Negotiating startup package given differences in institutional norms

In the time between asking this question and getting some answers here, I read many comments on the original stories and blog posts dissecting the situation, many of which offered useful answers. I am compiling some of them here for the sake of others. As with most information found on the Internet, YMMV.

First, a question I didn't ask but will answer anyways (since xLeitix expressed some doubt in a comment):

Does this really happen?!?!?!?

Unfortunately, though rare, it does happen. Here are a few examples I found on Academic Job Wiki:

  When I told them I needed some time to think about the unofficial offer (and also noted how early in the hiring season the offer was coming), the interviewing professor emailed me back that it was clear I was only considering them as a "last resort" and that they were therefore rescinding the offer.
  They thought my request for a revised offer letter that included the new terms agreed upon throughout negotiation was demonstrative of a "lack of faith" which they seemed to take personally. They rescinded the offer and then blamed it on my need for this letter, and suggested that I be more careful in asking for this in future negotiations with other institutions (they claimed this advice was a show of "mentorship" on their part).
  The dean rescinded the offer. By email. And then refused to take my calls. This is exactly what she wrote: "After having read your stated requests, specifically the number of years to tenure and the MWF teaching schedule, I am sorry to say that we are not able to sustain our job offer to you. At this time I am rescinding the job offer."
  Two weeks after the job talk, I was offered the position and given five days to consider it... Upon sending my questions and considerations two days later, about 90 minutes passed when I received an email wishing me well in my further job pursuits.

Yikes. Of course, given these stories you could argue that these candidates probably dodged a bullet. But let's assume you aren't necessarily afraid of a rescinded offer, but want to avoid making a bad impression. In that case, on to my actual questions:

Are there really different norms with respect to negotiation in a teaching vs. research institution? What are they?

Yes. Also, per various sources, there are differences in negotiation culture between elite institutions and not-so-elite institutions, community colleges and four-year colleges, public and private institutions, those with current or former religious affiliations and those without, locations where a union is involved and locations where it isn't, locations with large adjunct pools and locations without, etc.

Here's one thing I hadn't thought of: institutions that are seen as "less desirable" places to work for some reason are said to be more sensitive to aggressive negotiation. In these cases,

  Negotiating demands can come across as "I’ll only agree to work at a lowly school like yours if you give me all this extra stuff." (The Professor is In)

However, there were also comments that said things like:

  I was a candidate just like W, I asked for very much of the same things (more, in fact), and still go the job. (PhilosophySmoker)

The candidate in question herself  said

  that her request for a starting salary of $65,000 equaled a less than 20 percent increase in proposed pay -- a request she says another college offering her a job had met.
  (InsideHigherEd)

So, it seems like finding out the culture of a particular institution (rather than generalizing based on institution "type") is more effective. Which brings us to:

What can I do pre-offer to get a sense for what the institution's culture is, and what I can reasonably ask for?

Start by asking: is it negotiable?

  A good strategy for starting a negotiation is to simply ask whether there is any flexibility in the terms of the offer... If you get a firm "no", you don't have to risk upsetting anyone with specific requests.  (PhilosophySmoker)

and this can even have some nice side effects! The same comment continues,

  At my institution... I began by asking this very general question, and the chair immediately responded with a better offer-without my mentioning any specifics and without consulting the dean.

Pre-negotiate by phone

Both Amatya and Samantha Kady pointed out here how difficult it is to read a situation by email, and dozens of commenters out there said the same. For example:

  You negotiate over the phone (aiming for the sweet spot between being enthusiastic about the job - you want them to still want you - and asserting your own needs). Then when that's done, you get the agreement in writing. That lets you feel out some things and get feedback on what's doable or not, and on how the requests are being taken. (PhilosophySmoker)

But, know yourself. As The Professor is In puts it:

  I NEVER want to see inexperienced candidates negotiate on the phone. Particularly women. People panic and get codependent and agree to all kinds of things too quickly on the phone.

I don't really know what "codependent" means in this context, but I can definitely see how some people might not be able to negotiate as well over the phone. Those people might be better served using a phone conversation as a "feeler" and then proceeding to negotiate over email.

Listen for subtle differences in responses to your requests

One commenter said:

  The chair indicated that this was the ceiling for the starting salary... but since he didn't make the same claim regarding the startup, I detected further flexibility, and was able to get it bumped up to 200% of the original offer, by providing an explanation of how I would use the additional funds.  (PhilosophySmoker)

Identify and use your ally

If you get an offer, there's a good chance someone really likes you and wants you to be there. Identify that person, and ask them for advice on what to negotiate. They may even tell you about things you hadn't even thought to negotiate for! Specifically, several commenters said that the department chair is often an ally. As one commenter said:

  I had a really great Chair. She told me that I was very unlikely to get a salary increase but that there was room to move the start-up. I asked for both anyway, and sure enough, was denied a salary increase but got significantly higher start-up (which I can use for summer salary). The kicker? The Chair spotted something I never would have thought of, which qualified me for thousands of dollars extra. (PhilosophySmoker)

Your ally in the department knows much more than you, and much more than any mentor you might have, what requests can be granted easily and what should not be mentioned at all. Use this!

Ask about "perks" at the interview stage

Many commenters agree that asking straightforwardly about the "perks" (non-salary) at the interview stage helps you gauge supply and demand at the institution in question. Otherwise, you run the risk of

  telling somebody who's put in a full 7 or 8 years for a sabbatical that you want one in your first 2 or 3 years? (PhilosophySmoker)

Yeah, that does sound bad! Same goes for things like teaching load and lab space - you can find out during the interview stage what is in especially short supply at the particular institution.

Place requests in the context of the institution's specific mission

This is a valuable piece of advice. As a commenter said,

  For example, if the reasoning behind fewer teaching preps was to do a better job teaching or to have an appropriate research program (whatever that may be), then frame it that way. (FemaleScienceProfessor)

Visit the library

Here's an interesting one that I hadn't heard before (though it only applies to a subset of institutions):

  I’m betting that W or other candidates often get their data from the CHE’s salary survey, which is near useless for this purpose because it is such an aggregate number... If you’re interviewing at a public school, ask for about an hour to yourself in the library. When you get it, go straight to the Reference desk and ask to see the salaries in the department that’s hiring (it’s usually public). Write these down, and when you get the initial offer you’ll know if there’s room to negotiate on this point. (The Professor is In)

While public salary information is also available online in most cases, unlike the internal data this is usually

  total annual compensation, a figure that includes summer school, stipends for additional administrative duties, and the like, rendering the number useless (if not damaging) to such negotiations. (The Professor is In)

Some commenters pointed out another, more-complete-than-CHE (though not department-specific), source of salary data: IPEDS


How do professors from very small or unranked universities in the U.S. attract graduate students?

Not everyone has the GPA / research experience to be accepted to those top 100 Universities.
Not everyone is confident enough to apply to those top universities and they feel more comfortable going somewhere closer to home.
Many students have constraints making relocation impossible (e.g., cultural obligations to their family where they cannot move more than 10 miles from their parents), so they go to graduate school in the closest program they can.


Providing APIs instead of directly providing data sets

One obvious reason would be that providing an api instead of a dump allows them to see how people are using the data.  It's also quite possible that the data contains PPI that is necessary for aggregation, but which shouldn't be exposed for subject privacy reasons, so an api lets them still do the aggregation while masking the sensitive underlying data.


What's the difference between textbooks and other non-fiction books?

Technically, if there is a course in which it can be useful, then it is a textbook. So To Kill A Mockingbird fits the bill and it isn't even non-fiction. But I guess that isn't the answer you are after.
I think a big part of it is just a marketing decision by a publisher. If there are enough courses to which a book might apply it may be sold to a captive audience (students) as a textbook rather than to a wider audience but with less compulsion to buy.
Textbooks, however, tend to have student exercises in them to reinforce the work. The idea is that "learning is required". Non fiction usually doesn't have exercises and learning is optional. If a publisher decides to publish a work as a textbook there will be pressure on the author(s) to provide exercises and other instructional materials. There will also be pressure to provide, say, new editions every other year.
Textbooks also tend to be directed to a certain level of student attainment. Some books are written specifically for beginners. But at advanced levels, there is probably less distinction, as students then have the background needed without the pedagogical aids of lower level texts (we hope).
Often, but not always, textbooks are published to very high manufacturing standards with non-acid paper, sewn signatures, and such, imagining that a student will want to keep such books for several years. This is normally less of a concern in the popular press. I've had a number of books for over fifty years. (This attention to quality may be less true than it once was, I suppose.)
I think you can find a wide range of quality in either category, as well as a fairly wide range of difficulty. Nor is size an indicator. Most elementary Calculus books are fairly thick, and intended for two or three terms of study.
Cost is another factor. Text books are expensive since the intended audience is often quite small and balkanized into several different books. Non fiction, if well written, appeals to a wider audience and so can be sold for less, making the profit from volume.
I don't see a lot of distinction based on your other suggested criteria. Either can be detailed or not, more or less technical (based on "level"), etc. But textbooks are designed to be learned from whereas general non-fiction, like fiction, is designed to be enjoyed. There are a few truly beautiful textbooks, of course.

