How should I talk to professor if I have been absent from project for weeks due to mental health issues?

Update your professor about why progress has not been made and what your next steps are. If you need more time to focus on your mental health, then let your professor know.
One other important thing we should make clear: you are doing this work on your own time, as opposed to being paid. Research mentors or professors with unpaid research assistants should be grateful for any time you can devote to the project assuming you do not take their time for granted. It appears thus far that your professor has not invested a lot of time into the project with you, so you are fine. We should also note that you have no contractual obligation to do the work.


I work at a government research institution in Germany. We consist of a number of institutes.
In the last decade, our president has worked on strengthening ties to close-by universities (we have institutes at different locations). As a result, there are now strategic cooperations in place. The most important one being that new institute leaders simultaneously become full professors (not "full-time professor[s]") at one of these universities. They have teaching duties but are not paid by the university (although they have a budget at the university).
Similar arrangements were in place at another research institution I've previously worked at (and to my knowledge at basically all of them, i.e., Max-Planck, Leibniz, Helmholtz, and Fraunhofer institutes).


Do articles published in newspapers count as publications?

Whether newspaper articles count as a publication depends on the context.

In the general academic context, newspaper articles don't count as an academic publication.

Generally, the main works that count as academic publications are:

peer reviewed academic journal articles
academic books and book chapters, and
full-text peer reviewed academic conference articles.

Academic context - newspaper articles are not academic publications: So in general, if you are asked how many publications you have in an academic context, it will generally just be the above that gets counted. In other cases, you might only be being asked about a count of peer reviewed journal articles.
This kind of context often applies to job applications, grant applications, promotions and so on.

Showing how newspaper articles contribute to track-record: That said, in most academic contexts where your track-record is being judged, there is scope to communicate external engagement. Publishing in newspapers is one of many possible examples of external engagement. And in some cases there may be merit in listing the specific instances of external engagement (e.g., particular newspaper articles and so on).

Furthermore, the value assigned to writing newspaper articles varies substantially between fields, universities, and departments. For example, I briefly worked in a business school and they placed a lot of value on academics engaging with the media, and particularly the popular business press. I imagine this was related to the branding benefits associated with their academics being read by the business people who complete their courses. In contrast, in more pure-science disciplines, engagement with the media was really an optional extra.


How common are 'monitors' (class leaders)?

I can provide details in Taiwan. I know the situations in many other countries in Asia are similar. Hopefully users from Asia on this board can confirm this.

In Taiwan, the role is called class leader in elementary school, middle school and high school. They are usually assigned by the teachers of the classes.

In college, it is called the class representative. The representatives are elected by the students. The length of the term usually is a year.

Upon entering college, students already select their major. The university groups all the students having the same major into one or more classes depending on the number of students (the standard class size is 50). They take all the required courses together if possible. The students in the same class know each other very well. The class is like a big family. Naturally, you have a representative who speaks for the class and handles all the administrative matters. You also have a deputy representative in case the rep is not available. There are other students responsible for other duties such as purchase, sports, etc.

The rep gets elected usually because he/she is popular in the class or a good student. I would not say he gets preferential treatment from the professor/department because he is the rep. Sometimes it is the opposite. I once declined a rep nomination because I wanted to concentrate on my study.

However, being a rep can be advantageous. You learn how to be a leader. You learn how to communicate with other people who are sometimes superior, such as the professor, department chair or even the dean. Leadership is not something you can learn it all from the books. You have to do it. Two of the four reps in my college class are very successful in their late career.

It would be much easier for the professor to talk to the class rep when he wants the whole class to do some unusual assignments. Once you can convince the rep it's the right thing to do, the rep would then pass the message to the whole class. You are more likely to get the cooperation from the students. I would not recommend you to use him very often, though. He represents the class, not you. He would lose the trust from his classmates when he becomes your pet student. In general, the class representative concept is more like the department chair of a university department.

Hope this helps.


Should you always use appropriate letter conventions when emailing a teacher?

I do the same. In an ongoing correspondence, where the next email is a reply to the previous one, I usually omit the complete introduction and ending sections. However, there are two cases in which I stick to the full option:

The person I'm writing to keeps their emails formal, so I do the same
A significant amount of time has passed since the last response (e.g. a recent update to a past correspondence)

I always place some kind of salute at the end, e.g. Regards, . The complete end section would include a footer with my contact details and affiliation as well my full name.


Letter of recommendation before Skype interview

If the 2-3 weeks are after the deadline, it looks like they are shortlisting. If the 2-3 weeks are immediately after the deadline or before the deadline, one can't rule out the possibility that they haven't shortlisted and that they just remind of incomplete applications.

On another note, I wouldn't take reference letters too seriously, nor would being asked for reference letters make me excited. Letters from prestigious persons don't help too much unless several candidates are tied, in my opinion.


How can I get the DOI of a paper from its title?

Reposted from StackOverflow:

  Here are three options

  CSV upload to crossref.org

  CrossRef allows you to upload the linked csv directly, and then
  performs a text query here: http://www.crossref.org/stqUpload/

  However, only 18 of the 250 queries (~7%) returned a doi.

  XML Query

  Based on the answer on SO by Brian
  Diggs, here an attempt
  that does 95% of the work - toward writing the xml-based query, it
  still has a few bugs that require some deletion using sed. But the
  biggest problem that my "session timed out" when the query was
  submitted.

  the xml syntax includes an option to use fuzzy matching.

  the doiquery.xml contains the template text in @Brians answer; the
  citations.csv is linked above. (using R, a sample csv can be found on
  I have posted the first few lines of the table on google
  docs,
  or the csv
  version
  (not all records have a doi))

library(XML)
doiquery.xml <- xmlTreeParse('doiquery.xml')

query <- doiquery.xml$doc$children$query_batch[["body"]]

citations <- read.csv("citations.csv")

new.query <- function(citation, query = query){
  xmlValue(query[["author"]]) <- as.character(citation$author)
  xmlValue(query[["year"]]) <- as.character(citation$year)
  xmlValue(query[["article_title"]][["text"]]) <- citation$title
  xmlValue(query[["journal_title"]]) <- citation$journal
  return(query)
}

for (i in 1:nrow(citations)){
  q <- addChildren(q, add.query(citations[i,]))
}
axml <- addChildren(doiquery.xml$doc$children$query_batch, q )

saveXML(axml, file = 'foo.xml')

  CSV to XML Converter

  Creativyst software provides a web based CSV to
  XML
  converter.

  Steps:

  Enter columnames in ElementID's field,
  "document" in DocID field
  "query" in RowID field
  Copy / paste csv in "Input CSV file".
  Click Convert

  Also, see this related question:
  https://stackoverflow.com/questions/9880808/shell-script-to-parse-csv-to-an-xml-query


Should I talk about my single "failed" course in SOP (failed due to a disturbing reason)?

Here's how you can address this:

I was a victim of a major crime during [month].  This interfered with my studies during [time period].  This is unlikely to recur.  I have subsequently done/will do [whatever relevant study] to make up for the disruption.  My performance in [course] where I got a grade of [good number] is indicative of my abilities under normal circumstances.

This is essentially the same way you would address a medical, financial, or family disruption.  The details of what happened to you are not relevant to your PhD application; just explain it in a way that shows you are likely to succeed in your PhD, even if you have a few bad grades.


Is it okay to discuss personal experiences or observations in literature review?

Although you didn't quite ask it this way, I see two parts to your question, and I will offer answers accordingly: "Is it okay to discuss personal experiences or observations in academic writing?" and "Is there any difference when it comes to literature reviews?"

Is it okay to discuss personal experiences or observations in academic writing?

Although it is controversial (some people will tell you never to include personal experiences), I think there is a place for personal experiences. But first, you need to understand why this is generally frowned on.

Everyone has personal experiences and everyone has different ways to interpret them. Anyone can write a magazine or blog article sharing their personal experiences. That's just their opinion, which the reader could take as good or bad. What separates an academic article from such opinions is that academic writing is usually expected to be fairly objective (tries to take a disinterested third-party perspective) and critical (takes nothing at face value, but tries to dig under the surface to understand what is really going on from multiple non-obvious perspectives). (One notable exception to this is critical social theory, which does not necessarily try to be objective, but nonetheless strongly emphasizes being critical.)

So, where do personal experiences fit in here? Most of the time, they are not objective (by definition) and all too often, they are insufficiently critical. This is why they are often frowned on. However, I believe they could be helpful and acceptable if the writer considers their own personal experiences this way: "What makes my personal experience more outstanding than other random personal experiences related to this phenomenon?" If there is nothing particularly outstanding about it (e.g. it merely serves to illustrate the point, as do other people's experiences), then it is best not to mention it, since such a mention would weaken an otherwise strong academic argument. But if it is unique or original (e.g., the entire study is propelled by the fact that the writer's personal experiences contradict the dominant scholarly discourse), then it is definitely worth mentioning. However, in such cases, the writer should try to describe their experience as objectively as possible and should be critical in not accepting their own interpretations of their experience at face value. When presented properly, such personal experiences can strengthen the credibility of the writer.

Is there any difference when it comes to literature reviews?

