How to know if I satisfy an equivalent 3.8 US GPA? I graduated with a bachelor of math advanced (honor) with first class honor from an Australian university with a WAM (weighted average mark) of 93. My university does not have any GPA system.

I am applying for a graduate program in math in US and somewhere in their application, they say:

  If you have a GPA less than 3.8, then do not apply.

I do not know if I fall below 3.8 or not. All my grades are HD (High Distinction) per the Australian system. My lowest mark is 88 (out of 100) for a course in real analysis. Other grades vary between 90 and 99. In the Australian system, if you get a mark between 85 and 100, then you get HD grade for the subject.

The difficulty of achieving a 3.8 GPA varies widely in the United States, both from university to university, and even from program to program within a single university.

This means that the 3.8 GPA standard is not an absolute measurement of academic excellence.  Instead, it is a measure of your academic dedication relative to your peers within your program at your university.

In many American universities, an A is the highest possible grade, and is worth 4.0 towards the GPA.  An A- is often worth 3.7, a B+ 3.3, and a B 3.0.  (Some American universities ignore plusses and minuses for purposes of GPA calculations.)

A generation or two ago, it was common for a 3.8 GPA to only be achieved by a small fraction of students (much less than 20 percent).  In the past generation, there has been considerable grade inflation.  I have heard of highly regarded programs where As and A-es are common, and grades lower than A- are unusual.

Is your quantified average grade higher than 80 percent of your classmates?  If so, this program might deign to consider your application.


How prestigious is a Fulbright scholarship I am an international Fulbright scholar, the scholarship covers my university tuition expenses to complete my Masters degree in the US.

I heard a lot about how the Fulbright scholarship is one of the most prestigious scholarships there are and I was wondering if the prestige is due to only the financial reasons or are there any other benefits?

Also is the scholarship only prestigious in the US or is it famous on a world wide scale or only in academic realms?

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

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

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

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

EDIT (Added the following):

On the intangible benefits of the Fulbright Scholarship

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

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

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

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

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


Why "in Proceedings of conference...", but not "in Journal of ...." I'm wondering why a well-known citation style (bibtex's "plain" style) produces "In proceedings of 'conference name'" or "In 'conference name'", but drops "in" in case of journals. In my opinion, there is no difference between journals and conference proceedings from the viewpoint of typesetting citations to their parts. It's even strange that there is an entry @inproceedings, but not @injournal in bibtex. Any rationale behind the discrepancy between the presence of "in" in the one case and its absence in the other case?

You cite proceedings separately from articles contained within them, because proceedings have their own metadata which stands alone, while journal metadata is typically encompassed in the citation of articles.

@article - papers in journals: Chatrychan et al, "Observation of a new boson at a mass of 125 GeV with the CMS experiment at the LHC", Physics Letters B 716(1) 30--61, 17 September 2012, ISSN 0370-2693.
@proceedings - the proceedings themselves: SIGGRAPH '84 Proceedings of the 11th annual conference on Computer graphics and interactive techniques, July 23-27, 1984, Minneapolis, Minnesota, ISBN:0-89791-138-5
@inproceedings - papers in proceedings: Cook et al, "Distributed Ray Tracing", in SIGGRAPH '84

You don't tend to cite journals alone (you can just write Physics Letters B, you don't usually need to give a bibliography entry) or journal issues - you rarely want to refer to 'the 17 September 2012 issue of Physics Letters B' instead of a paper inside it.


Future prospects at the moment seem bleak after PhD. What steps can I take now to make best use of the next 1 year? Suppose, I want to add machine learning proficiency to my current skillsets. What should my strategy be like? I already have done two machine learning courses on Coursera, but without doing actual projects, I have nothing to show to my future employers. That should be one of my targets during my next 1 year.

What other things I should do? Basically, I  have now come to my senses about the reality of the world and I have realized that I could have prepared well for it. But I don't want to live in regret and be in same position after a year too.

I understand that the question is vague. But specifically, I want advice of improving my profile for (1) an academia future  (2) A fallback option of industry.

If you want to stay in academia, you should keep working on your research portfolio. Ideally, you should do that as part of a full-time occupation, such as being a postdoc in an university or a scientist in a research lab.

Given that you have already studied the basics of machine learning, I believe that using machine learning in your research projects would be a good way to acquire further practice, since you will be driven by a research question and will end up getting hands-ons experience with ML techniques as you try to tackle something you care about.

That said, you should keep in mind that carving a niche is very important to succeed in academia. Hence, as you consider new topics to master, you need to think about how they would fit with what you have done up to this point and what kind of academic position would that lead to.


Are multiple PGCE required to teach multiple subjects in the UK? I'm currently finishing the 3rd year of my Computer Science course at University. My expected classification is Second-class honours, upper division (2:1). After I finish this course, I'd like to go ahead and study further for a Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE) and become a teacher.

The question I have, is how do people / teachers approach teaching multiple subjects? Do they do a PGCE in the subject they've gained a degree in and then move on to study teaching another subject after they have their teaching capabilities? Or do they do 2 PGCEs at the same time?

The reason I'm asking this question is because I want to become an ICT & Computing teacher, but also a P.E. teacher on the side and I'm unsure of which path to take (or which path I must take?)

It's worth noting that my interest for P.E. has purely been from a personal  experience as I've become keen of the gym and realised the importance of staying fit and healthy since University. I don't have a GCSE (or any equivalent qualification) in P.E. as it's something I never liked when I was younger.

Any advice from fellow academics would be greatly appreciated!

It's not uncommon for teachers to teach related subjects, but computing and physical education is a bit of a stretch.

You would not need a second PGCE, but it would probably be in your favour to get some kind of professional experience or some kind of qualification that displays your dedication to the subject.


Who should be listed as authors on extended abstract of thesis? I want to submit an extended abstract of my Ph.D. dissertation to a workshop that looks for summaries of recent work. My dissertation is based on several publications done in collaboration with other researchers (and my adviser).

Who should be listed as authors for the purpose of the workshop submission? Just myself, because I am the sole author of the dissertation, and would be the sole author of the newly written extended abstract. In which case, I knowledge my collaborators. Or do I list all the collaborators as authors of the extended abstract?

It's safest to ask your collaborators what they would prefer.  You can't include them as coauthors of an extended abstract without their permission, and they might be upset if you leave them off.  (Even if doing so is standard at this workshop, they might not know that or might disapprove of this standard.)  I'd guess that they would politely decline authorship of the dissertation abstract if asked, but there's no way to be sure other than asking.

But first I'd recommend asking your advisor about this issue.  I'm not sure what sort of workshop you mean, which suggests that this may be field-specific.  In that case, you need to be aware of the conventions of your field and this workshop in particular.  Presumably you aren't the first person to submit a dissertation abstract to this workshop, so this issue must have been dealt with before.  If your advisor doesn't know offhand, then it's worth looking through past years to try to find examples.  (As a last resort you could ask the workshop organizers for advice, but you shouldn't bother them with this unless you have to, and I'd be very surprised if you had to.)

Then you can write to your other coauthors and say "I'd like to submit an extended abstract of my dissertation to Workshop X.  When people have done that in the past, coauthorship of papers appearing in the dissertation has been handled like this: ...  Is it OK with you if we do the same here?"  It's worth including a copy of your proposed submission, so they can see exactly how they would be mentioned if they won't be authors.

If you don't include them as formal authors of the abstract, then of course you should make it very clear that this is merely a summary of work published elsewhere and who the authors of those papers are.


Can someone really be assigned to review in the APS’s editorial system for over a month without reacting at all and if yes, why? From observations as an author and reviewer that I made myself and that have been reported to by others, it seems that the editorial system of the American Physical Society (which in particular publishes the Physical Review journals) works as follows:

  The editor selects a reviewer.
  The reviewer receives an invitation to review, which he can accept, decline or ignore.
  If the reviewer declines, inform the editor to select a new reviewer (i.e., go back to step 1).
  Otherwise, wait approximately one month for a review.
  If nothing has happened, inform the editor to select a new reviewer.

This means in particular that if the reviewer does not react at all (for an extreme example, because he died years ago), it takes one month until another reviewer is selected. In contrast, with all other publishers, step 3 seems to be instead:

  3. If the reviewer declines or does not accept the invitation within a few days, inform the editor to select a new reviewer.

which seems much more reasonable to me, as a reviewer who does not accept to review (which usually is little work) for whatever reason is very unlikely to review a paper.

My questions regarding this are:

Does it really work like this?
If yes, why is the system not switched to one, which requires the reviewers to give some positive response within a few days?

Note: Just in case, somebody mistakes this for some disgruntled bashing: Apart from the above, my experience of publishing with APS journals has been rather positive. I am just puzzled by this seemingly nonsensical mode of operation.

