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Somebody plagiarised their master thesis from me – how can I address this?
A few years ago, I discovered that someone (Mr. A) had copied almost the entirety of his master thesis report from a course report I submitted to the same department two years earlier. Mr. A copied my report word by word including the figures and the captions. He defended his thesis, graduated and now has an engineering job with a good title at a large respectable company, which he probably wouldn’t have gotten without the degree. I confronted Mr. A on one occasion and he confirmed that it was intentional.
I have solid proof of my work and the figures.
Mr. A worked on his thesis under the supervision of the same professor and TA who supervised my coursework, two years before. Three years ago, I contacted the professor and provided him with my proof of Mr. A’s plagiarism. However, the professor had merely asked him to rewrite the chapters using his own words. The TA informed me separately that Mr. A obtained access to the source code I submitted as part of the coursework. So I suspect that he plagiarised my code. When I asked the professor for Mr. A’s code, he refused.
I would like some guidance and help with deciding the right thing to do in this case. I am obviously concerned about my own reputation as I don't wish to harm my chances with this company. I am also concerned about the legal repercussions, even though I am in possession of solid proof. These were the main reasons I haven't taken actions until now.
I have been considering reporting him to his superior at work, but I am also open to other suggestions.
Some minor details that may or may not have a weigh in the case:

The university in question is a top engineering school in the EU.
Mr. A and the professor come from the same country (both speak the same language).
About six years have passed by since the incident.
The professor in question didn't reply to a request of recommendation I sent him a while ago (for a different purpose). I suspect it has to do with the plagiarism issue I brought up to his attention.
Just to be clear, this is not driven by any revenge thoughts or personal vendetta. My concern is that there is an anomaly, an unfairness, an unjust situation that touches me personally that needs to be corrected.

Updates

13/04: I sent a formal request to the officer in the Ethics Committee asking to be connected with the right people who can investigate this case impartially and independently from the department's sphere of influence.

Just so I understand this correctly: Your only attempt at contacting the university was through the professor who supervised the thesis (and the TA)?

@Wrzlprmft yes that is right.

Related, though a less extreme case: When to give up seeking justice after you've been plagiarized?

I consider that work a personal property which I put considerable effort and thoughtfulness to get it done. It took time from me, that I could've spent on other equally or more meaningful matters. It is a work I've done with integrity and I'm proud of it. To see somebody else steal it coldly and claim it as their own material to get a master degree can only affect me. As I wrote in my comment below, chaos begins with a broken window that doesn't get repaired i.e. the route to corruption starts often with the "let it go" mentality. I feel that it is my obligation as an individual to fix it.

Did Mr. A publish his report publicly?  In some cases and locales, this might go beyond plagiarism into the realm of copyright infringement (particularly if source code is involved).

Do you have some contacts with your classmates? Maybe some find themselves in the same situation as you and you may be more powerful together. (And maybe some in the situation of Mr. A.)

@dominecf it is difficult to know. Unfortunately I lost contact with most of my classmates as many of them moved abroad. But one them (a former roommate of Mr. A) knows everything. I am afraid, I will have to deal with his alone.

@bta Actually, I managed to find the report, it is still published on the same academic platform (managed by the university). It is the same unmodified version that Mr. A initially submitted for graduation, with all the copied text and figures.

As the professor in question is obviously supporting Mr. A, your report to him was void and at worst helped them to cover their tracks.
Therefore, I would suggest that you report the incident to some uninvolved authority at the university. Ideally this would be an academic-integrity officer or similar, but it can also be the responsible department or faculty, etc. Importantly, this should be nobody with ties to the professor – when in doubt, go one level higher.
Also, unless you are contacting an academic-integrity officer or similar, first make sure that you got the right person before you reveal any details.
When you report something, mind that you are merely presenting evidence or hinting at things to look at and it’s the university’s job to figure out the truth. There is little point in getting overly accusatory, emotional, etc.; focus on the evidence.
I strongly advise against contacting the company.
The problem with such a case is that your evidence very likely hinges on data on university servers and similar.
Thus only the university has the means to reasonably investigate this.
Also, you can contact the university solely to report a strong suspicion (which should be legally safe), whereas a report to the company can be considered libel or similar.
Consider the possible cases of the company reacting to your report:

They do not act on your report because they cannot evaluate the evidence and wait for the university to do so. In that case your report achieved nothing.
They do act on your report and the university revokes Mr. A’s degree. In that case, your report only made things happen a bit earlier.
They do act on your report, but the university does not revoke Mr. A’s degree for whatever reason. In that case, you may be in legal trouble.

There was no other option available for me at the time. Contacting the professor in charge seemed like the right thing to do, and I couldn't possibly predict their intentions or motivations. In hindsight, I can grasp why they had to close the issue as fast as possible. The evidence is there, two reports, that just by looking at them a primary school pupil can confirm they are identical.

@Theo Two identical reports by itself is not very meaningful. Maybe you copied from them. Maybe it was a joint project and you each contributed but together decided to submit each separately for your individual purposes at different times. Of course you know none of these things happened, but someone investigating has to consider alternative explanations to make sure they don't take the wrong action, and it can be a high burden of proof.

The quality of the evidence is not a concern. Luckily the university keeps records of submissions. I submitted my report two years before Mr. A's thesis report. There is even a witness, e-mail exchanges, etc. The source can be easily confirmed.

@Theo: Good for you. But mind that this only applies to the university. As I said, they have to evaluate the evidence. (Also beware that they will delete their records eventually. It’s already been eight years since the first relevant submission, IIUC.)

@BryanKrause The very clear sequence of events is strong evidence of the plagiarism here. Of course, if the university tries to hide it, there is not much OP can do.

@CaptainEmacs There are other possible mitigating factors: maybe the professor provided the work to the student expecting them to learn from it and not meaning for them to copy it. To you or me that's a clear violation but maybe they don't want to punish the student for a professor's mistake of not making it clear for the student. It's rare that the person bringing an accusation has a fair view of the strength of their evidence in the eye of another. I agree from the information we have here it should be a clear case.