For "fun" I read a fair number of archaeology and anthropology books. None of them are intended as textbooks, but most would serve as such, since they have extensive bibliographies aiding a student in research. They are probably less useful, but not useless, for beginning students, but provide a good place to start a literature search for somewhat older reference materials. In an active research area they are less useful as things get old quickly. This may imply a crossover category, I suppose.


Are we focusing too much on cheating with online courses?

The testing situation you describe sounds like a multifactor problem with multiple possible solutions. It could be that a concern for cheating is the key concern here, but logically speaking, there are several distinct factors that could play a role. Someone can be concerned about cheating and still create a fair test. From an instructional design perspective, I'll name the most important factors I see and then list a few possible solutions.
Raw Difficulty / Learning Objectives
A math test can be easier or harder depending on what the instructor asks students to do, how much work they should show, and so on. For instance, compare solving an equation for x or finding the derivative of f(x) to interpreting a word problem, or solving a fairly simple equation with a more complex one. Compare working with separate questions with sequential questions that build off of the previous question's answer. The selection of these problems is often guided by an instructor's implicit or explicit learning objectives for a unit.
Time to Complete Test
In test design, instructors need to be very careful that students have enough time to give a fair attempt to each problem. Instructors can develop different rules of thumb. Some base completion time on how long it takes them to complete the test multiplied by a factor of two, three, or four. Others estimate the time for completing each problem and sum up a goal time, which might come out to 40 or 45 minutes.
Test Format
As you point out, many instructors don't account for how test format determines timing. In a paper test, a viable test strategy is to read the entire test and focus on easy problems first. In contrast, the testing systems in many Learning Management Systems either make scrolling through the test difficult or restrict movement between problems. So if a student is stuck on problem 3 of 9 and spends 15+ minutes on that one, they have no way of knowing when it's better to cut and run to an easier problem for them. Thus a test that might take 40 minutes for a student on paper would actually take closer to an hour.
Concern for Cheating
So the concern for cheating is a factor that affects how the instructor has implemented these other factors. You describe the time limit and test format as factors affected by a concern for cheating. In particular, students may have less time to share answers or look up information. Yet there are also other anti-cheating formats used. For instance, some professors have proctored exams, even online, which involve some kind of visual monitoring.

There are more factors, but what's to be done? You can toggle any one of these factors in order to increase the pass rate:

Have fewer problems, or easier ones. In other words, adjust the total difficulty of the test so that students can complete it in the allotted time.

Make the test time longer. Giving an hour rather than 50 minutes, for example, may have enabled more students to complete problems.

Allow students to see the whole test when they start. That will let students prioritize the problems they know how to solve, rather than being at the whim of the instructor's own design or an RNG algorithm (if order is randomized).

Worry less about cheating. This may mean adjusting any of the factors above, or it may mean rethinking the format itself. Think critically about whether your summative assessment needs to be a test, or whether it could be a project, homework, or something else.

Finally, any instructor who has been in the classroom for some time knows that they assign unbalanced assessments sometimes. It happens. If the end result is an average of 50%, an instructor has other options to mitigate the effects of unbalanced assessment on student outcomes, like grade curves. So whether or not the concern about cheating - or some other factor - produced a test that was difficult for students to complete, instructors have several tools for adjusting future tests and even addressing this current situation.


Is it a bad idea to buy plane tickets before the conference schedule is announced?

First, I would ask whether you think you really should skip part of the conference---you're going such a long way, and presumably it's a community that you care about, so are you sure you want to abandon part of it?

If you really do want to skip, though, I would recommend a third path that I have often seen work: contact the conference program chairs, let them know your travel dilemma, and ask them if they can schedule you on the prior day.  If they are likely to be flexible, this will let them be flexible now and let you book; if not, you'll know they're unlikely to be flexible at other times either and thus know that it's not safe to plan to skip until the schedule is announced.


Confusion in field after CS undergraduate degree

You've mentioned postgraduate degrees in Computer Science, Mathematics, and Mathematics & Physics, and PhDs in Computer Vision, Computational Neuroscience, Mathematics, and Mathematics & Physics. I recommend that you study a postgraduate degree which maximises your options onto a PhD. Since you already have an undergraduate degree in Computer Science, that probably means that a postgraduate degree in Mathematics or Mathematics & Physics is the best fit.


Colleague asks for feedback on a paper of which I am a reviewer

Have you considered writing a fresh answer to the colleague without caring that you wrote (or are writing) a review? What I mean is, just write the answer on your knowledge of the paper without caring that you are also writing a review. I think this is a natural approach and does not really have a downside.

You know the paper quite in depth, and you can provide valuable feedback. You will do so (or already have done so) in a formal way through the peer-review system, but now you have the opportunity for formulate the feedback in a more casual way (compare it with writing down results for a formal publication in a journal or at a conference and a discussion of the results on your personal blog - you describe the same things in a different way of communication). The only downside I see is, that the person will get some more clues that you may be a reviewer but I am not sure if this really is a downside at all.

Another downside may be that it costs you more time and that you don't want to allocate time to provide feedback twice. In this case, you can politely answer something like "Thanks for the paper - I try to find time to read it soon and come back to you in case I have any feedback." I guess most people understand that this can also mean that they won't hear anything more from you on that matter…


Whom do I have to thank in the Acknowledgements section of a Bachelor thesis

The absolutely crucial thing is that you clearly acknowledge and delineate any work, original ideas, results, images, figures, tables, charts, quotations, prose, etc., that were contributed by someone other than the primary author (i.e., you).  Failure to do so could taint your academic reputation, and in extreme cases, might be construed as plagiarism (or some other form of academic misconduct).

Beyond that somber admonition, the remainder of your acknowledgements are a pleasantry which can be doled out entirely as you like.  I agree that extensive acknowledgements in a bachelor's thesis are a bit misplaced.  On the other hand, it's a good opportunity to think about the people who actually made it possible to complete your BS research—e.g., lab techs who helped run and maintain equipment, or administrators in the department who made sure all the paperwork went smoothly.  These people are extremely important and are often overlooked (even in PhD theses).

As for secondary members of your thesis committe, it's up to you.  You can easily say something simple and honest like, "Thanks to Professors X and Y for agreeing to be on my committee."  But I doubt they'll be insulted if you don't acknowledge them for a deep and lasting impact on your research career.  They've signed off on BS theses before.  They know it's no big deal (for them).


Does red-line curve denotes better result in a graph?

As far as I know, there is no well-established standard. The only universally recognized guideline is "use colors that are well visible, also when printed on black/white (if it's an article) or displayed on a beamer with bad colors (if it's slides)".

I think the most likely explanation is that the speaker was joking.

Personally, in my talks I like to use what I dubbed the "Star Wars light-saber color coding": the 'good guy' (new algorithm of which we are trying to show the merits) is in blue, the 'bad guy' (leading competing algorithm) is in red, and green and purple are used for additional variants (with green=good-ish and purple=bad-ish). But that is also a joke and not a standard.


Is it unethical to hire students for private consulting work?

I'm at a University at the moment where this sort of thing is quite common - and indeed, my previous institution had another department where a relationship like this one actually led to a major company that hires a large number of graduates. It isn't inherently unethical, but you need to make sure that business interests and academic ones are kept separate. It might, for example, be wise to have an uninvolved faculty member serving as co-supervisor. My institution's stance:

Protecting the Interests of Students and Trainees:
The impact of a perceived or actual conflict of interest or commitment of faculty members on their students (including post-doctoral fellows and other trainees) is of special concern to the university.  In particular, the university is  committed to maintaining the content and quality of the educational experience for students whose research is sponsored by a for-profit business and whose faculty advisors have a financial interest or a  management role in that business.  The concern is even greater if the dissertation work could potentially affect the value of a company in which the faculty member has an ownership or managerial interest.
For example, a faculty member who pressures a student to complete work related to the faculty member’s company could easily affect the student’s completion of graduate studies in a timely and appropriate way, thereby putting the faculty member’s interest in obtaining proprietary results ahead of the student’s academic or scholarly research activities.   The concern is similar for the involvement of students in faculty consulting or other external activities.  The risks and benefits of such involvement must be carefully weighed by departmental administrators responsible for evaluating the disclosure and approving the request, particularly where the involvement may be longer term and/or more time consuming.
University policy recognizes that the involvement of students in faculty-owned or managed businesses or consulting may yield substantial benefit to the student, provided that certain conditions are met.
Faculty members must disclose the proposed involvement of students in their external activities or in company-sponsored research.
Faculty members who intend to serve as PI or co-PI on sponsored projects and have graduate students or trainees conduct a portion of the research under their supervision must develop a conflict of interest management plan to address protections for these early career scholars.  See Example 2 under Managing Conflicts of Interest for appropriate strategies.
Students and postdoctoral trainees have the right to be fully informed about the source of their funding, the nature of the faculty member’s personal interest or involvement, and, if relevant, any agreements concerning data collection, copyright, or patent protection arising from the research.  Departmental and college-level administrators review the risks and protections with the student using the Research Agreement for Students and Postdoctoral Associates.


