What is a good GPA for acceptance into a top mathematics graduate program? I am in a Master's program which is graded 100% on my research thesis. I also have a first class Honours in mathematics with average grade somewhere between A- and A, where A+ is best. Also, my university's math department is ranked somewhere between 40th and 50th in the world.

In short, my grade point average is okay but not great, and so is my school. I would like to go to a First tier (Harvard, MIT, Oxbridge), or at least tier 2 (Chicago, Michigan, UPenn) graduate school. Do I have a realistic chance at any of these places? Also will age a disadvantage (I'm 28)?

Edit: My GPA on the US scale is around 3.6 plus/minus 0.1.

(I am the Graduate Coordinator for the mathematics department at the University of Georgia, which is consistently ranked around the 50th best mathematics department in the US.  I also received my PhD from Harvard, which is consistently ranked in the top three.)

Zeroth of all, if you think that University of Chicago is a "second tier program," then I think your tiers are too small to be meaningful.  I am very familiar with both Chicago and MIT and think these departments are comparable in quality according to a broad range of metrics.

First:

  Also will age a disadvantage (I'm 28)?

Absolutely not.  Age discrimination is illegal and also not truly not done in American graduate programs.  Moreover I am not even sure that you have to disclose your age, but as someone who has been most directly involved in graduate admissions in my department for the last two years, I can assure you that the admissions faculty almost never notice the age, let alone take it into account.

Second:

  Edit: My GPA on the US scale is around 3.6 plus/minus 0.1.

That is indeed not a great GPA relative to your competition.  The median GPA for applicants to UGA is, I believe, slightly higher than this, and I shudder to think where UGA would rate on your "narrow tier" system: eighth tier, maybe?  The very top graduate programs have their pick of the litter: they could, if they wanted, enroll a class full of candidates with essentially maximal GPAs, GRE scores and recommendation letters.  And this is what they largely do, while also looking for candidates who are exceptional in their research achievements and promise.  So, for instance, a place like Harvard would take a candidate with a 3.6 GPA if they had written a truly significant research paper.

Third: the GPA is just one number, and as a number, 3.6 is not so bad.  With that GPA, a more important question is: in which courses did you do well, and in which did you do less well?  If the less good grades are confined to the early years of the program and your transcript shows a clear upward trajectory that is supported by the recommendation letters, then many programs will not view a 3.6 GPA as a negative.

Fourth: we all want to go to the best programs we can (as we should!), but when it comes to your admissions strategy, you should take a more conservative approach of applying to schools in multiple tiers.  As a quantitatively minded person, I recommend that you tackle the "Fermi problem" yourself: how many students in the world do you think are interested in doing a math PhD at Harvard / Princeton / MIT / Stanford / Chicago / Berkeley / Oxbridge and have strong but not perfect backgrounds from internationally renowned institutions?  How many spots do each of these schools have per year?  I think you will find that the competition is fierce.  You might get in -- and I heartily agree that you certainly won't if you don't apply, so I think you should apply -- but there are going to be a lot of other, similarly (well!) qualified candidates.

By the way, schools "as far down" as UGA still have very strong programs in certain areas, and a strong student can do very well at these places.  At UGA some of our PhDs have gotten NSF postdocs, one of them is now a tenured faculty member at one of the elite schools you mentioned, and so forth.  UGA is internationally renowned in algebra, geometry, number theory and topology.  I could say similarly strong things about most other institutions at the same level on the rankings --e.g. Boston University, University of Virginia, Dartmouth, Emory, University of Massachusetts -- they have some tremendous strengths.  In summary, the number of really strong graduate programs in the US is larger than you might think, especially as an international student.  Please keep that in mind.


Is it acceptable to require a student to use the supervisor's preferred software/tools? I'm about to supervise my first bachelor student and I'm not quite sure what is acceptable and what is not.

The thesis will contain math formulas, illustrations, images, graphs and tables - like any other paper / thesis in physics. The question is, shall I force my student to use (and learn how to use) certain SW tools (LaTeX, Matlab,...) instead of commonly used office packages (Word, Excel, PowerPoint,...)?

Is it acceptable to provide source files of my thesis and/or Matlab functions/scripts to the student? Note that the field of research is not connected to typography nor data analysis.

Edit considering JeffE's answer:

  Yes, it is perfectly acceptable to require students to use the software tools that are standard in your field when they begin working in your field, even as undergraduates.

There aren't defined standard, or mandatory, tools to use. Just only vague rules how the thesis shoud look like.

Tools for specialized work, say microhardness measurements and analysis, are set and there can't be any doubts and discussions.

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

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

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

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


How long is the waiting time for having a phone/Skype interview? I applied for some faculty positions, starting from Nov 01 to Nov 15 and one on Dec 01. I was wondering how long it takes for the search committee to shortlist the candidates for a phone/Skype interview?

When does the call close? I'd think likely 6 weeks after that - you could reach and ask how long they anticipate the committee search to take. Usually the committee is made up of multiple faculty members so I would imagine it would be post - holidays.


Do US universities still use imperial units in teaching? How much of the teaching content at universities in the US is delivered in imperial units instead of SI?

I imagine that industry (e.g. Engineering) is still stuck using imperial units, but research and physics are much better suited to SI units, so I am interested to know how this is dealt with.

When I was an (engineering, US) undergrad, the textbook in one engineering mechanics class included problems using SI units and problems using imperial units. The problem sets for homework and exams came from the book, and could be in either SI or imperial units.

(You can see these examples in a sample chapter).

Every other class I've taken as a physics and engineering student used SI units exclusively.


Are there official criteria what undergraduate programs in different majors must cover at US schools? I recently found that the largest share of students in program X at my school do not need to take classes on topic ABC, even though topic ABC is considered as critical and fundamental by virtually everybody in the field. (Think of physics but no mechanics class)
In fact, I can't believe anybody would give them accreditation without making ABC a required topic.
Which makes me wonder: Are there any official criteria in the US about what a majors in X, Y, or Z must cover in the United States? Can a school just decide arbitrarily what needs to be covered in their majors? Can those criteria be seen in public?

This is an addition to the other answers.
Most professional bodies publish guidelines on what majors in their fields should include.  For example, a joint committee of the ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) and IEEE (Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers) publish guidelines for what should be part of a computer science major.  The MAA (Mathematical Association of America) publish guidelines on what should be part of a mathematics major.
In some cases, these guidelines are quite specific.  In others, they are much more vague.  The ACM guidelines are fairly specific.  For largely political reasons, the MAA guidelines are fairly vague.  (This is because departments at universities with more academically capable student bodies and or PhD programs want guidelines that would prepare students for graduate school, while departments at universities with less academically capable student bodies know that they have no students capable of completing such a program of study.)
These are guidelines, not requirements, but they are reasonably influential because many professors do pay attention to them.  In addition, as mentioned above, in certain subjects, there is subject specific accreditation that may impose requirements on the departments involved.


Any particular date when Postdoc decisions are announced in European universities? I am applying for postdoc jobs, in particular, I am interested in jobs out of the U.S.

I have a few questions:

Is there any particular date when Postdoc decisions are announced in European universities?
I heard that many universities will make offers after the AMS deadline (on Feb. 3rd), and suggest we email universities asking about the status.
Do the European Universities also follow the AMS coordinated deadline?
Do you suggest we email Universities right now, or is it better to wait until after the deadline?
What do you say when you email universities? Just asking about status, or saying that we are still interested in their jobs? Or what?

Let me start with UK, as this country I know best. Unlike US, in the UK research grants are awarded by several large funding bodies and there is no particular date when all the decisions are simultaneously announced.  Hence, it is not possible to syncronise postdoc hiring process across the UK, and AFAIK, most professors do not see any need for it. Still, many Universities will advertise new positions for staff two times per year, with the anticipated starting date on 01 Oct (start of term) and 01 Apr (mid-term). There are two "waves" of recruitment, but they are not completely in sync.

In the rest of EU, customs differ but still I never came across anyone following AMS deadlines in the EU. It seems that people advertise as soon as they have funding confirmed, but different funding streams announce at different times.


How to make a great first impression at a conference? I was awarded my PhD in November last year and will be giving a paper at my first official academic "débtante ball": the most important conference of its kind (outside of N.A.) for my discipline.

The problem is that I am still suffering from the 'imposter syndrome' and this will likely inhibit me from participating in any small talk. Networking is essential  but I am too embarrassed to divulge my day time job is that a public school teacher. Elitists are unavoidable at these events and trust me, everyone else there is more accomplished than I am. The immediate demands and responsibilities of my profession have really prevented me from publishing. My one saving grace is that I am a very engaging speaker and my topic has popular appeal.

My objectives at the conference are to make my name better known, to highlight the originality of my research, and ultimately catch the attention of a publisher.

There will be a book fair but I believe its nothing more than kiosks with booksellers.

