texts: Contacting a Professor for a PhD in the US (Engineering)

texts:
I am new around here so go easy on me :) this question is directed at anyone with experience with graduate studies in the US.

A little background information about myself:
I am wrapping my up my M.Sc. in Aerospace Engineering in Germany and currently applying for a PhD in a well-known US University. I already did my GRE and TOEFL and have gathered all 3 Letters of Recommendation in time for the December deadline for start in Fall 2020. Regardless of my chances of getting in, I want to give it my best shot.

I have been told that in the US, it is very common or even expected for prospective PhD students to introduce themselves to their Professor before applying. I have been told that not doing so may even be interpreted as lack of interest on my part.

So the question is: is this true? Should I write my Professor an e-mail and introduce myself and tell him I am applying?

I would be extremely thankful for any advice or insights you can give me, as I kind of have no idea how such things work in the US!


texts: I want to cite someting from this workbook. How can I cite it? The year is 2009 but what should I put between brackets if there is no specific author?


texts: What determines you have learned a (theoretical) subject?

texts:
My question primarily pertains to advanced/research level mathematics.
I would like to know how you can determine whether you have learned a subject? Of course, you'll never master an entire subject, but at what point you can claim that "I know" functional analysis, algebraic geometry, etc? What determines the boundary of "knowing" and "not knowing" these subject?

This forum might not be the best place to ask this question, but I thought it would be even more inappropriate for MathSX and MathOF (for different reasons).

Update: As mentioned in the comments, "knowing" may have some negative connotations which I did not intend to convey. What I meant is simply that how much you should know about a subject so that you get the confidence to do research?


texts: Is it suspicious for a conference abstract submission to be subordinated to registration?

texts:
My PhD advisor and I wish to participate to a specific international conference in our field.

The program seems legitimate and part of the scientific committee are respected researchers of my field, with whom we have already worked in the past. Therefore I am not questioning the academic relevancy of the conference.

On the other hand, the organization is operated by a company, and I am not at ease with their methods. Mainly, the registration fee (500€) must be paid before submitting any abstract and it is not possible to know whether the abstract has been accepted before committing.

Beside the frustration (a conference is a big investment in our budget), I find this unusual, if not fishy. This is the first time my advisor is confronted with the situation, and they are conflicted about this too.

As a side point, their privacy policy includes an agreement to transmit my academic information to "marketing partners", which I am not at ease either.

Should I be worried?

EDIT after investigating a bit more. The organizer is not exactly a company, but a "non-profit private organisation".

UPDATE after contacting the organizers. The website actually gives the option to pay later, as long as the registration is placed. Ultimately, the admission decision will be issued before the payment deadline, although that was not apparent unless you create an account and place the order first.


texts: How to deal with the extreme social hierarchies in research meetings?

texts:
It seems to me that academic settings have a very high degree of social hierarchy and I find it very hard to deal with it while being at the bottom of the ladder. Any tips on how to deal with it?

I attend research meetings where I am the newest student in the subject while the other grad students are all very senior students with years of background. This makes it very hard for me to get my ideas or opinions be heard given implicitly how the time is proportioned between everyone. Like if one of these senior students has something to say which could be very silly or trivial or even wrong. he would get more social space to say it than anything I would want to say. Its very uncomfortable as to how much anything they have to say gets so much attention.

I constantly have to find ways to try to severely compress anything I would want to say so that in a few seconds of window of opportunity I might get, I can get across my point. Its like a constant battle for every sliver of time and space.

How do I get myself heard!?


texts: What is the value of journal publications outside academia?

texts:
I am an economics PhD student; I'm seeking to wrap up my PhD and do something outside of academia.

If I don't plan on ever being in academia, is there any value (career-wise) for me to get any of my work published in economics journals?

Ideally I'm looking for answers pertaining specifically to economics; but information on other fields is welcome too.

To elaborate (following some comments):

The reason I do not want to stay in academic economics is that too much (though certainly not all) of it is bullshit I cannot believe in. (This of course is just my humble opinion.) If I wanted to stay in the game and do well, I feel I'd be forced to manufacture similar BS that I simply don't believe in.

In other words, doing this PhD was for me a mistake. If and when I do get my PhD, I will not even feel proud about it. But now that I'm near the finish line, I reckon I may as well cross it, if only for the credential.

Right now I'm looking at working for one of the MOOCs. I enjoy teaching and believe that teaching/education is important. But it is also possible that I might do something completely different; I don't quite know yet.

So now I'm thinking: Should I just try to graduate ASAP with the lowest quality work possible? Or should I invest a bit more time and effort to polishing my work up, so that some of it can get published?


texts: What should TAs do if students disrespect them?

texts: TAs are responsible for answering students' questions. But sometimes there are bad-mannered students who don't treat the TA with respect during the interaction. Should TAs just take it and still answer students with patience? Otherwise, they may be complained about by students. Or do TAs have a right to ask students to behave politely before answering them, or to just simply refuse to meet them?


texts: Stress and anxiety while waiting for PhD viva

texts:
I submitted my PhD thesis more than a month ago. I was told by the Postgraduate Department that I would have my oral examination in six weeks. It's been six weeks already and I haven't heard any news. I heard from former students that in some cases, the viva could take up to three months to be held.

I am so stressful right now. I have been unemployed for more than 6 months now and I am running out of money. Currently, I am living with my parents to cover my expenses. While they welcome my living with them, they seem to be disappointed that I have yet to land a job. Not to mention I have to worry about my viva as well. I have unsuccessfully applied for jobs while waiting for the viva. Most employers didn't want to hire me because they viewed me as overqualified and they thought I would leave the job once I obtained my Ph.D.

I have reached out to my supervisor to get the information when my viva will be but she said it all depended on examiners. It's so disappointing to know how unprofessional my examiners are. I know they are busy with their work but to think that I paid a large sum of money to get my thesis examined, it's just so unacceptable. Does anyone know what should I do?

EDIT: Large sum of money refers to thesis examination fee. My university increased thesis examination fee by two-fold to get faster feedback from examiners. Although my university has changed its policy in viva examination by making it faster hence increment in thesis fee, it still disappointing to find out that it stays the same.


texts: Can I publish a single page research paper?

texts:
I wanted to publish a research paper which has less relevant stuff compacted and would be more focused on important and relevant items.

Also, I have failed to find a guide to publish small compact research papers.


texts: How many years after MSc graduation, am I able with possibilities to be accepted from a PhD program?

texts:
I graduated one year ago and still haven't found a PhD after many applications. In two of these I was ranked at 3rd and 2nd positions accordingly, but I regard that even though has been passed one year from my graduation, I should keep going.
What do you think?
Sincerely


texts: "1 year with possibility of extension" - what does this mean?

texts:
When looking at adverts for postdoc positions, I often see examples from the US that say something like "the position is for one year, with the possibility of extension for another 1-2 years".

Literally, and contractually, the meaning of this is obvious, but I am interested in guidance as to whether it consistently means anything in practice.

For example, I can imagine that it could mean "I only have funding for one year, and I'm hoping the successful applicant will find themselves funding to stay longer". But I can equally imagine that it is "I have funding for three years of a postdoc, but I want to see if I like them before committing".

Is there a "usual" subtext? Or is it not possible to read anything into this?

When considering an intercontinental relocation, it would be helpful to have some idea of how likely the longer duration is!

It's in a scientific field, in case that's relevant.


texts: Should I order open access if I've got the money?

texts: A journal accepted a manuscript of mine. After acceptance they ask the author whether the author wants "to order Open Choice". Should I do so if I've got the money? What is it? Is it a way to make a peer-reviewed publication while retaining the copyright of your article? What are some pros and cons of it?


texts: For Master's admissions, are recommendations from academics preferred?

texts:
In making an application to a Master's program, would I be wise to seek recommendations from academics, practitioners, or both in balance? Or would any credible letter meet the required threshold? Or does this not matter?

I can easily imagine that for PhD programs the balance would be tipped towards letters from academics.


texts: Getting into a topic one is barely familiar with?

texts:
Intro

For an upcoming project I have to get into a new topic of research which is not similar to anything I have worked so far. Furthermore, this project requires learning new programming language(s) and simulation environments. And in the end a software implementation and a final report has to be written

About the topic

The whole topic is about wireless mobile communication, the basics of communication technologies which are used in this topic are the same with the usual mobile wireless technologies I've learned before. However, the dynamics of the mobility are fairly different. The clustering algorithms used are not typical.

The essential question

How do I tackle such a situation, where multiple new things have to be learned before the final results are delivered. I separate the things I have to learn into

Prerequisites: programming languages, simulation environment, relation between them and the topic basics
Main work: learning the essential elements of the topic and becoming fluent in them

Past experiences

In the past I have usually worked on research topics which I have fulfilled the prerequisites for. So, I would tackle the topic following these steps:

Read broader literature: Surveys
Read literature about the specific problem
Implement if there is something to be done
Write final report

In this case I am a bit lost. I don't know where should I start from. That's why I need help from more experienced researchers. Compared to the list I provided above, step 3 is quite more complicated in this case, as I am not familiar with the programming language.

