Is it acceptable to email the authors of a paper for the slides they used while presenting it in the conference?

It's never a problem to ask. In particular if you are interested in extending their work, they should be interested in providing you with more information. Perhaps the extension will happen in collaboration with them, but at the very least you're going to cite their paper. In my experience, views on sharing slides vary, but the objections I've heard related to unpublished material; I understand that in your situation, the material is already published.
I would explain why. It's polite to do so. But do keep the mail short. You could write that if they're interested, you can provide more details on your ideas; like that, you don't swamp them with unrequired information, yet you're open from your side in stating your ideas. Such an offer shows that you trust them, and as they need some trust in you if they share their slides, that is probably a good idea.
I don't think they would feel offended.
Depends on the field. If there is no clear first or corresponding author, I would contact either one of them. They would probably either reply or forward the e-mail to the other author.


Is it ill-advised to make a cover for your thesis in STEM?

It does not matter.

It used to be that theses were printed on paper.  In those days, they had standard covers so they would all look the same when placed on a shelf in the library.

Today nobody cares about a digital cover.

Be prepared to provide a copy without the cover if someone asks for it.


What are the things one should consider while defending a PhD thesis, especially when the two examiners have completely different comments?

You talk to your thesis advisor and do what s/he says. S/he'll be responsible for leading (or at least framing the) oral examination and working with the examiners to make sure that you get final approval.

None of us know you or your research or the needs of your university or department, the character and reputation of the examiners involved, and so forth -- you need a local expert.


How to explain to college that religious observance precludes me from living on campus, as required?

This kind of letter should typically be brief and straightforward. Unless they have told you specifically what should be in the letter, you can write:

To whom it may concern:
Please be advised that, as a Muslim, my religious observance precludes me from living on a coeducational campus. As per the advice of [person or office who told you to write the letter], I am writing this letter to request an exemption from the on-campus living policy.
Thanks for your consideration,
Nimbra

If you want, you can also include contact information for a member of the clergy (i.e., a religious leader) who knows you and can vouch that you do, in fact, have such a requirement. (Sometimes this is required as a matter of policy; for example, those who cannot take the SAT on Saturday due to religious observance must provide a letter from clergy attesting to this.)


At what point do you decide to jump into research?

As aeismail says, there's no single answer. As with most things in life, it's hard to know when you're "ready" to do something. The best way is to jump in when you feel like you don't need to prep any more, and then be prepared to shore up weaknesses as you spot them.

Over time, you'll learn how to prepare yourself to embark on a new research topic: some people like to start solving a problem first, and then return to the literature when they get stuck. Some people like to read a few key papers to get a sense of the main open problems and techniques, and then go off and play.

The only important thing is that you do something, and not just wait on the sidelines for a mythical feeling of "readiness" to emerge. Be fearless, like a 2 year old who doesn't know enough to be afraid :)


Are there scholarships for a physics PhD in Germany that don't consider income?

Disclaimer: this is just my experience with scholarships in Germany, there exist for sure other scholarships with possibly varying conditions. I'm chemist, but I think that's close enough to physics in terms of which scholarships you can apply for.

So, here are my 2ct:

I had a PhD student scholarship (Telekom Stiftung) where the conditions worked actually the other way round compared to what you describe: the scholarship was a fixed amount, but there was a condition that you work full time at the PhD project and do not have any (or only very minor) side jobs.

Before that scholarship I also had a part-time contract with university. I then got leave for the scholarship from my university position and meanwhile university paid someone else with the TA money. This way, both my institute and I profited from the scholarship: I had the scholarship (including also travel budget etc) and my institute could pay another (part time) position.

"Scholarships for traveling expenses" are usually called "travel grant", so you may want to search under this term.
Conferences may have travel grants for students, you'll have to check them one by one
If you are member of DPG, ask them for travel grants to their conferences/workshops/...
If you institute participates in a EU COST action, you may be able to apply for a short term scientific mission (STSM) visiting another institute of the same action.

I just saw that the Studienstiftung allows up to 25% part time jobs in research for their PhD scholarships.

Note that both my Telekom scholarship and the Studienstiftung scholarship limit the amount of time you put into other jobs, not the income generated (and the Telekom never asked about other sources of income).

Getting slightly off-topic:

More recently, I've seen PhD projects that looked quite like scholarships, but the money was given to university who employs the students rather than giving the money directly to the students as a scholarship.
When calculating the financial aspects of scholarship vs. university part-time job, do not forget that these are very different wrt. to social insurance (and taxation)!
Scholarships that consisted of a fixed part (for books etc.) plus a variable part depending on (parent) income I've met only for Bachelor/Master/undergrad studies. The variable part was set up along the lines of Bafög. AFAIK that is quite common for the undergrad scholarships.
Which PhD scholarship are you referring to? (Just curiosity)


How can I fix previous name misspelling in publications and how should I avoid them in future?

For fixing, I think the advice in the linked question is the way to go: contact the publisher and ask them to correct it.  This is what errata are for, and it's perfectly normal.

I think the harder question is what to do about the future.

On the one hand, the non-distinguishability of I and l are just going to keep causing problems (as can be seen from this very sentence!) and you rarely have control of fonts.
On the other hand, it's your personal identity at stake.  Do you really want to change your name for the sake of typography?

This is a problem that I see faced by a large number of researchers who don't have names that perfectly transliterate into English.  One of my French colleagues, for example, is very insistent on getting the accents correct on his name, while others just ignore it and let things fall to the lowest (anglicized) denominator.

You're going to need to make a decision based on your personal relationship with your identity.  If it's important to you, stick to your proper name and just know that you're going to need to be proactive in checking and correcting in every paper you deal with.  Fortunately, there's usually a proof stage for just this type of issue.  If you'd rather not bother, then by all means embrace the simple lower-case solution.
One way or another, though, you should settle on a decision by somewhere in the middle of graduate school.  Don't worry too much about some confusion in the early papers: if you make a career of research, the early papers will fade behind your later work; if you don't, it won't matter.


Include as an author someone who contributed to financial support only?

I think (hope) that most people in academia would consider it improper to include, as an "author", anyone who didn't contribute to the content of the paper. There are some exceptional cases that are questionable, but this one seems pretty clear.

But the paper might properly include an acknowledgement section naming the person and thanking them for their help in obtaining funding for the project.

But I recommend not degrading the meaning of authorship by naming others.

Note that some of the exceptions, such as including a PI as an author, are justified, at least in part, because the PI, in addition to funding and running a lab/project also contributes general guidance and conceptual background to the work that goes on there. They have a continuous presence that impacts all the work in the lab. And some consider this to be improper, also. But it is highly variable by field.


Do editors like having cumulative thesis papers published in the same journal?

It is always important to acknowledge past publication history in any paper or thesis.  For example:

If any portion of your thesis has been published in any form (such as a technical report, conference paper, working paper, or journal paper), you must acknowledge that prior publication in your thesis.
If any portion of a journal submission has been published in any form (such as a technical report, conference paper, working paper, or PhD thesis), you must acknowledge that prior publication in your submission.

In both cases, the later publication must acknowledge the earlier one.  Some publication venues impose restrictions or conditions on the later publication of the same result.  For example, in many fields of computer science, conference papers can be republished in journals only after the addition of significant new material; in other fields, republishing conference papers in journals is simply impossible.  In chemistry, even submitting your PhD thesis to University Microfilms may publication of your thesis research in a journal impossible [source].  Conversely, some publishers require that any thesis that includes results from a published journal paper not only cite that paper but include a copyright notice for the repeated text [same source].

But there is no similar expectation that you acknowledge future publications, because they don't (yet) exist.  It's really none of the editor's business what you might put into your PhD thesis—that's entirely between you and your thesis committee.


Is a conference paper whose proceedings will be published in IEEE Xplore counted as a publication?

I would be a bit hesitant to include it as a "publication" rather than as "under review". I don't know what field or conference you are referring to, but in CS, my experience is that review happens before the conference (and before acceptance) rather than after. And since in CS, conferences are a main publication venue, it would seem appropriate to include under those circumstances. You seem to be describing something different, however.

But your words "will be published...after the papers have been reviewed" makes this seem a bit tentative.

I suggest you wait before you include it as a publication unless you qualify it in some way. You don't need to omit it entirely, just be honest and clear about the actual state of the world when you send it out.


What is the normal total time for Peer Review for a general paper submission (Not a Special Issue) in IETE Journal of Research Taylor Francis?

Although I have never submitted to this journal, in my experience, this is not an unusually long period of time, especially given all the delays that can stack up during peer review.

This has also been studied recently, with typical turnaround times of 14 weeks. When you consider the holiday break that many academics likely took in Dec/Jan, this is right in line with your delay.

