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[ "Is it ok as a junior PhD student to review ranked conference papers?", "I am a Ph.D. student in computer science and still in my first year. My professor just assigned a review task of a A-ranked conference to me in order to review research papers submitted by original authors (almost 8 papers). \n\nSo far, he wants me to take over the coordination with my fellow Ph.D. colleagues in my department to finish this task asap. So I have to distribute the papers with the right colleague according to his/her research interest and experience. \n\nBut, since I am still in the first year (even I am doing well 'as my colleagues say' and published two research paper in peer-reviewed conferences), I want to ask if is it common and normal thing in academia to let junior researchers review high-quality A-ranked conferences research papers, and whether the conference editorial chairs know about this conduct from assigned committee members as external reviewers." ]

[ "peer-review", "conference", "computer-science" ]

[ "Would it be a good idea to drop out of my Bachelor's program and look for scholarships to restart abroad?", "Currently, I study BA in Mathematics, and because of some problems related to the environment I found myself in, I cannot complete my studies in this place.\nI studied most of the courses, except Topology, Fields & Rings, Real Analysis 2, Numerical Analysis, and some elective courses. In general the education level here is not that good, so I have decided to drop it and start again in another (good) place.\nBut, if I do this, I don't know if it will be good for me and for my journey. I plan to move from the Middle East either to Europe or the USA, to study there and start the bachelor's again. Moreover, I'm 23 years old now. and I don't know if my age will cause a problem.\nAny advice?" ]

[ "academic-life" ]

[ "Should I get a letter of recommendation from my mother, who is a famous researcher in my field?", "My mother is a quite famous researcher (she has a PhD) on the field I want to do a PhD in. She works on the industry (not academia). I helped her on successful projects. She knows more about my work than my professors since we have worked much longer together.\n\nIs it a good idea to ask for a recommendation letter from her? Since our personalities are very similar she can point out the high probability that I will be successful like her?" ]

[ "recommendation-letter", "conflict-of-interest" ]

[ "Advice for getting a paper published as a highschooler", "I have possibly found a somewhat novel method of proving a famous theorem, and after some research, I found a variant of the method published as a paper. So, naturally, I reached out to the professor who wrote that and asked him for opportunities and I am waiting for a reply.\nIf he declines my request for help on publishing the paper, what other ways is it possible to get a paper published as a person who isn't affiliated with a university/ Has major connections?\nOther than that, the process from an outsider's perspective looks a bit tedious right now, but what are the general things to keep in mind while approaching it?\nMy educational details are that I've passed out my HS this year.\nNote: I've checked with some grad students, the result is indeed correct. The current state of whether they'll help me follow through with publishing however is a 'maybe'\nUpdate: Got in touch with the prof and sent the tex file containing the paper to the publisher which he had published too. Hopefully gets some acknowledgment :-)\nUpdate 2.0: Seems to have been done already (See here), not sure if there exists a paper on this but that killed of the novelty.\nA word from me to all the answerers: Thank you all. Turns out that my proof was posted before on MSE and I do not wish to publish something already done before. However for the actual question which I had asked, I have received many great answers and I honestly can not objectively choose a single answer which have helped me the most since all of them provided value to me in one way or the other.\nAs is most relevant to my individual problem of me publishing this result, I will accept Kostya's answer as they were the ones who found that the proof was done before. Again, thank you all." ]

[ "publications", "paper-submission" ]

[ "How to answer the question \"Why do you deserve a scholarship?\" when applying for a scholarship?", "I'm in the process of applying for master of \"Parallel and Distributed Computer Systems\" in VU university. The university requires me to write a letter describing why I deserve a scholarship. I have written this letter multiple times, but every time I read it from beginning to end I feel it contains pride words and I think this will not help me to get scholarship.\n\nCan someone help me to write effective letters like this?" ]

[ "graduate-admissions", "funding" ]

[ "What's a polite way of confirming if a position offered is official?", "I'm an undergrad student, and I intend to start assisting a senior PhD student with her research work. I'm really interested in the work (definitely don't want to let go of this opportunity), but I'm unsure if the position being offered to me is official, i.e. if I would be a research assistant or something, so to speak.\nI was told by the PhD that if I'm to accept, she will have to seek permission from her PI / keep the PI in the loop - which makes me feel that it's probably official but I'm not sure.\nWhat's a polite way of asking for the necessary clarifications?" ]

[ "research-undergraduate", "communication" ]

[ "I am uncomfortable about students taking pictures of the blackboard, because I don't like appearing in them", "It seems to be the trend that fewer and fewer students take notes in class. Lately, and particularly this semester, for some reason, I have been noticing that several students take pictures of the blackboards with their phones in lieu of taking notes.\n\nWhile I'm not necessarily against this, if it helps them focus on class, I'm uncomfortable about being in a million pictures by these students. I'd like to speak up, but it's already a few weeks into the semester, and I don't want to make the students feel uncomfortable either. Is there anything that I can do to resolve this without creating discomfort on either side?" ]

[ "teaching", "privacy", "audio-video-recording", "technology" ]

[ "Typical phases of student experience/motivation in academic education (e.g. PhD)", "I have heard and experienced anecdotally that students often go through various phases in academic education, be it undergraduate or postgraduate, starting with enthusiasm and excitement, then running into a dip, before climbing out again and feeling more motivated, although later fatigue may set in. This can occur over the course of a single year, but also over the course of a degree (see, for instance, 5 Phases of PhD Motivation Explained). There may be some connection with the stages of culture shock, and for some students traditional culture shock might be compounded with the aforementioned phases.\n\nHave studies been carried out on the phases students seem to go through and are they as widespread, even universal, as experience would suggest? References to particular studies would be appreciated. I would also be interested in references to effective coping strategies for recovering from the first serious dip, which may otherwise derail a student's studies." ]

[ "reference-request", "motivation" ]

[ "Is it possible to complete a Master's degree while working full-time?", "Generally\n\nThere's a question which asks is it possible to get a PhD while working full time? The responses to this were essentially \"yes but say goodbye to anything except school and work\" or \"only if you're a prodigy\".\n\nMy first question then: can I complete a Master's degree while working without killing my social life? Browsing the course names gives me the impression that at least 10% will be review from my undergraduate degree.\n\nSpecifically\n\nI'm interested in deepening my knowledge in my area (software/computer science) and am in NYC, where Columbia U would be a great option for this. I have completed an undergraduate degree and since a PhD seems like a stretch, I am considering a Master's degree.\n\nMy job has a 40 hour work-week but has flexibility with timing." ]

[ "masters", "job", "part-time" ]

[ "Is it appropriate to acknowledge StackExchange in my MSc thesis?", "So, I'm just now finishing my master's thesis. When thinking about who helped me aside from my official supervisors some of the StackExchange fora (especially Stack Overflow and TeX) came into my mind. \nI asked some questions in these fora but most of the time I was just looking for information in older posts (and finding it most of the time). Now one the one hand it feels weird to me to acknowledge a site I browsed to, e.g., find out a certain programming command (like I would not really think about acknowledging Wikipedia). But on the other hand I am really grateful for some of the quick and professional answers I got from StackExchange users.\n\nSo what do you think, should I acknowledge StackExchange in my thesis?" ]

[ "thesis", "acknowledgement" ]

[ "Graduate student I was working with left", "I am currently an undergraduate, wanting to apply to PhD programs this upcoming fall. So I started talked to a CS professor doing research in deep learning and he set me up to work with one of his graduate students, so I started to work with the grad student and only communicated with him, not the professor. I recently came up with a new idea for a model to be published that the grad student thinks is a good idea, but he told me he has left working with the professor and no longer is working on this research.\n\nSo I am at a crossroads on what to do. I have an idea that was told could be good, but I have no idea what the process looks like for self-publishing and expected that the grad student would be there to help me. I thought about reaching out the professor, but I am not sure what to say, since the grad student left, the project is essentially dead I think so it is more of just me having a new idea and not sure how the professor could help with it.\n\nAny advice on whether I should reach out to the professor or just try to work on it on my own would be greatly appreciated." ]

[ "research-process", "research-undergraduate" ]

[ "PhD Qualification on a CV: Should I list it as ongoing in a separate section?", "I'm just finishing my PhD but don't yet have the qualification.\n\nI'm applying for a post-doc and need to construct a CV.\n\nShould I include my PhD as \"ongoing\" in a separate section to the rest of my education? Or can I just indicate it as part of my education, but with a note like \"2011-present\" or something?" ]

[ "phd", "postdocs" ]

[ "Self-plagiarism to re-use figures and key phrases on poster", "I have submitted a conference paper to an IEEE conference, which will be published in IEEE Xplore, once I have appropriately finished presenting this paper in either a lecture or poster setting (of which I was selected to do the latter). Most questions regarding self-plagiarism on the net are in the context of selecting snippets of text or figures from previous papers.\nHowever, my question is, is it self-plagiarism to utilize key figures/phrases from the paper that I am presenting in my poster? As in, I am presenting research by poster that will later be published in a conference paper (which we needed to submit to get accepted to present at the conference). I have made figures and statements in this paper, which would be nice to use in the poster.\nMust I start from scratch? Thanks." ]

[ "conference", "presentation", "self-plagiarism", "poster" ]

[ "Is there a place to review journals or conferences?", "There are plenty of journals and conferences in my research area. And there are things we could look up in advance, like impact factor, journal rank and so on. \n\nBut I would like to find a place where I could put my personal experience with the journal (or conference). \n\nFor instance, in Amazon the customers can review and criticize the books they read. In my country there is a site where you can complaint about any company that failed to satisfy the customer (a flight company, a magazine, a bank, etc). \n\nOne could argue that this would be unfair to the people that invest their time as editors or reviewers, but in my opinion it is a two-way relationship. Things like waiting one year without an answer from editors, poor review or evasive answers, is a disrespect to a research group who invests a lot of time as well.\n\nSo, is there a place where one could respectfully give a review and share their experience with a journal or conference?" ]

