Effects of changing majors in undergrad on graduate admission

Finish a degree. Any degree. Then supplement the completed coursework with things that will enhance your grad school applications.  You're almost there -- just get it over with, and then figure out what additional courses you'd like to take or audit.

Note also that many colleges and universities will limit late credit transfers.  I imagine they want a degree from their institution to reflect their institutional identity.


How common is it for graduate schools to allow admission to be deferred for a year

I think the general trend for deferrals is to make them available, but not automatic—usually, you have to explain exactly why you want the deferral, and what you plan to do in the intervening time. For example, doing a volunteer year (for example, for a Peace Corps-like organization) or accepting a prestigious international fellowship are usually acceptable reasons for a deferral. On the other hand, accepting a job offer for a year would normally not be considered grounds for a deferral.  However, I think this is a policy that differs from department to department and institution to institution, so definitely check with them first!

The reason for this is that deferrals impact two admission classes: the current one, as well as the following one. You can't admit extra students, because you have the deferring students from the present year, plus you're now "short" a student for the new incoming class.


Does mathematical sophistication play a role during paper review?

Mathematical sophistication and mathematical density are often confused for one another, and this confusion often extends to reviewers and the "customs" of scientific communities.  To my mind, the best mathematical presentation is the most lucid and simple, and it is certainly the case that important consequences often come from rather simple equations.  The simpler your equations, however, the more that the contribution of the paper will depend on your exploration of those consequences (theoretically or empirically), rather than the mathematics per se.

It can be very tempting to "puff up" the perceived complexity of your mathematics by adding notational complexity or other baroquery.  It may even work well when dealing with some communities (I know of some rather cynical and unfortunately successful experiments performed by certain colleagues of mine).  I would strongly advise, however, against doing so.  Write the paper as clearly and simply as possible, given the true nature of the mathematics within.  Doing so may incur negative judgement from those who confuse "simple" and "trivial," but to do otherwise is scientifically dishonest. Moreover, if your work has value, it will show in the consequences of the mathematics rather than its nature, and writing it more accessibly is likely, in the long run, to increase its impact.

Finally, note that this dictum goes the other way as well: when you are presenting a complex mathematical result to an audience that does not appreciate mathematical complexity, do not attempt to pretend the mathematics is not complex.  In this case, however, appendices and supplementary information is the way to go: keep only as much of key elements in the main text as is appropriate for the audience, and put the rest where those who are interested can readily find it without interrupting the flow of the main text.


How to overcome a mistake you make in your proof and regain motivation?

As an early-career mathematician, I have had this experience, more or less exactly, several times. I think I've solved a problem (or made good progress toward doing so) and I become proud and emotionally invested, only to show it to a mentor (first my PhD advisor, then my postdoc supervisor) who quickly points out a fatal flaw in my reasoning. Sometimes, he will propose a different and much better method. I completely get how demotivating this can be. After all, I would think, why am I even working on this project if my mentor could do it himself more quickly?

But you have to overcome these feelings. Here are some points of view that helped me do so:

Trying things and failing is how we learn. There's a mathematical lesson here about why my techniques failed and my mentor's succeeded. There's also a lesson about how to do research: how to do sanity checks, how to avoid "premature optimization," etc.
My mentor is a professional researcher with decades of experience. Of course he can solve things more quickly than me. Even if it feels like my role is to work out the details of his ideas, I'm learning a lot by doing that. And these "brilliant ideas" are usually adapted from previously existing techniques anyway--it's more an experience gap than an intelligence gap.
Experiences like this keep me humble, which comes in very handy when teaching people who understand less than I do.

I would encourage you to try to power through these feelings of inadequacy. Part of being a mature researcher is not being afraid of being wrong.

Having said all that, a good way to avoid situations like this is to keep the person you're working under more in the loop while you're doing the work, so that they can steer you away from dead ends. In your case, it wasn't necessarily your fault that your supervisor didn't devote much time to your project, but in the future you should try to get high-level feedback earlier in the process.


Will uploading a half completed paper to Arxiv hurt my chances of getting admitted to a grad school?

I don't think the arxiv is the right place to upload unfinished work, no matter what you hope to gain from it.  It would be worth reading what the arxiv says about what should be submitted as well as talking to others and seeing what is done in practice in your field.  My own understanding is that the arxiv is an "e-print server", i.e., an electronic preprint server.  A preprint is a completed paper which has not yet been published.  (Though one can still upload published papers to the arxiv in many cases...)

It is only fair to mention that a small but non-negligible percentage of arxiv papers are not intended for submission to journals in their current forms.  For instance, I currently have 27 arxiv papers; a few of them have not been submitted yet, and one of them is not intended for journal submission in its current form.  I was asked to upload it to the arxiv because a colleague of mine wanted to cite it in his accepted journal article and the journal had asked for something a little more formal and stable than my own homepage.  In retrospect, I think this was a good idea on their part.  But all of my arxiv submissions are "complete".

Concerning incomplete submissions, here is a sentence from the webpage linked to above:

  Please note that we do not accept submissions with omitted figures, tables or sections. We also do not accept "abstract only" submissions. Such submissions are unhelpful to readers and of very limited archival value.

Based on what you describe, I am concerned that your putative arxiv submission would violate either the letter or the spirit of this requirement.  You certainly do not want to submit to the arxiv in this case, because the arxiv is moderated, and low quality submissions can cause you to lose future privileges (as well as giving you a very poor reputation with at least the arxiv moderators, who presumably have some stature and influence in the academic community).

On the other hand, in many cases whether a paper is "unfinished" is known only to the author, and it would probably be possible for you to prepare a version of your paper which meets the above requirements.  In my opinion, as an undergraduate you should not upload (or widely distribute in any e-forum) work that you know to be seriously incomplete.  Work that you upload to the arxiv stays there forever.  (Truly: even if you withdraw a paper, the record of it remains and people can still access all the earlier versions.  I don't know about anyone else, but when I see a withdrawn paper it makes me curious and thus more likely to look at earlier versions.)  Outsiders are not going to judge your work by undergraduate standards; in many cases they will not know that the work was written by an undergraduate.  They'll look at a paper that has the level of an incomplete undergraduate project: that is not making a good name for yourself.

If you want to include your unfinished manuscript in your application, that's a different story: definitely do so if you spent a lot of time on the work and are proud of it.  (Even mature academics list unfinished manuscripts on their CV and sometimes even post them on their webpage.  I do this, although less often as time goes on.)  I may as well say the obvious thing though: it would be better if you finished it.  Couldn't a hard-nosed faculty evaluator say that if you were really passionate, serious and competent, then you would have finished your project?  As above, having the submitted version be formally complete as a document though you yourself know that you'd like to do more with it seems like a good idea.


How do I stop feeling unwelcome in my department?

You mentioned that your new advisor is in a new department. So, can you cut the losses with the old department?

But, although the comment stings, and your feelings are understandable, being able to handle it is part of completing Ph.D. To complete a Ph.D., you need (within a reason) to go against the grain, latch onto something, not listen when you are told it can't be done, and pursue it against the odds. In the process you grow a thicker skin and not let doubtful comments get and define you.

So, it is possible that your advisor meant to test you, and see how determined you are to continue the process. I am not saying that it is the best approach, but I have seen this happen.


Negotiating with journal publishers about intellectual property of the paper?

I would not try to negotiate author rights before the paper is accepted, for two reasons.  First, from the point of view of the editor and the publisher, it is premature and may be a waste of time (since, statistically at least, your paper has a significant chance of being rejected).  Second, this negotiation could, in principle, influence the decision about whether to accept your paper (though of course it shouldn't).

Instead, educate yourself on what the publisher will allow, beforehand.  Use the Sherpa/RoMEO database to know what rights a publisher will allow you, before you choose where to submit.  If you choose a journal that already allows you the rights you want, then you will avoid the problem altogether.

Finally, after acceptance use the SPARC addendum to assert the rights you intend to retain.

For one story of negotiations where I didn't follow my own advice -- but things turned out fairly well -- see this blog post.


Journal editor does not appear to pursue report of self-plagiarism

One other option is to go public (as jakebeal mentions in his answer to your previous question). I would suggest a step in between in which you would send another email to the editor stating that you are disappointed with the lack of progress as well as with the editor ignoring you, and letting them know that such unprofessionalism lets you with no other options but to let the public know.

Should they again fail to act and depending on your time/effort you are willing to invest, take the next step. My next step would be informing the institution of the self-plagiarizing individual about the whole situation. If you again hit a brick wall, you still have a nice story (self plagiarization and cover up by journal and institution) for some journalist, blog, higher institution, etc. (I guess you'll know best who to inform)


Is using synthetic datasets in sciences the same as using fake data?

Synthetic data and fabricated data are different. If you want to use synthetic data, you need to be transparent about how the data is generated and not tailor the synthetic data to support your hypothesis. Fabrication would be false data that is designed to support your hypothesis.
Remember that any statistical analysis will be a reflection of the process used to generate the data. It might be that the trend in the synthetic data reflects real data, but you would have to make that case by examining how the synthetic data is generated.