That being said, after 4 months, I don't think many editors would mind a quick email to ask for an update. The last time I did this, the editor explained that they had had an unusually difficult time in finding reviewers. However, do be polite and respectful of their time when you write the editor.


Can I get a scholarship from graduate school in physics if my GPA below 3?

This depends on the school, depends on which classes dragged your GPA down and how those intersect with what you want to study in grad school, depends on what you have done in your field since your undergraduate study... I don't think there is a single answer that will be correct for all students and all schools.


Which one is your priority? Writing thesis or writing academic paper

There's no single right answer here.

For instance, if your department allows you to submit a "stapler thesis" that consists of submitted and published manuscripts, then it makes all the sense in the world to write the papers and then submit them as your thesis. On the other hand, if you can't do a stapler thesis and have to submit your thesis in just a few months, there's no sense in pausing to write complete manuscripts.

Similarly, if you're relatively early on in your career, there's no sense in waiting for the PhD to publish (in fact, this would be a spectacularly bad idea, since you'd give other people time to publish ahead of you).

So, basically, you need to consider your relative progress in the PhD program, what is and isn't allowed in your thesis, and what the ramifications of not publishing immediately are before making that decision. Of course, you should also discuss this with your advisor, who may have some additional insight.


How to mail the editor asking to withdraw my submission?

Until you give up copyright to your work it is yours. Yes, you can withdraw it. However, you might be better served by sending a note that you have found a flaw and expect to have a revision of the paper within X days, where X is reasonably small. Ask how to proceed and ask if the editor can just put the paper on hold for the interim.

I can't predict the response, but it might be better than withdrawing it altogether. But, yes, you can do that.

Adding the colleague as a co-author should also offer no difficulties.


In my years of teaching in Asia I have had one class session where a student brought a child with him. It was an exceptional case but I was surprised he did not ask for permission. The child was well behaved (maybe 7 years old) and sat in the back not disturbing the class in any way. For this reason, I let it slide and I might be willing to accept it happening in the future.

However,  I do make it quite clear to my students, I am the captain of this airplane and I will not tolerate ANYTHING which negatively impacts the learning environment. This includes anyone who disturbs the learning process in any way. I agree with Pete L. Clark - it is not a childcare issue. You need to focus the students on it being a learning environment issue. If a student does not turn off their ringing phone, out they go. If someone dresses in a way which distracts students or me, out they go. If anything exists which negatively impacts the learning process for even one of my students, out they go.

I'm pretty strict on this and I don't generally have problem because of that.

Back to your core question: How do you maintain a level of education while not being a jerk? You focus on the real issue. The real issue is not kids, the issue is disruptions. While you can be forgiving and understanding, to do so in a way which negatively impacts your students should never be accepted.


Is there any way to extract keywords and keyterms of an academic field?

If you are looking for the last 5 years a good chance would be

a current textbook/PhD thesis (many are published on university servers and open access) on that field that has a glossary
browsing/downloading the most cited papers on journal websites (there are often tags, keywords for every paper added by the authors) and noting them down
doing text analytics/statistics on your own with such tools after converting PDF to text:

Matlab Text Analytics Toolbox
https://github.com/HamidMosalla/WordFrequencyCounter
http://www.writewords.org.uk/word_count.asp
http://neon.niederlandistik.fu-berlin.de/textstat/


When/how can one be funded by multiple grants?

What I have seen the most is that the you can have two related projects funded by different grants. They are complementary, but virtually the same techniques are used for both. Officially some people would say that they are different projects and require different funding. Furthermore, you could have different students working on the different projects. In reality, the research aspect of the project (not the results) is the same. For example, you students working in different projects would need the same background and reading material.

A made-up example can be machine learning. One project can be "solving traffic with machine learning", the other could be "predicting traffic with machine learning". The problems/results/solutions can be presented differently, but the core of the research could be the same.


Value of listing OEIS contributions on an academic CV

Important: separate section.  So no one thinks you are trying to sneak them in as equal to publications.

Probably it will have no weight for recruiting.  I suppose having the list there may cause someone on the committee to say "I've heard of this guy."

But CVs have uses other than job searches.  So go ahead and include them if you want to.


Why don't authors include in their publications the duration of the research?

In a paper I wrote 35 years ago, I remarked that there ought to be a strong connection between a certain pair of concepts. After doing nothing with that idea for a long time, I recently worked out the connection, in a few days. I'm about to start writing this up, but first I had to check the relevant literature in order to cite it properly. One item was available only by inter-library loan, and the time spent waiting for it was roughly similar to the time spent actually proving the theorem. If someone asked me how much time it took to do this research, I could truthfully answer "a few days" and I could truthfully answer "35 years".

Furthermore, neither of those answers would be useful for my readers, because confirming my result will not involve repeating experiments but rather just reading and checking the proof in my paper. How long will that take? Maybe an hour or so for an expert in the relevant area, but much longer for someone unfamiliar with the area who needs to read a lot of prerequisite material first.

So I'd say that, at least in mathematics, information about the time required for research is likely to be meaningless and useless.


What to do when you publish a paper that accidentally included a wrong or irrelevant citation?

Plagiarism is the use of another author's ideas or words without proper credit.  You haven't done that, so there's no need to worry about it.  Also, people don't retract papers over trivial editing errors like this.

However, since it's something that might be confusing to a reader, it may be worth asking the journal about printing a correction.  Simply get in touch with the editor who originally handled your paper, or if they no longer work with the journal, contact the editor-in-chief.  They would typically publish a one-sentence note in some future issue of the journal, stating that the references were included by mistake and should be ignored.  Alternatively, they may decide the matter is too trivial to be worth the space to correct it.

Either way, you should post the correction on your web page, and any other place where the paper is publicly available (preprint servers, etc).

This is no big deal and happens all the time.  Just get it fixed, move on, and be more careful next time.


What should I state for "expected salary" in a tenure-track job application?

I feel it's kind of obnoxious to ask for an expected salary, and it does raise issues of whether the answer could be used to lower the initial offer (or decrease the applicant's negotiating power).  I don't see anything wrong with giving a vague answer or just saying you are flexible.  If you specify a number, you should try to choose one that's representative of the type of school you are applying to, as Danny W. suggests.

As for why they do it, one reason is that salaries vary enormously.  A regional liberal arts college may pay less than half as much as a leading research university.  Some U.S. states scandalously underfund their state universities, so there can be dramatic salary differences between what you'd think are comparable institutions.  The net effect is that schools that aren't able to pay a lot worry about attracting candidates who have no idea how little they pay.  They don't want to waste time trying to hire someone who will never accept any amount they could plausibly offer.  One way to get around that is to announce a salary range.  However, some departments are hesitant to do that, perhaps because they don't want to publicly emphasize how little money they get (and thereby humiliate themselves or discourage applicants).  Instead, they ask for an expected salary and filter out anyone who names a figure far out of their range.  I don't like it, but it seems to work well enough that departments keep doing it.


How easy is it to game the altmetric score?

Like any metric, there’s a potential for gaming of altmetrics:
  Anyone with enough time on their hands can artificially inflate the
  altmetrics for their research. That’s why altmetrics providers like
  Altmetric, PLOS and SSRN have measures in place to identify and correct for
  gaming. Don’t forget to look at the underlying qualitative data to see who
  has been talking about the research, and what they’ve been saying.

I conclude it is very easy to game the score.  Gaming is also easy to detect.  Gaming altmetrics is neither ethical nor useful.

https://www.altmetric.com/about-altmetrics/what-are-altmetrics/


Apply too many schools? Prof tired of sending out recommendation letter?

My experience is that once the letter is written, it takes about 5-10 minutes to submit it to each institution.  Usually there is a short form that has to be filled out with basic information (name, contact information, etc) and sometimes also a list of questions asking the professor to rate the candidate in a variety of ways.

So you probably don't want to apply to a huge number of schools (for many reasons besides just that).  It's hard to be precise, but I feel like less than 10 is no problem, and 20 is probably too many.


How related should be the postdoc subject to my PhD topic?

Your postdoc gives you an opportunity to demonstrate two key traits of successful researchers: independence and flexibility.  Both of these traits are essential for succeeding in any tenure-track faculty position.  Consequently, building a reputation for these traits is essential for being hired into a tenure-track faculty position.  Faculty hiring committees look for people who will succeed on their own, and who will remain successful over several decades as the field evolves around them.

Independence

Right now your research reputation is deeply entangled with your advisor's.  The research community knows your advisor better than they know you.  If you've never published without your advisor, the community has no direct evidence of your research abilities.  Even if you did most of the work, and even if your advisor tells everyone that you did most of the work, the community will give your advisor more credit than you.  After all, your advisor's opinion isn't exactly unbiased; they have a vested interest in making you look good.

