Is it reasonable to purchase a professionally designed logo/brand for a research group?

Doing this as soon as you start your research group seems a bit premature, but for a somewhat established group, having some sort of corporate identity is actually quite important:

For other researchers, it is just easier to remember the "Developer Liberation Front" than that "software engineering research group led by Emerson". And, like it or not, being remembered is core in having impact.
Internally, having a consistent identity to which all group members mentally subscribe to helps build team spirit. It is easy to get lost in your own PhD project and feel isolated. Having a corporate identity is just one small puzzle piece towards tying all individual theses into a larger context.

  [from O.R. Mapper's comment] a list of opportunities where you think you might realistically be using that logo?

We apply our logo and general identity very widely. We use it on all websites, presentations, posters, and reports coming out of our team. We have printed coffee mugs and t-shirts (when a large part of the team goes to a conference, we sometimes all show up in the same group-themed shirt). We maintain a Facebook site, a Wordpress blog, and a Twitter handle.

  how much [should I spend]? Which services are the best? What is a reasonable policy?

In design, there is a particularly wide range of "professional". Is paying an artistically inclined student a small sum "professional"? Is using the aforementioned Fiverr professional? Or do you only count if at least a 4-digit sum is changing hands?

In this range, for research groups just like for anybody else, the right "price" should be "the cheapest option that still works for you". If you can find somebody who does a nice logo for free or close to free, go for it. If you can make these cheap Web services work well enough, go for it. If you can't produce a nice logo in any other way, use the service of a local designer (it's still better than not having a logo at a certain point).

When you get a guilty conscience about spending research money badly, then keep in mind that even a small 4-digit sum (about the max. I would spend, personally) is in the larger context of a research group budget not a very big deal. One word of warning, though - typically, not all budgets can be used for something like a group logo (e.g., you clearly can't take it out of your travel budget). Make sure that you actually have a budget that allows you to pay for something like this before you spend the money.


got a TAship award- is it a difficult task

Having spent over 6 years in grad school TA'ing and teaching my own classes, I will say that you will enjoy it a lot. Teaching gives benefits that are more valuable than the funding it brings -- funding in itself is great, of course! I think one learns the best when they teach a subject. Having less time for your own work, you get much better in time management. Teaching also allows one to get experienced in public speaking, refine their skills in communicating knowledge, strategizing among many other positive things. So congratulations!


Hours worked in research vs teaching professorships

Looks like Jacobs and Winslow (2004) address this issue.

"the average workweek for full-time faculty exceeds fifty hours. These long workweeks are characteristic of all groups of faculty, irrespective of rank and institutional type. In other words, assistant, associate, and full professors all work in excess of fifty hours per week, as do faculty at research, liberal arts, and comprehensive institutions."

Jacobs, J. A., & Winslow, S. E. (2004). Overworked faculty: Job stresses and family demands. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 596(1), 104-129.


How to request other researchers to read one's paper for suggestions?

It is perfectly acceptable to email your paper to another researcher, and ask if they have any comments or suggestions.

It would also be perfectly acceptable for him to not reply. If he does, the reply might be something short like "Thanks for sending, looks like a nice piece of work!"

If you do write, I'd recommend you do the following:

Keep your email brief and to the point.
Do not ask him to check your paper for mistakes. That's your job. If you feel that you can't do this on your own, then I'd suggest that you offer to make your paper a collaboration with him.
Don't try to be indirect, or hope that he reads between the lines. If you would like to ask him to do something, then it's good manners to do so plainly and directly.

You might also search for and read the many "Why isn't so-and-so responding to my emails" questions which (with good answers) can be found on this site.

Good luck!


You are obviously in a good position either way, but as you suggested, graduating early appears to be your "practical" decision.

If you are considering a doctorate or masters (it sounds as though you are), graduating will allow you to get a head start on it.

However, if you you truly don't know what what graduate degree to pick, and don't decide to go with that, consider doing an independent study with a favored professor or doing some tutoring at your local university, as it would not only contribute to your resume when applying for a masters program, but also give you opportunities to dabble in subjects you find interesting, and ultimately help you decide which field you'd like to master in.


Two researchers want to work on the same extension to my paper. Who to help?

Work with both John and Sam on the same paper. You all have something to offer, so pool your efforts and work together.


Reviewing a paper with suspiciously good results

If it's technically possible but unlikely to be correct, in my opinion the best option is to request major revisions asking for more details and results, such as evaluating the model on new datasets, providing the code and trained model to the reviewers, etc. It's good to be skeptical, but it is weird to outright reject a paper that you believe might be correct without making sure that it really is incorrect. In other words, if you submitted a paper with a surprising result, would you want the reviewers to reject it simply because they are surprised, without determining why it is wrong?

Is this an appropriate way to address such results? Should I confer with the conference editor on this and voice my concerns to them directly?

For most journal submission sites, there are comments sent to the authors, and comments for the editor only. The latter is a good place to send comments to the editor. You could also email the editor directly if the journal submission site does not provide for private comments.


Collaborator has shared a draft paper with a significant amount of self-plagiarism. Should I say something?

You do not need to make a fuss, or mention "plagiarism". All you need to do is to recommend adding a reference to the copied paper for each paragraph in question. That is a legitimate review comment, proposing an improvement in the draft paper.

Andreas Blass, in a valuable comment, suggests something along the lines of "The following description of our methodology is taken from [17]" or "Our methodology is the same as in [17], described there as follows" is adequate, without needing to also put quotation marks around the quoted description.


Is asking practice exam questions on the web cheating?

No, if you aren't going to be graded on them it isn't cheating.

But it is foolish.

The point of the questions is to give you practice in solving them, not to obtain answers that the professor already has.

If you don't practice your craft you will never get very good at it.

Moreover, just seeing an answer will very likely give you almost no insight in what it takes to actually solve such problems when face with them in a more important context. You may actually be doing yourself harm by reading answers.

Much better is to work on the problems yourself, and, when you get stuck, ask the professor for help. They will, I hope, give you just enough of a boost to get you going again, rather than so much that it denies you the insight. Strangers on the web are not the best source of your education.


Could a "phantom" citation in WoS be a problem?

I believe that you have answered yourself in your question:

  And even if there were some situations where somebody uses WoS as a way to evaluate my work, being cited in one paper does not influence the total result too much.

Nobody expects databases to be perfect.  You are expected to do a reasonable job of self-curation, such that you are not, say, doubling your citation count by adding in many papers by other people.  Small percentage errors, however, will change nothing significant in any evaluation of you and your work.


My guess is that the reviewer they were waiting for has withdrawn or been dropped and a different reviewer been assigned.  There are other internal actions that might cause the same sort of visible change as well, but all of them likely signify progress toward receiving your response.


Do professors in Germany have other payment than their standard salary?

As Dirk writes, W3 only gives the Grundgehalt (base salary), which varies by state. As a public servant, you will automatically get a few hundred EUR on top if you are married and/or have children (Familienzuschlag). Note also that in some states (Bayern, Hessen, Sachsen), your W2 or W3 Grundgehalt will currently increase in two steps after 5/12 or after 7/14 years.

You can supplement the Grundgehalt with various Zulagen. These are pay increases, not one-time bonuses. You can get Zulagen either for a set period (befristete Zulage, i.e., a temporary one), or for the rest of your working life (unbefristete Zulage).

You can negotiate so-called Leistungszulagen (a performance bonus), for instance if you manage to get lots of third-party money, publish a lot, or supervise a lot of dissertations, or similar things. You typically discuss multi-year targets with your dean and/or university president or chancellor.
Some German states (Brandenburg, Bremen, Hamburg) currently give you a non-trivial Grundleistungszulage without any preconditions.
You may get Funktionszulagen if you hold particular offices, like being the dean or managing a larger group, or managing a specific institution or institute.
If you get an offer from a different university, you will start haggling with both the new university and the one you are at. Both usually want you, so both will offer you a Berufungszulage (a "job offer pay increase", at the university that extended the offer), or a Bleibezulage (a "staying pay increase", at the university that tries to keep you). In contrast to industry, this kind of haggling is normal. (In industry, if you get an outside offer but stay in exchange for a higher salary, your manager will usually assume that you won't stay much longer.)

As a brand-new professor, you may be able to get a small initial Berufungszulage, but most other Zulagen will only be negotiatable after a few years.

The Deutscher Hochschulverband is a good place to look for additional information. This is basically a union for professors and almost-professors in Germany, and they offer coaching to their members. Very much recommended in your first (and subsequent) salary negotiations - they know what you can reasonably demand and what not. A membership is definitely worth the dues. They also publish the pay scales currently here, in German, although this link will likely rot over time.