What are some practices for getting a name change so that people can find me more easily?

I think people stress too much about the "what if people can't find my papers?" problem. That's what CVs are for. Don't overestimate how often people will actually try to find all of your papers outside of hiring situations. It won't be often. By the time you are established enough to accumulate a significant number of publications, you will be connected to a research university or institute which will make it easy to link you to your publications.

If "the vast majority of your connections will be people who only vaguely recognize/know you" you've got a problem that changing your name will not solve.

I'd especially like to hear from someone who have had this cause a career problem. My (legal) first name is one of 10 most common, and my last name is in the top 20 (within the US). While this is annoying, it has not caused me any career issues.


I'm scheduled to graduate next week but my professor has gone MIA due to a death in the family... what can I do?

My question is, is there anything else I can do to push this professor to respond to me and to set up a time to conclude my research project?

I recommend that you don't send your professor any more communications than you already have, and in this case, it is completely inappropriate to "push" him to do anything.  The death of a loved one in one's family is a major traumatic event, and a large degree of sympathy and forbearance is appropriate.  With respect, it is a much bigger deal than what are relatively minor concerns over graduation.

At this point you have already sent multiple emails, and it is clear that the professor is not able to perform his work duties right now.  Rather than contacting him again, contact the Head of Department, describe your case, and request a plan to have your assessment pushed forward in the absence of your professor (e.g., with another supervisor allocated).  Make sure you write your request in a way that is sympathetic and kind to your professor, but which acknowledges the reality that he is not presently in a position to assist you.  If you have been advised that there is nothing they can do, then you have been advised wrong, because that is clearly bullshit - a Department Head has the power and responsibility to replace incapacitated staff with other staff members who can do their teaching/supervision work.

If the Department is unable to assess you prior to your expected graduation time, this might end up being a case where your graduation is delayed.  Accept that and put it in perspective.  No-one you love has died, and the worst possible outcome for you here is that your assessment gets delayed, and you end up graduating one session later than you otherwise would have.  If this occurs, and you are worried that it will hamper your ability to apply for later positions (e.g., jobs, post-graduate degree, etc.), ask your Head of Department to write a "to whom it may concern" letter that you can give to potential employers, explaining that you are due to graduate at the next conferral and that your graduation was delayed due to a staffing issue through no fault of your own.

One last thing: remember to buy your professor a nice card or some flowers consoling him for his bereavement.


Does one always accept good funding (Marie Curie)?

There is a difference between good funding and prestigious funding. The Marie Curie fellowships are prestigious funding, but not really good funding. They pay a lot in salary (in some fields it could be twice what you are making in the US) but don't offer much else. The duration of fellowships are no more than 24 months, I believe. There is no funding to hire a PhD student or even an RA or funding for the actual research. There is no guarantee of a job at the end. The Marie Curie fellowship is nothing like a permanent position. Again, it is very prestigious, so congratulations.

Apart from the salary (which I am guessing is higher), what does the fellowship give you that your current supervisor is not (e.g., how long is your current contract and can it be extended). This is really the type of thing you need to talk to your post doc supervisor about.


University personnel will investigate whether the rules and norms of the university are being upheld.  If an actual crime is suspected of having been committed, then in most cases they will contact the police or other authorities either in place of investigating or in parallel to their own investigation.  For certain crimes they are legally obligated to do so.

  I think no because the investigators were only to investigate academic misconduct and nothing else

Just because they are only there to investigate academic misconduct does not mean that they cannot report nonacademic misconduct to someone else.  If they found evidence of a literal crime, I don't know why they couldn't report it to the police.  (I'm not sure exactly what "Bullying a child" means, but if e.g. this included physical or sexual abuse I would certainly expect them to report it to the authorities.)

I think you are asking whether there is any covenant of confidentiality when you turn over your phone to them.  That's a legal question and I'm not a lawyer, but unless explicitly agreed upon in advance I don't know why there would be.  If your partner accuses you of cheating on them, you deny it, and they say, "Well then show me your phone," and upon searching your phone they find a video of you stealing a car, then your partner can certainly report you to the police even though that was not what they were expecting to find.  To my mind, having your phone searched by university personnel is more like having it searched by your partner than by the police.  In particular, university personnel cannot compel you to turn over your phone to them.  They can ask you to, and there might be negative consequences for you if you don't (just like with your partner), but that's not the same thing at all.

Furthermore: as far as I know, university personnel may act on information they find on your phone that is unrelated to the academic honesty issue in question but otherwise violates the university's code of conduct.  For instance if they found a video of you making racial slurs at a campus event, then that's not illegal but is (I hope) against their code of conduct, and so far as I know they could act on that.  However I do not know exactly where to draw the line.  For instance, if in an internet dating app you use language that would be disrespectful and inappropriate in university discourse, then presumably that is not their concern...but if that language involved another university official it might become more their concern, perhaps.  I'm really not sure.

Let me say finally that I've heard a few times on this site from students who have had their phones searched by university officials, but as a university official (faculty member) that's something that I have never done and would not think to do in almost any situation.  For instance, if during an exam I saw a student looking at their phone, then I would call attention to it, have them put their cell phone away, and pursue an academic honesty case against them.  But I would not ask to see their phone: since I tell students before the exam starts what they can and can't have out during the exam (in particular, no phones), looking at their phone during the exam is cheating no matter what, and the implication that they are breaking the rules to gain an unfair advantage is more than plausible whether I see what's on the phone or not.  (And what am I going to do, scream at the student to drop their phone immediately and run over to apprehend it before they can close an app?  This seems silly at best.)  I wonder though whether in other parts of the world academic culture is different: in the United States (and Canada; I spent 2.5 years as a postdoc there) at least, the idea that people do not have to casually turn over their personal property is quite strong.


If you don't have qualms about downloading from a site that has been convicted for mass copyright infringement, then Library Genesis is probably the largest one. It is basically Scihub's sister site for books.
Their Wikipedia page contains up-to-date links to access it (which may be blocked by some internet providers).
Check the legality of what you download. For instance, where I live you risk a 154€ fine for illicit downloads for personal use, without other aggravating factors. (I think at least -- IANAL.)


6-months internship has nothing to do with what was promised

There are two people who can help you

Your immediate manager
Your advisor (or tutor if you don't have one)

Talk to your manager first about the requirements stated by your university, and how to translate your work into a working paper or report worthy of submission in an academic institute. I am sure he will be of help.

Then try talking to your advisor/tutor on whatever was discussed with your manager. He/She can advise you on planning your report.

I had been into such a situation, and my advisor suggested a way to tweak my working to do some additional tests/work. That extra work made my work eligible for an academic report.


Asking a community college professor for a letter of recommendation

This is hard to weigh without knowing more information about you, but it can be addressed in a general way.

One of the biggest pieces of advice I give to undergrads is to develop a relationship with professors they hope to earn letters of recommendation from, including going out of their way to take extra classes/do extra work with them.  Now that that ship has sailed for you, I would lean toward the community college professor.

You don't mention the other letter you got from your BA institution, but I presume it's a solid one.  That allows you a little more leeway on your second letter.  You can already show strong results at the BA level, so getting a very good letter from a community college professor (or, e.g., an employer from the private sector in your field) that knows you well will look better than the generic letter.  People who read these letters know what a generic letter looks like, and are certainly able to "read between the lines" and assume this letter doesn't say much good about you.

I would be concerned if none of your letters came from your BA institution, so if my assumption isn't correct about the other letter, then I would say you probably have to use the generic one.


What does the typical workflow of a journal look like?

Feel free to edit this answer to improve it, in particular to add other names you know to be used for the individual steps or to extend the maximum typical durations from your experience. The source for the diagram can be found here.

Overview

Initial Check

This step is usually performed by the journal's administrative staff. It may include for example:

Checking for missing or broken files.
Checking compliance with length requirements, if any.
Checking central formatting requirements, e.g., line numbers, if required by the journal.
A plagiarism check.
Excluding manuscripts of very low quality, such as automatic translations or manuscripts with very poor language.

Also known as: technical check, initial QC (AIP), admin checklist (IEEE), Awaiting Editorial Office Processing (ScholarOne), quality check (NPG)

Typical duration: A few workdays.

Editor assignment or invitation

Based on the topic of the manuscript and suggestions by the authors, an editor is assigned to handle the manuscript.
Depending on the journal, the assignment may be done by technical staff, the journal's chief editor, or automatic by submission category or author suggestion.
With some journals, editors are invited and not assigned.

Also known as: with editors (APS), editor assigned (Editorial Manager, AIP), AE assignment (IEEE), assigned to the editor (NPG)

Typical duration: A few workdays to several weeks.

Editorial assessment

The editors decide whether the paper should enter the review process or should be rejected directly, e.g., because it does not fit the journal’s scope or requirements on importance or quality. A rejection at this (or the previous) stage is called desk reject. The paper may also be returned to the authors for reasons other than rejection, such as to request more data or clearer figures prior to formal review.

