Should I mention a professor's name in my SOP for MSc if the professor is only taking PhDs? Some facts:

I am applying for a Master's program in Computer Science at a university in US.
My research interests exactly match with the professor's.
I am applying to the university because of the professor.
The professor is only taking PhD/PostDoc students in his group.
He has just joined after completing his PostDoc and there is no information on the website if he will take any courses.
Chances of directly doing a PhD with him are very less based on my profile.

The problem:

I understand that whether or not I should write his name or mention some of his work depends on if he will be able to advise me during the program which is exactly what I do not know.

Can having discussions with him during his office hours be a good enough primary reason to study there?
What could be the possible reasons that a professor is not taking any Master's student? Is there a good chance that if I get an admit, my regular interaction with him, interest, and work will make him take me in his group with PhDs?

There is no reason you shouldn't mention the professor's name and your interest in his field. It will show that you are focused.

In the US, the master's degree is often (usually?) seen as a step along the way to a doctorate, so you will probably be perceived that way in any application. Also, a Master's in the US will usually not be entirely research focused and will include quite a lot of course work. You will be able to meet with him if you are accepted and can work toward some relationship with him. If you think you aren't quite prepared to work under him as a PhD student, the work toward the Master's degree should get you closer to that goal. You might also find that your goals change, of course.

Since he is a new professor he isn't likely to be tenured. This can be a problem for students as he will be very focused on his own research and work towards tenure. This means that he may have less time for students. He may also have an agreement with the university that he can focus for now on his research with (only) advanced students.

But treat work with him and his group as a tentative thing. But stating that you have an interest in that can do you no harm and may serve you well.


Journal requires permission to acknowledge people: person not replying I am the first author of a paper that we want to submit (Neuroscience). The journal requirement states that the authors should seek permission from any person that they have acknowledged in the paper. Quoted:

  Authors should obtain permission to acknowledge from all those mentioned in the Acknowledgements section.

There is a professor from a different university that had given us some advice on how to use their toolbox and we have mentioned his name in the acknowledgments. I have emailed that professor twice asking permission to acknowledge him but have not heard from him (the second email was roughly 10 days after the first). At this stage, it doesn't look like I will receive a reply. I know that the professor is active on Twitter so I am guessing he has seen the email but not replied.

What can I do at this stage? The journal does not require any "proof" of permission to be uploaded. I really don't want to delay the submission of the paper.

1) Would it be ethical to submit this paper even though I have not received permission from the person being acknowledged?

2) What are my options at this stage? Upload the paper but mention that I did not receive a reply in the cover letter (an editor might reject the paper as it does not then meet the journal guidelines)?

I would submit the paper to get the process started, but send a note to the editor that Prof. X has not yet given permission to be named, though you have tried to contact him. The editor will make a decision. Perhaps the paper will be returned to you. Perhaps the decision to publish will be deferred, but review begun. Perhaps the editor will ask the person if they will permit. There are a lot of possibilities.

But in April 2020 the world of academia is in chaos due to a worldwide pandemic. Lots of things that used to take a while, now take a very long time. And some people are dealing with illness, their own or that of family members. Don't expect communication to be quick at the present time.

You could also explain this to the professor yourself, that you have submitted, provisionally, but will respect his decision. You can always modify the ack later if needed. The review process will take plenty of time.


Transferring PhD Because of Visa Issues I was an F1-student in the US but because of some issues, my visa was revoked and I have to leave in my 3rd year of my PhD (at a top 5 school). I have done good work so far and my advisor is quite pleased with me. We tried all ways of getting the visa issue fixed but it seems impossible. My entry to the US seems impossible for at least another 10 years. My advisor said he could help me out in any way he could and I do want to finish.

There are no facilities in my home country so that's ruled out. I was considering transferring to some University in Canada with relevant interests so my advisor could fly in every few months to co-advise [he agreed to such a plan]. Thinking more generally though,  at this point, what are my options?

If your adviser is supportive enough to agree to fly out just to meet you - that's extraordinary -, I would steer any future decision through them, and not only to make sure that future fly-outs are to places they can, and want to reasonably visit.

A professor taking you in, say, in Canada needs to be aware that your candidacy is essentially token. The question of funding arises, as does a possible limit they have or impose on themselves on their number of PhD students, as well as tricky issues upon graduating, and supporting you as their student on the job market. Ideally, you need to find someone who could be interested in truly co-advising, not only serving as a placeholder.

All things considered, someone willing to do this would likely be a close friend or collaborator of your current adviser, in an acceptable location for them. So before anything else, I'd discuss in great detail with your current adviser who might come to their mind, while you are still in the US. Hopefully, they can initiate contact for you and do some or all of the necessary explaining, which you chip in to, and follow up on in a promising situation.


Applying for PhD admission at more than one department in the same university I was wondering if it is legal, and also advisable to apply for a PhD position at more than one department in the same university. For e.g. I am interested in representation theory and string theory. So would it be possible to apply to the maths and physics department, or there would be inter-departmental clashes leading to my application being disqualified. I guess the rules would be different. SO what are the rules in US and Europe unis resp.

You have to ask each university.

I don't believe there are any ethical issues with applying to more than one program.  Moreover, I think it's rare for graduate admissions committees in different departments to share information about applicants.  (In the US, that sharing might even run afoul of FERPA, but interpretations of FERPA vary wildly from one university to the next.)

However, at some universities, it is not possible to apply to more than one department.  At my university, for example, all graduate applications go through a central web site that forces each applicant to choose exactly one program.  Yes, I think this is stupid.


Is it appropriate for department administrators to send political emails? In my department, it has been fairly common to receive mass emails from our department chair about political developments.  These emails followed the election last winter, recent executive orders from our current president, as well has his failure to receive a dean appointment at our university.  In this question, I am not addressing the political issues themselves, but whether it is appropriate, or not, for an educational administrator to send politically driven emails en masse.

To be frank, though in my opinion, his emails have been very emotional and childish. For example, he sent a mass email about his loss as a candidate to become the dean of a college -it was an emotionally charged correspondence that had an air of whining in it.  Likewise, he has sent emails about his distaste with developments in Washington DC.  Emails have encouraged students to sign onto a petition.  I am a big fan of free speech, but I think this behavior shuts down people with differing opinions than his own; this fosters "group think" sentiments that could be detrimental to maintaining a diversity of ideas.  I never experienced this form of behavior in industrial companies/private sector

What sort of guidelines should an administrator follow concerning mass emails that are politically based?
If this behavior is inappropriate, would it be appropriate to address this form of behavior?
If I were to address it, which party or parties would be best to approach?

In your question, I note two (different) items:

Sending political emails
Embedding an opinion

Sending political emails

I can certainly imagine that a department administrator needs to send political emails: there are often political situations that have a certain influence on a department/school or its students and staff (e.g. a new law or decree). In general, I believe that messages sent to mass email addresses should be used to provide information that is applicable to all who receive this message. As a guideline, therefore, I believe that such email should be without any opinion.

Embedding an opinion

I believe that personal opinions and emotions should be dealt with in personal circles, and not be shared with the general public over mass email addresses (there are public forums, but then viewers have a choice in reading or not reading). The sender does not know what these emotions brings about with the receivers: it can have significant consequences for people who have dealt with similar personal difficulties. And, strong opinions can cause strong reactions, again with possible negative consequences for the sender as well as other receivers.

As such, I think this behavior should be addressed. Many universities have an Student Ombuds Office, where any issue about university policy, bureaucracy, and conflicts can be discussed confidentially. If it bothers you, contact them, and then they can guide you further and inform you about the university staff member breaching university policies, for example.

Of course, an administrator may also have been asked to inform students and staff of the institutional opinion. This most likely means that a (board) meeting has resulted in a decision from the institution, which is then passed on to all involved in the institution. These messages describe the position of the institution on a certain question, but most certainly exclude emotional descriptors.

In short

The staff member's behavior could be against policies the university has set for mass email usage (using it for both political reasons as well as personal interest). Check the policy for this, and use the Ombuds Office for further advice and guidance on what can be done.


How important is one's first publication in affecting prospects, assuming others are to follow? With respect to a first publication, how would the following factors affect prospects (in academia, as well as in research-based industry)?

Whether or not the publication is in a top-tier journal. Of course, I realize that the better a journal, the better. What I mean to say is, given that I have some work now (such as, for example, observing certain trends when a simulation is run on a high performance computing cluster, and explaining any anomalies that arise) which may be publishable in a non-top tier journal, and some other work (which works towards providing improvements to a recent paper) which has a chance of faring better than a non-top tier journal, but which will take more time to get ready (say, 6 months more?), is it worth waiting for the completion of better paper (i.e., the paper which may get into a better journal)?
Like in 1, given a choice between publishing as a non-primary author now, versus publishing as a primary author later, should I wait to publish as a primary author later, and only then submit the journal in which I am not to be a primary author (assuming, of course, that the primary author has no issues with waiting).
Would it matter if one's first paper is in a journal or a conference? I have heard that it is better to send a paper in for a conference before a journal (especially for a first paper), since conferences tend to give much quicker replies. Am I correct?
Does the content of a first paper matter? Whether it is a review-based paper, a paper suggesting improvements to an already existing paper, or a paper submitting a reasonably novel idea? Assuming of course, that other methods or ideas would eventually be published, should I, say, wait to propose something more, umm... novelish first?