@BryanKrause Grad students must complete a course on research methodology before starting their degree projects. This course includes material about the ethics of conducting research and writing reports. Students must even sign documents in which they commit to respect rules including avoidance of plagiarism. I doubt that it is a unique procedure. So at this point, it should've been crystal clear to all parties what it means to continue on some prior work to improve it or to use it as a reference point. It's not the professor's job to teach them the difference between good and bad practice.

@Theo I wish you luck and hope you get an appropriate resolution.

@BryanKrause It is clear that many students nowadays seem to have a more "fluid" understanding of how to use other people's work. I must confess that with the huge amount of ill-traceable sources (limited lifetime website sources, answer sites, and, of course, the mother of all untraceable information, ChatGPT) the problem of teaching proper source treatment will exacerbate. However, using a source without change and attribution as thesis submission is really demonstrating that that person should not get a degree. Not just because of the offense, but because of the utter lack of reflection.

@CaptainEmacs I agree and if it were me deciding I would want to bring down serious consequences, but I believe universities are hesitant to do so.

Since years have passed since the incident, it may be that nothing you do will have any effect. And you should take care not to have claims of slander made against you, even when not warranted.
But, you could, at least, inform the department at the university at which this occurred, probably through the current department head. It is their responsibility to address this.
You could also let it go, realizing that the world in general and academia in particular has some ethical issues.
However, if you inform the university, use documented evidence only to back up your claims. Conversations from long ago are too easy to discount.
Once you make such things public, however, the fallout can't be predicted. You will have little, if any, control over outcomes once you start the process.

In Germany there seems to be a tendency to check whether politicians (that someone doesn't like) commited acts of plagiarism years earlier to get their PhD, for example. And sometimes someone gets found out. Twenty years later or more, with bad consequences.

@gnasher729: And more often than not, with no consequences.

You can escalate with your university - that might mean contacting a department chair or someone in charge of your former graduate program, or might involve contacting a third party at the university that can help you with ethics complaints (such as an "ombuds").
From your story, at this point it sounds like your advisor is defending the student. That might be because they're "in on it", that is, that they've known all along, or that they're just covering for the former student because they don't want to deal with the hassle. Either way, you should be aware that your accusation is likely now to become an accusation against both of them. Hopefully you're now sufficiently secure in your current position that you aren't reliant on recommendations or mentorship from this former program.
It's also quite possible that your accusation will be seen (unfairly to you) as an indictment against the entire program or university; this is very unfortunate, because it puts the people who are supposed to investigate these things on the side of the defense. If that sort of corruption shows up, it's unfortunately probably not worth it to you personally to pursue it, sad as that is; if there were more systematic evidence it might be worth getting others involved, but there's likely no legal benefit to you (you'd have to show that you are harmed, not that someone else benefitted).
I wouldn't hold out a lot of hope that much will happen, as unfair as that is. Provide the evidence you have, not your emotions and feelings. You are likely overattributing the importance of this work for Mr A's current job: the degree might have helped them get the job initially, but most likely the content of the thesis was not important and if the company they work for likes their work, they'll probably see this as all some academic trivia far from their concern. I certainly would not raise it with them directly.
If it were me, I'd be more concerned with the masters supervisor's role, and that's where I'd want any investigation to focus.

I can't confirm the inner motivations of the professor. The only tangible thing is that I don't think the measures taken by the professor are proportionate to the gravity of the matter. He is highly regarded in the department and bypassing him to a higher authority is a tough decision. Plagiarism happen all the time, those who choose to report it shall by no means be seen as challenging the integrity of a whole program or institutions. The company may be oblivious to the content of the thesis. However it was effectively the step-stone to get the job. Trying to understate that is unfair.

The common advise I gather from the answers is to NOT consider getting in touch with the organization where he works. I understand the reasons. However in my opinion a company should in fact be more attentive to such behaviour than say a university department. If I am hiring engineers, the last person I want in my team is a cheater.  Someone with such work ethics can fake important results provided to auditors or customers. This can have severe repercussions, once revealed, and may harm the company's reputation.

@Theo I'm not understating the gravity of the academic misconduct, which is very serious. The advice I am giving, though, is that academic misconduct just doesn't matter much to companies. They give jobs to people who do the work they are hired to do and make the company money. They aren't generally concerned with making sure the people who most deserve it have a position, they don't hire to make the world fair. If you were talking about a CEO or scientific head of a company, maybe it would matter for reputation. Some underling with masters degree just isn't important to the outside world.

It's important to you and is certainly understandable that it's important to you because your work was stolen. A company doesn't owe you any debt and their job is not to make sure you are treated fairly. To the company, you're likely to be seen as a nuisance if you complain. You'll be creating work for them.

I get your point.

@Theo " This can have severe repercussions, once revealed, and may harm the company's reputation." he has been employed for many years at this point and are apparently the company is happy with his work.  that's all they really care about.  maybe they would care about obvious fraud, like saying they have x degree but they really don't, but maybe not and regardless this is many steps beyond that.  they have the degree and are performing fine and most places aren't going to upset the applecart and open themselves up to lawsuits for no reason.

I wouldn’t be quite as pessimistic about the company not caring about the degree. Since this is in engineering, Mr. A. could e.g. be required by law to have his degree to do the work he does. That being said, the company simply does not have the capacity to evaluate the asker’s evidence, so it’s at best pointless to contact them.

@Wrzlprmft I agree that in some cases the company would care that a degree is revoked, but it's the academic institution's job to decide the fate of the degree. As you say, they're not going to investigate themselves.

Until the degree is revoked, the plagiarist has a degree, and the company is safe if a degree is required. If the degree is revoked and was required for the job for some legal reason. that would likely be a reason to be fired for cause. Now if the plagiarist is incapable of doing his job without "assistance" from others, he might have already been fired for incompetence.