What is the difference in using terms like a model, a framework, an approach, a method, a scheme in scientific research?

I can only answer this in the context of psychology, and within the context of my own understanding. A model and a framework I would interpret as more a system of how concepts are understood and explained; of the two, a framework is broader and more general, and a model usually refers to specific variables relating in a particular way to each other.

Approach and method I would use when describing a specific study or endeavour, which might be conducted within a particular framework, again going from the more general to the more specific.

For example, I might look at persuasion in the framwork of the Elaboration Likelihood Model; which although is called a model I would still consider a framework. In my study I would be interested specifically at the model of how credibility of the sender and the persuasiveness of the message are related to each other.
My approach would likely be a quantitative one (rather than a qualitative), and my particular method could describe what I am actually doing in the study - perhaps a 2x2 experiment which varies two variables (sender credibility, difficulty of message).


Research plan for a first-time faculty application

I see from comments that the interview is past, but here's still some thoughts on this that might be useful for someone else.

I would say that your results at a 3-years horizon don't depend that much on funding prospects, mainly because you're not starting with those funds from day 1, and as a new lecturer you're certainly not expected to have an army of postdocs working for you in the first couple of years.

You might spend a few months writing the grant proposal, then the process will take some more months, and then from decision to start date there's more time... so assuming success you might be able to hire someone to start in a year at best, more realistically two. Then would you start immediately with postdocs? Unless you're one of several investigators in a larger project, that doesn't sound realistic. Rather you'll probably be supervising MSc projects, and you might hope for one or two PhD students to start within those three years, and with any luck get their first paper or two. I think what you need to pitch is a set of ideas that could form a grant proposal and some realistic-sounding MSc and PhD topics.

The bottom line is that you're being asked for a 3-year plan to see whether you can actually prepare a plan that involves medium- to long-term goals, rather than just think of the next development of what you're doing at the moment.


How to save my presentation if the audience does not reply?

In a live department seminar there are often people who are not paying strict attention. Sometimes that's because the talk is not well suited to the audience, but even good talks don't grab everyone.
The kinds of questions you know how to ask in the live presentations you're used to  may not work over zoom. In a roomful of people some may be embarrassed by total silence, and speak up. Then dozers may be jolted awake. In a virtual room audience members don't notice each other. It's easier for them to be distracted, and harder for you to monitor.
If you have one or two colleagues with whom you talk about your work you might practice your talk with them, or ask them to be sure to respond when they attend virtually.


What is the process through which a department chooses to invite someone to make a talk at the department?

It varies tremendously, based on the type of talk.

To a first approximation, anyone can invite a speaker if they have grant funding to pay for the travel costs (or if there are no costs).  The limiting factor is getting an audience - it's embarrassing for everyone if few people show up - so this typically happens only if it's clear there will be real interest in a talk.

Departments in research universities typically have a number of ongoing seminar series, and often a departmental colloquium as well.  There will be one or more organizers for each of these, who invite speakers and introduce them before the talks.  How the organizers are chosen varies: sometimes they are volunteers, sometimes they are appointed by the chair, and sometimes they got a grant that's paying for everything.  The organizers can then ask whoever they want to speak, although they often solicit suggestions from other department members.

There may also be special distinguished visiting positions or lecture series.  These are quite a bit more prestigious and speaker selections are often made by a special committee.

How far in advance invitations are made can vary: typically many months in advance for a prestigious lecture series, but a seminar invitation may have less advance notice.

As for how often an invitation is turned down, it's rare for someone to express a lack of interest in principle, but it's common for them to be too busy or for it to be impossible to arrange a mutually agreeable date.  I often suggest that someone should come speak sometime in a seminar I organize.  Sometimes they immediately start arranging a date, sometimes they defer it to another time but eventually come, and sometimes it never works out, but even in that case it's never certain it won't happen someday.  If a speaker can't make it, it's no big deal: you just invite someone else.


Should I mention this health issue I had on my graduate school application?

I think it is worth mentioning.  Of course, you don't need to say "my health issues caused a B+".  Just mention the health issue at that particular time, and what you had to do to complete your work.

Besides explaining your performance that semester (and a single B+ isn't very much to worry about), this shows your ability to overcome adversity and still succeed.

Here are some other questions about explaining lower grades for non-academic reasons, and the answers largely seem to agree that it is a good idea to mention the circumstances:

Will one 'C' grade due to health issues ruin my chances of admission into a top grad school?

Trauma affected my grades while in undergrad, how will it affect me getting into graduate school?


Is it alright to reapply to a PhD program you got rejected from if you work on your application?

Generally yes (with improvements). Consider emailing their admissions to make sure they don't have a policy against reconsidering applicants some time later.


How to become a better researcher in a shorter amount of time?

My first, and maybe best, advice would be to do more collaborations. Collaborations with local and remote colleagues. Collaborations with students. Build yourself a circle of people willing to work with you so that you learn from each other. Start with your own advisor and try to get to be a part of their circle.

Go to conferences and use them to expand your circle. Talk to a lot of people. Share a lot of ideas. Take a student or two along when you go to conferences. Introduce them around. Talk about ideas between sessions.

Write a lot of joint papers and be generous about such things as "first" authorship. Work with people who you treat as equals and who treat you the same way. Give a lot of help to students and include them in your circle. Keep the relationship alive after they finish their degrees. Try to assure that they learn everything they need to build a good career.

Build a critical mass so that better work gets done by the ever expanding circle of contributors.

Do this even if you are an introvert at heart, as I am.


How to balance looking for fast journals and avoiding predatory journals?

You could post a pre-print to arxiv while your paper is in submission. That offers a compromise. Your paper appears publicly with a time stamp within a few days and in due course you will get a “proper” peer-reviewed publication.

Unfortunately peer review is hard to accelerate, since the reviewers are unpaid and busy. (Some economics journals offer money as an incentive, but even that doesn’t always work.) All the journals are going to ask more or less the same people to review, so they are all going to be equally slow. Any journal offering rapid peer review is making a promise they can’t keep.

One other thing you can try is to submit to a peer-reviewed conference. (This is standard in computer science, but rare elsewhere.) Conferences have a fixed turnaround time (usually 2-4 months), since there is a physical conference that needs to be arranged.


Using parts of previous work in dissertation

The only correct answer here is: Ask your supervisor!

You are not exempt from rules about self-plagiarism just because your previous work was unpublished, but without knowing the material, there is no way for us to be sure what side of the line you are on. Since your supervisor is also the person who previously graded this, it is natural to ask. Your supervisors job is, after all, to supervise.


What are the advantages or disadvantages of using LaTeX for writing scientific publications

LaTeX is better at:

Dealing with mathematical notation. Layout and entry are generally easier using LaTeX than some other sort of equation editor.
Consistent handling of intra-document references and bibliography. As of a couple of years ago the major WYSIWYG editors still had problems with re-numbering cross-references and bibliography items. This is never a problem with BibTeX or LaTeX.
Separation of content and style. In principle this means that you can write your document without caring how it is formatted, and at the end of the day wrap it in the style-file provided by the journal publisher before submission to conform to the house style. In practice some of the journal publishers demand special formatting commands that partially moots this process. Furthermore recent versions of Word and LibreOffice Writer, when properly used, should be able to keep track of various levels of section heading separate from the body text, and apply uniform styling to each level. The gap is somewhat closing.
Tables and illustrations. With PSTricks or TikZ, one can produce high quality illustrations within the document (though the learning curve is a bit steep there). And I've found LaTeX to be better at preparing complex tables.

WYSIWYG (especially Word and Writer) is better at:

Collaborative editing. Without using an online site for collaborative LaTeX editing (such as ShareLaTeX), working collaboratively on a LaTeX file ideally requires some sort of separate revision control software. Word and Writer have very good comments/annotations and edit-tracking features. When a large number of authors are commenting on the writing of one file, this can be very useful.
Spell check. Admittedly most text editors one uses to edit TeX files also do spell check. But this is generally conveniently built into WYSIWYG editors.
Compatibility. Unless you work in mathematics, computer science, or physics (and sometimes even if you work in those fields), it is more likely that your collaborators will know what to do with a Word or Writer file than a LaTeX file.
Minimum barrier to entry. If you just care about getting the ideas down on paper, you can use a WYSIWYG editor just like a typewriter. Sure, it may be tedious to fix the formatting later on, compared to LaTeX where one need to first figure out how to setup a bare-minimum file before using, it may be an attractive point.

A wash:

Most journals provide templates for both Word and LaTeX, so there's no real winner there.

Suggestion: if you want to convince someone to start using LaTeX, start them out first in one of the WYSIWYG environments designed for LaTeX first (for example LyX). This will help somewhat to ameliorate the scary entry barrier.


Choosing a PhD field, based on short term or long term decision?

By and large, I would recommend you to go with what is more interesting to you right now. As you say yourself, nobody can predict the future, and a vague sense that your specific chosen subfield may go out of style at some point does not seem like a good enough reason to settle for your "second choice" (especially since nobody can guarantee you that the "second choice" will stay relevant).

