I did not include all undergraduate schools in the university I graduated from. Have I lost my chance at ever applying to graduate school?

On the basis of your "further clarification", I suppose that your grades at A and B were bad and that's why you mentioned only C when applying to D.  Now, when you apply to graduate school, you will probably be asked, as part of the application, to provide information about (and probably transcripts from) all the undergraduate institutions you ever attended.  If you're asked that, then you should honestly include all of A, B, C, and D.  You should explain the situation, emphasizing that (if I correctly understood your "further clarification") you became much more mature between B and C, and that therefore your record at A and B has become irrelevant.  (You should explain this so clearly that there will be no need for a clarification and further clarification.)


What percentage of admitted phd students have peer-reviewed publications?

I don't have statistics on that particular number, but my anecdotal evidence is that most PhD students in my field (chemical engineering) have zero publication when they start, while a small (but nonnegligible) fraction has one paper.

However, you can gather such statistics yourself! Publications are, by definition, public... And you can sample admitted PhD students by looking at current PhD students. So, take a random sample of CV from PhD students in your field (from the web) and look for publications prior to PhD start in their publication list.


Is a business card necessary for a graduate student?

As a PhD student, I had business cards and never used them. Now I don't even have cards. I consider them a relict from different times. I would say nobody strictly needs a business card anymore, and I rarely see them being exchanged at conferences either.

Now, a homepage is a different story. You definitely need a homepage, for many of the reasons you think you may need a business card.


Responsibility for the performance of students

My physics teacher in school said that the educator part is 50%, and the rest is the student's responsibility. She was talking about interested students.

Instead of thinking of how much responsibility you should place upon yourself while teaching, you should ask what are your responsibilities as a teacher, depending on the objective you have chosen for your teaching.

For example, if you have beginners who need the subject, you are responsible to create the environment that fosters their learning. That means to create meaningful assignments, balanced exams, encourage collaboration, etc. You are responsible to adapt your teaching style if you can increase the student's learning efficiency.

You are in no way responsible for your students decisions. If they chose not to care, there is little reason to beat yourself up. Once you created the environment for them, there isn't much else you can do. As a professor, there is little chance that you'll have enough time to help people individually beyond office hours.


Can One Poorly Written Research Paper Derail Your Academic Future?

No, it can’t. It sounds like you are catastrophizing. And in any case, if you got an A-, it’s extremely unlikely that your paper is poorly written. So as in the case of the advice I gave in the other linked answer, your excessive concern about ruining your academic career with a single small mishap is a much greater potential obstacle to success than the mishap you’re obsessing about. I suggest that you pay more attention to your mindset and mental state, and less attention to worrying about your work being slipshod despite external, objective evidence suggesting otherwise.

Good luck!


Awaiting AE recommendation - Can be rejected?

In journals that use Manuscript central, there are a few possibilities. Since there is no way to know specifics, in general, and AE can do one of the following depending on how the recommendation task is set up:

Make a recommendation. (Accept, reject, more reviews needed).
Make a decision. (some journals allow this at this point in the workflow)
Add more reviewers, and continue the peer review process.

Hope this helps.
Note: I am a ScholarOne employee, but my opinions/answers are my own.


Contacting authors directly when reviewing a paper

Unless the editor gives you permission, I think it would be improper to deal with the authors directly. While it might speed things along a bit, it would also cut the editor and his/her staff out of the conversation.

It is better to just write your report to the editor and submit it in the usual way. This establishes a record of the revisions.

It also avoids a situation in which a reviewer would think that his/her comments were important enough to warrant co-authorship. That might not be your position, but some might want to consider it if the option were open.

Don't feel bad about the authors. The paper must eventually stand on its own, independent of any relationship between reviewers and authors. You are doing them a favor by being honest and having the editor in the loop aids that.

But the editor may have different views, in which case, you can follow them. You have done the right thing by asking.


How to get past being tagged as overly curious and unfocussed?

Answers to your questions are dependent on the culture you are in, and how you, personally, want to cope with the norms and values of that culture.

For example, in some cultures, it is possible to be labeled "overly ambitious" if one voices the ambition to be the "best X in the world", or even "the top X in our country".  This doesn't apply to the US, where open ambition is rarely stigmatized.

Also, be aware that your class mates and lab mates may be taunting you and make fun of you as a way to cope with their own discomforts and insecurities. Such reactions are hardly useful or informative to you as you develop your skills and capabilities in a way that suits your disposition and inclinations.

Here are my answers to your questions:

  Does it make sense to attend these weekly presentations whose main aim in my view was to develop a habit of asking questions.

Yes, this is perfectly fine if it doesn't take away time or energy from your other work and doesn't delay progress in your PhD program. As my (well-regarded) adviser says: "Intellectual curiosity is very valuable in academic life. It is not widely distributed and it is hard to develop if you don't already have it".

  Does wanting to know about other people's work; even from other domains considered as lack of focus.

No, not in and of itself.  This is the way of the "polymath".  You might just start telling people: "I'm a polymath, or aspiring polymath.  This is what I do."  Also, you might read some biographies of polymaths.  They will give you inspiration and insights.

  Is there something called "overly curious"

Curiosity is only excessive if it distracts from the focus necessary to develop depth in your specialty, or gets in the way of getting meaningful work done (courses passed, papers published, etc.).  PhD is about depth, so if your curiosity keeps you hopping from question to question where you develop only a superficial understanding, then, yes, it is excessive.


How often is PhD work linked to life after the PhD?

It depends on the exact topic and what guidance the new research group will offer you. There's plenty of opportunities to develop expertise in life sciences during PhD. Your options after may not be as limited as you perceive. There is a lot of demand for collaborative and interdisciplinary researchers both in academia and industry.

I'm doing an interdisciplinary PhD between stats and genetics. While on paper you do have to enrol in one course and will be assessed on it. In practice, you can lean on the other field. For instance, with the methods I use. My research questions are biological but my methods differ from lab trained biologists.

You ought to still have room to develop your earth science skills in this way, particularly if your new research group collaborates with people in your field that can advise you on those aspects. You should have a wider range of an advisory committee and peers to assist you with work in both disciplines. A PhD is also an independent project, especially near the end, you should be able to build up confidence ants negotiate using some of your current skills if they tie in the research topic cohesively.

In short. Consider it, it may not be a one way track to biology. It's also not too late to apply to other labs.


Can I leave my position on "short" notice?

For the legal consequences, consult your contract. The main consequences in such a situation are likely to be reputational; but if you do not intend to continue in academia, is your reputation among academics really going to affect your career?


How does score normalization among different graders work?

There are many possible systems and so it varies with each situation. One is to use some statistical analysis, which can actually be unfair. It needs to make an assumption, probably that each group of students is a fair sample, which it isn't.

Another is to have someone look at a sample question from different graders and make adjustments.

One method that I've seen used on final exams is to have each grader grade one question from everyone in the course. So that each student is graded by several people.

Another possible method is to have each paper graded twice.

You can probably come up with more possibilities.

Some of these might be combined with advising the graders who seem to be too easy or too hard.

Most of them probably start out with grading rubrics for each question that graders are supposed to adhere to.

For your own situation, you need to inquire locally. There may be someone in the department who is responsible for all TAs and who coordinates these things.

I'll also note that doing nothing at all to normalize scores is also a possibility. In fact, when different professors teach small sections of the same course (no common lectures), it is likely to be the case.


When to use inline versus displayed equations in a publication?

A numbered equation always takes a separate line, so there is no question here — if you need to refer to some equation later in the text, it deserves a separate line and it needs a number.

If your equation is as long as a line, or even longer, then again — it should always be placed out-of-text.

To answer the rest of your question, we should think a little how we (e.g. your readers) read inline equations, and how we read equations on separate lines. First of all, inline equations merge into the text, and provide some smoothness (it is just like you speak and draw on a whiteboard at the same time). In contrast, equations of a separate line break the text (just like you write a long equation on a whiteboard and take a big pause to let your audience reflect on it).

If there are no pauses in the text, it is hard to comprehend. Too many pauses raise similar problems, because it becomes difficult to focus on the most important pieces then. My advice is to think about the role of each equation and put only the most important equations in a spotlight of a separate line.


Does applying for a Masters at a school when also applying for a PhD look bad?

Applying for multiple programs is common and unlikely to reflect badly upon  you. Applications committees for different programs are usually made up of different members and it is highly unlikely that they will even know that you applied to both programs. The only time it might be revealed is when it goes to the administrators who send out the letters, and frankly they could care less.

Something to note, which affects both this issue and your overall considerations of a program, is that schools usually look for different things in a PhD program vs. an MA, and that affects how they conduct their admissions. At many school, MAs are not just less-capable versions of PhD students, they are completely different type of student.

Terminal MA programs are usually unfunded, and include people who are less likely to conduct independent research. Some MA students will go on to a PhD program, but probably not at the institution where they get the MA. For this reason, MA programs at many schools are called 'cash cows' and admissions to those programs are less of a priority for the full faculty, with a lot of the sorting done by administration, focused on funding potential, and stricter considerations about things like GREs, etc.

