what are the best websites to do a Literature Review?

I tend to use what I call a bootstrapping method for doing literature reviews. I start with a paper that is relevant to the topic area. I then work backwards and forwards from that paper. I pull all the relevant papers that the paper cites and use a website (doesn't really matter which one) to find all the relevant papers that cite the paper. I then repeat the process for each of those papers. As my literature search is nearing the end, I try and look at the webpages of the key authors in the area to see if they published something obscure.

The reason the website does not really matter is that by going backwards and forwards you are leveraging the literature searches that were done for all the other papers. As you are not searching for key words, but rather by citations, the search engine is not as critical. What matters is if the relevant papers are published in places that the search engine indexes. If something is not indexed in the major academic databases, is not referenced by other authors, and was written by someone peripheral to the field, then, unfortunately, the work will probably get missed.


How can I add a DOI or link to my article on Google Scholar?

Yes, I agree with other posters that it is best to upload your paper to your website. Either post the full paper with title page, citation, etc., on a website within your institutional address, or on a known repository like a pre-print server such as https://psyarxiv.com.


Applying for a PhD with professor X, when my prior research is in a different field?

Do I have any good angle here?

That depends on what you want to achieve and how long you’re willing to take to achieve it.

  Fortunately, one of those people is Professor X (they contacted me unexpectedly saying that they liked my work, having evidently seen my code-in-progress). Great, right?

Is taking a short-term appointment with X an option? That will offer you a chance to work on your problem and get a reference from a world expert.


Differences between writing a report for a company and for an academic reader

Having written edited and supervised the writing of consultancy and similar reports to earn my living for many years, I am now getting used to writing for academics. The crucial point of difference is that a consultancy report demands decision and must be tailored to make it as easy as possible for the decision-maker, who may well not be an expert in the subject matter, to understand what you are saying he or she must do, and why. In contrast, an academic paper is intended to show other experts in your field how clever you are.

You need to find out if there is a house style with which you must comply. If not, I recommend the following approach.

In a consultancy report you must assume that the reader is very busy indeed and will not necessarily read all of it. You have to be very direct, right from the start. A busy reader will be asking these questions: What's the report about? What question does it address? What's the answer? Why is that the answer?

It's your job to answer them as soon as they occur to the reader. That means that you should avoid structures that postpone important material to the end, such as:

Introduction
Background
Terms of reference
what we did
Who we saw
Findings
Conclusions

Instead use a pyramid structure:

Situation: starting point, general area report is about. No more than a few sentences. Nothing new or surprising goes here. For example: Your present system is set up to make black automobiles.
Complication: What has triggered the consultancy study. Why you were hired. For example: Your sales are declining.
Question: That is the question that would come naturally into the reader's mind having read the situation and complication. For example: what can we do about it?
Answer: A few sentences that summarise your answer to the Question. For example: Start producing cars in a range of colours, for which the necesary technology can be acquired in six months.
Reasons. Why that is your answer, set out in a logical manner with increasing detail as the text proceeds.
All the stuff about terms of reference, who you saw etc. goes in appendices. References are most unlikely to be wanted.

Much more detail on this style of writing, that is widely used by leading international consultancies, can be found in various books by Barbara Minto.

Good luck.


GRE subject test- Biology or Cell/Biochemistry?

This is a question best answered by the admissions officers at the programs to which you want to apply. They will generally have recommendations as to which test they would prefer you to take. If there's a consensus that one of the tests is preferable to the other, that's the one that you should take.

(My particular sense on this is that Cell/Biochemistry is probably closer to what is expected for people in Computational Biology than the more general Biology exam. However, I am not a bio person, so I'm not speaking from a position of authority here.)


When should I contact potential supervisors for PhD in the UK?

Funding is a key issue. If you can get external funding then you will be snapped up, otherwise you will enter the competitive application phases for a finite amount of money allocated to whatever PhD projects are being offered by the universities you are interested in. You should spend some time on findaphd.com to see whats out there, in particular with attached funding, but not having funding immediately shouldn't stop you applying. At my institution, supervisors are required to approve applicants on the basis of their suitability - not whether or not they come with funding already in place.

So, contacting potential supervisors early is only to be in your favour. They will be interested in finding the next student to complete the project and your being keen, showing confidence and with some gusto will stand you as a good prospect - all other academic matters considered. Contacting them now before the heavy teaching/assignment/marking loads are underway is definitely the best foot forward.

  no publications to my name, with a possible but not guaranteed one coming in February, which I've heard may be an issue.

Sorry what would be an issue here? You are not even whats called an early career researcher yet, so why would it be expected that you have a publication list? I know some acheive this at Undergrad or Masters level, but publications are not a prerequisite at all. A bonus perhaps - but nothing else. In fact, I know of several PhD students who finish and go on to long post-docs and still don't produce papers until their second year of the post-doc. They do tend to produce several papers at this point though.

Final note on the cold call approach. Just be polite, express interest in any relevant works that the supervisor has been involved in i.e. "I read your paper on XYZ with interest and... it is relevant to my study because... etc.", and make sure you highlight your strengths, skills and experiences that are relevant to the position. Assuming this will be via email, dont forget to include an email signature showing your contact details and ideally send from your academic email account of your current institution.

All considered then, just go for it. There is nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Best of luck.


what is the best email type to request for Phd position

Answer the 5 W's: Who, What, Where, When, and Why.

Honestly my thought is skip the full introduction in the email. Instead, state that you are a phd student, and you believe the position fit in with your cv and you wish to have a in person meeting/or phone meeting to discuss this. Keep the email short and sweet. Once you meet the professor, discuss with him.


Online vs hard copy, which texts are students more likely to read?

This recent literature review goes over some of the research on print versus screen reading.

It looks like in real-world situations there are no significant differences in grades between e-textbooks and print textbooks even though some laboratory studies show that content reading works better from print and that some students tend to prefer print.

In contrast, course reserve books are more likely to be accessed if they're e-books rather than print books.

Practically, it may be worthwhile to give students a "tour" of the ebook to make sure they know how to use it, and/or to design quizzes or activities that require students to know/use the textbook material.


How can I make up for weak grades while applying for a masters?

I would look for a purely taught program (i.e., no research component) terminal masters program and demonstrate that you can, and expect to, self fund. The expectations of self funded students on terminal masters programs are very different from masters programs designed to feed into PhD programs. I would also target smaller programs where applications are looked at more throughly. The US system relies on standardized tests. Take the GRE and a subject test and do well (really well). Finally, think about why you did poorly in you undergraduate studies and what has changed since then. Then figure out how to express that in your statement of purpose.


Discovered a paper very late into my research - what now?

It's just one paper. Papers in academia conflict quite often, sometimes with reasonable explanation.

What you should do depends a lot on the nature of the conflict. At a minimum, you should address the paper's arguments in your literature review and why you think your dissertation will find different results, or why the paper doesn't apply, or why you think parts of the paper are relevant but other parts are not, or what have you.

If the paper reveals a much more substantial error in your argument, you may have to rework sections of your argument or tweak your approach.

But the discovery of one paper is very unlikely to torpedo an entire dissertation project.


Are special degrees just an advertisement?

I will answer this part of the question:  "when you apply for PhD in USA?"

Faculty in the USA know very little about Australian degrees and Australian universities.  They will only appreciate the difference between degrees if you explain it to them in your application.

To be eligible for an American PhD program, someone with an Australian Bachelors will need an honours or a masters, because three year degrees are not sufficient.  Expect to need to explain what an honours is, and that it is not like a UK honours.


How does one cite a book series/sequence?

The Purdue MLA site provides a recommendation for how to cite an entire television series, which is essentially identical to citing a unified work: instead of naming an episode, one names the series as a whole, and the date shifts from a single point to a range.

By analogy, then, to cite a book series, one should simply use the series name as the book title, and list the range of publication dates, e.g.,

@book{LOTR,
 author = {J.R.R. Tolkien},
 title = {The Lord of the Rings},
 year {1954--1956},
 ...


What do top Ph.D. program admissions in Computer Science think of students who worked after undergraduate?

I work at the first "etc." in your list of CS departments, and I regularly evaluate graduate admission applications.

Rather than guess at the answer, I looked through my department's actual Fall 2019 PhD applicant database, and read the faculty comments on the applicants I found with degrees granted more than five years ago.  The non-traditional applicants that we offered PhD admission all had most or all of the following features:

They had excellent academic records from strong undergraduate programs (but not necessarily in computer science).
They did not have embarrassingly low test scores.
They had significant recent course work in computer science, typically as a non-degree student, with excellent performance.
They had strong reference letters from academic sources, either their old professors (who still remembered them) or from more recent instructors from non-degree classes.
Most importantly: They had worked in a research capacity during their time outside academia, either within their company or collaborating with academics.

(The first four points are not that different from successful traditional applicants.)

Non-traditional applicants that missed one or more of these features were viewed with more caution.  In particular, some otherwise strong non-traditional applicants without recent CS coursework (or equivalent work experience) were recommended for admission to our MS program instead of directly to the PhD program.  Again, this is not that different from traditional applicants.

