How important is the prestige of recommendation letter writers? If it makes a difference, I am an undergrad.

I am wondering how important prestige in the following situation:

I can choose between two advisors, A and B, to work with. I think that both would be great advisors, but A has more publications and seems to be more well known than B. However, B's work is much more closely related to what I am interested in, though A is somewhat familiar with this area as well. All else equal, I would like to work with B because their research interests match mine more closely. However, I will need a letter of recommendation, so I would like to get the best letter possible and I think that A would be able to provide a better letter because they have more publications and are more well known.

How should I choose between A and B?

I am assuming the two choices are at the same institution. If they are not, choose the higher-ranked institution (if there is a clear winner), because moving forward, name DOES matter).  That said:
You have two currently incompatible, yet not mutually-exclusive motivations:
a) work with someone who is well known in the field
b) work with someone who has closely aligned research interests

and, you are concerned about the letter of recommendation, to come later.

the correct choice is B.  You should work with the faculty member whose research interests closely match yours.  Any other decision is to enter into a failing marriage.  It is important that you can be excited about what you are doing, and your excitement will in turn excite your mentor, which will pay dividends.

THAT SAID, names do matter.  If the faculty that matches your interests is junior, you will have to plan ahead to ensure that in addition to his/her glowing recommendation, you also get a letter from the more senior colleague. This isn't impossible, or even difficult.  If you are starting grad school, just be open and honest about it.  Engage him/her. Go to their lab meetings. Later, when you do your prelim or comp exams, you can invite that person to be on your committee.  You'll get both of best worlds: an advisor that shares your passion and a letter from a big wig.

You have to love what you're doing.


Is there a rule of thumb regarding the minimum threshold for a person to be 2nd author of a paper? I’ve been working on a machine-learning project for the past several months, and I will publish a paper on it soon. On the other hand, there is a person with whom I have worked on various things since a year ago. However, I haven’t told this particular project to him until it was pretty much completed. Even after I revealed it to him, his net contribution to the project seems to me rather negligible.

For example, he made no contribution in terms of original ideas, designing of the algorithm (as he wasn’t informed of my project until later) or writing the paper, and his only contribution to the codes is just one small function, which is a variant of a function I wrote and he thought was useful for supplementing an evaluation of my algorithm. Though he offered to run my algorithm on his GPU; it seems that he hasn’t tested it yet. So far, all the results were achieved with my GPU. Besides, even if he gets a good result on his GPU with the code exactly same as mine, I'm not sure whether he deserves to be a second author of the paper.

There is one project we worked on before but didn’t result in any paper, to which my algorithm can be applied, so that another paper can be published on. My suggestion is that I will help him to apply my code to this past project, so that he can be a co-author of the past project rather than the current project I’m working on.

Does this sound reasonable? Or am I being too parsimonious? Is there any relevant rule of thumb?

There’s no minimum limit. Second authors can contribute ideas, work or anything that went into the paper. Some might even cynically say that contributing reputation is enough.

Having said that, if you’re not satisfied that your friend has actually contributed anything significant to the paper that warrants author status, you can always mention him in your acknowledgement section instead of adding him as a second author.


How to ensure my papers are indexed by Google Scholar I have some papers published in some journals in India, but Google Scholar does not index those journals. What approach can I take to get these papers indexed by Google Scholar?

I tried uploading the papers to Academia.edu, but it didn't work. I don't have an institutional email and webpage at this moment. My research field is computer science.

Besides the already mentioned options arXiv and Zenodo, you can also check if your have a local institutional repository and whether it is indexed by Google Scholar. Additionally, you can search in OpenDOAR (DOAR = Directory of Open Access Repositories) for repositories based upon subject area, content type, repository type, ...


How to efficiently plan holidays in academia? It is holiday season, so I thought of re-considering my ways of holiday planning.

As a student, holidays in academia are somewhat shaped by the semester breaks and the lecture-free period. Working in academia things are slightly different. One still has to be available during the lecture times, also account for the deadlines and additional tasks.

Each time I want to plan some holiday, I remember my yearly tasks, and then I see that I don't have time to relax. Work seems to never end, I have to stay there in the office and prepare the exercises, work on the project, write paper etc. etc.

There is clearly something wrong with this, and I want to change it. But, I don't know how to distribute my holidays throughout the year, because I've been used to working all time. How often should I take holidays?

I know this question is somewhere between workplace and academia. And I know it also may provoke many opinion-based answers. But, I would like to know the different approaches from the more experienced people.

I tend to combine my holidays with academic travel. In part, because it reduces the cost of going to conferences: I don't have to fly half way across the country just for two days. In part, it also reduces the monetary cost of holiday travel.

For example, adding 2 days for sightseeing/relaxing after a conference doesn't impact flight reimbursement. You pay for the hotel/airbnb, but that's it. That is especially appealing if you are going to a conference in Europe [US] and you're based in the US [Europe], such that the flight is a substantial part of the cost.

I've also gotten flights to other cities reimbursed. As long as the flight X -> Y -> Z is not more expensive than X -> Y -> X, neither my university nor others that have paid for my travel have had any objections. It almost always costs them less (and never more), so it's a win-win situation. In that case, I still end up paying Z -> X, but that's half the fare I'd otherwise pay. If the flight to Z costs more than to X, I let them know and claim less than the actual cost for reimbursement.

Another advantage of this is that it spreads out vacation days throughout the year. I never feel guilty taking off a day here and there and I'm substantially more productive afterward. Doing nothing for two weeks doesn't particularly appeal to me and would likely just stress me out once I got back.


Recommendation letters: The more the better? Is there any upper limit for the number of recommendation letters for an application?

Does the strength of an application get enhanced by containing more recommendation letters?

What if the additional letters are coming from less-related (to the field that one is applying for) staff, but impressive enough? For example suppose one is going to apply for Physics and 2 recommendation letters are required. He gets two letters from physics professor and besides he is sure he can get a good letter from a math professor. What should he do?

Thanks.

PS: The target is a Grad school.

Does the strength of an application get enhanced by containing more recommendation letters?

Not necessarily. Having too many recommendation letters can overwhelm the person reviewing your application and it may leave a bad impression of you in a couple of ways. One example is you do not know if the the reviewer will go through all of the letters that you provided. This may lead to the reviewer not being able to have a clear picture of who you are, what is your work ethic and how driven you are (these are just some general examples of what a reviewer could be looking for). Generally, most applications ask for 2-3 letters of recommendation.

What if the additional letters are coming from less-related (to the field that one is applying for) staff, but impressive enough?

If it doesn't specify what kind of letter you need to submit, the letters of recommendation that you think will help the application the most is the ones you should send. If you are still unsure, you can call them and ask how many letters of recommendation people usually send them.


What is a “service lecture”? On a form for a job application, I am being asked to list, among others, what “service lectures” I have given. What exactly is meant by that? What does, or does not, count as a service lecture?

In my experience, service lecture is used to refer to a lecture (course) about your field given to students of another field, usually an introductory course to give those students the basics that they need for their studies.

For example, at my university, there is a course Physics for Chemists, Biologists, and Geologists which is organised by the department of physics and given by a physics professor and which teaches essential concepts of physics to students of the named fields. In contrast to “physics for physicists” lectures, the department of physics does not benefit from the effort put into this lecture as it’s not teaching its own students. Thus giving this lecture is a mere service to the departments of chemistry, biology and geology.

Of course, to be sure about the intended meaning, you would have to ask the issuers of the form.


Have there been any recent studies on the effect of age on PhD success rates in the US? I think the title is fairly self-explanatory. I am wondering if any recent studies (past 20 years or so) have been published that look at possible correlations between age and the 'success rate' of PhD candidates? I understand that 'success rate' may be somewhat subjective - I'm thinking of possible metrics such as dropout rate, years to completion, no. of papers published, impact factor 5 years after graduation.

The background to this is that I am 37 and planning to apply to Engineering PhD programs in my area this Fall. However, I had a casual conversation with someone recently who is connected to one of those schools, who commented that there might be some thinking on the part of an admissions committee that I may be 'past my peak' for their PhD program (they weren't representing it as their own personal view). However, this seems at odds with what I have read online and advice I have received from a couple of Professors that I know (not related to these schools), which indicates that more mature PhD candidates tend to do well and are quite highly regarded.

Now, I'm not trying to point fingers or accuse anyone of ageism here. For all I know, my contact's suspicion might be mistaken, or I may have misinterpreted. But, it occurs to me that it would be great if I could point to some hard data that makes a persuasive case that mature PhD candidates on average perform at least as well as fresh graduates, which might help to pre-emptively 'head off' any doubts regarding my age.

I don't have exact references handy right now, but a researcher at UC Davis named Dean Simonton did some work on academic and creative output and age. The upshot is that up until actual senescence--so certainly no younger than around 70 for neurologically healthy adults--the relevant variable is "career age" (the time one has been working in a particular field) and not biological age.