Yes it really works like this, except that:
(a) the editor selects 1-2 reviewers, not a single reviewer (see http://journals.aps.org/authors/web-submission-guidelines-physical-review). In my experience / field, it's usually two.
(b) I'm not sure which APS journal you are submitting to, but for Physical Review B, the median time with referees is be about 30 days (Rapid Communications) or 40-50 days (regular) in 2013--see https://journals.aps.org/prb/rapids. This is roughly consistent with my experience.
Some journals are much faster.  In my experience in refereeing manuscripts, I'm usually given only 1-2 weeks to respond with "Yes I will review" / "No I will not review".  However, I'm usually allowed to request for an extension of the deadline (and there's usually a box where I'll need to give a justification for the extension).

A 1+ month wait may be a little bit longer than normal--you may wish to consider writing directly to the editor (and if the editor feels there is a need to do so, the editor may choose send an reminder email to the referee). Note that the referee could already be receiving reminder emails (auto-generated by the system)--I have received such emails as the deadline for review approaches.


Where to include a "description of scientific expertise" in an application? I am in the process of applying for a junior research group leader position. The required documents include a "description of your scientific expertise" along with usual things like a publication list and a CV. Note that research and teaching statements are not listed.

To me, it is unclear how this description of scientific expertise should be included in the application. Should I simply include this in the cover letter, or should I somehow include this as a separate document like I would a list of publications?

You could, of course, just ask them for advice on this. But since they list is as a separate requirement they are likely expecting a separate document. This lets you expand it a bit more than you might in the cover letter and go into some detail as appropriate. You can give background on the projects you have led or participated it, including, perhaps, outcomes.

You can also briefly discuss outcomes and impacts of the projects. Lots of possibilities if you have a blank slate.

And this may be just a research statement by another name.


How is it perceived to withdraw an application to graduate school? I applied to a program that I had been striving for in my undergrad, at a top school, but I've since felt overwhelmed with the thought of going this year. I think I should have waited until I was absolutely sure I could handle grad school emotionally and financially. I am so anxious now, thinking I've ruined my opportunity with this school if I don't go.

I am seriously considering withdrawing my application, but I'm very worried about how it might hurt me in the future when I reapply.
Otherwise I may have to decline if I am accepted and reapply.

As an undergrad at a large, prestigious university, part of my work study job was sorting the department's PhD applications as they came in and went through various levels of review. There was absolutely no penalty to withdrawing. They received thousands of applications and the sheer number of those reviewed means that faculty are unlikely to remember your specific application (since you said this was a top school, I assume the same is true for yours). Also, most of the shifting around was done by me, an office assistant. If you've merely applied, there is really nothing to worry about. Now faculty might remember you if you had some kind of outstanding or unusual experience, or were interested in a VERY narrow program (one sub-program had only 3 applicants...). But again, no one is going to be very invested in you or your application until they have admitted you, so the time to withdraw, if that's what you're sure you want to do, is now. No one is going to take it personally given the number of applications involved.

If you have already been accepted, you can consider a deferral, as mentioned above, but even if you just withdraw there is unlikely to be a penalty. People have many reasons to decline--family, health, accepting elsewhere, unique opportunities. If you feel the need to explain and are very concerned about future chances, then perhaps consider a thoughtful letter to anyone you spoke with who accepted you (perhaps you applied to work on specific research in a field relevant to a faculty reviewer) saying that due to circumstances you cannot accept this year, but intend to reapply in the future and hope you will have the chance to work with them when you reapply. Honestly, being accepted in the past would be a great thing to put in your reapplication.


Sub-referencing work from the referenced work Sorry for the tricky title. I am working on a (IEEE) conference paper and in the related work section I have sentence that goes like this:

In [X], the authors derive YYY metric from the Gov. Institution Name's Obscure Parameters Database. Should I put a reference after the "Obscure Parameters Database"? My understanding is that whoever is interested - will be able to find it wither by looking up the [X] work or by searching the Internet for the database (it is open to the public). Am I correct?

Cite the database, and in citing it and/or in context, provide a way for your audience to know which version or part of the database was used. Ideally, you should provide sufficient details for your audience to know how the authors of work [X] produced their metric.


What options do rejected applicants have if mistakenly told they were admitted to a program? I was reading up the Reddit page here, which described a case of admissions error, in which:

The person obtained an acceptance for a PhD program in writing.
The person personally called the university and confirmed acceptance of the program
The university then said that they had made a mistake, cancelling the acceptance.

What would be some things that the person can take, and if some of these actions required specific conditions, what would be the conditions be?

For the purposes of answering this question, we will assume that there is no stipend involved, and the acceptance was confirmed by the departmental admissions staff.

I've been putting off answering this because it's really a legal question, not an academic question, and I'm a computer scientist.  In my one business law course, I learned that the essence of a contract is an offer and an acceptance.  We have those.

If I were in this boat, I'd probably suck it up and apply elsewhere.  If I really-really wanted to go to the school that first accepted, then rejected me, I'd consider paying a lawyer a few hundred dollars to call the counsel for the university.  My lawyer would say something like, "My client is damaged blah-blah and has cause of action blah-blah.  However, we do not want to be unreasonable.  All we want you to do is honor the offer you made in writing and later confirmed verbally.  Um, and keep these circumstances confidential from anyone who could assign a grade to or otherwise evaluate my client."

There is a huge down side to doing that.  It is that the circumstances are quite likely to leak out.  Then one is facing professors who know how one was admitted.


Why isn't literature search a waste of time if centralized documentation is a better alternative? I am asking this question regarding to the documents (thesis, research papers, and publications) that contain original, novel work.

Before starting to write a research paper/ thesis, searching for a problem statement, submitting to a journal, staring research work for Ph.D., etc., every researcher has to do a proper literature search. It is a well-known fact that literature search is mandatory for every professional researcher.

There is a finite number of existing disciplines and each discipline has a finite number of existing topics to research and to publish upon. Why is there no centralized mechanism to document the research that has happened till the previous year? If the discipline or topic is totally new anyway there is no need for the literature search.

If there is such a mechanism, then there is almost no chance for rediscoveries and there is no need to search for the whole literature that is randomly distributed across the Internet, paid journals, libraries, etc.

These central repositories exists - they are called a (digital) library. What we typically mean with "doing literature review" is going into one or more digital libraries and retrieving all information on the subject. Given how heterogenous research questions, approaches, and scientific results are, it seems fundamentally impossible to provide much more structured information than that across disciplines. That said, for some fields (notably medicine, as I understand it), more fine-grained repository structures have emerged, which allow researchers to query for specific data sets etc.


Should I be concerned that my (successful) application to grad school only barely survived the first cut? I am starting my PhD in a few days. One of the faculty told one of his students that me and another incoming PhD student just made it in terms of the initial admission ranking, i.e. we were in the bottom of the pile among those who made the cut. The reason that we got in was because the top candidates they sent offers to didn't come and there were professors asking for us specifically.
I know I could report this professor for his behavior but I'm not gonna do that. However, I am wondering if initial admission ranking means anything in terms of actual PhD performances. My field is statistics.

we were in the bottom of the pile.

Not really! You were in the very top of the pile. Many departments get more PhD applications than they can accept. Typical acceptance rates are about 10%, although I don't know about statistics specifically.
So if they offered eight spots, you were applicants #9 and #10. That's good. Unfortunately, when it comes down to choosing eight people out of the top 20 or so, it comes down basically chance. There is no objective way of measuring how good a candidate might be. So there is likely no real difference between #9 and #10, or more critically, between #8 -- the cutoff -- and #9. That a professor was asking for you specifically means a lot more than the overall ranking come up with by a committee.
Because "ranking" in the top 10% or so is meaningless, it doesn't really correlate with performance. Likely, you and you cohort study different enough things that it's hard to compare anyway.
It is quite inappropriate for a professor to reveal students' "rankings," especially to other people, though.


How to write a letter declining a supervisor offer? I have written a proposal to a supervisor for asking a letter of support in order to apply for a PhD research grant. First, I emailed to supervisor A but no respond for two weeks. Then, I tried to write to the second supervisor (let say supervisor B) and he agreed to write me a letter of support. A week later, I got an offer from supervisor A. I decided to put both letters in my application by list supervisor B as prior.

Recently, I have been awarded a grant under a supervisor B. So, I would like to write a letter to say thank and sorry politely to supervisor A.

Please advise how to write a fit letter of this situation.

