Requesting review of short proof by professor

As @paulgarrett has said, there's nothing wrong with sending this sort of email, and (one hopes) many professors will be pleased that a student is showing more initiative than the average.

However, from the professor's perspective: unless the answer is "Yes, that's exactly correct", or "No, you clearly haven't understood the first thing about this course", providing a helpful answer can be quite time-consuming. Explaining why your proof is not quite right may require material that's outside the scope of your current course; it may also require the professor to sit down and produce a lengthy response. Sometimes, there are also nuances of "it's not exactly wrong, but it's not entirely right either" that are difficult to translate into written form.

Thus, it's all too easy to put this sort of question to one side, with good intentions of replying later that never quite come to fruition. I suggest the best strategy, assuming you've given the professor a reasonable amount of time to respond, is to go see the professor in person (perhaps during his office hours, or after a lecture), and (politely) ask if he's had a chance to look at the proof you sent. Take a print-out with you. You will at least get a better sense of whether this professor welcomes your questions or not.


Can I change my recommendation letter provider?

Contact the admissions department, explain that the professor is "caught in some private matters" and hasn't been able to do the letter as a result.  Ask to switch the reference to a different prof.

In my experience, you're much better off being certain that you don't miss the admissions timelines due to a delayed reference letter than the source of the letter mattering very much.  That being said, I'm not familiar with the specifics of UIUC, so my experience may not be relevant.


Would using the advanced built-in functions on a CAS calculator be cheating?


Supervisor's behaviour changed after I decided to move to industry

Most people would not consider you to have done anything wrong in applying to industry - but your supervisor might, because some academics consider non-academic careers to be "second-best".

However, are you sure that the change in attitude is because of this? Could it simply be that you put your supervisor down as a referee without telling them about it? That might be considered rude, leading to surprise at getting a phone call about you.


Who applies academic CS research in the industry and how?

I think it depends in large part on what the research is. Some fields lend themselves more readily to real-life application, while others like, say, theoretical physics, are a long way from being used by industry.

It also depends on the researcher. I am a firm believer in the "Last Research Mile" principle (disclosure: the man who wrote that is my advisor). The premise of the Last Research Mile is that a big part of doing research is taking it all the way through to implementation. Doing the early research provides a good start, but lots of important lessons, including research lessons, are learned as the idea is carried through to execution. I'm studying in an Information Systems program, and so my research is in business, computers, and people. While it would be easy to do the basic research and move on to another topic, I think it is important to continue to push and test the idea even in its implementation phases.

As a result of following the Last Research Mile principle, my advisor has created at least one company that sells the product of decades of his research. Many lessons were learned, and many publications resulted because of those lessons throughout the whole process.


Cite your online reference, just as you would cite some other online reference.  In neither case is it plagiarism, because you're citing it.  And in the case of your own online work, you can take credit for it as if it were not cited, as long as this work does not appear previously to when you published online.


PhD supervisor (who I use as a reference) is the department director for position I am applying for. Should this bias be avoided?

I suggest that you ask the person whether they believe it is proper for them to write you a letter. They know the institution to which you are applying and its procedures. If they indicate that it should be fine, then it is fine. Otherwise, look elsewhere for a letter.
But it is good to avoid assumptions in a case like this. The director may be involved or not. A letter from them might be considered proper or not. Don't assume. Don't guess. Ask.
You can indicate in your note that you don't know the proper rules and, while you would value a letter, you will understand if they think it improper. Hopefully you know them well enough that such a note won't seem out of order to them.


What prevents reviewers from providing biased and very negative reviews?

I think the main factor that makes the peer-review system to not fall in the trap you described is that academics are finally interested in the advance of science. If I have to review a good paper, then I enjoy it and want to see it published. If I review an almost good paper, I suggest some improvements and enjoy if these are incorporated and the work is published. The very mild advantage I may have if I reject more papers does not really seem to be worth it, if I have to act unfair and unreasonable to get this advantage.

Another factor may be: The reviewer is not anonymous for the editor. Editors are often influential people and writing consistently bad and unfair reviews will make you look like a mean and unfair person. Also, the editor will not choose you again as a reviewer if you write such reviews and you will be effectively eliminating yourself from the review system for that journal (while you can still submit papers).

In view of the bounty I gave the question another thought and here is one more thing: Community. Science is well organized in communities (e.g. I consider myself as part of the mathematical community, the applied math community, the community on mathematical imaging, the optimization community and some more). As part of a community one has a sense that there are some rules one should follow to be a valuable member of the community and of these rules is fairness. Being unfair feels like a misconduct by the unwritten community rules. So even though one may get along with several cases of unfair behavior, it feels like one is cheating the system. But staying a respected member of the communities is very important both for the scientific standing and also for productivity. This reasoning also explains that bad behavior sometimes happens, when several competing communities form which are somehow "enemies of each other": One can stay a respected member of one of the communities while still treating members from the other community unfair.


Disclose mental health issue during PhD during an interview?

I would suggest avoiding specifics unless pressed. "Personal reasons" should be enough for most. But the question may not even come up. There are enough reasons to miss "deadlines" in any sort of research program that most people won't give it much weight, unless very extended. Of course we like to finish things in a timely way, but the very process of research is inherently uncertain.

You could even avoid the personal by citing "unforeseen obstacles" as your first response. It is fair to say "Personal" as the second version and "Health" as the third. Anyone pressing beyond that is being unfair as long as you assure them that the situation is in the past and not recurring.


Is copying a sentence considered plagiarism?

Verbatim cited text is preferably put between quotation marks. E.g., Smith et al. (Smith 2008) state: "literally copied text goes here."

If you use quotation marks to indicate the verbatim copied text, it is not considered plagiarism.


I don't know about computer science, but we would do

  An extensive research has been done on eye capture by Berard et al. (2014).


arXiv submission with PDF and data, preferred submission strategy?

I see a fourth way forward. You could upload the database to a separate repository and cite that in the paper. (E.g. Zenodo allows multiple files, but putting them in an archive file might be beneficial.) Then submit the PDF version of the paper to arXiv.

  1) put the paper describing the database into tex format without their letterhead, or reducing it to an image. Be done. Incur an unknown level of coauthor confusion and wrath (they are oddly worked up about this). I would value easy (converters that work?) solutions in this vein.

Well, don't do that unless you can get your coauthors onboard. If you can convince them, you can try Word -> TeX converters. Some possiblities can be found here. The letterhead might have to be handled separately, possibly as graphics that you then auto-vectorize in Inkscape or similar tools.

  2) Have two arXiv submissions: a) the pdf of the paper b) the csv data dictionaries (2) and json databases (2). Reference b in a.

I don't think arXiv allows a separate submission for only the data. Hence suggestion #4 above.

  3) Write the arXiv folks asking for an exception. I'm not sure they do this.

I have never heard of them making an exception, but I have also not heard about anyone asking for one. However, even if exceptions could be made, that rarely translate to "a quick process".


The style seems to be a slight variation to Chicago notes style (as opposed to the bibliography style). In strict Chicago the journal article would be:

  Anne Nguyen, "Cultural and Social Attitudes Towards Mental Illness in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam," Stanford University Research Journal (2003): 27-31.

With the key differences being a comma instead of a period after the author, quotes around the title followed by a comma and parenthesis around the year.

Similarly for the book it would be:

  Richard Keller, Colonial Madness: Psychiatry in French North Africa. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007), 89.

with a comma instead of a period after the author and the press and year in parenthesis.


How can I make sure that the words I write are my own?

I don't know what the purpose of your writing is, so the answer really depends on that. It sounds like you're writing some kind of review of prior work (either as a survey or as part of a paper) ? In that case, the goal here is not to regurgitate (in your words or via paraphrase) what others say. Rather, you should be reading what they say and thinking about it (and seeing if you're convinced by it).

Only after that should you even attempt to describe the work. And when you do so, put all reference material away. If you can't describe someone else's work without referring to it, then you don't really understand it yet. In this way you'll ensure that you use your own ideas/thoughts to express what's gone before.


How to mention a professor that his CV link in the university website do not work?

First, check you are on the correct (current) website. It may be that the university/department changed their websites and you landed on an old version, which is not updated or already partly removed.

If you are sure you are on the correct page, and it is the case for all professors (and faculty) that links are not working [as you write], contact the webmaster rather than the professor. There will be a more general problem that is not to be solved by the professors themselves.


Found one major literature review paper, how to differentiate now?

First off: Using review papers as a guide line for your review is perfectly normal. What you should consider is, that even if the review is comprehensive, since its release there has been new research and publications were released that you should address.

Personally I don't think there is anything wrong with using review papers for tracking down other papers, but the least you can do is to also cite the review paper and remark that the review has a good take on the topic.

If you have any additions or own takes on the reviewer's opinion: do that! Discuss why you added other papers to your literature that the author neglected, give a different order to the topics if you prefer it, etc. In a historical context it might be difficult to change many things, but you should try not to copy it too much. As long as you formulate own sentences, your're fine.


