Discrimination against theists by atheists in academia

Addressing the question in the context of the Unites States, it appears that it's questionable that any discrimination, and that if there is any such discrimination, it is a) not particularly strong, and b) highly entangled with other factors, such as conservative religious social and cultural activism.

It is an undisputed fact that in the United States there is a higher percentage of non-believers in academia than in society at large.  The key and unresolved question is whether this is a result of self-selection (e.g., non-belief being correlated with interest in scholarly investigation as a career and belief being correlated with disinterest) or whether there is also some component of discrimination.  One can find serious and respectable scholarly work both arguing that there is significant bias and that there is no significant bias.

Even articles strongly advocating that bias exists, however, find that if any such exists it is not particularly strong (else it would not be so equivocal to study) and that it appears to be measurable only with respect to religious people who are a) strongly culturally conservative, and b) activists with respect to politically polarizing positions (e.g., opposition abortion, gay marriage), and also c) at very particular stages of career (entry to graduate school, possibly at tenure promotion).

In short: even amongst those studying and debating the question, it appears that even if any systematic bias exists in US academia, the vast majority of theists are not significantly affected.


Can post graduate students be forbidden to work in the institution they are studying?

No.

In North America, at least in science and engineering, PhD students are generally expected to work for their host universities as either teaching assistants or research assistants, except for the relative few who win full-ride fellowships.  This expectation is strong enough that it is considered foolish to accept an offer of admission to any PhD program without a simultaneous offer of a fellowship or assistantship.  Sometimes these assistantships are also available to Master's students.


(Indirectly) looking for a PhD before I have published a paper

It sounds like the visiting professor was speaking in rather vague terms, just being a nice guy offering to help you make a connection with people in your target researc area.  This is nice, and under normal circumstances you would follow up by sending a short email and with a short CV attached, since that's what he suggested; however, there is in principle nothing to prevent you from writing directly to the people the visitor had in mind.
But I think your question is more about how to apply for a PhD program, so let's look at that.
I suppose PhD applications are different in Europe than in the U.S.  In the U.S., I would say:

Today is February 19.  If you have just started your last semester of your master's program, and have no plans for next fall, then you'll have to get cracking with your PhD applications.  Meaning, drop everything and get them out the door ASAP, hoping to either barely make the submission deadline, or hoping your application will be considered after the deadline.
If you can continue on in your current department for another semester or year, then write down the application deadlines for the programs you're interested in, work backwards from that, and sit down and talk with your advisors about your timeline.  You may be able to find some programs that allow a January start date, but watch out, teaching assistantships are typically given to August start students.

I am sorry I don't know about procedures, timelines and customs for PhD admissions in Europe.  All I can suggest is that you start by carefully reading the admissions information published on the target university's website.
You could take a look at Academia SE questions related to the PhD admissions process in Europe, and ask a question targeted at that specifically.
Additional notes: in general it is best not to go against one's advisor's wishes; your question did make me wonder if your advisors are trying to keep you in your current department.


How much do grad schools care about my dismissal experience in my application?

without a single computer science course taken, I ... got admitted by Columbia University

If Columbia admitted someone who had never taken a course in CS to their masters degree in CS, I'd say they probably made a mistake.  A surprising one.  It's clear to me that the problem was

You did not know you were enrolling in a degree that is not for CS beginners
Columbia did not realize you were a CS beginner.
You are not a CS beginner any more, so this whole situation is no longer relevant.

does the grades in Columbia take into account for the overall GPA or the GPA's are seperated for each institution I've attended?

Each institution will compute its own GPA.  It would be unreasonable to combine them, as each university has its own grading system.

How much will admission committee care about the dismissal experience?

If you explain the circumstances (not prepared for the degree program) and what you did about them (second bachelors degree with good grades) then I think most admissions committees will consider your more recent grades to be more important.
You should seriously consider if you have any use for more degrees.  You might have enough already.


How do European PhD interviews work when a candidate is not local?

Interviews through teleconferencing (e.g. Skype) are pretty common if it is not feasible to invite all shortlisted candidates for an in person interview.

However, since we are talking about Slovenia to Germany, it is very well possible they would would invite you to come over if they wanted to interview you. In such a situation it would be standard practice to reimburse your travel costs.


In the US the situation varies greatly, depending on the university. In some places the head is hired specifically for that position. In some, he/she is chosen by vote of the faculty. In some, the position rotates among faculty every few years. In some, a distinguished academic is hired to add "stature" to the department.

A head is normally a tenured person, but he/she can hold any rank, especially when the position rotates. Non-tenured but tenure track faculty (assistant professors) are normally spared this duty so that they can spend efforts needed to get tenure.

The head normally, but not always, has teaching duties and possibly also carries on research. But the load is reduced to allow for the administrative duties.

The head makes sure that all of the courses are staffed and that everyone gets paid. He/she is responsible for seeking resources from the common university pool, though not necessarily for grant funding. The head may need to approve some aspects of grants when they employ common resources. The head may need to assure funding agencies that the terms of the grant are fulfilled.

The head normally chairs the inevitable periodic faculty meetings that set strategy for the department and distribute duties to the faculty.

The head manages faculty evaluation and may have a voice (or not) in tenure decisions. Usually, the head can veto a positive tenure decision for financial reasons, but I don't believe it is common to have the power to do so otherwise. I doubt that very many places permit the head to veto a negative tenure decision made by a faculty committee.

The head is the manager of record for any professional staff, such as secretaries.

The head is a shoulder to cry on for faculty with problems and for students with complaints. As such, he/she becomes a sort of mediator.

The head answers to the dean when any internal problems spill over into the wider arena. He/she then becomes the defender of anyone in the department who needs (and deserves) defending.

Normally a person who leaves the head position retains faculty tenure and returns to the normal teaching, service, and research duties.


Check Robustness of ISI Q1 enlisted Journal?

Q scale could be found for known journals, within the SJR website...

As you can check here, this journal is a Q1 in 2014...

Best


Is there any way to escape a terrible cumulative grade average?

Perhaps something to look into are post-baccalaureate programs. I'm not sure about in your country, but in the US there are a handful of post-baccalaureate programs for students in your situation -- students who want to go to graduate school, but haven't performed well enough academically in undergrad to have a good application. The programs vary, but usually consist of a year or two of courses on a particular subject and a certificate is awarded at the end.

A friend of mine wanted to go to medical school, but she went to a very difficult engineering school for her undergrad, and thus had a low GPA and didn't get into any medical schools the first time she applied. So she did a one-year post-baccalaureate medical program, where she excelled academically, and then applied to medical schools again and got accepted.


Why are "Graphical abstracts" advantageous?

I think it may be a substantial advantage. While I've never had the chance to create one, I really like them myself for a number of reasons.

When searching through volumes of literature, they are much easier for a reader to take in at a glance than a traditional abstract.
They often provide substantially more information about methods and results than can be packed into a traditional abstract.
They are ideal for sharing on social media such as twitter, making it easy for you or others to promote your work.

And after all, a picture is worth 1000 words. Which is more than one gets in some glossy-paper journals these days.


How important is your undergraduate degree when it comes to graduate admissions at top universities?

The school at which you got your undergraduate degree plays a huge role in your competitiveness on the grad school market. It is hard to give specific advice without knowing what country you are talking about, but purely numerically, for the vast majority of all countries worldwide, having top results and top references from the best university in that country will not get you into any of the top US or UK universities. The gulf between the undergrad programmes can be gigantic, and in some places you will just not develop your potential, almost regardless of how talented you are.

As I say, it is hard to be more specific without more information. Certainly, league tables mean almost nothing, and there are countries whose universities don't feature in league tables but offer solid education. If you live in such a country, then you are still relying on your grad admissions committee knowing it.

Edit: I have seen extremely strong students from Romania doing their undergraduate at top European universities (specifically in mathematics), and then getting into top Ph.D. programs in Europe; I do not recall having seen graduate students at top universities who did their undergraduate in Romania. That by itself does not mean much, after all it is a very small sample anyway.

If I read in a reference letter for a graduate programme that somebody was in the top 10% of their cohort at Bucharest, I would take that endorsement seriously. On the other hand, if you study there, you will have to be aware that the students that you see around you will not be representative of the competition that you will be facing when applying for the top graduate programmes, while if you are at Cambridge, or Bonn, say, then the best in your year are likely to actually be the primary candidates for the best Ph.D. programmes.

My view is that the main advantage of studying at the top places is not necessarily that they objectively offer the best education, but that you will be surrounded by very hard working and ambitious students, and that in turn will push you to develop your own full potential. If you manage to surround yourself with such a peer group at your university of choice in Romania, you will be fine. It's just that at the top places you will not have to look very hard to find such people. On the other hand Cambridge, say, is a much more expensive option than Bucharest. If you have the money, I would go for it; if not, then don't worry and just go to a top programme in Romania.


Can I take master's level courses if I decide to do my PhD in Germany (astrophysics/particle physics)?

