Are there areas where only some universities pay their sports scholars? I have a feeling this is off-topic because this is about undergrad and not about research, but this question Why do American colleges and universities have sports teams? isn't closed, so yeah here goes.
Apparently

‘Athletic scholarships are common in the United States, but in many countries they are rare or non-existent.’

But are there countries where there are some universities that offer sports scholarships while other universities in the same country don't? We can shrink country to city, town, district, etc if you like (Note 2). I'll just say 'area'.
I have this relative: My relative and I are expats living in a certain area but permanent residents of the area. My relative recently got accepted into a first world university for an undergraduate degree in engineering and was accepted as a sports scholar...sort of.
None of the tuition is waived. The only thing my relative gets is a reduced fee to be on the team: Yeah, the university charges its students a fee to be on the team. My relative also gets lower grade requirements in admissions or retention, but my relative does not need that due to having outstanding grades in secondary. I figured this was a practice in this area where we both live and where we are both expats (see quote above).
However, I found out that several universities in this area apparently do offer sports scholarships ranging from 50-100% off tuition. One of the universities that offer is even of a lower QS ranking than the university that my relative is attending (Note 1). This to me seems like a big misunderstanding on my part, so I've emailed the university, although my relative has already asked, just to get first hand confirmation.
In the mean time: Why would anyone play sports for a university against other universities but not get paid or get tuition waived for the playing?
Some guesses:

Lower admission grade requirement
Lower retention grade requirement
Admission or retention for dormitory requirement
Possibility of future scholarships
Prospects of a sports-related careers after graduation that include but are not limited to professional sports

The thing is none of my guesses explain why those universities apparently have sports scholarships that waive tuition at least partly while this university doesn’t. Why wouldn’t sports scholars from a university that doesn't pay their sports scholars just transfer to another university in the next year thus causing the university to lose in inter-school competitions?
(Note 1): My relative applied to all universities in our area for sports scholarships and was rejected for all but this university. Also, our area has less than 10 universities, and they're all in the QS... Wait, lemme check...Yeah, ACTUALLY, my relative's university has the highest world QS ranking in our area. Meanwhile, the university with the lowest world QS ranking in our area has sports scholarships. Also, all universities in question are in the top 100 in our continent's world QS ranking, our continent is not Africa, and my relative's university is not the highest in our area for our continent's world QS ranking.
(Note 2): I'm thinking perhaps of a possibility where, say, in North America or Europe this might be the case but is not the case for a specific state or city or something like Massachusetts, Boston, UK or London. You can shrink as much as you want on the condition that universities in your shrunken area compete with each other in sports.
Update 1: Relative is sibling. saying this just to link to posts. lol.
Update 2: Starting 2nd year of university, sibling got into dormitory scholarship. So, tuition scholarship isn't the only thing student athletes can get. (Sibling is now 3rd year going 4th year.)

In the United States, many (perhaps even most) institutions do not give sports scholarships.

For example, I went to MIT, which gives only need-based funding (0% sports scholarships), but has a quite high NCAA varsity participation rate because, well, sports originally exist because people enjoy playing them, especially in the company of others. That's certainly why I was a student athlete (even captain of my team).

What institutions without sports scholarships tend to lack is not athletes but audiences.  At MIT, for example, the varsity football games were infamously said to be better attended by the band (who loved chances to play) than by anybody else, though I can't verify this because I never bothered to go myself.

By contrast, the institutions that do give sports scholarships tend to have big crowds and be the high-visibility teams that you see on TV, thus exaggerating their apparent frequency.

Given the wide mix of public and private institutions with varying philosophies and missions, I expect you'd likely find this contrast in every major US city.


Discussion of hiring practices and underrepresented groups during interviews I am searching for a job at a small liberal arts college in the United States, and I was recently interviewed via Skype by a search committee.  One of the questions I asked was "What things are your institution experiencing/initiating with regard to recent trends in the STEM fields?"

The interviewers covered a variety of topics in their detailed response, and one in particular stood out to me: "We are really trying to hire from underrepresented demographic groups in our discipline, for instance, someone that is X, Y, or Z."

That statement led me to the following questions, which I would like to pose to academia.se:

While I wholeheartedly agree with the principle behind their statement and I realize that most departments have this objective, is it considered appropriate for an interviewer to be so explicit about that preference?
Given that I was doing a Skype interview, it was fairly obvious that I did not fall into any of the categories named by the interviewer.  What would be the best way for me to respond to a statement like that?

Discussions about how to improve participation from underrepresented groups in academia are not uncommon in interviews, even when the interviewee does not come from such a group.  That a department has a strong commitment to hiring people from underrepresented groups is an important thing for the interviewee to know about the department.  After all, if the interviewee is hired, they are going to be expected to be part of the departmental team that is working toward broadening participation.

If you are interviewing for faculty positions and are not part of an underrepresented group, it is still a very good idea to have thought carefully about the underlying issue.  When the issue comes up in an interview, you should be able to voice your support for broadening involvement in your field.  You should also have some specific thoughts about why this in important and, most crucially, how you can help.  Hiring you may not represent direct progress toward the goal, but you have an opportunity to show that you are enthusiastic about recruiting students from underrepresented groups and working to hire people from those groups when you are part of the faculty.


When should I send a reminder email for recommendation letter? I am asking this professor about whether  he can write me a recommendation letter for PhD application.  I sent the email on Wednesday morning. Should I wait more or should I send him a reminder email now?
The problem is that he is my number one option and I spent almost all of my time during my master trying to get his attention. I think that if he rejects me I will not be able to find another person that can write me a letter. Hence I am just afraid that if I write a reminder email too soon there is a chance that he gets angry because this professor always takes like 2 weeks to answer an email (if he does answer at all)

Given the new understanding of the issue, I'd suggest that you write to him, apologizing for the mail, and with an explicit request to let you know if he will do this. Perhaps your first mail wasn't clear on that point.
But most professors receiving a request would normally assume that the default "yes, I can do that" is understood by the asker and only needs a reply if they won't or can't do it. I'll assume that is the case here if you haven't heard otherwise. But if you need this to be explicit, ask, but say you're sorry for the inconvenience.


Advice for switching PhD programs back to my undergrad field I'm a first-year PhD student who switched from field X in my undergrad to field Y at my current university. The program I'm currently in is ranked #1 in field Y. I am genuinely unhappy here and am looking for advice on switching programs.

I joined this program because I had done research here before and enjoyed it, and it's an excellent university, so I figured it'd be a no-brainer. I was a little worried about switching fields, but everyone said things like "classes don't matter" or "choose the PI, not the school", so I figured this decision would be best. Unfortunately, I was mistaken.

I'm quickly learning that I do not have interest in many of the required courses (I think I wrongly convinced myself that I would), and there is a large amount of classes I need to take (about 12). I'm not enjoying the material I'm learning, and I'm also finding that I don't have many pre-requisite classes I need to truly excel and understand the material. I am sitting in on lower-level classes and giving it my all, but this is just adding on more and more time between myself and what I want to do -- research.

In all, I do not find myself happy here. I am very passionate about research still, and I think pursuing a PhD in my undergrad field at a different institution would be a better fit for me.

Does anyone have any advice about how to do this most effectively? I plan to be up-front with all those involved, and I intend to briefly but clearly explain why a new program would be a better intellectual fit than my current one without bashing my current university. I can get a strong letter from someone at my current university, although he is actually in the field I want to switch to, not the one I'm currently in. I hope my letters writers understand if I explain my scenario to them.

I imagine this will be a sticky situation, since I doubt I'll be funded to stay in the program next semester if they know I plan to leave, and I'm definitely not going to pay out of pocket. But I'm not going to lie by omission!

If anyone has been through this process, I would be eager to hear any advice. I just want to do this in the best way possible, for myself as an applicant and for others involved. I plan to re-apply to some universities I got accepted to in the past as well as other universities I didn't apply to before but think would match my interests.

I understand your concern about spring semester funding.  Why don't you put in some applications and wait until you get an acceptance before informing your current department?

I think your department will be glad you've got the self-awareness to realize when something isn't working.


When should I say I'm leaving my PhD program I am currently in my first year of a humanities PhD program at one of the ivy-league colleges, and I've decided to leave the program at the end of the  current spring term. (Yes, I'm 100% certain - I simply can't stand my field, dread every minute of my classes/research, and no longer desire to work in academia anyway. I also have been admitted to a certificate program elsewhere starting in the summer, and I have already accepted enrollment there.)

I do feel bad about quitting and want to tell my advisor and the director of graduate studies in my department that I'll be leaving at the end of May, so that it is not too sudden or abrupt. I have good grades and have never mentioned any problems with them out of politeness - none of my issues are the fault of the program; I am just a bad match for this work - so I'm fairly certain they do not suspect how I feel at all. I'm not especially close with either of them, but we do generally have a good relationship, I think. They both seem courteous and genuinely interested in helping me succeed in the program.

However, I am worried that if I tell them now, they will cut off my funding right away. (Normally, I would receive a stipend at the end of each month through May.) I need that money through May to pay for my current lease, which doesn't end until the summer. Basically, I would be in huge financial trouble if my funding ended now.