What I plan to do

I want to follow the following steps in order to get into this topic

Fulfill the prerequisites: get familiar with the required programming languages and simulation environments. Coupling between them etc. Do some exercises until I feel confident.
Start reading broad literature: Surveys
Focus on the specific problem: Read specific literature
Start implementation
Write the final report

I am not quite sure if these steps are OK. Sometimes I get confused and I want to move 4 -> 2, 2 -> 3, 3 -> 4 and maybe parallelize something there with step 5.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I feel so overwhelmed by this topic and need urgent help :(.


texts: Reproducible science: do entities exist requiring Level 3 of TOP standards?

texts:
Quite many (if not most of) scientific articles, related to computational sciences, which I have seen, do not share both data and code leading to the figures.

This may have of course good reasons due to other than scientific, still substantial aspects involving intellectual property and data protection laws.

Not widely known (less than 1000 Google results) is though this quote on reproducible science:

  An article about computational science in a scientific publication is
  not the scholarship itself, it is merely advertising of the
  scholarship. The actual scholarship is the complete ... set of
  instructions [and data] which generated the figures. (David Donoho, 1998)

Obviously, scientists trying to climb on the giants' shoulders should experience more and more difficulties with growing science complexity.

Then, there is also a set of "TOP" (Transparency and Openness
Promotion) guidelines to establish science reproducibility.

According to the CoS, Center for Open Science:

  Over 5,000 journals and organizations have already become signatories
  of the TOP Guidelines.

There are of course open access journals, but this is about free distribution of articles (very good but not necessarily reproducible).

Now my question is, is this TOP model elsewhere binding or is it sort of idealistic: specifically, are there journals/universities really inforcing the highest Level 3?

  Level 3: Data [and code] must be posted to a trusted repository, and reported
  analyses will be reproduced independently prior to publication.

Further sources:

"Building Research Integrity Through Reproducibility
University of Utah" Victoria Stodden, 2018 slides


texts: Working on the arXiv version of a published paper, how should I cite?

texts:
As part of a research project, I use results from this paper. It seems to have been published at least 3 times:

as an arXiv preprint from January 2012
in a Springer book from 2012
in another Springer book from 2014

Google also found a version hosted on PSU's website, which I guess is a copy of one of the published versions.

For each of these versions, there is a different .bib file containing the "right" way to cite the paper.
I don't know which one I should use.
Since I don't have either of the Springer books, I work with the arXiv version, but it seems weird to me to cite the arXiv preprint (I assume it's a preprint) if there are versions already published elsewhere.

I am relatively new to research (not a PhD student) and have encountered this situation several times.
I usually don't have access to the peer-reviewed version, and work on preprints published by the authors.

How do I choose which version to cite? Should I always cite the exact one I have been reading, even if it is not the final peer-reviewed publication?


texts: Can I pay a professor for revising my paper?

texts:
I have written a manuscript but cannot find someone to help edit it, but I want to submit to a good conference. So can I pay an unacquainted professor to help revising my paper?
Thanks!


texts: Should I add a short-term visiting scholar affiliation in paper submissions?

texts:
I'm currently a visiting scholar with a small stipend at one institution, but will be there for a short period of half a year only. At the same time, I'm still affiliated to and get a salary from my home institution. I'm actually spending all of my time at the institution where I'm a visiting scholar for the half year period.

Now I'm wondering whether it makes sense to add my visiting scholar affiliation to any papers that I'm submitting during this period? Even though I would have worked (at least partially) on these papers from the visiting scholar affiliation, this affiliation will not persist until such a paper is published, maybe not even until it is being returned with reviews. Instead, I could be using only the affiliation at my home institution, which would be valid for more long-term.


texts: Switching to philosophy after a PhD in mathematics

texts:
I'm currently finishing a PhD in mathematics from a university in Europe ranked top 10 in the world. I've always been torn between philosophy and mathematics, and I'd like to give philosophy a chance (now that I have the "safety net" of a PhD in mathematics). Also, for personal reasons, I'd like to move to the US.
It turns out, at least according to the various admissions webpages, that doing a second undergraduate degree in the US is not as easy as I thought it'd be (even disregarding issues about funding, etc). Hence, my questions are:

  1) Why are top US Philosophy departments (e.g. Harvard, UC Berkeley, ...) reticent to admit students already holding an undergrad degree in a different subject? In general, is the rule "no admission for students already holding a degree" as strict as it sounds, or can there be exceptions, depending on the context?

  2) In said top US institutions, how common is "by-passing" the second undergrad degree and being admitted directly to a graduate program in philosophy?


texts:
I currently am a sophomore in a US college. I have been accepted into a semester-long undergraduate research group. Officially, we have a faculty advisor as well as graduate student mentors. In practice, we mostly only meet with our graduate student mentors.

The problem is that, from the first day, one of my teammates deliberately ignores me in every group meeting. I do not know why, but they talked to all other teammates except me. Every time I tried to interact with or discuss with them, they skipped me and pretended to that they did not hear what I said.

(I said 'deliberately ignores' because there were occasions when only I and the person in question were present, and the person still refused to communicate with me. However, the person engagingly talk to everyone else. )

My other teammates are not talkative at all. In a meeting, they are the only person who casually led the conversation and left me out of the conversation. I feel ostracized and more and more mentally bullied.

The situation makes me feel extremely unhappy right now. I am quite certain I did not do anything inappropriate to them because the issue arose from the first time we met. For now, I feel out of place and think that I might not belong to this place.

What can I do for now, besides quitting?

One option I am thinking is to approach graduate student mentors. However, I am holding back from doing so because it seems that I am the only person who has this problem. Also, since our mentors are also present during the meeting, I have a feeling that they already knew the problem exists.

For clarification, I had an issue with only one teammate and not the others, and the issue is with that person refusing to communicate with me, even when only two of us were present.


texts: To become a professor in anthropology, can I get my PhD from a university in the UK and still have it be on the same level as a PhD from the US?

texts: So ultimately I want to become a professor in Anthropology, but I want to get my degree ASAP. The UK has degree programs that run 3-4 years and the US its mostly 5-7. Are UK PhD programs, especially in anthropology, regarded the same as US PhD programs.


texts: Planning a course: lecture-by-lecture or topic-by-topic?

texts:
I'm planning my first course, and I'm starting to realize that it's actually broken into a long string of smaller topics, and that each smaller topic is unlikely to fit into a single lecture.  Teaching each sub-topic as a lecture would either make my lectures run short or too long.  I'm considering planning out my lectures in a continuous way: rather than write up a plan for lecture 1, 2, and so on, I'm thinking of just writing out all of what I want to say for each topic, all of the examples and so forth.  Then, I just start at the beginning and keep going, ending each lecture at an appropriate place in the notes.

Is that a bad idea?  Are there any best practices I should follow?


texts: Opportunities in the private sector for a theoretical PhD in physics still interested in physics

texts:
I just read this post What are paths that physics majors/PhDs can follow? where most people discuss that PhD in physics (and sciences) are very competent in the private sector. I get that, and I get there are plenty of opportunities out there but I wanted to know if there are research opportunities that need more physics (quantum mechanics, gravity, electromagnetism) than just statistics, or computer skills.
Background: soon to be PhD in theoretical solid state physics, programming skill are barely above basic (mostly plotting, basic calculus and algebra with Python), my subject is not very focused on hot topics in electronics, also I do not have any experience in a lab (aside from university courses).
I am having family/financial issues and I wanted to understand if there is any opportunity in the private sector (meaning a better salary), but where my knowledge of quantum mechanics is still relevant. Looking at sites like IBM (where they try to build real quantum computers) they need more cleanroom and machine learning scientists than a pen-and-paper theoretical physicist. (I really want to avoid cleanrooms)
What else is out there in the private sector where quantum mechanics, solid state physics or other physics advanced skills in theory could be desirable and that would not distance myself too much out of physics ?
Edit: to be clear, I am looking for the opposite of non-profit organizations.


texts: My professor is using questions from other colleges for an assignment. Is this plagiarism?

texts: So I have noticed that there are exact solutions to the exact question I found on an assignment sheet for a unit/class that I am currently doing (the source is from another college's publication on their own assignment). My question is that: is my professor allowed to use this particular question (which is identical in every way, even the wording) in an assignment given to us? Does this not count as being academically dishonest on the professor's part? I know that if I use these solutions it is plagiarism, but isn't using this question in an assignment given to us without any citations or references to the original source, counted as plagiarism on the professor's part?


texts: How to type a foreign language author name with special characters?

texts: How do you cite (in APA) the authors last name when it is a foreign language with special unknown characters that can't be identified by most word processors.


texts: Graduating Early and its effect on Graduate Admissions

texts:
At my current rate of taking classes I will be able to graduate from college with a B.S. in math from a top 50 US school in mathematics (according to U.S. news) in a total of 2 years with around 3.7-3.8 GPA. However, I am interested in pursuing a PhD within mathematics. If I do graduate within 2 years it will be somewhat of a "bare" degree, i.e. minimum requirements (3 quarters of Analysis, 1 quarter of Algebra, 1 quarters of Complex Analysis (at the time of application) and 2 more quarters of Algebra and 1 more quarter of Complex Analysis by the time I actually get my degree).

Reading this post it seems that the extra rigor is extremely valuable, and sticking around for another year or two would greatly help my application.