A few suggestions:

Don't mention the order of events or the fact that you listed B as the prior, unless A asks. That is, something like "I had applied for this grant listing several potential supervisors, as both yourself and B are able to supervise this work. etc. etc." ; if A asks why you didn't list him/her as the prior, then mention the timing.
If there is the theoretical possibility of you asking for a change of sueprvisor for the grant from B to A, you will (sort of) need to justify why it is you're not doing so.
If co-supervision is an option, you'll need to either ask for from A, or explain why it's not relevant.
I would try to organize some sort of visit with A, or suggest other ways you might collaborate or that you might be useful to him (although there might not actually be such an option, in which case forget about it).


Making future goals clear in statement of purpose when changing fields I need your advice, dear visitors. Currently I am finishing my BS in Applied Mathematics and Computer Science, and trying to apply for a PhD program in Computer Science to universities in the USA.

But I have a real problem.

The topics on which I worked with my adviser are purely mathematical (differential geometry). I began to study this branch of math 2 years ago. But 1 year ago, due to a suggestion of my friend, I started reading articles on Theoretical Computer Science (namely algorithms on planar graphs and in Linear Algebra but nothing related to numerical methods) and became carried away by that. For some reasons, I couldn't have abandoned the work on my topics. One of them is that the results in differential geometry we eventually obtained are excellent (together with my advisor we have two articles in good mathematical journals). Since this is the last year of my education at my University, I haven't changed the field for my diploma (it would have had no sense and it would have been impossible in some way, but let me not tell about it).

Differential Geometry is very interesting and I know much about it but I feel that algorithms is the field to which my future research will be dedicated. I am not interested in any other field of CS. By the way, my scientific advisor knows about my future plans (reported to him half a year ago). He also heartily agreed to write a strong letter of recommendation for me.

So what have I got? Good mathematical skills: a wide spectrum of knowledge on many fields including algebra (linear and abstract), advanced analysis, differential geometry (as mentioned before), functional analysis, combinatorics, algorithms, graph theory... I also have medals and prizes earned on mathematical olympiads (IMO, IMC). So math and TCS background is not a problem for me. After all, Theoretical Computer Science is the same math (we also state and prove theorems like in math)!

Why a PHD? Because I absolutely know that one-two years spent on getting a MS finished will be just a waste of my time.

So I feel difficulty when composing a Statement of Purpose. I just don't know in which way I should put the description of my personal experience forward in such a way so it would be clear and laconic. I don't want the reader to be confused about my goals. I don't want my statement of purpose to be a fruit-salad. I want the reader to understand that a PHD in CS is what I need since I am completely determined about my intentions.

A lot of sincere thanks to whoever will answer my question. Maybe, one can give me a link to a sample of SOP similar to my case.

I think you've essentially written an outline of your SoP in the question. Namely,

"I'm interested in theoretical computer science and mathematics. I've worked in differential geometry, and here are my results, but I'm now fascinated by algorithms research, and I have extensive math background".

Now just expand on it.


Is it permitted to quote something with informal language, like an interview excerpt with 'haha', in a thesis? One of the interview excerpt I want to quote include "haha."

Is it permitted to quote an interview excerpt with 'haha' in a thesis?

I asked because it seems like it is too informal.

You should consult with your advisor about conventions in your field.  I think generally, people lightly edit interviews such as these, so if the laughter isn't revelant to what the subject is saying, you can leave it out.  If it is important, you don't have to onomatopoetically transcribe it as "haha."  You can write
"[laughter]" or "[interviewee laughs]."


Can I learn the course material for the first time while I'm teaching it? If I'm going to give students the course X in next semester. Should I have full understanding of the subject before I teach them or can I learn about the topics before I go to the class and then teach them?

The idea that I want to reach is it good to study the subject in the same semester or should I study before?

. . . the first time I was in a statistics course, I was there to
  teach it.
  - John Tukey

In my experience, it's definitely better to learn about it beforehand. If you are really pressed for time, then start reading the textbook or course material from the back, because you really need to know the direction in which the course is going before you teach the material.

Too many times, I have done the opposite and tried to learn the subject at the same time as teaching it. This is really fun and certainly helps you to see things from the perspective of the students, but is not ideal from a pedagogical point of view, as you are too likely to be blindsided by something. The same goes for courses which are part of a series. For example, I once taught a linear algebra class and left out determinants because we were running out of time and we didn't "need" them for the exam. Next term, I got an irate email from the instructor of Linear Algebra 2...

The best possible prepartion for teaching the course in X is having taught it before.


Should I e-mail my professor after completely blanking on my final exam? I had a final exam today in my dynamics class. I took the exam with Adaptive Services because of my medically diagnosed ADHD, Anxiety, and OCD (among other things). I have been studying since Thanksgiving break and felt pretty confident going into it. I was even in the library just this morning teaching my classmates how to do things before the test.

Well, as soon as I was handed my test and opened it, I completely blanked looking at the first question. I was luckily that I had the extra time, because I started remembering things slowly, but before I knew it the 3.5 hours have already passed and I was out of time. I ended up getting 3/5 questions done (don't know if they were right), and made progress with the others so I am hoping the partial credit will be enough.

This is already my second time taking the class; I had to withdraw last Spring. I really don't want to be forced to take this class again: it is very time consuming and rigorous, it is a prerequisite for all my other classes (so if I failed I cannot move on), and, the main reason, I know the material.

Unfortunately, I really don't think it will be enough. I am devastated. I have been having a lot of trouble with my university lately, and I have strongly considered dropping out after last Spring. Failing this class will probably be my tipping point. I don't want to drop out, but I can barely afford it to begin with, failing the class could cause me to lose financial aid, and I can be far more productive doing something else than retaking a class I already have a strong understanding of.

I am wondering whether emailing my professor might be a good idea. I don't want to come off as defensive or making excuses. I'll be the first to admit I'm not the best test taker, I am lazy when it comes to school work, I don't get the best grades, etc. so I fear that it will look like an excuse to my professor. I just want to say something along the lines of:

  Dear Professor, Thank you for a good semester, I enjoyed your class but I am nervous of how the grade on my final will come back. I have been studying very hard and felt like I had a good grasp of the material going into it, but as soon as I sat down and looked at the first question I blanked. Over the course of the exam, I was able to work some stuff out but I don't know if it is enough and I'm afraid it won't be. I am not expecting any type of compensation or anything, but I wanted to bring this to your attention incase there was anything that could be done. Thank you, happy holidays.

Do you advise sending this mail?

Sending an email to your professor is fine. It also sounds as if you are doing your best, understand the course well enough to at least pass, and are not making excuses or asking for undue favors. Your professor will know this as well and will be much more willing to help you out because of that.

As @DreamConspiracy points out, I'd state more clearly what you hope to achieve by sending this email to your professor. This might be something like: "Is there any way for me to retake the exam in case I get a failing grade?"

If you are worried about losing financial aid, maybe you want to also contact the financial aid office. How are your ADHD, Anxiety and OCD implemented in your aid package?


Email a department head as student recommending a professor for a tenure position I’m an undergrad student at a small liberal arts school, and while communicating with a professor whom I’ve had a course with, they mentioned they are applying for a tenure position in the department I am majoring in.

Is it appropriate for me to send a short email to the department head mentioning my support for hiring this professor? I feel rather strongly about this because I’d very much like to take more courses with this professor, and would be disappointed were they not hired. Also, I feel like I have a piece of information that is to this professors benefit that the hiring committee know, but may not come up from other sources.

I have not taken a course with the department head but I have met with them a handful of times and we know each other to some degree.

Thanks!

Of course you can write to the head. Make it a formal, printed, mail, however. Email might just get mislaid. But also note that most tenure decisions go through committees. It might be more appropriate to write a formal letter to the head of that committee.

The letter on paper will become part of the tenure file to be discussed within the committee.

Also, say more than that you support the professor. Say why. How has he/she helped you or others, for example. Inspired you. Whatever.


Do journals need to save all publication-relevant communications The journals I am talking about are those accepted by Scopus etc, Elsevier journals for example.

From my personal morals, I consider it my right as an author after a submission to a journal to have full access to:

all my submitted documents during the review process
all reviewers' comments made, expect the confidential ones between editor and reviewer
all additional editors comments
obviously during review but also afterwards, no matter whether the final result is an "accepted" or "rejected" paper

Now do such mandatory guidelines exist from the Scopus or CrossRef side? If not, are there publishers guaranteeing this? Email communications can be lost for various reasons like switching the university. This is somehow the case with me and I really would like to get access to comments from two years ago.

Journals do not have any legal obligation to store all documents associated with the review process. While many do store them in the electronic system, these systems are still relatively new. I have never heard discussions about record archiving polocies. Further, when journals switch review systems, the records are sometimes lost.

Of course, you have access to all these documents, and should use whatever archiving policy you think is relevant. I tend to save all the documents. I have paper files for my older manuscripts and purely electronic files for newer manuscripts.