Long story short, how much would my first publication (in terms of parameters such as reputation of journal, how much it goes towards improving knowledge in the field, whether or not I hold primary authorship and so on) affect my prospects (whether in the industry, or in the academia).

NOTE 1: If it matters, this question is with specific reference to Computer Science (a little more to the applied side than to the theoretical side). Also, I am an undergraduate.
NOTE 2: By a journal of less repute/non-top tier journal, I do not mean to say a disreputable journal, such as a predatory one, merely a journal with lower impact factors, higher rates of acceptance, et. al.

A first publication matters less than you might think, especially as an undergraduate.  My take on likely interpretations:

If you publish as first author in a credible but low impact venue (of any type), people will think you're doing great for an undergraduate to be publishing as first author at all.
If you publish as first author in a high impact venue (of any type), people will probably assume that the senior author on the paper did the critical intellectual work in defining a high-impact research plan, and that you just executed it (whether that rightly or wrongly describes your particular situation, that is still what is likely to be assumed, given the difficulty of publishing in high impact venues).
If you publish not as first author (in any venue), people thing you're doing good work as an undergraduate on the team, but that the first author contributed more (which will probably be true).

Frankly, all of these sound like nice things to have people think about you.  My recommendation for any undergraduate is to not get hung up trying for a perfect first publication.  Your first publications will probably either involve a lot of hand-holding or else be a pretty rocky experience, as you gain experience in writing publications and communicating with your scientific community.  It's better to start writing and gaining that experience now, rather than saving it for a more painful experience with a larger and more significant work that you are more heavily invested in.


Can I submit application on the deadline? If grad schools says the deadline is Jan. 15th, do I have to submit application before Jan. 15th? Or I can still submit on Jan. 15th?

Most commonly the deadline is inclusive, i.e., "January 15" means that the deadline is "at some moment during January 15". What does this mean can vary:

For online applications, it's usually 23:59:59.
For mailed applications, there are two options and exactly one of them is true:

either the poststamp has to be January 15;
or it has to arrive to the institution by January 15.

For applications you deliver in person, usually the opening hours of the office where you have to bring it apply.

In either case, it should be specified in the conditions.

And please remember that timezones can play a role here, and everything is in the timezone of the institution where you apply unless stated otherwise.

/From comments/

If you doubt the precise conditions, just call them or e-mail them and ask for clarification.

It will cost you less than solving any troubles afterwards.


Existing hypothesis, same country, but different years and setting – is it plagiarism? I am working on a master-thesis research paper. Recently, I have chosen a research topic and found a related survey dataset to work with. However, just now, I have found out that other authors did the same work for the same country, but used a different survey and for years earlier. Now, I am confused about what to do. If I would carry on the research, would it be considered as a plagiarism, even though I will use another survey for later years, and work in a different setting?

Plagiarism is selling somebody else’s idea as your own. Therefore as long as you properly cite the other paper, you are in no danger of committing plagiarism. The worst that can happen is that you are reproducing an existing study¹ instead of doing something novel. Whether this is a problem, is for you and your supervisor to decide, as you know the differences in detail.

On top, suppose you hadn’t found out about the other study: In this case you would not have committed plagiarism since you cannot possibly use the ideas of others without knowing them. Had you published your paper in this case, you would perhaps² be guilty of sloppy literature research, but not of plagiarism. However, the evidence may (incorrectly) point to you being a plagiarist and thus you still want to avoid this situation.

¹ which scientists almost universally agree on being done too rarely.
² if the other paper is sufficiently easy to find


How to preempt plagiarism accusations In 2006, when I was still in grad school, I wrote a paper that went through the usual motions: I discussed it with my advisor, I presented it at a peer-reviewed conference, and then published it as a refereed chapter in an edited volume. Right before the volume came out, I was explaining the paper to a friend from another university and he went: "oh, I think Professor Bigshot said something similar in his semi-obscure 1970 dissertation!". I checked the dissertation in question and, indeed, what I wrote is essentially what Professor Bigshot wrote in 1970, give or take some minor variations in the formalism.

Something to keep in mind here is that this is not plagiarism. I came up with the idea totally on my own, and I didn't reference Professor Bigshot's dissertation because nobody (not my supervisor, not the conference audience, not the chapter referees) told me about it in time. What worries me is that other people might think I took the relevant dissertation passage and plagiarized it. So far, nobody has happened, but I'm want to preempt plagiarism claims in the future. Obviously, nothing can be done about the published chapter, so I have modified the downloadable preprints in both my website and the go-to repository of my field, adding a note that explains the situation and giving proper credit to Professor Bigshot.

Is this enough, or is there anything else I can do?

It is hard, if not impossible, to pre-empt accusations of plagiarism. The key is to be prepared to defend yourself. People rediscover stuff all the time. I would make sure that you keep all of your notes, drafts and any literature searches you may have done. I think keeping them privately would be fine, but if you really wanted to, you could make them publicly available in an archival manner to demonstrate that it is really your work.


Must a PI who collected data but did not contribute to its final analysis be one of the authors in the paper? A PI started a study and collected some data. The study was originally meant to evaluate the effectiveness of a treatment. After a year or so of collecting data, the PI decided to do some analyses. When I looked at the design of the study, I informed the PI that this design will not be able to provide any meaningful evaluation of effectiveness.

Some time later, I came across a novel method to analyse this data and tried it out. The results were quite interesting and with the PI's agreement, I decide to try and publish it.

My question is this:
Since the PI was not involved at all in the conceptualisation of this novel method and did not contribute in the interpretation of the results, should he be granted authorship? According to ICMJE guidelines, the answer should be no but I am unsure.

Addendum:
I would like to add, while thinking about this problem, I thought of big studies like the Framingham Heart Study, the Global Burden of Disease study. The PI of these studies are not automatically authors on every paper that came out of the data they collected. Would this be any different from my situation?

This doesn't seem to be related much to the fact that the other person is a PI. According to the question, someone collected data, and you have analyzed it.

Unless the data was published elsewhere, you cannot cite it. So you will need to include the person who collected it as an author in order to have a source for the data. It's hard to expect otherwise, if you want to use unpublished data as the source for a paper.

The ICMJE guidelines agree; one of their criteria for authorship is:

  Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND

The other person has met this point through acquisition of the data.

The most gracious thing to do would be to offer the other person a co-authorship, which will then allow them to meet the other three bullet points in the ICMJE guidelines.

The other person can then decide whether to accept the co-authorship, or whether to take a smaller form of acknowledgment for the data collection.


My math students consider me a harsh grader. Is my teaching attitude wrong? I am a math major grad student at a big public school, and we need to do TA every semester.

I got assigned to lower level classes last couple semesters, and it's been quite difficult for me.  Even though I am a pretty nice person in general, I have so much trouble tolerating my students' sloppiness, arguing for more points when they don't deserve, and just explaining very simple things to students again and again in general (for example, why log(a + b) is not equal to log(a) + log(b)).

I am sure many will think my attitude is wrong, and probably I need to hear that.  I am also a "harsh grader", as my students would probably call me.  The way I was raised, it's very hard to accept people not working hard, but feeling entitled to good grades.  I have students coming to me asking how they can get extra points without doing any actual work.  I feel offended by that.

Let me know what you think about teaching in general.  I enjoy doing research in mathematics and want to be in academia in the future.  However, I feel this could be a problem for me if I hate teaching so much.  Should I think more positively about this?

Yes, you do seem to have a bad attitude toward it, but I suspect you knew that.  I would suggest trying as hard as you can to put yourself in their shoes:

Not everyone enjoys the same things you do.  What's a subject you had to take in school but didn't enjoy?  Can you imagine not putting as much effort or showing as much respect to it as someone going to grad school for it?
It's totally rational for someone to try to maximize their grades. I think everyone finds it annoying when students push for every last point they can, especially when you don't feel they've earned it.  I like to remind myself that it makes perfect sense to try to get the best grade you can for the least amount of effort.  That doesn't mean you give in to their exhortations, of course, but if you understand where they're coming from then that's not incompatible with both helping them and keeping your sanity.
Everyone is busy.  A lot of undergrads are adjusting to life away from home for the first time, are taking on responsibilities for the first time, and are probably swimming in social and extracurricular activities.  That's what they're supposed to do; just keep in mind your class isn't the only thing on their plate.
The things you find easy, others find hard.  You specifically gave some logarithmic rules as an example.  To you, that's trivial.  You can't understand how it's not trivial to someone else - I mean, you probably even just told them it was trivial!  But I bet you can think of a field where you struggle with things an expert finds trivial.  Foreign languages are a good example for me - I can hear how to say something in a new language repeatedly, and it just goes right out of my head a minute later.

That said, you suggested you "hate" teaching.  If you really do, maybe it's not for you.  On the other hand, you're here asking about it, so maybe you're interested in changing.  To do that, try hard to put yourself in the shoes of your students, and remember that they're just trying to get by.  Some will fail, and that's okay.  But you can help all of them, even those who won't ever get your subject, without resenting them.