So here's my advice: If your industry job does not have a significant research component, you are probably better off applying to MS programs first, as a stepping stone to a later PhD.  (Keep in mind that there are two types of MS programs in computer science: course-based/terminal/professional programs, and research-based/thesis programs.  You want the latter.  All online master's programs are the former.)  Even before shifting back to graduate school full-time, you should carve out some time to take one or two advanced courses as a non-degree student, and to interact with the instructors enough that they can serve as good references.

Always remember: The main thing that PhD admissions committees at top CS programs are looking for is compelling evidence of research potential.  As Buffy says, being a code-monkey at Microsoft or Twitter won't give you that.


Is the Journal of Data Science still alive?

It seems unlikely that a definitive answer would be available unless the site happens to host a member of the journal's editorial board.

However, their publication follows a January - April - July - October pattern. It's now May, and their last published edition was in January, which means they have missed at least one issue. However, the January 2014 issue also announces a new editor, so they may simply have a disrupted schedule without being "dead".

So I'd say "Not healthy, but possibly still alive". Another missed issue in July would be a pretty negative sign. Alternately, you could try contacting the journal to find out?


Do professors starting at a school in the US in the future have any say/influence on the decision process for that particular round of admissions?

As far as I know, in most schools there is a committee made up of professors and administrators that decides on which students get invited for interviews (or gets offer letters). While the committee members may take your interest into account, I do not think that the newly recruited professors would be part of this committee, so they likely wouldn't be directly involved in the process.
However, again depending on the university, the committee may ask different faculty members to review students and I assume newly incoming faculty might be included in the process. And even if the new faculty may not be an official reviewer, the committee may still reach out for their opinion.
So I'd say it won't hurt to include the new professors in the 'faculty of interest' category, but I would not have this be my only choice--just in case that at his university incoming faculty member opinions are not considered.


Studying for a master's in Computer Science after a bachelor's in Physics

Given you can get a first in your BSc in Physics I think it is OK to move. You have a strong written indicator that you know your Maths for an industry person. In addition, you can legitimately claim you left because you liked something else more rather than you leave suspicions you left because you could not handle it.

Having said that, I would personally stick for an MSci in Physics because: 1. It is significantly less common than CS and 2. a Mathematics/Physics education is much harder to acquire later in life (To put it bluntly: People don't catch-up on their PDEs). You say you have the opportunity for a year-long software development project. This is very good and gives you a great foot-hold for future SW development work.

Finally it is important to note that "a software related position within the information sector of the space industry" is a rather broad thing. If you want to do information security, image recognition or something equally specialized you should definitely focus on a specialized MSc. If you want to do simulations, reliability, controls, etc. actually sticking to your MSci might be a better thing (given you know how to code :) ).


How do I ask a professor whether his seminars & lectures will be available to students from other departments?

The answer to your question is easy. Simply ask:

  I am very interested by your lectures. Can I attend them as a student in the politics department?

The professor, however, is probably not the best resource to answer your question, especially if you want to enroll in the course. You should enquire at your future department what is allowed and what is not. Rules can vary between departments and programs.


Can the chair of a conference's panel be reported to the organizing institution?

Yes, you can complain. There is no reason not to if you are dissatisfied even if all of the prior expectations are met. But the organizing body may do nothing or it might just not ask that session chair in the future. There is probably nothing that can be done in the case you cite unless you are willing to contact the presenter.
But that is also something that is acceptable. Perhaps you will both get access to the slides skipped and get any questions answered.


Is there any limit to the amount of data that can be taken from a research paper for writing a review paper?

Plagiarism, according to Marriam-Webster, quoted here:

  to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own
  to use (another's production) without crediting the source
  to commit literary theft
  to present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source

From your description, it seems you are not committing any of these offenses. Review papers necessarily report large amounts of work and results from other researchers and are therefore, in a sense, derivative. This isn't plagiarism, as long as the sources are painstakingly referenced and acknowledged (as you do). The originality of a review consists in synthesising the existing body of work, identifying different strands in it, examining present shortcomings as well as best practices, and suggesting further research at the cutting edge.


It depends on what you want, and can, get out of that conference. I am from sociology, and in sociology proceedings do not count as publications. So I do not care whether I were in one or not. I heard that in other disciplines this is very different.

I attend conferences to network, to get inspired by others, and to get feedback from others on my own work. Networking happens at the breaks, and to get inspired I go to other talks and posters. So for those it does not matter whether I present a talk or a poster. For getting feedback I found that posters allows for a much more direct interaction with the audience. So even though they have lower "status", I found presenting posters often more fruitful then giving talks.


How should I respond to someone's research "elevator pitch"?

what questions are best to ask them to keep the conversation going after they have given this spiel when I am a novice in the field?

You're overthinking this. Pretend it's a conversation between human beings: do you have a question about what they said? Ask it. Don't you have any question or you find their research topic utterly boring? Change topic of conversation. Exactly as you would do with anyone else.

Summer schools frequently have students with different backgrounds and from different countries; you will be all in the same situation, and for most of you it will be a new place: there will certainly be things around you that can be subject of conversation.

As for your last question:

  I don't feel that I know my own topic well enough yet to explain it properly in return- so what could I say instead?

Tell the truth: That you're going to start your PhD on topic X, that you like it for reason Y, but you still don't know much about it because you just started and that you will be super-happy if you can meet someone there working on the same topic.


If it's sufficiently important for you to list the courses taken, and a transcript may be sent, then it's probably best to list the original course titles. Any summaries of the content should be placed as a comment afterward. For instance:

  Widgets and Doohickies (Whatchamacallit Theory).


How often is a bad review from the reviewers due to the potential competition with your work?

In my experience:

If the editor is fair, it doesn't matter terribly much.

The decision to reject a paper is not taken by the reviewers.  The decision is taken by the editor. The role of the reviewers is to give a recommendation, upon which the editor takes a decision.  If a reviewer recommends rejection (or acceptance, for that matter), the editor is free to ignore this recommendation (this has happened to yours truly).  If the editor suspects that a reviewer recommends rejection because of potential competition, or for any other improper reason, then the editor should not weigh this recommendation heavily.  This is one of the reasons why there should always several reviewers — at least in my field (atmospheric remote sensing), I've only come across cases with two or three reviewers.

Secondly: The editor knows who the reviewer is.  If a scientist makes a habit of recommending rejections for improper reasons, he or she will get a reputation among editors.  Editors are usually well-known colleagues in the field, so you really don't want to be known as the envious guy (or gal) who will reject major works of research because it was not invented here.  In the best case, they won't be asked as reviewers any more.  In the worst case, it may harm a scientific career.

Perhaps the scenario described above is somewhat naive, but in those cases where I've either been a reviewer, or been corresponding author, it would apply.  The same for open review papers (such as the geophysical journal, published by EGU, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics).  It might be different in other fields, this I don't know.  I hope that even in other fields, the editor does more than copy-paste and blindly follow whatever reviewers recommend.


How critical is TA experience in grad school if I want to pursue a career in academia?

Two years is probably enough, especially since your two years' of TAing went so well.  You may want to concentrate on demonstrating yourself as a researcher now.  However, if you have time to spare, I'm sure you could offer your services to the person in your department who coordinates TAs.  As I probably don't need to tell you, you'd want to keep your advisor in the loop.

Consider that a fellow or research assistant is sometimes pressed into service to lecture in place of the advisor in case s/he has to miss one or more classes.

When you feel ready, you could expand on that idea, and ask someone (probably your advisor, but it could be someone else too) if you could be a guest lecturer for a particular topic in a particular class.


Is it worth to split my book into articles and publish them individually?

In order for your articles to be published in a good mathematics journal, they will have to be peer reviewed. Peer review followed by acceptance is the only real mechanism that will lad to anyone taking notice of your work. Serializing a book this way may give you a good chance to get traction with the mathematics community and to validate your ideas. Just putting a book up on your website is unlikely to achieve any of your goals because the community has no reason to trust you. Peer review is a mechanism to weed out bad ideas and highlight good ones. It's not perfect, but it is frequently helpful in this regard and is the way the modern mathematics community works.

Publishing your work as a book on your website could be an obstacle to publishing it in a journal. You generally have to transfer copyright or give some sort of license to the publisher that guarantees them some way to make money off your work by selling offprints or downloads of your articles. Some journals don't like it if there's any preprint versions floating around out there that are too close to their version. Fortunately mathematics is a heavy user of the arXiv, and so certainly pre-review copies on there (or Github) are less likely to cause a problem with the journal. Read the author agreement and copyright transfer/license requirements of the journal you'd like to submit to before putting things out on the web. The arXiv is well known in the mathematics literature, so you'd probably have better luck, more visibility, and less problems posting your articles/book there instead of Github.

BTW, LaTeX errors don't usually lead to rejection, resubmission, and re-review, they are usually just fixed after review. Hopefully your article does get published in the end, but something seems fishy about the details of your story.