Reusing figures from other articles in one's thesis I obtained the rights to reuse some figures from other journal articles on my thesis from the publishing company. Is it sill a good idea to email the authors of the figures, do I need their OK before I include it in my thesis ?

In the US, you are legally in the clear if you have permission from the copyright holder, which is likely the journal. That being said, it would be polite to ask the authors, too.

Both of those being said, you probably have a fair use right in the US to reproduce the images verbatim in your thesis for the purposes of commentary, critique, criticism, or the like. However, fair use is a defense to copyright infringement, so if you don't want to run the risk of getting sued and having to defend yourself, getting written (including email) permission to use the image from the copyright holder is the best strategy.


Does high school success in Math have a correlation with Undergrad success in Mathematics? I will start in freshman in a fairly good undergrad institution in August 2018. I am planning to major in Mathematics. However this school attracts the most brilliant high schoolers in Math. This includes IMO gold and silver medalists. Participation in IMO guarantees admission to this school. I have already planned to go to graduate school. However seeing the enormous competition I am pretty skeptical of my chances. Usually the best student of our school in a given year has a fair shot at Princeton. Looking at my result I might have barely crept in their freshman batch. I do have 1 month left, shall I start on standard Math textbooks like Rudin, Munkres, Dummit and Foote or are the IMO medalists way ahead of me?

You are who you are. Don't be overly concerned about others. You will need to work very hard, of course, but the fact that others may be able to pick things up more quickly than you doesn't mean that you can't excel.

The fact that you were admitted suggests that others have faith in you. Have faith in yourself.

You can also try to find a study group with others at the new place so that you get additional exposure. Use good study techniques and never - never fall behind. Start early on assignments. Ask a lot of questions. I was once thought to be very smart because I asked a lot of questions in class. But in reality I just wanted answers that weren't apparent to me.

You might also try as much as possible to limit outside interests until you find your way in a new environment. However, agreeing with a comment by user aeismail, that doesn't mean to give up everything for academics. Spend several hours each week on something that contributes to your health, reduces stress, and engages your mind in a different way. I now use Taichi which does all of these things. As an undergraduate I practiced Judo several hours a week. I didn't get very good at it, but it was a great complement to studying. As a grad student I rode a bicycle with a local club - fast but not competitive. That was physically satisfying, but didn't have a mental element like Taichi does. But don't occupy yourself with trivia.

But yes, studying great books in advance ain't gonna hurt you any. I studied out of Rudin over 50 years ago and still have the book(s).

You might also find that some courses are more challenging than others Analysis v Algebra for example. That is natural as the core thinking processes and insights are just different enough that you can groove on some things and find others a bit more work. Put your best efforts where they do the most good.

Talk to your professors. Ask questions. Listen. Ask more questions. Correlation only matters for groups. You are who you are.

Why you ask questions:

Here is a story (real occurrence) from the University of Kansas about 50 or so years ago. A prof, quite well known and respected, was lecturing in Topology. This meant writing proofs on the board. Occasionally a step wouldn't be filled in with the statement "Of course it follows, trivially, that ...". On one such statement, a student didn't see the obvious connection and so asked. The prof looked at the board and the developing proof for a few minutes. Then walked over to the corner of the (chalk) board and started making notes to himself in a tiny script. He went into totally abstract thinking mode, ignoring the class. After a bit of writing and erasing, etc, he wandered out of the room toward his office. The students followed along, gathering outside the office. The prof started pulling books off of his shelf and consulting them - several books - several more minutes.

Then he seemed to find enlightenment and returned to the classroom. When everyone was again seated he announced. "Yes, of course. It's trivial."


Disgruntled with my supervisor - be truthful about this in my semi-annual PhD report? I am just done with 2 years of my Ph.D. study. I have some issues with my supervisor. He is repressive, forces his vision on me, e,g, he wants publications in one particular area (and loads of them) to bolster his reputation. He is rude and arrogant and behaves bossy for no reason.

More importantly, I believe that I have not learned the skills which I wanted to during my study. I spend all my time writing mediocre papers and learning very little. I want to mention that in my six-monthly report.

Now the question is that I cannot change my supervisor, I do not care to either. Fighting with him is not my goal. He is incapable of teaching me the skills I want to learn and I have to learn by myself, which I will do. But I wonder if I must say what I feel in my report truthfully and boldly. If I do that, it will annoy my supervisor and there is a good chance he might even decide to not support me in future if I need something.

Advice/suggestions?

First and most important suggestion: Seriously consider changing supervisors, and if you can't, give serious thought to finding another university/institute at which to do your Ph.D., contacting relevant researchers and if you find someone who's willing to advise you, making the switch.

But about your actual question:

  A little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal.

― Oscar Wilde, The Critic as Artist

Only be honest and forthcoming in your report if you want to have an out-and-out fight with your advisor. You might want to do that for various reasons, but assuming you aren't, don't write what you've told us.

Instead, bury it into nuance and insinuation. i.e. without denigrating what you've actually written and where you've published, put it in the context of the hope of writing something deeper or more meaningful, or publishing someplace more central. Also, mention things you would have liked to have done these past 6 months, and explain how the efforts gone towards preparing publications have not allowed you to invest as much time as you would have liked in the other pursuits. That sounds super-polite and respectful while giving off enough hints.


What systems are most effective for monitoring student attendance? I work in the Computing and Mathematics School at my university (UK). This year the School has adopted a fairly aggressive policy regarding student attendance. If a student has a poor – or zero – attendance rate, the student is contacted and a dialogue opened. This has many benefits including identifying those students who have possible  undiscovered or undeclared learning difficulties.

If a student’s attendance rate remains poor following a first intervention, a process of issuing formal warnings commences, culminating with the withdrawal of the student if the student does not start to engage with their course.

Attendance is presently monitored at all laboratory and tutorial sessions. Attendance is not presently monitored for lectures.

Our current system comprises a series of shared Google spreadsheets which contains the details of all students for all classes. Staff members enter attendance manually into the spreadsheet for their class.

The difficulty with this system is that there is presently no automatic link between the existing official university student record database and the attendance register spreadsheets. This means if students change groups, enrol late, withdraw, change course or units, all this information must be dealt with in a robust manner. Currently, such changes are implemented manually. This means errors are likely to be introduced into the attendance register.

I notice that there are a number of commercial attendance monitoring solutions available which are based on hardware, e.g. Telepen. I would be interested in anyone’s experience with such systems, however I don’t forsee these to be ultimately workable in my case owing to the large cost.

I am interested in software solutions. If your institution monitors student attendance, do you use any specialist software? If so, what do you use?

Another option – a preferable one – is to work within the existing university data systems.
All the necessary information regarding student details and activities is available. The problem arises when we try to ensure our ad hoc attendance register contains up to date student information. Ideally we’d use our Virtual Learning Environment to enter attendance data. Our VLE is Moodle. Are there any Moodle users out there who use Moodle to record attendance?

My institution does not monitor student attendance. That is my job. However, we have adopted Blackboard as our Course-Management System of choice across campus, and the student roster in Blackboard is updated every day by the Registrar's Office. We additionally have access to up-to-date course rosters through our implementation of the PeopleSoft productivity software. Presumably, the Registrar's office at your institution keeps up-to-date rosters and should be willing to share them with instructors. Otherwise, what's the point of having them?

There are two methods I use to enforce / verify attendance in a large lecture course, and both require comparison of my data with the roster in Blackboard or PeopleSoft. I could write a short program to sort through both files for matches, but I would rather do it manually to help me remember students' names.

Quizzes - I give short (and simple) quizzes randomly, but at least once a week. Fully half of the points on the quizzes are for showing up and putting your name on the quiz. For this reason, quizzes cannot be made up for any reason, but I will drop three or four of the lowest quiz grades. Since the quizzes aren't hard and the quiz average counts for at least 10% of their final grade, students want to be there for the quiz. I like this method because it allows me to do random point assessments of different topics and to start associating student names with performance. The grading is not unbearable, since i write quizzes that are simple enough to be graded at a rate of 10 seconds per student.
Clickers - If you use clickers, make each student buy their own clicker (About $40 US these days). At the beginning of class, they have to register their clicker with your software, which records the clicker's ID number. If you have a list matching clicker IDs to student names, then you take attendance every day automatically. It is easy to cheat this system, since a student can also bring their friend's clicker and sign-in for their friend also.

If you want to ensure attendance, I would use JeffE's approach:

  Isn't the most effective way to ensure attendance is to make the lectures compelling and useful?


How often do Ivy League universities advertise positions at the Associate Professor level? I've just seen a job opening at an Ivy League university, advertised as being open at either the Assistant Professor (tenure track) or Associate Professor (tenured) level. How common is this? Is it more likely that they have done this to widen the pool of potential excellent candidates, or because they already have someone in mind for the position, but need to advertise to satisfy an administrative requirement?

In my experience it is quite common for universities at all levels to advertise positions in this way so that they can hire someone at the associate professor level if there is a strong candidate with appropriate experience.  I've been involved in many searches that were advertised in this way.  In my experience most of these positions end up getting filled at the assistant professor level anyway.