However, is applying still worth a shot? If I was to apply and get rejected would that negatively impact my application if I was to apply the next year or next two years? Would applying for a masters degree be worth it in this case, and then switching over to PhD later?

I do want to attend a top graduate program, and I will be talking with an adviser soon (I came here first to get an idea regarding this situation beforehand and not go in blind). So thank you for whatever feedback you give.


texts: Changing level of difficulty of assignments for a course based on average class performance

texts:
As a teaching faculty in mathematics, do I need to change the difficulty level of assignments after assessing the average class performance in the first couple of lectures? I am not sure if this is done across universities in graduate level courses.
Or do I continue to maintain the rigour irrespective of whether students are following(enjoying) the lectures. Should the teaching faculty worry about the faculty grades from students at the end of the semester course?

In the most common scenario, there will be students from weaker background, and we need to be responsible for them as well.


texts:
I simplified a publication into a method scheme and then published it on ResearchGate.

I added a reference to the original publication in my method paper.

My question is: am I violating the original authors rights by publishing this method paper I wrote online?

You can see the paper here: Ibuprofen RP-HPLC Method.

Thanks :)


texts: What to do when my introductory sentence is taken from another author's paper?

texts:
I am about ready to sumbit a paper in mathematics, but I have one worry.  While researching, I came across a sentence in the introduction of an old paper that I really want to use (with a very minor modification) in my abstract.  It has been in all of my drafts for a long while now, and I can't see getting rid of it!!!

Is this a serious issue?  Even though I'm stealing the sentence, I am not actually stealing any mathematics, so it kind of seems (??) okay to me. The old paper is cited elsewhere in my paper, by the way.  I just don't know how I can give credit for a phrase when it appears in the abstract... it would seem overkill to put the whole citation in the abstract.

In times like these I wish I hadn't ditched all my English major friends.

EDIT: THANKS for all of the replies. You convinced me to change to wording, and I believe I ended up with something almost as good.  I am a nervous wreck as it is, so I definitely don't need this plagiarism thing weighing on my conscience!!


texts: I have noticed GPA calculation "bug" in our University, what should I do?

texts:
University X offers course Y with Z credits. The course is mandatory, and very important. It lasts for more than one semester with heavy workload. The University awards Z credits for the course Y, but it only includes Z/2 credits in the GPA calculation.

This is where the story gets a bit personal. I assume the University includes only Z/2 credits in GPA calculation because the majority of the students do very bad in this course. But, that is not the case for me. If I have the Z amount of credits calculated for my GPA, it is increased for 0,3, which I believe can make the difference at some point.

I asked the officials at the examination regulation department about this situation, they said: "that was the case from the day when the program you study was established". Not convinced at all.

What should I do? Should I complain somewhere, should I ask for a specific GPA calculation for myself. In the end of the day it should be in the interest of the University to have students with good GPAs, hence I believe they do all this calculation "trick". And I believe I would not be asking for something "illegal".

What is the clever thing to do when one finds such regulations in own University which can be used on one's own good?!?

In case of need GPA calculation is done as follows:

(sum over all (number of credits for the given course x grade)) / number of credits used in calculation

example:

((course with 4 credits x grade) + (course with 6 credits x grade) + (course with 12 credits x grade)) / 22 (4 + 6 + 12 this case)

Note: From the comments it seems as my intention is to get in a battle of changing regulations at my University. That is not the case at all. I am just trying to find a nice way of using this situation on my benefit, by having some convincing discussions with the officials.

Additional Note: After digging through some documentation, I found an examinations regulations document which states clearly how the GPA is calculated, but does not give a reason for this type of calculation. I am also surprised to learn that minor subjects are not included in the GPA calculation. I also learned that the Final Thesis awards M credits, but in GPA calculations is weights ~2M credits. What bugs me at the moment is, why the University officials hide this information in all the other publicly available presentations. And their answers are not convincing to me.


texts: Is a break-of-study a hindrance to getting a PhD?

texts:
I live in a developing country. I want to go to USA for higher studies and plan to acquire a PhD there. But since I do not have enough money to go there, I need to have a job first to collect my money. May be the job is not relevant to my academic field of interest.

Are these types of break-of-studies hindrances to getting PhDs?


texts: When the co-author of a potential paper is not responsible

texts: I am a math postdoc and my young mentor is unfortunately a lazy person. I have prepared a manuscript 4 months ago and still no news about revision of that from the mentor. I do not know what can I do. Is it good to find someone else to help me to finish this paper? Sometimes the unknown referee suggest some ideas to improve the paper, Can I submit it to a journal and waiting for referee report?


texts: IUBH university Msc can give a chance to have a phD in germany?

texts:
I came accross a Masters of Data Science from the online IUBH university in Germany.
Would this degree grant me the chance to pursue a PhD in Germany? or will it be looked over as a weaker university or a degree with little research experience ?
and if not, does anyone know a better program that would help me through this ?
some background information about me:
I have started working in Germany in the Hardware sector for about 3 years. Almost a year ago i switched to Data Science because i felt i much more motivated working in that discipline. I have a Bachelor of engineering degree which had me study 5 years, granted me the ability to work in Germany (since it has more credits than a Bachelor of science engineering degree) but not a masters degree. It has always been a goal of mine pursuing a PhD, but unfortunately i cannot pursue a Master's degree in Germany without leaving my full time job, which i need to support my family.


texts: Is it acceptable to include footnotes in mathematical proofs?

texts: When writing a technical article that includes mathematical proofs: Is it acceptable to have footnotes within the body of a formal proof (to elaborate/clarify non-essential points) or is the use of footnotes in proofs considered bad practice?


texts:
One of my engineering friends told me how e once had to take a make-up calculus I exam due to being hospitalised and so self-studied a lot of the missed topics. For the make-up exam, e used L'Hôpital's rule, although we weren't taught that until 1 or 2 exams later. My friend told me that the professor wrote

'You are not yet allowed to use L'Hôpital's rule.'

So, I like to say that L'Hôpital's rule was inadmissible in that exam.
Now, it absolutely makes sense that if you're the student that you're not allowed to use propositions, theorems, etc from future topics, all the more for future classes and especially for something as basic as calculus I. It also makes sense to adjust for majors: Certainly maths majors shouldn't be allowed to use topics in discrete mathematics or linear algebra to have an edge over their business, environmental science or engineering (who take linear algebra later than maths majors in my university) classmates in calculus I or II.
But after bachelor's and master's and maths PhD coursework, you're the researcher and not merely the student (this is supposed to link to a star wars video): Say, you're doing your maths PhD dissertation or even after you've finished the PhD.
Does maths research have anything inadmissible?
I can't imagine you have something to prove and then you find some paper that helps you prove something and then you go to your advisor who would then tell you, 'You are not yet allowed to use Poincaré theorem' or for something proven true more than 12 years ago: 'You are not yet allowed to use Cauchy's differentiation formula'.
Actually what about outside maths, say, physics or computer science?


texts: How much of a "personal touch" on dissertation is OK?

texts:
I don't know if this is the case at other institutions but at my university dissertations are published as A5-size books/booklets. There are some regulations on how the formatting is supposed to be but it's pretty relaxed otherwise. Common practice is that the PhD candidate designs the cover themselves.

Typically these covers feature an image relating to the work the person has done in the lab; a molecule, a graph, a microscopy shot etc. Recently a colleague of mine put a painting of herself on the cover. Just for the sake of clarity, not a painting she's done, but rather a painting of her made by someone else. This has raised some discussion among the younger students, such as myself. Thus I wonder, how much of a personal touch is OK really? Would something like I described above be seen as an ego-thing by a potential employer? I am of the opinion that it might be seen as a lack of modesty or "self-distance" (quotes are there as I am not sure if this expression exists in english).

Am I being too critical? As it's a multi-cultural international group of academics here, I wonder if there is a consensus regarding such "customization" of the dissertation.


texts: What if I get B's in my first semester in graduate school (engineering program)?

texts:
Why is getting A's so important?

What if I did not have the background to pursue graduate education but nonetheless I decided to enroll in a graduate program?

I am in graduate school. I got straight A's at my local university (undergrad studies) and was admitted to the graduate program in engineering by one of the Big Ten universities. I am working diligently and extremely hard, and I have come to realize that the preparation in math and engineering from my undergrad institution was not even close to the preparation that students at my current institution have received.

I neither come from a research background nor have a strong mathematical background, but I am responsible and can learn the material so I know I am smart. However, my previous engineering school could have done better at training us as engineers, I would say that our engineering classes did not developed our problem solving skills and/or analytical thinking which is something I tried to learn on my own. I did what I could to learn what I believe had to be taught to me, which is why I was accepted into my current institution.

But it is so frustrating to feel the difference in knowledge and problem solving skills that other students seem to have just because they were instructed better. Currently I am getting B's for my graduate classes, and it is my first semester. So I would like to know, do grades really matter? Should I drop out after all of this hard work? What about the ones like me who want to have a better future and pursue grad school but did not have all the opportunities and sufficient preparation but can still do good, maybe not getting straight A's right from the beginning but definitely later (which is what I am aiming for and I know I can do it). However it is a bit discouraging, when all I find on the internet is "B's are like C's in graduate school" that statement seems to be unfair for people like me who work hard on school and research.


texts: What does "awaiting reviewer reply" mean? Is it same as "under review" and "awaiting reviewer scores"?"


texts: What is the difference between plagiarism and copyright infringement?

texts:
In this several times up-voted answer, it is suggested, among other things, that 'if someone using an image [...] that they do not own (it) is inappropriate and should be first reported to the PI of the paper and, potentially, the publisher if no action is taken.'