How do I maximize my time at the conference?
How do I make a lasting impression?
How can I overcome my inferiority complex?

Teacher in transition :/

Don't try too hard. You will have plenty of time later to build a solid reputation.

First impressions are way overrated. They will not be the basis of any serious (as in "costs real money") decisions, least of all concerning some complete newbie.

Enjoy the conference, get to know people, mingle. Play your rôle of newcomer who is just joining the club. Check out what is going on in the sidetracks, you might be quite wrong about their importance (or totally right).


Do PhD students work alone in American universities? I came from India to UK for my PhD as I hoped to work in a team and learn from others. However, I am all alone as other students of my professor are. As I inspected this is the case in all UK universities.

I understand that a PhD student is responsible for completing his project but I expected that my project is part of a bigger project and people who work on different parts have regular scientific discussions.

I want to quit and apply in the US but now I am pessimistic if this is the case in the US too.

The answer to this question is partly dependent on the field and the dynamics of the research group you are in. I used to work in a spectroscopy lab (in the US) where most of the work was experimental. My impression of the office was that periods of silent concentration were always interrupted by lively discussions, be it scientific or otherwise. We had white boards all over the office and they were never under-utilized. On the other hand, I've also worked in a lab with a more theoretical/computational focuses. There were more international students in the lab, and overall people in the lab were more reserved and largely focused on their own problems. However, I also know of theory labs that have a more lively atmosphere, so I hesitate to say that theory people are more prone to feeling isolated.

I think the solution to your problem is not necessarily moving to a different country. For whatever personal or external reason, collaboration may not be easy for you. But ultimately it is your responsibility to reach out to other people and build collaborations. The easiest targets are people in your research group and your cohort who entered graduate school at the same time. But also consider going to departmental talks and conferences to network with external researchers. As you learn more about your own projects and other people's research interests, it will become easier to start a conversation and explore the possibility of collaborations. It may not come easy to you, but it truly is a necessary training for you as a scientist.


Question on "Awaiting Production Checklist" Status for Manuscript After my paper was accepted, the status in the ScholarOne manuscript center changed from accepted to "accept" with the additional "awaiting production checklist".

Now it has been about 3-4 weeks with this status after the acceptance. I would like to ask from you: does this status sounds like a normal status after acceptance?  Personally, I would think and expect the status now be, for example, "checklist complete"? I have received so far only the official acceptance mail.
I also would like to know how long the delay may be after acceptance to the first on-line view (the journal does not indicate the different dates of acceptance, on-line etc.)?

You need to find out the journal's policies on "Online First" vs. paper issue publication.  The reason is because the date that a paper is accepted may be very different than the date when it is formally published, if the journal is still tightly tied to paper issues and has a long publication queue.

If the journal does online publication in advance of its paper issues, then you should be expecting production to begin shortly and a citable preprint of your paper to become available very quickly (though the final official publication date might be many months in the future).

If, on the other hand, the journal schedules its publication based on print only, and does not publish early online, then it might stay in this status for a long time, as the publication staff may not have any reason to work on the article until it is approaching the final publication date.


Are undergrad professors the be-all end-all for MS recommendation letters? I am applying to several MS programs in computer science. I graduated last year with a bachelor's in physics and a CS minor. So far, two of my recommenders are:

The professor I did research with in a physics lab for 2+ years as an undergrad
My current manager in a data science / software development role

I'm torn about who to use for the third letter, between my undergrad academic advisor (and current chair of the physics department at that institution) and a science journalist and producer of the radio show I worked on last summer.

I think the journalist would have more interesting things to say about me but I keep reading about how committees want to see letters from professors. I had a good relationship with my academic advisor but he'd probably just repeat things that my research leader would say. Is position really more important than breadth in this case?

Request both. Then, use a combination of them tailored to what position you're applying for. An academic position may call for the academic-heavy reference list, whereas an industry position or a position where someone of influence is acquainted with one of your recommenders, would perhaps change that equation.


How to indicate shifting research interests on a CV or a website? My research interests are shifting, due to papers I read and talks or conferences I attend (and also due to change of tastes).

However, I don't know how to communicate it on my CV or my website.

One the one hand, I am eager to move into new fields, and I am eager to learn more (and they are my first preference, when it comes to the further research).

On the other, neither I offer "expertise" in them nor I have a collection of relevant publications (at best 1-2 somehow related papers).

So, should the new interests be listed in "Research interests" as:

the first ones,
the last ones,
other (don't list them, or do sth else)?

Of course in longer research statements it is easier to explicitly state what one is doing and where the interest are going.

If it is relevant, I am a PhD student.

As suggested in the comments above, the answer will depend on whom you are targeting.

If you are a professor targeting graduate students in a new field, I would just list the new field as an interest on your webpage, with links to your few papers. It should be enough to indicate to potential graduate students that if they have an interest in this field you would be more than happy to work with them.
If you are a professor targeting grant agencies, then just write grants targeted at whatever field you're interested in. Note that, if you have a poor publication record in the field of interest, it may be a good idea to find a strong collaborator or co-PI (if applicable in your field) to boost the likelihood of acceptance.
If you are a post-doc looking for new positions, I think it's pretty widely accepted that your interests will and should be changing. I would indicate it explicitly on your CV in your objective statement (assuming you have one) that you're interested in branching out, and again in the cover letter. Regarding your previous research, just list it under "experience"; the reader will understand based on your resume, cover letter, and the fact you're applying to jobs in different fields that this was intentional. As you stated, there is a not-insignificant chance that your lack of publications in the new field will negatively impact your application.
If you're a student, then you barely have research interests; you just have the research you've worked on for 2+ years, which you did so you could earn a PhD. Your colleagues will recognize that you're still familiarizing yourself with the field. Unless the shift is so substantial that none of your previous expertise would be useful, I wouldn't even bother to mention shifting interests; it's healthy and expected.


Notable academics or departments ranking list? Is there anything like a directory or list of notable leading living figures based on subject area or research concentration?

I think the American Academy of Arts and Sciences might be a good place to start, at least if your focus is primarily on academics in the U.S. Two criticisms of the academy: it tends to be clique-y. Harvard is always going to have the most new fellows every year because they've already got the most fellows. Second, not everybody who deserves to be a member is one. They're really good about not giving memberships to people who don't deserve them (at least in my field, Philosophy), but there are some people who clearly should be members but aren't.


How many "Cambridge"s in one line? (Citing a book from C.U.P.) I just got the page proofs of an article I wrote that is to appear.  In it I cited a book, like this:

  Author, Title in Italics, Cambridge University Press, 1891.

In the page proof it looks like this:

  Author, Title in Italics, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1891.

Obviously that's wrong and I will so notify them.

But I wonder: Does the renown of this particular publisher justify omitting to identify the city after the publisher's name when the city's name is actually a part of the publisher's name and everybody knows which "Cambridge" it is?  (This came from a "production company" that contracts with the journal, so maybe "everybody" doesn't include "production companies").  If the city must be named separately I'd be tempted to write

  Author, Title in Italics, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1891.

which still relies on "everybody" to know this.

"MA" is an abbreviation promulgated by the United States Postal Service.  I had the impression that in England, postal addresses typically put the name of the county after the name of the city, separated by a comma, but that that probably wouldn't be done with Cambridge. If I did that, then "Cambridge" would appear three times in one line.  An alternative would be what I would do if I were sending a letter the old-fashioned way from America to someone in Cambridge and put "England" or "United Kingdom" after the comma (although for a letter I'd probably put the postal code after the city's name on the same line and "England" would be on the next line). (Somehow I feel more comfortable with "England" than "United Kingdom" since it's not only an entity created by politicians but also a geographic name that will persist even if the UK becomes defunct.  Or as someone once said "There'll always be an England." But maybe that's just personal taste.)  I suppose "England" would be harmless and probably no one would notice, but I would feel silly thinking someone would have to be told that's where Cambridge is.

What do people normally do when citing stuff from this particular renowned publisher?

There's really no harm in adding clarifying information.  Obviously, we need a city name if we get "University of Georgia Press" because there are two very different University of Georgias in the world.  One located in Athens (Georgia, USA — not Greece!) and the other located in Tbilisi.

Likewise, if we see a publisher we're not familiar with, and the citation is only "Athens", it's nice to know at a quick glance whether we're talking about the American Georgian city, or the Greek one.  The topic of the paper make dictate which one is the "expected" one — if we're talking Atlanta politics, we can assume Georgia, unless otherwise specified, and if we're talking Plato, we can assume Greece.

Ultimately, though, it depends on the house style. If the house style includes the city, they'll do it for all publications, no matter how obvious one would think.  In your specific example, it's undoubtedly an overzealous copy-editor who is probably accustomed to having "Harvard University Press, Cambridge" and fixing it to "Cambridge, MA" to clarify.


When should one change advisors? When should one keep going? I see the continuous growth of research potential as the most important measure of success of an advisor-advisee relationship.