Am I allowed to publish reviews submitted for courses in open-access journals? Question is rather self explanatory.

I understand that the article was submitted within the context of a course within the university, but it is nonetheless my intellectual property. I also generally cannot seem to get a clear answer from the university's staff.

Generally, is it acceptable and legal to submit an article or review submitted within the context of a course to a journal for publication?

I cannot see anything in general that could prevent you from submitting a report written in a course to a journal. There are of course several issues you need to be aware of. First, did you do the entire work yourself from coming up with the idea through researching the topic and writing? You need to look if someone else's "intellectual property" is involved. Second, you do not state under what circumstances your report was written. Submitting a manuscript to a journal involves meeting certain standards so under what I would consider normal circumstances, course reports would not be in shape for publication. One obvious reason for this is that reviews typically involves reading and summarizing/synthesizing a very large number of papers, work that cannot fit into the short time span of a course. So, in general, I doubt the scenario you describe would work without significant extra work. I have no doubts the core of a useful paper can be achieved within a course format but from there to publication is a different story. So without additional details, it is difficult to assess the likely success but the principle stands, yes it is acceptable and legal as long as the work adheres to general publication ethics.


how to get accepted back into a phd program in the US? I was accepted into a US PhD program and then switched to the MSc due to personal reasons. After I got the MSc I wanted to continue to the PhD but then I was told that I have already graduated and was no longer a student there and I should reapply for the following term (spring 2018). So, I could no longer mantain my F1 visa status and had to leave the US.

I have written some emails to the new graduate studies director but they do not repply to me.

I want to reapply but only if I have a good chance to go back. For me it is very expensive and difficult to do so from abroad, especially for the currency exchange rate.

And as far as I know, there are top applicants from Russia and Germany. And I do not know if I will be even considered.

What should I do? How should I approach to the graduate committe?

By the way, I already passed my three PhD qualifying exams. But I stil have no replies to my emails.

The best way to find out if you stand a strong chance of being reaccepted is to get into direct communication with the director of graduate studies or admissions.  (E-mail communication is okay, but talking on the phone would be better.)  That is the person who is best informed about what your chances are.

You may have just gotten a boilerplate answer from a departmental administrator that, since you are no longer a student, you automatically need to re-apply.  While that is undoubtedly true, strictly speaking, it may not be particularly useful information.  The faculty member(s) dealing directly with graduate admissions may be able to tell you a lot more.  Depending on the department, readmission might be a mere formality; or you might be competing on even footing with all the new students who are applying at the same time; or it could be somewhere in between.

If you are intending to continue working under the same advisor you had for your masters thesis, you should contact the advisor as well.  In many departments, if your advisor really wants you, admission can be pretty much guaranteed.  This is especially true if the advisor knows you, has worked with you, and wants you back.


How long should I wait for an IEEE conference proceeding? I have an accepted paper in TrustCom 2014. The conference was held several months ago. However I could not find any information regarding the proceedings. They do not answer email. Is it normal? In general, how long after a conference are proceedings published?

For IEEE conferences (such as this one), there is a relatively standard procedure:

You should have gotten your own copy of the proceedings at the conference itself: typically with IEEE conferences these days this will be on a USB drive.  By the standard IEEE copyright policy, you can feel free to post your preprint on your website.
The full proceedings typically appears in IEEE Xplore a few months later, but there is a lot of noise and randomness in this timing.  IEEE is very good at maintaining communication and schedule before the conference to ensure the proceedings are ready for distribution at the conference, but are much more lax in following through after the conference has completed.


Publishing dissertation with ProQuest and include CC BY-SA 4.0 images I was wondering if images with license of type CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en can be safely (legally) included when a dissertation is published with ProQuest by my university.
Also: The question is: If I do not publish open access, can I include CC-BY-SA images?

Presumably the question is whether the "sharealike" requirement of CC-BY-SA would "contaminate" the copyright of the dissertation. If you are OK with having your dissertation under CC-BY-SA, and your university and advisor are OK too, it is not really an issue. (Your university and/or advisor may impose restrictions on what goes into your dissertation. Follow them even if unrelated to copyright and even if they seem nonsensical.)
If not, in the US (and most Western jurisdictions), there is some form of "fair use" doctrine under which critical discussion allows to reproduce otherwise-copyrighted material, sometimes with a particular notice, indication of source etc. Under this, whether the image is CC-BY-SA or any other license (or no license at all) is irrelevant - you reproduce it under fair use or the local equivalent. Again, check your university is OK with this.
(On a side note, many scientific journals will refuse that you reproduce graphs from other papers without written permission, even though that use would usually satisfy fair use requirements. That is because being sued is costly even if you are guaranteed to win.)


What does affiliation (for a publication) signify? This question is triggered by the (somewhat off topic there) comment thread about an employer who does not want to appear as affiliation for a paper, and the subsequent thoughts of whether an employer can deny an employee the right to give them (employer) as affiliation for a publication.

My question is whether affiliation means

the author publishes on behalf of the affiliated institution, i.e. while the author takes personal responsibility with the content of the publication, the affiliated institution also approves the work (typcially to the extent that their facilities were used and possibly they did pay the author wages for performing the work).
The relationship between institution and work may be somewhat more loose if there's a disclaimer that the publication expresses the author's personal opinions and not necessarily the insititution's.
versus
the author is merely employed at (or associated as student with) the affiliated institution, without any implication of whether the institution approves of the work or not, did pay the employee vs. the author did it in their free time, etc.

Or, in other words, how much of a connection to the publication does an affiliation imply?

This is similar to the questions posed in this answer.

Edit: of course, affiliation is part of the address. But assume here that "how to contact the author" is taken care of in the correspondence (email) address.

Affiliation could mean anything, or nothing at all. In most cases it doesn't mean that the organization approves or even knows of the publication beforehand. In some companies you sign a contract that lets the organization vet your public work, but not in others and not in most universities. In those companies it usually only means that they approve of the fact that you are publishing, but not necessarily of the content. There can be exceptions, however, as when you are working with sensitive information, such as trade secrets.

When I published, I listed my employer (a university) as my affiliation, but that was for identification purposes only. I probably still would, though I'm retired. I might, instead list none or independent researcher or my DBA (Doing Business As) persona.

I think that publishers want it almost entirely for identification purposes, nothing more. However, for some affiliations, you have a sort of implied aura that gives the editor a warm and fuzzy feeling.


Impact on PhD application omitting a recommendation letter from research advisor in that field? If an applicant has research experience in a field that they are applying to and includes it in their application, would there be negative impact on the application if they chose not to include a recommendation letter from their research advisor for that research experience?

The reasons that they don't may be misconstrued as negative, but it could just be that there are others who could give stronger letters of recommendation, for instance from other research advisors in another field or a teacher with whom the applicant had a very good relationship with. Would not including the research advisor as a recommender be cause for speculation?

It would likely be cause for speculation if the applicant is promoting their research experience but does not include a letter from their advisor. There may be inert reasons and it does happen (an advisor that is too busy or too aloof; on a leave for medical or other reasons). There are also cases where the applicant and advisor do not get along well, or where their interests are not aligned. In these cases it may be worth a direct conversation to find out if they would offer strong support for the position and if not then ask why not. The applicant may be surprised to learn that the advisor with whom she/he argues holds them in high regard. At the same time, the advisor may have useful input to offer that the applicant may wish to weigh as they decide on an educational and career trajectory.

That said, if no advisor letter is provided then the applicant should succinctly provide an explanation for why the given recommenders were chosen, and leave it at that unless pressed. If the applicant has a good relationship with another recommender, she/he might ask that recommender to include a supportive explanatory note in their letter.


Does D2L have a way for the instructor to access my submission while it appears "unread"? My school uses D2L for all classes. When I submit a paper (or other file) to D2L, I can see in the "Dropbox" whether or not the professor has read a submitted file. In most of my courses, I see the indicator change from "unread" to "read" and then I see the grade posted.

I have one course where I've been receiving grades without every assignment being changed to "read". This course is led by a professor who is... I'll say, less than enthusiastic about the course.

While this is a general education course for which I'm not expecting any significant feedback on my work, I am concerned that this professor is forsaking grading assignments altogether and simply providing an A.

Does D2L have a way for the instructor to access my submission while it appears "unread"?

Should I address this? If yes, with whom?

I don't know about D2L specifically, but some software can have issues with properly recording whether some has been read. It is possible for example with some systems that if someone has Javascript not enabled they may be able to  read a file without getting recorded as accessed.

That said, if this isn't happening, the best thing may be to talk to Department Chair, and ask them to keep your concern anonymous. This will help minimize the chance of blowback/retaliation to you since the individual will not know you were the one who complained.  It may also make sense for similar reasons to wait until the end of the semester before talking to the Chair.