Transferring results of Google Scholar search to My Profile Searching Google Scholar I find thousands of references, mostly to my poetry, but also to my articles and books.  Is there any way of transferring some of these articles, books, and poems to "My Profile" without typing each in separately? Thanks!

as i recall from using this feature, once you verify your email, there is an "import all" button to collate the works, and way to choose from among them, if you care to do so.


Asking potential advisor about their post-interview opinion on my profile for PhD application I mailed one professor inquiring about her research and possibilities of working with her if admitted through the graduate program (in US). We had a nice skype interview and she even obtained recommendations from my previous advisors. All of this happened before even applying for the PhD program.

I'm applying for spring and the graduate coordinator says that spring admission at their school is very unusual. So I'm kinda assuming that if the professor likes my profile, she might send out a word for me to the graduate committee. I'm confident I don't have any red flags on my profile, so if she roots for me then I should be able to get in. However, I haven't got any clear statement from her expressing that she will make a mention for me to the admission committee. Would it be a good idea to ask her about this? Because if she doesn't give me a mention, I really won't have any reason to apply to this school. But if she does root for me (and I do get in), then I'm definitely joining this school. And in that case I won't have to apply for fall admissions at other schools and I would save a lot of application money. Hence would it be a good idea to ask her about how she likes my profile and my chances of getting accepted, considering its an unusual time of the year for admissions?
I kind of want to have an informal/indirect confirmation from her, without trying to come off as asking for too much.

Typically application deadlines for fall admission are around December 1st; this timing gives the admissions committee time to review applications and have students interview at the university in Jan-Feb, with admission decisions coming in Mar-Apr.

I think the graduate coordinator saying spring admission is unusual might be a polite way of saying they don't really admit for spring; if you are applying to a program that is at all competitive, it isn't about not having red flags on your application, it's about being a stronger candidate than all but a handful of applicants.

If the professor you contacted isn't making a truly special effort to get you in for the spring, I don't think you should hold out hope for that. So far, everything you said - you had a nice interview, she contacted your references - sounds typical, not like she has taken an unusual interest in you that would allow you to bypass the typical admission procedures.

(note: you said you had your interview already; I'm assuming this was an informal interview with the professor you mentioned, and not an official interview conducted after you officially applied to the program)


Is it ethical to take external consultancy jobs during a fully funded PhD programme? I am on a three year PhD programme which is fully funded. My salary is fair, nothing flashy but definitely enough to get by without having to do anything else.

Recently, I was offered to start a new course and teach it at a different university from the one where I am employed, in exchange for an extra salary. I am very inclined to say yes to this because it is a really good opportunity to gain teaching experience, promote my research center and earn more money.

From a bit of Googling around it seems that there are different takes on this depending on the country, but that the general approach is that bijobs during the PhD is totally fine. My university (a Scandinavian one), however, officially states that applicants to PhD programs cannot have other jobs. It's confusing to me and I'm not comfortable just naively considering it consultancy work rather than an actual job, and playing stupid if bureaucracy catches up.

My supervisor has a very "long leash" advising style so his opinion on the matter is that I should do whatever I'm comfortable with as long as I'm fulfilling my academic duties. I'm pretty comfortable with it, but the rules are fuzzy and what I really want is some examples of what other people have done in this situation.

Some universities have policies against funded PhD students doing other paid work. You may want to consult the dean's office (or the equivalent authority at your institution) about this before you sign a contract for a second job (albeit temporary), since there may be serious repercussions such as the termination of your funding.

Your funding may also be coming from a grant which somehow prohibits another income source. This can be unbeknownst to you, arranged by your professor or school, which may be strange and perhaps even unethical, but not impossible and not unheard of. I have seen more than one grant agreement where an "obligation of the researcher to work exclusively for the project" is explicitly stated.

Thus, before you accept the job, make sure to ask your advisor and your dean if there are any conditions which would prohibit you from doing so. You don't have to be very specific about the offer you received. I would say you don't have to hide the facts either, but there are many flavors of advisors and deans so I won't comment further on how you communicate with them. Just make sure to ask.


How do some Ws on transcripts affect PhD admissions in mathematics? I am a senior who is graduating in December with a Bachelor's Degree in Pure math. I would really love to apply to the PhD program. However, I have been really depressed because even though I have a good GPA (3.85), and I have gotten mostly A's in all of my math classes (I have taken math classes up to Topology, measure theory, and Algebra), I feel like this is not good enough since I have 8 W's [withdrawals--no grade given] on my transcript. The horrible part is that 6 of these W's are on math courses. All those W's occurred during my first year at my university. The second year up to now I haven't gotten any W's.

My question is: How horrible (by the Committee who selects candidates for the program) is a W seen on a transcript? Is there anything I can do about it?

I feel like I have a big hole on my transcript, and it has been chasing me throughout my undergrad years even though I managed to hide myself from this monster and continued to take a lot of math courses, earning A's (and two B's) in all of them.

Your situation doesn't sound so bad to me at all.

First of all, though perhaps I shouldn't, I will admit that many graduate admissions personnel do not thoroughly scour the transcripts.  They look at the GPA and they look at the courses taken.  Often this information is given separately on the application, so a look at the actual transcript may only be required if there is something missing there.  So there's a tip for you: if you are asked for separate information about courses taken, definitely be sure to list it.  (If on the other hand you are asked to list the courses taken together with the grades you got, it seems to me that you are ethically obligated to list the W's.)

More than this though, W's occupy a sort of nether region in academic grading.  In my university we have WP (withdrew passing) and WF (withdrew failing).  Only the latter affects your grade, and my understanding is that WP is not meant to be a stigmatic mark at all.  (In fact undergraduate students are limited to 4 WP's over the course of their careers.)  Unless the registrar puts an asterisk next to your 3.85 GPA and says warning: there were some W's! then in at least one very official sense the W's are not being counted.

More good news: all of the W's are in your first year.  That is exactly the sort of localized difficulty followed by dramatic improvement that admissions committees are looking for.

I think it would be a good idea to use your personal statement to briefly address the W's.  I'm thinking of one or two sentences which acknowledge that they exist, say a few vague words of excuse (e.g. "time to adjust to a new academic environment", "personal difficulties long since resolved"; nothing too specific or gory), and especially: point out how nicely you've moved on.  If you feel like you can use the W's as part of a larger depiction of a crescendo of academic accomplishment, you might try that, but that's a more "advanced technique", so to speak.

I think it is quite likely that the average effect this will have on your application is little or none.  Honestly, to me you sound significantly more guilty / apprehensive about a minor issue long since resolved than you need to be.  I forgive you!  Please don't hesitate to apply to all the PhD programs you're interested in. (If you like algebra/number theory/geometry/topology, please consider UGA.)


Should I wait patiently if the professor asked me to wait for a few weeks? I am in my final year of PhD and submiting thesis in June. I had an interview for a Postdoc position about 2 months ago and gave an on site talk to the lab. The professor asked me to talk to each lab member individually to ask about lab culture, salary and so on. The professor and I then had  another interview and she briefly talked about the project I would be doing. When I asked about when I can know if I can get an offer, she asked me to await for like a month. She told me it's quite positive and very keen on taking me. But she has to think about grants and funding as she will be taking a couple of postdocs. After waiting for one month, she requested to wait for a few more months for her to be certain.
Only a few labs are available in the country I am applying for. So I don't want to apply for other labs and get rejected or rejecting their offer if any.
So should I just wait and see how she will reply before applying more? What is my chance of being accepted? Thanks!

she has to think about grants and funding as she will be taking a couple of postdocs. After waiting for one month, she requested to wait for a few more months for her to be certain.

This professor seemingly has no money to hire you. You should look elsewhere, whilst maintaining contact. If she gets money, it seems you are amongst those she'll consider hiring.


How should I cite a specific section of the LabVIEW online documentation? How can I cite a specific page of the LabVIEW online documentation?

I need to cite these two pages: from the tutorial and types of graphs and charts.

Would I be better off citing the online help documentation?

It's generally best to provide the location of the cited material in such a way that, should a reader need to find it, they can do so without searching extensively. The pages you are citing are in two different locations (the first is a tutorial on the site and the second is essentially a section from the 2012 version of a manual) on the LabVIEW site so it likely makes the most sense to cite them separately from each other. There's always the potential issue of resources changing location and links breaking, so include other identifying details where possible, like page names and edition dates.