Is that even what would happen if I told them that I had decided to leave though? I am leaving without even a Master's degree, so I'm worried they won't see the point in letting me continue through to the end of the semester. I believe my funding cannot be terminated until my academic review at the end of May (and only then if I haven't received good marks), but I don't know if this guarantee would be voided by my decision to leave.

I would appreciate any advice for this situation. I believe the right thing to do is to be honest about my intention to leave, but practically, I also need to consider my immediate financial welfare.

This is an interesting question and it’s really more about ethics than academia.

I’m absolutely sympathetic to your position. You started your degree in good faith and have had a change of heart.

If I were in your position I would probably give them notice 1 month before you intend to leave. Is that the ethical thing to do? No. I think, ethically, you ought to tell them now, but as you say it may cause you financial trouble.

One thing you might do to mitigate your sense of taking advantage of the program is to be a good community member for this last semester. Help other students out. Volunteer for things when there is an opportunity to do so (like organizing seminars or even at the university level, like peer counseling) That way you can feel like the university is getting something back.

Another option is to be honest and then if you get cut off just get a job to pay your rent until your lease is up. Your PhD stipend can’t be so high that it would be impossible to find a job of equal pay.


Is it convenient to ask the journal's editor for two additional days to complete a review? I am assigned as a reviewer of an article for IEEE TNNLS (computer science), but unfortunately, I would be super busy during the week of the deadline. In fact, I need to submit a paper and also two postdoc applications during the same week.

I'm already trying to do as much as I can before that week, but it'd make things much easier (with better quality) if I can postpone the review at least for two more days. So, I like to know if it looks unprofessional to ask the editor for that extension and whether it'd damage my review performance/reputation in that journal?

Getting a review in two days late for a journal article is pretty common. I wouldn't worry about anything less than being a week late. For conferences, deadlines can be tighter, but 2 days is nothing. Ideally you would let the editor know your review will be a couple of days late, but even if you didn't, it is not the end of the world.


Should I put a theorem statement with a lot of hypotheses and notation in the introduction? I have a theorem which requires a lot of notation and explanation and hypotheses in order to state. I usually tend to put all theorem statements in the introduction of the paper so that someone can skim through the introduction to know what the paper is about. I am not sure how to put this very long theorem in the introduction without making the introduction unreadable.

Is there a standard procedure to follow in such cases?

Generally, I feel that the common approach is to sweep the details under the rug, and present a high level version of the theorem. For example:

  And finally, we prove that under certain assumptions about the automorphism group of a graph, G, that either G is “essentially” a Johnson graph or it has what we call the Splitting Property. This allows us to construct a new proof of Babai’s proof that GI is in quasipolynomial time that doesn’t rely on the classification theorem of finite groups.

What is meant by “”essentially” as Johnson graph,” or what the “Splitting Property” is will be defined later, but they need not be explained in the introduction. The important thing is to give a gloss explains why someone would want to keep reading.
For another example,

  We then define a particular distance metric on circle and prove that, under certain modality assumptions, that this distance metric captures the intuitive concept of roundness.

You can also provide pointers to later in the paper where words like “a particular distance metric” or “the Splitting property” is defined.


Affiliation for publication I recently got accepted into one of the schools in Europe. According to the anticipated date mentioned in the offer letter, my studies will start in Dec 2017. Now, the problem is that I've got two papers ready for submission at the moment and I don't have the faintest idea what to put for my affiliation. Any ideas?

Just to clarify that this question is not a duplicate:
When I was working on the above-mentioned studies, I was not either employed by or affiliated with my former university. My former supervisor did help me out with some parts of the papers, but rather as a colleague or a friend than as a "supervisor" in the true sense of the word.

Thank you

I think it is a common practice as your affiliation you use the one that you had during performing the work. This is especially true when you do not have new affiliation. For example, a PhD student that publishes his/her PhD paper while he/she is already two years into a postdoc. Many people will still leave the PhD affiliation, probably also add new one. Otherwise, it will look weird that affiliation of your and your advisor is different.


Are there guidelines for amount and content of text in figure captions for theses? In writing my thesis in geosciences I have a number of figures with a fair amount of text content. Is there some limit I should adhere to -- say for example max 5 lines -- before I should just write 'refer to text'?
A related question is where citations should go, especially in the case of several needed for one figure (e.g. a plot of n sets of data from n different sources). Again, is there some point where I should say refer to text for citations?

I would imagine this may vary from field to field, but in the biological sciences the caption text in journal publications is often verbose to the point of absurdity. That being said, I would simply use common sense; If the description takes more than a paragraph, you should definitely "refer to text". Generally speaking, the caption is simply a textual guide as to how to read the plot, with (maybe) a sentence drawing the reader's attention to a particular feature of the plot. It should mostly describe the plot, and only sparingly discuss it.


How to determine who is the PI and who the co-PI? Suppose I submit a grant application with other investigators. The application form has one "PI" and some more "co-PI"-s.

Is it important who of us is the "PI" and who is the "co-PI"?
E.g., is being a "PI" like being a first author on a paper, which (in some disciplines) is considered more highly than being a second author?

Is there a common way to decide who gets to be the PI and who the co-PI, e.g., by alphabetic order of surnames (like the author order in some disciplines)?

There are some significant issues that may influence the selection of a PI versus a co-PI or co-I. There are grants where eligibility requirements may vary, depending on whether someone is a PI versus a co-I. For instance, some programs may have a requirement that an investigator may apply for only one grant as a PI, but could act as a co-investigator on multiple proposals.

In addition, the PI will likely have additional reporting requirements or be responsible for ensuring the coordination of reporting for the entire team.

There might also be "programmatic" reasons for selecting the PI—for instance, if the program is designed to particularly support a particular kind of institution, having someone from that kind of institution as PI could be useful.

But, in general, there are so many different programs that, in the absence of more specific information about the program, it's hard to give any kind of general guidance about how to select a PI.


How can I find papers that are not sponsored by industry? Are there any databases or search filters for published peer-reviewed articles, particularly concerning environmental issues, that are neither affiliated with nor funded by corporate interests?
I am trying to find peer-reviewed articles on the history and impact of plastics pollution. Most articles I have found either have authors affiliated with petroleum/packaging/fast-moving consumer good companies, were commissioned by those companies, or received funding influenced by those companies.
I am not asking whether industry-sponsored papers are less accurate, as this has been asked before. I understand that high-quality independent research can emerge from (and be enabled by) corporate funds, and that every funding source has biases of some kind.
I would just like to know how to find articles whose authors and funding have no corporate ties.
Additionally, I understand that not all connections with industry are apparent. As an example, one article encouraging plastics packaging had no author affiliations but received funding from a major English research council. Although this council describes itself as independent, its directors' declarations of interest contain many corporate ties, including to petroleum giants. Since this is indirect, I would not expect it to qualify as "industry-sponsored."

If you have access to Web of Science, there is an option to sort by funding agencies. Clicking the "more options" link also allows you to exclude funding agencies. It's not perfect since the last time I used it there were quite a lot of false positives & negatives, but it's better than nothing.


Finish previous work during current position I will soon change of lab, moving from a PhD student position to post-doc position. During the last months of my contract as a PhD student, I tried to finish everything I started but I still have a few projects in progress. These projects include collaborative paper with other groups, so I am not the only one involved.

I was wondering what was the general agreement when changing position with unfinished project.  I see three main possibilities here:

At the beginning of the new contract, I spend all my time finishing the previous project so I do not have to worry about them for too long (but I do not start right away to work for my new boss)
I spend one day per week (for instance) working for the past project and the rest for the current one
I do not work at all on the previous project during office hours, but rather after work and during the week-end (which I would prefer not to do)

I have to precise that my future boss is not involved in the project I would need to finish. I also plan to ask him the question directly when I start the new position, but I thought a little background about what is commonly done could be beneficial before starting this discussion.

NB: this question is different from this one since it does not concern the ownership of the research, but rather on how to spend the time in the lab.

As an academic working with a couple of post-docs, my rule is you can do what you want with your time as long as you do what is required for the project that employs you.
It is also the case that I know (and indeed expect) that post-docs will have work of their own that they'll want to finish up or extend.

I would not be happy with option 1, but option 2 would be good for me. Weekends are your own. If you spend them writing more papers, I will not object. But please do have some rest and relaxation time.

As a post-doc, you are starting to build your own career, so writing independent papers, and thereby forging your own way,  is a good thing. But there are a lot of benefits to be had from integrating yourself in your new working environment, and working too much on your own stuff means that you will miss that opportunity (and possibly make a bad impression).


Summer Schools and academic career There are some prominent summer schools in CS (ML in particular) like MLS (Machine Learning Summer School).

What is the impact of attending such program on academic careers? (or applying for graduate programs)

For example,
LxMLS (Lisbon Machine Learning School) this year has ~ 150 selected participants from all over the world.