I believe the principle I laid out for academic writing in general also applies to literature reviews. However, there are two levels or two aspects to a literature review that you need to distinguish in this case:

Including your personal experiences as part of the "literature" being reviewed: NO. Your personal experiences are not "literature". "Literature" means published works (by "published" I include grey literature such as working papers; I also include non-scholarly practitioner publications). It does not include unpublished, unwritten anecdotes. That is at best to be considered primary research, which is never part of "literature" being reviewed in a literature review. (Don't misunderstand me; you are certainly free to supplement a literature review with original primary research if you want to, but you just have to clearly distinguish that from the "review" part of the article or chapter.)
Including your personal experiences as part of the introduction or discussion of your literature review: In this case, since you are clearly not presenting your own experiences as part of the "literature" being reviewed, then my comments above apply. I see no problem with this if it is done properly. But again, this is controversial; "controversial" means that your supervisor or journal editor might disagree, and so you might have to drop it regardless.


Is it still considered research if my goal is not to publish?

Whether or not you publish, and whether or not it's novel, your effort certainly satisfies all reasonable definitions of 'research project'. You may use the term with impunity.


How do I benchmark research if there is no previous work against which I can compare it?

A benchmark is a standard or reference that will allow other authors compare their algorithms with yours. If the problem is known and other papers were published to solve it, follow the lead and compare your algorithm with them using the same parameters. If there are no other paper solving the problem, look for similar problems and check how they are described by certain variables.

The most basic parameter is the problem size, ie how many instances your problem has to deal with. For sorting algorithms, it is the number of items to sort. Usually, we start with quantities that could be easily handled in memory, increase to the limits of available memory, up to numbers that will need disk to store all items.

The second parameter is distribution. Are all instances equally probable and distributed along the possible spectrum? For sorting algorithms, if the set of items is partially sorted or totally random will impact the performance. In my thesis, I worked with geographical objects like cities, which are concentrated in some areas that were difficult to process, and other areas totally empty that could be easily recognized and discarded as not interesting.

Each problem might have multiple parameters, some are important, others are irrelevant. Your work is to identify them and choose values that are realistic and could show the strengths and weakness for different algorithms, not only yours.

Another set of parameters, very common when comparing software, is related to hardware, like the number of processors, total memory, network speed, etc...

Hope it helps, without reading your paper is hard to be specific.


The NCS stands for "Nature, Cell, Science", the top journals in STEM and biomedical fields. The impact factors of these journals are among highest, between 36 and 41.

Some have noticed that publication in NCS journal correlates with academic career success (getting tenure-track position at the top university), while others commented that degree of attention to these top journals is bad for science.


Doubts when looking for possible PhD supervisors

To know about a research group reputation, you have to follow their research works (most likely that there will be a dedicated webpage for their group which lists their works). If it is not a research group then you have to shortlist a few professors and visit their webpages to know more about their works.

Now, before emailing anybody, you have to come to a decision point and zero in on few works that they have published or are working on. This will give you a focus area. Further, you have to understand them a bit and if you find them too much intriguing then you should email them.

Further questions on how to email professors can be browsed in academia SE.


Is it okay to share with a colleague my peer-review assessment of a paper; but not the original paper?

It sounds like what you are looking for is some degree of mentorship on reviewing.

Many journals and conferences already explicitly support a somewhat different form of reviewing mentorship through "sub-reviewers" or "delegate reviewers." In this system, the person assigned the review can share the paper with somebody else (e.g., a professor to their graduate student) who produces the draft review. The assigned reviewer then goes over the draft review with them, adjusting as necessary, and uploads it with both names on it as reviewer and sub-reviewer (many professors also abuse this as a way to farm out their service work with inadequate supervision, but that's a discussion for another time).

The key point I am making is that, from an ethical perspective, a large number scientific of publications have already set a precedent in declaring that it can be appropriate to privately share a manuscript and its review for the purposes of mentorship in reviewing. Your situation has a different workflow, since you are the one being assigned the review, but the information sharing relationship is the same. Thus, I believe that sharing the review and even the original manuscript would be entirely reasonable and ethical as long as you take the same precautions as one would in deciding on sub-reviewer (e.g., avoiding people with conflicts of interest, making sure the other person understands the confidentiality requirements).

I commend you for the concern you are showing for the quality of your professional service, and recommend you follow through.


How long to wait after sending an email to a professor before I should assume that I will never receive response?

It depends on how long you think it takes to answer your email!

If you are just asking a few simple questions (= request for information), you can politely email again the professor after one week. Make sure you make your email as simple to answer as possible (bullet points, yes/no questions).

If you are asking the professor to do something for you that goes beyond answering an email, it is more complicated. An absence of answer can often be interpreted as a 'no'.


Becoming a professor at a liberal arts college with H1B visa

H1B visas in the United States are intended for specialty workers and are appropriate for individuals with PhDs using those skills to teach students. H1B visas are awarded through a lottery system. Fortunately, non-profit organizations, including universities, are exempt from this lottery and can obtain H1B visas much easier. This visa is the most typical visa for someone in your situation. Reputable US institutions interested in hiring you should be willing to and have the infrastructure to apply for an H1B on your behalf. H1B visas are valid for 3 years and may be extended for an additional 3 years for a total of 6 years.
Optional practical training (OPT) following an F1 visa is required to be directly related to the student's area of study. Teaching in the field of your PhD would fulfill this requirement. As an individual in a STEM field, you would be eligible for a STEM OPT extension for up to a total of 24 months. A benefit of this approach is that the application cost is lower ($410 versus up to $4500 at the time of this answer not including legal fees). Your employer may file a petition on your behalf to change status from F1 OPT to H1B.
Beware of J1 visas, as they are intended for "exchange visitors". These visas typically trigger a two year home country physical presence requirement after completion of your stay before you are again able to apply for other visas including H1B and permanent residency.
Caveat: My experience is exclusively at R1 institutions, and thus may not be fully applicable to "liberal arts colleges"


In an interview, should I greet a professor I know in one of his speech?

Since everybody felt compelled to comment rather than answer, I'll summarize the comments (none of which are in favor of your idea) as an answer (CW, since it isn't "my" answer).

The commenters seem to think that your "connection" to the professor will not make any positive difference. From Anonymous Mathematician:

  I'd bet you're overthinking this, and that it won't really matter whether you greet them by name or remind them that you asked a question... They'll probably just assume you've seen them give a talk or read about them online. Professors are often used to being recognized by people they don't know (for example, almost everyone who teaches large lecture classes experiences this, and the same is true for a plenary speaker at a big conference).

And that your attempt to remind the professor of the "connection" might make him feel uncomfortable or seem unprofessional. From RoboKaren:

  I have a terrible memory for names and faces.anyway. In a situation like this, I'd be worried that you were trying to curry my favor (which is exactly what you are trying to do, I think), so I'd be more worried than pleased or curious.

And, asking about this professor's advisor (rather than his research) at his talk sounds like a terrible idea. From Alexandros:

  Do not be creepy, in your effort to impress people. Be polite and professional and stick to questions that matter to your research... Asking someone twenty or more years later, about their PHD advisor, sounds creepy to me. Ask them something that is related to your research. If you cannot find a suitable question, simply do not ask anything. Sometimes it is better to keep our mouths shut than someone remembering us from some silly / creepy thing we said. Memorable is not the same as favorable.

Finally, if you do insist on reminding this professor that you attended his talk, JeffE advises not to make a big thing of it:

  "Hi, Professor [Name]. I don't know if you remember me, but I attended a talk you gave at my university a few years ago. It's nice to see you again." Then stop and let them respond. If they don't mention your question, they probably don't remember it; let it go.

Finally, I'll add my own take. You say "I don't intend to play a psycho game with them." That seems wise. I suggest you refrain from playing any games. Concentrate on making a good impression solely on your research ability and professionalism, and forget about any "tricks" that you might feel compelled to try - these are more likely to hurt you then help you.

(Note that the other "tricks" you've suggested here and here did not go over well, either. That's not a coincidence. The people evaluating your applications are trying to do their job: to hire/fund/accept the most qualified individual. Gimmicks that don't help them do that job are not going to be appreciated.)


How to mention one year PhD gap on a CV / Resume

Women who take some time off for family matters deal with gaps in the CV all the time -- it's not a big deal.  In those cases, I recommend acknowledging the gap in the cover letter.  I don't think that's necessary in your case.

In your CV, report the academic year under Education (two semesters of graduate study in [field] at [institution]).  If the reader chooses to interpret this as meaning that you planned all along to spend exactly two semesters to get some theoretical underpinnings, what harm is done?

If an interviewer asks you why you didn't continue and get a Masters or PhD, you may tell a small white lie:

  The computer science courses were interesting, but I'm really looking forward to getting back into industrial software development, because that's what I like best. For example, (and then talk enthusiastically about some work project that was rewarding and that came out great.)


