Transferring to a PhD program I had been previously admitted to

First of all...you haven't even started the program yet. Give it a chance. Go in with an open mind. Hearsay is unreliable and it's normal to have second thoughts about something once you've committed to it. So put the question of transferring out of your mind for now, and focus on getting fully integrated into your department and your program. If you're mentally one foot out, you might simply turn this into a self-fulfilling prophecy.

To more directly answer the questions:

1) Yes, it's generally possible; I have a couple friends who have "transferred" PhD programs. However, "transferring" usually just means reapplying to a new program; you usually have to start over. So if you've done 2 years elsewhere, it may mean absolutely nothing and you may have to retake all of your coursework. At best, you might get credit for one semester's worth, but you're probably not going to be able to pick up where you left off at the old program. Generally, you also need the support of your advisor at the Old Program. In other words, the advisor you are going to work with in the fall would need to write you a recommendation letter for the New Program. In some cases where the relationship has gone sour, students have successfully gotten letters from other professors in Old Program, but those professors need to be very skilled in explaining why the relationship went south (in a way that reflects positively on the student.)

2) Maybe. It totally depends on the department. If you were so good that they were recruiting you heavily, and you produced evidence that backed that up in your first year or two, they might be eager to take you again.

3) It depends on how you do it, and the reasons that you transfer, and how reasonable your advisor is. Most professors understand a transfer that has to do with a shift in research interests - if you came to study X with Professor Smith but Professor Smith leaves, or Professor Smith radically changes his research direction to Y, or you change your research direction to Y - explaining to your advisor that you have appreciated your time at Great U, but your research interests no longer fit the program and you'd like to transfer to Awesome U to work with Professor Jones in your area, usually engenders understanding.

In the not-uncommon case that your relationship with your advisor goes south and you're transferring not because of research but because of personality mismatch, that can burn some bridges. But they may be bridges that you have to burn if you want to retain your sanity. Only you can make that decision.

In the less common but still possible case that your advisor is simply a jerk and hates when his students leave for any reason, even a reasonable reason can set him off. There's nothing you can really do about that, but there are typically sympathetic other professors that you can turn to for support and recommendation letters.

And how you make the break also plays a role. These are obvious things, though - don't badmouth your advisor, don't badmouth your program, don't disparage your classmates or other professors. Stay positive and make the transfer about you, and not the program itself.


Deferring a PhD to pursue a masters after accepting it. Advice?

Essentially, you have to choose between the two; you won't be able to do this the way you propose in your question.

There are usually only a few allowed reasons why a school will let you defer your enrollment: to fulfill a service obligation for a scholarship; to participate in a special program, such as a Rhodes, Marshall, or Fulbright scholarship; or if you have exigent medical circumstances that require you to postpone the start of your studies.

One reason that is generally not allowed is for you to study somewhere else. Just because you'd classify it as a "career opportunity," the PhD program to which you have been admitted will see it differently. They will make you decide between the two programs: if you want to enroll in the master's program, you'd have to give up your PhD admission spot, and reapply for the appropriate term in which you'd be able to start following your master's program.


To use bracket or footnote in the academic writing?

To draw the most attention to human attention map, use the following, because the phrase appears in the main flow of text.

  I'd like to introduce the saliency map. It is also referred as human attention map in [1] and [2].

To draw less attention, use the following, because the phrase appears inside parenthesises in the main flow of text.

  I'd like to introduce the saliency map (also referred as human attention map in [1] and [2]).

To draw the least attention to human attention map, use the following, because the phrase appears outside the main flow of text.

  I'd like to introduce the saliency map.1

  1: Saliency map is also referred as human attention map in [1] and [2].

The style you should use depends on what you want to achieve


How to cite paper when there is a gap between conference date and publication date

What matters is the publication date, not the date of the conference. I don't know APA well enough, but in my field, the format would look like this:

Wolfgang Bangerth, "What is reality?", Proceedings of the 12th
conference on impossible research, South Pole, March 12-24, 2010,
A. Stnas (ed.), Springer 2016.

In other words, the date of the conference appears as part of the "Proceedings of ..." text, whereas the date of publication (2016) is the normative date of publication.


Ask how to pronounce advisor's last name?

By the way, I have heard your last name pronounced a few different ways and I want to make sure I get it right. Can you teach me the correct way to pronounce it?


Query regarding possible status of submitted paper

I doubt that you are quite aware of the workflow of that particular journal. The related wisdom found on Academia SE appears incorrect too. AFAIK (from personal experience as handling editor for an elsevier journal), the editorial system here is a two-tier system: there is the editorial board and there are specialist/handling editors.

The handling editor deals with the reviewing and submits their decision to the editorial board (or the editor in charge), who in turn base the final decision (as communicated to the author in the decision letter) on the handling editor's suggestion. So, in your case

the handling editor has obtained the reviews and submitted their decision to the editor/editorial board; what this decision may be, you cannot know: it can be 'reject', 'accept without change', or 'revise' (most likely);
the editor(ial board member) in charge has not yet processed this case.

This is mostly likely because they are away on vacation or conference/work related leave. If you don't get a decision within a few weeks, you may inquire with the editor in chief or the clerk.

Note also that with this process the status always changes from 'under review' to 'decision in process', regardless of whether you will be asked to make revisions.


Are translators of mathematical texts into English in demand?

It is hard to tell if they are really in demand today. I have no statistics at hand but I guess that the demand is (slightly) declining since most books are written in English these days. But there are of course counterexamples to this statement. There has been a popular German book on functional analysis, being first released in 1985. In 2016 it has been translated into English, see below.  I studied at a German university and the recommended books in my undergraduates were mostly German books, only a few being translated into English. It is hard to tell whether it is worth it to translate them because there are already a bunch of English books on "basic" subjects.
What kind of organization is interested: Probably the authors are interested, but not for monetary reasons, but so that more researchers in the whole world can read their books. The publisher should also be interested, selling more copies. And of course the researchers. I'd wish there would be an English copy of "Quelques méthodes de résolution des problèmes aux limites non linéaires" by J.-L. Lions.
In general, the translators are not working directly for the publisher. They are active mathematicians in research and/or teaching at a university. Most of them are no regular translators (see my examples below), having translated only one book so far. But you can look up Richard A. Silverman, who translated a dozen Russian books for Dover.
From German into English:

-"Linear Functional Analysis" (2016) by H.W. Alt:
"The present book is the English translation of a previous German edition, also published by Springer Verlag. The translation was carried out by Robert Nürnberg, who also did a marvelous job at detecting errors and mistakes in the original version."
Robert Nürnberg is a mathematician at the Imperial College London.
-"Vector Analysis" (2001) by K. Jänich:
"Speaking of translation, I would like to acknowledge the excellent work of Leslie Kay in translating the German text into English. We have exchanged detailed e-mail messages throughout the translation process, discussing mathematics and subtleties of language."
Leslie Kay is a mathematician at Virginia Tech.

From Russian into English:

-"Lectures on Partial Differential Equations" by V.I. Arnold:
Translated by Roger Cooke, University of Vermont.
-"Mathematical Aspects of Classical and Celestial Mechanics" by V.I. Arnold et al.: Translated by A. Iacob, Brandeis University
-"Mathematical Methods of Classical Mechanics" by V.I. Arnold:
Translated by K. Vogtmann, Cornell University, and A. Weinstein, University of California at Berkeley


What is the US style to list the advisor's name of a master's thesis?

I don't think you need to be too formal here. Just include whatever information you believe is relevant, for example:

  Master's Thesis: "Topic", at University X, supervised by Prof. Y.

Theses are different from regular publications anyway.


My adviser agreed to write a letter of recommendation, but hasn't done so

First point: what your professor is doing is absolutely not OK. There are valid reasons to back out of writing a recommendation letter late (illness, family emergency to name a few), but what he is doing is intentionally sabotaging your PhD applications.

Second: ask for a meeting with your advisor, where you can have some uninterrupted time to explain your motivation for wanting to go elsewhere for your PhD. Focus on things like wanting to diversify your interests, work with a large variety of people, maybe work on a research project that is not available at your school. Feel free to add in things like how working with him has helped you realise how many opportunities are out there and prepared you to undertake studies at insert name of university you are applying to. Ask him if he could write you the recommendation letter and tell him that when you have your acceptances you will make a choice of where to go, and you will not rule out your current institution until you have all the answers. Explain that you feel that he is limiting your options, and feeling shut in is not a good place to be when you are trying to make serious decisions about your future. In short, flatter him and the current programme, explain your motivation in a way that doesn't come off as "this place sucks" and hope for the best. Keep the tone of this conversation calm and non-confrontational. You don't want to destroy your last few months there, and even if he says no, thank him for his time and explain calmly that you hope he understands why you will still go on with the application with another recommender, and that you hope there will be no hard feelings between you.

If this doesn't work I would go to the professor that knows you the second best in your master's program, or maybe even from your undergrad, and explain the situation to them (confidentially) and ask if you can get a letter of recommendation from them instead on short notice. It will probably be seen as a little strange that your advisor isn't writing you a letter of recommendation, but at that point it's your best option.