[ "journals", "peer-review" ]

[ "Can I withdraw a paper from IEEE conference after signing the copyright form?", "I have submitted a manuscript using figures from google. I have cited the web pages from where I have found the figures in my article. The figures are actually figures of apparatus. Later I learnt from IEEE website that IEEE discourages usage of figures from web pages without prior permission which I have not taken. But I have submitted the paper and copyright form to IEEE conference. As the date for camera ready and pdfxpress is already over I can't edit my manuscript now as told by the conference chair.\n\nWhat should I do now? How may I withdraw it from here and publish it in other place? Is it possible to withdraw after signing copyright? Is it worth requesting the conference chair to open the pdfxress for few minutes so that I may upload my new manuscript there? Please help me." ]

[ "conference", "copyright", "graphics", "ieee" ]

[ "Roadmap and possible pitfalls for a first-time software author to publish a paper on a Python package?", "I'm not a software developer by trade but I am in the process of writing a Python package which models an experimental apparatus and physical process and generates simulated data. Results can be used to compare to measure data and extract physical parameters, or to predict how an apparatus will perform in order to modify or optimize it.\n\nI'm aware of Github and Python Package Index and will make the software available through Github and hopefully PyPI though the latter may be a challenge for a first time package author.\n\nI will then want to submit a paper for publication in an appropriate journal explaining the details (math and physics) of how the calculation works and demonstrate its agreement with measured data which would then refer to the software's source page(s).\n\nQuestion: What kind of roadmap should I prepare for myself in order to do this smoothly and efficiently, and what are some likely pitfalls someone publishing software-papers for the first time may face?\n\nI should note that there are one or two legacy packages that perform a somewhat similar set of functions, but they are roughly a decade old or more and available as compiled .exe files rather than open-source packages. I'm not using these or reverse-engineering them, but there will none-the-less be some overlapping in function." ]

[ "software", "software-papers" ]

[ "Structuring the statement of purpose", "Problem\n\nI am now applying for the Ph.D. program in electrical engineering.\n\nNow I have a 3-page (2500 words) SOP that should surely be reduced to 1.5 to 2 pages. Now the structure of my SOP looks like\n\n\n \n Paragraph 1: Why I want to do a Ph.D. (0.2 page)\n Paragraph 2-5: Research experience A (1 page). \"A\" is the research that lasts the longest time and contributes to publications.\n Paragraph 6: Transition from A to B, C, D, E (0.2 page).\n Paragraph 7-10: Research B, C, D, and E (1 page, each about same length)\n Paragraph 11: Why I want to the University. Which professor I would like to work with (0.2 page).\n \n\n\nMy issues is that the more important experience (\"A\") is not directly related to \"B\", \"C\", \"D\", and \"E\". But for sure they are all in the realm of electrical engineering. Therefore, simply aligning paragraph 7-10 does not seem to be a good idea.\n\nSo how do I structure my SOP. Any input is appreciated." ]

[ "statement-of-purpose" ]

[ "First time preparing and teaching a course", "I am a PhD student and I have been given the opportunity to teach a course over a three weeks period (2h per day, 30h in total) at an institution overseas. I feel competent in the field of the course I will be teaching, but in practice it will be my first time preparing and delivering a course (which is not the same as doing tutoring, or being a TA).\n\nWhat strategies can I put in place to be an efficient teacher? In particular, I am afraid not to have enough materials to cover 2 hours of time for each lecture (but then I realize that if I am thinking that, it means I'll probably be waaayyy too fast, so that's not good). I am also afraid of being unable to read the classroom, and of losing the students' interest too quickly. \n\nOf course, I can prepare a lot of material to cover, then just go on my way, see where I end when the two hours are over, and start from there at the next lecture. But this might be too unstructured for the students, and I have very little time between two lectures to reorganize the material, since I am teaching every day for three weeks.\n\nIf you can share with me tips from your experience, I'd be very happy." ]

[ "teaching", "students" ]

[ "Can an advisor use student's data for journal publishing without prior consent?", "A master's student did research under an advisor. As part of the research, the student had collected and processed a lot of data and finally published the thesis as well. After a few years, the advisor took a small portion of said data from the master's thesis and published a paper. The student is not a co-author nor was prior consent sought to use that data. However, the advisor added the student's name in the acknowledgment section. Is there anything wrong on the advisor's side? After all, the advisor had also actively guided the research and collection of data and may feel they have a right to use that data without the consent of the student.\nThe student played no role in publishing the paper except for the fact that a part of the student's published master's thesis data was used for this journal publication. The student was hence not added as a co-author but was acknowledged." ]

[ "journals", "advisor", "ethics", "paper-submission" ]

[ "Pros and cons of doing PhD in a research group with a high number of post-docs?", "What are the pros and cons of doing PhD in an experimental/theoretical research group with a high number of post-docs?\n\nFor example, if there are a lot of post-docs, this means that the group is doing research on many different problems, in general. However, this also means that the P.I. (i.e your advisor) will have much less time for you, but since there are lots of post-docs, it might be possible for the student to make it up with the post-docs. However, it is much harder to assess a post-doc than a P.I." ]

[ "research-process", "graduate-school", "advisor", "postdocs", "supervision" ]

[ "Is there any value in publishing screen-cast lectures?", "I am getting close to finishing a PhD in applied math (next May), and I'm starting to think about job applications next fall. I taught for 5 years as a GTA (graduate teaching assistant), but I still feel like my teaching portfolio could use a boost since the last 2 years of my degree I was funded on a research grant. One idea I cooked up was to create and publish a series of Khan-academy style \"screen-cast\" lectures on various interesting topics in mathematics. Since this could potentially consume a fair amount of time, I'm wondering what the benefit of it would actually be for an application to say, a teaching post-doc or tenure track at a SLAC (selective liberal arts college) or (not R1) public university. Obviously if they're good, it demonstrates an ability to clearly organize and present material, but would anyone actually look at them if they saw it on a CV or in a teaching statement?" ]

[ "application", "teaching", "faculty-application" ]

[ "Is time from acceptance to publication purely a matter of space issues?", "While it is clear to me why time from submission to acceptance can vary a lot (given that this involves that most fickle of creature: the reviewer), it is less clear what determines how long it takes for an accepted paper to be published.\n\nIs this purely a matter of all accepted papers being put in a queue and then the journal selects from the top until they fill out each issue (possible going a bit further down to make the page counts fit)?\nOr is it common that papers are \"pushed\" forward in the queue based on various factors (and if so, which factors)?\n\nIf it makes a difference, I am mostly interested in math journals, but I am also curious about possible dependency on the field." ]

[ "publications", "journals" ]

[ "Steps for creating a scientific journal", "I have organized several times some international conferences on my field (computational chemistry), where accepted proceedings are afterwards evaluated again for it submission to a special issue of a journal. Now I am thinking that I could create a journal for all those submission, even if at the beginning we have no impact factor (ISI) or if people are not so interested, but I would like this idea very much.\n\nSo I wonder of you can point which steps should I follow for creating a journal. I think I could attract many submissions, and I have servers where I could host it, but do not know the other technical and/or legal details." ]

[ "journals", "conference" ]

[ "Conference presenting: stick to initial paper submission or include recent improvements?", "I submitted a paper for a conference. While the paper got submitted for publication in the proceedings, the feedback seemed quite negative. The main criticism was that the model I have designed uses too many simplifications.\n\nI am giving a presentation at the conference in about a week and a half. Since I submitted the original paper I have achieved a significant amount, and have been able to improve my model and deal with a number of the simplifications.\n\nMy question is: for the presentation content, do I have to stick with the work that is going to be published, or can I also present some of the more interesting, newer work?\n\nFor reference, my field is engineering (renewable energy)" ]

[ "publications", "conference", "presentation" ]

[ "What to do if one of my recommenders has commited a plagiarism violation that has been publicized online?", "I plan to obtain a recommendation letter for PhD from a recommender with whom I have worked a lot during the course of my bachelor's. However when I accidentally typed her name in Google, a copyright violation notice by IEEE in her name shows up (sample). It identifies the paper that included the copied text, says something like\n\n\n After careful and considered review of the content and authorship of this paper by a duly constituted expert committee, this paper has been found to be in violation of IEEE's Publication Principles.\n \n This paper contains portions of text from the paper(s) cited below. A credit notice is used, but due to the absence of quotation marks or offset text, copied material is not clearly referenced or specifically identified.\n\n\nand specifies the original source of the copied text. This violation has nothing to do with my work with her. \n\nI am afraid this shall reduce the credibility of my work. Besides, I am loath to approaching other professors because I have worked much less with them and do not know them as well as this recommender. What should I do? Go ahead with her recommendation despite, or seek another recommender?" ]

[ "recommendation-letter", "plagiarism" ]

[ "Is it bad practice to submit the entire manuscript for an initial book proposal to a publisher?", "In a previous book I wrote, I submitted the entire manuscript along with a couple page proposal to a few different publishers. Both editors never responded to me.\n\nIn my current book, I sent the entire manuscript with a short description to an editor at Springer, and it has been two weeks, and I have heard nothing, not even an acknowledgement of receipt.\n\nAm I doing something against proper procedure?\n\nUpdate: I emailed the editor again asking her if she received the manuscript, and she said she did. She was just on vacation. (I guess Europeans take longer ones than those in the U.S. are used to…)" ]

[ "publications", "books", "editors", "publishers" ]