Breaking into research oriented tenure-track positions from teaching track

Apply, apply, and apply. If you are willing to work in another country, then opportunities are available. Earlier today, I saw an advertisement for a research university in Chile that was looking for faculty. Also, I have seen these advertisements for Chinese, and Korean universities as well. Here, you will get teaching in, but also have great graduate students and the ability to build up a strong profile. Maybe after you get to the Associate professor level you can apply again to the USA. If you really feel like you want to stay in the US, the go on a massive application spree, and also apply to schools with MET programs. It may be difficult, but not impossible, to get a teaching-research tenure track position that you hope for. Keep in mind, many foreign countries do not give tenure.


Can I apply for Postdoctoral Research Assistant as a fresh MSc graduate?

Unfortunately I expect this is a mistake on the university's part. Many people apply for postdocs in the final year of their PhD, so perhaps they misinterpreted your CV and thought you were in that category.

There is likely to be a requirement in the formal job description that candidates must have, or be near to completing a PhD, so even if you were to attend and do well at the interview, I highly doubt they would be able to make you a job offer anyway.

My advice is to send them an email thanking them for the invitation to interview but clearly state that you do not have a PhD nor are you a current PhD student. It is likely they will rescind the interview offer.


Whom to suggest as an editor when submitting a paper?

You are correct, selecting an editor the authors have not met avoids perceived conflict of interest, which is a good thing.  I think "editors were well known by my co-authors (no shared projects)" is also a good choice.

It's not always possible to eliminate all potential conflicts of interest.  I would prioritize avoiding selecting an editor whom I had coauthored a paper with, since that is a very important form of professional relationship.  Ultimately, assigning the manuscript to an appropriate editor should be the journal editor-in-chief's responsibility, not the author's.


What are my chances of getting into an REU program?

"I am unsure as to how to feel about fabricating the truth to make it seem as if I have had little research experience."

Experience is good.  Just clearly explain how your work at the REU will be different from what you can do at your home institution.

Do include your demographic information.

Carefully check the rules to see if you are still eligible after four years of undergraduate study.  Carefully explain why you are doing a fifth year of undergraduate study.

It is normal to feel stressed, but there is no need to worry.  Not much is at stake, and you have a good chance of success.  Seven applications is plenty.


Soft Question: Documentation of Important but Commonplace Calculations

While my academic background is in theoretical CS rather than "pure" Math - it was mostly combinatorics and probability, so I feel qualified to tell you that:

AFAICT there isn't a standard. I suggest:

Leave calculations private? Definitely not!
Write a blog post - Most people don't have a blog. Also, a blog is not the most accessible medium for results in Math, as online resources go. It won't show up in places like, say, Google Scholar.  Also, some blogging platforms are not very stable over many years. Bottom line: If you do blog about things like this, possibly write a blog post in conjuction with something else.
Write it up on Wikipedia If the result itself is basic and commonly-used enough to merit a Wikipedia page, then sure. But - it might only merit a mention in some other page, in which case it doesn't make sense to try and stick a proof/calculation in there.
Write a so-called "note" on something like arXiv  ---> Do this <----. Collect severall related mini-results / calculations, describe them nicely, introduce them with a bit of motivation perhaps, find a reasonable title and publish it on arXiv.

One last option:

Sneak it into some book : This option is not available to grad students, but if you're a more experienced academic writing a book (perhaps something introductory, but not just in that case) - put this stuff in an appendix. A great example is Appendix A of Alon and Spencer's The Probabilistic Method, about large deviation bounds. The book uses those all over, but isn't about these strictly-probability-theory results, so they're not a proper chapter.


Should I provide TOEFL/IELTS results for a PhD admission?

It is common for a degree from an English-speaking country to exempt you from taking the TOEFL. However, it is much rarer for an English masters in a non-English speaking country to. In the US, the general rule is that they want the degree to be from an English speaking country, although exceptions can be made. It's best to consult the admissions departments of the particular schools you are interested in.

To quote a few websites:

Princeton (emphasis original):

  The ONLY exemption for this requirement is if your native language is not English, but you earned (or will have earned before enrollment) your bachelor's degree or a Ph.D. in its entirety in the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, or Anglophone Canada.

Harvard:

  A strong knowledge of English is essential for successful study at Harvard, including the ability to understand and express thoughts quickly and clearly. Although you are not required to take the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or other proficiency exams, you may submit your scores if you have done so.

MIT

  Students who have received instruction in English in their primary and secondary schools and students who have been in the United States for four years or longer and have received a degree from an American institution may be eligible for a waiver of the English proficiency exam requirement by sending a written request to the department or program to which they are applying.

Berkeley:

  To qualify for a TOEFL exemption you must:

  Have a basic degree from a recognized institution in a country where the official language is English.
  Have completed a basic or advanced degree at an institution, in the United States or abroad, where the language of instruction is English and the institution is accredited by one of the United States’ regional accrediting* agencies. (United States universities only)
  Have completed at least one year of full-time academic course work with a grade B or better at a regionally accredited* institution within the United States.

UChicago (emphasis added):

  The English language requirement may be waived if the applicant is a native of or studied in full-time status for at least one academic year within the last five years in the U.S., the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand or English medium universities in Canada or South Africa. Students who studied in English in other countries, for example, India, Pakistan, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Singapore, etc., are not exempt from the English language requirement.

Oxford:

  ... been educated full-time in the medium of the English language throughout the two most recent years before the 15 October application deadline, and who remain in full-time education conducted in the English language until the end of the school year in their home country.

Cambridge:

  If you don't have one of these formal qualifications but are currently being taught in English, please contact one of the College admissions offices for advice.

King's College of London:

  Nationals of the following [all English-speaking] countries, or applicants who have successfully completed an undergraduate degree (of at least three years duration), a postgraduate taught degree (of at least one year) or a PhD in one of the following countries are not required to complete an additional English language test:


Does convoluted use of language negatively impact a work reviewed by a committee?

How often - if at all - professional academic reviewers face this
issue?

All the time.
(as a side note - there are very few "professional" academic reviewers because in general academic reviewers are not paid).

If they do, will a thesis or paper ever face problems due to language
usage?

Very, very, rarely. For a start, what you see as pedantry, many will see as precision, and precision is the lifeblood of academia. Indeed, this need for preciseness often leads to what you might think of as "mannered" language in an author of average skill. And academics are selected for their skills in their chosen field, not their abilities as writers.
But there is nots of unnecessarily dense and uninterpretable language in academia that isn't tied to the need for precision. Generally a reviewer is asked to review the intellectual content of a work, not the way it is expressed. In general it is only acceptable to reject a scholarly work as a reviewer if the language is so poor that it literally cannot be understood. A reviewer might point out that there are many mistakes of spelling and grammar in a piece, and request that they be corrected before publication, but thats not quite what you are talking about here.


How do I know what schools are within my reach for graduate school in math?

If you can show real research potential (papers in one of the journals for undergraduate research, participation in research as an undergraduate) that will probably weigh more than raw GPA. A dip in grades is certainly worrisome, as it hints at losing interest. You'll have to have an explanation.


How to deal with math problems if there is no solution book and no helpful teachers?

frustrating to get stuck for days and knowing that a solution exists.
  So knowing that I miss some important way of thinking.

So your solution to missing some important way of thinking is ... to not think at all?

If you try hard to solve a problem, you are learning. You learn what doesn't work and why. That's a valuable lesson, and it's how you get better. In fact, I'd venture to say if it takes you 4 days to solve a problem, then even if you don't end up solving it, you probably learned more than the person who solved it in 1 hour.

In mathematics, knowing the exact solution of some made-up problem usually isn't the key. After all, the exercise question tells you the conclusion of the solution. You already know the result from the onset. You just have to prove it, and it is the things you learn from proving it that are important, and that's my point: even if you don't manage to prove it, you still did worked with the details and learned similar concepts to the person who did manage to prove it. You just learned it slighty differently, e.g. somebody who proved it learned "okay, this technique works in this case", while you learned "okay, this technique doesn't work in this case". Both are equally valuable.


Will auditing impact graduate school admissions?

If the course is in your major (in which case you probably can't audit it unless you have already met your requirements) or related to the field of graduate study you are choosing, auditing it might make you appear to either lack aptitude or interest in an important area if there are other reasons to question your record, such as if your grades in other courses relevant to your major are poor.

If it is a side interest, unrelated to your future area of study, then there is most likely no problem.

In either case, an admissions committee may consider it almost as if you hadn't taken the course because they have no way of assessing what your level of participation was, if you even showed up for class, etc.

(this answer applies to one course; if it seems like you audited every course you could in your undergraduate career that might say something else about you and suggest you were dodging a full workload - that doesn't sound like your situation here)


How to transfer from a pure math PhD to an applied math PhD at another school?

Get your feet wet in applied math to make sure you'll like it.  Apparently there is no applied math program where you are now, but you can still do this,  through a combination of self study and courses offered in your own and in other departments.  Look at some applied math programs at other universities to get a flavor for the variety involved, and to give you some ideas of what sorts of courses to look for.  Programming skills are not required for all areas of applied math but can really come in handy for some.
When you're ready to ask for recommendations, be honest, just say that you are hopeful an applied math degree will make you more employable.
I assume you'll want to pursue this process with some transition time, during which you'll continue working to some extent with your current program including your research project....  If so, please find some people to interact with remotely, in your area.


