Re-write paper to make it truly double blind When I was a PhD student, I wrote a collection of papers that comprised a large portion of my dissertation. These papers were written using grant money from one of my advisors. (I had two advisors. The "second" advisor funded me for two semesters).

After I had graduated, this professor expressed a desire to collaborate with me on publishing the papers I had written as part of my dissertation. However, he wants me to entirely re-write each paper in "new" language in order to make the publication truly double blind. He fears that if someone were to Google phrases from my paper, that my dissertation would appear and that the authorship would be known (thus destroying the double-blind process). Because this professor is only topically familiar with my research (enough to be on my committee, not enough to actually write the papers), I am extremely hesitant to even suggest that he do any re-writes himself. (In fact, he attempted to re-write a new draft of the paper and it contained numerous errors in terminology and theory).

I am currently employed in a private research setting (i.e. non-academia) where publication is still important, but I am not free to devote significant amounts of time to my own research. (I have specific, employer directed, research I need to perform). As such, I am not able to allocate numerous hours to re-writing a paper that I already wrote and that I feel is currently in "submission-ready" form.

The ultimate reality is that Google is a powerful tool that could locate my research no matter how hard I tried to obscure it. I cannot take down my LinkedIn, arXiv, and ResearchGate accounts (plus a website) just in case someone wants to devote hours tracing research back to me. Besides, the whole point is to connect myself to my research and make it easier for people to find my research.

Several of the potential journals I am looking at submitting to require double-blindness.

I have two main questions:

  Is it usual practice for journals/referees to Google sentences from papers and attempt to determine authorship?

  Should I feel inclined to re-write each paper in "new" language in order to avoid anyone from being able to trace my work back to my dissertation?

Added: There have been some questions about authorship on this paper. I am the first author on this paper. The professor in question here contributed what I would consider the bare minimum to be granted recognition as an author. I have already gone through a protracted dispute with my former university over the matter of authorship and they decided that since it was my professor's word against mine as to exactly how much he contributed, they would rule in favor of the professor. (It's much easier to tell a student no than a professor). I was instructed to include this professor as an author on the paper by university administration. I am not directly concerned here with who should be named author on the paper. At this point, dropping the professor from the paper is not an option.

Check out double-blind peer review policies from the venue you'll be publishing in. Here's an example from Elsevier. In a nutshell, you want to prevent any reader from immediately connecting the paper to your identity by e.g. not listing your affiliation, anonymizing self-references, removing funding sources, and so on; but you're not aiming to "beat Google".


Pursuing a Second Master's Degree(Part Time) : pros and cons I am currently working in a manufacturing company as a software developer and have just completed my masters in control and automation in 2011 with my bachelors in "Electrical and Electronics". My main reason for doing my first masters is to change to my domain from IT where I was working as a programmer for 1.5 yrs. Now I am thinking of doing a second master's degree in mechatronics, because I am short of some knowledge in the electrical and automation field which I think is must for me to become an expert in the factory automation field.

Even though I feel it will be helpful for my personal career and reputation.
I find some doubts whether a person having a double degree is welcomed in the job market or not. Also Frankly, In my opinion, I used to think that who are having many degrees as people who run away from real-world jobs and are not as competent as those who have years of experience. Another thing is I also want to do MBA after 5 or 6 years. So, can someone tell me what are the pros and cons of having multiple degrees?

Pros... it certainly doesn't do any harm, you will learn something, and there is always the personal development aspect.

Cons... if you are going to make the effort to get a second Masters, why not build on the existing Masters and get a PhD? That is worth a lot more than a second Masters.

MBA... in my opinion, not worth a thing. A con. Not a true Masters by any standard.


What are the options for a drop out turned professional to return to academia? I dropped out of an e-commerce program fourteen years ago (yes, it was a short-lived idea for a program). I entered the work force, but kept self-educating ever since. Around seven years ago I began a career in software development. My self-education continued, I have a great CS foundation under me, am now a respected consultant and, recently, a speaker.

I’ve long had a desire to return to formal education, but dread the thought of taking a lot of elementary classes. It feels like a waste of time and money to get a BS when I have equivalent experience (probably better considering my experiences with recent CS grads) just so that I can pursue a MSc. I do have an area of research that I’m interested in pursuing.

What are the options for a middle-aged professional looking to pursue his/her master’s? Is it possible to directly pursue one in the US? It seems possible in Australia, but from what I can tell, US schools require an undergraduate degree in order to be accepted into a master’s program. If it’s not possible, how can a BS be accelerated as much as possible? I’m certain I can test out of most courses, including a number that are outside of my field.

I was in a similar situation about a decade ago. I just went ahead and got the BS degree. I was a systems admin for about 10 years prior. Here are my thoughts:

Of all the classes I only learned useful stuff from about 4 of them. Data structures, algorithms, signal processing (ironically in a brain device class where the equipment was garbage), and operating systems. Everything else was a complete waste of time including all the calculus' (more than 2 years worth of calc+ math)  and general ed.

Id say that if you already know algorithms and data structures real well along with memory management and signal processing then there is no point to either a BS or MS degree. You will learn nothing. But if you have not seen those subjects before, it might be worth it though I suppose, now that I fleshed out the entire thing for you, you could just get a few books (lol). By the way, I teach CS now at both undergrad and masters level even though I dont have a masters. That said...

I actually started a MS degree once and all I got was the same education but more specific to certain fields like signal processing sound waves for voice recognition. I learned nothing in that course but it did require a huge amount of my time which I didnt want to waste on such a trivial thing that I can figure out without instruction. I just dropped the program after that. If you want to go into education however, you really should get a masters which is the only reason I am currently considering doing an online program. But if youre already in the real world, id say time is better spent making a product.


Should I already have a publication related to the NSF RUI proposal I will submit? I am working on an NSF RUI proposal (research at an undergraduate institution). I have a manuscript on the subject that is languishing on the coauthors desk. How important is it that this manuscript be published before submitting my proposal? The manuscript is mentioned as prior work in the proposal but I fear that the proposal will be less effective without a publication directly related to it.

A track record of relevant publications is very important to a successful grant application.  But the results you get in your case depends on the content of your application and the other applications submitted.


Can a good but unremarkable PhD student become an accomplished professor? Given that PhD students and professors often need to use different skill sets to accomplish their jobs, are there instances of people who had good but unremarkable careers as a PhD student, but much more success as a professor? If this describes you, can you describe why this might have been the case? I personally feel that my technical skills are comparatively average to my peers, but my writing, conceptualization and framing skills are above average. My own PhD journey thus far is fine, but not remarkable. Assuming I manage to find a faculty position, do you think I might be able to have a more accomplished career than when I was a student? How might I do this?

Yes of course.

Some PhD’s are really good at research, or they just prefer research.

Others however, like to pass on knowledge and when a student « gets » something they are pleased for them.

So being able to explain concepts to others and remembering or understanding why you found certain concepts difficult and using that experience to help other students can be very rewarding.

The downside is it comes with things like grading... But having clear marking schemes helps with that, both when you mark and when students want feedback.


I quit a master’s program for a PhD program. How do I list this on my CV? Before starting my PhD, I was enrolled in a master’s program for one year that I quit once I got accepted to my current PhD program.
What do you think I should write on my CV so as not to give a bad impression to potential employers?

University A, 2016 to present
B.Sc., University B, 2015

University A, 2016 to present
MA program, University B, 2015–2016 (quit to start PhD at A)
B.Sc., University B, 2015

University A, 2016 to present
B.Sc., University B, 2015 (followed by a one-year enrollment in the master’s program)

something else?

I would suggest something like "left to pursue PhD" rather than "quit" or "abandoned". The explicit meaning is the same, but there is an implicit negativity in quitting or abandoning something.

PhD student, Dept of Rocket Science, University A, 2016 to present (expected Spring 2032)
MA student, University B, 2015-2016 (left to pursue PhD)
B.Sc. Physics, University B, 2015

(I'd also probably add the program name/degree titles and anticipated graduation date)
In your case, it's a short enough window that you could also probably leave it off without any notice, especially if you are applying to industry positions.
One time to definitely not leave it off is anything asking for your full academic record - the cases where this typically applies are in graduate admissions (which likely longer apply to you) and some grant applications (which still could).


I recently realized how bad my mental health (anxiety or insomnia) condition is. Should I apply to US universities for grad school this year? I wish I could see a therapist and talk about these instead of writing about them here but, in my country, there are no reliable therapists and people do not emphasize higher study at all. People do not deal with anxiety here, some ignore the symptoms and others who know keep it a secret because it is seen as a weakness. So there are no help or support groups here. Two years ago, when the mild anxiety started because of stress at my first job, I sought medical help but I think I was wrongly treated with medicine and I think this contributed to insomnia or worsen the anxiety, whatever it is. This experience has gotten me fearful of seeking professional help too.