The only way to build an independent research reputation is to publish independently.  At a minimum, this means publishing strong papers without your advisor.  Even better is to write strong papers with new ideas/techniques that can't be traced back to your advisor.  Solo followup papers on joint work with your advisor are good, but some people will still think the key ideas are your advisor's, and you're just cleaning up the low-hanging fruit.  Better to strike out completely on your own.

Flexibility

Most PhD theses focus on a narrow collection of closely related problems, which are solved using similar ideas/tools/techniques.  No matter how strong your thesis results are, if you've only ever done one "thing", then people will wonder if that's all you can do.  So if all your research has been on reinforcement learning of human motion for animation synthesis from Kinect data, the research community will think of you as someone who works on reinforcement learning of human motion for animation synthesis from Kinect data.  But what you want is for people to think of you as an expert in reinforcement learning, or an expert in animation synthesis -- or even better, an expert in machine learning more generally.

The only way to develop a reputation for broader expertise is to demonstrate broader expertise.  That doesn't mean you have to suddenly switch to a completely different field — you do want to exploit the expertise you already have.  But something significant needs to change—for example, statistics instead of reinforcement, or animals instead of humans, or robot motion planning instead of animation synthesis, or YouTube videos instead of Kinect data, or all of the above—that requires you to develop new ideas and new techniques.


I have been asked to change the review I gave to a paper

I have written quite a few reviews, with a significant percentage of them recommending rejection. Editors often made the decision to reject; sometimes they deviated and asked for major corrections. This is normal — editors have to take reviews into consideration, but are not bound by them. Not a single time have I received a request to change a review.

Is this normal?

No, this is not normal, in my opinion. There is no good reason for the editor to ask you to change the review. If the editor believes the paper deserves a major correction, they simply have to make their decision, noting your recommendation.

Is this ethical?

No. Under no circumstances should an editor disclose the recommendation of other reviewers to you to ask you to amend your recommendation to join the majority. You were asked to express your own opinion, which you did. The editor is trying to receive an unequivocal agreement, which is not necessary and not fair to you. The editor does not have to follow your recommendation, but they have to respect it.

Any further thoughts?

Please make the name of the journal known. I would refrain from ever using the journal(s) which allow such reviewing process to take place.


Alternatives to sewing (or any habit) to stay focused in class

If sewing helps you learn, consider bringing it to an in-person lecture.

In a large lecture hall, I seriously doubt anyone will notice/care
In a more intimate class, it could be worth asking the professor if they mind.

While you might have a bad experience with a grouchy professor, I think the vast majority will either understand or not care, particularly if you are clearly engaging. Personally, I would rather have a student paying attention while sewing than on their phone.


Cover letter for journal submission (math)

Unless the journal asks for any specific pieces of information, then a "Here it is for your consideration" is all that's required. In the (math) journals I'm an editor of, that is essentially what the letters look like, and they almost never contain anything that is of importance to the editor or to reviewers.

I believe that this is very different in other areas, but then the submission guidelines will say so.


How can I show my potential in my mail to the professors?

Another way to get the attention of the professor is a recommendation email or phone call from your bachelor advisor. This shows you're so worthy for your advisor that he takes time to recommend you.

Note: In case the professor does not already know you, it might be somewhat hard to get his/her attention just by mail as they receive a number of such mails every day.


Are all permanent positions "tenure-track"?

Tenure track is, at least in my experience, typically associated with a position leading to a full professorship. In many countries, tenured professors have employment rights that go beyond the laws for regular permanent positions, conferring them independence to do their job with (almost) complete academic freedom.

A permanent position is just that - a permanent position, subject to the typical labor laws in most countries. I would not call it tenure or tenure track.


Are women overrepresented in the field of child development studies?

Males have historically outnumbered their female counterparts in the field of psychology, but this has changed in recent years. According to the American Psychological Association

  Psychology, once a man's profession, now attracts mostly women. Data from the 1986 APA report, "The Changing Face of American Psychology," and the National Science Foundation show that the percentage of psychology PhDs awarded to men has fallen from nearly 70 percent in 1975 to less than 30 percent in 2008. (The data do not include PsyD degrees.)

Not only are females over-represented in psychology as a whole, they appear to be even more over-represented in the sub-fields of developmental and child psychology. This article from the APA states

  In developmental and child psychology...female PhD recipients outnumber men by more than five to one.


Should I consider getting an extra degree if I plan to go to graduate school in that field?

I have my undergraduate degree in political science and my masters in computer science. Besides having to take all of the required pre-req courses, which added about a year in a half, I never had any issues. The undergraduate for computer science also included a lot of requirements that were useless for my purposes, so it wouldn't have made sense for me to get that degree, then get the Masters. That would have been way more time and money.


Should I ask for deferral before accepting a PhD offer or after accepting it?

Congratulations on your offers.  This is really four questions.

Would I benefit from a deferment?

It sounds like you feel bad about "abandoning" your current program.  You should not.  You probably owe them nothing.  PhD programs benefit universities more than students.  Completing your master's will do nothing to change the fact that you are switching programs.  There is no reason to defer.

Should I ask for a deferment so I can finish my masters?

No, this is not a credible reason to defer unless the masters is required for admission to the new program.

Should I ask the new departments I have offer from if they allow me
to go back and finish my current program and defer my enrollment in
their program until next year, or should I accpet the offer, and then
ask them?

An important rule of negotiation is that you negotiate before you agree.  Accepting and then negotiating is dishonest, and more likely to fail.

Does it make sense to choose based on whether they allow me to do that or not? (and so, ask now)

No, enroll in the best PhD program you can.


Indicate Journal name for "under review" and "accepted/in press" publications on CV

Everyone I know feels that "accepted / in press" is just as good as appeared: the delay between acceptance and publication has nothing (or anyway, too little) to do with you.  You should certainly list them on your CV, no matter who you are.  I don't even list these as in a different category as the ones which have already been published: the only difference is that (roughly speaking; electronic publication and DOIs complicates this somewhat) I can't tell you the bibliographic information if it hasn't appeared.  I think it is very important not to list a paper as accepted without listing the journal, because therein lies the route to verifiability that your paper has been accepted.

In my opinion, you should list submitted articles on your CV no matter who you are.  (I would be interested to hear why @aeismail feels differently about this.)  This advice comes from someone who works in a field (mathematics) for which recently submitted articles ought to be freely available: if you want to get credit for having submitted an article, then whoever you are trying to get credit from ought to be able to see the article.  Ideally they don't have to ask for it specifically (because maybe they won't), so you should include a weblink to submitted papers on your CV.  (This last part is more for people who are in a potential-hire situation...which is not restricted to grad students and postdocs.  Nowadays, lots of academics are in a potential-hire situation or would like to be.)

In mathematics, each paper takes a long time: the period between when you say "Aha, I can prove the theorem" -- and e.g. start to give talks about it -- and the period which it gets accepted is probably over a year in many cases, and closer to two for serious, important work in many cases.  Who is reading this part of your CV and isn't  interested in what you've been working hard on for the last year or two?!?

Whether to list the journal submitted to is a well known question mark.  I do not put this information on "external" documents -- i.e., the CV and the publication list which are on my professional website.  I do usually list it on "internal" documents -- annual reviews, grant applications, job applications (well, it's been a little while).  There are a lot of nuances here: one is that it is really hard to know how much credit to give someone for submitting a paper to journal X.  After all, anyone can submit a paper to the most prestigious journal in their discipline, and in many cases they will spend a nontrivial amount of time before rejecting you.  So you want to be careful about this.  Nevertheless, where you submitted a paper is an important piece of information about how you feel about the paper, which is worth including in various cases (e.g. grant applications, where the panel will be suitably skeptical).  Another issue is that one commonly submits to more than one journal (not at the same time, but in sequence) so the information about where you submitted a paper is likely go out of date, so is less suitable for a sporadically updated CV and more suitable for a CV guaranteed to be complete up to such-and-such a date.

Note also that in my discipline, many people -- especially young people but not always -- also include papers which are "in preparation" on their CVs.  This is, frankly, a little shaky: I have papers on my own CV which have been "in preparation" for getting on a decade.  But the above philosophy still applies: if you've been working on something for five years and you're 75% done, then shouldn't you say something about it?

One last piece of advice: it behooves you to make absolutely clear the distinction between all these categories.  I get annoyed as a hirer when people use categories that don't fit easily into any of these boxes: e.g. some job candidates list papers as provisionally accepted, conditionally accepted, or accepted pending revision.  What a hiring committee litmus test that becomes: their proponents will insist that these be counted as actual publications, their detractors will insist that they don't count as any more than submitted, and people in between will get a headache.

(I don't mean to imply that it's necessarily the candidate's fault.  Sometimes the journal tells me that my paper has been provisionally accepted, and when I need to create a CV for a grant application that gives me the very same headache: please give me a paper status that has a clear, unambiguous meaning!  They do enjoy their little games, the journals...)