What is the effect on a supervisor if a graduate student has been found to have plagiarised? In a well voted comment in a question about responsibility to detect plagiarism it notes that it rests with the author. This well voted answer on a now on-hold question about removing plagiarized parts of a thesis states the following which could read to imply some responsibility for the supervisor.

  If you think/know that parts of your thesis are plagiates you and/or your supervisors seem to have failed.

Regardless of the above in regard to responsibility of detecting plagiarism if a student does plagiarise, I assume it must have some impact on the supervisor.

Has there been any cases that have shown what is the effect on a supervisor (career wise/reputation etc.) if a graduate student has been found to have plagiarised?

When reading "the effect on a supervisor", the first case coming to my mind is that of Haruko Obokata, whose supervisor had to commit suicide for her misconduct. But this is not plagiarism.

It is hard to define precisely the affect on reputation. There is a case, where a PhD student, then post doc in the same group, plagiarized 11 papers. His supervisor was the co-author in all 11 papers, but it seemed not to affect his career. I'm not sure about his reputation.

Here are the details of the case: http://carl.cs.indiana.edu/6S/plagiarism/


How to deal with a lazy class? Imagine that you want to conduct your undergraduate classroom in a more creative way and introduce practical projects as a part of the final grade. However, students are lazy to embrace extra activities, and all of them decide not to deliver any report.

The department does not like the trouble of failing all students in a course because of an extra project.

What would you do to implement change when students are widely resisting?
Or as @JeffE suggested, How to deal with a department that does not give its instructors autonomy in assigning grades?

Additional Description: In fact, I want to change the grading system to reduce the weight of final exam, and add to small projects (e.e.g writing a one-page about the topic under consideration). The lazy class prefer to deal with one final exam instead of continuing homework. The school does not support this method, but they do not stop me as long as there is no trouble.

First things first: what did your syllabus say, and what did you say when you assigned the project?  If the assignment was a part of the final grade, and getting a zero on the project means that all the students will fail, and they knew this when the class began and when the project was assigned, and the project was assigned with enough time for them to produce an adequate result, then no one should complain when you fail them (or at least no one should have a legitimate reason to complain).  I have a feeling that if this is not a hypothetical case, there is more to the story.

I have been guilty of deviating from the syllabus in various ways over the years, but the students knew the ramifications of that deviation, and I was always fair in my grading because of it.  I find it hard to believe that an entire class skipped an assignment that guaranteed they will fail, unless of course it guaranteed they all receive an A.

I think you need to provide more information for a better answer, but the bottom line is that if the students failed the class legitimately, then fail them.  Just make sure you've got the means to back up your reasoning for those failures if it is indeed the entire class.


Are postdocs in your own institution frowned upon? Is it typically preferable in academia to pursue postdocs in institutions other than the one one has received a PhD from? I have heard on the grapevine that this is the case, but is there anything to back up this assertion?

The extent to which it is frowned upon differs greatly by discipline and country. At least having been in different departments/universities is usually beneficial for young scholars. Departments differ quite a bit, so having been in different departments/universities/countries broadens the range of experiences. This is usually taken into account by hiring committees, but again, the extent to which that is the case differs substantially.


How to visit an institute when looking for job? I am a lab technician (microbiology & molecular biology) and biology student, and I am currently seeking for job in some institutes in the UK. After sending my CVs to the HR departments, I usually got some replies with acknowledgement, or pointing to the institute's vacancies webpage, etc.
Now I would like to be more proactive, and I feel like it would be good to visit some labs in person, meet the group leaders and other researchers, learn more about their research, and see how I could fit in these groups with my expertise. I expect this to be more efficient than sending CVs to the HR, as team leaders could know about me, and consider more seriously to hire me in their labs.

My questions are, is this kind of visit possible at all? How much I need to organise it, can it be kind of spontaneous? I know there are some other institutes elsewhere, where it is accepted, and they are happy if somebody just pops in to the lab to meet people and learn more about their work. Might this attitude be general? I am afraid they will find me intrusive. And how I should organise a visit, should I write to HR, or to the team leaders, or just drop in, say hello, telling that I can return later if the time is not appropriate?

Although many academics are not quite happy with the bureaucratic difficulties and delays caused by their HRs, HR departments exist not without a purpose. In the UK, the academic jobs should be advertised publicly and the appointment should be made on the base of merit according to pre-specified person criteria.
If Dr Who uses his personal relations, or secret charms to persuade a PI to hire them, the following chain of event happen:

The post is created and formally advertised
100+ candidates submit their applications explaining how they fit the person specification criteria
Someone (an academic or HR or both) pre-screens applications and compose a short list
Candidates from the short list are invited to travel down to the University for an interview
Everyone is rejected, Dr Who is hired.

Before answering the "howto" question, please consider, if you think the whole process is fair to everyone involved, especially to other candidates?

Regarding your question, if a stranger enters my workplace "spontaneously", and demands my time and attention, I will probably feel uncomfortable. Some people may find this intrusive -- for the record, I am one of them. There are clear instructions on how to submit a job application, and "walk into the lab out of sudden" is rarely on this list.

However, it may be a good idea to introduce yourself politely to the potential PI. Usual rules apply here: it is better to send an email first, explaining your reasons and motivation clearly. If your potential PI is considering hiring new lab members, they will engage in discussion with you, invite you to visit them, and work out further steps to get you on board.


What is the advantage of doing an integrated Masters course over a Bachelors and then Masters? (UK.) I am on an integrated Masters in Physics course, otherwise knows as MPhys. This means that after my third year I will not be awarded with a BSc, but will graduate after 4 years with an MPhys. At my university (and I assume others as well), doing a 4th year after graduating with a BSc then gives you an MSc instead of an MPhys.

I am coming to wonder if there is any advantage to this. It complicates things massively if I want to change university to complete my Masters. Surely it would be advantageous to do a BSc, and then if you want to change university to complete an MSc there will be no complications.

There are only 2 possible advantages I can think of:

An MPhys is harder than a BSc+MSc and is therefore more highly regarded by employers and
There is no longer the need to apply for a 4th year at university.

The second is an obvious one, but is the first true? Are there any other advantages? I am thinking of transferring to the BSc in case I decide I want to go to a better university to complete my Masters.

An integrated masters such as an MPhys is an enhanced undergraduate degree where the final year will include level 7 courses and a substantial project. It will typically be accredited and meet the academic requirements for registration for chartered status (CPhys in this case).

An MSc is a postgraduate degree also with a substantial project and level 7 courses. It will often be more specialised in nature than an undergraduate degree and may or may not be accredited such that it will add the necessary academic requirements for chartered status if the student also has completed an accredited BSc.

In the UK there will typically be a difference in fees between the two cases and there is currently (although this may change or may even have changed already - you should check) a difference in funding available. Government backed student loans have only been available for undergraduate degrees.

For engineers in industry I do think that generally the integrated Masters is looked at more highly but of course it  depends on the institution. If you goal is to get chartered status then I would advise the integrated Masters rather than a separate MSc provided you are staying in the UK. If you go abroad the separate postgraduate MSc is understood better and so probably easier to have accepted.


import all references of a paper into a bibtex file I have a paper that has say 100 references. I'd like to use a lot of them as references to a paper I'm writing, but it seems pretty laborious to go on each and everyone of them, search in google scholar and get the bibtex info.
Is there a tool available that given a paper\pdf\book etc, harvests all the references of that paper into a list or bibtex file?

There would be a quick approach if you know how to code:

Take the DOI of that publication.

Use that DOI to access the OpenCitations API. (Example here.)

From the API, extract all the DOIs that are referenced in the citing field.

Loop each referenced DOI through a DOI-to-BibTeX-converter (such as doi2bib in Python, or CrossCite)


How to find universities helping commercialization of research I have a PhD in computer science. I have done some successful applied projects. Now, I am looking for a postdoc position in the US. However, I prefer a university with more support for commercialization of projects.

As I tried to search, most universities have offices for university–industry liaisons, but I do not look for a collaboration with industry. I wish to find universities specifically have an office for helping student and staff to start their own business, i.e., if I complete an applied project, the university supports me to establish my company.

How can I find universities that actively have this service?

All research universities in the United States have "technology transfer" or "commercialization" offices. They will help you patent your invention, license that patent to licensees, and/or help you set up your own company to commercialize the invention.

Of course, all of this is subject to an assessment that what you think is a commercializable idea is really worth the university's support.


Is it appropriate to email an eminent researcher in your field? Sometimes, I feel to contact some of the eminent researchers in my field for any of the following reasons:

Appreciating their research publication (recent times). They publish in top conferences, which are usually not hosted in my country or nearby.
Requesting comments on some of my research hypothesis
Sometimes just because I am a die hard fan of them. For example, probably the only reason I continued with research in Computer Science was due to Don Knuth.
Sometimes, to know what they think on some specific research area that has propagated due to there work. (Probably looks like some journalistic work)
For knowing how did they tackle the pressures or certain situation during their PhD or research. (Yes, it's vague but these questions come to mind and probably should be answered by oneself or personal interaction, but adding it for the sake of completion)

Since, most of them are located outside my country, I can't visit or phone them. So, how are such emails perceived. Is it appropriate to send such emails, given that they are expected to have very busy schedule and it would probably waste their time?