How to organize a Joint Collaboration Plan and Fees

In theoretical computer science (which I work in), the most direct answer is "What bills?"

For remote/electronic collaboration, there really are no significant costs.  Each collaborator uses their own computer equipment and their own internet access.  They install LaTeX and Skype and svn themselves.  They typeset and illustrate their own papers.  They each buy their own espresso at their own favorite coffee house.  There are no fees associated with submitting or publishing papers.

On the other hand, if you actually want to travel, either to give a conference talk or to work in the same physical location as someone else, there are real costs.  For conferences, usually each person (or their grant, or their advisor, or their department) pays for their own travel, lodging, and registration fees.  For collaborative travel, every trip is different, but some common protocols include:

The visitor (or their advisor/grant/department) pays all costs for their visit.
The visitor (or their advisor/grant/department) pays for travel, and the host (or their advisor/grant/department) pays for lodging.
The host (or their advisor/grant/department) pays all costs for the visit.

I have used all four of these arrangements (and various ad hoc mixtures), as visitor, as visitor's advisor, and as host.  For some visits, I've had small joint grants specifically for collaborative travel; in others, I've used travel money from a larger grant; in others, I've paid (either for myself or for my guest) out of my own pocket.

In short, F'X is exactly right: It depends.  Obviously.


Publishing a novel idea without experiments and results

Ideas are like ...opinions...: everyone has one.

"Just an idea" is not research, and is not typically publishable. An idea based on a substantial compilation of existing research may be publishable, in which case the added value is the synthesis. I see this semi-frequently in my field (which is different from yours), but these types of "ideas papers" typically have other value to other readers in that they are written from the perspective of experts in the field. It's not a way to enter the field. They also double as review articles, but I somewhat doubt your technical paper serves as a review.

Publishable in this context means being able to put it somewhere that people will see value in it. Of course you can always pay someone to publish it, but that doesn't really have value.


What to do if the Editor is not responding to my repeated e-mails?

Giving someone 2 days to respond to an email, especially about a submission, is no where near long enough. I wouldn't expect a response that fast for virtually anything. 4 emails is definitely excessive.

For a journal, I would expect 2 weeks to be a reasonable amount of time on this. Generally, anything of this nature is not urgent. You can certainly go ahead and begin preparing to submit the paper elsewhere (e.g., find a journal, correct your paper's mistake, and reformat the paper), but don't submit it yet.


change of study plans within ABET accreditation

The best answer that can be given here, as JeffE suggests, is to ask ABET. I have had good a good experience with getting clarity regarding questions that are specific to my program's situation.


Should we use the rest of a grant that we have achieved its goal to make further research not very useful in the direction of proposal?

Different funding agencies (and programs within agencies) have different relationships with the specificity that they want in results.  Some are much more comfortable with their investigators "following where the science leads," while others really care about the exact pre-specified goals of the project.

Without further information about the funder and the type of grant, it's impossible to say what degree of flexibility there is likely to be in how the money gets used.  The definitive source for this information is generally the program manager for the grant, and your supervisor should have been having periodic interactions with the program manager that could provide guidance on this decision.  If they haven't, that's a warning sign, but that may be difficult for you to know since students are rarely included in such interactions in any case.

Taking actions that go against the funder regulations or program manager guidance can cause big trouble. The risk is primarily for your supervisor, but you might get tarnished by association, particularly if you knew an action was dubious and didn't talk to anybody.  If there are other professors that you know and trust (or a university ombudsperson or ethics office), you might talk to them to be able to share more details and get a more informed opinion---as well as to shield yourself from possible negative consequences if your misgivings prove well founded.


It is hard to be certain about the future.

There will be more positions because of government stimulus spending.
More students will apply for PhD programs because they cannot find jobs.
As a result of chaos, fewer students will complete the eligibility requirements.

The most likely net effect is more applicants for more positions, but they will be less prepared.


How soon do I need to submit the reference letters? (TT job)

"Dear School A Professor,
Thank you very much for your interest.
My references told me in advance that they'd be able to finish my letters by the first week of December. Will this be enough time, or shall I ask them if they can finish sooner?
Thanks, eggfry"


Interpreting academic applications' timeframe requirements

@kimball is partly right in that applications may also be considered later than the deadline, in particular if you know someone in that department who can speak for you.

On the other hand, many departments start building consensus for candidates even before the deadline. For example, many departments have deadlines in mid-December for full files, but members of the department know many of the candidates and start talking about them to their colleagues long before that. (Between the mid-December deadline and early January, nothing much is going to happen anyway.) If an application appears on the date of the deadline out of the blue, it will be considered, but human nature being what it is, it may be difficult for this applicant to supplant a candidate whose file has already made the rounds within the department and has been found to be a good match.

In other words, while there really is no reason not to send an application after the deadline, my recommendation typically is to (i) send the application well before the deadline, and (ii) tell your friends in that department that you applied there so that they can talk to their colleagues about your files before other candidates become lodged in their heads.


How can I pre-register my study of little importance?

If you have the time for it, you could blog the entire process from initial idea through the final writing of the paper. A public blog might not be the same as a, audit but the public nature of it would provide assurance. A research notebook open to the public, so to speak.

But I suggest this since a blog of a research "journey", including all attempts and all setbacks would be, perhaps, useful for others starting out in research. The fact that, you say, it isn't very deep might be an advantage, making it more accessible to readers.

It might even make you a better writer; valuable in itself.

There are a lot of blogging platforms, of course. And I realize this isn't exactly what you were asking for.


PhD Admissions Importance: Research vs. Grades

Graduate admissions committees should, in principle, be able to review all of the applications they receive in full; this is not like undergraduate admissions, where a small team may be responsible for 10,000 or 20,000 applications. That said, some of the larger graduate departments may receive several hundred applications per year, and it may be necessary to do a preliminary screening before deciding which applications will be examined in further detail. However, what gets through such a screen can vary strongly from school to school and department to department. For instance, if you're at a school whose alumni regularly go on to graduate schools and have a track record of success, that can also be a "plus" factor. If you're near the top of your class, that can also mitigate "weak" grades somewhat (because it indicates that your school resists grade inflation).

I would hope that graduate admissions flag applications with publications listed, but it depends on whether or not the database reports that summarize applications actually can do a screen for the presence of publications.

Your specific case, however, is unfortunately in the "no man's land"—not a clear "read no matter what," but also not an automatic "throw away," either. It is probable that you will have a tough time if you look only at "top 5" or "top 10" departments, but you should be able to get considered by many good programs.


How to write a personal statement for a dissertation fellowship?

Your answer is over-simplistic.  In reality, having money allows you to devote time to research as opposed to getting a job to earn the money so that you can eat and do (less) research.  If you already have such support, then I do not see the point of applying.  If it turns out that finishing this dissertation quickly and with fewer distractions advances science as well as your personal and professional goals, then applying seems reasonable.

I would write something along the lines of how the time to prepare and establish the results is precious, and that having such a fellowship will grant you that time.  Also, while your expenses may be minimal, you may find that using some of the money to attend a conference or to facilitate discussions with colleagues will allow you to add more to your dissertation than you could otherwise.

This is just off the top of my head, and I've been outside the ivory tower for more than a decade.  Certainly some of your colleagues off the Internet can also suggest some themes to use for this aspect of your application.


Why are there barely any Masters programs in Pure Mathematics in the USA?

If you are acceptable and accepted in to a doctoral program there is no reason to earn a Master's degree first. Many universities will give doctoral student a Master's along the way. For some (maybe not many, but I don't know anymore) there is nothing special to do but to ask for it. In my case I wrote a thesis, though not of the depth of a doctoral thesis.

If you earn a Master's at one institution you may actually have a problem in that what you did doesn't match up well with the requirements of the doctoral program you apply for later. This could actually slow you down. If you want both, it is advisable, if possible, to earn them from the same institution, perhaps with an "automatic" Master's along the way.

But for some, who don't want or need a doctorate for what they intend to do, a Master's can be earned. Some HS teachers do this. Some people are just not convinced that they want the commitment of a doctoral program after undergraduate. A doctoral program is a much bigger commitment than a Master's of course.


How to better prepare myself for the application to masters degree programs in the U.S.?

Aeismail’s answer points out that you need to foster contacts with people who can write letters of recommendation testifying to your potential as a researcher.

This is a definitely a good answer. However, it is hard to get good credible recommendation letters in China. You need to have not only strong academic performance but also strong social background to get them.  The same is true for internship opportunities. When there are more than a hundred applicants competing for 3 internships, the best 3 academic performers with the strongest social background will get them. (The population in China exceeds 1.3 billion).

My answer to the question. How can I leave a good impression on the Admissions Committee? Besides high GPA, GRE and TOEFL scores, (and possibly winning a competition, publishing papers, abundant internship experiences) and good credible recommendation letters, the only thing I can think of is an excellent Statement of Purpose.