What kind of work is expected in Masters dissertation for admission to PHD in Number Theory in Europe

I think the most important thing is that you do well by the standards of your own institution and that you get good letters of recommendation from professors there.

Note that standards for a masters degree vary around the world. In some places very little research is required and the degree is based mostly on coursework. The "thesis" might be little more than an intelligent summary of some subfield. Perhaps something like a literature review for a doctoral dissertation. Other places the requirements are more research directed. While published papers are required in some places, it isn't universal.

But, it is in the nature of mathematics that if a research program is strictly time limited then what can be expected is also, necessarily, limited. Some problems remain unsolved after 100 years. Insight can't be scheduled.

Then, the question is, how will an admissions committee in a given place, say Europe, evaluate candidates from such a wide variety of programs and backgrounds.

Normally, it isn't a question of counting papers. Normally, it isn't any single thing. The admissions committee will be looking at what they hope is a complete record that indicates both the necessary background and a high likelihood of success in a PhD program at their university. Lots of things contribute to that. If you have done a dissertation, it will be a plus. If you haven't, but have done other "interesting" and relevant things, then those things will be a plus.

In the US this would be much less of a problem, of course. But, flexibility is required everywhere or a university would be forced to exclude too many good candidates based on things that matter less than qualities such as demonstrated focus, hard work, preparation, and potential.

Do good work by the standards of your own university, even if it isn't yet in the narrowly focused field you want to study for the PhD. Develop some insight, generally, into mathematics and especially number theory. Get good letters of recommendation.


How to deal with a setting where some students come to synchronous class unprepared?

This is the online version of the flipped classroom, of course. But, I suspect that a lot of your students aren't familiar with the concept or how to behave. Like most everything else, you need to teach them what their responsibilities are. Probably they are most used to being "told things" and then working on their own. But that won't work here.
One possibility (the stick) is to hold a quiz at the very start of each synchronous meeting, based on the readings. Another is to start out asking individual students to respond to a question of yours. This could be at any time during the class.
But you should also probably publish a sheet that describes the expectations and what will occur (and what won't) in the online sessions.
To put a bit of carrot along with the stick, you could make the quizzes count "extra" toward their grades, so that answering correctly add something, but incorrectly doesn't penalize them. This works with the more motivated students, of course.
But the normal flipped classroom is normally a problem solving session where the problems are based on the previous readings/videos. These normally form the basis for a part of the grade, perhaps substantial. The face sessions aren't just for questions, but might begin that way.
But you probably need to make "coursework submission" more regular, so that it doesn't just come at the end. Students are busy and will ration their time and effort within the parameters they see. Tighten the parameters to see different behavior. Whether they "like it" or not is less important than if they learn something.


Submitting journal version of an article while conference version is still in review

As a general rule, as long as you are honest with the editor and reviewers, you're OK:

Make it clear in your cover letter that you are submitting an extended version of a paper that is currently under review at a conference. Also clarify this anywhere else in the submission process where you are asked whether this submission is an extended version of an existing publication.
Submit a copy of the conference version together with your journal manuscript, so that reviewers and editors can evaluate the new contribution. Note on this copy that it is currently under review.

Some journals have a policy specifically covering this case. For example, IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications:

  It is also possible to submit the journal and conference version at the same time.  Or the journal version can even be submitted first. The journal version should not have appeared, however, at the time of submission of a conference version of that paper.


How do I ask for a reference letter from a professor I do not want to
  work with?

You can write a short email along these lines:

  Hi Bob,

  As you know I am intending to apply for a PhD at X, Y and
  Z universities and was wondering if you would be willing to write me a
  reference letter for my applications?

  If so, are you free to meet at [time/date/location] to discuss my
  application plans in more detail?

  Thanks,

  Farhad

If he says yes (which I am sure he will), you can give him more details of the places you want to apply to, the topics you are interested in and the people you are interested in working with. He may even be able to give you advice on the best places to apply for such topics.

Don't worry about hurting his feelings-- as you say, he is an adult. Furthermore, professors are very used to having students in exactly this situation, and it's perfectly fine for your interests to change over time. It happens. In fact, it's actually better that you have the maturity to recognise this change rather than working on a topic that doesn't interest you because you feel some kind of obligation to stick with that professor.

As for the investment of time and money into you-- if he really cares about you and your career I'm sure he'd be just as happy to see that investment paid off when you get a great PhD under someone else's supervision instead of his. If he doesn't care about you and your career-- well, you're dodging a bullet by leaving his supervision.

An addendum to describe my personal experience in a similar situation: I had a great supervisor for my Master's degree and would have been really happy to continue for my PhD with him. However, he encouraged me to apply to other places anyway and I was accepted to a bigger department at another institution with much more work going on in my specific field of interest.

He advised me to move rather than stay with him and he was right: working on a topic I'm really passionate about in a lively department is far better than sticking with the familiar in a small, inactive group, even though I got on with him really well.

Good luck with your applications.


Investigate with your potential advisor, director of graduate studies, or chair (in this order, for ease of everybody's life) the possibility of getting a co-advisor from the physics department, provided there is someone with an expertise on the topic. You may even look beyond your institution, but that would require some serious argument.

One of the comments to the question mentioned the issue of "labels" of degree.
I don't see it being an issue for industry jobs. Many companies routinely hire physicists and computer scientists alike, and ask them to do similar jobs.
If you want to get a faculty position in a physics department, then perhaps you may have an issue if you have a CS degree, but you may be able to play the game by publishing in both CS and physics venue.


Signed up for conference, having second thoughts

I'd like to add several items to your list of pros:

Dissemination. You will make your work known to a whole new field of possibly interested people. If you're going there, I presume there is an interesting application in sight. Possible follow-ups. Lots of opportunities. Interdisciplinary collaboration. To be avid and down-to-earth, lots of citations might await. :)
Presenting experience. The best way to improve your presentation skills is giving talks. This is a good opportunity.
Connections It's always good to get to know people in academia. You might need to send them a quick e-mail with a question on their area of expertise. You might one day be looking for a post-doc job and they might be offering one (even if it's a position for an applied mathematician in a geology department). You might find a good idea for an interdisciplinary research project and apply for a grant.
Learning new things Yes, you will learn new things listening to the other talks, even if it's a different field. You might find a new related problem that you can solve. You might learn more about the applicative background of the problem that you are studying. You might find an example that looks great in the introduction of your next paper.
Tourism. When will you be able to visit again that far-away country? True, you won't see much if you are stuck in a university or a conference center, but that's still a great life experience in my view. One of the parts I enjoy the most of the academic career is being able to travel and see the world.
Money availability. Your advisor says that there is money for the trip, this time. My advice is go for it. More troubled times might come in future.
Trust your advisor. (S)he suggested you to sign up, so he thinks it's a good idea for you to go. You should trust him, it's the person who best knows the conference, your work and your situation.

I've been doing some interdisciplinary research lately. It's hard at first, but fascinating and productive once you enter it. There is a big entry barrier in getting to know each other's field and learning to use the same language, but there are lots of interesting results to gather just by putting together the ideas and methods of two different fields.

EDIT: added "trust your advisor"


Should I submit my paper to a different journal after not receiving any acknowledgment for five months?

Give them another week, then decide.

Sending two messages within one week may be considered as pushy, I would try to avoid this. However, if you have serious concerns about the status of the paper it may be justified nevertheless. Whether or not your concerns are serious depends on the history so far: if you have not received any notification at all (via any submission system or similar), then maybe the paper actually got lost.

Personally, I would have contacted the editor earlier since in my field the review duration is 2-3 months -- of course, this may be different in your discipline. Some journals state certain statistics on their web page, such as the time from submission to the first decision. This gives you a hint what time spans you can expect until your paper is reviewed.


Coming from Europe, can I work while doing a Master Thesis in USA?

Most often, visitors to the US study under an F1 visa.

F1 visas do not permit off-campus work during the first year, and after the first year off-campus work is limited to work related to the degree; on-campus work is allowed but limited to 20 hours per week.

Schools you apply to will be familiar with having international students attending; you should direct questions about employment opportunities to the programs and schools you may apply for; any larger institution likely has a dedicated office for international student needs and questions.


What to do when visa application requires disclosure of the titles of articles I have reviewed?

I believe that this sort of disclosure can be ethical, especially to a neutral third party, and when only discussing papers that have already been accepted and/or published elsewhere. (Papers still in the process somewhere else might be different.). Anonymity of referees isn't a deep ethical good in its own right - it has very clear and specific reasons, and this doesn't seem like a relevant violation.

Consider the reasons why referees are often given anonymity: 1) to allow referees to give honest feedback without fear of (real or imagined) retaliation, 2) to encourage authors to engage with the referee's arguments, not their personality or status, 3) to avoid the appearance/possibility of quid pro quo reviews, and 4) to ensure that broader perceptions of the article are not influenced by knowledge of its referees.