[ "Retyping some material to obscure source of a textbook with a solution manual?", "This is my first time teaching mathematics. I've been giving lessons based on a certain textbook which contains excellent exercises (not just the exercises, but the order in which they appear leads one to discover mathematics for yourself). However, the textbook has a solutions manual, and I am certain that if the source was revealed, then students would purchase the manual and defeat the purpose of the course. I am wondering if it is ethically acceptable to retype myself some of the exercises and exposition from parts of the book in order to obscure the source (and perhaps reveal it at the end of the course)?\n\nMy intentions are solely to create a joyful mathematical experience for the students. There is no intention of plagiarism. My only worry is that the exposition is so good that I don't see how much I can deviate.\n\nClarification: The course is not intended to have students master a technical subject and then solve problems under a time pressure. This is not a mathematics course for engineers or scientists. Rather, problem sheets are given each week, with the requirement that at the end of the week the student turns in 10 solutions to their favorite problems. The focus is on quality of writing and clarity of though. In fact this entire issue is now resolved as I have communicated with the author." ]

[ "publications", "ethics", "teaching", "copyright" ]

[ "Feeling pressured to work", "I'm a first year PhD student and the last month has been nothing short of a crucible of stress. I had to do 2 exams, wrote a 3k approval thesis, finalise my research objectives, plan the project and prepare a 30 minute presentation for a Q&A session. And I've had to write a bunch of code to produce the plots needed\nThe presentation is due to be done next Thursday but in the meantime I need to find the time to get a new desk because mine is falling apart. I'm at the point now where I'm feeling incredibly burnt out and I'm balancing so many plates.\nI'm pressuring myself to work over the weekend even though I've drilled the presentation and know it'll fit precisely in the time I'm allocated. How do I stop my project taking over my personal life?" ]

[ "health", "work-life-balance" ]

[ "Applying for post doc position when letter of recommendation from PhD advisers not available", "I did my PhD in Electrical Engineering with supervision from three people. Very hard times during PhD as there was not much supervision from the three. Presently, I am working in an industry doing R and D, but look forward to apply for post doctoral positions. One of my advisers have told me he won't recommend me for any university in the foreign country, the second one is not reachable and the third is very rude fellow. In short, I wont get recommendation from any. What are chances for a post-doctoral position in a reputed university.\n\nI have 3 international journals (2 Elsevier and 1 IEEE) and 3 conferences from my PhD work. I also have a Best Paper Award from one of the main IEEE conferences (EMBC 2014). I can manage reference letters from my masters advisers. Will recommendation from my masters advisers sufficient for applying to post-doctoral studies? Chances of getting a recommendation from any faculty from the university where I did PhD is very low." ]

[ "postdocs", "recommendation-letter" ]

[ "Error on FastLane (NSF) letter of Reference System for the NSFPF", "The NSF postdoctoral application is due in less than 2 weeks and I am trying to send out invitations for my reference letters. However, for the past week (on fastlane.gov) I have gotten the same error.\n\n\"A database error occured while performing fastlane.pdoc.ProcessReferenceLetter.\"\n\nI contacted the NSF by email and by phone and haven't gotten any response by either format. Is there anyone getting this?" ]

[ "postdocs", "nsf" ]

[ "How will my CLEP credits be viewed?", "I have taken 12 credits total in CLEP (College Level Examination Program) exams on order to bypass some general education requirements in humanities and basic sciences. I am in a program majoring in Physics and Engineering with a minor in Geosciences at a well-known state university.\n\nMy question is: How will my CLEP credits be viewed academically (i.e. when apply for grad school)? By potential employers? Will they be considered an asset or will they be seen as an inferior source of credits?" ]

[ "united-states", "coursework", "exams" ]

[ "How to care less about teaching?", "Fifth year math grad student as of this Fall. ABD, currently on target for six years in total.\n\nI have very strong feelings about the way courses should be taught, graded, and organized. I have thought extensively about this issue and experiment with my teaching every chance that I get.\n\nI teach my own course, and spend lots of time on teaching it the right way (according to me). This includes designing my own course plans from scratch, planning engaging lectures, writing my own problem sets, projects, and homework assignments. I also tend to give too much individual attention to students, like holding extra office hours when students have schedule conflicts.\n\nMy teaching philosophy is fundamentally at odds with the majority of the lecturers in the department. It makes me feel like a pariah, and privately makes me feel incensed when I see others teaching in a way that I consider unethical. Though I'm not vocal about my disagreements, I have been consistently passed over for teaching awards, despite constant effort, innovation, and shining student evaluations. I wish I didn't care about this.\n\nI know I'm being paid the same as other apathetic TAs who give every lecture off the cuff, assign whichever book problems are easiest to grade, and contribute as little to the education of their students as their contracts will allow. I'm not being paid to be a lecturer, but I'm giving at least a lecturer's effort to this job.\n\nMost importantly, I know that putting this much time, effort, and emotional energy into teaching is taking away from my research. Sometimes I feel terribly guilty after a big exam or project because I realize I haven't even looked at my research in a couple of weeks. My advisor hasn't said anything negative about my progress, but I know I could be doing better.\n\nEvery time I try to pull back and adopt a more traditional model, I get depressed and frustrated, because my students aren't learning anything, I'm as bored as they are, and I wonder what the point of my existence even is if I'm just going to give up and be another trash teacher who goes through the motions all day. Especially when I have the ability to be the change I wish to see in academia. (Which maybe isn't my place, but then again, everybody passes the buck, that's why we have this problem.)\n\nHow do I get myself to step back and refocus my efforts onto research?\n\n\n\nPlease note that this differs from this question in that I am not asking whether or not it is possible to balance teaching and research, but specifically on how, emotionally, to scale back a focus on teaching for one who has begun to let it eclipse his research. I know I am making a mental error due to idealism, and I'm trying to figure out how to break out of it." ]

[ "mathematics", "teaching", "teaching-assistant", "work-life-balance", "emotional-responses" ]

[ "How do I salvage a 1-week old research internship offer, if possible?", "I'm a pre-university individual. \n\nAbout a week ago I cold-emailed university professors inquiring about interning at their biology research labs. A professor replied on the same day expressing possibility of an interview. He also made it clear it would be unpaid - which, after some thought, I've decided I'm fine with. Long story short, I was stupid and indecisive, and only emailed him back a week later, with an email looking along the lines of:\n\n\n Dear Associate Professor X,\n \n I'm really sorry for the delayed response; I’d hoped to get back to\n you sooner. I've thought about this. I very much am grateful for your\n kind willingness to consider and would be pleased to meet up with you\n to better present myself, and work something out together.\n \n If it's not too late, when would you be free to meet? I promise not to\n dillydally again. I am free this entire week. Just let me know a time\n that works best for you.\n \n Yours sincerely,\n \n Las Nons\n\n\nIt's been about 2 days since I sent this reply, and he hasn't gotten back to me. When he first replied to me, it was on the same day I had sent him my first email.\n\nLooking at my reply, I realize I forgot to thank him (for his time and consideration) at the end of the email. Ending my email off the way I did could have made me seem entitled/presumptuous.\n\nDear reader, was my reply rude/presumptuous? I'm really worried I've offended him somehow. I'm thinking of waiting a day more, then sending him a follow-up email that includes an apology or something. Should I?\n\nIs this a gone case? What could I do to salvage this?\n\nThank you all for any input." ]

[ "etiquette", "university", "email", "internship" ]

[ "Reasons to do MS before applying for US PhD?", "I'm a Software Engineering (BS) graduate with first class honors, and I want to attend a US PhD program on artificial intelligence (international applicant). I know MS is not a prerequisite for a PhD in the U.S.\n\nHowever, I'm considering doing MS at a local university (not in US) for the following reasons:\n\n\nPublish some papers under my name during that time \nGet recommendations from good professors (Currently I don't have anyone who is aware of my work)\nObtain good mathematical background\nAs sneak peek on doing \"independent research\"\n\n\nDo you think the above given reasons are good reasons for me to follow MS or do you think that is a waste of time? \n\nAppreciate your opinion as I'm confused on making a decision." ]

[ "phd", "graduate-school", "masters", "united-states" ]

[ "Asking a Professor for a review of a university application research supplement", "As part of the application to a particular university, I can submit a research supplement which is a paper I have written which will be reviewed by the university's faculty. However, it must be accompanied by a letter from a 'research supervisor' regarding the work.\n\nThe paper I have written is based on a paper written by a professor from another university, and as I am currently in high school and none of the staff here can review it, I thought it would be great if I could get said professor to write such a letter.\n\nFirstly, would it be appropriate to send such a request, and is it likely to be fulfilled?\n\nNote: For the purposes of your answers, you may assume the paper is in fact correct, and a serious piece of research, which although it presents original results, is 'orthodox.' I am aware professors sometimes get sent crazy letters from people with wacky theories (I've even seen some crop up on the physics SE)." ]

[ "application" ]