I have been struggling with anxiety for more than two years since I first started my job but did not know that it was anxiety. Recently I got to know about it and made lifestyle changes like leaving my job and moving back home. The anxiety is less now because of having no job stress. But the application time for the fall 2018 semester in the US is approaching and I really need to make a decision right now. I feel like I do not know much about this illness or how to cope with it. I don't know if it is insomnia or anxiety, but because of it, my performance was suffering in the job and my manager was unhappy with my performance before I left. For these reasons, my confidence level is zero, I feel like I won't be able to keep up with a Ph.D. program and also work as an RA or TA since I do not know how to deal with the boss. Also, my anxiety reaches its extreme when I start working seriously and can't sleep enough for days. The condition at home is very poor, all of my family members are suffering from illnesses and since I do not have any friends right now, seeing them suffer breaks my heart. I feel like running away from home so that I do not have to see them suffer. If I could help them financially it would be very useful for them and so it is a source of pressure too.

So right now, I am fearful of my potential adviser (if he turns out to be unsympathetic to students), seeing a therapist here in my country, getting fired from my Ph.D. program when I get into one or staying at home with the risk of worsening my anxiety for not having any help.

I have options like going for the Ph.D. program in the US and see a therapist over there. It's a benefit that they have enough data about people like me. But I do not know how to work with a therapist and if I'll be able to help myself and also keep up with the grueling schedule of a graduate program. There will be other challenges like a new culture, not having anyone to talk to, etc., and I'm not good at making friends. So I don't know if it will be the proper step. I have been trying to get into a Ph.D. program for four and a half years now, so if I get fired it will emotionally crush me and take a huge toll on my confidence.

So what should be a rational step in this situation? I am willing to do anything to improve my mental health condition to get a Ph.D.

Thank you for being patient with this long post.

I voted to close because this is highly individual; however, I have something to contribute that will fit better into this box than the comment box.

If preparing your application makes you feel worse, don't do it.

If preparing your application makes you feel the same or better, then go for it.

You don't need to attend just because you are accepted.

Anxiety and insomnia are often related to each other like the chicken and the egg.  When one is anxious, one is more likely to lose sleep; when one is chronically short on sleep, one has a harder time dealing with difficult situations and is more likely to feel anxiety at an impairing level.

There are some conditions, such as obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), that tend not to go away unless a very specific treatment protocol is followed (exposure and response prevention).  However, many other types of anxiety do get better with more ad-hoc treatment approaches.  Even OCD does sometimes improve by itself, or through self-treatment, or through a less-than-ideal therapeutic approach.  And sometimes, finding someone who is a great listener is all that's needed.  So, why not look for someone you feel comfortable talking to?  Even if the therapist's formal studies haven't been hugely impressive, you still might find that it clicks, and talking with the person you found is helpful for you.

I'm not sure why you are concerned about the medications you were given.  I'm guessing maybe you're concerned about getting habituated and/or addicted.

The internet is a great place to find out about a particular medication's potential risks and side effects.

I have no idea what is at the root of your problems, and I don't even know what your symptoms and patterns of symptoms are.  Even a doctor wouldn't be able to match up medications with your needs after reading your post.  But what I can do is to share a list of medications that are sometimes helpful for anxiety and/or insomnia, tend to have a relatively low profile of side effects, and are relatively mild.  I'll include a tiny bit of information about each one.

Melatonin: over the counter (no prescription needed).  It's best to use the smallest dose that is helpful -- some people start with 1 mg and increase gently only if needed.  I have heard recommendations that the starting dosis be tiny, tiny -- by counting drops of the liquid form of the medication.

Zaleplon: 5 mg is the smallest dose (in the U.S).  This helps one relax and drop off and takes on the order of 20 minutes.  This is a relatively mild sleep aid and has a short half-life.  Some people are able to take it if insomina strikes at 5 am and still get up alert and ready for the day two hours later.

SSRI: sometimes helps for other conditions besides classic depression.  It can take up to six weeks to see an improvement after beginning to take it.  To be effective it has to be taken every day, religiously.  Dosages that are helpful for OCD are much higher than the standard dose for depression.  One has to ramp up slowly, with careful medical supervision.

Ativan or Xanax: these are in the Valium family and in small doses can help an anxious person stay on a more even keel.  Watch out, this is a medication that might be incompatible with operating machinery such as a car.  Note, one can cut the tablets up into pieces with utility scissors.

Zaleplon, Ativan and Xanax can be habit forming, especially if they're taken every day.

Regardless of where you are living, a big part of self-care involves building a support network.  It is generally more difficult to do this in a strange country.  However, maybe you could use the next 11 months to get better at building a support network, as practice.

Another good general coping mechanism is exercise.  You might find it helpful to start getting into good exercise habits now, if you don't already have them.  There are lots of ways of getting exercise and each person just has to find what's fun for them.

Now, about graduate studies: sometimes a person is able to feel better about him or herself when involved in a major endeavor, such as graduate studies.

It really is incredibly individual.

Note.  Just because the culture where you are is to hide anxiety, that doesn't necessarily mean you have to hide yours.

A little more:

Any therapist that tries to send you to grad school or prevent you from going to grad school is the wrong kind of therapist.

I want to share one possible non-medication intervention for insomnia: listen to a book on tape or a podcast that you have already listened to at least once before so that it won't be too exciting.  Set the timer feature on the mp3 player so it will turn itself off after 20-30 minutes.

There are also meditation or mindfulness tapes out there for insomnia but if you don't like them you might have better luck with what I described.


How applicable are software engineering internships to computer science research and graduate school? This fall I will begin my undergraduate degree in computer science at a top-5 program (to whom it offends, I'm sorry to use rankings). My goal after I graduate is to get a PhD so I can research and teach computer science.

I understand it may seem fairly early to start thinking about the summer of 2016, but career fairs and application deadlines will arrive soon, and I'd like to prepare for internships and research opportunities as best as possible. Since my primary goal is to stay in academia (or non-industry research, if that's a thing), would an industry internship help me reach my goals? Is it worth the time to acquire a little bit of industry experience? To be a bit more clear, I have a massive list of opportunities I'd like to apply for next summer. Of the approximately 25 items on the list, 15 of them are software engineering internships. For example:

Google
Amazon
Facebook
Microsoft
NASA
Intel

Then, there are certain programs that I think I like slightly more, because it seems they are very research-oriented despite still being "industry":

Wolfram
Nvidia

The programs I am most interested in are purely research-oriented, and most are undergraduate positions at various laboratories across the country. Most of these are funded by the United States Department of Energy.

In Summary

I understand that research experience is very important to PhD admissions in the field of computer science. I'd love to gain as much research experience as I can, as long as I'm interested in it. Is it frowned upon to have little to no experience in industry, when applying to PhD programs? Also, before I get ahead of myself, I understand that it is quite difficult to get an internship position at any of these companies or laboratories.

Don't get me wrong, I love actually writing code and working on applied software projects. I just don't love writing code for a salary.

You are correct that research experience is extremely valuable for getting into graduate programs.  Internships are one way of gaining such experience, but far from the only way.  At a high-ranked university, however, there will also be lots of opportunities with professors, both during the term and in the summers, and those will be at least as applicable, if not more so, for getting into graduate school.  Industry experience as a full-time employee can be great for showing maturity and various skills not typically acquired during undergraduate, but frankly, you're not going to develop a significant and differentiating amount of such skills in a couple months as an intern either.

In short: no, you don't need industry experience to get into graduate school.


PNAS citation style for chapters in a book series I am currently trying to format the reference list of my latest article for Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Unfortunately, PNAS has its own reference style, and it is minimally documented in the intructions for authors.

  References. References must be in PNAS style. [...] Include the full title for each cited article. All authors (unless there are more than more than five) should be named in the citation. If there are more than five, list the first author’s name followed by et al. Provide volume and issue numbers for journal articles as applicable; provide DOI numbers if volume/issue numbers are not available. Provide inclusive page ranges for journal articles and book chapters. Provide date of access for online sources. Cite databases in the text or as footnotes.
  Journal articles are cited as follows:

  Neuhaus J-M, Sticher L, Meins F, Jr, Boller T (1991) A short C-terminal sequence is necessary and suf cient for the targeting of chitinases to the plant vacuole. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 88(22):10362–10366.

  Use MEDLINE/PubMed abbreviations of journal titles or use the full journal title for any journals not indexed in MEDLINE.
  Articles or chapters in books are cited as follows:

  Hill AVS (1991) HLA associations with malaria in Africa: some implications for MHC evolution. Molecular Evolution of the Major Histocompatibility Complex, eds Klein J, Klein D (Springer, Heidelberg), pp 403-420.

I tried to find in published articles an example of a reference for a book chapter in a series of book but couldn't find it.