Though I have mentioned my field as Computer Science, the question should be applicable to all the fields.

Here are some of my strayed thoughts.

Think from return of investments, of yours and your idol's

If you ever perceived that your e-mail would be a "waste of their time," then why send it? I feel that most eminent researchers have a trait of "ignore everyone and head for their goal;" getting acknowledgement and acceptance is probably not their primary concern. A specific e-mail describing how their work has inspired your study/project is probably fine, but I wouldn't go so far to expect they would reply and give specific comments on your hypotheses.

From your point of view, instead of using the energy and bandwidth to send the e-mails, there are a lot more you can do:

There are many ways to show your appreciation

First, they would probably like to see their work being formally cited and, more importantly, applied to the field or crossed into other fields. Each idea geminated from their work is an appreciation by itself, and in the mean time you can also enhance your publication and research paradigm. The plus is: if you have done enough of it, the big shot may actually contact you and give comments.

Second, you can help preaching the researcher's ideas and agenda. You can write blogs, answer other people questions, use their works in your journal clubs or lectures, etc. to subtly introduce the researcher's teaching to the public. Better yet, refine the researcher's ideas, and incorporate into yours. Become a spiritual successor with your own unique approach. And let your career be inspired by the researcher.

You can learn from someone without establishing communication

For some more senior researchers, look for their auto-biography, biography, interviews, and documentaries that feature them. I will probably never be able to talk to Itzhak Perlman, but I learned a lot about him through books, websites, documentaries, and musics that he plays. (And actually, he has a Youtube channel as well, but I am suffering from too much fanboy shyness to write any comment.)

For younger researchers, try look for their blogs, Youtube channels, open courses, or even biographies of their mentors. All these may help you become more familiar with them.

Another way is to indirectly know them. Most of these researchers would have a lot of students or proteges, who may be closer to your rank and more likely to communicate with you. You may build a relationship with them, and learn a thing or two about their interaction with their mentor.

Try technology

For their new publications... nowadays most online journals allow leaving comments online. You may try to say a nice thing or two there. If they write a blog, that's even easier. Some researchers maintain a LinkedIn page or a Twitter account, try connect with them and follow them. Hope for the best.

Use other famous people as leverage

If you really want to communicate with them, also try using other organizations. For instance, you can write to some online radio station and suggest an interview topic and some guests, which of course will include your idolized researcher. You can also write to some prominent podcast hosts and give them a couple reason to invite so and so for an interview. Make good use of crowdsourcing, invite your peers and friends to support your petition.

Some heroes/heroines are better left a bit mysterious

This is sad but occasionally painfully true. Some famous people are better left not known at personal level. They could be immensely arrogant, they may not have a nanogram of social skill, they may be a jerk... Unless I have reconstructed a pretty concrete and reliable image about the researcher from different sources, I would probably want to keep them as what they are in my mind, and as an inspiration for my work.


Can I make an exam question for graduate & undergraduate students to find an idea in making a breakthrough in my research? This question comes in two parts.

If I am a lecturer in a field (say, Data Mining) and quite stuck in my research, am I allowed to make exam questions (for undergraduate & graduate students) related to my research hoping that some answers may give me ideas?
If I am allowed to do that and supposing that I did, what could I do if a student actually answers my question with a method (s)he is currently working on in his/her own research but has not published yet (which I don't have the means to know of)?

Should I give an announcement or some kind of encouragement to the students who actually give such an answer to finish their research as fast as they can so that I can cite their papers to avoid potential copyright infringements and plagiarism?

I find the whole idea as proposed in the first point quite underhanded. Just announce that you are looking for ideas on how to solve a specific problem and that you'd be happy to provide support for developing it to a thesis and/or publication to any students who got a promising idea. That way you create a win-win situation and avoid all potential ethical issues.


Is it possible to get into a good masters program in computer science with a 3-3.5 GPA? I'm currently a third-year student at UC Berkeley studying Electrical Engineering and Computer Science with a minor in Mathematics. I'm still on the fence regarding whether or not I want to pursue a masters degree, and am quite stressed about my chances if I do pursue that route.

My major concern is my GPA. To give some context, entering my sophomore year, I had about a 3.65. About to enter the spring of my junior year, I'm sitting at about 3.12. It hasn't been that the work has been "too difficult," it's that I honestly didn't put in the necessary effort these last two semester and as a result, received less than satisfactory grades. I've done the math and calculated that if I can average around a 3.8 for my remaining semester, I can get to around a 3.4 cumulative by graduation.

As far as outside the classroom, I've done a little bit, but not much. I did a very small research stint last summer, as well as being an academic intern (basically a tutor), and am working at a small start-up on the side right now. I'll also be doing my first internship this summer (most likely at Visa).

I'm just wondering if anyone could inform me about my chances of getting into a graduate program in CS. I realize that I probably won't be able to get into Stanford, MIT, or a school on the level of my undergraduate institution, but I would still like to go somewhere good (been looking at USC and Purdue).

Has anyone been in a similar situation and have any advice regarding grad work?

It's up to you to decide whether to pursue a master degree or going for the industry. However, in case you selected to pursue your master degree I would see no reason to be so pessimistic about your chances. You're currently studying at a prestigious university and that's an important point to consider.

The grades of the last 2 years of bachelor program is so important as you would take most of your specialized courses during the last 2 years of the bachelor program.

Be optimistic and keep up working towards achieving your dreams!


Should I reference the book I got a formula from, or the source that book got the formula from? I need to use a formula, found in a book "A". The book itself refers to an academic paper from the 50s, "B".
So when I use the formula, who should I reference?

We use the formula given as g = 4x^2 ("A", 2001).
We use the formula given as  g = 4x^2 ("B", 1950).

You should try to cite primary sources whenever possible; in this case, that means citing the original paper "B".
However, as GEdgar says, a textbook may be an easier source for people to find, particularly if that book is the de facto standard text in your field. It is therefore a good idea (and perfectly acceptable) to cite both "A" and "B", for example:

We use the formula given as g = 4x^2 ("B", 1950, "A", 2001).

Personally, I prefer to be more verbose and might write something along the lines of

The formula we use is given by Author B ("B", 1950) as
g = 4x^2.
This was later used [confirmed/ expanded on/ usefully re-derived/ etc] by Author A in their book "A" ("A", 2001).


Must meta-analyses or systematic reviews have more than one author? My colleagues argue that a meta-analysis / systematic review needs at least two data collectors (or authors according to them) as a "must". I have not found any reference in the PRISMA (or any other sources about meta-analyses/systematic reviews) that confirms this claim.

Do you know any such protocol or consensus?

There is no such requirement. It is frequently helpful to have multiple authors to help sort through the vast amounts of literature being covered, but is by no means a necessity. For instance, a colleague of mine recently published a fairly substantial review article on his own.

However, in medical research, a meta-review serves a rather different purpose than the usual review article in other fields: it is collecting the results of a bunch of different experimental studies, and trying to reach an overarching medical recommendation. That's a rather different research function than a review article in other fields. In medicine, you would want to have multiple people reviewing the data to make sure that it's not one person unilaterally deciding everything independently.


How to cite "Crelle's Journal" Crelle's Journal is a nickname of a Mathematics Journal, and it's full name is "Journal für die reine und angewandte Mathematik". It's commonly called Crelle since it is founded in 1826 by August Leopold Crelle.

Now I want to cite a paper in Crelle, but I realize that in the official page they also include (Crelle Journal) in the citation information, for an example see here. On the other hand, some mathematicians once told me that it is "pretty weird" to see the nickname being used.

So my question is, is it common to include (Crelle) in the citation? Or, how official is the name Crelle's journal?

I usually see "J. Reine Angew. Math." without "Crelle".

MathSciNet has citation information in the form of BibTeX entries; for references indexed there, I recommend going with that. (Indeed if you use BibTeX you can just download the bibliographic information without writing it out again.)


Is community college GPA not included as the net GPA on the resume? I am a student in the US who is going to graduate with my bachelor's degree and I want to start applying for jobs. I am not sure if what GPA should I provide for job applications on my CV. I studied first 4 semester in a community college with a GPA of 3.8 and then got transfer to a university for the remaining 4 semesters. On transfer, my GPA was not carried over. I had to rebuild my GPA, but I managed to get 3.0 GPA in the remaining 4 semesters. Should I write 3.0 as my GPA on the resume or should I write accumulated GPA calculated over the 8 semesters from community college and the university? Please help. Thanks.

I'll assume this is the US. Most places will want the average over the four years, just as if you had switched from one four year program to another.

You can list the two separately if you like, unless you are filling out an online form that only permits one number. But if you need to report a single number you should provide the most honest weighted average you can come up with over the four years.

Normally courses are "weighted" by credit hours or some equivalent. Normally a 4 credit course meets more often than a 3 credit course. The other variable is the "quality points" of a grade.

Complications arise when one school is on a system where an A counts as 4.0 quality points but another uses a different scale, perhaps including A+ which is above A, perhaps 4.5.