Msc in popular field in less reputed university or not so popular field but in well recognized school

A Master's should demonstrate a broad understanding, which goes beyond Machine Learning / Computer Vision. You need multiple Profs, not just one.
Rankings are subjective, but a well-ranked university is likely better than a low-ranked one.
So, (2) is better than (1), IMO.
That said, these surely aren't your only options: Perhaps look for a leading institute with excellent professors.


How can I claim ownership of my idea without securing a patent?

You can't patent that.

  Can I patent the use of an existing compound for another purpose since I have reason to believe it would also act to target neurodegeneration in this disease?

No, you can't patent "the use of X for purposes of Y" abstractly. As this description of patentable matter explains it:

  A patent cannot protect an idea. Instead, the idea must be embodied in one or more of the following:

  A process or method (such as a new way to manufacture concrete)
  A machine (something with moving parts or circuitry)
  A manufactured article (such as a tool or another object that accomplishes a result with few or no moving parts, such as a pencil)
  A new composition (such as a new pharmaceutical)
  An asexually reproduced and new variety of plant.

If you developed a specific method to use compound X to do neurorestoration/neuroprotection of Y - then maybe you can patent it.

Instead of trying to patent - try scientific publication!

You need the anxiety to "capitalize on your effort". Like you, I have not been able to secure a position in academia - not even a temporary one - despite having a bunch of solid ideas which can be developed. So I can sympathize, at least somewhat. Still: You should not, must not, utilize the tool of patents - which is a legal mechanism for inhibiting scientific discovery and preventing the public from benefiting from inventions.

Instead, try to find the time to write a paper - albeit a "vision paper" rather than an empirical study - making your case. Perhaps publish it on arXiv before it's peer-reviewed, to "stake your claim" scientifically rather than capitalistically. It might help you find a source of funding for developing this idea - in a "start-up", an established company or even a scientific institution.


Is a graphic that shows mainly code a listing or a figure?

It' s a figure. Without the graphical elements, it is not comprehensible any more. A listing could be formated in other ways without changing the meaning, but changing the graphical elements would change the meaning.


Should we do literature search in Incognito mode?

It's probably good to resist treating any search engine as a "black box." That is, you probably should not simply accept the results without suspicion.

There are a number of factors that affect Google searches. Your search history, if you are doing the usual thing, is clearly one of them. Just a few pages explaining this.

https://www.bluecorona.com/blog/google-ranking-factors-2018

https://www.wsoaonline.com/does-your-internet-history-effect-google-search-results/

https://www.webpresencesolutions.net/7-reasons-google-search-results-vary-dramatically/

https://www.link-assistant.com/news/personalized-search.html

What it means is, private browsing would not hurt. And you probably should not stop with Google. You should probably use a bunch of search engines. Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo, the archive searches on any journal archive you can get that is relevant, more if you can.

And you should be aware of the possibility that somebody has paid to have certain search results pushed up the list. Possibly on more than one search engine.

And then you should carefully examine the results to see if what you have achieved has validity. You should try to unravel any bias or detect any gaps as far as reasonable. Look at your data the way a hostile competitor would look at it and try to detect any flaws before you send it to a journal.

For example: Is there a point of view you are aware of that has been left out? Even if you think that POV is totally wrong, having the search engines decide for you could be embarrassing. Is one point of view clearly given undue precedence? Even if you prefer that POV you should be concerned if a search engine offered you only stuff you agree with. Is one source artificially cloned into multiple sources? Is a group of sources, that you know to be independent, artificially collapsed into a single source? And so on.


Should I ask my teacher before using speech-to-text software?

Yes.

It is always polite to ask anyone for permission before acting towards them in a way that clearly differs from what is generally taken as the norm.

I'm curious what you see as the argument against doing so, given you ask about etiquette.


Examples of a large-scale physics syllabus review

You might want to take a look at Germany (and possibly other countries an Europe). Due to the Bologna reform, physics departments (and many other ones) were forced to switch their curriculum from the old diploma system to a bachelor–master system somewhere around 2005 (the exact year depends on the university).

At least my university used this for some restructuring of the contents and, e.g., did the following (just to give you an idea):

Introduced separate math courses for physicists (before, students of physics and mathematics attended the same courses).
Introduced special courses each for IT, presentations and numerics (before, students were supposed to learn this by themselves on the way or when they actually needed it)
Moved theoretical mechanics and electrodynamics one semester earlier.
Merged the courses on atomic physics and condensed-matter physics as well as the courses on nuclear and particle physics.

Other universities might have undergone even more radical changes.


Is it a good idea to do MS two times in separate disciplines than a PhD for an industry job?

Don't make some elaborate plan of doing this entry degree and then another one.  You could even consider to drop out of this school and go to another that has CS. Or just go to work, in whatever IT position you can find.

If you feel like you must stay in the school you are at, my advice is to do whatever subjects appeal to you and just try to pick up some computer skills as available from whatever courses, projects you can.  Or even just on the side for fun or for small pay.

P.s.  Pick up as much statistics as you can.  That stuff never goes out of style and is incredibly relevant to computer algorithm optimization (as well as all kinds of other practical things)

P.s.s.  You are young and should somewhat be open to different careers.  Machine learning is a bit of a fad.


Home university with full research funding or prestigious university with teaching / research assistantship?

In general, to be perceived as a hanger-on, a marginal person, at a high-status place is definitely limiting... while being a star and highly appreciated at a lower-status place (while admittedly not as good as being "star at high-status place") is generally perceived as a good thing, with upper bounds as yet unclear. (Here I speak from a U.S. perspective, where things are not as centrally organized/controlled as, e.g., in France or China...)

That is, in the U.S., it is generally understood that, though of course a trajectory that leads directly to high-status situations is the simplest, there are many "second chances". Perhaps this is less so in more overtly and officially hierarchical settings. And, indeed, as things get more crowded in academe, the second chances in the U.S. are fewer and fewer, but they do still exist.

... not to mention the psychological impact of being told daily that you're marginal. Oof. Not helpful. Better to be told daily that you're doing great. Or is that a matter of taste? :)


Follow up email to a potential PhD supervisor

Whether it is a potential PhD supervisor, committee member, or employer I think it is important at this stage to simply send a polite kind reminder.
I have been in many of these situations and did not know how to handle it properly. I found it worked best for me to send a reminder 1 week afterwards your conversation; best timing: first thing in the morning, avoid weekends; so you catch his/her attention without pushing/forcing the person. Send two/three reminders max (one per week) if there are answers at that stage drop it.
That would be a short template of this form (short is important there)

Dear XXX,

I hope you are having a pleasant day.
I was wondering if you had the opportunity to review my email sent out on xx.xx. I know you are particularly busy at the moment but I would be really grateful if you can please spare a few minutes of your time to read it through.
Have a great day ahead.

Best regards,

First name Name

Regarding the formality, it depends, some people like to be called Prof. or Dr., other prefer to be informal after the first contact.
Whenever in doubt, use the polite form.
For the first sentence you can be more specific: winter, summer, vacations, back from a conference, etc.

For the salutation, it will depends on the first exchange of emails, again some people prefer to be more formal other less. You will often find "Best regards" "Sincerely Yours" "Yours sincerely" "Kind regards" "Best" "Cheers" etc

For the signature, also full name (first name + name) or simply your first name.


Should I be careful who I share my unpublished results with?

In science, just as in most areas of human activity, most people try to behave ethically but some have skewed views of ethics and some are just plain nasty.

Good ways to protect yourself are:

Asking somebody you trust who knows about the ethical character of the person you are looking to contact.
Putting a draft of your work up online, e.g., arXiv, that can clearly provide a time-stamp on your work.


Interview for pure math graduate program

My grad school interview for math was a bit different. It was more about determining whether I would accept an offer if they gave me one, because they didn't want to offer places to people who would not take them. I did however interview for my undergrad, and there the questions were on mathematical understanding. A question I was asked was "derive x^x". This is something that most high school students haven't seen, but should be able to figure out with some guidance. I would expect a grad school interview question to follow a similar pattern: ask about something you probably haven't seen before, but that you can figure out with some guidance from the interviewer. They will be looking for how you try to tackle problems you haven't seen and how you justify each step you take.


For most institutions, the degree date is the day that the university actually hands out the degrees, not the date that you fulfill the requirements for the degree.
At all the universities that I am familiar with, this happens only at fixed times of year, and your degree will be on the first such date after you fulfill the requirements and submit the necessary paperwork. For example, my alma mater has three degree dates per year: people on the standard schedule graduate in June, and off-cycle graduation is offered in September and February.
I'm sure there are institutions that do not work this way, but in the US at least it seems to be fairly standard to have fixed degree dates.
In either case, you should be able to readily find this information on the webpage of your university's registrar's office or equivalent, like the pages I linked above.


