the Obama administration are a good thing. Of course Obama will say his reforms are good, yet this was not explicitly disclosed in the conflict of interest statement.

Political papers: the article is published as a special communications, which requires prior inquiry before submission. I feel that this type of paper does not fit into a scientific journal. It's fine to do politics, but I feel it should be done elsewhere.

I am genuinely left wondering whether papers like this one are good or not. While I applaud the idea of scientific papers coming from policymakers, the above mentioned issues (and others) are significant.
My question: are such papers in scientific venues OK or not?


texts: Would you discourage your undergrad from taking a year off to work on a self-devised project?

texts:
The student is in fourth semester and wants to learn about a certain technical field on his own and try out a more complex project on that knowledge.
The project idea is unique, but unlikely to be successfull, as similar projects in the past have not been. He would learn something, ideally.

Would you say it is injudicious to discourage him or would you actively discourage him? The project is an electronics project.


texts: MLA: in-text citations from one work - do I need to restate the author every paragraph?

texts:
MLA formatting question:
I'm writing a paper on Ernest J. Gaine's A Gathering of Old Men. This is the only work I am citing. When using in-text citations, do I need to restate the author in every paragraph, or is a page number sufficient? For example:

Tucker said, "Hey, Mapes" (Gaines 1). This is my interpretation of this quote.
Later in the novel, Tucker said, "Howdy, Mapes" ((Gaines) 2). Here is my interpretation of this quote.

Is the second "Gaines" necessary?


texts:
Different journals have different standards regarding author names - some mention only the first name (i.e. "William Webb"), some mention also an initial of the middle name ("William A. Webb"), some mention only initials ("W. A. Webb"), etc.

So, when I copy BibTeX records of papers to my bibliography manager, the names are copied in different styles, and also appear in different styles in my bibliographic listing.

My question is: is this a problem? Should I go over all my bibliography, each time I write a paper, and make sure all names have the same format?


texts: Is it OK to select an editor if I solved his conjecture?

texts:
I am about to submit a paper to a respected math journal. In this paper I solved a conjecture that was raised by a member of the editorial board (and this is one of the main reasons I chose this journal).

When submitting, I need to choose a member of the editorial board to handle my submission. Given his relation to this paper, is it OK if I list this person as the requested handling editor? Or does this cause some problem?


texts: Is there a term for the fact that research is done only with the means available?

texts:
It could also be placed on https://english.stackexchange.com/, but I feel it is more suitable here. So: Is there a term for the (trivial) fact that research is done only with the means available?

For example a mineralogist won't study stones from the Moon if s/he doesn't have one. More specifically to my case: I am looking for a term that describes the problem of researchers who want to do something, but cannot do it by hand and not even by computers due to lack of suitable software/hardware (e.g. inverting very large matrices); and as a consequence they don't do it. (And in a verly last step, I want to find out whether there is research done about the consequences on science due to lacking software/hardware.) Is it simply called "lack of technology" or something similar?


texts: I have the option to retain copyright on my published paper. Should I?

texts:
My coauthors and I have just had a paper accepted by a journal.  The journal in question is published by a nonprofit professional society and offers two options in their copyright agreement.

We transfer copyright to the publisher, as is traditional.  The journal has exclusive publication rights but we retain the rights to post the paper on our web pages or arXiv (post peer-review), distribute to colleagues, etc.  We also have the right to release our paper to the public domain after 28 years.
We retain the copyright for ourselves, but grant exclusive publication rights to the publisher.  We still have the rights to post and distribute the paper privately as before.

I am trying to determine the pros and cons of each option.  From a practical standpoint there doesn't seem to be much difference: in each case, both we authors and the journal have the rights to do the things that we respectively care about.

In principle, it would seem better for us to retain the copyright rather than transfer it, just on the grounds that it is better to keep as many rights as possible.  I could only think of one possible drawback: suppose that a number of years from now, some person X wants to republish our paper, or use it in some other way that requires the permission of the copyright holder.  If we transfer it, X can work it out directly with the journal, who should remain easy to contact.  If we don't, X has to track down all three of us authors (or our heirs) to get permission, and then we have to decide what to do about it.

I'm not asking for legal advice, and I know you're not a lawyer, etc, etc.  But I would be interested to hear about any experiences with this, or other issues I haven't thought of.

The publisher is the American Mathematical Society and their copyright agreement form can be found at http://www.ams.org/authors/ctp.pdf


texts: Is it prudent for new faculty to abstain from voting in a job search if the rest of department faculty is highly divided?

texts: There is a job search in my department. The department is extremely divided on the candidates. As new faculty, should I abstain from voting? Is this a prudent choice?


texts: When may a PhD student start publishing?

texts:
I am a 3rd-year PhD student in Theoretical Computer Science, having started the PhD program after completing my bachelor in Computer Science.

Questions:

Is it okay for a PhD student in their third year to start publishing?
More generally, when may researchers start publishing?


texts:
My name is Jorge Fernández de Cossío Díaz. In my country, we have two last names: the first (Fernández de Cossío) comes from the father side, and the second (Díaz) comes from the mother side.

I have been suggested various signatures:

"J. Fernandez-de-Cossio Diaz", without the accents, since I've been
told that this helps search engines locate my paper. The hyphens supposedly help the        search engines to not mistake Fernandez-de-Cossio with two or three last names.
"J. Fernández-de-Cossío Díaz" (with the accents, since that's how my
is actually name spelled)
"J. Fernández de Cossío Díaz"
"Jorge Fernández de Cossío Díaz"

You can suggest new ones. I want to make sure that the search engines and citation indexes, etc, do not get confused. Also, if in my CV I write my name as "Jorge Fernández de Cossío Díaz", will it be ok if the papers are signed as "J. Fernandez-de-Cossio Diaz"?


texts: Asking to see a manuscript in preparation

texts: Is it considered bad etiquette to ask to read a manuscript in preparation that appears in the citations of a paper? (It was cited in a paper from 2001 - I am not sure it has been published; I cannot find it - although the title may have changed...?)


texts:
I have a hoodie with Dalhousie University written on it (where I used to work), but I now work at Nankai University.

Question: Is it significantly inappropriate to wear clothes bearing the name of University X, when working as an official employee at University Y?

I'm thinking I'm overthinking this, and it's a case of "no one cares".  Or, if someone does care, it would only be a momentary blip.  But I'm not 100% certain.


texts: How to connect with professors as a non-academic?

texts:
Long story short, I could never attend higher education, and now, later in life, I would love to be with people 100x smarter than me that take a scientific approach to discussions. Professors seem like good candidates. My girlfriend recently finished her PhD(albeit in a different field than I'm interested in) and interacting with her professors and advisors felt like such a stimulating environment. I would absolutely love to find myself in such an environment.

My question is: I want to contact professors, perhaps attend lectures, and I'd REALLY like to eventually try and develop some sort of mentorship, but I'm completely outside academia. Is this absolutely impossible? Studying is a bit complicated, as my level of the local language is A2, and I need B2 to enrol in a bachelor's, so I'd only be able to attend lectures from Master's level and upwards, which are taught in English.

The topics are psychology/political science/philosophy/neuroscience.

Any tips?


texts:
I am preparing an NSF grant proposal in mathematics. I am requesting summer salary and a travel budget (and not much else), and after I compute the total I have to add an extra 50% of it and add it as the "indirect costs" of my proposed research.

This feels absurd to me (although it is the same, sometimes with an even higher rate, everywhere in the United States) -- especially since I do not require any special facilities or equipment to conduct my work. Is there a convincing argument to be made that this is reasonable?


texts: Can I thank websites that host illegal book downloads in the acknowledgements section of my thesis?

texts:
My stance is that these websites are a great boon to the research community and they were certainly extremely helpful for my research. I think they should be applauded rather than persecuted, and while they may be illegal now, I think a way to make them legal should be found (in the same way I can download articles legally through my university's subscription to all the major publishers and journals).