The summer school offers the following things:

Lectures (from basics to advanced topics)
Lab sessions
Talks
Poster Session (based on which the students were selected)

Would it be a worthwhile investment of 1000-1200$ (Assuming I have the means to fund myself) or are such opportunities common and easily funded in US and I should be looking at not attending and saving money?

What else would this summer school bring forth for a recently graduated undergrad student?

Some of the summer schools have courses which can be treated as university credit equivalents. Is this true for all summer schools?

Background: A student interested in Machine Learning and Natural Language Processing and has taken online courses in these subjects.

I'm a PhD student in my final months, I'm in a different field (geophysics), but I've been to some summer-schools that I found very valuable.  One lecturer even stated that summer schools are the best forum for scientific exchange.  The summer schools I've been to didn't have as many participants as yours, but still, besides from the obvious point of acquiring knowledge and skills, summer school permit you to:

Meet and talk to senior people in your field
Meet other students, who may be going to be the future senior people in your field

The bottom line is: A summer school is as good as its lecturers are.  Look at the list of lecturers, and ask a senior scientist you know to look at the list.  Are there many famous names?  Go for it.  Are those mainly lecturers who spend most of their time teaching at not so well known institutes?  Then you can probably spend your time and money better elsewhere.  Depending on what's included (lodging/meals/...) and on how long it takes, 1000$ is not bad, although of course it's better if you can find someone else to pay it for you ;).


"Full" versions versus "Preliminary" version of result/paper. Are they considered different? This is a common pattern in publications, not exclusive to my field (TCS):

  An author submits a paper to a conference (as preliminary version). Then, after acceptance to a conference, virtually the same paper (modulo some modifications, etc mostly in length but rarely in any conceptual level) is submitted to a journal, possibly with a different title (but not always). The latter is called full version. In many cases, the two versions are indistinguishable and in most cases epsilon away (for a small epsilon).

At the end, the author has two publications (conference+journal) from practically the same technical result.

  Is this considered as one or two publications? (technically of course are two different publications, but how people perceive that?)

From what I have seen, this is generally considered as 2 publications. So, an author with 5 results that follows the above pattern will have 5 conferences + 5 journals = 10 publications. Another author with again 5 results that are submitted only directly to journals (for one reason or the other, for example lack of travel funding from the institution) will have only 5 publications and, subsequently, will be ranked lower than the first author/candidate.

  My question is:  How do academic people perceive the same publication that has been published in a conference as a short version and, subsequently, in a journal as a long version where both versions contain virtually the same text/results. How can someone evaluate this when sometimes these two publications appear with a different title?

I don't think this question has a universal or near-universal answer.  Different people, or even sometimes the same person in different contexts, will count differently if they need to count at all.

More generally, I don't think anyone actually makes decisions based on raw counts of papers, though plenty of people try to justify their decisions to others based on raw counts.

Two versions of the same paper count as two if the person doing the counting wants to make you look better and count as one if the person doing the counting wants to make you look worse.


Should I use recommendation letter from young professor I worked with or well-known professor I met in class? I'm choosing reference writers for my math PhD application this year, and need to decide between the 2 following professors:

Professor X is a young professor with whom I took measure theory and
did a research project in my freshman year. The project went pretty
well - we obtained some results earlier than he expected, and
published a paper. He moved to another university and no longer
worked with me, but we still keep in touch.
Professor Y is a fairly well-known professor whom I met at a 1-month
summer workshop. I didn't interact much with her outside of the
classroom, but she seemed to like me: after the workshop, she said she
was really impressed by me and voluntarily asked if I want a
recommendation letter from her.

Neither professor works in the field that I plan to study in grad school.

I often hear that "good at research" letters are way better than "do well in class" ones. However, in my sophomore year, I applied to some REU programs with professor X's letter (and another not so strong "do well in class" letter), and was rejected by all of them. Of course the recommendation is just one factor, but I think my course work was not bad - probably better than many of my junior friends who were admitted. My Putnam score was pretty good too, although I don't think it mattered. The following year I reapplied with both professor X's and Y's letters, and got first round offers from most of the programs.

Do you think this indicates that professor Y's letter substantially strengthened my application, or actually REU programs looked at some other factors I wasn't aware of? Do grad schools and REU programs look at recommendations the same way? Which letter would you recommend me to use? I can't use both because I have 2 other letters already, and many grad schools say they may not read more than 3 letters.

Thank you very much.

Edit:

About the 2 other reference writers that I've already chosen: both did research with me, one of them also taught me several courses.
The other letter I used in my sophomore year (along with professor X's) was probably not that bad. The reference writer said he was pretty impressed that my course grade was 95% or something, while everyone else got less than 60%. It's just that I didn't do research with him.

Your REU evidence that X wrote you a weak letter is not very strong.  I run an REU, and we accept less than 3% of our applicants.  Our target participants are either legendary at small colleges (best in a decade), or excellent at top universities (top 25% this year at Harvard).  Plenty of excellent people get turned away for essentially random reasons.  Maybe one of your letters was submitted late.  Maybe you forgot to list a course on your application that was considered essential that year.  Maybe I had a bad burrito for lunch and hated your essay when I read it.  Maybe there were just lots of really good applicants that year.  And yes, maybe professor X (or professor Z, the other letter-writer) said or implied something negative about you.

In addition, Professor Y offering to write on your behalf after a one month course says more about her than it does about you.  This does not guarantee that she will write a strong letter, and if she does she may write strong letters for a lot of people, which might be known by the people reading her letters.

Here is my advice.  Go to Professor Y and tell her that you did research with Professor X and published a paper together.  Then, ask her whether you should ask for X's recommendation or hers.  If she really feels that you are spectacular, she will insist on writing the letter herself.


Does a long period in an MSc program look bad on a CV? I'm an MSc student in (pure) math. Based on CV's I've seen of professors and post-docs in the field, it seems that almost all of them graduated in about 2 years. Where I study (let's say, medium-level university) it's common that most good students graduate in 2.5-3 years (with 2 years being the "standard" period of time by the definition of our graduate program).

I expect to graduate a year from now, 3.5 years from the start of my studies. If I decide to apply to a US university for a PhD, I might need to wait another year till the beginning of the PhD program, since I won't make it to the closest deadline.

Would something like this look bad on my CV when applying to a PhD program, or to any further academic position? What would be the best way to deal with the one-year gap in the latter case? Would it be better to extend my MSc studies to 4.5 years to avoid a gap? (In any case I'm planning to continue doing research during that time.)

This question might be considered related: My PhD went over time - advice for explaining this on a CV
However I find it different in that the OP is asking about a PhD degree, which is a different stage in one's career, they are planning to look for a job in industry as opposed to academia, and the question deals with some ethics involved.

The gap year isn't a big deal, but taking so much longer than normal to graduate does look bad.  You should try to address it in your statement of purpose.

Of course, after you get a PhD nobody will notice or care how long it took to get your MSc.


Does a PhD student and first author choose the journal or their supervisor? Does a PhD student and first author choose the journal or their supervisor?

This is in the case where negotiations have failed.
Who should get the final say or keeps this right?

All authors have to agree to the publication of a paper, and any author can veto signing away the copyright.  So, keep negotiating :)


What's the chance of a lecturer in foreign country to obtain a teaching job in US community college? I'm asking this question for my mom, who has been a college lecturer for 20+ years in communication study related field in non-English speaking country. She got her master degree in US back in 1990.

My parents received their green cards(US permanent resident) about 3 years ago and are debating between whether to completely stay in US (so they can satisfy the requirement of applying for citizenship as soon as possible) or to stay in US just enough to keep the permanent resident (so they can still work in the home country for a while).

The issue is, if both of them quit their jobs to completely settle in US. In the next few years the only income of the family will mostly** be my* TA-ship as a Ph.D. student (in math), which can hardly support the entire family.

Therefore, my mom contacted me and asked me this question recently. I have little idea about it, so I'm looking for help here.

Thanks for any suggestion in advance.

*I'm a US citizen who was born in the US.

**My dad can work online, but the income will drop significantly.

The safe thing to do is to assume, for the time being, that their stay in the U.S. should be minimalist, and that they should hold onto their existing jobs in their home country.  However, your mother could certainly apply for some teaching positions in the U.S., and if the job search goes well, your parents could change plans at that point.  (However, even in that case, I would advise them not to burn their bridges right away.)

Community college jobs do not necessarily pay very well, and there is no guarantee of getting such a position, for anyone, at any given time in any given location.


How to get the word out about an academic competition? I'm hosting an academic competition, and I need to get the word out to any peers that may be interested in participating. My advisor told me to search for academic mailing lists, but I can't find any. What are the best venues to get the word out about academic information? I'm particularly interested in publicizing the competition throughout the USA and Brazil, but any advice is warmly welcomed.

Clarification: My objective is not spamming or any kind of malicious activities. The same way that conferences and activities are spread by someone inside the universities, I would like to reach to reach a wide audience to invite them to participate in the competition, with pure academic interests---specially since the competition is part of an international conference.

The topic is related to machine learning. But any tips for any kind of topic are welcome.