None of these problems would occur by giving the names of articles to a (I'm going to assume) completely uninterested immigration clerk. If you want to be very conscientious, google your contact to make sure they aren't doing immigration processing to make ends meet while an adjunct professor :)


Getting rid of first degree to apply for second

Don't throw out something you already have. If your goal is to do research and write some papers, then you can in essence do that in your spare time. If you're good, people will want to collaborate with you and mentor you whether you're a graduate student or not. In other words, I don't see the reason why you want to go through graduate school a second time -- having to take all of the classes again, take qualifying exams again, etc. All of that  doesn't help you in your goal, for which you are already qualified because of your previous PhD.

Of course, it may be that you want to go back to be a grad student because it usually also includes a stipend, health insurance, etc. But you can get that from other sources as well: You could do research in your spare time, or simply have a part-time job so you have more time for research. A good part-time job may in fact pay no less than a grad student salary.

A particularly useful choice for a part-time position would, of course, be within a math department itself. For example, you could seek to be a lecturer in a math department, where you teach let's say half of the usual load, for half the salary, leaving you the other half of your time for research and paper writing. This would also give you access to professors with whom you may want to work, and you would likely be able to audit courses for free if you're already a member of the department.


Do you spell out Thm., Prop., Eq., Ch. in mathematical papers?

It is a matter of style. I would say yes, expand them. In my opinion, authors tend to over-abbreviate making documents harder to read. For instance, I can't work out what you mean by Ch. (Conjechure?)


What author position on publications is best for early-career academics in physics: First or last author?

In general, I think last author. I'm pretty close to your field, though at a similar career stage, so I'm not the person making the decisions on your grants, so take this with that in mind! I'm also going to answer for the US, since that's the culture I know best.

In my experience, biophysics follows the cond-mat tradition of last author = group leader. Therefore, you being last author with a PD/grad student first author could indicate that this is a project that you led, and a student that you mentored, and that your PD advisor acknowledges this as "your" project. If there are only two authors, I think it doesn't matter as much. Being last could mean that you were the project lead, or that you left the manuscript in such a bad state that your PD advisor had to do most of the editing and then put him/herself as first!

I think the strongest sign of independence would be: your trainee first and you last. The worst sign would be you first, your PD advisor last (i.e. you are still just following their instructions, rather than developing your own topics.)

One caveat: that analysis assumes you're at an R1 or otherwise have students/PDs who can contribute first-author-level effort. I've also seen: trainee moves to a position at a non-R1, and doesn't have graduate students, but continues a collaboration, and usually publishes papers with former PD first, then UG trainees, and PD advisor last. I don't know how common that is, though, and if you're in that situation, it might be worth mentioning to your department chair that that's how it works, and that you are not just salami-slicing your PD work.


Can I publish a survey as an academic article?

I note a couple of things. Your paper wouldn't be about Engineering per se. But it might be related to Engineering Education. This would be the case if the paper is exploring gaps in education or ways to improve it.

Note that "education" here doesn't necessarily mean formal education. It could be about how new techniques percolate through the practitioners and how that can be improved (Training, workshops, ...)

I don't believe that IEEE has a SIG (special interest group) dedicated to education, but such SIGs normally have conferences and publish proceedings and maybe journals.

In particular ACM has an education sig (SIGCSE) that is very active, holds several annual conferences in the US and abroad and publishes conference proceedings, though no formal journal (informative newsletters, etc. only). Some education related things show up in Communications of the ACM. However, the ACM is almost entirely software oriented, whereas IEEE, while concerned with both, focuses more on the hardware side.

With no specific Education SIG at IEEE, you may not find a comfortable resting place for your paper there.


How strong of an obligation does an advisor have to attend his/her Ph.D. students' graduation?

Obligation? Unless through your institution's academic responsibilities there is a requirement to attend, then none.

However, if you equate it to being on par with missing your own child's wedding, then I think you've answered your own question.

You only get one 'first Ph.D. student'.


Is there an RSS feed for academic jobs published on Euraxess?

The new RSS feed URL is https://euraxess.ec.europa.eu/job-feed (given by Support team over email)


Why do sites that host papers not have a comments section for each paper?

There are a few third-party sites where you can do this. For instance, https://paperhive.org/ and https://scirate.com/. None of them has a large user base, at the moment. There used to be more (http://www.arxaliv.org/, https://selectedpapers.net/) but they seem to be down.

(Disclaimer: I am a friend and a former colleague of one of the founders of Paperhive.)


Why are math faculty made to do research as mostly they are useless work?
You never know what is "useless" or not!

There are plenty of teaching universities where the faculty have a higher teaching load with little to no research expectations. Also, large research universities often have teaching faculty who primarily teach.


Conversion of GPA from scale of 10 to 4 (India)

Just provide the official evidence of your results, and perhaps the topics covered in the subjects (such as the syllabi).
Then the university will make their own evaluations based on their knowledge of their own courses and experience.


What is the difference of a BA/BS in Computer Science for obtaining a Ph.D?

There is no difference. There is no global standard for what qualifies as a BS and what qualifies as a BA; it's entirely up to the university.  There is no way to tell from the letters on your diploma how broad or rigorous your degree program is.

Computer science programs in the US, at least in engineering colleges, are accredited by ABET. Those accredited programs tend to give Bachelor of Science degrees. But CS accreditation is relatively new, and neither graduate scihools nor employers really care whether your degree is accredited (except for some government jobs which require accredited degrees by law).

What does matter is which classes you took, and how rigorous those classes are (or appear to be, based on publicly available course descriptions/materials).

  If the degree type doesn't matter, what are the positives/negatives of getting a PhD with an BA/BS.

The only advantage of getting a PhD with a BS instead of a BA is that you have one more S in your CV and one less A. This is also the only disadvantqge.


Can you abbreviate the title of the Proceeedings of the IEEE?

The part you quote does not refer to the name of the Journal but to the vol. ##, no. ## section of the citation and is applicable to those earlier than 1988.

So the 1981 citation would be

IEEE Trans. Automat. Contr., vol. AC-26, no.1, pp. 1–34, Jan. 1981.

while a citation from the same journal past 1988 would be

IEEE Trans. Automat. Contr., vol. 40, no.1, pp. 1–34, Jan. 1995.

The exception to the Proc. of IEEE applies here, as it never had an abbreviation in the volume and it has always been:

Proc. IEEE, vol. 11, no. 3, pp. 1-11, Jan. 1978.

The example they provide is correct.


Seeking career advice on transitioning to work/postdoc in a new country after a PhD

First let me express my sympathy for having to endure the brutalization Greece has been undergoing by Capitalism generally, and the EU, Germany and the banks particularly. It saddens me to learn that academics have to move out across the globe to avoid material want.

My background for the sake of this answer: I'm a post-doc in Europe, and I moved out of my country a while after concluding my PhD. I differ from your case in that I'm in Computer Science, and I worked in industry for 3 years between my PhD and my post-doc; and my current research does not continue what I did in my PhD.

To the point, though:

The fact that you only speak English (in addition to Greek) should not dissuade you from considering moving elsewhere. This is true even for your girlfriend, but is definitely true for you as an academic. Academia is much more accommodating to people who don't speak the local language (although I guess it might not be as cosmopolitan in Zoology as it is in Comp Sci; can't say for certain).

Specifically, some European cities have large numbers of expatriates,  patriated immigrants, or migrant/guest workers, who don't speak the local language - and the most common language they're likely to use is English. Plus, you have Greek expat communities in a bunch of places. So Britain is not at all your only option. As an extreme example, I live in Amsterdam, at which - so I'm told - 1 in every 4 residents is not Dutch-born. Just tomorrow there's a large Expatriate fair.
With apologies to the British, I know that the UK has cut funding to academia tremendously over the past several years. In some places, entire departments are closing. I might be overstating this since I don't follow UK academic affairs much, but that's what the rumors say. Plus, now there's Brexit, so Britain is likely to lose access to some EU research budgets.
Try to find a place to work rather than a country or region. Figure out which universities, research centers, or zoos (?) have activities / research groups which you believe you could be part of, and apply to them. Yes, all of them, or at least many of them. Some will not reply, some will reject you outright, some will be indecisive, and some will interview you.

When you have one or more concrete job offers, your perspective will change quite a bit. You might decide not to accept, but at least you'll have a good idea of what you're giving up (which means you'll need a good idea of what you're giving it up for).
You're in a very stressful place right now, but realize that the fact that you're under stress is clouding your judgement and may lead you to the wrong choice. I remember how stressed out I was during my period of unemployment at the end of my PhD when I was no longer had the pseudo-salary (a.k.a. research stipend) coming in; and when I wasn't sure I would find work, and what kind, and thinking about my limited savings being eaten away every day. Not a fun experience. But - try to think about it this way: Suppose your future self has loaned your current self a relatively large sum of money. Now you have a(n imaginary) financial cushion; use it to be more patient and try to choose the best option for you and your spouse, career-and-life-wise. Granted, you can't know in advance what that ease, but you must allow yourself a bit of breathing space.