With revised manuscripts, the editors assess whether the existing reviews have been addressed adequately. If yes, they either proceed with another round of reviews or jump to editorial decision immediately – this mostly depends on the magnitude and nature of the revision.

Also known as: with editors (APS), waiting for potential reviewer assignment (AIP), under review (ScholarOne), assigned to the editor (NPG)

Typical duration: This strongly depends on the journal: With some journals, it is less than a week; with others it may take a month, in particular if several people are involved in the decision or the initial quality hurdle is high.

Peer review

The editor selects a number of potential referees to review the manuscript. Should a referee decline to review or not perform the review in a certain time (as given by the editor or journal), the editor usually has to select a new referee. The main exception to this is if the other referees already provided sufficient reviews at this point.

With revised manuscripts, usually the reviewers from the previous round are selected. The editor may also decide that certain or all reviewers need not see the manuscript again, as their comments have been adequately addressed.

Also known as: with reviewers, with referees, under review, awaiting referee assignment, awaiting referee reports, awaiting reviewer scores (ScholarOne), reviewers assigned, manuscript assigned to peer-reviewer/s (NPG)

The initial selection of referees is usually comprised in the previous step. Some editorial systems give the status as with editors (or similar) if a new referee needs to be assigned and no other referee is currently assigned. Others will show under review regardless.

Typical duration: This strongly depends on the field and journal. It typically ranges from a few weeks to several months, but in some cases (particularly for highly theoretical work where intense proof-checking is expected), it may be as long as one to two years. Moreover, the key factors for the duration of an individual peer-review process are how soon the reviewers perform the review and how many reviewers decline or fail to review the manuscript. Thus, even for a given journal, there is a strong variation of review durations. Some journals give their statistics on this time (or a related one) on their webpage.

Editorial decision

Based on the reviews, the editors decide whether:

The manuscript shall be rejected.
The manuscript needs to be revised by the authors before it can possibly be accepted. If the authors submit a revised manuscript, the workflow is mostly the same as for the initial submission.
The manuscript shall be accepted as it is.
A decision requires further reviews.

Also known as with editors (APS), review completed, required reviews completed (Elsevier Editorial System (EES)), awaiting AE recommendation, awaiting decision (ScholarOne), awaiting EiC decision (IEEE), Editor Decision Started (AIP), Decision Started (NPG).
This may be followed by a short stage denoted decision letter being prepared (or similar).

Typical duration: A few workdays to a week. This may take longer with some journals, in particular if several people are involved in the decision.

Copy editing and typesetting

The article is copy-edited and typeset by the publisher. Occasionally, requests to the authors may occur at this stage, e.g., due to low-quality figures.

For some journals, a pre-copy-editing version of the manuscript will be put online at this point under a category like Just Accepted, with a warning that the current version has not yet been copy-edited and may change further before publication.

Also known as: in production, in press

Typical duration: This mostly depends on the publisher’s backlog – between a few workdays to over a year, roughly correlated with the length of the publication delay (see below).

Final proofreading

The authors are sent the paper’s proofs, i.e., the paper as it is about to be published. If corrections are necessary, it goes back to copy editing and typesetting.

Also known as: proofs with authors, Galley proof

Typical duration: Most journals request proofs to be returned within a certain time, usually between 48 hours and a week (reasons).

Publication

For some journals, particularly newer ones with an online-centric publication model, an article will be published immediately after the previous step has been completed.

Other journals with a more traditional process will queue up the publication for collation into a journal issue with other articles.  The time before this issue is published depends on the size of the journal’s publication backlog and can range anywhere from a few weeks to several years.

Many journals with an issue-based delay provide “online early” access to articles so that they are available to the community before the final issue date.  Articles thus often acquire two publication dates: one for online and one for print publication.

Further reading

IOP Publishing: An introductory guide for authors
IEEE: Peer Review and Decision Process for Authors
The secret lives of manuscripts (American Naturalist)


Is there a full-time job with variety and academic rigor but also 2+ months annual vacation? (don't care if vacation is unpaid)

There are some universities and colleges in the US that require very little research of faculty and stress teaching above all else. In such a place, you have no research commitment, of course, but you probably still need to find the time to develop new courses and gather and create material for them. If, in your field, "taking time off" means things like creating new courses by visiting museums, and such then you can combine work and leisure. But it is rare in education at any level in the US to have no expectations for 2-3 months per year.

There is more to "teaching" than teaching, even when there is no formal research requirement. But, most places, even those with quite modest reputations do require research and some publication, even if not at the level of R1 universities.

Think of an academic position as full time. Actually, think of it as 24/7/52. Even when you aren't actively engaged in teaching/creating you need to be thinking about what comes next. Even something as seemingly simple as "keeping up with your field" can be a fairly major undertaking in some disciplines.

Also, you may have a bit of a misunderstanding. Most academics (other than adjuncts) don't work on yearly contracts. The commitment is usually a bit longer. A person on the tenure track can usually expect a three or four year contract initially with a review at the end of it and a final review in the seventh year. The "annual contract" isn't about continuation, in most places, but about salary and, when necessary, changing expectations. Of course, you can be fired for egregious misbehavior, even with a contract.

Finally, I'll note that some top universities in the US (Duke, Stanford, ...) have a special category of Teaching Faculty, whose expectations are more in teaching with somewhat lower research expectations. But lower doesn't mean less, it means, in some cases, more pedagogically focused than strict theory of the discipline. 24/7/52.


I'll go with group-level Wiki on that one. Give every member of the group read-write access (or IP-based write access), and have maintain lists of references (and attached PDF files) by topic and sub-topic. If you want to include some notes on a paper, create a new page for that paper, and put your notes there. People can add their own notes to the same paper later, by editing the page.

Search capabilities will be important, so choose you Wiki software so it has decent search support. Or export all the PDF files of papers as a read-only network drive, thus allowing for full-text search of the whole database through client's OS (which is what I do myself).

For examples of wikis run by research groups, see for example professor Hero or SklogWiki (on which papers are ordered by topic).


Why and how to go to the US for a PhD-exchange semester?

If you have only EU passport, you may be eligible to stay up to 90 days in US using ESTA in order to "attend short-term training (you may not be paid by any source in the U.S. with the exception of expenses incidental to your stay)". Otherwise appropriate visa is needed (e.g. J-1).
Contact the professor directly. You can't lose anything.
The purpose could be to improve your thesis, initiate networking, start some collaboration etc.
AFAIK, I didn't need any formal agreement - only when I applied for grant, I submit a formal letter of the host Professor that he will welcome me.
Your wife situation is that you'll be there for your personal interest anyway and that's opportunity to collaborate.
Ask your university department for international relations, whether there is some agreement with the US university and yours, there might be opportunity to cover some expenses of your stay there. It's better to get at least partial funding from your home university and claim that your home university pays you during immigration control and makes it easy with the host Professor lab.

I did internship after my PhD in US and stayed only 1 months and above mentioned points saved me from possible disappointment during border control. Host Professor welcomed the fact that I was independent financially. I used a small university grant from "eastern european" university which covers part of the expenses - the flight tickets, all other I paid from my pocket money.


GPA rounding 2.498 to 2.5. How ethical is this?

There's no way to know how someone will react to a given situation but I would suggest to at least have a reason if you are challenged.

For instance, it might be reasonable to supply the same number of digits that they are asking for. If they ask for a 2.5 minimum GPA, then you report a 2.5, if they ask for a 2.50 then report a 2.50, but if they ask for a 2.500 then report a 2.498. If there is no reference number then I would assume the precision is up to you and report a 2.5.

That being said, I doubt anyone would think anything unethical happened over a .002 rounding that follows all the normal rounding rules.


Changing methods/ methodologies mid-project

Do you keep a methodology notebook? If not, it is high time you start now.

It is important in the experimental sciences to always document exactly how the experiment is performed, and it is often recommended to keep a methodology notebook aside from your data notebook. All current and past/obsolete methodologies should be documented and dated (so it is clear exactly when your lab switched to a new methodology). All data on experiments should include reference to the correct methodology. (A lab wiki may be a good way to manage this.) For a bit more discussion you can see this guideline from the neurosurgery department of UCSF.

Changes in methodology may or may not be a good thing. A change of methodology obviously introduces a new variable into your research. And depending on the research outcome, the data pre and post methodology change may or may not be compatible, and it may or may not be ethical to present the data as one single dataset. So if your experiment only has limited number of runs for which systematic bias that may be introduced by the new methodology cannot be statistically ruled out, you may be better off not switching. (Unless, of course, you are in the biomedical sciences where sometimes methodological shifts are compulsory, even though it means essentially aborting the experiment.)

Methodological shifts are not forbidden per se, as long as all the methodology are clearly documented. The issue is more with how you interpret the data afterwards: it maybe necessary to present your data as two separate experiments instead of one single experiment. (Depending on your field there are different culturally accepted level of "fudging" when it comes to the methodology section of a paper; you should always have an argument handy as to why changing the methodology does not really change the experiment.) As long as each data point can be clearly referenced to the method that was used to obtain that data point, your experiment is reproducible and ethically you've covered your behind.