I would note that when you ask the students, you need to read between the lines to a certain extent. Just as letters of recommendation are always positive, but supervisors will look out for what is not said in them, you should apply the same principles when you are assessing a supervisor.

Let me give an example: I was interviewing for a postdoc in the US, and the supervisor had the students and postdocs take me out for lunch. Over lunch I asked how hard people worked, and were they well looked after. The answers were the expected - they were well looked after, the boss had high expectations, but supported them well to meet these expectations, they worked long hours, but they wanted to. Then I asked them what they liked to do outside the lab. Silence. Apparently noone had any hobbies. Eventaully one of them ventured that they drummed in a band, but later came up to me and asked me not to share this with the supervisor. Perhaps it was a joke that went over my head. Perhaps it there were other things going on. But I wasn't going to take the risk of ending up somewhere where people didn't want their supervisor knowing they had a life outside work.


Should I already have a publication related to the NSF RUI proposal I will submit?

A track record of relevant publications is very important to a successful grant application.  But the results you get in your case depends on the content of your application and the other applications submitted.


How to make an MD more appealing for a PhD program in basic research (neuroscience)?

PhD programs are wanting to recruit people who are capable of doing advanced research. Grades are a proxy that people use to try to estimate which members of a population (almost none of whom have publications) will be able to acquire the skill set necessary to publish in the future. And, grades aren't a terribly good proxy. Therefore, the best thing you can do to get into a good grad program is going to be to keep publishing, and ideally in the best places possible.

If you publish research, then you'll be able to get letters of reference that talk about your skills as a writer and scientist that should offset any difficulty with your grades.

You'll need to tell some kind of story to tell in your cover letter about why your grades are bad, and how they don't represent the work you will do in your phd program. (ideally a letter writer should address this fact too).

Good luck!


Do I need to follow traditional cover letter style for applying for an academic position?

Here is my opinion based on my rather limited experience:

In the English-speaking world (and probably elsewhere except, perhaps northern Europe) sticking to a traditional letter format is probably a good idea (as if it was being posted). Also it is good to have your contact info on all correspondence materials, especially your email address.

Keep the letter short - one page max.
Start the letter with a Re: (the position applying for) line.
Find out who the search committee chairperson is (phone or email the department secretary) and address your letter to that person with appropriate title (usually Dr. rather than Professor, but in Germany both, if applicable).

Tell them why you want the position, why you want to work at that university (do some homework) and why you are qualified - be enthusiastic.

If it is a research-oriented position (rather than just teaching) emphasise your research interests and how they connect with the faculty there. If just teaching a short paragraph would do.

Let them know that you are available for interview (with blackout dates if necessary) including a phone interview to start with, if desired.


Yes, some 225 journals do operate under such a model, called Registered Reports. As you suggest, the approach has a lot of advantages. The tagline is:

  Registered Reports: Peer review before results are known to align scientific values and practices.

Clearly, this is not yet a majority view, but as a methodology it is in the ascendant. The umbrella term is preregistration.


Is getting a good grade enough to ask for a letter of recommendation for a grad school application?

The only guarantee is that if you don't ask, you don't get the letter. So ask.

I'm sure your situation is common in large places and it is good to find ways to "stand out" with at least a few professors as you go along, but that is too late for you now if time is short.

But ask in person, during office hours, and be prepared to remind the professor of your past association even if it is only a little. If you ask by email it is too easy to just say no, sorry. But if you get turned down in person you might also get some advice about how to proceed (along with the disappointment).


Difference between Related work and Background section?

From my understanding:

Background: Explains all concepts the reader needs to understand the present paper. This typically includes references to existing work that introduced the concepts, but usually a limited number thereof (<= 5, unless your paper builds on exceptionally diverse foundations).
Related work: Discusses other related work. This should not only summarize the existing work, but also discuss how your present paper differs from it and why this is a "step forward" (new or better).


How to deal with poor teaching evaluations on academic job market?

Everyone has a tough time the first several years of teaching. It takes several years for people to find their feet. We can't all be Richard Feynman right out of grad school.

Still, a search committee might note your poor scores. You can compensate in several ways:

By remarking on this in your Statement of Teaching. I would try not to dismiss or shift blame, but tackle it head on. "In my first year of teaching, I received poor scores in Nuclear Physics 101. These mainly centered around X and Y. I have revised my syllabus to handle X and will dedicate more time to discussion around points Y. I have also changed how I handle Z, which should alleviate both problems, etc. etc. I have also decided to be less of a jerk."
By delivering a stellar guest lecture when you're brought on campus for your interviews.

Note that #1 and #2 both involve practices (statement of teaching; guest lecture in a class) that not all universities and colleges follow. Generally the ones that care about teaching require them and the ones that don't don't.

For example, I teach at an R1 where undergraduate teaching is ... deprecated. We mainly care about your research and that's what we evaluate our candidates on.


What is the proper protocol for addressing one's title and position in an email signature?

There is no formal protocol for a "signature block." You can put as much or as little as you would ike. If you know the recipient well, for instance, the block is unnecessary. For more formal occasions, however, I would include as much of your affiliation as is appropriate:

  I. M. Professor
  My Job Title
  My Department
  My University
  Other contact information

If you are chair, I'd indicate that specifically. Instead of the second and third lines, those could be combined as:

  Chair, Department of X


How to justify quitting PhD because of a professor in statement of purpose?

I planning to drop out of a PhD program after one semester and apply
to another top university for a PhD program.

Not all universities allow applicants from current Ph.D students. Although not 'illegal' it is looked down upon based on the requirements that I've seen thus far in my applications. Also try to finish the year at the very least. Perhaps your struggles are due to you trying to adjust to a new environment rather than the institution itself.

This is because of my encounter with a professor with little
experience and who is very intervening, non-perceptable,
unapproachable and worst of all willing to go to any extent to sabotage your career.

You mentioned a number of extremely negative attributes. Have you tried to talk to this individual about your reaction to their actions? If so, don't you have alternative options within the university? As in, changing advisers? Your judgement of a professor after one semester as inexperienced, micromanaging, unintelligible, hostile, and malicious seems rather premature.

The advisor meddled with credits to make sure that I cannot be in good
academic standing even though I got A's in courses.

Perhaps this is my lack of experience, but professors can only give grades to their class. The assignment of credits for different classes are determined well before you matriculated to the university. In other words, the class credit was predetermined when you signed up. At the same time, unless the same professor taught all of your classes, I don't see how it could have affected your academic standing. If you got all A's then the connection doesn't make sense.

Obviously, I have to submit my transcripts from all universities, and
my quitting and grade will raise some questions. So, what can I say in
my statement of purpose (or anywhere, I suppose) that will put my
quitting in the best possible light?
Thanks in advance for all your help!

I say don't quit, yet. Finish the year before making drastic actions such as this.
The evidence you've provided thus far are self-contradictory and doesn't seem to lend the idea that you tried to resolve the issue within your dept. If you did, then within the institution as mentioned by Mohammad Ghassemi. See if you can sign up with another adviser. You are running away from the problem rather than addressing it rationally.


Can I get a PhD in artificial intelligence with a pure mathematics background?

You have some of the elements of an artificial intelligence major. Your background in logic is pertinent. And your background in mathematical analysis and Riemannian geometry is at least interesting.

What's troubling about what I've seen of your background is your lack of computer science courses. Maybe that's not an issue, if you have the equivalent of a minor in computer science that wasn't featured in your question. Certainly, that would be an important "tool." And if you don't have it, you might consider going back to school for a five or six course minor or certificate program in CS.

The most interesting part of your question was, "I find the Artificial Intelligence field really fascinating." Why is that? And how does that connect with the rest of your background? Or are you starting from scratch, which would be difficult, though not impossible. In any event, these issues should be addressed in your statement of purpose.

Here's my experience in unfamiliar territory: In high school, I had four years of French, and none of Spanish (unless you count my one year of self-taught Spanish). In college, I bluffed my way into a second year Spanish class, and completed it successfully. Here's an example where my interest and natural aptitude compensated for my lack of formal training. Perhaps it will be the same for you and artificial intelligence.


Is it an advantage to be a resident of the state in which you are applying to PhD programs at state universities?

I had assumed that since my tuition would be covered anyways in a PhD program, there was no advantage to being in-state.

There's no financial advantage to you.  There might be one to the department.

I believe that one common arrangement is that the department's budget is charged for the normal amount of your tuition, whether in-state or out-of-state.  Although it's just money moving between internal university accounts, it makes a difference to the department.

I went to grad school at a University of California campus, and there was a rule that if you had come from another state, you had to establish California residency within your first year, so that the department only had to pay the out-of-state rate for one year.  So if you plan to attend a California university, you'll likely have to go through that bureaucratic hassle eventually anyway; might as well get started now.

Being in-state also means that the department gets to pay the lower rate from the beginning, so you'd be a bit cheaper to support than an out-of-state student.  I don't know whether departments actually make this an explicit factor in admissions, and I would guess that they don't, but it could make a very slight difference at the margin.


What is most gracious way to exit a doctorate program?