Following the course will usually not be a problem, since lectures are generally public. Exceptions are, e.g., seminars with a limited number of places. Also, if the lecture hall happens to be too small (highly unlikely) for all the students, you may be expected to leave.
Check the examination regulations of the PhD program that you would enroll in. Sometimes acceptance for PhD studies can be conditional on taking a few extra courses, depending on what the "Promotionsausschuss" decides. If that can be the case, taking the exam should be no problem, as there needs to be some way to taking the exam in this case.
Getting some kind of certification that you took and passed the exam may be tricky, though. You may have to ask the respective lecturer for a letter stating that, as there are normally no official transcripts for PhD studies.
As already written in a comment, you should check with your advisor if she/he would not oppose taking courses, though - at least if you are not on a scholarship. PhD studies typically works by getting employee status, and using normal employee working hours for such courses may not be welcome. But even on a scholarship, some advisors/supervisors may not like that.


Retrieving the references in a publication automatically

Both Scopus and Web of Knowledge contain all the information that you need and have APIs that can be used to automate access:

http://info.sciencedirect.com/scopus/scopus-in-detail/tools/api
http://wokinfo.com/products_tools/products/related/webservices/

I have never used them personally, but I hope this kind of information can be accessed using them. Each site indexes articles with their own unique key, so you can use those instead of DOIs if you only need them as unique keys.

Neither of them is free; you can probably access them through your university's subscription though. Be sure to check the usage limits.


How to take advantage of scientific international association membership for career?

The best way to take advantage of memberships in professional societies—beyond attending conferences—is helping to organize them. This will get you in touch with the other people in your field who are at an early-career phase. (Older faculty typically don't need to, or are higher up on the food chain.) Organizing sessions is also a good way to learn your specialty better, and to keep abreast of who's working on what.

In the long run, it can also bolster your career by providing you with "synergistic" (or "service") activities that show you to be a good member of the research community, which is important for getting job offers and promotions.


Should one disclose "red flags" when contacting a potential supervisor?

I would treat this like dating.  You'll need to be honest and disclose red flags before you get engaged/married.  But it doesn't need to come out on the first date. The reason is that so many other things might happen that would make disclosing the red flag totally unnecessary.
For example, you write a professor expressing interest in working with him/her, and he/she writes back "sorry I'm going on sabbatical next year and not taking new students", or "sorry my lab is full right now I don't have room for new students".  In those cases, disclosing a red flag is pointless.  He/she isn't going to work with you anyway, so why bring it up?
Or maybe, he/she writes back "yes I would love to work with you, I have an immediate opening for <extremely boring project>".  In that case, you don't want to work on that boring project, so why bring anything else up?
Now if you've exchanged a few e-mails, or a phone call, and it looks like there is some mutual interest, you are interested in his/her projects, and he/she is interested in you, but before you have formally accepted the position, that's when you should probably say, "before we go any further, I wanted to be honest with you and let you know about <potential red flag>."


Should I mention PhD in the header of my industrial résumé to catch the recruiters' attention?

I guess I'm the ideal person to answer, as I made exactly this transition a few years ago and now help review resumes for job candidates in ML R&D.

Typically the top of a resume has the person's name, often in enormous font. I would recommend putting "Science Man", not "Science Man, PhD" here. Of course, it is a small difference, but the latter would raise a few question for me:

Does this person realize who we are? We may be "in industry", but for a research position, many/most of our competitive applicants have PhDs. Indeed, it's much easier for us to find new PhDs than people with 10+ years experience, PhD or no.
Does this person have realistic expectations? Of course industry salaries are higher than academia, but we've had incidents where recent graduates expect us to be so impressed by their PhD that they are unprepared for the interview or have massively unrealistic salary expectations

Of course, you should absolutely mention your PhD near the top of your resume, not disagreeing with that.  Even a bone-headed recruiter won't miss your PhD if it's near the top of the first page. I would recommend either:

A "summary" right below your name where you have ~2 sentences including the word "PhD" (e.g., "Recent PhD/Former Professor/Experienced Researcher in [blah] seeking research opportunities in machine learning"); or,
Putting "skills" right below your name where you have bullets of buzzwords (tensorflow, kafka, system integration, electronic design, etc.), and then listing your PhD in the "Education" section directly below that.


Is it OK to ask for deferral of graduate school admission because one has failed courses to make up?

I suppose it's okay to ask.  But since graduate admission is generally contingent on successful completion of your undergraduate degree, I think it's much more likely that the graduate institution will rescind your admission.  You would need to make a fresh application in the next admission cycle, with no guarantee of acceptance, and the failed course would tend to weaken your application.


What is the difference between a journal whose name ends with "Letters" versus "Reviews"?

Letters and reviews are two different types of articles. Notably, letters are expected to be short, and reviews do not usually include new results.
Letter:

These papers communicate brief reports of data from original research that editors believe will be interesting to many researchers, and that will likely stimulate further research in the field. As they are relatively short the format is useful for scientists with results that are time sensitive (for example, those in highly competitive or quickly-changing disciplines). This format often has strict length limits, so some experimental details may not be published until the authors write a full Original Research manuscript. These papers are also sometimes called Brief communications.

Review:

Review Articles provide a comprehensive summary of research on a certain topic, and a perspective on the state of the field and where it is heading. They are often written by leaders in a particular discipline after invitation from the editors of a journal. Reviews are often widely read (for example, by researchers looking for a full introduction to a field) and highly cited. Reviews commonly cite approximately 100 primary research articles.

A journal titled "Machine Learning Reviews" is probably not going to consider letters, and vice versa - so do not submit there.


How to convert courses and hours (from a non-european university) to ECTS?

If you're getting a degree in Argentina, then you should be concerned about the eligibility/mapping of the actual degree, not on the ECTS of individual courses.

ECTS of individual courses would apply if you want to get a degree in EU but have some of your earlier courses of an unfinished degree to count towards that new degree;  However, if you want to continue studies in, say, a masters programme then you'd enroll based on your Licentiate degree as whole, and none of the courses would be spearately treated.

In any case, if you need 'proper ECTS conversion', then you'll most likely need an official statement about that from the institution giving you the degree, not anyone else.


"Duke University Press" vs "Duke University Press Books"

Their web site says Duke University Press (see also here) and the copyright page from the amazon.com "Look inside" option says Duke University Press. Googling "Duke University Press Books" suggests to me that the addition of "Books" is extra, not part of the official name, such as saying "Dover Publishers Books" rather than "Dover Publishers". Thus, I think Duke University Press is what you want to use.


What are the repercussions of a "vote of no confidence" made by faculty?

A "vote of no confidence" is much like a "resolution" passed by a parliamentary body—it's a statement of approved opinion, with very little legal impact. The only exception to this would occur if the voting body is in some way responsible for the appointment of the official in question, in which case such a vote could lead to removal.

However, at the departmental level, such a vote has very little impact on the university as a whole.


If I don't ask for a recommendation letter from a postdoc I did research with, will it look bad?

Admissions committees expect letters to be signed by professors.  It is perfectly normal to get a letter from the professor who supervised the postdoc.  The only case where I would expect the postdoc to even be mentioned in your application would be if you published a paper with the postdoc which did not include a contribution from a professor.

Keep in mind that professors often ask postdocs to help them write letters of recommendation.


In general, a "Comment" is always a publication. However, your question is whether it should be listed in someone's publication list, presumably along side peer-reviewed articles. I believe the relevant criterion, as mkennedy suggests, is if the comment has itself been peer-reviewed. When yes, it can go in the regular list; if not, then it should presumably be relegated to a "additional publications" list or something of that type.


I've applied an intership to prepare for grad school, but the acceptance result won't be sent before the deadline. Should I mention it in my SOP?

Even asserting about the plan of the internship within the SoP would be valuable. Because it certainly depicts your plans for the future, as a succession of the intentions, could which be continued with pursuing the target graduate program, purposefully.
You better to stress on the expected outcomes of that internship within the SoP, would which be along the recent research projects in the target department in order to increase the applied coherency.

On the otherhand, CV is supposed to cover one's preceding accomplishments (and even might consist of current and unfinalized affairs, just like a submitted), but mentioning the uncertain points about the future (may which never happen!) does not fit, reasonably, within its scope.


Should I suggest a time when professor want to schedule an interview, or just say I always available ?

In this situation, pick a preferred time within the professor's constraints, and suggest it.  To be safe, propose a back-up (perhaps the following day) in case anything goes wrong.

Additional tip: Suppose the professor said he's available after 10 am.  Then to give him a little margin for error, I advise choosing a slightly later time, such as 10:30 am.


Reviewer makes an obvious and serious mistake and paper is rejected

It is pretty normal for a reviewer not to get the gist of your article and then the article gets rejected. I find that the best way to deal with that is to remember that the reviewers are reading the article more carefully than the future readers. So if they don't get what I want to write, the future readers are surely not going to get what I want to write.

Sometimes reviewers are just wrong: they are humans too and typically do this with a limited time budget (a larger time budget than future readers will want to spent on your article, but still pretty small). That is bad luck. Just improve what needs improving and submit your article to the next journal.


Why do universities offer full fund positions to international student?

Universities use Ph.D. students as teaching or research assistants. Essentially they are hiring you, with education being a part of payment.
Moreover, if a Ph.D. student becomes a famous or at least succefull scientist, it is very good for image of a university.