Remember that while moving to another country takes time and effort, and is quite stressful - if it doesn't work out, it's not the end of the world. I'm going to move on after my current post-doc to someplace else (haven't figured out exactly where yet). The second time you do you'll be a lot less stressed out than the first.
Another point regarding looking for employment: You need to contact specific researchers, as in people, no less, or even more, than sources of funding. And even if someone can't/won't hire you they're not unlikely to give you good advice.

On that note, have you talked to your PhD advisor? To faculty you've collaborated with on research? They could point you in some directions and/or put you in touch with their colleagues abroad (in Britain or elsewhere).
If you have more specific questions about life abroad as an expat, in the UK (you do mean Britain, right? Not North Ireland I'm guessing) - head over to expats.stackexchange.com which is another useful site on this network.
Have you thought about short/mid-term employment as a professional Zoologist or Biologist, rather than a researcher, outside of Academia? In the equivalent of what we in Engineering disciplines would call "the industry"? That's also a kind of an option.

That's what I got for now, I hope it helps.


Recommendations for maths courses choice to study AI

Mathematical analysis III

Probably overkill, but it depends on the actual content. You will need some multivariate analysis (partial derivatives, Jacobians, Hessians), but I suspect it's already in the first two courses.

  Combinatorics and Graphs II

Maybe not specifically for AI, but in general it should be a useful course for a computer scientist. Again, it may depend on the actual program; if it is set up as a very abstract course then it may be overkill.

  Set theory

Not so useful. Probably more abstract stuff that you'll ever need as a computer scientist.

  Numerical mathematics

Very useful. Matrix computations, stability and the floating point model, basic root-finding and optimization algorithms... That's all stuff that you will probably need.
 I'm surprised that it is not mandatory for a computer scientist (but I work in that area, so maybe I'm biased).

  Algebra II

Not so useful. Probably more abstract stuff that you'll ever need as a computer scientist.

Other courses: look out for a course on optimization (it might also fall in the "numerical mathematics" category). Neural networks are based on optimization/fitting algorithms.


Should I still use "Dear Prof." to begin an email to a professor that I know?

In the US, it is very unusual to combine the title "Professor" with a first name. I have never been referred to as "Professor Tom" in my whole career.

You can either write "Dear Prof. Smith", using the family name, or "Dear John". You should only write "Dear John" if you would call him "John" when you speak in person. (For people you haven't met in person, the decision is a bit different; but for people who you know personally, this is a good rule.) For example, my students generally call me "Prof. Church", but sometimes after they graduate I invite them to call me Tom; in this case, it would be perfectly appropriate to send me a letter beginning "Dear Tom".

I would use "Hi John" only to convey a very informal tone. Even with colleagues or students with whom I'm good friends outside of work, I still use "Dear Mary" when contacting them about professional business. For this reason, I don't recommend using "Hi Prof. Smith"; it mixes an informal term with a formal term.


Which is a better choice in case of a graduate admission?

Concealing academic records is unethical and dangerous. It is not a good choice. Admissions committees sometimes discover such perfidy. And even when they don't, it does not build a strong foundation of ethics for your academic career.

As far as the uncompleted program goes, this depends on whether this is your only program, or a second program that you started and dropped out of.

Only program

Submitting a transcript which indicates an incomplete study (50/120 credits completed) and 5 dropped (not failed) courses will not get you into a graduate program. No program is accepting someone with less than half of their program completed.

  If #1 is a Hobson's choice, how can I explain that to satisfy the admission committee?

There isn't a way. It's like asking "How can I get caught red handed on a video camera stealing bags of cash from a bank but convince the jury I'm innocent?" You can't.

Second program

Honestly, unless there is some compelling reason ("My father died." "I was in the hospital with a broken back.") as to why you have so many dropped and uncompleted courses, there may not be a way you can just brush away your academic record into omission. There is not a great way to spin doctor this.

I would just briefly explain that you started a program, and then explain why you did not complete it. If this uncompleted program is in the field you are applying for, this becomes a lot harder. You would then need to provide a compelling reason as to why you think this go-around will be more successful.


Whom to ask for letter of recommendation while I have worked only with my advisor in PhD

For getting PhD one's PhD thesis is going to be scientifically evaluated and reviewed. It depends on specific regulations but usually such PhD reviewers are people outside of your department/university. So, together with your PhD advisor these reviewers are the best folks to deliver recommendations (as they are truly capable of evaluating your PhD work & you). The other guys who can be great references for you are those who reviewed your published works (though not explicitly disclosed it might be not hard to figure out that; your advisor might actually know them ;) or those who are familiar with your research by other means (e.g. cited it, referred to it in their talsk/seminars/etc). Lastly, please do challenge your PhD advisor with this issue: in fact, it is one of his/her responsibilities towards his/her PhD students; particularly, it is a PhD advisor who 'orchestrates' a PhD defence process, including e.g. finding thesis reviewers, etc.

p.s. At PhD-->postdoc stage, a course instructor is, in general, not a great person to provide a letter of recommendation. The reason is simple: your potential postdoc bosses would primarily like to know about your research work, capabilities, potential, etc. Your coursework performance is rather irrelevant. Of course, not all course instructors are bad: the one behind a so called PhD-level research-oriented seminar course might be a great reference or it might be more or less 'regular' course but taught by a well-known guy in the area of your postdoc research interests.


I have been sanctioned by my country's Higher Education Commission after being accused of plagiarism. What can I do?

Your question is weirdly vague on one important question, namely whether you actually are/were a co-author of the two questionable submissions. I am not sure how one can be "alleged" as a co-author - isn't that entirely clear and a completely black-white, yes-no question? Is your name on these papers?

Even if the HEC does not publish the name of the co-authors, you should still know whether you actually were a co-author of this publications or not.

The question "what can I do?" very much depends on your answer to this.

If yes:

You have presumably been sanctioned correctly. Trying to weasel out of your penalties based on formalities will likely only reflect worse on you. Accept the 2-year blacklisting and move on.

If no:

This then should be a clear-cut case of misjudgement, and following the formal appeal procedure whatever it is should definitely work out in favour of you. Your university should support you in this if the case is actually "I was blacklisted for a paper submission that has nothing to do with me".


Are accepted papers going to be plagiarism checked?

In most of the open access journals, it takes less time to put the article online (one of the pros for choosing open access). It might take less than one month, even some cases, after paying the article processing charge, the journal put the author submitted version online.

Now, for the conference paper, I guess the time difference between the acceptance date and actual conference date is not more than six months. In several cases, the author needs to upload the final camera ready version to the conference submission system in advance. If the conference maintains a good ethics, then the paper will be automatically verified with similarly checking softwares before sending the papers to the proceedings publication department — during this period, the open access article will be online.

You get the idea on the consequences.


Comparison of methods in a paper with a table

Assuming that your paper describes the two methods in details (including the reasons why criterion X with method Y is assigned level Z in the table), I'd say yes, it makes perfect sense to provide this kind of table as a synthesis at the end of the paper. I would suggest adding cross-references in each cell, so that the reader can go see the details in the appropriate section for each case, e.g. "good (see §3.1)".


Is it plagiarism when copying something that you have written before?

Plagiarism and self-plagiarism sound similar, but are importantly distinct things.

Plagiarism is if you use other people's work as your own. You deprive them of credit and claim credit for yourself which you do not deserve.

Self-Plagiarism does not deprive the author (you) from credit, but the offence here is that the the "present-you" claims credit that the "past-you" already collected.

This is an assessment offence because you would get a double mark for a single piece of work. You could, of course, quote yourself (properly cited!), in which case, you would be perfectly fine, but you would only gain marks for new work done, which, in case of a full copy, would still be zero. However, in a sensible school policy it should not be punishable for plagiarism in the conventional sense, since it was you in the first place who wrote the text.

As a student, I have reused software libraries I wrote in other coursework, properly cited, of course. It would be a waste of time to redo mechanical work, and permitted me to get much further. With an essay, nothing stops you, of course, to build upon existing writing (properly cited) to develop your argument further.


How can you find the DOI of an article that doesn't seem to have one?

Try these sites to search for a CrossRef DOI:

http://search.crossref.org/

or

http://www.crossref.org/guestquery/


How can I find studies with statistical mistakes?

The closest I would know of are Retraction Watch and PubPeer.
Retraction Watch
First, Retraction Watch has a database comprising retractions of scientific papers. Click on the arrow next to the search field "Reason(s) for Retraction", and you will see possible candidates for statistical mistakes.

PubPeer
Secondly, PubPeer allows anyone to write a 'post-publication review' responding to any scientific paper. Search for "statistical mistake" and you will find many cases in which readers raised concerns about published findings - some of them having led to formal errata, corrigenda or retractions. Here is one example, where the reader starts an extensive response with "I have no comments to make about the data, but I do have concerns about some of the statistical analyses", and goes on to list issues about the methodical approach of that paper.


Possibility of negotiating a better contract if I am offered an asst prof position?