If you are aiming to reach out to members of a specific field, then I'd suggest reaching out to the department chairs of universities that offer it. For example, if you are looking into something designed for communications majors, professors, etc., then perhaps look up colleges with communications programs. Then find the contact information for the department chair and send them an email. You can repeat this for as many schools as necessary.

If you are going for something a bit broader, you may want to call the administrative offices for the schools, or see if they have an email address that you can contact them through.

This way, if the message comes across more like spam, then hopefully you've irked as few people as possible. If it's useful and the recipient is interested, then they will have the ability to disperse the information throughout their department or university. It's a lot of work, but sometimes that is what is necessary.


Emailing two professors who've co-authored papers I'm interested on working on I'm interested in a graduate program, and I've identified a topic and idea that I have in mind for research. However, the related papers have been co-authored by two professors in the same department, who also head the related research labs together, as well. I want to contact them about research opportunities.

How would I go about emailing them? What's the right etiquette?

Email both of them individually
CC both of them in one intro email
Choose one of them and email only them

Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

From what you've said, it sounds like they're of equal status and you've given no indication that the work you may want to do is likely to be of more obvious relevance to one than the other.

As long as this is the case I would suggest contacting them both in an initial email. If you're looking to arrange a meeting with them then you could mention that you're happy to meet with them individually or as a pair.

Contacting them both at once gives you the benefit of increasing the chance that you'll get a response, while it provides them the opportunity to decide for themselves which of them (if not both) maintains contact with you. Furthermore, even if you only get into a dialogue with one of them, because you've copied in both from the beginning the other should  be able to track what's been discussed.

If my initial assumption is incorrect and it's obvious that one of them may be more relevant to your interests (e.g., if one is the "theory-person" and the other is the "methodology-person") then you may want to consider contacting that one individually, but even still I would suggest there are advantages to approaching both at once.


Can this be counted as a research experience for Grad school? I've recently completed my bachelors in Mechanical Engineering from India. In my last year, I worked on two four-month projects in two leading research institutes affiliated to the government of India. Both projects needed tons of literature survey and calculations. However, I didn't make any prototype. Everything from design and analysis was on software. My supervisors found everything satisfactory. I was also responsible for designing certain things not related to my project too. I am confused if everything above mentioned counts as a 'research experience' for applying to Grad school and emailing to professors seeking students to apply for MASc. positions.

Sure it counts as research experience!

"Research experience" is different than asking for a completed research project or a publication. It just means you have some experience with some aspect(s) of the research process.

When speaking/writing about the experience, just be clear and honest about what parts you were involved with, and show your understanding of how what you did fit into the overall picture of the project(s) you participated in. The general format is roughly: "I worked on a project to improve multiple crop yields using modern furniture design. After reviewing the literature in the area of agricultural design and art deco stylization of farm equipment, I designed and analyzed the effectiveness of apple hammocks on crop yield, which led to blah blah blah. I also assisted with other projects, designing pineapple cradles, a hollow wine cork, and system for drying finger towels more efficiently."

The people evaluating your application want to know what you did and what parts of the research process you have experience with, so don't worry if your experience wasn't completely end-to-end from concept to publication, that's the norm.


How to politely ask my thesis advisor that I want to work independently as the meetings are not productive for me? I am a master student, my advisor gave me a topic he is not an expert at, a new field to him.
The point is he is not an expert in the field he throw me in, he doesn't even give me technical advice in the topic when I ask, he is very old and lazy and the topic is a bit different than what he used to publish in so he doesn't understand much of what I am saying and partly because he doesn't have a background in the field, the meetings are not productive. I stopped visiting and now he blames me in front of his colleagues!
I am very irritated, I am not benefiting from the meetings why should I waste my time. I am fine working on my own! Like now it is my mistake really?
How to politely tell him "your meetings are not beneficial and I will work on my own"?

The goal of a master's degree is (among others) learning the first steps of doing research. Most master students are not great at that yet. That's what your advisor is for. They are the persons that can help you to become a better researcher, on how to structure your thesis, on what your priorities should be, how to approach people who might be experts in this field.
Another thing that this advisor might be able to help you with is your communication. You say that he doesn't understand what you are saying because he does not have a background in the field. I've heard/read (forgotten the source) an idea along the following lines:

If somebody doesn't understand what I am explaining, it doesn't mean that they are not intelligent enough to understand, it means that I should explain it better.

This only holds up to some degree, but given that this is an academic advisor, you should be able to explain your ideas and thoughts in a way that they can understand.
Abandoning the meetings doesn't sound like a way to handle this where you end up with a good thesis. Your advisor will be grading you and it is your best interest to make the thesis in such a way that they understand and are comfortable reading.


How should I interpret "English is poor" review when I used a language check service before submission? Recently I submitted a manuscript to an international journal. It was accepted with a minor revision, but I am worried about the reviewers’ comments. The first reviewer commented that the paper is well written but it still needs some English improvements. The second reviewer also commented that English improvements are required.

I have gotten similar comments regarding English in my earlier publications, but in those times I used to submit manuscripts without making an English native check. (However, I always do an English native check after getting comments about English.)

This time, I submitted my manuscript after making an English native check by a reputed company (who had worked for my earlier publications). The only modifications I made after this check were those suggested by the language check service: for example, where they said to add a "the" in a sentence. I added a "the". I didn't make any modifications other than those I was directed to make by the language check service.

Still, I got a similar suggestion to improve the English.

So what should I think about the reviews? Is it a frequent feedback that all reviewers give?

There are several possibilities here, although generally they all have the same solution.

The English is poor or incorrect and the company did not check it well

It is possible that the company that checked your article did a bad job. This happens. Maybe the service did not have a native English speaker check your article. Maybe they had a bad day. Maybe they don't provide good service, and you just got lucky on previous times. It's hard to say.

The English is grammatical, but not idiomatic

It is possible that the company that checked your article fixed all the grammatical mistakes, but that there are still some phrasings which are not idiomatic or particularly natural. This is essentially a function of how detailed the corrections were. For example, here is the first paragraph of your post:

  Recently I had submitted a Manuscript to an International Journal. Though it is accepted as a Minor revision, but I am worried about the reviewer's comment. First reviewer has commented that the Paper is well written, still needs some English improvements. Second reviewer has also commented that English improvements is required.

There are some small grammatical errors, and I can correct them as follows (in bold):

  Recently I had submitted a manuscript to an international journal. Though it is was accepted as a minor revision, but I am worried about the reviewer's comment. The first reviewer has commented that the paper is well written, but still needs some English improvements. The second reviewer has also commented that English improvements is are required.

While this paragraph is now grammatically correct, it still does not feel like it was written by a native speaker, and the way some words are used is a little odd. (E.g. using though and but in the second sentence; you really only need one of them.) So, a more thorough checking would suggest edits like the following:

  Recently I had submitted a manuscript to an international journal. Though it is was accepted as a Minor revision pending minor revisions, but I am worried about the reviewers's comments. The first reviewer has commented that the paper is well written, but still needs some English improvements. The second reviewer has also commented that English improvements is are required.

The checking service could have done the first step (making it grammatically correct) without following through on the second step (making it idiomatic). The second step is much harder, of course, as it requires knowledge of what style is appropriate for your field (and for the journal you are writing for), and, to some extent, it requires technical knowledge of whatever you're writing about.

The English is fine, the reviewer is just being picky

Academic articles are complex and often involve detailed theoretical or technical discussion. At times, they can be hard to follow. Sometimes this complexity is interpreted as poor language skills, and reviewers complain. I know more than one native English speaker who has received reviews asking them to check their article with a native speaker. In essence, this criticism relates to how the content is presented rather than linguistic concerns like grammaticality or phrasing.

The solution

It is not easily possible for you to determine right now which of the above scenarios has happened. However, a big help would be for you to show the manuscript to a trusted colleague who is a native speaker of English, and ask them how it reads. If the English is really atrocious, then you know you have a problem with the checking service; if there are some unusual phrases but it's otherwise fine, then you know the problem is that it's occasionally un-idiomatic; and if there are no obvious problems, then it's probably just an issue of reviewer interpretation.

The other step you should take is to re-read your manuscript and attempt to make complex exposition more clear. (This is a step I advise everyone to do at basically every stage of the writing process...) This will help your article in the case that the English was fine but the reviewer was just confused.

Finally, breathe and relax. Your article was accepted, congratulations! Clearly the reviewers and the editor thought that the scientific content was sufficient to merit publication.


Balancing between students who do homework and those who do not This other question is about assigning videos as homework and this one is about what to do when students do not do their homework. However, there is another question to ask which is similar, but I think different, from these two.

If you have a class of 70 students and you assign some homework on which you will base the following class, and 40% of the students do not do the homework, that subsequent class becomes quite unmanageable. If you proceed as scheduled, the 40% will be lost, they cannot contribute, and eventually become distracting for the rest of the class.

If you do not run the class as scheduled, the students who did the homework the first time will see there is little benefit of doing the home and little cost of not doing it. For this reason, in the past, I have been quite strict. Students who did not do the homework get kicked out and marked absent (too many absences and they automatically fail the module). The problem with this approach is that kicking 40% out leaves me with a very high failure rate and in the end I just end up taking time which would otherwise be free for me to do as I wish and I must dedicate that time to these students who failed (for whatever reason).

