What are the pros and cons of being co-supervised?

Pros:

If one supervisor gets hit by a bus, you still have a second supervisor who is familiar with your work and can thus give constructive comments on it, hopefully appreciate it and in particular evaluate it. Often, your supervisor is the only person at your university who is actually capable of fully understanding and properly judging your thesis and defense.
If one supervisor turns bad or turns out to be bad and for example gives bad advice, makes ridiculous demands or even expects you to do questionable things, you can still turn to the other supervisor for advice or to have a serious word with the bad supervisor. If the relationship to the bad advisor goes totally awry, you may have the option to drop them and be supervised by the other supervisor alone.

It depends:

You may be expected to do more or less work. For example, if you are doing an interdisciplinary work and have one supervisor from each discipline, the supervisors may only understand and value the work you do in their respective half and thus think that you did not do enough. On the other hand, they may also overestimate the work in the respective other half and thus be more easily satisfied.
You can benefit from the experience of both supervisors and learn something from one advisor that you cannot learn from the other.

Cons:

You may be affected by disputes between the supervisors. For example the first supervisor may tell you to do something in a certain way and then the second supervisor blames you for it.
If aspects of your work require input from both advisors, you may need to wait not only for one supervisor to have time for you but for two. This is in particular difficult, if you need to talk about something with both your supervisors at the same time.

Some of the above obviously depends on the details of the relationships between your supervisors and the reason for the co-supervision. Thus, you can only judge yourself, if these points apply to your case and how important they are for you.


With GRE not being accepted or being considered optional due to Covid, which other aspects of application will be given heavier weightage?

All of them, proportionately.
PhD admissions in the US (the land of the GRE) are typically not based on a formula.  They are subjective.  Therefore you do not need to know how different parts of the application are weighted.


Sure, just contact the registrar's office of the University from which he claims to have graduated.


Is the degree conferral date the same as the completion of degree requirements date?

No, not necessarily. Most schools award degrees once per term (whether that's semester, or quarter). So if your last final was on the 8th, you would have received your degree on the same day as your friend whose last final was on the 10th.

Is completing my studies equivalent to being a graduate or to being conferred/awarded a degree?

Again, not necessarily. In most places, you have to "apply" to graduate or similar, which as I mentioned in the comments is the formal check you completed the requirements. This means "completing" your studies doesn't mean anything until you've asked the university "I've done all these courses, can I have my degree now?"
For example, you could have done enough coursework to earn two separate degrees, but if you only apply for one, you only get one.
This very well could be different in some places (or for other types of degree). But it is certainly not a rule to rely on.

I am worried that if I state that I have earned my degree, I will be required to provide the degree certificate (which I don't have yet) and that my transcripts won't be enough.

Nobody needs the certificate in the US, the (sealed, official) transcript will tell them whether you have a degree. If that doesn't say you have a degree, then they won't ask for a certificate, they will think you don't have a degree.
It sounds like there is a possibility you weren't conferred with your degree, because of COVID. You will have to follow up with your university to verify.


Professor wrote me a letter of recommendation, but sent it to both me and the institute

I have, on many occasions, received references/letters of recommendation from academics with their student copied in.

Some do it as a matter of course for transparency so that students know what's being said about them or to confirm that they have actually done it (profs are notoriously bad at getting refs in on time!).  And some do it in error.

In the cases I have experienced, this hasn't been an issue at all.  What is at stake, at least immediately, is the quality of the reference, not whether or not the student knows its content.

Unless there are some very stringent rules in place at the receiving institution, I think that this is a non-issue.

It would also be worth bearing in mind that, depending upon your jurisdiction, the content of references (ie personal data) may actually be admissible upon request.  See the University of Reading guidance on this in the UK.  So references aren't necessarily private anyway.

The only real issue I can foresee is if the content of the reference isn't great and your place to be declined.  Although this one is up to you how you respond.

In answer to your question, if you are really concerned, I would suggest you send your professor an email to thank them for the reference and casually/politely to ask whether it is normal practice to cc the student in to these kinds of letters.  The prof will then hopefully give you their view.

I would advise against contacting the receiving institution as you might risk sounding a bit silly/panicky (sorry!).


If you look at this article, you can see that IRDAM is an acronym for Introduction, Results, Discussion, and Methods. IRDAM is a style/format of presenting results in publications.

Quote from the article:

  The IRDAM format requires a substantial change in how the Results
  section is organized. Because the methods are listed at the end of the
  paper, or online, the reader is not exposed to details of the
  experimental protocols and methods before the results are presented.

See also,

  The format used by many high-impact basic research journals, such as
  Nature, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Journal of
  Clinical Investigation, and Journal of Cell Biology, is arranged so
  that the Results section immediately follows the Introduction. The
  Methods section is placed at the end, or it may even be published as a
  supplemental data file.


What is " companion proceedings" in a conference?

There's no major difference between "main" proceedings and "companion" proceedings. It just means that there will be a proceedings volume that collects the papers. Perhaps the only possible item might be that it's not a dedicated series—it might be a special journal issue that serves as a proceedings volume.


Are faculty job applications evaluated on a computer or on a paper?

We've had a variety of practices. Some of it depends on the computer literacy of the admin assistant doing the application file processing. We've had cases of electronic material (PDFs) being printed out and then rescanned back in as the staff person did not know how to collate multiple PDFs into a single document.

[HEAD PALM] Sigh...

To be entirely fair, some of our faculty are also very visual-tactile and will prefer print out the dossier and read it there, rather than online.

In other words, you can't assume anything about how the files will be handled. You should be explicit in the URLs. If you have media files on disk or thumb drive (photographs, video, source code, simulations, etc.), then you should also post a visible link to an archive location.


Mathematica , Colab or LaTeX for exam summarys?

If you are trying to learn something, preparing summaries is an excellent way to reinforce your learning. Editing your summaries to improve them is even better. Summarizing your summaries...

The vehicle you use is less important than that you do it. I'd suggest using a tool that you already know, so that the you can concentrate on the subject matter and not fight with the tool.

On the other hand, if you want your summaries to be maximally useful, export them in a format that others can use without needing additional software. I don't have Mathematica, for example. In many ways PDF is the most portable format (as the name implies).

Video has its own issues. Some people can't use it effectively. For example, I don't hear well enough to follow the audio track so youtube is closed to me. Video also has the problem that it is harder to find the relevant things you might need to return to, being a stream.

However, note that these summaries are most useful in deepening the knowledge of the creator, rather than the users, who would be better served creating their own summaries. Not useless, of course, but not a panacea. What you think of as important to put in a summary, others might not, and need other things that you feel are so obvious as not to be needed. It is the dilemma of any textbook writer, of course.

In my view, one of the best ways to create summaries is on paper, by hand. This forces your brain to work in a different way than it does interacting with a software tool. There is research to support that, actually. My favorite is just a set of index cards, since they are easy to create, rearrange, index, etc. You can also carry them around for a few moments of reinforcing study. When I was an undergraduate the person who ended up as valedictorian always carried a few cards with him for quick review of his coursework. Also carry a few blank cards so that you can makes notes to incorporate.

I've discussed the idea of the Hipster PDA in other posts here. Note that you need to follow a few links to see detailed info about the concept.


Books/resources about how to write a good Thesis introduction

The best resource for how to write a thesis is to see other successful thesis that were written in the last 10 years, in your field, from your or other universities .

Search in Google Scholar; or check your university's library where they hold all the Ph.D. thesis done at your university.


Harvard referencing: same year, same last name, same initials

The guidelines to the venue you are submitting to must be your guideline. After all, the title of the paper is what distinguishes one author from the other. And this information is present in the bibliography.

For the in text references, neither University of Leeds nor The University of Melbourne has any suggestion for such situation. However, both use the style (Smith, 2012a) and (Smith, 2012b) for same author, different publications. So, that is not correct.

Personally, I would go with adding a footnote at every page that the citation occurs, maybe with a Google Scholar or personal website page.
Writing the full name would not be a generic solution as there might be two different authors with same name and same surname.


Reply to a professor who said no open position BUT admired the work

You can write something along the lines of "Thanks a lot for your last mail. If you happen to have an opening in the next 3-8 months, please let me know. As already written, I would love to work with you, so you could expect an application of me in such a case. Also, if there is a graduate school offering scholarships in your department that I happen to have missed, please also let me know."

Note that pretty much the only case that you could hope for is that the professor has a currently running application for external funding that may be granted within the next few months. In that case, there may be an opening for a PhD student position (it's not really called like that, by the way) coming from that funding.


what is the best software for drawing mechanical mechanism?

This type of request is usually something authors will gladly address. Since this images comes from recent paper (2018), you should write to corresponding authors or journal editor, asking how this image was produced. In fact, providing such information is part of obligation when people publish work, your request will not be unusual at all.


How bad is making mistakes in the lecture slides?

Everyone makes mistakes. Teachers, students, everyone. It isn't terrible that you make them, but it is good, and can be extremely instructive when you correct them.