Have you read those papers?

The first paper says in the intro:

  The aim of this paper is to raise questions for discussion and debate
  on academic identity rather than to offer definitive answers or
  specific conclusions. In particular, the paper addresses the following
  three questions:
  1. What is academic identity?
  2. What is it to be an academic in modern times?
  3. What are the pressures that academics work under?

Then, at the beginning of the section on what is academic identity:

  Academic identity is a phrase that is discussed in the Higher
  Education sector as if it is a fixed and known thing. Academic
  identity lacks precision in terms of description and cannot therefore
  be summed up in a few sentences.

This indicates that there is no (at least agreed-upon) definition.  I didn't read the paper, but it seems that this section indicates what are the key commonalities in various situations of "academic identity."  (I've never heard the term myself.)


Getting into new PhD after failing comps

Two bits of advice.

First, your SoP should be as positive as possible without hiding the setback. Talk, as usual, about your goals and how your preparation makes you a likely success.

But, I think more important, use your adviser's personal/professional contacts to help get you in the door somewhere. The advisor, even beyond a LoR, can boost your chances if they are willing to speak to others they know who can help you.

If you say "I failed comps, but ..." it is an entirely different thing than a professor saying "He failed comps, but ...". The professor is putting their reputation on the line for you. It is likely to be respected.


Can I call an assistant professor "Professor"?

Yes, you can call any kind of professor a professor, and you should.  Addressing someone as "assistant professor" or "associate professor" would be...well, it's simply not done, so I can't say if it would be rude or just weird.

It is similar to military protocol, actually: e.g. if someone is a rear or vice admiral, you call them admiral.  In contrast to the above example, I'm sure some knowledgeable party could be specific about what bad thing could happen to you if you screw that up!


Opportunities for physics PhD students to study/research pure math

Well, there is an entire broad field known as mathematical physics.

Your primary limitation will probably be time.  There are a few issues of "language barriers", curiously enough, as mathematicians and physicists don't always use the same terminology for the same concepts, but that is a minor issue to get around if it is important to you.

You already have to deal with the requirements of the physics department, leaving you less time to also deal with courses in mathematics.  Furthermore, the two departments don't always have synchronized schedules: you may find that their seminars conflict, or even that you have courses to attend during the other department's seminar times.  This is especially likely if you have some sort of teaching/lab responsibilities.  In my graduating university the physics department did their lectures mostly on Tuesday/Thursday, and labs were mostly on MWF.  However, the math department lectured mostly on MWF, with discussion sections set for Tuesday/Thursday.  Since the professors of both departments tended to prefer seminars and colloquia to occur on lecture days (since that's when the professors were most likely to be there, and graduate students are less likely to have conflicts), this meant that one department's graduate students were doing teaching duties during the other's seminars.  If you get an early enough time slot for these duties you may be available, but you are still going to have to measure if you need to spend your time doing other work more--grading, your own homework, preparing for qualifying exams, research, etc. all take time.

However, this is not to say that it's impossible.  I've seen physics and EE graduate students in graduate mathematics courses before (and vice versa, by virtue of my being an example).  And not simply in applied math courses.  I even know of one physics undergrad+master's student who, for the heck of it, took an undergraduate topology course, and was found so exceptionally gifted by the professor that he was given a full TA-ship in the mathematics department so he could spend more time doing mathematics for his last two years or so.  Ultimately said student went on to do his doctoral work in particle physics at a top university, has written at least one book in the (vague) area of "abstract mathematics for physicists", and many other things befitting his intellect and character.  As a curious aside, some other mathematics students and I had to actually convince him to at least leave with a Bachelor's degree.  We couldn't quite get him to go through the trouble of a Master's degree, but I can assure you he could have easily earned a doctorate in mathematics if he had so desired.

There are several physicists who have joint appointments in the mathematics department, and vice versa--though in my experience it tends to be rare when they have a significant presence in the other department, even if they are known and well-respected there--and legions of graduate students who are unsure of whether they should be considered a mathematician or a physicist.  At least one of which has made the hilariously inconvenient mistake of saying exactly this to US immigration officials.

So in the actual practice of your research, you can easily cross barriers or reside in grey zones between physics and mathematics, with researchers in either department taking note of your results, and working with you.  Your ability to be actively involved with both departments, either as a student or faculty, however, will be heavily limited by time constraints.


How far should I help students with learning extracurricular skills?

If you are a TA and have questions about what to do, almost always the first thing you should do is ask the instructor.  The instructor should clarify exactly how you should be assisting them, and what the prerequisites for the course are.  I would be wary, as a TA, of suggesting students to drop the class.


Unoriginal research in Statement of Purpose

I think most admissions committees will be aware that undergraduate work is not likely to be groundbreaking.

Instead, emphasise the "soft" skills you learnt while doing the project; for example, independent learning, communication and team work, and how to build a good working relationship with a supervisor.

It would also be a great opportunity to discuss how your project led you to be interested in pursuing research at PhD level- did you enjoy discovering new things for yourself (even if they were 20 years old)? Did your work in that area spark off a particular new interest in statistics? Does the work have any modern applications?

Discussing things like this will show the person reading your statement that you have put thought into your decision to apply for PhDs, and how the work done in the past links to the state of the art (knowing how to avoid reinventing the wheel is an important skill for a researcher).


Automatically building a database of forward and backward citations

Our WikiCite project uses Wikidata to store bibliographic information including citation information. The data from Wikidata is free under CC0 license and you are able to access the data via XML dumps, RDF dumps, the web API and the Wikidata Query Service with a SPARQL endpoint.

While the bibliographic data in Wikidata is certainly not complete as of October 2017, Wikidata editors have done considerable work so Wikidata now contains over 8 million scientific articles and over 36 million citations. The coverage may be somewhat ok'ish for a start in Magnetic Resonance Imaging while quite bad in fields such as Mechanics, Signal Processing and Geophysics.

The Wikidata Query Service is used in our Scholia webservice to aggregate and display scholarly information in tables, plots and graphs, including citation graphs. Scholia, via the Wikidata Query Service, allows you to zoom in on a topic and create co-author graphs and co-occuring topics graph with respect to a topic. For instance, for the machine learning concept of "embedding" you can see the graphs here: https://tools.wmflabs.org/scholia/topic/Q29043227. Small partial citation graphs are displayed on the 'work' pages, see, e.g., https://tools.wmflabs.org/scholia/work/Q21090025.

It is possible to extract the bibliographic data with the Wikidata Query Service. For a co-author graph of the big connected component I used a SPARQL query against the Wikidata Query Service and Gephi on the downloaded results. The resulting image - and the SPARQL queries - are available here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Scholarly_co-author_graph_via_Wikidata,_2017-05-26.png

You can read more about the approach of using Wikidata for scientometrics work in this paper: "Scholia and scientometrics with Wikidata", https://arxiv.org/abs/1703.04222


I advise to move to a faster journal AND to make sure the papers are absolutely as clean as you can make them in logic, writing, etc. so that they fly through reviews.


When applying for a higher education job, do I need to list my bachelors?

Yes.  An academic CV should list every academic degree that you have earned.

If you don't list it, it will look as though you got a PhD without ever getting a bachelor's degree at all, which would be very strange and perhaps suspicious.


What should a technical thesis' conclusion entail of?

Discuss your main conclusion(s) in a few sentences. Discuss the approach to the solution; the general structure of the technique. If you specialize a known technique, name the one you specialize (or generalize, perhaps). Discuss any comparisons with earlier work. You can point to various sections of the paper for details if you like.


how to find conferences that allow sit-in's

I have to say that I can't remember ever having my badge checked at any conference. In fact, by the second day, i've often lost my badge. What does sometimes happen is having your badge checked to get onto the campus in the first place. Also, people often have greeters at the door during registration.

I've "sat in" on plenty conferences before when they have been happening on my campus anyway. I'm not sure I'd risk travelling to one on that basis though.


It's very hard to switch to a different advisor or even a comparable school when your thesis goes bad.  This is because the first question a potential advisor would ask is what happened with your old advisor ... if both you and the advisor don't have a reasonable answer to that, you will have a very hard time.

That said, there are alternatives:

You could try working for a year or two and then returning to PhD studies.
You could try switching to a different area.  There are lots of areas where a student with good mathematics abilities could find interesting problems (economics, computer science, physics, ...)
Switch to a less respectable school that might be willing to take a gamble on an unknown student with a good background.

In short, one of the most important decisions a student can make in his/her graduate career is an advisor.


Manuscript Revision: Is it alright to include the response to reviewer comments as an attached file rather than typing in the text box provided?

Speaking as an editor, I don't care whether you put text in the box or upload a separate file as long as what you provide is clear.  Speaking as an author, I have done it both ways many times, and it has never made any difference.  Generally, if the response is relatively short, I'll put it in the box; if the response is long or uses significant formatting (as in your case), I'll attach a file instead and put "See attached comments" in the box.

In short: they wouldn't provide the upload option if they didn't want you to use it.


What is Wise to Study For a Successful Career Outside of Academia?