PhD programs are research training to become academics, or at least independent researchers, and most PhDs are fully funded. Since the university is investing in you, and the faculty will be stuck with you in person for 5-10 years, and reputationally forever, the faculty care a great deal about this. Considerations like the ability to pay, and even strict measures of capacity like test scores, take a secondary role to creativity in the field, goodness of fit, and so on.

Simply put, in many schools you have to impress two different sets of people to get admitted, with overlapping but different priorities. There are idiosyncratic reasons why you may be admitted to one program and not the other, and sometimes it might even be that you get into a PhD and not an MA. (On balance, however, admissions to an MA program is more likely than a PhD, simply due to the volume of admissions.)


What is the standard/recommended font to use in papers?

For an academic paper each publisher journal have their standards. These do not affect or are affected by the manuscripts sent in to the journal. Some journals specify fonts, commonly standard Times Roman, for their manuscripts. If the journal specifies something, follow that specification. Otherwise use a font that is easy to read. There is no need to use anything but a standard font for whatever typesetting/word processor system.


Translation of Dr. rer. nat. outside of Germany

In the US, most doctorates in science and engineering are also a PhD even though our degrees aren't in philosophy. While other degrees exist, they are less common. I would suggest translating your degree as a PhD since most international audiences will understand that you mean an academic doctorate.

That being said, I was able to get what Dr. rer. nat. meant, too, so you might decide to put that and not worry about it. Most people have the ability to search the internet when they are confused.


How to show interest to serve as a TPC or reviewer in top conferences?

I can only answer for computer science, but around here TPCs of conferences are generally by-invitation only. You cannot (officially) apply for it per se - typically, the organizers will form the TPC based mainly on previous members, filling any openings with outstanding members of the community not currently part of the TPC. Usually, these outstanding people are personally known to the organizing committee, so no formal search or something like that is conducted.

Of course, writing to the organizers expressing interest cannot hurt, but my impression is that if you do not already know them, your request is sadly likely to be ignored.

Edit:

I should add that I did not mean to imply that it is all just a matter of "knowing somebody". Seeing that you are still a PhD student, you will likely simply not be high-profile enough at this point to be considered for the TPC of a really good conference (these usually only consist of eminent faculty).


Is it rude to call a professor by their last name with no prefix in a non-academic setting?

I wouldn’t find it rude, but I would find it weird.  I can’t think of any situation where you wouldn’t be better off using a first name instead of a last name without a title.  If you’re going to be formal do it right, and if you’re going to be informal use first name.  We’re not on a football team or in the military.

(It’s of course totally fine and normal students talking to each other without the professor present, to just use last name and no title.)


Quote on testing, checking, and verification

Program testing can be a very effective way to show the presence of
  bugs, but is hopelessly inadequate for showing their absence.

  Edsger W. Dijkstra


Is it common practice to have a separate "Further Discussion" after the conclusion in an academic article?

Virtually all papers I've seen end with the conclusions section (otherwise, it wouldn't be the conclusions!).

The best way to incorporate such changes would be to include it at the end of the current discussion section. Perhaps you can subtitle it "A brief note on X," where X is the topic of the comment. Alternatively, you could include it as an appendix if it requires a more extensive and extended discussion.


Is my mathematics "folklore" paper worth publishing?

I would definitely put it on the arxiv because it could help other people.
Whether it is publishable in a journal is a question which you should probably discuss with other experts in the field.


Is it acceptable to publish a paper using an affiliation with a former employer?

If you have written the publication only with the resources and support of the former employer, then it is perfectly acceptable to do what you have written, and list the old address as your address for the "active" affiliations, and include a "present address" affiliation to show your updated physical location.

However, if your new employer does provide financial support, then you should list them accordingly. This is especially important if any of the actual research that makes its way into a publication has been performed while working for the new employer using their resources.


Getting a funded PhD vs starting up my own research idea

Signing up for a PhD is definitely a huge life investment and I am glad you're not taking it lightly. I am getting mine in biological sciences, so we are similar in the length of a program, the funding mechanisms, and the publishing realm. I can't speak from experience of a masters program, though, or from computer science.

When you are getting your PhD you're working with an advisor on their funded projects. Now, that does mean that you are becoming an independent researcher, but I argue that it does not mean that I have not been contributing my own ideas. I am very involved with my experimental design, data collection, and spin off projects. It is like you pick a lab/advisor with a "theme" that you like - and from there, you can develop aims that will complement their focus, but are your own "flavor".
Many funding mechanisms require that you are employed by a university/government/company. Here in the US, this is shown by a DUNS number on your application. Since I have experience only with a university, I do not know of funding mechanisms/grants that are available for those who are not "in the system". Additionally, to get the rather large grants, you must have a PhD and gone through the tenure track.

I have a bit of knowledge of the "spin off" business side of things through a few classes, which makes me wonder maybe you are a great candidate for starting your own company. You could get funding from investors, still work on your own projects, and contribute to the community.

In my field (biological sciences), academic journals would very rarely, if ever, publish you in high tier journals as a MS without a PhD as the corresponding author.

Good luck - I can't stress enough how much I respect you thoughtfully considering your career path this way. I am confident you'll make the right choice for you.


Should I include a bibliographical entry in the Works Cited pages for works I just mention?

Yes.

A bibliographical entry allows readers to unambiguously identify and locate the work you mention. (Which they must be able to do if they would like to verify your claims about this work.)


What to do with letter of recommendation if you left program unhappily?

My understanding is that you finished your BS 2 years ago, took a year off, entered a PhD program this year but just left due to some dispute about wanting to spend a summer abroad, correct?  (Or maybe you left the PhD program last year?)

Anyway, you should not ask someone to write you a letter of recommendation unless you think they can write you a good one.  If you think your erstwhile advisor thinks well of you and will be supportive, then it makes sense to ask him.  If not, then you should probably stick to letters from your undergrad professors.

If you apply to one PhD program after having left another, the admissions committee will naturally wonder why you left and if you would have reason to be successful this time around.  Just hearing that you left because of a fight is a big red flag, particularly if it was from a reputable department, so it would be best if you can suitably address this in your application.  You should convince first yourself, then your letter writers, that this is unlikely to be an issue at another department.  Then your letter writers can try to convince the admissions committees on your behalf.


How to address an academic with a PhD in Spanish?

I am a mexican, I dont think we use anything other than:

  "Doctor" + Lastname

or if you want to use "very honourable well-learned gentleman"

  Honorable y muy sabio caballero


How much trust are you supposed to give a peer-reviewed article?

Should one trust that citations are claiming what is in the articles they cite?

No. Too many people don't read their sources carefully enough (or even at all).
If there isn't anyone who has disagreed yet, should I assume it's true for the purpose of discussions, without further examination?

There is a wide range of possible levels of trust between something I read in a blog post and something on the level that "the square root of 2 is irrational". I'd put a random peer-reviewed article somewhere between the two extremes, depending on the discipline, the journal, the state of the art and so forth.

"Without further examination" should not be part of a scientist's vocabulary. Except maybe for the square root of 2.
Should public policy be based on it, without further examination?

No. In particularly not if the article reports on experimental findings in psychology, economics, sociology, medicine and so forth. Most published research findings are false. These disciplines always need replications and meta analyses, because they cannot perform experiments as tightly controlled as, say, in physics.
Should I trust data to have been collected correctly?

I do my best, but I wouldn't trust myself 100% to have collected my data correctly for published work. Stuff always happens.

In addition, peer review doesn't really enter into this question. Peer reviewers cannot easily assess your data collection - only your description of it. You could have made horrendous errors in good faith, and the reviewer wouldn't know.
Should I trust data to have been processed correctly?

See above. Would you trust software to be bug-free? You shouldn't. And again, reviewers don't review your data analysis as such - usually, your analysis scripts are not part of the bundle you submit.

Bottom line: peer review will increase my level of trust in an article, but not infinitely.

In addition, like a good Bayesian, I trust more surprising (which have a better chance of appearing in the more prestigious journals) findings less. Therefore, I usually expect articles in Nature and Science to be less easily replicable than less "sexy" findings published in other venues.


How do you add two independent master's degrees to your name?

Unless you are in a place that regulates academic titles, you can do pretty much as you please. But you could qualify each with the specific field or university if you feel the need to list both.

FirstName LastName, M.Sc.(Basket Weaving), M.Sc.(Basket Burning)

Distinguishing by university, rather than field will probably confuse people, thinking you have two masters in the same field. Qualifying with both is probably too unwieldy.


LaTeX is the industry standard. Note there is also a very helpful Tex/LaTeX site here on Stack Exchange.


How to cite quote from Gutenberg Project ebook?

No permission is needed to credit, cite or link to Project Gutenberg as the source of something you use. This applies even for commercial use.

Firstly, I think you may have misunderstood this a bit. The text isn't saying you shouldn't cite Project Gutenberg; in fact, it's saying the opposite -- that you don't need permission to cite them.

Project Gutenberg even has explicit instructions for how you can cite them here. They give an example:

  Carroll, Lewis. (2006). Alice in Wonderland. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved February 21, 2016, from www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/19033.