Your description suggests that you do the right thing here. Proof your slides and make corrections. But also, when mistakes are pointed out in class, not only admit them readily, but work through the correction as needed. If it is just a typing error then it is easy, but logic errors might require more effort.

However, seeing a professor work in real time to solve a problem, rather than just showing prepared stuff is extremely enlightening. Students can get the idea when presentations are perfect that this stuff is supposed to be easy. In fact, it may not be easy and so seeing a solution develop, even seeing false starts and corrections, will give them more confidence in their own work. Especially if they struggle with some of the ideas.

Your students will be evaluating you overall, not just your slides. If you act in a human and humane manner, especially by responding to their needs, you should do fine. But occasionally a student will be unreasonable. Don't worry too much about this.

But perfection in a lecture isn't necessarily the most effect way to teach. That doesn't excuse sloppiness, of course, but consider the overall picture, not just the minute details.

I've had students complement me more often on "lectures" that forced me to work "live" than on those that were very polished. In fact, I once tried to develop a "perfect" description of a hard problem and it left the student baffled. "Where did that come from?"

Be good. Very good. But recognize that you are human, which means being adaptable.

As to using the previous slides, I have no opinion. They might be good, but they might be too perfect. They might also force you into stilted delivery, which you should avoid.

But as a newcomer to this stuff, you might have conversations with colleagues about your teaching materials and get their feedback. People learn a lot by interacting with students, but it isn't obvious to a new teacher how that all fits together effectively. Some places have more senior instructors visit the classes of new faculty and then give feedback, either formally or informally. There is no real reason why you can't ask a trusted colleague to do that, even if not required. While it might feel risky, it also shows you are trying to improve your craft.


Acknowledgements section of master's thesis

You might want to peek at a few other examples to make sure there's no institutional norms, but you can often acknowledge whoever you want, and indeed its a good place to acknowledge more personal contributions.

For example, in mine I acknowledge:

My advisor
The other members of my committee
Some colleagues who provided data
A family member who used to be a member of a profession who I asked a few questions about
Several fellow students
My funding sources
StackOverflow and CrossValidated
My favorite purveyor of caffeine.


Should I paraphrase or quotes definitions?

If you use another source's definitions verbatim, then they must be placed in quotes; otherwise that's plagiarism. However, it should be pointed out that general facts and definitions—one that would be reasonably obvious to anyone who has, for instance, an undergraduate background in your field—need not be cited, so long as you are not literally quoting someone else. For instance, saying "Newton's second law states F = m × a" does not require a citation; saying

  The second law states that the net force on an object is equal to the rate of change (that is, the derivative) of its linear momentum p in an inertial reference frame [Wikipedia].

requires a citation to Wikipedia.


Citing Mathematical Proofs given on Math Stack Exchange

There are actually two questions on MathOverflow that ask how to cite answers found on MathOverflow. I would recommend following their advice.

One of them is a fairly old question, whose answer is somewhat outdated. Summarizing:

Even though you may not be legally obligated to show where you got your answer (for example, when MO points you to a theorem already in the literature), it is a good idea — it never hurts to be generous and honest. (And if you're copying part of an answer, not citing it would be plagiarism.)
There is a little button for each answer that says "cite" and will give you a citation. You might have to reformat this to make it fit in your journal's bibliography style.


Undergraduate transcript for graduate addmission

You're not going to like this, but the answer is, "it depends."

If you flunked computer science, it'll be hard to find a CS program that will take you.  If you flunked underwater basket weaving and want admission to a CS program, well, that might work.  If "failed one subject" means "failed one course," that might not be too bad.  If it means "never passed even one history course, " not so much.

It also depends on how long it's been since you were an undergraduate.  Admissions committees understand that people mature and that a poor showing in the distant past doesn't necessarily mean you'll be a poor scholar today.

To be blunt, it also depends on the school to which you apply.  Harvard probably won't take you, but there could be schools that might.  Pick a couple, visit them in person with a copy of your transcript, and ask.  You'll need an appointment for that personal visit; if you just show up, no telling who will talk to you.  You're visiting in person to show them you're serious.


Should I use degree name as their system?

I think it is better to use the exact phrases and words mentioned your documents and degrees. If the words bachelors and masters degrees are written in your certificates; simply use these words. It is much more sure and easier than thinking about rephrasing the words or finding synonyms for them. Also, in my opinion; bachelors and masters degrees are more explicit words than undergraduate and graduate degrees.


Is the order of recommendation letters important in case of postdoc application?

If somebody asks for your letters of reference, they will ask for all of them. So the order in which they’re listed doesn’t really matter—particularly since they might arrive out of order anyway.


Should I put conditional admittance to Master's program on resume?

If you're planning on attending this Master's program, it's not clear what you have to gain from a more impressive resume and social media profile right now. You already got into the program, and by the time you're applying for jobs or further graduate study, this issue will have long since disappeared. I don't think the university would revoke its offer if it found out you were publicly advertising yourself as admitted into their program before you really are, but it could come across as unprofessional. After all, taking three graduate-level courses is much more than a formality. The odds of a bad outcome may be minimal--most likely no one will care--but why risk it?

By all means, brag to your friends and family, but do it verbally.


What can be done about an unintentionally disruptive classmate?

It sounds like everyone who's dealt with it decided the student's behavior was a minor annoyance at most, or even that their questions were valid and worth answering. Repeating material that was covered in previous lectures, in the syllabus, or on the website is...well, part of the job, and many professors explicitly welcome questions about past material or any general course questions of that nature. It is generally assumed that students aren't tape recorders with perfect memory, and if a professor is really bothered by it they are free to answer with "that's covered in the syllabus". Off-topic questions are typically easily handled with "that's beyond the scope of this course, so questions like that would need to be asked in office hours/email/someone else." If the professor goes off on 30-minute tangents about meatballs because a student asked a question about them that has nothing to do with the course, well then you'd have a valid issue to raise with the professor.

Based on your descriptions, all the past professors found minimally disruptive ways of handling less-than-perfect questions - such as limited answering, ignoring comments that did not need a response, etc - and found a way to move past it. If there is regular behavior by another student that rises to the level of such a disruption that you feel you are materially harmed in your education by being subject to it, by all means bring it up to the appropriate faculty/administrative contact.

However, I must point out that there is a baseline reality that standard deviation in the human population is greater than 0; people are not all the same.  This means that your standard of behavior will not be followed by everyone, and others will have different standards of behavior than you do. It often pays to first ask yourself: "is this so far out of line that it I really need it to be dealt with?" If it's just an annoyance, or something that really isn't really that big of a deal, empathy and patience might be a more useful strategy than complaint.

As to how a potential complaint would be received, that rather depends on what you are complaining about. If you complain that a fellow student asks questions about the class that are already covered in the course materials, some professors will agree (they wish students read the syllabus too), and some will think "that's a weird complaint, I wish more students asked, because it sure isn't like the ones that don't ask actually read it all". If you complain that the student is a bit odd, well, yes, they probably got that idea by now. If you complained that a student was, as an example, yelling racial slurs in the middle of class, then that would certainly be seen as a valid complaint, while another complaint about a student with tremors shaking and you find that distracting...not so much.

So in the end, I would advise you to consider the seriousness of your complaint. If you feel that what you've witnessed/experienced is materially harmful and wish to make a complaint, make sure you specifically address exactly what is the issue and what you would like done about it, such as: "a student regularly asks questions that are not pertinent to the course, and the professor allows the distractions to cut into class timer, or ignores continued talking and comments instead of telling the student to stop."


Changing PhD programs: should I submit a recommendation letter from my old advisor if it's not purely positive?

Not all cases are equivalent. Unfortunately, switching PhD programs is something that is not often done. This is such an exceptional case, that I think it's one of the few instances in which a purely positive letter from a supervisor is not called for.

The basic issue here is that the people reviewing your application need to understand why you left the previous program, and be able to judge whether the issues were environmental (over which you had no control, and therefore would be unlikely to be repeated) or structural (likely to reoccur, and thus reducing the likelihood you'll finish the new program).

Consequently, I would find a recommendation letter from the previous advisor that is only positive highly suspicious. If everything is positive, why are you leaving? Someone needs to explain the situation clearly, and we need to hear from both you and the advisor what each of you believes happened, and why a "fresh start" is needed. If somebody was applying for admission to my PhD program after having started one elsewhere, and if I were at all interested in the candidate, the first thing I would be doing is contact the old advisor to understand why she wrote such a strong letter. Because otherwise the pieces wouldn't "add up" correctly.

Moreover, I don't think you can submit an application for admission to a new PhD program without a statement of support from your old supervisor. If you don't provide a statement from her, it will again look suspicious, and damage your chances of admission. (The person reviewing your application will think: what is this candidate trying to hide?)


Can I publish in a field completely unrelated to my present field? If yes, what about affiliations?

Should you ever include people as author for liking your manuscript? No!

Can you try to get in contact with an academic of your favourite field, discuss your ideas with him/her and ask if they'd like to write a publication with you? Sure thing.