In addition, you can get additional money from outside sources:

You can have consulting contracts in industry. You will usually need to clear this with your university, and your outside commitments will likely be capped at 8 hours per week or similar, but this can of course still mean serious money.
If you are a professor at a medical school or a Universitätsklinik, you will be able to see private patients and take home some of their payments, although this has been getting less lucrative in recent years, with the clinic keeping a larger cut from younger professors. You could set up your own practice on the side, but this would again be subject to limitations set by your employer.
As Wrzlprmft notes, you can get a little money out of the Verwertungsgesellschaft Wort, or VG Wort - see some information in English here. It essentially disburses monies as payments for people using your copyrighted works (they get their money from various sources). It's a very German institution. This will usually not be a lot of money, especially if you publish with a lot of coauthors. Here is what Academia.SE knows of VG Wort.
However, if you do publish a book, you will be able to keep any payments from the publisher. This will again usually not be a lot, and it's not specific to Germany.

Finally, note that a professor in Germany is a Beamter (public servant). This means that you pay far less in social security contributions, since you by definition can't lose your job (so no joblessness insurance contributions), and the state will pay your pension (so you don't need to contribute - although saving for your old age is still a good idea). The state also pays for part of your medical bills and those of your dependents (Beihilfe), and since you are a good risk (see above on not losing your job), you will get good deals on remaining health and other insurance policies. Bottom line: out of 75k EUR, you will take home a larger fraction than if you earned the same amount in industry.


Email Professor asking if I can talk about the research we conduct

First, I think you should assume that it is ok to talk to a potential future advisor. No one should forbid you to do this. But you can ask your current advisor if there are elements that should be held back "for now." If there are strong reservations, ask for advice on how answers to questions on the research should be stated. Those questions will come, of course.

One way to deflect questions that you are not comfortable answering is to refer the questioner to your professor for details.

Some things might be sensitive, such as incomplete results or innovative methodology, but it is more likely that the details of such things, rather than their mere existence, that might need to be held in confidence at the current time.

You can set up the meeting with the potential future advisor without hearing back, but keep your own advisor informed about the meeting.

You need to keep two people happy and their interests are a bit different, though not necessarily at odds. But don't neglect your own interest here.

You have a right to advance your own career, of course.


Tips for Conducting an Experiment without Stress

This question is only vaguely related to Academia, honestly; the tips we can give you here apply equally well to virtually any project you'll ever run.

First thing: given that you're new at this, you will probably screw up something at some point, so just internalize that. You're new, the field is new, and things go wrong when its a first time. Most likely every single person you're working with already knows this; the sooner you appreciate it yourself the better off (and less stressed) you'll be.

The best tip I can say is, if possible, do a dry run. Test all equipment, test your scripts (if you have), make sure you have an accurate and detailed checklist of what you need to do at each step, and what to do when something goes wrong at each step. Even better, do this walkthrough with whoever maintains the equipment and have them watch you for mistakes. You will make mistakes; that's cool, just acknowledge them and move on.

If you can't do a dry run then just familiarize yourself with equipment as best you can. Make sure you know what you're doing and when you're doing it. If there's something you're really nervous about—breaking a $2M machine, for example—talk to the technicians or previous students and make sure you know which parts you need to be careful around.

Long story short, recognize that newbies make mistakes. Make sure you know which mistakes you really don't want to make, and don't do those ones; you'll be fine.


There is no exact, official, legally binding definition of self-citation. The term occurs usually in the context of research metrics and scientific evaluations, and every developer of a system to measure such things is free to use his own definition of self-citation (or even, to ignore it).

That said, if I were to implement such a system, I would treat self-citation as a property of a paper, not as a property of an author. That means, I would consider a citation of paper A within paper B as a self-citation, if A and B have at least one author in common. The reason is
that some overlap between the author lists will already make it more
likely that paper A is referenced in paper B.

Note that "the citation of A within B is a self-citation" is not a moral statement. It does not mean that the authors of A, or the authors of B, or the joint authors of A and B did anything wrong. It just means that there is some aspect that makes this particular citation statistically more likely than a citation of A within another paper C, where A and C have no authors in common. Research metrics consider events that are more likely (say, a publication in arXiv) as less valuable than events that are less likely (say, a publication in Nature). They are based on statistical observations, not on a legal process that decides for each individual citation whether it is justified or not. Don't take it personally.


Paper rejected due to short reference list

the editors reject it on the basis of size of the reference list rather than focussing on the quality of the manuscript.

I think that's a false distinction. From the view of the journal (and most publication outlets I know), one aspect of a manuscript's quality is that it needs to defend its novelty by appropriately considering related work.

The feedback does not mention the size of your reference list, but a lack of diversity, which indicates that your article is limited in the perspective of considered related work. For example, if your algorithm uses a new idea from X to solve a new problem Y and presents applications in Z, you should discuss papers about X, Y (or similar problems), and Z.


Does anyone know how long the peer review process usually takes in the human-computer interaction journal

I looked at your link... for the first article I clicked on we see:

  Received 28 Apr 2015, Accepted 16 Aug 2016, Accepted author version posted online: 01 Sep 2016

So it looks like 16 months in that case.


What can I do about someone publishing my work from GitHub?

The first question you need to ask is what license is your code under? If, for example, you published your code under the GPL, then someone taking your code and publishing results obtained with it is entirely within their rights. It may be bad academic style to not say where they got the code from, but there is nothing that would objectionable from a legal perspective about the fact. You might be upset that they didn't acknowledge you, but you likely have little recourse -- lots of people publish research done with widely used software packages like PyTorch without referencing where they had it from, and the academic community appears to be ok with that. (Whether that's how it should be is a separate question not to be litigated here.)

On the other hand, if you didn't attach a license to your code, then it remains yours whether or not the code is available on github. If you can prove that they used your code, then you could presumably take legal action against them, though that is a matter from which the journal in question will likely want to stay about as far away as possible. The difficult thing to show in this legal argument is that indeed the person in question did use your code, and not just their own implementation of a similar algorithm. If you have good reasons to believe that they did indeed use your code, then you will get a chance to test your belief during the discovery phase of any trial -- but you already get the idea: This is likely going to get expensive.

What would happen to that other person: If your pockets are deep enough to actually win a law suit, then that other person's employer is likely going to be interested in following up because their employee used a piece of software illegally. If your software was available under a license that allowed the other person to use it, then people can have differing opinions on whether or not they were required to cite you, and nothing will likely happen.

Short story short: If you really really don't want anyone to use your software, you have two options: (i) Use github, make your repositories public, mark everything as proprietary software, and set aside a few $10k for potential law suits; (ii) don't use github, or make your github repositories private.


Can my institute use my figure and put their name on it for press releases, etc.?

It depends. If (1) you once signed a contract that allows the university to do so, and (2) they contacted your publisher to obtain authorization for duplicating the figure, this may be legally allowed. That depends a bit on the laws in your country, which often differ in such matters.

It is certainly bad style, though. Also, PR offices that are careful enough the think of condition (2) will typically also contact you prior to publication of the press release - especially since cropping of the figure occurred. Also: Don't attribute malice to a deed when other possibilities exist. For example, they could have asked you advisor, who said that this would be fine (whether this is OK by the advisor to do so is a different question). Also, replacing your name by the university name could have been the work of an unexperienced intern in the office, etc.

Perhaps you can contact them and ask if this is a mistake. If you want to go the easy route, you could just mention that you are concerned that the figure violates the publisher's copyright and that cropping the image may not be covered by the agreement they gave. In the same mail/call, you could offer help with this potential problem by provide them with the needed source information for a proper "image citation" and helping with obtaining authorization by the publisher (if needed). You could also express genuine concerns that potential future collaborators on research questions related to the figure could use the information of you being the source to establish contact, which would potentially be beneficial for both your career and the future reputation of the university (by strengthening the research done at your institution).


Applying for PHD in Europe: getting a recommendation

I have no experience applying to German institutions, but I have applied to programs in the US, Norway, Netherlands.  My answer is based of those experiences.

If the program you are applying to does not specify that you provide recommendations, don't put them in your application.  If the committee thinks you are a strong candidate, and they want a recommendation, they will ask for it.  It is entirely expected however, that you should be able to present at least two strong recommendations upon request, in which case you provide their email and phone number in the application.

Since you have both academic and industry experience, it would be valuable to represent both.  Email your supervisor from the University you attended and ask them if he/she can provide a strong recommendation for you.  Briefly summarize what your research included just to help refresh their memory.  It never hurts to mention why you enjoyed your research and why you are inspired to get a PhD.

Good luck!


Responding to low-key insult from lecturer

Sincerely? Let it go. The tone is also not "low-key insulting" (that means a personal disparaging attack on you), it is dismissive/snotty/irritated (do not bother me with this stuff).

The thing is that you are reading a lot (IMHO too much) into this. I'm not saying that you are wrong, but it sounds that you are in danger of spending precious lifetime for collecting perceived slights. You have already used approx. 1 hour of your lifetime to ask this question, and probably several hours of suppressed anger pondering his answer.

Really, the easiest way is to think "Perhaps he has eaten something bad today/has relationship problems", or whatever. Remember: once is chance, twice is coincidence, thrice is a pattern. If it happens three times, then it is time to act.