I have several citations concerned but one of them, to give an example, is the article "Pelagic sedimentation in modern and ancient oceans" by H. Hünecke & R. Henrich, published, in 2011, in pages 215 to 351 of the book Deep-Sea Sediments (edited by H. Hünecke & T. Mulde) which is volume 63 of the book series Developments in Sedimentology (published by Elsevier).

My understanding is that in APA reference style it would be:

  Hünecke, H., Henrich, R. (2011). Pelagic sedimentation in modern and ancient oceans. In H. Hünecke & T. Mulde (Eds.), Developments in Sedimentology: Vol. 63. Deep-Sea Sediments (pp. 215-351). Amsterdam, Netherlands:Elsevier.

In many Elsevier journals, the reference would become:

  Hüneke, H., Henrich, R., 2011. Pelagic sedimentation in modern and ancient oceans. In: Hüneke, H., Mulder, T. (Eds.), Deep-Sea Sediments, Developments in Sedimentology, 63. Elsevier, pp. 215–351.

What would it be in PNAS reference style?

Among other things, on its webpage PNAS supplies a LaTeX template for authors.  This template includes both examples of references and also a BibTeX style file that you can use for preparing references in PNAS style.


Is it a problem that my CV rounded-up my GPA while my transcript shows more digits? I recently applied to a PhD program, now accepted and planning  to attend, in my CV I entered my GPA as 3.8 although the true value is 3.78.

Will that be a problem when I send the hardcopy transcripts to school?

As pointed out in the comments, you didn't lie.  Your actual GPA was a 3.8.  By contrast, it'd have been a lie if you claimed a 3.80.

I suspect that reviewers who see this may have one of three reactions:

No concern.  They'll see this as entirely correct rounding and not bother thinking about it any further.
Concern about fudging.  They'll wonder why you chose to report your GPA on your CV to just 1 decimal place, as this is a bit atypical, and coupled with the fact that it resulted in a round-up, it may come off as a bit of fudging.
Think it dishonest.  Committees in STEM fields should really understand that a 3.78 is a 3.8; that's basic numeric literacy.  However, if you're applying to a field that doesn't use math, they may perceive it as dishonest.

Personally, if I read a 3.8, I'd have taken it as implying anything from a 3.75 to a 3.84999..., such that the revelation of a 3.78 would be entirely expected.  I'd have found your decision to report only 1 decimal place to be dubious, but I'd have already judged you for that upon seeing your CV.  Seeing the transcript confirm that the GPA was on the lower end of the spectrum would strengthen the suspicion of intentionally trying to fudge the numbers, but since I'd already have been suspicious of that, it wouldn't really change much.


Is there an equivalent in another country of the French "CIFRE"? A "CIFRE" in French is another type of doctorate where the French government helps to fund a company to hire a doctorand.
There are several differences between a CIFRE and a "doctorat" in France, or PhD, as far as I know, the main are more are less those following:

You are hired within both a company and a laboratory for a CIFRE instead of only a single laboratory for a "doctorat"
You are generally better paid with a CIFRE, slightly more than a "doctorat" but still less than a regular position within a company as an engineer for instance
You are suppose to do more theoretical and less applied work for a "doctorat", CIFRE aiming to apply your researches for the company that hires you. Also meaning you'll probably publish less while doing a CIFRE.
You have to teach within universities or Engineering/Business schools for a "doctorat" while it's not mandatory for a CIFRE

Here I'm not focusing on doctors of medicine at all (a French distinction exists).
I was wondering if this kind of huge distinction exists in UK or US and if not, in any other country.

Yes.

CIFRE is a mechanism for PhD students in France to be funded and work with industry.

The US NSF offers similar opportunities through the Non-Academic Research Internships for Graduate Students (INTERN) Supplemental Funding Opportunity.


For Ph.D application, which admission system used in Australia? Is it the same as US/Canada, UK, or EU? Some questions before said that in US/Canada, we should apply first then select the professor and it's different from the system in UK or EU. So, what about Australia or New Zealand?

From my experience in Australia, the usual scenario is that a student makes contact with a particular academic at a university. The academic agrees to supervise the student's PhD. The applicant then applies through the official university process. The university process will involve additional hurdles (e.g., grades, English language requirements, past experience writing research theses, etc.). But in general, the applicant starts by building a relationship with a potential supervisor.

That said, some applicants get in contact with the university with an outline of their research interests, and then the university can facilitate finding a supervisor.

And of course, I'm sure there is some variability in the process across universities. So of course, it makes sense to check out the university websites and get in touch with the HDR office of any relevant universities.


Perennial link to a research article For convenience, I often want to give a link to a research article in addition to the citation. I am mostly look for the following two properties:

the link should be valid as long as possible
the link should provide as many sources as possible to download the article, ideally free of charge whenever available.

I use Google scholar, e.g.: Godbole, Shantanu, and Sunita Sarawagi. "Discriminative methods for multi-labeled classification." Advances in Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2004. 22-30.

I link to the "all versions" page:

Are there other any good/better alternatives?

the link should be valid as long as possible

There is no guarantee that Google Scholar will even still exist as a service in a few years, let alone that its URL scheme will stay the same. Who knows when another round of spring cleaning might come?

From the point of view of avoiding link rot, using a DOI resolver seems much better, e.g. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-24775-3_5

Related: DOI® System and Persistent URLs

  Is there any DOI resolver that points to multiple sources, including free ones when available?

Citeseer does this, e.g. http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.1.3819 - but unlike http://doi.org they have made no commitment to maintain this service in perpetuity. And they don't seem to be using standard DOIs, but their own internal ones.


Can you get into a top grad school coming from UT Knox? I went to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga where I got a BA in Philosophy and graduated with a 3.4 GPA. During my senior year, I discovered an incessant love of physics. However, I’ve had to start over practically from the beginning, such as learning pre-calc.

I am now attending UT Knox for an undergrad physics degree. UT Knox is a public school ranked #83 in physics. My question is, how well do I need to do to come from a school like UT Knox, at my age, to be accepted into a top 10 graduate school? I know the odds are stacked against me, but I plan on overcoming them.

I think you are asking the wrong question. For the specific question, your chances of acceptance at a top ten graduate school are near zero. That has nothing to do with you or where you go to school. It is just numbers. The fraction of accepted candidates at such a small set of schools is minuscule.

A better question, that I think will leave you more satisfied, is what you need to do to get into a really good school that will help you meet your overall life goals. It would be sad if at the end of your life the only thing one could say about you is "he went to a top ten grad school."

The way to success to to work hard, learn a lot, read, write, emulate those you want to be like, be bold when necessary, ask for help, learn to work cooperatively, don't burn out, be flexible, practice, ....

You can do all of that anywhere. You can even do it while being a bit of a goofball.

For the record, lots of people are late starters. I never had a positive educational experience until the second or third year of HS. My HS doesn't even exist anymore. But I learned how to be better and wound up with a doctorate and a successful academic career.

But when it does come time to apply for grad school, apply to one or two top schools along with some others. There are a lot of good schools that will help you build a great career and life.


I can no longer trust my PI after his handling of authorship. What are my options? I am experiencing a very difficult time in the lab where I'm doing my postdoc (biomedical sciences).

This is a lab with lots of funding and a good scientific reputation. I joined 3 years ago and have been working on a technically  challenging project. Finally, after 3 years of solving technical sides of things, I started getting some interesting data and was planning to expand my findings to publish a full story out of it. Meanwhile, another postdoc in the lab was preparing a ms on an interrelated topic that could significantly benefit from this data.

My PI told me that I have the option of a) going ahead with my own experiments and story, but bearing in mind that I can be partially scooped by that other paper from our own lab(!), or b) contributing my work to this other manuscript, which could then be sent to a top journal and could be good for the lab. He also explicitly said that he doesn't care if I will be scooped because he has to think about the lab and not individuals who sometimes will have to suffer for the collective good. I argued that this meant I will lose major part of my project and will have to start from scratch, to which he responded that I will still have time to do something else.

My contract ends in less than 2 years. It's possible it'll be extended but there's no official guarantee. I also don't want to be postdoc for ever and prefer to at least get my own fellowship. After I insisted that this could only make sense (and yet reluctantly and as a compromise) if I will be a co-first author on that paper, he said that it's only him who will decide on authorship and that he hasn't made up his mind yet. He also questioned me, in a condescending tone, whether I think this paper will give me a job and said that he knows the answer is "No".

A week after this unpleasant conversation he called me on my phone to say that he has decided my data should go in that paper and that I can be co-first author. This was far from ideal but not the worst scenario, so I prepared the results and the figure. When I asked to see the manuscript, he responded that he'll send it to me only after I finish my part of the method section and the figure legend, because he doesn't want people getting "distracted" correcting other bits yet. I finally received the ms 3 days ago to write my part of results section, only to find out for the first time that there will be 4 co-first authors on the paper and that I'm number 3. His argument was that the first-listed has put more work, so he has  alphabetically listed the other 3 of us!

I find this the most illogical explanation and utterly disrespectful. I voiced my disappointment, particularly at the fact that he hadn't been open about this decision.