Use that statement to convince the admissions committee why you’ll be an excellent student in their school. Why are you interested in finance or financial engineering? What have you learned in undergraduate school? What particular research program in that school you are interested? What do you hope you can learn from that school after you get the master degree from them? What do you plan to do after master degree? Etc.etc. Hopefully, they will be convinced by this statement and then accept you.

This is my 5 cents worth. I sincerely hope experts here who are currently in the admission committees can give us more and effective answers.


Where can I find good research proposals of researches in computer science?

Check with your local/national funding, research promotion, or research training agencies, as these may offer limited access to past proposals under some circumstances.  For example, the Austrian Research Promotion Agency maintains a reference library of successful ERC proposals that can be consulted by the public (albeit in person only, and without borrowing rights).  Similarly, the Austrian Science Fund and Tutech Innovation periodically organize grant-writing workshops where real-life successful and unsuccessful grant applications are presented and analyzed for educational purposes.  For these two institutions, though, there's no guarantee that the proposals you'll be studying will be from your own field, and you can't take the proposals with you when you leave the workshop.
Another option may be to ask your current and past colleagues and supervisors if they will share their past proposals with you.  I've obtained a number of proposals this way, with the only restriction being that I had to keep them confidential.


Applying to PhD position (Scandinavia): what should be included in personal letter

I believe the general advice given in the other question still applies to your situation. All those you mentioned are good to include, but they are mostly about yourself. To be more complete, you should also include reasons why you choose this particular school to do a PhD, which research topics interest you and why, as well as your aspirations for the future. Remember to be specific and try to relate as much as possible to the school you are applying to.


Should TA work be listed in a CV for an internship in the industry?

Yes, if you had some actual duties, this counts as experience and should be listed, especially given that you say you don't have very much additional experience.  You should also ask this instructor if he could be a reference.


Searching for PhD theses in google scholar

Aside from a university's own digital archives, you have several options to get copies of dissertations or theses.

A large fraction of the world's libraries list their holdings on WorldCat, and it's one of the first places I check for dissertations and theses. Ask your librarian if you want to get a copy of something on there via loan or look on your library website for interlibrary loan. I have received many dissertations via interlibrary loan.

You can also find many dissertations and theses listed on Google Books or HathiTrust, but they rarely can be downloaded. Google Books does not seem to have more than Google Scholar, but it provides links to WorldCat on the left side for each item. I often use both Google Books and WorldCat to do full text searches of books, and I sometimes find dissertations this way.

ProQuest is also a good source of digitized dissertations and theses. The service requires a subscription, but if you're affiliated with a US university then they probably have one.

Usually it's easier to find journal articles based on dissertations than the dissertation itself. So keep that in mind. I usually try to get both if the journal article is important as the dissertation often has extra details or tabulated data (compared against the plots in the journal article).

Few Russian libraries are on WorldCat. So, for Russian dissertations, I've found most I've wanted to be at the Russian State Library, but from what I understand you have to be present to read them, or have a library card to download more than the preview for the digitized ones. My university's interlibrary loan service has been able to get abstracts of these after many months of waiting, however.

One last option is to contact the author. I've done this many times and have received everything from no response at all, apologies that they are not able to provide a copy for technical reasons (old document format), to a copy of the dissertation or thesis in question.

Here are some related questions with other answers:

Is there a smarter way to search for PhD theses for a specific topic?
Worldwide Dissertation Database? or French, German, Italian ones?
Search all Theses online


How to prepare for a phone interview with a prospective advisor?

If you're interested in joining the group, then you should be able to show that you've done a little bit of prep work (which clearly you have, since you've talked about his papers).

Questions I'd like prospective students to ask me include:

What projects do you have upcoming?
What is your advising style like?
What are your expectations for graduating students?
Could I talk with some of your graduate students/postdocs?


What are some steps an undergrad can take to get on a Ph.D. track?

Many students who want to study for the PhD in the US apply directly at graduation from their undergraduate education. A MS isn't needed for most fields, but might include one along the way for little or no additional effort. But expect that such a doctoral program will include additional coursework in your field prior to starting research, and, perhaps, prior to choosing a research advisor.

The advice you were given is good, but the MS isn't actually needed (most fields). What you need is a solid record of accomplishment and good letters of recommendation that suggest you will be a success in graduate study.

The advice about going to more than one school is so that you have more opportunities to view a variety of approaches and a wider range of ideas than you are likely to get if you stay at the same institution throughout.

In some doctoral programs you can get a MS just by asking for it and paying a fee (some paperwork). In some you write a thesis of lesser scope than a doctoral dissertation, but possibly giving some practice with research and writing.

The path might be something like 6-8 years, possibly as long as 10.

You need a way to support yourself. The common way is to serve as a TA in your doctoral department. Research Assistants are open as well, but to fewer people in some fields.

But in the US, the best advice for right now is to apply to a few programs that interest you, including some that are more likely to take you than some others.


My first guess is that you think your work is worse than it really is. This is a variation on Imposter Syndrome of course. The director, however, knows your work and presumably something about the field. His faith is stronger than yours.

But to ease your fears, I'd suggest that you try to work with the director to refine your paper. Along the way you can bring up your reservations naturally and, probably, address them. If you can arrange this, then you might include the director as co-author, depending on the degree of collaboration.

Even if your paper isn't perfect (few are), you probably have something valuable to contribute as the director indicates. Indeed, the methodology of the paper might be much more important to the community than the immediate results.

Also, I hope that the publication system of the journal includes good reviewers. By submitting it you will get additional feedback from knowledgeable people that will help you improve the paper before final publication. Even without the director's direct help, the review should be valuable.

Publishing just seems like a big win to me.


Assessing a potential supervisor who had a fallout with a previous PhD student

I have been thinking of having a one to one meeting with them and asking them a few questions I could frame as a “mini interview I like to take of future supervisors”: “Have you had any unpleasant experiences with PhD students in the past?” but I was wondering if the academic community on here would have better/more suggestions? Maybe even a view point of a professor?

Ok, don't. You don't like to be lied to your face, and probably your supervisor also doesn't like it. And maybe your supervisor is not stupid and may realize something’s up.

Let's just consider the possibilities (and to be clear, I have seen all of these):

Your supervisor is a psychopath who behave nice as long as it serves them and shit people in the face to get what they want if they can. These are very good liars. On the other hand, they don't care if you recognize them for what they are, they just will adapt the strategy.
Your supervisor is a person who doesn't plan his PhD supervision very well, and sometimes if results are not coming in puts all the blame on the student.
Your supervisor and the previous student just did not get along due to their personalities or their goals not aligning, and the previous student interprets this very much one way.
Your supervisor decided at some point to pressure the student with good intent e.g. to help them, and the student took it personally.
The student somehow messed up and put the blame to the supervisor.

What to do:

The most dangerous for your scientific career is 2. Here, check if you have the feeling that your supervisor really tries to generate a good context or if you are working alone and uncoordinated.
I would not necessarily care about 1; these are people whom you can bargain with if you have something in your hand, but check how valuable you and your result are and how much depends on you.
Number 3 you can address by discussing expectations and goals (35 h peer week, one conference publication vs. 60 h per week, two nature papers) early in the thesis.
Number 4 depends on the cultural context, but is maybe not that bad at all. (While my professor probably saved my thesis by pressuring me to finish the thesis, he probably messed up his working relationship with another PHD student by doing exactly the same thing so much that the student essentially dropped out.)
Number 5 is irrelevant to you.


One good way to approach this kind of thing is to state a policy in your syllabus. For instance, you could have:

  Make-up exams will be given only in case of an emergency or unavoidable problems such as an illness requiring hospitalization. You must communicate with me as early as possible about the problem.

Under this policy, you would just tell the student no in this situation. Or you could craft a policy that does allow a make-up exam in this situation.

The advantage of having it spelled out in your syllabus is that it's communicated clearly, it's clear why you're making the decision you're making, and administrators will support you in your decision.

Personally, I just say no in the kind of situation you're describing. The student is making a commitment by taking the course, and the nature of the commitment was made clear from the start in the syllabus. It's quite a bit of extra work for me to write a different exam for one student and make arrangements for it to be proctored. When you're a college student, it's simply not reasonable to expect to have a week off from school with no consequences. Lots of other students would like to have a week off with no consequences.


Where to include contact details in math paper

This depends entirely on the journal's style. They should provide a LaTeX class or template that explicitly identifies how to include the corresponding author's contact info, or if not that, a web page with instructions on how to include contact information. Without knowing which journal you're talking about, I don't think I can say anything more than that.


Applied vs Pure Math for an Engineering Student

Believe it or not, following the "pure" track might help you out more.

I used to have an "applied concentration" to my math major, which meant I had to take mathematical modeling classes, graph theory, operations research I & II, etc. on top of my core classes. When I decided to go the PhD route (applied), my advisor recommended I drop the applied concentration in favor of the pure, reason being that the pure classes will give me more breadth and better preparation for grad school.