[ "What to do with students requesting deadline extension due to the death of a relative (but without a doctor's note)?", "I am currently working as a teaching assistant for several courses in STEM in the US at the college level.\nDuring the past two semesters since Covid19 started, I have noticed that whenever a deadline is approaching, on or close to the day of the deadline, a student will inevitably email the instructors (including the TAs) an email requesting deadline extension due to the loss of a relative, which in turn has affected their mental states ("feeling stressed or depressed").\nNote that the death of a relative is a common but not the only scenario. We had another student who claimed to test positive for Covid on the due day, but curiously only requested a 48 hour extension to a deadline...While other students simply said something about being stressed out (by jobs, by other courses) and then immediately followed up with some suggested due dates which we should accommodate for the student (or the entire class).\nIn all these cases, the student has not obtained a doctor's note, which is the appropriate/standard way of requesting for extension. There has been no change to this policy since Covid.\nSince we need to approve the extensions and quickly, these sorts of emails always put us in a very tricky situation:\n\nit seems inappropriate to question about whether if a death has actually occurred, how the person is related to the student, or when it has occurred. We just take these claims to be true despite the scant details.\nsince the situation affects a relative, but not the student him/herself, therefore, this situation is often not distressful enough to have a formal doctor's note, i.e., serious depression or disability. So we would seem rude to send the student to go through this formal and often lengthy process, especially at a time where reaching a doctor is probably inconvenient for many.\n\nI am not sure what is the most appropriate way of dealing with these situation. And I have to stress we have not had this issue before Covid (I've been doing this for years). But this year we're dealing with this on a biweekly basis.\nCan experienced instructors chime in on how we can be considerate to the student's personal lives while also hold on to our standards and be vigilant with academic dishonesty?\nShould we just let these things go?\n\nThanks all for the replies, here is a follow up:\n\nit is multiple students, at the beginning of the year it would be 3-4 students per course, but now I guess when the semesters are heating up, its up to\n8 - 12 students (for the two courses combined).\n\nit is different students. With about 3 "recurring" students this semester. I haven't paid too much attention to their names.\n\nthe problem here are not the medical concerns or emotional stress, but the lack of formal certificate or a proof. We have been giving these extensions like freebies throughout the semester(s) but the assignments now have more weights and we want to be vigilant.\n\none of the course is my PI's course and I'm sort of the main contact person and we have been conducting this course for many years. The other course I'm the "lead" TA, so again I oversee a lot of these issues. The impact ultimately hits the TAs, as we need to account for all these asynchronous extensions/grading/accommodations.\n\nFor one of the course, we have a "we will aggregate the skipped assignment in your exam" policy. Students know this. The reason why they are requesting extension is because they do not want it to be aggregated. The other course we have been giving them 1 time extensions (even though its not in the course policy) and at least one student is requesting extension after the 1 time extension has been used." ]

[ "academic-life", "students", "teaching-assistant", "health", "course-design" ]

[ "Are there any high profile cases of conflict of interest in research?", "I am going to do a presentation about academic ethics for my class, and one of the themes are conflict of interest. As of now I have found only generic examples, such as research done with corporate funding, but never concrete examples. In addition, most concrete examples, I presume, are dull and minor. So are there any high profile case I can refer to as demonstration?" ]

[ "ethics", "conflict-of-interest", "academic-history" ]

[ "Is it possible to outsource some tasks of thesis writing? How and what kind of tasks?", "I think that thesis writing is a big project which can be divided into several small-scale tasks. The contribution of the thesis must be done with student himself/herself, but other tasks such as figure preparation, writing in LaTex, editing, training, advising, etc. can be outsourced. Am I right?\nIn your opinion what kind of tasks can be outsourced and how?" ]

[ "thesis", "writing", "service-activities" ]

[ "Etiquette of applying to current institution", "I am a postdoc and am currently applying to tenure-track faculty positions. I am unsure whether or not I should apply to my current institution. \n\nOn one hand, I would be happy to get a permanent position where I am. However, it seems like this might violate some social norm or custom. If I were to be rejected, that would feel rather personal, given that I see those who decided every day. Also, sitting through the competing job talks and meeting other candidates would be rather odd.\n\nWhat is the standard etiquette for this situation? Should I ask someone before applying? If so, how should I raise the subject? I assume the answer also depends on the area and country -- this is computer science in the US." ]

[ "computer-science", "united-states", "job-search", "postdocs" ]

[ "Can I call myself an assistant professor without a PhD?", "I've recently gotten a job as lecturer and economics course module developer at a new university this fall. The position is intended as permanent. There is opportunity for funded research but that isn't an objective of the chairs due to the newness of the university. \n\nWhat is strange is that the position is called \"Assistant Professor\" which makes no sense due to the size of the institution and the lack of research required by it (It is a private university).\n\nI am currently enrolled in a PhD program but have some time to defend my thesis. I'm wondering if it's fair to call myself an \"assistant professor\" or not being that I haven't been endowed with my PhD yet." ]

[ "titles", "assistant-professor", "lecturer" ]

[ "After my employment ends, can I keep working without pay at my current research center, on independent research?", "I have a bachelor degree in Computer Engineering. I worked as a Research Engineer in a Research Center. It was a fully paid Engineering position funded by European projects.\n\nHowever, my contract ended, and because there are not any more projects available at the moment, I can't be re-contracted.\n\nMy question:\n\nIs it possible for someone to work as a freelance researcher? I have an idea of a platform I would like to work on. The idea, I think, could easily even become a paper. Is it possible that I could continue to work in the research center without being paid, and try to perform some research of my own? Of course I could ask my supervisors about it, but the thing is, I don't know how to ask it.\n\nWhat I was thinking was they could provide me tools like the computer, mobile devices and a working desk to develop my idea (things that I was provided while working there). In the end it would be something that the university could present, but I would get credit for it for my CV, and it could be especially helpful in getting a good candidate position next year, in a Masters program I am aiming for.\n\nHow could I present an idea like this to my supervisor? Is it something that actually happens? \n\n\n\nSome notes in response to comments to clear things a bit: The problem is not that I need any kind of equipment to make my idea reality. At work I was provided a simple laptop and some mobile devices, that I can easily have access on my own, so nothing special there.\n\nThe reason why I would like to continue work there is as simple as that:\n\nI want to propose an idea of a platform that I would like to create and according to my estimates would be 9-12 months of work. I could do that from my house or by going to work at the research center. However, I need my supervisor to draw public/scientific attention, make a paper with him out of it etc. I want to be able to write in my CV that the last 9-12 months I was working on a project at \"that\" research center in cooperation with \"that\" researcher and not that it was a \"home\" project that I developed.\n\nI haven't made the proposition to my supervisor yet for the following reasons :\n\n\nI am afraid that my supervisor could simply use my idea with the engineers that still have a contract there.\nWhat I would like is to be the only one working on the project. Like a PhD thesis. I want to get credits of it. Not the research center. I want to get the credit as the main developer/author of this thing, and of course my supervisor be the one that would present it and his name next to mine. Is this even possible? I mean I don't want any other engineers sniffing their nose on it, I don't want my supervisor to demand things on the project. I am thinking of proposing a complete solution of exactly what I have in mind, let me work on it with my time, without any funding, but the supervisor be the one to present it and draw attention on it.\n\n\nIn the end all I am saying is to have this project on my CV to open some doors on the future and my supervisor being the mentor of this thing." ]

[ "computer-science", "independent-researcher", "engineering" ]

[ "Is providing an unpublished dataset worthy of coauthorship?", "I’m working on a paper and I realized I do not have an adequate dataset (for reference, this is in a subfield of machine learning), nor do I have the time to personally go and create one. A colleague and friend of mine offered to collect the data and give it to me, as it would be useful as a benchmark for some of his own experiments later. \n\nIn this case, “collecting data” means finding and equipping participants with technology to monitor them perform a simple task for a brief amount of time (5 min).\n\nSince this colleague is a personal friend whom I’ve worked with in the past, I have no qualms about listing him as a coauthor (and will most certainly do so, unless it is unethical for some reason). I am curious as to the general case of whether providing someone with an unpublished dataset is insufficient, sufficient or should guarantee coauthorship. I should emphasise that in my field, data is not something that begets the results but rather serves as a test to determine if a proposed technique or algorithm is well-suited to the task outlined by the data. \n\nTo put it simply: is providing data enough of a contribution to warrant coauthorship? Would it be unethical to list someone as a coauthor if they only created the dataset?" ]

[ "publications", "authorship", "data" ]

[ "Does one usually get a notification of receipt of a PhD application?", "I sent a PhD application almost 3 weeks ago on a thursday afternoon. As it happened, the next friday was a holiday. Something I noticed after sending the application.\n\nDoes one get a notification of receipt after sending an application?\n\nMy fear is that I sent the e-mail on thursday, when the PI and professor were already out. That, together with the 3 day weekend, and the mountain of mails probably coming on monday, buried my application and it went unnoticed." ]

[ "phd", "etiquette", "application" ]

[ "How to stay in connection with a professor when you want to apply for the position in his group in next quarter?", "I got a strong recommendation from my former supervisor. He wants to recommend me to one of his former colleagues who happens to have no position now. So I have to wait until the Spring Quarter. But I want to stay in contact with him because everything could happen during this period from now to next March. \n\nBasically, in that university, the professors have the absolute power. If I can get permission from him, I can secure this position. And I really value this opportunity as he is like among the top 5 in our field. \n\nHow should I do? I have no idea what should be in the email which could increase my admission chance and would not bother him. I guess he must be busy every day." ]

[ "phd", "graduate-admissions", "application", "professors" ]

[ "Repeating abbreviation in body text if already in chapter/section title", "This is a follow-on question to Is it reasonable to use full word and abbreviation in parenthesis in a chapter title?\n\nOne answer to that question indicates that in some cases, using an abbreviation in a chapter/section title is acceptable, other times not.\n\nIn the cases when it is acceptable, should you redefine the abbreviation before its first use in the chapter/section? Here is an example:\n\n\n\n\n Chapter 4 - Results of Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC)\n \n The apparent crystallographic phase transition of the sample material suggested that Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) was warranted to determine the phase transition temperature and heat capacity. The results of the DSC measurements follow." ]

[ "thesis", "writing", "formatting" ]