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Feeling lost with my master's thesis in a new field
Two years ago I started my master's course in mechatronics engineering in Italy. After one year of classes I applied for a double degree program proposed by the university. According to this program I am going to spend two years in a Japanese university (the first year has just passed) to finally get both the Italian degree and the Japanese degree in the same field of studies. Therefore, I am doing the research for my thesis in Japan.
The main problem that I have faced since the beginning is related to the different approach to the studies. In fact I chose with my supervisor a research topic in the field of machine learning and computer vision, that I only started studying on my own in Italy for curiosity. Then, considering the long period of two years abroad, I thought that I had enough supervision to go in depth with the topics and study all the necessary theory. On the other hand I realized that I had to organize most of my research on my own, and even though my Japanese supervisor is open for guiding students, I actually realized that he doesn't have much experience in these fields.
I spent much time even for choosing an initial path to follow, with a solvable problem. I am trying to do my best to study the theory and practice to make small progresses but sometimes it is really though. But I actually like the involved subjects! So I am trying to study from books, video courses, etc. but I feel I don't have a guide to avoid many errors.
Moreover, there is a collaboration between the laboratory and a company, but I have the same feeling. Instead of a growing path it is more related to showing some results through PowerPoint presentations. And one month ago my supervisor in the company left the job, and told me to get the supervision by another member of the group, without spending too many words. Since that time, my supervisor told me that my research could even have application in other fields, thus he is going to get some collaborations with other companies. But how can I manage two different works together?
I have to say that it was a "culture shock" to face all those things, and in some ways it helped me a lot for growing my independence, and my supervisors seem to be satisfied by my work, but I still feel that I could spend better my time if only I had enough guidance. I need a lot of energies for making small improvements, and I don't know if I can resist and I will be able to finish my thesis in one year.
What do you suggest to do? Should I talk with him? Thank you in advance for your help.

The usual suggestion of this forum applies here as well: Talk to your adviser(s)!
Your adviser knows your situation, and knows the expectations to obtain the degree. Their job is not only to guide your scientifically/educationally, but also to guide you through the process to become a professional. One could expand on this, but I think the previous two sentences summarize well how I feel about the situation: What you experience is something advisers should be able to advise on as well.

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No follow-up after pre-employment tasks
I applied for a bioinformatician position at a university lab. Talked to the PI twice and was assigned a total of two tasks, one after each Zoom call.
After I turned in the second task the PI replied they had to catch up with a deadline. And said she’ll get in touch with me if she has questions about my results. That was last Tuesday. The deadline has past last week and it’s Tuesday evening now. So it’s been a week since we last contacted.
Does it sound OK to send a follow-up email tomorrow? I don’t want to sound pushy, but I’d really love to know if she decides to hire me or not. I’m on OPT so I’ll have to leave some time to switch jobs.
Or are there any other suggestions? Please feel free to leave them below. I don’t quite know how people in academia handle these things.
Thanks!!

Does this answer your question? How long does it usually take to hear back for academic positions? Why haven't I heard back and when should I follow up?

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How can I develop a "reasonable" list of Ph.D. programs to apply for?
I'm an undergraduate student entering the final year of my program and preparing to apply to Ph.D. programs in physics. I'm currently trying to narrow my options down to 8 or 10 schools that I'll actually end up applying to, from a list of about 20 that I've identified as having faculty members pursuing research in the particular subfield I'm interested in (and about half of which I've confirmed plan to take students in the next admissions cycle). In doing so, I'm finding it much more difficult to develop a sense of what schools I'm reasonably likely, less likely, and unlikely to get into than when I applied to undergraduate programs 4 years ago, in part due to the near complete lack of such quantitative metrics as admissions statistics at the graduate level.
While I know that it is impossible to predict one's odds of being accepted to any particular school (or even "class" of schools), that graduate admissions is more nuanced and necessarily involves many more factors than undergraduate admissions, and that the variance in program "quality" across institutions at the graduate level is typically small relative to the undergraduate level, I would like to have some sense of what a reasonable set and quantity of programs looks like, and how to develop one.
So, my question is not what are my odds of getting into X,Y or Z school or "tier" of schools, but how can I determine both how many programs I should be applying to, and whether the list of programs I plan to apply to is sufficiently diversified so as to yield reasonable odds of getting into at least one or a few programs.

Asking us to comment on a particular list of programs turns this into a shopping question.

In some senses, PhD admissions is dramatically different from MD admissions (thankfully), where people feel pressured to apply to 20+ schools that each have their own insane processes.
You have done the first steps, but to recapitulate them here:

Identify departments that have faculty that you want to work with.
Identify whether those faculty are taking students (or, if admissions are centralized, and you don't pick and advisor for a year or two).

Then, you need to remove the schools for which:

You would not move to that city. Graduate study is very different from undergrad. Not only is it longer, you will be in a  different life stage, where a small college town might not be as attractive as it was to you for undergrad (for example). This includes places where the stipend is unlivable.

And then, finally, you need to consider your career after graduate school. I presume physics has more industry options than other areas, but it is a truth that your options for continued work in the academy will be affected by where you go to school, so

Do not apply to "low tier" programs just to get a PhD. The job market is not worth it. (Unless your field is different).

With regards to numbers, 8-10 is a good number, and roughly what I have heard most people apply to. Too many more is probably stretching your interests too far.

whether the list of programs I plan to apply to is sufficiently diversified so as to yield reasonable odds of getting into at least one or a few programs.

I think this is the wrong way of thinking of it. I do not think it is wise to have "safety schools" when apply for graduate school. You should have a list of schools you think you can get into (and then maybe a couple stretch schools).


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What is the etiquette for reaching out to potential PI's in physics?
I'm an undergraduate student majoring in physics and mathematics, who is preparing to begin applying to graduate programs in physics. In doing so, I've reached out to a few people for advice, and I've received a lot of conflicting opinions on various topics. Among them is the importance of reaching out to potential PI's, and how much doing so potentially affects my admissions odds.