I do not think there is the perfect advisor for a person. I see the relationship between advisor and advisee more like a romantic relationship where success is not so much dependent on the initial conditions but on the willingness to work on the relationship. But just like in real relationships it is sometimes better to break-off and try again with someone different.

When is it a wise choice to change advisors? What are the deal-breakers? When is it better to mend and keep going?

Personally, I am a first year master student and thinking about changing my advisor. My advisor is quite hands-off so that I have more independence in my research approach which I find quite valuable and fitting. However, the ideologies, ideals, and personalities of me and my advisor are quite the opposite. These opposites caused some conflict as my blog posts (my field explained to lay-people) and similar scientific communication clashed with my advisor's personally held views. I apologized, changed some blog content to be less offending towards his views, and promised to be more careful in the future which improved the relationship. But I feel that our relationship still remains affected by what had happened and feel that I cannot express my personal views freely anymore.

Additionally, I feel that my advisor on his own is not competent enough to help me grow my research potential for long. His PhD students and post-doc are more competent in some key-areas and provided valuable advice so far, but I feel that they lack expertise in my special sub-field and due to the lacking experience of a seasoned researcher they cannot provide the holistic advice that is required for long-term success in research.

One main long-term goal of graduate studies is also to become independent enough to publish research and acquire grants without supervision and I think in my current environment I learn a lot in this direction. However, looking one year from now to the point where I have to write PhD applications an approach which is more short-term oriented (to improve my PhD applications) might be more fitting for a successful path in academia.

I would like to know what you would consider signs that it is better to change advisors? What would you consider unfavourable in the advisor-advisee relationship but not detrimental to growth in research potential? What constitutes a good advisor-advisee relationship in your opinion? How does all this depend on where someone is in graduate school at the moment (e.g. 1st year masters vs 3rd year PhD)? What would the ideal advisor-advisee relationship look like?

You can orient your answer along my issue but more general answers should be more valuable to the community.

I would like to know what you would consider signs that it is better to change advisors?``

1) Not getting along
2) Difference in methodology and study design
3) not willing to discuss in depth your research plans
4) treat you as a lab technician (some people like this)
 5) harrassing ( mentally, physically, sexually)
 6)changing your thesis topic frequently/ not giving you title of your thesis for long time
7) not paying much attention to you or provide you with advice that cant benefit to your progress
8) dont provide grant for your research
9) delaying consultations and skipping lab progress hours(consultation hours)
10) Steals your work
11) No constructive criticism

`What would you consider unfavourable in the advisor-advisee relationship but not detrimental to growth in research potential?

wy advisor look, talk and personally behave, these things shouldnt influence research potential

 What constitutes a good advisor-advisee relationship in your opinion?

You can become independent researcher and valuable contributor to science after finishing PhD. Your advisor method and behavior can shape you in adequate PhD holder

How does all this depend on where someone is in graduate school at the moment (e.g. 1st year masters vs 3rd year PhD)?
it is much easier to change advisors and programs in 1st year of master then in 3rd year of PhD, procedure is really hard, especially when you are until the end of studies

 What would the ideal advisor-advisee relationship look like?

I dont know, there is no unique example, everyone is different, you need to get along that is for sure, ideal situation for me is not ideal for you,
I like advisors that can be there all the time, some people and student like different style, important thing is that you can benefit from your advisor in professional sense !


Author states that he is owner of his photographs but they have been published in various journals I'm editing a volume and I am responsible to obtain permissions for figures and photographs the authors wish to use in their respective chapters.

Now I have an author A who included several of his own photographs within his chapter which is great. My problem is that most of them have been previously published - in several different journals under several different authors (A is always among the authors). The author stated explicitly that these are his photographs but I'm not so sure. Do journals not normally claim figures along with the text and require even the authors to ask for permission to reuse "their" own content?

Does this apply only to figures or also to photographs? I checked the image caption in several of the publications and it never explicitly states "Photograph taken by A".

Do I need to obtain a permission from the copyright holder/owner of the journal? Should I just create a statement along the lines of 'Photo taken by A, previously published in A et al. 2010'? Should I make A sign a document stating that he always retained the copyright and can therefore license it for use in the present chapter? Should I contact our publisher instead of asking this on StackExchange? Probably, but you guys are much faster ;)

Context: The edited volume will be published in the U.S.A. by a STM-signatory.

The responsibility of certifying and negotiating copyright issues is typically the responsibility of specialized staff at a publishing organization, not that of the scientific editor of a work.

The responsibility of an editor here is just to make sure that the authors follow the process the publishing organization asks the editor to have them follow, which typically includes making copyright assertions or providing contact information to the people who will actually ask them to make copyright assertions.

Thus, if you have concerns, you can convey them to your contacts at the publisher to be sure that they are aware of these concerns and can sort them out. If you aren't the legal personnel responsible for sorting out the details, however, you shouldn't be trying to make any arrangements yourself: that is likely to create more problems than it solves.


Is providing a slow response to journal reviews a common/good strategy for minimizing the number of review requests? It is well known that in mathematics the process of reviewing submitted papers is quite long. There are good reasons for that; intrinsically, reviewing a math paper involves checking and understanding thouroughly the proposed proof, which typically requires a significant time investment. Also, a lot of academics are always very busy and reviewing may not be the most urgent thing they have to do, so it tends to be pushed back.

But it seems that there are other, maybe not so commendable reasons. Apparently, the common wisdom around me is that you should be careful not to turn in your reviews too soon, or you will be flooded with requests by editors (who are all too happy to find someone gullible enough to hurry doing their reviews) and reviews will take up all your time. This is an advice I've often heard given to young researchers, including by people who can honestly not be accused of neglecting the community service aspects of their work. A lot of people I have talked to have a policy of never doing the review before the deadline or the k-th reminder from the editor. I even heard of a person who would do the review almost immediately after accepting it (when time allowed), but only send it after the deadline or later.

In an imperfect world where doing your task sooner than anyone else will mark you as candidate for exploitation, I understand the need for such strategies. But I wanted to check:

Is the risk so big?
Is this practice really generalized (also in other fields than mathematics)?
Do you have alternative strategies to avoid having too many review requests (of course, one can always refuse reviews, but since it can be delicate to do so too often, one may try and avoid requests themselves)?

I can imagine someone purposefully delaying reviews, but in my experience it's not a widespread or standard part of mathematical practice, and I haven't heard it offered as common advice.  I don't think referees have an obligation to inconvenience themselves to finish a review as quickly as they can, but it seems bizarre to deliberately delay when it would have been convenient to complete the review earlier (or, worse yet, when it was already done but not yet sent).

I don't see a real risk here, or a need to avoid review requests.  There's nothing wrong with turning them down, and you can use a vague excuse like that you are already busy with other refereeing and don't want to cause unnecessary delays for this submission.  In fact, a prompt reply will be appreciated; it already puts you ahead of the people who require reminders to reply to referee requests.  (When a referee declines quickly, there's almost no cost, while it's annoying if I send several e-mails over a period of weeks but never hear back.)  From my perspective as an editor, I'm not looking for people who will complete a review as quickly as possible.  Instead, my ideal referee is someone who is responsive and reliable, who promptly lets me know what they can reasonably do and then does it within the timeframe they estimated.  If they do that, they can turn down as many requests as they like.


Should I email a group regarding issues in work they've cited? (Preface: I'm just an undergraduate, so none of this actually matters; it just seemed an interesting case study.)
About years ago, a lab published a very unexpected result (in, I should add, a predatory journal).
Last year, another lab produced some evidence to support the paper (in, I should add, an even worse predatory journal, which doesn't matter except that they might not have heard of some of the issues in peer-review).
I failed to replicate the original results. There seem to be some subtle but serious issues with the original paper that might explain this; but I don't intend to publish this rough work. In particular, the method used in the original work is notorious for false positives.
I recently found out from funding reports that the other lab is still working on the phenomena and are probably done with their data-taking by now.
Is it even remotely good practice to send a quick email to the other lab with concerns?
(I wouldn't be concerned about bad work in C- journal, but this has some recent relevance.)

It would be fine to contact them and say that you tried X and would like their help figuring out why you did not get result Y.
Assuming you are right and they are wrong might be considered rude by some people.


I had performed mediocre in my core subjects during my PhD, is it justified for me to think about a future in academia? I am a final year PhD in mechanical engineering. I did average/below average in my core courses, during my undergraduate, and PhD coursework. My research area involves using finite element and volume methods to model material and fluid flow. I had got B-'s and C's in my mathematics, mechanics, numerical methods courses during my undergrad and grad school. I love the subjects, but I am not good at them. I decided to go for PhD in them because the research area fascinated me.

I really enjoyed working on my research during my PhD and was quite productive. My research was not mathematically intensive and focused more on developing optimization procedures while making use of existing numerical tools. My advisor, my committee think I did a fair job on the research projects I worked on.