[ "Can it be disadvantageous to actively publish in completely different fields?", "I'm a researcher in a STEM field and work at an institute where research staff salaries (including mine) are dependent entirely on third-party grant money. I've already successfully obtained research grants and served as the PI for a few projects.\nIn my spare time (i.e., after I go home for the day) I very much enjoy reading and writing about topics in the humanities, and I have recently had contributions on these topics published as peer-reviewed articles in humanities journals. In retrospect I wonder whether having published in these venues was a good idea.\nThe problem has to do with my current and future grant proposals; some funding agencies require proposals to include a CV listing all of the applicant's peer-reviewed publications in the past n years. (And even for those agencies without such a rule, the reviewers can easily find all my publications online if they care to look.) I am wondering how the presence of my non-STEM publications will be viewed by the STEM proposal reviewers. Are these publications going to be interpreted negatively, as a lack of research focus on my part? Where feasible, should I include an explanation in my proposal CVs that these publications were avocational (and if so, how should I word this)? Should I entirely give up my beloved hobby of writing for humanities venues in order to better secure my funding prospects as a scientist? Or are my fears here entirely misplaced, there being no downside at all (or maybe even some benefit) to having the occasional humanities article in my publications list?\nTwo further things to note:\n\nI realize that there are a couple possible workarounds that I might try, such as using a pseudonym when publishing in the humanities, or simply omitting the humanities publications from the CVs I include with my grant proposals. However, both of these necessarily involve some deception or bending of the rules, and in any case won't take effect for the proposals I've already got under review.\n\nThere are already a couple of questions here about publishing in foreign fields (Can I publish in a field completely unrelated to my present field?, Is it good reputation for a researcher to publish an article belonging to different research field?), though these are from students who haven't yet started their PhD. My question is more about how an unorthodox publication list will affect STEM research grant applications specifically, for an applicant that already has a doctorate and some project lead experience." ]

[ "publications", "funding", "cv", "research-proposal", "stem" ]

[ "What can I do if I still have not recieved the rights review from ACM?", "We finished shepherding a paper recently and we still have not received the Association for Computing and Machinery (ACM) rights review to finalize our camera-ready which is due very soon. Our hotcrp page says accepted and we are cleared but we still have not received the rights review. I have reached out to the publicity chairs for the rights review email and they claim to have sent it but I have not received it. I don't know who else to ask because they have yet to reply to my emails where I ask again for the rights review link. I also do not want to turn in a not ready camera ready, what should I do?" ]

[ "acm" ]

[ "I suspect someone deliberately ruined my experiments by poisoning my lab insects. What should I do?", "I'm a graduate student who's currently working on an experiment involving some animals. I have two separate places where I keep my animals, and one of them is in a locked section of a lab (which is only accessible by myself, my PI, and a few other investigators).\nA few weeks ago when I came into the lab, I noticed that all of the animals in that locked section had died. Without going into too much detail, after a quick investigation I found that a gas valve must have been opened to kill the animals, and then closed again. It is impossible for the valve to open spontaneously, let alone open and close. I also determined that it couldn't have been a gas leak because I have a habit of always setting the valve to a certain position after closing it, and it wasn't exactly in that position when I checked it, so it must have been physically moved.\nI thought that maybe the stars unfortunately aligned and I had gone wrong somewhere for this to occur, so I left it alone and kept it to myself but have been careful to check the valve everyday afterward.\nA few days ago, the animals were dead once again. The valve had also been moved. Although I don't have concrete evidence, I'm strongly suspecting that either my PI (who I don't have the best relationship with) or another investigator in the lab is deliberately killing the animals. I don't know what to do now, who to approach, and what to say. My entire experiment is now also in jeopardy. What steps do I take?\nClarifications / responses to comments:\n\nThe "animals" are insects, so "animal care regulations" are limited\nNo one has commented on the deaths. My section of the lab is rarely used, so they may not have noticed.\nThere are no security cameras." ]

[ "research-process", "supervision" ]

[ "Reporting attempt at cheating", "To help finance my studies, I have been offering tutoring services for other students throughout the past year. Business has been good and students have been grateful for the help I have given them.\n\nToday, a student I tutored one year ago e-mailed me and asked me to write an online exam for them, saying that they would compensate me financially for this \"service\". I was quite frankly offended that they could think, that I would go along with such a scheme.\n\nObviously I will reject the offer, but how should I go about doing this and what additional steps should I take? Should I simply not respond, or should I follow my inclination to chastise the student for even making the suggestion? While they have yet to actually cheat, I am strongly considering contacting their professor to alert them to the situation; if I reject the offer, the student is likely to contact someone else with lower moral standards. \n\nBelow is the full e-mail I received with identifying information redacted:\n\n\"I don't know if you remember me, but you help me with [Course 1] during summer 2019. I am taking a [Course 2] deferral exam [on date] and due to the situation right now and the fact that I moved back home temporarily, I am not going to have enough time to study. The exam will be fully online and based on multiple-choice and short-answer questions. That said, I was wondering if you would ever consider taking the exam for me, I would never ask this if the exam will be in person, I am lacking time and I know is feasible because it is only. You will only need to login into my [student portal] and perform the exam. I will compensate you of course and I am open to the price. I left a copy of the textbook online and the final exam 2019 ( The professor said that it will be very similar). Please let me know if you decide to proceed with this or not.\"\n\nEdit 1:\nBelieve it or not, I have just received yet another request from a different student independently of the first one. \n\nEdit 2:\nI gathered the evidence I had and reported both students to the university administration." ]

[ "ethics", "cheating" ]

[ "Peer-reviewing process of an article", "I am doing a PhD and I have submitted an article to be peer-reviewed 9 months ago to a certain journal. I haven't got any response yet from the journal, their server indicates the \"Under review\" status. \nThe problem is, I cannot wait more longer since the acceptance of the article is a requirement to validate my PhD.\n\nDo you think I can stop the reviewing process and send it to another journal?\nWhat if I sent it to another journal at the same time?\nOr, would the reviewing process speeds up if, e.g. I pay for the open access?\n\nEDIT:\n\nI forgot to mention that the status cited above stipulates that:\n\n\n At least one Reviewer has accepted to review the submisѕion, however the required number of reviews for the submisѕion have not yet been received.\n\n\nI have provided 5 names for the peer-reviewing process of my article, and mentioned that 1 potential reviewer from another university should not review it (because of competitive reasons)." ]

[ "publications", "phd", "peer-review" ]

[ "'Virtual' postdoc (in math)", "Assume that a given postdoctoral position does not require teaching/laboratory.\n\n\n Are there postdoc positions for someone who wishes to stay in his/her country and just be in touch with the post-doc advisor by e-mail or/and Skype?\n\n\nPerhaps communicating only by e-mail may be slightly annoying for some people, so I also suggested Skype.\n\nIn my opinion (but correct me if I am wrong), there should be no difference between live meetings and Skype meetings. \n\nRemark: Truly, I am asking about a post-doc position in mathematics, but I guess that my question is also relevant for other fields.\n\nEdit: I wish to thank all the people answering (or commenting on) my question." ]

[ "mathematics", "postdocs", "supervision", "remote-work" ]

[ "Interview for a faculty position after accepting a postdoc offer", "I recently talked with a professor about his offer to me a postdoc position. Later on I was notified about an interview for a tenure-track faculty position. So, I am wondering, if I have accepted the Postdoc offers, can I still proceed with the faculty position interview? I don't want to lose the postdoc offer, and also the opportunity of the faculty position. How should I deal with the situation without causing any ethic issues?" ]

[ "postdocs", "faculty-application" ]

[ "Compound used in publication", "There is a paper in which the authors find a compound that is antimicrobial. I would like to experiment with it (I haven't yet asked the authors for it), but I'm anticipating the worst, that is that they will refuse. What can be done there? Are they obligated to provide the compound besides requesting being paid for postage and other expenses?" ]

[ "responsibilities" ]

[ "Enter academia with no undergraduate degree (only professional experience)", "I'm wondering whether there's any way to enter the academic world, do research at a university for a living, without an undergraduate degree, but instead with several years of experience in industry (the same field of the research).\n\nThis is actually my situation. After 8 years of software development in several professional environments, I want to enter the academic world. But I'm frustrated about having to go back to the basics." ]

[ "undergraduate", "industry" ]

[ "Research in computational neuroscience or computational medicine in Europe", "How popular is research in computational neuroscience, or computational medicine in (mainland) Europe? I'm aware that INRIA in France does some good work, but do you know any other such groups and what kind or topic of research do they so? Many thanks!" ]

[ "research-process", "mathematics", "europe", "research-topic", "biology" ]

[ "Is it common to work concurrently on projects with PIs other than your advisor?", "Is this a common occurrence? Or is there some expectation to remain loyal to one's advisor and only do projects related to his/her vision. Field is computer science." ]

[ "phd", "advisor", "collaboration" ]

[ "Releasing all lecture materials at once vs. releasing materials lecture by lecture", "Some teachers decide to release all lecture materials (e.g. prepared lecture notes, slides for presentations) at once at the beginning of the term, while some others release their materials gradually (i.e. releasing the lecture materials a few hours/days before the corresponding lecture), even though all materials are the same as the previous year.\n\nWhat are the pedagogical advantages of not releasing all lecture materials at once at the beginning of the term?\n\nI am especially interested in graduate-level computer science (machine learning) education in the US, in case the answer is country, field or level dependent." ]

[ "teaching", "slides", "lecture-notes" ]

[ "How do I modify the abstract in Arxiv (without changing the paper)", "I recently changed the location of a link to be in the abstract part. While it works perfectly in the paper, the link doesn't work of Arxiv (the main page) because it's in the end of a sentence and they added the \".\" to the link instead of realizing that it's the end of the sentence.\nDo I need to resubmit even though i'm not changing the actual paper? How terrible is increasing the version of a paper (I'll probably have to change it again in a month or two)?" ]

[ "paper-submission", "arxiv", "hyperlinks" ]

[ "Asking the other professor (as other paper's co-author) to cover the conference expenses", "I've just prepared a paper in cooperation with my own supervisor, in addition to the other faculty member at our department. Recently, my supervisor has just declared that he can not cover the registration and travel costs to attend the conference. Furthermore, I have no chance, currently, to apply for any financial fund from the university.\n\nMy last chance is asking that faculty member (is who the paper's coauthor) to pay for, but I am not sure about the credibility of such request. Is it?!\n\nI am also concerned that if I ask the co-author such a thing, she might think that our cooperation with her was just solely due to finding someone else to pay for the paper (which is a totally unfair and wrong argument.)" ]