Is copyright transferred to IEEE upon submission?

Copyright is only transferred during submission if:

  An author includes a completed IEEE Copyright Form during submission

Without the copyright form, there is no transfer of copyright. Even if the form is complete, transfer only occurs under terms defined by the form. For instance, the form might define transfer upon acceptance.


How do I cite ebooks without page numbers?

You are not providing page numbers with citations for their own sake, but to help readers to locate the cited passage, e.g., if they want to verify it or see it in context. (Therefore page numbers are already diminished in their usefulness for regular books as soon as there are two editions with significantly different paging.)

The arguably easiest way to locate a verbatim quote in an e-book is to just feed a few words into a full-text search. Thus giving page numbers or similar information has no purpose anymore. However, you could ease finding the location of the quote in a classical book by giving edition-independent location information, such as chapter and section numbers.

Note that this is a “utilitaristic” approach to citations. A relevant reader of your publication (e.g., a supervisor or reviewer) might have a “dogmatic” view on such things and thus require page numbers or similar for their own sake.


Including proofs of known theorems in master's thesis

It would be a good idea to make it slightly more conspicuous that the theorem (and proof) are not original, e.g.:

  The following theorem is due to [5]; for the clarity of our exposition we give a more detailed version of the succinct proof in [5].

This leaves no doubt in the reader's mind that the work is not original, and also explains why you chose to include the proof.


If I have an academic dismissal from a school should I ever go back there?

Undergrad and graduate transcripts are normally separate things. If you want to make sure whether the undergrad grade would show up on your graduate transcript, that's a question you should ask the school's admissions and records department.

If the F is going to show up on your apps, you could choose to explain it in your statement of purpose, or you could choose not to explain it. A single F in a single course is probably not going to cause anyone any big concerns if all your later work from other schools looks good. If you choose to explain it, you run the risk that there will be people on the admissions committee who have medieval attitudes about mental illness.


Is it advisable (or even possible) to get a second masters in a similar field from a higher-ranked instution?

It is possible to get second masters degree in a similar or related field. Doing so might even help with getting into a top PhD program.

That said, where you did your master(s) degrees is not the key to the kingdom or even the most important thing in your PhD application. Demonstrating that you are smart, hardworking, and excellent at research should be your goal. Another masters from a "better" University might help toward that end but it's hardly the only or best way.

Focus on doing excellent research, publishing that work in excellent scholarly venues in your field, and getting excellent letters of recommendation from people that are known and respected in the field. If you do those things, and if you also have good grades and test scores, you'll be a strong candidate for any PhD program. I have seen people build that portfolio as an undergrad, in a masters program, as research staff at a university, or even in industry. What you do matters at least as much as where you do it.


How does the choice of grading scale (such as A = 90+, B=80-90, etc.) affect an undergraduate program?

Using the grading cutoffs that students are familiar with leads to fewer complaints by the students, so I'd highly recommend sticking with it.  There's a lot of anxiety around grades, and the clearer the rules are and the less unusual they are the more comfortable the students feel. The grade scale doesn't actually matter, because you just curve up the exams so that the grades you think the work deserves gets adjusted to the fixed scale.  You can still write exams where a 65% is an A, you just apply a curve so that 65 gets entered as a 90.


Can I use a section of my thesis to "soap-box" about a meta-issue regarding research?

I think this is a fairly bad idea, for the following reasons:

It's largely shouting in the woods. Let's face it, while you may feel that your thesis is the only piece of work that's "truly yours", it will likely also be the least-read piece of your career. More to the point, your (presumed) target audience (young physicists in other departments) are very unlikely to ever come across your statement. How many PhD dissertations of people you don't know personally have you read to the end?
It has a non-zero chance of annoying somebody in your committee. Again, a physics thesis nowadays is mostly there to appease your committee (as few to none outside of the committee will ever read it), so a section that does not contribute to or actively hurts this goal seems like a bad idea. And I would argue that there is a real danger that somebody in your committee is not thrilled about the unconventional political statement in your thesis, as:
You may be unable to write it in a way that it does not come across as preachy. I think the pure existence of such a section will be perceived preachy, so no matter how you phrase it, it may always be perceived as such.

So if your thesis (and formal papers, obviously) are bad places to communicate your opinion on science politics, how can you communicate these matters? Most people I know with strong opinions on political matters of science (be they about career models for young scientists, open access, reproducibility, ...) tend to primarily communicate their thoughts over various social media (blogs, Twitter, Facebook), with the occasional invited opinion piece on the topic in a journal or magazine editorial. Every now and then, they are also invited to talk about the issues they care about in seminars or as invited speakers in conferences. Presumably, in some cases, they have just been invited in general and have decided on their own that politics is what they are going to talk about. This strategy reaches substantially more people (even if your blog entry never jumps across 100 views, that's probably still more than your thesis will get in the next 50 years), and from a blog or Facebook entry, people expect opinionated content, so there is much less reason to think less of you (unless they vehemently disagree with your opinion, but in this case no way of communicating your thoughts will help).


Why don't professors give talks at their own departments?

In most of the departments that I have known, the professors do indeed give seminars within their own departments. The few exceptions I have known are either fairly small or else have some sort of problem with their seminar culture.

Now, it is certainly true that most talks in any department will generally be given by outsiders---there's a lot of incentives to have visitors give talks (e.g., building collaborations, faculty candidates), and there's just plain lots more researchers outside the department than in it (see Joy's Law).

Still, there will be many possible occasions where an internal talk would be of interest, and I believe that healthy departments see it as a valuable way to keep people in the department connected to one another.


Yes, the use of unattributed material, or use of quotes without indicating they are quotes even with attribution, is plagiarism.
If it's just a few sentences in a long dissertation, it's plausible that some of it was due to lazy note-taking, like copying the words of others into an intermediate document and not realizing months or years later that they were copied. However, laziness is not really a defense. Maybe a mitigating factor.


choosing workshops/conferences to attend and publish research

What one gets from attending conferences depends a lot on some personal factors, especially for junior researchers: some people socialize easily and can build fruitful professional relationships, some people are well organized and able to continue their regular work on their laptop while attending talks, some people are interested in almost every talk whether it's close to their research area or not, etc.

Personally I'm not very good at any of these things :) This is why I don't try to maximize the conferences I attend. I try to attend a couple every year, most of the time when I present something. So I choose conferences primarily as a venue for the topic/level of my paper.

To me conferences are a good way to get a general overview of what the field has been up to, finding what are the interesting new directions and the odd clever approach. Poster session are usually a good way to discuss things in more detail and ask about things which are a bit far from my own research area. I often find many interesting things to study later at conferences... and usually I don't have enough time to actually study them later ;) But overall it's really useful in order to see where my work stands in the context of the community.


Should I state membership in a professional society in authors' list?

It depends on the journal. E.g. In ieee journals it is common practice to add 'member of ieee ...' to the affiliation.

If the journal is the main publication of a society, you should not mention affiliation to a different organization, at least as long as there are no official relations between the both.

If in doubt, send a short question to the editor.


A professor who is less knowledgeable in certain subjects than a student

If you have communication issues because of a disability, and it is interfering with your coursework, at least in the US, you would approach the office that handles disabilities.  They will work with you to get the disability officially documented, and then you will work with them to discuss appropriate accommodations with your coursework and your instructors.


Theoretical CS research having a math undergrad

I thought this question was asked and answered before, but I couldn't find it. In any case, people with a strong math background can do very well in TCS. The only stumbling block might be the breadth of CS material (including things like architecture, compilers and operating systems) that might be required of a CS grad student.

However there are certain programs (CMU/Georgia Tech/Waterloo) in which TCS is a separate discipline: if you applied to one of these programs, you might be able to to circumvent core CS requirements that you don't have.


Method section: small experiment for parameter setting

In my thesis, I kept similar issues separately, but referred the reader to the results section discussing results and conclusions from side experiments that lead to certain decisions. This allows to use the results before they are presented in detail.

In your case, the methods could read:

  Preliminary simulation to determine time slot

  description

  main simulation

  Based on teh results of 1. (see link to results section), a time slot of 1 min was chosen.
  ...


How far should I develop the main ideas in my paper before publishing it?

One idea per paper, from my experience on AI and related formal work. Implications are typically left for the last part of the conclusions. Look at a typical paper in the area you want to publish in and see how far they go with those implications.

You can write a separate (mathematical) paper on implications across areas. It is not unusual to publish concerning the same idea in multiple fields. This - could be - salami slicing but it can also be extremely useful to practitioners in those fields.

For example, the seminal paper "On the acceptability of arguments and its fundamental role in nonmonotonic reasoning, logic programming and n-person games" by Dung took formal argumentation, gave it an abstract graph-theoretic conceptualisation and semantics, and then showed morphisms between previously separate areas.

If the implications you look into would change the title of your paper or the introduction to include words such as "role" or "link" or "morphism" then that may be a different paper.


What latex template to use when you do not know the journal you are going to submit

Duplicate of this question on TeX stacckexhange

https://tex.stackexchange.com/questions/514898/how-can-i-format-a-document-for-submission-to-analysis-journal/514906

My answer:

If the journal doesn't give you style files I suggest just vanilla arrticle class. If the paper is accepted they will format it. If not, you haven't cluttered it with formatting some other journal won't like.