In the UK, there is typically much less negotiation of entry-level academic contracts, compared to the US market, or general stories of how it was in past. Full professors still can negotiate their contracts, but assuming that it is your first permanent post, I would be surprised if the University would engage in a negotiation with you. Typically, the universities in the UK will match your current academic salary or offer you to start one spine point above it. In exceptional circumstances they can offer two spine points, but "I am making a sacrifice here for you guys" is hardly going to count as a good reason. You are expected to compare your options, and if you indeed have a better deal elsewhere, you'd better take it. Comparing their offer with hypothetical offers you could have got from some industry is likely not going to work.

But before all this becomes a real problem, you need to get their offer first. And to get there you typically would need to pass through the interview and convince the panel that you understand what you are getting into and you are genuinely interested in the opportunity as it is offered to you. If you are less than enthusiastic about this particular university and/or the conditions they offer, I would suggest to try and discuss this during the interview, so that the panel can make an informed decision whether to offer this job to you (and perhaps agree on your conditions) or another candidate. If you confirm your interest in the position during the interview and try to re-negotiate the conditions afterwards, it is quite likely that after some discussion the post will be unfilled and the position has to be re-advertised, which is really quite frustrating to everyone involved.


Are pay announcements worth their price to hire people?

Yes, it's worth paying for an advertisement if you end up hiring a stronger candidate.  I tend to be fairly frugal, but I think of your situation in terms of one-time cost vs. recurring cost.  When you pay for the ad, you pay just once.  When you hire a weaker candidate, you pay every day in terms of lower productivity and lower quality results.

In the U.S., a typical annual salary for a postdoc in math might be in the range of $40,000-45,000 (33,000-36,500 €); in CS, it would likely be higher.  Even the IEEE price (the highest of those you list) is roughly 1% of that.  So, if you're fairly confident you'll get a better candidate by paying for a few ads, IMHO, you'd be foolish not to do so.


What can I do if my collaborator is enthusiastic, but their PhD student is not?

Instead of "making" the student do or be anything--which is impossible anyway--you could try treating the student as a junior collaborator rather than a gopher. Or maybe the student simply doesn't want to do this project at all.

Some people are passive-aggressive because of personality issues, but in the case where there is an enormous power disparity, many people are passive-aggressive because they don't have any other way of expressing their unhappiness about something. So it's up to you (or the advisor) to broach the subject.

You could take the point of view that the student should do whatever we want and shut up about it, but pragmatically, this approach hasn't been working out so well, so maybe it's time to try something else.


Negotiating with an editor after a failure to review a paper honestly

How reasonable would it be to argue that the journal should reconsider on the grounds that the paper was not honestly reviewed?

If I were you I would really, really, really avoid bringing anything to do with "honesty" into the discussion. Seriously, it's unprofessional and off-putting to question the integrity of people who may have a much higher reputation and level of credibility than you (and you don't even know the identity of the person you're accusing... not a good position to be in). However, I think it would be extremely reasonable to politely point out the mistake and make the case that the reviewer's misconception of what the paper does is severe enough so as to invalidate the conclusion of the review and justify giving the paper a fresh look.

Now, whether it is also reasonable to expect your argument to sway the editor's decision is a separate question. Personally I wouldn't be too optimistic, but it's worth a try, and if you phrase your rebuttal politely and professionally then I don't think you are risking anything other than a bit of time and a minor disappointment.

I also agree with a point made in the comments that it would be worth taking a fresh look at your paper to see to what extent a lack of clarity in your writing may have contributed to the reviewer's mistake. If you find any way to improve the presentation in a way that minimizes the chances for this sort of misunderstanding, do so, and include a revised version of your manuscript when you submit the rebuttal, and explain the changes you've made to eliminate the chances for a misunderstanding.

  And in so doing, how would one avoid offending the editor who probably holds the referee in high esteem and has never heard of the author?

I don't see why the editor should be offended, and also think it should be possible to not offend even the reviewer if your email is polite and sticks to facts. Mostly, just don't say anything offensive (like questioning people's honesty!) and you should be fine. Here's one way you might do it:

  Dear Editor,

  Thank you for sending me the referee report for my paper and the decision regarding my submission. While I appreciate the consideration given to my paper by yourself and the anonymous referee, I wanted to point out what appears to be a misguided interpretation of my paper's results by the referee. They claim that I try and fail to prove the conjecture that P=/=NP, but in fact my claim is that I have proved the Riemann Hypothesis, which is a very different conjecture. The difference between those two claims is that [insert very brief explanation here if necessary] and is well-known to experts in the area. I believe that my reasoning is solid and have checked the paper to the best of my ability, but of course a serious examination of my paper would be necessary in order for a fair and correct decision to be made regarding whether the paper should be published by your journal. The referee's mischaracterization of my claims obviously calls the conclusion of the review into question.

  I therefore kindly request that you send the paper to be refereed again, either by the same referee with a request that he or she rethink their opinion in view of their earlier misunderstanding, or to a different referee who is qualified to provide a serious opinion on the paper.

  I also wanted to mention that I have made a few small changes to paragraphs X, Y, Z in Section A to try to make the statement of my results clearer and minimize the chances that other referees or readers of my paper will misunderstand my claims. The revised manuscript is attached.

  [Yours etc.]


Does the academic community perceive letters and short articles differently from longer articles?

There's an interesting study of ecology papers by Fox et al., finding that at least in that field, longer papers tend to be cited more. The explanation they advance, however, is that longer papers contain "more and a greater diversity of data and ideas," not that scientists feel more warmly about long papers than short ones. Also, the effect size they found was small, with less than a 2% increase in citations per 10% increase in page number. This suggests that padding out a short paper with extra analyses is not an efficient way to raise its profile.

(Short papers, of course, can be very influential: the first paper to accurately describe the structure of DNA was almost exactly one page.)


Mentioning religion on your CV is not standard practice. I can't see how it can be beneficial to you're employer unless there are specific requirements for your desired position which relates to religious beliefs. Unfortunately, in some cases, mentioning your religion can hurt your chances as these issues are sensitive and can get very personal for some potential employers. (from what I understand this is a rare occurrence especially in academia)

With that said, If the topic comes up in an interview, I would suggest giving an honest answer.


How to export the reference list for a given paper using Google Scholar?

Weirdly, I don't think that Google Scholar provides that feature, even though they clearly parse and store this information internally. This does indeed sound like a nice feature to have access to.


I am interested in graduate studies, but I was dismissed from my undergraduate program for poor grades. Where do I go from here?

You could probably start at an open-admissions community college in September, if that's what you wanted to do.  You would probably need to spend some time there and SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETE YOUR COURSES to build successful reapplication package to a better school.

Any reapplication process would very much involve you proving to an admissions department why and how you became a student who is likely to successfully complete their program and become a graduate that they will be proud of. You need to convince them that your past record is not indicative of what your future record will be. The bad news is that this will not be easy.

The good news is that should you manage to turn things around, graduate admissions committees would be likely to look at you as an interesting candidate who has taken an adverse academic situation and made it better.

Think long and hard about your situation.  Even if you treat the anxiety, ADHD, and depression (and I wouldn't recommend trying to start again without dealing with these fundamental problems) there will always be that next problem to overcome.  If that next problem will shut you down the same way, you're setting yourself up for the same outcome.  Treatment should be a part of your plan to avoid this.

Think about your academic experience, and how that's likely to change.  Will future-you be a "B" student, and have an enriching academic experience, or will future-you be constantly on academic probation, constantly on the edge of separation?  The former is great, but the latter can be an anxiety-producing monster that will leave you miserable for 4 years, but can still be an important career developing step.  Unless you plan on a degree from an open-admissions school (like Brooklyn College, which can give you a fine education that can lead to graduate programs!!), you need to be able to convince a school that you won't fall in to this class, or you just won't get accepted.  More importantly, if you think you'll fall into that class anyway, are you up for it?  Can you tolerate the long, unpleasant experience an make it through to the other side, and is this worth it to you?

If you plan to continue in school at this point, and you don't plan to enroll in a community college in September, you should be planning on how to keep moving forward and not stagnating.  If you need to spend some time getting the ADHD and depression treated, do it.  Keep doing things that will develop your maturity and keep moving you to the next step, as opposed to marching in place.  If you look like you're not progressing, chances of admissions get even slimmer.

Keeping in mind that an academic experience is a means, and not an end, take a good introspective look at your life plan and career plan and how your education fits in.  I highly recommend spending the $4 for http://www.amazon.com/Control-Your-Time-Life-Signet/dp/0451167724/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8.  It looks like a time-management book, but its much more -- or rather its a time management book on many different time scales -- this moment, weeks, years, decades -- and how to use your time to achieve your goals.


Quitting PhD 2 years into a 3-year program

You most probably got into a PhD program with a bad supervisor. This is not your fault. The first option is to talk with your supervisor and see if he thinks there is a chance that you can finish your PhD. Most of the time a PhD is more a social concept than a scientific one: science is hard - if people think that you did things to the best of your ability there is a high chance that they let you graduate with minor results. But be aware that this can set you into a situation of dependence and pressure that can be exploited and might cause mental harm to you. This does depend on your personal relationship to your supervisor. If you think you can go through this period and he is still positive about your projected progress, then stick with it. If not, then start looking for alternatives. There is no shame in starting a second PhD or finding a job in industry. If you openly explain your situation, people will understand. Additionally, doing a PhD is a highly idealistic approach and most people show signs of depression during a situation of hardship. You might want to seek out for additional help if you show signs of depression.