But also note that the GPA isn't the only consideration in applying for jobs or for further education. The actual grades in "important" courses might be more important (and often is). There are many other factors that let a committee make a somewhat valid prediction of a person's likelihood of success.

But don't just report the final four semesters without any comment. That will give an incorrect picture, and, in your case, seems to be a disadvantageous one.


Do professors ever befriend former students? A couple semesters ago I had a professor that had a pretty big impact on my academic career as well as my personal life. Through a series of events the professor came to know this and also come to know a lot about me and I her. We have a lot of common interests despite a shared interest in her subject matter, and we get along in a friendly way with no weird undertones. I'm wondering how common it is for professors to befriend students and in what circumstances they happen under.
It would be lovely to have a professor I could talk to and look up to as I move through grad school.

First, if you are ever again going to be in one of this professor's classes, then such a friendship is unlikely, at least until you are out of school.
If there's no chance that you will ever again be in a student / professor relationship, talk to her.  Say what you wrote: "It would be lovely to have a professor I could talk to and look up to as I move through grad school."


Designation in the personal data What does the term "Designation" mean, in the fulfillment of the personal Data in a work application or a CV? it said the following!!
""Presenter(s) identifying information as follows:
Full name:
Age:,
Designation:,
Current Status/ Position:,
Department & University:,
Address:,
Mobile:,""

In general, it can mean one of two things:

Your title. For example, Dr., Rev., Arch., Atty., Engr., etc.
Your job title. For example, Head of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Parish Priest, Associate Professor of Global Health, etc.

It really depends on the place in the application in which the information is being sought and for what use.

Anyway, good luck!


What is the difference in the structure of a conference paper and journal paper? Is there a general difference in the structure of conference papers vs journal papers? Take the following examples:
(1) The following is the structure/outline of a published conference paper (source):

(2) And a different conference paper (source):

Notice they have the same general form (intro, background, method, results, conclusion).
(3) Now - the following is the structure of a published journal paper (source):

(4) And finally, one more example of the structure of a published journal paper (source):

I have 2 questions:

Question 1: should the 'related work' section come before or after the 'results' section?
Question 2: is there a general difference in the structure of conference papers vs journal papers?

Expectations regarding paper structure differ significantly between fields. The following answers apply to computer science (which, based on your examples, might be relevant for you):

Question 1: should the 'related work' section come before or after the 'results' section?

The two valid and common options are "after introduction/background" and "before conclusion". The preferred option depends on the details on your paper. Some considerations are:

How much detail do you need for explaining the difference between your work and the RW? If you need specific details that are introduced in other sections, it makes sense to have the other sections first.
How long is the RW section? For a reader who reads the paper from beginning to end, a long RW section might get between the reader and your idea. If your background and RW are tightly coupled and not too long, it makes sense to have them as subsequent (sub)sections.

Question 2: is there a general difference in the structure of conference papers vs journal papers?

Journal papers on average have more sections because journals, unlike conferences, usually do not have a page limit, and journal papers are often extended versions of conference papers. Having more material requires more structure to still have each section as a readable chunk.


Is it okay to use source code from another paper in thesis? I am currently writing my Master's thesis in Math and part of my results involves using running simulations to test for certain types of algebraic properties of parameterised equations. The theoretical basis for these simulations were derived from a paper, in which the authors published their code online. I wish to copy this code and put it in the appendix. My reason for doing this is that I don't trust the link to always be available and the interested readers of my thesis will always be able to view said code which makes it easier to reader the thesis, as opposed to looking it up.

It depends on the licensing terms of their code. If it's under an open source license, then you might probably be able to use the same by giving due credits to the authors of the same. It would also be better if you could try to contact the author of the paper and ask their permission before using the same if you're not able to find any specific licensing terms.


What is the maximum depth of subchapters one should use in a paper? I have a tendency to overcategorize things when writing a paper. Currently I’m working on my thesis and I’m concerned with my level of subchaptering. Right now I’m already down to x.x.x.x and I fear going down a level deeper would look bad. I think it adds to the overall clarity of the paper to categorize everything and would allow for more efficient lookup later on, but it’s not clear to me to what degree this should be done. Are there any general best practices? Are there any rules of thumb you use?

My faculty does not have any clear policy regarding this.

Many, if not most, journals specify a maximum of three levels. In a book where the chapter is the top level, four may be ok considering each chapter can be as extensive as a paper. The problem of having too many levels is that the headings disrupt the reading. A good sign of this is when you end up having one heading per paragraph. If that is the case, you can probably remove the lowest level of headings and try to make the resulting segments of text flow by inserting bridges that makes paragraphs into a coherent text.

In my experience having read numerous student reports, theses and articles, three is a good goal. It is rare that a fourth level adds much in terms of structure apart from perhaps helping the writer. In fact, I often recommend students to keep a more detailed list of headings to enable them to see the structure of what they are writing but under the pretext that only a maximum of three should remain in their final version. I stand by that recommendation.


Ask PhD committee member as reference In Europe, is it common practice to ask an external member of your PhD committee to be a reference on a resume for job applications?

For academic jobs, I think that an external committee member is a good referee. They have read through your thesis, so they are one of the few people able to offer an opinion on the quality of your research.
For non-academic jobs, I think Christiaan's answer makes sense, they aren't going to be as interested in your research but more your work-related skills.

Personally, I (UK-based) have used the external examiner of my PhD as a referee in the application for my first postdoc and in a successful fellowship application.
Not being from the same institution probably looks good.


How to stop feeling guilty about unfinished work? My biggest challenge as a PhD student is best summarized by the following from PHD Comics:

"Piled Higher and Deeper" by Jorge Cham
www.phdcomics.com

A consequence of working in research is that the end is never in sight - unlike other jobs, there is always more work for you to do.

I am pretty good at making sure to take care of myself, because I know it's important. I can force myself to go for a run, get something to eat, participate in a regular activity that's not related to academia. But I can't turn off the voice in my head that keeps nagging me about the work that's waiting for me back at the office.

This is especially true when there are deadlines and people relying on me to meet them. On top of my research, I have mentees I should be spending more time with, students we won't be able to hire if I don't get my grant-writing act together, collaborators who keep asking when I'm going to write up that work we did together last summer. If I don't do this, nobody else will; it's not like a normal workplace, where your boss can reassign an important task if you are too overloaded to handle it.

So, my question is:

  How do you avoid feeling guilty about all the unfinished (and unfinishable) work in academia?

I am looking for specific, practical techniques based on research and/or personal experience, not suggestions that you just thought of but have never tried.

One technique I've tried with limited success is to make a daily to-do list that is limited to three items, and tell myself that I'm not allowed to feel guilty about not doing things that aren't on the list. It works when I'm not terribly busy... but most of the time it doesn't.

Related questions:

How to avoid thinking about research in your free time is related, but I'm not trying to avoid thinking about research in my free time. I'm just trying to avoid feeling guilty about research in my free time.

Also related is How should I deal with discouragement as a graduate student? but those answers seem to address how to convince yourself that your efforts are worthwhile. I (usually) realize that my efforts are worthwhile, I don't know how to convince myself that I'm putting in "enough" effort (whatever that means).

tl;dr: Keep forgiving yourself and keep working.
I am having the same problem, and only recently it got better.
I have it only for open-ended work (scientific projects, other personal projects - everything which is of type "I should have it done" and the same time it is not closed; even worse when others are waiting for results). It seems to be very different from "normal" work (when someone gives me a particular task) and work with an expiry date.
The wisest (and most successful) piece of advice I found is this one (from Smart Guy Productivity Pitfalls - Book of Hook, which has more good points and is definitely worth reading):

6. Do not overpromise to make up for poor productivity.  There's a tendency when we're falling behind to try to overcompensate with future promises.  "When I'm done, it'll be AWESOME" or "I know I'm late, but I'm positive I'll be done by Monday".  By doing those things we just build more debt we can't pay off, and that will eventually lead to a catastrophic melt down when the super final absolutely last deadline date shows up.  Just get shit done, don't talk about how you're going to get shit done.

Also, somewhat related is forgiving yourself for being not productive enough (constantly feeling guilty does not help; not only for me, but it seems it does not work for most of people):

The key finding was that students who'd forgiven themselves for their initial bout of procrastination subsequently showed less negative affect in the intermediate period between exams and were less likely to procrastinate before the second round of exams. Crucially, self-forgiveness wasn't related to performance in the first set of exams but it did predict better performance in the second set.

And from a bit different angle, from Elizabeth Gibert's TED talk on genius
(it's about treating inspiration, but it is similar for everything - no matter how good you are, you won't do everything; so why should you be bothered by missing a few things?):

And [Tom Waits]'s speeding along, and all of a sudden he hears this little fragment of melody, that comes into his head as inspiration often comes, elusive and tantalizing, and he wants it, you know, it's gorgeous, and he longs for it, but he has no way to get it. He doesn't have a piece of paper, he doesn't have a pencil, he doesn't have a tape recorder.
So he starts to feel all of that old anxiety start to rise in him like, "I'm going to lose this thing, and then I'm going to be haunted by this song forever. I'm not good enough, and I can't do it." And instead of panicking, he just stopped. He just stopped that whole mental process and he did something completely novel. He just looked up at the sky, and he said, "Excuse me, can you not see that I'm driving?" (Laughter) "Do I look like I can write down a song right now? If you really want to exist, come back at a more opportune moment when I can take care of you. Otherwise, go bother somebody else today. Go bother Leonard Cohen."