The above assumes that Project Gutenberg is the publisher for the version you are citing. That seems valid enough to me, as many books are published in various versions anyway, and you would just be citing one of those versions. The most important thing is not the publisher, but the author and title of the work -- the rest, including the year, is just there so that someone else can find the book that you were reading.

Here is a related question about 2nd editions of books. Note the advice there: You cite the version of the text that you read, not a version that you didn't read. The problem is the quote, page number, etc. may differ in different versions, so you want to be careful. I see Project Gutenberg as an online version of a previously in-print book.

However, some caveats:

It is confusing that the year will be off if you cite Project Gutenberg, so it would always be good to include a parenthetical in the citation: e.g. (originally published 1865) for Alice in Wonderland.
Be aware that citing Project Gutenberg is a bit nontraditional; probably most people would prefer to cite a print version. But that culture may be changing, and I don't see anything particularly wrong with citing the version that you read.

If you prefer to be safe, you can choose to instead cite a print book, e.g. using an ISBN found on Amazon. In this case, if you wish to credit Project Gutenberg for their help, you can include something in the acknowledgements to your article:

  Acknowledgements. The authors would like to thank Project Gutenberg for making some books referenced in this article available online.


Do I have a MSc degree if I did the work but did not pay tuition?

No.

Unless your university is willing to provide proof that they granted you a degree, they didn't.  Listing an MSc degree on your résumé that your university is unwilling to confirm invites accusations of fabrication, which would be nearly impossible to refute and which could cost you your job many years in the future.

On the other hand, nothing stops you from publishing your thesis, or asking your dean for a recommendation letter explaining the unfortunate situation.


Include logo of cooperating company on thesis cover

The thesis is a scientific work, and it is the university that is responsible for it. The fact that you got someone funding you or that you performed the science somewhere else doesn't change this fact. I would keep the cover as simple as possible, and include only the university logo, and maybe even not that one.

Note that inclusion of logos of institutions that fund you seems to be a thing now. Sometimes rules are set up that the logo has to be on every slide of every talk that the people perform. This means that for some people, the slides are unusable, because they contain 5 or 6 logos. Some authors try to get their logo in an article they publish in the journal I typeset/copy edit; we have hard times explaining them that this is not acceptable in the journal and that only text acknowledgements are possible. Journals are quite strict on this, conferences commence to limit this as well.

Please, do not support this logo frenzy. If you really really want to include the logos, present them nicely in the acknowledgements section.


Emphasis on new terminology in technical paper: title, abstract and body

I would do the following:

Always capitalise CerberOS, but never italicise it¹. Capitalisation (and some other things like OS) clearly indicate that this is a proper name. It does not need emphasis to indicate that it’s a new technical term referring to some concept (or similar), because that’s simply not what it is: It is neither referring to a concept nor to a technical term.

An exception is using italics to indicate that you are talking about the term itself, e.g.:

  We chose the name CerberOS because we are based in the Albanian city of Cerber – there is no connection to the mythical beast.

Italicise resource security on the first usage in a sentence¹, even if that’s in the abstract. If you give a more detailed introduction in the body of the paper, it may be reasonable to italicise it on its first usage in a sentence there as well¹. Do not italicise it in paper or section titles¹. Never capitalise it¹.

The rationale for this is that one would expect the names of new concepts or similar to appear in titles and titles are not for explaining, but giving structure and a quick impression about the contents of a paper or section. The abstract and the body of the paper on the other hand are intended to be understood and here marking new terms is extremely helpful, as it lets the reader know that the term is new and nothing that they are not supposed to already know it.

I see no argument for capitalising it that would not apply to many other technical terms as well and lead to papers in which every second word is capitalised.

¹ Except for situation where you would italicise/capitalise almost every word, such as the beginning of sentences or entire paragraphs in italics.


Choice of personal pronoun in single-author papers

Very rarely is 'I' used in scholarly writing (at least in math and the sciences).  A much more common choice is 'we', as in "the author and the reader".  For example: "We examine the case when..."
One exception to this rule is if you're writing a memoir or some other sort of "personal piece" for which the identity of the author is particularly relevant.
Now let me quote Paul Halmos (Section 12 of "How to Write Mathematics"):

One aspect of expository style that frequently bothers beginning authors is the use of the editorial "we", as opposed to the singular "I", or the neutral "one". It is in matters like this that common sense is most important.  For what it's worth, I present here my recommendation.
Since the best expository style is the least obtrusive one, I tend nowadays to prefer the neutral approach.  That does not mean using "one" often, or ever; sentences like "one has thus proved that..." are awful. It does mean the complete avoidance of the first person pronouns in either singular or plural. "Since p, it follows that q." "This implies p." "An application of p to q yields r." Most (all ?) mathematical writing is (should be ?) factual; simple declarative statements are the best for communicating facts.
A frequently effective time-saving device is the use of the imperative. "To find p, multiply q by r." "Given p, put q equal to r."...
There is nothing wrong with the editorial "we", but if you like it, do not misuse it.  Let "we" mean "the author and the reader" (or "the lecturer and the audience").  Thus, it is fine to say "Using Lemma 2 we can generalize Theorem 1", or "Lemma 3 gives us a technique for proving Theorem 4".  It is not good to say "Our work on this result was done in 1969" (unless the voice is that of two authors, or more, speaking in unison), and "We thank our wife for her help with the typing" is always bad.
The use of "I", and especially its overuse, sometimes has a repellent effect, as arrogance or ex-cathedra preaching, and, for that reason, I like to avoid it whenever possible.  In short notes, obviously in personal historical remarks, and perhaps, in essays such as this, it has its place.

You can download the pdf of Halmos' complete essay.


Transition from Computer Science to Statistics

I think it depends on which country you want to apply for the Grad School. In Japan, you have a very Math oriented entrance examination for the Math department, and is usually the most important factor that decides whether you get in or not.

In USA, the educational system is different, since Undergrad education is often not oriented to a specific area, and you have a good chance as long as you get a high GRE score and have a good set of Recommendation letters (preferably from the Dean of your Univ. if you are not from the US).

As an example, take a look at Stanford's admission requirements:

International Academic Credentials

For India, you do need some kind of engineering background, but other countries like Japan, can in theory apply as long as they have finished an undergrad regardless the discipline.

Bear in mind though, that a PhD in statistics has a hefty load of subjects that assume that you have some mastery on math and advanced math(which, to be honest, the GRE does not cover). So you might have to throw in some hours just to level even with the rest of the students that have math undergrads.


Is there any way to avoid wasting a long time in review process for mathematics journals?

Are there journals with fast reviewing process?

The really quick ones are the "questionable" journals ... every paper is accepted, and published (for a hefty fee).

The Notices of the American Mathematical Society publishes a survey once a year, which includes information on mathematics journals, including statistics on time from submission to publication (when available).

added

"Backlog of Mathematics Research Journals"
Notices of the AMS, Volume 61, Number 10,
November 4, 2014, page 1268.


You should check your department's policy to see if it requires you to find a replacement research supervisor in a certain time frame or following a certain procedure.  Then you should inform the professor.

Your success as a graduate student will depend on starting your doctoral research as quickly as possible (assuming you are not a masters student).  If you are going to change your plans, the sooner you do it, the less harm is done to your own success and that of your department.


How to manage imposter syndrome during the job hunt?

Actually user Bob Brown has the germ of the answer in his comment. Having imposter syndrome doesn't mean that you are an imposter. It is a mental condition, nothing more. There are many such conditions that can serve as handicaps at your stage of career. Extreme introversion is another. Even, oddly, is breaking your leg so that travel becomes impossible for a while.

How do you deal with these things? The answer is "Every day, little by little".

Imposter syndrome affects how you feel, but it doesn't have any necessary effect on what you do. You can become the success you'd like to be if you just act as if you don't have these feelings. "Fake it till you make it" is actually good advice for such things.

You need to send out letters and get letters of recommendation and make your case for your success in a job whether you feel confident about it or not. So, just do that. If you also feel like it is just a waste of time because you aren't worthy then it will only become a self-fulfilling prophesy if you let the feeling affect your actions.

But if all you need, right now, is to feel better about yourself, then I'd suggest going back to that advisor and asking for her/his most honest assessment of your skills/position/prospects/whatever. Just a little dopamine hit to keep you smiling while you write those dam' letters.

My issue, actually, was the extreme introversion thing. It held me back until I got some advice that said "ignore it". Act like an extrovert. It was hard and took a long time, but few people other than my spouse think of me as introverted anymore.

In your case, just ask yourself, how would I act if I weren't an imposter? Then do that.

(every day, little by little)


Good resource/advice on mentoring undergrads

All of the below stems from my own experience mentoring and working with undergrads, both as a grad student and as a postdoc.

Firstly, realize that many undergraduate students aren't ready to do research on their own when they first arrive in a research lab. (Heck, neither are many graduate students...) Additionally, many will not want to do their own research, but they're very happy learning what you do and helping you set it up and work through it.

That being said, you'll want to start with simply talking to them during the interview process to determine what they want to gain from the experience. Most won't have a solid answer, but for the few that say something like, "I want to improve my MATLAB skills," or "I want to gain experience doing cell cultures", you now know whether they're a match for your lab.