I think this is an ongoing question for any stage of your career. Trends change a lot so you need to have a diverse set of tools available, while focusing on a few technologies so as not to spread yourself too thin.

First of all, it is probably not the best idea to choose according to what makes the most money. Highly paid jobs are more scarce and so the competition will be tougher. You cannot ensure you will have a high salary just by learning specific technologies.

On the other hand, you are more likely to become an expert in a field you enjoy working in and have an intuition for. So I would say try a few different things and see what you are best at. See what interests you. Obviously you can narrow this down by combining your current interests with the current trends, but try not to be limited by projected salaries; these are both highly changeable and misleading, and are used mainly in sales pitches for programming courses.


Motivating students when teaching a widely disliked course

There are many ways to motivate students, including but not limited to

showing practical relevance of the course
explaining what makes the teacher passionate about the subject
linking the course topic to their own experience
actively engaging the students in discussions
giving the students adequate tasks and providing them with rapid and positive feedback (adequate = not too difficult and not too easy)

Some tips and tricks can be found on http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/affective/motivation.html


Should references to the appendix be removed from a camera ready paper?

As a general rule, papers should be self-contained. A reference to an appendix would violate this rule if the paper is distributed without the appendix.

Instead, a best practice is to have a reference to an extended version of the paper that includes the appendix:

  The proof of this result is provided in [1].

  A. Nonymous: How to write a paper (extended version). 2018. Available online at http://arxiv.org/some/url

The extended version would then have the same sentence, but with a reference to the appendix:

  The proof of this result is provided in the appendix.


How to stop a former collaborator from (re-)publishing joint work

Contact the editor and provide all the evidence that you have to support your claim.

Do not keep going back and drip-feeding the editor with bits of evidence over time, make sure it is a complete package.

Also, consider the possible effect on you and your reputation for the future - if this goes the other way, how do you look...


Why is that when your first upload a paper onto ArXiv, Google Search shows that it has been uploaded to "https://128.84.21.199"

That number is the IP address for arxiv. Typing "arxiv.org" into your browser is effectively the same as typing that number (the domain name will get converted for you).

Why the error? The HTTPS certificate is assigned to a domain name, not to the IP address (which is good, because IP addresses may change). Even though in this case, the domain name would result in this IP address, your browser thinks it is trying to use a false certificate.

To avoid this error message, just replace that number in the URL with "arxiv.org" and the error will go away. A worse workaround would be to replace "HTTPS" with "HTTP".


Do bachelor programs in Germany with no Numerus Clausus accept any a level grades?

According to the German Constitution, (Art. 12 GG), every German has the right to chose their own education institution, if they have the formal qualification. Under the European principles of free movement and non-discrimination, this effectively includes foreign EU citizens.

Therefore, if there is no Numerus Clausus, this usually means that every EU citizen with an Abitur or equivalent foreign degree will be admitted to the study program and at the education institution of their own chosing.

However:

There may be additional language requirements for foreigners.
There may be additional selection criteria, defined by the local university, for study programs that are offered only at few institutions.
The recognition of UK A levels as equivalent for the purpose of university admissions may become an issue after Brexit.

To be on the safe side, you should contact the student advisory service of the university at which you are planning to apply well in advance.


Once I accepted a postdoc offer with "A", is it ok to accept an invitation to present with group "B"?

Give the presentation.

There is no problem here (to be honest, I'm struggling to work out why you would think there is). Giving presentations is part of being an academic. Different groups can talk to each other. Different groups with close enough interested should talk to each other.


In the social and physical sciences, doctoral level research solves a problem that has never been solved before.  In engineering and applied social sciences such as counseling psychology, it extends the frontiers of how to construct something.

The difference between an undergraduate and a masters degree is that an undergraduate degree is sort of a technician's degree.  It is just enough information to be able to claim a very basic level of expertise in some field.  A person with a master's degree is able to teach undergraduate courses and does not usually need supervision.  That person is a master in their field.  Their research shows that they have sufficient technical expertise that they should generally be able to operate alone.

At a doctoral level, the goal is to change the understanding of some phenomenon by showing that what we thought we knew was wrong.  It is important to understand that while undergraduate degrees are earned, graduate degrees are awarded.  Passing all of your doctoral coursework is not sufficient to be awarded a degree.

A committee is formed with a few people from outside the department to be sure that the degree is being validly processed and to provide insight from other disciplines.  That committee reviews the work.  My doctoral dissertation was around 400 pages with appendices and solved a fundamental problem in multiple disciplines.  John Nash's dissertation was four pages.  It included the title page and the references.  They were such an amazing four pages that he won the Nobel prize for it.  Mine was so long because I had to nail down all possible opposing points of view as it was a controversial topic.  I had to not only show I was correct, but that the various existing methodologies could not be correct.  As the number of tools thrown at the problem was very large, I had a very large number of groups to answer both theoretically and empirically.

You are to be the world expert on your specific topic.  You are teaching your professors how the world really works.  When you pass them, then you are a doctor.  I have a friend who is showing how certain chemical processes work on another planet.  Just think for a second how hard that research is to get approved and to do.

You have to identify an original topic and convince your advisor that it can be done in a reasonable amount of time.  Do note though that if you do not complete your research, then you do not graduate.  Unlike an undergraduate degree, nobody knows if or when a doctoral student will graduate.  You can be the best student in the program and not graduate.  The role of the advisor is to do their best to prevent sure failures.  This is why you often work in the lab on projects they are already working on.  They have a pretty good idea that it will work out eventually.

Of course, they don't know how it will work out or if it will work out, but their familiarity with the topic gives them a feel for the probability of failure.  You need to choose a program based on who is doing the type of research you are interested in.  If you have a chance to go to the number one program in the country, but the research is not what you are interested in, or the number eighty-three program in the country, but the research is what you want to do, then pick number eighty-three.  That is your number one.

It doesn't have to be groundbreaking, but it does need to be unsolved.


Are reviewers allowed to discuss their review with each other?

If it's a blind process, you're not meant to find out. As various people have pointed out in the comments already, discussing your review with them is therefore a big no.

One of the main principles of reviewing by several people is that you get independent opinions, so that if a particular (maybe well-known and well-respected) person doesn't like the research, they can't just make it disappear by convincing everybody else that it's bad.

For some conferences (and maybe journals?), you are able to discuss your review with the other reviewers after the initial submission. But in this case the facilities for doing this are provided by the submission system. There are two important differences to the situtation you've described though. First, your initial review will not be influenced by the discussion and second, there is a record of the conversations and changes made.


Can I use abbreviations in the title of a research paper?

It is acceptable if (Edit: and only if) the abbreviation you are using is common (in your field or in general) and there is no risk of confusion.

I have two papers whose titles contain the abbreviation (RD) which stands for (Rapid Decay). Since it is an acceptable abbreviation in our field these titles are fine.

The best way to find out is to check similar papers or titles in your field.


A researcher that I know organizes a symposium within a strange conference and has asked me to go. What is the appropriate etiquette for declining?

You basically said it best yourself:

  the funding money for attending conferences is limited and I think I will get a better value for it on another conference.

This seems to me like a perfectly acceptable reason which needs to be enough for any reasonable person. You can't go to every conference where somebody you know asked you to go, and this one isn't high enough on your priorities list.

(personally, I would not lecture the other person about what you perceive as a spam conference that (s)he is involved with - just say friendly and truthfully that this specific conference is not of great interest to you, and that should be it)


How to deal with a mentor asking for sudden tasks

This answer depends on your relationship with your supervisor. If have an honest, open relationship, I would suggest communicating your feelings in a professional and constructive way. For example,

I appreciate you trusting me to take on additional Tasks 1, 2, and 3. However, I already have tasks A, B, and C which require a significant amount of my time. I am happy to do Tasks 1, 2, and 3, but I would benefit from additional notice (24/48/72) hours in order to carry out the task with a high quality. Does that sound agreeable to you?

If you do not want to do additional Tasks 1, 2, and 3 but feel pressured to do so, you always have other options:

Build evidence of your situation and eventually present it matter-of-factually to your supervisor. For example, 'You have requested me to do additional Tasks 1, 2, and 3 repeatedly, and my progress on research and other commitments are suffering. I cannot do these additional tasks any more.'
If 1 fails, build further evidence of your situation and present it to the graduate director.
If you have the willpower to do so, you might accept your fate and make lemonade out of lemons. For example, record each extra lecture you do to add to your teaching CV. Or, at the very least, start to prepare in advance for Tasks 1, 2, 3, ... n.

Sudden tasks are not fun and can indeed be a cause for significant personal stress. It sounds like these requests come during the workday, but otherwise I would suggest sticking to a strict work schedule with dedicated days of no work.


My paper was presented as part of a Keynote speech written by my advisor. What do I mention in my CV?

No, you shouldn't list it on your CV -- it's not your talk. Presumably, this work has or will be published, with you as an author. That, of course, should be on your CV.