Ultimately, this meant that I had to take abstract algebra, adv. Calc I & II (also known as elem. real analysis), a proof writing class, etc. I did end up taking the modeling class as an elective.

From the point of view of my advisor (who is on the grad. Admissions committee at my school) these aforementioned classes show capacity and mathematical maturity to a greater extent than the applied courses, which is what departments would like to see when considering your PhD application. Plus, they give you a foundation to build upon once in grad school.

So, I'd say take the pure classes and cherry pick (smartly) the applied ones as electives. This will ensure you're more prepared for the rigor you'll encounter wherever you decide to go.

Best of luck!


Is Cover Sheet Necessary for Writing Letter Submission?

I did my application for grad school pre-internet, and no writing samples were requested.  So this is not intended as an authoritative answer.

The instructions you posted weren't super clear, so I compared them against another randomly chosen program.  It happens to be for an MFA program: http://english.olemiss.edu/how-to-apply-to-m-f-a/

  Please provide a cover sheet with your name, address, phone number, and email, and the titles of the pieces in your work sample.

Okay, now I'll extrapolate from that and make my best guess.  (If you don't mind waiting until Monday to do your submitting, you could ask the departments for clarification.)

Program A: If your pieces of writing already have your name clearly indicated somewhere near the top of the first page, then perhaps you don't need to add anything; however, a cover sheet as requested by the MFA program I quoted might not be a bad thing.  If they find it extraneous, I suppose they could just toss it.

Program B: If the piece of writing is not published, I would guess this means that you should add the name of the program you're applying to below title and author, at the top of the page.  If the piece of writing is a reprint of a published article, then my personal guess about this would be to use a pdf editing tool (e.g. Foxit's "typewriter tool" or "textbox").  If you are not the sole author, then in addition to the name of the program you're applying to, it might be helpful to put your name in that textbox too.

I guess if the reprint doesn't have enough space at the top for such a textbox, you could make a separate cover sheet, and then splice the two pdf's together with for example PDF Splice & Merge.

A nice extra feature for non-published pieces of writing would be a header or footer with your name and the name of the program you're applying to (and page#/#pages).  In case the committee is sitting around a table with hard copies of applications, and things start to get messy.  (I have no idea if that's how some committees work.)


How to say “thank you” to a professor who has written a recommendation letter for me?

Don't worry about it too much, just say thank you.  In person or over email are both fine: getting a good recommendation letter is a big deal for you, but writing recommendation letters for good students is a part of normal routine for a professor.


Why is an academic CV not the place to sell?

In academia, the traditional CV format is exactly what people care about, i.e. it already is the sell. Other academics care about stuff like your papers, presentations, and teaching experiences. In general, very little weight is given to the other topics that you mentioned, so including them is a waste of space. The few places that they do have weight (primarily graduate admissions), the relevant parts are better suited to other areas of the application (e.g. official transcripts, TOEFL and GRE score reports) where they are more likely to be seen when needed.

Note that graduate admissions are slightly different from the rest of academia. CVs that are submitted here are often more of a hybrid between traditional resumes and academic CVs, in large part because prospective graduate students don't have the academic experiences and achievements to fill up the latter (somewhat field-dependent). But many of the same cultural norms apply. By and large, academics are not interested or swayed by unverifiable "fluff," so you should limit what you include to specific, concrete, verifiable achievements.


Cite Formal Definitions of Standard Problem in Thesis

It is probably best to err on the side of completeness as long as you don't get so pedantic that you can't be understood. Some people who later read your work will appreciate those citations, even if your committee doesn't need them. Appendices/annexes are good for including some of that sort of thing.

But if you rely on a different formulation than the standard it might be especially useful to be complete. You don't, likely, need to chase the full history back (though it might help situate your work), but at least the immediate ancestors to your work.

Complete, but not pedantic. A balance.

And of course, your dissertation advisor has the best and most relevant advice on this. He or she needs to be happy.


The editor appears to have been a Martha Siegel, but I think the simplest solution in your case is to go the table of contents of that issue, and click "Cite this item", which yields citations like

  Mixon, Bill, Steven J. Brams, D. Marc Kilgour, Robert Mandl, David L. Farnsworth, and David M. Bloom. "News and Letters." Mathematics Magazine 68, no. 4 (1995): 322-24. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2690589.

for the news and letters section. A three page document is short enough that you don't really need to be more specific than that. Still, if you want you can make it clear in the text that you're only citing the editor's introduction to the section. A less standard solution would be adding something to that effect in brackets in the reference list, e.g. "[Editor's introduction]".


If the software system is targeted for a research problem that is deep, recognized by the community, requires complex architecture and design, and from which a wide community can benefit from, then system conferences could be a good match.

I'll give you an example. Symbolic execution is a widely used and researched technique in software verification. People from Stanford developed Klee, a symbolic execution engine that aims to be highly practical and scalable. Making
such a system required taking care of quite some details. They published paper
on OSDI, and I believe they received best paper award. Klee paper.

Other than that, there might be conferences in your particular area that care
about building systems for the problems you mentioned, but I guess you already took a look into that. Hope this helps.


Post-doc requested only research statement; no cover letter?

Unless this is an online application with nowhere to upload it, you should always write a cover letter. It's not hard, and it brings that little extra. It allows you to tell your story the way you want it.

Even if there is nowhere to upload /send a cover letter, you should add a small "summary" at the top of your CV (one paragraph).


"Excellent foreign scholar" from Chinese National Science Foundation

Preamble: I am one of a few Chinese active participants on this site. There have been some questions about Chinese academics here. I always tried to not to answer them. For example, there was a question about the role of correspondence author in Chinese academia(the OP even offered a bounty for it). I did not answer them for two reasons: I am not an insider and I do not wish to give out information I am not absolutely certain about. However, I feel that I need to give some answer for this question because I just see some un-useful answer. Hopefully some Chinese scholars will answer them after they see this one.

According to this document, "The Joint Research Fund for Overseas Chinese Scholars and Scholars in Hong Kong and Macao is established by Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) to encourage excellent overseas Chinese scholars (including those with foreign nationalities) under the age of 50 to conduct high-level joint research with researchers and organizations in mainland China."

I suspect your colleague received this fund. Please note that the qualification is oversea Chinese scholar. "Foreign" here means he could be born in oversea but at least one of his parents is a Chinese.


Ethical nature of multiple post-doctoral applications

There is nothing wrong or strange to apply for several fellowships and funding as you describe. The opposite would mean you have to gamble on one and hope it comes through. What can be a bit problematic is perhaps if each proposal causes a lot of work for somebody in a department if you later is a no show despite funding. In such a case it would be good to let people know you are sending in other applications as well so they are not completely in the dark about your situation. I am sure everyone will be sympathetic. If they are not you may not want to go there anyway.

The risk of getting money from several of your applications seems like a luxury problem. Yes, you have to decide which one to go for but that should be a pleasant problem. I would tackle the problem IF it becomes reality and not worry about it at this stage. Your first step is to get applications in, not worry about what to do when and if any funding comes through.


How to fend off someone putting their Name on my work?

Your situation sounds messy. I think most will agree that the basic prerequisite for co-authorship is intellectual contribution to the manuscript . To add authors for thanks is common but really not a practice to endorse. If someone comes to me and asks to be a co-author, the obvious response would be: "What will be your contribution?" If there is no clear contribution other than, say, "Read the manuscript and provide input" then the answer should be "No, thanks". In your case, it sounds as if there is no major point in even having a discussion.

In fact, your case reminds me of a colleague of mine who ends up in all sorts of strange situations. His problem is that he is too nice and does not know the word "no". I realize it may be hard to set up strict rules for these things if your immediate surroundings do not subscribe to them, but I think you should know that you have solid grounds for being more strict about adding unnecessary co-authors or letting people into a project without a clear picture of why.

If you are first author on a paper, it seems to me you will also be the person deciding how the work should materialize. I think you need to make your own mind up where you want to draw the line. you will benefit of making a decision on how you want things run. If you want to deviate from this later on, then it is still your decision and no-one else's. I think this is what you (and most of us) really want - to be in the driver's seat. So follow your instincts, they seem sound to me.


Can a systematic review only review one article?

If it’s a systematic review, it is weird that there is only one article to include. However I think it could happen. After having applied inclusion criteria to all articles first retrieved, only one was left. I also think there’s a lesson out of this issue that the authors of the review should address.


How can one prevent a co-author from publishing without consent?

Write an email to the editor.

As you said, submission needs formal aproval of all coauthors so if you tell the editor or publisher that this is not the case, the paper will not be published.

Publishers usually assume academics are grown ups and the likelihood of person naming people as co-authors against their will is very low and thus the hassle of sending multiple emails or having everyone involved in the online submission is not worth the trouble. Keep in mind that some articles have up to 1000 authors.