What is the meaning of "Mobility" in applying for postdoc positions

I took a look at about five first postdoc positions at jobbnorge and did not find the word "mobility" there, so maybe it is not standard. I did not look at the application form.

My assumption (I am Finnish, living currently in Norway, so cultural proximity maybe gives me some credibility) is that it means the locations where you have stayed for academic purposes. Since your employment history is already explained elsewhere (I guess), you would want to list any longer research visits to universities you are not employed at and institutes (Poincaré, Mittag-Leffler, etc.). If you had an external stay as a part of your PhD, list that, too.

I do not know about how short a visit you should list or if you should list being an exchange student during you bachelor or master studies.

One motivation is probably to see if the job candidate has been outside Norway on academic purposes. If you are a foreigner, this is not hard. Lots of experience at diverse places or presence at a prestigious institute might be viewed favourably, too, who knows.


Etiquette for email asking graduate administrator to contact my reference regarding a deadline extension

The letter looks fine. However, it seems strange that the professor would involve you to intercede on his behalf in asking for an extension. Surely he can't be that busy! (I disagree with phys_chem_prof on the amount of time needed to write a reference letter. I would estimate writing a convincing letter to take the better part of an afternoon.) Unless this letter is crucial and the grace period asked for is not more than a few days, you may be better off approaching some one else, even at this late date.


Listing a low-level expository work on your CV

At this stage of your academic career, I would go ahead and include the article on your CV.  You are a student, and publication in a student journal is a meaningful accomplishment, even if publication in a research journal would be a significantly greater one.  I see CVs from students with masters degrees in applied math that sometimes have these kinds of things listed, and I don't think anyone has a problem with their appearance.  And you can always get feedback from the faculty in your current program, as to whether they would like to see something like that on a student's CV.

If you think the name of the journal will make its nature clear to anyone viewing your CV, then that will probably be fine; however, if you have any doubts (and you definitely do not want to give anyone the impression that you are attempting to be misleading on your CV), you may want to include a bracketed note "[student journal]" just to be clear.

Later, you may want to drop this item from your CV.  When you have a doctorate and have published multiple articles in research-level journals, people may wonder why you have included something so minor among your accomplishments.  But you are not to that stage yet, so including it at present is probably fine.


Journal doesn’t react for several months – should I withdraw?

If the journal fails to respond to your requests over several months, this suggests that something or somebody is not working properly – even in very-long-review fields like mathematics. It may be that the editor is missing in action or that some communication got lost or the entire journal is malfunctioning, but what exactly is going on is hard to tell for any outsider.

From your account of the situation I can only see two reasons why withdrawing may not be in your favor:

The next-best choice of journal is significantly worse (in terms of level or suitability).
The paper is already under review but the status doesn’t reflect it. In this case you actually lose progress by withdrawing.

You have to decide for yourself how likely it is that one of these applies, but I consider them rather unlikely. Should you decide not to withdraw immediately, I would at least send another mail to the journal setting a clear short deadline (a week or so) for them to show at least some sign of life.


Finding more mathematicians who can write recommendation letter(s) for me

It is certainly ok for your letter writers to be in an area that is different from your focus for your PhD. Based on my experience, this is more the norm than the exception.

The letters should describe why you will be successful, not something about particular research fields. Having strong letters from your physics profs will help you far more than a weak letter from a math prof that barely knows you.


How to work with an overly positive advisor?

I sympathize with this because I had an overly positive advisor for approximately 3.5 years, until I was getting ready to go on the job market and then suddenly he had tons of problems with my work. Others have told you to go elsewhere for criticism. This is probably a good idea, but you should also be able to have a good, balanced discussion with your main advisor who knows your work best.

Two things might be helpful:

1) Ask her what criticisms a reviewer might have of your approach to X

2) Ask her what needs to be done to improve Y

The first may help because she may be able to get in a different mindset about criticism if she is asked to think about the paper like a reviewer (a reviewer's "job" is to be critical, but she may feel that an advisor's "job" is to be encouraging). The second may help because it invites her to frame problems in an encouraging, positive way (which seems to be her comfort zone).


Feasibility of using blockchain to avoid researcher bias

While blockchain might be a good solution for certain (future?) applications in research, experiments, and data collection – it is hard to shine a lot of light on it right now, as the technology is pretty new. And research techniques, scientific methodology, experiment design, and, most importantly, ethical standards have been (and will be) developed for centuries.

Most importantly, a lot of interaction between scientists is (and should be) based on trust and an assumption of good intentions.

This particular question focuses on researcher bias; however, the example is more about data manipulation or "forced outcome" research.

Regarding data-manipulation:

As correctly mentioned in the comments (@AzorAhai), it is rare to forge the raw data itself, but use certain statistical techniques to get to the desired outcome.
Using blockchain would have to be introduced on a lot of levels: not necessarily just the surveys. Blockchain for measurement equipment (which constitutes a lot of experimental data in natural sciences) is not yet there. And if one allows a researcher (how crazy is that!) to upload measurement data himself to blockchain-based storage – nothing prevents the researcher from forging data before uploading it.
Not being able to change the data might not always be a good thing. Sometimes, you have to change it (simple use – delete certain entries) due to technical (it was found that the equipment was broken) or ethical reasons. Here the "permanency" advantage of blockchain might actually be damaging. For example, even git (version-control system not allowing commit change without the change of the signature) has some widely discussed issues: ACCU talk of Alex Chan, the particular segment on GIT and personal info issues.

So, regarding the experiment data, I currently do not see the advantages of using blockchain anywhere in the research loop.

I can see some potential use of blockchain in:

review process (though, I would say it's an overkill) to anonymize authors/reviewers/editors. However, there are other simpler tools to solve it – and even they are rarely used in practice.
authorship proof – still there are other tools.

To conclude:

I am very interested to see practical uses of blockchain in other areas (let's see where the smart contracts go in 5-10 years). Academia and research process does not scream for blockchain and its usability is totally unclear and hard to implement.


Should I wait patiently if the professor asked me to wait for a few weeks?

she has to think about grants and funding as she will be taking a couple of postdocs. After waiting for one month, she requested to wait for a few more months for her to be certain.

This professor seemingly has no money to hire you. You should look elsewhere, whilst maintaining contact. If she gets money, it seems you are amongst those she'll consider hiring.


Different people set their thresholds differently, but it all comes down to balance and cost/benefit analysis.

I don't buy into the "don't say no until tenure" argument, because a) until tenure is a pretty big chunk of your life, especially when you add in postdoc, and b) the patterns and expectations you establish before tenure will likely remain with you afterwards.  You need to make a decision which is sustainable for you as your career is now and reassess every couple of years to make sure it is still working.

Myself, I travel 1-2 times per month.  Some academics I know travel nearly once a week; others travel only once or twice a year.  In my observation, this does not really correlate with career stage, but more with desire for public recognition vs. the tradeoffs the person is comfortable with in their life.

So, how to make that judgement for yourself?
Personally, I find Latour's model of science as "credibility investment" a useful analysis tool.  Under this model, you can view scientific life as manipulation of three currencies:

Credibility is the main and most unusual currency of academia, which is generated by your publications, your position and appointments, your visibility in the community, service, etc, and which is invested in order to obtain funding.
Results are the data, theorems, etc. produced by your work, which are the raw material required for generation of credibility, and which generally requires money to produce.
Funding is money or other forms of support, which can be obtained through investment of credibility and is itself invested in order to produce results.

Success as an academic requires management of the flow of these three quantities: your relative levels in any may rise and fall with time, but if you go broke in any of the three areas, your career is in deep trouble.  They are hard to quantify, but with self-reflection and comparison to peers you can often have a sense of whether you are "doing well" or "doing poorly" in each area.

Bringing it back to travel, then: most travel can be viewed as part of obtaining credibility (e.g., conferences, invited talks) or obtaining funding (e.g., visits to program managers).  Their cost, as you have identified, is primarily opportunity to produce results and to write your results up in papers (yes, they cost money too, but your time is usually more valuable).  For each individual conference, you can ask how much this conference is likely to serve those goals, relative to the time that you will lose as a result.  If you become good at working on the road (I love airplanes as internet-free time), then the effective cost may decrease, changing your relative weightings, but the principles remain the same.


Is it typical to not list class instructors during undergraduate enrollment?

I studied in the United States (bachelor's and PhD). In my school, it was very common practice to list "TBA" (to be announced) for course professors, especially undergraduate courses. Through my years in the university, including becoming a part-time instructor myself as a PhD student, I got to know that it was pretty much always a logistic issue. Even if the department knew which teachers would be teaching the course, as long as they had not finalized the exact teaching assignment of who taught exactly which section of the course at exactly which times, such unfinalized assignments would be listed as "TBA".

In contrast, with graduate courses, there was usually only one section of a course each semester and so the known instructor could readily be listed as soon as it was confirmed.