Graduating Early and its effect on Graduate Admissions

Having been on the graduate committee of the departments I am/was in for the past six years, and having looked at around 500 applications over that time, I've got something to say about this:

The time it took you to graduate doesn't matter. 2 years is fast, and if you've got good grades, then you're clearly quite good and that speaks to your case.
If you're only doing the bare minimum of classes, then that raises questions about your preparedness. That's no different than the many applications we see from small liberal arts colleges whose math departments are so small that they can't run anything other than the standard set of courses. The question then always is how such candidates will do in advanced classes, given that they don't have as much background in the different branches of mathematics as applicants from larger schools. There is also the question of the level of courses you've taken: Many applicants take graduate classes in their last year as undergraduates, and if they do well there, that is definitely a plus on their applications.
You can always apply. If you get rejected, that's ok, and it won't be a stain on your file if you come back better prepared next year. But you'll have to have an answer to the question of what happens if you get accepted into a program of lesser quality: Are you going to take it, or hold out for something better next year. Declining an offer definitely will look bad if you try again next year, but of course there is also no guarantee that you'll actually get accepted at a better program next time around. So there is a risk involved in all of this.

At the end of the day, your best approach is probably to consider what happens if you graduate now, get accepted into a good program, and then find that you're not adequately prepared. Grad school is fast-paced, and you're thrown into the same pot as all of the other students, many of whom will likely have taken more (and more difficult) classes than you had -- in many cases, first year graduate program classes. You'll struggle -- I'm pretty confident saying that because essentially every graduate student struggles, and the question is only to the degree with which they do.

You can get ahead this curve a bit by staying for another year at your current institution, taking advanced courses, maybe a graduate course or two, and doing well. Your file is going to look better for it, and you'll have better chances of getting into the good graduate programs. On the other hand, your file is not going to look noticeably worse just because it took you three instead of two years to graduate -- your competition will have taken four years. The only real downside I can think to staying for a third year is the money you will have to pay for tuition and cost of living.


How to describe my favourite scientific publication? And why I have to do that?

I think purpose of that question while applying to graduate program is to check your judgment or thought process. It will be similar to writing statement of purpose (SOP) where you try to justify why do you choose any institute/program/career etc. I think, any paper (research or review) is fine as far as you give reasonable answer to their question about "why do you like that publication".

There might be many different answers to that questions, One might like following things from that paper

The way research has done
The way authors have interpreted results
The way connections have made to other problems
The way they have formulated model from existing information (This is generally done in reviews)
The way authors has provoked future questions

Most important thing you should mention in your answer that how this paper has helped you in any way. For example, one might say, I liked the way authors have used very general methods cleverly to answer some difficult question which changed your perception about solving difficult questions with simple methods. In case of review, you can say how authors have used many well established and new concepts to make current model. This helped you in understanding some complex concept.


Should postdoc be listed under Employment and or Education on CV?

A postdoctoral associate/fellow/whatever is usually an employee. While the purpose of the postdoc is educational, it is not "education". A postdoc is (usually) not taking classes, following a curriculum, and completing other activities toward the earning of an academic degree/certificate/whatever. Postdocs should have a contract, do not pay tuition (or have tuition paid for them), have a definite end date to their employment (although that can be renewed), etc. Since a postdoc is an employee, it should go under employment.

However, in some fields and countries, it may be custom to place the postdoc under education because the postdoc is the journeyman stage of your academic career. Ethically, it should not be listed in both places.


Given the OP’s situation explained in his question and the following comments that he has trouble with getting recommendation letters written by his professors themselves, if I were him I would

    Find the professor who would write the recommendation letter himself.

    Find the professor who taught the class which I had very good grade.

    Find the professor who taught the class in which I was most interested.

Usually, I need three recommendation letters. Now, I have three.

My personal experience is that I tend to have good grades when taking the class I am very interested. If I had good grade in a class I was interested, the chances are the professor would remember me and more willing to write the recommendation letter himself for me.


Ethical Disclosure of Professional Knowledge in PhD Dissertation

I've known cases where the thesis itself has very restricted circulation for a fixed period (e.g. six years) after completion, to protect the commercial information that went into it. The restriction also meant that papers couldn't be published on the back of the PhD research for six years, too.

That was an arrangement made early on during the writing of the thesis, and it enabled the use of a lot of information that would otherwise have been out of bounds.

That's potentially quite an impediment to one's career, so one would have to get good advice on whether it was a price worth paying. But it doesn't make an academic career impossible: I know of at least one successful academic who's take this path - she's an exceptional talent, and so it's no surprise that her path has been exceptional. It does put an emphasis on diversifying straight after the PhD, to gather material for new publications. Diversification can be a good thing: lots of new post-docs get typecast and trapped by and in their PhD subject.


Identifying reputable journal indexing services

I think that there is a critical distinction to be made here between defining reputable indexing services and identifying such services.

I suspect that for most well-established scholars, it is relatively straightforward to identify whether an indexing service is reputable or not. For example, if you talk to a computer scientist, they'll point to DBLP, MathSciNet is a good one for mathematicians as noted in the comments, and PubMed is good for life sciences.  Random predatory anything is usually pretty easy to determine with a little bit of research.

In order to define "reputable indexing service" for the sake of policy, then, I would suggest that it is likely to be effective to have a process by which faculty members can request an index be considered and then a few internal and external experts in the field are asked to certify whether the index is reputable or not.  That way, there's not a formal definition enshrined in policy that might be evaded by technicalities, but instead some human judgement is involved.


Arxiv Endorsement from Conference Moderator (for someone not from academia)

Yes. It even happens to people inside academics that they are not endorsed for a particular subsection of the arxiv.

If your only contact is the panel moderator, I would not hesitate to contact them in a polite email. However, you can and probably should first look whether they can endorse you (find one of their publications and click on their name—it will say for which areas they can endorse) and change your message accordingly.


I agree that sentences like

  According to⁸

are horrible to read, although I recall seeing them a couple of times. A possible solution is to add author names:

  According to Alice and Bob⁸

  However, in Alice et al.⁴ only a small uncertainty has been introduced ...


What is the standard way to refer to shared code in conference papers?

I have seen all of 1-3 in papers. I would favor a link in the text or footnotes over a link in the references, to underline that the code is part of the contribution of the paper. (If it isn't, e.g. because it was already presented in one of your previous papers, or because someone not on the authors list wrote a significant portion of the code, put it in the references instead.)

Definitely mention the link in the paper itself, so that readers of the paper can look it up. Also, for convenience, it's nice if the URL is a clickable link in the PDF.


Writing an REU recommendation as an Instructor

Include the following information in your letter:

You're a new full-time faculty member.
You mentored 6 REUs while a grad student and several more independent study undergrads, and think that this particular student is a fine candidate.


Does an Israeli PhD grant you the right to call yourself Dr. in Germany?

I would guess possibly, but the only definite answer will come from the relevant authorities.

A quick search turns up the following results:

https://www.anerkennung-in-deutschland.de/html/en/assessment_of_higher_education_certificates.php
https://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/en/06-anerkennungd/606684

Leading to:
https://www.kmk.org/de/zab/central-office-for-foreign-education.html

This suggests there is a service that will assess foreign degrees regarding their equivalence for a fee.
There is also a website (in German) that will allow you to determine if your desired institution is recognised by the German state or not:
https://anabin.kmk.org/anabin.html

And lastly: You can always ask your local embassy/passport-issuing office when in doubt. They either know or can find out if the degree is recognised.

(Degrees from other EU countries are normally recognised within the EU without any additional fees.)

Edit:

Using the search of the Anabin website, "TAU" is listed as "H+".
Use the search here to find it: https://anabin.kmk.org/no_cache/filter/institutionen.html

Edit 2:
I have "two letters" in my Passport/ID card from a PhD in the UK, nowadays living in France. I did not need to pay any extra fees at the German embassy in France and my PhD Certificate from the University of Leeds was sufficient - which is also classed as "H+" in the database.


What are the common mistakes PhD candidates make in their final defense session?

How the dissertation defense works varies enormously between fields, countries, universities, and departments.  Any guidance has to take into account what the expectations are.

For example, in the defenses I'm familiar with, there are no common mistakes at all.  In fact, I'm not sure I've ever seen anyone do anything worth calling a mistake.  Here, the defense is basically a formality: you don't reach that point unless your advisor and readers are happy with your dissertation and confident you will easily pass, and in practice nobody fails unless something goes dreadfully wrong.  That can happen (I know of one case in which a serious mistake was uncovered at the last minute, which was certainly embarrassing to both the candidate and the committee), but I've never actually been present when someone failed.  So if someone from my department asked me about common mistakes they should avoid, I'd tell them not to worry about it: making it to the defense is the hard part, and then passing it is really straightforward.  It's more of a celebratory ritual than an actual test.

But of course this depends on how the defense is handled in your department.


No one here can make the decision for you, of course, and we have only a little information on which to give any advice. So, you need to answer the top line question yourself with the knowledge you have and your other desires and constraints.

However, there are some things you should consider. I worry that you will have a set back if you change and it will probably add to your total time. You may consider that worthwhile or not.

But you aren't necessarily alone in your research even if your nominal advisor gives you little help. Some people can do the work with no advice at all and they wind up teaching their advisor in the research at hand. You may be such a student or not. What you need is final approval of your work from your advisor, but that may be enough, provided that you also get good letters of recommendation.