Can I thank them in the acknowledgements section of my thesis?


texts: How do you know when your independent findings are paper-worthy?

texts:
I learn math on my own. And I sometimes end up generalizing theorems. I do not claim that these generalizations are ground-breaking. However, I feel these generalizations are not entirely obvious at first-sight.

Could I publish a paper on such a generalization?

Making this more relevant to the community at large, how do you know when your "new" ideas are paper-worthy? Should one pursue research directed only by external trends? As in, if I were to publish a paper, should I only look for current areas of research in order to conduct research that would be relevant to academia today?


texts: Direct quotations and quoting 'questions'

texts: If I am solving a case study for a class and I had to mention the questions asked by the authors above or below my answers in a Powerpoint presentation. I made it clear that the questions are asked by the authors of the case, however they were not put into direct quotation marks (questions were, obviously, copied verbatim). Is this a form of plagiarism? (I have added quotes later on and resent to the instructor just in case)


texts: How is the protest against Elsevier coming along?

texts:
I reread Tim Gowers protest against Elsevier as well as other writings from well-known professors that indicate they still protest.

I'm also aware of the boycott.

Has this protest actually changed Elsevier's business practices?


texts: As a TA, how to react if I come across a Facebook group in which students insult me?

texts:
I am a PhD student in Europe and also TA for some bachelor's degree classes for my supervisor.
Just by chance, I have found an open Facebook group (normally, the group aims to create an interaction between students and opened by students as well.) in which people in class insult me very harshly about the way I do the tutorial and my personality. (How I look etc.)

How to react or not to react, really? Any suggestions in order to be objective in evaluation of those students?  Because, I don't want to introduce any personal judgemental issue for those who insult when I grade midterms.


texts: Can I buy a GPU from a grant money and put it into my personal computer?

texts:
In my department each person gets a fixed amount of money to spend to buy a computing technology. Usually people here spends it on MacBooks and Apple screens. I bought myself a better laptop for less money and I am not planning to buy an additional screen either, therefore I still have some money in my budget to spend.

I can use some GPU power, however I don't have a working computer to put the card in (only a laptop). I can however, put it into my own (private) computer, and run GPU related jobs there. Can I do that?

The other option is to buy a whole new computer with the card in, which would cost more of the public money.

Of course I won't sell it, and give it back after the end of my contract, if they ask me to, however it would be probably obsolete at that point.


texts: Opting out pension scheme when you are a postdoc abroad

texts: I am soon going to start a postdoc in UK. I observed that, if you do not intentionally opt out, you will be by default  paying a certain amount from your salary towards pension. Of course, paying towards pension scheme is a good thing for your post-retirement age. But for me, I am not sure even if I will stay in UK forever. Postdoc is obviously a temporary job and you never know whether you will settle for ever in your work country, when you are a foriegn citizen. Under such conditions, it seems irrational to spend towards securing a pension in a foreign country. But still, can someone tell me a reason to not opt out the pension scheme? Can opting out pension scheme cost you more tax and lesser take-home salary than opting in? As much as I know, one cannot claim back the money spent towards pension, if one later decides to leave the country and go to other countries for work .


texts: In most fields I'm familiar with, first authorship is for the lead author. But I've heard that it wasn't the case in some fields. Is that true?


texts: How do you respond when people talk about the possibility of profiting from, rather than the exciement of, your research?

texts:
Let's say you are passionate, I mean really passionate, about your field.
However, whenever you try to share the pleasure induced by your findings or further understanding or even acknowledged works with those you love and who love you, could be your family members or lover or spouse, you always get a response such as "Oh yeah, that might make a lot of money."

What do you do if you are uncomfortable with such a response but do not know how to properly express yourself in this context without hurting them?
What would you do to make yourself more comfortable?


texts: When applying for a position, how do I best reply to a question asking for skills I don’t have?

texts:
I am applying for a particular position where they have asked me if I have first-hand experience in protein crystallization and x-ray structure determination. I don’t have experience in any of those but I have mentioned my other experiences as asked. I lack only these.

How should I positively reply back so that it conforms my position there?


texts: any limit of putting too many videos/animations in presentations

texts: In the context of applied maths, physics and engineering. Videos/animations beat pictures and thousands of words, as is known to all. Is it bad to put too many videos/animations in a presentation? It's hard to define 'too' though.


texts: Should an Editorial be considered as a regular paper in CV, or should it be put in another section?

texts: Me an other colleagues organized an Special Issue of some Journal (indexed by ISI) and after having accepted some of the submitted papers (10 in total), we wrote an editorial, which will also appear in the Journal. Do you think such effortless papers can be considered or cited in a CV as a regular paper or should be put into another section?


texts:
I moved in from another country to the USA just after graduating with a bachelors degree (agricultural engineering)from my country. On landing here, my dream was to further my career to a masters level as the next step with an interest in Msc in renewable energy, but on getting here, most of the informers i met told me that a bachelors degree from outside the country is not recognized by employers and i would have to go back to school, this really knocked me hard. With  a fading hope, I struggled to tell myself it will be and eventually found work at the airport as a baggage handler, been working there for a year and a half now. After getting my residency, i decided to go back to school starting with an associate in the information technology specialist program, at bates. After the first quarter, i met someone who told me that i could have my foreign bachelors degree evaluated into usa credits and also use it to apply to further my previous bachelors degree, the process went well and i have applied for a masters in the field of renewable energy at oregon ins tech. i received the letter this week of acceptance to oregon and now i am in dilemma, should i finish my associates first and go for the masters later or should i pause the current associates and jump on to the masters. Please help, and if you have any info on the renewable energy job field, please advice.
Thank you in advance.


texts: How much does "having publications" mean to a undergraduate direct-PhD applicant?

texts:
I am an EE student specializing in Communications and Networks (actually a bit more on sensor networks/signal processing) who plans to apply for a direct PhD program in the top US universities.

I have seen some undergraduates who have been directly offered PhD programs by the top electrical engineering (EE) US universities, e.g. MIT, Stanford, and UCB.

Needless to say, they all have a super high GPA and some have very good GRE scores. (I say some instead of all here, because MIT does not require GRE at all!)

Besides these two characteristics, they have also published several papers whilst undergraduates. Maybe just by coincidence, they are all from Microelectronics. As a layman in Microelectronics, I heard that it would be relatively easy for an undergraduate to publish a paper in this field, because a lot of publications are experiment-based.

But it seems quite difficult for me and other peers who also specialize in Communications and Networks to publish some work during as undergraduates. It seems that publishing something in this field requires more knowledge that is out of the scope of a undergraduate.

Do most of the EE undergraduate successful applicants have publications? What about in the Communications and Networks field?
If an applicant has no final results (papers), but a 9-month research experience, will the experience help? By how much?
How can a undergraduate applicant outperform a master applicant who holds some publications during his/her master study?

Remarks:
Any generic answers are warmly welcome!


texts: When is an academic a -sensei and when is he/she a -hakase?

texts:
I'm not Japanese, and I've been emailed by someone who is Japanese, in the context of potential academic collaboration. He's in industry, not academia. He used the "-sensei" honorific to refer to me, while I had called him using his company-position-related honorific.

This seemed strange to me, since he's older and more senior than me (in most respects anyway). I was assuming he'd call me "-san", or if he wanted to be nice, then "-hakase" or no honorific at all.

My question: In what circumstances is it customary to call non-medical academics, with a doctoral degree, "-sensei", and in what circumstances is "-hakase" the custom?


texts: Importance of domain selection for undergrad applying to a PhD program (USA CS)

texts:
Background: CS undergrad applying to CS PhD programs in the USA right after graduation.
As an undergrad, I research on (and will be till applications are submitted) broadly on 3 applications of a single "Technique/Algorithm".
Reasons for the domain of choice: 2 of the 3 really interest me a lot and the third I took up because the lab is well renowned in the country and I learn a lot in the process.
While this has helped me develop good skills on a technical basis, I really haven't dived deep into a particular "problem" with a fixed domain. Which is the construct of a PhD (right?).
Question 1: Will this look bad on my profile? Will it show that I'm confused?
All 3 domains, I have good research work done. I invested additional time and made sure I am not at a superficial level for any of the domains.
I actually am not confused. There is one broad problem I have in mind which I want to solve during my PhD and that involves the whole "specialisation" aspect and deep diving into a single domain. I will be mentioning this in my SOP.
I am not able to proceed with that now as I won't be able to produce anything great by my own and it demands computational resources and proper guidance which I tried but failed to obtain.
(If the answer to question 1 is yes) Question 2: Will mentioning my plan to specialise benefit me in any way in the eyes of the admission committee?