Is it OK to extract datasets from somebody's paper and work with it in your own papers? Let's say David Smith has published a paper a while ago. In this paper there are some results plotted in a graph. I want to use this dataset in my own research and extend it with my own results. Unfortunately, it is not possible to contact David Smith. So I use some of tools mentioned for example in this question to extract the dataset from the plot (which, of course, might introduce some kind of small errors).

Do you consider it as OK if I now publish a paper which includes the old dataset from David Smith + my new data in a new plot? I would, of course, cite the old paper by David Smith. (I might deduce some results from the old+new data that a somewhat different that the original conclusion by David Smith.)

If you cite the original authors in your plots and when comparing results/conclusions (or simply everywhere you use their data/work) you should be fine.
Also make it clear that the data is "reverse engineered" from their graphs/plots and not the "original" data.


If I am willing to repeat major courses, that I passed with a D grade, will they look bad on my transcript while applying for graduate school? I am a student majoring in civil engineering and I am in my  3rd year.I had a harsh beginning: I took 2 intensive courses during my first year of college after a gap semester. I didn’t perform well during my first and second year of college. I have repeated one failed major course( got a D- the second time)  and one physics course passed with a D( I got a C the next time). I have withdrawn from a surveying class during summer and retook it the next year. Recently, during the last semester of my second year I decided to work hard in order to raise my GPA and I achieved a score of 84.64 on my semester average.
However, I am regretting and overthinking what happened during the first 2 years so much that I think that the only solution to relieve myself of the pain of thinking and blaming would be to repeat the courses that I passed with a D( 5 courses: one of them is a social elective, one an environmental chemistry core course but important for my graduate field of interest, and the three others are major courses: geology, mechanics of material and mechanics of fluid).
Which is better, to move on or to repeat these courses? Or to audit them? ( I am asking in term of graduate admissions).
My GPA is 2.92 over 4 which means 77/100.
In my university, 80 is 3.2 over 4.
I don’t follow the lettering system

Yes, they will look bad unless the university replaces the old grade with the new one as some do. And if you continue to get poor grades in important courses it will look worse. But there are a number of other factors that people might consider, provided you can get them to look at an application.

First, starting out on the wrong foot isn't uncommon. Nor is it a sure indicator of future failure. But, you need to turn it around.

Next, people evaluating your record are more likely to put emphasis on what you've done recently than on what you did earlier. So, re-taking the courses, not for the grades but for the knowledge can help. And not having the knowledge will be a sure block to your future. Audits are less valuable, of course, as there is no record of your performance.

Those evaluating applications for further study or for a job are looking for indicators of success. If you can show that, then you have a chance. A record of doing better recently will help, but it will also be important to have letters of recommendation from people who can honestly say that the past is past and you have a high likelihood of success in the graduate program and beyond.

On the other hand, you will be faced with stiff competition from people who haven't had a once-deficient background. It is easier for evaluators to pick people who have always seemed to be a success than someone who has struggled. The decision has less risk when you choose an all "top marks" student. But, people know, also, that such "top" students don't always succeed and some people with special motivation will, especially if they have learned to overcome a weak background.

So, the bottom line is that it isn't impossible, but it will be hard. If you can turn it around and convince your current professors that you truly have put yourself on a better path, then you have a chance.

I'd also suggest that you don't "make excuses" for the past, but face it honestly. But get on the path to success and convince others that you have.


Online classes - student says his learning style is different so he doesn't attend My university has opted for online classes this semester, and I think it is great to be honest for the nature of the course topic, so a 3 hour course has a live section, reading assignments section and practical follow ups. I think it is a far better methodology than the in person classes for this specific class.
A student has emailed me saying his learning style is different so he doesn't attend the live courses because he has difficulty focusing. To be honest, I think he has a point. I was that student but I attended classes out of ..I don't know..respect? because I was not confident (or arrogant?) not to attend? I hoped I would learn from the lecturer? But if the class was boring I would just fall asleep, or study for another class or just keep occupied with something else. It didn't help with the 'respect' as I would sit in the front in hopes of keeping awake but fall asleep anyway, when I tried my best but just couldn't focus. I also figured out while listening educational material online I can keep better on track if I increase the speed. For the courses that really caught my attention -I believe purely thanks to the lecturer I wouldn't have any of these problems.
However, my university still applies pre-covid rules which means the students are expected to follow live courses and it means 'class presence', in pre-covid world a lack of class presence leads to non completion of the course, which again I don't think is ideal, but at the same time I wouldn't be able to keep a list with a missing person's name. What really bothers me is that I receive this email by the first -real- lecture, so the student didn't even try and he wrote that is what he does for all courses. Okay, the pandemic period gives them to opportunity to follow up (recorded courses), but they are supposed to do the assignments in the 3 hour block of the course (not graded). and I really don't want to get a list of names because some might have difficulty with logging in, they might be working (although again this would be an irrelevant excuse in precovid days) and I told them to reach me if they won't be able to attend on a regular basis, and this student contacted me. He didn't mention a history of conditions such as ADD or anything. So as much as he might have a point 1) I am expected to follow up rules 2) It comes off as arrogant. So I conflict my ideals. And two points: The other students express how much they enjoyed my classes, and students in earlier classes even signed up for it after our first week as the students just seem to enjoy it. Even for my electives (which I don't think I am doing my best job), the students have been signing up like crazy (I was told I would get maybe 10 students and I ended up with 54 on an elective course for example). So this bothers me some students won't even try. What would you do in a situation like this? I can't really process because my ideals say he has a point, but on the other hand I don't see the student backing up his claims like following the material later (I can see the numbers of downloads).

This is a hard question since it has so many elements to consider. Let me begin, at least, though I may need to add more over time.
First, however, consider your own somewhat precarious position. If you do something that isn't really in accord with the rules, but lack tenure, then you might be at risk if your more senior colleagues object to it. The solution to that is to start a local discussion to see what people in your department see as reasonable exceptions for uncommon times.
The more important question, generally, of course, is what is pedagogically good for the student so that they can master the material. This is much harder.
For this, first note that you have, I hope, set up the course structure so that most, if not all students can learn and be fairly judged. You set lectures, perhaps, readings, exercises, projects, discussions, etc. so that learning is highly likely to occur when students apply the necessary effort.
So, at a minimum, the student wanting an exception, needs to be warned that they may be lessening their likelihood of success by deviating from what has been established and that they are taking on some risk in doing so. There are, of course, people who learn very effectively on their own and can demonstrate it. For them, rigidity has no benefit.
But, beyond that, if you are going to allow exceptions, which you might here, you also need to start to think about the whole structure and how such students will be evaluated fairly. Beyond evaluation, however, is the issue of giving them reasonable feedback in a way that fits whatever scale you need to teach in. If you have appropriate exercises (for reinforcement) and can give proper feedback then such a system of "exceptions" can be successful. But if a student simply disappears and then suddenly reappears for an exam, then it is harder to judge whether they have learned what they need. This is for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that exams are a poor way to judge overall learning.
And, specializing to CS, it may be that some group work is essential to the educational process and this might be more difficult to achieve if students want certain kinds of exceptions.
So, my advice is to think about the entire educational structure and how it might be maintained properly if some part of it has to be modified in some way. Unfortunately this is a long term research issue that is difficult to apply in the short term under pressure of a pandemic.
And don't forget to get buy-in from your local colleagues.


How to stay active in research when my faculty job involves mostly teaching and administrative duties? I recently completed a PhD in a research university in U.S. and came back to my home country in South America. I have a position as a faculty member in a state college. However, the position focuses on teaching and academic administration duties. Without a lab and funding, it has been very difficult to continue the research or even to continue a reciprocal correspondence with my research collaborators.

I was wondering if I can ask for suggestions about how to continue pursuing my career path as scientist.

Where do you expect the funding to come from? In my experience, in UK and other European countries, the research funding comes from successful proposals to the relevant funding bodies. There are research centres that were established and keep going only because the staff there constantly submits project proposals (somebody told me that the success rate is 1 out of 5 or maybe even lower).

You are on your own, so your best bet is to find out what funding bodies can sponsor research in you location. Then you have to come with an idea about a project but keep in mind that most often than not the funding bodies have priorities, which change on regular basis, e.g. every year, and it is VITAL that your proposal fits their priorities.

Whether you personally will have time for research is another matter. If your college is not very interested in research, you might have a heavy teaching workload and would be able to spend time on research during the breaks between the academic terms. You might have enough funding for one or more PhD students, who would do the majority of the work while you supervise them.

There is another option, which might be not applicable in your research field as you mentioned you need a lab but maybe part of the research could be done this way – find undergrad students, who are enthusiastic about your research ideas and would be happy to do some work for free (or as a part of their assessment – coursework, final year project, etc.). That is how I started my research career many years ago (as a 2-nd year student) – one of our professors invited several bright students from the courses he was teaching to take part in a very innovative research. We had the first results after a couple of months, which allowed the professor to secure funding for several further projects. Then we could buy more equipment, attend conferences, there were several PhD grants as well.


individual research grants I am going to apply for some postdoc positions in Canada. I have some feedback from professor. They are saying about availability of individual research grants in their department. I do not know how this type of grants means?