Will publications in a foreign field hinder your main Phd? Depends.

Will you find the time to do both in parallel properly? If not, which has preference? If you do it before you start your main PhD or you are happy to develop that other paper slowly as a hobby, it may not affect your main work.

Will it affect your reputation in your main field? For most people it should not have any impact at all. A few may value your additional interests others may see this is a diversion or as a potential risk for you to jump ship and switch your research areas. But overall, I'd think those are few and they'd even themselves out.
With respect to industry, many recruiters even claim they look for candidates that do something unconventional as a hobby/side interest. So in industry you may even win some minor bonus points.


How can I express my dismissal from public service in my academic resume?

I think that under the circumstances you can just tell it truthfully and completely. The recent political turmoil in Turkey was widely reported here, and I think most people would both understand and sympathize with it.

You might also point to the fact that you weren't alone and that the dismissals had nothing to do with the competence of those dismissed. There are plenty of news stories that could be noted.

We aren't perfect here, but so far, our political institutions are holding up.


Is it ok to list reviewing experience in a resume when you don't have a PhD?

If she has reviewed for these journals, then she has, regardless of who asked her to do it, and she can certainly put it on her CV (it's accurate and she can back it up).

One caveat would be if she wrote the reviews but they were submitted under her boss's name (with the journals' agreement) - in that case, it would be important for her to make clear that she was doing the reviews in lieu of her boss, and wasn't asked to do them in her own right. In other words, she certainly has the reviewing experience, but was asked because of her boss's expertise in the field and not her own (even if she may have that expertise as well).


How prestigious is a Fulbright scholarship

Yes, it is very prestigious, yet in many countries most non-academics will not have heard of it.

Regarding the benefits, I assume you did your research before applying so I don't know what we can tell you that you don't already know.

However, since this could help other people thinking of applying to one of the Fulbright programs, I am providing an (unofficial and incomplete) list of good things about this program. Please contact your local Fulbright office for more detailed and updated information.

Once awarded, you'll attend a workshop/training in your home country, that will help prepare you for applying to US institutions and for studying and living in the US. This can be very important for people traveling to the US for the first time.
If you need help improving your English, they'll likely send you 1 to 6 months ahead of your MS studies, to attend an English program in a US University (not the same university in which you'll get your MS).
They have academic advisers that will help you apply to Universities, will check your recommendation letters and statement of purpose, so that you can maximize your chances of getting into a top program.
You'll forever be part of the "State Alumni" network and will be invited to attend networking opportunities with other State Alumni members in your home country (and I guess other countries if you relocate).
During your first year of studies, you'll be invited to a 3-4 day Fulbright Enrichment Seminar on "topics of global importance" (topic changes yearly). Personal note: for me, this was an amazing experience and probably the best part of the whole program. This video shows what the grantees do on these seminars.
You may get some additional financial help (in addition to tuition), like a stipend for books and/or to buy a computer.

EDIT (Added the following):

On the intangible benefits of the Fulbright Scholarship

Ultimately, the Fulbright program is an International Exchange Program. It is hard to try to explain the intangible benefits you get from participating in such a program, but these quotes from Senator Fulbright can help:

  "International educational exchange is the most significant current project designed to continue the process of humanizing mankind to the point, we would hope, that men can learn to live in peace--eventually even to cooperate in constructive activities rather than compete in a mindless contest of mutual destruction....We must try to expand the boundaries of human wisdom, empathy and perception, and there is no way of doing that except through education."

  "The essence of intercultural education is the acquisition of empathy--the ability to see the world as others see it, and to allow for the possibility that others may see something we have failed to see, or may see it more accurately. The simple purpose of the exchange program...is to erode the culturally rooted mistrust that sets nations against one another. The exchange program is not a panacea but an avenue of hope...."

Very often, international Master's students in the US end up interacting primarily with other international students in their own program, and sometimes even with mostly other students from the same home country. A student participating in the Fulbright program has numerous opportunities to interact with US citizens and other international students from different programs and from different universities. It is an enriching experience that most likely will contribute to give you a more broad view of the world. This will likely have a positive impact in your career, either directly (for people in law, international relations, government, etc.) or indirectly (like helping you become a better teammate, a better project leader or manager).

If you want some examples on how the grantees experience their time in the US, this book has good reviews (I cannot comment myself, since I have not read it).


Writing Systematic Literature Review on the same topic

In principle, you should only conduct a systematic literature review (SLR) if:

none has already been done recently;
the only ones recently done are deficient in some way (that you will clearly explain and correct); or
you adopt a very different perspective that adds something significantly valuable that is different from the recently published good review (e.g. you do a meta-analysis, unlike the other review; or you deep-dive into a specific subset of the literature that the other review covered only briefly).

In general, unless the recent review is quite bad, I think that the third option is the only good justification for publishing another SLR on the same topic so soon. Note: I am talking about justification from the journal editor's perspective of why they would agree to publish your review; you have to think in this way whenever considering getting anything published. Moreover, the third option is the safest, since you don't need to offend anyone by trying to make up bad stuff to say about the recent review to give the impression that yours is better--you only need to prove that yours is valuable in a very different way, not that it is better. And finally, the third option might sometimes be easier because you definitely should not duplicate the work that the recent review has already done--rather, when you find your own unique perspective or approach, you should spend all your time and effort on only that.

But if you cannot find a new, valuable perspective to adopt and the recent review is quite good, then I don't see anything for you to do other than appreciate their review and thank them for saving you from having done all that work yourself. Of course, in that case you would have no standalone literature review article to publish, but you could probably salvage the work you have done so far as bits and pieces of other related research that you may do.


How to access microfilm data at a university library in another country?

You should file an interlibrary loan at your home library. The ILL librarian will contact the lending library and come up with a solution.

A common scenario is that the lending library will scan in the applicable section and send you a PDF, or they may just mail your library the film on loan. (In times past, they would print out the section and mail you the pages.) If the film is valuable, they may restrict it to library use only. It is possible to copy a microfilm though I suspect that people these days will digitize it instead.

It would be helpful to talk to the ILL librarian after you file a request to they know exactly what sections/pages to get you or whether you want the whole film.


A famous scholar sent me an unpublished draft of hers. Then she died. I think her work should be published. What should I do?

The first thing to do is to contact her estate. You can probably reach someone through her last affiliation. I assume that they have control over all of the papers and effects of the deceased.

Since you say she is famous, there my be some posthumous attempt to honor her in some collected publication, but the estate, possibly a spouse, should have knowledge of that. Her last employer might also.

But start there.

And, of course it is possible that it has already been submitted somewhere and publication is in process. The estate might even welcome contact with interested people in finalizing publication as needed.


Potential consequences of providing voluntary work for a team I've been forced to leave

Personally, I think you should focus that time and effort into getting another position, if you have not got one already.

If you have a new position already, well done, then focus that time and effort into where you are now. They, hopefully, will appreciate that effort and motivation.


Can you file a complaint about editors selling your contact information?

If you are in Europe there may be a breach of GDPR, but

proving it would be next to impossible.
You likely signed a waiver buried in the small print of something that you ticked when you submitted.


How to reference observational evidence?

One idea is that you can perform some formal or informal interviews with parties involved in the subject of your research / interest. This is pretty much a standard research method for qualitative studies. Then, you can reference those interviews in a traditional way (in accordance with your preferred publication style guide), in addition to placing them in one of appendices of your paper as well as summarizing and analyzing the facts toward discovering some patterns or other findings.


Can I pursue a PhD in the Netherlands with no Masters?

It is true that in the Netherlands they prefer it if you have a masters. However, some people have been admitted and completed PhD programs without one. I am one of those people, and I had less industry experience than yourself.

I think your chances are good, and your CV sounds better than many people with a masters. But it will depend on your potential supervisors. You should contact prospective supervisors beforehand (this is what I did). Sometimes there are administrative issues, so the supervisors will have to explain to the graduate school in the university why they are hiring someone without a masters.


How to write a technical paper of a not so significant idea?

Quite possibly, your supervisor is encouraging you to write early, to learn how to write, and to get into the habit of writing your results down.

You would gain a lot by watching this youtube video by Haskell inventor Simon Peyton Jones on How to write a great research paper. Part of his message is that you can do the research while you are writing, meaning that many ideas will come to you as you are writing things down.

You ask how to write a paper. Didn't you just read a whole bunch? Pick one that you found easy to follow and inspiring. Model your paper on its structure and style.

Regarding the actual work. A formal model of a for-loop has already been done, so I suspect that this is not the right level of abstraction to consider. What is the data to which your for loop applied? What did it mean? What did the parameters mean? How are the results of your code interpreted? Were some better than others? On what scale?
Part of science is learning to ask and answer the right questions.


How to find a journal for publishing my method without applying it to specific real data?

I know that Elsevier publishes MethodsX or journals that focus solely on “Materials and Methods.” Perhaps those may be a better fit.