Should I admit to cheating when it appears I cheated but I did not?

I'm panicking right now, as I was supposed to be studying for finals

If you did not cheat, you do not need to be panicking.

I recommend these steps:

Tell the professor that you did not cheat.
Tell them that right now you need to focus on studying for your exams.
Tell them that you look forward to straightening the matter out after the exams.
Request to take the exam at the normal time.  Point out that the professor can always require you to take the in-person exam later, so it is possible to resolve the accusation later.
Go back to studying.

After you have taken your exams, then learn and follow your university's procedure for resolving these disputes.  Keep it calm and logical.

If you are still feeling panicky when you need to study, talk to your university's counseling service.


Alternatives for when your institution doesn't provide you an e-mail address

Some scientific organizations like ieee provide an life-long (or membership-long) e-mail adress which can be used in an academic context. The advantage is, that it will stay valid even if your affiliation changes. The downside is, you will collect spam forever ;-).

In our university, all students are in a dedicated "firstname.lastname@student.our-university.de" scheme, and they are deleted a few months after graduation. This does not help for long-term communication issues, but allows access for restricted content during the time of study.

In general, I believe your institution should provide an e-mail address due to many reasons (e.g. authentification, ease of communication, etc.), honestly it is hard to imagine how we would run our institution without.


I cannot answer for all journals but can provide insights into a few. One issue concerns the authors rather than the journals themselves. If a community has little need for equations then the need for LaTeX is also perceived as small. Hence a journal would not implement something that they think has no use.

In my own field of Earth Science, the usage of LaTeX varies between sub-disciplines. In Glaciology, being a quantitative subfield, a majority use LaTeX while in other more descriptive subfields no-one uses LaTeX. It is easy to see that this is also reflected in what formats the journals accept. Since the editors of the journals usually come from the sub-disciplines their journals cover, the editors are used to using the same authoring tools as others which further cements the existing structure.

On top of that the individual publisher may add capacity to journals. Elsevier, for example, has a LaTeX-class that can be used for their journals, while Wiley, for example, do not. This can help journals take the step to also include LaTeX contributions even though editors may not be users themselves.


How should I address a professor's inconsistencies?

This is an uncommon situation. It happens that a professor has a blackout in front of class or screws a proof - but this sounds much worse.

It is hard to tell from the distance, but to me it seems like the professor is having serious problems (maybe health issues, personal issues, ...) distracting him.

I would suggest talking to another trusted faculty member (if you don't know whom to adress: There are usually dedicated ombudspersons at every department / university) and tell them your observations.


What do US universities mean when they mention anything above the "Calculus" course?

I think your question is:  What does calculus mean?
Calculus would usually include learning to compute derivatives and integrals.
If you are learning to prove the theorems used to compute derivatives and integrals, that would be more advanced than calculus.

linear algebra analysis 1, multivariable analysis, topology, group theory

All of those would usually be considered more advanced than calculus.


What can a non-researcher/academic do to promote open access?

Some thoughts:

Write their representatives in government. Encourage them to support open access mandates for publicly funded science.
Write the authors of open access papers they do read, and thank them for making their work open access. Positive feedback, even if it's not career-altering, is always nice.
Give to their local university/alma mater/etc.'s capital campaign, specifically to support funding to help cover open access charges for projects that don't have enough funding to pay for those fees themselves (often grad student/postdoc projects).


Can I ask a prof (alumni of my college) to recommend me to another prof for a TA position?

Can you do it? Most certainly. Should you do it/is it likely to succeed? That depends on a couple of factors:

Do you know prof A? Does he/she know you? A random email from somebody along the lines of 'Hey, you graduated from my college, please give me a TA position.' will almost always be met with a negative response.
Have you done some kind of work for prof A in the past? If he/she supervised you at your college for some time, yes, you can ask for a recommendation. If not, again, your cchances of a positive response are slim

Those two points may sound similar, but there is a difference with respect to why you might get a negative response:
In the first case, it may be the wording of the email, it may be that there is no TA position at the moment. It is mainly to be seen as a general inquiry for a TA position, that you know that professor is only a slight bonus.

In the second case it is a bit different. You will ONLY get a positive response if that professor has supervised you in the past and is satisfied with the work you have done. After all, a letter of recommendation is basically 'This student is good, I have seen it first hand, if you hire him he will do good work for you.' If prof A doesn't know you, he/she will not recommend you because that is putting his/her name at risk.

With these points in mind and the questions I have linked as a comment to your question, you should be able to figure out if that second email is likely to get a positive response.


Can any study answering or finding more about a relavant question be done as a research paper?

A paper is there to answer a question. The problem with broad questions is that they often don't have answers at all, or they have many answers, or that answering them takes more than one book to write up. In any of these cases a paper is not the right format for writing up the results just because of the space limit implicit in a paper.

More seriously, with such a broad question it is very hard to organize your research project and get it done. You'll typically end up doing lots of loosely related things that in the end just don't add up to anything meaningful.

This does not mean that you cannot tackle large problems. It just means that you need to break them up in smaller, more manageable pieces, and tackle those one at the time. Afterwards, you or someone else can write a review or a book that brings the pieces together. Moreover, something like this is often a group effort and not something that is done in one or two years, but rather many years, or multiple decades and for really broad question one could argue the time frame is in terms of centuries.


How to cite supplementary material of a Science paper and avoid confusion with my own supplementary material?

Therefore, we regarded the results as likely noise and following the methodology described in Supplementary material S3.3 of XXXXX et. al. (2012), we proceeded to reanalyze the data.


What should I do in the yearly group event?

Just talk to your colleagues, ask them to show you their previous presentations. It's perfectly fine to be afraid to make a mistake and ask "silly" questions.

Here's what I would do: tell about your previous research, if you are from different country/uni - maybe show some pictures. Then tell about your project - even if you don't have any results (and it's ok) you can talk about your research plan, experiments you plan to do. It's good to have feedback/suggestions from seniors at this stage.

Then, if you're new - you can introduce yourself to others, maybe have one slide with pictures that represent your hobbies, etc.


Is increasing the DPI of a low resolution image a good idea?

The comment you received is aimed at obtaining images of higher quality for publication.
Processing the files you sent them will not solve this issue.
If it did, the typesetters would already have done this themselves – this is what “insufficient quality to reproduce well” hints at.

In your specific case, the images seem to be digitalisations of historic photographs.
Thus, the only way to improve the quality is to obtain higher-resolution digitalisations of these photographs.
If you cannot do this, write exactly this to the publisher; they are most likely going to accept this.
Also note that if those images are test cases for some image-processing algorithm or similar, they should be printed exactly as they are, and this is what you should write the publisher.

The entire remark about the resolution probably doesn’t apply to you but was made for illustrations, plots, and similar.
These are almost always best provided in a vector format (which has infinite resolution, if you so wish) and even if using a pixel format, they can be produced at arbitrary resolution.
The resolution requirements are aimed at those researchers who insist on working with pixels in this case.


Would taking the GRE (when it is not required) be likely to help my application?

If the school you are applying for does not require GRE than it is extremely unlikely that it will make any difference.
Certainly take a look at the discussion on the importance of GRE scores for graduate school admissions; as usually GRE scores most often are used to perform "cut-offs", not as a competitive measure (or at least with relatively low weight). Thus, if the school decides not to make GRE mandatory it does not make a lot of sense to submit one (especially, if you don't have one ready for other applications).
Some exceptions probably will apply if the assistantships/scholarships have a separate set of requirements (I am not aware of specific cases that would require GRE, but can imagine such to exist) or when GRE is an optional application package item and one wants to strengthen their borderline submission. Even though in the last case, I would spend more effort in writing a better statement of intent.


Uploading paper drafts before first-time publication

In my view, you're overthinking all of this.

Unless you've got strong mentors collaborating, your first papers are likely to be terrible. Your work might be wonderful, but writing scientific papers is a specialized skill, and you haven't really practiced that skill yet if you haven't had a paper go through scientific peer review.  So if you want to publish, you should start submitting and start building those skills.

My strongest advice here would be to try to start working with one of your professors as a mentor (and likely co-author).  They are likely to be much better able to assess what is needed to make a good publication out of your work. If you've actually accomplished something interesting, they are more likely to offer such mentorship.

If you have a very strong ability to withstand rejection, you could also go ahead and just submit your papers to what you believe is an appropriate journal (make sure it's actually reputable, and not a predatory piece of junk!).

Finally, the biggest red flag to me in what you've written is talking about being secretive about your work. Even if you're onto something wonderful, you should be thinking about this as not as your magnum opus but as just the first in a very long series of publications that you will make over the course of your career. Being secretive is often a trap, which causes people to think their work is more important than it is because they aren't getting outside feedback on it.

Let go of the fear, find a mentor co-author or send in your manuscripts yourself, and learn from the (likely harsh) feedback that comes from the reviewers.


What accreditation is most important for cs jobs?