Whether you can do this without marring the professional connection with your advisor depends more on who she is than on how you go about telling her (yes, the conversation is necessary). Do thank her for helping you learn all you have.
Your commitment to wrapping up your current project is important.
If she's the kind of advisor she should be, she will wish you well and tell you she hopes you resume your research some day and keep in touch, even if she does not fully understand your choice.
(I like your SE handle.)


How to pursue an MD/PhD in France after BS from the US?

I know very little about the French system, but am surprised you could not find anything online. I did a little poking and found what seems like the answer; perhaps you or other users can correct me if this is overly simplistic.

From FrenchDistrict.com:

  [Si] Vous avez obtenu un diplôme aux Etats-Unis, et vous désirez rentrer au pays (France), dans ce cas : Vous devez contacter le Centre ENIC NARIC de Paris, en leur demandant une Attestation de Comparabilité du diplôme étranger avec un « équivalent » Français. Cette Attestation est délivrée au cas par cas, après étude suivant une grille d’analyse très précise établie par le Centre.

My rough translation:

  [If] you have obtained a US degree and you desire to return to France, in this case: you should contact the ENIC NARIC Center in Paris, and ask for a Certification of Equivalence between the foreign degree and a French one. This Certification is granted on a case-by-case basis, after a very precise, point-by-point analysis as established by the Center.

So, it seems like if you finish your degree in the US and get this Statement of Equivalence, then you should be able to continue your studies in France as if you had obtained the equivalent French degree.

Note, however, that French doctors have to undergo substantial retraining before they can practice in the US. So, your decision is, at least, difficult to reverse. Given that you've never lived in France but suddenly want to move there "as soon as possible," I would urge you not to make any rash decisions.


Applying for post-doc, how to mention mutual acquaintances?

I'll answer with a view from the other side (I.e. as a recruiting professor). Getting mention of a mutual acquaintance in an application email (or cover letter) is not so common. Most often, I find out about those from reading the CV (former student of mine was PhD advisor, for example) or by getting a separate recommendation (or follow-up) by email directly from our mutual friend.

But, I did recently receive such an application mentioning a common acquaintance, and I must admit it was a nice touch. I definitely will bring up the subject with said acquaintance in the net future, checking for his views on the candidate.

The wording was "light": "I heard a lot of good things about your research group by XXX, who is an officemate in my current group".


What could be the affiliation if an author is currently not working anywhere?

Check and see if the author's last affiliation consents to being cited as affiliated; if so, I don't see why it would be a problem.

If not, then simply list the author as "Independent Researcher" and provide home address. Or leave field blank. There's no requirement for an affiliation for academic papers.


Part-time PhD workload compared to part-time undergrad workload

A bit late with this answer but hopefully will be helpful. You ask;

  Should I expect my personal time to diminish significantly when I
  continue on to postgraduate study, compared to life as a part-time
  undergrad student?

Judging by my personal experience the short answer is yes.

Here's a bit more detail though. I am studying in Ireland, so not to dissimilar to the UK system. I work full-time and also did an undergraduate degree, part-time, before progressing to post-graduate study. My degree and post-grad are not related to my work but something I have a lot of passion for. I found with my undergraduate degree I had a lot more free time. Lectures were 3 nights a week for year 1-2 and 2 nights a week in years 3-4. Speaking for myself on top of lecture nights I found I could usually get away with doing a bit of extra work at the weekend.

Two years ago I started a History Masters(which I have just transferred to a PhD) and found that almost all my free time is now used with doing my PhD work. Saying that it's important to have other activities outside of your full-time work and study. I follow my local football team so usual have a evening off each week.

As you mention you have not decided on location so I'd like to add something about my experience. My workplace is about a 5 minute walk from my University. I think this makes all the difference to me. I can leave work at 5pm, have a coffee and be working on my PhD by 5.30. I also have my own dedicated desk space there which is a benefit with regard to having a space to leave books etc. Together with working in a family business this also gives me the flexibility to be able to arrange meetings with my Supervisor at working hours times and to pop over to the university during the day if I need to. So if possible I think it would be good to consider location of your institution in your decision making.

Just to sum up my weekly time spent on my PhD (and this can always vary depending on other commitments.) About 4 nights a week 6pm to about 10.30pm, Saturday 11am to about 10pm and Sunday about 1pm to 7.30pm.

We have the OU in Ireland too. The university I go to is as StrongBad describes in their answer a bricks and mortar university. In my own situation I have found every department that I have dealt with to be very understanding to the part-time nature of some of its students and to be honest the only situation I can think of I have been disadvantaged by not been a full time student is the opening hours of some of the offices. That said most functions of the college can be done online now or I can email the respective office.


How to decide on what citation format to use when writing on legal history?

If you are hoping to submit the book to certain publishers you could check what guidelines they have for authors. For example, here is a link to the Oxford University Press

I would not recommend to use the Chicago style for the history sections and the law citations for the legal section. Using a consistent citation style across your manuscript would normally be expected, and again some publishers may expect you to use a specific style.

If you are using a citation style used by your publisher I don't see why it should impact on if your work would be cited or not. The content of your work and if other academics use it should be what would gets it cited.


Poster: Block spills over column: Should I write "continued"?

If you really must split your block, I would recommending to make it clear that you did, e.g., by repeating the title (if your blocks have such a thing) on the second block and appending (continued) to it. Alternatively, you can enumerate the two blocks, e.g., Framework I and Framework II.

However, if any possible, try to avoid the whole situation, e.g., by:

Rearranging exchangeable blocks such that you do not have to split a block. At the very least, you can place the block with references and acknowledgements (if you have one) almost everywhere.
Split your block at a structurally feasible point and give the second part a different title.
Change the layout of your poster completely. For example, make some columns wider and some thinner, switch between portrait and landscape (if the conference gave no recommendation in this respect) or make the layout row-based intstead of column-based.


Should I include information about my mental health in my masters personal statements?

You should not. But if you write it in the way you wrote the question explanation (rich in useless details) nobody would consider it. Another aspect you need to work on: given the text, the only thing important to you are/were the grades, not career development and knowledge. The major reason you attend classes is to acquire knowledge and wisdom, with grades being a metric of how this acquisition went. If you go for grades without actually acquiring knowledge, your career will get very dull.

The statement is about your passion to the field (which is ... ?), about how you want to teach, sing, dance, engineer, heal, fight, prosecute or whatever the degree is about, how enthusiastic you are about it. While pushing this concept can be enforced by your past, the statement shouldn't be a judgement of what you did in the past.

We all have ups and downs. Finding the one responsible for downs (like the shitty people from the junior year for example) is an evidence of lack of personal responsibility. You had your down, you overcame it, that's good for you, but it was because of you, not because of other people.


Ideal contents of a reference letter for PhDs seeking industry jobs

There are a lot of examples of recomendation letters in Internet for both, industry and academia. So, you can take any of them and present your skills and experience in the corresponding way.


Recommendation letters for "good enough" students

I've only been a student, so take this with a grain of salt.

Be honest to them about their abilities and your perception of them before you write a letter for them. Grad school is not a small commitment. See my answer here also, for an answer to a related question. An excerpt which I feel is very relevant:

  Be very honest. You have information that they don't have that will
  be useful for them. I would rather you tell them what you know and have
  them make the decision for themselves, rather than let them keep doing
  what they're doing and seeing them fail.


How to describe the relation between a course instructor to his teaching assistant?

It sounds like the question is that you need to fill in the "In what context have you known the applicant" box on a PhD recommendation letter.

If this is the case, then, for this particular point, I would not list "research supervisor," since this is clearly a teaching situation. However, "student" also doesn't make any sense. So, if there's no specific option which clearly satisfies this, I would check off the "other" box, fill in "teaching supervisor," and then explain the relationship clearly in the text of the recommendation letter itself.


Does an admission committee assess Verbal/Analytical Writing scores differently for International applicants?

Admission processes in the US is not standardized so no one can give you a definite answer. Some schools may consider the fact that English is not the applicant's first language, some do not. Some of the institutions are a lot more transparent and rigid when it comes to the scores' minimal requirements and it wouldn't hurt to ask the registration person.

There is an extra layer of complexity as well: even GRE itself is not uniformly regarded positively by admission committee members. Some may give it all the weight, some may consider it a flawed method and would rather use a more holistic evaluation.

As a former foreign student in the US and now a serving committee member in my department's admission committee (in the US), my personal advice is if your GRE verbal and writing are low, try to have a good TOEFL score (iBT > 100, CBT > 250, PBT > 600) as a back up. GRE verbal is notorious for testing words that are extremely infrequent in everyday life (even academic life) and most members in my committee do not consider it a specific enough test for identifying if someone lacks English communication skill. However, TOEFL is designed to assess people with English as second language and its scope is a lot closer to day-to-day communication. We tend to be more lenient with international applicants with strong TOEFL, well-written statement, but relatively weaker GRE verbal and writing scores.

As for the analytical score, I have not witnessed a big enough difference that would hint a special consideration.