[ "conference", "etiquette", "fees" ]

[ "Should I mention strong engagements on the CV which are not related to the domain", "I want to get in touch with some professors for PhD applications. Thus I will send them my CV and I am wondering if I should mention achievements and engagements which are in general strong, but not related to the domain of the PhD. (I want to do a CS related PhD)\n\nE.g. organizing conferences, McKinsey distinguished, Delegate at International Relation conferences, Banking Conferences, etc.\n\nIs it beneficial to mention it or in contrary even counterproductive?" ]

[ "phd", "application", "cv" ]

[ "Plagiarism or self-plagiarism, when there are multiple non-coinciding authors", "How plagiaristic is it when one of the authors A,B or C, who wrote together a paper, reuses part of this paper in a second publication, written with D and E?\n\nIs that still self-plagiarism? Is that worse than when a single author plagiarizes his previous work?" ]

[ "plagiarism", "self-plagiarism" ]

[ "Is your peer-reviewing service ever important for career advancement?", "Recently, there have been a couple of active questions on Publons (e.g., Publons - is it a serious thing? and Is it worth creating a profile with Publons?). One of the supposed selling points is that it allows people evaluating you to verify the peer review work you've done. At least one user says your peer-reviewing is one criterion used for promotion.\n\nI am in pure math at a public research university in the US, somewhat senior, and I don't recall ever having seen any real discussion of a job/tenure/promotion candidate's peer-reviewing activities in the evaluation process. It is a given that you do some refereeing, and it counts as part of your service to the community, but unless you state that you do an exceptional amount of refereeing or consistently referee for the very top journals, I probably won't even notice your reviewing activities. If I do notice, I will quickly forget. (I don't list the journals I review for or how many reviews I do on my CV, and I believe this is reasonably common in math. So I wouldn't even know if someone I'm evaluating isn't doing any reviewing.)\n\nHowever, the nature and expectations for peer review for pure math seems to be quite a bit different from other fields.\n\nQuestion: Are there departments that, say for hiring, tenure or promition, use candidate's peer-reviewing activities in a signficant way in the evaluation process? If so, what kind of departments use this and how?\n\n(While \"significant\" may be somewhat hard to pin down, two examples are: peer reviewing regularly gets discussed when evaluating candidates, or if there is some formula for numerically scoring faculty which incorporates peer-reviewing activities.)" ]

[ "peer-review", "evaluation-criteria" ]

[ "How do I find graduate level topics and textbooks after graduating?", "I've recently finished a MS in computer engineering and long term it's likely that I'll look into doing a PhD. One of the reasons I didnt do it straight away is that I dont really have a clue what I'd like to do it in. I enjoyed parts of EE, CE, applied mathematics, and CS. \n\nBoth to maybe look for what areas I'd most like and just for general knowledge, I'd like to buy a few textbooks and self study topics. However, I've got no clue what's... next?\n\nWhere can I find what's next, if that makes sense? Like, in undergrad, you take an intro circuits class, then Electronics 1 which introduces transistors, then Electronics 2 which has advanced amplifier circuits etc. It builds. I'm not sure what builds on what I've studied from here. I understand these topics \"build\" in undergrad in a cleaner, linear way since they're designed to, and now theres a plethora of options, but what are they? Where do I start looking?\n\nBy the end of my degree, I was just reading course descriptions and taking whatever sounded interesting/applicable to my thesis. This worked extremely well. Now that I'm graduated, however, I dont have easy access to up to date course listings. I've been reading random course listings at universities, but they're not helpful, and dont always list textbooks. \n\nFor reference, my favorite courses at the end of my degree were:\n\nDigital signal processing, Dynamic optimization (optimal control), Linear systems theory, Intelligent systems, Compiler theory, and Nonlinear optimization \n\nLet me know if this would fit better elsewhere." ]

[ "graduate-school", "books", "independent-researcher" ]

[ "Is being a volunteer useful for academic prospective", "Is being a maths \"tutor\" volunteer at sites like MATHNERDS useful in terms of \"good impression\" for future academic prospectives?" ]

[ "application" ]

[ "JCR publication required to enrol in PhD program - is it common?", "I've been told (by unreliable sources) that many universities are now requiring their PhD applicants to have published something at a good venue (good conference or JCR-listed journal) prior to enrolling in their PhD programs. Is that true/reasonable?\n\nMore generally, are master's students normally expected to produce publications?" ]

[ "publications", "phd" ]

[ "Focusing on GRE, subject GRE, TOEFLS, IELTS before applying?", "Applying to the US:\n\nI just finished my master's in mathematical finance. I want to apply for a PhD in math (but not in mathematical finance).\n\nCan I start applying this year while studying and taking exams (GRE, subject GRE, IELTS, TOEFLS), or might my time be better spent on the latter?\n\nI'm fluent in English, it's my only language, and I have a master's in math so I don't expect the GRE, IELTS or TOEFLS to be too difficult, but I may have to spend a lot of time studying for the Math GRE, which appears to be the equivalent of an LSAT/MCAT for master's or PhD and a bar exam/USMLE for bachelor's or master's.\n\nWhat is the common practice in this matter? Do graduate school applicants first focus on studying and taking GRE, subject GRE, IELTS, TOEFLS, etc and then worry about applications after?\n\nSuppose a graduate school applicant intends to study for one of those. On average how long does it take to study for, apply for, take one of those exams once (for the sake of example) and get the test (just one, for example) score?" ]

[ "graduate-admissions", "graduate-school", "mathematics", "united-states", "gre" ]

[ "Including Patients' Pictures in a Manuscript", "I am going to include some pictures of patients in my manuscript, which will be submitted to a scientific journal for peer review. In order to keep the subjects’ identity and following the data protection act, I need to hide their faces.\n\nMy question is to know whether to put a black rectangle over their faces, especially their eyes or pixelising their faces. I have been told that putting a black rectangle is not recommended for this purpose, but I have never been told the reason.\n\nCould somebody please let me know first that:\n\n\nWhich method is better?\nIs that the case that blackening the face is not recommended. If true, why?" ]

[ "journals", "paper-submission", "graphics", "medicine", "privacy" ]

[ "Lack of team support in post-PhD Mathematics career", "I received my PhD in mathematics about ten years ago. Despite my preference, desire, and attempts, I was not offered any postdoctoral positions. Part of the reason was (I think) that my dissertation topic was outdated, as opposed to being trendy. Since then, I have accepted a couple of tenure-track positions in teaching-oriented institutions, the second at a two-year Community College and in two years from now I will most probably be tenured. However, I constantly struggle with existential questions. I am not where I wanted to be. Granted, I have a job, but if my goal was to have a job, I was totally capable of aiming at a higher-paying job, instead of mathematics, when I was deciding what to study at college. As a teenager what intrigued me about mathematics (and still does) was its beauty and the opportunity it provided me for being creative through research and continuous learning. However, since my PhD the processes of research and learning have been very slow, despite my continuous attempts. For a long time I used to think the reason was lack of time due to heavy teaching load. While that may have contributed to the problem, I now think a bigger reason is lack of team support. There is a disconnect between my job and my research. I don't have people (graduate students, researchers, etc.) around me to whom I can talk about my research, everyday or every week. Consequently, the ratio of outcome to the time that I spend on research and learning new things is very small. So what are my questions?\n\n\nIdeally I would have liked to be part of a team, a lab if you like, consisting of one or two senior mathematicians (lab leaders), research assistants (mathematicians like myself who are not young enough to be postdocs, but still need to develop their research plans), postdocs, and graduate students. My question is, does such a model exist anywhere?\nAre there any options for mathematicians who really are not after a secure job and prefer to work as research assistants (paid less), rather than tenured \"calculus teaching\" faculty who do not meet age requirements to be considered for postdoctoral positions?\nSuppose someone (e.g., myself) didn't know better and did his dissertation on a topic that was not trendy and because of that couldn't secure a postdoctoral position. Is that the end of their career as a research mathematician? Are there any other options? What would you suggest?" ]

[ "research-process", "career-path", "mathematics", "funding", "postdocs" ]

[ "During a UG physics degree , what other certificate/diploma courses can i simultaneously pursue which would be of use in a physics career?", "During a UG physics degree , what other certificate/diploma courses can i simultaneously pursue which would be of use in a physics career ?\n\nI hear many colleges offer such optional courses along with main course." ]

[ "career-path", "physics", "coursework", "early-career" ]

[ "Producing a bibliography by chapter – have one reference in two chapters", "I am organising my bibliography by chapter to make for easier reading.\n\nHowever, I have one source that I use in two chapters. Do I just include the reference in the bibliography for this in the first chapter it appears in?" ]

[ "citations", "thesis", "books" ]

[ "Need advise on a career in academia", "I am desperately looking for a sense of direction. I am about to start a career in academia and I am..I guess scared. My Ph.D. was something, it was enlightening, to say the least. I do not have too many publications, just 6 to 7 in total. In my second year of Postdoc received an offer for this tenure-track faculty position at a teaching-intensive university. Here is the problem: \n1. The start-up money is pretty small, I don't know if I might be able to get my research up and going(even for preliminary data) They do not have a Ph.D. program, only masters. \n2. I don't know if I can get a grant from the NIH based on having my publication number. Also, some NIH grants are not for H1B visa holders. \n3. I cannot use my postdoc to generate data (That was one of the things that someone suggested to me). Not all PIs like that, also my postdoc funding agency doesn't include a portion for research, only stipend. \n\nDid anyone make it through with something like this? How did you do it? How and which grants do you think I could apply to bring money in for a lab?" ]

[ "funding", "tenure-track", "academic-life", "productivity", "faculty" ]

[ "Is it worth applying for a job to community colleges in the US as a foreigner (no visa)?", "Would a small college (e.g., community college) in the US be interested in employing some PhD graduate (as an instructor) that does not already have a visa? Would they bother do the bureaucratic work needed?" ]