In my understanding, using images you do not own is not a good idea, it's illegal in many countries and the owners of the copyrights might react and claim their rights, but it's not plagiarism per se.

Let's consider the authors of an image processing paper who use a copyright-protected stock photograph to test their algorithm. They can cite the source of the image, in which case they would still be infringing copyright. But let's say they don't: they are not claiming that the photograph is their own, they just figure the readers won't care.

Edit: I recently came across a paper where it was written that images were from a commercially available CD of example images, without saying which one. In this case it's clear that they do not claim that they generated the images themselves but they didn't give any reference.

Is this academic misconduct that should be reported?


texts: Is the following a form of dishonesty on the part of the school?

texts:
This distance-learning school claims to be a member of a certain international academic organization . But after checking with the said organization, I found out that the school's membership have expired years ago. Just last week, the organization informed me that they have requested the school to remove the questioned information from its website. To date, however, the school has not yet acted on this request.

Can the school's action or inaction qualify as a form of dishonesty or should we give the school the benefit of the doubt?

(By the way, the school is government-recognized/accredited.)


texts: Lecturer yelled at me after class and refused to answer my question

texts:
During one of my lectures today, I had a question with something he did and raised my hand to ask the question. The lecturer didn’t see me, so my classmate asked me what my question was so I whispered to her what the confusion was.

My lecturer doesn’t like this, and asked me not to do this and to raise my hand if I have a question instead of making noise and being disrupting. I raised my hand but he told me to ask it after class.

When I did so, he told me to stop and informed me that he considered my behavior very rude and would not answer my question. I tried to tell him that I’m sorry and this was how I typically would react when I’m confused with something during lectures and my other professors didn’t mind, but I was very shocked and I’m not sure how well what I was saying came across and the lecturer got more angry, saying “You think this isn’t rude behavior?” And I apologized. Lecturer said he expected me to just apologize and leave and that I should do that, so I did.

I was shaken, and very upset. I didn’t intend to be rude. I’ll admit he had to ask me not to speak with other classmates in the past, sometimes due to me just whispering to a classmate about something unrelated, but often when I have a genuine question with what is going on. So I think he believes I’ve continually been acting rude and he has been trying to politely ask me to stop and it’s getting to be too much. I do admit that I shouldn’t be whispering to my friend if it’s not lecture-related and not at all if my lecturer wishes, but I also struggle understanding the material since it’s really hard to get a question answered.

Previously, he had been mad at me once when I was confused with a result derived in the lecture and said something along the lines of “I didn’t get it what you got but I’ll take it as true.” which offended him, perhaps believing I’m doubting them or something. I feel like that’s insecure, if I’m honest.

I had no idea that whispering at a low volume to a classmate who was trying to answer my question was considered rude, (also considering I’ve never been told this before by any lecturer in the past and I’m in my final year of university) especially when it is very hard to ask my lecturer a question because he doesn’t often look at the students when giving the lecture and only asks if there are any questions once or twice a lecture.

My friend suggested I make a complaint or talk to someone about it, but I’m genuinely scared my lecturer is going to kick me off the module or something, especially if I make him more angry with me. Is he allowed to do this, and if so, would he be justified in doing this? Would I have a strong appeal if so?

I’m not sure how rude I’ve been, is the main thing. How should I act moving forward? The idea of being kicked off the module for this is very scary to me. I’m still quite hurt and shaken at the time of writing this.


texts: As you know there exists a journal ranking namely, Scimago Journals and Country Ranking. And we see Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4 rankings. My question is that whether this ranking is a valid criteria of journal rankings in the field of mathematics?


texts: What tense to use when writing a thesis?

texts:
I am well aware of the fact that there are a number of questions that talk about tenses in research, but I still have not found exactly what I am after.

Basically my question is this, in a Master dissertation, should the tense be the same throughout the entire text? Or is it acceptable (or even required)  to use different tenses in different structures?

Assuming the following structure, if you believe that there should be separate tenses, would the suggestions in brackets be correct?

Title (Present)
Abstract (Imperfect Past)
Introduction (Present + Future)
Methodology (Past Perfect, Present, Future or Mix?)
Results (Past Perfect)
Discussion (Present*)
Conclusion (Mix?, conditional present)

*Would the choice of any present tense put all preceding sections in a past tense?

Looking at that structure I find it hard to see that only one tense should be adopted throughout the entire text.

Sources: This, this and that.


texts: Relation between a recommender and a PhD applicant

texts:
Online PhD application systems usually ask for relation between the recommender and the applicant.

The applicant was in a PhD program and the recommender was a professor in the department. The applicant approached him for some research opportunities at first, and later did some research in one of the recommender's projects, directly mentored by an assistant research professor. There was no formal title of "research adviser" for the recommender to the applicant, or for the research assistant professor to the applicant, as the student was still in the process of finalizing research direction and adviser. The student then didn't finish the PhD, and later applied to PhD programs in other universities.

Can the relation between the recommender and the applicant be "research adviser" in PhD application? What is best to describe that relation?
By the way, the recommender was also an instructor to the applicant in some courses. But a relation besides "instructor" was preferred, if possible.


texts: Adjunct position at Johns Hopkins Engineering

texts:
I was reading the Notices of the AMS, and saw an advertisement for a part-time adjunct position for the "Johns Hopkins Engineering for Professionals" (https://ep.jhu.edu/about/teachforus/) in the Applied and Computational Mathematics (ACM) masters program. A lot of their courses are taught online.
Has anyone taught for this program as an adjunct, and can you share your experience?
Edit: I am currently a postdoc in theoretical mathematics (in the US). I consider trying to gain more experience teaching applied mathematics or computing in the hope that these experiences will help me get a permanent position in applied mathematics/computing in the future.


texts: What to do when one my co-authors is openly insulting me but the others remain silent?

texts:
I previously asked this question Senior co-author is jeopardizing two years of work.

I have been trying to address my senior co-author's concerns. However, he is still not happy, and has now started to openly insult me in the group email discussions among all co-authors.

What should I do? My supervisors and other co-authors appear to choose to remain silent. I will be soon applying elsewhere, so I would like to have good recommendation letters. It is becoming difficult to care what happens to the paper, since it would be in preparation anyway while I am applying elsewhere.

Academia is a small world, so I would like to remain on as good terms as possible with everyone, including the difficult co-author.

(PS. I would accept the highest voted answer in the other question but I lost my login)


texts: Techniques to "digest" large amounts of textual data (academic papers, books, etc)

texts:
I am a faculty member in a research-oriented university. I teach and I do research in social sciences. Similarly to most academics, a big part of my job involves reading.

A portion of my "reading list" requires accuracy. When I review papers, grade exams, or work on my own research, my attention needs to be 100% focused on the task at hand. The main reason is that reading these documents usually leads to an output (e.g. a grade, a review, a paragraph in a paper, etc.).

However, a large portion of my "reading list" requires digesting fast large amounts of textual data. I monitor several journals to stay up to date, I investigate new literatures, I read books in my field, I read every year the papers assigned to students in my syllabi, etc. This does not require accuracy. The main goal is to have a big picture vision, a broad idea.

The main trick I found to digest large amounts of textual data pretty fast is to use a text-to-speech software that I use on my phone. I found it makes me more productive than sitting at my desk and helps me claim additional reading hours (e.g. gym, errands, commute, cleaning, etc.)

What techniques would you recommend to "digest" large amounts of text?

Note: I asked a related question this morning but was told that it was too "tech" oriented. I deleted the former question and posted this one.


texts:
I want to say got it, but it seems not appropriate.
Can I just reply like, well noted with thanks or well received?
How to reply emails like this?

thanks in advance
EDIT----------------------------------
I work as the TA for the professor. So the usual cases are:
1. he gives me an assignment and I want to reply 'I will do it right away'.
2. I ask him some questions about the assignment and he replies something. And I want to express 'yes, got it!'


texts: When do you use superscript affiliations and when not?

texts:
I am submitting a paper to a journal. This journal allows authors' affiliations to be indicated either with superscripts or by listing the authors from each institution on its own line. I am trying to decide which of these to choose.
I normally submit papers with superscript affiliations because this is less wasteful in terms of space. But, the layout of my current paper is amenable to both formats (the author order doesn't matter, and this alternate format seems clearer). My experience is mostly with LaTeX with the revTex class, so it's just whether the "superscriptaddress" is listed in the beginning of the document or not.
In the absence of guidance from the journal, what factors should one consider when deciding which style to use?


texts: Who should be proofreading journal articles?

texts:
I try to have any manuscript proofread before submission to an academic journal, where proofreading typically involves checking/fixing the spelling, grammar and overall style in English.

This decision often involves somewhat difficult decisions to make on how best to proceed. Here I am interested in one particular dimension of the problem. How to select someone good to proofread an article for an academic outlet?


texts: How to write a research proposal where the project description is given and known?

texts:
I am applying for this PhD studentship, where the project is known and is about a specific procedure. I have seen this question, here the chap who answers the question mentions to look at the description like a job advert and to look at the research proposal as a cover letter, so probably covering why you would be suitable for that position.
However, the position I am applying for, is a group/Lab within department department X, and department X mentions the following about a research proposal for their graduate roles:

Your proposal should focus on research rather than personal achievements, interests and aspirations.