Firstly, how and when should one reach out to a potential PI? I've "cold-called" professors plenty of times under other circumstances, however I'm not sure what the etiquette here is. Should I write multiple faculty members in the department? What and how much information should I provide about myself? Does it make sense to reach out to faculty at highly-competitive "reach" schools (I'm planning to apply to Columbia, for instance, and I imagine they receive tons of emails, so it seems a bit silly to "cold-call" random Ivy-league faculty)?

Secondly, how much does it affect my odds of admission? I've read and been told that communicating with a faculty member can effectively guarantee admission, if you can "sell yourself" such that they are interested in taking you on as (and presumably funding you as) a student. Is this true? Does not reaching out to potential PI's put me at a significant disadvantage?

I'm not sure what the etiquette is here, nor how much effort I should be putting into this.

It depends on your subfield of physics. (Theory or experiment? If experiment, big collaborations or small?) Ask grad students who are in your subfield.

Are you applying to masters or PhD programs, and are you in the US (which I believe you are based on your flags)? Part of the conflicting information is that in most places besides the US you apply to a PhD program after a masters and apply to work directly with someone, then you look at getting a position at the university (which may automatically come with the PhD funding if you applied to an open position). But when applying for a masters you don't need to reach out to someone and you're probably just going to go through some admission process where PI's aren't so important.

In the US the PhD and masters is combined, so its often like applying to masters elsewhere in the world. However (to my understanding, not having proper experience with US academia), different universities have different admission processes. Some systematic where you need to hit certain characteristics and then find a supervisor during the first couple of years, so PIs don't tend to have as much influence. Others I believe have the PIs eyeing certain candidates during the admission process and there a PIs word may carry more weight.

@NAMcMahon Correct, I'm applying to PhD programs in the US.

@knzhou Thanks for the advice. I'm interested in doing research in theory. Unfortunately, it's been a bit difficult to find grad students to speak with as I'm attending an undergraduate-only institution.

I get a dozen such emails per month (and this isn't a lot).  In most case the sender has clearly not done their homework and know nothing about my research program: I ignore those.
In rare cases (< 5% of the time), the sender has actually cared (at least pretend correctly) to have read some of my papers, in which case I will usually reply to the email.
On balance, reaching out will make limited difference.  If your application is not competitive, nothing can save you.  If your application is borderline, then a good word from a prospective thesis director will never hurt: they can single out an application and say they would be interested in supervising X is the file is acceptable and the resources are there.  This in no way replaces the formal requirement to apply: I know of no system where supervisors directly accept students to a program. Also, even if you contact someone, this person may choose not to get involved in the admission process and let chips fall where they fall.  In other words, emailing ahead of time is a low-return proposition, but may on occasion make an enormous difference.
Finally, there are plenty of other posts on this site on how to write a proper email when "cold-calling".  You should never email "random" faculty: do your homework and be sure that your email conveys your professional interest in the specifics of the research program.  No lollypop statements like "Since I was 5 I always wanted to go to Columbia" or "I would be the honour of my life to work under your supervision": these are immediately flagged as false compliments and leave a bad impression.

Yes, contacting a prospective PI or several PIs is definitely a good idea, and this may critically affect your odds of admission -- provided you do it correctly.
To understand what "correctly" really means, put yourseld in the shoes of a professor looking for graduate students. The professor, of course, wants the candidates to be hard-working, creative, intellectually brilliant -- that's obvious. Above that, the professor always wants candidates to show initiative and to know exactly what they want. Strong would be a candidate who already has interest in and some knowldege of the area in which they would like to work under the tutelage of this professor.
For example, a scholar working on gravitational-waves detectors would be pleased to receive from an applicant an e-mail stating that (s)he has read this scholar's recent works on a certain type of detector, and would like to join a groups designing these devices. Such an e-mail will serve the purpose of demonstrating that the applicant is mature and has made a well-informed choice.
I am aware of several cases when making such a contact played a decisive role in the admissions process.

I wouldn't do that. I would just apply and express interest in who I wanna work with. Once you're accepted, then you'll decide who you'll work with. But, I'm not in physics (thankfully!!!!!!!!!), so perhaps it may be different.
In my field of public policy for example, I can reach out to anyone anywhere, since our research isn't tied to a lab, but in the harder sciences, who you work with is literally based off where you're located, as far as I understand.


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How can I find data on grant applications and awards from US government sources?
In academia, one of the best ways to get funding for projects is to write proposals for research projects.
However, there is not much transparency in the process. For intellectual property reasons, many departments won't make their grant proposals for specific grants public. Unfortunately, this has an added side effect of not knowing some important facts about the process as a whole.
Some questions I'm interested in answering:

How likely is it for certain schools to receive rewards over others? What is the percentage chance you have of getting an award if you apply? (Total grants received / Total grants applied for each school)
What is the popularity of various grant applications? How many schools are applying, for how much money?
What is the likelihood of being awarded a grant based on gender, race, or professional status?

Does anyone know if data like this is available for any of the U.S. government grant systems, particularly for university research?
Furthermore, it seems like one could also run a similar analysis on "awards", which might be harder to analyze... (Difference between grants and awards)

Related questions: Why do funding agencies like the NSF not publish accepted grants?, Why aren't grant applications systematically published online, regardless of whether they are accepted?

united-states nih
The United States National Institutes of Health provides substantial data on grant success rate.
You can for example, find the success rate by type, Institute/Center, and activity code
The report entitled "RPG and R01-Equivalent Funding and Success Rates by
Race-Ethnicity FY2010-FY2021" puts the inequity of the NIH on full display.
I am not sure if the NIH provides success rate by institution, but you can get NIH Awards by Location & Organization.
In theory, you can even request the full text of funded NIH grant applications using the Freedom of Information Act. As the NIH notes:

Before releasing a funded grant application, we will ask the grantee for advice concerning patent rights and other confidential commercial or financial information. We will consider that advice and, if we agree, we will remove that information from the application before we release it. In addition, we will remove information that would be an invasion of personal privacy if released.