Industry standard here is to offer royalties based off the revenue made. If Springer is selling your book, then each chapter download should not be free, and some percentage of that revenue goes to you.

I'd be surprised if anyone is willing to offer you remuneration based on downloads, since the same buyer might download the book several times.


Can I apply for a faculty position after 14 years of postdcoc?

You can certainly apply. There is nothing to prevent that. But, like any candidate you have to meet the qualifications and present a positive case.
Depending on your field, you may be expected to have a pretty full CV, with papers and such and also good letters of recommendation (in those places where they are valued). You might also be asked to explain why you spent so long as a post doc. That may be easy to do, depending on your research and its outcomes.
But only a hiring committee will be able to say whether you can be offered a tenure-track position.
And, as you make applications, it is better to cast a wide net and not focus on only a very narrow subset of universities. Match any application to the needs of that institution as best you can discover.


Is it common to perform a campus interview before asking for letters of recommendation

I think they will ask for the recommendation letters at a later stage. It seems to me that they first want to interview you.


Where can I apply for an internship in the renewable energy sector in India?

Try to find trainships or internships on traineesearch.com for example. One of the biggest companies in renewable energy is Vestas which is present in India and had a Graduate Programme, but do to restructuring this got stopped (temporarily?). You however could check their job openings.
Certainly there are more renewable energy companies in India.


How to approach a mistake I made in an abstract for a Conference?

Yes, send a correction, with apologies. It may be that they can make a change or not, but "due diligence" says you let them know. You might be prepared for the poster session with a hand-out sheet that also has a correction. Few may care, but some might.

And yes, let your advisor know. Don't worry too much. Mistakes happen.


Are "fact sheets" an acceptable reference?

If they are summary statistics, where possible, it's better to cite the source report or dataset but in general it's reasonable to cite such fact sheets as a published document authored by either the named author(if named) or the department which has generated it.

If the summary stats are published as part of a report cite the report, if they're just published as a web page then you'd cite it as a web page with retrieval date included.

How strong a source they are depends on the fact and the source. For example, statements about population changes or similar on a web page published by the census bureau would be an extremely high quality source.

On the other hand a snippet of general health advice without citations in a public brochure may be of far lower quality.


What exactly is "nostrification" of a university diploma?

Nostrification is verification that Degree X you received in Country A has the same value as Degree Y received in Country B. You do not receive a new diploma for Degree Y in Country B.

Well, actually a university in Country B may decide to give you Degree Y based on your work in Country A, but it's certainly not standard, and usually bond to university-level agreement and cooperated studies, but even then it's often not the degree that's nostrificated, but rather the thesis, its reports etc. and the defense that's considered.

The most common reason for diploma nostrification is (1) job requirements in Country B, often in governmental jobs such as offices, schools etc.; or (2) continuation of study, for instance nostrification of Masters for the admission to PhD studies in Country B. In neither case, it is necessary to have Degree Y in Country B.


Is it possible to download nature as a magazine?

Scientific American is a very different type of journal, in fact it more a "magazine" than a peer-reviewed academic journal like Nature.

Nature (and almost all other paid-subscription academic journals) does not want people downloading large numbers of articles at a time, even if they are doing it legally (with a paid subscription, such as yourself). This is because people who download so many articles at a time, are usually trying to do it for some reason that goes against the goals of the company printing the journal (in this case Nature Publishing Group). For example, people who download 100s of academic journal articles in one day, might be trying to create a repository of articles online for free access somewhere else on the internet or on PirateBay, or to sell the articles for $3 each instead of the $30 that nature usually charges.

On this question you have put a bounty containing the message:

  I really need to find a way to download it

Which begs the question: Why is it that you need to download an entire issue of a journal all at once? I do not know anyone that has such a wide breadth of scientific knowledge, that they can understand every article in one issue of Nature. I think the reason why 8 months have passed without any answer to this question, is that Nature also does not see any good reason why someone would want to do this, that would not go against the goals of the company, which are to make a profit.

If you are not planning to do anything illegal, the best solution for you is probably to use an automation software such as AutoIT (if using Windows), or to use command-line tools like curl or wget (if using Linux), and then combine the PDFs by dragging and dropping them into a PDF merging software like the one offered with Small PDF.


How is an experimental particle physicist evaluated?

I happened to be a member of my college's executive committee when an experimental particle physicist was being considered for promotion to tenure. She was, indeed, a member of a huge collaboration, so a typical paper of hers had perhaps 100 co-authors. The papers provided no information about what, specifically, she had contributed (and we know better than to pay much attention to citation counts and impact factors). The information we needed, about the quality and quantity of her work, was provided by numerous letters from external reviewers. ("External" means not in our university.) Ordinarily, the college requires that most external letters come from senior researchers who are not co-authors of the candidate's papers, but an exception is allowed in areas, like experimental particle physics, where only co-authors really know about the candidate's work.  My recollection (about 15 years old and therefore somewhat vague) is that the letters gave us very detailed information, not only about what the candidate had contributed but also about how efficiently she had done her part of the work.


Where to put the interpretative mathematical derivations in my research paper?

I suppose the results of your mathematical derivations matter for your paper's conclusions, not the way you derived them.
The results will probably have a natural place where they belong in your paper. If the derivations are short, you can present them there.
But if the derivations occupy significant space (and aren't part of your core content), presenting them in-place would mean a detour for the reader. Then I'd recomment to place them into some appendix, and include a link to this appendix there where you present the results.
P.S. At my time as a student, professors often used phrases like "as you can easily see ..." to avoid lengthy detours into less relevant mathematical derivations. But for completeness' sake, the derivations should be accessible to the interested reader.


My adviser is chairing a conference, as a PhD student how can I benefit from that

Help with organizing is a great start. Do what needs to be done and don't let any task be "too low". Top volunteering spots are registration help and IT support. You can build quite a bit of good rapport by being "so and so's friendly phd student who helped get my mac to connect to the projector". Makes your adviser look good as well. Happy adviser, happy phd life.

As someone who was in your position working with a faculty member who was an executive director of a conference, I did the following-

helped with registration
took photos
helped with general tech support issues
passed out drink tickets
whatever little thing needed to be done

In short, there is a TON to do behind the scenes at a conference to make things tick. Just be a can-do and helpful person. People notice that and it has the ability to do much more for your career than reviewing a few proposals. Those people you are helping get their mac to work on a projector might be on a search committee for a position you are applying for.


How should I control my nervousness, so as not to disturb my presentation on the day of a conference?

I don't want my nervousness ruin my first academic presentation in a conference and the huge research my co-authors and I have done in the research paper.

You being nervous will not ruin your research. Everybody knows that PhD students (or professors!) are often nervous when speaking at big conferences. No sane person will look at you being nervous, and hence deduct that your research has to be somehow faulty. Of course, everybody wants to be perceived "cool" in research talks, and it is certainly easier to do a great conference presentation when one is not too nervous (a little bit of tension helps, though). However, you should never forget that very little actual damage is being done if the audience sees that you are a bit nervous.

  How should I decrease my stress on the day of my paper presentation and better control my nervousness in my presentation?

The best remedy for being nervous are (1) knowing your material / presentation really well, and (2) having a lot of practice (not just for this specific presentation, but of presentations in general). You do not sound like you are very experienced giving talks, so some amount of nervousness is not troublesome at all. Prepare your talk early and do at least 2 to 3 test talks in your department, until you have convinced yourself that your talk is good.

You'll probably still be a bit nervous on the big day, but don't be too hard on yourself - a bit shaky hands are not going to be any problem.


How do I properly punctuate bulleted list of mathematical equations?

I agree with you that mathematical formulas are usually sentences or parts of sentences and should be punctuated accordingly. This makes your example rather difficult if you don't want to change the words. I'd capitalize neither of the two bullet items, I'd put a comma after the first equation, and I'd put a period after the second equation.  That doesn't look very good, and besides it would really need "and" between the two bullet items.  So I suggest trying an alternative wording. Here's the first that occurs to me.
Assuming that the equations are intended to define (or summarize) properties A and B, a better solution would be to change the introductory "If something, then" to "If something, then the function has the following properties." Then, instead of numbering the bullet items as 1 and 2, label them as A and B. (Even if A and B are words or phrases, you can use them as labels in LaTeX's "description" environment.) And put periods after both equations, since they're now stand-alone sentences rather than clauses in the "If something ..." sentence.


What are the important factors to consider when choosing a Master topic?

One thing to keep uppermost in your mind - the topic of your Master's thesis is not necessarily the one that you have to pursue in later research, such as part of a PhD.

The point of a Master's thesis is to demonstrate your ability to do research. Opinions might vary on whether it is a reasonable expectation that the research that you do for a Master's thesis has to be world-class and leads to one or more publications. In my view, it would be nice, but it isn't a requirement.

What you need to get out of your Master's thesis is a strong demonstration that you are capable of academic research. You decision on which supervisor and topic to choose should be guided by this driver.