How to prepare academically-minded students and postdocs for the eventuality of not finding secure academic employment? Graduate students and postdocs are predominantly trained to be -- and driven by the prospect of becoming -- full-time academics. For a majority of them, there comes a point of reckoning when they realize they may not be among the select few that "make it" to a secure full-time academic job. This realization is commonly accompanied by the feeling of having been exploited by the academic system, a feeling that becomes more and more exacerbated the longer one remains in graduate studies or post-graduate contingent positions before moving on to a different field. This is both well-studied and quantified in higher-ed literature and virtually omnipresent as anecdotal accounts on higher-ed media.

As a soon-to-be assistant professor, how can I prepare academically-minded students and postdocs for the eventuality of not finding secure academic employment? Are there well-documented mentoring methods on this subject?

I am more interested in what I can do individually, rather than how to force institutional change collectively, as I have found it easier to find resources on the latter topic.

A few of your students may just study your subject for the pure love of it. More of them, I suspect, will settle for nothing but an academic career. You may not be able to convince them to aim otherwise.

But, you can still, with some effort, show them all what the alternatives are. In particular you can do two things, one simple and the other harder.

The first is to develop a list of sources in various industries that utilize the sorts of things you teach. Invite someone to visit your class about one day a month and to talk about the sorts of applications that are done in their industry. Even better if they can talk about their own personal involvement. It will take a while to get started in this, but a contact might be willing to return annually. You can expand this, possibly, if there are several sections of your course, even those taught by others, and have a late afternoon or evening seminar with such a guest.

The second thing is to develop, over time, an internship program with local industries, where students visit the companies and maybe perform some tasks there. But just visiting the companies to see what life might be like in industry might be enough. Many universities have internships and some depend on them as a fundamental part of the education, so you might be able to get some help in this.

One of the problems of the future academic mindset is lack of knowledge of the alternatives. You can give them at least a hint of that.


Plagiarism using reviews in a thesis? As the title says, I'm writting my thesis and I am looking through many reviews, since they easily collect all the useful information that is general and it would take me too much time to find by my own. They also have a nice structure and "storyline", which makes it easier to read (and I doubt I could improve, despite connecting the different fields that are relevant to me).

My question is, if I follow the structure of a review, many of their citations, but I don't copy their sentences (I reformulate most of them when possible, skip some and add some extra from other reviews), is it considered plagiarism? Should I cite the review(s)? And how? Should I forget about all I've done and start from scratch?

Thank you!

It's a little bit of a gray area in my opinion. If you just rewrite the sentences but take the structure, statements and references from the review it could technically be plagiarism since it's not your idea or work. If you just take the information and rewrite it is fine. And there's the question: when is it your own "review" and when is it still just the reworded one you've read. You definitely need to cite that review somewhere.

What I would do is combining the key information of all the reviews in your own short review and then add something like:

  For more in-depth reviews see ...

What helps is reading all the reviews and then, in the best case some days later, writing your own without looking at the reviews. That way you won't stick to the exact structure or wording.


What are the pros and cons of pursuing a professorship without a post-doc? If I have a decent number of journal publications as per my area of research, is pursuing a post-doc after PhD worth it before searching for a professorship? Do faculty search committees give more preference to candidates with a post-doc over those who just finished their PhD, even though the number and quality of journal publications are comparable? Does the opportunity to work with a well know professor significantly boost the chances of getting a faculty position?

If I have a decent number of journal publications as per my area of
  research, is pursuing a post-doc after PhD worth it before searching
  for a professorship?

In many disciplines it is practically necessary to have done one or more post-docs in order to amass the research record needed to obtain a tenure track position at a research university.

In my discipline (applied mathematics) it is also common for a new PhD to use a mixed teaching/research post-doc or a primarily teaching visiting assistant professor position as a way to get teaching experience.

In my experience, many students apply for both post-docs and tenure track positions.  Reasons not to apply for a more desirable tenure track position are if you don't have any realistic chance of getting the position or if you feel that you want to gain more experience through a post-doc before starting on a tenure track position (starting in a tenure track position when you aren't adequately prepared could result in your failing to get tenure.)

Depending on your discipline, applying for a tenure track position immediately after the PhD may be extremely unlikely to get you the job.  On the other hand, if applying for a position (using a generic CV, cover letter, and research and teaching statements) takes less then a minute, then why not?

  Do faculty search committees give more preference to candidates with a
  post-doc over those who just finished their PhD, even though the
  number and quality of journal publications are comparable?

The search committee will be looking at post-docs who had as many publications as you during their PhD and then continued to produce at that rate or faster over a couple of years as a post-doc.  In my experience, someone who took longer after the PhD to amass the same number of publications and citations would be at a relative disadvantage.

  Does the opportunity to work with a well know professor significantly
  boost the chances of getting a faculty position?

In my opinion, yes.


How to react to flawed preprints? Suppose you were to find what you think are serious flaws in a preprint (arXiv or something similar). What should you do? Now, after the obvious first step of contacting the authors and letting them know, what should you do if you were basically told off ("thanks for your interest" without addressing any of the technical concerns)?

Were this a regular journal, one might write a letter to the editor, or a comment (one might go this route even without contacting the authors in the first place), but how should you deal with preprints, whose contents is in a way still evolving? Would a "comment" paper uploaded to the preprint server not be considered rather aggressive (I don't remember seeing anyone doing this)? Is there anything one can, or should, do before the (eventual) publication of the paper in some peer-reviewed venue?

Stretching this well into the hypothetical, suppose that one did write a "comment" paper and uploaded it onto the preprint server. Would the authors of the original preprint be ethically obliged to cite this and address the concerns raised therein when submitting to peer-reviewed journals (assuming that they were to submit after being let known of the existence of the comment)?

You have no need to do anything. By contacting the author, you pointed out what you believe to be a flaw. It could be you are incorrect, it could be that they deal with this in a future version, it could be that they simply don't care. To me, this situation is akin to the following xkcd comic:

People perform research, good and bad, every day. Once it's published you can feel free to write an article refuting their conclusions, but until then it's just informal academic discussion, and there's nothing you can really do about someone else being wrong.

Disclaimer: Some disciplines may treat preprints as actual publications, and if so, the preceding does not apply. I do not know of any fields for which this is the case, but then again, there's a lot of things I do not know.


How to add mathematical rigor to systems research? My research focuses on wireless networking and designing various protocols. I primarily build systems. I, sometimes, analyze the performance of those systems, using techniques from probability, statistics, and algebra.

I want to improve my understanding of the mathematical underpinnings of my work. Specifically:

Derive and prove theorems on properties of a system and prove it;
Model a system.

This post differs from SE posts like this and this because I'm looking for concrete steps to incorporate math rigor into my systems research. I found the answers in those posts to be too abstract.

Other posts, such as this and this, provide concrete but scattered advice, suggesting:

take theory courses;
read math-heavy papers and learn.

For (1), what types of courses are likely to be useful? Is Great Theoretical Ideas In Computer Science a good source?

For (2), I find it difficult to lead from reading a proof to writing one of my own, or from reading about a model to creating my own model. Input is easy, output is still hard. Any good examples (papers, books, or online courses) to learn how to output theoretical results?

Besides these two lines of suggestions, any other specific suggestions on how to be a more mathematically fluent researcher for someone like me who is from systems background?

Some more context for the whole question: I'm working on my first theory-oriented paper and I have great difficulty in proving the optimality of my proposed protocol. Thus I'm asking to see if there is a general way to hone my proof skills in the short term and my general math skills in the long run.

You sound like me five years ago! Here's what I did to become more theoretical.

Go back to basics.  I went back and relearned Calculus and Linear Algebra.  Watch YouTube videos on different subject matters. Mathematical maturity is the key.  You get this by reading lots of maths (any maths will help).   I also started learning Real Analysis.
Search Google for books/resources on 'how mathematicians think?'  Also learn how to do proofs.  There are plenty of books available.
Start reading theoretical CS papers/books, and learn a math tool; e.g., a branch of math programming such as linear program, non-linear, etc...

Best of luck with it.  Unfortunately, there is no short term solution, but the payoff is well worth the effort and frustration!

Proofing stuff in general is hard.  Otherwise, any man and his dog will be able to do it!  Books on how to construct proofs will help here.  They will get you into the correct mindset and also provide the framework that will allow you to 'hang' your proof.


Best license for an applied research project I am looking to incorporate a license in the source code of a research project of University A, in which I was the last contributor. Historically the computer-science school has not forced researchers to publish the code with any specific license; they mainly care about the ranking affected by publications, and releasing the code publicly is suggested but not mandatory. Obviously researchers cannot sell the code as the commercial use is reserved to the institution (although software patents are very rare in my country).

Given that the project could benefit from a dissertation that I have been developing on University B, what is the best license that fits for this case? I personally prefer to release the new improved version in a compiled format, and keep the new source code private, so GPL is not an option for me. Is the MIT license a better candidate? (It says “and/or sell copies of the Software” though.) The project in University A is an applied research based on state of the art that have existed freely for a long time.