I don’t see why a typical journal wouldn’t consider that just because of the data set. If thats the case, I would put more emphasis on the model’s strengths and implications in the field.


Is there such a thing like "18-months/half-time syndrome"?

Everything is possible: I'm pretty sure, from a large enough population of former PhD students, most will tell you that they felt demotivated at some point, but the timing will depend on the individual and the particular circumstances.

It is true, however, that mid-PhD corresponds to a particularly large number of negative factors, and it is common to feel bad about your thesis around that time. Heck, it's common even that there is a PHD Comics that highlights it:

(Don't mind the exaggerated x-axis scale. The area highlighted corresponds to mid-PhD.)

Now, why is that? Well, among your rants, most of the factors are actually listed in your question: Now, you know the field well enough to see not only the good, but also the bad in it. The initial elation has left, and you are left with the doubts. This is sometimes accompanied by deep questioning about your progress: Have I done enough? Have I taken the right course of action? etc.

But the most important point is: how to get out of it? Well, part of the problem is a natural “oscillation”, which means this is probably actually just a low point, a bad moment, and it will actually get better. Don't have too much fear of “spiraling down”: you've made it thus far, and you're aware of the issue!

As for more actionable advice, I would say:

Now that you are more knowledgeable of the field, you can actually start to make better choices: if you don't like a given approach, just steer away from it. You still have some time to do so, and it is part of your PhD to learn making strategic decisions (if you haven't already).
You may not see it, but you will be much more efficient during the second half of your PhD than the first, mostly because you have learnt a lot already and can make better decisions.
Pick a few challenges (one or two) that you would like to meet, and focus on those: you'll feel much better if, instead of chasing some holy grail, you can help solve these specific issues that you care about.
And remember: completing a PhD means becoming an expert in your field, and that actually means being able to critique its practices, recognize the good and the bad. It sounds like you have actually achieved this goal!

I hope this helps…


Will trying to start a PhD late and after a gap of 4 years after my Masters, deteriorate my chances of getting admitted in a PhD program?

At least in the United States, discriminating based off your age would be illegal, so hopefully that would not affect your chances. I started my PhD program at 25 without a masters after working for a year in an industry that was only tangentially related to my program.
I would also not expect the 4 year gap in education to make an impact. I've known multiple people who have done this after working for a number of years. If anything I would expect most programs to see it as a positive. Many people coming into a PhD program directly after an undergraduate degree would have little to no experience in the area, and as such would have a higher risk of deciding that the field is not for them and not completing the program. Somebody leaving a full time job to pursue research in the field is clearly making a deliberate decision to do so because of their interest in the work. See also responses to this very similar question
Will a 5 year gap between Undergrad and PhD hurt my chances?


Dealing with a friend who always leans on me

He's a postgraduate, and so are you. A postgraduate degree is self-guided study. And while there's scope for group working and collective problem solving, hand-holding him is actually making his situation worse, not better.

In other words, by doing his work for him, you are hindering him. If he truly is a friend, then it's time for you to stop hindering him.

Explain to him that you have been preventing him becoming a fully-fledged researcher, and apologise for that; remind him that the purpose of the degree is to build research skills, self-discipline, and independent thought, and that when he asks you to do work for him, you're both complicit in preventing him from achieving these goals. And so it's got to stop, for his sake, and for your sake in not being complicit with what's going on.


Editor not taking action after I reported plagiarism. What steps can I take?

Working with the editor, until that process is finished, is probably the only thing to do at first.  It will undoubtedly be a long process, with delays, so patience and persistence will be necessary. Try not to let the mobbing get to you, and try to remain calm and professional at all times, despite any pressure others may exert.

If the editors, in the end, are unable to come to a resolution you accept, then the options will be (essentially) to escalate the situation or to let it go. But making an action of that kind while the editors are still working would be premature, in my opinion.


Why did notable mathematician Walter Rudin have so few citations according to ResearchGate?

This answer will be a bit orthogonal to the question. But Rudin's place is due to more than the number of papers written and citations.

According to the Math Genealogy project, Rudin produced 24 successful PhD students and has 125 "descendants". These numbers are pretty big. Some of his students were, themselves very productive.

A professor can be a collaborator, but not an author on a pretty large number of papers, and this is pretty typical in math.

Note also, that in mathematics it was then not normal for a professor to be listed as co-author on their student's work. I think that is still pretty standard, actually.

So, the number of citations isn't necessarily the only measure of influence.

But as to the question itself, mathematicians have moved on to other, newer, areas since his time. In some sense this is, or can be, due to success in solving outstanding problems, leaving only the hardest questions still open. So people work in areas in which it might be a bit easier to be "productive".


Can you get a tenure-track position in philosophy with a J.D.?

Realistically, no.

There's more philosophy PhDs looking for jobs than jobs available in philosophy, and your undergraduate experience while helpful probably won't make you stand out as an expert in philosophy. Or to put it another way, while you've been earning your J.D. which prepares you for law, philosophy PhD earners have been studying the very subject material they will teach.

But you might be eligible for positions where they are looking for someone in philosophy of law. Specifically, if they want someone with practical experience (but then they wouldn't want you straight out of your J.D.). Probably a good way to ask this question would be to e-mail Brian Leiter (or someone else) who works in law and philosophy.


Does resigning from industry job before probation / 'CV gap' reflect badly in PhD application?

Definitely mention it. Always keep your CV honest and complete.
I'm unfamiliar with your field; but in the fields I'm familiar with, a fairly casual "Was excited about opportunity, and to gain some industry experience, but my passion is academia" should be enough. A lot of people don't go straight from undergrad to Ph.D. - most of those worked in industry for a while to realize that they'd rather do research. I don't see how when you quit matters. Shouldn't be a biggie. (I'm not commenting on whatever field-specific requirements or conventions you allude to)


Avoiding "Zoom bombing" in virtual conferences and seminars

How about using something other than Zoom? Other softwares support features that can help with this. Moreover there are some serious security and privacy concerns about Zoom (see e.g. this statement by the FBI and this investigation by the NY attorney general; Bruce Schneier has written an overview of the concerns here).

In our department we use BigBlueButton (website, Wikipedia) for our classrooms and seminars. It's a completely open-source and free web conferencing system. There are a few services out there that host servers but they're completely overloaded at the moment. I'd say your best bet would be to get your IT services to host a server for your department. With BBB by default new users don't have their webcams activated, and you can prevent them from doing so. You can even prevent them from using their microphone and require them to virtually "raise their hand" before a moderator allows them to speak. That should cut down a lot of the abuse. You can also set up the service so that an account is required before accessing the meeting. Unless the abuser is very dedicated, they probably won't bother creating dozens of accounts to continue bothering people after being kicked out, I hope.

Also, something obvious: many abusers are specifically targeting Zoom and going into random Zoom meetings. Unless you've somehow attracted abusers who are specifically targeting you, if you use something else (especially something hosted by your own department), you probably won't have any problems.

Note: I'm only recommending BBB because that's what we use at our department, but there are other services out there. I know another department has set up something called "Panopto" for example, and another something called "Classilio" - you'll have to look that up, I don't know much about it. For informal meetings we use Jitsi but it doesn't seem adequate for hosting a seminar. But in any case, if a software doesn't meet your requirements, you should definitely look into switching to something else, especially with the privacy concerns...


I found an archived version of the 2018 STM Report, which is now available directly from STM again. Among other statistics, it has this plot of the scientific output from 1975-2018 and four different databases:

The  Web of Science (WoS) line looks rather similar to the earlier results of Bornmann and Mutz (2014), who produced this figure for 1980-2012 using a copy of WoS' database:


When is it appropriate to request more effort from a co-author on a funded project?

People's contribution to projects is mainly determined by two factors:

Motivation. This might be career advancement opportunities, reputation advancements, working together with somebody they admire, publications, money, etc.
Ability. Time, knowledge & background, access to literature, access to production tools, equipment, etc.

When somebody is not contributing, they are lacking in either category (or in both). So the first thing you might do, is to inquire in a polite and sensible way where the problem is. Is the co-author lacking ability (time, tools, ...) or motivation? When you know the answer, you can figure out together how this can be resolved.

When you approach this as described above, you can do this immediately. You do not need to wait until some threshold of (un)acceptable behavior has been violated.

A blunt confrontation rarely delivers anything productive, certainly not in the long run.


My student: "As of now it is unknown, why...". I have very recently found out why. Do I tell him?

This sounds like an easy solution. You can give a couple of suggestions while stressing one as more likely to yield an answer, or even a single suggestion that "may or may not work but could be an improvement on existing work". This is valid supervisory guidance, as it does not hold the student's hand but provides a direction to be explored and you are not providing a ready answer. The fact that you already know the answer is irrelevant. If the student is unable or unwilling to do so, this is not up to you. In fact, I think is it poorer supervision if you do not point out the weakness but simply let it pass.


How to properly assess a student's knowledge of a subject

I have found a couple of resources regarding the question of credibility of examinations.