Why does the NIH do this, but the NSF does not?

It seems like the NSF does? I'm just not familiar because I've never applied for NSF funding.

Regarding the FOIA idea, see https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/8111/foia-request-for-full-nsf-awards-proposal-and-report?noredirect=1&lq=1.  Note in particular that it is considered unethical to use FOIA'ed grant proposals as a source for research ideas, and that the requester's name is made public.


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Taxonomy of an ACM CSUR(Computing Survey) survey paper
I am new to the research domain and recently submitted a survey paper to ACM Computing Survey Journal (CSUR). After the first review, one reviewer commented,

Taxonomy is missing, and ACM CSUR paper must include a taxonomy.

But I have no idea what they mention as an ACM CSUR taxonomy. Looking forward to some support on this.

What is CSUR? And did you mean "one reviewer" instead of "one author"?

I am almost certain they are asking you to classify your paper: https://dl.acm.org/journal/csur/author-guidelines#ccs . In nay case, you should ask the editor.

@WolfgangBangerth sorry for the inconvenience. ACM CSUR means ACM Computing Survey Journal.

@AnderBiguri Thank you for the comment. But isn't this after accepting the paper? Currently, it is in the review stage. However, I think it is better to ask the editor as you suggested.

@RoshinieJayasundara yes, but the reviewer can say whatever they want in their review, so I suspect they are referring to that.

Perhaps they meant the CCS:  "Three types of content indicators must be assigned: (1) general terms, (2) subject descriptors, and (3) keywords and phrases. The first two items are selected from the 2012 ACM Computing Classification Scheme. Select as many of these as may be applicable." as indicated in the author guidelines for manuscript submission?

This remark about taxonomy is ambiguous. My gut feeling is that the reviewer feels that a CSUR should review the field, which is more than a mere listing of previous work but includes an ordering, i.e. a taxonomy. This is different from classifying the paper itself.
It's like a taxonomy in zoology: There are many animals, but they naturally fall into groups such as mammals, and within mammals canines and felines and then into closely related species and then into species. For example, if you make a survey articles on recent developments of databases, you would need to distinguish between relational and non-relational databases. The latter, sometimes called NoSql databases would fall into (at least) key-value stores, columnar databases, and graph databases. The former would fall into main memory and disk/storage based databases. Your taxonomy should be much better than what I just wrote. For example, object oriented databases and object relational databases are lacking.
The taxonomy should allow the reader to easily place contributions that you did not talk about with contributions that you did talk about. It should allow the reader to easily follow the flow of development. In my example, I could have written a database paper on how to make an in-memory cloud-based database durable. Your taxonomy should allow a reader to immediately identify the key ideas and see how they would work for a graph database.
If my understanding of taxonomy is correct, then it explains the reviewers comment that a surveys article needs a taxonomy. This remark then becomes a rather devastating criticism that needs to be addressed (or refuted).

one reviewer commented,
Taxonomy is missing, and ACM CSUR paper must include a taxonomy.

What is the ACM taxonomy?
These two papers, (1) and (2), equate ACM CCS to ACM taxonomy: They are used interchangeably.
Going by the ACM CSUR authors guide (see extract below), the ACM Computing Classification System (CCS) is mandatory.

Content Indicators
Three types of content indicators must be assigned: (1) general terms, (2) subject descriptors, and (3) keywords and phrases. The first two items are selected from the 2012 ACM Computing Classification Scheme. Select as many of these as may be applicable.

I know from experience dealing with ACM publications that it is expected and compulsory.
Purpose: ACM CCS/taxonomy

classify manuscript
provide proper indexing and retrieval information from the CCS
provides readers with quick content reference, facilitating the search for related literature
searches in ACM's Digital Library and on other online resources.

Without insight to your manuscript or section of the reviewers comment, it's difficult to say authoritatively in your instance.
The reviewer assumed it's common knowledge for people in computing field used to ACM.
For certainty, you might consider approaching the editor for guidance, just as in this question.

[Edit1] clarify CCS and taxonomy
[Edit2]
ACM CCS/Taxonomy are used to classify papers published in ACM journals like the CSUR. They are also engaged, where need be, within a paper (as part of research work): this isn't compulsory.

A paper that applies the ACM taxonomy for self-classification does not "include a taxonomy" - it applies/uses one.

Please have a look at the papers in the journal and also IEEE Communications Tutorials and Surveys.  You will see that all papers have many mind maps (diagrams, tables, etc) to categorize research topics, problems, tools, etc.
All surveys MUST have such mind maps because they are the most valuable parts of any survey.  Otherwise, you have an annotated bibliography that almost anyone can write.

Would the wordings all, must, any not be misleading regarding the ACM CSUR(Computing Survey)?

'All surveys MUST have such mind-maps' might be generalising beyond bound.

I'm speaking of my area.  The papers in that journal require all papers to have a taxonomy.  Please read papers from that journal yourself.  Hence 'all, must, any' is definitely  true.


text:
Can I use downloaded PDF English Language Course Books for teaching my students?
I am an English language teacher about to start private online teaching.  A friend pointed me to the academia website as it provides old editions of English File student course books to download for free.  Can I simply download them and ask my students to download them and then run classes using them?  I'm assuming that there must be copyright laws prohibiting this, but then why would the books be available for free download?

You'd have to check the license that should come with the files (assuming the distributor is on the right side of the law). Possibly you can, possibly you can't.

I'm assuming that there must be copyright laws prohibiting this, but then why would the books be available for free download?