[ "teaching", "united-states", "university", "visa", "community-college" ]

[ "My supervisor said they are working on my offer", "My proposed PhD supervisor told me the department is currently working on my offer. \n\nDoes that mean my admission is guaranteed? And what can they be doing?" ]

[ "graduate-admissions" ]

[ "Who gives a consent for data publication?", "I spent a year in a foreign country. Now I am at home.\n\nThe problem is that my advisor and me did not prepare any research publication. My project was to arrange for some experiments which my advisor wanted to publish together with the other researchers' experiment. These researchers are not in the advisor institution. \n\nI finished my job successfully but the second party did not (their explanations are like they are not satisfied with the results). My input looks publishable as a separate paper but my advisor does not give their consent. Despite almost a year passed from the initial deadline of our coworkers, they are unable to contribute. \n\nIs there anything I can do to publish the results of my own work? \n\nPlease do not suggest writing regular reminders, I do this routinely, however, it seems that this project is not on the top of the priority list of anyone except myself. Sorry to be verbose..." ]

[ "postdocs" ]

[ "How to overcome lack of ideas periods?", "As a background, I am a PhD student in Physics. I have published 3 papers with my supervisor and 3 without my supervisor,as an independent work. After all these, I reached a point where I don't have any good ideas anymore. I don't know what direction I should approach. I have some ideas, some of them are not so good being too simple, and others too complex and might be done in long periods of 2-3 years. the question would be on how to increase productivity and find new good paper ideas?" ]

[ "publications" ]

[ "Research Associate job reposted, shiould I reach out to the PI?", "I applied for a research associate position when I was at the final stage of my Ph.D. The job description matches my profile with 80%, the 20% included some scientific skills that I didn't have, but they said that they're considering applicants who are willing to learn. This was perfect for me cause this is I have seen those concepts that they're asking for when I was a Master's student, I just didn't have a detailed knowledge of those concepts.\nI have prepared hard for the interview and even started reading some research articles. Basically, I started working on my own cause I loved the project. But the surprising thing is that I didn't hear from them at all!. When I reached to the HR team, they said that 'they raised the bar pretty high and only choose candidates who are a close match', my initial reaction was laughing but I decided to take the L and move on.\nA few days later, I noticed that the job is re-posted again (previous applicants will not be considered). I also completed my Ph.D and I am available immediately. The job description is still the same and it's really frustrating cause I deserved an interview at least. I want to write an email to the PI, is this a good idea?" ]

[ "application", "postdocs", "job", "recruiting" ]

[ "Is it okay to change advisors in the same university between Masters and PhD?", "I have almost finished my master's in Computer Science the only reason that I don't want to directly continue with a PhD is my advisor and co-advisor. I was left out during almost all my master's projects and it has been a bad experience.\nIs it okay to finish a master's and look for another advisor from the same university? How can I explain my decision to my advisor?" ]

[ "phd", "masters", "advisor", "computer-science", "communication" ]

[ "My PhD supervisor want to add his name on a paper from my MSc work", "I just started my PhD and I was planning to submit a paper from my MSc work to a conference soon. The paper was finished before I join my PhD program. \n\nNow my new PhD supervisor want to add his name and his post-doc name on the paper. He asked me to send the paper for his post-doc to review and then add both their names. Although my previous supervisor already reviewed the paper. \n\nHow should I proceed? My new supervisor definitely has no contribution in the paper and feels like he just wants his name on more papers with no regard to how he contributed." ]

[ "publications", "phd", "ethics", "paper-submission", "authorship" ]

[ "Applying for PhD programs abroad while doing one in your home country", "In September I am starting the second year of PhD in my home country. At the same time, I am also going to apply for foreign PhD programs in the same science this year. It has always been my intent to apply for PhD in a prestigious American or European university. The reason I didn’t do it one year ago is that I wanted to gain some more working experience and knowledge before leaving to work abroad. Now I feel that I’m ready. What is more, now I have publications and good CV with talks at conferences, short research visits and such things. \n\nI would like to know, what is the general point of view on such PhD applicants as me? Should I mention in my applications that I want to do double PhD or maybe not even mention this at all? \n\nI should say that applying abroad, I don’t intend to leave the PhD program I’m currently doing. I know many students who obtained their master’s degrees at my university and then applied for PhDs abroad and left to other countries and at the same time were accepted to continue our PhD program. Now they are doing double PhDs, you could say. Of course, their situation was slightly different at the moment of applying, as the universities that accepted them didn’t know if they were actually interested in doing double PhD. However, practically it doesn’t seem to make any difference now." ]

[ "phd" ]

[ "Can a postdoc apply for a standard NSF grant as a PI?", "I have been searching for an answer, to no avail. I would like to apply for a grant for preconference funding. I know NSF has awarded such grants in the past, but I don't know if they will award a grant to a postdoc. My advisor would not be involved in this application, but other faculty at other institutions would be involved. So another option would be to write the grant myself and have someone who is faculty be the PI and I would be the co-I. But I want to know if that's necessary. Yet another option could be to have a faculty as the co-I and me as the PI, which may be more strategic than me doing it alone, but again, not sure if this is even possible.I have tried to reach out to the program officer but she has been unresponsive. I know they are busy but I wrote a very concise message with an informative subject line and she seemed to just assume I was looking for postdoc funding and sent a link for that. :(" ]

[ "funding", "nsf" ]

[ "I want to apply for a Masters degree but have a low average, what can I do?", "I´m a recently graduated mechanical engineer, I want to apply for a Masters degree but my average is quite low for a lot of universities requirements, what can I do in order to be more eligible?" ]

[ "masters", "engineering" ]

[ "Can I directly start a French Masters 2 with a UK 4 year integrated masters?", "I'm currently in my fourth and final year of my UK masters degree in Physics. The course is accredited as an MSci, equivalent to doing a 3 year Bsc followed by a 1 year Msc.\n\nI'd like to apply to study nuclear engineering at Universite Paris-Saclay in France. The masters available there consists of a Masters 1 and a Masters 2, 2 successive years of study. I'm trying to find out if it's possible to start directly in the Masters 2, but it's difficult to figure out what exactly my MSci will be equivalent to. The course states it requires a Masters 1 or equivalent, but with no information on what it considers sufficient.\n\nUnder the bologna process, the UK masters is equivalent to the French (nominally), so in theory I'll already be above the required level.\n\nDoes anyone know of a student starting a French masters in the second year?" ]

[ "masters", "university" ]

[ "Is it considered rude to point out typos, by sending an email to the reviewer, in a MathSciNet review?", "Is it considered rude to point out typos, by sending an email to the reviewer, in a MathSciNet review?\n\nWill they be able to correct the typo, easily, with out involving MathSciNet technical team?" ]

[ "mathematics", "errors-erratum", "review-databases" ]

[ "Why is it disadvantageous in graduate admissions to have a higher degree?", "JeffE's answer here indicates that holders of a master’s degree are held to higher standards when it comes to graduate admissions. The stated requirements for some graduate programs (example from UC Berkeley) also outright exclude applicants with doctoral degrees. These seem to be saying that holding a higher degree prior to application is a disadvantage (a fatal one in the case of a PhD).\nThis also applies to private universities: Stanford apparently has the same restriction (at least in computer science); same goes for MIT.\n\nI don't understand why:\n\n\nIf there are two applicants, Alice and Bob, who have achieved largely similar things, it seems logical that both should have a roughly equal chance of being admitted. However, based on JeffE's answer, if Alice has a Masters degree while Bob does not, it's Bob that gets admitted instead of Alice. JeffE's answer even indicates that if Alice has achieved slightly more than Bob, it's still Bob that gets admitted. \nIf graduate admissions is looking for students that are capable of succeeding in its program, then Alice should be more likely to succeed than Bob since she's already had some experience of graduate study. This should be even more the case if Alice already has a PhD – if she can do it once, she should be able to do it again. \n\n\nJeffE's answer indicates that since Alice has had more opportunities than Bob, she should also be held to higher standard. However it should also be true that Alice has already achieved what Bob has yet to and in fact might not be able to achieve. Further, JeffE's answer seems to be saying that Alice should do the academic equivalent of financial engineering and pass her graduate-level courses & thesis without getting a master’s degree even if she qualifies for it, which sounds silly.\n\nAs for applicants with PhD degrees, my first guess would be that this is because multiple PhDs is not a good idea, and the university is acting in the applicant's best interests. However if this is the case, then this is effectively telling the applicant \"I know what you want better than you do\", which also sounds silly. UC Berkeley's requirements also seem to be saying that if someone with a CV worthy of a tenured position were to apply for a PhD student position, the university will say \"no\" even though it's clearly better in their best interests (in terms of research output) to say \"yes\". \n\nPresumably I'm misunderstanding something because if this behavior were irrational, it would already have been changed. What am I missing?\n\nEDIT: I wonder if things are different in programs where the student is involved in research directly without spending time on coursework?" ]

[ "graduate-admissions", "second-degree" ]

[ "Should I do another PhD?", "I have completed my PhD in chemistry in an area which doesn’t have scope to get job or a postdoc position. \n\nNow I’m at the age of 29–30, I’m not eligible to write CSIR, a public eligibility test for lectureship and PhD admissions in India, but I’m eligible to write GATE-2016, (Graduate Aptitude Test for Engineering) another public test whose score (valid for 2 years) is also considered for PhD admissions in India and some other countries like Singapore. Shall do another PhD with a valued GATE score again, in my selected field of chemistry?\nThe only stipend available for me is from GATE score." ]

[ "phd", "career-path", "india" ]