Further, I think you are overestimating to what extend the topic of your PhD will lock you into a specific field. I have personally switched topics somewhat after my PhD (from distributed systems closer to software engineering), and plenty of other people have done similar switches.

Finally, in cases where a specific topic of research becomes outdated (not uncommon in Computer Science, a buzzword driven field after all), there is usually some sort of "natural progression" for the researchers involved with the topic. That is, professors that used to do a lot of grid computing research 10 years ago now publish on cloud computing, etc.


Does a person enter a PhD from a masters program, or is applying to PhD a separate process?

The answer to your question is highly dependent on the context, in particular, the country and/or the specific institution. A typical way is to apply to a Ph.D. program, having completed (or almost completed - often termed early admission) a master's program. In addition to the early admission, which is focused on students in their later stages in a master's program, some schools have a transfer policy, which, vice versa, is focused on students in their early stage in a master's program (for an example, see this page). Having said that, there are institutions that allow people with bachelor's degree only to apply directly to a Ph.D. program. For more details on this topic and/or some anecdotal examples, see this Quora discussion as well as this question and this question. Finally, it is even possible (though quite rare!) to enroll in a Ph.D. program without having even a bachelor's degree. See this discussion on Academia.SE for details and inspirational examples.


Discovered a serious error in a reviewed paper after submitting the review, what to do?

What's the recommended course of action in this situation? Should I notify the editor of this additional discovery, so that the authors can directly take care of it in their (presumably ongoing) revision,

Yes, I think so.  This seems to be in the best interest of all involved: you, the authors and the journal.  It may be tempting to feel "embarrassed" about this or feel loathe to hold up the stately train of the editorial process, but you should resist these temptations: part of being a professional academic is being completely willing to change and adjust to new information and/or new insight you've acquired.

  or is it better to just wait for a request to review the revised version?

No, I don't think so.  Put yourself in the authors' shoes: wouldn't you like to have this information as soon as possible?  Revising a paper without knowing about a serious -- potentially fatal -- error sounds like it could be a waste of their valuable time.  Moreover, the longer they think that the paper will be accepted with revisions, the more disappointed they will be when they learn about the true situation.

I would write up carefully your description of the error as though it were part of the original referee report.  In effect this does become a new referee report, but you don't necessarily need to edit this into the old referee report: having already submitted that, the matter of it is to convey the new information.  Of course, the final decision about in what manner to inform the authors lies with the editor.


How to condense a full journal paper to a two-page conference abstract?

The usual advice for this type of question is:

  Do not shorten, but rewrite.

This will not only produce a smoother text, but also will be quicker. Squeezing eight pages to two is a tremendous headache and time consuming. Usually it also results in an awkward text. Writing two pages for something that you understand thoroughly is quicker. Make a good plan what you want to tell in two pages and write the two pages from scratch.

Edit: I just saw, that this advice is the same as the most upvoted comment for this question. In essence, this question is a duplicate…


Post doc or Lecturer after Full-time PhD? and Can I apply for Post doc after Thesis submission or should wait until Viva-voce?

After [submitting my thesis] is it good to go for post-doc or as a lecturer...?

I believe there's a personal aspect to consider when making this decision. In particular, do you want to work for a single institute or multiple institutes during the next 3-5 years?

  If I apply for lecturer will colleges entertain it as I am a fresher?

I'm not sure what you mean. If you mean "will colleges entertain the idea of hiring a fresh graduate?", then yes.

  Am I eligible to apply for Post-doc position after submitting my thesis?

Yes for many institutions, but there might well exist some institutes that won't hire you.

  or should I wait until the completion of Vivo-voce and/or graduation?

You'll submit your thesis in "a month or two," you'll then have to wait 3-6 months for your Vivo-voce and up to a further 6-12 months for your graduation.
I suspect you cannot afford to wait for your Vivo-voce or graduation, apply now (you needn't wait until you've submitted).


Publish paper without consulting project guide?

I'll assume "guide" means "supervisor." Hence, your project supervisors are insisting that they be listed as co-authors on your SDN paper written under their supervision. Assuming that their supervision resulted to an intellectual contribution to the paper, I believe you have an obligation to list them as co-authors. On the other hand, if your supervisors provided no input / no guidance, then I think you can publish without listing them as co-authors. You could invite the department head to mediate, if there is a dispute over whether the supervisors contributed.


Listing Scholar-Athlete Awards in Grad School Application

I would include the awards and emphasize how your experience as a student athlete reflects your time-management skills and ability to perform well under stressful circumstances.  You also capitalized on a great opportunity-- funding via a scholarship-- and made the best of it.

By the way, computer science is one of those fields in desperate need of diversity-- as an academically strong athlete, you would be offering a unique perspective.  Don't be shy about what you're good at, and why the program would benefit from your presence.


How to explain in PhD interview about leaving current PhD due to lack of funding?

You don't have the degree, but you were registered as a graduate student for 1.5 years, and that should be on your CV. If you had listed it, there would be no problem at all: "Unfortunately, my current program was unable to fund me. I would prefer to give my full attention to my PhD studies and research, without the need for an outside job."


Should I worry that my advisor will get sick of being a professor and move to industry?

Should I worry that he'll move back to industry in a year or two because he's decided being a professor is not for him?

This is probably not worth worrying about, although it could happen.  Computer scientists who leave industry for academia generally really want to be in academia and don't often return to industry quickly.

If you're concerned, one way to get a feeling for his perspective is to ask him about his experience with industrial and academic jobs.  This is a very natural question, since he knows both sides well and this information is relevant to your own future plans.  You could follow up by asking him how he chose academia over industry if he leaves that vague.  If he sounds unhappy with his decision, you could ask whether he thinks he might return to industry someday.  I bet this conversation will reassure you that he wants to be in academia, and at least you'll find out if your fears are justified.

Incidentally, I'm skeptical that computer scientists in industry have a lot less work and spend more time with their families.  The ones I've met spend their time a little differently than academics do but seem rather busy as well.


Experiment by using a Matlab's demo data set and publish to journal/conference

As an alternate suggestion, you might try calling people who either do similar research, or are involved in the application the research covers, and get a copy of their data. I've never done it at a publishing level, and I don't know what kind of field you're in, but I have had success with this for some minor projects I've done.

Generally, it's not in the exact format you want, but real data is better than suspicious data. And reformatting is a lot easier than collecting tons of data.


There is little you can do, actually, and eleven weeks doesn't sound excessive. That is especially true if the number of potential reviewers is small, as for an esoteric paper. But kicking them more isn't going to get them to move any faster, and might make them move slower if they get upset. Adding to their workload by needing to respond to you doesn't speed them up, of course.

Some academics have a different schedule at the end of a year and the first of the new year, so that might account for the delay.

But they really have no incentive to slow it down and every incentive to make it work. If you have no trust in them, withdraw the paper and submit it elsewhere, knowing that the clock restarts if you you do that.

There is also, possibly, some time delay in changing the status even after reviewers have been found.


What can I do if I don’t completely understand a paper?

Ask on mathoverflow!

It's a site like this, but for math at research level. There is incredible expertise in all fields of math (I know of) over there. Before you ask, look at "How to ask"  and also take a look around at the site to get a feel for how the folks roll.


Viva voce question about another student "validating" my results

I suspect your supervisor was thinking about how that student confirmed your results. A classic way this could happen is, if you solved a problem with one method and then the other student solved the same problem with a different method, and your results agree, then the other student has "validated" your results. Naturally, you don't need to have worked with each other to do this - in fact it's arguably preferable that you don't work with each other, to ensure independence of results. Neither do you need to be able to cite their work (you can just say "unpublished").

It's always good to have someone validate your results, because it increases the chances that your results are robust and not due to, e.g. statistical noise. If someone has validated your results, it's definitely something to mention.


Beall's List of Potential Predatory Publishers on Weebly shutdown?

I think I found the answer.  There is a lengthy discussion about archived versions of Beall's list on ResearchGate.  It seems that the original list that was archived at https://beallslist.weebly.com/ is in the process of moving to a new website: https://beallslist.net/.

One user on ResearchGate quoted the new web host: "We are in the process of migrating from Weebly to an independent server. Contact form is currently disabled but will be working soon."

So the situation is not dire - they are migrating, not being shutdown. Phew!  It is good that other alternatives exist as well.


Applying for international graduate school without any prior collaboration with researchers at the new location

There are a huge number of questions on this site about how to contact potential PhD supervisors. Generally the advice is:

Before contacting anyone, make sure you understand how PhD admissions typically work in the country you are interested in. Who makes the decision? Do you apply for a specific project, or for a generic graduate programme? Where does the money come from?
Be brief. Professors are busy people. Don't give them a wall of text and 17 attachments to read.
Have clear questions, and ask them clearly. Good starting points are: (i) Are you interested in taking on a student to start in September 2023 [optional: in the general field of XYZ]? (ii) If so, what kind of topic would you have in mind? (iii) If I were to apply for funding from XYZ, would you be willing to support that application? Are you aware of any other sources of funding that might be relevant?