You don't own the source code for the project, so you shouldn't be the one making this decision.

The fact that you were the last one to contribute some code doesn't mean that you have the right to slap a license on the whole thing and dictate its further use.  In fact, even if you wrote the whole code, copyright is almost certainly owned by the university. The university legal department is probably who actually owns this decision.

Authority to decide the licensing might be officially devolved to the computer science department.  Or it might be that CS is just doing their own thing because nobody really knows what is going on. You also might get away with just putting a license on it yourself.  Someone in the department might even tell you that is fine because they don't care.

The problem with such decisions taken without the real authority to take them is that someone might start caring later--for example, if the software becomes a successful product and somebody (not the university) is making money on it.  Many open source licenses (including the MIT license) are incompatible with the university retaining rights to commercial use.  The university would have to explicitly decide they are ok with giving up this right for such a license to be ok.

Your own self-interest in the matter complicates things.

If I understand you correctly, you want to open-source the project at university A solely so that you can take it to university B and use it (and you don't want to share it further after that).  Frankly, this doesn't look great.  If there is any ambiguity in the licensing, or any dispute arises, the fact that you did this for your own benefit rather than sharing with the research community is likely to color the whole thing.  Any benefit of the doubt will be gone.

I would not do this.  Instead, explicitly discuss with the project your desire to contribute (and collaborate).

Rather than open sourcing as a means to an end, get what you really need: permission to work on the code and collaborate with them from another institution.

They might decide that the best route to doing this is open source--in which case let the department lead that.
They might decide that simply giving you permission is the right route.
Or they might even say no--in which case be glad that you are finding out that answer this way rather than in a much more contentious way later.


Is it considered cheating to ask a friend or tutor to proofread your thesis before submission? Even after having proofread my thesis many times, I think asking another person to proofread it before submission is necessary.

Is it considered cheating to ask a friend or tutor to proofread your thesis before submission?

I can't imagine why it would be cheating: So long as you're producing the majority of the content, it wouldn't be cheating to have someone check for the problems that are now invisible to you!


Conflict of interest -- recommendation letters I recently got asked by a professor who is also one of my recommenders to apply for a PhD in their department. This professor is also a co-chair of that said department.
Would I be incurring some kind of a conflict of interest by asking the same professor to also write me a recommendation? Or should I look for someone else to replace them as my recommender? The problem is that I met this professor through work and they can really attest (more so than others) to my critical thinking abilities as a prospective grad student.

You cannot incur a conflict of interest within someone other than yourself. In the situation you describe, the only person in jeopardy of a conflict of interest is the professor.
This professor might have a conflict of interest if the professor were to be both a "recommender" and also someone who "asked" you to apply to the professor's department. That is not your concern, since you obviously are not familiar with the details of your school's rules on ethics—the faculty at your school has seen this same situation hundreds of times, and the institution will have well-demarcated guidelines which tell professors how to handle these things.
(I am puzzled regarding two things

how is this professor a "recommender" without also already being committed to writing you a "recommendation"
the difference between being a "recommender" and someone who recommends (someone who "asked [you]") that you apply to a certain department's program.

Perhaps you are referring to the professor as having some formal status as a Recommender. If that's the case, it is unclear. Anyone can be a recommender, but only a few are Recommenders.)
Do what you will, and if there is any potential conflict of interest for the professor, that is for the professor to resolve. It is not your responsibility.


How I can add former official address in manuscript? I have written a manuscript in which I have added my present university address. If I also want to add official address of my previous university, can I do that ? If yes, should I place my former official address below my present address or former address would be more suitable as footnote ?

The address is  primarily a matter of knowing where you may reside. From this perspective the former address is of less value. However, since universities use publications for their evaluation of performance adding the former address can eb a way to "thank" your old institute. This is particularly true if you did the work there. So, the suggestion would be to list the addresses with your current first. You could consider doing it the other way around if all the work has been done at the former instittute and they deserve the credit more than your new. Your new address should nevertheless be present for reasons of contact.


Applying for MS in CS - what are the programming languages I must know before starting graduate school? I am an electrical engineer with basic programming skills in C, C++, Python and Java. I wish to pursue my masters in computer science to pursue research (PhD) after working for a couple of years in the IT industry (preferably product development).

So what are the programming languages one must master before starting graduate school - MS in CS?

You don´t need any specific languages.

Try to get your "basic" skills in (some of) the languages you already know to an "advanced" or "expert" level. Doing this you will automatically understand and internalize the concepts behind the programming languages.

All the rest is just syntax and you will be able to pretty much learn many other languages "on the fly" if needed.


Why is it that adjunct faculty positions pay so little? There's been a series of articles recently [1,2,3,4,5] that basically decry the dismal working conditions of adjunct faculty.

I would like to ask: Why do these positions pay so little? Is it because there is a vast amount of oversupply of teachers? Is it because the Universities have such a diverse range of topics to cover that they cannot afford to hire full-time instructors to cover these courses? Is it because there is decreasing income and funding for academic institutions?

I am curious about what conditions led to this situation where adjunct professors are paid so little.

The adjunct model seems to be predicated on an assumption that most adjunct faculty are presumed to be employed somewhere else. It's supposed to be a win-win: the institution gets a qualified expert with current, out-of-the-ivory-tower experience; the adjunct gets a chance to scratch a teaching itch, or to work with the university. All this happens for a modest compensation – which turns out to be a bargain for the university, and a little extra pocket money for the adjunct.

I didn't read all five of the articles you linked to in your question, but I did look through three of them. They seemed to be focusing on the depressing conditions for those who are trying to make a full-time living through a collection of part-time teaching assignments. I don't think that's the way the system was ever intended to operate.

Where I teach, I'm an adjunct, and I love the perks. I get to use the campus gym, and I get access to campus library resources. I have a passion for teaching, but I don't get to do much teaching at my full-time job. The extra money hasn't made me wealthy, but it's led to a few lifestyle improvements and splurges for my family. $9,000 isn't enough to live off of, but it goes a long way when you want to renovate a kitchen, take a vacation, or help pay for a wedding.

Moreover, where I teach (a state university in the U.S.), the adjunct rates are not set by the department. The going rate is the going rate, take it or leave it.

My brother once asked me how much my adjunct job paid per hour, if I factored in prep time and grading time. I told him that I never bothered to calculate that, but it didn't matter, because I enjoyed my duties too much to give it up. I'm fortunate in that I'm not doing this for the money, so even the relatively low pay is very much appreciated. I enjoy the challenges of teaching, the chance to experiment with new pedagogies, and the chance to make an impact on the future.

Let me put it this way: Teaching two nights a week for fifteen weeks? $3,000. Staying up until midnight grading final exams? Zero extra dollars. Getting an email from a student from two years ago, telling you about how she's using stuff from your class at her new job? Priceless.


What should be included in a support letter? I would like to know is there any format or things have to be aware when writing a support letter?

The letter is to support the application of a student to an award.

A great letter of support for a student will include the standard elements of a recommendation.

Your relation to the student (lecturer, lab supervisor, academic mentor, etc.)
The student's significant contributions to the school, the community, and the specific program.
The student's academic excellence
Other important factors. (Why are you being asked for this letter of support? What do you know about this student that supports their suitability for this award?)

In all of these, be specific. Don't just say "X is an excellent student". Say "X is an excellent student, as evidenced by their insightful participation in class, their strong paper (won an award at [student conference in field]), and their continued dedication to learning. I was impressed most by x, y and z."


What are the most important questions to your phd professor after the proposal stage I am a newbie in the PhD world (just started out). I have just finished my proposal and therefore committed to a problem I want to research and solve. However, my professor does not advise me much. However, when asking him he always tries to help me as good as possible, but that`s only the case if I am directly asking him about something. We have irregular meetings and I would like to use these meetings as good as possible, because I am fearing that organisatorial issues may come up later if I do not ask him now.

I was wondering what are the most important questions to ask him after the proposal stage? Any organisatorial stuff that will later be important for me?

First of all: If you are not happy with the way your professor advises you: tell him. It is possible that he wants to help but does not know how or that he wants you to have as much freedom as you want.
However, it is also possible that you are expecting more guidance but you should (in his opinion) be able to figure it out yourself.

So, now to your questions:

  What are the most important questions to ask him after the proposal
  stage?

(in no particular order)

Do you think that the problem I want to solve is possible to solve?
Do you think it is interesting?
Do you know related literature I should read?
[Explain what you are planning to do - as short as possible] Is it clear what I am planning to do or have I left out important steps? Do you think this is the best way to approach it?

  Any organisatorial stuff that will be later important for me?