So, I find myself in a difficult situation. Kicking students out hurts them but hurts me too. The problem is that I value my time much more than they value theirs so it ends up hurting me more than them. If I don't kick them out, my schedule gets destroyed.

How can one find balance in the classroom when a large percentage of students do not do the homework? Is there a way other than simply removing large chunks and failing them? Is thee a more enlightened way?

Important Note: In my modules grades are pass/fail - I do not have the option to simply lower their grade.

If 40% of the students aren't doing their homework, and you rely upon students doing homework for your pedagogy style to work, then something is seriously wrong.

You have two options:

(1) Make homework dramatically more appealing.

Put much more effort into the homework--make it fun!  E.g. calculate strain on an iPhone screen instead of a aluminum sheet; don't have someone read a novel but rather ask key questions about it such as to list all the times some character/historical figure expressed defiance against the state.
Institute quizzes that are drawn directly from the homework.  Do them practically every day.  Staring at a blank sheet of paper and not knowing what to do is a lot more uncomfortable than hearing you babble about something incomprehensible.
Change the grading scheme so homework is most of the grade (if you're allowed).

(2) Make homework dramatically less necessary.  (Note: usually not an option for mathematics.)

Do the key problems on the board in class instead of assigning them as homework.  (Assign a similar problem as homework, possibly after you've done it in class.)  Not possible for literature review, of course.
Rely upon in-class participation instead (if you have the personality to make it work, and the homework is of the right type).
Don't make the learning environment one which requires the students to do the homework in order to understand most of the next lecture.  Lecture on the important points, review at the end of one lecture and the beginning of the next, and go on.  They might not develop their skills at doing problems, but at least they'll have some hope of following for a while.  Probably won't work with literature, but almost everything else can be quite successful.


Applying to a full time lecturer post in the UK in a psychology related field I am a non-European applying from outside of the UK. I need to come up with realistic external funding ideas for the next three years. I have a good idea of what kind of research I would like to do but there is no definite plan. Any resources to consider for funding are greatly appreciated.

I'm from a physical science field in the UK, so things could vary in different faculties.
From my experience, new faculty at research intensive UK universities are usually required to apply for a New Investigator Grant during their first 3 years as part of their probation. Hiring committees will therefore be looking to see that you have plans which have a realistic chance of winning such an award. It's important that your plans for this award have an appropriate scope. You can find information about the ESRC New Investigator Grant here: https://www.ukri.org/opportunity/esrc-new-investigator-grant/
That is probably the most important one to mention. But mentioning other plausible pathways to funding is also helpful. Depending on exactly what your research interests are, a few other popular UK funders which may be relevant are:

Wellcome Trust
Leverhulme Trust
Royal Society

If you have experience with EU grants such as Horizon Europe (which the UK remains a part of despite brexit), this would be worth mentioning. But I get the impression applying for such grants is not common/expected from junior academics. If you are working in Clinical psychology then you would probably need to look for more medical related funding, in particular through the MRC, which I am not very familiar with.
UK academia is very interested in the impact of research due to the Research Excellence Framework. If you can show how your research has/does/will generate impact this will be to your advantage.


co-authorship for software adaption Beside the determination of a property of newly prepared compounds, I aimed for a comparision with the value of the same property for already literature-known materials.  During this meta-analysis I became aware of a program that may assist this process.

In a first attempt, the software performed better than I expected.  It looked like the potential field of application was more general than the one initially described in an accompanying publication for this program. I contacted the developer to check if the results still were reasonable with this "version A" of the softwared.  The developer was surprised the algorithm implemented performs so well even in cases initially not envisaged / estimated as "too difficult" back then the software was released initially, confirmed the results, provided hints "how to do even better" and improved the software further into "version A+".

The question is in the context of writing up for a publication.  The intended paper's barycentre will not be the aforementioned meta-analysis with this software.  Certainly the developer will appear in the literature references for the initial publication presenting the software.  Where however discern between a special acknowledgement in the publication, on one hand, and co-authorship, on the other?  As "version A" was performing well, offering already the insight sought-after, yet "version A+" does so even better?

So far, to express gratitude for the assistance provided by the developer in the section "acknowledgements"  is the minimum to do.

As you're feeling, this is a greyish area.  To me, it depends on the paper itself.  If the paper really focuses on using this software to do something, this would nudge me toward offering authorship -- and I would ask the developer to fully participate in manuscript prep.  The credibility/knowlege of the developer may well make your paper better, and might be of help depending on how it is received by the referees.

If the use of the software amounts to a sentence in the methods section, I would acknowledge.


Do US universities use GPA according to transcript evaluation services or internal evaluation? I would like to know, if given both options, which of the options, would officials at the american universities follow?

By internal evaluation, my GPA at some of the universities is translated/scored as 2.87/4.00. Disbarring me from all of their programs.

By WES evaluation, my GPA is translated/scored as 3.25/4.00. This option allows me to run/apply for all the programs at the said universities.

Which of these evaluations would the university use?

Does WES's evaluation hold any weight?

Wouldn't this be a problem for those who are not aware of such services?

As far as I know, American universities do not rely on "transcript evaluation services"; they ask you to convert your GPA to whatever system they happen to use, since there are so many of them out there (5-point versus 4-point systems, A+/A/A- versus A/B/C, and so on).

You could of course provide the results of such an evaluation service, but I would not expect it to carry any weight with admissions committees, who can accept or ignore it as they please.


How to add ResearchGate preprints manually to google scholar? Is there any way of adding my ResearchGate preprints manually on Google Scholar? If no, will Google Scholar automatically add it to my scholar profile? Can other authors cite my ResearchGate preprints?
For the manual addition of my paper, I have performed the following steps.
For the manual addition of my paper at first I tried with Add articles option but I did not find it on scholar. Then I tried with Add articles manually but I did not find any preprint option there.
,

Google Scholar may well index your preprint on ResearchGate automatically after a few days, although it's rarely possible to be sure what Google Scholar will do, since it appears to run largely unattended.
You can manually add articles to your Google Scholar profile by going to your profile page and clicking on the plus icon just above the list of your publications:

Other people can cite anything you post to ResearchGate, although the citation format will depend on the citation standard (Harvard, APA, MLA etc) that they are using. ResearchGate says it issues DOIs for preprints, which make it easier to cite them.


Combining a conference with a personal vacation I received a funding offer from a conference overseas (as a PhD student), which includes accommodation and travel. I was wondering whether it is ethical to combine this business trip with a personal vacation? That is, to arrive e.g. a week or two before the conference (and of course pay for lodging in this "personal segment" from my own funds) and just get to know the country where the conference is held? Is it acceptable to email the organizers asking whether I'm permitted to come early? (This is needed to make sure that the airfare for such an early arrival is still reimbursable.)

I understand that this can be treated as an abuse of the conference's money, but on the other hand, it does not make any financial difference if I come earlier (however, see the remark below). And I'm still going to keep attending the conference as my main purpose. Moreover, coming earlier may result in purchasing a cheaper plane ticket (around 200 USD cheaper), in which case the conference's funds will only benefit.

Yes, it is typical to take personal time before or after a conference. Funding from your university would not usually mind.

Conference funds may be a little less flexible, so you should certainly check with them. With evidence in hand it will be cheaper for them, I find it unlikely they would decline.


Does an admissions committee check if a student retook a class Many schools around me (in asia) allow a student to retake any class, regardless of grade, and replace it on their transcript.  Is it normal for an admissions committee to query if the school an applicant is from allows this, or is it not thought of at all?

If the class shows up twice on your transcript, the committee will know you retook it.  But they probably won't care.

If it doesn't, it won't even occur to them to ask.  (At least in my experience.)


Is it possible to "convert" my EdD into a PhD, now that the university I went to offers a PhD in education? About 5 years ago, I completed the 5 year process of completing my EdD at a reputable, large public university. At the time, they did not offer the course of study as a PhD. My faculty were reassuring that the rigor of the degree was on par, just with the Education titling.

Well... with next year's course catalog, they are now offering both a EdD and PhD path. My frustration is that the courses I took and dissertation requirements mostly match the new PhD curriculum.

For the most part, I wouldn't worry too much. Except I work in an industry role, and am constantly explaining the nature of my degree.

Is there any precedent for a university grandfathering in old graduates with a new program definition, or other recourse I might have? Could/Should they allow me to complete any gap requirements and reissue as a PhD? My biggest fear is that people would pull up my schools program, and assume I completed their new EdD curriculum which is lighter than their new PhD curriculum (again, which more closely resembles what I completed).

What are your thoughts? How would you approach this situation?