I was a hiring manager in the information technology industry before retiring to teach.  I don't think recruiters or hiring managers pay attention to accreditation; they're interested in the reputation of the institution.  As a beginning student, you want the best education available to you.

That being said, you might want to use accreditation as one of the factors you consider in choosing a school.  For a degree, as (possibly) opposed to some certificates, you certainly want a regionally-accredited institution.  The Close Cover Before Striking School of Programming is unlikely to seize the attention of hiring managers.

Program accreditation, as awarded by ABET and others, is an indication that the institution wants to "do things right" and to maintain and enhance its reputation.  I teach in the computing discipline, and it has been my anecdotal experience that program accreditation is one indication of a high quality program.  That is something you should consider.

Disclosure: I visited the nice Federal Express lady last week to send a self-study to ABET's Computing Accreditation Commission.


Should I pursue a good advisor-match or institutional prestige / pedigree?

There are some undefined terms here, so it is hard to give a definite answer: mediocre, for example. But there is some general guidance.

What do you want to shoot for as a career? Do you want to do research in an R1 at the expense of all else? And a top-name R1 at that? Nice goal, but few achieve it. But studying at a top institution gives you some background for that. Or do you want to teach and otherwise do some good?

There is very little worse in a doctoral program than having a bad advisor. But bad means someone who isn't very interested in your work or is hostile to you or your ideas in some ways. Browsing around this site gives many examples of the horrors.

Having a high prestige advisor, from a high prestige institute (or not) will be a help for you in getting your first job, but it will decline after that quite rapidly and you will stand on your own. On the other hand, if the advisor, from wherever is connected to many others in the field, you can enter into many fruitful collaborative arrangements through the advisor and these will serve you throughout your career.

But the high prestige advisor may be too busy to give you the help you need, or, since you have your own ideas already, too disinterested to help you when you really need it.

But, it would be good to think long term about what you want, and the best choice will depend fundamentally on that, not the other factors you mention.


Colleague presented poster of our shared work at conferences without my knowledge or express permission

Ultimately there isn't a single valid approach here. The appropriate level of response depends on several factors, including the field in which the work is being performed, the nature of the conference, the status of the work relative to publishing practices in the field, and so on.

For instance, if you're in a field where posters are peer-reviewed before a conference, then it's a much more significant issue than presenting a poster at, for instance, a Gordon Research Conference where posters are explicitly considered to be "for discussion only" and are not intended to be used for publication. As for the author order, some societies (for instance, the APS) expect that the poster (or talk) be given by the first author as listed at submission—whether or not this is fundamentally the way it would be listed in a paper.

Looking at the ethical issue—has the work been published already somewhere or otherwise public? If so, your co-author may have thought it was OK to present a poster on the material; after all, you've already consented to publishing it elsewhere. On the other hand, if this is the first time the work has been presented, then it absolutely is ethically wrong to present the work without your consent.

The level of your response, though, should be scaled according to both the level of the offense and your desire to continue the collaboration. If you're angry that it was done but still want to work together, a somewhat measured response (the "sternly worded letter" approach) is probably best. If this has poisoned your relationship to the point where you can't see continuing to work together—and you want to have your colleague punished for the transgression—then you should make that clear. But I would hope the opening salvo here should be open and forthright dialogue with your colleague rather than a report to an ethics committee.

(Also, this advice can't really be generalized to large-scale collaborations where it simply is not possible to obtain informed consent from every participant on every paper produced as part of the collaboration.)


Would it be weird to cold email former students of a prospective advisor?

This is an opinion and you may get opposite opinions, of course. If it is weird, it is only a little weird. I think it is something worth doing, actually. "How is Prof X to work with? Does s/he provide a lot of help or only a little. Any thing I should be aware of?"

There is very little worse in doctoral education than having a poor or abusive advisor. All you really need to know is that they treat students appropriately, even if they are (very) demanding.

You can find a lot of horror stories about advisors by searching/browsing around this site.

But just keep it informal.

I don't recommend cold calling professors, but would treat calling students differently.


Can I drop the “Lond.” in “Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond.”?

I wrote to the Royal Society out of curiosity, and received a very helpful answer, along with the permission to post quotes from it here.
So here is part 1, referring to Background in the question:

The answer to the first part of your question is easy. The “Lond” or “London” was dropped from the journal titles a long time ago. Although the Society’s official, legal title is “The Royal Society of London for the Improvement of Natural Knowledge” we now call ourselves just “The Royal Society” and the journal titles reflect this.

And here is part 2, referring to the Question:

As to the abbreviations, there is a huge variety of these and no single standard has been adopted across all publishers for any journal abbreviation system. For example, "Royal" can be shortened to either R. or Roy.
[...]
Our preferred abbreviations are stated on our journal websites, for example.

And I was even provided with some additional hints:

Most science publishers use the National Library of Medicine (formerly Index Medicus) system. Some use ISO4.
Fortunately it no longer matters very much which abbreviation people use, as citations now use the DOI (which carries all the relevant information).

To complete this answer, I looked up the record entry of Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci in the National Library of Medicine Catalog. The record entry lists 18 alterntive names/abbreviations for the journal, and contains a note explicating when in the past some of the alternative names were in use.
Lastly, some relevant information could be found in the Fact Sheet:
Construction of the National Library of Medicine Title Abbreviations:

If a journal title undergoes minor changes that do not require a new bibliographic record, the existing title abbreviation continues to be used.
Once the title abbreviation has been assigned, NLM and the ISSN Centre do not go back and change a title abbreviation qualified by place name, even if the place of publication changes over time.

So the conclusion is: someone who decides to use the National Library of Medcine Title Abbreviations consistently will abbreviate

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

to

Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci

with a Lond reappearing from its misty past.


What constitutes a declarable conflict of interest in gender studies?

Usually, these relationships are financial.

For example:

In a paper talking about how Twitter has failed to police harassment, a professor who's an investor in an early-stage social network competitor would have to declare that.
Similarly, board memberships, speaking gigs, etc. are things that would have to be declared. For example, while writing a paper about abortion access rights, a professor should disclose if she was a paid speaker for a pro-choice advocacy group.

Generally, "I really care about this" for personal reasons doesn't so much count as a conflict of interest. I cannot imagine, for example, a journal intending for those writing in gender studies to disclose if they had been victims of intimate partner violence.


Has anyone, based on great performance, ever been awarded a higher degree than the one they enrolled for?

Although a bit old, there's the case of Luzin's Master's thesis: . . . he completed his thesis The integral and trigonometric series which he submitted in 1915. After his oral examination he was awarded a doctorate, despite having submitted his thesis for the Master's Degree. In fact, even for a Ph.D. thesis, Luzin's is one of the strongest ever written in mathematics --- in my opinion easily in the top 20 (and probably in the top 10) of all-time Ph.D. theses in mathematics for its influence on later developments.

This appears to be the published version of Luzin's thesis, which is 242 pages and in Russian, with the table of contents on pp. 241-242. For references to it, this search and this other search seem to work the best. I didn't get many hits for the title's French translation, by the way.


Is it possible for someone to do their masters in Maths once they've earned their degree in Computer Science?

Yes, you can. I know several people who have switched their graduate degrees, e.g. Math -> Computer Science, Biology -> Chemical Engineering, etc. You might have to take some extra classes, though.


What should go in a diversity statement if I believe I have had no relevant experiences?

I agree with the other answerer in that some self-examination will probably yield many ways in which you have overcome adversity or worked to support others from diverse backgrounds.

But here's another angle that's worth considering: Why does the university require a diversity statement in the first place? You'll encounter many forms of diversity at a large, public university like UCSB, where there is a substantial population of international students, federal student aid recipients, students with family/work obligations, and so on, and the school wants to know how you expect to integrate into the diverse community at the target university and how you believe interacting with a diverse student population will help you grow in your career and as a person.

Therefore, you don't have to "be" diverse (how can any individual be diverse?) to help foster a diverse, inclusive campus climate. I found this diversity statement from a faculty application written by an Asian American to be very successful, even though the author makes no mention of his personal background, focusing instead on the things he has done to support diverse students and explaining why he thinks diversity is a good thing:

  I believe that diversity is fundamentally the relationship between a community’s distribution along a multitude of dimensions (e.g., physical traits, interests, cultures) and that of of the general population. I am strongly in favor of a diverse community that samples broadly from the general population.  From a selfish perspective, it lets me learn from a variety of different, strange, and interesting people.  From a larger perspective, it creates a robust community that is immune to "jumping on the band-wagon", and, as the UC diversity statement notes, it is "the source of innovative ideas and creative accomplishments".

In a case like yours, I would recommend being honest about your blind spots and expressing your interest in learning more about people from other backgrounds. What was it like to grow up and attend college within a homogeneous community? What challenges do you expect to face as you transition to the target university, and how will you overcome them? What are the characteristics of the university's community that attract you to studying there? Bonus points if you can name specific student organizations, courses, or other features of the university that align with these goals.