The majority don't have specific interests, though. For those students, consider allowing them to work on a variety of projects with multiple graduate students. This allows them to observe different research techniques, different approaches to solving a research problem, and the different tools used in research. If you have the time, you (and the members of your lab) can take a more hands-on approach and actively mentor the student, showing them the various steps involved in constructing an experiment and the logic behind the data analysis stream.


How would I cite the US Constitution in Harvard style?

It would probably depend on where you read the constitution document. If for example you used the constitution documents at the archives.gov website from the comment above your citation would look something like below. I've shown it with the bill of rights as that is where the 1st amendment is located.

  Bibliography:
  Bill of rights transcript text (no date) Available at: http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/bill_of_rights_transcript.html (Accessed: 11 February 2016).

  In-line Citation:
  (Bill of rights transcript text, no date)

If, for example you have a book that contains the Constitution you would cite the book. The reasoning for this is that someone can then go look at the same source that you did if they wish.

While I haven't seen anything for Harvard style (so it may be best to seek guidance from someone in your department), in both APA and MLA it appears you can just cite the Constitution directly. APA uses the stylation of the legal blue book which would look something like this;

  In text: A person can say what they want in the United States (U.S. Const. amend. I).

  Reference list: U.S. Const. amend. I.

In MLA;

  The 7th edition of the MLA handbook has this to say about citing the
  U.S. Constitution:

  "In general, do not italicize or enclose in quotation marks the title
  of laws, acts, and similar documents in either the text or the list of
  works cited (Declaration of Independence, Constitution of the United
  States, Taft-Hartley Act). Such titles are usually abbreviated, and
  the works are cited by sections. The years are added if relevant"
  (205).

  Because these directives aren’t very specific, you can use the
  following example as a guide for the Works Cited entry:

  U.S. Constitution. Art./Amend. XII, Sec. 3.

  You need only provide either the article number or the amendment
  number as appropriate.

  The complementary parenthetical citation is written as (US Const.
  amend. XII, sec. 3). You might also reference the U.S. Constitution in
  the sentence itself and only provide the amendment and section number
  in the parentheses at the end of the sentence.


After PhD in Aerospace Engineering, could I be admitted into a top university for a second PhD in Computer Science?

A major part of doing a PhD is learning how to do research and handle working on problems which sit on the edge of what is known. You've done that already. Doing it a second time is unnecessary, expensive and time consuming.

If you've been doing aerospace engineering then you almost certainly have the necessary calculus under your belt already. And if you have a PhD you can teach yourself stuff. Buy a few good textbooks - I recommend "Pattern recognition and Machine Learning" by C.M. Bishop; "Information Theory, Inference and learning Algorithms" by D.J.C. Mackay (this one is free to download on the author's website because he's nice like that). Look up material universities and other insitutions put online - e.g. https://www.coursera.org/course/ml is a free course, whose description sounds like it covers a lot of the necessary basics.  A lot of machine learning conferences make their proceedings available for free - ICML and NIPS I think both do this, and the work is good quality.

Start getting up to speed on all this stuff. If it still interests you and you want to go the academic route, go looking for postdoc positions and then try to find a couple of talented people you can form a startup company with.


Will I look bad if I'm never in my office as a graduate student?

Look bad, not necessarily. Will it be good for you? Maybe not.

Assuming that you don't have a really significant reason not to be on the lab, you should be. Stuff only happens with people that show up. If you are not in the lab, you won't talk to people as much. I literally can't count how many good ideas (and papers) came out of random coffee talk, that wouldn't happen on an otherwise "official" meeting.

full disclosure: That's something I didn't do during my phd and I regret it. I had my reasons, probably not really good enough, but I was almost never at my office and that hindered my development. I could have done more if I was there.


Will doing a master's thesis in an unrelated field hurt my job prospects?

If your advisor is happy and the local job market is aligned, then do which ever you want. For longer term goals it might be different. But your employability is probably determined by what you have done recently.


How do I ask for an extension to revise a manuscript submitted to an Elsevier journal?

Write to the editor. This can be either via the system (see if they have a "send email" function) or simply reply to the decision letter email. It's likely the editor will say yes so you don't have to wait for a response to start revising your paper.

About the "agree to revise" button, clicking it tells the editor that you will be revising your paper after all. Some authors abandon their papers after a revise decision - I don't think they abandon the paper entirely, but they stop caring about the submission to this journal. It's good practice to remove these dormant papers from the system; otherwise it'll get cluttered. If you do not agree to revise, then after a reasonable length of time (several months, say) the desk editor might remove your submission. Since it's only been a week, you don't have to worry yet. There's no need to agree to revise for now: in the unlikely event the editor does not approve an extension, it's a (minor) administrative hassle to change the article's status again.


Phd interview travel paid by interviewer - Is it bad form to ask to stay for the weekend?

If you make it completely clear at the time of asking that you would cover all additional expenses, then staying for a day or two extra would be regarded as perfectly normal and reasonable. (Academics travelling to conferences and workshops do this sort of thing all the time.)

Indeed, it may even be regarded as a positive sign: if you do join their PhD programme, then you'll be living in the city for several years, so the fact that you want to get to know the place in advance demonstrates that you're serious about your application.

My guess is that the somewhat intimidating wording "expected ... to depart on Friday" is intended to make it clear that you can't depart before Friday.


What do mathematics researchers do if they aren't good?

Many people who complete PhD's in mathematics end up leaving academia within a few years after completing the degree.  Many others settle into teaching oriented positions at community colleges, four year colleges and regional comprehensive universities where they typically end up publishing little or no research.  A small percentage of all PhD's in mathematics end up as tenured faculty in research universities (much less than 20%) and even among these mathematicians at research universities there is huge variability in research productivity (e.g. as measured by papers published per year) and impact (e.g. as measured by citations of these papers.)


Publishing figures without embedding them?

Send separate files in one of the required formats to the system/editor along with your manuscript. Send one file per figure, I would suppose. The copy/layout editor will place them in your final document after possibly some processing. The problem is that the flow of the published document may not match the flow of your manuscript if it isn't just a simple photo reproduction. They are looking for something of higher quality. You should properly label your files so that they can be placed in the correct order, etc. Captions on the figures may need to be handled separately as well, but you should get instructions on that.

Within the manuscript, don't refer to figures as "the following figure" or similar, but with a proper reference - which will depend on the publisher. Something like "Figure 3.2" perhaps.


MS supervisor offered a low-paying PhD position; can I ask for a reference to work in a different lab instead?

If you are looking for other PhD positions within Germany you may not need to ask for a reference: reference letters are not as common here as in some other countries. However, if you had an employment contract before, ask for your "Arbeitszeugnis" which pretty much takes the role of a reference letter. You are by law entitled to that, so asking for that should be a pretty standard request and you can say you'd like to have it for the sake of having your paperwork complete.
In case you were there just as Master student you don't get an Arbeitszeugnis, the certificates for final exam and Master thesis take that role.
I'm entirely with @cag51 in that your primary decision should be about the field/topics.
This is a perfectly fine reason to leave the group you are now in, and the professor should understand that.
Assuming the financial side is the only consideration that drives you away from the scholarship, I'd recommend being open with the professor about this. I'd assume an engineering professor to be able to calculate and the immediate difference in money is rather obvious (see below).  The professor may have further arguments in favor of the scholarship (see below), and there may be some space for negotiations.
If on the other hand, it turns out to be financially infeasible to do the PhD with the scholarship, the professor should again be willing to support you in looking for a job in the form of a reference.
(This assumes that the professor is neutral or benevolent towards you - wich is consistent with the offered scholarship)
OTOH, if you "secretly" apply for other positions but are not accepted and end up with the scholarship and the professor then finds out, this may create bad blood (not trustworthy, not open, etc.) - and a PhD is a rather intense and lengthy period of work where the professor may very well have thoughts into which students to "invest", say, money to attend conferences and which students are likely to run away as soon as there's the possibility. So I'd consider this approach somewhat risky here.
In other words, while it may be doable to apply for the other positions without a reference, I'd recommend to ask the professor for a reference letter.