What happens if an author acknowledges a potential anonymous referee in the paper?

As an editor in both computer science and biology, I would generally consider a person listed in the acknowledgements to be involved enough to have a conflict of interest, and therefore would not invite them to be a reviewer. This is a heuristic, not an absolute rule.

It is also worth noting that I usually solicit a review from precisely one of the recommended reviewers, since recommended reviewers are often "close" in the network of the authors, and I want to have more independent perspectives as well.  It's still worth listing multiple recommended reviewers, since some may be unavailable, but it's not useful (for editors like me) to make a very extensive list.


Decision about getting a job while completing MSc Studies

It's clear that you are reluctant to take on full-time employment after your recent experiences, and understandably so. However, this does not mean that you can't take on part-time work to help pay the bills. This is a fairly common phenomenon for master's students, particularly in countries where the master's degree is considered an "undergraduate" degree (such as in Europe). Exactly how much is up to you—you probably know how much time you could spend on external work without compromising your desired work-life balance.

If your bachelor's advisor is understanding and supportive of you, then he would likely be willing to let you work part-time on his project while you finish your studies. If he isn't willing to do so, then that might be a sign that he's not someone you should have as a long-term advisor. (A good research advisor and mentor will want what is best for both of you, not just what is best for the advisor!)


The decoration of language in proposal writing

While not quite the systematic solution you are looking for (which I don't think exists) here are some ideas. This is a matter of knowing your audience and a matter of practice. I suggest that you do a combination of all of them:

Review Grant Proposals. I warn I speak from the UK system so things are certainly a bit different elsewhere, but there exist a number of opportunities to serve as an expert reviewer for grant proposals. You may be at an early career level, but some granting bodies specifically seek out early career reviewers (e.g. the AHRC peer review college in the UK is one example). Contact granting bodies directly and ask to be added to their database of reviewers and when you are asked to review grants, pay very close attention, first, to the standards against which you are meant to review, and, indeed, what works on you...what type of writing in the proposals wins you over. Attend any training days etc that the granting body offers for reviewers. I do note that you are in the USA, but I've peer reviewed Fulbright and other USA-based proposals, so the opportunities are there.
Read successful grant proposals. Read a lot of them. Note the style and tone of the language. If you have a colleague or friend who has had a successful NSF, ask to see their proposal. Contact your University's research office and ask for copies of any successful large grants. You may think that this is crossing a boundary or that people don't want to share their grant proposals, but it is totally normal. I was successful at applying for a very large (€1.5mil) grant last year and over the course of the year I must have shared my proposals with 30 other scholars who wish to apply to the same scheme. I have done the same with previous successful grant proposals.
Familiarise yourself with the differences between granting bodies as this will govern the language style and tone you should use. Funding bodies that want to fund blue skies, high risk-high reward research tend to like language that fits the edgy nature of the grant. Funding bodies that prefer you to, essentially, know the outcome before you start like assurances and less "excited" language. When in doubt, you can talk to the grant manager about the motivation behind the grant and then think about how that might translate into your language.
Lean on whatever resources are at your University. That might be the research support office or equivalent. It might even mean an external consultant that the university hires to help develop and prepare grants. Make sure you know what is on offer and take whatever is available.

Good luck!


how should I write my first email to co-supervisor?

Two ideas only. I don't think you need to praise him in an initial note. Just mention the general area in AI that you want to explore.

But the meeting should be at his convenience. Rather than tell him when you are available, let him set the meeting. If necessary you can indicate when you cannot meet if that is relevant.

You can thank him and tell him you are looking forward to working with him when you actually meet.


Would it be rude to ask a famous professor who doesn't know me personally for a recommendation letter if I have published in a high ranking journal?

The benefit of recommendation letters is that they give insight into abilities that are not reflected in the rest of your application. Your grades and your publication are already in your application. A professor who doesn't know anything else about you has nothing to write that will help you.

To directly answer your question: it comes across more naïve/inexperienced than rude, but either way I do not see how it will help your case.

P.S. This answer assumes that the professor is not already familiar with your work before your email. To be more specific, I'm imagining you sending unsolicited emails to a bunch of the biggest names in your field (selected purely because they are "famous"), who have not previously heard of you or your work (as far as you know), asking them to write a recommendation letter for you entirely on the basis of your having published a paper in a journal.

If the professor is already familiar with your work (e.g. has cited it, or has had an email correspondence with you about it), then I agree with this answer that his/her letter can potentially be helpful. Similarly, I think Ben Webster offers some useful advice about attempting this in a more nuanced - and potentially more effective - way.


What is would be my "relationship" with a recommender whose class I was a TA for?

How about "student and later assistant"? I think it would be well understood. Make it teaching assistant if you want five words instead of four.

Or if you want to turn it to reference them instead of yourself: "professor, later TA supervisor".


How to proceed if a professor does not answer the request for letter of recommendation?

What it means depends a lot on the proximity of your application deadline.  If the deadline is looming, say, within ten days to two weeks, it means you should probably ask someone else.  If the deadline is a month or more away, it means the professor is busy.  (And, if you didn't tell the professor when the deadline is, it means you didn't provide enough information.)

Send a polite email that tells when the deadline is and asks whether the professor could write a recommendation by that time.  That should get some kind of response, even if it's, "Sorry... I'm really busy right now and cannot do it."

Here is my general advice to students about recommendations: http://ksuweb.kennesaw.edu/faculty/rbrow211/recommendations/ It will likely help you to read it all, although the bit about communicating deadlines is the first item on the list, in bold type.


Is it worth seeking disability accommodations if I get good grades anyway?

The purpose of disability accommodations are to put students on a fair playing field. If you have a condition and if your physicians, mental health providers, and university disability office feel that it puts you at a relative and unfair disadvantage by making you foggy and confused, requesting accommodations sounds both ethical and wise. The fact that you happen to be a relative high performer in spite of your disability does not mean you are not at a disadvantage relative to your peers in this concrete way that can be accommodated for with extra time (for example).

The reality, of course, is that accommodations are not evenly distributed. In general, socially and economically disadvantaged students will be less likely to be diagnosed and provided with accommodations for their legitimate disabilities. There is also a sense that some people have that students will fabricate or exaggerate disabilities to receive accommodations that would help any student but that do not actually compensate for a legitimate disability. In this final sense, people might think you are trying to game the situation.

It would be wrong to game the situation but it doesn't sound like you are suggesting that. Despite others perception, it is both ethical and in your interests to be accommodated for your legitimate medical disabilities and I would definitely do it.


Should I write a paper describing my comparisons and user guides for free tools?

The exploratory work that you have done in non-functional testing tools can be easily summarized in a kind of survey paper. You need to enumerate the tools that you have played with, describe the features and limitations (even with a summary table) and describe your tool selection process (free tools seems like a criteria that you did taken into account). Further, you can even detail the tests that you did with the different tools.

You can then make a extended critique over the existing tools, pointing out the most valuable features and, then, pointing out the lacks, limitations and suggesting further research directions that need to be done in that area (e.g. suggesting the implementation of missing features or other ways of testing).


Balancing an internet startup and a tenure track professorship

Nothing is impossible, but how many hours a week do you want to work? Do you have any life beyond these two endeavors. I don't participate in a startup, but at various times have published books and software and built interesting tools for students and professionals.

But the warning here is that beginning a tenure track (especially) is a very time consuming proposition, especially if you want to actually attain tenure in a few years. You need to serve the students well at what ever level you find them. You need to establish an appropriate publication (research) history as well as a recognizable place in the profession through conferences and such. You need to have, or create, contacts with other researchers to help you in your own. This might come at your own University, given a large enough faculty with good synergy, but you may need to expand your contacts outside.

In the US, the typical "slog" to tenure is seven years and you don't get do-overs. Not every paper you submit for publication is necessarily going to be accepted.

You can read other questions on this site to learn some of the other problems that junior faculty have in adapting to the academic life. Not much of it is likely to come easily to you if you are really new at it. Good things happen in Academia, but they don't happen on auto-pilot.

Some institutions have a history of tenuring most candidates. Some, alternatively, have a history of tenuring nearly no one, though some of the "failed" candidates have a good chance of success in moving, due to the reputation of the university.

All that said, many (most) junior faculty do have outside interests of various sorts that take some amount of time and effort. It isn't impossible to succeed at both, but you may need to set parameters for yourself and decide early on what is the most important thing in your life. If you sort of stumble along at both, you aren't likely to be a success at either.

Finally, what you learn and what you do in the startup may be a plus when it comes to tenure, though you indicate it is a different field, lessening the possibility. But if entrepreneurship is valued in your field it may be a help.