It's also worth mentioning that it has a world limit of 500, so not that long. It also mentions that the proposal will be assessed based on:

the coherence of the proposal
the originality of the project
an understanding of the proposed area of study
the feasibility of successfully completing the project in the time available (a maximum of 4 years)
knowledge of research techniques and suitability to undertake the proposed work

I have also tried to contact the supervisor, he mentioned that he would try to connect soon, but then he never came back, the deadline is also in a few days, so I don't have any other options. Not surprisingly, the department also mentions that it is expected for students to talk to potential supervisors about the proposal.
any help is appreciated.


texts:
I've read the following in a description of a workshop:

  We have about 15 participants and seek an “Oberwolfach style” with a relatively low density of talks.

I couldn't find anything about this style in Internet. But I found out that there is The Mathematical Research Institute of Oberwolfach, and according to Wikipedia

  It organizes weekly workshops on diverse topics where mathematicians and scientists from all over the world come to do collaborative research.

But the sense of this “Oberwolfach style” is still vague to me.


texts: Should I choose the same editor for two papers?

texts: If I submit two papers in the same area at the same time to the same journal, and the journal allows me to choose from a list of editors, should I choose the same editor or different editors? What are the pros and cons of each way?


texts:
Question is: For a first year math PhD student, should the student read their graduate level math textbooks page by page, sentence by sentence?

I often hear professors say that that's a bad idea, and that it's better to look at problems first, and then go back to read as necessary.

From undergrad training though, I like reading math books and working through them methodically, namely, going cover to cover (e.g. for calculus, linear algebra, introductory analysis, probability, etc.)


texts: Is a preprint considered as dual publication?

texts:
I am about to submit a paper to Nature but I made public the technical report supporting an important share of the results via BioRXiv a few weeks ago.

In the Nature submission system, they asked if the results have been published elsewhere. Is the preprint of my technical report considered as such?

Thanks


texts:
Lately I have been applying to many universities for a position on a master's program, therefore I contaced many people asking them questions regardings these programs. What troubles me is the following:

When I recieve an answer, am I supposed to answer saying "Thank you" or something like that?

My reasoning is that these people (secretaries and such) have too much work and having an email at their inbox just thanking them will just cause iriation and disorganization.


texts: How to phrase authors' contributions when the convention is that all team members are authors?

texts:
The question
When a journal (such as one of the Nature family) asks for information about authors' contributions, what is the most effective way to answer this, to ensure that the co-authorship is assigned as intended, and to ensure that reality is represented: that the work is a product of the intellectual environment of the whole team; and that all members have contributed in various degrees to the analytical methods used, to the research concept, and to the experiment design. Is what I've just written there sufficient, or is there a more judicious phrasing that is accepted by heavyweight journal publishers such as the Nature Group?
The context
The primary context is publications from a team that works on the principle that all members of the team are to be named authors on all papers coming out of the team.
I'm very specifically looking for answers from editors who handle such papers; or from members of teams with similar rules. Answers from others are of course possible, but I'd value direct personal experience.
Here's the Vancouver Group's (International Committee of Medical Journal Editors) statement on the subject:

Authorship credit should be based on 1) substantial contributions to conception and design, acquisition of data, or analysis and interpretation of data; 2) drafting the article or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and 3) final approval of the version to be published. Authors should meet conditions 1, 2, and 3.
When a large, multicenter group has conducted the work, the group should identify the individuals who accept direct responsibility for the manuscript. These individuals should fully meet the criteria for authorship/contributorship defined above, and editors will ask these individuals to complete journal-specific author and conflict-of-interest disclosure forms. When submitting a manuscript authored by a group, the corresponding author should clearly indicate the preferred citation and identify all individual authors as well as the group name. Journals generally list other members of the group in the Acknowledgments. The NLM indexes the group name and the names of individuals the group has identified as being directly responsible for the manuscript; it also lists the names of collaborators if they are listed in Acknowledgments.
Acquisition of funding, collection of data, or general supervision of the research group alone does not constitute authorship.
All persons designated as authors should qualify for authorship, and all those who qualify should be listed.
Each author should have participated sufficiently in the work to take public responsibility for appropriate portions of the content.

The caveats:
 1. My field is not medicine: I've used the Vancouver Group's guidelines, as I haven't yet found any in my field.
 2. note that this is emphatically not about the ethics, pros and cons of such a rule. If you want to discuss that, please do so in chat. I may join you there as time allows
Related literature:

Author contributions audit, by Maxine Clarke on the Nature Nautilus authors' blog, lists example contributors' satements
Drummond Rennie discusses "Authorship Credits"
Academia and Clinic, by Yank & Rennie: Disclosure of Researcher Contributions: A Study of Original Research Articles in The Lancet
and lots more at the US Council of Science Editors


texts: Writing first email to prospective professors about MS application

texts:
I am applying to a particular university in US for MS this year. At this particular university there are three professors who are conducting research in the area I am interested in. I have two questions:

I saw two questions here in this site about people writing emails to professors while seeking out a PhD admission. Should I do the same? Or will it look like I am being over-enthusiastic? See I am applying to MS with thesis option so I wish to have one of the three professors as my thesis adviser if offered an admission. Also I wish to follow my MS with a PhD later on. So if I do get a chance to continue in the same university, I would like to work under the professor who advised my MS thesis.
I am not able to pick a single professor who I wish to have as my thesis adviser because I find the works of all the three professors interesting. Their work kind of falls under the same category to someone who has just finished as an undergrad. Also, it could be that the professor I am interested in is very busy this year, so I don't want to choose just a single professor. If these three professors ever get together and talk will it look superficial since I have sent emails to the three of them. Not that I will be sending identical mails to the three, it will be personal and I will talk about their research.


texts: Publishing with a master's degree and no academic affiliation?

texts:
Currently I am finishing a master's degree in linguistics. I was accepted for a Ph.D at my university, but I decided not to do it in the end. I love my research and my field, but I don't see myself as a professor and I'm not sure a purely academic career is for me. Furthermore, my husband and I would suffer from the 'two body problem' if I got my Ph.D since he already graduated from his Ph.D program, and that is a situation I want to avoid. I am considering doing a clinical master's in SLP to apply my background in linguistics and biology in a clinical rather than purely academic setting.
For the time being I will be taking a year off, but I am wondering about the idea of 'independent researchers'. If I continued with my research (which I can do from my computer using open access corpora and other corpora I have access to) could I publish/present my findings? If I became an SLP could I continue to publish even though I wouldn't have a Ph.D?
Thank you in advance.


texts:
My article submission is in first 'Under Review' status since more than 6 months. The journal editor did not answer on my request for submission. Can I cancel my submission of the journal or must I wait in any case, even if it will take years? I am under deadline pressure.

Websites of journals haven't the information to cancelation of submissions. This is an elsevier journal.

Many greetings!


texts: How does one use a paper that's not written in a language that he can read?

texts:
For instance, if a paper is written in Russian, and a researcher wants to use this work and cite it, does he have to learn Russian?

What's the typical practice?

Does he try and use translation tools such as Google translate?

Pay a professional translator?

Or, blindly accept the results and blindly cite the paper and move on?

(The last option is problematic, if one wants to write a self-contained piece of work, using the results and proof from the original work.)


texts: How to respond to "what you can bring to our department" in reply of a sabbatical request?

texts:
I am a faculty member at a university in a developing country. I love my field of research very much and want to improve my knowledge and level of expertise. I did worked always by myself and without being in touch with any other researcher in my field. Nearly a week ago, I sent a letter to one of the leading researchers (top 10) in my field to accept me for a sabbatical program and attached to the email one of my papers which is 15 months under review in a prestigious journal. The main reason for asking for sabbatical is that I really don't know what direction to go from here, in my journey in research.

Fortunately, their secretary answered me that we are full and don't have the space to host you, but we will look if we can find a solution and meanwhile send a cv.
A day after I sent my cv, she mailed me to make a proposal for the project you want to do here, with whom you want to collaborate and what you will bring to the team here, and why you need to come in order to do the project.

These are perfect questions for a researcher to answer, but given that I don't have a sense of research direction, the importance of problems, and don't know what are important problems right now. I really want them to help me with the project. Even I prefer them to set a direction of research for me.