When should I stop including talks on my cv?

First of all: note that there is a difference between an academic CV and a resume.

An academic CV typically lists everything you've done related to academia; every talk, every conference paper, every award, every grant, every mentored postdoc, grad, and possibly undergrad.
A resume is a two-page document that summarizes your work/academic experience.

(Terminology may differ, some may refer to the first as a resume also; semantics aside, there is a distinction between the two documents.)

That being said, the answer to your question depends on which document you want to complete. The first should have everything, no matter how old. The second should list your most important, more recent accomplishments, in the interest of space. Regarding the second, the answer to "when should I remove stuff" is simply "whenever you have newer and better things to put in it's place".


How do I motivate myself to study a subject when the teacher couldn't care less about teaching it

Today is September 16.  If you move fast you may be able to switch to some better-taught classes.

My guess is you are past the drop-add deadline.  You may need to get approval from someone quite high up.  You may need to assert yourself.

Step one is to look at what other courses are being offered this semester that would fit into your program of studies and your interests.  Step two is to visit those classes.  You should arrive five minutes early, introduce yourself to the instructor before class, and give some simple white lie such as "I'm thinking of signing up for this class next year; do you mind if I sit in today?"

If you fall in love with the class and the instructor, then at the end, when you thank him or her for letting you sit in, you should come clean and say that you would like to add the course to your schedule.  Don't say anything about the other course you would be dropping.  Say, "If I can get administrative approval to add this class after the deadline, would that be all right with you?  I would work very hard to catch up on all the material that's been covered so far.  I have a such-and-so GPA."

If the instructor seems pressed for time, just say thank you and ask if you might contact him or her later with a follow-up question.

It's your education.  It's fine for you to be pro-active and advocate for yourself, with polite persistence.

Edit: I just re-read your question and saw that you are an undergrad.  I will now have to vote to close.  Sorry.


Second Bachelors in Maths after Masters in Optics for Theretical Physics Phd

So is it a good idea to do a second bachelors degree in Mathematics(distant education) before applying for a Phd in theoretical Physics in Europe/Australia ?

In general, getting another bachelors degree after getting a masters degree is not seen very favorably.  I understand your though process - show the admissions committee you'll do grade-A work in math.

In reality, it's much more likely to signal to the admissions committee you don't have a clear purpose, and make them wonder why you didn't just switch to a masters in math.  Furthermore, since you already have an advanced degree, they are less likely to be impressed you went back to undergrad and aced another bachelors degree.

The admissions committee is most likely to weight your academic performance doing your masters degree heavily.  If you are truly set on switching fields, I would recommend you get another masters degree in mathematics OR applying for a PhD in mathematics.


Does it look bad to cite a single review paper repeatedly for many different things?

First of all you should cite original sources. The review paper can be cited for whatever conclusions or original work stem from it, not for whatever sources it, in turn cites. In your example, citing the same sources over and over again in a single paragraph is unnecessary. You are better of starting the paragraphs stating that the information is sourced from [1] in some way.

In general, citing a single source can be reasonable if it is a really original work and the only possible source for much information. This is, however, rarely the case and so my thought is that regardless of the situation, most will see it as somewhat suspicious. It all depends on whether the paper really is the only source for the information.

So, general advice is: avoid doing what you outline, unless it is the only possible way (from the point of view that no other sources exist.

Despite having constraints on length, you should be able to fit a reasonable number of references in. I am sure that you may have to really think twice about your text. I have certainly been in situations where I have has to ask myself if each end every sentence written is () necessary and (b) concise enough.


Is it ever harmful to submit extra recommendation letters from somebody outside of my department?

I read about 200 graduate applications a year. In my department we take a fairly dim view of people who do not conform to the specified application process. For one, it displays a wilful ignorance of the departments' requests, which are typically not arbitrary. Secondly, it can be construed as arrogant—as if you think you somehow deserve or require something that everyone else does not get. Lastly, each letter of reference takes about two or three minutes to read. If every candidate was permitted to flout the rules then our admissions panel members would each have to spend an extra ten hours reading redundant recommendation letters.

Others may take a more relaxed view of course, but I would urge you to submit exactly the material requested by the departments to which you are applying. That includes complying with the requested length of any research proposal, etc.

As far as letters are concerned, select whichever three you believe will make the strongest case for admission to your target programmes. It may well be that the optimal strategy is to send two mathematics letters along with the philosophy one. After all, getting a PhD is about more than subject knowledge: it requires originality/creativity, self-discipline and motivation, ability to work with the literature, etc. All of these are strengths that the philosophy professor could possibly comment on. A good strategy might be to ask a neutral party—such as the head of admissions in your current department—for advice as norms vary from discipline to discipline.


Teaching statement: should I say something about Master's theses supervision?

Yes, I would certainly mention it, especially when applying to schools where undergraduate research is a focus, or those that have a thesis-based masters program.

The "teaching statement" doesn't have to be limited to classroom teaching; it is reasonable to mention any activities related to educating students.


Short term grant for travel/relocation costs when starting a PhD

When I was in that exact same spot, my advisor managed to get me a temporary/emergency one month grant. Therefore, I'll repeat one of the mantras talk to your advisor...


Does one need a master's in math before taking a PhD in pure math?

It depends on the country.

In the US, it is frequent that students go from undergrad right into their PhD. While there, some do get a Master's, but as a side effect of coursework for the Ph.D. Though, I myself did get a Master's first.

I believe it is more common in Europe to get a Master's first due to the shortened Ph.D. process there.


Am I allowed to my article to researchGate which is so far only published at arXiv?

arXiv uses a default license that does not transfer copyright but rather only grants arXiv a perpetual, non-exclusive license to redistribute the work, similar to, but less restrictive than commonly used Creative Commons Licenses, which arXiv also accepts as alternative licensing for submission.  That means you retain the copyright on any articles you submit, while providing a perpetual license to arXiv to do redistribute it.

Since you still hold the copyright on your article, you may do anything you wish with it, including submit it to researchGate.

The issue you need to be concerned about is whether the journal you wish to eventually submit the article to considers submissions to arXiv and/or researchGate to be "prior publication".  Some journals only accept articles that have "never previously been published" and different journals define what constitutes "published" in different ways.  Some journals exclude arXiv, researchGate and others (along with conference presentations, etc.).  Other journals will not accept papers that were previously on those (or other) archives.  Check the policies of the journal in which you wish to eventually publish the paper to ensure that you will still be able to after submitting it to researchGate.


To what extent do the religious beliefs of an author affect a paper's chance of being accepted?

In my entire scientific career, I have seen religious belief come up precisely once: an (apparently Christian) author closed a paper with "AMDG," which apparently stands for Ad maiorem Dei gloriam.  Of the set of three peer reviewers, one ignored it, one was confused by it, and one asked for it to be deleted as irrelevant to the substance of the paper.  The authors removed the acronym as part of their revision (amongst other changes) and the paper was published.

The other place that I know that religion comes into play in scientific publication (though I have not personally encountered it), is when a person attempts to use statements from their religion as evidence for a position.  This never goes well: in a scientific context, claiming "the Bible says ..." or "the Koran says ..." is equivalent to saying "The Lord of the Rings says ..." or "Fifty Shades of Grey says ..."  Such a document is a secondary source at best, and one that has no particular reason to be regarded as a reliable source of evidence, despite the magnitude of cultural belief.  Such books can, of course, be cited and analyzed just as any other literary/historical work, but that is different than using them as evidence for a scientific position.

So, in short: if you don't make your religion an issue in your manuscript, it should never come up as an issue in the normal scientific publication process.  This doesn't mean you might not encounter horrible and inappropriate behavior (scientists are just as capable of being terrible people as anybody else) but it is definitely outside the norm of the peer review and publication process.


Humanities Research with Professors as a High Schooler?

Let me suggest that you contact, first by email, some professors at the universities, both the local one and another where you will be co-located. Explain something about your interest, but also why you think you have enough background to make a relationship interesting to them.
A local professor might be more help and you might be able to work through a secondary school instructor to make the contact.
But, I think you will have a hard job to convince anyone without some support from somewhere. Interest isn't enough. If you are widely read in political theory it will help.
I worry, of course, that if you are merely driven by the current political situation and have "opinions" about it, then you won't be successful. So, examine your motivation. Political theory is about theory and only incidentally about "politics" as popularly understood.
Have you read Plato's Republic, for example? Anything by John Locke? If you have some of that background then you might have a chance of success.


Can I be a researcher at a UK university without having teaching duties?

Such roles definitely exist in U.K. universities. For example the University of Southampton has 4 different types of Professorial Grade post, which depend on the balance of education, research, and 'enterprise' which a member of staff might undertake. It's possible to have a 100% research appointment under this scheme.