However, since my goal eventually is to be in academia, I feel that my poor academic performance is an indicator of not pursuing a career in university academic environment. I am confident that I can do good independent research.  And I like teaching, though, I did not get any opportunity to teach the core courses during my phd. I am worried that considering my poor background, I will fail to teach a core course when given the opportunity to do so.

Is it justified for me to think about a future in academia in a university setting?

There are a lot of reasons for struggling though coursework and you don't really give enough information to make any clear recommendation. But I can give perspective at least.

One problem you have is that you haven't much experience teaching, so it is hard to guess how you would do at it. But some people who struggle with a course can teach it well and others who breezed though it can't. The reason for that is that the "struggler" recognizes (perhaps) the hard parts and can help others past them, while the "breezer" just doesn't understand why others don't just find it as easy as s/he did. Some people do some things naturally and without effort and find it hard to focus on the parts that others don't get and provide the insight to get past the problems.

Many new teachers holding PhDs don't understand that the students in their classes are not like themselves. Only a tiny fraction of their students will have the same motivation and the same sort of motivation that they do.

A second, orthogonal, idea is that your learning doesn't end when your schooling does. You say you "aren't good" at some subjects. Well that isn't necessarily a permanent condition. Moreover, your standards may be so high that you find it difficult to measure up to them yourself. So your not good may be someone else's good enough.

Teaching, like research, is hard work. It depends on understanding the students as much as understanding the "material". Your students can learn if you give them meaningful work to spark their interest and build their skill.

So, while I can't provide an answer, I suggest that you don't give up easily and think deeply about the implications of your choices. Independent research is very difficult. Having the collaboration environment provided by a university (or industrial lab) is a great help.


Is it a good idea to pursue a PhD in Singapore as a European student? I graduated with a masters from a good university in the Netherlands and am considering to accept a PhD at the National University of Singapore. However, since I have no experience with this university, it's hard for me to decide if this is a good idea academically. The research I'd be doing is very interesting, and both the university and the department where I'd work seem to be very good. I have a good idea what the academic culture is like in Europe, but less so in Singapore. The department of my PhD in Singapore is very international, also about one third of the researchers is European. I'd like to stay in academia after my PhD (at least, that's what I think now) and at least pursue a post-doc. For me, there are two main reasons to accept this PhD position:

Interesting research topic and a good (so it seems, but not sure) research environment.
Personal experience to live and work in an interesting place very different from home.

Does anyone here with a background in academics have experience or advice on the academic side of doing a PhD in Singapore? Specifically, is the academic culture comparable to Europe, and do I stand a good chance of obtaining a post-doc in Europe or the USA afterwards?

About point 1, it probably depends on one's field but Singapore is a nice place to graduate from. I really enjoyed the department there and working there in general.
About point 2, it should not be the only reason to do a PhD there but Singapore has a unique feel and is a very enjoyable experience in itself. As anecdotal as it may sound, the food is cheap, eclectic and very good.
A few caveats :

While life itself is kind of cheap in Singapore (eating in food courts is cheap, making your own food slightly more expensive), housing is expensive. You may need to share a flat with flatmates (that can be a very nice experience by the way, especially in a new place).
Having an immigration pass to do a PhD is, of course, not a problem, however your spouse may not get a pass (it depends on your income and I have been told that a typical post-doc salary is below the limit). You might want to check that if applicable.
From what I have seen both in Europe and Singapore, I would say that there may be slightly more pressure on PhDs and  post-docs there than there is in Europe (of course Europe is a big place and it mainly depends on your supervisor).

Obtaining a post-doc in Europe/USA with a PhD in Singapore is not a problem in itself as long as you make sure you meet some professors working in Europe/USA and get yourself invited to some seminars when you're in Europe/USA. That is where the 'large budget for this kind of things' you talk about in the comments will come in handy.


Withdrawing conference paper (after acceptance) due to budget issue I'm wondering if it is ethical to withdraw an accepted conference paper because the registration fees exceeded my budget?

The fees were only announced after the paper submission deadline thus I didn't know the fees would be so high when I submitted my paper. Now when it got accepted to be presented, I don't think I will be able to attend the conference. I have not submitted the camera-ready paper yet and the registration deadline is in a month. I'm thinking of withdrawing my paper, but would it be ethical to do so? What are the consequences of doing this?

I'll leave a discussion of the ethics of withdrawal to someone else, but the main consequence of withdrawing your paper will be just that: Your paper will be withdrawn. It's unlikely to be something that's held against you.

It may be a slight inconvenience to the organisers, particularly if you were accepted for an oral presentation, to have to find someone to replace you (or to leave a gap in the programme) but part of taking on the role of organising a conference is accepting that these things happen.

You say that you've not submitted the camera-ready paper, so the proceedings will not have been completed. Therefore I'd suggest that there'd be no real damage done if you withdrew.

To summarise. It might be a nuisance for the organisers (one they may well have accepted as par for the course), but there's no real harm been done.

Edit: This isn't in answer to your question, but if the issue with the submission is simply financial then it may be worth contacting the organisers to ask if they know of any financial support that might be available, as well as conducting your own search for funds, before withdrawing.


I have an undergraduate degree and no research experience -- how to begin now? I recently earned an undergraduate degree in computer science*. I had no interest in going to grad school, so I focused purely on coursework. I have no research experience.

I am now more open to the idea of further education, and I think life will be more fulfilling if I produce knowledge than if I just apply my knowledge in developing a product.

How can I get started on research in a way that will (1) let me know if it is something I want to spend my life doing, and (2) pave the way to a PhD in CS if I decide it is something I want to do? (I ask this question under the assumption that applying for a PhD is off the table for now because I do not yet know if I even like research, and even if I did know that, I have no research experience to show off and no one to write letters of recommendation that vouch for me as a researcher.)

Could I...

Get a master's degree? (Tuition and moving out of state are a steep price to pay just to see if I like something. Plus, I doubt my potential to get into a good program due to a lack of CS professors who know me well enough to write a letter of recommendation for me.)
Enroll in a post-baccalaureate program with a non-CS major (e.g. math) just to be an undergraduate again and have professors to do some research with, even if I do not intend to complete another undergraduate degree?
Get an entry level software development job and move from there into R&D?
Get a job as a research assistant for university faculty? (Or volunteer to do it for free?)

Whatever the answer, I need the opportunity to prove myself to someone who can write a letter of recommendation that is taken seriously for PhD admissions. (I originally titled this question "How to get LoRs with no undergraduate research experience" until I realized the scope of my question was much wider than how to get into a PhD program. Getting LoRs is still essential, though -- if I decide I want a PhD, then I need to have a shot at it.)

*Or rather, I will in six months -- this question is from a future perspective. I am also considering the options I have before graduating, but those are for another question. The point of this question is: if none of those options work out, then what other options will I have left?

One method you can try is to delay graduation by one year and start working on a research project under the guidance of a faculty member in your CS department. If no such undergrad research program exists in your department, it may be possible to arrange something with individual professors (under the name of senior thesis, independent study, or on-campus employment, etc.) who are interested in taking on a student. Another good option is to find an internship or research assistant position in another university after you graduate. However, even such opportunities usually come with the expectation that you have some research experience to begin with. So a more realistic approach may be to start doing research now in your undergrad institute as a stepping stone while you are still a student, and then apply for an external internship/research assistant position with the help of your research supervisor.

Getting a master's degree is a possibility. If you choose this approach make sure that you are not getting a terminal master's degree that is intended to prepare for professional work in, for example, software development, rather than to prepare for further PhD studies. Finally, getting a job in software development is probably not a good idea, because usually the practical experience you get has little direct bearing on the content of a PhD study. Spending one or two years coding does not help to develop your ability to do theoretical research.

No matter which approach you take, the key to a meaningful internship is to find someone who is 1) well-established in the academia and 2) good with mentoring. Ideally, you want to spend 1-2 years in this person's lab, so that you have enough time to grow as a researcher and demonstrate your ability (and potential) to consistently produce good research work. You may want to talk with some professors who are familiar with you for recommendations, or talk with students in your prospective mentor's lab to get to know the professor's reputation. Remember that it is not enough to simply spend 2 or 3 months in a lab just so that you can pad your resume with some extra fluff.


Ethics of patents for research work funded by tax money My academic research supervisor is asking me to write a patent that he is self-funding, with potential private commercial interests and benefits. I am also directly involved in the work that is related to this patent. However, this work was funded by my supervisor's research grants from our country.

Upon me questioning his motives, he told me that researchers have a right to the intellectual property of projects funded by the government.
Is such a claim regarding patents and/or intellectual property generally considered as ethical in academia?

It is certainly true that some research funded by some grants in some universities in some countries can be patented. The university should have an intellectual property policy (and the funded may have one). That's the document that will tell you the answer to this question. That policy should also give you some idea about appropriate sharing of the rights between the researchers involved in the project (it's not clear from your question whether you were involved in the research supporting the patent application). And there is possibly a commercialisation group within the university who would be involved in patent applications too.