In my school, students also complained about it. It is easy for students who would like to avoid a teacher with a bad reputation to suspect that the administration was trying to hide this information in order to make sure that the bad teacher got enough students in their class. But based on experience after several years in the same school, I don't think there is any reason to suspect ulterior motives; simple logistics led to this being a repeated practice whenever there are multiple sections of the same course.

(But since often when there are multiple sections taught by the same set of instructors each year, there will sometimes be a "bad teacher" among them; so, students would self-confirm their suspicions that the administration is deliberately trying to frustrate attempts to not choose a bad teacher.)

This is just a personal example, but I think the dynamics are very similar in many other universities.


What affiliation should I use for a paper that I partly wrote in a previous institution?

To the best of my knowledge, you would need to somehow indicate both but a similar question has been asked and answered before:

What affiliation to put on an academic paper for alumni authors?

You have to acknowledge that part of the work was performed when you were at your university. I had a similar situation where I did part of the work when I was at university as part of my PhD and then completed the work when I took up a position at a research institution. For the paper, I was listed as having two affiliations.


Is it easy to change your major after starting your PhD or masters, if it is necessary?

Unfortunately, no, it's not so easy to change PhD programs.

It isn't like changing your undergrad major, where you just have to fill out some forms and get your advisors to sign off.  At the graduate level, each department does its own admissions.  So if you are in a mechanical engineering program and want to switch to applied math, you have to submit an application to the applied math program just like anyone else.  You'll be competing for a seat against every other applicant from around the world, most of whom will have completed a full undergrad mathematics major.

You might be able to improve your odds by getting to know faculty in the math program before you apply, perhaps discussing (or working on) research projects with someone there.  However, keep in mind that you will also need to stay in good standing in the engineering program, and you won't have a lot of spare time to explore math opportunities.

Also, from your description, your math background sounds much too light for entry into a math grad program.  Applied math can be more flexible than pure math, but having no advanced courses at all doesn't sound too good.  In fact, I'd be concerned that without advanced coursework, you may not even have enough of a sense of the field to know that it's really what you want to do.  Mathematics courses have a sharp change in flavor and difficulty as you transition from lower-level computational courses (calculus, differential equations, etc) to upper-level theory courses (real analysis, abstract algebra, topology).  Entering a PhD program having only the former kind of courses would be roughly analogous to being a go-kart enthusiast racing in the Indianapolis 500.  And it won't be easy to pick up extra math courses while in an engineering program; grad program requirements rarely allow for free electives.

Perhaps something that might better fit your situation is a post-baccalaureate ("post-bac") program.  These are one-year programs designed for students who have completed a bachelors and want to attend grad school in math, but need further preparation.  Such programs are offered by relatively few institutions, but I believe some of them are quite well-known in the community and have very good placement rates.


How to deal with my academic advisor who offered me a postdoc position and try to prevent me getting other offers?

This is a common reason why job references are normally asked from the former employers but not from the current employer. If the current employer would like to keep a specialist, adequate recommendations just cannot be provided because of the conflict of interest.

Try to get alternative recommendations. Maybe your work included cooperation with other laboratories, or maybe you had some more junior "intermediate" supervisor, or maybe you have worked along speciality at least part time? Suggest these people instead.

In the worst case, you may even ask for recommendation from another co-worker like you. Not very good yet better than nothing.


Is it okay to have a good (not strong) recommendation letter from a well-known scientist?

Will it adversely affect my application?

No, but it probably won’t help it much either.

  Will it hold as much weight as a strong one because it's she who's recommending it?

Absolutely not.

Keep in mind what “strong recommendation” actually means. It’s not about the forcefulness of the language; it’s about the quality of evidence that the letter provides for your success in the graduate program. The writer’s reputation/credibility is definitely part of that, but that informs how credible I should find the evidence they write about, not just how credible I should find their unjustified opinion.

Compelling evidence from someone relatively unknown has more weight than a bare thumps-up from a superstar.


How valuable are publications in lower-ranked conferences for MS admission applications?

When applying for grad school, the biggest thing is to demonstrate aptitude in research. You do not need to have a paper in a top-ranked conference to get into a good grad school. The fact that you have a conference paper is significant enough as it is.

Will a top-ranked conference paper improve your chances over a paper in a lower-ranked conference? Yes, of course. But having a conference paper in a reputable conference should never hurt your standing.


Is it ethical to withdraw a paper after acceptance in order to resubmit to a better journal?

It is not ethical to withdraw a paper that has been accepted. Journals, editors, and reviewers invest time in the publication process. To withdraw a paper after it has entered this process is a waste of their time. While the legal ramifications of is behaviour are probably limited, it will result in bad feelings.

As for not having the money to publish. Assuming the journal fees are available prior to submission, and reputable journals make their fees known, then if you don't have the money, then you don't get to submit. If they have a paid expedited service and you are worried about the back log, then ask up front. The only case that it might be acceptable is if he review process drags on for so long that your funding ends.


Good book on English for academic writing and speaking for non-native speakers

English is not my first language either, but have taught myself through "academic-immersion".  Here are a couple of recommendations that may be of help:

"Computer Science Writing" - this is a website with an outline of good practice and links to various other sources.

"Writing for Computer Science" (Zobel, 2004) - this book has a couple of high reviews.


What are the requisites for Scopus to index the proceedings of a conference?

Scopus's website on content policy and selection gives a good idea of what you need. The book policy is probably the relevant one, since conference proceedings are "edited volumes", but if you're trying to index individual papers then look at the conference papers selection criteria at the bottom of the page.


Tips for managing a panel at a conference

If you had a bit more time, I'd suggest that you contact each of the participants and ask them a few questions. It may be too late for that, but they will probably want to know the order of presentation.

They will certainly want to know how much time they each have and how you should (or should not) signal them as the end of their slot approaches.

You need to know how questions from the audience are handled at the conference - after each presentation - all together at the end - not at all. Make sure that there is time for questions, if allowed.

If someone ends early, it is usually appropriate to delay the start of the next speaker so that those people who want to hear only part of the panel have time to arrive and/or leave without disruption. But that may vary with local custom.

If possible, try to meet the presenters before the panel session.

Coordinate with any volunteers that are available for such things as water or special needs.

Get there early to make sure the setup is correct.


Best Practice To Provide Contact Information in Paper

I think this is a good question with only unsatisfactory answers. In short, I don't think you can bank on any method to identify a person (other than maybe the equivalent to a social security number) that is permanent. Neither professional nor personal email addresses are guaranteed to work forever, nor are professional sites like ResearchGate, LinkedIN, ...
Systems such as ORCID, where each researcher is assigned a unique identifier would work, but they will still require some time to gain broad acceptance. This way the paper could cite the ORCID and the researcher can make sure the profile (including contact info) stays current. This system would also make it easier to find publications authored by an individual (especial by somebody with a common last name such as Wang, Ngyen, Garcia, Smith, ...). Of course, there is no guarantee that the ORCID system will last either.


Copyright – use of images to train algorithm

I quote from the German copyright (Urheberrecht, original, English translation):

  § 15 Allgemeines

  (1) Der Urheber hat das ausschließliche Recht, sein Werk in körperlicher Form zu verwerten; das Recht umfaßt insbesondere

  das Vervielfältigungsrecht (§ 16),
  das Verbreitungsrecht (§ 17),
  das Ausstellungsrecht (§ 18).

  (2) Der Urheber hat ferner das ausschließliche Recht, sein Werk in unkörperlicher Form öffentlich wiederzugeben (Recht der öffentlichen Wiedergabe). […]

  Article 15 – General

  (1) The author has the exclusive right to exploit his work in material form; this right shall in particular include

  the right of reproduction (Article 16),
  the right of distribution (Article 17),
  the right of exhibition (Article 18).

  (2) The author further has the exclusive right to communicate his work to the public in non-material form (right of communication to the public). […]

This paragraph tells you what is protected by German copyright in the first place and the only thing that you need to do for your endeavour seems to be copying/reproducing the photos, as you do not seem to distribute, exhibit or communicate them.

  § 53 Vervielfältigungen zum privaten und sonstigen eigenen Gebrauch

  […]

  (2) Zulässig ist, einzelne Vervielfältigungsstücke eines Werkes herzustellen […]

  zum eigenen wissenschaftlichen Gebrauch, wenn und soweit die Vervielfältigung zu diesem Zweck geboten ist und sie keinen gewerblichen Zwecken dient,
  […]

  Article 53 – Reproduction for private and other personal uses

  […]

  (2) It shall be permissible to make single copies of a work […]

  for one’s own scientific use if and to the extent that such reproduction is necessary for the purpose and it does not serve a commercial purpose,
  […]

This paragraph tell you that the only thing that you need to do which might infringe copyright as assumed above (reproduction) is permissable if you do it for your own scientific use and if it is necessary (which seems to be the case).

  How should I optimally proceed to be on the save side?

Check the entirety of the above paragraphs and the rest of the German copyright to ensure yourself whether there is anything that would make your endeavour illegal.

Also check whether other copyrights may apply. The Berne Convention may ease things a lot.


What level of knowledge and expertise is usually expected from someone just entering a PhD in computer science?