Given that I want to escape out of my bubble I'm in and connect with leading researchers, what they want me to tell for the question of what you could bring to here?


texts: Title for a paper that theoretically compares several algorithms and implements one

texts: First, I am not asking for name suggestions. I am just not sure how to express very well the content of my paper. The paper theoretically compares four algorithms, and nominates and implements one of them. I found many papers in the literature which started with the name Comparative analysis. Does this term apply to my paper? (In all the literature I've found they implement all algorithms, not just one.) If this term does not apply, is there a proper term that can pinpoint the content? More specifically, my paper compares four pattern recognition algorithms and implements one of them that theoretically seems to be the best. Does (Selection and Implementation of an Algorithm for optimizing ... system) properly express the content of my paper ?


texts:
"Required Reviews Completed" Is that normal that this status lasts more than one month after Major Revision?
Thank you for your contribution


texts: Can dissertation be included in publication part in CV

texts:
In my CV, I include my dissertation topic within my education part like this:

From start-time to end-time
Master of something, University at somewhere
Dissertation title: something

However, I also see some people include their dissertation in publication part even though it's not published publicly. So, I wonder if doing that is acceptable and advisable.


texts: (Master's Degree) What are they 'precisely' looking for in a Statement of Purpose, and does a SOP matter when one has excellent GPA?

texts:
(N.b. All my questions are concerning applying for a Master's degree)

I have read a lot of websites, articles, extracts from different books about the Statement of Purpose (Motivation Letter). I'm still not quite sure how to write a 'breathtaking' SOP to blow the reader's brain.

For example, I don't know how to present my interest in my field of study in a brilliant way to amaze the person reading it. I am very interested in my field and I can think of million things I can do with it, but still I don't know the best way to present that interest. Most people say that I need a 'grip', an interesting story from my own life that made me become interested in my field of study. But let me be honest, I have none, not everybody has that sudden 'turning point' in their life. My interest in my field of study just happened over time; one day I saw that, hey this is pretty a fascinating field of study and it totally matches my interest in different fields, I can apply the knowledge gained from this field to almost anything. So nothing extraordinary, it just happened with no reason.

I have also read hundreds of samples online, and they all look totally the same, they say that SOP has to be distinctive, but that's exactly what I didn't see in the samples I read - they all start with a memory of their childhood and finish with how much they'd love to contribute to society and mankind and become a researcher.

I am really lost about writing a SOP. I think I'm even more lost because I have read thousands of articles and books and have heard a lot of different opinions for the past 2 months. I am not sure what a "superb" SOP is, and I am not quite sure what the admission committee looks for...

Finally, I have a tiny last question; Does the Statement of Purpose matter as much if one has a GPA of 92%?


texts: Making a Lateral Jump in Fields for a PhD

texts:
Currently I am an MSc student in Resource and Environmental Economics. In the pursuit of further graduate studies, I think that I would be a lot more interested in pursuing something along the lines of quantitative sociology or applied mathematics. But what I am not sure about is how often people are able to make lateral jumps to different fields.

I finished my MSc course work with a 3.8/4.0 gpa and I did my undergraduate degree (after having floated to different faculties in my earlier years) in economics with a minor in math while finishing my last two years with a 3.5/4.0 gpa. However, my early years of of schooling were pretty crappy (2.6-2.7 gpa), and so I bring these numbers up to both assert resiliency as a student and as merit to suggest I have matured in many faculties of my own learning abilities. Hopefully with those numbers, it would suggest to faculty from another field that I have the capabilities of pursuing studies in that area, although the area would be fairly different from what I did for my MSc.

Do you think it is possible to shift fields and directions or do people often find themselves on a similar track when pursuing PhD level work?


texts: Do the author's name and/or affiliation affect the visibility of a paper?

texts:
Suppose two papers were published by fledgling researchers, perhaps PhD students, who are yet unknown in their field. One is Asian, has a surname which is long and difficult to pronounce, and perhaps also comes from a relatively unknown university. The other has an English name, and comes from a well-known university. But otherwise, the two papers are similar in content and on par in terms of quality.

Ideally, there should not be any preference with regards to citing either of the two papers. That means, in the long run, the expected citation counts of the two papers should be about the same. However, I am interested to know whether this is the case in reality. From my limited experience, I seem to have seen papers that referenced only other papers whose authors are European. Has there been any study that suggests whether the name and/or affiliation of an author affect the visibility and hence the citation count of his/her paper? I am aware that the answer might be different for different fields.

To ask the question in another way, is our perception of a paper influenced by the authors' names and/or affiliations? Do we not tend to infer the quality of a paper by these factors?


texts: Modify the page layout of application materials (i.e. A4 vs. Letter) when applying for jobs in multiple countries?

texts: Most countries use A4 paper. The US and Canada use letter paper. When applying for jobs across several countries should application materials always be designed to meet the page layout norms for the particular job location? Will materials even be printed?


texts: Is it permitted to cite works by members of my own family, in classwork?

texts:
I'm starting a unit (undergraduate class) at my university which deals very much with topics researched by my grandfather - He has written a number of books and papers on the issue.

I don't yet know if I'll need to cite them but I thought it would be wise to ask now, rather than with a looming deadline. Is there anything I should take into consideration if I end up citing his works?

Additionally, would it be considered unethical (and/or an 'unfair advantage') to clarify anything on the subject matter with him, or does that just constitute "good research"? If I did get clarification from him, would I have to add my communications with him in an appendix?


texts: Are there any resources to find modern (or effective) assignment types, knowledge control techniques?

texts:
I'm participating in creating blended (online/offline) courses. Faced a problem of inventing well-designed assignments/assessments. There are already quizzes, essays valuated by teacher, webinars/live lessons. But they are usual, they don't involve students.

So I started searching for teachers' experiences in more unusual ways to control students' knowledge, gather information about each student. But it is very scattered.

Can anyone advice some resources (sites, publications, works, magazines) about this topic? I'm absolutely new in education, so any help will be appreciated.

A bit more information about courses:

oriented on graduate, under-graduate levels and professional development
2 levels of audience: medium (60-100 members in a moment) and big (close to MOOCs: 100-thousands).
technical difficult is not limited


texts: Interested in pursuing a PhD but I graduate in December. Do I have to wait an extra year to apply?

texts: I'm interested in pursuing a PhD program but will not complete my undergraduate degree until December. Most PhD programs require their application to be completed in December. Does that mean I have to wait an extra year to apply (since it could take a few weeks past their deadline to receive my final transcripts)?


texts: Is research output determined by your type of institution more than your skill?

texts:
I've often thought it was strange that one's value as a scholar is determined largely on the basis of one's research, yet one's ability to perform "good" (in quantitative and qualitative terms) research is based largely on the type of institution where one works.

Consider the following scenario: Scholar A gets a job at an R1 straight out of grad school. Scholar A therefore has a light teaching load, generous sabbatical, a large research budget and so on. As a result, Scholar A goes on to publish prolifically in top journals. Scholar A's professional profile rises. The university that hired him pats itself on the back for having made the right bet in hiring him, since, of course, he turned out to be a "top" scholar.

Scholar B, meanwhile, attended the same graduate institution as Scholar A, and wrote a dissertation that was deemed equally meritorious. Due to the vicissitudes of the academic job market, however, Scholar B ends up with a first job at a teaching-focused college rather than an R1. Saddled with a 3/3 teaching load and few opportunities for internal research funding or protected research time, Scholar B publishes little, and most of what he does publish is in second-tier journals. Even if he is a great teacher, he remains unheard of within his field, since status is determined mostly on the basis of research. Consequently, people who look at Scholar B's academic record ten or twenty years after his Ph.D. confidently conclude that he is a mediocre scholar, who would never have been fit for an R1 that hires top scholars.

This would seem unfair. Scholar B might have been just as productive research-wise as Scholar A, had the former had the good fortune of working at an institution that facilitated an aggressive research agenda. But Scholar B ends up being deemed "not very smart" because he produces little research.

In other words, it has always seemed to me that scholarly success is in many ways a self-fulfilling prophecy.  The R1s that pride themselves on hiring "top" scholars don't actually pick or attract the right people as much as they create the conditions that allow one to turn into a top scholar (in a world where, again, that status is based mostly on your research).

I happen to be a tenured faculty member at an R1 university, with a publication record that I am quite proud of. But I'd be lying to myself if I said that I would have published as much -- and earned the reputation I have in my field -- if I'd spent the years since my Ph.D. working in a more teaching-heavy place.

I'm also in the humanities. I'm not sure whether the trend I describe above exists in the sciences.


texts: Taking credit for supervising a PhD student while I am a postdoc

texts:
I am nearly done with my PhD and I am excited to the phase where I supervise PhD theses. However in Germany, I can be the official supervisor of a PhD student only if I am a professor.

I will probably write project proposals for grants and such, and hopefully through those I can hire PhD students. And I am sure my current supervisor would be happy if I share with him the load of supervising new PhD students.

Let's say I start supervising (or co-supervising) a PhD student after one of those two scenarios above. The question is, how can I take credit for supervising that student if I am not yet a professor?

Surely we'll be writing papers together and I'll benefit from that. But I wonder if it would be okay to say in a future interview or in my CV: I supervised a PhD student while I was a post doc.


texts: What is the best way to approach a professor for "formal" guidance/advisorship when they have no proficiency in the topic?

texts:
My situation is as follows: I have studied and completed a maths degree from a very prestigious and competitive university. I have then worked a few years as a mathematician and have then decided to change fields and become a doctor (physician). Now I'm getting to a point where I have to create (another) masters thesis.
I'm planning to create and publish something, which most likely none of the professors at my medical university (which is a lower tier, non technical one in terms of research) know or understand anything about and would like to turn this in as a masters thesis.
My university allows this (counting a published paper as a master thesis), however I'm not sure how to approach a professor in a non intimidating/threatening way and in such a way that they will be ready to "sign with their name".
Their support is purely formal, i.e. they only need to sign their name since my work will be checked by the editors of the journal, however the amount of professors that are at the university is very limited, and as such I'm trying to figure out the best way to go about this.
What is the smartest way to go about all of this?


texts:
I am wrapping up the first year of my Master's degree at an R1 university (social sciences program). I really want to apply for my PhD, but I am concerned that my master's GPA is prohibitively low. I am ending the first year with a 3.6 (primarily due to text anxiety, which was new to me this year). I love learning and feel that I've gained a lot from my classes, but it's not reflected in my test scores.