Pursuing a research topic merely because the professor is world-renown may be misguided. What happens if you don't strike up a good working relationship and your research falters because of it? Will your professor's reputation outweigh a mediocre research effort?

Your drive and interest in a research topic are strong factors of whether you will succeed. The motivation should come from you - most of the time - to address your research topic. Again, if you aren't particularly interested in the topic, you are going to find it hard to keep going at it when - and it is a matter of when - the going gets tough.

I reiterate that at the end of your Master's thesis, you want to demonstrate your research ability. You are still learning the skills and craft of research, and for that reason, you want to seek teachers who are skilled at teaching how to research. Is it necessarily true that the best practitioners of science research are the best teachers of how to do research? Sometimes true, sometimes not.


Why is having multiple college majors seen as a bad thing when applying to graduate school?

It seems to be a common fallacy among undergraduate students that completing more majors and/or minors means that you have learned more in college.  I think this comes from the mistaken belief that completing the coursework required for a major in a subject means that you have mastered the subject.

In actuality, the coursework required for a major in a subject should be viewed as the minimum amount of coursework necessary to be able to claim any expertise in the subject.  If your goal is to study a subject at the graduate level, you typically want to take many additional undergraduate courses in the field beyond those required for a degree before you can reasonably begin graduate work.  Graduate schools look for this sort of deep experience in potential applicants, and tend to frown on those who have completed only the minimum requirements for a major.

So graduate schools don't see extra majors and minors as bad, exactly.  But if you spend time completing lots of extra majors and minors you probably won't have enough time to develop the expertise in your primary subject that you need for graduate school.  Instead of taking on a third major, you should plan to take roughly six extra courses in your primary field.  This might seem like it doesn't accomplish anything since it doesn't help you satisfy any official requirement, but it's exactly the sort of coursework that graduate schools are looking for.


What journals that may consider "new proof of old results"?

The answer is certainly "yes", but to identify the best fit for your paper you'll have to decide how different your proof is from previous proofs.  It often happens that two proofs look completely different when viewed line-by-line, but still the main intermediate steps in the proofs are essentially the same -- in other words, proofs can use the same strategy but different tactics. If your main contribution is in finding an efficient or elegant way to present some of the same ideas that were used in previous proofs, then you might consider Expositiones Mathematicae or the American Mathematical Monthly.  On the other hand, if your proofs use entirely new ideas, then you have done original research and you should submit your paper to a standard journal.  In between these two extremes is L'Enseignement Mathématique, which often publishes papers which combine new research with improved exposition of known results.


Software to create repositories of students' software projects

I and my university have used MOSS (Measure of Software Similarity) by Stanford (theory.stanford.edu/~aiken/moss) - I'm not sure of its effectiveness to detect slight modifications, but it seems to be the standard of most university CS programs.


In my thesis, can I use results for which a collaborator wrote most of the simulation code, or do I have to independently replicate the simulations?

If those results are published, cite the publication. If those results are unpublished, you can cite the contribution of the other student either where you present the results ("Otherguy and Vladhagen, unpublished, 2015") or in an acknowledgment (I would favor the latter). Your advisor should be able to answer questions like this as you write your dissertation as well.

Note that in academic work, "writing code" is not held to the same level as intellectual input: it's good that you want you make sure your colleague gets appropriate credit, but it just isn't the same as developing ideas. The same would go for other "grunt work" in a lab: culturing the cells, washing the dishes, running the PCR. That type of credit goes in the "acknowledgments" section, or with some added intellectual work and help drafting the manuscript, they get a middle authorship. Science is a collaborative process, and no one expects your work in your dissertation to be yours and yours alone without anyone's help.

If you want to distribute the code itself, you would want to have permission of the person writing the code.


Readmission after leaving for and being dismissed from a different graduate program

Dropping is generally a red flag to admittance groups, but could be overcome with a good reason. Be prepared for the following questions: Why did you drop?  If the two programs are equivalent, why is the second one better?
There are presumably good answers: I moved home to look after a sick family member. I had a sudden loss of incoming financial support and rotated to a lower cost university to pursue my passion.  I worked with faculty member XYZ on a top-tier research project, and I came with them from the first university to the second under a full ride.  Sometimes the answers are still honest and fair but less flattering: "I was worried about my mental health during the pandemic and rotated to be closer to family and my support network. I did better afterwards and thrived at the second university."
You presumably have good reasons - it will depend on your ability to communicate why, and you will need more details than provided above.


If I drop out, can I restart my Master's degree in the future?

Possibly

but it sounds like you haven't officially "dropped out" yet, so there is another better option if you'd like to return

Take A Leave Of Absence

Most universities offer students the ability to take a semester to a year off and return without reapplying.  It's usually referred to as a Leave of Absence.  You'll have to talk with someone in the administrative office of your university, and possibly someone in your department.

It's more common than you think.  Some students do it to deal with medical issues, but many do it for the reason you're considering dropping out.  Getting a degree can be overwhelming sometimes, and if you're struggling early on, sometimes a break can help you re-group and catch up.

Universities understand that sometimes a student can get overwhelmed, before dropping out, see what other options there may be to give you time to catch up and improve your study skills.


How much time before (possible) effect of US sequester is felt on grant funding?

See the NIH answer below on what's happening to grant budgets, at least for their agencies. It sounds like there is some budget trimming for the amount awarded for new grants, but they're trying to mitigate that somewhat. Where I think there's going to be a much greater impact is with new awards - with less money, and not wanting to hamstring grants with further cuts, they're simply likely to make less awards.

As for how much time before the possible effect of the sequester hits? It already has. Several people I've spoken to who do program planning, grants work, etc. for the Federal government have expressed the feeling that, because of the level of uncertainty about what money they'll have in the future, funding agencies are being very conservative about what they commit to spending. We could see this in the last budget cycle and the near shut-down - funding slowed to a crawl for a bit, and then when the continuing resolution got passed, there was a small "bump" as agencies spent out money they hadn't yet promised "just in case".

So if the sequester goes through, what that will really do is make those conservative, "We better not spend $$$ until we know we'll have it" plans a reality, followed by more severe paylines etc. in the next grant cycle.

So worst case: It's already here, we're just not committed to it yet.
Best case:  The next funding cycle.

Edit: The actual answer has come from the NIH:
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-13-043.html

  The NIH continues to operate under a Continuing Resolution as
  described in NOT-OD-13-002, and therefore all non-competing
  continuation awards are currently being funded at a level below that
  indicated on the most recent Notice of Award (generally up to 90% of
  the previously committed level).  Final levels of FY 2013 funding may
  be reduced by a sequestration.  Despite the potential for reduced
  funding, the NIH remains committed to our mission to seek fundamental
  knowledge about the nature and behavior of living systems and the
  application of that knowledge to enhance health, lengthen life, and
  reduce the burdens of illness and disability.

  Should a sequestration occur, NIH likely will reduce the final FY 2013
  funding levels of non-competing continuation grants and expects to
  make fewer competing awards to  allow the agency to meet the available
  budget allocation. Although each NIH Institute and Center (IC) will
  assess allocations within their portfolio to maximize the scientific
  impact, non-competing continuation awards that have already been made
  may be restored above the current level as described in NOT-OD-13-002
  but likely will not reach the full FY 2013 commitment level described
  in the Notice of Award. Finally, in the event of a sequestration, NIH
  ICs will announce their respective approaches to meeting the new
  budget level.


Focusing on GRE, subject GRE, TOEFLS, IELTS before applying?

For grad school, the GREs and TOEFL are treated more as thresholds. Once you cross the target score it may not have much of a bearing on your admission. For the general GRE, do some of the sample exams provided by ETS and see how far your score is from the prescribed targets. You can count on improving at about 5 points per week (so if you score 310 and your university needs 325, plan to study for three weeks). The TOEFL shouldn't be an issue for you based on your other Academia posts. The subject GRE requires at least 2 months of serious preparation. Again, try to see where you stand.

Try to do the exams at least a month before the application deadline, as that is how long it could take for the scores to reach their destination. If you are applying for a competitive program, you will need all your scores in place. Since it is only June, you have enough time to apply this year (to join next Fall).


Are faculty applicants hired at a level based on their current position?

Details may vary but in essence the following applies (assuming it is a research/teaching university):

Scientific publications. The list is judged on quality, usually determined by h-index, number of citations and publications per year in some combination.
Funding. The ability of the applicant to attract funds.
Academic experience. This could be anything from teaching through administrative tasks, within  a university or in international circles. the latter may be important since the person brings in a network of contacts.

Clearly, it is possible that a department may look for a younger promising scientists to build a new environment and many positions may be strategic to expand a department or to strengthen it uncertain ways. Hence the current position may have very little influence on the appointment. It all boils down to what the department is looking for.

Whether it is possible to employ a full professor as assistant or vice versa, is difficult to answer. generally, yes, but the meaning of full, associate, assistant professor varies and does not exist everywhere. So the picture is more complex here and I believe the search criteria is what is looked at. I can imagine, that being full professor may be a disadvantage if the position is looking for someone to be assistant but then it is up to the applicant to accept (or not) the conditions.