I would petition the school. The same happened to me when I went through the Ed.D. program, and then right after graduation, they became a Ph.D. program.  Because many of my credits were transferred and I did the dissertation through the new school, they originally issued me a Ed.D.; however, my credits and curriculum more closely matched their Ph.D. program. Once I petitioned, they as of this week, converted my Ed.D. to a Ph.D. and reissued me new transcripts and a diploma with the original date of my Ed.D. on it from 2016.  I think it's possible, it's just that many people would not go through the rigor to request it.  Good luck!


risk of shifting to online learning permanently My university, like many others, has recently moved to remote teaching in response to the corona virus situation. In my department, the faculty have taken the lead on finding and adopting solutions to the difficulties posed by the transition. I am a postdoc and not directly involved in a lot of the big changes. But I wonder if the faculty are sealing their fate, being so helpful when there is a counterparty, the administration, that may not have the faculty's best interests at heart (note, I have no direct knowledge either way).

Specifically, barring any big disasters in remote teaching these next weeks/months, I would guess 1) smaller schools close to insolvency, many of which have closed these last few years, would instead have an opportunity to cut costs by dispensing with or heavily decreasing in-person instruction, without facing the PR issues or other pushback that would otherwise bring, and 2) even in schools with secure finances, or where it is unrealistic to get rid of in-person instruction, professors would lose a lot of bargaining power in any negotiations with the administration, since they will be regarded as that much less necessarily. Possibly the next few weeks/months will demonstrate that the professors are in fact less necessary, and remote learning is perhaps preferable. I am not really asking about that, my question is more selfish as someone going on the job market soon. Are these outcomes likely? This type of concern must be on the radar of professors' unions, no?

Well, based on the 3 institutions I have close contact with, their attempts in the past few weeks hardly represent a shining example of hugely successful online learning! It feels more like the Keystone Kops!

That bit of snark out of the way, effective teaching in the online/MOOC/e-channel, etc. is not easy, and making the transition between a face to face course and an effective online course requires a lot of thought and a lot of design a prep, which of course no-one has has time to do this time around. So my snark was not meant as a true criticism, but at the same time, it means that mainstream universities' efforts in the balance of this semester are themselves unlikely to make anyone -- teachers or learners -- say, "hey, that went really well; let's dispense with classroom instruction altogether".

That being said, I do think this will strongly accelerate the shift towards e-learning in the medium- and long-term, and that in 2 ways.

In the long term, this will make e-learning a much more mainstream offering that students and faculty will become more comfortable exploring and integrating into the curriculum. Forced immersion brings familiarity and less fear. Up to now, in North America at least, we tended to have old-school in-person institutions, a few more e-learning focused disruptor institutions, and a select few dabbling in MOOCs layered on top of their usual approach. There was a lot of mutual mistrust. That will lessen. And just like a greater degree of teleworking throughout the economy, with the Pandora's box on it opened, will persist past current social isolation, so will demand for -- and willingness of faculty to explore -- e-learning.
Next year, there will be a lot of financially and emotionally wounded students, whose life plan took a pretty big hit. Some will be keen and able to return to their university campuses and continue as before. Some won't be, and when they get their affairs in order a few years later, in a world that will have lived through months of forced virtual work and socialization, they will probably be keener to explore online offerings than they were previously. And the more they start work somewhere and become mature learners, or the more straitened their financial circumstances become, the more they will seek out good-value-for-money education with schedule and geographic flexibility, and the less they'll be keen to return and pay for the conventional on-campus student experience. Of course that won't apply to all, but I suspect to enough that it will make a difference at the macro level.


What can you get from submitting an abstract? I work for a technical company at the interface between engineering practice and research. Since we have to deal with academia on a daily basis, I have seen many calls for "Abstract submission". Generally these calls are associated with some sort of academic conference that is focused on a particular topic. It is also subject to deadlines and regulations. Several universities, research institutions and even private/public entities might be participating at these conferences.

My question is this: What can you actually get from submitting an abstract? Why do these conferences even request abstract submission? What do they get from it? Why are abstract submissions important and why do people do them?

You submit an abstract to a conference if you would like to give a talk there. The abstract is then used to determine whether or not you get that chance (based on how interesting/relevant/sound the abstract is judged for that particular conference). So for the conference, this lets them filter (a bit) the talks that get presented there, for the author, this is the prerequisite for being allowed to give a talk.

Giving a talk at a conference is a means for a researcher to disseminate their research ideas and to advertise themselves. Discussions following a talk can lead to future collaborations, and giving the right talk at the right time can lead to eg a postdoc position.

"Talks given" is also a typical category on a CV, so even beyond the immediate talk, the fact that you gave the talk can be beneficial in competing for jobs.


How an international student can get a grant by himself? First of all, I am open for a new title for this question to help me reach more people.

I am an international Masters student at a top 5 electrical engineering program in USA. I applied for a PhD though, but given admit in Masters program. I have spent two semesters already. Currently, I am doing an internship at a reputed company. Five months ago, I started working under a professor, who then just finished his post-doc from one of the best institutions. I still work for him during my spare time, and things look very promising (prospects of a paper). While working on the internship, I realized how much I want to do PhD.

Now, my department allows transition from MS to PhD given adviser's recommendation. However, my adviser tries to avoid the questions about PhD. Possible reasons could be that he is getting smarter students from his post-doc university next semester. Also, he can't afford too many students given he is extremely new.

Now, at this stage I don't think I can get another PhD adviser as I haven't worked for anyone else.

Another catch is that my university's tuition fees is very high, and a PhD would have eliminated the fees for the next year. But, that is not the reason of pursuing a PhD.

So, I am thinking if I could get a grant based on my own research to fund the upcoming year, that would have been great. Remember, I am an international student.

Typically grants for international students in the U.S. are extremely limited because all government/state grants are only for US citizens or permanent residents (you need to have a green card). Depending on your field though private companies, NGOs and other entities whose funding doesn't come from public sources, will have grants that are open to non-US citizens.
The other option is to apply to grants through your advisor, so he would "sign" the grant proposal under his name but you prepare the proposal. Keep in mind that in this case if anything happens with your advisor he/she is holder of the grant and can decide how to spend the money. For example he might pick another graduate student. Although I imagine in Engineering big private companies might have incentives to pay a PhD student to work on something that will profit them as well.

It is extremely rare for non US citizens to find grants that will support the full duration of the PhD. Another option is Fullbright. Your best option though is to find an advisor who can guarantee at least 1-2 years of salary/tuition to get you started, otherwise you might have to TA to pay for your salary.


Academic tassel at convocation: left or right for dual undergraduate/post graduate students? Apologies if the question I ask is not suited for this SE.

At convocation, it is usually the culture for undergrads to wear the tassel on right and switch to left after being given the degree. For postgraduates, the tassel is supposed to be on the left.

My question has two parts:

a) What about people who are straight away getting their post graduate degree (in case of students who have opted for a dual degree program or integrated course)? Do they wear the tassel on the right (as they have never been given a degree before)?

b) When exactly should the turning of the tassel happen (for undergrads)? On the stage itself when receiving the degree?

Many thanks for any answers in advance!

At my institution (in the United States), students always wear the tassel on the right, even if they've earned a prior degree.  At Commencement, the President tells the students when to switch.  (In our case, that's everyone at once, after diplomas (really, diploma covers) have been presented.)


Good, neutral source for ISBN linking? (on citing books) In my bibliography, I want to link the ISBN number to an actual website. My question is: which website is recommended to be used? Is there some 'neutral' source that I can expect to be still functioning in 5 years and that will return reliable results?

IBSN numbers are apparently provided by the International ISBN Agency, so this would clearly be the best source. Turns out, however, that they do not offer an ISBN lookup! I am currently considering two options:

Google Books: http://www.google.comco.uk/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=isbn:0060930314&num=10

ISBNSearch.org: http://www.isbnsearch.org/isbn/0060930314

Both appear to have their commercial interest, but they appear to be reliable enough. I would prefer Google. Or is there any other more recommended website?

You could use worldcat.org, it is built and maintained collectively by the participating libraries around the world (see Wikipedia article).
They offer ISBN search, e.g. www.worldcat.org/search?q=isbn:0060930314


How should "et al." be used for parenthetical versus non-parenthetical citations using the APA citation style? Someone told me that in APA style you treat parenthetical versus non-parenthetical in-text references separately when applying et al.

For example, let's say you're citing Smith, Jones, and Roberts (2012).

You would write

  Smith, Jones, and Roberts (2012) write that bla bla bla bla.
  Bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla (Smith, Jones & Roberts, 2012).

That is, because in the second line it is the first time you mention the authors parenthetically, you have to restate the authors' names....

I always thought you treat parenthetical and non-parenthetical citations the same.  So it would be the following:

  Smith, Jones, and Roberts (2012) write that bla bla bla bla.
  Bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla (Smith et al., 2012).

Can anyone confirm or clarify this for me?

The reference they gave for this rule is table 6.1 on page 177 of the APA Manual, 6th edition.
They interpreted the column titled "First citation in-text" and "Parenthetical Format, first citation in text) as indicating that those two formats should be treated separately.  However, this doesn't make sense to me and I think that APA would have made this more explicit if it had intended this interpretation.