This is phrased as a question about first-year coursework, but it's actually a question about admissions.  Specifically, a department won't offer admission to someone they feel has inadequate preparation, so this situation should not arise (assuming the admissions process works well).

From this perspective, the reformulated question is: if you have bad grades and limited programming experience, is admission to a CS PhD program still possible, or do you need to take some time off to improve your skills?

At this level of detail, there's no way to say for sure.  If your application shows nothing but bad grades and lack of programming experience, then admission is presumably out of the question.  On the other hand, why would you even want to enter a PhD program without some other background that indicates it's a good idea?  In which case the admissions decision comes down to what that background is and whether it outweighs the grades and programming experience.  It would take something impressive, but it's possible in principle.


If you cannot find the material in a more "official" source, such as a peer-reviewed journal or conference paper, then you should check with the publisher on how to cite the lecture notes directly.

If allowed, the exact way to cite the lecture notes will depend on the citation guidelines where you are submitting. For example, in IEEE citation format, I am aware of a couple of acceptable citation formats for citing lecture content.

This IEEE citation example is taken from here:

  S. Maw. Engg 251. Class Lecture, Topic: “Speed skating.” ICT 224, Faculty of Engineering, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Oct. 31, 2003.

This example is taken from here:

  S. Bhanndahar. ECE 4321. Class Lecture, Topic: “Bluetooth can’t help you.”
  School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, Jan. 9, 2008.

It is interesting to note that a quick check of the official IEEE Citation Reference does not mention the correct format for citing class/lecture notes. So you may need to dig around a bit to find the correct format for wherever it is you are submitting.


Is it an invasion of privacy to ask a lecturer for details on their LaTeX editor setup?

I don't think anybody would look on such a request as an "invasion of privacy"; if anything, most people are happy to share the names of tools they use. I wouldn't worry about it, but don't be alarmed if you don't get a response, either, since this would be a "low-priority" email for most people to respond to (unless it's someone they're actively supervising or collaborating with!).


As a student, how can I negotiate comfortable and appropriate sleeping arrangements with a stranger for a conference?

You don't mention what country you're in and perhaps it might matter, that what's acceptable in one country might not be in another.  Here in the US, it's not uncommon to be asked to share a room at a conference or in other professional situations with another attendee of the same sex.  But it would never be considered appropriate to ask anyone to share a bed.  Never.  Period.  It would only happen if a supervisor, e.g., your department chair was unaware it was happening.

So, if you're here in the US, I would be firm.  Send an email to your professor, pointing out that sharing a room is okay, but sharing a bed is not and insist on your solution, the room with two beds at the other hotel.  I would not feel guilty even for one second about the extra cost.  You're entitled to your own bed.  If your professor insists you share a bed, I would report this to your department chair and request help.


Strategy as to when to apply to PhD programs

Your chances getting accepted by applying out of the blue to top institutions is close to zero given that your application doesn't sound particular in any way. Most applicants GPA is between 3.8-4.0 and your GRE scores are ok. Start contacting some specific professors you would like to work with, even if not top-5, even top-10 or 20 will be better if you have a good research connection with a professor. Don't be obsessed with these rankings. If you have free time and money to throw away, sure, go ahead and apply now, but don't expect anything out of it more than the learning experience. You will also not get any feedback from the rejections, so you will never know why you were rejected.


"You are one of our top candidates." How many candidates are there likely to be?

I wouldn't necessarily read anything into this.

Often times there are a number of applications which might be reviewed. (For an open PhD position in my group, I might interview anywhere from three to six candidates, depending on the strength of the overall candidate pool.)

Two weeks to go through evaluations of a number of different packages, including reviewing code and contacting references, is not unusual. Not only that, there's always the possibility that the person conducting the review has had other things come up in the interim (work commitments, vacations, or health issues, for instance).

I would wait a few more weeks, if possible, before politely inquiring about the status of your application. (For example, "I haven't heard back from you in several weeks. Could you please inform me of the status of my application?")


Advice to manage a Facebook group for PhD students

Do not use Facebook.  Academics view it as unprofessional.
Events should be managed using a calendar application.
Most other functions you want to achieve are traditionally achieved with email lists.
When setting up a platform, you do not want it to do as many things as possible.  You want your platform to do one thing and do it well.  That is the Unix Philosophy, and it works.


Is it fine to exclude an email salutation for short messages?

An important thing to note here is that often these dropped headers don't happen because the email is merely short, but usually because the email chain starts to approximate a conversation, i.e. a quick succession of short replies. So the formalities shift from those of writing letters to those of talking in person. So maybe take some cues from there.
In particular, even if it is short, not starting the first message with some greeting would be a bit impolite. The same is true if some time has passed between messages. (You'd greet somebody if you meet them again, even if you just met them yesterday and didn't talk to anyone in between) But a quick ABAB-exchange within a few minutes doesn't really warrant repeated greetings.
And of course, as mentioned in the other answer, when in doubt, just err on the formal side.


What does the title "Burgerlijk ingenieur" in Belgium mean?

I'm from Denmark and here engineers are called "civil engineers". I don't know Dutch, but I'm guessing that "Burgerlijk ingenieur" means the same. The reason why the title is not just "engineer" is because engineers ususually worked in the military and to make things clear the new type of engineers got the name "civil engineers".


When did US undergraduate education become so expensive?

This article in USA Today from 2017 shows the graph below, which is average tuition and fees adjusted for inflation from '71-'72 to '16-'17.

To answer the question in the title: it looks like it started rising above inflation in around 1983.


Are GRE/GMAT or other certificates needed for academic career after PhD?

Good GRE and GMAT scores will make it easier to be accepted into the graduate program of your choice. They will have no bearing on post doc hiring decisions

Similarly language testing is used to ensure that English problems will not prevent you from being successful in graduate school. Once admitted your language skills will continue to improve during your studies and your TOEFL scores will no longer matter.

The only exception to this would be if you want to work for a test prep company that trains student for the GRE, GMAT or TOEFL. Ignoring this possibility, your testing results are not important after you are accepted by the University and begin your studies.


What could be the outcome of writing negative things about previous university in an application to another university?

Applications are places to write positive things, not negative ones.
Negative circumstances can paint you in a good light if you can describe how you have overcome those obstacles. Stated as you have here, the descriptions of your previous environment sounds more like blame, especially this part:

They are not at all helpful or encouraging. They always need to boost their ego, never ready to discuss anything, never ready to accept their mistakes if they made one. The teacher-student relationship is more like, dare I say, a master and slave type of relationship.

Maybe the blame is valid, however, when you talk negatively about someone else, people will reflexively wonder whether your complaints are justified, and they may worry you will describe them the same way. If you say your institution only drove you to memorization, how does this demonstrate you've developed skills related to research?
That said, mental health is very important, not for PhD applications but for you. I strongly suggest you seek professional assistance with those concerns - this is much more important than any PhD application.


Applying to a job after just accepting an offer

This is an excellent way to burn bridges at two institutions, do not do it.  The interview process for a TT position is long and daunting for everyone involved.  It is also expensive - even if this was a purely virtual interview cycle.  The sheer number of hours that the hiring committee put in to your application and interview when they could have been doing something else in their busy schedule means that they have a good reason to expect that someone who has accepted the job offer they gave will actually do that job.
If you were offered but did not accept, or were still in the interview round, this would be a very different question.  But since you have accepted the job offer then reneging on what you agreed to will look pretty bad on you.
I can see this going poorly for you in several ways:

You apply to the second position, get it, and then try to negotiate a double-job.  Both institutions would reasonably be confused and upset here, with the second job offer probably being pulled and the first institution probably eying you with suspicion.

You tell the first place what you're doing, and apply anyway.  I expect they will be quite concerned that your intention is to jump ship whenever a slightly more interesting position becomes available.

You tell both places what you're doing right from the outset.  The second institution is unlikely to consider you unless you are amazing at what you do - they want a tenured prof eventually, that's a lifetime committment - and still the first place eyes you suspiciously.

The only way I see this working, and it is not ideal, is for you to apply to the second position, get it, and then leave the first to work at the second.  But, you've just gotten a TT position that you seem to be interested in...why would you do that?


Is it acceptable for a researcher PhD or PostDoc to pay a freelancer to re-implement a Benchmark

This is a typical case of "ask your supervisor". He is the one who decides whether it is acceptable or not in your case.

A lot of research is carried out by multiple persons, and hiring someone is simply a case of adding an additional contributor to the research: there is nothing  wrong with that as long as you are honest and make it absolutely clear what your own work was and what was done by others. But, as said, your supervisor may not WANT to add another person to the research (many possible reasons for that exist), so ask him/her.


What to do with research results while being in high school?

First, if it is not submission-ready, then it is unlikely that it is arXiv-ready either.

If you put it in another place, you won't get much prestige or recognition, so I would aim at a place accessible to everyone (without login) - your homepage, GitHub or anything (it does not matter). It may be a good place if you want to start discussions.

Second, it is rather unlikely that it's something ground-breaking that everyone would like to steal from you. (But don't get discouraged -  it is certainly possible that it is an interesting result!) You would benefit more from discussions than have to lose.