Some thoughts about scholarship vs. PhD position via employment contract. It is not that easy to judge what amount of scholarship would be equivalent to what wage (though your offer seems to me to be rather on the low side):

1100 €/month scholarship will financially be comparable with an "employee" gross wage of 915 € or a net wage of 725 €/month. As you'll have to take care of your social insurance by your own (I'm assuming that even if you don't have to pay e.g. into pension scheme it would be sensible to put away at least as much as an employee in a similar financial situation is forced to put aside). If you decide against any social insurance that is not mandatory, i.e. only pay health and long term care insurance, you'll have ≈ 940 €/month.
As you say, it should be comparatively easy to find jobs that pay more: a 50 % TVL E13 in level I (first year) will be ≈1275 € net/month, so there should be other "features" of the scholarship to get it at par.
But scholarships often do come with additional features such as some money that you can spend at your discretion for your research (say, 200 € Büchergeld = money for books [which I could keep afterwards], I had a scholarship with additional money for travel to conferences and research stays and to purchase small things for the lab [they stayed with the university when I left]). You cannot take those things 1:1 like a higher scholarship, as e.g. university/your project rather than you personally should pay for conferences - but those sources are often very limited, so e.g. I did attend far more conferences than my fellow PhD students in the same group (typical was one national vs. several international + research stay for me).
Find out about this.
Scholarships may or may not allow you to work a side job. Check this carefully. If you can, you may be better off with getting a well-paying side job for a few hours per week.
In any case, check carefully how much you are supposed to work on other projects but your PhD project. This is unusual now, but my initial employment contracts as PhD student did not pay for any of my PhD thesis research work but were entirely about teaching lab/practica.
If you are anyways expected to be contributing to the institute's teaching load, you may be able to ask for an employment contract for that in addition to your scholarship, whereas a PhD student employment contract may include already a duty to help so many hours with teaching.
Scholarships are not employment contracts. Some of the consequences are: You are not subject to Arbeitnehmererfindungsgesetz (employee invention law) nor to the employee paragraphs of copyright law: in consequence inventions and e.g. software you develop is completely owned by you, not by the university.
Also, the scholarship is not subject to income tax. OTOH, your PhD years will not count towards years contributed towards the governmental pension scheme unless you sign up for voluntary contributions (AFAIK, that is possible).
Scholarships often offer possibilities such as attending workshops and courses on particular subjects, and to network with people from other universities and other fields.
Depending a bit on the scholarship, it may be a good boost to your CV. Scholarships are not that common in Germany, so having had one means that you were selected, e.g. for being a very good student.
(side note: because of this, I find it unusual that the professor offers you a scholarship as opposed to offering that they'd help/try to get you a scholarship. Still, it is entirely possible.)


Referencing images found in public domain

The images may still be under copyright. I think you have to contact NREL. Here's their copyright policy which states:

  Copyright Status

  NREL-authored documents are sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy
  under Contract DE-AC36-08GO28308. Accordingly, with respect to such
  documents, the U.S. Government and others acting on its behalf retain
  a paid-up nonexclusive, irrevocable world-wide license to reproduce,
  prepare derivative works, distribute copies to the public, and perform
  publicly and display publicly, by or on behalf of the Government. Use
  of documents available from or referenced by this server may be
  subject to U.S. and foreign Copyright Laws.

So you need to identify the source and copyright status of the document that contains the image.


What should be the right format for dates in CV?

There's no right or wrong choice here because there are no formal standards at most universities for what a CV should look like. Just pick one you like and use it throughout the CV.


Is there any major problem in applying to PhD program in US after getting BSc and MS in UK?

Let me clear up an important distinction between graduate school in the US and the UK:

In Europe, the master's degree is generally a pre-requisite for admission to a PhD program.
In the US, the master's degree is not required for admission to a PhD program, and you normally apply to the PhD program with only a bachelor's degree. You can obtain a master's degree as part of the PhD program, but this is by no means a universal requirement. It varies between universities and even departments within a university.
In the UK, options are somewhat ambiguous. You can apply for a master's and PhD program at the same time, while others may require the PhD in advance.

Therefore, if you are admitted to an American PhD program, you will take courses in graduate school, because that is the equivalent of the master's phase in the UK.

Other than that, there's no inherent advantage of applying or attending bachelor's or master's programs in the US or the UK.


Is withdrawing from two courses in my PhD bad for my future?

For postdoc and position in the industry, it will not cause any problem.
However, faculty positions depend on grants, and commitees pick people who are able to obtain fund grants, and publish papers. It is unlikely they will care about your grades.


Employment history and graduate admission

Why do some graduate schools want to have employment history on
  graduate school application forms?

I can think of a few things:

If you're not coming directly from undergrad, they want to know what work you've been doing.  In some cases, it may be entirely irrelevant, but nonetheless, they ask.  While references are typically obtained from academic institutions, if you've been in industry for a while, one of your recommendations may come from your employer...
If you are coming directly from undergrad, you may still have been employed during school or have completed some number of internships.  Again, while they may not be relevant, there's no reason not to ask, especially if they can positively affect your application.
Either way, employment, depending on what you did, could demonstrate responsibility, leadership, potentially research ability, etc.

  Is it likely that they verify it with SSN?

This almost seems like you're trying to determine if they can catch you in a lie--they do not need a SSN to do that.  Don't fabricate anything.


Options for a teaching position in a liberal arts college in Europe vs US?

As ff524's comment suggests, you seem to have a couple different questions, so this is only a partial answesr:

One thing to consider is that, if you have little experience teaching, you may not have an accurate view of how much you will like it as a career.  This is not to say that you're wrong, just that you might want to view teaching jobs not just as a chance to "do what you love" but also as a chance to explore options and find out what you love.

Also, liberal arts jobs and teaching jobs are not synonymous.  At least in the US, there are a number of teaching-focused jobs other than those in liberal arts schools --- notably visiting professorships and jobs at two-year colleges.  As the name suggests, visiting professorships typically last only for a limited time, perhaps a year or two.  However, this could be an advantage if you want to take a shot at a teaching career: you get a chance to teach for a while, and at the end of your time in that job, if you like it, you have more teaching experience can more confidently apply for a permanent teaching job; if you don't like it, no problem, since you're leaving anyway.

Jobs at two-year colleges ("junior colleges" or "community colleges") are also an option.  These jobs are often perceived as less prestigious than jobs at four-year colleges, and pay is often lower.  However, there are a lot more of them than teaching-jobs at four-year colleges, because essentially every community college faculty position is devoted primarily to teaching.  This, again, can make it a good option if you would like to gain teaching experience and see how you like the teaching life.  It will probably be easier to get a teaching job at a community college than at a liberal-arts college.

As Brian Borchers notes in his comment, there are also "regional" colleges that offer four-year degrees but are primarily oriented towards teaching.  These are somewhere in between community colleges and big research schools.  At these schools, research would be part of your job, but not as much as at a major research university.

If you have the chance to teach a course before you graduate, do your best to make it happen.  If that turns out not to be possible, try to get some other kind of teaching experience.  For instance, you could teach a workshop or short class as part of a conference or the like.  As you might expect, it's difficult to get a teaching job without teaching experience, so if you really want to do that, you should make maximum use of your remaining time in grad school to get whatever teaching experience you can.


Emailing professor: Is my profile good enough for this position?

The conditions invite potential candidates to self-assess their profiles.  The reason is probably that the University receives a lot of applications per post and HRs want to save a bit of time during the shortlisting stage by ensuring that candidates apply only when they are ready.  In all fairness, it seems that you want your potential supervisor to do a bit of this work for you. I am not sure it is a good idea.


Diploma equivalence from the old Belgian System

It's not a Masters and not a 2nd Cycle Bachelor degree, so you can't call it that. In places where you have free-form text, you can probably say that it's "comparable" or "equivalent to a Masters or 2nd Cycle Bachelor degree", but you should state the name of the degree you actually have first. If you encounter drop-down boxes in application forms that don't have your degree and no "other" category either, then you could probably pick the closest choice you have available.


What is the rationale for not allowing auditing students to participate in class discussions?

Note: This answer is mainly for institutions where auditors only pay a nominal fee.

From the institution's perspective, auditors are freeloaders. The nominal payment (if they pay anything at all) is trivial compared to the tuition income from paying students. They would like to make their internal cost of hosting auditors as low as possible.

If auditors were (as part of university policy) required to hand in assignments or participate in discussion, then professors could argue that they need more resources.

  For example, if a professor gets an additional teaching assistant (TA) for each additional 20 students, and there was a class with 155
  paying and 10 auditors, they could put in a request for 9 TAs rather
  than 8. The department class enrollment would also increase by 10
  which might mean more resources to the department, depending on the
  university allocation policy.

So the usual university policy is that auditors are ghosts or non-persons -- they do not count for teaching enrollments or resources. In order to argue this, the administration has to make clear that auditors receive no services.

That being said, many faculty such as ff524 and myself do not like "dead bodies" in the classroom and require our auditors to do the coursework and participate in discussion. This is our own prerogative and because we are going against university policy, we could not then turn around and ask for more TAs or claim hardship. We do this in the spirit of providing the best classroom experience for all.

From the perspective of paying students, auditors who are participating in the class also seem like freeloaders and can create resentment. This is usually ameliorated by the restriction that auditors do not receive transcripts or grades for their participation in courses. That said, the other business students are keenly aware that "discussion" is the core benefit of the classes and may resent your over-active participation. You'll need to work it out with the faculty member (and perhaps your peers in the class) if you want an exception to the policy.


Is it okay to keep my margs as 0.9 inch instead of 1 inch for my SOP

It may or may not be noticed. It may or may not be important. No one but the recipient can say for sure. You don't want a reader to be irritated with you.
So, I have a suggestion for you. First reformat it to the required standard. Then rewrite it to fit the two page limit if that is required. You will probably gain from being just a bit more concise in your wording. Don't just make it awkward. Rethink your phrasing and be more precise.
Less is More.


Having a retired professor write my letter of recommendation,

So, I wonder whether anyone external to our own math department would even know who he is - or whether admissions committees even value his opinions about grad students, at this point in his career.