As the name suggests, individual research grants correspond to funding which can be awarded to an individual researcher (often a junior researcher). It usually covers their own salary, possibly also equipment and some travel/conferences budget.

Generally one has to apply by proposing a specific research project in a host institution, and the grant is awarded depending on the quality of the project.


Financial resources for M.Sc. students in the U.S. universities Most universities in the US provide financial aid to Ph.D. students. When the universities accept a student they inform him/her what are they offering (scholarship, stipend as TA, etc.). What is the situation with the M.Sc. students? Do they also get (sometimes) offerings about financial aid?

Maybe their offerings are based on resources that remain after some Ph.D. students decline their admittance. Is it possible for some M.Sc. students to get scholarships (from the university - not counting outside resources) or positions as TAs or RAs and thus they can pay their tuition and maintain a monthly stipend? Is the situation dependent on the student's nationality?

It is not an answer to a single question. I would appreciate it if someone explains the whole procedure that is followed for the M.Sc. students in the U.S. universities regarding the financial aid that they can get from the university.

EDIT: I mostly interested for computer science, but in general, the same situation should be true for other engineering majors in general.

This depends a lot on the university, the discipline, and the individual department.

A key factor is that many universities have "terminal masters" programs that are not research oriented.  Students in these programs typically complete an MS degree by coursework only, and don't complete a thesis.  Students in such programs almost never receive financial aid in the form of fellowships or teaching or research assistantships.  Other MS programs are research oriented and include a thesis or significant master's project.  Some departments have two different MS programs, one with thesis and one without.

Even if the MS program is research oriented, departments with strong PhD programs tend to focus on supporting PhD students and MS students may either not be eligible at all for assistantships or they may be given lower priority than PhD students.

Some departments that do not have PhD programs do have research oriented MS programs and will provide financial support to MS students.  This is one option, although these departments are not going to be as highly regarded as the departments with strong PHD programs.


What are good periodic color scales for density plots of angle-like function values? I am writing several papers that require density plots of complex-valued functions of two variables f:R^2→C, where I'm primarily interested in the complex argument arg(f(x,y)) as a function of the input variables, but I wish to emphasize only the regions where the modulus |f(x,y)| is high.

Because of this, my approach thus far has been to produce density plots where the phase arg(f(x,y)) is encoded as the hue, and the modulus |f(x,y)| is encoded as a HSV chroma blend from white (where the modulus is zero, and arg(f(x,y)) is meaningless) to fully-saturated color at maximal modulus, where the phase is a meaningful variable.

However, this scheme suffers from being "non-orthogonal", in that some hue values (notably yellow and cyan) are much lighter than the baseline set by e.g. red or blue. I am looking for a combination that fixes these shortcomings, by providing:

A periodic color scale for the angle-like function value that passes through as many different colors as possible (i.e. at least some six distinct values, with a premium on contrast between them) while still maintaining a constant visual 'strength' throughout that traverse. I care primarily about subjective strength, but lightness is probably a good stand-in.
A conjugate color scale that goes from white to fully-'saturated' color that is as 'orthogonal' as possible to the angle variable.

As an example of what I'm looking for, this is a plot of the function f(x,y) = (x+iy)^2 exp(-(x^2+y^2)) using my current plotting conventions:

Mathematica source via Import["http://halirutan.github.io/Mathematica-SE-Tools/decode.m"]["http://i.stack.imgur.com/NFhW1.png"]

Note in particular how you can immediately read the ^2 exponent from the fact that over a round-trip around the origin you do a red→green→blue→back-to-red loop twice, while still being able to clearly tell that the function is concentrated at a ring around the origin between radii ~0.5 and ~1.5. However, there are still perceived 'intensity' gradients azimuthally within this ring (notably the perceived 'lobes' around the blue areas), which I would like to avoid. I would also, if nothing else, like to smoothen the visual contrast around the sharp ray-like features at yellow, cyan and, to a slightly lesser extent, magenta.

A few final notes:

This problem arises because I'm attempting the ambitious goal of plotting two-dimensional values on a single density plot. I know that this is an ambitious goal and that it may be impossible to fulfill completely. Nevertheless, I think it is still worth doing as good as possible with it.
I have indeed considered other formats to present the same information; you can assume that I've explored them thoroughly and found that they are too cumbersome or otherwise unclear.
This approach will obviously only work when printed out in color, and grayscale printing (either on the print journal or when readers print it out at home) will leave most of this information out. You can assume that I've weighed the pros and cons of this and decided that it's still worth including.
This is also an accessibility problem for readers with color vision deficiency. This is, I feel, an unfortunate necessity of plotting two-dimensional values on a density plot, and I feel the added clarity for non-CVD readers is a worthwhile tradeoff once the information loss for CVD readers is mitigated via other means.

So, with that said: are there better options for dealing with this problem than the hue-chroma combination I'm currently using?

As you note, there are problems with the typical rainbow colour map.

Kovesi has done some work on perceptually uniform colour maps. Code is available here: https://peterkovesi.com/projects/colourmaps/index.html

In my work, I replaced the rainbow map with the Kovesi's first cyclic colour map for the angle values, and used either saturation or intensity (multiplication) for the modulus. In hindsight, it would probably make sense to map the raw modulus values to saturation / intensity using one of the perceptually uniform greyscale linear maps as well.


How to deal with an author who worked on an analysis that never made it into the paper? I have come across the following situation a couple of times:

After an experiment has been designed and data collected, the first author of the paper wants to ascertain whether a special analysis would work. So he asks a colleague to help/do this special analysis, which requires significant thinking and effort. Alas, the results are either inconclusive or don't add anything useful to the conclusions of the paper, so they never make it into the manuscript.

Should the colleague who worked hard on the specia analysis but produced no visible output be included as an author? I would think so, but I wonder how others would deal with this situation.

I had a situation like this come up once, where one person did an extensive analysis that turned out not to be particularly useful, so there was no point in including any details of it in the paper.  However, we did feel that having the analysis done did lead (indirectly) to a better understanding of what we were studying.  Moreover, we also felt that the person who did the analysis deserved some measure of credit in the final paper.  So we put a very short mention (one to three sentences) in the manuscript, just stating that we had done the analysis, but that it had not led to any useful conclusions, for such-and-such reasons.  Since the paper included this, it was unquestionably appropriate to include the person who had done the bulk of that analysis as an author.

I would suggest that you could do something similar, so your colleague could unambiguously be considered an author.


Deal with academic failure as an undergraduate There are many students (subject being basic sciences) in my university (considered a good university in India) who simply do not care about the subject in a course but have stellar grades. They aren't interested in the subject per se, just the grades. These students never doubt anything that the professor says or whatever is written in lecture notes. They never ask questions. They would happily write in exams what they have memorised without understanding it 'deeply'. When I discuss anything with them about a particular topic which I don't understand, they simply don't care about it and tell me to not think about it 'deeply', and just memorise the stuff. But these students have stellar grades.
A lot of students, almost all that I know at my university, engage in malpractices during the exam, especially in the current online mode when there is no supervision. Some students sit in groups of 6-7 students during an online exam and discuss the questions before submitting, i.e. they solve the exam paper collectively. They often get exactly similar marks as well. Many instructors turn a blind eye towards this.
I sometimes feel jealous of the other students and get agitated at the university system as well. The 'other' students get good opportunities for research internships when they have explicitly mentioned to me that they don't care about research and are doing internships just for the sake of improving their resume.
I, on the other hand, have extremely poor grades. I've failed a 3 courses too. I spend a lot of time thinking about the stuff. I ask questions to the professors, which are received encouragingly. Some professors have explicitly mentioned that my questions are good and it shows that I have thought about the material well. I ask questions and answer questions on Stack Exchange as well, and they are received warmly as well. I am interested in pursuing research after my undergraduate studies but no good university is going to accept me as a grad student considering my poor grades.
I am not saying that my failure is entirely the fault of others. I recognise vices in myself too.
What should I do in order to improve my situation?

Allocate time specifically to prepare for your tests
This might seem like a waste of time, since you would rather spend it studying the course material more deeply. However, this is a trade-off you should be willing to make in pursuit of your long-term goal of entering into research. If 100% of your studying time is currently spent on learning the course material deeply, you may need to reduce that to 75–80%, and spend the rest of the time doing test preparation. I understand that test preparation can be extremely boring and feel completely pointless. But, as you've noticed yourself, you need to score a minimum amount of marks to stay afloat in the system. There is no need to judge yourself by your course marks, though; feel free to think of it as just an arbitrary number that you need to display in order to apply to graduate programs.
Furthermore, to the best of my knowledge, a few failing grades will not disqualify you from applying to the graduate programs of any university. I believe you have options to take the failed courses again, or at least their final exams, so make use of that. If you plan to apply to graduate programs in India, in particular, as long as your overall grades lie above the cutoff and you perform well in the interviews, you should be fine.
Finally, your attitude towards your education is commendable, but at some point the effort involved in going through the system may end up not being worth it. Several talented classmates of mine found this to be true for themselves, and chose to take other paths. You will need to choose your path, too, and possibly very soon. But try your best to fulfil at least the bare minimum requirements before deciding that this system is not for you.