Note that you don't have to put absolutely everything into your first email. If someone is genuinely interested in your application, they will be happy to answer one or two sensible follow-up emails. Also note that professors get lots of these emails - some students even (appear to) use automailers to send them to everyone in the world -  and, statistically, most of those people will need to be declined.
Your question mentions specific aspects of support that you may require. I suggest:

Financial support is easy - just make it clear in your email that you have not yet obtained a scholarship.
Immigration - Mention in your email what citizenship(s) you hold; it is often relevant for identifying which sources of funding may be available.
'Psychological' support (I wonder if 'emotional' support may be a better phrase here) - Unless you have a concrete requirement that you need potential advisors to accept, this is probably not something that needs to be addressed in an initial email. Once you have established that the professor is interested in you - and you are interested in what they can offer - you can ask more detailed questions about life in the city/university/etc. This is a good opportunity to gauge their personality and advising style. It is also very normal to ask to be put in touch with current students, who are often better-placed to explain what the experience is like 'on the ground'. Many universities will have societies/associations focussing on LGBT and international students, and these will be able to put you in touch with someone who can address any more specific questions you have.


Is organizing a thesis competition a good way to connect academia and business?

It would be very hard to judge these things due to a dearth of objective criteria. Also, getting a panel of widely knowledgeable, senior employees (whose time is short and expensive) to each read and judge at least several theses just isn't feasible - and that's assuming that the field is narrow enough that the judges have the expertise to understand every thesis.

Unless you have a vested and very specific interest in the thesis, there just isn't any point in reading it. A short presentation or abstract is really all that's necessary to get the gist of the research.

A much better solution would be a thesis presentation competition. My old university did a university-wide "thesis in three" competition every year. Entrants had three minutes to give a presentation on their research, in front of a general audience and a panel of judges from all disciplines (a more specialized competition could allocate more time).

This could have many advantages, including:

the panel will be able to view all of the presentations in less time than it takes to read just one thesis
it assesses a very valuable real-world skill: the ability to distil a complicated piece of work into a simple and exciting nutshell
you can see someone's enthusiasm for a topic
gathering for drinks and dinner after the presentations will be a fantastic networking opportunity. Job offers could be flying about all over the place.

In the age of the internet, it would be easy to ask participants to create a video presentation if they cannot attend the event (possibly even in the style of a YouTube educational video, with narrated drawings / animations). This way, no one needs to travel across the country or world.


Publishing the thesis "as is"

Your first option to to publish the thesis as it is now, without any modifications. This is usually the easier thing to do. Assuming your thesis in in PDF format, you can just upload it to your own website. Another option would be to upload it to a repository such as figshare.com, where it will also be assigned a DOI and it will be easier for people to cite (and discover?).

Making a journal article out of it

This option will be harder, but will also probably benefit you much more. I'm assuming that you know how a journal article looks like, so now your job is to make it look like one. The technical aspects may be challenging at first, but they are pretty straightforward. Every journal has a "guide for authors" section where they instruct you exactly how and where to submit the article. What format to use, how to draft the figures, what citation format to use, etc. If you are not sure which journal to publish to, I suggest that you look on the citation list of your own thesis and see which journals published articles similar to yours. One of the reasons that this option is harder is because you have to convince the editors and reviewers of the journal that the article is novel, important, well written and worth publishing. The article will be subject to peer review which will require additional time and effort from your side. It is a lengthy process and can take several months.


While only they can say for sure, it is probably fine to do so, but you also probably need to include their copyright notice with the uploaded version.

But to be certain, ask them specifically for guidance.

It isn't a "preprint" as you note, but it is a "reprint" and probably falls under the "related" class of documents.


Restroom and lunch breaks in medical school

Under Title IX, it's illegal for universities receiving federal funding to disadvantage students due to pregnancy. The Department of Education specifically calls out more frequent bathroom breaks as an adjustment that educators must provide to pregnant students.

  your school MUST:

  Allow you to continue participating in classes and extracurricular activities even though you are pregnant. This means that you can still participate in advanced placement and honors classes, school clubs, sports, honor societies, student leadership opportunities, and other activities, like after-school programs operated at the school.
  Allow you to choose whether you want to participate in special instructional programs or classes for pregnant students. You can participate if you want to, but your school cannot pressure you to do so. The alternative program must provide the same types of academic, extracurricular and enrichment opportunities as your school’s regular program.
  Allow you to participate in classes and extracurricular activities even though you are pregnant and not require you to submit a doctor’s note unless your school requires a doctor’s note from all students who have a physical or emotional condition requiring treatment by a doctor. Your school also must not require a doctor’s note from you after you have been hospitalized for childbirth unless it requires a doctor’s note from all students who have been hospitalized for other conditions.
  Provide you with reasonable adjustments, like a larger desk, elevator access, or allowing you to make frequent trips to the restroom, when necessary because of your pregnancy.

Your wife should first request more frequent breaks from her instructors. If this adjustment is not made, the Department of Education gives this list of steps to follow:

  Helpful Tips for Pregnant and Parenting Students:

  Ask your school for help—meet with your school’s Title IX Coordinator or counselor regarding what your school can do to support you in continuing your education.
  Keep notes about your pregnancy-related absences, any instances of harassment and your interactions with school officials about your pregnancy, and immediately report problems to your school’s Title IX Coordinator, counselor, or other staff.
  If you feel your school is discriminating against you because you are pregnant or parenting you may file a complaint:

  Using your school’s internal Title IX grievance procedures.
  With the U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights (OCR), even if you have not filed a complaint with your school. If you file with OCR, make sure you do so within 180 days of when the discrimination took place.
  In court, even if you have not filed a complaint with your school or with OCR.

  Contact OCR if you have any questions. We are here to help make sure all students, including pregnant and parenting students, have equal educational opportunities!

Bryan Krause suggested that she ought to escalate within the departmental (eg, officials within the medical school) before escalating the Title IX coordinator.


How to judge length of exams when teaching undergraduate engineering

The "1/4" rule of thumb is reasonable in a lot of cases, but it can be unreasonable for particular groups of students.  In a very low level course (like yours) it may take students much more than 4 times as long as you to do the test.  In an upper level course the students might be able to do the test in something less than 4 times as long you take.

As an example, my rule of thumb for lower level undergraduate math courses (calculus, intro to linear algebra, and differential equations) is 1/8 rather than 1/4.  I've been teaching mathematics for almost 30 years, so solving these kinds of problems is second nature, and I'm mostly limited by the speed of my handwriting in producing a set of solutions.  It also helps that unlike my students, I can do arithmetic and algebra in my head without having to pull out a calculator.

I would suggest that you discuss the exam with a professor or TA who has previously taught the course and see whether they think it might be too long.


As Nate Eldredge already mentions in a comment, there will be a statement somewhere on the application page that specifies who needs to provide language scores as part of their application and who doesn't. Since schools receive large numbers of applications, there isn't really any leeway for special cases: Just follow the letter of the application requirements. If this requires that you to take the TOEFL or SAT, then that's what it is -- whether you think that's fair or necessary or required is a question that's entirely unimportant.


What is background check for the graduate admission processing?

I don't know if this is universal, but I do know that some programs require background checks for anyone interacting with individuals under 18. For example, from the University of Pittsburgh Department of Psychology webpage (bottom paragraph on that page):

  Special note for Applicants to the Clinical Psychology Program: Consistent with Pennsylvania law, all students in the Clinical Psychology Program must satisfactorily pass required background checks that are intended to protect children from contact with individuals who have abused children or have been convicted of certain felonies (including drug felonies), as is further explained here: www.dhs.state.pa.us. FBI, Pennsylvania State Police, and Pennsylvania Child Abuse clearances must be completed during the fall term of the student’s first year. Students may not continue in the Clinical Psychology Program if they fail any of these background checks or decline to submit applications to obtain them. Cost of the clearances is to be covered by the student.

Given that many undergraduate students are underage, and given that as a graduate student you will almost certainly be interacting with undergrads as part of your teaching assistant and undergraduate mentorship duties, this is required for basically all grad students. I know that, at Pitt, this isn't just for the Psych program; lots of programs have a similar requirement.

Much of this is new since the Sandusky child abuse events.


In math we have the same issues.  Here is what I do, most of which is standard:

If a paper has been published, always cite the published version.
If you want to point out the chronology, in particular because it is not clear from publication dates, do it in the text.  People understand that publication dates do not align perfectly with when the papers were originally written.  (My papers don't appear in the order I wrote them.)  If you refer to arXiv versions, it is easy to see the chronology, at least up to the level of month/year, from arXiv ids.
If something is accepted to a certain journal/conference proceedings, you can say "Journal XXX, to appear" in the references.  If you want to say something was announced at a certain conference, you can say so in the text.
Make references (e.g., theorem numbers) to the version you cite.  I personally like to include version numbers in arXiv citations for this reason (e.g., arXiv:1601.0000v37).  If you want to refer to something that appeared only in a previous version, I would cite the published paper if published and say in the text something like: This result appeared as Thm A.B.C of an earlier version (arXiv:1601.0000v36) of [citation]" possibly with some remark about why it's not in the current version.  (Hopefully, if you're using it, it hasn't been removed because there was an error in the proof.)  But if the paper has not been published, you can either do a similar thing or just put a citation to the version you want to refer to.  However, it's probably best to point out in such situations that the result doesn't appear in later versions so the reader doesn't accidentally check the wrong version.