First, it's not necessary or even expected that admissions committees will know (of) all or even any of your letter writers.  Second, you will be getting several letters, so they do not all need to come from "research active" professors.  Third, there's no reason to undervalue someone's opinion because they've retired.

Yes, it's a plus if you can get letters from people who are well known, but the most important thing is to get letters from people who know you best, so I don't see a serious concern from what you've told us.  (Though now that he's retired, it's possible he is harder to contact or less inclined to write letters.)


Difference between Visiting Lecturer and Lecturer?

It surely depends on the circumstances.

Perhaps in some cases a "Visiting Lecturer" is someone not normally on the staff, who comes for one term or one year and serves as a Lecturer.  After that, going back to their usual job.

Whereas a "Lecturer" is a regular member of the staff.


I wrote the code based on a paper's methodology; are there any legal problems with making it open source?

You are not required to get permission to implement an idea you have read about in a paper, or to make it open source.

The paper is protected by copyright, but this only protects the text and images in the paper (the expression of the idea), not the idea itself. The copyright on the paper does not prevent you from creating your own realization of the idea in code and distributing it freely. You should also acknowledge the source of the idea by citing the paper in which you read about it, but this is an ethical requirement, not a legal one.

The exception to this is if the methodology in the paper is patented; in this case additional restrictions on what you can do will apply.


How to write a sincere reply to a very positive reply from a professor?

Thank you for your reply, Professor X. I am happy to hear that you're interested in taking on a PhD student for next year, I will definitely be putting in an application for the position. I look forward to hearing more about the project in the future. Regards, me.

You don't need to throw them a parade, but take a little more time to email them something other than just,

  Thanks a bunch!


There are no ethical concerns here. It is fine to quit and reapply. Given a medical history it is unlikely that you will suffer academic consequences. So, relax on that score.

However there are two things you should also consider.

First, you have an advisor who has views about your likely success. Work with them now so that you have an accurate picture of your probable success in your current program. You seem to think the future is dim there, but it may be overly pessimistic. They may be able to work with you on a good completion.

Second, if your health issues are continuing, you will need to convince a new program that you can be a success there in spite of them. If they come back to affect your performance you could wind up in the same place, but a worse situation, in a few years.

If the medical condition is actually caused or affected by stress, then you should, in addition, find ways to deal with that issue.


Why are MBA programs closing in the United States?

Demand is counter-cyclical.  During recessions, demand rises as people seek additional training, hoping to prepare for new careers.  But US unemployment is currently at only 3.6%.  We haven't seen unemployment that low in decades, so people are not feeling the pressure to seek additional training for new careers.

Here are some references that describe this counter-cyclical behavior of applications to graduate school.

Ilana Kowarski, "Fewer People Are Applying to U.S. Business Schools", US News, Nov 5, 2018

  From a U.S. domestic prospective, historically, U.S. business school
  application volume has run countercyclical to the economy," Basye
  wrote in an email. "In times of higher unemployment or job loss,
  people often go back to school. In times of full employment or high
  GDP growth – like right now – opportunity costs are higher to leave a
  job and return to school.

Jade Scipioni, "Harvard, Stanford, other top MBA schools see applications drop", Fox Business, October 1, 2018

  Sangeet Chowfla, president and CEO at GMAC, notes that historically
  business school application volume have often run counter cyclical to
  current economic trends and indicators. And the current low
  unemployment rate means “young professionals have an increased
  opportunity cost of leaving their jobs in pursuit of an advanced
  degree,” Chowfla said.

Wendi Go, "Is Enrollment into Graduate School Affected by the Business Cycle?", Department of Economics, Stanford, May 11, 2009

  The findings show that the effect of the business cycle on First-time
  First-professional enrollment follows a relatively consistent
  counter-cyclical pattern. More specifically, a 1% increase in
  employment growth is associated with a 4.09% decrease in enrollment,
  while a 1% increase in GDP growth corresponds to a 2.04% decrease in
  First-time First-professional enrollment. Finally, 1% increases in
  personal income growth and personal disposable income growth are
  associated with 1.68% and 1.30% decreases in First-time
  First-professional enrollment respectively.

Srikant Datar, David A. Garvin, Patrick G. Cullen, "Rethinking the MBA: Business Education at a Crossroads", Harvard Business Press, April 22, 2010

  Because MBA programs are often viewed by young people, especially
  those with few other career options, as a safe harbor for weathering
  economic storms, business school applications have historically been
  countercyclical.


Online master's degree in CS at the Georgia Institute of Technology

In my opinion, Georgia Tech's Online Master of Computer Science will not help you get a computer science PhD in the US.  Not because it's online, but because it's a professional master's program.

There are two types of master's degrees in computer science in the US:

Thesis (aka research) masters degrees have a significant research component, in close collaboration with an advisor, leading up to a thesis.  These are generally seen as useful stepping stones to a PhD.
Professional (aka class-based, aka "taught", aka terminal) masters degrees consist entirely of classes.  These are generally not seen as stepping stones to a PhD, because there is no expectation of (and therefore no resources for) research.

Moreover, because of the huge scale (>3000 students) of the OMCS program, having any kind of sustained on-on-one interaction with faculty—which you would need to get strong recommendation letters—is almost impossible.

(I regularly serve on the graduate admissions committee in a top-10 American CS department.)


If and how long a thesis parked on a restricted server will be indexed by Google?

There are several reasons for not showing up in your Scholar profile. Depending on the configuration of your university repository, maybe Google can not access and index the document, just as Ian pointed out. However, even if it is online and available for anyone to see, Google can be blocked (robots.txt) or still have not index those pages.

So, all you can do is wait for Google to index (without any defined time to do so), or add your thesis to other repository or even to a personal website (if your university allows you to do so).


Is there such thing as a person who books guest lectures?

There are certainly professional speakers, who make their money by giving paid seminars, speaking at conferences, and providing bespoke training. That said, their target audience is rarely (though not never) universities, but rather companies or industrial conferences.
The problem with making speaking at universities as a career is that, in order to actually live from this, your fee needs to be high, much higher than the regular honorarium given to university speakers (if there is any honorarium at all, oftentimes the university can only cover travel). In my experience most universities will only shill out this kind of money for very targeted kinds of speeches or trainings that fill a specific, concrete need, and where they know there is a lot of interest. For example, when there is a new European funding framework coming up, many European universities will pay for a consultant to come in and hold a half-day seminar what the new rules are and how they will likely be interpreted in practice. Another exception may be very high-profile seminar series, which are often seen as publicity events for the general public.
In summary, it can't hurt to keep your eyes open, but before you take this any further you should figure out whether there really is sufficient money in this line of business.


Can I ask the graduate office (US) if I can submit transcript without WES?

Yes, you can ask. But they will probably say no if they require/request it. Someone has to give a meaningful analysis of your transcript and they are probably deferring this to WES so as not to have to have people do it themselves.
It is a fairly large problem for a large institution and maybe a difficult one for a small institution.
But, in general, there is no prohibition about asking for what you want. Just be prepared for a "no". You won't avoid an evaluation in any case, and one from WES might actually be more useful, since they are organized for that.


What if I got an idea that has been recently published, should I invest time considering it?

Assuming that you want to work in this small sub area, you can pursue it. You are a bit behind the frontier if work was published a few years ago and you need to get up to that frontier if you want to advance it. That will take some effort and such efforts are worth it, just to develop your mind.

But you also have new information that will help you get to the frontier quickly: the new paper and other recent work.

On the other hand, leaving everything else aside to pursue ground that you know others are already plowing, seems sub-optimal. I'd suggest pursuit, but not that exclusively. Develop a lot of ideas shallowly (and keep notes) so that you can pursue a few of them deeply.


Estimate of travel expenses for a Colloquium abroad - what does this include?

Tickets and accommodation are typically by far the largest items.  You can also include other transportation expenses, such as travel to/from airports (or parking fees if you drive your own car to the airport and leave it there).  You should generally choose the cheapest option that's not too inconvenient.  For example, an airport shuttle may cost much less than a taxi.

Meals can be handled in many different ways: sometimes there is a fixed per diem amount to cover such expenses, sometimes you can be reimbursed but need receipts, and sometimes meals aren't covered.  The per diem approach is generally easiest for everyone, but it depends on how much funding there is and where it came from.

Other forms of travel expenses are less common and may or may not be covered, but it can't hurt to ask.  Childcare is a particularly messy issue, because this can severely limit travel plans but conference organizers are not necessarily prepared to provide funding or local recommendations; still, it's worth asking about childcare if it's relevant.


Is it hard to get an article published in a journal as an undergraduate?

I would imagine that your best bet is to talk to a faculty member about it. Find a faculty member who is also interested in the topic. They can probably give you good advice on this and may even be interested in co-authoring the paper with you (which is probably more realistic as an undergrad), and honestly going this route wouldn't be too bad for you since your name would then be associated with an expert on the subject, giving you more credibility.

One thing I've learned in college is that if you have an idea, talking to a faculty member about it can get you a lot of opportunities. And if you talk to someone and they can't help you, they can almost always refer you to someone else who can be of help.