However, I don't know if every field uses all the types of post. I could believe that the more specialised research only posts are only available in disciplines where these is a reasonable expectation of very high value grants.

I'd expect similar arrangements to exist in other universities in the U.K.

However, relying on 100% research is a bit of a  risk - with a role entirely reliant on outside funding you never know when those funds might dry up. Some teaching or service component, paid not out of grant funds, could add a bit of consistency and predictability to a role.


Responding to a query for a grant to attend conference

Should I respond them back simply in the form of email?

Yes, it is far easier to process.

  Should my answer be very detailed or just to the point?

Either, but if it is detailed, then structure is key: Reply in a manner that the reader can stop reading as soon as they are satisfied. This likely requires you to open with a single paragraph summary (possibly concluding with "Further details are provided below, should you be interested" or similar).

  Any other do's and dont's !

If XXX will bring connectivity to an isolated individual, then the application of your research is seemingly narrower than the organisers would like. Otherwise, make sure to explain how XXX brings connectivity to more than an isolated individual.


What should I do now to go ahead and restart my aspirations to become an appropriate candidate for a Ph.D. program?

Your post does not explain the broader motivation for your goal to complete a PhD program, and it also sounds like you have some problems that are going to make that an arduous (and possibly unsuccessful) journey.  Candidature in a PhD program is often difficult and stressful even for the most elite students with no accompanying clinical depression.  For that reason, I recommend you take a moment to reflect on whether you really need to complete a PhD in your field in order to achieve your broader life goals, and whether this period of your life is the appropriate time to do that.  Nevertheless, I will take the premise of your question as given, and try to give some basic advice on how to achieve your goal.
As with the acheivement of any goal where you have already made failed attempts, it is important to identify the impediments that are presently preventing success, and then overcome those impediments.  Your post identifies two impediments to your success: (1) depression; and (2) insufficient maths background.  I will leave it primarily to medical people to assist you with the first, but I will just mention that you might find some wisdom and assistance in reading some of the philosophy of the Stoics (particularly Epictetus and maybe also Seneca the Younger).  As to your insufficient math background, the simplest way to improve this is to undertake revision on all your previous mathematics courses, with particular attention to the mathematics you encountered in your previous MSc program.
You mention that you do not have any academic publications, and I think it is premature to attempt this.  However, once you have learned some more of the base material in your field you could start out by trying to publish small posts about it on relevant websites.  Since you are already using StackExchange, once you learn some more mathematics you could attempt to answer some questions on Math.SE or CS.SE.  Another possible activity here is to write some blog posts explaining the mathematics you have learned to other students at your level.  These are all "publications" in a minor sense (though not academic publications), and they are a reasonable way to practice making public posts about mathematics that can be subjected to critical feedback from experts.
In these circumstances, where you are already struggling, I think it would be beneficial to complete your MSc program before attempting entry to a PhD program.  The main reason for this is to give you an opportunity to complete postgraduate level coursework and improve your skills (including your math skills) up to a level that would make you competitive for entry into a PhD program.  A secondary reason is that you may then obtain some ideas for possible research projects (and supervisors) that you could pursue as a first attempt at academic publication.
To finish, I will just make two last points.  It is possible for weak students to improve and later be competitive students for higher-degree programs.  That is usually a long and difficult process, but it is certainly possible for a student with sufficient diligence and commitment.  Having said this, it is also important to ensure that you are setting reasonable life goals that are actually going to lead you where you want to go.  Some students (and I am certainly not saying you are in this category) look at the PhD program as a kind of elite social-proof and they pursue it as an end in itself, rather than taking a realistic view of what it will actually add to (and subtract from) their career or life.  Take some time to reflect on your broader life goals and consider what you really need to be successful in your life.  Good luck.


Can I improve a project after submitting it to a CS conference?

No one can stop you from becoming smarter ;-).

In CS it is not uncoimmon, that you submit a first version of an algorithm / system etc., and improve it afterwards which might lead to the next publication.

In your specific situation it might be a good idea to include the optimizations in the revision, as long as you do not change the overall algorithm / experiments etc which would invalidate the review process. Wording and grammar issues can always be corrected.

I would suggest to wait for the review, adress all reviewers comments, and maybe you can use your newer results / ideas to do so.

Furthermore, you can always add additional information in your presentation. "In our paper we had the following results, but changing xyz led to even better results as shown here". Many people would consider making a new paper based on the optimized results, but without knowing your project it's hard to give advise whether it's a good idea or not (personally, I'm not a friend of incremental publishing).


Should I include self-studied courses/topics in undergraduate resume?

I am sure that there is a very wide range of opinion/reaction to what some people call "self-study". For me (grad admissions in mathematics in the U.S.), evidence of interest in reading things beyond what coursework demands is an extremely positive and unusual indicator. That is, so far as people seem to let on, no one reads any math book that's not a textbook for a course they've registered for, does not read ahead, and so on. I don't understand it, although I've seen it for decades.

Yes, it is not as easy to "document" reading things as it is to document "grades in courses"... but my own opinion is that even excellent grades in courses form only a limited positive, since it refers to compliance, obedience, etc., even if at a challending level/rate/whatever.

That is, for me, mathematics is not merely a school subject, nor merely a thing that one might get research funding for... :)


Identifying students' purposes and institutions' purposes

I understand that you are offended by students who do not take your subject as seriously as you do but that is just the way some students are.

There are students who are really interested and there are those who are not. In the case of calculus, if a student is required to take it for their non-math major then you will certainly have students who just want the grade. One way around this is to only teach elective classes but that will not work for everyone (I'm not sure it would work for any teacher).

Still, your questions are clear. How do you find the students who don't really care? I find that they usually bubble to the surface quite quickly. I tend to be quite interactive with my students, asking lots of questions. I also give them additional 'required' reading. Even the required reading doesn't get read by the students who just want to pass and be done with it. So, those students who actually read the material and can answer it meaningfully in class are the students you are looking for.

Now, as for identifying institutions I will say that I have read a lot and talked to a lot of teachers and one thing EVERY serious teacher wants is to teach a class of highly motivated students who care deeply for their studies. This is simply unrealistic and I have never heard of a teacher who actually achieves that.

I think the better question to ask is: How can I motivate a deep love of my subject in my students? By stimulating their desires, you will naturally end up with what you want. However, this is not easy and it takes a lot of time and effort. However, you seem like a serious teacher, so perhaps you can make the investment. Certainly the results, if you succeed, would likely be very rewarding for you.

My perspective is that a great teacher has no bad students. By this, I mean that a great teacher is able to motivate their students to want to learn the material. By this measure I am not a great teacher, but I keep trying.


Can I ask a publisher for a paper that I need for reviewing

Yes, you can. Chances are they'll be willing to give it to you.

See also: Can a referee request a paper referenced in the reviewed paper?, except your situation is simpler because the desk editor of the journal can probably already access the paper and won't have to request it.


Are there benefits to taking a year off before entering academia after completion of the PhD?

I would say that this is one time when taking a year off is not recommended. You are at your peak right now in a number of ways:

You have very recent publications and just received your degree. Both have a discernible half-life when it comes to being hired in academia (particularly for the first time).
You know the most people in your field, including your advisor and other professors who can write you up-to-date recommendation letters.
You have the most current knowledge of your field, and although it sounds like you're going to continue to publish, you won't be as able to actively learn (then again, I know from your previous posts that you were full-time employed during your PhD, so that may not be an issue).

I'm assuming that the timing is different in Australia, but in the U.S. there are generally key times of the year that academic hiring happens -- you put together applications in Nov-Jan and hope to land interviews and talks in the Feb-April time frame. If there is a similar time-frame in Australia, I would make sure you have the time available to put together applications and go on interviews, whether it is this year or after another year.

I assume you'll still be allowed to publish under your previous school's affiliation post-PhD defense, but if that isn't the case, I would urge you to figure out a way to work that out.

Finally (and I'm not really in a position to comment directly on this) is the question about how your job applications will be received with a year gap from academia. My feeling is that an extra paper will help you but that the time away won't help you (even though it isn't technically away it will be noticeable that you got your PhD a year prior), and it may be a wash. You'll have to consider this when you write your cover letters and research statement. I would think about how (if at all) you justify the extra year of high school teaching post-PhD in a cover letter. You've already got plenty of teaching experience under your belt to prove your teaching credentials, so an extra year in the classroom won't be beneficial from that standpoint.


Exemption from language requirements for MSc?

Based on my experience with German universities, your friend attempting to convince the admissions office will be near hopeless. One of the professors he has been in touch with could have a decent chance though.


What can I do to make figures I've created generally available so others can use them?