How to to deal with advisor's criticism of my writing?

This doesn't answer your question, but I think your real problem isn't your writing, but the way how you and your advisor communicate. What I suggest is that you have a sit-down with your advisor and raise the issue with them. Tell them what you told us - that their barrage of negative feedback is hampering your motivation and productivity, and that you would have an easier time incorporating their feedback if they could find a more positive way to phrase it.

Of course there is no guarantee that this conversation will go over well (some people think that "tough love" is the only way to give feedback, and others understand on a rational level that a more "sandwich" style of feedback works better for most people but are unable to change). However, you will never know if you don't raise the issue with your advisor.

Edit: to say a little bit about "writing better", the actual topic of your question -

You should also try to understand if your advisor is really dissatisfied with the mechanical aspects of your writing (spelling, expressions, grammar, paragraph construction) or with your skills in scientific storytelling. It seems to me that basic command of the English language is not a real issue for you, so potentially what your advisor is actually dissatisfied with is that you do not know the terminology of your field well enough, common rhetorical moves in your discipline, how people like to construct arguments, etc. If this is your problem, a general-purpose writing course is not going to help - you will need to study papers in your discipline to improve.


How to handle ethics review (IRB) when moving between institutions

When you change institutions, you will need approval from your new institution's IRB to continue any human subjects research. From their perspective, the new institution is about to "start" working on your existing project so they will review them as normal projects using their normal process. Of course, the review process might be different since the project is in process, data may have already been collected, etc. That may change the process of making a determination and might even change the determination, but it doesn't change the need for a determination.

This might lead to an interruption in your ability to conduct your research. As a result, you should contact your new IRB about any ongoing research project as soon as possible.

Depending on the stage of the project, the IRB could say one of many things. For example:

If you are still interacting or intervening with human subjects, you may need to either (a) submit brand new protocols for review or (b) have your new IRB delegate review to your previous institutions IRB. Both are common although the latter only really makes sense if your previous institution's IRB is going to continue overseeing the work (for example, because your have collaborators there).
If the project is at a stage where there is no further interaction or intervention, when data has been collected, and if data stored in a form where individuals are not identifiable, the IRB might say that you do not additional review at all since the work, at this stage no longer qualifies as human subject research. In my opinion, it's always better to let the IRB make that determination.
If data has been collected but if data continues to be identifiable or if analysis otherwise puts subjects at risk, you might need to put in a special request to analyze previously collected data. This is often a separate kind of application that can be a bit shorter and easier. I've had to do this even for projects that had been considered exempt at my previous institution.

As always, you are subject the rules of institution that is employing you. You should always check with them. I think it's not abnormal, in these situations, to set up a meeting with someone from the IRB to talk through these sorts of situations and make a plan of action.

[ For context, I am also a social scientist working in the United States. ]


How to put the upcoming experience in Grad School Application?

The best way is probably to get one of you letter writers to mention it "K.S. will TA for my course in ML this coming term." Something simple. This shows you are both trusted and respected.

You can mention it in a simple way in a SoP or a CV.

Don't overdo it. If you make it sound like your biggest accomplishment you will probably not benefit.

The normal decision process is based on other things. Make sure you focus on those.


Can I be an assistant professor to just "try it out"?

Adjunct compensation (in the US) is very low. Don't do it for the money unless you are desperate. The comment of sessej about competition can't be ignored, but you aren't locked in to a lifetime if you "try it out".

However, you will, in a regular position, take on responsibilities to the students and your colleagues that you must honor as long as you hold the position. It would be unethical to withdraw or simply not do the job if you find after a few weeks or months that you made a mistake. But once the term of the contract is over, you should be free to choose differently than you did earlier.

In some situations, a department might even prefer a candidate who would only stay for a while. If enrollments are expected to drop in a few years, for example or if they think they can find a better credentialed or experienced candidate. But most would likely prefer someone really committed to the profession. It would be difficult, however, for you to learn that in advance without prejudicing a decision about hiring you.

Note that the overall responsibilities of adjuncts and regular faculty are normally quite different.  While you are expected, as an adjunct, to give your own students good advice, you probably won't be asked to be a formal advisor of anyone. Likewise it would be unlikely that you would be chosen as a thesis advisor as an adjunct. The other side of the coin is that you won't have committee meetings to deal with, though that means you have little voice in academic governance.

Your inclusion in research, however, would more likely depend on finding someone to work with and developing a relationship. Likely your existing skills will help with that, depending on the field.


Experience needed to transition from undergrad to graduate school of two completely different majors

There is a big difference between a Masters program and a PhD program, and there is also a difference between a Masters program by coursework, and a Masters program by research.  Suitability of programs like these, and their entry requirements, generally depend on the specifics of the program and the entry standards of the university.  Having said this, I will try to give some general guidance on this matter.

Master of Statistics (coursework-based): For a student such as yourself, who has an undergraduate degree in a quantitative area outside of statistics (but with a small amount of statistics in that program), a Masters degree by coursework would be an obvious place to start.  A coursework-based Master of Statistics program is generally a good fit for someone coming over from another quantitative degree.  Indeed, these programs are usually designed for students who did not do an undergraduate degree in statistics, but have enough background in mathematics to be able to learn the subject more rapidly than would occur in an undergraduate degree.  (Student who already have an undergraduate degree in statistics may be able to jump this hurdle and go straight into a PhD program.)

Although it varies by university, entry into a coursework-based Master of Statistics program would not usually require an undergraduate degree in the same field, or any research experience.  It would usually be sufficient to have an undergraduate degree in a quantitative subject where you have done the core maths requirements (calculus, linear algebra, etc.) that would allow you to understand graduate-level statistics courses.  If this is a program of interest to you, my advice would be to make inquiries with the universities that are suitable to you, and find out the entry requirements for their programs.

Master of Statistics (research-based): Research-based programs generally have higher entry expectations than coursework-based programs, so for these programs it might be hard to get in (or to do the work) if you do not have a solid undergraduate education in statistics.  For a student like yourself, the more usual path would be to start in a coursework-based masters program first, and then progress to research once you have done enough courses to give you a good grounding in the subject.  In some masters programs there is a combination of coursework and then research.  The coursework comes first and then the research occurs when you have a solid grounding in the field.

Putting the cart before the horse: I am a bit surprised at your suggestion that you would pursue a research assistant position as a means of trying to get entry to a masters program.  You already have some experience as a research assistant, so what you are lacking is not this experience, but rather, coursework in statistics.  In your situation I would think that you could apply directly for course-work based programs in statistics, and this would then be a lead-in to later research programs.


Is it appropriate to ask a job candidate if we can record their interview?

There may be more issues than you raise here. Some people will say yes and feel intimidated. Some people will say no out of general principles. Some people will say yes and regret it later. Some people will say yes initially but decide otherwise in the middle of the interview.

I suggest that before you implement such a process you game it out thoroughly, developing a lot of what-if scenarios and how you will respond to them. I think an essential element, possibly with legal ramifications (though I don't know), is that you don't disadvantage anyone for giving either answer or for declining to give a reason.

Another possible issue is that some candidates may not be as candid as they would otherwise if they are being recorded. It isn't a case of being devious or calculating, just being cautious. Can my words come back to haunt me?

You will also need to decide what to do with the tapes and when to delete them and how to assure the candidate that you will do so, especially if requested. In particular, who will have access to the tapes and for how long?

Finally, if you develop a policy with a lot of nuances, you should publish it, probably online, and let the candidate have access to it prior to an interview.

But, overall, I'd suggest that in the case you mention of not everyone being available, that you make it possible for a follow up interview rather than taping. There are probably other issues here that I haven't considered.


Advice on what to do about academic situation that ended badly?

I also feel terrible every day about what I said to the Head of Department. They were the best teacher I’d ever had and they are also one of the foremost scholars in my current field.

I think what you said to the Head of Department should have been expected and I think you should have been better supported.

  My question is whether I should try to reach out to this academic to explain what happened to me and why I acted how I did and to apologise?

Given that you feel terrible, I think this might be a good idea.

  If so, how should I do it? Via email, or in person?

Personally, I'd write a handwritten letter, and open the possibility for a future in-person meeting.  Ultimately, you should make contact however you feel the most comfortable.

  Or maybe it’s too late?

It's never too late.

Before proceeding, you could talk to a professional.


Is it formal to inform readers that a point will be discussed later in the chapter?

There is nothing wrong with doing so. if you would not, the reader might start wondering. In cases where no other alternatives apply then signalling to the reader that more details will follow allows the reader to continue concentrating on the details at hand. If you end up with a situation like this, you should of course make sure that following such a structure is the best way forward. If it is not then restructuring the text is necessary. After all the goal of writing is to provide the reader with the easiest way to understand your writing (the way you want them to). If you find yourself using this form of signalling often, you should probably take a critical look at your writing and ask yourself why this happens. It might be that you are not structuring the text in a good way.


What is life like for Western-raised/trained academics who are faculty in countries with extremely tight governmental control?