And from my personal stuff (I mean things that I found helpful):

using to-do list only for task (i.e. things I know I can do in a few hour max), not projects (it's depressing to have "finish this paper" on the same list for long months, cf. relevant PhD Comics strip),
underpromise and overdeliver to oneself; i.e. committing to do each day less task than expected (this way, with the same results, it's "wow, I did things from the list plus 2 extra" instead of "I only made almost half of the first point out of 7"; extrapolating one's maximal efficiency does not work...).


I am studying computer science but I am passionate about electronics I am studying CS but I am passionate about electronics and hardware. However, I can't study CS and EE at the same time. So if I study electronics by myself with online courses, can I work in that field after graduation?

A friend of mine came out of university with a piece of paper saying he's electrical engineer. He has a bachelor in electronics but now what he's doing is virtualization, servers and networks, absolutely not related to what he studied (actually he told me that low level languages he learned were helpful for understanding how optimization works, but that's it), and he earns pretty well! I think your degree will matter only for a short period of time in the beginning, but if you can get a job in a field even if it's different from you education, you can use it to continue learning in that field by yourself. Your degree won't be the most important thing for your future employers, experience will.


Will MCS be worth it for a Computer Science graduate? I have completed my BSc in Computer Science from a local university in my home country. Universities in my home country are not that great! For example, the university ranked first locally was ranked recently in the 801-1000 range by QS and the degrees offered are not ABET-accredited.
I finished my degree with a 3.0+ GPA. The only thing that went wrong during my undergraduate studies, is that I got very bad grades (lack of studying) in all the subjects of an area that, I'm currently, after 8 years of experience as a Software Engineer, very interested to do research in.
However, following graduation, I was able to get a job with an American firm and I've been working with them for the past 8 years on cutting-edge technologies as a Senior Full Stack Developer. After a couple of years in the industry, I got highly interested in ML and Artificial Intelligence.
Please keep in mind that my long term objective is to go into academia (not now ofc). Recently I was admitted to a very respected university in the US to study MCS part-time (not MSCS). I heard that PhD admissions usually look at your undergraduate course work and you research capabilities. So what I'm planning to do is to take this MCS as a chance to strengthen my understanding and grades in AI, ML & NLP and then pursue another MSCS (with research from a local university). Would this make me a good candidate for a PhD program later on? Would MCS be worth the two years of my time? Or should I just join an MSCS right away, even if it was from a lower ranked university?
For the difference between MCS and MSCS, please refer to: https://mcs.ics.uci.edu/about/mcs-vs-mscs/
(Thanks go to @user2768 for the link)
Thanks!

A MCS...is a taught degree...with no thesis or research. Although research experience isn't a prerequisite for a PhD, it helps and it enables you to decide whether you really want to pursue a PhD.


What are the options for fellowships for international grad students in USA? I'm looking for fellowships that an international grad student can apply for, to support him/her while working towards a Ph.D. (additional to whatever funding that may be available as TA). So far, I've been able to identify the following:

Fulbright Scholarships for International Students (applications have to be done more than a year before, and they've suspended 2013-14 grants, so not really an option for me)
Aga Khan Foundation International Scholarship Programme, which has the following selection criteria:

  The main criteria for selecting award winners are: l) excellent academic records, 2) genuine financial need, 3) admission to a reputable institution of higher learning and 4) thoughtful and coherent educational and career plans. Candidates are also evaluated on their extra-curricular interests and achievements, potential to achieve their goals and likelihood to succeed in a foreign academic environment. Applicants are expected to have some years of work experience in their field of interest.

It would be great if I could get to know of similar fellowships that an incoming student can apply to, before starting grad school.

The Smithsonian offers fellowships for international grad students, specifically a ten-week summer internship for pre-dissertation grad students and 3-12 months of funding for post-dissertation grad students. Also, you get to work at the Smithsonian.


My PI assigned me to a direct supervisor who is academically incompetent. What should I do? This is very closely related to this question. However in that question on top of the academic problems there are also major safety issues and the answers correctly focus on that. But this still leaves an interesting question unanswered: What should you do if you perceive your direct supervisor to be academically incompetent?
Suppose you start in a new lab as a masters or PhD student. The PI is great but very hands off. You are assigned a PhD student or a postdoc for your every day supervision. You get the impression that this person is failing academically. The linked question has a good list of clues. They have no plan for their own research, seem to have trouble understanding the surrounding literature or even the prerequisites, don't come up with new ideas to look into and maybe on top are technically inept and very bad at handling the lab equipment. Essentially you feel like you already are academically ahead of your supervisor and this person doesn't have anything to teach you.
What do you do? And in what time frame, having this impression after two weeks might be different than having it after 6 months but maybe waiting six months before doing anything is too much already.

They are supervising you. You will be 100% sure they are wrong and you are right only after external independent confirmation, which you can obtain by attending conferences/workshops, and publishing a paper or two would be the definitive seal.
However, by that time, you may realize why your directly supervising PhD/PostDoc is working that (inefficent) way ...
So, it is better to show some independence and get -intensively- in touch with the PI after a couple of weeks.
With the PI, it should be possible to have an honest discussion, even regarding the point "the supervisor you assigned me cannot help me because of lack of time/needing some time to freshen up his/her knowledge on the Stat-of-Art of Science and Technology on my specific topic".
If it's not possible to be so open and clear with the PI, well, the issues are way larger than the supervision from said PhD/PD ...


Is it common to offer a position to someone before the position is advertised? I have been offered and have accepted a position at a university. The position is not advertised yet, but they will advertise it because they are required to. Is this something common in academia? To be more clear on what happened, prior to the offer I sent my CV as a respond to another similar position which they advertised, but it was to be filled immediately and so I was ruled out. I guess after looking at my CV and having further conversations with me they were keen for me to join them and so they offered me this new position. But because they are required to, they have to go through another round of formalities.

I did ask the head of department how he could be sure that I would be the most suitable person for the job and told him that others might be better candidates, to which he said something to the effect that he saw me as suited for the group. But since I have not signed any contracts yet, how can I guarantee that I will eventually get the job? From the time I accepted the offer, I have stopped looking for other jobs, and have withdrawn my other applications, but since there are no contracts signed yet, I am a bit worried.

Perhaps another question I should ask is why are universities required to put up advertisements and to go trough all the formalities if they already decided on someone?

Offering a position informally is illegal, but unfortunately still common practice in academia in the UK and some other countries. By offering you this position, the University violated good business practice and possibly breached several laws (although I am not a lawyer and can not speak in confidence here).

From purely human perspective, consider other candidates, who will find this post advertised online, will spend hours and days preparing and polishing their applications, put their time and effort in this work. Some of them will eventually be shortlisted, and will come to the interview, some of them travelling from other countries in hope to get a better job. And their desires and hopes will be for nothing, because this position is already promised to you, and all the process is in fact fake.

You describe your sense of insecurity. But for other candidates it could also be a very frustrating experience to be selected for an interview and then turned down for no obvious reason, often without a decent feedback or even a polite letter of rejection.

Finding a job in academia is increasingly difficult, but this is exactly why fair hiring practice is now greatly important to ensure that the best candidates have the positions of the base of their merit. Although you may have no better options than to join the University which offers you the position, it is important to realise that their current practice is toxic and should be improved.


Mentioning unpublished research paper in Statement of Purpose/Resume I graduated two years ago with a BE degree. At that time, I did not have any plans for Ph.D./higher education, so I did not put any effort to publish my undergrad research work in any conference.

Now things have changed a lot, and I am applying to Ph.D. programs. To strengthen my research profile, I have entirely reviewed my undergrad dissertation, and manage to come up with a research paper out of it.

The problem is that there is no time to publish this paper as the paper submission date of a potential conference will open up next year, and my grad applications are due next month.

I wanted to know how I can mention my unpublished research paper in my Statement of Purpose, Resume? Considering that the research paper is highly relevant to the Ph.D. program I am applying to.

(Do I also need to mention the reason behind publishing my research work so late? like after two years)

You can certainly mention "work in progress" or "submitted, not yet accepted" and the like in your materials. Just label things for what they are. Two years isn't really a long time for research in most fields, so I wouldn't worry much about the time. It is also natural, if you have been working in the field to immerse yourself in that for a while.

But submitting the work is marginally better than not.


Sponsoring a non-academic collaborator to attend a conference I am a non-academic who has collaborated (privately, no employer support) with some academic researchers and been invited to present our work at a conference.  The conference admission price and travel costs are steep.

Is there any provision for my collaborator's university to pay for my travel costs as well? (I know they're paying for theirs.)  I'll add that our work has brought some follow up grants to the university, so they financially benefit from it - but that funding doesn't include my involvement.

I'll also add that I don't want to sabotage any relationships here, and if it would be considered inappropriate or heavy handed or be resented, I'd rather just cough up the dough myself.  But, if there's a means to do it nicely, it would make things easier.