My undergraduate GPA was a 3.9 I do not yet have publications, but I've joined multiple labs and connected with professors who know my research interests and motivations.

Will my GPA be too low for admission into a PhD program? I will be completing my thesis next year. At this point, I think I've gained a good perspective on how I need to approach my studies in grad school, and I've developed strategies to improve my academics in my last year. Can anyone recommend strategies to help me improve?
Thanks!


texts: Should I be concerned about the validity of my degree if my peers in other educational systems seem to have more difficult exams?

texts:
I'm an Italian student of mathematical physics at the university of Edinburgh. I have recently caught up with one of my friends and noticed that their exams in Linear algebra and calculus (analisi I, II and Geometria 1) are harder than those I have done here, which made me question how valid my university actually is. I am aware that at Edinburgh university the toughest year is supposed to be the third (unlike in Italy where the first is when most people drop out).

Does this mean that an Italian degree in physics provides a better preparation to become a theoretical physicist, or are the two qualifications equivalent?


texts: Can we include a class or mathematical representation of a class coded in Python on a research paper/case study in field of energy

texts:
I'm writing a paper based on energy optimisation by creating discharge profile based on demand. So i wrote an algo which (not the most efficient) but works great. The problem is the algorithm is based on a class based function and has variables which needs to be updated and one of which is used as the output.
Am i supposed to show the mathematical representation of the algorithm? and if i can, how am i supposed to show loops and iterations? sorry but this is my first paper.


texts: Engineers/Scientists to break into management consulting

texts:
Engineers and Scientists are probably not the kind of people management consulting companies look for. But I think many of such would be highly qualified and a good fit for management consulting positions, especially where vision and strategy are needed.
What would you suggest for a scientist or an engineer to succeed in getting a job, considering that the hardest part is to even get a phone call?


texts: What should I do if I think a researcher in my university is intentionally employing incompetent people?

texts:
In our university there are a lot of great researchers and a very competent people in general. I've discovered today that one of our researchers is intentionally employing people who are totally incompetent. I think that he's doing this to appear as a great teacher and supervisor, because, as far as I know, he was a supervisor for all of them in the past.

I personally know some of these incompetent researchers, since their first year of undergraduate studies. They were those people who find it incredibly hard to pass every course, especially maths.  I've been giving one of them remedial lessons to make him able to pass a database course. He finally made it on the 3rd attempt. His other courses weren't much better - he failed literally EVERY maths course until the last possible attempt.

Today, I discovered that he and several people similar to him are employed as researchers.  Some of them were there even before completing their B.S (which is usually not allowed even for the most talented students).

What should I do to notify others of this situation and without worsening my position in my colleagues' eyes?

The researcher is a man of a great reputation (or at least, much greater than I am as a postgraduate :-) ), so I'm afraid of being just considered malicious and jealous man. On the other hand I'm pretty angry about all this, because there are some very expensive international projects, where money for these people are completely wasted and a research progress is much slower than it has to be. Those positions could be occupied by really talented and competent people and not just by somebody, who was supervised by one specific man.


texts: When giving a seminar talk, should I sit or stand?

texts:
When I give a talk (e.g. in a department seminar) it is more convenient for me to sit down, since my body is more relaxed and it is easier for me to concentrate in the talk.

But, I have been told that sitting down makes me seem less serious, and it is more professional to stand up while talking.

So, is it better to sit or stand?


texts: The subject of authorship is always a bit challenging, but here's a dilemma: Person A recently graduated from a PhD program in Molecular, Cell Biology. Prior to graduating, A submitted his manuscript for publication listing A as first author, one middle author and the PI as corresponding author. A had conceived of the project, spent 3+ years of full time work conducting the experiments, wrote the manuscript, did all the analysis and put together all figures. The reviewer comments came back as a revise and resubmit. At around the same time A was told by the PI that he needed to graduate and be off the grants for funding reasons, and that student B, a third year in the same lab, would be able to help with increasing replicates and the few experiments required by reviewers. A also continued to analyze data and offered to help with experiments in the lab on a volunteer basis, but the PI said that wouldn't be necessary as B could take care of it. B conducted some replicates at the rate of 1-2 experiments per month for 3 months (he was juggling several other projects) until the revisions were due. Two nights before the revised manuscript was due the PI said that B should be added as a co-first author, indicating that A and B have contributed equally to the work. My question is this: Is this normal in academia? Is it something that should happen and is no big deal, as indicated by the PI? Also, what can A do given that he has already graduated and will be starting a post-doc and will need recommendations from the PI in the future?


texts: Should I lead an applause after introducing colloquium speaker?

texts:
I am introducing my first speaker at my university and, since the speaker is rather famous, I wrote a 1-2 minute introduction.  The crowd will be interdisciplinary and between 100-400 people.

Should I lead the audience in an applause at the end of my introduction, or just finish with the title of his talk and a nod to him?  Or something else?

If it matters, it is an interdisciplinary topic, a public audience and in a science department.


texts: Is it ever appropriate to ask a professor to be a business advisor?

texts:
Myself and a few business partners of mine are working to develop a software product, in which I am responsible for building and all other technical aspects. At the same time, I'm currently pursuing a secondary degree in Computer Science at a local university. As my responsibilities within our business include securing a competent technical advisor, a suggestion was raised by my colleagues to inquire with my professors as to if they'd be willing to take on a limited advisory role in exchange for some amount of company ownership.

Is this at all common in the academic world? There are past professors in which I've excelled in their classes, had positive relationships and would consider their knowledge in such a role incredibly valuable. Additionally, I also know a few of them are not full-time with the university, but serve as guest lectures with ongoing careers in the software field.

I've been told this isn't an entirely uncommon practice, but I can also foresee a number of ethical issues and conflict of interest surrounding this idea, given that I'm a student within the program.


texts: Is it wise to do teaching-assistantship in a university I am not studying in?

texts:
The universities from which I earned my BSc. and MSc. degrees are not the same. Last week, a professor who knows me from my BSc. university called me and asked me to accept his teaching assistantship for one of his MSc. courses.

Despite probably receiving a letter of recommendation from him for my PhD applications;

What would be benefits of accepting such proposal?
Is it wise to do teaching-assistant in a university I am not studying in?


texts: How to handle an advisor who communicates badly and puts me in a bad position as a result?

texts:
I'm frequently put in an awkward position by my advisor: he communicates pretty badly (vague, doesn't give enough information, isn't clear with what he wants, references things that could mean many things), and then I have to interpret what he means. If I interpret it incorrectly, I often get chastised because from his point of view, he gave me directions and I didn't follow them correctly. If I ask for clarification, I often get chastised because he sees nothing wrong with the bad directions he gave me.

I'm of course open to the possibility, but I don't think it's just me -- I've been in meetings with him and several other people, showing information that everyone clearly understands but he's very confused. Inversely, I've also seen other people be confused by what he's trying to say. To try and find a positive example, the people who seem to work best with him are people who mostly do their work independently (postdocs, for example).

It's very frustrating to me because I'm genuinely trying to work hard and please him, and I do think he has good ideas -- he just acts like the things in his head that are clear to him are thus clear to everyone else.

I know he tries to stress independence as well, which I understand is a valuable trait -- I know too many grad students who are basically passive "gophers" who just go down the list of what their advisor tells them to do and never end up thinking for themselves. And I appreciate that, but it can go just as badly in the opposite direction, when I'm pulling out my hair because I just have so little information about what he wants, but he thinks I have a lot.

Is there anything I can really do? I'm usually all for it, but I don't think talking to him directly and specifically would really accomplish anything here: he's successful and seemingly pretty set in his ways.


texts: Can game theory explain grade inflation?

texts: According to wikipedia, grade inflation is the tendency of academic grades for work of comparable quality to increase over time.  That article also includes plenty of evidence for the phenomenon and lists some potential causes.  Has this issue been studied using game theory?  What game-theoretic models of the educational grading process exist that could shed some light on the forces behind this phenomenon?


texts: Asking for letters of recommendation for HS teaching positions

texts:
I am in my first year of a PhD. The only thing I look forward to in the morning is grading/prepping lab/office hours for my twice a week TA assignment.
The nature of my program is very stressful, and I am not sure I will make it to the fun part (research). I am very likely to never pass my qualifying exams to get to the research part of the PhD. Which is a shame because I have loved my past research experience in undergrad and the Fulbright.
And so I'm looking into teaching residency programs for HS physics teachers.
Should I ask my TA supervisor for a letter of rec? He likes me and I'm sure would be able to supply a letter of rec with some nice "show don't tell" anecdotes.
The risk is that he is a part of the PhD program I would be leaving. Given the nature of STEM PhDs in the US (Im not paying tuition) leaving seems a slap in the face, like I stole their money by taking courses without paying.
However I have always been under the impression it's best to get recent letters of rec.
Should I just stick to undergrad letters of rec?


texts:
I have written a few reviews for Mathematical Reviews. But how do I cite such reviews in a bibliography?
This seems to be an open problem as I in a database written by others encountered a reference to a review I wrote which "cheated", as it were, and simply indicated Mathematical Reviews, Year, No. 1, pages 1-2.


texts: Would a graduate program require a transcript from a past institution even if the transcript is empty?

texts:
I started a new graduate program in September. After a few weeks weeks, I chose to withdraw due to personal/health concerns.