Because there are pirates in the world.


text:
Is it possible to become an editor of a reputable journal without a medical/postgraduate research degree?
I am a final year medical student and an early-career researcher. I do not hold any medical/postgrad research degree yet (except for a Bachelor of Medical Science). Despite not having any formal education on health research, I have published tens of research articles,  reviewed several articles in reputable journals (of course articles that fit my expertise), and became an editor-in-chief of a student journal.
I am currently aspiring to become an editorial board member of a reputable journal which submissions I have reviewed multiple times. I have reviewed a multitude of submissions for about 2 years now, and I thought about contacting the journal whether they have any opening for an editor or not. However, I was wondering whether the journal's editorial board would consider my request, as I know that invitations to become an editorial board are usually solicited. In addition, I am concerned that, if I ask the journal despite not being qualified (academic degree-wise), the journal won't consider my reapplications in the future. Should I contact the journal to find out if they have an opening for an editor?
Thanks in advance.

As I understand it, biomedical fields differ from other fields in that editors are professionals who are paid to edit rather than academics who edit on top of their usual research and teaching responsibilities.  Are you looking for a career as an editor?

Let us continue this discussion in chat.

Ultimately, it will depend what they think. Degrees serve as gate-keepers. We assume that a degree certifies basic competencies. In your case, you might have these competencies without the degree yet, but who is to know.
Similarly, a track record evidenced through an academic position serves as a gate keeper, since a number of people looked at you and decided they liked what they saw.
If -- and in the era of predatory publishing, this is a genuine question -- you are applying to an editorial board of a good journal, then they would ask what do you bring to the board. Editorial boards have a supervising function and you do not have the experience for supervising. They lend credibility to the journal and you have not (yet) reached even a junior level in academia, whereas editorial board members are usually senior people. You can check this by going through the current board members. If you do not have their profile, then do not apply. Frankly, I'd be suspicious if the editorial board is not made up of people with hundreds of publications.
There are some journals such as those run by MDPI which assign major editing roles to people qualified with just a doctorate. You might be in a position to aspire to such a position, but again, any official role will be visible to outsiders, meaning that you can check out their accomplishments.

Thanks for the insights. I agree.., most of the editorial board are senior researchers/lecturers/physicians, except for some who are junior doctorate. So I'm guessing that it's better to refrain from doing so in the meantime while building up my track records?

If you do not have their profile, then do not apply -- this is the answer! Thanks!

Is there a specific benchmark on what journal checks before they recruit a potential editor apart from academic degrees and positions?
I think the number of publications seem plausible, but as you said, in the era of predatory and metric-based scientific publication, some researchers with hundreds of publications do not offer a good quality of their articles (they go for quantity over quality)

What do you expect to get out of being associated with the journal? Frequent reviewer would be an accomplishment by itself.

Apart from the benefits offered by the journal and improving my skills, I would like to expand my network by getting acquainted and working with those world-renowned experts


text:
Electronic-only contributions in journals
One of my manuscripts accepted for publication recently. The accepted manuscript exceeds the prescribed page size (16 p.) as per the journal policy. We will have to pay charges for additional pages in the manuscript. To avoid this, the editor suggested us to publish our paper as electronic-only contribution. Will it have all the indexing as a printed paper? (I mean issue, volume, and page numbers)..

Have you checked the index to see what it did in the past?  And have you asked the editor?

No would be surprising.

Ask the journal for the implications of electronic-only publication. Policies can differ.


text:
Interrogated for cheating based on discrimination a potential lawsuit?
I have been taking a couple online classes. I also had a baby a week before the classes started. It has been an incredibly stressful 10 weeks. Anyway, I had a project I had to complete for a business class. It was a business plan. I have extensive experience in the restaurant industry and decided to go to college later on so I did a restaurant plan for my business project. The project was so good and detailed, that I got called to a meeting for interrogation on cheating, to see if I had anyone do the project for me, etc. With the way the meeting went, it really seemed as if the professor and the directer were discriminating against me for having a baby and thus not having the ability to complete such a detailed project. What kind of steps can I take to express my feelings of being stereotyped or discriminated against?

Do you want to express your feelings or do you want a successful academic result? I suggest that you calm down and think strategically. You may be dealing with idiots, but don't act so as to negatively affect your own future prospects. And, no, that doesn't mean just forget it or do nothing.

I would think that you could document your previous restaurant experience sufficiently to explain how you were able to write the detailed business plan. Could you include some context about this aspect, such as you not being able to document your background experience (why?), or the evidence you provided didn't convince them, or something else (perhaps you feel you shouldn't have to defend yourself) that resulted in your current situation?

How to express your feelings is a very different question than whether something is grounds for a lawsuit. Can you clarify which one of those things is your real question?

https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/101514/filing-discrimination-claim-against-my-department

@Buffy I do not believe it is okay to tell a woman who is dealing with an experience of sexism to “calm down.” I actually see nothing emotional in this story, just the word “feelings” which could be substituted with “experience”...

@Buffy You probably meant, “take a step back” but the phrase “calm down” is often used to invalidate women’s legitimate anger by pretending the problem is the emotions rather than the sexism etc etc.

When I worked for my graduate student union we would encourage students to take cases like this to the Title IX office. The Title IX officer should have a number of options for how to handle the situation, based on your desired outcomes. They usually only take actions if you first approve of them, but even in cases where you don't want them to intervene, registering a complaint helps them track if this is a recurring issue with the offending persons or departments.

@Dawn: "Calm down" is the advice to make sure you have a clear head to get results against sexism. The problem is of course sexism. Confronted with sexism you need to channel your legitimate anger in the best way to achieve results against the sexist, and that requires calming down. Making you react emotionally is one thing the sexist will try to achieve.

I think my point stands: what about the post, except for the fact that it is a woman, makes anyone think the OP is not “calm”?

As in the comments, there is important ambiguity in your question.
Granting your account of the situation, you were certainly treated prejudicially and unfairly. Even if you'd not been a recent-mom, doing a wonderful project does often trigger suspicion in any case, and, yes, all the worse if the people in charge have negative expectations of recent moms, or women in general, or...
As in the comments: what do you want out of this situation? Did the people in that interview concede that you did not cheat? And at that point did they apologize? Is this on-going?
For example, in my own experience, never in a million years will people in power who behave badly acknowledge this. Endless rationalizations about how it's either no one's fault, or society's fault, or maybe your own fault.
Still, yes, I agree, anger is justified. Such situations are grotesque, and have a big impact on people.
And, still, what would be the goal of a lawsuit? An apology? Monetary compensation? (The latter would probably cost more in lawyer fees than what you'd get...)
Again, as in the comments, think what you want out of this situation, apart from being justifiably angry with idiots. Taking idiots to court is an expensive and unrewarding hobby... even if sometimes historically necessary.