(This, of course, does not address the bureaucratic issue of whether your funding agency and such would frown on deviating from the funding proposal, and whether your research institution have specific guidelines concerning methodology shifts.)


Teacher takes pictures of students during exams and posts them on social media

Doing this without permission is unprofessional, and it may be illegal, depending on your jurisdiction.

Asking for students' permission first is still unprofessional, especially in an exam situation, where students are already nervous, and given the power imbalance between the professor and the students. Who among the students will dare to object right before the exam? (This could depend on your local culture.)

You write that "There is no foul play involved, just for fun." - What is fun for one student could very well be harrassment for another, especially if pictures are edited. I don't see how this furthers the academic enterprise, so I would avoid doing this, at the risk of coming across as a spoilsport.

I surmise this question could soon be closed as opinion-based.


The intent of keywords is to aid in indexing so that your article can be easier to the reach of people who search for specific topic (DoS in your example). Hence, bear in mind the people whom you are trying to reach when selecting the keywords.

Certain journal publishers, such as IEEE, have a complete list of keywords you ought to follow. These lists are often updated to catch up with the technological trends of the time. It would be better to check for such a list with your publisher.

If you cannot find such a list, check out the papers that are published in the journal you wish to submit the manuscript in. Search for papers in your topic and see what sort of keyword they used that is similar to yours to get a better idea of what to include in your keywords section.


Your question is unclear.  Does the syllabus say that late homework will not be accepted?  Does it say that late homework will be accepted (until when? for what acceptable reasons?  with a penalty?)  You also have not described why the homework was not turned in on time.

As a general rule, as long as policies, procedures, and other rules are being followed consistently and fairly, higher-ups tend not to intervene.  It's unlikely that a dean would intervene to overturn the decision of a faculty member to not accept late homework when the syllabus specifies that late homework will not be accepted.

It's possible that if there are unusual extenuating circumstances (e.g. the student was hospitalized after a car wreck and missed the deadline), and the faculty member is unreasonably insisting on applying the rule without considering those circumstances, then the dean might intervene.

On the other hand, if the syllabus said that late homework would be accepted (perhaps with some defined penalty) and the faculty member refused to follow the policy in the syllabus, then a dean might well intervene.


How to signal sole affiliation is honorary?

An honourary appointment at my university comes with an email address, library privileges, internet access and a hot desk. In exchange, we advise our honourary staff that we are happy for them to list their affiliation with us in two wways: (1) "Honourary Research Fellow" or (2) "Research Fellow (Honourary)". They are, of course, under no obligation to do so.

In the journals I help edit, affiliations listed as honourary or adjunct or visiting carries no stigma. We treat it like any other affiliation. However, because there is a cap in the number of affiliations authors can list (we allow no more than three), an honourary affiliations are included in those counts.

Good luck!


How to cite information obtained from Google Maps Area Calculator Tool?

There are a number of issues.  First, you need to comply with the google terms of Use agreement.  For maps, information is available at https://www.google.com/permissions/geoguidelines/attr-guide.html

Next, you want your readers to be able to find the maps you're referring to.  Use the "share or embed" option on the maps page to generate a permalink.

Lastly, what should the reference look like?  APA provides some guidance at http://blog.apastyle.org/apastyle/2015/08/how-to-cite-online-maps.html

For one example they show

  Google. (n.d.). [Google Maps directions for driving from Ingolstadt,
  Germany, to Geneva, Switzerland]. Retrieved August 4, 2015, from [url
  here]

I would change the author as specified in Google's attribution guidelines above, and I would replace "driving directions for ...." to "Area Calculator" or some such.

After doing this, I'd let the editorial process take over, having done your due diligence.


Where does the remaining money of FP7 projects go?

As usual, the answer is: it depends.

I have no experience with the Marie Curie programme, but for traditional FP7 research projects, the funding system worked as follows.

Your funding plan consisted basically of two large blocks: direct costs, and indirect costs.

Direct costs included things like personnel (the largest part, usually), special equipment, or travel funds. For direct costs, the research institution needed to proof how they spent the money exactly. In case of underspending (for instance, if one planned for a postdoc but ended up hiring a PhD student), the left-over money has to be refunded to the agency (or, in some cases, can be transferred to another partner in the project). In case of overspending, the research institution has to cover the costs themselves.

Indirect costs, on the other hand, are a lump sum. They are calculated as a percentage of the planned direct costs (typically 25% for universities, iirc) and are meant to cover all the other costs of a project that are hard to account for exactly (things like the office space and heating for the people working in the project, etc.). These are paid out no matter what, and are not refunded. The research institution does not need to proof in any way that it actually spent all that money.

So to answer your concrete question: everything that is designated as direct costs in the ITN proposal and is not spent will go back to the EU. However, all the indirect costs associated with the ITN will stay with your host institution regardless of whether they spend the money or not.


How to handle letters of recommendation requirements in this situation?

Everything will be fine. If they have ever written more than a handful of these letters for others, they will recognize that different institutions have different requirements. Just tell them what you need, and thank them very much for their time and patience.


The definition of sabbatical in Wikipedia refers to labor terminology rather than academic sabbatical leave. As a privilege to employees, they can have temporary unpaid leave (for any personal reason) without losing their job.

However, academic sabbatical historically is somehow different. When a scholar needs peace of mind to focus on a challenging issue, s/he will visit a new institute to experience a new atmosphere. While still being in the academic environment, not having heavy official duties.

There are several motivations for a sabbatical leave (at least as I have seen):

A manager finishes an administrative position (e.g. Dean), and wishes to rest in a different atmosphere, but not far from academia.
A researcher working on a new idea, prefers to focus on his/her work somewhere with less commitments on everyday responsibilities (e.g. teaching, advising, etc).
A researcher is exploring new possibilities and opportunities, spend some time in a new department to live with new colleagues for a while.
A researcher is collaborating with another group and spend a year in the host research group as a visiting scientist/professor while being on sabbatical leave from his/her institute.
A professor in a mid-level university finds a temporary position in a top university. This is the base for many visiting professors in the US universities, e.g. international professors can experience working in the US universities. Even there are associate/assistant professors who find a post-doc position in the top universities, and use sabbatical leave, not to lose their job at home.

In any case, sabbatical allowance mainly depends on the university employment rules.


Is it appropriate to address a PhD holder as "doctor" (without name)?

In North American English, "doctor" without a name usually means a medical doctor.  To address a PhD or university instructor in that manner is neither appropriate nor inappropriate, but it is unusual.  "Professor Lastname" is a safe choice, but customs vary.


How should I prepare my first PhD interview when I do not know about the research topic?

If you've not been told about the topic yet (though that's quite unusual - perhaps you can clarify why) then I would suggest examining the research interests of the department you are applying for. If you know the names of the interviewers, look up their research interest and their most recent papers. Are there any research groups within the department? Check for recent publications and recent (successful) grant applications.

In addition, think about which of these research topics you could most effectively contribute to. If you had to match your expertise and knowledge so far against any of the departmental research interests, where would you fit best and where could you contribute most effectively?

In your presentation I would suggest to demonstrate that you are aware of the research profile of the institution and how you could see yourself contribute to it. Demonstrate and describe your expertise and experience backed up with evidence, and this includes summarising or presenting your CV.


Will a certificate from my University Professor that I have worked under him can be shown as work experience for my graduate admission abroad?

Your work with the professor is valid work experience and possible research experience, depending on what is involved. But a "certificate" is of less value to you than a LOR. The reason is that the letter comes direct from the professor and so has implied credibility, whereas something that you provide, even if honestly, is open to question. Even if it isn't disbelieved (and it probably won't be) it will be given less weight.

Let the professor know that you will, in the future (soon or later) be needing letters to continue your education. Some time to reflect will probably mean a better letter.

If some publication comes from your work, you may not qualify as a co-author, but try to get an acknowledgement in the paper if possible. Ask for it explicitly, I think. Even better to be a co-author, of course. But, make sure, in any case, that you have a record of the publication and that the prof is willing to say, in a LOR, that you contributed to the project.


Is getting a second masters frowned upon?

I don't think it is going to help your career much, so I would only recommend to do it if you enjoy the classes.

I have never seen a job asking for two Masters. If any employer would be impressed by two Masters, it would be because they are in different disciplines. (e.g., a Masters in CS and a Masters in Finance might look good if you are trying to get a particular position at a financial company)
Two CS Masters is redundant. The only time I have seen this is when a PhD program gives a MS en route to a PhD and the student already had a MS.
Industry is going to value experience over multiple Masters

If you do just enjoy the classes, you might think about a different field that still interests you and is relevant to your day job (e.g., HCI or math).

Or you may just want to look into a PhD program :)

EDIT: According to the responses to this very similar qeustion, Can a masters student apply for a second masters in the same field at another university?, it appears that a lot of schools may not even accept a Masters student that already has a Masters in the same field.


Should I do a PhD or Master in Statistics for a career in Data Science?