What is the meaning of "in residence" at a university?

This is the response I received from my graduate program's coordinator:

  It just means physically being here, so doesn't have to be on-campus housing.


How much does an undergraduate degree matter for an academic career?

I will give some answers from an American point of view (in math), but probably this is widely applicable.  The answer in short is that your undergrad degree means essentially nothing at this point.  It's only role was to get you where you are now.

Now, for some of your secondary questions.

  If there are a large group of equivalent, good, candidates for one position, do funding bodies and interviewing committees look at what's different between everyone?

Yes, but your undergrad degree is weighted almost nothing in these considerations.  About the only case where it can help is if someone on the committee knows you from undergrad and has a positive impression from then.  The primary consideration is your research (both how good it is and how good of a fit it is) and expert opinions of your work (e.g., recommendation letters).  Secondary considerations may be where you've published, how active you are in giving talks/going to conferences, impressions of committee members who know you, previous awards you've gotten, and other professional activities.  (I'm assuming the things you're applying to don't involve any teaching.)  Once you've gotten to the interview stage, other things like how good you are at communicating, how enthusiastic you are and how you get along with others come into play, but no one will care about your undergrad degree there.

  Is the fact that I'm objectively a second-class physicist holding me back?

If people think you're objectively second-class, it's not because of your undergrad.  Maybe you are, maybe you're not, but it's all about your research and maturity now.

  Should I accept that this limitation is always going to hold me back in my chosen career path, and therefore just go and change it?

Only if you want to.  Right now, funding is scarce, there's a lot of competition, and it is hard to get fellowships/grants.  The difficulty varies by situation--some fields have more opportunities than others, and for people who are in between established fields, like you may be, it can take time to find your place.  Almost everyone has to struggle, and it's easy to get discouraged.  It's how you decide to deal with it that's important.  If you want to fight for your place in academia, then do it--your undergrad is not holding you back.  If you want to look for an "easier" career, that's your choice.

PS If you're worried about how fit you are for academia, and it sounds like you are, you should talk to your advisors/mentors.


How to handle dislike of/lack-of-interest in sub-specialty of research area

How does one handle this sort of situation? Is it appropriate to bring up my concerns with my adviser?

YES. That is exactly how one handles this sort of situation.

Try something like the following:

  I knew coming in that I'd be working on A, and I thought I'd enjoy it. But after a semester, I'm feeling.... How do you suggest I move forward?

and see where that gets you.

  Should I wait until I've published a first-author paper in this sub-specialty first, so that I can veritably say that I have definitely given it a shot?

If you believe you've given it a fair shot, there's no reason to wait to voice these concerns (in a professional manner). There's no "milestone" at which point you can say "I definitely don't enjoy this area" - there will always be more things to try. The reason to speak to your advisor is that he may be able to advise you on what to try next.


Referencing Non-Equations ("See Eq. (15)/See Ineq. (15)")

It seems that the right thing to do will depend on what's conventional in your field.  In pure mathematics, it's standard to refer to all displayed equations, inequalities, etc. using just numbers in parentheses (for example, "using (2.1)", without specifying there whether (2.1) is an equation).  You could add a descriptive noun if you'd like to emphasize it (e.g., "using equation (2.1)"), but you don't need to.  If you do add a noun, it could be considered strange to refer to anything but an actual equation as an equation.  This style of referencing displays creates no ambiguity, since citations use square brackets and all other numerical references have an attached noun or symbol to indicate whether they refer to a theorem, section, etc.: [1] is a citation, (1) is an equation or other display, Lemma 1 is a lemma, Section 1 is a section, etc.

The system described in the previous paragraph presumably doesn't apply to the author of the question, since abbreviations like "Eq. (1)" or "Ineq. (1)" are not standard in pure mathematics, which suggests he is in another field.  However, it's worth keeping in mind that conventions vary between fields, so there won't be an absolute answer to this question.  To know for sure what would look reasonable, it's important to know the context (i.e., the audience for the paper and where it might be published).


My teachers treat me differenly b/c I have a mental illness. I don't know how to confront them

Stay calm, is the first thing to try to do. Approach the teacher and be polite, most teachers like either after of before class. Make sure they are not busy. Then bring up your concerns with the teacher. Try to be as well spoken as possible and be straight to the point.

With your peers, you can be more into the moment. Speak along the lines of, "hey, you don't have to speak to me like that." You know your peers, if you need to be more polite you should. Also, stay polite with your peers, explain the situation to those who listen. Important don't waste your time with those who don't.

An important note: You would not want to make someone feel super bad about it, because then they would also start treating you differently, but for different reasons.

Hope your situation improves


Why do some journals want figures at the end?

There is a long tradition of submitting text and figures separated. this stems back to when manuscripts were typewritten and figures were drawn by ink. Many journals have kept this format and now the reason to keep figures separate is to facilitate the typesetting/layout. In addition, many electronic submission systems assemble manuscripts by merging text files with graphics files. The reason for having separate graphics files is that the typesetting processing inserts figures during the process. Not all journals take camera-ready manuscripts (in fact none in my field).
As a reviewer, and if you review from a printout, it may also be advantageous to have figures separately since it is easier to look at them in parallel with reading the text. If you review on screen, it will of course not be an advantage.
There is actually no need to format a manuscript this way as long as figures and text are delivered separately in the end if that is what the journal requires for their typesetting. Always follow any instructions provided by the journal!


Publication statistics per research company

To find the number of citations to people at a company, you can use Scopus or Thomson Reuters Web of Science (formerly ISI Web of Knowledge) and, in the affiliation field, write the name of the company.

Example:


Length and details of a personal statement in postdoc positions?

If they only ask for personal statement and CV then you need to find a way to squeeze in the personal statement basically everything. I would start by introducing what your studies were so far and what kind of results you got. Highlight the significance of your research and what are the next steps. Then write about collaborations you had and how you expanded your scientific network. Conclude by saying what your future plans in terms of career are. It is not an easy thing to write so I would start just writing down everything you can think of and then you start ordering things. With this kind of stuff the easiest way to tackle it is to just start writing. Ultimately it is a personal statement so you need to add some personal touch. Let people that knows you well read it and ask them their opinion even if they are not scientist. Good luck with your application!


What is the difference between IEEE transactions, magazines, conferences and journals

IEEE Transactions and Journals publish essentially the same thing: peer-reviewed papers, some shorter (e.g., briefs), some longer.

IEEE Magazine articles are most often written at a less technical level than Transaction and Journal papers (though, there are exceptions).

Conference papers are those presented at various IEEE-sponsored conference venues, and published as part of the conference proceedings.


Why law and business faculty are paid the highest salaries?

I believe that there are (at least) two main reasons for this:

Law and business faculty generally have alternative job prospects that pay extremely well. That means that universities have to pay enough to compete with those alternatives in order to attract and keep their faculty.
They both generally teach in professional schools that are not part of the main university (at least in the US). Professional schools (especially top ones) usually have high tuition, high enrollment, and healthy donor bases (due to the aforementioned high potential income), and therefore they have very strong revenue streams. They also don't incur many of the costs that the rest of the university does (e.g. sports facilities, dorms, financial aid). Together, this means that they have significantly more resources to pay their faculty with.


Does the 'Internet of Things' fall under Computer Networking?

I expect you'd have to argue that (some aspect of) current approaches to networking either won't scale to an Internet of Things (IoT), or else will need to be done differently because of device characteristics -- in other words, the networking aspects of IoT will have to be done differently somehow.  If you can do that, that could form the basis for a thesis.


As a student with questions about a paper, can I email the author myself or should I ask someone else to contact him?

You can definitely contact a paper author. They might be of the 'it obviously follows' == after 5 pages of calculations kind, or the empiricist who published the 20 successful regressions or simulations out of 200, with 180 contradicting their result or being inconclusive; and in either case ignore your question. From personal experience though, it can even lead to breakthroughs: in my case, someone sent me his lecture notes which clarified something I was stuck with, and related to the submitted question. However, if your advisor knows the author, or simply is well-known in their field, do mention that you are their student, as it should increase good will on the author's part - after confirming with your advisor that they are cool with it. Showing that you are active, interested, and independent should also go down well with the advisor.


Is an unaccredited online Master's degree comparable to a typical Master's if from a reputable university?

It tends to be harder to stick with things that feel "optional," especially when they compete with necessities like holding your job. Thus, the biggest downside to this would be if you do not have the time or energy to pursue the Master's program and this results in poor marks.

If you apply for other degrees and/or visas, you may still have to declare that attendance and coursework, possibly with transcripts. (See Can I omit my undergraduate school from my CV? and Can I legally omit the fact I hold a Ph.D. degree?) You could certainly explain the circumstances when you're forced to mention it, but ideally you don't have to explain anything away to begin with.

You could avert this problem in several ways, such as officially withdrawing from a course instead of failing it (if possible in that system) or making sure to devote your full energy to each course you take.

Given your purposes for taking the class (interest and extending your knowledge), would it make more sense to seek out an open online course instead, or an interest group local to you?