Permissible gap between sub-topics of a PhD thesis? I am a Ph.D. student who decided to change the direction midway. At a high level, I work on combinatorial optimization under uncertainty. In my proposal, I had said that I would use a technique A and its variants to tackle my problem. But now I have become uninterested in this direction.

I want to broaden my combinatorial optimization problem to P' so that I can consider a technique B which is totally unrelated to A, and since I broadened the problem I cannot directly compare the results from A.
Furthermore, I want to make some more changes in the problem to P'' and then use a technique C.

Now I have problems P,P', P'' which are variants of same combinatorial optimization problem under uncertainty but the techniques A, B and C are completely different and the results cannot be compared directly. Though I will compare A, B and C with techniques from literature separately. The underlying link is that all these problems are characterized by uncertain information.

Can I rope this into a thesis? Please note that I have finished my work with P, A and am starting to think about P', B. My concern is that there is a gap between these sub-topics and my Ph.D. thesis might lack cohesion. Suggestions/advice requested.

Ask your advisor. In most places, they de facto alone decide whether or not a thesis satisfies the program' requirements.
Even if, in your place, they don't, the can give your valuable information as it is their job to advise you.


I got a C in a core class. Should I retake it? I'm a 3rd year aerospace engineering undergrad with an inclination to pursue graduate studies in dynamics and control (ultimate goal of PhD). Until last semester, I had a lazy attitude towards my studies which earned me 3 Bs over the span of my undergrad studies. Last semester, this laziness, personal over-commitment, and poor prioritization culminated in a 'C' and 'B' in two core classes--both of which were in my strong suits of structures and dynamics respectively.

This semester, I have the opportunity to  retake the structures course. Should I retake it?

My primary reason for retaking it is that I'm confident I can get an 'A' (I aced every quiz when I studied) and show mastery of a fundamental concept (FEA). However, my reasons against it are:

It'll take up time that I can dedicate to research for my u-grad thesis
I'm planning to take a more advanced structures course next spring (though this won't show on my transcript since I'll apply to schools next fall)
Retaking the course barely improves my GPA (3.817 vs. 3.811)
My professor suggested that I review and streamline his course notes for future classes

I'm not worried about the B dynamics course. I'm meeting with my prof this week to discuss a way to move forward (I think I'll be grading or providing mini-recitation lectures). However, I don't know what to do with the structures course.

An easy answer, from the viewpoint of grad admissions, at least: iffy grades are a blot... but/and, also, a serious question is about the extent to which "bad grades" reflect you understanding ... of things that need to be understood, not just gatekeeper stuff.

Also, you'll be competing against people who have reasonably-good grades... for whatever that's worth... but/and grad admissions committees will not see much up-side to admitting people who "show" worse than others.

Also, btw, it's not so hard to get good grades in undergrad stuff, even if one isn't ultra-conformist. True, it's also not hard to get iffy grades even when one has a pretty good understanding. But/and (!) in these days when everyone on the planet hopes to make a living as a computer-scientist (for example), not being prey to the standard tropes/weaknesses may be the selling point.

That is, maybe retaking courses to generate better grades that will mask old, not-so-good grades, is worth your time... unless, on a different course, you can do "genius-stuff" ... which makes schooling irrelevant, ... maybe.


How to cite a specific organization in APA? I'm citing a quote from an attorney who works for Trial Lawyers for Public Justice in Texas. In APA format, do I italicize, use quotations, or leave it as normal text? Thank you!

In the text:

  "This aggression will not stand," confirmed Bob Loblaw, attorney at the Texas non-profit organization Trial Lawyers for Public Justice (Loblaw 2018).

In the references section, you will write up whatever medium you found the quotation in, and TLPJ might or might not be explicitly mentioned.

If it is a blog post or technical report or such authored by Loblaw, hosted on the TLPJ site, you would have Loblaw as author and mention the organization only if it is in the overall blog name or as the distributor/publisher of the report.
If there's an unattributed press release from the organization, within which is Loblaw's statement, Trial Lawyers for Public Justice is the author to list.
But if Loblaw was quoted in a newspaper, say, then you cite the newspaper article in the references, and your text would be something like:

  "This aggression will not stand," confirmed Bob Loblaw, attorney at the Texas non-profit organization Trial Lawyers for Public Justice (as quoted in Lane 2018).


Getting into a mathematics master's program from engineering? I'm sorry if the question is not of the kind usually dealt with in the website. Honestly, I'm looking for a personal advice and/or real-world experience to help me figure what should I do.

My question is whether applying for a master's program is a good idea? or not? Given that I have no deep knowledge in mathematics, except for some engineering level linear algebra and calculus.

More details about me: I'm an electrical engineering (EE) graduate with a B.Sc. and a M.Sc. in power engineering. Although I finished my degrees with high grades and a strong resume, I didn't ever feel a thing for EE to be motivated enough to go after it in my professional life. On the other side, I always enjoyed math both in high school and college, and by "enjoying" math I'm not just talking about ordinary problem solving but mathematical stuff including defining mathematical objects, theorems, proofs and so on.

For me, the good thing about mathematics is that I always felt an aptitude for it. I get it naturally and in a joyful way. In many cases, at first sight, I feel the solution or how to get that, in a strange abstract way. During my entire education, I have always had a closer connection with my mathematics teachers/lecturers. The problem in college was that the level and depth of mathematics courses in engineering programs (even EE) was too little to feel satisfaction. Therefore, I am considering pursuing mathematics itself.

"Force = Mass * Acceleration."

You appear to be worried about your inferior "mass." What you may not realize is that you have superior "acceleration" to compensate, probably bringing up your "force" level to at least average.

I entered a math-oriented PhD program with someone who had only one year of calculus, but whose "acceleration" you remind me of. Within a year, he equalized in "mass." Then his superior "acceleration" took him to the top of the class.

The same could happen to you, if you have the natural gifts and "bent" that you say you have. Your engineering gives you enough "background" to get in the game.


Possibility of guessing acceptance rate of a journal using its impact factor? Usually for the journals we have impact factor and for the conferences we have acceptance rate.

Now, is it possible to guess the acceptance rate of a journal using its impact factor ? For example, for this journal:

https://www.journals.elsevier.com/computers-and-security/call-for-papers/special-issue-on-blockchain-and-cryptocurrency

whose impact factor is 2.650

In a general sense, the answer is "no". Different fields have wildly different citation rates and hence impact factors, so that will vary independently of the level of prestige of the journal. Within a field, I suspect it's still "no", but it might be interesting to hear if anybody's studied it.


Will an Honours year grant me a second degree? I am about to graduate with a Bachelor’s degree in Biotechnology (Hons). I plan to further my studies with a Masters in Research. I would like to apply for an Honours year in Medical bioscience or related subject at a different university (perhaps in Australia) to gain enough qualifications to pursue an interdisciplinary Masters Research. Will doing the Honours year give me a second degree? And will I be able to even apply for an Hons year of a different major?

In Australia, an Honours is considered a separate degree.  Other countries may have no idea what your Honours is.

Usually, once you have an Honours there is no reason to pursue a masters in the same subject.  However, I do not have specific knowledge of bio/medicine.

As for your eligibility, you need to check with particular universities about their policies.  Probably they will consider your marks (grades).


Use of external collaboration in masters I have recently finished a 4yr Bachelor in Physics and have been looking for a masters thesis(the masters program at my university is rather dumb - you just do research and the thesis).

A recently appointed professor has suggested a thesis to me to which I am partial - though it does not strike me as "THE thing I always wanted to do".

The thesis would entail a collaboration with an external research institution (Max-Planck Society for those familiar with the field).

I do not - at least for now - plan on following the project to a PhD (though there is that possibility) mainly because I think it is not quite what I am interested in.

My question is thus: Are such a collaborations be beneficial to a search for a PhD position in the future?

My plan is to get (the hell) away from my current university at the latest after the master thesis.

Yes! Such collaborations will generally help you apply for doctoral programs.

Here are a few reasons why it will help you get into a grad program:

You will get more research experience which grad programs look for.
You will have more opportunities to network with important people.

These people will be able to write letters of recommendation for your grad school applications.
You never know when these kinds of connections will help you....

You will have a better idea of what kinds of research or work you want to do, so you'll have a better idea of which programs fit you better. (Don't underestimate this.)
You'll build your curriculum vitae (CV), which looks good.

Other Comments

If it's not a research position doing something related to what you want to be doing, that's okay: it's temporary.
Don't take advantage of too many unrelated opportunities. If you bounce from project to project, without a unifying theme or good reason, it can make you look like you have commitment issues, and admissions committees may worry that you won't stay to finish your PhD with them. (This isn't meant so much for you, since you're just finishing, but for others who may be in a slightly different position.)
Having a research experience at a national lab is a great way to find out how you like research in a non-university setting. In my experience, national lab work can feel like something between an industry job and a grad student job.