UPDATES

It's a real conference, prestigious in the field; we submitted to present and were accepted (it seems from the responses that that is not called invited; point noted)
I don't want to burn any capital, as you say.  I'm happy asking and them saying no, but if it will cause them grief, I'd rather not even ask.  So perhaps my question could be rephrased as: Is there any chance that asking gently will get the funding? And, if so, will it cause any grief?

That is, I'll ask if and only if there's a chance they'll do it, and it won't cause any pain.

Is there any provision for my collaborator's university to pay for my travel costs as well?

While not strictly impossible, this sounds rather unlikely to happen, at least through formal channels. Travel budget is restricted, and there are often even administrative restrictions that prevent faculty to give it to people who are neither employees nor students of the university.

That being said, if your collaborator is sufficiently commited to making you go, as well as sufficiently crafty to bend the rules in the right way, (s)he may cook up an arrangement with the administration of some sort. Note that this will likely be (at best) semi-officially, and will burn some real or political capital of the faculty, so (s)he won't just do it to be nice. There has to be some real benefit to them that you are at this conference.


Negotiating for a higher hourly rate for RA position? I am a Ph.D student. A professor from another university is interested in hiring me part-time for a project that he just received funding for. I am interested in the work (to hone my own skills) but I have asked and he has said that a co-authorship is unlikely to come out of this. The hourly rate is a bit lower than I have been used to—would it be appropriate to ask for a higher hourly rate? I’m having trouble thinking about how I would phrase it.

I think that under the circumstances you could just state your requirements. It doesn't seem like he is offering you very much professionally so you should ask for what you want to make it attractive.

Of course, he may not be able to offer what you want, or may be unwilling to do so. But you are giving up your current position to do this and the rewards seem a bit nebulous.

Other considerations might apply, of course. Is he a superstar that can/will advance your career otherwise? Is his position on co-authorship firm?

Think about the whole package.


How to work with a student who has a tendency to overcomplicate things? I am supervising a senior reading course. As I cannot give a name to a problem I am having with one of the students, I will give an example.

We are reading a paper, and he was not making progress. He was not able to read the introduction and present an overview of the paper's method and main results. I held an extra meeting to outline the paper and review the methodology step by step. I explained the first two outcomes, and asked him to fill in the steps joining them. I checked on him two weeks later, and he has been reading a book that is related to the paper only in title.

I have two other students who are working on similar topics and they get it. I can tell they have not mastered the topics yet. They are still good at figuring out and presenting intermediate steps on their own. Maybe they have different abilities, or maybe they are better at interpretting what I am saying. I do not judge anybody based on their abilities or skills. That is, I am not holding this against the student. I still want to help him and myself learn to be more efficient at whatever this is.

He has been reading a book that is related to the paper only in title.

This along with him not making progress might be a sign that he is missing pre-requisites. Maybe the paper requires mathematical tools he is not familiar, or has several words which are new to him.

Usually, I'd go with some assisted reading/reviewing. This is very harsh, so be careful and prepared before attempting.

Set up a meeting with plenty of time, explain that you'll be studying the paper and he should try to read and understand by himself first. Mark some time you know he should be calm (i.e. don't do it last hour of Friday or right after a difficult test, also make sure the student isn't hungry). Schedule at least two hours, but preferably have more allocated time on your schedule, and try to know that he'll be free after the scheduled time as well. Ask him to bring a laptop or have a computer in front of him at the meeting place.

Then, the strategy is to tell him to read the paper and interrupt him at least once per sentence asking for clarifications (what does this word mean? Can you rephrase this? Why is the author making this exception?). He should know that your are trying to measure gaps in his knowledge and habits, so tell him to be honest if he does not know anything and that it doesn't matter if that's the case (might be a particular poor strategy when dealing with people from a cultural background who have issues admitting they don't know something). The tense scenario will naturally keep him focused (though you should try to put him at ease).

When he doesn't know anything (I don't know this word!) you can either explain to him (and check if he understood) or say something like "and how would you look it up?" (that is why I've suggested leaving the computer close by). Very often, you'll notice he has poor googling skills, so you'll present him with some useful websites (Linguee comes to mind when dealing with translation issues, it is simple to use when you know it exists, but a student might not find it out by himself). Maybe you'll need to introduce him some book on the matter, and go through its index (some students may have only learned an important topic over classroom notes that he/she threw away, he might be unable to name a single book he could check some equation if needed be).

Additionally, this will reveal gaps in the student background, maybe there is a complete theory that is relevant to the paper but the student knows very little about (something like: "yes, you need to know trigonometry before learning calculus" or "Yes, you need to study electrodynamics before studying quantum mechanics"). Many elective courses try way too hard to remove pre-requisites for students, and then student simply don't know about things that should be the pre-requisite in any sane place. The process of asking for clarifications over each sentence usually reveals this kind of gaps.

Often, people read complex texts ignoring parts they don't really understand. Maybe because they expect that part to be clearer as the reading progresses, perhaps they think they'll get it with more context, or they just hope that weird word lies in a sentence that isn't actually important. This is a poor reading habit that almost everyone has at some degree. However, struggling students might take it to a whole new level of reading without understanding. Part of the idea is to identify when this is happening and forcing the student not to ignore too much of the text.

After a while doing so, you should:

Have taught the student how to use some tools that you are used to, be he never heard about.
Have provided him with good basic references if he needs them.
Have identified topics you expected him/her to have mastered, but he/she actually knows little about.
Improved his/her reading habits a bit.

Explain to him that this is not to be done often, as it is too much time consuming and stressing for both of you. Also, the whole point is to fill basic gaps, once they're filled, this tool should no longer be used. Over time, he should get better at identifying these gaps by himself, and asking for assistance as needed.

Another note on how to handle the student:

  I have two other students who are working on similar topics and they get it.

Unless they have very similar backgrounds (i.e. same bachelor degree at same university) to the struggling student, the comparison is more likely to be unfair than otherwise. Even if just in your mind, avoid comparing colleagues directly, and specially never compare colleagues in front of them (or speaking to either).


How does Erasmus programme work? I read several documents about student/staff exchange of European Union, Erasmus, but I do not fully understand how it is in practice.

When an undergraduate student go from his university to a host university, who pays the fee? Home university or host university or European Commission?

How the limits are set? Many students are interested to go to Oxford or Cambridge (generally famous university), but a few wants to go to small universities.

First of all: there should be an Erasmus coordinator in your home institution. He or she will be able to answer these questions in more detail.

I'll try to answer your questions. However, I am not an expert, so please somebody correct me if I got something wrong.

  When an undergraduate student go from his university to a host university, who pays the fee?

I think the Erasmus programme, that is, essentially the European Union. That being said, for you as participant it should make little practical difference who actually pays for your grant in the end.

  How the limits are set? Many students are interested to go to Oxford or Cambridge (generally famous university), but a few wants to go to small universities.

I think you misunderstand how Erasmus works. First of all, your home university needs to have a specific partnership with the host university. If your university does not have a partnership with Oxford, well, then you can't go there via Erasmus. Those partnerships are usually bi-directional, so if you are at a very bad university, there is a chance that Oxford has little interest in associating with (and, consequently, sending their students to) your place. Secondly, each of those partnership agreements defines quotas (in both directions). Not everybody can go to Oxford simply because there are only a finite number of places for Oxford available. Afaik, the host institution decides who can go if there are more interested students than places available for any given period. In most places, assignment of students to places seems to be more or less on a first-come-first-served basis. However, I heard that at least in my alma mater most partnerships had more places than interested students, so in the end everybody could go.

That being said, in reality it's not places like Oxford that end up being more popular. Generally speaking, most students don't seem to select host universities based on the esteem of their academics, but rather based on weather and perceived coolness of the country.


Timeline of "Quick opinions" in math journal refereeing Some years ago a fair number of mathematics journals started to ask for one or more "quick opinions" by experts on a received manuscript before sending it out for peer-review (with the obvious goal of avoiding the hassle of peer-review for papers that clearly don't make the cut). In your experience, how long does it take on average to receive a quick opinion? Or, phrased differently, how long after submission can you usually deduce that your manuscript has survived quick opinions and is sent out for peer-review? This question is only within the scope of mathematics.

I've been asked for "quick opinions" from a variety of good-to-best journals, and I try to meet the obvious goal of "quick...", if nothing else.
In some cases, I've easily seen the need for various sorts of revision, and immediately recommended that, with a promise that I'd look at it again later when it was more readable.
In some cases, I do also easily confess that, while I myself may not see the point or interest of a project, perhaps there is one... and, if nothing else, the author(s) perhaps should revise to make that clearer (if possible).
Anyway, usually I succeed in giving "quick responses" in a week or less, as one data point.


Why is a PhD thesis typically 150 pages? I just don't understand why the overall findings & implications of a PhD cannot be communicated in the style of a research paper?

Succinctness is a virtue in a field characterised by time pressure.

The research output is equal to or less than that of a 3 year postdoc - which is always communicated as a research paper.

Just seems like added embellishment for the sake of embellishment.

What am I missing?