"Taking idiots to court is an expensive and unrewarding hobby..."
May I please steal these words and use them liberally?  Thank you in advance.

@BobBrown, :) :)


text:
Should we count articles (a, an, the) during word count of the abstract of a research paper?
In various peer-reviewed scientific journals, there is usually a word count limit for the abstract, e.g., 250 words in one such journal I am submitting my paper. I am confused whether I need to count all the words, including the articles (a, an, the) used with the nouns. Also, are there any other exceptions that need not be counted?

Do not be a concise person. Be concise.

This question does not strongly depend on individual factors.

Articles are words, so they count.

You should assume you need to count all the words, short and long.  You can count an acronym or initialism as one word, but these are frowned upon in an abstract.  The only exception I can think of is if there are written instructions to the contrary.
Do not play tricks to limit the word count, for example, not putting an article before a noun.

Missed a chance for "Do not play tricks to limit word count, for example, not putting article before noun"

@Azor Ahai-him  Sadly, my attempt at such humor was edited away.

No jokes is the first rule of SE after all

It depends on the individual journal you are writing to. There is no other possible answer.

Really? I've never heard of any system that let you leave out "stop words" when counting words for abstract/paper/whatever.

Neither do I, but what if OP is submitting an article to the Journal "articles are not words"?
We do not know.


text:
Who decides the references in collaboration papers and how to get relevant papers from our group cited in those collaboration papers?
I come from a Theoretical Physics background and we are working on some interesting topics related to black holes and neutron stars. In present times, various collaboration like the Gravitational Waves, Event Horizon Telescope etc are quite successful in experimental verification of the theoretical concepts. I find that our works published few years ago are quite relevant to these collaboration papers, but our papers are never cited in their papers.
I want to know about two things: (1) In a collaboration where there are around 500 researchers (co-authors), who among them decides the references and writes the papers? (2) How to get relevant papers from our group cited in the collaboration papers?

What papers are cited instead? Are they equally relevant?

@JonCuster Yes, the papers that are cited are also equally relevant. However, most of those cited papers are written by prominent professors who are also members of the collaboration.

So, perhaps poor form by not being more ecumenical. Do you know those groups? Have a talk over some beverages at a conference...

In general, lobbying to have your references added is considered poor form.

In such large collaborations, there is usually (should be) a coordination team that keeps things organized. A PI, perhaps, and  a few others, or a few PIs from different parts. They ultimately decide, but it is a matter of negotiation what gets included in any given paper. Talk to your local PI or figure out who is "managing" the larger process. Talk to them. Make your case. Note that there are a lot of competing "demands" of course. Argue on the basis of relevancy. And if you collaborate enough that you are listed fairly high in the author list, you are probably going to be listened to.
Some groups will attempt to give junior members a bit of a boost, but I don't know how widespread that is. I've known it to happen in smaller groups.

Thank you for the response.

As for the second question:
People include references in their paper because they think that they are relevant to the work and useful to their readers. If they are not referencing your papers, then there are two possible reasons:

They don't think your papers are relevant. There is nothing you can do about this; they may simply not think of your papers as highly as you seem to -- our own children are always the most beautiful ones in our eyes, but that is of course not actually true.

They do not know about your papers. For this, it helps to give talks at conferences and seminars; it also helps to give good talks that people find engaging and interesting, and that they will remember. So go on the speaker circuit and make sure people know about your work.

You cannot "lobby" for your papers, or at least you shouldn't: People will generally frown upon if told what they should reference in their papers, and your lobbying will not be perceived favorably.


text:
Should I send a follow up mail to my potential supervisor
Last friday I received an email from my potential supervisor that my application was positively reviewed and that they will further progress with my application if I'm still interested. I replied that I'm happy to hear that and that I'm still interested. However, up until now, I didn't hear from them anymore. Is this normal? I though they would invite me for an interview as soon as possible. I know I might be panicking, but I'm afraid they forgot me. Can I send a second email to ask what the next steps are? Or should I just be patient...

You are panicking indeed. Give it some more time.
This was last Friday, and I assume your response was also on Friday. However, that was only two working days ago, and this supervisor is probably now in the progress of furthering the application. This probably means filling in some form, possibly requesting availability from potential relevant others that should be involved in the process, HR/administrative tasks, there's lots of reasons why they didn't respond yet.
The fact that they reviewed you application positively should give you enough ease to just wait it out a few more days (weeks maybe even). If you haven't heard anything back in a weeks time you could consider following up and indeed asking what the next steps are. But for now, be patient and be happy that they want to continue with you.


text:
Paper was accepted for publication 6 months ago without any updates since then, how should I proceed?
About a year ago a paper, that me and my coauthors prepared and presented at a conference, has been selected to be published in a revised and extended form in a special issue of a reputable journal. For submissions they use EasyChair, which only gives automatic confirmation e-mails, when you upload. So there is no way to get info on current status of the submission, other then asking an executive editor via e-mail. But they didn't bother with any confirmations or status updates, unless specifically asked.
The only stated deadline was for initial submission. The upload of a revised version didn't have a deadline. And I couldn't find any timelines at the journal site. The first round of reviews, from our initial submission to submitting a revised version, took only 5 months. Then, after a month of not receiving any updates regarding the last upload, I have sent a request about the status of our submission, after which we have received an acceptance letter, which simply states that the paper is accepted and will be published in a future issue. The e-mail didn't contain any further instructions. It was 6 months ago and there were no further updates from the journal.
I would expect the next steps to be communications about the camera-ready version and copyright forms, both initiated by the editors. So it seems that now there is no point in asking them further about the status of our submission. But as time goes by I get doubtful about the prospects of our paper being actually published. I should probably note that their EasyChair still shows an option to submit to that special issue.
I've probably made a mistake by not answering to the acceptance e-mail then, but because of previous communications with the executive editor I've got a feeling that a person is quite busy and doesn't welcome unnecessary communications. So the question is whether it is acceptable to bother the executive editor with further questions about the paper's status at this point and if so, how should I word it?