Note: If it adds any value to the question. All 3 my letter writers will be backing me for the 3 different applications I work on. 1 letter each for 1 separate broad problem that I work on. (The 3 different problems are done at 3 different labs headed by 3 different profs).


texts: What does it mean when it says under a journal article that it has been communicated by "XYZ" where XYZ is not the author but some other scholar with a very strong reputation? What is the relationship to the actual author and/or the content? Is this some sort of seal of approval to get results out and known quickly? (I am specifically wondering in the context of mathematics and mathematical physics.)


texts: Import RIS from zotero to Mendeley while maintaining folder structure

texts: I am trying to export my Zotero library and importing into Mendeley. However, I would like to preserve the folder structure. I cannot seem to do it. Is this possible?


texts: Student-Professor Etiquette: I think I'm a bad listener

texts:
Long story sort, I am a young undergraduate student (exact sciences) working on a project with one of my professors. I proposed the idea I had together with my references on him and fortunately he agreed to supervise my project, although it doesn't quite fall under his research interests and expertise(half of the project).

It looks like the project-thesis is going to lead in one or more publications. At one of our meetings he offered me a PhD position after I graduate,  after seeing I got some potential, I assume.

Unfortunately I acknowledge myself as a bad student, in the sense of the relationship between the professor and the student. The student is supposed to listen to the professor's points and suggestions and ask for his recommendations-corrections etc.

I'm a bad listener, and quite impulsive, I have to admit. After he goes through my writings during the meeting and asks questions trying to understand I am constantly interrupting in order to explain myself.

Most of the time I know the material pretty well(I always provide a list of references at each meeting related to the work I've done the days before). I understand this may be perceived as me being arrogant and selfish. However this happens completely spontaneously as an attempt of defence;
(I've had a professor in the past constantly asking questions at me until I don't have a complete reply or until it's wrong. Then he would just brag I have no idea what I'm taking about.)

By no means I want to harm my relationship with my supervisor. I am certain a change of my behavior is needed, but have no idea how to proceed.


texts: What major is beneficial for a long-term career goal in medical robotics/ robotics/ artificial intelligence?

texts:
I have done my undergraduate degree in a Indian university in electronics and communication engineering and have done a job in one of my field of interest medical image processing and I worked in robotics while doing my degree projects. Now I am going to apply for masters in US universities but I am confused about what major I have to choose. My long term goal is to be a researcher in medical robotics/ robotics/ artificial intelligence also I can work with nano electronics but I have not done any work or not so much study in that before so I am a bit nervous to choose that.

As after masters I will go for PhD so please help me to resolve which of the above field will be favorable. As I have doubts like medical image processing is not a vast and not so many funding is there for PhD students.


texts: Editor not replying to emails long time after submission

texts:
My problem is the following.

I submitted a paper to a journal of Elsevier almost a year ago.

Although I have written many times asking about the status of the submission, my emails have been systematically neglected and I have not received any news since last November of 2018.

In view of the long time lapsed, I wrote to the editor asking him to sure a date for an answer so that I can free myself of the commitment acquired with him so that I can submit the paper to another journal.

One more time the email was neglected.

The results of this submission have been already presented in congresses with very good reception of the audience. Now, due to a long time lapsed, I am at risk of missing them.

What can I do?


texts: How to tell my MS advisor I've changed my mind about doing a PhD with him?

texts:
I did pretty much all my important bachelor and master courses within one working group, which maybe was not that efficient, but it offers a very nice and comfortable environment and colleagues.

Currently I am about half way done with my masters thesis in a similar working group within my university, which I had not much contact with before. They work very efficiently, and I am catching up and learning quickly, yet I do not feel too comfortable around them. Both working groups basically do very similar work, but use different programs and approaches.

I'd like to point out that there is no conflict because of me "switching groups" and there are no shared projects between them.

Some time ago, I got offered a PhD position in my new working group, and my supervisor encourages me to get my master thesis done even more quickly, so I can fill his PhD position. I signalized him that I would be interested and ever since then he is very convinced that I will stay. On the other hand, I also know about possible upcoming positions in my old group as well as in other groups/places, which look very intesting to me. I fear that my masters thesis quality is suffering, which would probably make it harder for me to apply for other positions.

I feel hardly pressured to tell him that I am hesitating to accept his offer and seriously thinking about going back to my old group or somewhere else, but I don't dare to do so. He has no idea about this.

The question is: what is an appropriate way to tell him, and is there a good timing for this? Am I putting his guidance for my master thesis at risk here?


texts: What can stop me from getting a PhD degree?

texts:
I am mid stage PhD student. I have done qualification exam and course work etc and from last around one year I am working on a one research problem. There is small progress on that problem, but till needs to add more things to make it publishable. I am also aware that in the field I am working research gets their PhD with 1-2 papers and even I have heard they can award me a PhD without even a single publication ( I have seen few online ). Some senior researcher told that TAing etc also a part of work and should be considered as a integral part of PhD.

Question : Is it possible to get a PhD without a single publication? What can stop me from getting a PhD? Other than If I show a bad behaviour etc


texts: Does a survey require an ethical approval?

texts:
We did a student project - which included a questionnaire and anthropometric measurements. Since it was a student project, and the topic was decided in a short time, we did not take an ethical approval from our institute committee. Our institute doesn't have a  provision for fast track approvals for student projects.

But we took a  written informed consent for each participant. Since we got interesting results (unexpexted) we thought of publishing our study. The institute ethical committe denied a post hoc approval.

Do surveys actually require an ethical approval from a journal point of a view?

Since we have the forms of informed consent, aren't they sufficient?

If none work out, is there a repository for unpublished work like ArXiv  in epidemiology?


texts: How can a demoralized research student restore the passion for research?

texts:
To the point, I do love conducting research, however, I have put myself in a very difficult point of research that made me switch to another Ph.D. program for the sake of more technical support. However, I found the other group doesn't have the required set-up devices as they have mentioned earlier before arrival, moreover, they don't have any idea how to solve this complicated point which they are interested in already. Finally, I felt I am in the same blank loop.

To be honest, I began to lose motivation and passion and sometimes I feel lost. I don't know what to do, I see crappy research published and seems everything to me to be fake, I am asking myself: Why this happens to me?.

My dream is to be like Carl Segan, Neil Degrasse Tyson, and present interesting science TV show one day, but I don't know how to reach this goal and present what I am really interested in.

Honestly, I don't know how should be the exact question, but I feel miserable, I don't know whether I have to look for another different point of research and easy to be solved. This would obligate me to look for another different research lab.

Maybe I am not smart enough, but, I began to feel academic field is so dull and boring. I would like to hear what I should do in that complex situation as I cannot dare to speak with anyone in my current research lab about my situation.


texts: How can I get the DOI of a paper from its title?

texts:
Is there a way to get the DOI (Document Object Identifier) of a research paper when its title is available?

I am preparing a reference database I could not get the URL of all the references. So, I tried to search online but could not  get to anything. I will appreciate if anyone uses such tool/website or has any idea.

EDIT
I am sorry but my problem is little bigger. I need to automatically (not manually) get them from the websites. Of course, I do not want to do it for more than 50 papers if that is legal/allowed.


texts: General guidelines for how to include a figure in a scientific paper?

texts:
I am supervising a project by a group of students
who are quite new to academic/scientific writing.
I have now read a draft of their report,
and noticed the following errors in regards to how they use figures:

The meaning of the y-axis is shown in the title,
rather than as a y-axis label.
The x-axis label is shown on the right of the x-axis tick values.
The legend contains information that should be in the y-axis label,
e.g., Policy 1 inventory level, Policy 2 inventory level.
The figures are placed in the middle of the text
without a figure number and a caption.