When submitting an extended version, is it mandatory to include all authors of the original paper?

An extended version of a conference paper supersedes the conference paper. A priori, this means that every author of the conference paper is also an author of the journal paper. In same rare cases it could be appropriate to drop an author (if every part they contributed to gets removed), but as a matter of protocol, I would only consider this on request of the relevant author.

This is different from a subsequent paper building on a prior paper from the same project, where a citation to the previous paper suffices. In such a case, one would not copy over important text anyway.


Email a department head as student recommending a professor for a tenure position

Of course you can write to the head. Make it a formal, printed, mail, however. Email might just get mislaid. But also note that most tenure decisions go through committees. It might be more appropriate to write a formal letter to the head of that committee.

The letter on paper will become part of the tenure file to be discussed within the committee.

Also, say more than that you support the professor. Say why. How has he/she helped you or others, for example. Inspired you. Whatever.


In any field I've heard of, as well as outside academia, if you are sending a digital copy (pdf, email, doc) you do not need to sign anything unless specifically requested. If you have to mail a copy of it is commonly customary to sign it, but no one will likely care either way. Good luck in your applications!


Research Assistant Professor vs Post-doc

I think you need to think about what that post-doc position can really offer you. Going from a 25th-30th University to a 9th-12th University isn't that significant, since the precision of ranking schools is iffy, at best. Therefore, think about what opportunities the post-doc will offer you: exciting research? Connections/contacts? Does the PI have a solid track record of post-docs getting tenure-track positions? On the other hand, being a non-tenure track research professor may be the better option if you think you can get enough data to apply for a grant. The bump in income is nice, too, especially given the high cost of education in the USA. I'm guessing you probably don't have student loans from grad school, but what about undergrad?

tl;dr- Post-doc:may lead to tenure-track job, possibly better contacts? Research asst prof: may lead to tenure-track job, but with better interim salary.


Suffering from a third world country academic culture

This is an outside possibility, but, have you considered enrolling as an external student at an overseas university?

Admittedly, I am not sure of US universities, but ones here in Australia often have a large proportion of external students - with delivery given online and/or by post (usually the former).  An example is the university I am enrolled in (in Queensland) - I completed my MSc while I lived in Tokyo, Japan.

Just wanted to add - don't burn the books and especially don't give up (but understand the feeling, albeit from a different viewpoint).  I commend you on your self-discipline and determination - these traits will hold you in good stead when you find your path.


Are (academic) job chances improved by extra-academic activities (Podcast, Popular Science Books)?

I have chaired and served on a number of faculty search committees, so from the perspective of a potential employment assessment (though I do not know your discipline)... If the non-academic activities are related to your topic of research, I would highlight that you have been successful in disseminating your research to non-academic audiences. For instance, I have given a TEDx talk on my research that is in layman terms and has received accolades from potential employers and upper administration at my institutions. I have also written policy briefs and reports for policymakers and providers that are technical, but not "academic." I have highlighted how this increases the relevance of my research. You could do the same and it would most likely be viewed as positive - as long as the non-academic activities do not overshadow or start to take the place from the academic ones.


The answer is, of course, that it depends. If you're in the US the first two years are functionally two jobs - classes & candidacy, and research. I think most people end up working a lot. If you're continuing in the same program as your masters degree it will be less time consuming because you've already knocked off your course load, but it's not going to be much better than what you've already experienced.
It's also very PI dependant. Some PIs will be fine with something close to a 9-5. Others will expect an 80 hour a week workload. You should be careful with who you choose to work for. I would advise looking for associate or recently promoted full professors with children under the age of 15. Labs which are entirely international students are a red flag. There's no replacement for talking to current students in an informal capacity about work life balance. Spending $20 and a night at the department happy hour is an investment that will pay off when you pump people for information.
FWIW I did 60 hours a week through my PhD but got much better at time management and got that down to 40 a week for my postdoc. It is doable.


I am actually currently just preparing for such a collaboration/internship/exchange (leaving after summer). From day 1 of my PhD (both) my supervisors said that we should definitely look for such an opportunity during my second year.
Both of my supervisor think it is not a bad idea, moreover, they both think it is something very important given several restrictions:

that you do it around the middle of your PhD.
This is important because in the beginning, you're still new to the topic and trying to get a grip on everything important. You can not "give" almost anything back to the lab you are visiting, so it is not a fair exchange.

the project (3 months in my case), is something directly related to my PhD
Not just "has similarities", but maybe a sub-problem of the research direction I am currently on anyway due to my PhD. It is also important (mostly, for the grants), that it is something that the target laboratory is better suited for/equipped/has more experts than your own institution.

that it is around 3-4 months
The point is, much shorter than that, and it becomes a purely social / networking visit where you can possibly present your research in person and have other people present theirs, but not much more. On the other hand, more than 4 months will indeed be too long, as I am not expected to spend much more than that on a single idea even when I am working in my lab.

So, these were the restrictions. The benefits, however, are much more numerous:

obviously, networking. Especially if you plan to stay in academia, developing your own network of contacts as soon as possible is very important.
exchanging ideas. In addition to papers, presenting your own (and your labs) work in person is another way to disseminate ideas. Also, being exposed to different people, different approaches and different ideas might just jog some clogs that would otherwise take much longer to click in place.
strengthening the collaboration (between the participating laboratories): in a sense, you became an "ambassador" from your own institution to the host institution. A successful internship will be good for you, but it can also hold a lot of benefits for both institutions (that includes your supervisors) as if it goes well, they will be more likely to collaborate (more) in the future.
international experience. Where I am (France), people who plan to stay in academia and reach a permanent position are more than strongly encouraged to have an international experience. Basically, at least a few months internship abroad is a must for a permanent position, a year-long post-doc position or two abroad are much better. It is not a requirement, but always a person with international experience will get picked over the person with none.
both of these boil down to: post-doc. If is not unheard of that such an internship might actually be "vetting" the place for a post-doc. And this goes both ways: your host institution/professor sees if he likes working with you, and you see if you like it there.
specific benefit of the hosting lab. I have mentioned that there is many benefits of generally working in a different research environment and with different people for a while. But, specifically, there might be equipment, or test data, or an expert in the hosting lab that you just do not have in your institution.
diversity experience. If you have decided to stay in academia only on the basis of your PhD environment (as I have), you might not see the whole picture yet. Seeing different research labs, different environments, can only be a benefit.
publication While 3 months is not always enough to make a publication, you do want to get the most of the internship. Thus, most people get a publication out of it because they put a little bit extra effort (maybe not even consciously). And, your new publication will have a name of somebody other than your supervisor on it, which speaks to your ability to be able to work with different people successfully.

Now, of course, funding might be one obstacle. But other than that, if adequate funding is found, I see no reason for supervisors to object to such an idea.


Is it ethical to use proprietary (closed-source) software for scientific computation?

I do not think that this is an ethical question in the first place. Reproducibility is not harmed by the requirement that money needs to be spent on buying software or setting up an experiment (or are there open-source particle accelerators?).

While open source solutions are preferable for many reasons, there are clearly cases where using some proprietary software P is appropriate:

When it is known (and has been verified) that P's implementation of method M is correct while the known open-source implementations of M have not (yet) been established as reliable. Conversely, when open-source implementation O is known to give correct results whereas for P this has not been established, then clearly O should be used when there is a choice.
When one can reasonably expect that P is widely available in research institutions (and thus to researchers), like for example certain mathematical / computational packages.
When P allows for a much more (time-/resource-)efficient execution of experiments.
When P is a software package needed anyway to extract / process data from a big-ticket instrument.

Note that I am assuming that P can actually be bought by anyone. If P is not commercially available but rather a closed-source in-house solution then an open-source package is preferable.


Health aspects of White board vs black board

The only type of board that doesn't affect the air in the classroom is a digital whiteboard (aka a smartboard). If you're using an actual white board or black board be sure that your room is well ventilated and cleaned often. For chalk boards specifically some sources recommend chalk holders and even face masks.

Here are the papers I found on the subject of white/black boards and health:

Blackboards

Effects of Chalk Use on Dust Exposure and Classroom Air Quality

  Although using chalkboards in the
  classroom is a traditional and effective teaching method,
  chalk generates a large amount of airborne dust, and
  particularly submicrometer dust and nanoparticles that can
  penetrate into the respiratory system.

Investigation of Lecturer's Chalk by X-Ray Florescence and Fast Neutron Activation Techniques

  The presence of Ca and small traces of Al, Fe, Mg and Si elements in the different lecturer's chalk samples were confirmed utilizing Fast Neutron Activation Analysis (FNAA), lifetime, and X-ray florescence (XRF) techniques. [...] It is highly recommended that Chalk dust is
  considered an irritant and an occupational hazard as shown in this investigation.