I face a difficult situation now, where i don't know:

If I should just let this go for now and wait to see what happens with the review process (I fear I may have to do more work).
If I should already look for other labs given what my PI has said to my face and the way he has treated the authorship issue. There is another lab I'd be very much interested in but I don't have my own publication yet and the lab head is also in the same institute. I don't know if I can trust him disclosing the issue without being seen as unprofessional.
If, assuming the paper is accepted, I will still be credited as a first author for funding/hiring bodies given that we are 4 listed as "first" and I'm number 3 without any clear random listing.

thanks for your comments/suggestions in advance

Your Situation

The restrictions placed by your lab are part of the working conditions under which you operate.  This includes the personality and working culture of your colleagues and superiors.  This is difficult and slow to change, and will impact you regardless of your own actions.  Trying to avoid conflict with this culture will let you get on with your own work, until such a time that you see a better option to follow.  If you can't tolerate this, then consider one of the following options:

Your Options

Call another meeting with your PI.  State the matter of record, that he
already called you to offer you first authorship.  Request that your PI honour this offer.  He then has the opportunity to agree with you and give you recognition, or to contradict both your wishes and his agreement.  If his actions result in a negative outcome for you, then you can record this for possible further use such as a complaint.  Ensure that your actions at all times reflect your professional integrity.  This option may help to establish the boundaries around which you are prepared to operate within the lab.
Conduct an appeal for help with an agency outside of your lab.  Is there an ethical or professional support group that you can contact?  Provide the details of your case, and request assistance in investigation and documentation of the issue.  This is an avenue which could lead to cultural change within your lab, but potentially at a personal and professional cost to you.  It could possibly lead to you needing to leave the university.
Begin discussions with other experts at your university to identify
opportunities for your career within the same university.  Ensure that there is no further escalation of conflict with your PI.  Try to smooth over the differences within your lab.  its important that this issue does not have a negative impact on your transition to a new group.

General Advice

I suggest that you consider taking professional advice from a senior researcher who is prepared to act as a mentor for you.  This would allow you to discuss issues, and to increase awareness of your career opportunities and research strategies that you will need throughout your career.


Is it appropriate to express concerns to a professor about a new exam format? I'm taking a math class at community college. The class has three regular exams (25% of grade) and a final (25%). Normally, the professor generously grades the fifteen-question exams with partial credit, but because of the COVID-19 crisis, we have had to move everything online.

I received excellent scores on the first two exams, but the third exam we had to take online. In the new, twenty-question format, she obviously could not offer partial credit because a computer scored it. Going into the exam, I didn't feel unprepared, but I ended up getting a terrible 62%. But then, the professor announced that the entire class had performed poorly on the exam, and she gave us another day to retake it. I had already spent an entire day studying and working on the exam, and I knew it would be dropped anyway, so I declined. I still don't think that there was much that would have changed if I took it a second time without being able to see what I got wrong. When I did get it back, I found that several of my mistakes had nothing to do with math and were a result of failing to correctly enter my results into the computer.

I don't know how the rest of the class performed on the exam compared to me, but the professor was concerned enough to give an extra day, so I'm willing to bet it was around the same. Needless to say, I strongly suspect that our collective failure is a result of the new exam format. I think that our grades depended on the partial-credit scoring. And now, the final, worth 25% of my grade, is coming up on May 18th.

I have a 98% in the class. If I get a 60% on the final, it will completely destroy my grade. And what's most disturbing to me is that so far, there has been no correspondence on what the final will look like. In terms of format, I don't know what I'm studying for, exactly. If it is going to be similar to the third exam, then I'm very likely doomed. With my two AP exams also around the corner, in the same week, it is causing an undue amount of stress.

I really appreciate the professor, and I naturally want to remain respectful and stay on good terms with her. Is it appropriate for me to voice my concerns? What kind of language should I use, and which parts of what I have disclosed here are appropriate to include? And what reasonably should I request?

It’s totally appropriate to point out to your professor that your grade is suffering for technical reasons having to do with the online format of the exam. If your professor is reasonable she will not be in the least bit offended by this.

By the way, we are pretty much all dealing with issues of this sort nowadays. I experienced something similar just a few days ago when I gave an online quiz. One of the problems required entering the answer to a question in decimal notation, and this was automatically graded by the testing platform. The correct answer was 15/64=0.234375, but some students assumed it was okay to round off the answer and entered 0.234 or 0.23, only to have that marked off as incorrect. When they emailed me to point out the issue, I gave them the points for the question.

To summarize, let your professor know. Be polite and explain the technical issues in entering the answers that caused your answers to be marked as incorrect. If you explain it clearly and convincingly enough, not only will the professor be in a better position to design a fairer format for the final exam, she may actually give you back some of the points that were marked off in the current exam.


How to approach a professor for an independent study course? I'm a first year masters student and I want to do an independent study with a professor, because I find some of the first year graduate level courses too easy (I got permission from my concentration advisor to do an independent study). How do I decide the topic for the independent study with the professor? If I just pick a topic I want to study, I doubt the professor would want to do it. Should I ask the professor if she has any topics she wants to do an independent study on?

Yes, at least in mathematics, beginning grad students often cannot make informed choices about worthwhile directions of study, and there can be advantages to getting more-expert opinion. This is not at all to say that you should not follow your own curiosity and intellectual impulses! But only that you should also be open to expert advice. So you might best view arranging your independent/directed study as an enterprise whose goals can be negotiated, hopefully with all parties thinking of your best (long-term?) interests.


Why do some US universities have "Electrical Engineering" and "Computer Engineering" vs. "Electrical Engineering and Computer Science" departments? When I started searching for a graduate programs that fits my research interests in the United States, I noticed that some universities have separate "Computer Engineering" and "Electrical Engineering" departments, while other universities have a combined department "Electrical engineering and Computer science".

Why do some universities choose to divide or combine these disciplines?

It's usually politics or prestige.

Back in the days when the computer science discipline was heating up (mid to late 1990s), there was a big discussion on where to put computer science. Traditionally, it was a science, but at that time the economic outlook for high-tech (which included electrical engineering and computer engineering) was really, really hot, and it was fashionable to have a department that encompassed "everything high tech". Thus, there was a big push to move computer science to the Faculty of Engineering. This was augmented at the time by the birth of "software engineering" programs and by a number of papers discussing programming and software development as more "engineering design" than "science".

Fast-forward twenty years or so, and you have what we have now, where programs that are related to "high-tech" are roughly grouped together.

As stated already, the disciplines are different. I won't repeat @TinActon's words since he's summarized them well. However, they operated under the same high-tech umbrella for a while.

Really, you don't choose the department - you choose a program, but it's more likely that there's synergistic (industrial) collaboration in a department that has EE, CE, and CS together, as the industries that hire in EE, CE, and CS tend to overlap a lot. However, that's not to say that there isn't cross-disciplinary opportunities for CS and the other science fields either. Biology and chemistry and physics all have a very high dependence on equipment and techniques developed in the EE/CE/CS side, and similarly EE/CE/CS benefit from the work being done in the sciences side.


Post-graduate publication, adviser is not in my field I finished my PhD degree last year. I had a bad experience with my adviser over the 4 years. He treated me like a technician. He used the data I collected and analyzed to publish with his post-doc in a top journal. They just put "personal communication" in the paper when they used my analytical method. Then, my name was under the acknowledgement section. I even never be communicated regarding of their manuscript producing process. I found it out based on randomly reading papers online.

In addition, he insulted me when I was in his lab. He tried to threat me for rescheduling my wedding date.

Now, my adviser pretend nothing happened in the past. He keeps chasing me for publishing one of my PhD chapters with him. I have a full-time job now. I just keep ignoring his emails. However, one of my committee member told me that he has been bugged by my adviser for my latest information. He wants me to talk to my adviser even I don't want to publish with him.

Could anyone give me advice?

Thanks.

Option A:  Blow him off.  You did your Ph.D.  You're done.  Work for your current employer and to feed your family.  The academic rat race is not your concern.  And it's not even like this guy cares about the science being lost. He just wants another sticker on his helmet (pub count).

Option B:  Tell him "what's in it for me".  Maybe get something out of him, like inclusion as co-author on a review or the like.

Option C: Write it but tell him you will be the communicating author, you're in charge and not interested in edits from him and he can just ride along for a pub count (maybe a little gentler stated than that, but that is bottom line).

When I was in this situation, I went with option C.  But I actually cared about the science getting out and had the paper ready to go, no issues.  Also my advisor never messed with my text (I never had an edit from him on previous papers).  [And even in this case, it only came after a year or two of the guy, sitting, before he came back and agreed to my terms.]

I would probably go with C for you. But make it clear to him who is in charge.  Some of these professors are not used to grad students that take them on.