[ "Plagiarism using reviews in a thesis?", "As the title says, I'm writting my thesis and I am looking through many reviews, since they easily collect all the useful information that is general and it would take me too much time to find by my own. They also have a nice structure and \"storyline\", which makes it easier to read (and I doubt I could improve, despite connecting the different fields that are relevant to me).\n\nMy question is, if I follow the structure of a review, many of their citations, but I don't copy their sentences (I reformulate most of them when possible, skip some and add some extra from other reviews), is it considered plagiarism? Should I cite the review(s)? And how? Should I forget about all I've done and start from scratch?\n\nThank you!" ]

[ "plagiarism" ]

[ "Is it wise/ethical to take up a TT position with a desire to leave?", "I'm currently deciding whether to take up a tenure-track faculty position. It's a good position (R1, top-50 department in USNWR ranking), but I'm not very excited about it. In particular, the location is not to my liking. So I would seek to move elsewhere if I took up the position. That is, I would conduct another job search in 2-5 years.\n\nThis seems to me to be potentially unwise (as I have been told that it is hard to move between TT positions) and it also seems potentially unethical.\n\nMy alternative is to do another postdoc and try the job market again in 2 years or so. That also seems potentially unwise, as I have no idea what the job market will be like then and I may end up with even worse options. I'm also worried that I'll start to look \"old\" as a candidate, as I'm already 2 years out of my PhD.\n\nI have talked to a few people. They have given me conflicting advice and they are not particularly able to relate to my situation, so I want to ask for some other perspectives.\n\nMy specific questions:\n\n1) Is it unethical to take up a TT position with a desire to leave it? I.e. would it upset people when I end up searching for another job.\n\n2) When evaluating TT candidates, does it look better to have 2 more years of postdoc or a few years as an Assistant Professor?\n\n3) In general, is a second job search usually more/less successful than the first one? What factors might determine this?" ]

[ "computer-science", "united-states", "job-search", "tenure-track" ]

[ "Should you talk about your other research areas in a tenure-track job talk?", "I'm invited to give a seminar talk on a topic of my own choosing during my tenure-track position interview. Am I supposed to make it a \"true\" seminar talk about one specific topic, or should I also (briefly) discuss other areas I'm working on? \n\n(The other research areas are somewhat remote to the actual topic of the talk, so it's not easy to naturally integrate them.)" ]

[ "job-search", "faculty-application" ]

[ "What kind of Visa is required to work in Academia in Japan?", "As from title. What kind of visa class do I have to apply for, in order to work as an academic in Japan ?" ]

[ "job-search", "visa", "japan" ]

[ "Should accomplishments be included in a CV? If so, how?", "I imagine most academics have done a number of unique things that are noteworthy, but might not clearly fit into the standard CV categories. Such things might include: \n\n\nBeing featured in a high-profile documentary about one's research\nDiscovering asteroids or exoplanets\nSignificant contributions to open-source software\nDesigning/maintaining a public-outreach website \n??? \n\n\nShould these be featured in a \"Miscellaneous\" category, or somehow massaged into an existing category? Or, should they be omitted entirely? (If something should be omitted, what is the criteria for keeping/omitting it?)" ]

[ "cv" ]

[ "What do I write as response for an academic misconduct investigation?", "I am a first year student at a UK university and submitted an essay for one of the courses a couple of months ago. Now, I received an email in which I am informed that some passages of my essay are too similar to the sources, and that the sources were not satisfactorily referenced. I have never worked by a reference system before, because my country doesn't use any. I have 10 days to write them back, and if I don't, a formal investigation will be carried against me for possible academic misconduct. What should I say in the written statement and is my lack of experience a good enough motive?" ]

[ "university", "plagiarism", "cheating" ]

[ "Is PhD worth it when considering your career in industry", "I'm a beginning doctoral student in the field of Machine Learning and I've been given several contradicting opinions on whether a PhD is worth it or not. I don't want to spend the rest of my life in front of a desk doing research, but I would like to deepen my understanding on my field. I am interested for a career on industry. Some people say I'm wasting my time for doing the PhD and some people say it is worth it. My plan at the moment is to finish PhD as fast as possible and then continue my career in industry when I'm still young. Any opinions or recommendations on what I should do? :) \n\nP.S. \n\nI want to add to this that I have already 2,5 years of work experience on industry (IT) already. For example I designed and implemented an online language skill tester for my university and have worked as a software engineer. So I wouldn't be entirely newbie in programming after I finish my PhD...\n\nMy subject is about applying the techniques of Machine Learning on Big Data. \n\nThank you for any suggestions and guidelines :)" ]

[ "phd", "career-path" ]

[ "Letter of Recommendation Without Contact from the Student", "On my web page, I ask students who want a letter of recommendation to talk with me about it. I also ask for specific information, such as what classes they took, how they distinguished themselves, etc. The purpose, of course, is to write strong letters for the good students and to encourage others to ask someone else.\n\nToday I received an automated letter of recommendation request (from the institution to which he applied) for a student who graduated years ago from a different institution. I know from my own records how he did in my classes, but I have no other information available. I have no contact information for the student.\n\nI can write a semi-strong letter based on grades alone, I can ask the institution to which he applied for contact information, or I can continue to try to track him down some other way. (I've already tried the usual methods of Google, Facebook, etc.)\n\nShould I write the semi-strong letter, contact the institution to which he applied, or do some third thing?" ]

[ "recommendation-letter" ]

[ "Should I contact a potential PhD supervisor who strongly encouraged me to apply after not having heard from my application?", "I have applied to an interdisciplinary program in a very top US university. My undergrad is in one of the fields involved. Back in November, I contacted a potential PhD supervisor (sending him my CV). We had a chat over Zoom, and he told me that I "will get offers". He told me has spoken about me to a Prof at my current institution who knows me, and based on my background, we started discussion potential projects and co-supervisors. He encouraged me to chat with one of his current grad students, whose undergrad is on the same field as mine. When I chatted with the PhD student, he was really trying to "sell" me the university. He told me that it was very likely that I will get invited for an interview and get offers. It's now February and:\n\nI haven't heard anything from the program\nIn gradcafe, at least 2 students mentioned that they were invited for interviews in December\nI asked the PhD student if he knows anything, he said he doesn't.\n\nShould I contact the potential supervisor, in case my application was overlooked and he can still do something? (He is not on the main committee of the program, though.) On the other hand, I am afraid of looking impatient or unpolite, and ruining my remaining chances of getting in.\n(Note: I am an international student, studying outside the US. Is there any chance that international applications are processed later, or don't get interviews because of timezones?)" ]

[ "phd", "application", "interview", "international-students" ]

[ "How much time should someone take to respond to a PhD admission offer?", "I have received an admission offer for a PhD at a prestigious US university. However I am also currently working in another lab outside the US with a potential to also receive PhD admission there.\n\nI think the deadline to respond to the US school is April 15 but the professor asked me politely to give an answer within a reasonable amount of time, also my former supervisor (which has no interest in the matter) suggest not to string along the US school and try to make a decision well before the deadline.\n\nI feel it might be unethical to wait the last minute because I respect the professor and he might lose good potential candidates. On the other hand I want to wait and see if there is a concrete possibility of pursuing a PhD at this other place." ]

[ "phd", "graduate-admissions" ]

[ "Can a professor refuse to introduce any textbook for a course?", "In a technical course, our professor refused to introduce any textbook. He officially stated (included in the course syllabus) that all the course content will be discussed in the class, and cover all questions in the final exam.\n\nI think this is a trick to bring the students to the class instead of relying on self-study.\n\nI do not have problem with this method, as I regularly attend the class, but it would be easier to have a textbook.\n\nMy question: can a professor do this? Isn't it the essential right of students to have appropriate textbooks for each course?" ]

[ "teaching", "coursework", "books" ]

[ "Practical implications of noting \"equally contributing authors\"", "I was recently reading a paper on which the author list had an interesting twist: both the first and second author had an asterisk next to their name, with the footnote \"these authors contributed equally.\"\n\nI'm curious about the practical implications of such a scenario. Obviously, one is listed first and one is listed second (in this case, alphabetical, by last name), and that's how it'll be displayed in citations. However, can the second listed author—who is supposed to be given equal weight to first author regarding credit—list their name first on their CV, even though its listed differently in the journal? Are there any other implications I'm not considering?" ]

[ "publications", "authorship" ]

[ "Should a research statement for a faculty job have references in it?", "If you are applying for a faculty job in computer science in a US university, should your research statement have references to research papers in it?" ]

[ "faculty-application", "research-statement" ]

[ "If a potential professor said he did not accept any more PhD students this year, could I reach to another professor?", "I applied to a PhD program. I contacted one professor and told him that I would like to join in his research team. He replied to me that he was unlikely to take on any direct advisees this year. He also said:\n\n\n It is not necessary to be adopted into a specific research group in order to be accepted into the program; you can be accepted into the program, assigned an adviser, and then work with some other professors. I will keep an eye out for your application.\n\n\nWhat can I do now? Do I need to contact another professor?" ]

[ "phd", "graduate-admissions" ]

[ "How to prepare for STEM graduate program while in industry?", "I recently graduated with my bachelor's in Electrical Engineering and started working in industry. During my undergraduate work, I had always planned on going back to school, but it wasn't until shortly before graduating that I realized that I really wanted to pursue academia and become a professor. I only applied for the graduate program at my own school during senior year, since I didn't have connections anywhere else at the time. I wasn't accepted, but I recognize now that I'm not quite ready for grad school.\n\nNow that I'm in industry, I've been working on goals to help prepare me for grad school in 3-5 years from now. I've been going over my old math courses to crack down on the basics, reading academic journals in my area of interest, and using my remaining free time to study and work on projects in areas that will make me more knowledgeable.\n\nThis is something I’m really driven to reach, and willing to put in the hours to accomplish. What other things can I be doing in this time before reapplication to better prepare me and make me a more competitive candidate for grad school? (Besides the obvious, like a good GRE score)" ]

[ "graduate-school", "application", "preparation" ]