Assessment of Airborne Fine Particulate Matter and Particle Size Distribution in Settled Chalk Dust during Writing and Dusting Exercises in a Classroom

  Though real-time airborne chalk dust generation was found to be low in this study and chalk dust contained only calcium carbonate or calcium sulphate predominantly and did not contain toxic materials, chalk dust could be harmful to allergic persons and may cause lacrimation and breathing troubles in the long run and certainly is a constant nuisance in classrooms as it may soil clothes, body parts, audio visual aids and study materials. The issue of allergy, lacrimation and breathing problem is certainly critical, considering that classroom teaching involves predominantly children and also in many cases teachers who might have crossed the middle age, thus becoming more susceptible. Exposure to low concentrations of fine particles for longer durations can be a matter of concern for children.

Trace elemental profile of School Chalk from a few Companies in Punjab
areas by WDXRF Technique

  The results of this study confirmed the presence of the elements like Ca, Al, Fe,
  Si, Ni, and Cr are in significant concentrations. The exposure to elements like Ca, Al, Si, Fe, Ni and
  Cr causes irritation to eyes and skin, cough, potential health symptoms includes accumulation to
  lungs. The study confirmed that black board chalk is an irritant and occupational hazard.

"Dust free" chalks

Investigation of particulate matter performances in relation to chalk selection in classroom environment

  Surprisingly, dustless chalk made from Gypsum cannot be called really as dustless because of more [particulate matter] emissions.

Allergenicity of casein containing chalk in milk allergic schoolchildren

Dust free chalk often contains casein, which can cause asthma if someone is allergic to milk (typically it's infants and children who have this allergy).

Whiteboards

I didn't find as much research on whiteboards, unfortunately.

Solvent Exposure during use of Solvent-Based Whiteboard Markers

  It does not appear that heavy use of
  solvent-based whiteboard markers by students in a classroom situation would likely result in
  excessive acute solvent exposures.

Analysis of the indoor air quality in greek primary schools

  [C]lassrooms using chalk in blackboard are characterized with significant concentrations of large  sized  particles  (PM2.5 &  PM10),  while  classrooms  using  marker  in  whiteboards  from increased VOCs and CO concentrations

Volatile organic compound emissions from markers used in preschools, schools, and homes

I couldn't read enough of this paper to reach any conclusions, but it seems relevant nonetheless


To add to @Buffy’s answer, in all math graduate programs I’m aware of, at least in the US, letters of recommendation are a requirement. So a “lack of letters of recommendation” is actually a guarantee that you will not get admitted. This is not something you can solve by publishing either one “simple” paper, or even many non-simple ones, except in the indirect sense that if you publish many papers then good letters of recommendation are likely to follow more or less automatically.

Keep in mind that this applies to all programs, not just “top-tier” ones.


Is it appropriate for a student to have their phone face down on the table when in class?

This ultimately ends up as a very situational issue, depending on culture, professor, individual, and past experience. I generally wouldn't consider it automatically a bad thing - and I tend to do it myself.

The main issue is not so much the phone, as how you use it and interact with it in the context of a class. I had a professor who explicitly asked for no electronic devices to be out in class, so in that case obviously they were clear that they didn't like to have phones out, so you'd generally want to abide by that. I, on the other hand, made a point of pulling out my phone quite visibly when a due date or assignment was announced to put it in my digital calendar, or if someone asked a question the professor was unsure of, or if the professor said something I doubted the correctness of I'd squint and tilt my head, and then Google it on my phone to confirm or clarify (and would offer to share what I found if something interesting resulted).

In theory, I blatantly violated the rule, and this would be considered something you shouldn't do. On the other hand, I am A) older, and less likely to be accused of being hooked on Facebook, B) someone who had already established themselves as a good student, and C) I made a point to make it clear I was using my electronic device in a pro-social, pro-education, productive way, which added to the class in a positive manner. The result was the professor actually changed their policy to be explicit about not wanting devices to be used as a distraction or unrelated to class, instead of a blanket ban.

If you use any device in way that makes it clear you are not paying attention, engaging with the class, or generally are not respectful of the time and work being done by people you are present with, that is going to be correctly interpreted as rude and disrespectful. I don't particularly recommend having it out just to have it out, though - if you aren't going to use it in some way, just put it away because it's a waste of work space. But if you are indeed going to use it in class in an appropriate, productive way - and make sure it isn't going to make noise, even by vibrating on the table - there is nothing wrong with having the phone on the desk in most modern classroom environments. If the professor explicitly has a no device policy, then you can politely defer to it any put it away unless you want to make a point in some way.


Will publishing a first author paper in ICECE2020 conference help me when applying for a PhD admission in the USA?

I suggest that you take every opportunity open to you to do research and publish it. It will never hurt unless you publish in predatory venues.
The university sponsoring this conference is reputable (and has a long history). The conference is in their main line of interest. I don't think you should have any qualms about submitting to such a conference.
While it might be a bit "better" to publish via a conference in EU, say, or US, it is probably financially impossible. Take advantage of all opportunities as you start on what you hope is a long career. Small first steps can be positive steps.
People elsewhere will understand these things in evaluating your work.


When you say "listed in my publications", who is doing the listing?  While changing the past isn't going to be possible, it's certainly possible to downplay it.  Obviously, on any listing you control (e.g. your CV or personal website), you can mention it or not.*  As for any professional website (e.g. your company or university's website), they'll probably ask you for what publications you want listed.

If the only reason you want to distance yourself from the paper is that you feel like you didn't 'deserve' to be included as an author, I would say that your co-authors apparently felt that you did.  If you still feel like you don't belong on the paper, you'll just have to downplay any questions about the paper.  (E.g. "Oh, the team felt that I played a significant enough role in the collecting of data that they included me as an author. Personally, I'd rather have been mentioned as an acknowledgement, but they insisted, and, especially as a junior member of the research team, I didn't want to seem ungrateful.")

But, that's only going to happen if someone asks you about that particular paper.  How often is that going to happen?

* If not mentioning it in a "Publications" section seems like a falsehood to you, branding the section as "Relevant Publications" or the like may be the way forward.


Is it possible to obtain feedback from a declined NSF postdoctoral fellowship?

I applied for a NSF post doctoral fellowship in Math last fall...and I got rejected.
  Is it possible to obtain any feedback from NSF or from the reviewers?

I believe it's not possible.  According to the program solicitation, "No written reviews are generated during the review process for this program, so the Fellow will not receive copies of reviews for proposals submitted to this program solicitation."  This agrees with my understanding that no feedback is provided.  There is definitely no feedback from the reviewers, and I believe the program officers also do not supply feedback.


Are there any universal rules for bibliographic references recognised all over the world?

There is no truly "universal" system—that's why packages like EndNote and BibTex both come with hundreds or even thousands of different bibliography styles.

That said, there are some common approaches—the Modern Language Association and Harvard formats are quite common in the humanities. The sciences have more widely spread systems, but I think the most common I've seen is the "abbreviated style," containing authors, journal, volume and page info and year. (There are some variations within that style based on different publishers, and some publishers, like ACS, are now starting to take advantage of electronic distribution by including full titles.)


How to handle student plagiarism appropriately?

Usually, the way to handle this is to ask both students to come in at the same time. And then in separate rooms, ask them to articulate one of the key points of the essay. It's usually simple to determine who wrote the paper and understood the ideas and who merely copied the text.

However, the key issue doesn't seem to be just whether B copied from A, but whether:

A allowed B to copy the material willingly (perhaps for remuneration)
A allowed it to be copied by B accidentally or through neglect (e.g., A left a draft on a public computer); or,
B copied it by malicious action  (B hacked into A's computer).

(There is a fourth possibility: that both B and A used source C and both are plagiarists.)

It would be unfair to punish just B and let A go without proving A's innocence or culpability.

That all being said, untangling this is non-trivial and at this point, I'd declare it above my pay grade and send it up the chain of command to the university committee responsible for student ethics and misconduct (via the instructor on record if you're a teaching assistant).


Is it normal for an instructor to charge students to complete copyrighted homework?

I think that, at best, there is a conflict of interest for an instructor to force students to use a web service that charges money of which s/he gets a cut.

That said, are you sure that that's how it is? For textbooks -- where the same conflict of interest exists -- it is common practice at many universities that if a professor uses her own textbook for a class, that that part of the royalties that the professor receives through his own students' purchases actually goes into a university fund outside the professor's control. The same may in fact be the case at your university -- the professor may simply never have talked about the details in class.


Impact of the visit weekend weather on the admitted graduates' grad school decision in the US

The short non-scientific answer: YES

My answer is just based on anecdotes and I am not aware of any methodological research on this subject (it is not my field of research). I've listened to an episode of This American Life about this subject, in which they interview professors on the admission committees of different universities. According the the interviews, visiting a university is a good indication that the student is interested in the school and is more likely to attend the school if he/she is admitted.

This is episode "504: How I Got Into College" of the podcast, which you can find here (http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/504/how-i-got-into-college).

P.S. I tried to post this as a comment to the question but it was too long. I apologize if this is not the answer you are looking for.