My question is:
Is there is a good reference or set of guidelines
which I could pass to the students
to help them to learn how to properly include figures in their report?


texts: I am an assistant professor, looking for the right PhD candidate: is it ok to contact a professor who is not listed in the references?

texts: I have Skype interviewed the best 3 applicants for a PhD position, offered with my startup package as assistant professor in a USA university (ranked between 30 and 70 nationally). The candidates are all pretty much there. I am slightly leaning toward a candidate, just because he is doing an internship in the lab of a professor whom I know and who carries on research in a field very close to mine. The internship lasts 6 month, and he only did 3 months there. The candidate  already provided the 3 requested letters of recommendation, but none of those is from the above-mentioned professor, probably because he has only been there for a short time. Note that I do not personally know this professor, do you think it is ok if I contact him by email to provide me an honest impression he got of the candidate?


texts:
I am filling out an application & research profile form for a Masters program. The form consists of four open-ended questions, with plenty of space to fill out information for each.

One question is 'Research Experience and Interests: Comment on why you would like to pursue graduate studies, with a clear identified objective. Further clarify if you have a particular research interest, possibly in the context of
past experience and accomplishments'.

A third question is 'Academic Profile: Describe your academic profile, highlighting particular achievements and relevant scholarships or awards'

My question is: I have worked on a research project which spanned over the course of a year. I would like to describe this project, but I am not sure which section to fit this information in. It initially seemed obvious to fit in the first question (research experience), but wouldn't research (especially considering it's my only major research opportunity) also fit under 'academic profile'? I want to avoid overlap to my answer for both of these questions.


texts: How to efficiently get multiple outputs for a given set of inputs?

texts:
Background: I was reading about Google's Hybrid approach to research. This prompted me to think about how in academia I try to get multiple output from the one set of inputs. For example, I might try to

Present a talk and and then write up a journal article
Write blog posts and question-and-answer combos on StackExchange to force me to learn something that I need to know in order to write a journal article.
If I learn a new technique in the process of writing a journal article, then present a tutorial on how to apply the technique.

I've also heard senior academics talk about employing this approach. E.g.,

publishing an article in a journal as well as reframing the content for a magazine or newspaper

Question

What are the most important examples of getting multiple outputs for a given input?
What is a systematic way of incorporating this into your project planning?


texts: Is there a platform/forum where (phd) students can share their experiences?

texts: Is there a platform/forum where (phd) students or post-docs can share their good or bad experiences with their supervisors?


texts: I have been betrayed and isolated by my advisor and I am mentally drained. What should I do now?

texts:
I'm in the middle of a complicated situation, and I'm wondering whether this is commonplace in academia.

Long story short: I'm an international student, and I recently completed my master's degree in CS. I had been working with one adviser (Prof A), I completed my course work in December, but since Prof A couldn't find worthy candidates to fill my place, Prof A told me that if I assist her with her research projects for one more semester, she will help me find a job. Fast forward two months, she told me in a meeting that she tried to help but she can't and that I should look for a job on my own. I recently asked if I could pursue a PhD in her lab. She said no, as she has no funding. I've successfully applied to a different lab (Prof B), only to find out that all professors are provided funding for first-year graduate students. Why would she lie about this? Is this normal?

The situation has since developed that I've been able to play my acceptance to Prof B's lab off of Prof A, and she was very happy to take me on now that I'm working on B's research; she clearly hopes to get research funding out of this new-found collaboration. This seems incredibly callous to me; she clearly has no interest in my situation, and simply wants more grant money. Is this normal behavior for academics? I was on the edge of being deported, and she clearly could not care less about my personal situation, only for her research money. Are all academics this callous?


texts: How does a petty marijuana possession charge affect graduate admissions in math?

texts:
I was charged with possession of marijuana earlier this year. In my state, it's not a crime, just a violation with a fine. Technically, it's not even a conviction because there's a diversion program that results in the charge being dropped after a year. The problem is that it won't be dismissed and expunged until after I apply for graduate school. So right now the charge is listed as pending.

Do applications for a PhD in math ask about petty charges like this? I know some ask about felonies and convictions, but that doesn't apply here. I know if I were applying for law school or medical school, my situation would be very different.
How badly will this affect my application should this show up in a preliminary background check? Do math graduate programs even do background checks?


texts: Legality and feasibility of digitizing old text books and course notes for private use

texts:
I have finished university already some years ago, and am now working in the field of my previous studies. I was always very careful, diligent and organized when it came to collecting and archiving my course notes and course text books.

Well, in the current situation, I have all these notes and books stored at my parents' attic. However, quite often at work, I remember some of the content I studied and think "well, that would be quite useful now to know" or "I did a case study at school that was very similar to my current project - what did we do back in the days?". I can even point to the specific book or course, where the topic was covered. However, I cannot look up anything because they are physically stored somewhere in a geographically remote place.

So I have been asking myself repeatedly: "why don't you digitize your course notes, text books, hand-outs, etc.?"

Has anyone of you similar issues? How did you handle it?
Is it even legal to scan full text books for private use? I would store them in my Dropbox and do not intend to share with anyone. Of course, there is always the risk that my account gets hacked and files leaked, but I definitely do not have the intention to share any of these files (also, I do not know how probable this threat scenario is, given that I use two-factor-authentication). It is only and exclusively intended for my private use.
Is it even feasible to scan dozens of books and folders full of notes and print-outs?

I am really curious to hear your opinions!


texts: Project websites - Increasing visibility or wasting time?

texts:
I'm from an empirical social science background and observe that several research projects build project websites, similar to job market websites of academics. Those that I am aware of are often related to data collection projects (see for example Ester Duflo's indian data), but I guess this phenomenon exists in other [sub-]disciplines as well.

Such websites tend to do little more than give a short introduction and list the papers that were/are written in and around the project. So what is the purpose of these, if they are not to make the data publicly available? In particular:

Are they  an effective means to increase visibility of projects?
Under which circumstances does it make sense to set up such a website?
What makes such a website a good website?

Cheers.


texts: Recommendation Request and Academic Misconduct

texts:
What do I tell the student in response to a request for graduate school recommendation from an otherwise-qualified student who cheated by copying homework in one of my classes?  I am unwilling to write a strong recommendation for this student, based solely on the episode of misconduct.  If it hadn't happened, I'd recommend him strongly.

Edit: I was searching for something less blunt than "no" and something a bit less accusative than "no because you cheated."  With the help given below, I've decided on the following:

  While every recommendation letter I write is tailored to the particular student, all include comments on each of those things I believe are relevant to admissions committees.  One of those is academic integrity.  In your case, a comment from me on academic integrity would likely be fatal to your application.  For that reason, I must decline to write such a recommendation.  I am confident that you can find professors who can write strong recommendations, and I wish you the best in the future.

Edit: The question identified as a possible duplicate whether whether the professor is obliged to write a recommendation for the student who cheated.  My question is about the best way to decline.


texts: Is it possible to change something on a research paper between the period of acceptance and publishing?

texts:
My paper was accepted in peer reviewed journal last week and is about to be publishing. Last night I thought the solution makes better sense if I change the definition of one of the variables. This is a minimal change which doesn't change any of the other equations or any of the conclusions or results.

Is this possible and how can I ask If I could change this variable?