In a CV, where to display conference articles that became journal articles

Tl;dr: Put (published) conferences papers that are subsequently published as journal articles in both sections of your CV.
A journal article is a publication, as is a conference paper, regardless of whether the article was derived from the paper. Each publication is a contribution to science, so list both on your CV, they're both accomplishments. You can sort manuscripts by prestige of publication type, e.g., book, book chapter, journal article, conference paper, unpublished peer-reviewed manuscript, other works, work in progress, etc., optionally omitting some categories and providing incomplete listings for others (e.g., you might want to list only key works in progress). You can also cross-reference to avoid artificially inflating your accomplishments. For instance,

Journal articles
[1] anderstood (2020) A, Journal, 1(2), pp1-10.
[2] anderstood (2019) B with C, Journal, 5(7), pp59-76. Preliminary results appeared in [3].
Conference papers
[3] anderstood (2018) B, Conference, Published, pp20-27.

Note: I presume that journal articles derived from conference papers must add new material. This mightn't be the case for unpublished conference papers. In such cases, you could list both manuscripts and cross-reference, but it depends whether the unpublished work carries prestige, i.e., whether it is considered a (sufficiently large) accomplishment, which is field dependent.


What can I do to recover from a short term burnout?

For a true burnout you will need to stop working, rest, and seek counseling/medical help. You need to lower your expectations of yourself and virtually eliminate what others expect from you. Ultimately, because work is about expectations (either self-imposed or set by others), I doubt that you can continue working and recover from a burnout.

Given that you state that the burnout occurred over a short period, rather than a sustained year-upon-year effort, my advice is to take a vacation. Three weeks should do the trick.

Just remember, life is about enjoying it, not earning money, because in the end you will take nothing with you.


What to do when you hear many bad stories about your supervisor on the first day of your PhD?

Based on my experience because I had the same situation before and regret not doing that right decision since earlier time. I do recommend you first to stay for couple of months and try to figure out how this PI behaves towards you, in the same time try to look for another good lab. I am still burning out as since month ago this what happened to me, you can see my post here: Forced to Quit PhD although the hard and proved work

So, I dont want you to be in the same situation, I really appreciate that you are passionate about the subject, however, if you have a poor supervisor S(he) is going to ruin every thing.

Another advice and really important which I regret not doing it is asking the current students and alumni, don't be lured by citation and their prestige and trust your gut.

I hope you can take the right decision and for sure I don't recommend you to leave, however stay, work hard as much as you can and if you have noticed red flags from s(he), you can switch from the lab.


When do STEM academics learn how to manage funding?

As with many parts of becomes a group leader and teacher, this is just something you are expected to be able to do. I was never given any training, it was just expected that I was clever enough to work it out!
"allocation rules, accounting rules, and can be audited to insure compliance too"  is usually handled by central admin who are professional accountants and administrators.


how to reply a professor is not available for research guidance

You should not reply to this at all. He has made it abundantly clear that he is not interested in helping you in any capacity. This is actually nice of him: many professors would not reply at all, or would make promises and then not follow through.

  I want to know if this professor can suggest my name to his colleagues.

Consider just approaching his colleagues yourself. Or, if you have the opportunity to speak to this professor in person (e.g., office hours), you could ask then if they could recommend someone to advise you. But replying to this e-mail is unlikely to have the desired effect.


I believe visual representation is nearly always a much better way to present data-intensive information. However, it may depend on your audience, and the depth of analysis you go into with your results.
If you are repeating each experiment n times, it would be most useful, in the least, to present the average result (the mean), along with a standard deviation. There are many different ways to visually represent your data, but whatever method you use must be able to deliver the main points you need to convey clearly. To help you decide on the best form of presentation of data, here a couple of suggestions:

Ask yourself what the main message is that you need to deliver from this data, and focus on a delivery style (graph, table, list, whatever) that best delivers that main message (and not all the other stuff)
Reduce the number of variables you need to display to reduce distractions from that main message. So you wouldn't need to display results from 10 repeats of an experiment when you can just show the average result for that experiment.
Remember that in the majority of cases, a picture tells a thousand words.

As an aside, regarding your statement "The experiment yields data which will then be manually verified to determine if the data is correct or incorrect." Always believe your data. Your data is always correct. You just have to come up with the explanations for why the data is as it is.


Why don't colleges make terms shorter and with fewer classes?

From an information processing perspective, it is much more beneficial to have four classes over ten weeks than two classes over five weeks. This is because the mind needs the extended time to digest the material that it is being exposed to.

The two class approach is highly beneficial in allowing students to focus. However, the reduction in exposure to the content over time makes it difficult for retention and to acquire in-depth mastery of the ideas of the curriculum.

I have worked at several institutions that offer "intensive" courses for working graduate students. The students will take one class over the course of one week (about 8 hours a day). In such an intense format the students remember very little and demonstrate limited mastery of the content. This is due to the rushed nature of the course. Even though the students were able to focus, the average individual just cannot digest that much content so fast.

Sadly, there is more to learning than just seat time. Students need time to discuss and apply the knowledge they are exposed to in a course. This only becomes more challenging as the number of weeks a course lasts is reduced, even if the number of hours stays the same.


Consequence of declining an accepted offer after the universal deadline 15th April

Assuming both schools are members of the Council of Graduate Schools, they have an agreement about cases like this. If you don't change your mind and reject the offer from the first school by April 15, you have to get a letter from the first school releasing you from your obligation to attend before accepting the second school. Otherwise, the second school will be unable to take you.

In the one case I know about, there wasn't any problem in obtaining this letter. However, I can't promise that all graduate schools will be as reasonable.

If your cousin gets an offer from the second school before April 15, he should contact the admissions officers at the first school by April 15 (today!) and tell them he is rescinding his acceptance and why.

If he gets an offer after April 15, he needs to make sure the first school is okay with him not coming and get a letter from them before he accepts the second school.


How many references should be included in the bibliography of a Master thesis?

There is no definite answer. It really depends on how much previous literature exists, how much of it you have reviewed and cited appropriately, and (loosely) what the word count of the document is. Page count can misleading, as some theses have many more figures and tables than others.

No one is going to skip to the bibliography, think negative thoughts, and say "you have too many references!" without reading the document. If no individual part of the thesis could be considered as having too many citations, then the thesis as a whole has an appropriate number of citations.

These related questions have answers as to how you can decide if a particular part of the thesis has too many citations.

Maximum number of citations per sentence?
Is there such thing as too many references for one paper?


Textbook publisher offers to pay me for a comparative review of textbooks

I see nothing fundamentally unethical about this. It would become unethical if the request included a requirement that you adopt a particular book, or that you write something that pleases them. But by itself, requesting a review and paying you for it does not seem wrong to me -- they may simply be interested to hear from people in the trenches how these two books compare.


How to proceed with a supervisor who won't read paper manuscripts? But won't allow submission until they have read them?

Your supervisor's slow response rate is clearly holding you back.  It's time to talk to your department administration about the problem.

When you do so, please state the problem in neutral terms.  Examples of things to leave out: This individual tends to over-promise and then not deliver with external funding bodies....  It has been myself and another who have always come through, at the expense of our personal (unpaid and recognised) time, for the good of the group's image.  That may all be true, but administration will probably respond in a more useful way if you can keep the emotions out of your exposition.  (This is not to say that I don't understand your frustration.)

Meanwhile, please find at least one knowledgeable and trustworthy person to show your manuscripts to, so you can get some useful feedback on them.


Does graduate school reputation have any effect on your academic career?

The short answer is yes, of course.

The long answer is, it depends. Ultimately, your future career will depend on your publications and other output, their quality and their impact. If you can produce a number of high quality publications from a lower-ranked university, this will be better than producing nothing of interest from a higher-ranked university. However, the chances of "succeeding" are higher at higher-ranked universities, because they have "better" people to help you along the way. They also have higher standards and more pressure. So there will be a bit of a trade-off.

That said, the University of Melbourne and ANU are good places.


Fewer publications hinder postdoc opportunities?

In my opinion, publications should not affect if you have sufficient experience and skills in the research project you are applying to and research field of the group you wish to join. Hiring postdoc researchers usually involves discussions with the professor who is hiring the postdoc researcher and probably a hiring committee at the institution. Therefore I think you may have the chance to describe your research activities and skills. You can also talk about your papers which are under preparation and those submitted and under review.
Therefore, as far as you can discuss your background and experience with your future mentor, I do not see any reason to be worried about part of your research publication which still need time to be published. People being responsible in hiring you, will see a package of your skills, experience, quality of your studies and many other factors and these can help increase your chances of finding a good postdoc position.


The reputation of the faculty member helps somewhat, but is nowhere near as useful as the quality of the recommendation letter. A letter from a famous person who doesn't really know you outside of the classroom (or doesn't know you at all) isn't nearly as helpful as an in-depth evaluation from someone you know well, and who knows you well.

However, I find the notion that you would taking an introductory course versus an advanced elective somewhat concerning. In general, if you are looking to buttress a graduate-school application, evidence that you can handle graduate-level work in the field matters far more than having a Big Name write you a weak letter.