But the other members of your group are probably also available to give you advice if you need it. They are likely in the same position with this advisor/leader that you are and are having to struggle along. Make it a group struggle, perhaps.

But, if you make decisions independent of your advisor, with advice and help from your group, try to get your advisor to agree that you are making good decisions. If you can get at least that much, then you may be able to continue without any setback.

One way to get buy-in from the advisor on joint decisions of the other members is to send, say, weekly updates on decisions made and progress achieved. The advisor is kept in the loop and can redirect as needed. This is most useful if everyone in the group is working on the same task generally.

But the situation is complex. Only you know it best.


Do I have an obligation to pay publication fee to predatory journal?

I am not a lawyer but I would think this depends on the contractual laws that govern you where you live and where the journal is based. You may be able to ask them to take down the article but they may try to do so through a retraction rather than simply "deleting" it.

On the other hand, if you have not transferred copyright then they shouldn't technically be  able to publish the article, and you should still have had the right to withdraw the submission.

So this is a bit of a thorny situation and I would try to seek out help from your university (do they have a Legal department in the administration?) to guide you through this process.


What is the difference between a literature survey and a conceptual paper?

Here are my definitions:

A literature review is a study that searches for scholarly studies on a specified topic, synthesizes and reports the results. The explicit purpose of a literature review is to present other scholars' work.

A conceptual paper is a study that does not analyze any data. It is contrasted with an empirical study, one that analyzes data, whether quantitative (numerical, e.g. statistics) or qualitative (non-numerical, e.g. interviews).

Now, to answer a question you didn't ask but maybe you imply: Is a literature review a conceptual paper? I personally say most certainly NO, a literature review is not conceptual; it is empirical. Literature reviews analyze other people's research as their data source--the unit of analysis is one scholarly study. To me, that is definitely empirical research (even though it is often called a "secondary" study, as distinguished from a so-called "primary" study that treats a subject directly).

In the case of meta-analysis (a literature review where quantitative data from the constituent studies is analyzed statistically) most people would agree that a meta-analysis is not conceptual. There is, however, some controversy or confusion with literature reviews that "only discuss" other people's research. Some people might call such a literature review a conceptual paper mainly because they don't clearly see any analysis of numbers. I disagree with that view, but I do realize that some people take that perspective.


Should I publish a working paper in several different websites?

No, there is no need to. Uploading to Arxiv is more than enough. Your Google scholar profile finds all arxiv papers and will notify those who follow your work about your new paper. You can also add a link to the arxiv PDF in your university and personal page. That way, you will only have to update the arxiv version of your paper, without having to ever update again your personal and university webpage.

For academia.edu and researchgate I would never bother to upload PDFs. If someone is interested in your work and cannot google your name to find the arxiv uploaded version, then I doubt you will get anything meaningful or useful (e.g., citation, collaboration) from such a person, no matter where you upload your papers.


Why do professors give 'updates' about their unpublished, ongoing research?

The main reason is to attract interest to their current and future work, in terms of both public interest and potential students, scholars, and postdocs who might want to work with their labs. Talks are a good way of accomplishing this. Research isn't meant to be conceived, designed, done, and published in a cloistered off world. Anyone who believes this shouldn't be in research.

If the point of research is to advance/exchange knowledge and to improve life, then it deserves to be made a public, accessible resource. Perhaps even work that hasn't been completed. It's important for researchers to be transparent about their work, rather than trying to hide it, especially when they accumulate so much funding, some of which often comes from public, taxpayer sources (i.e. government funds).

You might think visitors are outsiders, but it's important to keep sight of the fact that they likely helped fund the research in some way, and more importantly, that they're part of the people your research should be trying to help -- and there shouldn't be such distinctions on this account between outsiders and insiders.


Entering the correct Publisher and Editor in a BibTex citation

The label editors refers to human individuals, while the publisher is always a company.
First, the editors: In the context of a book, it only makes sense to talk about 'editors' if the book is an edited volume. Otherwise the people who wrote the book are 'authors'. - - In your case, there do not seem to be any 'editors' at all, but only 'authors' (X.Z., Z.C., and Y.L.). Are you sure that the editors-field is mandatory?
Secondly, the publisher: Formally, yes, the publisher is Elsevier, but if it uses an imprint (here: Academic Press), then you should name the imprint. Do not name the overarching company of the imprint. A publisher can use various imprints in order to circulate books under various trade names (each with different reputations and specificities); to a publisher, the name of the imprint is really one of the main purposes of using an imprint. Therefore, list the imprint (Academic Press), and not the overarching company (Elsevier).
(Why Tsinghua University Press is mentioned in the cover, I do not know; it might have something to do with Elsevier's co-publishing agreement with Tsinghua Univ. Press.)


How likely is it that a UK or EU PhD in STEM has to be self funded?

Here's the thing: Doing a PhD - perhaps not in every single discipline, but certainly almost always in STEM - is a form of employment. You would be a junior researcher, with a measure of independence and a measure of supervision, and with bosses, a department and a university to answer to. You'll need to be on campus most of the week (albeit with the possibility of remote work depending on specifics); you may be required to teach if the university needs you to; you will be subject to all rules and regulations the senior academic staff is subject to, etc.

In those EU states where this is recognized, an "self-funded STEM PhD" is like "volunteer work"; universities can't rely on its existence, and if they want PhD's they have to shell out the money to pay them their wages. Not that you make a lot of money, but it's something. There are sometimes collective labor agreements which govern PhD employment.

In other states - including, AFAICR, the UK - PhD candidates are not recognized as employees. In those states, self-funded PhD are more of a recognized option, but still obviously very rare, as few people can afford to do full-time volunteer work for years.

And thus...

  How likely is it for a physics phd to be self funded?

Very-to-extremely unlikely.

  Do most PHDs get funded by the university or other third party funding?

This depends on the state in the EU, the university and even the individual researcher, there is no general answer. Also, it sometimes happens that you're funded by the university for some parts your PhD and by a third-party source for other parts - or even that, at the same time, both the university and one (or more) third parties fund your employment (or "stipend"). Finally, third-party funding sources sometime get pooled at the departmental or university level, so that "university-funded" can mean money from different sources.

  £20,000 a year for 4 years is not an option for me if I have to pay these fees myself.

Indeed it is not, and please don't try to do this kind of volunteer work, because you'd be hurting your fellow PhDs by legitimizing such a practice.


Hard data on students using W's to enhance their GPAs?

I've just done 15 minutes of moderately focused research, and found nothing.
It looks like in most exit surveys students claim to have dropped because of family or work conflicts, which may be true but is not the acute reason for the drop for your students.

A Google search for "drop and retake" finds dozens of recommendations like this for pre-med and other highly grade-motivated students.

I'm rather intrigued, actually. If these students could be motivated to stay and get the grade, it would save the state a lot of money. And if they couldn't drop after Week 2, they might work much harder much earlier.

I sense a possible research project...


Is it considered self-plagiarism if I submit a part of my own paper as another 2-page demo paper for demonstration purposes?

As long as the demo paper is not peer-reviewed and not published in any kind of proceedings, this should not count as self-plagiarism because it does not count as a proper publication. I would put it more in the same section as giving a talk about your results.

You should however check the regulations of the conference you originally submitted to. The author guidelines normally have section about dual submissions that clearly define if, for example, an arxiv submission is allowed and what you should or should not do to maintain your anonymity.

If the conference allows to publish a preprint on arxiv, you can upload it there and cite it in your demo paper.


Do course buyouts happen in pure mathematics?

The NSF won't generally allow a faculty member to take more than 2 months of salary per year from NSF grants.  Since you would typically want summer salary before buying out of teaching, this effectively makes it impossible to buy out of teaching on NSF funding alone.

However, if you combine your NSF funding with funding from other agencies (such as the Office of Naval Research, Army Research Office, National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, DARPA, DOE, etc.), it's certainly possible to have enough months of grant support to buy out of teaching during the academic year.  Whether your program manager will agree to pay for this and whether your institution will allow it are still questions that you'd have to answer.


How would you write an ethics approval for a study conducted on human data, when the dataset is publicly available?

In general you wouldn't need ethics approval to use this data set; it would be covered by the ethics statement from the original experiment. Presumably the original data collectors had one, even if it's not referenced; if you want to be extra-careful, you should try to find the peer-reviewed publication associated with the data set, and look there for the ethics statement.
More generally, it's hard to see how you could be causing harm by using a public, already collected data set; you didn't have any interaction at all with the subjects! The exception to this would be if you had reason to believe that the original data set might not have been ethically collected, in which there would be an argument for not using the data even though it has already been collected. Practically speaking, though, if these are data collected in the last few decades, it's likely that the researchers were required to undergo ethics approval before data collection.
There are lots of edge cases here:

data that were unethically collected, either decades ago (Tuskegee/Nazis/Stanford Prison study/Milgrom obedience studies etc.) or more recent studies that slipped through the cracks of the modern research-ethics framework
data that are insufficiently anonymized
data that are OK in the jurisdiction where they were originally collected but not in yours

If possible, you should be careful and follow @DianaPetitti's advice by checking with your university's research ethics board; hopefully they will tell you you're good to go. (Although I absolutely understand why it is so, ethics boards are often cautious to the point of [researcher] frustration even when the probability of harm is almost vanishingly small.)
Disclaimer: I am not an ethicist and have not been involved in dealing with ethics statements with the exception of a few surveys and student evaluation exercises.