When is the best time to send an email to a professor about a masters position? Recently, I am looking for a master position so that I had to send emails to professors.I was wondering if you tell me when is the best time to send an email? morning or afternoon? could we send mail on weekends Saturday and Sunday?

In the past, I tried to optimally-time emails in this fashion. I found that it usually turned into delaying the email and needing to spend mental bandwidth tracking and remembering to do that for part of a week (to the detriment of some other small tasks).

My recommendation at this point would be: Right now. As soon as you have time to do so. Get it off your plate and move on.

Edit: I'm aware that among millennials, it's common to have email tied into one's mobile device, and therefore interact with it and view it identically to instant messaging (e.g., I've had one younger friend express irritation at receiving work emails after 5 pm). However, I will suggest that this is not the case for academics. We're usually getting hundreds of emails per week or day, and necessarily deal with it in a batched fashion at various times of our choosing (not necessarily every day).


Does transferring to a different master's program look bad (from the perspective of the school you're attempting to transfer to)? Last spring I was accepted into a fairly selective master's program in the US (I'm American). I had to take a summer "refresher" class for the program, which I recently completed (~ two weeks ago). Halfway through the refresher class, I discovered a master's program at a different school (in the UK) that I am much more interested in. I hadn't considered applying to schools outside of the US, so of course I didn't notice this other program when I was originally applying to grad schools. I want to apply to this other program in the UK before I get too deep into my current program (I'm taking one class for the fall semester in my current program). My question is: does the fact that I am transferring affect my chance of acceptance into the program I am applying to?
I know I can't transfer any credits. That is fine with me. This other school is more prestigious, with much more research in my areas of interest, and would ultimately open more doors for me. I am just worried that attempting to transfer so shortly after committing to a different school will reflect poorly/decrease my chances of acceptance. How is this typically perceived in the academic world? Is there a certain way I should bring this up in my personal statement? I don't want to burn any bridges, but I want to do what's best for me. For what it's worth, one of my letters of recommendation is coming from a big name in the field (and they have close ties to the school I'm interested in).

Note: this assumes that your current program is course-based, and that you have not made a supervision agreement for some kind of research work.
I do not think this will cause any problems, especially if you have been in your current program only for a few months. Many people drop out of study programs, both undergraduate and graduate.
There are some websites that say that changing graduate programs includes some challenges, but they mostly refer to losing credits, losing assistantship positions, etc. which you are probably already aware of.
Your target university will evaluate you mostly based on your qualifications and suitability for the program. I do not think they will see your few-month refresher course as a problem. If you have not started some supervision relationship with anyone in your old university, then probably no one at your old university will care much either.
It is good to mention a good reason for wanting to change programs in your cover letter, but I do not think you need to spend too much space on that. After all, you are telling your target university that you find them better than the old one: that is not going to bother them.
About how "the academic world" will see this... the academic world is not going to care at all. They probably will not even get to know it.
Just apply and see what happens: if they accept you, then it was definitely not a problem.


Paper submission: Major revision impossible to pull off The reviewer for the paper that I submitted for publication suggested major revision that I think cannot be pulled off/ done. What should I do? Should I just write the letter to editor saying I cannot pull off that revision since it's impossible. Or should I just submit my paper somewhere else.

This is my first paper submission.

You have a number of options. Only you can decide which is the best in your case.

(1) You can withdraw the paper from the original journal and submit it elsewhere, in the hope that a different set of reviewers will be more enthusiastic or realistic.

(2) You can re-submit to the original journal and simply decline to do the reviewer's request.  This is perfectly reasonable, and editors will simply use their judgement as to whether the paper is still acceptable even without this revision.  If you do follow this route, be sure to make as many of the requested revisions as you possibly can, to show that you aren't simply being stubborn, and also explain professionally (clearly but politely) why you didn't do the other revision (it isn't practical) and why it isn't necessary (you already have strong statistical significance).

(3) You can request an extension from the editor.  The 2-month revision time is almost always negotiable, if you have a reasonable argument. I recently requested an extension from 2 months to 6 because a co-author had had a baby, and the editor was perfectly happy with that.  (I offered to include baby pictures, but even that was not necessary.)

My own preference would probably be, in order, (2), (1), and (3), but you will have to decide on your own.

Edit to add that, as @jakebeal says, you could just ask the editor if they feel the major revision is necessary.  I would be a little hesitant about that, because I think (without evidence) that editors would be inclined to say that everything the reviewers asked is required, and then you're stuck with it, while if you just send in your revision as in (2), the editor might see it differently.  In other words, it's often better to ask forgiveness rather than permission.


Is better to make your own image or utilise the cited paper's image in a review? Background: I am writing a review paper and have cited a paper who's model I want to include in the review.
Question: Is it better to create a picture which denotes my own understanding of the model or just copy (and cite in the caption) and add the same image as used in that paper?
I am asking because I have seen good reviews re-use the same image and just cite that paper.

If creat[ing] a picture which denotes [your] understanding of the model adds value, then do that. I expect potential for added value, since that's surely an objective of your review paper. Of course, you can't add value to every image, reproducing an image (with appropriate accreditation) is fine.


Supervision without being a member of the research group Recently, I was talking with a professor in my department about potential supervision of my Master's thesis.

The problem is, he holds regular meetings with his research group, but he intends to supervise me separately, so I will be isolated and not have access to group meetings or anything revolving there. Is this a common approach? I did not want to ask this to the professor since he might get offended. Did he politely reject me, but then why did not he give a direct "no" as an answer?

Should I give it a go?

As far as I can tell, this is probably fine - it is definitely not a "polite rejection" unless you missed a lot of signs that the professor is too busy to work with you.

svavil's question is very relevant: if you are working on a broadly different topic than the rest of the research group, you wouldn't gain as much, and the research group wouldn't gain as much from you being there.

Even if you are close to the research group's topics, some professors will start beginning students off without the rest of the group. This way, early students can benefit from more focused attention, and the group meetings don't have to catch up the new students.  I think this approach is more often taken in theoretical/computational science groups.  As students move along, they are brought more into contact with the group.  [*caveat = this last is based on my experience in groups that are mostly PhD students, so not sure if Masters research is similar.]

There are two possible ways I could see this being bad (both of which happen, but are not the majority of cases):

1) The professor doesn't actually have time to work with you, and you will have trouble scheduling meetings with him, and making progress.

2) The professor is isolating you because he plans on harassing you, e.g. as mentioned re "independent studies":  http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2016/04/ban_the_independent_study.html


TA struggling with how much time grading takes This semester I was assigned as a TA to a Class that I am not very familiar with.
As a result, grading takes me too much time.
For example, for a class of 74 people, it took me 24 hours to grade their assignments (7 exercises per person). One of the reasons it takes me that much time is that I have to study in order to refresh the content in my head before grading.

What should I do in order to make the procedure more time-efficient?
Should I tell my concerns to the professor I am TA for and as well as my PhD supervisor ? I fear I might seem lazy or unproductive.

To cope with workload whenever I have grading to do I make sure I finish it within one day so that I can focus on the other stuff I have to do in the next days of the week.

-----------------------Edit with answers to questions-----------------------

Since people asked more questions about my situation here are answers:
I keep office hours for 2 hours per week.
I have to grade 3 packages of these assignments for the whole semester.
The first package was for 91 people the second was for 74.
The was provided with indicative solutions but the answers are open-ended

One thing I might do in your shoes is to grade all the answers to the problems one at a time.

That is grade problem 1 on the assignment for all 74 students, then grade problem 2, and then add up the scores for the seven problems at the end.

That way, you can "prepare" for one problem, grade it on an "assembly line," and then forget about it after you go on to the next problem.


What is my graduation date? I submitted my Master's thesis last December (2020), and it just been accepted (so in 2021), and the university will probably take many (maybe even 6) months before they actually give me the diploma (bureaucracy).
On CVs and scholarship applications, what date should I be writing? I am somewhat wary of writing 2018-2021 as it makes it look like I took 3 years, yet I want to be rigourous. What is the accepted norm for what constitutes the "end" of the degree. This is especially true if I need to write months, as putting the final diploma date would add many months.
Also, in the meanwhile until the university formally gives me the diploma, can I still say I finished the Master's as all my courses are complete and thesis accepted?

For most institutions, the degree date is the day that the university actually hands out the degrees, not the date that you fulfill the requirements for the degree.
At all the universities that I am familiar with, this happens only at fixed times of year, and your degree will be on the first such date after you fulfill the requirements and submit the necessary paperwork. For example, my alma mater has three degree dates per year: people on the standard schedule graduate in June, and off-cycle graduation is offered in September and February.
I'm sure there are institutions that do not work this way, but in the US at least it seems to be fairly standard to have fixed degree dates.
In either case, you should be able to readily find this information on the webpage of your university's registrar's office or equivalent, like the pages I linked above.