Third, some guidance is needed. Ideally, you can consult it with a friendly teacher, professor or PhD student. If not possible, one way to go is to try some research-level competitions for high school students (e.g. like First Step to Nobel Prize in Physics, European Union For Young Scientists or something in that line). Even if you don't win anything (those are very though competitions) you might get some feedback. Additionally, even in Poland there are a few local competitions for works in mathematics by high schools students (e.g. this and that). I am sure in UK there are also some. If you did something in a Math Olympiad, you can try asking organizers if they know such competitions (or someone suitable for mentoring you).


co-supervisor from a different university?

It is not unheard of, certainly, though isn't especially frequent. But whether it can happen or not is up to your advisor and the university, as well as the other person, of course.
But you need to work out details in advance to make it successful. If it is typical for advisors to be co-authors on the resulting work (some fields) then you need to come to some agreement about that. Some compensation for the other professor might be available or not. It might even be needed.
But also be prepared for the distant professor to not do very much.


It is crucial to tell the truth.

For your current supervisor, you will need to let them know that you are interviewing with the new Professor, and explain why you are doing this. This potentially could work to your benefit as your current supervisor may offer to be a reference and offer assistance to you going forward.
For the new Professor, let them know upfront that you are already a PhD student and the reasons why you are moving.

Most of all, as has been said in the comments, be honest - because if you are not honest, it can (and probably will) blow up in your face, potentially generating distrust from the old and new supervisors/Professors.

In your comments to the question, you mentioned that you are not sure as to whether or not you are going to leave your current position - before you progress any further, make sure you are certain in what you are doing (at the very least to be sure you're not wasting anyone's time).

An acquaintance of mine did something very similar, and was caught out a few months later - he had to overcome significant suspicion about the reasons for his move, as he had not explained it to both parties.


What is research misconduct of Xuetao Cao about?

Without considering the actual case. A referee is not an investigator/detective.  This is why figures/tables/photographs might be composed or manipulated without being noticed at first.

It is right what you say: they look credible and likely make sense in the context of the work. Though, some entries look copied and pasted. This is a recurrent case. Sometimes the authors take a pace in which even ex-novo fabrication of data is time and energy consuming.

An example of how things can go is this: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schön_scandal


How to politely decline the university medal?

The problem is as @WetlabWalter says: the medal is not just for you - it is for everybody that supported you and, in fact, indirectly for your class, and lecturers.

You have a good reason (for yourself) to decline it, which is commendable.

But you might offend those who recommended you, those who taught you (who would be indirectly honoured) and possibly your classmates.

If on weighing your principles against this you still stand by your decision to decline the prize, send a letter as long beforehand as you can, explaining your position and emphasise your history of declining prizes (to indicate that they are not the only one on the receiving end of the rejection).

Don't decline on the event itself, this will be a major embarrassment.

Finally, if you develop a reputation for declining prizes, grant managers may decide that they'd rather not put glamourous, funded programs your way, so be prepared for limitations of funding in the future. For anybody as brilliant as a Grothendieck or Perelman, that should not be a problem, but if that's not the case, take that into account.

PostScriptum: The balance of prize distribution is very fine. A prize is supposed to honour the recipient. But if the recipient is absolutely outstanding, the recipient would add as much glamour to the prize as the other way around. Therefore, a rejection penalises also the prize-giver.

Why are prizes at all relevant? You have a point in that a true scholar should not be motivated by prizes and honours. However, in today's very crowded fields, a prize is like a flag that demonstrates "this is how things should be done". It sets a signal of example for others. By rejecting the prize you send the message that you do not care to be an example; which is entirely your right - but you must be aware of that.

Interestingly, Sartre was one of the few people declining the Nobel prize (literature). It was claimed that, some years later, he decided that he'd rather be in need of the prize money and asked whether he could get it retrospectively (after this story, he couldn't). Whether this anecdote is true or false, it makes clear you have to think hard whether there could be a constellation whether you could regret your decision - it doesn't have to be for the money, of course.


How do I cite my own PhD dissertation in a journal article?

In my experience (Theoretical Computer Science/Mathematical Logic) this issue is typically handled by having the sentence "This article is based on Chapter X of the author's PhD thesis \cite{myThesis}." as a stand-alone paragraph at the end of the introduction section.
Having just the plain sentence is consistent with the article having been edited only minimally to turn a chapter into a stand-alone article. If there are substantial differences, these can be pointed out in addition. Eg "We refer the reader to \cite{myThesis} for a much more detailed exposition of the proof."


Is it okay for a reviewer to share an under review manuscript with their colleagues?

Do not share this manuscript.

It is one thing for you to solicit input, under an agreement of confidentiality, when you recognize there is another expert who can help with the review.

It is totally different when someone demands that you share it, not because you are getting help with the review, but for their own edification.  The manuscript is confidential.  Keep it that way!


Good question.  At the risk of telling you mostly what you already know, here is my perspective:

  After 12-15 years and 40-50 submitted mathematics papers (not counting multiple submissions), I have learned that one should virtually never appeal to the editor with the expectation of it changing the outcome.

In my experience "what's done is done" is the philosophy taken by editors and referees more than 90% of the time.  When I have brought up flaws in the refereeing process to an editor after rejection, the most common reaction I get is indifference / mild agreement but with the view that what's done is done. Only rarely have I had an editor willing to substantively engage with issues in the referee process.  In one of my earliest experiences, this resulted in an invitation to resubmit...and N months later the paper was rejected again.

At this point, when I remonstrate with the editor, I make it explicitly clear that I am not appealing the decision but just speaking up on the process as a matter of principle.  In fact this kind of "principled reply" has twice resulted in an invitation to resubmit.  In one case I declined that invitation (cf. the above story); the paper was published elsewhere after one more rejection.  The second (rather recent) time this followed a desk rejection by the editor.  I just couldn't fathom why this paper was desk rejected by this journal, and since I had had bad luck with the same paper previously, I wrote to the editor basically asking "I just don't get it; could you please explain?"  Amazingly, the editor wrote back immediately saying he had completely misunderstood the paper.  He invited us to resubmit the paper to the journal.  The editor in chief of the journal got involved as well (see below!) in a positive way, and the paper was accepted soon after with minimal fuss.  This experience made me realize that submitting a paper was like watching a baseball game: no matter how many times you've done so previously, there's a reasonable chance that you'll see something completely new!

Speaking of resubmitting following a rejection: in our field, I think that is unequivocally a terrible idea.  The part of the above story that I didn't tell yet was: after the handling editor apologized profusely, he asked us to resubmit the paper via the journal's automated submission system.  My coauthor and I almost did that....but we were stopped short by the dire warnings about resubmitting the same paper after rejection causing us to get automatically banned from the system!  We relayed this to the handling editor, whose response was essentially "OMG" and then he contacted the editor in chief.  The editor in chief looked into this and eventually asked us if we would be willing to change the title in order to resubmit.  We did so, decided not to change it back at the end, and this published paper has a slightly different title than the version on the arxiv or my homepage.

Even if that doesn't happen, I think that resubmitting what is even essentially the same paper to the same journal after rejection is the swiftest way to wear out your welcome with that portion of the community.  Imagine how many iterations of proofs of the Riemann hypothesis / twin primes conjecture / ... the Annals of Mathematics must get.  At some point they just have to ignore them.

[However, I now remember that I got added as a coauthor to a paper after it had been rejected by a previous journal in combinatorics.  My feeling was that the new version of the paper was only by historical accident a new version of the paper; in all other ways it was a different paper.  So we resubmitted to that journal, and it was accepted.  Then I submitted a solo followup paper to the same journal the following year.  They told me that they didn't want to publish two papers in the same subject at approximately the same time (long backlog)...and they offered me the option of merging my new solo paper with the previously accepted triply authored paper!! Baseball indeed.]

Your question is about "top journals."  I am starting to suspect that "top journal" means something different in mathematics than in some other academic fields, e.g. after reading questions like "I have five papers accepted in top journals but don't think I can complete my PhD." I mean, I am a successful research mathematician but have never even submitted a paper to any of the top three math journals.  But I find it unlikely that e.g. the Annals is more forgiving about resubmissions / more amenable to editorial remonstrations than other math journals.  I would expect it to be less so...


Why do North American law schools require an undergraduate degree, when the UK's don't?

Note that a US undergraduate degree is very different from a UK degree. The latter is much more specialized. In UK it is assumed that the general education occurs before the university level.

But in the US, the degree is quite general. Students of, say pre-law also study things like history, philosophy, foreign language, etc. It isn't that different from a History major. The "major subject" in the US accounts for half (more or less) of the total credits required. Even a math major will study all those things in the US.

And, in both places, it is generally believed that a lawyer needs that broad grounding. It is really just a question of where and how it is obtained.


Easy (funded PhD) vs Hard Path (Unfunded MS)

You said that the funded PhD offer matches your field of interest. To me this already looks like a clear win over the unfunded Masters degree.

The only point that could direct you towards the Masters is funding. So question 1: How necessary is significant grant funding for the research in your AOI? Question 2: How much funding does the advisor at the PhD institution have? Does he already have what is needed for your PhD research or is it more like, we will apply for a grant to get money for your research? I don't know neuroengineering but for example in maths, once your salary is guaranteed, further funding is mostly irrelevant. If you find that doing a good PhD at the lower rank institution requires some success/ luck with getting funding this might tip the scales towards the higher ranked institution. But note that funding is not guaranteed there either.