Which topics should be covered in a teaching statement?

First things first:

  Since I wrote it myself I think it is perfect and I cannot detect its possible flaws and mistakes.

It is imperative that you have someone else read over your statement with a critical eye and with the experience to provide quality feedback.  You'd be surprised at what you can miss in your own writing, and how the tone may come across different to others.

  Which topics would members of search committees like to see in a teaching statement?

This will be dependent on the type of department you are applying to -- at many institutions, research ability trumps teaching, and your statement might not count for much (see below for a caveat about being too gung-ho).  Assuming the reason you are asked for a teaching statement is because the department that is hiring does value teaching, I suggest the following:

Demonstrate your understanding that math is difficult for some students, particularly as it gets more abstract.  If you can, provide a brief example of a topic that was hard to teach and how you ended up teaching it.
Provide examples of how you changed your teaching based on student feedback or your own assessment.  Showing that as a professor, you'll continually try to improve your teaching goes a long way.
Talk about curriculum development -- if you have ever designed a course, make sure you mention it.  Describe what you enjoyed about the course development process, and how you addressed the challenges.
Try to convey your passion for teaching -- some of the best teachers are the most passionate, and if you can get that across (only if it is true, of course!), all the better.

  Which mistakes in a teaching statement can ruin an applicants' chances for getting an interview?

As with any writing, poor grammar demonstrates a lack of attention to detail (or ability), and that will torpedo your application.  Again, have others read it over and provide feedback.
If you are applying to a school where teaching takes a back seat to research, don't make it sound like you live for teaching; you don't want to say that you've stayed up all night crafting the perfect lesson when you should have been doing research.
Don't be boring!  This could be a difficult one depending on your writing style. I've seen teaching statements that made it sound like the teacher would be the most boring professor in the world.  Again, examples from your own teaching can help make the writing more interesting.

Finally, your teaching statement can be more personal than your research statement, so it is okay to let that come out a bit more.  Demonstrating why you'll be a good teacher is the most important part, and this should be apparent in the essay.

Edit: I should add -- as with any other letter or statement, you should feel free to craft different letters for different jobs.  If you're applying to a college where professors teach three or four classes per semester, you can expect they will pay more attention to your teaching statement, and you should taylor it appropriately.


What makes a Bachelor's thesis different from Master's and PhD theses?

The PhD thesis should be on a much higher level than the Honours/Masters thesis, offering a contribution to human knowledge that is of a sufficient level of "significance" to warrant publication in a respected journal.

Significance is highly subjective, and you also do not necessarily have to publish to be awarded the PhD (sometimes the peer-review delay means that they come out afterwards, or there may be some intellectual property issues that make it beneficial to refrain from publication). It is awarded based on your supervisors consent and a review of academics in your field. So the "significance" would probably be judged by them in terms of how much original work they see as a reasonable expectation at that stage of your development (first 3 years of serious/committed research). Unfortunately it also means that some people who probably do not deserve PhD's are awarded them anyway for fulfilling grunt work for their easy-going supervisors.

It is possible that some Honours/Masters thesis might even be more significant/higher quality than a PhD thesis. Unfortunately, this does not mean that the submission of the thesis will award the degree that they deserve. The university may have a policy to upgrade the student's enrolment if the supervisor senses that such progress is being made. However, it is impossible to upgrade to a PhD without completing Honours and I believe nearly every single university has a policy of a minimum period of enrolment before submission is allowed. A subsequent question that you may have is how to gain a PhD without enrolling in one, which is another level of achievement completely.

As for the difference between Honours/Bachelor and Masters it would depend on your university, but both have no requirement for publication quality research and are usually small tasks/ideas that are not worth the supervisors time to think about alone, or involve a lot of labor. In fact, in my school, many Honours thesis are of a higher level than the Masters, because the smart Honours students will either graduate into the work force or go straight into a PhD. The Masters students are usually those who cannot find a job and are not suited to research. However, I believe some other universities may require a mandatory Masters degree to start the PhD.

You may get a better idea by looking at some titles/abstracts of completed theses. The PhD level will be something like a new method/observation/application whereas the Masters/Honours will be an application specific set of measurements/simulations or even simply a literature review to gauge the needs of future work. The word limits are also typically different (although note that quality is NOT proportional to the number of words), with PhD at 100K, Masters at 50K and Honours at 30K at my university.


Can I submit/ArXiv without my advisor? I am being blocked from publishing my work

I suggest you respond to the student and your former advisor roughly as follows:

You do not consent to their proposal to publish the paper, as prepared, with you listed as 4th author. You believe that the substance of your contribution entitles you to first authorship, either on this paper, or on another paper to be published with citation priority.
You understand that your decision to withhold consent blocks the publication of the current work.
You would welcome an amicable resolution to the impasse that meets the needs of all parties.
Your proposal is [** what you said above **].
You welcome any alternative proposals from them for how to divide the work, in ways that are fair, and consistent with previous understandings and contributions.
You propose that if you cannot between yourselves craft a mutually acceptable solution within a reasonable timeframe -- say, 30 days -- then the matter should be submitted to the University Ombudsperson with a request to help mediate the dispute.
** [Edited:] If asked: You are open to alternative proposals for referees, but you want to keep the Ombudperson involved as the core arbitrator. (The reason: Other mediators might be more knowledgable about the professional and intellectual details of the case, and thus might be genuinely helpful. But they might be your ex-advisors allies, and/or craven cowards who just want problems to go away.)

I would cc everybody concerned on your letter, including the office of the University Ombudsperson. This last cc gives the Ombudsperson a 'heads up', and also puts a time-stamp on your letter with a (we hope) neutral third party. It also serves as a 'cease and desist' demand temporarily blocking any attempt to submit the paper for publication without your consent.

I am sorry you find yourself in this difficult situation.


What else can I do if a journal editor ignores my report of plagiarism?

Given your addendum, what you are talking about is not plagiarism. It might be a case of insufficient attribution, but without seeing the papers and knowing the field it is impossible to tell.

You are guaranteed to fail in your efforts, and to make yourself look bad in the process, if you accuse this famous researcher of the wrong transgression simply because you don't know the difference between plagiarism and insufficient attribution.

As an aside, the fact that you don't know this difference makes me question whether you are able to objectively judge whether or not the researcher in question has violated the norms of your field. I'd strongly advise seeking advice from a trusted senior mentor before doing anything.


Is there a way to do serious social justice-related work or research while working on scientific research?

Can I use my skills as a scientist to meaningfully contribute to research that can have a meaningful impact on social justice?

Yes, you can.

In the USA, there is an entire union dedicated to this: the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Science is essential for the progress of humanity, and social justice is no exception.

The environmental sciences (including, but not limited to, climate science) have informed what is now a huge worldwide and successful green movement.  Where there is pollution or climate change, the poor are hit hardest, as they have least access to adaptive measures.  Therefore, action on environmental issues is closely linked to social justice.
Engineers develop low-cost energy solutions that help bring electricity and education to rural areas of poor countries that previously had no such access.  Or cheap ways to filter drinking water.
Educate members of activist networks.  Many networks of progressive action are lacking in access to science or engineering expertise.  If your knowledge matters to society, it matters to them.  Reach out to those groups.  They will welcome you!

As an arbitrary starting point, you could consider the Craigslist Charitable list.  Are you a satellite engineer?  The space4peace group will welcome you (they will, too, if you are not).  Do you work in agricultural or plant sciences?  Surely some of the farm-related groups would love for you to come by.  Are you a nuclear (weapons) engineer?  Work on research on how to safely dismantle nuclear weapons.  Do you work in software engineering?  There's plenty of charitable programming to do, or to educate members of all kinds of groups how they can protect themselves from being spied upon.  Et cetera!  If you're into it, there's more direct action alternatives as well; a pipeline blockade may have get more attention if it includes a distinguished professor than if it consists entirely of "college dropouts".

You can combine this with an academic career (although depending on where you are and what you do, you may want to limit actions to stay out of jail).  Researchers at all levels from PhD students to professors are active in those groups.  It will be hard work, but it may well be that the volunteer time you spend with grassroots will motivate you, make your life more fulfilling, and ultimately even make your regular research work more productive.


How do I know if I'm good enough to be a math professor?

Do any mathematicians working in academia have any comments about how one knows if they'll be able to continually generate new ideas to produce publishable research?

I can remember freaking out about this as I was writing my first paper.  It was the only publishable work I had ever done, and I remember thinking to myself "What if this is the only idea I have in me?  Or what if, instead of getting easier, generating ideas gets even harder as I have to scrounge around in deeper recesses of my brain?"