That depends too much on your situation, but that is another question you could ask (However, it may be possible that he does not know anything about that, some postgrad coordinator/secretary or whoever is responsible might be more helpful there. And, most importantly: ask the other PhD students).


Papers with "towards X" in the title I am working on a research project whose eventual conclusion is probably several years away.  However, I have some intermediate results that are:

a) Useful for practitioners in the field
b) Useful as stepping stones towards the eventual complete solution

I'm thinking of writing up these results in a paper with the title: "Towards a closed-form solution of grasp statics".  My question is, is it correct to use "towards" here to indicate that the paper is presenting a piece of an as-yet incomplete solution?

Using "towards" in a title is perfectly acceptable, as indicated by the large number of papers that you can find with this word in their title.

I've also used it myself, in just the sort of manner that you are considering, and found no objection from reviewers.


How much the region you get your PhD is important to your career path? I am about to make an important decision for my career. I have a good PhD position (fully funded with a good stipend) in East Asia. The university is one of the top 50 in my subject, which is electrical engineering and computer science (based on QS, THE) and Top 100 generally (QS, THE). The professor is somehow well-known and has an established international connection: He graduated from a top US university and is the author of a well-known book on the subject, associate editor of prestigious journal, etc.

I want to say everything is good. However, I ultimately seek a position in the West and not the East. At the moment I’ve missed the opportunity for Western schools for Fall 2018, and such an opportunity might not be offered to me in Western universities.

Here is my question: Assuming that I manage to produce good research and a good CV with a good international collaboration, does having a PhD from abroad (esp. East Asia) dramatically lower my chance of a research career in the target country (let's assume the US, but I am asking more generally)?

I want to compare the importance of individual merit for career and the region you get your PhD. What’s its impact?

It's difficult to answer your question with too few details.

You can look at the alumni of the lab/department that gives you the offer. What were their first jobs after leaving the lab? If none of them went to the west, then it is very unlikely that you will do :)

East Asia is very broad, which includes China, Japan, Korea etc... There are only a small set of universities that are known to the west. These are the one or two top universities in the most developed countries in the region, e.g. NUS in Singapore, KAIST and SNU in Korea, Todai in Japan, etc

If you obtain a PhD from a university outside this list, it will be significantly difficult for you to find a position in the west after PhD.

Theoretically, if you have a strong publication records, LoRs from big shots in the fields, you can get a good a position after PhD. But in reality, it is easier to achieve that (papers, LoRs etc) if you are in a top university.


Data collection methods without fieldwork I am a graduate student in education who recently had a child. I have devised a few plans/topics that would work for my thesis but I keep revisiting them because they require a lot of data collection in the field, something I am not sure I will be able to achieve with a young baby at home and no babysitter/daycare for now.

So here I am, trying to come up with various data collection methods that could work without having to be in the field:

Giving directions to a research assistant and paying them to do it
for me
Interviews through Skype
Surveys
Self-reports
Document analysis

What would be other viable options that I haven’t listed?

Depending on your topic, consider working with an existing dataset. I highly doubt that would be frowned upon in an M.A. situation - you only have so much time to get things done!

I see you're in Ed Tech, so you have a lot to choose from. Most MOOCs provide open data you could work with (for example, see Harvard and MIT's Dataverse). The LAK conference is also an excellent resource for learning analytics datasets. Finally, there are also some governments that are providing open data pertaining to education, such as Queensland in AU.

But even if you can't find an existing dataset that provides the information you're looking for, the strategies you mentioned can all be used highly successfully. My own MSc thesis in Learning & Technology is one example. I designed a study where I combined an online survey with sentiment analysis to understand the role of personality in a set of online courses provided by large university. Never had to leave my laptop :)


What are the advantages of publishing work in progress as a working paper? Some fields like Economics and Maths have their work in progress published as "working papers" with notes like "work in progress, do not cite or quote without the author's permission."Sometimes they upload these to their own websites or to their universities websites. I don't see much of this going on in my own field (sociology). I have heard from people that are afraid of having their work scooped or that fear that work published in this way will not be considered as "unpublished" by journals and conferences.

What are the advantages of making work in progress available in this way?

The advantages are that you get to stake a claim to some sense of ownership of the work; it's a way of inviting feedback and collaboration from others by showcasing your work in progress; and it's a quicker way to publish your work than submitting to a journal or conference.

So when do you publish your work as a working paper?

When the following conditions are met:

You've done some work.
And some combination of:

you want feedback on it from a wider group than your immediate colleagues;
you want to showcase your work to get new collaborators, new funding, or improved career prospects
you want to publicly stake a claim to the work you've done

And some combination of:

the follow-up work is something that you've already got sufficiently far advanced that it is very unlikely that you will get scooped by your competitors;
you're not bothered about being first to publish the follow-up work yourself.

And publishing your work in a working paper won't prevent it from appearing (possibly in modified form) in a journal.


Do grades obtained after applying to a graduate school matter? Suppose one submits his/her application to a graduate school this November and grades for the ongoing semester are due after that. Do these grades, received after submitting the application, matter in the admission process?

Yes.  Many graduate departments may accept your application, but require a final undergraduate transcript before you actually start your first semester there.  If your grades have seriously dropped in your last semesters, they could rescind the offer of admission, and not let you in after all.

So in short: extra good grades in your last semesters can't help you, but bad grades can hurt you.


PhD in Mathematical Physics I am currently an undergraduate math major and have hopes of attending graduate school in applied math. I also have a love for physics and thinking of minoring in physics. After some research, I found that many departments have professors in the research area of mathematical physics. Is having a minor in physics a good background to pursue research at the graduate level in mathematical physics?

It depends on what courses you end up taking as part of your physics minor. Mathematical physics leans heavily on Lagrangian and Hamiltonian mechanics, quantum mechanics, statistical mechanics, and electrodynamics.

I don't know how many credits you have available for your minor and what the requirements are in your university to take those courses. At the very least, make sure that you have taken both classical mechanics and quantum mechanics. Your math background in real and complex analysis will put you in great shape to learn the formalisms of the other theories.

Good luck!


Does posting papers on Academia.edu count as publishing? Does posting papers on websites such as Academia.edu or ResearchGate count as "publishing" for the sake of future journal submission? That is, if I have uploaded my paper to Academia.edu, can I later submit it to a journal that wants only "previously unpublished" work?

Since nobody wrote it in an answer, I'll do it: the answer to your question depends on the journal, but in each field most journal would have about the same policy.

In some fields (e.g. mathematics, high energy physics), the answer is 'no': posting a preprint in Academia.edu, the arXiv, or on your web page does not prevent you to have your work published by a journal. Many publishers will even allow you to update your public preprint according to the referee's comments, only keeping the publisher-formated version behind a paywall (not all of them though:  Oxford University Press has a very damaging policy in this regard).

In other fields (e.g. some humanities at least in some countries, chemistry) the answer is often 'yes': many journal would reject your paper right away on the ground that it already has been "published" in the sense of being made public. Even if they don't check, they may ask you to pledge that you did not published the material previously in that broad sense, and lying on these kind of issue may be devastating to a career.

In other circumstances, the answer may be more subtle. Some very prestigious magazines as Nature, Science, PNAS may ask for some publications that the authors keep them secret until the journals communicates about the work. This is to ensure maximum media coverage, but of course it concerns only the very small portion of academic works that is considered both as very important for the field, and of great interest of a general audience.


Book chapters and theses in literature review: to include or not? Could/should scholarly book chapters and published theses (dissertations) be included in the literature review as sources?
In theory, those are scientific publications, right? However, those are also usually based on previously published work.

(Almost) everything is based on previously published work! But I think maybe you are referring to what we call the "secondary literature", which is review articles, books etc that don't present novel research (the "primary literature") but rather summarise or package up other research articles.

Yes, secondary literature can certainly be included in a literature review, especially if it gives ideas/opinions that have not been prominent elsewhere. However, if you refer to particular results then these should always refer back to the primary literature, even if you also give a mention to how those results have been described or discussed in the secondary literature.

(Note that dissertations/theses very often fall under the category of primary literature, in fact in some areas it is a requirement that they include novel research)


How do I decide a field of study for grad school and whether to do a Masters vs a PhD? I'm a sophomore in college (undergrad) so I still have a while to go before applying to grad school. I am currently majoring in CS with a minor in Bio since I am also very interested in computational biology and bioengineering. I am definitely more interested in research than going into industry, at least right now, since I have participated in research during my time at my undergrad institution. I have a few questions on applying to grad school.
How do you go about deciding which subject to study in grad school? I am majoring in CS but am interested more in working in computational biology specifically, so I am unsure whether I would apply to a CS program or a Bio program.
Even after deciding a subject of study how do you go about deciding about whether to apply directly to a PhD program or to do a Masters program first? Specifically: I know I am interested in research but does this necessarily mean I should do a PhD or is a Master's fine? Are PhD programs harder to get into than Master's programs and should you apply to a mix of both PhD programs and Master's programs or just one or the other?
I would appreciate if people could share any of their experiences with any of these questions.