Also, if they accept does that mean that the paper has to to be reviewed again?


texts: What should I do about my friend who wants me to help her cheat?

texts:
Friend: Rome

Rome and I started at our new school last year as juniors. We are both now seniors. At this school, we have a chance to graduate high school with our AA degrees. In fact, we are graduating with both our high school diplomas and our AA degrees in less than 3 months. I made the regrettable decision of skipping a few biology classes during my second semester at the college/high school. Rome kindly gave me the notes to which I was very thankful and ended up passing the class with a little bit of extra studying. Due to her helping me, I ended up helping her understand a few assignments for our senior CAPSTONE class (a graduation requirement). This class is a little difficult, so I myself even asked for a few ideas from friends for writing up my final presentation. However, Rome asked for me to send her my ENTIRE presentation slideshow so she can basically write hers up in the same way. Not exactly cheating since she's only copying my format and her topic is different than mine, but still frustrating that she didn't come up with some originality of her own. This semester me and her both have Psychology with the same teacher, just on different days. So her tests and assignments are always due the day after mine. She never can remember when the assignments are due, always asking me when mine is due. This is also incredibly frustrating as I have the care to memorize when my assignments are due. Recently she has been asking me for my homework assignments and take home tests for this class. She also has been asking me what will be on the in-class test. I made the unfortunate mistake of helping her the once by sending her the answers for 1 homework assignment and half of 1 of a take-home test. I do not plan on sending her any more answers or helping again, but she still sends emails asking for my calculator, for assignment dates, test answers, etc. I don't know what to do about her, and I don't want to risk her telling the professor that I have helped her cheat if I do not continue to help her.


texts: Should I apologize to my professor for not attending a lecture?

texts:
Long story short, I was unable to attend a lecture of a course I'm interested in. I met my professor directly at her office and asked questions and extra material for her course. Moreover since I'm interested in her course, I've read some extra notes, books and papers. After stating an advanced question she suggested me to read some extra papers and extended bibliography.

How can I "apologize" my professor for not being able to attend the lecture, after showing such excitement? Should I send her an e-mail or talk to her directly? (I guess face-to-face discussion is preferred.)


texts: What is the requirement for submitting a revised workshop paper to a conf in CS?

texts:
We have published a workshop paper last year. Now, we are planning to submit it to a conference. The conference paper roughly have 50% new materials. Basically, the workshop paper studied a 3.5-year data set while the conf version extends it to 4.5-year. The conf version also has a new data set. We also applied several new analysis methods to the data, obtaining new results.

My question is, is 50% new material enough for a new conference publication? Also, can I reuse the analysis methods in the workshop paper? What about reusing some text?

Thank you very much!

Update: Based on the valuable answers and comments from the community, I think a good approach to handle this is issue is to carefully cite our previous work for any content that is originated from it. Therefore, we make a clear distinction between old stuff and new stuff. But a trick thing is anonymity. We probably can only cite our previous work anonymously in the submission, otherwise the reviewers can easy tell the paper is from us...

We will also consult the conference for more information.


texts: What is the difference between Ph.D, D.Sc, D.Litt, etc.?

texts: Is there any difference between Ph.D, D.Sc, D.Litt and the similar degrees?


texts: Why do some conferences with double blind review ask for author names when submitting the paper for review?

texts: I wonder why some conferences with double blind review ask for author names when submitting the paper for review. Why not asking for author information once the paper has been accepted?


texts: Is physics (and engineering) at university more like high school physics or high school math?

texts:
I am in high school and I find myself enjoying math a lot more than physics, probably because of the more focused teaching approach found in physics, which looks at specific cases and experiments and then goes on to explain these mathematically, where as in maths it seems to me a broader stance is taken; only after a foundation is laid one goes into specific examples. Still I would rather like to study physics or engineering at university, as I am more interested in the subject of physics itself than that of theoretical mathematics.
So how does university teaching compare to that found in high school in physics and mathematics, and where do I place engineering in this comparison?
PS: I am from Austria and plan to go to uni in Germany, in case that helps with answering the question.
PPS: I know this question is open ended and opinion based so feel free to flag.
Edit: I`m thinking of this, this or that.


texts: Percentage of waiting-list students offered a PhD position

texts:
As a result of comments on my earlier question, I am posting another question.

Is there a rule of thumb for what percentage of waiting-list students is eventually placed, or invited, for a PhD position.


texts: Options other than the NSF for PhD level grants?

texts:
There is a big push in the PhD program I'm headed into for candidates to apply for NSF grants (in fact, one of the required classes for the first year is a class on writing grant proposals, and as a final project, every candidate submits an NSF proposal). I'm assuming this is the same for any Science/Math PhD program, as funding is tight for many departments, and a grant basically makes you free for the University.

Are there any other options for Science PhD-level grants I could apply for?


texts: How to determine whether a position is "faculty-equivalent"?

texts:
I am considering taking a position as a "junior assistant professor" in Japan. There are certain international fellowships to which I may apply, but they require that the applicant does not hold a "faculty-equivalent position". One in particular is Switzerland based.
I do plan to ask the fellowship contact directly how they determine faculty-equivalency. However, I prefer to be as informed as possible before asking them directly; that way, I can best pose my question. For instance, it may be that the fellowship office does not have a simple definition, but may ask for several pieces of "evidence" that I am not at a "faculty-equivalent position". This would be similar to the NIH having a list of "evidence" that an early career candidate is not yet independent.
I am curious to know opinions from the academic community on StackExchange: What, in your experience, typically constitutes "faculty equivalency" (voting rights, salary, tenureship, etc.)? I am hoping to hear these opinions so I can start collecting "evidence" (possibly some that the fellowship committee may not have defined yet but would welcome) that I am or am not of "faculty equivalency".
Thank you for sharing your knowledge.


texts: How to respond when rejected with encouragement to apply again, when hiring committee says position is always open?

texts:
I received notification that I wasn't select for the final round, but they encourage me to apply next time when the application is open.

So I of course, out of curiosity ask when will be the next time.
I got the following reply

    Thanks for your reply,

  This position is always open.

  Best regards,

I m in shock, what this implicate and how should I respond?
Should I immediately resubmit the application? Or ask on how to proceed?
what would you do? What is appropriate to reply? Why would they have always open position? Isn't that weird?


texts: Where to correct an inefficiency of algorithm in a published paper?

texts:
I spotted a serious inefficiency in our algorithm, which was already published. Basically, we have an algorithm to encode a problem A into a formula X. But we later found that we can encode into a formula X', which is equisatisfiable, but with much less (up to thousand) of variables.

This change is very trivial in logic, if we need to correct the algorithm, we only need to change 1 line with one subscript. But it improve the performance drastically, up to 10 times in some instances.

If somebody build on our work, I don't want them to make the same mistake. If somebody want to compare with our work, I want them to compare with the improved algorithm, not the result we reported in the paper.

But the change is so trivial, how could I let everybody know?


texts: How to find a gap in knowledge, for my PhD?

texts:
I just started my PhD and this is my fourth week. I understand that as a PhD student, my main aim is to find a gap in the knowledge and then trace this gap by using scientific approaches that I might choose later.

My question is: How can I find this gap?

I can think of two options:

Reading, which is the ideal option and we all know that. However, it might be frustrating to read a lot because maybe you
will get lost in the final stage due to information overload.
Just jump to the conclusion of any paper in your field and see if they provide any recommendations about a potential gap and choose it as your hypothesis or the starting point for formulating your question.


texts: Cumulative versus monographic dissertation

texts:
I am in the beginning of my phd studies in computer science. Specifically, I am in the area of machine learning and linked data. I have talked with my professor about these both types of dissertations, however, it`s on my own which format I choose.

Any recommendations, when to choose a cumulative and when to choose a monographic dissertation? What`s your experience with each format?


texts: Should I mention NDS programs I am pursuing in my Masters application?

texts:
I am applying to the GA Tech Online Masters in Computer Science for Fall 19. My undergraduate degree is not in CS, however my minor is and I currently work as a software developer. While the program is receptive to that kind of applicant, I am considering backup plans should I be rejected.

I am currently looking at various non degree seeking options as a way to knock out some additional CS course as a way to show my commitment and strengthen my application should I be rejected for the masters and need to reapply later.

My dilemma is that  I am unsure if I should include the NDS programs in the "other schools you are applying to" section of the masters application. I suppose a sub-dilemma would be the ethics of applying to an NDS program knowing that I would drop it the second I got into a masters.


texts:
I got a funding from the DFG called "Eigene Stelle". My question is whether I have to acknowledge funding in every article I write or just in the articles that are related to the projects in my proposal for the funding?