Request to referee from obscure journal (physics) I have received a request to referee a paper submitted to a journal I hadn't been aware of before. The paper is in my area of expertise, and I've been working in the field for a few years and read arXiv & major journals (nobody I know has published there, as far as I know). Though to be fair it is published by Springer Nature and has an impact factor of about 2.5.

I'm reluctant to accept the request, because (i) it would cost me time, (ii) I never read the journal, (iii) the abstract is badly written (grammar mistakes, and it's of the form "We use standard methods to calculate some properties about a standard system, which have been discovered in many slight variations before").

Is it okay to reject review in this case? I'm afraid that my judgement may be off.

I would recommend you have a look: If the submission is as bad as it looks, you will not have to devote much time to it anyways.  Someone has to do some refereeing else nobody would referee my papers so my rule of thumb is: I referee as many papers in a year as the number of referees needed to review my work that year.


Approach a new advisor in addition to existing one What should one do if one is interested in working on a subfield not within her advisor's expertise during PhD? I'm still in 1st year but have been working with current advisor for 2 years before PhD. I just become really interested in this other topic. The final PhD advisor pick is not confirmed until 2nd year but I feel it's not right to "abandon ship" because the advisor was main reason I was here in the first place. Plus I have become "estranged" from my advisor. We met twice in the past year and is not working on anything together. Usually it was me who read and work on things and approach her for a discussion. But since I shifted my attention elsewhere, this link is broken. She was like a friend who would occasionally check in on what you are reading and are doing what, as opposed to someone who guides you on which research question is important in the field and which direction you should and should not go. I feel it is right to approach some other people because I can genuinely use some expert guidance and I'm sure she wouldn't mind it too much so long as I eventually kept her as co-advisor. After all, most her previous advisees did the same thing because of her hands-off style.
The main issue is when I approach professors in this other field, what should I say? Do I just ask if they want to advise me directly or do I beat around the bush by talking about a "potential research question" etc as an interested student as  opposed to someone who is looking for an advisor.  Also how should I address my relationship to the current advisor? In fact, I think whoever I approach now will become the primary advisor. Should I just present myself as a "vanilla" student who is looking for full, devoted advisory or someone who they will advise on a shared capacity?

There shouldn't be any issues with this, but people have different personalities. In the best case your current advisor wants what is best for you. You seem to have that opinion of her.
I would open any discussion with another potential advisor as an "exploration" of the possibilities. You are interested in their field and wonder what problems there might be to work on for a degree. If you have your own ideas about a problem, bring them up, surely, and ask for advice. You could mention this to your current advisor first, though it isn't truly necessary. You are early in your studies and it is a good time to be exploring your options.
If both individuals are willing (and able) to advise you it might be good, but having your current advisor just as a support, rather than a formal advisor, is also good.
These sorts of conversations are best done face to face if that can be arranged safely now.


When sending my final grades to one professional school, my transcript shows I am enrolled in another program I have been accepted to two professional schools for next year, one of which is part of my current university (Program A). I need to send an official transcript with my final semester's grades to the other school (Program B). Before submitting a request to my current school to send my transcript, I checked my unofficial transcript. I was surprised to see that since I already graduated with my undergraduate degree, the transcript lists that I am currently attending Program A, including the classes I would be enrolled in for the fall semester.

Does my unofficial transcript reflect how my official transcript will appear?
If it does list Program A, will Program B regard this as an issue? Or can I just submit my transcript as-is with no explanation?
If this is an issue, is there a way I can circumvent it?

(Note: I'd like to hold on to both acceptances until nearer to the end of the summer, as Covid-19 might be affecting where I'll be living next year.)

Does my unofficial transcript reflect how my official transcript will appear?

Only your university knows how they handle the two types of transcripts.  But it's possible.

If it does list Program A, will Program B regard this as an issue? Or can I just submit my transcript as-is with no explanation?

I think it would be reasonable to inform Program B that this is an error and that you have not enrolled in any program at A for the fall semester.
It's true that this might reveal that you have applied and been accepted to A, but I don't think that's a serious concern.  Every university knows that applicants apply to many different programs.
If anything, the fact that you've been accepted to another program would likely motivate B to try harder to recruit you, since it's confirmation that you are well qualified for professional study, and it shows B they can't expect you to accept a low financial offer out of desperation.

If this is an issue, is there a way I can circumvent it?

Sure; contact the office at A responsible for maintaining academic records (e.g. the registrar). Inform them that your transcript erroneously shows you as enrolled in the program, and ask for it to be corrected.


Thesis supervisor wants me to publish my work in his own conference I am a Computer Science Master's Student, currently working on my thesis at a research institute. I have multiple supervisors: A, who was my "theoretical" supervisor when I started my thesis 5 months ago, B, who is my "technical" supervisor, and C, who is my new "theoretical" supervisor, as A is leaving the company soon.

I will finish my thesis at the end of the month. My problem is the following: A would like me to publish my work as a 6-page paper in an upcoming conference, with me as the main author, and him as a co-author. The problem is, he is the General Chair of the track where he wants me to publish. He even mentioned how I shouldn't worry about the paper not getting accepted, since he has so much power there.

I expressed my worries to him about this being unfair. I've checked the website of the conference, but I did not find any policy explicitly forbidding this practice, still, I think it is not right. When I told him about my concerns, he waived them away, saying "Everybody does it like this".

Now, I am pretty sure that neither my other supervisors, nor the leader of the research group knows about A's plans, since he only discussed this with me, and didn't CC the emails about this to the other supervisors (as he usually does, because we discuss every question about my thesis together).

My question is the following: what should I do now? Should I contact the other supervisors about this? Should I just flatly deny publishing the paper in his conference? Or should I play along?
As all of my supervisors will have an effect on my grade, I do not want to hurt anyone's feelings. I have less than a month left until my thesis defense, but the deadline for the conference application is in a week.

I think there would be a conflict of interest, if your co-author is also among the chair people of the conference.

Apart from that, you should not publish anything without your other supervisors acceptance and/or without informing them. That is: do not put their names on something you submit if they don't know or don't agree with being named there, AND (especially relevant in this case, it seems) do not submit something where you omit a contributing author. Author here doesn't need to be someone participating in writing a piece, but already being part of a research project.

Therefore, if you want to publish at this conference (independent of A's role in the conference), then send an email to all your supervisors and ask what they think about publishing/presenting your work there. If they don't know about A's role in said conference, and you worry about it, tell them (maybe omit A in this case, if you prefer) about the position of A in it.


Do published papers have to contain original work? Can I turn my MSc thesis into a paper and can the paper get published if it does not have original work?

The "mathematics" tag leads me to think that by "original work" you mean new theorems or at least new proofs of known theorems.  It's entirely possible to publish purely expository papers that do not contain original work in that sense.  Of course, such papers still have to make an intellectual contribution that is not already in the literature. That contribution might, for example,  be an improved arrangement of the material, highlighting connections that were not evident in earlier work.  Or it might be reformulating some known results in a way that facilitated applications.


How to become a supervisor? Finding students to supervise I'm currently finishing the corrections of the PhD I've done in the UK. In the meantime, I've returned to my home country, Portugal, and started working at a hospital as a medical statistician. I have several (no scientific tasks) to do and I would like to continue doing research. I have several projects that I would like to carry one. Some are not very complicated and I believe they could be interesting master degree thesis. While in the UK, I've supervised some undergrads and I really enjoyed. I would like to continue supervising students.

Does anyone have any experience or guidance about how could I start to supervise research students (proposing small projects)? I don't need to be affiliated with a university to be a supervisor as my master thesis supervisor was not a teacher there. But, do I need to be affiliated with a university to propose projects? I imagine I can only be a supervisor in Portugal or has anyone heard about master degree supervisors from other countries? I understand this may differ between countries. I'm looking for some tips/advice/comments on how to start supervising students.

Thank you!

These are the possible approaches in which you can get people (especially students) to know you. Since, you are in a hospital working as a statistician it would be more valuable and increase the chance of getting students.

Deliver talks at local organisations/universities: You should try to meet the head and principal of the university. Discuss with them your profile and eager to talk to the students. If your talk is well accepted by the students, some of those students would surely be interested to work with you. Moreover, professors would also like to collaborate with you.
Visit conferences and present your works: Work on your own and write research papers, visit the conferences or seminars. There you will get to know few aspiring students and people to work with.
Discussion with your own colleagues in the hospital: I am sure you may not be alone and wanting to work on research. There will always be someone. Since, you are new; talk to your colleagues and propose your ideas to work on it. This will help you get the above points (1) and (2) easily.


Is it okay to keep my margs as 0.9 inch instead of 1 inch for my SOP My SOP is extending the general 2 page limit by exactly 2 lines.
Will it be okay if use a 0.9inch margin (all sides) instead of 1inch? I am using an overleaf template so all the other norms are being followed.
I am asking because then it will be exactly 2-pages.