Interesting question, but likely to be closed as "opinion-based" or "too broad".

I personally have a math Ph.D., then started to do applied statistics in a "classical" academic environment (analyzing psychology studies), finally ended up in a Data Science-type job. I fully agree that postgraduate work in statistics would be the best preparation for a career in Data Science.

As @Vietnhi notes, there are three key ingredients for becoming a good Data Scientist:

a solid grounding in statistics
programming/hacking skills
subject matter expertise

(See also Drew Conway's Data Science Venn Diagram, which I posted and discussed here).

Of the three, it seems to me like the statistics part is hardest to learn in a non-structured environment. From what I see in my day-to-day work and on CrossValidated, people will rather easily pick up programming skills and subject matter knowledge, but understanding randomness - and this is really what statistics is all about - is very hard. (See, e.g., here.)

So as long as there are no serious Data Science study tracks available (and I agree that most offerings right now are likely bandwagons people jump on), it makes sense to concentrate on statistics (getting a structured study path via the Ph.D. program), but really work to understand the actual tools for handling large data sets, and trying to get a certain amount of subject matter expertise in at least one field. Optimally, you'd do an applied stats thesis which requires you to actually work in a specific field and apply stats there.

You may want to look at Data Science.


Intellectual property of computer program of another authors equation?

There are some disgusting cases of patented algorithms, but in a generic case, everyone can translate a formula from a paper to code.

Even more: it's the essence of computer science in how to translate a formula to code. This can be done in various ways, where some are much more efficient (and hence, better) than others. So it's definitely the intellectual property of the person, who wrote the code.

Probably, some implementations can be dismissed as trivial, but most would not be.

Of course, it's still an implementation of your formula / algorithm, which (normally) would be credited as such. But this retains you no rights to the implementation.

You might retain rights for the formula itself, by patenting it or something. Unless it's something big, I would not really bother.

Disclaimer: I am not a layer.


What should I do if I realize there is a minor error in a paper I submitted?

In order to answer this question, we need to define some magnitudes of errors.

A small error does not affect the conclusions and if the manuscript was accepted as is could be fixed in the proof stage before the manuscript goes to press.

A minor error does not affect the conclusions but requires too many changes to be made that it could not be fixed in the proof stage.

A substantial error affects the conclusions and would require the manuscript to be re-reviewed.

If you have found a substantial error, you need to contact the editor and request the manuscript be pulled from the review process. You do not want to waste the time of the editor and reviewers. A small error can either be ignored or reported to the editor if you think that the correction will help save the reviewers time. Minor errors are the real problem. There is no easy way to tell the editor/reviewer what is wrong, but an unclear manuscript is likely to get negative reviews. I would suggest contacting the editor and explaining and apologizing for the problem.

The real question should be how did you find the error? What are you doing looking at a manuscript after it has been submitted?


Job requires recommendation letters from Senior Research Scientists - who is eligible to write letters?

In general, I would interpret "senior researcher" as somebody who has a permanent (or potentially permanent, such as tenure track) position doing research at a research institution.  It excludes graduate students, post-docs, people with purely teaching positions, etc.

However, if you are applying for a specific position, I would add one additional criterion for what counts as a "senior researcher."  Your letter writer should themself hold a position at least roughly as advanced as the position you are applying for.  The people reviewing your application want the person writing the letter should be familiar with the hiring standards and criteria for positions at that level.  So while it may make sense for an assistant professor to write a letter for you if you are applying for an entry-level tenure track position, you would want a full professor (or equivalent) to write you a recommendation if you are applying to a senior-level tenured position.


As a new Ph.D. student (mathematical statistics) how should I read papers for research?

My PhD was in statistics, and I have also supervised PhD students in this field, so hopefully I can offer some useful advice.  Here are some thoughts:

Talk to your supervisor: There is no room for intellectual shyness in that relationship.  Your supervisor is not going to be upset with you for asking questions, evening if it is something you think you should know how to do already.  The fact that you even think to think about this is a good sign, and your process is quite impressive.  Don't be shy.
Streamline your process: Your process sounds quite comprehensive already.  Personally, I find that writing a short summary in your own words/notation is probably the most useful exercise to understand math papers.  Some of the other stuff you're doing might be a bit excessive, especially if you're only getting through one paper a day.
Learn the maths, expand your tool-kit: In a mathematical field, in additional to understanding the specifics of the paper you're reading, you also want to use this as an opportunity to gradually expand your mathematical tool-kit.  To do this, make sure you understand the derivation/proof of each result, and if you see an unfamiliar mathematical technique, talk to your supervisor about why it works, and when you might deploy it.
Learn to "see the matrix": Think about the intuition of each method and and make sure you can describe it intuitively.  When reading mathematical theorems, ask yourself lots of questions:  Do I understand this result and its relevance to the field?  How would this be applied in practice?  Do I understand the proof(s)?  Are there other ways to prove this?  If there are necessary conditions for a result, do I understand why they're necessary (i.e., why does the result fail without them)?  If there are sufficient conditions for a result, do I understand why these are sufficient (i.e., why does the result hold in this case)?
Jot down your own ideas: As you read the literature, jot down your own ideas for possible extensions and interesting questions that come out of this.  At first these might be quite ill-posed, but you can gradually refine them as you learn more.


You may if you want to, but it is not generally required. Of course, check your local regulations. It is recommended to plan on having an index or not when you start, rather than adding it later.

Indexes were not required in the past, though check historical local regulations.


Modify the page layout of application materials (i.e. A4 vs. Letter) when applying for jobs in multiple countries?

Question 1: When applying for jobs across several countries should application materials always be designed to meet the page layout norms for the particular job location?

I had never even considered doing this and I would not bother trying to change the paper format. If you do not change it, software will shrink the text to fit when it is printed. It might not look ideal but it is the content that matters. I can't imagine that anybody is going to hold the fact that you come from an A4 using country against you. If you do change it, probably nobody will notice.

  Question 2: Will materials even be printed?

I was just on a search committee. Every single member of the committee brought a laptop or tablet to the meeting. No printouts. When the shortlisted candidates were forwarded to the full department, I noticed that some people on the full faculty had printed out application materials. So, maybe?


Should I do a post doc? Good thesis but no papers (yet)

First of all, I know you are tired (been there, done that), but those papers must be published. This might be different on your specific field, but usually the thesis itself doesn't have much use, apart from being a requisite for the defence. If you don't publish your results, properly, it would be almost like you never did it at all. Like I usually say to my students, "if you did the research/wrote the paper all alone in the forest and nobody saw it, did you actually do it?"...

Second, postdocs are pretty much mandatory. Again, this might be different for your field, but, in general, you are expected to do a few years as a postdoc, specially if you want to be a professor in a reasonable research university... It similar to the internship part of engineering degrees/accreditation, IMHO. This is even more true in Europe, with shorter phd durations (3-4 years X 5-6 years in the US)..


How badly will a master's thesis plagiarism report affect my career?

Any answer will be opinion-based, so here is my opinion.
If you already got into a PhD program, just move on and focus on your current research. The odds are your upcoming contributions will be the key documents defining your career for the years to come. A master thesis, in my opinion, won't be really examined by anyone. Yes, sometimes you find a truly outstanding master thesis, but usually it is just a mildly original compilation made by a fledgling specialist, written with a sole purpose to prove that its author deserves a degree.
In your case the plagiarism you mentioned does not touch the core contribution. Too bad you copied some text verbatim without using quotation marks and endnotes. However, it doesn't invalidate your results, which are the main basis of your degree.
If you feel really scrupulous, I'd advise republishing the "corrected" version of the thesis -- at least, put it on arXiv. Probably, you have other flaws here and there, and if you believe your thesis is worthy, it might deserve a certain minor makeover. Just do it without much delay, and if someone ever questions your thesis, you'd be able to point out that there is a newer version long available, and there is little reason to peruse earlier texts.
A side note: your fault was overlooked both by your supervisor and the referees. It happens.


Create a website for adding supplementary material of a journal paper

Please use existing repositories when showing your supplementary data. Department websites die more often than we'd like.

Some options include:

Zenodo
Dryad
Figshare

See also https://www.nature.com/sdata/policies/repositories.


Is it insulting to call a full professor Dr. Firstname Lastname in a non-academic event program?

For most people, insult and offense comes more from lack of care and respect than from mistakes.  I would thus recommend the following procedure:

Prepare a draft, making your best guess for each speaker based on their web presence.
Send out the draft agenda to all speakers, saying that this is the draft and you'd like corrections in case you have made mistakes in how anybody is listed.  (You probably want to run the schedule by them anyway for other purposes as well.)
Make any corrections requested by the speakers.

This way, if you get anything wrong, you're doing it in private, acknowledging possible errors, and giving them a chance to correct you in private as well.  It will be a rarely sensitive person or an unusually significant mistake that will cause offense in this way.


How to convert a PhD Thesis written on published articles into a book?