Disclaimer:  What follows is a combination of openly-available facts and some personal opinions.  The opinion parts are my own and I don't claim to speak for anyone else.  I did not intend for this to be "the answer" to this question; it deals with only one country/university.

I was born and raised in the United States, and got all my degrees there.  I have now been a professor at KAUST for 5 years.  I certainly came here by choice; I had good competing offers at some top programs in my field in the US.

  Are you bound by the restrictive laws that govern most citizens?

To a significant degree, yes.  For instance, alcohol, pork, and a number of other substances are not permitted anywhere in Saudi Arabia.  On-campus housing for single students is in separate buildings for men and for women.

However, KAUST is exempt from a number of the social customs that are in effect throughout the rest of the country. For example:

KAUST is the only university in the country where males and females learn in the same classroom together.
Women can drive on the KAUST campus (with a license).
Women do not need to wear the abaya (burkha) at KAUST, or to cover their hair, etc.  They dress as they please, within professional standards of modesty.

KAUST is not completely unique in these respects; the Aramco "compound" (which is really a small city) in the Eastern Province has similar exceptions.  The KAUST campus and the Aramco compound are also the only two places in the country with a movie theater.

Of course, we frequently leave the campus to go to Jeddah.  My wife can't drive there and wears an abaya.  Also, the university culture at KAUST is more top-down than at most US universities, which I believe is a reflection of the local culture.  But our current president is changing that to some degree.

  Did you bring a family or significant other with you? What has their experience been like?

I brought a wife and two young children (my third was born here).  They are happy here -- if not, we wouldn't have stayed!  Frankly, KAUST is an ideal place to raise a family.  My children have friends from almost every imaginable culture, religion, and race.  They take lessons in things like piano, swimming, and ballet.  The schools are excellent and the community is extremely safe (I don't even lock my bike).  I'll often bike to my childrens' school and take them to the park for lunch; everything is within five minutes by bicycle here.  I live 1 block from the beach and my morning commute is a short bicycle ride through beautiful surroundings.

Life is pretty relaxed and hassle-free because the university essentially manages everything (and manages it well).  My wife doesn't work outside the home.  She participates in a number of community organizations and has time to devote to friendships, hobbies, and especially to our children.

I'll add (since most westerners find it surprising) that there are many single western women who work here very happily.

  Do you expect to stay at this institution for your career, or will you eventually try to return to your home country/a western country?

I came to KAUST because it was an adventure and chance to build something new and worthwhile.  My initial plan was to spend perhaps 3-4 years at KAUST and then go back to the US.  However, I have since realized that I have the ideal academic job (by my own criteria, at least):

Extremely generous funding with no need to write grant proposals (KAUST has one of the world's largest endowments and only about 120 faculty).
Light teaching load (1 MS level course and 1 PhD level course per year), which also has allowed me the time to be bit innovative and try things like inquiry-based learning.
A relatively light administrative load, compared to what I hear from colleagues in the US.  This is largely due to having excellent and plentiful support staff.
Long-term job security with the freedom to do research along any direction I wish (university positions generally include this, but other careers I considered do not).
Essentially unlimited access to a world-class supercomputer (200 Tflops, upgrading to 5 Pflops next spring).  This is relevant to my particular field; other researchers here get similar benefits from other exceptional facilities.

Now I suppose the last bit of this post sounds like an advertisement, and I can't really help that.  In light of all this, I don't plan to leave any time soon.

I've been planning a series of retrospective posts on this topic for my blog.  I will link to that here if I get around to writing it.

Some updates in response to comments:

KAUST is committed to avoiding gender (and other types of) discrimination.  There are very many women (married and single) who work at KAUST.  There are many families in which both spouses work.  I can add that the opportunities for women to work in Saudi Arabia (outside of KAUST) have increased dramatically in the last couple of years.  As of 2016, KAUST's student body is 40% female and about 40% Saudi, so I'd guess around 16% are Saudi women.  Hundreds of Saudi women work at KAUST.  They are treated no differently from foreign (or male) students/employees.
Because most of us have close ties to groups in the US and Europe, KAUST researchers travel a lot.  We also have a large, steady stream of international visitors.  For instance, the last three presidents of my professional society have each given a seminar at KAUST.


What is the meaning of posting a position-opening announcement multiple times at a research-focused institution?

I don't know what kind of position it is, but are you sure it's not additional instances of the position being offered?

That said, it sounds as if they're not getting the applicant pool or number of applicants that they want.  In my experience, hiring committees want three or four good candidates, even if one stands out from the rest.

Maybe they have found that your qualifications don't meet the requirements as well as you think they do?  Your not getting an email back from the search committee chair is probably significant -- or maybe your email got lost in the internets.


Going elsewhere for an M.S. in Computer Science?

Yes, preferably go somewhere else for the M.S. if what you want is the M.S. degree.
The benefits of 'new challenges' (already mentioned) are worth it.

However, if your goal is to be admitted for PhD, then the research experience that you could get ahead of applying for PhD will be more valuable than the M.S. degree. I've seen PhD applicants with stronger research experience and having BS degree only, than other applicants that have a MS.
If you can start having conversations with faculty at your institution with whom you'd like to do research, then you'll be able to make a better decision. Just be clear with them saying that you want learn and do research to have a better chance for PhD admission at other schools two years down the line.


How to prove/deal with plagiarism that is hidden behind bad synonyms?

To me it is not obvious that your example is a "clearly an attempt to plagiarize". It looks to me like an attempt to paraphrase. Most students that I see who cheat are too lazy to be bothered to change any words. If the original source was referenced, I would not pursue the academic misconduct route. Instead I would give a poor mark for writing incoherently and not showing any depth of understanding. I might also focus an activity on proper paraphrasing and how paraphrasing does not generally demonstrate depth of understanding.

If the source of the paraphrased/copied material was not referenced, then the situation is more difficult. I would probably first consider if the simple lack of a reference is academic misconduct independent of the copied material. If it is not, then you need to decide if the two actions are academic misconduct. Again, I would probably give the benefit of the doubt and conduct a referencing activity. After the activity, I would let the hammer fall.


Should I refuse my advisor's request to write a research paper?

I suspect that the time you invest in writing any papers now will be mostly paid back because it will make it much easier to write your dissertation.

I published several papers during my PhD research, and am currently writing my dissertation. My first step was to copy the introduction from each paper into my literature review chapter, and put the body of each paper into a separate chapter of my thesis. Of course, I have to write segues and reorganise the information a bit, but that gave me a big head start on the dissertation. Of course, you'll need to check that the copyright agreement you sign with the publisher allows you to include content from your paper in your PhD dissertation (most do), and also verify that your institution allows this as well.

Another tip: If you write a paper, hang onto any material that you cut out to meet space requirements. You may want to include that material in your thesis.


Leaving a PhD Program with a Masters and Going to Another School

Yes, it's possible, but not easy. I did similar thing last year(left the previous program with M.S. in the end of 2nd year and applied to another Ph.D. program).

  0 . Can I leave my current department with master degree in 2nd year?

It depends on your department policy and you should look at those policies carefully. No one on the internet can answer this question accurately.

Issues to consider in your new applications:

  Do you plan on changing department?

If you plan on going to a different department (not just different university, i.e. from university of X department of A to university of Y department of B where X\neq Y and A\neq B), you should explain, in your SOP, why do you have the ability to do well in the new field given your experience and knowledge background. If not, you should explain why similar department in a different university will be a better fit for you, in terms of research interest and general academic environment.

In any case, avoid saying "I hate the department I was previously in." or equivalent, that will make your applications look bad.

  What's your relation with current advisor and other faculties(in the department you're in now)? Who will be your recommender?

Ideally, if your current advisor support you and your decision, you should obtain letters from your current advisor. That will make things a lot easier. If, unfortunately, one of the reasons you're leaving is having personal confrontation with current advisor, you had better look for someone else. Spend some time figuring out who will write you a good letter that fits your new application well. Avoid people who may write bad letters as personal revenge.

Be aware that you'll be strictly barred from applying to some programs if you don't have at least one letter from the last university you attended. That's a issue to consider if you plan on having people from your undergraduate institution be your recommender.

  Do you need to retake exams like GRE?

GRE scores(subject or general) do not expire in 5 years. However some graduate programs may require a much more recent one(for example within 2 years). If you want to apply to those programs, you'll have to retake the GRE. If the new program require a subject GRE you've not taken before, you'll have to take it.


Are there any researcher digital identification services or directories, similar to ORCID and ResearcherID?

Some of the obvious ones:

The ISNI initiative wants to assign unique identifiers to all "creators". (They take authors in the broad sense of individuals generating copyrightable content or something like that, since they include musicians and others.) That is about as "general" as you can want.
If you want to restrict to Academia, the arXiv author identifier is not specifically field-specific, though it is limited to fields which have an arXiv presence.
Since you didn't specify what is required of a "researcher digital identification service", social networks such as Academia.edu and ResearchGate which you mentioned in your other question can also serve the purpose of disambiguation of publishing records.
Certain countries maintain their own databases of researchers residing there. The most comprehensive and successful seems to be that of Netherlands.
The American Mathematical Society has recently starting maintaining author profiles as part of their MathSciNet service (I know that the question asked for "not field-specific"; I'll weasel and say that the AMS profiles include also those working in related sciences to mathematics, such as physicists and computer scientists, and some engineers.)