It may or may not be noticed. It may or may not be important. No one but the recipient can say for sure. You don't want a reader to be irritated with you.
So, I have a suggestion for you. First reformat it to the required standard. Then rewrite it to fit the two page limit if that is required. You will probably gain from being just a bit more concise in your wording. Don't just make it awkward. Rethink your phrasing and be more precise.
Less is More.


Suggestions on how to organize a chair rotation I am suggesting a chair rotation for a department in sciences. I was wondering about pitfalls and advantages, things to watch out for, best practices and general advice. If you have organized such an an arrangement or have been part of one I would like to hear your recommendations.

I've been involved in a few. It's a good idea because it gives everyone a chance to participate in a leadership role. The biggest thing you can do is get organized -- ideally through documentation but maybe with something as simple as having outgoing chairs train incomings. It doesn't matter much how you rotate although at the beginning you'll probably want to start with more experienced faculty. To that same point, there might be some faculty who are not be capable of taking on the role, for whatever reason. It does no one any good to utilize these people just because it's "their turn." Good luck!


Masters to PhD Program If you have done well in undergrad (i.e one of the top students of the graduating class; physics and mathematics major with highest honors; with exposure to engineering) and have done a masters for 1-2 years with research experience and publications (i.e assisted professor and PhD students and have coauthored 2-3 papers), do you have a good chance of going to a top 10 physics graduate school?

You have a good chance of being considered for admission, but the set of schools you tag is so small and the competition so fierce that it isn't very likely to happen. There will be lots of other applicants who also have excellent records and not so many slots as to make decisions easy.
But, you have a shot at least, so apply. But broaden your search also, so that you have options. Some schools outside the top 10 or top 25 also have excellent programs.
I'm assuming you are in the US where "top ten" seems to be an obsession. There are other places as well, of course.


How can a PhD in Machine Learning and AI help you in a life out of Academia? I have applied for a Ph.D. in Computer Science. I do not, however, plan to become an academic afterward. What I want to achieve is to try to commercialize my research by founding a startup or find a job outside of Academia, using the knowledge I will obtain for enhancing or building products/services for my employer.

What I would like ideally, is to achieve Academic as well as Industry expertise in machine learning and AI, through a job or by trying to found a startup with a related thematology. Becoming a professor is completely out of my goals. However, I want to be able to study academic literature with ease.

Do you think my goal is reasonable, or a Ph.D. is an overkill that would make me overqualified, losing precious time in case I change my mind in the future?

The reason I want the Ph.D. is to learn more things and receive more hands-on experience in Machine Learning. I believe that this process will also enhance my critical skills and analytical thinking.

I understand this can get difficult and risky but I am willing to try.

Does my goal make any sense or do I need a reality check? I need a hard critique...
Is that a healthy reason for attending graduate school?

Working at your startup

One thing for sure is that, if you want to start a company (a startup), you should not be afraid of being overqualified, since you will be "the boss" and there is no one to classify you as such.

Working in the industry

While being overqualified sometimes (perhaps, even, often) applies to positions in the industry, a Ph.D. graduate is highly unlikely to be considered as such in ML/AI domain, where it is often a requirement for most positions.

Working for other people's startup

Even though most startups generally don't care about degrees, those, working in ML/AI-related domains, will be happy to consider and hire a good Ph.D. graduate for the obvious reason: due to relatively high complexity of the required ML/AI-related subject domain expertise.

P.S. Please note that my answer addresses only your concern of being overqualified, but does not touch a larger question of feasibility of your plan, factors to consider in decision making and so on. However, it implicitly suggests that this one of possible routes to achieve your goal (whether it's the best or the optimal one, depends on a lot of factors, including your personal circumstances).


Citation after etc word I have a question regarding proper usages of a citation number after the "etc" word.
So the sentence goes like this:

This is a random sentence about words and etc. Here is another
sentence. Now If I would like to cite, should the number in brackets
be before the dot, or after?

Option 1:

This is a random sentence about words and etc [1]. Here is another sentence.

Option 2:

This is a random sentence about words and etc. [1] Here is another sentence.

I have no idea which one is correct. I would appreciate all help!

The full stop indicates that etc. is a contraction of et cetera. This means that the citation should come after the dot:

  etc. [1]

If this is the end of the sentence, put a second full stop after the citation:

  etc. [1].

As an aside, my old English teacher told me that using etc. is bad form; if you have other things to list, be explicit and list them. If not, don't waste space with the pointless filler. (However, I myself have often broken this rule.)


Can professors hire assistants from their own salary? Usually teaching assistants or research assistants will be hired by money from the department or grants, but can they be hired by a direct pay from a professor's salary?

Probably not, though professorial funding can get tricky. In the US, most departments or colleges handle the funding of TAs directly. They are normal employees and are (more and more) entitled to benefits. If a prof just took money literally out of their own pocket and paid a TA, this would circumvent tax withholding, the purchase of insurance benefits, etc. TAs need to be employees of the university. At the same time, since they interact with students and appear in the classroom, TAs need to have official status with the university. Since direct payment by a professor would bypass this, I doubt very seriously that it would be allowed.

However, once a professor has a grant, money becomes more flexible. It's entirely possible for a professor to be paid 9 months by the university and end up funding more than 3 summer months through grants. NSF has its 2 month rule to try to prevent this, but through multiple agencies, a lot is possible. Agencies allow Principle Investigators the flexibility to move salary money between personnel within a grant almost at will, so it could be that a prof could take one of those months of their own salary from the grant, and spread it across several (at half time) for a student. This is pretty common. It wouldn't be direct, the student would be paid by the university and have official GRA status, but it would, sort of, come out of the prof's pocket, depending on your point of view.


How to cite online-first published articles? Should you include link to earlier ArXiV version? When one cites an article which appeared online-first in a journal of mathematics, but which is not in print and has no volume number yet, I have read that one can just use the DOI instead. But do you think that in this situation it is appropriate to add the link to the arXiv version anyway?

Here is an article about citing "advance online publication" in APA style.

Once an article is in the form of advanced online access at the publisher, you should generally cite this version, and not the ArXiv version. The online access is the final version of record. Page and volume numbers are cosmetic.

The exact form of the reference will depend on your citation style. But I agree that including the doi in the reference is helpful as this will not change. In contrast, the year of the reference may change.

Here is an example from the post above:

  Muldoon, K., Towse, J., Simms, V., Perra, O., & Menzies, V. (2012). A
           longitudinal analysis of estimation, counting skills, and
           mathematical ability across the first school year. Developmental
           Psychology. Advance online publication. doi:10.1037/a0028240

So in general the reference really shows almost no difference to a standard reference. It's just that the volume and page numbers are missing. You might append some text to indicate that it is "advance online publication", but this is optional in many cases. And you should probably include the doi (either in doi:10.. form, or in http://dx.doi.org/10... form). The doi will be helpful especially where the paginated version comes out in a subsequent year.

Obviously, depending on your citation style, you'd need to adapt the above. But the basic concept is the same: Authors, year, title, journal, doi, optionally some indication that it is an advance online publication. Basically, follow your normal citation strategy but omit the volume and page details and include a doi.


When applying to grad school: GPA vs Prestige For undergraduate studies is it preferable to go the a prestigious school and get decent GPA or to go to not well known school but be top of the class?

Honestly, when I'm reading applications I barely notice either one. I don't have to look at GPA 99 times out of 100 because those below the minimum are screened out, and I don't care much about what school you went to because prestige schools have some crappy departments and low-prestige schools have some great ones, and I'm almost never going to know which is which.

I spend most of my app-reading time on the personal statement. Can you write? (Very important in my department; importance to others is obviously somewhat variable.) Can you tech? (Likewise.) Do you understand what you're getting yourself into, and have decent, non-clichéd, at least marginally realistic reasons you're doing it? Do you have skills or an educational or life background we're specifically looking to recruit? Relevant experience?

Go be a worthwhile person with a clue. That's what we're looking to admit, not shiny GPAs or fancy-schmantzy schools.


Does wearing a university t-shirt imply that the wearer is affiliated with the university? My friend studies at a very prominent university and has invited me to visit her. Coming across the university shop, I was considering buying one of the t-shirts with the university logo.

I am possibly over-thinking this, but the following scenario popped up in my head: What if, while wearing it, I am approached by a person who thinks I went to the university, and who'd ask me what my major was, etc. And when I'd say that I wasn't affiliated with the school, wouldn't it look like I'm taking a credit for what I haven't done?

Does wearing a university t-shirt imply that the person wearing it was/is somehow affiliated with the university?

No. Many of the top universities are tourist attractions and it is not uncommon to see tourists wandering around campus taking photos and eventually buying paraphernalia. While in the US it is not uncommon to see students wearing standard school t-shirts and sweatshirts, in the UK, students generally do not wear clothes that are available in the bookstore. Rather, they wear clothes made for particular clubs that they are involved in.