Getting a pet during a PhD There are questions on here about getting married, having kids, and other major time commitments during graduate school. But one thing that I haven't seen posted -- but that I've seen come up with some frequency (at least in the US) -- is concerning people getting pets during their PhD. Yea, I know certain pets (e.g. fish and reptiles) take less time to care for than others (e.g. cats and dogs), but I'm specifically wondering about what to consider in the latter case.

Pro: Pursuing a PhD can be a very lonely process, so having some companionship can be worthwhile and perhaps even lead to increased focus and productivity.

Con: Cost and time commitment, particularly early on with a pet.

What are other things to consider in getting a pet during the PhD? Does the timing make a big difference? That is, should I wait until I'm ABD, or should I get one over a summer?

Does having a companion, like a dog, for example, often help students' productivity when they were otherwise adrift in isolation?

Also, I'd be interested to hear from a faculty perspective as to whether it's ill-advised to get a pet during the PhD. I assume most don't care as long as the student stays productive, but I'm curious if there are any anecdotes that support either the pro or con I listed above. Same goes for anyone who got a pet during grad school.

NOTE: The help center explicitly states that questions pertaining to "Life as a graduate student, postdoctoral researcher, university professor..." are on topic (emphasis added). Thus, this question appears to be fully within the stated guidelines.

I bought a cat recently - I'm in the 4th year of my PhD, but I wish I had done it sooner. Particularly if you are working at a very high intensity, a pet provides 3 incredibly useful things:

A reason to go home. Many students, particularly international PhD students working at top-tier institutions where 18hr work days is not uncommon, tend to spend their entire life at work - after all there's nothing else to do. If you have a particularly one-sided work-life balance, a pet will force you to break up your day into work time and home time.
Time management skills. Before I had a pet, I would go to sleep when I was too tired to continue working, and so it doesn't really matter when I go to bed or when I wake up, so long as that period of time spent asleep is short. However, doing this for several years can enforce some pretty bad habits! With no strong circadian rhythm and poor eating schedules, you get worn out faster. Having a pet forces you to adopt a healthier schedule, for your pet's sake. New mothers/fathers often say the same thing, although a pet is certainly less work. It's not just sleep though, it filters down into everything you do - because you're responsible for two now.
Perspective. If the other two were wishy-washy answers, this one certainly is - however it's also the most important. I don't know about other pets, but cat's don't live all that long, depending on the breed. Mine has about 10 years, which means for every day I am alive, my cat burns up 7 or 8. 'Is he getting the most out of his life?' quickly becomes 'am I getting the most out of my life?'. Another similar but slightly different emotion that you get when you are the only person responsible for something else is, "am I being responsible with his life?". If I was to get hit by a bus today, there's a good chance the cat would also perish. Asking yourself how responsible a pet-parent you are, forces you to ask yourself how responsible you are being with your own life too.

There are obviously a bunch of practical reasons like time, energy and money (although honestly its not so bad), but im sure you have considered all those things already.


Journal papers starting with a famous quotation I was reading a paper in which a famous quotation appears just after the author name. The paper is: Willems, Jan C. "Paradigms and puzzles in the theory of dynamical systems." Automatic Control, IEEE Transactions on 36.3 (1991): 259-294 [link], and the quotation (in german) is taken from Wittgenstein's "Tractatus".

I found it quite surprising, since it was actually the first time that I saw a famous quotation at the beginning of a technical journal paper.

Out of curiosity, I would like to know if starting with a famous quotation is a reasonably accepted practice in scientific publications. In particular, I'm interested in papers published in technical/mathematical journals.

Starting with 'big words' from a quotation of a famous person (or a movie or a song or whatever) is ambivalent. Some might think you show off ('oh I read -- and understood -- Wittgenstein! Look at me!). Others simply skip initial quotations. I myself use them only when they fit to the specific thesis or argument I am trying to make -- and always refer to the quote in the introduction of the article. Only then an initial quote is justified. If it stands there alone with no reference in the text it should be deleted (and from my experiences journal referees do suggest deletion).

So: Quotations are ok. But make sure they fit and add to your point you want to make. And: Write the author's name and the quotation correctly. The mistakes in name and text of the quote you linked to are embarassing.


Does prestige of PhD granting insitution matter for those wanting to work in industry? And can a high level post doc position elevate an application? I know for those wishing to have a career in academia that branding is key for securing a tenure track position. Branding is also key for certain industries at the undergrad level. I was wondering if that bias softens a bit at the PhD level, specifically for life science roles. How many doors shut if one gets a degree from a Top 30 instead of a Top 10 institution?

I figured HR recruitment would not have a clue how great your PI is in whatever field. Moreover with software based resume screening being so prevalent, searching for MIT, CalTech etc... may be a shortest route to get resumes down to reasonable number.

As a follow on question, say one gets a postdoc at an elite institution does that have any effect on said bias?

Any comments are appreciated.

Ok, get it now. I don't think we are talking about a 'bias' here: you fear that the ranking of your Ph.D. granting institution will not play in your favor with industry; if you get a Postdoc at a higher ranked school, will this help in industry? And does ranking at the graduate level matter in industry?

As a Ph.D. (PostDoc), and in many industries, you rarely come in through HR. It's probably more common to rely on contacts, friends, academic collaborators, and recruiters. This already somewhat dampens the impact of where you studied. If you hope to get in through HR, expect trouble. What I say next assumes that you largely stay near your field of study (you're not a biologist seeking to do momentum trading).

Not quite dissimilar to JeffE's answer to a related question, at the PostDoc level you are expected to have some research to show; and as you probably won't show it to HR, the people you talk to quite possibly understand what you did, or maybe even are familiar with it. They also might know, or have heard of, your PI, which you mention as well you wonder if they do. A famous alma mater is certainly nice, but it will matter much less than how highly they think of what you did, and how it fits into your possible job there.

Applying as a Ph.D. (only) in industry will put much more emphasis on your graduating institution: in many fields, even if you publish, it might not yet be printed; and the breadth and number of your contributions tends to be naturally fairly small. I think hiring, in industry, based on name makes more sense then; but your field of specialization, and what you did, still matter quite a bit.

Finally, the further your potential job is from your field of expertise (and that is common too: I've seen people go from CERN to building user interfaces), the more names matter - as is probably no surprise to you. It also matters in just making people curious about you - in the stage of getting an interview; whereas what I wrote before is you discussing a job at a desk or lab.


What does it take to get a tenure track position at an Ivy League School? I see some professors at Ivy league schools who didn't go to Ivy league schools. I also see professors who went to Ivy League schools that end up working at mediocre universities. So clearly pedigree doesn't play a very significant role by itself. What other factors come into play?

The Ivy League is an athletic league, not a list of the top universities.  They are all very good, and some of them are great, but nobody thinks UPenn is more prestigious or a higher-ranked university than Stanford (despite the fact that UPenn is in the Ivy League and Stanford is not).

Furthermore, the strength of individual departments is correlated with the overall prestige of the university, but there's a lot of variation.  The prestige of the university plays some role in recruiting faculty, but departmental strength is the primary factor.

Finally, schools really shouldn't (and generally don't) care much about the pedigree of the candidate.  They are much more interested in accomplishments than educational background.  Of course, there's a strong correlation between accomplishments and pedigree, for at least two reasons.  Talented, ambitious students are likely to have the opportunity to attend top schools, and they often take that opportunity.  Once they are there, they benefit from an environment full of top faculty and other students like them.  So it's no surprise that many professors at top schools studied at such schools themselves, but they didn't all do so.

As for what other factors come into play, that's a very broad question.  At top research universities, the big question is how good your research is, primarily judged by external letters of evaluation.  There's nothing special about getting a job at a top school, beyond the degree of competition.

Regarding the Ivy League students who end up teaching at lower-ranked universities, that's numerically guaranteed.  Every research university graduates more Ph.D. students than it hires, and typically far more, so there's no way they could all get jobs at schools like the ones they attended.  (But keep in mind that most colleges are not research universities and do not offer Ph.D. programs.)  To a first approximation, most Ph.D. recipients from top universities will get jobs at lower-ranked research universities (or other types of jobs entirely, for example teaching-focused or industrial).  Most students from lower-ranked research universities will not get jobs at research universities at all, although of course they may still end up in academia.


Getting published: writing a book chapter in linguistics I am an assistant professor of linguistics. In order to get promoted to the associate professorship one of the things I need to do is write a book or a book chapter. I was wondering how I could write a chapter in a book to be published. Where should I start? Who do I get in touch with?

Many thanks!

In my discipline in the social sciences, book chapters are typical outcomes of workshops or of (repeated) conference panels. The book editors usually organize the workshop, which includes funding, establishing contacts and sending out invitations or an open call for papers. As a participant (rather than organizer), it is difficult to know from the outset whether the workshop will result in any form of collective publication, but sometimes the intention to work on a publication is specifically advertised. As an organizer, this is in your hands; and it of course leads to several follow-up questions (how to edit a book etc.) that are beyond the scope of this answer.