You probably will never get satisfaction on the previous slight, but if you tell the guy "I wasn't happy with how you handled X.  That is behind us.  But I have to evaluate if I can trust you going forward before doing any work on Y." maybe he toes the line.  He may not, so then put him in deep freeze.

I can't promise you a great outcome.  But I do know if you don't sometimes stand up for yourself people will take advantage.


How can I encourage good note-taking? Often, college students do not always know what kinds of notes they should be taking.

How can I encourage students to take notes more efficiently and more effectively?

In one of my lecture-style courses, I have lots of organized information on my lecture slides for reference purposes. This allows me to introduce more material and work through more examples than I would otherwise be able to do. The lecture slides use signposting in order to give structure and to help students organize their notes logically. I post the slides to our course web page before class so students can use them in class to aid their note-taking. I have discussed with my students that I do not intend for them to copy my slides into their notes and that the slides are meant to used as reference. I've mentioned that I want them to be more strategic with their note-taking: they should be taking notes on major themes, key ideas, and processes, as well as on things that we discuss that are not in the slides. This works for some students, but I want to do better for all. The current semester is almost over, and I'd like to specifically address this for next semester.

Note that I am not asking how to take better notes, as others have asked here (example), but rather how I as the instructor can address this in the classroom to improve students' note-taking skills.

This answer assumes that the course you are teaching is not about note-taking itself.

Make sure there really is a problem to address

Are the students who you think take bad notes also performing badly in the course? Different students have different ways of taking notes, or even different purposes (for example, I used to write down as much as I could because that would help me learn the content afterwards through "muscle memory").

There is not an unique "correct" way of taking notes. If you know exactly what notes the students are supposed to take, then probably they do not know, so why not provide those notes to them? That would help them much more, and the goal of your course is to transfer knowledge about a specific topic.

If, after considering this, you still want to get the students to learn these note-taking skills, you will probably have to dedicate some lecture time to explain how they should be taking notes. Having them submit some of their notes as an assignment will also help. After all, if it is not part of the course, many students will not be motivated to do it. Keep in mind that students have developed their own learning methods for many years, and changing to a new note-taking method might actually make some students perform worse while they get used to it.


Would the professor leave the classroom if only 1 student uses their cellphone during class? I’m a college student. My class has only 40 students. My professor left the classroom before class ended because, like he said, too many students were using phones while he was talking. It was not like there were phone sounds or the phones rang. He said before leaving that he would let us teach ourselves.

In this case, I’m quite curious about something:

Would he be able or be allowed to not teach, and let us handle it ourselves and only come in to do the test?
Would he be able to fail the whole class?
Would he possibly react the same way if only 1 student used their phone without making any noise?

I've occasionally done "shocking" things to send an important message. It might be that all he intends is to make it a dramatic statement that you (the class) should take it more seriously.

I doubt that he intends to not return, and also doubt that he would get any administrative support for that.

I've always been willing to fail the entire class. Also willing to give full marks to the entire class. But that depends on individual, not group, behavior. Again, failing person A because of the actions of B would be unethical and would draw no administrative support.

If it is only one student then, perhaps, a more nuanced and less dramatic response would probably be called for.

In one of my "dramatic explosions" not every student was guilty. But even the ones who were more conscientious got an important message about proper behavior. In this case it was more about their own lack of preparation. There is a scene in Stand And Deliver in which the teacher, Jaime Escalante, denies entry to the classroom to a student who doesn't have his homework paper ready to turn in: "If you don't have a ticket, you don't get to watch the show."

But hopefully, the need for such drama is infrequent.


Accepted for Masters, Is It Rude To Ask About Scholarships? First things first: I'm not a native American, and I was accepted for my masters at an American college. So far, I still need to send some documentation before the official offer is made.

On their website, it is stated that accepted students are eligible for a scholarship. So, is it rude, while I'm still sending and solving the documents, to ask how can I obtain the scholarship mentioned?

It's definitely not rude to ask about scholarships! Some are easy to get, while others have stringent requirements, so it might be more appropriate to ask "what scholarships am I eligible for" or "what scholarships can I apply for" instead of "what scholarships can I get."

A tip about word usage: If you're doing a masters degree than you're almost definitely attending a "university" rather than a "college." In the US, a college refers to an administrative unit that awards undergraduate degrees. The term "school" is also used to refer to degree-granting units that award any kinds of degrees. A university is a collection of schools. For example, Harvard University contains a college and several other schools as can be seen here. Some universities (especially larger ones) have multiple colleges, generally separating Engineering from Arts and Sciences. If you tell someone in the US that you're attending college, they will almost certainly assume that you're an undergraduate. "Attending university" or "attending graduate school" are the common things to say.


How does one figure out which journals to submit a paper to? I ask because I am finishing a paper and need to decide on which journals I'm going to submit it to, and I have never done a paper before.

I know very little about this, but my general sense is that I want to match the interest level of my paper to the renown of the journal (Nature probably doesn't want my lame paper, but I'm also not going to submit it to a fly-by-night journal that's purely for-profit). I have a vague idea of what some high profile journals are, and a few I know to be disreputable, but there's a pretty wide range in between I have no idea about.

I've heard of the concept of Impact Factor, but also heard (as that article mentions) that it's not everything and just a rough guideline. I've also heard favorable things about review journals, namely that they're often understated but can actually be a great place to submit because people often look there for fresh ideas.

Any advice on how to find the journal(s) that best match your paper?

A few steps can help. Check your reference list. Where have others writing on similar topics published? you will end up with a list of reasonable journals. The next step can go in one of two ways,, either you chose a high impact journal on the list and take a chance it will be published there or you try to assess where your paper would best fit. The first approach is high risk and if you get rejected you would take the comments and resubmit to a lower impact journal. Trying to figure out an optimal journal directly is not easy and requires experience and insight. You can, for example, ask peers what they think might be a suitable journal and why. Even if you end up with a few differing answers you will be in much better shape. To decide from the final selection might be a matter of flipping coins. You can also look at the editorial staff and see if there is someone among th editors that is very close to your topic. That can be very useful since it is likely that peson will handle your paper and treat it with insight.


How much will a poor first semester affect my grad school chances? I'm studying Computer Science with a double major in Math at a public university. I hope to attend a private school like Vanderbilt (Nashville, USA) to pursue an MS or PhD. My GPA is still above a 3.0, however:

I have received a U (unsatisfied, incorrectly submitted work) as a final grade in a single credit course that is part of an honors college program during my first semester in college.
I also had one terrible score (D) in a 200 level maths course during the same semester.

Will these early blemishes on my transcript affect my chances of getting into graduate school?

If a student did poorly in their first semester of college, but did well afterwards, admissions committees will conclude that the student learned from what ever problems they had the first semester, and will be unlikely to perform poorly again.  However, if they can choose a student with a perfect record, they will.  On the whole, first semester grades are of little importance except at the most selective institutions.

If you explain in your application what went wrong, why it will never happen again, and how it made you a better applicant, it may strengthen your application.

(us perspective)


Job Websites for University Teachers What are the main websites teachers look to when searching a new university teaching job? If it varies by discipline, I'm talking about finance in particular but business in general would also be appropriate.

As far as location, I'm looking for teachers from the US or from the UK (but anyone with decent English skills would be considered) to come to beautiful Asia.

I saw this post but it seems focused on research jobs (PhD positions, postdocs, etc.). I'm really looking for teachers to teach financial subjects.

The first part of your question suggests that you want to find resources on how to find jobs in Asia. That's easy. Googling "Academic Positions Asia" found me this website (www.unijiobs.asia), (on the first hit) which claims to be "Asia's University Jobs Portal."

This seems to be what you are looking for. The site seems to have a fairly comprehensive set of search tools, with the ability to do keyword searching or to search by position type, by discipline, or by location.

The end of your question suggests that you really want to find people to fill positions that you have. Listing on sites like I just found and like what you found will help, but in general, you need to advertise. The best advertising is to be had in the publications or on the website(s) of the professional organization(s) relevant to your discipline.


Can different departments offer similar courses? Some courses at different departments are very related in content. Is it fine or a university should offer 1 specific course across all departments?

There are a number of reasons why a department would want to teach their own version of a class, even if it's very similar to a course taught by another department:

They think they can do it better. Imagine if most graduate students in your Department A end up taking a class in Department B. Department B views this as something of an imposition, not really interesting, not taken by many of their students, etc. so treats it as a dumping ground for new or poor teachers. Department A might decide to teach their own version to the level they think it warrants.
Different audiences. What one needs to know may differ by department in terms of sophistication or focus. For example, very few students in departments who use statistical methods might need to know the nuances behind how variance is calculated, or be equipped with the background to develop their own estimator, whereas a student in a statistics department might very well need to. Splitting these courses allows for fine-tuning of content and pre-requisites (do you need to know Linear Alegbra?).
Field specific focuses. Epidemiology, as a field, is by and large uninterested in prediction for its own sake, and so really doesn't do much with machine learning (see here). Other fields are keenly interested in exactly those methods. So rather than try to teach a course that's a little unsatisfactory to everyone, why not split them? Similarly, while an Applied Math department could very well teach a class on "Mathematical Modeling", the assumptions and methods needed in Physics vs. Chemistry vs. Ecology vs. Epidemiology vs. Engineering are all different enough that those departments might be well served by bringing their class in house, if for no other reason than to make sure most of the examples are relevant.
Geography. As @tomasz points out, the "logical" department for a course to be held in might be quite far from a department, leading to students not taking a class, not knowing about it entirely, or complicating their schedule. For example, a statistics or math department might be on the "main" Liberal Arts campus of a university, while many of the potentially interested students may be located on a specialized Health Sciences campus a considerable distance away (at the University of Iowa, for example, they would be across the Iowa River from one another).