For a list of some of the other services, the International Repositories Infrastructure Wiki has a slightly out-dated list of such services. Note however some of the items listed there have stalled and shutdown since the last edit.


How to respond to a professor who was insulted by an email detailing mistakes in the exercise?

To me, this is such a non-issue that it doesn't warrant much of a response. So let me add a response :)

  I didn't mean to imply carelessness, and I am sorry if that's how my email came across. I was a bit overzealous in my email. I will address the errors in the skeleton program in my solution, as you have indicated. Thank you for your detailed response!

I think you should take this (very minor) “incident” as a learning experience about how people might perceive your communications. Professors are people; they sometimes make mistakes, they sometimes make pedagogical choices that students don't agree with, and they all take criticism differently.


OpenOffice Vs. LibreOffice Vs. MSOffice for academic writing

If you are in a field with lots of equations, the journals you are going to publish in will almost certainly take .tex.  So write in LaTeX.  Otherwise you will not be writing your equations rapidly or with ease (compared to those who know LaTeX)*.  Use a front end like LyX if you want some WYSIWYGness.

If you are in any non-equation-heavy field, use MS Office, for the simple reason that every journal takes .doc files and only some take other formats.  OpenOffice and LibreOffice are not yet compatible enough for publication-quality work.  (I have tried repeatedly.)  It's not that OpenOffice/LibreOffice can't do the right thing, it's that the journals only support Word.  And so either your manuscript will be full of errors that you have to hope you will catch and correct when you get page proofs, or you will have to end up using Word anyway.  Kind of sad, but that's the way things are (and have been for the past decade).

*Once you know LaTeX, everything is faster and easier, especially because you can save old solutions for formatting, shortcut macros, etc. etc., and import them with a cut and paste.  But it does take a non-negligible amount of time to learn, so if you're too impatient to learn new skills or under a very tight time deadline right now, LaTeX is not for you.  Unless you're doing equations--LaTeX still does those enough better that you may as well just use it regardless.


A very important thing that took me most of graduate school to understand is that my self-perception of "getting dumber" was not caused by actually degrading abilities, but by a qualitative change in the type of work that I was trying to do.  I discovered this through a passage of despair, when I felt so brain-fogged and useless that I decided that I was going to simply ignore my thesis for a few days and work on a meaningless side project instead---which I blazed right through at the rate I remembered from undergraduate days, because it was all much simpler and more well-defined than doing research.

In undergraduate education, one may be working very hard indeed, but the type of work is also extremely specialized in an unusual way.  In particular, almost all of the work that you are called on to do in your courses (undergraduate or graduate) is:

Designed to be accomplishable within a fixed number of hours
Tightly dependent on the most recent things that you have learned

This puts a huge (and hidden) amount of constraint on the search space for answers: in essence, if you have learned good "student meta-skills," you are likely to be very good at picking the right place to go searching for your answers.  When you stop taking undergraduate classes, this skill becomes largely irrelevant, and you can start feeling like you are much "dumber" simply because you're thinking that progress on poorly defined and unbounded problems should come at the same rate as progress on pre-digested course work.

I would thus say that the first and most important thing to do is to come to this understanding, that the types of skills you now need are qualitatively different than the ones you most exercised as an undergraduate.  Digesting that may cure your concern right there.

Beyond that, my basic recommendations are simple:

Do things that you are interested in.
Let yourself read, but also make sure you write and do technical work.
Keep a record of all of your accomplishments, so that you can look at external evidence of non-failure when you're having an imposter syndrome day.


What's the point of publishing your peer review report along with your new paper?

Are their names known in advance, during review, before the paper is accepted or rejected?

Depends on the journal. At Nature family journals, I believe the identity of reviewers that choose to sign their reviews is only revealed at publication time.

Why does the author choose to publish the peer review report of their new paper?

I imagine it is because they are primarily supporters of the concept of openess in peer review. I pass no judgement on the merits either way here, but you can't be a supporter of the theory of open review (and therefore gain its benefits - like more reluctance of the part of the reviewers to be unfair), and then not opt to publish the reviews of your papers.
It will also help readers to have confidence that the paper has been properly reviewed.


Citing personal communication for preliminary results

I hate to disappoint you, but you would be referencing the material which is impossible to get. The reviewers do see it similary and complain, and they are right in doing so. Personally, if there is any way whatsoever to convince the other group to write up the preliminary results and put them on a web page in time, do it. See point 7 in most harmful heristic. Probably, the best you could do now is saying "to be published in [SB]" where the reference is a half-hearted entry along the following lines:

[SB] John Smith and Joe Blotz, The Importance of Being Published, 2017, in preparation.

Adapt the title, of course.


Switching from industry to research(informatics)

First, don´t panic.

Second, when you start as a researcher, most professors will accept that you are far away from perfect - however they expect your hard work, your willingness to go through an intensive thinking process and so on. Typically, you will be in a more or less intensive coaching environment, where he coaches you. Of course, the majority of work has to be done by you.

The theoretical part will grow. At the beginning, you will have intensive research of what others are doing/have done. You will read many conference papers and on that way you will learn much about your field as well as academical argumentation. If you want to start now, go to an academic library, search for Journals and conferences on your topic and start reading.

My PhD took 4.5 years, and it was not always easy, however, it was worth doing it.


Can I buy individual access to SpringerLINK?

You must ask Springer; they are the only ones who will know. There's a good chance they will be okay with you purchasing such a subscription since after all it doesn't cost them much to sell their collection to one more viewer.

However: although individual subscriptions tend to be way cheaper than institutional subscriptions, you are talking about subscribing to the entire Springer collection. This is a veritable mountain of information! Checking the Springer website right now, they have a collection of 301,765 books, and a publisher of their scale is going to be publishing several new books every day. Small wonder it is going to break your wallet to subscribe! Further, most of them won't be at all relevant to you and you won't have time to read them anyway.

If you can't get institutional access to this collection, you are probably better off buying each item you need one by one. Even then, be sure to ask your institution's library - they might be able to acquire/rent copies of what you need for cheap or even for free.


What is the traditional way of earning a doctorate in Germany?

The traditional German PhD is either self-funded or funded through a fixed-term (usually three years) part-time (mostly in the humanities) or full-time (less frequent, mostly in STEM) position at the university at which the PhD is pursued.

Regardless whether full-time or part-time position, you can formally use a certain share of your contractual working time to work on your PhD project. (I don't remember exactly, but probably something like 50 percent.) The remaining part is reserved for unrelated tasks, such as teaching, administration, or other research. This is usually specified in more or less detail in your work contract. In practice, however, your contractual work duties may be more or less related to your PhD project, and if you are lucky, they may even be perfectly aligned or identical. If you have a part-time position, it is generally expected that you also make progress on your PhD thesis during your free time, so that you may complete the thesis within the duration of the fixed-term contract.

It follows that in both traditional and structured PhD programs, and with both full and part-time positions, pursuing a PhD is in general regarded as requiring your full commitment, as if in a full-time job. However, this does not preclude exceptions, which will have to be negotiated on a per-case basis with your institutions and your supervisor.

My guess is that the traditional program offers more flexibility in this regard, because you don't have to follow a certain curriculum, your progress does not have to be aligned with the rest of your cohort, and you don't normally have to complete any coursework.


How can a software engineer become competitive for a PhD position in computer science?

You may want to reach out to a professor ahead of time and inquire if they’re going to be accepting students during the period you wish to apply. It’s by no means a sure fire way to get in, because you could be beaten out by competition, but it’s a good start. Apart from that, you’d be best to get all of the documents together on time and submit it before the deadline. Maybe try to exploit your network, work on getting solid recommendation letters from past professors or people who can speak to your ability to do research.


Should I tell my supervisor that I added his/her name as a reference for my next academic position?

You should ask anyone who you intend to serve as your reference if they are OK with it, before doing so. It’s not an academic thing specifically; the same would apply in other situations.


My paper got accepted; acquaintance's paper wasn't. Should I thank them?

My paper was accepted, but I heard that their paper was not. Should I thank my acquaintance? On the one hand it is courteous to do so, since they read a draft and helped me to improve. On the other hand, it could come across as schadenfreude if they are a bit on the sensitive side.

Yes, please thank them. That your paper got accepted and theirs was not may or may not sting a bit, but that will be true independently of whether you thank them or not.

That being said, the protocol in such cases seems to be that they will approach you and congratulate you on your accepted paper, and this is a great time to heartfully thank them for their help and express that you are sorry about their paper being rejected.


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

You're required to acknowledge grants and grant agencies in your publications. Right now, all you have is a submission. If and when the submission becomes a publication will be the time to add the grant information in, especially if the venue has a strong anonymization policy for submissions.