Fortunately, generating ideas turns out not to be as intimidating as it sounds.  In practice, it's very rare to sit down in a chair and say "I shall now think deep thoughts."  Instead, any depth comes as a spin-off from much more mundane activities.  You read papers, you idly wonder about things, you come up with questions you care about, you figure out how to investigate them, you grapple with technical obstacles, you study things you hadn't realized you needed to know, you chat with colleagues and ask them questions, you work with collaborators, etc.  Each of these activities is pretty natural, and they all feed into each other in a complicated web.  At any stage you may come up with or run across new ideas, but they are generated organically rather than being something you have to worry about explicitly.

You can expect that a strong graduate program will bring you to the point where you can do this reliably.  Of course some people will be faster or more prolific, some will have more striking or creative ideas, some will work on more important questions, etc.  You can still improve many of these factors through practice and mentoring, but at that point the question is a little different.  Not whether you can do research, but rather how to reach your full potential as a researcher.

So I'd recommend not worrying about this too much.  Doing research is a skill that most undergraduates don't have but that graduate schools can teach.  Once you get up to speed, generating ideas doesn't end up being a bottleneck.  [In fact, you'll end up having more ideas than you have time or energy to investigate yourself.  This lets you suggest some to students to help them get started with research, without worrying that you are giving away a limited resource you need for your own research.]

  However, given that the opportunity cost of grad school is high and that I already have a stable, good paying job, I would like to know whether I have the talent and ability to be a math professor before I start.

Doing good research is necessary but not sufficient for getting a job in a research university.  It's difficult to assess talent and predict career success, but one way to get a crude approximation is by looking at what happened to past students in your position.  When you are admitted to graduate school, you can look up former students of advisors you are considering and see what happened to them.  For example, you can find lists of students using the Mathematics Genealogy Project, and then you can search for them on the web.  This is certainly not perfect: some advisors don't have many students yet, job markets change over time, some former students are just not representative of your situation (if a potential advisor used to be at a less prestigious school, then placement records from that school are not so relevant), etc., and of course there's always random variance.  However, it will give you a crude picture.  If the advisors you are considering have had many students who got jobs you would like, then maybe you will too.  If very few of them got jobs you would find acceptable, then you are taking a much bigger risk.


I'm the only grad student who wasn't asked to write a tenure recommendation for my advisor. Should I be concerned?

If you think there was an oversight, you could always ask the chair of the tenure committee directly if they left you out. Alternatively, you could simply write the letter and submit it to the committee. The worst-case scenario here is that the letter is not forwarded to the committee.


Full time is a misleading term. Postdocs, I suppose, normally have supervisors who set the conditions for work. Something like what you've experienced. You meet those expectations or you have problems. So yes, such people normally work full time by the supervisor's definition of it. It may include scheduled hours or not. Lab work often needs to be scheduled, but some lab work needs to go on day and night.

Professors, on the other hand, especially tenured professors, normally don't have supervisors in the same sense. They set their own conditions of work. They set a schedule and keep to it sufficiently well that they can be productive. But the schedule might be erratic.

I've known professors who are able to take off a couple of hours in the middle of the day to take a bike ride. But they may also work after supper or on week ends. I doubt that many of them keep a listing of total hours worked. I never did.

In fact, intellectual work is better driven by ideas than by a clock. If I'm building something important, the clock may completely abandon me and I'll work until I am exhausted or the idea flow stops. If I don't have any interesting ideas, then sitting at a desk or computer has no value whatever. I'm better off going off on a walk or something relaxing. That doesn't mean that my brain shuts off. I just stop trying to force it to work when it won't.

Time is a terrible measure of productivity for intellectual work. There is no assembly line for good research ideas, though proving it out can be a bit more methodical, even tedious. But that's why post docs work a fixed schedule.


How to gauge how professional/formal to dress for a tenure track interview

I have been on the hiring side of several dozen academic job interviews.  As such, I am somewhere between amused and alarmed that you think your bag will figure into the job selection process.  If your research concerns the bag or if you were giving your talk from inside the bag maybe -- otherwise, how does this even come up?

Preparing for job interviews is a good thing, but I advise you to concentrate your preparations on the things that could matter.  Perhaps you can further work on your slides or on some other aspect of your job talk.  Perhaps you could do further research into the faculty of the department and plan specific things to say to each of them.  And so forth.  These sorts of preparations are still unlikely to make a difference in the outcome...but more so than ruminating on your choice of bag.

Good luck.


Is publishing on arXiv early a good idea?

You've left out the option that I think is most common:  post the preprint on arXiv at the same time that the article is submitted to a journal.  Presumably this is the stage when you feel that the paper is ready to be read by a wider audience, and posting it on the arXiv makes that possible without waiting for conclusion of the peer-review process.

And yes, you should update the arXiv version with the "author's accepted version" as long as your publication agreement allows that.


Is it frowned upon to have a figure in the introduction of a Masters thesis?

If a graphic clearly gets across the message then why not use it? Just check what the regulations specify though,

To elaborate a bit more you need to think about what the introduction is for. If it is  intended as an executive summary then a diagram that summarises the work could be very effective. If however it is setting the context of the work then I find it difficult to see how a diagram would help.


Do I have to disclose the exchange program of participating student as funding in a paper?

It's good manners to acknowledge all sources of funding, and in some cases, may actually be mandated by the funding body. It also costs nothing to add a sentence in the acknowledgements, so overall you should certainly acknowledge the student's funding.


Why does achieving some success in research not feel satisfying?

The reward is pretty temporary.

There are definitely dramatic high points in academics- publishing a paper, making tenure, graduating a student, etc. Those are cool, but those are relatively rare occurrences. You can't judge the experience of climbing a mountain just based on how it felt when you got to the top. If you hate the entire experience of climbing up and down then you're spending 99% of your time hating the experience and only enjoying the dramatic moment.

Academics as a profession has no ending point, there's simply a process of continual improvement. No one is ever going to publish the last paper that explains everything and your teaching material is never going to get to a place where it's finally perfect. You're never going to get to the top of academics and declare that you're finished, so the day to day work you do is what you need to enjoy in order to feel fulfilled. This is true in most careers.

You need to define success clearly for yourself. What does it mean for you to be successful? Is it publishing so many papers in a year? Is it solving some problem close to your heart? Is it getting tenure? Is it becoming an editor of a journal in your field? Is it making a lot of money? Is it having time with your family?

Success is something that feels good when you're doing it. Everyone has hiccups, doldrums, or other low points in their career. That's normal, and not every day will be a good day (or year, or project, or paper, etc.). But, your routine work should be something you feel is enjoyable and fulfilling. If not, you're going to burn out sooner or later. This is true for any career, not just academics.


My paper is posted to arXiv; how do I get it endorsed?

I think you have misunderstood how the endorsement system works.  Endorsement isn't something that's applied to an article, it's applied to an author.  It's a one-time process that some people have to go through in order to gain the privilege to submit articles.  Others are granted "automatic endorsement", by virtue of, say, having an academic email address

So if you have already been able to successfully submit a paper, then you don't need endorsement and you never will, and you should just ignore the whole thing.

If you had needed endorsement, you would not have been allowed to submit your first paper, and would instead have been given instructions that included the alphanumeric code.  You would then have given this code to your supervisor, and by logging into their arXiv account, they would have been able to use it to endorse you.  Then you would have been able to go ahead with submitting your paper.

The fact that you are not an endorser simply means that if someone else wants to submit their first paper and needs endorsement, you won't be able to be the one to endorse them.  You'll gain this privilege after you have more papers.  But you can't speed it up by being endorsed by someone else.


Do teaching evaluations improve from high participation rates

There are too many forces here to expect any clear trend.

It depends on who forces them, I think. You are probably correct that when they are optional, only the most invested will be likely to participate. But if the instructor forces them, then some, taking it as an extra task for which they see no personal benefit, might react badly. I'm assuming anonymous responses, of course.

If the system, somehow, forces them then those less invested might still be annoyed, but not at the instructor. Whether you get honest answers, however, or chaotic, playful, anarchistic ones or helpful ones would be worth looking in to, but there is probably no real way to do the experiment.

However, the comments are likely to align, more or less will with how pleased the students were with the course and the instructor's helpfulness than otherwise. But this might not give overall trends different from the current situation you find.

But in particular, I don't see any forces that suggest "yes-men" behavior.

But turn it around. If you do a really good job or a really bad job your participation rate will probably go up.

Humorous aside: Or, you could bribe them somehow to participate so they see a personal benefit for answering. Tricky to do a bribe that doesn't itself slant the results.


Visa preparation for the postdoc will take weeks. Can I start research (with the PI?)

[Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer, this is not legal advice]
As Thomas mentioned in his comment, generally, without a visa you cannot be legally employed in the country of the university, this includes remote work from abroad. In addition to that, at least in some countries, it is illegal to do work that is normally paid, even if you are not getting paid for it, unless you have a proper work permit. I guess, the logic is that you enter the labour market by doing work and not by getting paid.
So be careful and precise in your requests. Starting working on the project remotely, before your visa is ready and valid, is probably against the law (and your future boss will share some responsibility for this). However, simply asking for suggested reading before you started working on the project itself is probably okay. I suppose your PI would be happy to give those suggestions even if your visa fell through or you hadn't signed the contract to begin with.