One of the reasons I accepted the offer of admission was because it included a scholarship that covered tuition. After I withdrew, they took away the scholarship (expected) but they also charged me tuition for the first semester (unexpected). They did this because, technically, I withdrew a few days after the "last day to drop classes without financial penalty" deadline.

I am no longer a student, but they are still requiring me to pay ~$1500 to cover the tuition. I can't afford to pay this; I was not expecting this additional expense since the scholarship was supposed to cover it. If I don't pay it right away, they will charge interest.

Now the easiest option (but perhaps unethical) seems to be to just walk away without paying. But if I want to apply for another graduate program some time in the future, I will need a transcript from all past institutions. And if I want a transcript from this institution, they need me to pay the ~$1500.

This seems ridiculous; effectively, it will cost $1500 to get a transcript that does not contain any grades. It just says that I withdrew from all classes.

Would a graduate program generally require a transcript that does not contain any grades? Alternatively, is there any precedent for a situation where a scholarship is revoked but tuition is still required after withdrawing?

For context, this is a major Canadian university.

Update: Thanks for the responses. After reaching out to the department and explaining the situation, it was determined that financial services had made an error when they revoked the scholarship. Basically, the scholarship acted like a tuition waiver and it was not correct to cancel the tuition waiver (and thereby charge full tuition) when a student withdraws.


texts: DOs and DON'Ts about asking PhD info to a Professor via email?

texts:
I have serious doubts about how to ask PhD info to a professor, via email.
Is there a possibility that a professor don't want to answer me?
What I have to avoid to increase the possibility to obtain a response from them?
When I see a site announcing a PhD open positions and then the form to send an email, only to ask more info, I shortly describe myself, my skills, my MSc and then I ask info.
Maybe I am wrong?
Any suggestions?


texts: How to teach a course or courses that I have not formally taken myself?

texts:
I am currently a postdoc. My PhD research has been using Finite element method for additive manufacturing simulations.
I come from materials engineering background and I don't have any formal education on continuum mechanics or finite element method. I had taken some advanced courses on mechanics. But, they did not cover anything related to finite element analysis or continuum mechanics.
My self study on these topics are neither structured or formalized. I read books, online videos, tried some coding and concentrated on portions applicable for my research. I have forgotten most of the theory part.
As a result, I know how to model my problem statement, publish papers and develop new problem statements. But I know nothing many topics that is covered in an actual finite element course. Also, I did not do many example problems or coded my own programs (just 1d or 2d case).
Now, if I get an opportunity to teach students on the theoretical aspects of the finite element, how can I be confident that I can do a good job?
I have very limited teaching experience and I have taught only materials engineering courses. Please advise.


texts: How to address in-group bullying without compromising PhD/career?

texts:
I've been bullied by my supervisor and other members of my research group for the past couple of years.

Some of the things which have indicated bullying include snide remarks being made during group meetings, exclusion from the group inside and outside of the research environment, not being kept in the loop for group projects and even my own project, having key work on my project assigned to someone else, being given unreasonable loads of work to complete in an unrealistic time frame, being called upon and humiliated during meetings in front of colleagues, being immediately blamed for any issues in the group without allowing for an explanation, having rules change on me last minute and not being informed of these, and being subjected to massive double standards overall.

There are also a few more serious issues, involving threats to remove me from the program, use of my content without referencing me, removing me from projects I had planned on publishing from and giving them to others without informing me until they have conducted 'my' work and published it, and having them ignore university policies in favor of their own rules.

I have spoken to PhD advisers, advocacy reps, and other staff members about this, but have not wished to pursue any formal complaints procedures out of fear my supervisor will compromise my PhD (by reassigning all the novel aspects of my project to someone else, or not providing feedback on my thesis), and ruin my ability to work in research (by preventing me from publishing during my PhD, providing negative references, ruining my reputation in the field).

Long story short, does anyone have any advice on how to approach this situation without compromising my PhD or future career in the field, something my well-respected and rather manipulative supervisor could easily do without getting caught?


texts: What Plagiarism level of master thesis is acceptable?

texts:
I am checking plagiarism of my master thesis.  It comes out 32 percent.  So upto what level of plagiarism is accepted?
My master thesis is on the topic of homomorphic encryption in Cloud and I uses turnitin online service for plagiarism checking.
Edit: I apologize that I do not included the detail that plagiarism level comes out 32 percent when I include my research paper as it is in my thesis. The paper are going to publish in IEEE conference. If I exclude this research paper, The plagiarism level is 12 percent.I also posted question related to it on academic stack exchange and if anyone interested, you can check the link
 Can research paper information be used in thesis writing?


texts: Should postdocs work only on the projects they are hired for, or can they work with other people in the same research group on other projects?

texts: Would the latter be an issue with the funding body, when the project proposal and budget only covers the expenses for hiring one postdoc? Note: it is the supervisors who got the grants, not the postdocs themselves.


texts: Should I share news of best paper award post-interview (for a faculty position) with hiring committee?

texts:
Last week I had an interview for a faculty position. I haven't received any response yet.
But today one of my papers received best paper award in an esteemed IEEE conference.

Is it professional, and wise to share this information via email to concerned people at the hiring committee? I don't want to look like very childish or eager for this position (although I am eager because the university is among the top-ranked in China). But I want to share this info - who knows it may have a positive impact on the decision!


texts: Can one switch from the declared field of study in his SoP to another after acceptance?

texts:
The question is fundamentally about technical fields, e.g., EE; however, any other experience related to top-ten schools is welcome, especially MIT.

I've heard that the acceptance to graduate schools in top-ten schools is often committee-based. In particular, applicants declare their research interests in their SoP, but after the acceptance, they will attend the seminars of faculty members to become familiar with their active research. According to these seminars and any possible lab rotations (like what is provided in Caltech), the student may switch his field from what he already declared in SoP to another.

In contrary, here is an experience declared by a person (at UCB) saying:

  What you might not know is that admissions are done by area (at least
  here at Berkeley).  The department can admit N students.  Area 1 gets
  n1 slots, area 2 gets n2 slots, etc, and each area decides which
  students to admit. Since there are some areas with lots of students
  applying, it is very hard to get into those areas.  Some areas have
  very few students applying, and  thus it may be "easier" to get in.
  It really works against you though, if you apply to area 2, thinking
  that it will get you in, and then try to switch to area 1, which is
  more popular.  In the most popular areas, it can be really hard to
  find an adviser, get funding, etc.  That is why they do the admissions
  by area, they actually admit only as many students in each area as
  they feel they can support (both financially and with advisers). A few
  always end up switching, but they do try to keep it balanced.

Is this really the common approach to reviewing SoP (which contradicts the first paragraph especially the philosophy of lab rotation)?!


texts: Add acknowledgments and self citations to paper only after the blind review?

texts:
I am writing a conference paper of the first time, and the conference I am targeting requires anonymized submissions for the peer review. But at the same time, we (as in, my research group) are required to acknowledge the grants and support of our funding agency in all our publications. Plus, I also need to refer to a previous work of our group.

Is it appropriate for me to leave out the acknowledgements section and the reference to my work while sending the paper for review, but add these details later on if and when the paper gets accepted?

Is appropriate to add details (the acknowledgments section, for instance) which were not a part of the paper when it went for review?

I could think of this as the only way to satisfy all concerns. Are there better suggestions from more experienced people in academia?


texts: Proof error found in accepted conference paper - what to do?

texts:
I am a 3rd-year computer science PhD student and I have recently written and submitted a paper to a theoretical conference. It has been accepted; but the reviews were not very in-depth. Usually they were of the form:
"I didn't check the proofs but the statement sounds reasonable."

Now I have to say that we work on a very complicated topic in which there are maybe just a few experts worldwide; and even for those it would have probably taken them a few weeks if they were to check the proofs in depth. In light of this I was not very surprised that most of them just took a quick glance.

While preparing the presentation, however, I myself noticed a mistake which is not easily solvable. I did find a solution, however, that keeps the main proof structure intact, but one of the main definitions has to be changed.

I asked my professor what we should do about the paper, and he said to leave it be and publish the corrected version in a journal later. However, I still feel kind of uneasy pretending as if nothing happened. What would be the ethical approach? I realize that it is probably not possible to "stop the presses", but should I notify the conference organizers about it in any way? Or should I mention it in my talk?


texts:
I’m giving a public talk (to laypeople in a sci-com event) and wanted to showcase some figures from research papers that weren’t mine. I wanted to know:

If putting citations (Author, Year) followed by a final slide of references was acceptable, or;
Do I need to have “Copyright [journal name]”, or;
Do I need to get permission from author/publisher, or;
ls such a thing even allowed outside of academic conferences

Do the answers to the above questions change if the journal is open access or behind a paywall?

Thanks.