Tracking the source of the data back we get to Greenwald, S.D. (1990). Improved detection and classification of arrhythmias in noise-corrupted electrocardiograms using contextual information. Thesis. Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
https://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/29206

We established a test database of 35 half-hour ECG records ...
[Some data] are from the MIT/BIH Arrhythmia Database ...
[Some other data] are from the AHA Arrhythmia Database ...
Tapes in the 800 series were collected for this research from long-term Holter records archived in the Beth Israel Hospital Arrhythmia Laboratory ...

This is admittedly a little disappointing; there's no evidence that informed consent was obtained, although from a practical standpoint it seems incredibly unlikely that these records could either be personally identified, or that any significant harm was caused in their collection. (This describes the data that are first presented in the thesis — for complete diligence you'd have to go back farther to the sources of the other two arrhythmia databases listed here and see what they say about sample collection ..)


How can I balance teaching computer-assisted skills and risks of cheating at exams?

My undergraduate multivariable statistics class was designed like this: there were 5 larger computer labs, where we got to analyse large amounts of data using various computer programmes to try to answer some questions. We found out in advance that there were 15 sets of data, and 5 versions of the questions, so everyone had a different assignment. These labs were used to check our computer skills.

During the final exam, we were tested on theory: proofs, deriving formulas, explaining which statistical test we would use for some hypothetical situation, and one question on interpreting the output from the statistics programme (MINITAB) that we used the most. This way, we were tested on the computer skills in a setting that was very similar to how we might use them in our working life, and the exam was pure theory: I never even opened my calculator during the final exam. Giving us different data sets, as well as requiring a full lab report analysing the output ensured that we actually understood what was going on with the computer and made it very difficult to cheat.


Are there boycotts against publishers other than Elsevier?

The Elsevier boycott seems to be the largest one of its kind.  I understand the argument to be:

A boycott is easier to maintain against a single publisher than against several publishers at once, since it limits the cost to the participants while, if anything, making the boycott more painful to the publisher.
There's a short list of likely candidates for a single boycott---probably just Springer and Elsevier, and perhaps Wiley, as the largest and most expensive academic publishers.  Elsevier had been particularly active in lobbying on some related issues (SOPA, PIPA, and the Research Works Act), and had recently been involved in several publishing related scandals (the ones involving Chaos, Solitons, and Fractals, and the Australasian Journal of Bone & Joint Medicine).

(I personally found these arguments strong, but plenty of people didn't, and some people have refused to participate in the boycott precisely because they think such a boycott should be more widely targeted.)


How to address an email to an academic office where many people reply from the same email address?

I would reply to whoever wrote the latest email... it is a reply after all. When other people take over and respond, I interpret that as if the group that monitors the email is always in bbc, and is free to join in the conversation/take over when it becomes useful. When I reply, it's to the last person to have "spoken," unless I need to address something specific a different person said, in which case I might write back to both (ETA: as in, "Dear Mr. Smith and Ms. Jones, " or "Hi Sarah and Michael, " matching their tone).
There was some talk in the comments of this question about etiquette in various countries. I'm from the US but have worked in Europe for four years, and I still would go with this strategy. I know German addresses combined with honorifics are notoriously more formal than other languages, but usually when the conversation is in English and among an international crowd, the international English standards take over. I've never lived or worked in Germany, but get communications from German academics and haven't noticed any deviations from that norm.


Freedom of Information (FOI) requests: multiple questions or single question per request?

Under a single request, you can requisition multiple data that are related.

As a guide for FOI officers (the people who will process your request), the State Government of Victoria gives this gloss:

  Practice Note 4: Multiple Requests for Access

  Summary

  Multiple requests arise where a number of applications for access are made by
  or on behalf of a person at the same or within a short period of time
  (e.g. within 2-3 weeks).

  If there is sufficient commonality between the requests, they can be
  considered as a single request to determine whether it is a
  "voluminous" request under section 25A(1).

  Each request should otherwise be treated individually, in the usual
  way.

  If it is not reasonably possible to notify a decision to the applicant
  on each request within 45 days, subject to the FOI Act, take practical
  steps to consult with the applicant about priority of requests and to
  possibly reduce their scope.

  Note: references in this Practice Note to sections are references to
  sections of the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Vic) ("FOI Act")
  unless otherwise stated.

I have experience requisitioning such data (i.e., warranted by FOI) from commonwealth government law enforcement agencies.

The specific protocol (e.g., email, web form[s], and/or paper form[s] to submit) for filing a freedom of information request will depend on the agent or agency to whom you're submitting it.

Typically, the agency will ask you to state the specific data you want under a single subject heading so that the scope of their response is appropriate to your request.

See How to make a freedom of information (FOI) request by the UK Government Digital Service here: How to make a freedom of information request


How do people have so many papers in just one year?

A few remarks:

Those who write 20 papers a year typically write with co-authors. At this level of productivity, the authors often take over a part of the research and writing for the paper. More senior authors often do not conduct the experiments, but rather have a share in designing the overall idea developed in the paper and a part of the writing process. If you are really on your own and cannot join a team (e.g., take over a role in some other project work in your research group), then you can't expect this level of productivity from yourself. And ultimately, it's also not needed.
If your advisors dismiss your ideas as too simple, there are four possibilities:

the idea is actually quite simple, and others have tried it out and published about it
the idea is so simple that it's non-publishable
the idea is simple, it has been tried out, and the results were bad
your advisors are wrong

I've seen cases where the second case held, but later another researcher tried it as well and successfully wrote a paper about it.

About paper rejections at conferences: In my experience, the quality of reviews varies greatly between the conferences and the reviewers. Sometimes, reviewers take a lot of time to write precise reviews for why exactly they recommend a paper for rejection. These are very helpful reviews and should be taken very seriously. But then there are others in which for clear rejections the reviewer does not take the time to write up why exactly the paper should be rejected. Quite often, when the answer should be "the paper is overall not written well enough" or "I don't believe that the result is significant", the reviewer singles out something that is easily defensible objectively, such as a missing comparison against something else, missing references, or the like, and  bases their rejecting recommendation on that. The problem with these reviews is that while the reviewer is normally correct (but sometimes isn't), it doesn't help the author to address the core problem. Normally, your advisor should spot such reviews and tell you what to focus on, but if you get little help, that's not good.
If you see other published papers that are similar to your own ones, read them and then think about why they were accepted. What is the core contribution that the paper made? What is so cool about it that the paper was accepted, despite its inefficiencies? It may simply be that for the papers you are submitting, no program committee member has a good reason for why they should make a case for you that exactly your paper should be accepted. And then it is rejected even though it's not actually bad on any scale.
Solicit feedback from peers (fellow PhD students) if your advisors won't give it. Don't ask peers about feedback on grammar, spelling, and the like on your papers. Ask if they would be writing an "accept" review for the paper or not. Any why they would do that. Get feedback on the paper story and if the argument and structure is convincing.


Germany how to change PhD visa before defense to a working permit visa?

Under certain circumstances, it is possible to change one visa type for another. However, immigration law is tricky, so the first thing you should do is check with your local Ausländeramt, who will be able to tell you what is allowed and will have a list of the necessary documentation to apply for a visa, but at a minimum you should expect to need everything you had to provide to apply for the student visa, plus a copy of the job offer. You may need to get a "certificate of good conduct" from your Bürgeramt, but I'm not certain about this.

One of the things to keep in mind is that there is sort of a catch-22 involved in the visa process: technically, the visa isn't valid until you get the job, and you can't get the job until you have the visa. So the job offer is the "promise" that the employer will hire you if the visa is granted.


So the question is, big lab or small lab is better for postdoc research?

There is not inherently an answer to this question, but rather plusses and minuses. For example:

Big Labs:

Lots of people around mean it's likely easier not to feel isolated
May have more secure funding
Presumably put out more papers
Professors are more likely to be dealing with keeping that lab funded, so if you were hoping to learn directly from them, this might not be as easy
It's also easy to get lost in a big group and be incorporated into "Professor So-and-So's Group" without establishing an identity

Small Labs:

A larger % of the lab's productivity rests on each person, so there may be more pressure
Might be dependent on a single grant
Likely more personal attention from the PI
More likely to end up as the first author on most of your papers

My suggestion, having been part of labs of all sizes at various stages of my career is to get experience with both, so that you can find what style works best for you and try to pick and choose what you liked from both.


PhD application with mediocre grades, 2 SCI co-authored pubs., LORs from very well knows profs. in the area?

I'm not sure whether your grades are that important. If they were good before and you are good in your thesis, everyone will understand that this was just due to external reasons.

Me personally, I'm more interested in the person and in the thesis then in the rest of the grades as long as they are not the core topic of the PhD work. But this might differ from person to person and institution to institution.