How to teach a class that I've never taken? I have the opportunity to teach an undergraduate class in statistics.  However, I've never taken statistics and the material and concepts are a little foreign to me.  I'm concerned, as a graduate student, that it may take up a lot of my personal time just to learn the material, much less teach it.  I really don't want to turn the opportunity down because I know its a good learning experience, but I don't want to become overwhelmed by it.  What are some effective strategies to teach a class that you've never taken before without overloading yourself?

It will be a huge timesaver if you can get lecture notes from someone who has taught the class before.  There's a big difference between understanding the material well enough to solve problems and answer questions and understanding it well enough to find the clearest, most succinct way to present it.  If you get someone else's lecture notes, you will only have to attain the first level of mastery, rather than the second; this will save you a lot of time.

Before the class starts, you should sit down with the syllabus (presumably you can get one from someone who's taught it before; typically, the first time I teach a class, I don't change much unless I have a good reason to) and try to understand the structure ("story arc") of the class.  What are the big ideas?  For example, in Calculus I, some of these are: limits, derivatives, integrals, applications.  That gives you a sense of where you're going and helps you to know what may be important.

Don't feel like you have to know every little detail perfectly.  The stuff that will likely stump you will be the obscure corner cases.  The stuff that most of your students will struggle with will be much more basic, like the limit definition of a derivative, and precalc and algebra.  If a student asks you a question that you can't answer right away, learn to be comfortable saying "that's a great question"; it's a little outside of the scope of this lecture, but I'd be happy to talk with you about it after class.

Thinking on your feet in front of an audience (especially about unfamiliar material) can be really tough.  Most of the time, you can avoid it.  Usually the student will be happy to talk with you after class.  The reduced pressure of not being in front of the other students will help you to think more clearly.  If you still can't answer the question after a reasonable amount of time, say "This is a good question.  Let me think about it some more and get back to you in class next time."  At that point, feel free to ask your colleagues.  Often one of them will have encountered the question before, and will know the answer off the top of their head.

tl;dnr Get lots of help from colleagues who have taught the class before.  Typically, it won't take much time from them, but it will save you a lot of time (later, when roles are reversed, be willing to do the same for someone else).  You don't have to be perfect.  If you have decent lecture notes, and you really engage with the students and answer their question, you'll be fine.


How does one approach reverse-plagiarism -- being attributed authorship without contribution or consent? For reasons I am not going to delve into, I was given second authorship outside my consent on a couple of conference papers I have absolutely no contributions on.
To resolve this, I have been repeatedly going back-and-forth with ACM to remove me from those, which keeps ending up with the head author very strongly insisting I did contribute, and ACM responding with the written equivalent of shrugging and walking away.
This whole situation is very bizarre and I am sincerely at a loss as to how to even begin approaching this. Plagiarism is complicated enough despite it basically being the most studied academic subject of all times. But how does one even begin to approach it happening in reverse?

The head author’s insistence that you contributed is irrelevant. One simply cannot make someone a coauthor without their consent. I suggest that you reply to the chain of emails with something along the following lines:

Dear [ACM editors],
Thank you for your assistance with the issue of the coauthorship of [paper]. My colleague [head author], cc’ed, is being too kind when he says I contributed to the project. Perhaps there is some truth to that; regardless, for personal reasons I do not wish to be made a coauthor, and do not give my consent to be listed as a coauthor of the paper. I make this decision without implying any opinion as to the content of the paper, its quality, or the question of how much I contributed.
Please confirm that you are removing my name from the list of coauthors [optionally, you can add for added pressure if you expect more resistance:] or I will be forced to escalate the matter to the [Editor-in-Chief/Advisory Board/etc].
[head author], thanks for the lively discussion and for your generous suggestion to make me a coauthor. If you wish to mention me in the Acknowledgements section that is totally fine.
Regards,
Layman

Once you expressly state your refusal to be made a coauthor in this way, it’s difficult to imagine them “shrugging and walking away”. My guess is you simply haven’t been assertive enough in your earlier request. Good luck, and do update your question to let us know how things turn out with this curious affair...


Plagiarism and academic Teaching use Often while teaching (Engineering) it is convenient to illustrate a concept by a figure / photo / sketch etc. which is pre-existing in literature: perhaps another book, or vendor document or a code or a presentation etc. Now, of course it is possible in theory to attribute every such instance and I do where I can.
But I was just wondering if a lack of attribution would be considered Plagiarism in this context?
My point is that most definitions of Plagiarism (e.g. see below a definition from Wikipedia) have a crucial element of "representation of another author's as one's own original work"

Plagiarism is the representation of another author's language,
thoughts, ideas, or expressions as one's own original work

Assuming I am abundantly clear that the presentation or talk is NOT original work (to the extent that I can add a disclaimer on every presentation and maybe each slide) doesn't that obviate any issues with Plagiarism?
Another definition of Plagiarism lists out five defining elements one of which is:

....In a situation in which there is a legitimate expectation of
original authorship

Would classroom teaching (to undergrads) be a situation where there's is a legitimate expectation of original authorship?
More generally, this is not about stealing anyone's credit but about ease of informal discourse. e.g. If in every conversation I had with people if I had to mention the source of every idea or point I was making it would add a lot of drudgery.
To rephrase: In informal context like teaching notes or slides how essential is it to attribute every sketch, drawing, photo etc.
Often it is implicit that the work is not original. e.g if I am comparing a feature of two bridge designs using photos there's no way anyone could even confuse them to be my original work. In many cases the original creator is not clear and could be found out but would take additional digging around.
I just imagine there's a tradeoff between scrupulous attribution versus clarity of communication and efficiency of creating teaching content.
PS. I suppose copyright should not be an issue due to the "Classroom Use Exemption"

Would classroom teaching (to undergrads) be a situation where there's is a legitimate expectation of original authorship?

No, but that is irrelevant to plagiarism.

if a lack of attribution would be considered Plagiarism in this context?

In any academic context, attribution is required.  So yes.


Professor asked me to hand in a plagarism report. How do I do it? My professor told me to submit plagiarism report of my project work. How do I do it? I have tried online softwares but they are not working.

Many universities have plagiarism software that is used for detecting plagiarism in theses or other project reports. At my previous institution there was a time when students were not allowed to submit their thesis and graduate without first running their thesis through this software and providing the report.

If this is the type of thing that is begin asked, there should be an official web page where you can submit your document and generate a report. We won't be able to help you with those details, you'll need to talk to local administrators to get help with that.


Can I get a postdoc in China more than 3 years after having received my PhD? It's been 4 years since my PhD and now I'm applying for a postdoc in China. The Chinese website mentions that the age limit for applicants is 35 years and the applicants must have received their PhD within the last 3 years.

I heard that Chinese universities are strict with age when it comes to postdoc positions. However, they can be more lax on post-PhD experience.

There are two kinds of post-doctoral fellowships available in China. The more traditional Chinese post-doctoral fellowship offers you a government-recognised certificate at the end of training. The more "Western" style does not. There are additional differences having to do with employment, benefits and such that are too individual to list here. Regardless, both are two year contractual commitments.

In general, the more traditional route is very strict in its requirements. You must meet age and graduation requirements and register through a common government portal. The strictness is due, in part, to closely aligned visa requirements. Thus, even if the institution to which you are applying is willing to allow you to attend four years after your PhD, the visa bureau is likely to decline this application.

The more "Western" style of fellowship is much more fluid because it is, in part, more structured like an employment contract and less a training scheme. In addition, there is no need for the academic institute to issue you a government-recognised training certificate. Under this route, there is more flexibility in entry requirements. However, this route is much, much less popular in China. It may not exist in some fields of research.

Good luck.


What incentives do supervisors get for supervising undergraduate projects? What is the prime motivation/incentive for people to supervise undergraduate projects? Students want the degree obviously, but what do the supervisors get? Is there some incentive? Are undergraduate supervisors paid per project as well?
I am an undergraduate computer science student. We mostly make applications and computer programs as final year projects.

Sometimes undergraduate projects can form an extended talent scouting, looking for good matches of personality and interests for future graduate students.


Does filing a patent application require disclosure in the paper publication process? Suppose a patent has been filed (or is in process of being filed) over the same research that is described in a paper.

Does filing a patent application require disclosure in the paper publication process?

If so, what would be the expected format of disclosure during the paper publication process, regarding the patent pending status?

The answer to this depends on the state of the filing and the particulars of the publication venue.

If you haven't filed anything yet, you definitely aren't required to disclose, and more than you are required to cite a paper that hasn't been submitted yet.  After all, any number of things might prevent the filing from happening.  Also, if you disclose before filing, it could screw up your patent.
If you have filed, then it depends on whether the venue requires you to disclose a conflict of interest.  For example, PLoS ONE is very picky about conflict disclosure, but most IEEE venues do not care.  A patent filing (preliminary or full), is reasonable to treat as a conflict of interest.