You can

License them under a Creative Commons license that allows reuse. Put the figures with a notice regarding the license terms on your own website.
Contribute them to Wikimedia Commons. If appropriate, you might also add them to the Wikipedia articles for the methods they are about.
Post them on a site like Figshare which gives them a DOI, to make it easier for others to cite them when they use them.
If you're willing, also make the source code available under a permissive license (with whatever disclaimers you want to put about the code not being so beautiful...) so that others can create modified versions more easily. (You can put code on Figshare, too.)


Whether to use Dr or Prof when addressing oneself in an email?

Use whatever you feel comfortable with.  That said, you should also tailor it to the type of correspondence when necessary.  A formal letter should include a formal address for yourself, and less formal can be more or less whatever you'd like.  In dealing with students, I generally sign school related emails as "Dr. G.," (with just the first letter of my last name) but I've also taught classes where I've gone by my first name exclusively, and let the students decide how to address me, after telling them it is fine with me if they use my first name.  More formal student correspondence (e.g., if I'm cc'ing another instructor, or if the matter involves the administration) gets my full last name, and correspondence to colleagues is almost always my first name.

I also have a signature block, that includes my title, full name, email address and (sometimes) my telephone number.


How to approach undergraduate research without official program?

Go and talk to the relevant professors.

It itself, seeking to make contact is hardly disrespectful -- so long as you are polite of course! Nor is it arrogant -- unless you show up and start teaching the professor their job. And as a university student, you should feel some entitlement to engage with the faculty beyond normal office hours or lectures -- so long as you don't abuse that access.

If you are concerned about appearing brash, send a brief, polite email asking for a meeting to discuss the mathematics you are interested in. If your professors do not want to set aside time to chat with a keen and driven undergraduate student about topics of mutual interest, then more fool them. Bear in mind, always, that professors often have a great deal of pressures on their time. However, I'm willing to bet that chatting about research would be a far more pleasurable activity than many other tasks a professor would have to tackle in the course of his or her day.

Personally, I make time to chat with any undergraduate student about the research I do, and any research they have done on their own accord, or how to further their interests.


Reference letter from visiting faculty vs unrelated faculty?

If you are applying to a M.Sc. position in a particular research area, and there is a senior researcher (i.e., someone with their PhD) in this area who has supervised your work on this topic and can speak positively to your research abilities, then I think it would definitely be beneficial to get a letter of recommendation from this person, whether they are a Professor yet or not.  At the same time, a professor with whom you have taken a number of courses could also provide a strong reference for you.  And yes, if they are a more senior figure, then that may carry more weight with an admissions committee.  A senior person may also be better able to compare you to other students that they have encountered over the years, and, if this comparison is positive, this can be really compelling in a letter.

But there are a number of other factors you need to consider in getting the best possible letter of recommendation.  First of all, the letter needs to be positive.  Secondly, it needs to contain specifics.  Third, it needs to speak to the requirements/criteria of the position/scholarship that you are applying for.  So you need to figure out which of these people can write the better letter, all considered.  If you were to provide them with some talking points for their letters, which set of talking points would be stronger?

I am surprised more students do not simply ask the person whether they can write a positive letter in advance.  It's amazing, but you do occasionally see support letters that actually criticize the applicant.  I think it's fair to establish in advance whether the referee can indeed produce something positive.

Of course, cultivating both of these relationships would be a good idea to help you in your future career.  There may be other cases where you need three letters (e.g., for scholarship applications).  Some people also list references on their C.V. in a special section.  You might ask them whether would mind being listed in this way, whether you use their letter or not.  When an applications committee reviews your application, they put a lot of weight into references from people they are familiar with.


"we have had to cancel one project since I have no motivation at all for that project". What exactly is the relation between having a meeting once a month and not being motivated? This to me sounds more like an excuse rather than a good enough reason.

In the third year of your Phd having one meeting a month is not too bad. Your supervisor is assuming that you know your way and at this stage you should be left to figure it out yourself rather than him spoon feeding you. Of course he will still have strong opinions and might say what you have done is not the right way. It might be that he is busy/not happy with you/thinks he has mentioned to you before how you should do it and you are not listening or that you have a problem in your relation that you don't even know of. If for instance you are just not motivated the way you described its not unnatural for your supervisor to not be so happy with you.

Next time you meet him once he rejects your idea ask him for suggestions and guidance on what to do. Ask politely and genuinely, and if he is not forth coming explain that you need help to figure it out. If he says your results are garbage ask him given his freaking awesome powers and knowledge how he would have done the work differently. He is only human and sometimes complementing somebody can go a long way. At all costs try to be more motivated and don't exhibit the behavior you described in the first part of your message. That's not going to do you any good and might be the root cause of all of this pain.

I don't see why you should drop out after investing so much time and effort. It is in the interest of both of you to sort out the situation and no PhD advisor would like to see someone dropping out after three years (at least for their selfish interests).


As an undergrad in research, how should I deal with a uncommitted PhD co-worker?

You seem to be in a complicated situation: you are doing grunt work for a person who is not very committed to it, and on top of that you don't know if you will get anything back (the authorship issue). They say that hindsight 20/20, but you should have discussed both the authorship issue and the project timeframe (deadlines, milestones) before getting involved. That would make it much easier to get the PhD student to do his work by reminding him of the deadlines and of your stake in the project. If you are just supposed to get no authorship or only a footnote acknowledgement, you could let it be and let the PhD student dictate the pace of work. When you don't have a stake in the paper, you are not losing anything if it gets delayed and someone else publishes it before you. It is his loss, not yours.

Now, in your current situation, I would approach the student (perhaps together with the PI) and ask about the timeframe for the project and if there are deadlines. This will automatically have the effect of reminding the PhD student that he has to do his part of the work. It will also get the PI's attention without looking like you are complaining about the PhD student to him. While you are at that, you can also try to get your authorship doubts solved by also asking if there will be any paper written and what will your role be in that.

You are doing undergraduate research work, but you are not meant to be anyone's servant. Once you have put work into it, it is your right to know that your work is not done for nothing.


I reported several students for cheating, will anything ever be done by the math dept?

If you're curious how your department dealt with your report, here are some things you can do:

Ask this elderly professor what was done.  Ask him how many proctors he now brings with him to exams.
Observe exams given by this elderly professor at the end of this semester, to see if anything has changed.
Ask your department what they do to prevent cheating.  But first, familiarize yourself with your university's academic integrity policy.

Note that it is not too late to report your observation directly to your department.  Ask them to use a larger room, spread the students out, and bring proctors to the exam, to prevent problems.


Enter academia with no undergraduate degree (only professional experience)

I'm sure it varies by country, but in the US you would not have a good chance of getting an academic position.

However, you might find a position at an academic institution as an OPS (other personnel service), which is considered equivalent to a "contractor" position with no benefits and hourly wages.

I'm by no means a degree snob, but getting a degree is akin to getting a ticket to an event. If you don't have one, though shall not pass..


How brief I should be when contacting a professor for a PhD position for the first time?

Professors receive a number of such emails. You must get the professor's interest in the opening few lines.

"I am a prize-winning A+ student in the department of X at the university of Y. My most recent work - my honours study of
Z - is very relevant to the advertised PhD position. I am very keen to talk to you about this opportunity, by email, phone or Skype, whenever would be convenient with you".

And then by all means ask your questions, that is good, it shows engagement. You could also expand on why your previous work and/or skills will be valuable to the professor.

You could get another professor to proof read your email to see if it hits the right note.


You have a misconception. Plagiarism isn't about the actual words. It is about ideas. Copyright can cover the expression of the ideas (the words). In other words, you can plagiarize even with a complete rephrasing of the original. But it is easy to avoid.
To avoid self plagiarism all you need to do is cite the original work. I'm assuming that the words you use are expressing the same idea though in a different context. And if you cite and you hold copyright then there are no issues at all. If you don't hold copyright then you either need to get permission from the holder or depend on one of the exceptions to copyright law (which varies from place to place). You may well be able to claim fair use. You might also be able to claim that your reuse of the sentence doesn't reduce the value of the original. Those are valid in some places. And some ideas can only be effectively expressed in one way.
The reason to avoid self plagiarism is a bit different from that to avoid ordinary plagiarism. A reader of a new work may need to find the complete context of the ideas. This includes other words and references, etc. If you don't cite, then that chain is broken for a researcher. This also applies to ordinary plagiarism, but the need to not claim the work of others as your own is typically thought to be the more important part there.


Why do the rankings from U.S. News & World Report list some schools twice?

If you click on a school's name, you can see the rankings of its various departments, including both Statistics and Biostatistics if applicable (example). This is pretty inconvenient, as it requires going through the schools one-by-one, but I'm not sure there's a better way to get that information.

There is also a post on gradcafe separating the rankings, though I'm not sure if it includes the entire list.