I won't speak to the question of "how?" but will address "why?".
Writing a book is a long hard job, even when you are "only" concatenating published papers. Finding a publisher is as hard. So you should think about writing a book (now, or at any stage of your career) when you think you have something book-length to say that people will really want to read in that form.
That suggests (to me) probably not for you now.


Should I write about quitting a currently Masters program in a Motivation Letter?

In my opinion, from a US perspective, you should definitely mention your current Masters program and reasons for wanting to shift to a research-based degree.

The language you use in your question, and the brief length you allot to your current program and reasons for deciding on different path, are fact-based, honest, and positive.

The questions I have are:

Do you have interim grades from your current program that you can include in the letter?
Do you have a current professor who would be willing to discuss your talents and performance, and your promise as a student in a more research-based degree?

And finally,

How much time is left to finish your current program?  If it is a year or less, I suggest you just finish it. The process of applying and starting a new program will likely take most of a year anyway, and this way you will have the degree on your CV and your reasons for pursuing another Masters as a path to a PhD still hold.

I don't know about international universities, but in the US, most science and engineering schools award a Masters on the way to a PhD, it's pretty seamless.

Good luck with your studies either way, and on your future.


Not necessarily. Sometimes researchers take on new projects without additional funds, simply out of intellectual joy (or the prospect of another publication may already be enough of a benefit to them). But if funding is needed, then perhaps your advisor could likewise offer him- or herself to apply for a grant. The allocation of tasks (including the application for funding) is variable, and you need to coordinate it with your advisor first.

No, I do not see anything that speaks against such a collaboration. On the contrary, as another post says: 'Prominent world university rankings give bonus points to "university-industry collaborations", which is generally deemed to be highly valuable for fostering innovation (e.g. see this document from the Times Higher Education, some further evidence here, or this OECD report).'


Why aren't grant applications systematically published online, regardless of whether they are accepted?

Confidentiality is a real issue.  In an ideal world, ideas could be shared freely, and this would enhance the flow of knowledge and the progress of science and other research endeavors.  However, we live in a world with limited resources.  In particular, there is a shortage of grant funding.  Most grants do not get funded.

Consider the following scenario:  A researcher has some very interesting preliminary data, and they want to get a chance to follow up and do a more full study.  So they apply for a research grant from some agency.  If their proposal is not funded, but the content of the proposal is made available online, other researchers may troll through and pick up on the idea.  If another scientist with access to more resources sees the proposal and decides to do the follow-up work themselves, this robs the person who originally had the interesting idea and started the project of a fair shot at completing it and getting adequate credit for it.

Sometimes, having a good idea for something to study is the hardest part of the research process.  I personally have some ideas for projects that I do not want widely disseminated, because I would like to do them myself at some point, but I don't have the time and resources I need right now.  They do not involve urgent questions that really need to be answered, so there is no great loss if these avenues are not pursued promptly.  Thus I feel justified in keeping some of my best ideas confidential.


Do two lesser degrees ever equal a higher degree?

From an educational perspective, community colleges usually do not offer courses beyond a sophomore level. Therefore, the bachelor's degree will probably contain more depth than an associate's degree. For example, an AA in economics will probably stop with intermediate microeconomics, but a BA may include advanced courses in microeconomic theory.


Is it possible not to have a hypothesis in your thesis?

As a statistician, I'm inclined to say "no, you can't" as a short answer. Reason for this is simple: even in complete random datasets on average 5% of the correlations will be significant when tested in a model. So if you rely on only the data to make any kind of interpretation on association of variables, you're bound to publish false positives. This has been discussed for decades, eg this rather strong opinion of Ioannidis (2005) :

http://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.0020124

He says:

  Bias can entail manipulation in the analysis or reporting of findings.
  Selective or distorted reporting is a typical form of such bias.

If you don't formulate a hypothesis and still interprete the data, you're -probably unintentionally- reporting selectively. You select from the analysis those results that tell a story, and in doing so, you're likely to report something that isn't a solid association or relation.

That said, you don't always have to formulate a specific hypothesis. For example, if you compare multiple methods on efficiency, you don't have to hypothesize beforehand which one is going to be the best. But the statistical test you use for comparison, will imply a "null hypothesis" that there is no real difference between all methods. Also this is "formulating a hypothesis" merely by the choice of analysis tools.

And this is even more important to realize: you might not formulate a hypothesis explicitly, but the nature of the statistical tools you use to come to your interpretation, will imply a set of rather rigid hypotheses and assumptions. You need to be aware of those hypotheses and also of those assumptions.

Because that's something I see far too often: people not explicitly formulating a hypothesis, still interpreting results from a statistical methodology, but failing to realize that their data does not meet the assumptions of that methodology. And that invalidates your entire interpretation.

This problem is even more stringent when forecasting. If you use regression models, you should be aware that predictions outside the boundaries of the original data cannot be interpreted. The uncertainty on those predictions is simply too big. If you use spline methods, you can even get into trouble at the edge of your original data. So definitely in the case of forecasting I would write out both the goal of the research and what you expect the predictions to show, including the scientific reason why. Only in those cases you can use forecasts as some form of evidence for or against the expected relation. If you don't do that, your forecasting model might as well be a fancy random number generator.

So in conclusion: even if your research goal isn't necessarily a defined hypothesis, you still need to formulate the hypotheses you want to test before carrying out the actual statistical tests.

And in all honesty, writing down what you expect to see is always a good idea, even if it's only to order your own thoughts.


Let me suggest two things. First is that you ignore the rudeness and take what is in the reviews you got to improve the paper as best you can. In other words, standard practice.
But, when you resubmit, let the editor know that you have conflicts, beyond the paper, with individual A (by name) and that you don't believe they can give you a fair reading. Ask that the editor not assign them as your reviewer. I suspect that this is an unusual request (in some fields), but that it would be honored. The editor needs honest appraisals, unclouded by personal issues.


How to send electronic TOEFL scores to institutions?

Firstly choose "Order Score Reports, then select "TOEFL Services"

After that click the "Send Additional Score Report(s) to Institutions" and choose the test you want to send and then look up the institutions information. You will need to pay 19$ per report.


Can I submit my old PhD thesis to arxiv with the date set to its original submission date?

I don't think so.

The "proper date" for an eprint is the date you upload it to the arxiv.  If the arxiv allowed people to back date their work (by up to ten years!), then it would at best confuse and at worst totally ruin the use of the arxiv to sort out chronology and claims of priority.  So while I don't know that they don't allow this, I have never seen an example, and I hope that they don't.

What you can do, of course, is to include in the comments that this is your thesis from 10 years ago.  If you do that then everything seems clear.  If you are worried that your thesis appearing on the feed/list of new papers will cause it to get more attention....wait, isn't that why you are posting it to the arxiv in the first place?


What should a proper email signature look like for graduate students?

I'm not in academia, but my email signature looks like this:

If someone wants to know my name, it's sent in email headers and shows up at the top of the messages. If someone wants to know where I work, they can look at the part of my email after the @ sign.

And of course, if I'm contacting someone for the first time, I'll tell them who I am and why I'm contacting them in the body of the message, so there's no need to repeat it at the end of the message.

Here's an article similar to the one that convinced me to stop doing this. Basically, by including a signature, you make it harder to read an email. This is normally just annoying, but it becomes extremely frustrating in long email chains or mailing lists, since no one bothers removing signature when they quote people. So, save everyone the trouble and don't send it in the first place.


Paying for page charges after a grant ends

The way it works here in Japan, is that each professor has an amount of money called "discretionary spending", from there, they get money for these kinds of things. And is usual that if a professor has his name in the paper , he should use part of this money to pay for the submission.

That money does not comes form a grant, but the University's endowment, so I guess it depends on that.


At what age do professors stop taking new students?

There are no hard and fast rules for this. However, in general, the question is not so much time-after-PhD, but rather time before retirement. Most faculty advisors in the final stages of their careers stop taking students, so that they can wind their research groups down gracefully. Frequently, the last years before retirement will be spent writing and teaching, and mentoring a few additional students. The amount of time depends on the average career of a graduate student in the professor's particular discipline, but somewhere between three and seven years before retirement, the "wind down" will begin.


Coping with "survivors guilt" in Academia

Congrats on your new job! One way you might be able to turn these feelings into something positive is to use whatever influence your position affords to help the students or non-tenure track faculty in your department. You can't fix the limited availability of positions, or competition for them, but maybe you can play a role in making your department as supportive as possible for those experiencing stress from this situation.


Alternatives to supervisor for letter of recommendation

I am no expert on MBA admissions, but I believe they are looking for letters attest to qualities beyond the ability to do well in school, such as entrepreneurship, community service, leadership, and so forth. If your current boss--it sounds like that's what you mean by "supervisor"--is as weirdly hostile as you say, don't ask him for a letter. Look for other respected people in your network who can speak to the qualities MBA programs are looking for, such as administrators, elected officials, community leaders, or even clients.


Objectively speaking, is the opportunity cost of doing a PhD in STEM higher than it was compared to decades ago?