The University of Michigan advocates that examinations should be:

Valid, (providing useful information about the concepts they were
designed to test)
Reliable (allowing consistent measurement and discriminating between
different levels of performance)
Recognizable  (instruction has prepared students for the assessment)
Realistic (concerning time and effort required to complete the
assignment)  (Svinicki, 1999)

For others' reference:

https://www.cmu.edu/teaching/assessment/assesslearning/creatingexams.html

http://www.crlt.umich.edu/P8_0 <- referenced UofM material above can be found here.

P.S. - The UofM website has further references, including the '(Svinicki, 1999)' that is listed above.


What is the necessary entity that cannot be done by professor without physical classroom with assembled students?

Have you ever taught? When you explain something to a class, have you ever seen understanding happen in students' faces, or confusion? When the former happens, have you stopped your speaking and prompted the student to continue your thought and make it their own? Or in the latter case, have you stopped and asked what was unclear, had a discussion about it, and then tried to explain it in a different way?

None of this happens in an online setting: You give students a textbook chapter to read or a video to watch, but it's not interactive: You can't catch students where they need to be caught to learn efficiently because you don't have the personal interaction and contact. Personal contact really is a very powerful thing.


Does an associate professor work in the laboratory on a daily basis?

In my experience in (neuro)biology this is largely a function of the size of the lab, particularly the number of students.
The tasks of writing papers and enough grant applications to support the lab (along with all the other tasks professors do: on administrative committees, reviewing grants and papers written by others, teaching responsibilities) take up a lot of a professor's research time, at any level.
The larger the lab, the more time moves from "bench time" to "supervising time". This is the delegation of responsibilities problem experienced by managers of all types, and also applies to professors.
It is more common for early-career professors to spend more time on the bench because they will have few students/postdocs and those students will be new students as well. As a lab matures, not only are more of the bench tasks done by students, but there are more senior students and postdocs that are familiar with work in the lab and can begin to mentor others on their bench skills.
I've also seen a lot of senior professors, who may be wary of taking on students as they approach retirement and have less career pressure, migrate back to their labs.
If your lab isn't productive without you in it, then you need to get back to the lab, regardless of how your colleagues' time is allocated. Probably more importantly, if you don't have students and postdocs in your lab that you are supervising, you're missing out on a big chunk of your job which is to train the next generation of scientists.


Fun experiment on memory: for data of one subject (myself), is there a name for it?

Self-experimentation refers to the special case of single-subject research in which the experimenter conducts the experiment on himself or herself.

(Source: Wikipedia)


Should I cite my undergraduate thesis in my paper?

As suggested by @MartinČerný I'm turning my comment into an answer. I'd include the thesis in the bibliography and write in the paper (perhaps in a footnote) something like "This paper is an abridged version of the author's undergraduate thesis [reference here], written under the supervision of [adviser's name here]."


I found out that I have plagiarism in my published journal papers, what should I do now?

The journals need to be contacted, but I would not do it directly. Hopefully your university has someone, ideally a committee, who deals with academic misconduct. I would approach this panel with a detailed list of the occurrences in the papers where you now believe you have plagiarised. Explain to the committee how you were unaware of the norms of good academic research practice until your recent class on the topic. Have in place a plan that will help you continue your training and demonstrate to them that it will not happen again. While they may expel you, I think most academic misconduct panels would look favourably on a student who comes forth on there own with a plan in place. The committee should then be obliged to bring he matter forward with the presses and will negotiate a settlement.

As for loss of honor, it sounds like you plagiarised because you did not understand the norms. While some people will hold this against you, more will look favourably on your ability to admit a mistake.


What is the non-European perception of Marie-Curie postdoctoral fellowships?

Speaking as a researcher in the USA, I would say that Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions are clearly perceived as having significant prestige.
Even not knowing all of the details, one immediately sees:

It's an EU-wide program, and those generally have high competition.
Curie remains widely famous, and nations and organizations are protective of her name.

Exactly how prestigious it is compared to other prestigious fellowships I wouldn't care to speculate, but it's clearly a noteworthy addition to any researcher's CV.


What are the major informal obstacles students face when they go abroad for a research degree?

It is not going to magically solve your problems. You will undoubtedly face similar issues. People outside often think that Academia is the life of the mind and the ivory tower. It is not. A successful career, including tenure, often depends on how well you interact with your fellow academicians never mind your students.

Being an introvert can be very difficult. You can take this opportunity to re-invent yourself. You'll never not be an introvert but you can work on skills to minimize its impact on your life and career. Search out some books on the subject (there have been some popular ones published recently like Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking).

Very carefully consider who your advisor will be. You don't need the prima donna, but someone with whom you can work with successfully.

Join Toastmasters or a similar organization where you are now or where you end up. Look for social, cultural, or technical organizations for your interests--and get involved. That may help you find connections and friends who can help you when the going gets tough.

You might also look into counseling, not to become extroverted, but to learn techniques to mitigate your introversion.

On a personal note: go for it! I'm introvert who's fine with friends. I'm a SME (subject matter expert) so knowing my stuff makes it much easier for me to speak up in a meeting, raise my hand in class (when I was in class), and so on. Don't let imposter syndrome get you either.


How to respond to journal suggestion we get a native-speaker editor when writing seems reasonable and one author is a native English speaker?

While one should avoid antagonizing editors where possible, I think it would be reasonable for you and your coauthors to respond with a matter-of-fact email that includes the following points:

(1) one of the authors, namely yourself, is a native English speaker;

(2) said author has re-read the revised manuscript, and did not find obvious defects in the grammar or idiom;

(3) it would be greatly appreciated if the editors or the referees could point out the exact places in the revised manuscript, where it is felt that further correction is needed to meet the desired standards.

If they are being picky in good faith, point (3) should not cause a problem. If they stall or ignore point (3), then at this point it might be worth asking other people in your field or related ones if they have had similar experiences with this journal or its editors.


How to protect my own ideas/solutions when another of my supervisor's students is studying the same thing?

Teamwork

It's rather common for teams to work on "the same thing" research wise - on a single project, shared research and (most importantly) collaborating and sharing ideas, not hiding them from each other. That is a good thing.

It may be dependent on the field, but I'd guess that having such teamwork is far more common than a "two person" team of a supervisor and a single student.

The attribution of a particular idea within a single team isn't that important - doing the work in implementing and verifying that idea is almost all of created value in a research project. Simply coming up with an idea for possible work and nothing else generally justifies a mention in acknowledgements, not even a co-authorship. Since there are more valid research ideas than time to work on them properly (and this is true even if a student needs two months of literature review to pick one suited for him/her), it is rather expected for advisors to spread interesting research ideas around - it often takes years and multiple attempts to do a particular idea properly, and treating it as "taboo" because someone else is working on it would be rather counterproductive.

If you have two or more people working on a single sufficiently large problem, that's great - you will inevitably specialize to certain parts of that problem and depending on how you (or your supervisor) organize the work, you can co-author the resulting publications or split the results in smaller pieces to publish separately; but you will go further beyond the other researchers in the same subfield than if you were struggling at it alone.


Literature review help, 3D reconstruction of human organs (non-bio nature) using CAD and 3D printers

First of all, even though you have declared that:

  Now I've never actually done a literature review before

But you must review the literature, in a coherent manner, for a couple of reasons. First of all, definition of a graduate thesis is based on the progression of a subject, had which been considerably taken into account by the other researchers, formerly. The literature review lets you depict the former struggles to address your own augmented solution for the problem. By means of such information, you can, efficiently, assert the drawbacks of those strategies and explain the properties of your solution, is which supposed to cover the aforementioned deficiencies. Furthermore, complete literature provides the interested reader a more omni-aspect overview, corresponding to the research subject. It would be very important for the people, are who eager to continue your work and the complete literature will culminate their mind set to acquire novel inceptions from your report for their research path.

I suggest you to consider the history of the previous research in a chronlogical order. That would help the reader to keep the track of the traspositions, implicitly.

Obviously, introduction section might not be a right place for future developments. You better contend those stuffs within the last section of the thesis before references, i.e. Conclusion, Concluding Remarks and Future Works or so on; because, after the conclusion, you would have enough chance to convince the careful reader that the gap between your contribution and the future-driven anticipations is, deservedly, filled out and they would be the proceeding reasonable paces for the rest of the research in this field.

Literature review's role could be summarized as: "Tell me what has been done, up to know, and clear about your own contribution corresponding to it". Therefore, investigating on the details, such as try to print healthy kidney and unhealthy kidney for comparison or ots of benefits to both clinicians and patients should be accounted within the main body of the thesis.


Are there risks of manuscript rejection if manuscript is the edited version of a thesis report available online?

From this policy statement we have the following quote:

Technical Reports, Dissertations, and Lectures: Internal
reports and memos distributed within an institution, lecture
notes, tutorials, seminars, and academic theses or dissertations
are not considered prepublication even if available online

and according to MIT's resources page (see subsection on IEEE):

Submission of new article by author that first appeared as part of author’s thesis
Theses not specifically addressed, but permitted subject to editorial discretion. Individual journals may have their own policies

From these two quotes, it seems that if the publication is allowed at all, then you won't have any problem with having put it online previously because IEEE doesn't consider that prepublishing. However, individual journals may not accept theses for publication.
The answer to "how would IEEE determine that I am not plagiarizing" specifically is simply "both have your name on them."