What PHD program to choose if my bachelor degree is in Business and Master degree in Computer Science

Doing a PhD is an investment of energies, efforts and time. Choosing it on the base of national legal constraints/requirements is a big mistake, in my opinion. You should choose your PhD according to what you want to study.

My experience is that in UK we don't have such strict checks on your degrees. I am a PhD student in Computer Science and I work everyday with epidemiologists, biologists, statisticians, mathematicians, logicians and also people with business degrees. Cross-disciplinary PhDs here are well considered.

Focus on what you would like to study. Do you want to go deep in business (maybe using your computer science skills) or do you prefer to contribute, hopefully, to computer science? Which one do you feel suits more you? You can start filtering universities, schools and countries only after you find the answers to those questions.

Good luck. ;)


How do people claim precedence with their unpublished scientific theories?

If the paper was rejected the journal still should have the archive where the manuscript and all communications are preserved. If the paper was rejected and was actually a good paper ahead of its time it will be of great interest to investigate why it was rejected. Of course the more time passes the greater risk that this archived information may be lost but in 10 years it is unlikely.

It is likely that both persons will be mentioned in the history books. The person B may be still considered more important because it was his/her work that actually influenced the scientific community. There were a lot of examples in the history of science when even published work was unnoticed and only later independent work attracted interest. Concerning Nobel Prize... Well, it will be decided by the Nobel Committee that will not surprise anyone by surprising everyone.

Nowadays one can easily share the work placing preprints into a public repository like the mentioned arXiv (where some subjects like gen-phys have a reputation of having quite a low bar). One can also put a preprint into some sufficiently trustworthy repository like one owned by the institute. In the old days before internet preprints existed too. They were sometimes printed as small booklets by the author or printed by the institution. The problem with preprints is that while in theoretical physics it's almost strange not to publish a preprint and journals often encourage and sometimes even require that, in other fields journals sometimes may treat a preprint as a prior publication.

Some priority may be claimed if the work was presented at a conference and something like a presentation and numerous witnesses are available. However this is really unreliable.  Because often much less evidence can be provided there are a lot of instances when people claim that some of their unpublished work was stolen and of course no one can prove anything. On the other hand if the work was published as some sort of proceedings (that often have no real peer-review) this claim may be quite solid.

Then there are personal notes and letters that are used by historians. However it is really hard to use it to claim priority when actual interest of living people are involved. Though I remember a smart trick in the history of aluminium electric extraction - one of the authors sent himself several of letters safekeeping the unopened envelopes with official mail stamps and then successfully used those in court to prove his priority.


What to do when an advisor takes credit for a grant proposal?

As far as I know, a grant is given almost always to a PI (principal investigator, i.e. head of the lab). Sometimes postdocs can also be listed as PIs, but I don't remember seeing a grad student as a PI on a grant. So even if technically you wrote the grant proposal, the PI will receive the grant.

This means that he is the one that can write in his CV that he got the grant, and you can write that you wrote the proposal. You cannot write that you are the one that got the grant if you are not listed on it, regardless of whether you wrote the grant proposal.

In this sense, a grant is different than a research paper, where you get credit according to your contribution. A grant is given not as a prize for writing a good proposal, but as funding of specific future work executed by a specific person/lab. I am not sure what the guidelines are for grant proposal writing, but I would not be surprised if this is considered ok in terms of the guidelines. Of course I am assuming your advisor read it thoroughly and thought it is a good research plan.

Also, it is very possible that your PI actually did have a major contribution to getting the grant. The funding agency takes into considerations several factors such as the grant proposal but also the PI's record.

Having said all this, you should definitely write in your CV that you wrote a successful grant proposal by yourself (you can consult with your advisor on how to write this in the most impactful way).

Disclaimer: I don't have any details on the specific grant, so I may be completely mistaken...


Does a supervisor have right to submit paper without consents of coauthor students?

Your supervisor does not have the right to submit a paper with your name as a coauthor without your consent. By making such a submission he would be making a false representation that all coauthors have agreed to the submission, thus essentially committing a form of minor fraud or certainly dishonest and unethical behavior that is considered completely unacceptable in the academic world.

Note that you write "from the point of view of the university", so technically there is a chance that your university has unconventional standards in such matters and in their eyes your supervisor is correct. If that is the case (which I strongly doubt), I would suggest getting the heck out of that miserable institution and going to a real university.

Finally, while it is absolutely possible that you generally have better judgment than your supervisor (a possibility that does not occur to many graduate students even when perhaps it should), he does have more -- probably a lot more -- experience than you in matters of publications, so I agree with jakebeal that it is worth questioning whether your objection to the submission is a good idea, and maybe consulting other experienced academics from your field.


The relationship between a research supervisor and student is a relationship between consenting adults. While local cultures may differ somewhat between institutions, the general rule in academia is that you may change supervisors if doing so will advance your own training and professional objectives.

Indeed, changing early --- before the research relationship has even properly begun --- is the best time for everyone concerned. A supervisor/mentor could legitimately be annoyed, or worse, if you leave after s/he has invested substantially in you, and still has little to show for it.

There are at least two important questions to consider, however: whether you should change supervisors, and how you go about it.

On whether: the best source for information about supervisors is the community of other students, especially those further along in the program, including especially those who are current or former supervisees of your prospective mentor. If it is possible to do so, try first to contact some of these students and ask, "What is Dr. X like to work for? Any problems?" Do your research first, before switching.

On how: Mentors are human beings, too, and may not enjoy a perceived rejection. So: first make absolutely sure you have the new mentor's approval to join their group. Then, let the old mentor know. If possible, have this conversation in person, not via email. Emphasize the new mentor's research interests and how they match yours; even if part of the reason for the switch is the old mentor's shortcomings, you need not emphasize those unless pressed.

Good luck.


Supervisor does not allow use of commercial software for student project, against student's interests

The student license can be cheap, but the standard license is probably not. If the chair doesn't have funding for a standard license, or they are not interested in this specific software, the lab will end up with an unusable piece of software as soon as you leave. This is certainly not in the interest of the lab.

  What would you advise me to do?

There's not much you can do: either accept the chair's choice of software or go find a project in a lab which uses your preferred choice of software.


Purpose of humanities PhD interview for less prestigious program?

One possible purpose of the interview, from their point of view, is that having an actual conversation may help you become more interested in joining their program.  So it may be partly for recruitment as well as screening.

This would also explain why a less prestigious program would want to do it: they have a harder time recruiting.


Can I use less-known (but defined) abbreviations in section titles to get rid of very long expanded titles?

As the author of the comment you cited, let me offer the following distinction: a thesis generally has a much smaller "reach" than a journal. I would let a graduate student get away with some things in a thesis that I wouldn't normally do in a journal article.

If you need to use the abbreviations to prevent things from getting unwieldy (many multiple-line section titles is getting unwieldy, in my opinion), then I would go ahead and do so. If any of the reviewers of your thesis has a philosophical objection to such a practice, you'll be sure to hear about it.


Why should a graduate student complete a whole course?

My immediate answer is they shouldn't. The problem is that there are differences between graduate systems. Aeismail has provided a good answer for one such system. Where I work each graduate student has an individual study plan and the idea is to tailor make the studies for each. this tailoring involves taking parts of a course and not for credit in the sense to go through examination. In our system all courses at graduate level is pass/fail. To understand the differences one has to look at the position of a graduate student as well.

In some systems a graduate student is more or less a bit more than an undergraduate (a "super student"). In my system a graduate student is pat of the employed body of the department and in that sense also a colleague. The point is that this involves both rights and responsibilities and further involvement in department affairs. This position has old traditions where a PhD was not awarded until much later in life, the term graduate student simply did not exist, there were, for example, intermediate teaching positions for those who had not yet completed the PhD yet. The thinking about courses is thus to ensure that the student does not waste much time on unnecessary material, just as you stated in your question.

So from this position, there is no right or wrong in terms of courses, the PhD programs differ so much between systems. The reason for the differences comes from deeper differences in the university systems and views on what the PhD student profile after completion. We had  discussions about mandatory (tailor-made) course for students to provide a common base in the subject, but we have scrapped this approach because the field is simply to wide and then it will be up to each to read upon their sub-field.


Worried about Ws (withdrawals) on transcript and letters of reccomendation for a masters program

Short answer:  The Ws aren't great, but they're basically unimportant in light of the rest of your portfolio.
I'm a little wary of withdrawals, because I know from personal experience that my own university's academic advising tends to use them as a way to help students avoid failing classes.  So they're not great on your transcript, especially multiple Ws.
But if I saw a record like yours, that included graduation from a good school, good grades in the most relevant classes, successful time in industry, good recommendations from respectable professionals, AND it was for a professional-oriented graduate program on top of all that, I would almost certainly discard them as meaningless to appraising the current you.
Of course, this is based on my experience, and it's possible the departments you apply to could think differently.  But I wouldn't advise anyone in your situation to fret over it.