The opportunity cost could be calculated only ex-post. So if you take a 1000 PhD students and determine their total earnings 5 years after their education vis-a-vis the alternatives, says a software engineer. And do a statistical analysis, only then, could you come to a conclusion. Perhaps you can look for such data and do the analysis if you want to be rigorous.
But that might not really be highly useful because there will be outliers and most of the choices we make in life, assuming we are motivated to be successful, is to become an outlier. We make decisions to pursue higher degrees like PhD with varying goals.
Most of the PhD aspirants wish to find a career in education -universities and colleges - requiring to fulfil the eligibility criteria. In their case, there is no value in calculating the opportunity cost as that is the career path which suits them.
Another group of aspirants pursue a PhD with the hope of building something which can bootstrap their career in innovation and entrepreneurship. You build a very good idea in academia and launch it as a product. Google is one such example. Silicon Valley is filled with such instances. If successful, the opportunity cost is not high. If you fail in this goal and then get back to the industry there is a high opportunity cost-- with a good chance that your boss was your junior in high school.
There is another notable group of PhD aspirants who pursue a degree in the hope of migrating to a newly developed country with better living standards. The host country either runs the universities, more as a business, raking in billions of dollars in tuition fees and then letting these PhD students work in the industry -- where they do not really mind doing even jobs which have got little to do with what they did in their PhD. Again, in this case the opportunity cost is very low -- considering their objective.
Going deeper into your question, or rather now addressing your actual question, has the opportunity cost changed over time. The opportunity cost has, with time, reduced, imo. I have known students who extend their Master's thesis into PhD and finish the whole work in less than 4 years after their Bachelors. In Europe, the average PhD duration is increasingly tending to three years though it is still 7-8 years in the US. Naturally, the opportunity cost in the US is high but so are the opportunities.
You can see that the opportunity cost is not just a function of time but also the region of the world and the ability/goal of the PhD aspirant.


There are two aspects to this, one in your domain and the other outside it.

If you have a data set, assuming it is valid and accurate, you can analyze it an publish your findings. That is just science. Like any other study, your methodology is important and your conclusions must follow from the data.

But alleging fraud is a legal matter that should only be left to lawyers, courts, etc. It is not your proper role, even though your findings may be interpreted to imply fraud.

If you name companies at all, stick to facts, not allegations. Don't use legal terms, especially legally loaded terms that might lead to a charge of slander, whether justified or not. The company lawyers are better than any you could afford.

Facts, however, are facts, and can be reported and analyzed. Do that, but leave the legal implications to those better placed to follow up on them.

Let me try to be more clear. First, analyzing data seems to me to have no legal issues.

However, I warn the OP not to make statements that can be interpreted as allegations of misbehavior on the part of others. They may have an "action at law" against you if you do that and it will be expensive to defend your actions even if you are correct.

Let others form the conclusions from your research rather than making or implying accusations.

If legal authorities have some evidence of fraud they can act on it. That can bring the courts to bear, but the regulatory authorities have to act first. That would, perhaps, be a criminal matter and it would be out of your hands altogether. (Note that some improper actions handled by authorities are also civil, resulting in fines, rather than criminal. But still it is up to them to make the allegations and follow it up.)

If you make allegations and are sued, on the other hand, it is a civil matter and the courts are only involved in the adjudication of the dispute between the parties. But being sued is not without cost, even if, again, you are correct. If you allege publicly that a large company has committed fraud you may well be sued and the company probably has a highly qualified legal team that will do what it can to shut you up. If you are Jeff Bezos you can fight such claims since you can afford the best lawyers yourself. Otherwise it is a financial life wrecker.


Why is there so much need for hybrid journals which have the option to publish it for free or publish it with a fee

Highly related question: Why pay a fee to have your article (in a subscription-based journal) made open access when you can just put the preprint on arXiv?

  Why would I/University/professor pay for the paper to get published when it can be done without providing the fee? Why will the University pay such a sum however small it may sound to them to get my paper published when it could be done without paying for it?

This can be for a multitude of reasons. Perhaps you/the university/professor thinks, for ideological reasons, that their work should be freely available to anyone who wants to read it. Perhaps they had, in the past, tried to access someone else's paper which is very relevant to their work, but could not because of a paywall. Perhaps the funding agency that is funding the work has a policy where any publication as a result of the grant must be published open access. There is some evidence that open access articles are more widely read, and more widely read is loosely correlated with more frequently cited. And so on.

Of course you can also publish subscription. But note that subscription articles are not exactly free. They're free for you, but not for your university library. If everyone in the world published open access, there would be no subscription journals and the library would not have to pay subscription fees.

  Why would I care to write to the Editor to give me a waiver to publish my article when I know that there is an option to publish it for free? Maybe I will use the money for some other purpose.

If you're using a grant for this, you don't have a choice, because you are obliged to use open access. Aside from that, if your funds are fungible, then you're free to do whatever you want with them. Just remember that if you do not publish open access, it's not freely available to readers. If you want to make your paper freely available, you have to publish open access (or ask for a waiver).

  Last but not the least even if I have done a great research or path breaking work(which happens in rare cases) why would I take so much pain so that others can read my work for free? Are there really so many people in this world who care about my papers?

If people can't read your work, they won't know about whatever contributions you're making then. Your work could be lost. You don't know if there're many people who care about your papers, but you can be sure that if nobody can read your papers, the number of people who care will be zero (or maybe one, i.e. you).

There's one thing more thing I want to say, given your series of questions. Remember that open access fees are not necessarily (and in fact usually not) paid by you. If you go to your university library and ask them if they offer support for open access, they might say yes. That might make actually happens when you publish open access clearer. The library is, in principle, moving some money out of its subscription budget to pay for your open access.


Is it normal for adverts for US jobs to give much less information than European ones?

In Europe, at least in science, a postdoc is generally hired with specific funding to undertake a specific project. This might not be the case in the US, where lab heads will take on postdocs with a general idea of the area they will work in, but then it will be up to the postdoc to design their own research program.

Also note that the law around employment in the US is much less restrictive, so where in Europe an employee can call foul if asked to do something not in their job description, and an employer can only sack an employee if they prove to be below a what would reasonably be expected on a listed responsibility on their job description, these things don't apply in the US.


Ethics of not including a contributor as coauthor?

The contributor has not meet all the requirements of ICJME (cf. This question of mine) since they have not presumably been part of the writing process. As you have given them the opportunity  (assuming your emails went through) to participate, you have met your ethical requirements. That said, I would pick up the phone and call them and get a verbal confirmation.


Who can be my third reference for doctoral applications?

Don't be shy. While this advice works in a million context, it is especially relevant here. The only way to know if you will get a good letter, is to interact closely with senior people in the field, gauge how much they liked your participation in their classes/your work in their lab, ask them the letter, gauge their response, choose the one that answers more enthusiastically. Your first two choices were the most obvious, now you should try with other lecturers you had. You certainly did not have just one lecturer in your studies!

I was assistant professor in a research institution in my previous job, and can see several reasons why a lecturer might decide to write or not a letter for a candidate. You will never know them, you just have to ask, and use your social skills to predict whether it will be a good one.


What are some typical reasons for a professor to not list their publications on their school website

There are several reasons why this would be the case. The most prominent of which is simply they don't have the time to do it. Most institutions have departmental and faculty websites which contain such information (depending on how much the University/institute keeps up to date with it) and is managed by someone other than the professor.

Sometimes, the role of updating the website is relegated to lab members (postdocs/students/assistants) which may be people who don't know how to build or edit websites or aren't reliably updating them.

For example, I've been given reign over our lab's personal website (we have an official institutional one) but I have no idea how to code html or any other web-based programming. When trying to get personal statements or papers of note from lab members, very little will people actually reply with these details making the website partially filled out.

If you really care about the publications from a professor, look them up wherever your primary resource for articles is There's no hiding on there and I would be highly skeptical about it being an issue of 'wanting to hide their work'.


How do I ask whether I am going to be an author on a proposed research project?

Early. There is a fair number of questions here, because people had different expectations.

  Would it be a naive question to explicitly ask one of the members whether I would be an author on any papers before committing myself to research?

No. Ask about your possible contribution to the project and conditions (authorship, conference presentations, extra funding etc).

It's your time and expertise, so you have full right to ask what is the expected return. Asking for it does not mean that you lack passion - you just make professional arrangements.

BTW: When it comes to authorship, it is great to make such arrangements by e-mail or anything leaving a written trace. I never had any issue with it, but I know a few first-hand stories in which people were moved first->middle or even denied authorship. So, better safe (and safe in an non intrusive way) than sorry.


Contact programs about wrong dates for part-time research assistantship in college?

While it is unlikely to be a big deal for most purposes, it is best to be honest and clear. Send a note and update the CV.
Mistakes happen. We are human and are generally recognized as such. There might be a rare exception in which a correction is necessary, but not for most. Still, it is courteous, clean, and neat.


What should be put in the final slide when preparing teaching presentations?