If you're not sure, though, then the people handling your patent will almost certainly be willing to help you figure out the right way to handle it.  In my experience, the IP offices of many institutions are very happy when researchers are actually willing to engage with them and will be very helpful to you.


Found errors in draft of researcher's book. Is it acceptable to ask for a review of my statement of purpose if I contact him regarding the errors? This researcher says something along the lines of "I welcome all contact regarding this book".

Unless this is someone you know already, I'd say that you probably shouldn't ask. He's not offering unsolicited advice to all comers. You can either give him your feedback on his book or not, but I wouldn't tie the two things together.


Spent time between two campuses, one isn't degree granting. How do I list this on my CV/Application? First of all, I'm sorry if this is off topic, I wasn't sure if I should post or not and couldn't decide based on the guidelines.

My situation is a bit unique. I go to a large state university (X) that is relatively well known in my field. It has its main campus in city A in the U.S., and a small branch campus abroad in country B. I spent 5 semesters in branch B, and have been at main campus (A) for a semester, a summer term, as well as this ongoing semester. I am currently applying to PhD programs in the U.S.

Here are the facts:

My degree doesn't specify campus. Branch B is not degree granting, and my degree just says X university.
I have only one transcript and one GPA. My transcript looks like this:

Fall 2013 - Campus A
Fall 2016 - Campus B

My last 3 journal publications since I came to the U.S. bear a double affiliation with both campuses.
2/3 of my letter writers are from main campus in the U.S.
Most importantly, I have no idea where I will spend my next (and last) semester. I might stay at A in the U.S., or I might have to go back to B abroad. Either way, it doesn't change my degree or anything else, just where I'll physically attend classes.

I'm quite concerned and confused about how to treat this situation on my PhD applications. Naturally, I'd enter both and upload same transcript twice:

a. X University (Campus B): Fall 2013 - Fall 2015

b. X University: Spring 2016 - Present

However, I do not know how to approach this since I'm technically and officially just a student of X university with my degree from there. More importantly, I have no idea where I'll be next semester! I also technically still have affiliation with campus B since I haven't internally transferred to the U.S., they're just letting me stay as long as I need for research. For my CV, I did this:

X University .... City A, State

X University (Campus B) .... City, Country B

Degree, Thesis, GPA, etc.

I don't want to get admitted somewhere only for them to realize I spent my last semester at B and revoke my offer for fraud or something like that. Most of my professors here in the U.S. said I just list X University, but I guess that's just because they fully understand my situation and how the whole branch campus thing works.

How do I make sure that this information is transmitted honestly and clearly to the admissions committee?

As your professors suggested you can just list X University. This is the university that grants you your degree, it does not matter at which campus you studied. Since X University is willing to associate with the branch campus so strongly I would assume the campus has a similar reputation and as such I don't see how anyone would be deceived there.

At the same time I don't think it would hurt your application to mention that you studied in two countries and experienced two cultures. Having experience dealing with different customs may smooth your interaction with researchers from other cultures. You can for example make a brief mention (one or two sentences) in a motivation letter. Of course you should consider carefully whether there are more important things you could mention in those sentences.

If you insist on including this in your CV make it clear that it is a single degree. My personal preference would be to have this in a single line, for example:

X University .... City A, State and Campus B .... City, Country B

Regarding your transcript: Don't submit the same transcript twice. It will only lead to confusion and likely the assumption that you submitted the wrong transcript for one of them.

Regarding your publications: Don't worry about what affiliations are on there. It is not unusual to have affiliations to different departments of the same university on research work. Affiliations on your publications carry no weight in who granted you your degree.


Ethical grounds of letting supervisor hear recorded interviews with research subjects I have collected a lot of data in the form of audio recorded interviews. My supervisor is asking if they can listen to them, however, I feel this goes against the consent stipulated to the participants under the data protection section. As such, I feel uncomfortable letting other people listen to it under ethical grounds.

Can a university or its staff demand to listen to private data collected which the participants understood would only be heard by myself for transcription purposes?

Ordinarily, when research involving human subjects is conducted, it needs to go through an ethics clearance with the university, and that should involve stipulation of which staff members will have access to the data, and what protections are imposed on the data.  Usually the scope of this access would be broad enough to allow access for anyone on the research team (researcher, supervisor, relevant administrators, etc.), so long as they comply with the relevant data protections and only access the data for legitimate purposes.  These matters really should have been stipulated clearly in the ethics application for the research, and it is an oversight if they were not.  (You should think about this for next time.)

You mention your concern that giving access to your supervisor goes beyond the consent stipulated to the participants under the data protection section of your project, but you have not stated the content of that section, or the parties to that document.  (If you can elaborate on the specifics, they may help.)  Usually a data-agreement for research will be made between the research participants and the university, rather than being an agreement between the participants and the specific researcher.  Members of the public who consent to participate in research through a university usually expect that they are giving consent to the institution to record and access their data, rather than giving consent to specific researchers.  They will therefore expect that various professionals in the university will have access to their data, for the purposes of conducting or supervising the research, and the university will ensure that access is only done for a proper purpose.

Now, obviously, if your data agreement has a section that stipulates an access restriction, then you should obey that restriction.  However, in the absence of any clear stipulation that access is restricted to specific researchers, the more natural interpretation would be that the university has consent to record and access the data, and this would usually be expected to extend to a supervisor with a duty to supervise the research of a student researcher.

As to whether your supervisor can "demand" access to the data, if the research agreement with the participants is between them and the university, then your supervisor can probably legitimately demand access, and the university will almost certainly grant him access.  If you are a PhD student at the university, and this person is your graduate supervisor, then your supervisor has a duty to supervise your research.  In any case, if you are not sure of the access rules here, just send an inquiry back to the ethics board that approved your application, and ask for their guidance.


How common is faculty members changing jobs in the US? Faculty members switch between universities for many reasons, but how often does this happen? Has there been any study/report on the frequency of job shifts and resignations in academia, especially in the US?

The frequency with which faculty members switch departments varies by field. For example, it happens much more frequently in Economics than in Computer Science. I remember lunch-time discussions proposing an informal study aimed at testing the hypothesis that this difference in mobility was partially responsible for the income gap between econ and CS (economists make substantially more money), but looking for it now, I can't find it. Maybe it was never written up...


Best graph for missing data I'm doing a research about air pollution . I have annual data that cover 2002-2009 , 2011-2014 ( two sets of data from two sources) and 2017 to 2019 . My question is how can I represent the missing data of the missing years? Will it be zero? Can I draw a line graph with these data or I should do it in a table?? And how to represent the two set of data for the same set years  ?
Thanks

You are approaching the question from the wrong angle. In essence, you assume that there are canonical ways to show particular data. But that's not true. In the beginning, there is just data, i.e., raw numbers. Then, as the author of an article/thesis/book, you want to use this data as a way to illustrate a point you're making, and the way you show the data is chosen in such a way to make this point in a way that makes it easiest for a reader to understand what it is you're trying to explain. What this way to show the data is depends crucially on what you're trying to explain.

To give an example:

If you have rainfall data from each month (January to December) from 2000 to 2019 with two months every year missing (meteorologist is on vacation every year in July and August), and you want to illustrate which months form the rainy season, then maybe a bar chart would be appropriate where each bar indicates the average for that month over the years. In that case, there would simply be no bars at all for the missing months. If your bars start at 0 mm rain per month, then missing bars can be obtained by just using zero data, though it's still useful to indicate the missing data in the text or the caption.
If, on the other hand, you have the same data set and your goal is to illustrate inter-annual variability, then you can't show averages and it's also not useful to show a plot with 12x20=240 bars because you want people to see how different the 20 years' January rainfall is. In that case, you probably want to again show a plot with 12 x-values (one for each month), and each year's data would result in one point that you might want to connect to the previous and following month's data point by a thin line. This way, you'd overlay 20 curves in the same graph. Again, the missing months would not have any data points, and I'd probably also not plot any lines between the June data point and the September data point to make clear that there really is no information.

The point I'm trying to make here is that one can not answer the question of what the best way to show data is, unless we know what it is you're trying to say with your graphics.


How do academics with teaching responsibilities, etc. find the time to do research? How do academics manage to do research when they are lecturing and running courses, helping students, writing up assignments and tests, marking assignments and tests, supervising graduate students, going to meetings, doing admin, having personal lives, etc. ?

How does anyone "find the time" to do anything? The answer is that mathematicians don't "find the time", the time is already there and they make use of it. Your premise that those other activities you mentioned already fill up 100% of the time is simply incorrect. In particular, summers, breaks and other periods with no teaching offer a convenient and relatively distraction-free environment for doing research. But even teaching is not mutually exclusive with doing some research.