Academic jobs in the UK are usually advertised on jobs.ac.uk website, but there are of course many others. Typically, you will be asked to submit your application online, including application form, cv, supporting documents and details of your references. Answers to other questions are more specific to each position. You may wish to familiarize yourself with the positions currently advertised on the website, to get a sense of the job market at the moment.


Is it OK to discuss a student's work without them present?

I think the basic rule is that you should not evaluate one student in the presence of others. The problem with carrying out a public evaluation "with the student's consent" is that that the student may feel pressured to give their consent.

On the other hand, if a student gives a talk in a friendly environment, then I believe it is appropriate to hold a public discussion about how the presentation could be improved. Care is needed, but I have found that it works. We usually start by asking the student what they would do differently next time.


When would they reject a paper in case of violating the double-blind review policy?

It very much depends on the conference and the reviewers how strict the rules are applied, but in general, it is the responsibility of both the author and the reviewer to not circumvent the double-blind policy. Thus a reviewer should not intentionally invest any effort to find out who the author of the paper is unless it is obvious from the submission itself (a common mistake is referencing own work too obviously).

Double-blind rarely means that you are not allowed to have previous work on a similar topic. There are researchers who publish every year at the same conference with double-blind submission policy. Of course, everybody knows who the author is even if it is not written anywhere in the paper, but just because their work is known in the community. So your case is slightly different because I assume that the name and content of your talk are the same of your submission, so the probability is higher to find your talk if someone searches for the title, but as written above, reviewers should not do that.

Of course, prior official publication of the same paper is usually not allowed, but that does not seem the case for you. In any case, I never came across "desk-rejection" at conferences, so you have to wait until the official notification date.


What are the advantages and disadvantages of an "open gradebook" policy?

Case study: The biggest upwards bump I ever got in student evaluations was when I started making all course and assignment grades available on the school's digital learning management system (accessible 24/7 online by student login). Previously I'd noticed that my lowest score was in the category of "Instructor keeps me informed as to how I'm doing", and using the LMS to make all grades visible immediately fixed that.

I would argue that more transparency is always better in cases like this. It serves to clarify policies to the students, allows both sides to double-check, and reduce student anxiety (all of which are good things to model). My opinion is that this is the direction that reduces student inquiries about grades.

I have had some colleagues who argued the same "Don't release grades so students can't argue about them", and I've never understood that. The whole situation feels more tense and high-stakes. The only downside I can think of is that open grading gives somewhat less flexibility to the instructor, in that it forces them to be honest and not goose scores in either direction for extraneous reasons.


Can I take recommendation from someone I met at a conference?

There's nothing stopping you asking for one. However, you need to consider what would be written in such a letter.

In short, you can ask for a letter, but be careful how you use it. What could the person say on your behalf if a potential employer contacts them to get more information about their assessment of you?

For instance, it doesn't seem that you have a professional relationship - you haven't co-authored papers, nor have you worked together in the same institution, nor have you served on the same committees, etc. Any of these things is not necessary, of course, but these are the sort of things a referee would cite as evidence that they are in a position to recommend you or your work.

However, it sounds like your contact does know of your work. However, are they a world-leader in your field? Do they have the respect of your community? When they say good things about you or anyone else, do others pay attention?

How will a reader interpret a reference letter that is based only on a familiarity of your published work, and a single meeting at a conference?


Why do "everyone suck at their first research interviews"?

Well, this is not exactly an answer to your question, is something much more like a long comment.

My suggestion would be to try with some mock interviews before going to the real ones. The purpose is to make you feel comfortable with the interview process.

The first step is to create some checklists. What you should ask? What you shouldn't? What you should ask to the interviewee if he/she answers something specific to a specific question? What you should ask if he/she asks something different instead?

The first step would be to interview yourself in the front of a mirror (seriously!) What would you answer if somebody else interviewed you instead?

The second step would be to interview the devil's advocate. This role could be accomplished by yourself impersonating the devil's advocate or a trusted friend doing the job. The devil's advocate would be someone who would give answers that are:

strange
unexpected
trollish
useless
lying
confusing
unintelligible
contradicting
lunatic
irrelevant
incomplete
bizarre, surreal, alien-like
agressive, threating or unrespectful
simply refusing to answer at all
"sorry, I really don't know or don't remember..."
excessively verbose
trying to takeover the control of the interview process from you
etc.

The purpose of the devil's advocate is to make your interview process to be a failure. Repeat this type of mock interview some times if needed (possibly with some different friends filling the devil's advocate role). This way, you will be able to fix many holes in your interview process before going to the actual interviews and you will also get to be trained to handle unexpected situations.

The third step before going to the real actual interviews is to do some mock interviews with friends, teachers, your mother or something like that. Of course, you should record all your interviews (including the mock ones) and see where you are failing in order to improve your interview process and improve you checklist accordingly.

After you are convinced that no more mock interviews are needed, you could start the actual ones.


Intellectual Property Rights When Moving University

In general you should be fine:

Your research is published, so everyone (including you) can build upon it.
You do not have any patents (which would remain at the university)

The only thing might be software written at your institution or hardware built during your work. Those remain at the university as long as you do not agree on otherwise. But usually, one becomes smarter over time so this might be a good point in time to re-implement some stuff...

On the other hand, your work might be worthless for your university when you are not there - e.g. no one will digg into foreign research code... So you should have a good position for negotiations.


Getting a recommendation letter from a professor at the same university

A letter from a professor at the same institution can be extremely valuable.  I would not necessarily say that they are more valuable than equally on point letters from outside.  However, if a professor is writing a letter to a graduate admissions committee at the same institution, the letter-writer is almost certainly going to have a very good idea what the program may be looking for and how to emphasize the student's suitability for the program.  The reference writer can tailor the letter to make the best possible case, in a way that might be more difficulty for an outside writer.

Moreover, the letter-writer's influence may not end with the written letter.  I have written letters for undergraduate students at my university (some applying to graduate programs in my department, some others applying to programs in other departments).  In some cases (mostly when the students were applying to programs in my own department), I have been contacted by the other faculty members reading the applications, to get a better idea of the students' strengths and potential weaknesses.  (In my reference letters, I always invite the addressees to contact my if they have further questions about a candidate, but it is very rare to get such follow-up inquiries from departments at other institutions.)


Would recommendation letters from the chemists in the industry lab I work in be helpful?

Assuming you're applying for Ph.D. programs, the basic question admission committees usually need to answer is "Is X capable of becoming a good researcher?" If your supervisors, both of whom have Ph.D.'s, can answer that question successfully, then there's no reason not to use them—particularly if they know your work more closely than someone who only taught you in courses.


I thought, sure, why not and had the disclaimer that if the project is viable I'm on.

It sounds like there may be some methodological issues with his proposed work, but setting that aside, it is not incumbent on you to work on a project that is not of interest to you, a fortiori if you think that his work will be driven by biases relating to the topic.  From your description, it appears that you have already told him that your participation is contingent on this project being viable.  In view of that, I think you at least owe him an explanation if you pull out, and an apology if this comes from some reason other than the viability of the project.  I see two broad options for pulling out:

(1) Tell him that you think his project has some methodological problems (e.g., tenuousness of inferring race from name, etc.) and that you therefore don't think it is viable research.  In this case your choice is consistent with your previous representations to him, so you do not owe him any apology.
(2) Tell him that you have changed your mind, and you have decided that --regardless of its viability-- the project is not something of interest to you.  Be up-front about this and apologise for changing your mind - acknowledge that you previously said you'd participate, but let him know that you have changed your mind.

Either way, the best thing in these cases is to raise this as early as you can, be up-front in your position, and acknowledge any previous representations you made to him.  If you wish him luck with his research then this is likely to smooth over any discomfort.


Does one page LOR hurt my chance of getting to graduate school

One page double-space sounds like your professor is willing to say good things, but doesn't have all that much to say.  That's not going to be a particularly strong letter of recommendation, but it's better than not having a letter.


When should an author disclaim historical knowledge?

Without some statement regarding the early life of the subject of the biography, it is impossible to tell whether the author looked hard and found nothing or just didn't bother.

By writing that little is known, it indicates that the author (or others whose work the biography draws on) has made efforts towards finding such information but that it is not available.

Pointing out the explicit difference helps readers who either wish to learn more or would wonder (as you seem to have done) at the lack of detail.


I think the other answer is decent, but OP seems to think that his/her question is not being addressed, so here goes:

  What should I do if I have accepted an offer informally but am denied the job?

Apply to other jobs, of course.

  Does 'a very good position' mean that there is a possibility that I will not get the job?

Anything is possible until you receive and accept a formal offer of employment.

  What should I do if it turns out that I do not get the job in the end?

Forget about that opportunity and start applying for other positions.

  Can I even start applying for other jobs now or should I wait till next week?

You can/should be applying/interviewing for other opportunities until you have obtained and accepted a formal offer.