In the US, most people who aspire to a doctorate apply to doctoral programs at the end of the bachelors degree. A masters along the way isn't necessary and might even cause a delay (though not necessarily). On the other hand, many doctoral students earn a masters during doctoral study, sometimes just by asking for it and filling out a request. Other times a thesis might be required. But you don't need to apply again for doctoral studies.
As to your studies, I'd suggest that you look for universities that have actual computational biology programs, or at least a few professors who specialize in that. Taking a pure CS or pure biology program might take you afield of your goal.
And no, a doctoral program isn't (appreciably) harder to get in to. In some ways it is a bit easier, since doctoral programs often come with a TA position (and a stipend and tuition waiver) and universities often need those TAs to help in the undergraduate program. TAs are not always open to masters students, nor is tuition waiver usually granted.
But apply to several programs, not just a few. And not just the "top 10" programs in the country. The broader your search the more likely you will find something suitable.


Will dismissal from one graduate school affect me applying to another? I was dismissed from my Masters program due to bad grades. I also have a mention in my records that say that I might have used last years homework. I did not copy and they had no proof that I copied per se. I couldn't care less about my grades at the time and I deeply regret doing what I did. Is there hope for me in applying to grad schools in the future?

Additionally, I am an international student. Can someone tell me if all this will affect my getting a VISA?

Unfortunately, your transcripts are likely going to be required at time of application to any other program, and you can assume that you will be asked about your poor grades during the application process. That said, you're not the first person to have made bad decisions in the past, so I would definitely still apply.

One thing I would strongly advise not doing is attempting to hide the fact you have poor grades by simply not sending the transcript, and pretending it didn't happen. Doing so will almost guarantee career-threatening problems later on when someone finds out what you did (and it won't be hard, there will be a gap of a few years you won't be able to explain, and all the officials at the other university still know that you were there).

I have no idea about the visa.


Does an industrial internship instead of a research internship hurt my chances at scholarships for masters? Will engineering schools at universities like UPenn, CalTech etc. reject my application if I have industrial internships that involve techno-management profiles rather than just research internships as an undergraduate?

For specific schools you need to ask them. However, in general, at the MS level in the US, I don't think that any sort of experience will harm your chances. Some may contribute more and some less, of course.

I would guess that even top universities in the US accept a lot of candidates with no experience at all beyond the BS/BA degree. Of course, the competition at such places is fierce with few seats available and many well qualified candidates.

But, if the purpose of your question is to pick which of two internships to accept, the research one might be marginally better. But who knows? Real world experience in engineering is pretty valuable.

If you have already done one of these then there is no question at all. Your record is what it is and it is up to you to present it in the best light.

The answer might be different at the doctoral level, of course, and may be different in other countries with different educational systems.


How to contribute to friend's mathematics paper without overshadowing? My friend has an early draft of a math result he would like to publish.

In telling me about his results, I made an observation that significantly simplified a portion of the proof. He wanted to list me on the final publication (not as a co-author, but more of a shout out for contributing), which I was happy with. I don't plan on going into academia so publications aren't essential to my career.

However, as I've thought more about the results, I've seen more and more places where the proof could be simplified using alternate methods, to the point where the proof can be reduced to a fraction of its original size and bears little resemblance to the original.

My friend doesn't know about the new results yet and I worry it would seem like all the work he had done before was unnecessary. But his work was certainly influential as it was easier to make the observations given that I knew what the result should be.

I certainly wouldn't want to withhold my findings, so I suppose my question boils down to how should I handle telling him?

Tell him what you have figured out.  Maybe he will want to modify his own proof and add you as an author.  Maybe he will just add a note that it has been pointed out to him that the result can also be proven using other specified methods.  Maybe he will look over your shorter proof with interest but not change his manuscript at all.

Understanding how a result can be proved is obviously of key importance in mathematics, but do not forget that result that he has proved ought to have some interest unto itself.  It can be more important to know that something is true than to have the most elegant proof of its truth, and realizing that a result is provable and interesting is a significant accomplishment on its own, even if a "better" proof can be found later.


Referencing references that reference references? How deep do you need to check for "accuracy"? This is a problem that I figured lately. Say that you reference a text that references other texts.
How far must a new reference check that the earlier references are "accurate in information"? Is it possible that "lousy referencing" leads to "webs" of referencing that "blurs" some of the more original results there due to ambiguous referencing?
When does one know that one can rely on a reference?

While the system isn't perfect, the purpose of the reviews done by publishers prior to publication is to assure readers that what is said in a paper can be trusted. Some reviews take a long time and some papers require several iterations to reach this point.
So, in general, you should be able to trust what you read in reputable journals. Other journals, not so much.
But, mistakes happen and sometimes group think can interfere. If you have a reason to doubt something, then investigate it further. Perhaps that is by following references, and perhaps it is by looking at orthogonal sources. But the judgement is yours to make.
For a student, getting in to the game, however, the judgement can be in favor of deeper study rather than trust. If you don't understand something in a paper it is probably a bad idea to quote it in another. If you misunderstand something, you may also misunderstand its implications. So you look deeper until you begin to get the insight(s) that the chain of authors had earlier developed.
Trust, but verify.


Include consulting work in CV I am now between postdocs and I did some consulting work for a SME. The work was slightly related to my research field (I am a physicist specialized in developing algorithms, and the work I did was to develop an image management system).

In my CV, I included the consulting work in the "Education and experience" section. Would you recommend doing otherwise? Is there any reason why I should leave it out, e.g. to show that I am focused and will do the work?

I think it is good that you have included it, and that you have included it in a separate section (another alternative would be to include yet another section, towards the bottom of your CV, listing "consulting activities", but it certainly falls under an 'experience' heading).  Having some consulting experience under your belt gives you some credibility that a 3rd party finds your insight valuable. If this consulting activity has ended, I might also note as such (e.g., 2015-2016) so as to avoid any hesitation that your time may be shared in the future.


How does calibrating syllabus based on the requirements of the industry happen? Often the industry finds that students graduating from a particular department do not possess the skill-set required to perform well in their company. While research can at least afford to be outside of the interests of the industry, academic syllabus taught to students for their bachelor's or master's has to cater to the demands of the industry.

What steps are taken by a university to ensure that its students are employable and industry-fit?
Does this recalibration happen at all, and if yes, how often?
Not every requirement of the industry could be met in an academic syllabus. For example, programming languages cannot be taught in class simply because the industry needs them. What points should academicians keep in mind when addressing industry's expectations from a university?

Specifically, for teaching computer science, information systems and software engineering you can refer to model curricula provided, e.g., by the ACM. An advantage of such curricula is that they result from a joint effort of the universities and companies. For instance, the Graduate curriculum for Sofware Engineering lists contributors from General Motors, IBM, Lockheed Martin, Ford, Nokia, Avaya and the Department of Defense: http://www.gswe2009.org/fileadmin/files/GSwE2009_Curriculum_Docs/GSwE2009_version_1.0.pdf

Of course, the ACM curricula are but a proposal and every univerity has to try and find the right balance between industrial and academic needs. However, comparing your curriculum with the ACM guidelines can reveal interesting patterns.


How do I work on research independently? I have a few good ideas in the area of evolutionary economics which I would like to discuss with an established researcher. How do I go about doing this? I live in Bangalore, India, where there don't seem to be any researchers in this area.

Do I just put it together as best as I can and email it off to whichever professors in the United States that are accessible on the internet?

The big problem is I don't quite know "the lay of the land" in terms of previous research, how my ideas fit in, and exactly how valuable they are, although from my initial survey, I have a hunch that I'm on the right track.

There is a chicken-and-egg problem here: you don't have the attention of the experts because you haven't demonstrated achievements in their field, which you can't do effectively without their vetting. To get those experts' attention you need to demonstrate that you have something new, without wasting their time.

Publishing something in the field is the best way to command their attention; the experts will be professionally required to digest your work. Usually only people with substantial academic credentials achieve this.

The alternative is seeking their attention in some way. This means being thankful and brief. Many academics are kind people who will answer a quick question.  Don't rely on a hunch; be sure you are on the right track before asking for their attention. Be ready for no response or a no, and take your time; you may find after writing that the question you asked was not quite the right one. Connections can also be made indirectly; though you have no friends working in related fields, you may have a friend-of-a-friend who is doing so.