Simply continue reading papers and going to your reading groups.  When you first start graduate works (which includes reading papers), it feels overwhelming.  When you first start, 2 hours isn't uncommon.

A couple of things I learned about reading papers

1) Quickly read through each paper first (to get an idea of what is presented), then read it more carefully.

2) Print it and write questions in the margins.

3) Give yourself a set amount of time to study each paper.  Once that time is up finish noting down things you do not understand and move on.  Bring your questions to the reading group.

4) By "upperclassman" I assume you mean students that have been studying for their PhD for a while.  If possible, arrange to read the paper with one of these more knowledgeable students.  They will be able to guide the inevitable self study you'll need.


My advisor does not provide any solutions and wants me to work alone

Some people I have talked with say this situation is common and normal

Absolutely!

It is going to be a very hard process to change how your advisor work! Most of the time, you won't be able to! So, you will need to learn to adapt. You need to consider the following;

This is not your first PhD! You changed advisors before.
You are half-way through your current PhD (only you knows how many years you wasted or what's your current family situation).
You need to graduate!

So, my advice is to follow your adviosr and be flexible.

When I first started my PhD, a new PhD student joined my grouped and have similar issues like yours. He changed advisors, schools and wanted to continue publishing with another researcher (his friend who have finished his PhD from a previous school where he joined before). The bottom line is, my advisor tolerated him for sometime but then gave him two options;

If he [the student] continues the "drama", he can leave. If fact, he told him that he knows a professor in another school that might be willing to take him.
Follow the process and get his degree!

To me, that student was very brilliant, had very unique way of thinking and solving for solutions! But, it was very clear that he needed to do everything on his own (and way)! Many advisors do not like that (especially, well-known ones).

I get that sometimes you can get a project that you do not like! So, what!! Do you think that you ganna be always working on projects that you like! I doubt that! At this level, you are a researcher (try to be a professional one). Think of it this way,  if you are a surgeon, you operate on people! You can not say, "No, I do not want to operate on this guy because I do not like him" This may sound harsh, but in a way, is true!


PhD and postdoc with no first author publications- realistically what are my career prospects?

Are you intending to stay in academia? You stated in your question that you've always wanted to be a "researcher"... you should be aware that there are many industry positions with similar duties and responsibilities. Having zero publications isn't good, but your skills as a researcher aren't limited to the length of your CV. I would spend some time investigating positions in industry that would allow you to perform similar work to what you're doing now in academia.

Hopefully someone else can post something focusing more on your academic prospects.

Edit: Your comment of "not sure if my work is relevant to industry" deserves more attention that an answer on an online forum can provide, but very briefly:

You are not defined by your field. I have a BS in psychology, a PhD in biomedical engineering (which actually was entirely neuroscience, but all my courses were electrical engineering), my first two jobs were a bank quantitive  analyst and a data science manager for an insurance company, and I now work for a cybersecurity research firm. When writing a resume you choose which skills to highlight and how to sell yourself. I strongly recommend you re-evaluate your own skill set and see whats out there that interests you.


Although it is odd for universities to ask you this, assuming that they did
you have several options

Attend credit courses pertaining to Machine Learning or Artificial Intelligence and re apply
Get some industrial experience in those fields and re apply
Select a program that does not require Machine Learning background.
Talk to dept advisers telling them that you will attend these courses
when you are admitted, probably get a conditional acceptance or
you do not want to do PhD in machine learning fields but something else
(assuming that is the case) and approach the faculty member to back you up.


Do I need to repeat the books quoted in footnotes in the bibliography?

If you are using OSCOLA style, then the footnotes will include all the necessary bibliographic information and a bibliography/works cited is not required.  See, for example, the Oxford University Undergraduate Law Journal, which follows OSCOLA style.

Generally speaking, most styles that require a Works Cited/Bibliography have "in-line" or "parenthetical" citations, rather than footnotes (e.g., APA style). The key thing to remember is that the purpose of citations is to allow your readers to consult your sources for themselves and, where you are citing secondary sources, to give credit to the authors for their contribution to the scholarly conversation.


A professor invited me to their seminar when I enquired about working on a master thesis with them: did they reject me?

The first one has clearly rejected you for the reasons he gave.
Their seminar group is a place where their existing students might present and discuss their work, including PhDs and post-docs. This invitation essentially is for an initiation ceremony. If you like their work and are interested in making a project out of their research directions and they think you have the requisite background they might accept you in their group and the professor will work with you for your thesis. That is what I make out of this.
Be positive and enjoy a nice seminar. One should worry about things in their control. Best of luck!


How can I ask a teacher to follow the textbook more closely?

You may certainly ask -- politely! -- but you should expect to be told "no", and you should accept that answer if it is given.  In most graduate courses, it is the privilege of the instructor to decide what are the important points and how to organize them.

If the course is preparation for a qualifying exam (for instance), then there may be a more rigid syllabus that needs to be adhered to.  In such a case, if the instructor were deviating strongly from the expected objectives it would make sense to complain.

As an aside: since the book presents things so well (from your perspective), you can learn the material from it and consider the lectures as supplementary.  It then seems to me that having lectures that approach things from a different perspective than that of the text is a benefit.  An instructor who parrots the text would be redundant.


Will an off-topic Masters hurt my chances of a PhD place?

Don't ask us.

Contact your favourite three prospective universities for your cosmology PhD. Better still, contact your favourite three supervisors for your cosmology PhD. Ask them:

What Master's dissertation topic will prepare me best for my intended cosmology studies?
What Master's dissertation topic will make me most likely to be successful when applying to study a cosmology PhD?

(The first question is much more interesting than the second).

You will find enthusiasm for engaging with your question and your situation, because you are expressing specific interest in their field and because you are not asking them to decide anything about your application – since you have not applied. Quite a lot of people in senior levels in cosmology are interested in cosmology and are glad to find interest in cosmology in other people.


Under what option should i upload a revised main document when using manuscriptcentral?

It should probably be "Main document". The reason it says "- with author details" is probably because, as you said, your article has already been accepted. So, the label "Main document - with author details" probably means that you should now add your author information; you should no longer hide it as you were probably required to do in the double-blind peer review stage.

I'm not absolutely certain, but based on the details you provided, that seems to be the most likely option.


Mathematics undergrad to theoretical physics phd

Yes (you might not even need the Physics GRE). Example:

  The usual minimum entry requirement is a first-class honours degree, awarded after a four-year course in physics, mathematics or engineering, or a three-year degree together with a one-year postgraduate course on advanced mathematics and theoretical physics. Part III (MMath/MASt) of the Mathematical Tripos provides such a course. Note, however, that entry is competitive and a higher level of preparation may be required for research in some subject areas.


Reference letter, personal vs prestigious?

A letter should highlight your skills, which usually only come out when working closely with somebody. Getting a letter from a renowned professor saying that you were sitting in his lecture is no more useful than listing this course on your CV. Hence, go for the "personal" (I guess it is work-oriented, rather than saying "Woofas is a nice chap who always entertains at our pub quiz night") letter, and highlight the course with the awesome professor elsewhere.


I guess I'd think about it a little differently than you did. It doesn't sound to me like your experience was so bad! I think it might be helpful just to reframe your goals.

It's usually true that you won't get everything from the talks. Otherwise your classes would consist of lecture and no tests or reading! Instead of aiming to follow 100%, I focus on: getting exposure to new/recent/cutting-edge developments in my field; taking advantage of the fact that verbal explanations are often high-level and simplified, and include informal "practitioner knowledge" that you won't find in papers; and finding pointers to research papers or resources that I can explore later on my own time.
I don't think it's worth trying to have a rich "travel experience" at the same time (aside from taking advantage of any social excursions organized by the conference). If you want to do tourist activities, I think a typical option is just to extend your stay a few days before/after so you can explore without the pressure of a schedule.
For me, networking is the true value of such events. The reason why summer schools exist is so that you can meet other scholars in your field (otherwise everyone could just stay home and watch online lectures or read papers). So, if you are good at networking and enjoy it, that's great! I think you did what you were supposed to be doing. It is a priviledge to be able to discuss your ideas and hear about other people's work.

Strategically, I guess the only two points I would add are:

Be discriminating about what you attend. If you didn't enjoy the experience, it's possible that the school did not truly touch on your interests, or was not a good match for your background experience (i.e. too hard/too easy). As you note, the time cost of attending is high so weigh that against "fit" of the school.
You don't have to go to every session. In my experience, many people take short breaks from the talks when the session does not match their interests, or if they know the topic already.

In conclusion, I would not recommend a focus on "being productive"; instead, I try to focus on being present at the event, meeting new people, and learning from discussions with them.