I think that it is enough to acknowledge funding only in articles related to the proposal but I am not really sure and found no reliable source for that.


texts:
My wife and I teach at different universities. This is the first year that we have run into a timetabling conflict that makes dropping our son off at school difficult. The conflict involves wife's 200+ person lecture that is centrally timetabled in a lecture hall that is in near constant use and my 30 person lab in a relatively unused computer lab. It is unlikely that any type of changes could be made to my wife's class that would help with the conflict. I teach one of 8 sections of the lab. While all the sections occur on the same day they happen in a number of computer labs which have some unused time on that day. I would like to see if I can reschedule, or adjust the schedule, of my teaching. The lab is scheduled to start at 9:00. My son's school starts at 9:00 and I could start teaching at 9:30. Who do I approach and what do I ask for?

I feel like I could try and swap sections with someone else (mine is the only section that starts at 9:00) or I could also ask the organizer for the lab if I can move my section. Is there another option? What is the best way to approach this?


texts: What is the typical time between application and contact for a postdoc on Norway?

texts:
I recently applied to a postdoc position in Norway, this was an advertised role in an engineering department rather than a fellowship application. I had a brief email exchange with the hiring professor in advance and they thought I would be a suitable candidate and encouraged me to apply.
The application was through the jobbnorge website which appears to be standard in Norway.
After 6 weeks since application deadline I have not had any contact and it still shows as submitted in the jobbnorge portal. I do not know of the portal would give an update if I wasn't successful.
My questions are

What is the typical time frame for hearing back on any decision in Norway for postdoc applications?

Is it typical to hear back if I am not invited for interview or can I assume no news is neither good nor bad?

There is a similar question here: Hiring Process in Norway for Postdocs
Although it is not clear what time scales are involved in that question or if they were between application or interview, though it does imply the process is slow.
Thank you.


texts: As a computer engineering student, I think this is the right place to ask for help about my career. Well I am in my sophomore year at one of the leading university in Turkey. I want to specialize in information security. However, I want to clarify something. "I have been - and always shall be" an average student. My student life has never been so bright but I have enough passion and resources to be an ethical hacker. Sometimes I think what they teach us in the university is waste of time. People can learn coding, operating systems, network, database etc. from the internet. So here is my question: Should I quit my university and stay behind the doors,do what I love, for a long time or waste two more years with the pressure of everything you do or don't will be graded?


texts:
I’m looking for a way to manage the text of the quotations  that most certainly I will use (i.e. quote) in the future. I’m a philosopher, so this is specially handy —and even required— for the classical texts.

I'm currently using Mendeley to manage my references, which is fine for citations on daily working, but does not allow to add quotations to the library items.

I have checked Wikindx (a PHP-based manager which allow this), but it doesn't seem very consolidated… Currently, I keep my quotations in a mediawiki installation, but it is complicated and unoptimized (but at least gives me readability and long term security of accesibility).

Does anyone of you have the same trouble? Which manager can you recommend? Anyone knows if Mendeley has plans to add something like it?


texts: Can I publish research as "working paper" after journal submission?

texts:
I am aware that (at least in the field of economics) typically one first publishes their research as a working paper and later on submits to journals. (Where "later on" could be as short as the same day.)

In our case it so happened that a deadline was tight, and we have now submitted the article to a journal first. While we are waiting for a response from the journal, can we proceed to further prepare and publish our work as a working paper or would such a thing only be appropriate after learning of a negative response from the journal (i.e. only after our paper is no longer considered there)?


texts: My advisor is giving my idea to his new student, what should I do?

texts:
Now I'm preparing for my thesis and have one article which is already published and my thesis has been developed from my previous work.

For my thesis, I derived a model based on the literature review, but suddenly my advisor gave my model to his new student.  Even though he is working his own, he has similar variables as my article and thesis. And it seems like he will be able to publish his article even earlier than me.

Since the model has not been used that often in my field, I'm not happy with this.

My advisor also gave the student my original article file (not pdf but docs). What do you think should I do? I cannot stop thinking about it.


texts: How good of a conference can I realistically submit my first paper to? How can I figure out which conferences I'm good enough to submit to?

texts:
I'm working on finishing up my thesis in wireless security and I'd like to publish the results of my work in a conference, obviously the best conference that I can realistically get published in.

However I'm having a hard time figuring out what the criteria might be for this. I see conference rankings around, but how can you actually figure out where on that ranking you should fit? How can I learn how to evaluate these kinds of things?


texts: How do I know if a PhD is the right choice?

texts:
I am graduating in September in Economics from a world top school and I am willing to go on studying to earn a PhD (in Economics). My Master program is very focused on quantitative skills and research and although professors say we would be able to work in any field because of our strong preparation, I am feeling that only a PhD is the right way to make my studies worthy.

I decide to study Economics with the purpose of becoming an economist in a supranational organization and I feel I have found my field of interest too. My fear is that I am feeling pushed to enroll in a PhD because it seems to be the natural continuation of my studies.

Thus, without referring to my specific case, I was wondering if there are some signals, something objective, that would make me able to understand if a PhD is the right choice for me, besides the fact that I am feeling interested.


texts: Does a publication in a predatory journal negatively impact admissions decisions?

texts:
I have published an original research paper in what was claimed by Beall's list to be a predatory journal. Considering the way they reviewed my paper, the corrections they gave me, and the many citations from typical research papers, I don't believe that it is predatory, especially since I don't think that the journal conforms with the criteria of Beall's list of predatory journals.

Nevertheless, I want to know what negative impact publishing in a predatory journal has on admissions chances.


texts: I am a postdoc and would like to collaborate (proposal - yes) with a scientist in another country. He (the foreigner scientist) want to collaborate with me due to my subject expertise. As postdoc, I do not have a lab, so I had to talk to my supervisor. Even though she (supervisor) was welcoming the collaboration effort, she said, my name would not be officially included in any collaboration write ups and as, it is she who has to give permission to work in the lab. As her core ability is not what the collaborator wanted to do, this application can be a disaster! Is it possible as a postdoc to have my own collaboration with me as PI and my PI as only a lab space provider?


texts: How to find out if a conference submission deadline is likely to be extended?

texts:
I am writing a paper for a conference. I have finished the paper, but I must review some experimental results and this requires some additional days.

How can I find out the probability that the submission deadline will be extended?


texts: Journal does not tell me why they rejected my paper, even on request

texts:
I submitted my paper to one of Springer’s journals seven months ago. One month ago I received a letter from the editor-in-chief:

  Following a review of the manuscript by the editorial
  board, we have regretfully decided not to consider this work for
  publication. We thank you for your interest in our journal and...

I wrote the journal an e-mail and asked for the review mentioned in the letter, but received no answer. I also wrote to the editor himself (to his personal e-mail), and asked the fair question: “why the editorial board decided not to consider the work?”, but my question was ignored. I have been waiting for one month for the answer.

What can I do in this case? Note that I only want to know the reasons for the rejection.


texts: How to properly cite/include meeting discussion in a doctoral thesis?

texts:
I am going to have a private meeting with an institution next month, and I would like to use what will be said there as a reference in my doctoral thesis.

What would be the most appropriate way to do this?

I thought about taking detailed notes, or even recording the meeting (with the consent of everyone involved) so to be able to transcribe it and include the transcription as an appendix, after allowing the other participants to review the notes/transcription to correct eventual mistakes.

Are there other alternatives? Is this somewhat usual?


texts: Statement of purpose: how important is correctness of grammar and punctuation?

texts:
English is not my first language, and I am concerned that my statement of purpose might contain some grammatical and punctuation mistakes that neither Microsoft word nor I can see. What is the best way to overcome this problem, and to what degree does this affect the admissions committee decision putting into consideration that English isn't my first language?