I think that the form

  Smith, Jones, and Roberts (2012) write that bla bla bla bla. Bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla (Smith, Jones & Roberts, 2012).

does not follow the recommended APA style.  That is, I think the correct way to write it is

  Smith, Jones, and Roberts (2012) write that bla bla bla bla. Bla bla bla bla bla bla bla bla (Smith et al., 2012).

where the first citation is the first citation "in text" and the second citation is the first citation of this work "in a parenthetical format."

Look at page 43 (figure 2.1) of the 6th edition of the APA manual.  Lines 2 and 3 of page 6 of the sample paper has the first citation of "Hahn, Carlson, Singer, & Gronlund, 2006" in parenthetical form

  (consistent with Hahn, Carlson, Singer, & Gronlund, 2006; Mather & Knight, 2006)

and on lines 17 and 18, a citation of the same work in text is given as Hahn, et al. (2006)

  Similarly, Hahn et al. (2006) also found no age differences [...]

Now, it is not certain that the latter citation is the first citation in text of this work (because some text in the sample paper is obscured).  But looking at other papers in journals that follow the APA format seems to confirm my answer.

For example, a paper in the Journal for Research in Mathematics Education (vol. 43, no. 2, p. 133) (which explicitly states that manuscripts submitted to it "should conform to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th ed.)") has a first citation in text

  In their article in Mathematics Teacher, Cirillo, Drake, and Herbel-Eisenmann (2009) situated their work on curriculum vision as described below.

Then a block quotation from this work ends in the first citation in parenthetical form

  (Cirillo et al., 2009, p. 71)


Is it acceptable to write a reference letter for yourself? If a student needs a reference letter for graduate admissions or that sort of thing, some profs will ask the student to write a reference letter for themself before sending it off to the prof for minor edits and finalization. This seems to be a somewhat common practice given that some graduate schools ask for several letters of recommendation even when it is not reasonable for the student to have developed deep connections with that many professors, and that most professors are just too busy to write quality letters for all the students that ask them to.

Is it acceptable to write most of the reference letter and have the prof make minor edits? Do academic institutions frown upon this practice? Would it be considered an academic offense if a student wrote a reference letter for themselves and had a prof sign it?

I don't think this is a grey zone at all. Senior professionals in all domains, not just acadaemia, routinely sign letters that they did not pen:

Directors signing press releases written by communications managers
Vice-chancellors signing letters to government officials written by deputy vice chancellors
Academics submitting journal articles that were written by a co-author, although the research is shared.

It's completely irrelevant who actually put the words together, unless there is a question over the copyright of the text - which there clearly isn't here. All that matters is that the person signing the letter stands by its content and takes responsibility for it.

If you write a reference letter for yourself that is over the top, they won't sign it. No ethical issues here whatsoever.

(I can't answer whether other institutions would frown on the practice for other reasons though.)

EDIT

Ok, some research.

  Tip: Don’t ask the candidate to write a draft of
  the letter for you. Most heads of labs say this rarely
  saves time and sometimes leads to a weaker letter.
  It is better for the candidate to provide you with
  all the necessary information, from which you can
  then pick and choose as you write your letter.

... (and for the applicant)

  You may be asked to write a draft of the
  letter. As mentioned on page 1, many
  heads of laboratories say this is not a good
  idea. However, if you are asked to do it,
  do it!

http://www.hhmi.org/sites/default/files/Educational%20Materials/Lab%20Management/letter.pdf

  When requesting a letter of recommendation, don't be surprised if your instructor or supervisor hands the forms back to you and says, "Sure, why don't you go ahead and write the first draft yourself, and I'll revise it and sign at the bottom."

http://www.petersons.com/college-search/letter-recommendation-writing-yourself.aspx

  The “draft” that you provide to the recommender to sign shouldn’t be a draft at all – it should be a perfectly polished letter ready to be signed, sealed and delivered.
  Don’t be insulted when your supervisor decides to edit.  They’ll want to apply their own language and voice to your content.
  ...
  I’ve been asked to write lots of letters of recommendations for students, but I’ve never felt strongly enough to throw the responsibility back at someone.  That’s not to say I haven’t managed some phenomenal students; I just haven’t had someone come along who I think is up to the task.  So, when he or she does come along, that person will really be top notch.

http://studentbranding.com/writing-your-own-letter-of-recommendation/

  While the standard practice is for references to write their own recommendation letters, it’s becoming increasingly common for time-strapped individuals to ask you to pen the first draft of a letter yourself.

http://www.vault.com/blog/job-search/how-to-write-your-own-recommendation-letter/

  Question: Is it OK to Write My Own Letter of Recommendation?
  Answer: The only time it is acceptable to write your own letter of recommendation is when the person you requested the letter from asks you to do it. Even then, it is important to be honest in the letter. Don't write anything the other person wouldn't have written. When you have finished, ask the person to look over the letter, verify the information, and sign. You should never forge someone else's signature.

http://businessmajors.about.com/od/recommendationletterfaq/f/WritOwnRecLet.htm

I don't see much (any) evidence of any ethical quandaries in a professor requesting and submitting a letter of recommendation directly from the student. These examples aren't cherry-picked - they're the first few hits that came up when searching for phrases like "own letter of recommendation" or "letter of recommendation myself".

In summary:

Is it acceptable to write most of the reference letter and have the prof make minor edits?

Clearly, yes - if requested to do so.

Do academic institutions frown upon this practice?

No.

Would it be considered an academic offense if a student wrote a reference letter for themselves and had a prof sign it?

Hell no.


Should you get your masters degree from a different school then the one your received your bachelors from I received an associates degree in computer science from a junior college and then transfered to an university to pursue my bachelors degree. I am almost finished with that and I plan on continuing towards a masters degree. A lot of classmates tell me that you should get your masters degree from a different school then the one your received your bachelors from. Is this true? Why? Should you get your PhD from the same school your got your masters?

EDIT:
Thank you all! This helps me a lot!

It is commonly accepted that it is generally better for a student who is going on to an academic career to get their PhD at a different institution from where they got their MS.  For an academic, the place where you got your PhD is generally more important than where you got your bachelor's degree and that it is important to have a PhD from the very best program that you can get into.  Studies have shown that PhDs from the top programs are much more successful than PhDs from lower ranked programs.

There are lots of middle tier universities with good undergraduate programs that adequately prepare students for graduate study but that don't have very strong graduate programs.  If you're at one of those institutions, then you'd be well advised to "move up" to a better institution for your PhD.

You've asked this question specifically about your MS degree, where this is much less of an issue.  If you're getting a terminal masters and planning to work in industry, then it probably won't hurt to get your BS and MS at the same institution.  If you're planning to get your BS and MS at the same institution and then go somewhere else for a PhD then having gotten your BS and MS at the same institution won't be a problem either.


How can I search for currently trending, new scientific articles? I often find myself wanting to find brand-new scientific articles within certain search parameters (e.g., words in the title, journal, etc.) that are currently "trending" in scholarly or public attention. As far as I know, standard academic search engines that allow the use of such search parameters offer only metrics such as citation counts, whereas I am interested in something more immediate like Altmetrics. Searching sites like Twitter or Google News better captures instantaneous public attention, but allows only the most rudimentary of searches.

I found ScienceOpen, but it seems to have an extremely limited set of journal articles.

What's the closest thing to a Google Scholar-Altmetrics lovechild?

You can see the arxiv repository site that is very interesting. This site Arxiv has an electronic archive and distribution server for research articles in Physics, mathematics, computer science, nonlinear sciences, quantitative biology and statistics. The interesting point is that you can access to the recent papers in these fields as soon as possible even before long story of publication process!
Also, you can subscribe to automatic email alerts from the subjects you'd like to see recent submitted papers in them.


How to decline an invitation to work on a funding proposal? Prof. A and I were working on a proposal which we intended to submit to a current call. Upon learning from my ex-supervisor Prof. B that she was also preparing a similar proposal to submit to the same call, I told Prof. A about it, and he suggested that we submit to another call, whose deadline is about two months later. Recently, however, Prof. B invited me to join her team for the current call.

I am considering the following scenarios:

I decline Prof. B's invitation. What should I do in this case? I think I should let her know that I have been working with Prof. A on a similar proposal but planning to submit to a future call. Is this the right thing to do? How do I decline Prof. B's invitation without disappointing her?
I accept Prof. B's invitation and do not continue my plan with Prof. A. Under what circumstances can this be justified?
I join both teams. Under what circumstances can this be justified?

Whatever you do, both Professors A and B will certainly find out.  So why not just ask them now how they feel about this dilemma?  Perhaps you could even get them into the same room for a discussion.  You obviously like them both and would like to work with both.  Now you're simply trying to do right by both of them.  Who knows.  Unless A and B don't like each other, maybe there's a fourth option where all 3 of you work together.


How serious is plagiarism in a master’s thesis? I published my PhD thesis three years ago.

I have just come to know that a master’s student has copied three chapters from my PhD thesis half a year later. My PhD supervisor was also the supervisor of his master’s project. Each and every word and mathematical symbol is exactly the same. That person is now a PhD student himself. I’m obviously extremely shocked, angered and hurt by this. But before I take any action I wanted to ask the community.