You can look at CORE if you're in computer science, like a commenter mentioned: conferences, journals.

There's also the ERA outlet ranking lists (unofficial website): conferences, journals, but it is old.

Though you're best asking your institution as to where they are getting the rankings from.


To what extent does the location of a conference impact the number of submissions?

I don't know of a specific study on this matter, but I can at least offer one piece of data.  There is a conference that I frequently attend which has a community mainly composed of Europeans and Americans.  As such, it switches back and forth between the two continents each years.  The American contingent is smaller than the European, however, and there has been a clear pattern of American years having lower attendance than European years.  This has been attributed, on the basis of a lot of anecdotes, both to the difference in travel expenses and also to restrictions on the use of travel funds by some agencies on each side of the Atlantic.


Assistant professor does not collaborate with or cite fellow department members, despite them being experts on the topic

You seem to think that an assistant professor should collaborate within your department.  However, a more common view is that an assistant professor should be an independent researcher.  An assistant professor should clearly distinguish their research from that of other faculty at the same institution.  Assistant professors do not want to be asked, "Why should we grant you tenure when we already have a tenured professor who can do the same research?"

Without more detail added to the question, it sounds like the assistant professor's collaboration strategy is okay.


Hello User41022 and Welcome to Stack Exchange. First off I would like to start my answer by saying that many people have experienced what you are going through at your age, including myself. 23 is an age where you have enough life experience that you know what you like and what you don't like. I am 29 years old, so I have a bit of perspective and experience on what you are going through. Here is my advice to you:

If you have spent a number of years in a field and decided that it is not "for you", either because you are not passionate about it or you are not good at it, and you have a passion in another field, I would STRONGLY recommend that you follow your passion into the other field. Now, that advice does not mean immediately tell your supervisor "I quit!" and then jump into the next field, it means, slowly begin to transition (by spending time learning) the new field so that you have the opportunity to follow your passion. If you are in medical school, you are clearly an intelligent person who has skills and connections. Your task is to now use the skills, experience and network you have developed over the past few years to transition to the field you are interested in.

You mentioned that you are interested in computer programming. I recommend taking a few online courses in Python (or another computer programming language) and begin applying these computer programming concepts to your current field in medical research. You simply do not want to throw away years of education and experience for a brand new industry, nor do you want to burn bridges with your network. By slowly transitioning from where you are to where you want to be, you will be much better off now and in the future.


How long does PhD Application Process take in the UK?

This will depend on the university. You should tell them your situation.


What is US equivalence of "diplome du baccalaureat technologique (STL) spécialité chimie de laboratoire et de procédés industriels"?

This diploma is a high school diploma with a focus on chemistry and industrial processes. As a "technological" baccalauréat it is designed for people who would like to continue with short-length studies (such as a trade school or something similar).

It is not a university diploma. Do not be confused by the name: it is not related to a "bachelor", which would be closer to what is called a "licence" in France. I don't believe a US university would let you skip the first year with just that diploma. French universities wouldn't, that's for sure. In fact, it's not even guaranteed that you could get easily admitted into a French university with this diploma: students with a "general" baccalauréat would have a clear advantage.


What does "Peer review in process" mean in ScholarOne submission?

The phrase "peer review in process" is vague and could mean anything: for example, the manuscript could be with reviewers, or it could be on the editor's desk, or it could even be that the reviews are complete and it's just waiting for a decision from the editor. There's no way to tell without more info, e.g. what the other statuses of the journal you submitted to are.

Either way there's nothing to do except wait. If you're impatient, write to the journal office and ask.


Research norms, looping in other researchers for ideas

This may be field dependent, but in my field (math), where groups of people that work on a paper together are rather small, you should ask all involved people before you enlarge the team.

Note that there is a gray area, though. If you run into somebody and discuss your recent research and it seems like this discussion may be fruitful for the point where your team got stuck, it may or may not be a good idea to discuss your particular problem (depending on whether you know that guy before, there is a trusted relationship,…). When you are in this situation and are in doubt, you could resort to something like "It sounds like you could be the right person to discuss a particular problem we are having in our group. May I contact you later about this?" and then ask your group. In your situation, I would definitely ask the other group members before involving further people.


Length of a Dissertation Summary for a Postdoc job

Why does typical matter? You have three pages. You may need it or not.

Don't say more than you need to, but give an explanation that the readers can relate to.

My dissertation, which was very involved and quite long could be described (to an expert) in a couple of paragraphs - and they would have been impressed. But other topics would take more explanation than mine did in mathematics.

But, as they imply you may have more to say about other recent scholarly matters - work in progress, for example.


This answer on Mathoverflow summarizes a study on the "productivity" of past winners of Fields medals (the most important award in mathematics; it is given each four years to four mathematicians under 40 years old).

The study is Prizes and Productivity: How Winning the Fields Medal Affects Scientific Output (2013), George J. Borjas and Kirk B. Doran.

TL;DR: The paper analyzes the output of 47 Field winners and 43 mathematicians of comparable level (often, people who were rumored to be "in the shortlist"). After winning the medals, their statistics diverge visibly. Field winners write about 20% fewer papers than non-winners, in the post-medal period, and seem to have slightly lower productivity, in general. However, there is another significant effect: they tend to enlarge their views and extend their research interests extend to other areas of mathematics, much more than non-winners, who tend to continue in the same area (25% vs. 10% probability of "cognitive mobility"). This necessarily comes with a cost, since one can't be productive immediately in a new area.

(and, to me, top mathematicians working on bridging areas of mathematics and looking for a unifying breakthrough is a great thing.)


How to quit a potential paper with my Master's supervisor when I am already doing the PhD somewhere else?

I would choose b) if I don't have much time to spare.

Work on every paper incurs an opportunity cost. Time spent at one place cannot be spent at another. If you have many exciting projects that need the time that you cannot afford to spend elsewhere, b) is what I would perceive to be the best option.

If however I have lots of time to spare, and no other project to work on, I would pick c). A publication increase is always a good thing in this case.


Although I do not teach physics I do have a solution that generally works quite well.

The main answer is: It does not matter who copied from whom - fail both.

If one student allows another to copy, then both fail. I enforce this quite strictly and there are some students (who do not pay attention to the warnings I give at the start of the semester) who do it, but they never make the same mistake twice.

As Moriarty said, it is possible that Student B copied from Student A without Student A knowing about it. I solve this problem but calling them both in front of me (private from everyone else) and tell them they have a choice:

Choice A: Both admit that the copying took place with consent of both, and both fail that homework/assignment/test/whatever is being assessed.

Choice B: Student A says that Student B stole Student A's work, and Student A gets off with a warning to be more careful (but no punishment) and Student B fails the module immediately without the opportunity to recover (Student B must re-take the module from the beginning).

I have dealt with many cases this way and only three cases where the students ended up in Choice B. In this case, the offending students admitted that they stole work.

You should never support the student who allows another student to copy from them. That behavior is simply unacceptable and that needs to be made quite clear to everyone.


some authors cite from review introduction while others cite from review conclusion. Does it mean that I can cite from any part in review paper...?

Yes: You can cite any aspect of a paper. Albeit, you should avoid citing a secondary source (i.e., when a paper cites another, cite the original source,* rather than that paper). It is sometimes useful to cite a particular aspect of a paper, e.g., [Section 3, 1] or [Theorem 7, 2], so that readers can find specific aspects of papers to which you are referring.

*Do not cite the original source without sufficient consultation.


Would it be ethical of a student for him/her to act as a proofreader/editor for other students' essays and homework?

As an student instructor, I would consider it ethical if certain conditions are met:

The proofreader isn't taking unfair advantage of the student, especially when paid for his services.  There are plenty who call themselves 'tutors' who will use dishonest tactics; for instance, deliberately being unclear as to his editing methods in order to encourage continuing dependence on his services, making false criticisms of edits the student's friend made for free, or emotionally manipulating students who are from abroad.
The student isn't taking unfair advantage of the instructor.  It's important that the student respects classroom policy on external assistance and observes the relevant boundaries when working with his editor.
The editor isn't taking unfair advantage of the instructor.  It's not clear from your question whether the editor is in the same course as the writer, or merely at the same school.  If the editor is enrolled in the same course, I'd consider it unethical for him to read through other students' work before his own is handed in.
The instructor isn't taking unfair advantage of the editor.  There should be reasonable office hours to work with students, because that work is the responsibility of the instructor, not the classmates.


Letting professors know who else is writing my letters of recommendation

Overall, in my experience (as many others will likely agree), providing letter writers as much [concise and straightforward] info as possible will almost always ensure for a better letter. This includes mentioning who else is writing a letter for you (especially if they are from the same institution).

One potential benefit is the letter writer might be able to plan what strengths of yours to focus on or what tone to write the letter based on the knowledge of who else is writing your letters.

For example, if you asked two professors with whom you've previously taken separate courses that you did very well in, they might both be inclined to mention your achievement in their course. However, if you assisted with research with one of the profs and they know your other letter is being written by a professor that will likely discuss your classroom achievements, they will know to focus most of their letter on your research capabilities.