P.S. I don't have any native English-speaking friends and I don't trust companies or online sites to see my statement of purpose to check its correctness.


texts: Is it okay to send a paper to a journal as well as for conference

texts: Few months back I presented a paper in conference and sent the same for possible publication in the conference proceedings. I got no response for a long time and with the consent of my supervisor sent the same paper to a journal with some modifications in the paper. I want to know is it okay to send the same paper to both? As far as I feel, its not right, still I need opinions. Thanks in advance.


texts: Are there usually interviews for postdoc positions?

texts: I applied for postdoc positions and I received a few interview offers. I thought not many institution have interview process for postdoc positions and they give offer only based on application material. Do I have false information?


texts: Graduate school admission with a degree in a different field

texts:
Can I be admitted to graduate school in a different field from my degree?  Specific cases include:

If I've taken plenty of advanced courses in field X in the process of completing a degree in another field, can I apply to graduate school in X?
What if I haven't taken many courses in X, but I have acquired a good grasp of X through self-study or working in a related field?
What if I've never studied X, but I have done very well in an unrelated field?  Could I be admitted to graduate school in X on the basis of general intellectual promise, and then make up the missing background after enrollment?

Note that this question is an attempt to provide a comprehensive answer, to avoid the need for a profusion of field-specific questions on this topic (see the associated meta question). Please feel free to edit the question or answer to improve them.


texts: Why is research assistantship decoupled from masters/phd program?

texts:
I have just been offered a spot in a 2-year full-time masters program at a university in the US. It is very research-focused with a requirement of only a few courses. In the admissions letter they also offer me a full research assistantship (RA) for up to 12 months and say that graduate students typically receive RA support for 2 years contingent on satisfactory performance. The work from the RA is integrated into the graduate course of study. It is somewhat confusing to me why the RA and the Masters program are kept separate as it seems like almost all students would also be a RA. I have two questions related to this:

What are the benefits of this separation from the university's point of view - Is it mainly the ability to kick out students with bad performance?
I may be able to acquire substantial external funding. The offer letter states that the stipend that I receive as a RA would only supplement any external funding to a specified level, meaning that my overall salary would remain unchanged. However, if I get substantial funding this could perhaps allow me to not have a RA/TA position for 3-12 months. Would this be of any use to me? For instance, could I perhaps not have an RA position over the summer to allow me to get some time off?

Edit: This is a prestigious university and my sense is that the department/research group does have good enough finances to provide funding for both years.

2. Edit: The funding is unconditional in the sense that it is simply awarded towards the masters degree without any specific requirements. It is a tradition in my home country to award young students with scholarships to assist them in taking education elsewhere. The organizations providing the scholarships then hope that these students return to their home country after their studies abroad (which many do).


texts: Should I send unsolicited applications for postdoc positions?

texts:
I am currently concluding my PhD in England and I’d like to do a postdoc preferably in the US or Canada. I’d like to know:

Does it make sense to contact the supervisors when I find an interesting project or should I only act upon explicit job advertisements?


texts:
I resubmitted a manuscript to a journal (listed in political science as well as in International Relations and Economics journal rankings). The editor's decision was minor revisions. The email says that after resubmitting, the final decision will be made by the editor's team asap (asap=as soon as possible). My re-submission was more than 6 weeks ago.
I was wondering how long I should wait until I approach the editor and ask about the decision without being rude and impatient?
My question is also spurred by the fact that I am PhD student who writes a cumulative dissertation and thereby, accepted (or even published) manuscripts are important ;)
Any experiences, advices or recommendations are very welcome!


texts: When transferring credits do I need permission from the "leaving" university?

texts:
I did three years of my four year undergraduate degree in the UK. I want to do my final year at another university in another country (still in Europe). I contacted the university that I am interested in and after sending my academic transcript they confirmed that they would be willing to accept my credits and that I can start in a higher year.

My question is: Do I need anything from the University I am leaving? Do I need permission from them to transfer my credits?


texts: Just started a postdoc, but it went REALLY bad, REALLY fast. Stay or go?

texts:
I just started my 2-yr postdoc, but things have gone sour really fast. So, I really need some career advice as to what to do.
Over several months, I did the interviews with the supervisor and the lab and things seems to be really great (although I got a strange feeling that the lab members were trying to deter me from joining, see below).

I joined the lab last week, and the condition of the lab and the equipment was really poor (but the supervisor said it was great...), but I got along with the supervisor and the lab great. However, this week took a turn for the worse. My supervisor has been vicious with me for several days and we have had a major conflict almost everyday this week, which I believe is a bad sign when something like this happens when starting a position. The other members of the lab said that the supervisor is frequently is overbearing, micromanages, and has "lost it" on them for reasons as asking for vacation. As I said, I met with these lab members via Skype over the summer and I felt that there were trying to warn me not to join the lab, and today they confessed that this was true. One of the lab members did file a complaint against the supervisor. The situation was that the supervisor typically makes numerous phone calls during weekends and the one time the lab member did not answer, the supervisor was furious with her. She then made a complaint to the appropriate person in the department.

I am concerned about the supervisor and more concerned that this is not going to help my career at all since the mentoring by this supervisor is poor quality (this is how the other lab members feel after being there for almost 2 years. They are leaving immediately after that). She has promised a good work environment, additional pay to the NIH base pay, flexible time off and great equipment, but all of this is not true. The other lab members confirmed that this happened to them too. Basically, this supervisor promises a lot of things and does not deliver.

So with all of that being said, is it wise for me to leave ASAP and look for a better opportunity OR is it best to stay put and complete the 2-year postdoc (or most of it). I don't favor leaving a job this soon and would rather give things a chance, but this place has been extremely BAD. Furthermore, the lab members feel that this is not a good workplace and confirm that the behavior of the supervisor will continue (they have their reasons for staying, but really regret joining). For these reasons, I don't feel staying is beneficial to be perfectly honest.

I would rather not have to ask for advice about this, but I am in an uncomfortable situation and any advice is extremely appreciated. Hopefully I expressed this clearly... I'm kind of a mess right now.

EDIT:
I have resigned from the position. But, I have obtained a new position with someone I know well and has helped the careers of people I know. Aside from the conflict with the supervisor and the experiences of other people in the lab, the position I'm resigning from just does not offer any development for my career as per my impression prior to arriving in the lab. Unfortunately, what attracted me to this position was not the reality. Even giving this position more time would not change the condition of the equipment I have to work with (and the lack of equipment), the lack of safety practices in the lab, nor would it change the supervisor's lack of organization, leadership and the control of her emotions.
Also, I discovered that all of the current lab members plan on leaving within the next few months. Past/current postdocs typically do not last more than 2 years.


texts: Can a PhD student write a letter of recommendation for coauthor/collaborator?

texts:
My good friend and I coauthored a paper that was accepted at a major research conference.  He works in industry and has now decided to apply for PhD programs.  He asked that I write him a letter of recommendation because I am most familiar with his academic strengths and research work.  I've been working on research level problems with him for the past 3 years.

Question: Can I write him a letter of recommendation even though I am only a PhD student?


texts: Advantages of taking the Subject GRE exam in April

texts:
Background (skip this if you want): I'll obtain my master's degree in about June/2018 or so (if everything goes smoothly), and I intend to pursue a phd in the US. Thing is, I'm from a country in the south hemisphere and the academic term here is different than in the north hemisphere, and so I'm a bit paranoid with deadlines for graduate applications. Looking around at questions such as here and here, and around in some universities' sites, I understood that graduate applications are usually open from October through December, and the academic term would start around September.

Question: is there any reason why someone would want to take the GRE in April, other than if he or she were actually retaking the test trying to get a better score? I know that they keep the scores for five years. The bottom line is: I'm unsure whether I should take the GRE in April or in September. April seems too soon, the fee is expensive and I'd like to do it only once, preferably being well-prepared. I'm sorry if I'm missing something obvious or common sense, but I'd rather ask than remain ignorant. Thanks!


texts: How to add self-study workload in the ECTS credits?

texts:
I'm applying to a Master's program in "Mechatronics", in Germany. One of the program requirements is a ECTS credits form for some specific fields.

According to the university I'm applying (Tuhh) the workload indicates the time students typically need to complete all learning activities (such as lectures, seminars, projects, practical work, self-study and examinations) required to achieve the expected learning outcomes.