I don't know where your 150 page idea comes from since I have never heard this as a guideline. However, in my field, "staple theses" are common, composed of roughly 3 papers stapled together (either already published or publishable drafts), with an added introduction and conclusion that tie the works together and may get a bit deeper into background than is acceptable in a published manuscript.

Therefore, they must be at least the length of three research papers, and aren't typically all that much longer than that. However, theses are also typically formatted in a longer form, more similar to the original word-processed manuscript, whereas journal articles are composed in a dense, newspaper-like format. Figures may have their own pages. In sum, a manuscript that is 10-15 published pages can easily be 30-50 pages in this format.

No embellishment necessary to get to 150 pages.

I'd also add that a post doc in my field who only produced 1 paper in 3 years would probably have their next job in industry; a graduate student with only one paper will have been quite disappointing (it may happen that only one paper is publishable due to being scooped or unexpected failures, but even those outcomes can be part of a thesis). Not necessarily, it's possible that paper could be highly impactful, and might be reasonable in some subfields, but generally that would not be a suitable output for an academic career.

Edit: decided to pull up my own thesis from the archives. 230 pages. Of those, 53 pages are "thesis-only" pages; the other 177 pages are verbatim copies from 2 published papers and a third draft manuscript which was later revised and published, all reformatted to fit the thesis formatting requirements. Of the remaining 53 pages of "fluff," 6 pages are title/contents/acknowledgements/abstract, and about 19 are references for the introduction/conclusion chapters, so about 28 extra pages of generously spaced writing, to be treated as "embellishment" if you wish, or alternatively, to provide enough background and context for the work for someone familiar with the field but not previously familiar with my research area, such as members of my thesis committee besides my advisor.

In summary, even if my thesis had nothing but 3 published/publishable manuscripts, it would already be >150 pages.


Who or what is George Rajna? I don't know maybe this question seems off topic but anybody get the chance to look at vixra.org archive?

It seems it is blown up by some manuscripts from a guy, which is called "George Rajna", and more interestingly all of them are about some ridiculously (excuse me I didn't find another appropriate word!) hot topics in quantum physics or general relativity. Sometimes in my spare time I just look for crazy things for fun in internet that seems really funny to me. I can't believe "George Rajna" is a real guy (I mean someone really exists with his name or identity!) but it seems it's a just article posting robot, which blow up vixra.org?!

Again, I know maybe it sounds completely off topic but I appreciate if someone has any idea about people post their article (If you could call it a real article, which I'm not sure really?!!!) in vixra.org?  People do it just for fun or really they have some serious intention?!

I don't think this is a bot. It looks more like a (somewhat misguided) real human, who may or may not be operating under a pseudonym. Based on what I think is their LinkedIn profile they seem to be a reasonably well-educated person with extensive experience working for IBM (or so they claim), so not your average crank. That said, their contributions to vixra seem fairly cranky to me, especially since said contributions mostly consist of extensive compilations of existing material, without a lot in terms of attribution.

Note that there is also a website apparently written by a "Rich Norman" praising George as "a mouthpiece of the possible". Rich Norman claims to be an "artist" of some sort, who has also written some books published by "Standing Dead Publications" (owned by Rich Norman). The over-the-top praise, strangely flowery language, and the unstructured list of what appears to be pretty much the entirety of Georges work makes me think that there is a connection of some sort between George and Rich. Maybe they are the same person, but it may also be a case of a fringe artist being intellectually attracted to a fringe scientist.


Impact of the Designation of the Recommender for a Workplace LOR for MS I have 2 years of work experience in the CS field and am now intending to apply for my masters. Since I am a bit nervous about contacting my manager for a LOR (since I am not sure of the consequences), I was thinking of asking a colleague in my team, who was my mentor. This person has seen my work from up close and hence would be able to write thoroughly about my qualities. However, the designation of this person is Senior Engineer (lower than that of team lead or manager). Would this be a significant reason to devalue the letter and should I instead go for a letter from my manager, notwithstanding the risks?

While a letter from the manager is probably a bit better, I doubt that the marginal difference is what will put you over the line for acceptance or hold you back. I assume that you have plenty of other aspects to your background that makes you suitable for the new degree. So make sure that your letters and CV stress those positive aspects.

However, if you are committed to leaving, then the reaction of your manager probably means less, as long as he/she is honorable. "Sorry to see this employee go" is a fairly good thing to see in a letter. But you have to judge the overall effect as you know the person.

Just make sure that everything else is enough to make you acceptable as a candidate. Then the letter from the colleague should be fine, and, as you say, they have better knowledge of your contributions.


Disclosing employment in acknowledgement of conference paper I'm a part time PhD student in computer science and work full time at an asset management firm. My paper was accepted into an IEEE conference. However, I have not used any of my work's resource for the paper (though my work could use some of my findings once it's published). Do I still need to disclose my work affiliation in the Acknowledgement section of the final submission and state that there's no conflict of interest?

In your particular case, your work got accepted at an IEEE conference. Congratulations.
IEEE has a relatively extensive website on author ethics. It doesn't seem to mention affiliations at all. Obviously, what you put into the paper should be correct, though.
But what is the role of putting the affiliation on the paper? After all, you speak for yourself, not your organization. It is (1) assigning credit, and (2) to make contacting you easier in case that is needed.
For none of these purposes, the asset management firm needs to be mentioned. It makes sense to declare potential conflicts of interest proactively, but as you wrote, there are none.
Many researchers do other work on the side, such as consulting, a small start-up, giving educational courses, etc. - I've not seen such a declaration of not having a conflict of interest in a (computer science) paper so far.
However, it probably makes sense to check if your main employer is fine with this (or even requires you to not mention them in the paper  - this could for instance be the case if they have no way of checking what you wrote is correct and hence don't want to risk their name being on the paper). Due to reason (2) for putting an affiliation on a paper, I believe it to be OK to put your asset management company as an affiliation on the paper if they insist.


NSF sponsoring scientist already having postdocs under their supervision This question seems reasonably focused and of interest, but is perhaps unanswerable. I'm a mathematics student graduating and would like to apply for the NSF postdoctoral fellowship. I wanted to know whether choosing an NSF sponsoring scientist who already has postdocs under their supervision damages one's chances of obtaining the fellowship. I'm not as interested in the question of whether such a sponsor will do as good a job in their role. I'm especially interested in answers which provide some evidence which bears on the matter. This seems slightly(very?) field specific, so answers from people with experience in mathematics or related fields are preferred.

Thank you!

I am not directly familiar with the NSF scheme, but for the NIH NRSA scheme choosing a PI with previous post docs is a huge benefit. In fact, from what I have heard from young colleagues, if the PI does not have current or previous post docs, the NIH likes to see a more experienced co-supervisor listed.


Whom to cite from an article: the reporter or the person who provided a quote to the reporter? I am reading this 2016 article: EI benefits (The Globe and Mail)

The article is written by the reporter R. Younglai. In an academic paper, I am talking about a specific theory/concept which is mentioned in a number of sources, including the Globe and Mail article.

In the article, R. Younglai quotes a university professor

  ... blah blah ...
  "It is sort of ironic. When a big negative shock comes, the unemployment system is not generous enough. When the economy starts improving and the unemployment rate starts going down, it is too generous," said Miles Corak, an economics professor with the University of Ottawa.

In my paper, I am discussing this concept. Who should I cite - the reporter or the professor who gave the quote?

Here is my sentence with the in-text citation:

  ... blah blah blah concept ... (John 2013; Jack 2015; XXX 2016).

Should I cite as (Corak 2016) or (Younglai 2016)?

Note that I don't want to write "According to the report by Younglai (2016), Miles Corak said ..." because there are many other sources in the same citation parenthesis.

I am following the Chicago Author-Date style. I can't find anything related to this in the guide.

To add to Allure's suggestion, I think it would be most appropriate to make a slightly longer citation like

  According to (Corak, reported in Younglai 2016)

You stated that you didn't want to include both names, but I think it is more helpful to the reader that way. Additionally, the above citation tries to be not too wordy (compared to yours), as it is just a footnote inside the parentheses rather than disrupting the flow of text.

The ideal, of course, would be that you find a paper originally published by Corak or some other academic that identifies this phenomenon (the "theory/concept" you mention), but you may not have the time to do a detailed dig through the literature.


How is a Msc thesis judged? I will have to submit my master of science thesis (in the engineering field) in 2 months, therefore I would like to know which aspect of the thesis are taken into account the most in the final evaluation.

Also, is it mandatory for this kind of thesis to have as output a new procedure/methodology? And what if mine doesn't?

What are the main factors that the commission will focus on when deciding the final evaluation of the work done?

Which aspects are taken into account with an evaluation depends highly on the university and master study. However, to give you some information about the process and evaluation, I can give you an example how this goes at the University of Amsterdam (The Netherlands), at the Faculty of Science:

The final evaluation is done by your supervisor and the second reader. And if you have a thesis defence, you will be evaluated by the supervisor, second reader, and one member of the board of examination. Then we have a list of aspects that will be taken into account. These can be found here (PDF).

I hope this may help you to have more insight in the evaluation. Else, you can also look up some scientific articles for example at Google Scholar. And, depending on what kind of study you are doing, make sure your thesis is in the right format. For Computer Science for example, a thesis needs to be in ACM Format.