How to stand out in math graduate school admissions

Consider the viewpoint of the admissions committee. How would they know who to pick? One way is to trust others opinions -- this is why they seek recommendation letters from those who know your abilities.

If you still want to "stand out", and aren't satisfied with your performance in the standard ways (grades, exams, REU programs), consider what makes you different. You should seek advice from those who know you better than us for ideas here.

In addition, if you're afraid of not getting in anywhere -- apply to a spectrum of schools, and simply pick the top one(s) you are accepted to. Having backups is a good way to be safe.


How should staff address non-doctorate professors?

as our institution's culture considers first name acceptable for staff above you in the reporting chain

First name it is then. Or you could go first and last name without a title. Or you can drop the name completely and just get on with telling them what they have to do. It sounds like you know they are all professors/faculty, which would mean using professor is not incorrect, although it is more formal than just the first name and the same as calling someone doctor.

I would steer away from Mr/Ms/Mrs for a couple of reasons. First, it introduces the gender issue you raise. Second, Professor is a higher honorific than Ms/Mr. Finally, working in a medical field where half the clinicians have a terminal masters and half have a terminal doctorate, I find it mildly insulting to use different titles for two people who have terminal degrees.


How can we promote better writing skills in academic education?

In my lab, we were required to produce three-to-four page white papers, including figures, every time we presented at a lab meeting (approx. every 6 weeks).

This had two significant effects. Firstly, it forced the student to write down their progress, which was invariably ridiculously useful when the student actually started writing their thesis. Staple together a few of these sections and the methods, and often a good part of the background, was written for you.

Secondly, it gave everyone a chance to practice their professional writing in a casual lab setting. No one felt threatened and everyone improved. We would even review the articles being written by the lab professor, as there were always improvements we could suggest to him as well.

I strongly recommend this practice.


Changing office hours by student request

If there are many different office hours on many different days and times, then it should be possible for nearly all of the students to find some time that is possible for them.  As such, moving office hours around is probably not necessary.

Likewise, it is entirely reasonable to defend your own time by not making appointments outside of other office hours.

There may, however, be a couple of students who have extraordinary circumstances that make it impossible for them to come to any of the available hours and which should be accommodated.  For example:

A non-traditional student may be juggling classes, work, and child-care responsibilities.
A "semi-professional" student athlete may have a punishing travel schedule.
Somebody with a major physical disability may have a schedule severely impacted by mobility and transport constraints.

As such, when a student makes a request for alternative office hours, I would recommend responding as follows:

Present the set of all office hours as alternatives.
If they can't make any of them, ask if there are extenuating circumstances affecting their schedule.
If you find their circumstances compelling, then make arrangements for you or one of the other instructors or TAs to meet them outside of normal office hours.

Accommodating one or two exceptional cases is a reasonable degree to stretch, but in the presence of many options, there is no reason to invite major impact on your own schedule merely for the sake of people's convenience and preference.  Poll to figure out which of the alternatives you'd be comfortable offering is best for the students, but don't go further than that except for the exceptional cases.


What is the relationship between impact factor and journal ranking

This is a particularly difficult question for interdisciplinary research, because different fields have radically different citation customs and publication time-tables, which leads to the same impact factor meaning very different things. Impact factor also has numerous other problems.

Moreover, absolute ranking of a journal is in many cases less important than reaching the audience that you want to talk to, particularly in interdisciplinary research and especially if you want to reach an application community.

Rather than focusing on impact factor, I would recommend using the following method to determine how to rank journals as possible publication targets:

Pick half a dozen researchers who you highly respect and want to be the audience for this paper.
Look at the journals that they publish in.  The more frequently a journal appears, the better it is as a target for this audience.

This can also help you distinguish between targets for broad and narrow papers.  For example, you might have a methodology paper that speaks to a very particular sub-discipline.  A journal specifically for that sub-discipline may have a much lower impact factor, but may be a much better place to place the paper and it may actually end up having much higher impact and citations than if it is in a "better" venue where it is mostly read by people for whom it is irrelevant.


Advisor suggesting a change in the PhD research direction resulting in less theoretically intensive thesis. I am worrying about the implications

I'd suggest, pretty strongly, that you go with your advisor's guidance and turn the original project into a longer term goal. Your research career needn't end with the doctorate and it would be good to finish with some work done on a difficult future project.

But the short term goal should be to get out the door with good letters of recommendation and enough of a push to get you into academia. What you can do after that is up to you and the possibilities you can bring to bear on your research.

For what it's worth. I have a friend who is a reputed computer scientist. Top education, works in top level industrial gigs. But he also writes poetry. In fact, for more than ten years he has written a poem every day, without fail. The deadline for the poem is strict. But he described his methodology to me as something like, starting out with high standards and expectations for the day and continually lowering them until he has something acceptable. He gets the job done, and saves the rest for another day.


You need to read the exact terms of the licenses, and see what they call “academic” or “commercial”. There is no general definition, these types of licenses depend entirely on the software publisher.


Is it possible to get an estimate of the average CGPA or conventional system of marks for an engineering course in any Indian university?

I just googled around a bit and it appears that Indian Universities print their grading scheme behind the student's transcript.
Here is an image: https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-b0c360832d9a2bb3d45cf20f92295a78.webp
So that part is taken care of. If you find a transcript floating around online, you immediately get the grading scheme or the "conventional system of marks" as you put it for that particular univeristy.
I'm quite sure the "average CGPA" of a particular class in any University is not freely available information. You might need to reach out to the adminstrative staff for information regarding this and you will most likely be ignored unless you're a student of the university you're reaching out to.


Should I publish a journal article on a new device instead of waiting to patent it?

If you are university affiliated, you should try to find your Office of Commercialization, or something similar. Generally speaking, they can help you through the process, and many universities help cover the fees for patents they consider to have likely commercial potential.

If you publish, that counts as a public presentation, and starts the clock ticking in the U.S.:

An old article on the subject: http://www.sciencemag.org/careers/2001/10/patent-first-publish-later-how-not-ruin-your-chances-winning-patent

Other people know this - they're not likely to "provide funds" to you out of the goodness of their hearts if they can just wait a year and use your now patent-free invention. You don't have to worry about them patenting it, but you also lose out on the protection.


Can I tactfully change my mind after agreeing to do an independent study with a professor?

Do you have a project already lined up ? it sounds like your meeting with the first professor would be to discuss topics for the study. In any case, if no financial agreement has been reached, I see no harm in talking with both professors and then making a decision based on what happens in those meetings. I disagree with @aeismail that you've given a formal commitment at this stage.

You didn't say though why you'd prefer to work with the second professor prior to having a meeting ? is it the subject matter ? general rapport ?


How long after submission of revisions should you wait before it is reasonable to enquire about manuscript status?

When is it appropriate to enquire about the status of submission of revisions?

At any stage of the publication process, you should feel free to check in whenever you think the referees / editors / typesetters / whoever have taken a reasonable amount of time to do the job, and you are beginning to worry that your paper is not being processed in a timely way.  I don't think that is any fixed amount of time: in particular six months was suggested by one pure mathematician for papers in pure mathematics.  It happens that I also use six months as a rough guideline (I am also a pure mathematician), but I will adjust in either direction if it seems reasonable.  For instance, if the paper is so short and easy that a qualified referee could do it one sitting then six months doesn't make any sense.  If the paper is 50 pages long and hard even for me to read, six months doesn't sound like enough time.  Of course what I think is an appropriate amount of time is a subjective judgment but informed by my own refereeing experiences.

  Would you use the same rule of thumb that you use for initial submissions (e.g., 6 months or so)? Or is it reasonable to enquire about the status of the manuscript sooner?

If it seems clear to you that refereeing the revised version should take much less time than the original version then sure, inquire (or "enquire," depending upon where in the anglophone world you are) sooner.  In my experience, most referees do turn around minor revisions much faster than the original report.  The flip side of this is that the editor will of course try to get the same referee to do the revisions, and the referee might have become busier in the meantime.  Anyway, all you can do is ask.

  Alternatively, would you be less inclined to enquire about the status because there is more to lose by irritating the editor?

I am feeling a bit jaded about the publication process right now -- the quality of service that an author can expect from their submission experience varies so wildly as to seem like a fairness issue -- but I am not so jaded to think that editors would allow their feelings of "irritation" at this (completely appropriate and expected) authorial behavior to influence their processing of the paper.  I have seen a lot of weird stuff happen over the years, but I've never seen that.  However, I've witnessed many, many instances of authors who don't stand up for themselves and get victimized because of it.  So I think it is much sounder strategy to "irritate" editors more rather than less often.  Either that or cultivate a kind of inner peace that allows these kind of delays to, truly, not bother you.  For that I think it helps to do a fair amount of refereeing of one's own!


How do I check whether I retained copyright for a figure in a paper from ten years ago?