Take a cue from TV. Pretty much every serial show I watch ends with "next time on..." It is simple, not prone to misunderstandings like trying to be funny, and actually serves a purpose of indicating what the students might look at before they come in for the next lecture. This is how I wrap up my lectures even though I do not use slides in the classroom. (I like to juggle multiple columns of coexisting text on a blackboard instead.)


Is it normal for a PhD supervisor having no PhD students staying in academia after their graduation?

The first thing to bear in mind is that only 3.5% of those that graduate PhDs will end up in faculty positions. If one takes on a student year year of a 30 year career, that means that on average each supervisor will have one student that eventually becomes permanent faculty. This makes sense, as each supervisor needs to replace themselves with one person to keep the academic population stable. If on average, 1/30 students will go on to be faculty, 0/12 is not particularly worrying. Also bear in mind that 12 years is a very short time to make it from starting a PhD to making faculty in many fields. In biology for example, I believe the average time is more like 15 years.
However, it's not quite as simple as this, as some supervisors do have many students who go on to be faculty, so it stands to reason that there are some supervisors who will have none over their whole career. Some of this will be random chance, but my feeling is that the variance is too high to just be accounted for by pure chance.
Things will also vary from discipline to discipline. In some disciplines, the industry options are very attractive, in others there is not much to do directly related to your PhD other than academia. If you are in a computing or engineering field, it is likely that there are so many options that are more appealing than academia, that an even larger number of students than average will leave academia for industry.
In conclusion: it is not necessarily a red flag that 0/12 students went into academia, when that is what you want, but it is obviously more comforting if they do have students that have taken that path.


Delay in work permit processing is affecting my work. How to address the gap in my CV? I am worried about my future prospects

I can't help you with your mental issues about loss of focus, but it would be good to keep in mind that you aren't alone. Everyone else currently studying for a doctorate or in a non-permanent position is in the same mess caused by things completely outside your control or influence. You aren't falling relative to anyone unless you give up. The "gap" will mean very little if anything. People will understand it because they (we) too are living through it.

What governments do about work permits is also outside your control. Make progress on the things you can control and influence.

See a counselor if you need to about depression, but be assured that people will take the current worldwide disruption in to account when things settle down. In some ways, you might even think of it as a respite from schedule demands since the delays are inevitable.

Also, you can't change past decisions. "... would have enabled ..." means nothing at this point. You are where you are. Make a schedule, get some exercise, take a nap, talk to a counselor, consult with your advisor, ... anything. But also relax. If the world ends it won't matter. If it doesn't then you will get back on track along with everyone else.

Have patience with yourself as with everyone.


How to write source information for tables if I'm using data from multiple sources?

The MLA Style Center now provides an answer to this very question:

Indicate the sources of your data in a note beneath the table or figure. If that is too cumbersome, give the sources in an endnote placed in the text that introduces the table or figure.


Recommendation Letter for grad school without academic connections

This is the sort of question that can only be answered correctly by an individual university. Some will interpret such rules very strictly, others not so much. You can, of course, inquire directly with either the admissions office or an individual academic department, giving your situation. The feedback you get should guide you and help you avoid some of the frustration.

However, as you do that, you can also try to re-establish the relationships you once had, in person if possible. You may be surprised and some of the people may remember you and wish to help. This reestablishment of old relationships is a good thing in any case and people may be able to guide you further.

The comment of user Stella Biderman about industry letters is also correct and will help in most cases.

Another avenue that might be open to you, however, is to actually approach a faculty member at one of the universities you would like to attend. You can most likely learn their office hours from an administration office. Show up, perhaps having first sent a letter stating that you will, and talk about what you would like to do. If you can interest them in you, they might be able to ease your way.

Faculty members are busy of course, so make any such meeting at their convenience and be ready to state your goals and make your case succinctly. Again, you are likely to get further advice, rather than a brush-off.

In general, I think that unusual situations don't fare well unless unusual measures are taken. If you just meld into the crowd you won't get any "special" consideration.

There are likely a lot of others in similar situations. Find a way to stand out a bit from the crowd.


Is it bad form to use the word “novel” when describing your own work in a paper?

Yes, I would advise against using the words novel or new for the following reasons (which overlap with what you already argued):

It’s almost impossible to fully ascertain that something is new. Even if you just discovered some outstanding and surprising effect like superconductivity, somebody else may have discovered it a month earlier and is just about to publish it.
At the same time, you are expected to have ascertained the novelty of what you are doing as well as reasonably possible and to document it in your introduction or literature review. To quote JeffE:

  The message you want to send is "I have read every paper on this topic, and none of them do this thing that I'm about to do."

If you have any reason to believe that what you are doing is not novel, you should either document this (e.g., “we tried to reproduce this experiment”) or not try to publish at all. Thus, there is never any reason to claim something is novel – it is implicit that everything you write that is neither common knowledge nor equipped with a citation is novel to your best knowledge.

The following memo by the American Physical Society (one of the most prolific publishers in physics) argues similarly:

  Physical Review adheres to the following policy with respect to use of terms such as "new" or "novel:" All material accepted for publication in the Physical Review is expected to contain new results in physics. Phrases such as "new," "for the first time," etc., therefore should normally be unnecessary; they are not in keeping with the journal's scientific style. Furthermore, such phrases could be construed as claims of priority, which the editors cannot assess and hence must rule out.


Changing supervisors in graduate program

The idea of a graduate (or PhD) program is to form the student into an independent researcher. This normally includes the liberty of the student to choose his own projects and research. On the other hand, the student also has to learn about funding, e.g. it might be that he only gets money if he works in As lab at least XX hours a week. This also counts as learning experience: If the student wants to work elsewhere, he might need to acquire new funds for it.

Regarding your question what of it is standard or not, that highly depends on field, country, university, even institution. Thus it would be best to ask your advisor, other students,... about how it is handled.


Are there any data repositories commonly used in conjunction with arXiv?

There are a couple of relevant options for this sort of thing. These include:

Figshare
Zenodo
Dryad
Dataverse
GitHub
Bitbucket

They each have a bunch of advantages and disadvantages, and they satisfy different use cases to different degrees, so have a good look and decide which one is the best fit for your needs.


How to write a statement of research interest for postdoc positions that already have a defineed research direction

One way is to write an SOP that is a bit more general then you would do otherwise, but not so general as to seem unserious. If you do it carefully, it can be an advantage. I think that an SOP too tailored to a particular position might not be taken seriously -- too good to be true. But don't go to the other extreme of suggesting that your interests are so broad that you don't/can't specialize as needed.

I wouldn't recommend this for positions that were widely different, but it might be good here, as you say they are related.

But, as you say, the direction of the lab is set and a post-doc isn't likely to change that. If your research interests are aligned, your "future research" ideas will probably fit as long as you don't overemphasize the specifics more than needed.

This is a Three Bears sort of problem. Too general. Too specific. No, just right.


Distinct Research questions in Phd research proposal?

It sounds like your proposal is for a PhD in technology of some kind, as such I can't tell you if the specific questions that you asked would work. However, I can share my own experiences so far. As a general rule, the easier your PhD questions are to research and answer, the better. For that reason, many people stick to one question. If there is more than one question in the proposal, they should be highly related. For example; in my own dissertation I am sampling approximately 30 schools across the country to determine if an anomaly that I discovered last year is universal, or if it is localized to that specific school (or possibly if it occurs in some areas but not others). Then, depending on the findings of that analysis, a secondary question becomes: what predictive factors determine those outcomes? In my case that will be easy to answer because I will have already taken those variables into account in order to control for them during the data collection phase. I'm not sure how much that helps, but in short I would avoid two questions unless they are directly related to each other.


Student registration fee at conferences for ex-students for work done as a student

You're not a student now

The fees are based on the status of the participants, not the status of the papers. Often, organizers will require some evidence of student status (such as a current student ID) in order to be eligible for the reduced price.

It may be reasonable to get the student fee if you're a student at the time of registration but graduate before the actual conference - as the process often takes multiple months, but if it's something earlier, then you're out of luck.


Will I get rejected because PI cannot show funding?

Actually, in the US it would be unlikely that your application would be rejected only for lack of funding. But you could well be accepted without funding if it comes to that and your background is strong enough.

In spite of it's association with Cornel, CALS is part of the New York State university system, so NYS rules apply to many things there.

But there may be other funding open to you than direct funding by the professor. You might be eligible for TA or RA employment. But you might also have to apply for that separately than for admission.

But work with the professor who will know all of your options.


Do all US schools provide the same access to e-journal resources?

Short answer is no.

Although EBSCO appears to be ubiquitous, the level of access you can find across ALL schools definitely varies. As undergrads at a community college, my classmates and I would occasionally visit nearby university libraries just to access their larger online databases. Not only did they subscribe to more databases, they also had greater levels of access than my home institution.

Community colleges may be somewhat of an outlier in this respect because of their typically limited funding/resources. Across other institutions-of-higher-learning, you can expect greater similarity in the databases provided at the general level. However, many institutions, or colleges within them, will have a specialty focus and will provide access to journals specific to that specialty. Those specialty journals are not available across all institutions, especially those with limited funding.