Should seemingly arbitrary things like "play piano for Church" or "intramural badminton" go on M.S. or PhD applications in sciences/engineering?

No.

These things are by and large irrelevant. Everyone has hobbies, and many of these may be challenging, but the purpose of a graduate school application is to understand your background as a potential scientist.

At best, this will make someone go "Huh, neat, the oboe..."

At worse, it will make someone assume that you're either attempting to pad out a relative lack of accomplishments, or don't really know what you're doing.


46 year old CPA wants to earn reputable doctorate - need advice

Age >40 not a problem

I am a faculty member at a top-50 business school.  We would definitely consider candidates who are your age.  In fact, your age is something of an advantage in that you would certainly have substantial real-world experience.

... but we train researchers

Your stated primary goal of teaching would definitely be a strike against you.  Top PhD programs are primarily in the business of training people who have research as a primary goal.  The training we offer is primarily how to create new knowledge, as well as socialization into the institutions of academic research.


Which are the funding options for a Postdoc in Denmark?

At DTU there are two postdoc programmes, Eurotech and H.C. Ørsted:

https://www.dtu.dk/english/research/research-at-dtu/postdoc-programmes/eurotech-cofund-postdoc
https://www.dtu.dk/english/research/research-at-dtu/postdoc-programmes/h-c-oersted-cofund-postdoc

More generally you might want to search for postdoc programmes specific to the university you would like to go to. Also ask your contact at the university for guidelines.

Last year the funding opportunities from Danish institute for independent research were mostly targeted at more established researchers, but maybe still worth checking out: https://dff.dk/en/application/overview-of-instruments

I do not recall Denmark having plenty of general postdoc funding opportunities. Life sciences might be more generous than other fields. You will not know if the European ones are out of your league without trying.


Shall I quit trying searching for a postdoc and search for another title in academia?

You are in a tough situation, but not hopeless. Just sending out applications is unlikely to work due to your poor record. Instead, you could try to build on your network, start collaborations. If that works you will have polished your record. Now you can also start thinking about applying for funding for a bigger project, requiring a post-doc (you), with your collaborator and use that to move to the research university of your collaborator. So if you want to move into a research university, it is possible, but it is going to be hard work and there is no guarantee of success.


Short publication as a letter and then more extensive as an article

This is common in my field, physics, to the extent that at least one publisher has an explicit policy encouraging it:

  The submission of an expanded version of a PRL to a topical Physical Review journal is an established practice that provides readers with easier access to important additional information. If authors simultaneously submit a Letter to PRL and a regular paper to one of the Physical Review journals, the two manuscripts are then reviewed coherently, typically by the same reviewers. If both papers receive favorable reviews, we aim to publish them at the same time, unless this leads to undue delay for one of them. We also ensure that the paper and the Letter cite each other.

  Submitting a joint publication couldn’t be easier. Simply alert the editors by mentioning the companion papers in your cover letter.

For example, consider the case when you have come up with a great new method to calculate something. Then the letter would tend to introduce the method, and show results from an example application or two. (Naturally, these examples are usually the ones  with the most impressive or surprising results.) The full-length article wouldn't so much repeat what was stated in the letter as it would extend it. It might provide more details and justification, applying the method to a wider set of systems, and showing some less central conclusions. The idea is that it should still be a different paper, but there is less need for the letter to be fully self-contained.

That said, it's even more common to first write up the more "exciting" results, submit that as a self-contained letter, and then submit a more extensive follow-up as a regular article later. I don't know how universal either practice is, so you might want to check with an advisor, or mentor, or colleague to figure out if this is an accepted practice in your field, and what the expectations would be.


Should I inform Grad schools about being accepted to other programs?

You should definitely tell any school you no longer want to attend as this will save them a little time. Any school that you would rather attend, you should contact and let them know when you need to make a decision by. Not all grad schools do admissions in an atomic manner. If a higher choice school wants you, they may be able to hurry their decision so as not to lose you.


Will a dishonesty incident destroy the chances of getting into a good PhD program?

A citation of exam disqualification on your official transcript will probably arouse some concern in those who see it.  (FYI, although most or all graduate programs will ask for your undergraduate transcripts, it is not guaranteed that a given admissions committee will read them carefully enough to catch this.)

Switching into a different master's program at the same university is a good idea.  If you succeed in doing that, then the issue was clearly not of the highest level of seriousness, i.e., not serious enough to get you kicked out of the university.  Assuming you can switch, Captain Obvious has just told me to inform you that you should keep your nose absolutely clean (and leave your cell phone at home!) for the remainder of your new master's program.  Also I would put more than the normal effort in to make sure you get the best possible grades.

Now what happens when you apply for a PhD program elsewhere, e.g. at a good American university?  Assuming that the disqualification will continue to appear on your transcript, in my opinion you should address this in your personal statement and also ask a sympathetic faculty member to confirm your story in their letter.  The tone here is very important (and it is also important that you do not dwell on the issue too much; more than one paragraph would probably be excessive).  If this is handled well then it becomes somewhat in the eye of the beholder how seriously to regard the issue.

For my part, assuming I believe the story you've told I have a lot of sympathy for you: forgetting to remove your cell phone from your pocket is a failure to comply with an exam directive.  I am a mathematician so can be very literal-minded, but I think that to call something "academic dishonesty" there must be some actual dishonesty involved, i.e., an attempt to cheat, deceive or take unfair advantage. [This means that plagiarism can be separate from academic dishonesty, which is a fine cutting but I think correct.  Also plagiarism has a victimized party, an important distinction.]  So to me calling your action "academic dishonesty" seems extreme and unkind.

This is also colored by the fact that in my academic culture (public university, US) we would generally not ask students to remove items from their own person before taking an exam nor would we feel comfortable searching a student's person in an exam situation.  It may be that in your own culture the removal of cell phones upon taking an exam is so standardized that the failure to do it looks self-servingly negligent.  Still, for me it is not a big problem.  As an example, when I give exams in freshman calculus, calculators are not permitted.  Once I noticed 5-10 minutes into an exam that a student was in fact using a calculator.  I walked over to him, pointed out where it said on the exam sheet that calculators were not permitted, asked him to put away his calculator, took away the work he had done on the exam so far and allowed him to start fresh.  I thought it was an honest mistake which gained him little if any advantage and I didn't see the point in making a big stink about it.  Others might feel differently.

In fact, "Others might feel differently" is one of my main points: I think that you should apply to a larger number of programs than you otherwise would because some programs and people will find this problematic and others likely will not, in a way that will not be possible for you to predict in advance.

Anyway, good luck and remember that cell phones are the root of all evil.


As you are someone who tends to need structure and, perhaps I could even say hand-holding, and since your target advisor has a set-up that is more amenable to that style... you might be able to get some assistance from the target advisor in making the change.

You could also ask the director or dean of graduate studies in your department for assistance.

Alternatively, you could take a deep breath and let your current advisor know about the change.  Use I-messages such as "I'm the type of person that needs to be pushed a bit more or else I tend to procrastinate."  Make sure to thank the professor for the opportunity s/he provided you.


Will taking basic courses missed during undergraduate now as a non-degree student help for my PhD applications?

For undergraduate students (or current masters students) applying to graduate school, it's normal that an entire year of their classes are not yet complete at the time grad school applications are submitted (and at a minimum an entire semester). That's usually the time in which students are taking the highest-level classes relevant to their major. Transcripts in my experience always show current enrollment as well as completed courses, even for registered courses that haven't started yet.
If you think you have some weaknesses in coursework areas, then it's definitely better to be able to show you are taking those classes now in some way, even if you don't have grades yet. It's also (and maybe this is a controversial opinion?) sometimes useful to take courses to just, you know, learn something, rather than just increasing admission probability by some unknown percentage point.


How to pick a research question broad or narrow one?

Real broad/general problems are of course nice, because they apply to many situations. However, what students consider broad/general problems are often ill defined problems or problems that would require an unreasonable amount of time and resources to answer. So beware, that your broad problem is really a broad problem and a realistic problem.

After that is just a matter of finding the most interesting problem you can come up with, that is solvable with the time and resources you have available. (Remember to multiply your best estimate of the time it will take by two.)

That is very broad advise, but we cannot give you more detailed help on that as we don't know your skill level, the resources you have, the time you have available, and most of us are not an expert in your field. Your advisor on the other hand (should) know all that. So come up with a couple of problems, list the pros and cons, your estimate of the time and resources needed to complete these, and ask your advisor for his or her opinion.


Is there a way to check to which scientific journals a specific library has access?

These come to my mind:

The best way is to ask the librarian to give you a list of journals available in their library.
Check the website of the library/ university you are interested to study in, they may list the journals and publications which they have access to.
Very few journals/ publishers list the libraries/ research institutes where their journals are available in.
Also, you may email the journal and ask their customers service whether they are available in a specific library or not. I have never tried this and I am not sure whether they are going to answer you.