Unless the paper is open access, the publisher usually holds the copyright. This can be seen in the imprint on the first page of the paper. If it says "(c) the publisher" then the publisher holds the copyright, while if it says "(c) the authors" then it's the authors who do.

In the case of your paper though, the Royal Society's plagiarism, copyright and intellectual property page says

  Authors of non open-access papers retain the copyright, but grant the Royal Society the exclusive right to edit, adapt, translate, publish, reproduce, distribute and display the article in printed, electronic or any other medium and format.

I'm no lawyer, but I take this to mean that while you cannot distribute the paper in its final form, you can distribute a single figure.


What do you recommend me doing if my math instructor isn't very good and I know I can learn the same content better elsewhere?

Or he might go out of order and teach us chapter 6 when we're suppose to be on chapter 2. Up to this point he hasn't done anything like that and has actually been very good at keeping on schedule.

So why do you think he will do it? In your question, you do not give any examples of what he does wrong. Be careful not to become overconfident and think you know better than anyone, this might come back to bite you in the future.

If your issue is that you feel that the course is very slow, and you want to learn faster, then you are doing the right thing: study on your own at your own pace.

If you really feel that the lectures do not bring you anything, it is your decision whether you want to skip them. Assuming there are no attendance requirements, no one is going to stop you. This is university, you are responsible for your own decisions.

Make sure that you are ready for the test though. If the course provides access to past exams, that is a good way to gauge if you know the content that is going to be tested. If the professor uploads his slides, that will also help you know what was taught. Otherwise, it might be worth asking a classmate what the professor is covering.

  I might accidentally study something he's not testing us.

I do not see how that would be a problem. If you learn more than strictly required, good for you.


When applying for a PhD, is it okay for one letter of recommendation to come from a PhD student?

You could do this, though it might be questioned. It would be best if the PhD student has some supervisory function in your group, rather than just a "fellow" student. The letter from the student should make your relationship clear so that someone reading it knows whether they should follow up with you or not.

But you can also, as an introvert, work to increase your own visibility with the faculty so that this need not recur. Many of them are possibly just about as introverted as you are.


Would adding paragraph about the motivation provided by someone who doubted me to my final year project acknowledgment be unprofessional?

I would refrain from adding this to the written/electronic version of the project report. It's very personal and uses colloquial language that should be avoided in a formal report, even in the acknowledgement section.

Having said that, you may still give to that particular teacher a copy with your personal hand-written dedication.

Btw, great example of negative motivation (or what it's called): a negative comment with positive result.


Can I reasonably move universities every few years for professional work?

As a data scientist myself, I have found it rather difficult to be a journeyman data scientist in academia. Yes, people need their data analysed; no, they do not want to pay for your full salary, benefits, and office space. Nor are they necessarily going to hire an outsider to analyse their data. They can get their postdocs/grad students to do it.

I have met repeated resistance to being taken onto projects as an outside data analyst. Certain STEM disciplines are especially bad with this. Because I have a PhD, I can find full time positions that allow me to be housed in a department, teach classes in that department, and then take on outside projects as I find them. These outside projects are never enough in and of themselves to provide enough work for me to retain my job. The fact that I can do independent research and teach classes is what allows me to do what I do.

I just think being a journeyman data analyst in academia can be a rather tough life, and you may not have much freedom to actually decide what type of subjects you are exploring. In my experience, you may rank below even the master's students and will possibly be paid subsistence level pay.


How to identify top researchers and landmark papers in a field?

To identify landmark papers, you can also consult the bibliography of your textbook if you have already taken classes that cover (even briefly) your subfield of interest. If your textbook is one that is used by a lot of university professors, then it probably covers landmark papers well. You can often identify the most important papers in a textbook because they'll possibly:

  be referred to multiple times and in multiple chapters
  appear near the beginning of a chapter when a topic is first introduced
  explicitly be acknowledged in the text by the author of the textbook as a seminal paper

A disadvantage to this approach is that, depending on when your version of the textbook was last updated, it may miss important developments in recent yeras.

Identifying highly-regarded authors can be harder, but you can try looking up authors (especially last-named ones, who are often supervisors/professors) of important papers on, for example, Google Scholar, to see what else they have produced and whether they have a lot of highly cited papers.


Unpublished paper with published followup gathers citations: should it be published?

I see no reason that you really need to do anything with the first paper. In arXiv it is a stable, citable resource, people are finding it useful, and the citations are accruing credit to your work.

If you are concerned that people who are reading the first paper are unaware that it is obsolete, then you can add update its entry to add a pointer to the second paper. People will still likely continue to cite the first paper, however, either because they have reason to prefer it or because it's already in their reference collection and they don't revisit and see your update.

Other than providing a pointer to the second paper, though, I see no reason not to just let well enough alone, be grateful the people are appreciating your work, and move forward onto other things.


What if someone else published an article on the same topic as my accepted unpublished article

After a journal has accepted an article, they're ethically bound to publish it unless there's an egregious error or abuse on the author's part. Some examples could be:

They discover that you actually submitted your paper without acknowledging a critical person who contributed so much to the work that she should have been a co-author;
They discover that you plagiarized significant sections of your paper;
They discover that the reviewer they invited for the paper was actually you, using another name.

In your case, the journal will need to show that you must have known about the other paper before you submitted yours. If they can do this, then you are acting unethically, and they can retract your paper. If they cannot, then they'll go ahead and publish, and you can claim to have discovered the result first while the other authors discovered it independently.


Should I explain a bad grade that is not directly related to the program?

I'd say that there is little to gain by attempting to explain the C+ grade. If you are offered an interview for the position, or are otherwise invited to discuss your application, you could then ask the interviewer if they have any concerns over your grades. If they raise the topology grade, then you can explain then. If not, you've offered the opportunity.


Would it hurt if I mention somewhere in my application package to a phd program that I applied to the same program?

It's not standard, in my experience, to ask applicants if they've applied before.  (For one, this only applies to a relatively small percentage of applicants typically.)  Therefore, if they don't ask for it, they shouldn't expecting this information, and there's typically no reason to provide it.

Looking at your application, they may or may not remember you, depending on (i) if it's the same people doing admissions, (ii) how many applicants they got, and (iii) how much your application stood out.  If they don't already remember you, reminding them you were unmemorable last time won't do you many favors.

The only situation in which you might want to say something is if you were in contact with a faculty member who wanted to admit you, but for whatever reason they couldn't accept you.  In this case, you can just email that faculty member to let them know you're applying again.


Should I list a submitted but not yet accepted conference paper in my resume for grad school applications?

Yes, you should list it. It's standard practice in academia to list submitted papers on a resume or CV, and graduate applications are no exception.

Your CV should have a section for Publications.  For a paper which is submitted but not accepted, you just provide the authors, title, and the word "Submitted."

  M. Howard, L. Fine, J. Howard.  On a novel experiment in plumbing.  Submitted.

In particular, you normally do not list the name of the conference where you submitted.  (If it gets accepted, then you do list the name of the conference, and replace "Submitted" by "Accepted".  After it is published, you include the name of the conference and the volume and page number in the proceedings.)

If the conference allows you to post a public preprint, you should do so.  And if the grad school lets you submit a writing sample or something similar, the paper would be a good choice.

However, more importantly, if this grad school requires letters of recommendation, make sure one of your recommenders discusses the paper.  The mere fact that the paper was submitted doesn't give any evidence that the paper is any good.  So that is where your recommender comes in.  If you had a faculty mentor or collaborator on the paper, they would be a great person to ask for a letter.  If it was a solo effort, then try to find someone who knows you and who is an expert in the field who can evaluate the paper's quality.


When you cite any source, you should give enough that the reader can, at least in principle, read that source for themselves.  This information is especially important when you cite something as a source for further information, as it is in your example paper.

  This paper presents the framework of such a complete phenomenological model outlined by Sayeedvafa (2002) that provides a description of a wide range of the observed behavior, which are both tractable from analytical as well as computational viewpoint.

For example, citations of technical reports (like your first example) should uniquely identify both the institution and the report, so that the reader knows who and how to ask for a copy.  In particular, if the report is available on the web at a stable location, the citation should include a stable URL.

If a source is likely to be inaccessible to most readers (like your second example), you should also cite an accessible secondary source that describes the relevant content in detail.  (If you really want to be helpful, the primary source citation should include a pointer like "Cited in [xxx].")  Otherwise, you're just asking for the reader's blind trust that the source has the missing details you claim, or proves the result that you claim, or is as important as you claim, or even exists at all.


Letter of Recommendation is very short and mostly nonspecific - What should I do?

Almost all letters of recommendation for graduate program applications are short -- at my previous university, for example, there was a field that letter writers could fill in that essentially only held the equivalent of a single paragraph. Fundamentally, for current undergraduates, it is rare that a professor has spent more than a couple of hours one-on-one with you, and so it's hard to really say much of any specificity -- as would be the case if one were writing for one's own graduate student or postdocs, for example.

In other words, since almost all letters are that short, you're not suffering any harm. Go on doing what you're doing well, and don't worry about the letter too much.