I would go with Qualtrics, for the reasons you cite.

However, make sure that when you pull the data out you export the questions all the possible ways, especially the .qsf version. Otherwise, when you leave the institution, you'll have lost the survey (because you can't log in to get it). This is especially important if you, or anyone else, wants to use the survey again.

Since my institution uses surveymonkey, and I find the idea of asking people to go to a monkey site abhorrent, I will probably install Limesurvey, but my proclivity to do things myself the hardest way possible is a personal problem.


How much info should I put in my CV under education

I would agree that option 1 is the most likely option for someone who is just coming out of graduate school, and is looking to continue in the same field for a while.

The department should be listed when relevant—that is, if the program in which the degree is awarded is different from the specialization in some where. For instance, if your PhD is in engineering, but the department conferring it is materials science, you should say something like number 2, rather than number 3.

I don't think there are many instances in which number 4 is very useful, because it looks like you're hiding what you did for a PhD. There are very few circumstances I can think of where this would work—except if the job call specifically required a degree from a particular subset of disciplines, to which you don't belong. But then something will probably come to light from the letters of recommendation, or from some other part of the application.

So, I'd stick with options 1 or 2, for the reasons I've outlined above.


Who Is To Find Research Ideas in Computer Science Research: PhD Student or Adviser?

The goal of the Ph.D is that you become a researcher that can do research by himself (find topics, solutions, etc.). However, during the Ph.D., the supervisor should still give you some guidance. Now the question is how much guidance? The answer depends on the supervisor.  There are some professors that are very busy and thus do not give much guidance, and there are also some professors that will look at what you are doing more closely. I would not see it as a problem if a supervisor told his student to find the topics by himself. Actually, if your supervisor is giving you more autonomy, it may be good in the end as the goal is that you become an independent researcher. Also, it is normal that during the Ph.D. you have more freedom than when you were doing a master degree because you are on your path to become an independent researcher.


What is the equivalent of "good honors degree" in terms of universities in EU

For historical reasons, Singapore often uses the U.K degree classification system.   'Good Honours Degree' usually means either 'First class Honours' or 'Upper Second Class Honours'.   These map (approximately) onto the U.S 'cum laude' classifications.

For more info, see Wikipedia 'British undergraduate degree classification'.


Is it unprofessional for a journal editor to be anonymous?

How should the editor's decision to stay anonymous be qualified? For
  example, was it

  (un)ethical,

  (un)professional,

  (contrary to the) commonly accepted practice?

  What does this tell us about the editor or the journal?

Or Option D: Likely the result of using editorial management software, with no particular agenda behind it.

There are many reasons why the template can be generic. For example, a purely practical one is that one editor might be handling your submission, but then hand it off to another editor if they think they've got more appropriate expertise, if they need to take leave, etc.

One's interaction with an editor isn't particularly a personal one. They are acting in their capacity as the editorial office of X Journal. And when it comes down to it, it's the Editor-in-Chief's decision that is the final one, regardless of who you worked with, so it's entirely reasonable for the journal to speak with their "voice".

So no, it's not particularly unprofessional, and it's definitely not unethical. For that matter, it's not even a departure from common practice - likely a good half of the journals I publish (field: Biomedicine) in don't necessarily disclose what editor is assigned to your paper.


Is it okay to work on a problem which is incremental as your first Ph.D problem?

Yes!

Your goal for your first problem is just to publish something. It doesn’t have to be significant. It doesn’t have to be in a top conference. It doesn’t have to be related to your eventual thesis topic. It doesn’t even have to be in the same subfield as anything else you publish in the future. Just publish something.

This is just getting you used to the process of writing and revising and submitting and being frustrated by bad reviews and rerevising and seeing the results in print, so that none of that stuff is a barrier later.  This is inoculation against the inevitable future Impostor Syndrome telling you that you can’t do this, because you already did this.


Responsibility/ethics of startups during graduate studies

Well, I did something like that, and I must say it eats up all your time. As said in one of the comments, it is only likely to succeed, if there is a close relation between thesis and company, otherwise you won't find enough time for both of them and fail.
If your thesis is closely related, you should inform your advisor very early in the process, because most advisors think all ideas emerging from their institution are their ideas or at least inspired by them. Despite of that, a good advisor could open some doors and be of help.

Legally, you might even be forced to do this (depending on the situationin your country), e.g. in Germany most contracts do not allow side business without anouncement to your employer. Of course, as long as it can be considered a hobby, noone can sue you for that.

You do a great job if the PhD-programm can sell it as a success story, because their funded project resulted in a new start-up.


How do institutions evaluate requests for faculty startup funds if they have never hired in the subfield before?

We usually follow the following routine:

A) The department chair calls their friends at comparable rank and size schools who have hired in a comparable field and ask them what their new faculty member's startup packages are. The chair may also ask the candidate if they have any special equipment needs.

B) We assume the Provost (who is in charge of finances) is checking with their colleagues at other institutions as well as what the campus recruitment budget is.

C) The chair goes into a meeting with the provost and comes up with a third figure.

D) We then bring that to the candidate who may come back with a counteroffer either based on chutzpah or an actual figure based on what another or their current school is offfering.

E) We negotiate by going back to Step C or drop candidate #1 as too expensive and go to candidate #2.


As an electrical engineer, should I study pure mathematics in my spare time or do a second bachelor degree?

From your question, I assume that you are NOT interested in taking a degree in mathematics because you need to prove to somebody that you have a qualification. What follows is based on that assumption.

Learning 'pure math' is not the same thing as learning a language: pure mathematics is a myriad of languages. A bachelor's degree course in pure mathematics traditionally covers, shallowly, a very wide range of topics, most of which the students will never use again, even if they pursue careers as full-time professional mathematicians.

I strongly suggest to you that if you need a better understanding of some aspect of pure mathematics for some particular purpose, then you should study just that aspect of pure mathematics. You may need to rewind a bit to find a starting point that you do understand. And you may need to broaden out your reading as you go along.

If you have no particular purpose in mind, then just pick something that you are interested in. Do not expect to understand everything immediately. Do not be afraid to pick up non-academic 'popular science' type books. There are so many entry points that I am sure you will be able to find one that suits you.


How to increase the number of authors followed in Google Scholar?

Following multiple authors (or journals, or documents, or keywords) is in my view, much easier using a saved search rather than 'following' multiple different authors:

"A. A. Author 1" OR "B. B. Author 2" OR "C. C. Author 3"

and so on. That way, you can pack as many authors in as you like which avoids restrictions (but there will probably be a search string limit somewhere). Also, you won't receive two separate emails about the same paper if it contains two authors you follow. Reducing the number of alerts to one per category (authors, documents, sources) also cuts down on the emails you will receive.

Personally I use Scopus to do this. I have an author alert and also a journal alert. The reason I use Scopus is because authors and sources are assigned a unique ID which makes it more precise.

Simply edit the alert to add/remove authors/journals/documents when the need arises. I keep a list of the authors and sources that are currently inside the alerts, with their associated Scopus code, so I can easily swap out or add if I need to.

In Gmail (where my institutional email is redirected), I have labels set up for 'Author Alerts' or 'Journal Alerts' etc. Keeps everything tidy and separated from personal stuff.


Is it better to have a strong letter of recommendation from a professor in a different area of study or a weaker letter from the same area of study?

If you have your engineering side covered already with strong letters, you can get a strong letter from outside of the field.
However, you are applying to an engineering program, so first and foremost, you must make sure that the program managers understand that you are strong in engineering, not business. It is no harm, of course, to demonstrate that you also can do business.
I cannot tell you whether just one support letter from your core field is sufficient, probably you need at least two.


Why are there limits on scholarship amounts for graduate students?

It's likely not coming out of the PI's personal pocket but out of a grant they have.

The purpose of that grant is probably to advance some research project. Paying you double is probably not an efficient use of those funds when they could instead be used towards 1 more student. One of the things universities do is to administer grants and see that the funds are spent according to the goals of the university and granting organization.

Additionally, the merit scholarship you received is not coming out of nowhere. I don't know exactly where that money is coming from in your specific case, but in my experience these scholarships are often endowed from some donation to a university/professional organization/some other administering body. Those donations are typically to further some cause, such as education in a particular field. For example, a longtime politician and businessman just gave a large donation to my institution to fund graduate students researching public policy.

Giving these funds to someone who is already funded in another way doesn't really advance the educational goal of the donation intended to increase/support scholarship in some area. If I was a donor, I'd want to know that my donation was going to lead to more research.

In my experience these limits also apply to graduate student work (i.e., assistantships), not only to scholarships, for some of the same reasons. If a student is already funded by scholarships, and a teaching assistant position is available, the university likely prefers that the position is filled by a student who is without full funding rather than someone who already has a funded position.


Is there a database of granted and declined funding proposals available with abstracts?

Proposals are usually submitted with the expectation of confidentiality. A database of proposals by a funder is therefore unlikely.

Some people choose to publish their grant proposals at time of submissions (me included; RIO Journal is the only place I know that does this).