On the flip side, it's worth pointing out that writing a diversity statement isn't necessarily any easier for those who are from "diverse" backgrounds. A diversity statement that simply enumerates one's demographic characteristics without reflecting on the meaning and importance of diversity can ring hollow. And there is a danger in invoking false parallels, i.e. assuming "Because I am from marginalized community X, I understand the challenges faced by those from marginalized community Y."


How do I handle this?

Most likely there's nothing you can do (beyond coming to terms with it), unless there's reasonable evidence that "[your] advisor published [the] theoretical frame I came up with for my dissertation."

  Do I have to cite his paper?

If you publish related work or you want to build upon his work, then yes, since his work is required to be cited in the usual way.


Should marker TA discuss marks with students?

According to the professor, the marker should solve students' marking issues

There you have it. Yes, meeting with students and explaining your reasoning is one of your job duties. Even good graders make mistakes, and even good students sometimes don't understand where they went wrong.

  I am uncomfortable with those students who insist that marks should be given in their way.

You do not need to negotiate with students. You need to explain why they were incorrect, and explain how the point deduction was calculated. (Hopefully you've been using a rubric so that students are consistently docked the same number of points for each offense -- if not, you should start.)

When students try to "insist," you can explain that it wouldn't be fair to adjust penalties on a case-by-case basis. You can be pretty blunt here: "I provide these meetings so I can answer your questions. I've already explained why you lost points; I am not going to debate with you on every question."

  Some of them are disrespectful.

You certainly don't need to tolerate this. "I find that statement very disrespectful. If you continue to be disrespectful, I will ask you to leave." If you do in fact ask a student to leave, or not to return, you should pre-emptively send the professor a note concisely explaining what happened (e.g., "FYI, I told John he was not welcome in my office after he called me a _.").


Unemployed after 1st postdoc, what should my affiliation be when introduced during campus visit & job talk?

How about "I've done my PhD at [PhD university] with [PhD supervisor], working on [PhD subject]. For my postdoc, I went to [postdoc university] to work with [postdoc supervisor] on [postdoc subject]." If you want, you could also say "I did my postdoc at ...," from which a good reader can infer that your postdoc has ended.

I don't think you need to stress your temporary freelance status any more than that. It's clear enough in your CV and you got an invitation for a campus visit + job talk, so apparently the interviewers do not think it's a big deal. Of course, you should have a good explanation for that gap during on-site interviews.

Finally, try not to worry too much whether you're being invited for fake interviews/to be ridiculed/as a filler candidate. I think mostly you are a bit uncomfortable about your current situation and that's putting some doubt in your mind that (I'm guessing) does not have a basis in reality. Simply concentrate on giving a good talk and having fun chats about the research you'd love to do.


Summer programs for European undergraduate mathematicians

Park City summer program organized by the IAS (Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton) is worth trying. In particular, they have Undergraduate Summer School. Here is their Application procedure.

However, non-US permenant resident/citizens may have to pay more as in their web page

  Undergraduates funded by PCMI may receive lodging, travel, meals and a stipend (stipends are awarded to U.S. Citizens or U.S. permanent residents only).

Please note that the application deadline for 2015 is already passed (January 31, 2015).


Is it appropriate to show concern for a professor's well-being?

He either has personal issues, or he doesn't focus on teaching.

If he is having personal problems, it is wrong to approach him like a friend and expect him to give details. You are the student and he is the professor, and his personal issues are private and he will share them with someone close if he wants to. As an adult, he probably knows how the process works.

Either way, the only thing that matters is whether he is doing his job properly. If you think he is not doing so, then you should give constructive criticizm, such as when you are in class and you don't understand, you can say that for the last classes you are having difficulties understanding and putting it all together and suggest a method so that you can benefit better from his course. Or, you can send an e-mail about how certain things can be improved without sounding very negative.


Adding new results during review process

Yes, yes it is. Just make it clear when you do so the reviewers can review the new additions.

That said, if you think the result merit a new paper, make a new paper, and reference the one under review.

However, while I am an early stage researcher my suggestion is: have a high ethos when publishing. It is way better to have 1 very good paper than 3 weak-related ones. Your objective is to show the world new research, do not fall in the paper-mill trap. Your worth is in the quality, not in the quantity.


How to deal with a student found seeking an answer to a coursework question online?

Identify the offline equivalent of the observed behavior, and then act as you would normally. Remember, that the burden of proof for academic dishonesty likely resides with you. This includes verifying that the poster is indeed the student you accuse.

I find this situation to be pretty common: https://chemistry.stackexchange.com/questions/2753/how-to-derive-partial-gas-equation. Most stackexchanges have a homework policy. I would consider homework questions posted to stackexchanges to be no worse than asking students who have taken the course before you or asking another professor. How you deal with it is up to you.

What would your response be if you saw a student collaborating on the problem in a study group? How do you respond if you find out that your student asked another instructor or a grad student in your department for help? If you learn the student worked on that problem with his/her tutor? If the student looked up the answer in the textbook or the solutions manual? All of these are common and to varying degrees accepted (if not liked).

I would guess your irritation over this is somewhere more than the student asking one of your colleagues (who being nice will actually do the problem) and somewhat less than the student stealing another student's answer. Identify the offline equivalent, and then behave as you would normally.

EDIT - I missed the last part of the question.

  I have a good idea who the student is, but no definitive proof. How would you handle this situation?

If you do not have proof, then suck it up and let it go - this time. Next time put something in your syllabus. Either write a pretty severe sounding policy that exists to deter the behavior (because your policy will be basically unenforceable), or write harder questions and encourage them to use online forums with the caveat that they document all of their interaction. The second option shifts the burden of good behavior to your students.


This is a great question! I decided to write an answer to test my own understanding of the (rather convoluted) forces and interests at play. Assuming my answer makes sense, I hope it will help further the debate on this new proposed taxation rule.

  Why can't universities work around the proposed reclassification of tuition remission as taxable income, by not charging tuition?

We don't know that they can't -- I guess we will find out if this proposed new rule becomes law. But with that said, I think working around the rule would require a lot more than just relabeling "tuition" as something else or some similar cosmetic change. The reason is that there is something pretty honest and logical about the current arrangement, which makes me think that changing it would lead to an illogical, dishonest situation, which would be problematic from multiple points of view and create all kinds of undesirable distortions.

My understanding of the current system is as follows. There are four parties involved in the exchange of funds and services when a student goes to graduate school:

The university.
The student.
A funding entity (e.g. a public or private funding agency or an internal university grant).
The government, acting on behalf of the interests of the rest of society (yeah yeah, I know how naive that sounds).

Each of those parties has its own interests and has something to gain from the transaction, and provides some benefits to the other parties in return:

The university provides the student with an education and professional training, a costly good to provide (requiring physical infrastructure and lots of human capital). In return, it gets the tuition money (from the funding entity, or in some cases from the student him/herself) and the benefit of the research and other intellectual output of the student.
The student gets an education and valuable professional training that is likely to translate to a happier, more fulfilled life with improved employment opportunities. In return, he/she does research and other intellectually taxing work that benefits the university and the rest of society.
The funding entity provides funding to the university to offset (part or all of) its costs of educating the student. In return, it gets nothing, except the knowledge that it has fulfilled its mission of facilitating this process. (After all, funding agencies are set up precisely to be the entities in charge of giving away money to fund research.) This knowledge is used by it to justify its continued existence to the higher-level entities that are the source of its funds.
The government and society get the benefit of the student's research and other intellectual output, and the multiple benefits associated with a more educated populace. In return it gives a tax exemption to the student from paying taxes on the tuition money, which is after all a material benefit provided to the student by the funding entity (except for those rare students paying their own tuitions). This tax exemption is in effect a subsidy or incentive for people attending graduate schools. Of course, as readers of this site are well aware, going to grad school in the US is quite an expensive proposition (in both real costs and opportunity costs) already, to an extent that even deters some people -- probably a lot of people -- from pursuing a graduate degree. Going to grad school still makes economic sense for lots of people, but certainly not for everyone, and requires a lot of sacrifice and patience even from people who do end up benefiting.

Now imagine what happens if the tax exemption in item 4 is eliminated through a unilateral decision by the government, which is only one of the four parties. This will result in a net flow of huge sums of money back to the government. The whole set of incentives of the other parties will be drastically impacted. It is very hard to predict the exact consequences, but likely there will be an equally huge drop in the number of people wanting to go to grad school. Universities will have to go begging for more money from the funding agencies to offset that and restore equilibrium to the system, but the funding agencies don't have more money to give, or they would be giving it already. So: a big, big problem for everybody.