This is a warning about a factor you may not have considered, and I don't mean it to sound needlessly harsh. You could learn great things from this program. Successfully completing this degree will probably be neutral-to-beneficial when anyone reads your resume/CV, and what you learn and practice there may be adequate proof of the program's success. Further, if the program later becomes accredited, your degree will accordingly gain in prestige.


Is it acceptable to require a student to use the supervisor's preferred software/tools?

Clearly define what are your goals and constraints, and work from there. What are the things that they need to learn in order to progress further in the field (and someday find a job)? What are constraints imposed by the research project you will be working on?

Goals — if learning a specific piece of software is required to become a professional in your field, then it is a de facto standard and they need to learn it. In this, a specific piece of software is just like a particular experimental or mathematical technique.
Constraints — there are cases where you need to restrict the choice of software to interoperate with others. For example, the student might not be able to choose his favorite programming language for a specific project because he has to use a specific advanced library, which only exists in e.g. Python. Or the project actually is to implement a specific functionality in an existing C++ framework. Or one of the goals of the thesis might be to produce technical documentation to be published in a given format.
Other than that, leave them free to choose whatever works for them. Be clear and upfront about what you advise them to use, and what you are willing to teach them (and what you cannot teach them). For example:

  The choice is yours, as long as your are able to efficiently produce and edit a professional-looking 200-page document with many figures, tables, references and subdivisions, and it adheres to the university guidelines. I myself use LaTeX for writing articles and theses, as many colleagues, and I advise you to do the same. I have little experience with word processors. I can help you if you run into problems with the first one, but will not be able to help if you choose a word processor.

I once had a student who mastered MS Word to a level that I had never seen, and did a superb job in an efficient matter. It wouldn't have been bright of me to require him to use LaTeX when he knew another tool.


if an academic writer critiques your study using an approach you are not familiar with, should you bother responding?

You are asking about cases where an idea you have put forward is criticised on the basis of a theory that you are not familiar with, which might require some investment of time to understand.  The example you give of two philosophy professors is a good one.

There is a time-cost involved in any attempt to learn a new discipline area, even to the level that would allow you to understand an argument directed against your work.  While the time cost might be too steep in some rare cases, as a general principle, if you are going to set out arguments and ideas on an academic subject, you should be willing to invest the required time to understand the arguments that bear on your subject matter.  This is a normal part of academic work; it requires you to read outside your own speciality on occasion to understand some outside idea.  This is also a useful way of expanding your knowledge and acquiring some interdisciplinary knowledge to allow some communication between different fields.

Although there is a time-cost to this kind of study, it is highly beneficial in giving a more rounded understanding of a subject area.  Having said this, there is generally a large difference between the amount of time required to learn a subject well enough to understand a criticism (a short time), and the amount of time required to learn a subject well enough to create new work in that area (a long time).  It is reasonable in cases like this to at least learn enough to understand and evaluate the argument made against your work, and be able to respond cogently to this argument.  If this piques further interest then it might lead to deeper study, but that is not a necessity.

Your example with the philosophy professors: In this example there is a time-cost to the first professor to learn enough about formal models of normative ethical operators (presumably some kind of modal logic) to work in that field.  However, he shouldn't need much time to learn enough to understand the particular argument made in that formalism that is deployed against his argument.  This is effectively just a translation of an argument in another language (mathematical formalism) into terms that he can understand.  It will require him to go through bit-by-bit and learn the specific aspects of the formalism that are deployed in that case, which is a lot smaller task than becoming an expert in modal logic.  Once he has done this, he should be able to understand and respond to the argument (in his own words - not necessarily in the formalism!).  If that argument is important or interesting it may pique his interest and lead to further study in modal logic ---e.g., he might decide he wishes to learn enough to couch his own ideas in the formalism, and thereby provide a contrary model in the formalism as a counter-argument.


What is the meaning of "To appear" for submitted papers

Based upon the context, I would treat to appear as a synonym to accepted or in press. This article means has been accepted, but not yet published. Most journals have a lag between acceptance and online publication (conversely, others journals now post the accepted manuscript almost immediately after acceptance). This lag can be due to a backlog of other articles ahead of yours, copy editing, formatting, or other procedural delays. Before online early access, articles could spend months or longer in this status (e.g., an article was accepted for quarterly publication and had to wait multiple quarters to be published).

Another question asks about how article status is evaluated by search committees.
I would also add that you likely have no way of verifying to appear other than waiting. I have heard about search committees and tenure/promotion committees asking for copies of acceptance letters, however.


At what stage in academia are you most likely to suffer a mental breakdown?

You have given more than enough evidence to show that you need to seek professional help and/or counseling.  The impulse of telling people that you're in trouble is a good one.  Posting anonymously on a site for academic advice is not the way to go: because you clearly need help by those with professional counseling training and very few academics have such training, most people on this site will (and should) decline to give you specific advice.  Please seek help in real life.  You can begin with student counseling services at your university.  If you don't know where to go, google "student counseling [your university]".

Note: I am leaving this as an answer rather than a comment because I feel strongly that this is "the real answer" for the OP.  The manner in which probability of mental breakdown varies with the stage of one's academic career is not relevant to the OP.  Mental breakdown can happen at all stages of an academic (and nonacademic) career, and rather than looking at age or seniority statistically one should look behaviorally, cognitively and emotionally on a case-by-case basis.


How can I protect my unpublished work that I've sent to others?

How likely is this? Have you ever heard a Professor of this caliber doing something like that?

This depends on the field -- in some fields people are more worried about being "scooped". It could be anywhere from "unlikely but possible" to "extremely unlikely". Overall it is not a serious concern that you should worry about, but it is a remote possibility that you could consider taking steps to prevent.

In response to some comments, let me add that blatant plagiarism (where they publish your writing as it is) is much less likely because that is academic misconduct that could get a professor in real trouble when you present the proof.

On the other hand, scooping is where you get the idea from the paper, and do it yourself. It is still academic misconduct, but more difficult to prove and it may go unpunished.

  What actions I can take to protect my work, assuming I need about 6
  months to have it ready for publication?

The best solution is to publish the draft online. This is common in many fields and becoming common in others. If you publish online, everyone will see that this is your work and you did it first; you have documented proof on the internet.

It could also help to document it in other ways: send the draft to others, and put together some proof that you wrote it, just in case.


Does getting an offer from a U.S. phd program earlier than normal mean getting a relatively better offer?

I'll assume you are talking about a department that admits students via a single admissions committee (rather than offers from individual professors or groups, in which case all bets are off regarding the timing).

As a general rule, getting an offer earlier is a sign that the committee is more interested, but that doesn't mean the actual offer will be better in any concrete sense.  Often there will be a first wave of offers, which may be followed by additional offers depending on how many people seem likely to accept.  Sometimes the further offers are explicitly described as a waiting list, but sometimes the only distinguishing factor is that they come later in time.


Dropped out of PhD - should I seek acknowledgement of disability discrimination?

First of all, if you're able to get legal advice, you should do that. Find someone who specializes in higher ed law, which might be a project by itself.

I'm not a lawyer and I'm not well-acquainted with UK disability law, but it does sound to me that what your department did was illegal discrimination and harassment. From the details you've provided, it also sounds like it would be impossible to prove and no lawyer will touch it on a contingency basis because there's no clear financial loss. It's also extremely unlikely that the university itself is likely to find in your favor if you go through a university grievance process. So the bad news is that there's probably nothing you can do to clear this from your record.

It's probably not much consolation, but I've heard dozens of stories about graduate programs engaging in exactly this kind of "soft" discrimination, especially against students with more amorphous disabilities such as chronic illnesses. The mentality seems to be that a student with this kind of disability is unfit and a waste of resources. This reasoning is explicitly illegal, but graduate programs are granted so much latitude in evaluating students that they get away with it.


How important are GRE analytical writing scores for graduate admission in STEM fields?

Poor GRE scores are a warning sign, not a stop sign, in most graduate admissions. Essentially, the GRE is only a weak predictor of ability to do graduate-level research, and therefore doesn't get all that much weight, at least in the STEM fields.
Now, that said, you don't want to have a 1 out of 6, either. But there are often mitigating factors with respect to the writing section. Given that you have questions like this one:

Some people believe that government funding of the arts is necessary to ensure that the arts can flourish and be available to all people. Others believe that government funding of the arts threatens the integrity of the arts.
Write a response in which you discuss which view more closely aligns with your own position and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, you should address both of the views presented.

I would argue that the writing section is a test that reveals more about the capabilities of students in the humanities than it does students in STEM fields. So do the best that you can, and don't worry too much about this writing sample.
It's much more important to worry about the research statement you send to graduate schools!


What role do relevant (!) foreign languages play in grad admissions?

In Art History, this depends greatly on the language and the area of study. For example, an individual who wants to study Italian Renaissance would likely benefit from knowing Italian, French and German. These are such common languages and the Art is so well studied, that knowing them in advance is likely of little value in regards to admissions. On the other hand, if you want to study ancient Hindi art, then demonstrating that you know Sanskrit could be valuable for admissions since the university may not routinely offer the language and you likely need to be able to read it to write a reasonable proposal.