How serious is plagiarism in a master’s thesis? I suspect that my PhD supervisor also had a role to play in this. He either tacitly ignored this blatant plagiarism or even actively suggested it. How should I deal with this given that my relations with my PhD supervisor will become strained if I report this?

Edit based on subsequent info by the OP...

This has to be raised with the relevant department / committee / Dean so that it can be addressed in a manner they see fit.

They could demand changes, or they could leave all alone.

If you don't report this, then if the Master's thesis gets published first YOU will be accused of plagiarism...

So you have to report this, but how you do that is going to be a difficult choice.

you could see your advisor first and get the master's student to change those chapters.
If that is not successful, then you have to go further, as the possible consequences of leaving it could be serious for you.


Working with a Ph.D. supervisor that may have to take medical leave? I'm interested in working with Professor X for my Ph.D. My first meeting with X went very well. I like him and I get the impression that we would work well together in the graduate school environment. Moreover, the research is in a field that I am extremely interested in and I think it would be a good fit for my skills.

In speaking to the graduate students privately, I heard nothing but praise for Professor X. However, one student disclosed that he (the professor) suffers from a disability that required him to be on medical leave for over a year. The student said that this slowed the progress of research and probably delayed his Ph.D by a non-trivial amount. Otherwise, he said that he was very happy working with Professor X and would even make the same decision again.

Obviously, I think it would be inappropriate to ask Professor X about this. However, I am concerned that such a situation may arise again during the course of my Ph.D. I also don't want to discriminate against someone due to a medical condition.

So my questions are:

How problematic is it for an advisor to be unavailable for research consultation for a long period of time?
Is it unwise (or unethical) to make such a decision based on the disability of an advisor?
Would it be inappropriate to ask other graduate students about his condition and how it has affected their work?

I know that the choice of advisor is often considered the most important decision about graduate school. Professor X would be my clear first choice but I'm just having second thoughts due to potential uncertainty in the future of my Ph.D.

I'm a big fan of saying "donkey" when it's a donkey, rather than beating around the bush and calling it a grey-colored, short-legged horse.

The thing is: Everyone, including the professor, understands that any leave of absence he's going to take will affect you in a number of important ways. It's not like anyone can be mad at you for wanting to bring this up. So that's what I would do, acknowledging the awkwardness of the situation, in a personal conversation:

  Professor, I would really like to work with you, but I have one last, awkward topic I'd like to ask you. When talking to others in the department over the past couple of weeks, someone mentioned that you may take an extended leave of absence for personal reasons. It's really none of my business to ask you about this, or the reasons for this, but if I signed up with you, it would be something that clearly affects me as a graduate student. So I wanted to bring it up and see whether that was true or not.

That gives the professor an opportunity to tell you how it is. He will understand why you ask, and tell you about as much as he chooses to share. If there really are medical reasons, you're not likely going to get any better answer by going around his back and asking others in the department.

I'll also mention that over your career as a grad student, you're likely going to have a number of awkward conversations with your adviser anyway. You may have to talk about money issues (grant runs out and it's not clear if the follow-up grant will be approved), breaking up with your girlfriend and falling into a hole for a number of months, being sick for an extended time, etc. Professors have awkward conversations with students all the time, and the better ones have figured out how to have them without it being that big a deal. So talking about something you have a legitimate concern about should be par for the course.


How is a part-time degree (from a reputed institute) perceived in the academic job market? I have recently graduated with Computer Science and Engineering and joined an R&D firm. During the job, I enrolled for a part time MS(Research) from the topmost institute in my country (with reputable world rank). Though the only difference from full time course is that we get 1 extra year to complete part time course.Everything else, like the courses, class timings, labs, exams and rigor remains the same.

I intend to join academia in future. How valuable is a part time degree with respect to joining academia and industry?

The fact that you have done your degree either part or full time will not change your degree's value. I have never heard of part-time degrees being treated differently from full-time degrees. In fact, it would be unusual to list a part-time or full time status on your CV so it's not clear how people would know. And I doubt many people would react differently.

Your decision to do a degree part-time or full-time has other important implications on your long term goals but they are indirect. If you want to go into industry, choosing a part-time degree might mean you have more time to build up industry experience which might be nice. If you want to go into academia — and you can afford to go to school full time — do the full time degree because work in industry will only slow you down from the pursuit of your long term goal. Being a part-time student might also mean less attention from faculty who might think you are less serious about an academic track while you are doing the degree.


apply for a Master's, already holding a PhD in a similar field If one has a PhD in a similar field and goes apply for a Master's, will that hurt his/her chance of getting accepted? In the Statement of objectives, one can argue for some slight nuances between the PhD obtained and the desired Master's. Other reasons could be that the Master's school is a top school or wanting to move to the area the Master's is located in.

MS programs can be money-makers for the university, and already having a PhD in any other field would not likely be a problem for you in getting accepted to a program. On the other hand, were you hoping to apply to a similar PhD program, that would be prohibited by many top schools.


How to write/format a digression in conference/thesis papers I am currently writing a paper and in one of the sections it would be appropriate to write a quick digression to explain one topic in more detail.
My structure would be something like

Section X (H1)
  [some normal text]

  Digression: Bla in detail (H2)
  [text of digression]

  [continue with text from Section X]

But that way, there is no clear part for the reader to see that the digression is over.

So how do I structurally return from a digression to continue with the initial topic? How are digressions usually structured and set apart from the rest of the section in conference/thesis papers?

(Is it even good practice to have digressions?)

Maybe you can format it as a remark. These are essentially paragraphs typeset with a special header, a bit like theorems. Example from a paper in my field:

Note that the text of the paragraph is typeset in a roman typeface, not in italic like a theorem. If you are using Latex, with amsmath, there is a command \theoremstyle{remark} that can be used to get theorem-like environments with that formatting.


Color CV vs black and white CV I see most people use a black and white academic CV. Will it be any problem
if I use a color CV like this template, which is mostly monochrome but uses blue in some places.

(I am applying for Graduate admission)

If you do use a color CV make sure it still looks good when printed monochrome!  Some people on the committee will prefer to read hard copies, and in all likelihood they will be printed in monochrome.


How to avoid training a harasser As a postdoc and junior faculty member I was involved in mentoring and training a PhD student who went on to a faculty position. I have now heard that the person I trained has been investigated and suspended by their university for harassing students.

Looking back I cannot think of anything that I did whilst mentoring and training to encourage this behaviour. However, neither can I think of anything I did to discourage it. I also can't immediately think of what I'm doing now, with current graduate students, to discourage this behaviour in the future.

What are good strategies for faculty mentoring and supervising students to reduce the chance of training a future harasser?

EDIT: Thanks for the answers so far. However, none have added specific strategies that I feel I could act on. As an example of what I'm looking for:

When discussing conferences that students may attend, I would talk with them about

How good/useful the list of invited speakers and sessions looks;
What the expected participants are like, and whether they'd be useful for their future network (is this a good/useful community to engage with);
Whether it fits within their travel budget;
What opportunities there are to present talks or posters;
How useful associated training activities may be;
Whether they'd be able to combine the conference with visits to nearby groups that may be useful;
How it fits around other commitments in their calendar.

I am now thinking of extending this to include

Discussions of the meeting's Code of Conduct: why having one is good, violating it is bad, and my expectation that they should follow a suitable Code of Conduct even if the meeting doesn't officially have one;
Noting the balance and diversity of speakers (I've been doing this more anyway, but making it more explicit that this is good, and that students should interact professionally with all participants), and discussing in problematic cases if lack of diversity at a meeting indicates other problems in the community around that meeting;
Emphasizing that students should pay attention when meeting participants talk about "personalities" in the field; that this information should be respected, listened to, and considered carefully; and that they should think about how to avoid causing the sort of problems that others discuss.

I need to consider the points that @Fomite and @D. Salo bring up, particularly how to implement a group Code of Conduct that works with, rather than at cross-purposes to, existing university policies. I'm looking for detailed ideas that I can use in other frequent interactions with students.

Finally, I refuse to believe that there's little more that can be done other than setting a good example. We continually demand improvement in our research and our teaching: in these parts of our professional lives we know that concrete, incremental steps show real gains. Building and training a community of professional researchers that act professionally in personal interactions is also part of our jobs. I don't expect perfection, but I'm extremely angry that this has happened, so I do expect improvement of myself, and I think the field should too.

This might prove futile, in my eyes. If you mandate something like sensitivity training, say, you will teach those naturally well-behaved little, and those who carry the germ of future mis-behavior to hide it. If you advise students from different cultures, on the other hand, it might help them to learn what is appropriate in yours. So in that case it might be a good idea as some mis-behavior results merely from different cultural norms (a kind and friendly Asian co-student shared a racist joke via email with all my school - because he didn't recognize it for what it was). For anything happening while working with you, you should make it explicitly known that you encourage your students and postdocs to talk to you should one of them feel that they were treated inappropriately by another; that you always have an open door.

Marcus Aurelius was a philosopher emperor devoted to service and tolerance; his son Commodus arguably the most wicked Roman emperor in the history of the Roman Empire. You try to set a good example, but that is probably all you can do. Don't beat yourself up over what happened.