"Dividing Points" among cheating students

To add to the existing arguments:

The punishment for cheating should always be higher than the direct advantage gained from it. For example, if somebody cheats at one task in an exam, the penalty should not only be failing that task but at least the whole exam, if not much higher. The reason for this is simply that you cannot possibly detect all attempts at cheating and thus the punishment should aim at being sufficciently high to make the average outcome of cheating negative if the detection rate is taken into account.

Of course, it is quite difficult to even estimate the detection rates for cheating and thus to adjust the punishment accordingly, but the punishment you are describing is certainly too low.

This aspect is not only important for discouraging cheating, but also from an ethical point of view, as cheating should not yield an advantage over the honest student.


Listing patent applications on graduate/postbacc application CVs

If you include them, they should have their own section. Issued patents are more clearly reasonable to include than pending patents, though I don't think there's anything intrinsically wrong with listing pending patents.

Whether you should include them will depend in part on your field and how you want to position yourself in that field.  I would recommend consulting with professors you respect in your field.

In my field — computer science — many of us believe that the patent system is harmful to the profession.  I have an issued patent, but I do not advertise it. If I saw an applicant with many pending patents listed, I would ask about it in the interview, because depending on their motivations and reasons it may be sign that our approaches to research are not compatible and they would be better off with a different adviser. Occasionally I will include it on a version of my CV that I know will be reviewed by people who care about patents, but it is not on my primary CV.

I cannot speak to the particulars of your field, or how debates about patentability play out in it. But your decision of how to structure and what to include in your CV may stake out an initial position in that debate, and if so you should be aware of it and make sure that's what you want to do.


How to read/react to students' evaluation?

I spent many years of my professional life discussing how to present complicated ideas. The first rule that I developed was: "Any comment, however stupid seeming, should be taken seriously". In the OP's context that means try to understand what the student comments are getting at, even if the students who are commenting cannot explain it. Something you said evoked that comment. If you don't like that comment say something differently next time.

The second rule is: disregard any specific suggestion for how you might say it differently. Only you know what you want to say. Your students do not.


How does one find an academic career coach?

The only service I heard is "the professor is in" I watched some of their live Facebook videos and learn a lot. Even asked question in here relating their comments about job interview.
Also they provide couching and help with cover letter and statements for possition application with special emphasis on diversity.
Some members of Academia.stackexchange find them controversial due to unorthodox views on STEM field. But since OP friend is from humanities and whole team is more from that background I highly recommend them.


Before doing anything else, I would recommend doing the following:

Check that the answers haven't accidentally made their way into your spam folder (if your email client has one).
Check that you sent the emails to the correct address. (If you get the domain name wrong, you might not get a response back at all!)

If neither of these are the cause of the problem, then I would recommend that you contact the publisher, rather than the editor—something has clearly gone amiss. At the very least, you should have received an email acknowledging that the submission is complete.

If, on the other hand, you are waiting for the reviews to be returned, that can certainly take much longer than a month, and a little patience is in order.


Good news—the highlights are not so important that their absence will make a big difference to whether your paper goes out for review. Just wait and see what happens next. If the editor likes the work, they will request you add the highlights at a future revision stage. All that said, it is generally good to follow their instructions.


Can images with a "noncommercial use only" licence be used in teaching and academic presentations?

I'd bet it's probably fine, but there's no way to get a definitive answer without asking the copyright holder (this is one of the weaknesses with the noncommercial Creative Commons licenses).  The Creative Commons definition of commercial use is use that is "primarily intended for or directed towards commercial advantage or monetary compensation".  Most teaching and conference talks seem pretty clearly noncommercial to me by this standard.  But what if someone argues that you're only doing that teaching to earn money?  Does the mere fact that you are using this material to help you do your paid job transform it into commercial use, or can you argue that in fact your use was not motivated primarily by earning money? What if you're getting paid an honorarium to give a talk - does that make it even more of a commercial activity?  You could end up in all sorts of debates about what the "primary intentions" are, with many borderline cases, and there's no objective way to resolve the disagreement.

The Creative Commons organization does not attempt to settle these issues, but does note that "not all educational uses are necessarily NonCommercial uses, so your use of an NC license may preclude use of your work in some educational contexts".  There seems to be no official guidance as to what this is intended to cover.  Maybe it is limited to cases such as selling teaching materials, or maybe it is much broader.

In practice, I imagine most people using a noncommercial license would not object to these uses.  There is a study of what users have in mind when choosing such a license, which doesn't directly address your issues but may shed light on them.  However, it's worth noting that people have in fact had nontrivial disputes over what constitutes noncommercial use, with at least one court decision that disagrees with what I would have predicted.

I can't really imagine anyone would sue you over ordinary teaching or conference talks.  The worst plausible scenario is probably offending the copyright holder (and being asked to remove the image), not getting sued.  That could be a risk worth taking if you believe that these uses should be considered noncommercial.

Of course I'm not a lawyer or an expert in Creative Commons licenses, and I don't know the real risks, so you should take this whole answer with a grain of salt.


Submission of a part of a thesis to a conference?

It certainly doesn't look good, but it really depends on the quality of the rest of the paper.

If it's an excellent paper (clear accept), then it will probably be accepted and have a suggestion that those occurrences be removed
If it's a weak paper (clear reject) then it won't make things worse.

The problems is if it's a borderline paper. It certainly seems sloppy to leave them in, as it's a clear indicator that you did not proof read your conference version before submitting, which reflects quite negatively. So if you're already on the borderline, this could tip the balance towards reject when you would have otherwise been accepted.

That said, this is highly dependent on the reviewers, the program committee, the quality of the conference, etc.

Regardless, it's certainly not career ending: it should not have consequences beyond possible rejection from the conference.


How to address an Oxford/Cambridge full-time lecurer who is not a Ph.D.?

"Mr" should be fine (though note that British style drops the period from common  honorifics). For example, Trinity College Cambridge's list of fellows has two "Mr"s and four "Ms"s.

However, be very sure that the lecturer you're emailing doesn't have a doctorate. Most Oxbridge (and I believe UK) lecturers are equivalent to some sort of professor in the US system, and the title of professor is generally reserved for academics somewhere between "regular member of teaching/research staff" and "department head". Accordingly, most UK lecturers do have a PhD.

If you're not sure, it's probably better to go with "Dr" rather than "Mr", as if you do get it wrong one way or the other, that's the one that's less likely to offend.


Does putting poor performing students on academic probation improve student performance?

This is only a part answer

University of California Berkeley applies a probation when the cumulative GPA goes below 2.0 and are within grounds for dismissal.  But, they give a semester and advise the student to:

  The College of Letters and Science encourages students who have been placed on term probation to seek advising at the Office of Undergraduate Advising for help with schedule planning and to discuss any issues that may have caused poor results in the first place. Although this web site may be helpful to you, it is primarily designed to assist probationary students whose cumulative grade point average has fallen below a 2.0.

An example from Australia, Brisbane's Griffith University, it seems that a similar constraint may be applied:

  The minimum standard for academic performance is a Grade Point
  Average (GPA) of at least 3.0 for undergraduate students and at least
  3.5 for postgraduate students. Students who meet this GPA standard
  are said to be in ‘good academic standing’. If a student’s GPA is below
  this level their performance is ‘unsatisfactory’.
  The first time a student’s performance is below the required
  standard, the student is placed on probation for the next semester.
  The second time a student’s performance is below the required
  standard, the student will normally be excluded.

In the Princeton article "The Effects of Academic Probation on College Success: Lending Students a Hand or Kicking Them While They Are Down?" (Fletcher and Tokmouline, 2010), found that often there is an improvement, but then their

  findings also suggest that this short term boost in performance fades out over time and students who are on academic probation following their first semesters of college do not have higher rates of persistence or graduation.

They also found that an overall model (indeed a definitive answer) is hard to come by due to inconsistency of heterogeneous effects, particularly

  pre-determined student characteristics as well as high school of origin.


I have found theses on a similar subject to my own, and want to use their references with my own text and a similar flow. Is this plagiarism?

There are actually two concerns here:

Is it plagiarism?

The authors of the theses you are reading have made an intellectual contribution: interpretation, summarization, organization and curation of references.

If you just paraphrase their work, the reader will assume that you carefully curated that list from the literature and that you came up with that "flow" yourself. If you don't tell the reader otherwise, it is plagiarism.

However, you can avoid concerns of plagiarism by citing the thesis from which you got got this, and making it clear to the reader what is your original work (the text) and what isn't (the reference list and the "thought flow").
Does it satisfy expectations for a masters thesis in your department?

Generally, a masters student is supposed to be able to read and curate the literature, and place their work in the context of the literature (the "thought flow") themself.

If you copy this from someone else, even if you cite them (so it isn't plagiarism), you may not be doing what's expected from you as a masters student.