I'm not sure how to convert my degree credits/hours into ECTS, given that ECTS points do include studying and assignments hours.

In my university the credits assigned in the transcript of records correspond ONLY TO LECTURES (classroom hours), where 1 credit is equivalent to 15 hours, even though all lectures are accompanied by homeworks, exams and self-study time.

I can convert the credits on my transcript but there is a clear lack of required ECTS credits. This is because only the workload of lectures are included and the self-study hours are not explicitly incorporated in the university transcript which leads me to consult how to proceed to complete the form.

I'd appreciate if someone could enlighten me. Please, let me know if more information is needed in order to calculate the ECTS.


texts: Many times, the page number in pdf is different than the printed page number. How to make sure the other person doesn't get confused when we say "it's on Nth page".


texts: non-responsive academic program advisor/manager

texts:
My graduate program advisor/manager (one, who manages logistics of students; not for thesis) and I had arguments about how he proceeded the work.
Last semester, he dropped my course without my notice, because he speculated my registration was not achievable. Thus, I had arguments with my graduate program advisor/manager and resolved it during a face-to-face meeting.
Afterwards, I had a problem with working with him.
He does not provide right information to my inquiry on a visa, so I had to ask another person for the correct information. In addition, he ended up ignoring my email inquires on a visa over 3 months.
Do you have any suggestions how to resolve this issue?
I thought of reporting this issue to the department, but I am not sure whether it's a good idea.
Any comments would be appreciated.


texts: Am I allowed to write an essay about a scientific theory without violating the copyright?

texts:
I have in project to write an essay on the Special Theory of Relativity. My idea is then to publish it as an ebook.

I would like to know if I can freely write about this topic or I need to take into account some problems related to royalties or copyright. Can I write about a topic like that without any problems of this kind? Can I include quotes and information about Einstein's life?

Thanks in advance!


texts: Is it possible a post-doc position for a specialist in medicine without PhD?

texts:
I graduated from Medical Faculty ten years ago. I got my degree as a Microbiology Specialist in 2015. I have been working as a Clinical Microbiologist in a hospital since then. I completed all my education and working in Turkey.

Last month, I attended a conference. I met a professor from King's College London. After discussing some issues about bacterial interactions this professor offered me a postdoc position in his department. I want to accept this position but I don't have a Ph.D. degree. The professor also doesn't sure and he advised me to search this issue.

Does anyone know if it is possible or can you address me an organization to ask this question?


texts: Is this a good enough reason for not taking an educational loan?

texts: I have recently been accepted for a degree program in Economics at LSE and am currently applying for Financial Aid. The application form expects that I have already applied for an educational loan to fund my education, but honestly, I have not. I intend to enter academia and so I think that in the near future (up until I do my Ph.D.) I won't be able to repay the loan. Will this be good enough for the committee evaluating my application?


texts: Unclear terms: Statement of Purpose, Academic Statement and Personal Statement

texts:
I'm so confused. I can't distinguish between them. It seems to me that sometimes the statement of purpose (SOP) is the personal statement (PS), sometimes it is not the PS, and by the definition I'll give below, academic statement (AS) is the SOP.
Is the SOP a PS (or not)?
I think most people will agree that the SOP is another name for the PS, and you only need one statement beside your CV and research proposal (if necessary) to be written. That explains why in Academia.SE, we only have a sop tag but no PS tag or AS tag. And most of the time I see people ask about a PS question under the SOP tag, and accept the answer only says about the SOP. Except these two questions, where the posters notice that SOP is not the PS (I find them when searching for "personal statement" "statement of purpose"):

Academic Statement of Purpose vs NSF Personal Statement
https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/34698/how-to-best-answer-the-question-please-provide-us-your-personal-statement-why

To be clear, the first question asks about academic statement of purpose and only localize to the NSF Fellowship application. But the (sole) answer only discusses the SOP, so I understand that ASOP is the other name of the SOP (don't know if it also be the AS as well).
Is the SOP the Academic Statement?
Now, in the announcement for a fellowship I intend to apply for, it requires me to have both an academic statement and a personal statement. It defines them like this:

ACADEMIC AND PERSONAL STATEMENTS. Each applicant must prepare a one-page Academic Statement and a one-page Personal Statement. The first essay addresses the applicant’s academic and scientific background and preparation, previous research, and a description of the study and research proposed at a U.S. graduate school department. The Personal Statement includes information about the applicant’s background, practical experience, special interests, and career goals, with some attention to plans after degree completion. Applicants should also address how they might represent Vietnam as students in the United States and how they might represent the United States and contribute to Vietnam upon return.

More explicit details are provided in the link. Based on the definition of the AS, I think that it is the SOP as we widely know (or at least is this SOP). If then, what is the PS in this case? Is it the place for the "my first trembling steps" stuff?
Or, does the aggregation of AS and PS in this situation equate the SOP as we widely know, and the recruiters just want to make it explicit?


texts: How do I know a paper is indexed by SCI or ISTP from the query result of Web of Science?

texts:
I learnt from a blog (here, IN CHINESE) that we can tell a paper indexed by SCI or ISTP via IDS Number. More specifically,

SCI: IDS Number beginning with digits, such as 334VK
ISTP: IDS Number beginning with alphabets, such as BF1NB

Is it correct?

As an example, I attach the full record of a paper (here),

Record 1 of 1
Title: Network information flow
Author(s): Ahlswede, R (Ahlswede, R); Cai, N (Cai, N); Li, SYR (Li, SYR); Yeung, RW (Yeung, RW)
Source: IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INFORMATION THEORY  Volume: 46  Issue: 4  Pages: 1204-1216  DOI: 10.1109/18.850663  Published: JUL 2000
Times Cited in Web of Science Core Collection: 3430
Total Times Cited: 3843
Usage Count (Last 180 days): 6
Usage Count (Since 2013): 90
Cited Reference Count: 14
Abstract: We introduce a new class of problems called network information flow which is inspired by computer network applications. Consider a point-to-point communication network on which a number of information sources are to be mulitcast to certain sets of destinations. We assume that the information sources are mutually independent. The problem is to characterize the admissible coding rate region. This model subsumes all previously studied models along the same line. In this paper, we study the problem with one information source, and we have obtained a simple characterization of the admissible coding rate region. Our result can be regarded as the Max-flow Min-cut Theorem for network information flow. Contrary to one's intuition, our work reveals that it is in general not optimal to regard the information to be multicast as a "fluid'' which can simply be routed or replicated. Rather, by employing coding at the nodes, which we refer to as network coding, bandwidth can in general be saved. This finding may have significant impact on future design of switching systems.
Accession Number: WOS:000088206200002
Language: English
Document Type: Article; Proceedings Paper
Conference Title: IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory
Conference Date: AUG 16-22, 1998
Conference Location: MIT, CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS
Conference Sponsors: IEEE, Informat Theory Soc, Natl Sci Fdn, NASA, USN, Off Naval Res, AT&T, Motorola, Qualcomm, Lucent Technol, Bell Lab Innovat
Conference Host: MIT
Author Keywords: diversity coding; multicast; network coding; switching; multiterminal source coding
KeyWords Plus: MULTILEVEL
Addresses: Univ Bielefeld, Fak Math, D-33501 Bielefeld, Germany.
Chinese Univ Hong Kong, Dept Informat Engn, Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Peoples R China.
Reprint Address: Ahlswede, R (reprint author), Univ Bielefeld, Fak Math, D-33501 Bielefeld, Germany.
Author Identifiers:
Author  ResearcherID Number ORCID Number
WANG, HUAN  A-1155-2009
Publisher: IEEE-INST ELECTRICAL ELECTRONICS ENGINEERS INC
Publisher Address: 345 E 47TH ST, NEW YORK, NY 10017-2394 USA
Web of Science Categories: Computer Science, Information Systems; Engineering, Electrical & Electronic
Research Areas: Computer Science; Engineering
IDS Number: 334VK
ISSN: 0018-9448
29-char Source Abbrev.: IEEE T INFORM THEORY
ISO Source Abbrev.: IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory
Source Item Page Count: 13