It's also not unheard of for two letter writers that know each other to discuss your achievements/capabilities. This could include, as you mentioned, avoiding unimportant overlap or, more importantly, developing better congruence concerning the "main point" grad programs should be taking away about you.


Are there any legal issues with publishing part of an unpublished thesis in a journal?

Ask your thesis advisor!  In most cases, the answer will be, "No.  Go for it!"

Schools love for their graduates to have publications.

In some institutions, including the one at which I teach, the institution claims ownership in the intellectual property of student work, but even then, a derivative work that results in a publication is likely to be welcome.


Is it fair to my PhD student if I ask them to do "miscellaneous" work for a paper they're not going to be a coauthor of?

Preparing a graph from already-generated data, to me, doesn't merit co-authorship but would justify a mention in the Acknowledgements. However, something that takes two days out of a student's time (even if it would only take you 3-4 hours) seems like a lot to ask for just an acknowledgement.

How useful is learning the process? If it's legitimately training that's important to her future career, that might tip the balance toward asking her to do it. However, I think my default would be to do it myself.

One other part of the equation (probably and hopefully only a very small part) is that the student is female, based on the pronouns in the question, and female scientists are often expected (from unexamined assumptions) to disproportionately look after administrative work.


PhD problem: a new student has the same idea as me

You should probably talk to your advisor and possibly arrange a meeting with the other student, her advisor, your advisor and yourself. You need to sit together and discuss how your work and her work are going to differ, because nobody has anything to gain from two competing PhD students undermining each other within the same research group. Once you have fixed boundaries, you will be free to go your own way and collaborate on the common parts, which will benefit both of you.


Running out of symbols is a fairly common scenario, and it is usually caused by assigning symbols too early without due consideration to the amount of work yet to come. As such, the main thing to do is to
Restructure
Think about the entire set of symbols you're using.

For which ones is the specific symbol in use crucial for the clarity of the text? There will usually be a core of symbols that you really don't want to reassign, but this is probably smaller than you think. Earmark those symbols for these concepts, and disregard other occurrences (even if they happen earlier in the text).

Keep this core small. Use variations on the symbols (upper/lower case, primes, subscripts) to fit as many variations of the concepts into the key symbols.

Serialize. If you have some sequence of objects which you initially called a, b, c, d, ..., use an appropriate subscript or parenthesis notation to collapse them into a single symbol. Over-expansive naming of sequences of this sort is probably the number-one reason for running out of symbols in the first place.

The other thing you should do is
Encapsulate
It is perfectly OK to have the same symbol appear twice, with different meanings, in the same extended piece of work, as long as there is no confusion between them. This is particularly easy to do if the symbols appear, for example, inside the proof of a theorem. Thus, if at some point you use the symbol x in a context like

Proof. Let x be ... ... ... . ▮

then it is probably OK to re-use the same symbol in a similar encapsulated environment, as long as (i) you clearly define the symbol on its first appearance in each environment, and (ii) you don't (excessively) reference the symbol once you're outside of the encapsulated environments.
Similarly, it is usually OK to reuse symbols in different chapters as long as the topic of the two chapters is sufficiently different compared to the similarity of the symbols and the amount of weight you put into the choice of symbol. This is a very common practice: look at any linear algebra textbook and you'll see the symbol v used a number of times, to refer to vectors that are not necessarily compatible. The techniques they use to avoid confusion are forms of encapsulation.
From the phrasing of your question, it seems that this is partly the problem with your supervisor. One way to go about this is to step up the encapsulation, either by being more clear with the text, by introducing formal environments, or even using graphical means like boxes around examples to make it clear that the symbol choice is local to that environment.
If all else fails
Some amount of creativity is OK
This includes things like multi-letter symbols for important context, though you should be careful with how you typeset them (usually in upright script). However, you should avoid using letters from non-standard alphabets, as they will only further the confusion: few of your readers will know how to pronounce them (which then extends into how they internally vocalize them while reading, and makes it harder for your readers to discuss the paper with each other), and it makes it harder for others to adapt and extend your notation.


Professor submitted my letter of recommendation after I removed him

Your perception was entirely reasonable, and as somebody who is serious, you can't let unreliable people decide your fate. So, it is very logical, and nobody should blame you because you did the best thing you could. The point is, should you even communicate the substitution to him, and if yes, what good does it do? If you couldn't find any reason for doing so, then perhaps you shouldn't. This whole recommendation letter is entirely about you and given that he didn't even bother to check or post, you can just simply ignore him. A few months later things will be back to normal and people will simply forget about it.


Academic CV/grant proposal: Should you include students who have abandoned?

For grant proposals in particular, this information can be used to assess conflict of interest. In fact, the National Science Foundation (NSF) moved that section off the biosketch to a separate document to make the intent of this section more clear. There, you could also indicate the last time you interacted, which may make the lack of relationship clear.

With grants, it is always essential to ascertain the purpose of the information to understand what information to present and how it should be presented. If you are unsure, you can always email the sponsor's help desk. They are typically fantastic in helping you understand the documents you need to assemble. Do not worry that they will assess your questions with your application.  PIs frequently worry about that, but that isn't happening.  They want good applications that are easy to review, so ask away!


Can a phd thesis be in a different area than the master thesis?

A big part of the Theoretical Computer Science (language theory, automata theory, Turing machines and other computational devices) is actually a part of algebra so if you switch to TCS, you won't change the area too much. But in general changing the area when going from Masters to PhD is not a problem at all. People sometimes even have multiple PhDs in different totally disjoint areas.


Is it fair to reject manuscript with few words of comments after long 9 months of review?

I can't say about fairness, since the manuscript might be indeed of limited interest. On the other hand, I would have contacted the editor after two months under review.
It's possible that the manuscript had been forgotten either by the reviewers or by the editor.
But what seems to be quite probable in this case is that the editor might have been searching for reviewers, but none showed interest or kept giving up in the process. That would explain why there was no reviews attached to the answer (which is usually the case when the editor decides without reviewers feedback).


Should Research Associates apply for Post-Doc research positions if they want to?

There's no prohibition in most job postings against people like you applying for postdoc positions. In many cases, it will be rare, though, that someone would be selected who is 8 years past their PhD simply because most people recognize that postdoc positions are supposed to be training positions for people on their way to faculty jobs. That doesn't seem to be your trajectory, and so departments would probably pass you over. As they are training positions, postdoc positions are typically also strictly limited to 3 years which may or may not interest you.

The situation may be different if a postdoc position is paid for from grant money. In that case, the principal investigator may decide that to heck with training, I need to get this work done and this is the right person for it.

I don't think that you're doing yourself a disfavor if you apply. If it's a small enough community where people talk about each other, you may start to acquire a reputation as a bohemian without a clear career trajectory, but you already know that and so no harm done.


Advisor asked for my entire slide presentation so she could give the presentation at an international conference

As an advisor, I regularly use my students’ slides when I present my current projects. This is usually done within the context of high level presentations: I’m working on important project X; Alice and I worked on X.a which resulted in such and such, and with Bob on X.b which resulted in so and so. Claire and I are working with Alice to extend to X.c. If your advisor is supportive and showcases your work, she’s increasing its visibility and helping your career.

To conclude, presenting students’ work is not necessarily a bad thing and can help them a lot.

What is more concerning is that you seem to have serious trust issues with your advisor. She may be passing off her students’ work as her own but I honestly think that this is either a misunderstanding or something else. Advisors normally want to show that their students are doing well, not that they’re being totally shepherded by the advisor. This reflects badly on the advisor which is why I think it’s unusual.

If things have gotten to the point where you’re not harboring any goodwill to her, I suggest you rethink your options. If there’s a chance of a conversation to rebuild trust, try and have one.


In the U.S educational system, would a GPA below 3.25 really disadvantage a student?

Given that the US system for undergraduates implies a broad education with a bit of specialization (the major), it is possible to achieve such a GPA in a large number of ways. Students "majoring" in, say, mathematics in the US have less than half of their coursework in maths. The rest will invariably include literature, history, the social and physical sciences, etc.

If you want to do graduate study in mathematics, coming from such a curriculum, it might matter a lot where you got B's and lower. If you do well in "major" courses it is easier to make the case for math than if your lower grades are concentrated in your major.

But, in general, 3.25 isn't horrible, but it isn't great. But graduate schools look at more than a number (any number) when choosing students. They look for indications of success as expressed in the coursework, but also in letters of recommendation and statements by the candidate. Some students, however, are "grade driven" and will do nearly anything to achieve a high GPA, even if they have to sacrifice learning to get there.


The only valid answer you will get is from the institution you are applying to. They likely have policies about all sort of such things. As a pure guess it would depend on the individual institutions that granted the credits originally and their reputation.

A "receiving" institution might be fairly open to this if they have reason to want you for other considerations. But ask and you will learn.

In the US, at least, don't look for common policies. Within a State university system there may be rules about transferring from one such institution to another.