Now, you are proposing that universities simply eliminate tuition to forestall this flow of money back to the government. But then how will they offset the high cost of the education and training they are giving to the students? Charge money from the funding agencies, you say, but just don't call it tuition. Well, the funding agencies have to agree to this. How would the money be charged? By what logical name would you call this transfer of funds (it is after all a subsidy by an external entity of the student's education, which is a benefit to the student and therefore taxable as income under the new rules, at least if it is called "tuition"); and how will you prevent the government's taxation agencies from coming and saying -- quite logically in my opinion -- that this is effectively a form of tuition subsidy whether you call it that or something else, and that the applicable tuition taxes are therefore due? These are all tricky questions. As I said, I don't know if the universities will be able to find a work-around, but it is far from obvious to me that another equally viable arrangement can be found under the proposed new taxation regime.

Finally, I should add that the current arrangement works well not just because each of the four parties gets something in return for what they give, but because each of them gets back much more than what they give. There is a very large net gain of utility to society from the existence of higher education (and graduate schools in particular). That is why it is a resource that is subsidized, in one form or another, in all advanced countries.


How to judge the quality of education of an art school?

Graduation rate, and time to graduation. A school with a graduation rate of 50% is not a good thing. Nor is a school with average time to bachelors degree of 6 years. Historically, the 'rejection rate' of students applying has also been a sign of school quality, although many schools (Harvard, etc) now game this by providing free or reduced priced applications so as to raise this rate. They also market like mad, so they can pocket your admission fee...


Can a reference (not self) be over-cited?

Can a reference be over-cited?

Assuming you are using in-text citation, it is necessary to cite the reference in-text every time you use information from it.  So, there is no upper limit on the number of times a reference should be cited.  Increase the number of citations until there is no ambiguity, and then stop.  40 times is not that many.
In most styles each reference is only listed once in the reference list.


How to split two papers that Google Scholar incorrectly thinks are the same paper?

By now there is an option when editing the merged GoogleScholar article's version as shown in the example below. The option is called "Unmerge this article and add it to my profile as a separate entry."


Is it ok as a junior PhD student to review ranked conference papers?

Yes, this is pretty normal. Many conferences even have a "sub-reviewer" field in the submission form where the professor can note which of their students actually did the review.

The professor should conduct some quality assurance however. In my previous group we had a meeting to talk over our reviews, in my current group the professor takes our comments and checks them over before submitting them himself.


What is the actual process by which academic ethics change?

I'm sure both processes happen.

The latest Common Rule for human subjects is a great top-down example.  https://nexus.od.nih.gov/all/2019/01/07/nih-implementation-of-the-final-rule-on-the-federal-policy-for-the-protection-of-human-subjects-common-rule/

This process reinvestigated human  subject ethics in the context of modern-day genetics.  It almost required specific informed consent for the collection of deidentified tissue, with periodic renewals of consent and the ability to yank consent.  Picture what that would do to say, developed perpetual cell lines used for research!  MANY universities were waiting anxiously to see what would come out of that process and there were very large discussions on how such requirements would be met.  We even modified our CLINICAL operations to accommodate anticipated changes that never happened!!

I say this is a great top-down example because the ethics are, and still remain, hard to figure out.  Stakeholders had to get together and form consensus.  Nobody knew what the outcome would be when the process started.

As an example of bottom up, there is the example of neurosurgeons that now require sham surgeries before adopting a new procedure. This fell out of human fetal tissue transplant attempts. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1733639  There is no relevant reg, but I'm sure this is now incorporated into RSRB discussion.


Difference between UK honors and pass degree from Indian degrees

All UK universities use a Government body to verify and calibrate overseas qualifications for the purposes of admissions and employment etc.

Their web site is www.naric.org.uk.

It is their rating of your qualifications against an equivalent UK degree that will be used by any admissions tutor of any Master's course you applied for.

I quote from NARIC:

  UK NARIC can provide two officially-recognised documents. The first is a Statement of Comparability, which will include information about the standards of your awards in comparison to UK qualifications.  It confirms the status of overseas qualifications and their comparable level in the UK, irrespective of it being an academic, vocational or professional award. It is used by universities, colleges, employers and Government departments and agencies, forming part of their decision-making process.


How valuable are research assistant positions to an academic CV in the humanities?

I'm a faculty member in a Canadian university who hires a lot of RAs (and who has sat on hiring committees), so I can speak to this.
In general, you need to really watch the balance you take on. The extra money is great, of course, and if you need the funds you ultimately should take these positions - the hourly rate is good.
In terms of CV building: some RA work is great, especially if it can dovetail with your research project (i.e. accumulating knowledge for your field) and if you can get a publication as a co-author. Others may involve more clerical work. The important thing is that the RA position in and of itself is not a real addition to your CV when it comes to hiring, but the effects of it can be: a publication, skills, or having a faculty member who can write a positive letter of reference.
The reputation or prestige of the faculty member would I think only really matter if they wrote you a letter of reference or co-authored with you.


Is a professor obligated to provide feedback on an assignment?

Giving good feedback is good practice. However, people working at the university have multiple responsibilities and they need to make trade-offs. So it is very well possible that your professor made a legitimate choice, we don't know and neither do you. Moreover, professors have substantial freedom in making those trade-offs. So there is very little you can do to force him to give feedback. Trying that will certainly back-fire. Instead, your best bet is to politely ask for an appointment, and be flexible about when that appointment takes place.


How can I email a CS professor looking for Phd. students?

This is kind of a tough question.  As a faculty member, I get tons and tons of these emails and frankly ignore most of them.  I feel kind of bad about it, but the main problem is that these emails usually don't give me any (positive) information that isn't already available from the Ph.D. application.  If I'm on the committee that year, I'll probably see the application.  And if not, well, either someone will bring it to my attention and ask me to have a quick look at the folder or not, but an email isn't going to change that.

I can at least tell you what not to do.  Don't write more than 2-3 short paragraphs.  Don't use more than 70 characters per line.  Don't include attachments.  Don't tell me how much you want to work with me.  Don't tell me how hard you work.  Don't brag about how great you are.  Don't prostrate yourself before me ("Respected professor, it would be the highest honor to work with such a great scientific mind...").  Don't try to impress me.  Don't use a script to try to make a mass email look like I'm the only professor receiving it (believe me, it's obvious the content wasn't written just for me).

Do include a link to your home page, especially if it contains papers and software.  Do try to engage me about something other than the admissions process, but this is tricky because if it's just a transparent effort to try to improve your admissions prospects, I'll get annoyed, and if it's a dumb question about one of my papers, well then I might not be impressed.

Frankly, the thing that works the best is when it's not the candidate but somebody whose judgment I trust who emails me and suggests that I look out for the person.  I don't like this because A) it tends to favor people in the US, and B) I have this feeling that I'm missing out on loads of talent for the simple reason that it's much harder to identify and evaluate good people who aren't compared to people I already know.  (I will say is that if I'm on the admissions committee, you are in my area, and you have a great statement of purpose, I will read whichever publication you make sound the most interesting.  That's a big time investment, but it has definitely paid off for me as I've found some great students that way.  I could go on about the admissions process, but that's not your question.)

I guess basically the more genuine contact I or my group has had with someone not about admissions, the easier it will be to realize that I might have good chemistry with the student and read the papers.  In one recent case, one of my Ph.D. students had previously interacted with a candidate and told me that the guy was a great hacker.  I looked at the application and quickly put the candidate at the very top of my list.

addendum

Obviously what I wrote is just one professor's perspective, and faculty members are all different.  As the OP points out, some faculty actively want potential Ph.D. students to contact them and advertise that on their web pages.  And maybe for more junior faculty, or schools below the top 10, or people who just have better email habits than I do, email is a useful recruiting tool.


Does the reviewer ever get the same manuscript twice?

It happens all the time. I think it is the reviewer's responsibility to respond to the editor saying that he or she has already seen the paper. Then it's the editor's call. Ideally the paper would be sent to a new reviewer, but depending on the subject of the paper the pool of available referees might be small enough that the editor requests the reviewer to reread the paper anyway.


Accidentally submitted to predatory journal, did not pay fee, already online?

IANAL

It totally depends on your jurisdiction.
However, as pointed out by Solar Mike, they made an "invitatio ad offerendum" (like at the bakery, where they invite you to make an offer (i.e. want to buy) a bread or similar).
By submitting, you declared to make an offer and they accepted it and published it.
So they fulfilled their part of the contract and your part (payment) is still open.

You can still try to retract your paper by sending an email to the editor and maybe it's worth a gamble to not pay. Your institution should be able to help you with this question


How to convince labmate to graduate? Graduating, in a 2 person research group?

How many graduate students your adviser attracts at any given time to his or her lab isn't your responsibility. Your responsibility is to yourself and your career. If you think it is time to graduate and if you think you have sufficient material to defend your thesis, then it is time to graduate.

Leave the details of how to run the lab after your departure to your adviser. It might make sense to discuss your hopes and plans to graduate at a particular time with your adviser well in advance (it's always a good idea to communicate!) so that she can plan accordingly. But, this planning is her job, not yours, and it shouldn't be a factor in your considerations.