MBA with a BS in Comp Sci, pros and cons? I will soon be graduating, and I have been working mostly remote with a company as an application developer for about 4 years since my freshman year of college, doing enterprise-level development while pursuing my degree.

I have always been interested in business management/administration since my freshman year in college but never got the chance to pursue anything, and I would also like to eventually take my side projects to the next level and begin my own company.

I am wondering if it would be worth my time and money to pursue an MBA once I graduate while I work full time at my current job? The money will not be an issue, granted spending $90,000 will be no easy feat. Are my chances going to be good to get into an MBA program even though I do not have that much post-undergrad work experience?

The SMU, Cox School of Business (my ideal choice) offers a Professional MBA program for working professionals but it says the average work experience is 6 years, and I will only have 4 years by the time I graduate, so I am unsure if this will make it hard for me to get in.

EDIT:

I would hopefully be applying almost as soon as I graduate.

When you say you are interested in business, do you mean you want to be a manager? Or in finance? Or are you "academically" interested and you simply want to learn about things like OB, finance, accounting or Ops?

If the latter, then I suggest online personal enrichment programs (like coursera, etc.).

If the former, then an MBA may be worth the time and money; many companies want people with an MBA for certain positions (this is especially true of consultancies). Other companies view MBAs as a cliched, cookie-cutter education and avoid them.

You need to figure out what kind of career path you want and do some research regarding the benefits of having an MBA for that path.

As a datapoint: I am a programmer with an MBA (from a top 40 US university). It was not worth it.


Should researchers disclose their political interests in publications? Scenario: A researcher, who is also a member of the political party A, investigated the impact (e.g. on public health) of specific actions or policies (e.g. strikes or health expenditure cuts) belonging to the rival party B.

Assuming that the research motivation is scientifically justified, the methodology is sound, the results are "unbiased" and reproducible, and support was only received from an independent body (e.g. a research council), should the researcher disclose his/her political motivation in the publication?

The researcher should probably disclose any bias she knows she has, though outside of potential biases due to funding of the research (think drug companies funding studies for their products), I don't think this is done much. Prominent public intellectuals usually wear their biases on their sleeves, so reviewers are often pretty aware of them. I'm not sure matters as much for less well known academics unless there's a worry that they were cooking the data.


In an interview, should I greet a professor I know in one of his speech? In an interview that I'm going to attend, (top) professors from other countries will travel to my country. Because they cannot just come, judge candidates and go home, usually they will have their speeches in universities. And because of that, candidates can guess who they will meet in their interviews.

I have identified a professor that will interview me, so I have researched them. All I want is to make a friendly atmosphere, and gain myself confident. If they get surprised, and ask why I know them, I can answer that I have attended their speech in my university, and have asking them a question. My question is not about them or their work, but about their notorious advisor (this is not a workshop or conference so I think it's OK to ask that). They may remember that question because it's the only one asking about their life.

Q: Should I greet them by saying their name when I meet them? Is it OK to remind that I'm the one behind that question? And if it is, how to do that? And besides that, I have a feeling that other committee will feel unfair or jealous because I don't know anything about them.

(I don't intend to play a psycho game with them, because I guarantee that I'm going to lose.)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


Can we start a page with an equation on top left side, then an image and then other content Can we start a page with an equation on the left side,  then an image and then other content in IEEE format. Is it not compulsory to start the column with an image only?

It depends on the type of document that you are preparing.

In (most) conference papers, you have a lot more freedom on the placement of images and equations so you can have your equation at the top of a page and images in the middle. Considering, however, that equations are part of the normal text, it is not best practice to do so. Also, if you are using LaTeX to typeset your document, the top of the page is better suited for images and text because of white space.

In (most) IEEE journal papers, it does not really matter, as the final document will be typeset for you and figures go at the top of the page.


A specific question on writing research statement I'm applying for a postdoc position at a university that asks to write a research statement taking into account possible interactions with research groups/faculty within the different departments (e.g. math, physics) of that university. I'm trying to understand whether this means:
a) I should write how my research connects to the different departments, i.e. I should point out how my research has some connection to the research of faculty X in department Y of that university, or
b) It's enough to mention my own research or their connection to different areas, without the mention of the faculty X in department Y.
So to be specific, say my research in math corresponds to quantum physics and say a faculty named John Doe in the Physics department wrote a paper in quantum Physics. So is it better to mention in the research statement "my research has connections to this area of quantum physics" or "my research has connection to this area of quantum physics, carried out by faculty John Doe in department of Physics"?
I tend to think it's b), because in a research statement, people don't normally mention how it can be connected to some faculty's research, which can be done in a cover letter. Advice appreciated!
P.S. After contacting the job poster, I was told that there'd be no requirement to contact a faculty member separately and hence submit a joint proposal together. The applicants won't be required to submit proposals anyway. Just thought of mentioning that in case it helps!

They don't only want to hear what they will be working on, and what topics this is related to.
They would like to see how hiring you would lead to new interactions, that is, discussions, collaborations, joint projects and papers, and so forth, in the department and at the university.
So you should outline your research interests and planned research, discuss how this is connected to topics covered by other researchers in the department/university, and highlight where you see possibilities for collaboration.
So no, just connecting to the field, not the person, is not enough.  You collaborate with people, not with fields, and this is what they would like to see.  (Note that this means that you should ideally have a specific look at the people you might want to work with, and make it concrete where you see room for collaboration ("this opens up the possibility for collaborations with Prof. X, e.g. on the topic of [specific idea 1 and 2}".), rather than staying very general. Ideally, i should be a statement tailored to those people, not a generic statement.)


Is it rational to lose confidence in authors whose books contain many typos? I make mistakes too as a flawed human. Yet I always lose confidence in and doubt authors (whose native language is English) whose textbooks or journal articles contain glaring typos or orthographical errors. Is this expectation rational or warranted?

For instance, Michael Spivak's Calculus contains many such typos. But I've spotted no typos in David Benatar's books. Here are my assumptions:

The author or the publisher can hire or engage multiple proofreaders (who can be university students, friends, or family members) to proofread.
The publisher permits the author to read a draft of the book before it's printed, to spot any last-minute mistakes. So these typos aren't the publisher's fault.

Your assumptions are faulty. Unless a book is self published, it is the publisher only who hires reviewers, and, more importantly, editors. They are too expensive for the author to engage. A text that sells for about $90 USD returns about $5 USD to the author and sells between 0 and a few thousand copies (with a few exceptions). The cost of the textbook prep is all up-front other than reprinting.

For many (most?) people, proofreading your own work is nearly impossible. If you made an error when you first wrote it, it was because of some slip of the mindset. Thinking one thing and writing another. When you go to re-read it you actually read what you thought you wrote, not what you actually wrote. It is the publisher, and more important, the reviewers who should catch these since they read it with a fresh mind. The author isn't perfect but he/she is innocent here.

Some authors and publishers will pay bounties for errors caught by readers so that they can be corrected in future printing (and editions). Donald Knuth famously did this for The Art of Computer Programming.

Many authors an/or publishers will also put errata lists online where readers should be able to find them.

Typos are annoying, of course, and the other qualities of any given work have to be sufficient to overcome that annoyance.

But it is the publisher of the book that pays the upfront costs of editing, review, typesetting, etc. They (publishers) earn a ton of money for this and are responsible when it goes badly. While reviewers often work for free, editors don't. They are employees of the publishers.


How accurate are published papers? I'm an undergrad trying to publish findings on the accuracy of consumer-grade motion sensors for IEEE. I've searched for existing literature on this topic, and I've found some interesting articles. However, I'm not sure how accurate these papers are.

Once IEEE publishes a paper in a journal or conference, has IEEE deemed the paper's findings as accurate?

That is, has a paper passed science's often-vaunted "peer-review" once that paper has been published?

I realize this question applies for my research and any other research published by a respected organization like IEEE or Nature.

No. The publisher does not and cannot guarantee the correctness of the papers. Also the peer-review system is not perfect.

That being said, even though a single paper might have some chance of being wrong, as studies are replicated, and follow up studies verify and extend the conclusions, the scientific community can build up stronger claims.


Should I recommend a student with a bad ideology? My problem is the following: I teach  an honors course in an engineering discipline at a small university. (It is not exactly that, but "teaching an honors course" is a good approximation to what I do). Large US companies sometimes ask me to recommend the best students for an interview, and they are often hired. The policy of the University in general is that it doesn't discriminate on political opinions or religious beliefs or anything of that sort.

Now, I have a student who is a very nice person and has a great academic record but he supports an ideology that many would find abhorrent. (Again, this doesn't mean he is a bad person. For example, the famous mathematician and Fields Medalist Stephen Smale supported Stalinist communism in his youth, in reaction to unjust practices in the US:
http://www.ams.org/notices/200011/rev-kirby.pdf   ).

Now, if I recommend him, I think there's a reasonable chance he gets hired because he's pretty good in technical matters. But then I think he might really get into problems there because he supports his "bad" ideology in a rather ostentatious manner, and I'm afraid that this will reflect badly on me and on my ability to recommend other students. I'm pretty sure the overwhelming majority of employees would be hostile to his ideology.

Mind you, I wouldn't have hesitated for a second to give him a recommendation for graduate study, people are usually much more understanding of that sort of stuff in academia, and the only person he really would have to please in that case is his advisor, and if the student's research is good, the advisor would probably forget about all the rest. But working in the industry necessitates interaction with a lot of people, and I think his ideological views may cause problems.

What do you think I should do ? Recommend him or not ? If I don't, I feel it would be a kind of betrayal; especially since he wouldn't even know why he's not getting the interview some people less qualified than him are getting. I also have the impression I'm not the only one to have this issue with him, as he has been already "overlooked" for several positions where less qualified people succeeded.

As stated in the other answers, no-one can coerce you to provide a recommendation, you are free to not recommend a student for any reason you choose, or no reason at all - if you are not comfortable recommending this student, then don't.

However, from your description, I would suggest that it's not the ideology at issue, but the student's interpersonal skills. I guarantee you that I have opinions that you would find absolutely abhorrent, and you have opinions that I would likewise. The point is that in a professional context we usually have the good sense to keep these things to ourselves.

It's not clear what your opinion of the student, and their suitability for the role, actually is. If you think that the way he expresses his ideology interferes with his ability do the job well, or his ideological standing is in some way relevant to the job at hand, then there is no conflict here. (For example, a raving misogynist would be completely inappropriate in a supervisory position.)

If you think that he nevertheless really would be an asset to the company, then you can either (i) informally suggest to your contact: "Here is a brilliant student who will produce technically excellent work, but be careful; he has a bit of a problem with appropriate boundaries at work." and/or (ii) write a letter that expresses his technical skills and omits any mention of personality or social skills. The omission will be  loud and clear. In the end, it is up to the company to decide if the tradeoff is worth it.


To what extent should a reader be required to read a paper to understand a chapter? I am doing a master thesis and have more or less written my report. My supervisor has from time to time read my paper and from the feedback I get she wants to be able to skip to a later chapter and read it without necessarily reading exactly everything else before. This seems a bit odd to me, but I have not thought about it before as the papers I've read I read from the introduction and onwards.

My outline is introduction, related work, method, results, discussion, conclusion.

So, to what extent should I expect/force a reader to read previous chapters that are relevant but not critical for understanding the paper? Should the method chapter be written in a way that you don't have to read the related work and introduction chapter? Should you be able to skip to the results and discussion and understand them without reading the method chapter?

The flow of thesis differs in preference from one supervisor to another. The specification provided by your supervisor doesn't seem unreasonable. In fact, I would endorse it myself.

It is natural for most readers to skip the introduction and just cut to the chase. Readers would be particularly interested in the implementation and results. Although that doesn't mean introduction isn't mandatory. You just have to minimise the dependency between the main matter and the introductory matter. The lesser you make the reader to turn back pages, the better would be the reading experience.


Is it ethical to merge a set of relative publications in a single journal without additional content? I have been working on a particular topic for some years and I have 6-7 publications on different aspects of the same topic.

My supervisor wants me to write a summary journal paper that would incorporate the work of all these publications. Indeed, such a publication would highlight the contributions of the work and make it easier for an interested reader to be guided through my work. Yet, I am wondering that if such a publication would be ethical, considering that would be no extra unpublished content.

What you are describing is one form of review article.  Although review articles more typically describe a more general state of the art on a problem, they can also be used to tie together and summarize a collection of linked papers into one coherent entry point.

Doing this well will require creating quite a lot of new content---it just won't be new technical results.  Rather, the content created in such a paper is the distillation of a much larger body of work into a single coherent picture.  This can be quite valuable for readers, because trying to reconstruct the picture of a body of work that is evolving over time and scattered across papers can be painful and difficult; additional detail about particular points can then be obtained by following the citations to the source articles. Note also that if you write this article well there will be little risk of self-plagiarism, because you'll need to rewrite everything pretty much from scratch to fit into the new and more compressed arrangement of ideas.

So, in summary: it's not only ethical, it is legitimate new work and can be highly valuable, just so long as you make the nature of the article extremely clear and include all of the relevant citations.


Is it possible to acquire a letter of recommendation without meeting face to face? Of course it is not a good idea, preferably one would meet up with the professor to make the agreement.

In my case, I've talked to the prof for a year, and then went off work for a year, now I need a recommendation letter. In September I emailed him my situation WITH the invitation for a meet up at his office. He told me he is willing to provide a reference, but did not address the meeting up issue.

Now it is close to application deadline and I've yet to received the letter from him despite a few follow ups. I'm worried it is the reason is that I did not meet up with him so he might have forgotten who I was (which is understandable). I will attempt to email him once more with a more urgent tone, perhaps he will respond this time, but should I also invite him again to a meet up or is it too late?

Any profs care to share their ideas?

Is it possible to acquire a LOR without having a face to face meet up/agreement?

Yes, of course. It happens all the time. People are not always geographically co-located with their letter writers.

If you are worried your professor might not remember who you are without a face-to-face meeting, then the major concern is whether he will be able to write a strong letter for someone he barely remembers without a visual reminder - not whether you have met to discuss the letter in person.


How to cite a Matlab function I want to cite polyfit function described in : https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/ref/polyfit.html

How can I cite it? Specially in bibtex format?

I don't know if I should point to the URL or use MATLAB trademark and the software version...

Since polyfit is a basic Matlab function, you could reference the Matlab Function Reference book (pdf) for the version of Matlab you are using. It would be appropriate to reference the page number of were the function is decsribed in your text. The manual is easily added as a book. The references can be found on the Mathworks web.


List of Research Institutes (excluding universities)! There are many international rankings/lists for universities (e.g. QS ranking). However, I am interested in an science institute ranking/list that does not involve universities.

Let me give you an idea of what I am searching for: I am from Germany and I know that a major part of scientific progress is happening in universities. Nevertheless there are institutions such as Max-Planck-Institute for Mathematics (Germany), or German Aerospace Center (DLR), or Weizmann Institute of Science (Israel), or CERN (Switzerland), or Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics (Canada), with great significance in science. These institutions do not appear in any ranking, any list of science institutes, or my Google search for "science institutes".

  So where can I find a list of such institutions, e.g. by subject?

Question background: (1) I am curious in general to find a list/ranking that includes such non-teaching institutions too. (2) I went for several internships to science institutes, e.g. DLR/CERN. I am in my bachelor studies and currently searching for new internship opportunities during the summer vacation period. There are a lot of great opportunities in Germany, but I would like to spend this summer in some foreign institute (that is not an university) - to gain international experiences and because German scholarships (ironically) only financially support internships that are in foreign countries. However, in this context I am struggling to find such institutes... For example: I was looking for science institutes in Japan, but I only found the main universities.

Important Note: The ranking is not the important thing to me, but a list to have an overview!

After some further search I found exactly what I was looking for:

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Research_institutes

or by country:

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Research_institutes_by_country

This comprehensive list includes the majority of all existing research institutes and definitely all notable one's. However, there is of course no ranking provided (which is not a problem for me but may be for other people that visit this question).


Can a graduate school dean prevent you from attending a class? One of my professors is bullying me, so I filed a complaint with the Dean of the graduate school.  He said, "While the investigation is in progress, you are not to attend class."  He said that I was still responsible for passing the class and completing all assignments and taking all exams, but to not attend the class.  I have a midterm in a week and this week, the study guide is being handed out.  How I am suppose to pass this class?  If I fail, I will lose all of my financial aid and will not be able to continue my education.  I do not know what to do.  The Dean also told me not to discuss my situation with anyone except him and he meant that I cannot even discuss this situation with family and friends and not to have any contact with the professor, including email contact.  So, how do I turn in my papers?

Update: I had a friend go to class to pick up the study guide and the professor had absolutely no idea why I was not attending class. In other words, the Dean never spoke with him.

The answer to the title question is, unfortunately, that the Dean of your graduate school is in a much better position to know whether he can prevent you from attending class than we are: we don't know what the school is, and we don't know any of the details of what sounds like an ugly situation.  This is not the sort of question that you can rely on the internet to answer.

Having said that, given only what you've said, the Dean's directive sounds outrageous.  A student's right to attend class should only be forfeited by serious negative behavior on the part of the student.  Reporting negative behavior of the instructor should not remotely qualify.  Moreover, a student who may not attend class should be withdrawn from the course...because the alternative does not make much sense.  In this case, if your withdrawal is necessary then you should be excused of any negative consequences of it.

I am at a loss to make any specific recommendations to you.  Frankly, as you depict it the Dean's behavior is so outrageous that I have to wonder about the further details of your story, including the nature of the bullying, but a sufficiently full accounting of your story would involve divulging too much personal information on the internet, so I am not fishing for more information here.  On the off chance that the Dean is simply behaving very strangely, it could not hurt to follow up with other university officials: e.g. your own academic advisor, an ombudsperson, the human resources department and/or the registrar.

Finally, 99% of the time, using the American legal system to resolve academic disputes is the wrong thing to do.  But (depending in part on the nature of the bullying) your case might be in the 1%.  Your issue -- namely that your institution is handling your allegations of interpersonal workplace misconduct in a way that seems inappropriately punitive to you -- is not an inherently academic one.  So you might look into exploring that further.

Good luck.

Added: @tonysdg's comment of looking into withdrawal is a good one.  I wouldn't only do this, but if withdrawing from the course saves you from failing and losing your financial aid, then it would give you some breathing room at least.


Negotiating Teaching Assistant salary, I heard from an administrator of a different grad program than mine that TA salaries are in fact negotiable -- a little known fact to be aware of.

Given this tip, how can I effectively negotiate my pay for the classes I will TA for, before signing my contract with the human resources department?

Unlike in industry, I don't have TA salary information from, say, other schools around our campus location to make an effective argument for more money.

In general, TA salaries are not negotiable, but are instead set by a department or school for all students. There may be some "wiggle room" in special cases: for example, if you have already served as a TA and have experience, there may be a higher level of pay available under such circumstances.

In the event that your school allows for negotiations, I would say in any case that you would have to provide a solid argument for why you deserve more than the standard salary. Do you already have teaching experience? How much? Where?


How to publish two sequential research papers non-chronologically? I am in an engineering field in which conferences are roughly grouped in two types: theoretical conferences with fundamental concepts and related stuff (for instance, algorithms), and application-oriented where people present practical things (e.g. a use-case). These complement each other well, and many researchers attend both.

I am finishing a part of my research which is both fundamental and practical. I have developed a theoretical research result (formulas, algorithms), and I have used it for a practical purpose developing a use-case. Although they are connected, these can be seen as separate work, and two papers can be published out of it.

My problem is that the two conferences of my preference are scheduled in an unfortunate sequence: the practical conference comes three months before the theoretical, and its deadline for submission is also roughly three months earlier.

It means that if I write the practical paper which uses the theoretical knowledge before the one that introduces it and describes it, I cannot refer to the (unpublished) theory, and the subsequent theoretical paper may lose its value. If I tone down the theory and immediately jump to the practical part, the reviewers may ask questions. It's like writing a paper about results of testing a medication, before the medication was introduced.

The field is big enough that I am not worried about a person from the audience asking "Hey, haven't you presented this three months ago on that conference?". I am focusing on how to write the papers in a proper manner.

Is there a way to write these two papers in a non-chronological way?

My current idea is to just tone down the theory in the practical paper (summarise it in one paragraph), and to cite it as unpublished work, or as work under submission (although the paper will not be submitted or even written at that point). And then to extend the story in the theoretical paper which is dedicated only to it.

The description of your discipline sounds like something covered by the arXiv to me. In that case, the best option would be to write both papers in the "right" order and upload them to the arXiv. Include mutual citations. Now for the conference versions, there is no problem anymore: Just cite the arXiv versions.


Model for the number of citations an article receives over time Is there a standard model for the number of citations an article will receive over time? If not, is there a good source for data on citation counts for articles divided up over time? Furthermore, does this vary by field

It seems plausible to me that the number of citations decays approximately exponentially, with the rate of decay depending on the article, but I have empirical evidence for this conjecture.

Such a model would be useful because a few years after an article was published, one could use the MLE method to estimate the number of citations the article would receive over any time period. This would allow us to count citations in a way that does not bias older articles, one of the chief problems with straight citation counts. Additionally, it would give us a better idea of the inaccuracies of metrics like impact factor.

I imagine you'd have an initial publication lag where citations might be lower for example in year 1 than in year 2 and that then aggregate citation counts over time would have to be monotonically decelerating. You'd also have substantial variability in terms of individual articles. For example, I've heard of articles which accelerate in their citation count over time as they become the standard citation for a particular topic.

Independent of overall number of citations received, journals and fields  differ dramatically in the rate at which citations accumulate. A good starting point is to look at "citation half life" (i.e., the median time it takes a journal or field to acquire half of its total citations). If you can access ISI you can examine how different fields and journals differ in citation half life.

For example, I just had a quick look at a few fields from ISI 2012 which yielded the following data:

Field                       Citation Half-Life (in years)
PSYCHIATRY                  7.6
ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS    6.9
MATHEMATICS                 >10.0
PSYCHOLOGY                  >10.0

So clearly psychiatry and astronomy tend to cite more recent articles, whereas mathematics and psychology often cite older articles.

The implication is that impact factors (which are based on the last 2 or possibly 5 years post publication) should be higher in psychiatry/astronomy than in mathematics/psychology. It also means that early career researchers in psychiatry/astronomy should accumulate a better h-index more quickly than researchers in mathematics/psychology, all else being equal.


Is it normal for a journal submission to show "awaiting assignment" for more than a month? I submitted a paper more than one month ago. The status of my submission is still "awaiting assignment". May I ask if this is normal? How long have I to wait before formally asking the editor about the status of my submission? My field is mathematics.

It really depends on the journal. Have you been contacted by the editor upon receipt of your paper? If not, I would contact them immediately just to check up. A month is a long time to go with no word. My paper submissions (all to the Astrophysical Journal) have all been followed up by the editor within a week of initial submission.


What is the limit on reimbursement of indirect expenses due to attending conferences (e.g., baby sitting, winter coat, etc.)? Going to conferences induces some costs on a researcher's personal budget. In all places I know, expenses directly related to travel and accommodation are usually covered (travel, hotels, food), but there are also some indirect expenses that aren't typically covered.

I'll only give one example, that is directly applicable to me: when I'm away I have to get a baby sitter for the kids (for the days where my wife can't pick them up, say). However, I'm sure there must be other examples.

Are there institutions that cover these “hidden” (or indirect) expenses? What rules do they follow? It must be difficult to know where to put the limit… (“hey, I'm going on a conference in Sweden in December, which means I have to buy myself a new coat! can I get it reimbursed?”)

The usual solution is very simple: you will get a daily allowance ("per diem"), which is a lump sum of money that covers all small costs related to travelling.

A concrete example: a researcher at a Finnish university, travelling to a conference in Germany. You will get a daily allowance of 61 euros per day, tax free. This should cover food and all other small expenses related to travelling.

Direct costs related to travelling (conference fees, hotel, transportation, etc.) are covered based on the receipts. However, lunch & dinner is not covered, as they are included in the daily allowance. Corner cases have special rules (e.g., what if lunch & dinner is included in the conference fee).


Electrical Engineering freshman want to pursue PhD in Theoretical Computer Science I'm a freshman in electrical engineering and have always interested in mathematics and researching. But I came to realize by the time I learn EE that it doesn't involve much math as I expected (something abstract like algebra or topology, not the same computational kind as calculus). I feel that EE is not motivated enough to commit my life to. I enjoyed learning Computer Science in my free time and found that Theoretical Computer Science fit me perfectly. Therefore I want to pursue higher education in this field. I intend to minor in Computer Science.

What can I do to prepare myself for this path? Which courses should I take and which books should I read to go ahead in this field? Is there any field in EE that have a close relation to Theoretical Computer Science (or abstract mathematics)? And should I get a MSc in Math or Computer Science after BSc in EE?

As Buffy commented, I would consider changing majors.

With that in my mind I can offer the following:

IMO the best place to start with theoretical computer science is with understanding the theory of computation and complexity.

Sipser has a wonderful book which is available online for free:

http://fuuu.be/polytech/INFOF408/Introduction-To-The-Theory-Of-Computation-Michael-Sipser.pdf

I would also recommend reading a book about discrete mathematics - specifically one that deals with graph theory. For an interesting, more modern connection between mathematics and computer science you can take a look at Expander graphs, which have applications in networking, and see whether the flavour of these notions is appealing to you.