Just ask for an update and an estimate of when it might appear. There isn't any special form for that. But "future issue" is pretty nebulous. For a print journal there are issues of finding a proper "fit" for the paper depending on the topic and even the page length.
And yes, you should answer emails. You've been assuming what they should do without verification. Ask. They are unlikely to send you anything if you don't. Just be polite.


text:
Will it violate copyright if I use an essay question from a book and write my own essay and publish it on my website?
Suppose that there is a book by Cambridge or Oxford. In that book, there are some essay samples. I want to take those essay titles and write my own essays for them. Does this violate copyright?

Laws vary on copyright (as on most things) but it is doubtful that this would be considered a violation if you are quoting (and citing) a short excerpt from a book. Especially if your purpose and context are academic.
First, there are academic/teaching exceptions that make some things more acceptable. Second, I doubt that you would be lessening the value of the original by using a short excerpt (an important consideration in some laws). Third, copyright violation is a civil matter (for most purposes) and I doubt that the publisher would consider it a terrible enough thing to take you to court.
Republishing the essays themselves would probably be a different matter.
There is also the "intent" of the book, which is probably to give ideas to student about the kinds of questions and the kinds of acceptable answers.
However, some publishers are extremely trigger happy on such things, but they tend to be music publishers who object to background music in otherwise harmless home videos on YouTube.

Note, additionally, that (some laws) there are some things that can't be copyrighted for various reasons. One reason, that might apply here, depending on those questions, is that there are very few (or even only one) ways to express some thoughts. And thoughts can't be copyrighted. They are public domain by the very nature of them.


text:
Ethical factors to consider in case of a non-contributing co-author
I am a Ph.D. student. Currently, we are writing a paper. We can group the participants in the following way:

Me and my collaborators who have done the majority of the work.
My principal supervisor who helped me to access the lab.
The person, let's call him Glideroy :-) , who is the subject of this question.

Glideroy has not made any substantial contribution. To be precise, he wrote one piece of code, which eventually was not used in the paper. Later we asked him for further investigation, which he didn't do.
One of our co-authors expressed his reluctance to include the non-contributing co-author's name in the paper. According to him, the decision is in the hand of the authors who have made a substantial contribution. My principal advisor is not aware of this yet, but he has a good relationship with Gilderoy.
Now I am in a tricky position, I agree with the non-contributing part. However, I feel a bit hesitant to burn the bridge and remove the author altogether. So, my questions are the following:

What are the criteria one should fulfill to be a co-author?
Should I talk to my principal supervisor?
Is there any way we can justify the inclusion of Glideroy's name?

Any advice would be helpful.

I think this question has been answered elsewhere on this site, perhaps search the forum for authorship

Can you clarify why Glideroy's code was not used?

The criteria to be a co-author depend on the field of research and on the journal, but usually at least some intellectual contribution to the paper is expected. Most journals have a list of requirements on their website.
Yes, you should talk to your supervisor: this will probably solve the problem.
No, unless the code he wrote gave you important insights (even if the code was not used afterwards). But also see the answer to (1).

There are three possible outcomes:

Your supervisor agrees to remove the co-author.

Your supervisor convinces you that the contribution of the co-author was enough to earn authorship.

Your supervisor wants to include the co-author for "political" reasons. This is wrong, but it happens quite a lot unfortunately. In this case it would probably be best to include the co-author anyway. It is wrong ethically, but if you and your co-authors did your best to prevent it that is on your supervisor and not on you: if you discussed it with him there is not much more you can do unless you want to risk the relationship with your advisor.

Item 3 is to some extent disputable: Even finding out that something doesn't work or help  can be an insight. Such a contribution could be classified as marginal, but it could still be used to justify inclusion.

I think you misunderstood my answer - that is exactly what I was trying to say. I have edited it to clarify.

You might be right. I guess I got confused because the answer defaults to "no" even though it seems more likely that the part after the "unless" is fulfilled.

I, too, find point 3 to be the important one. A "contribution" to the research can be fairly invisible in the final result and, yet, still in theory be essential.

My answer assumes that OP (and his co-author) have a good reason to doubt the inclusion of the "non-contributing" co-author. Of course it changes things if this is not the case. Indeed, point 3 is very relevant. I have added a third option to the answer to clarify this further.

+1 for point 3. When I'm doing research I often end up trying a bunch of options before settling for the best solution. They all take time and effort and contribute to the understanding of the problem, even those that didn't work (and didn't make it to the paper). If it was a collaboration and each co-author was in charge of trying out one of the candidate approaches, it would feel very unfair to disregard what everyone else did and only put on the paper the name of the guy who was trying out the winning solution.

Is point 3 recommending the OP do something unethical?

@Chipster Depending on your point of view: yes. The third outcome leads to the inclusion of an author who did not contribute enough to the paper to warrant this inclusion. Clearly this is wrong. Unfortunately this is the reality many scientists have to deal with, and if the first and second outcome do not happen, the third option is the best for OP. It would not have negative consequences for his/her career. Let's compare to buying food packaged in lots of plastic: not good for the environment so unethical by some standards, but if it is all that is available you do not have a choice.


text:
Mediocre research career so far. Can I salvage my career by continuing as a postdoc with my PhD advisor?
I made a huge mistake of working in a field different than my advisor's expertise. My PhD research was in computational modeling of 3D printing process using finite element analysis.
While my advisor's expertise is in density functional theory and molecular dynamics simulations. She works on battery research and my colleagues working on those projects get  published in >15 impact factor journals.
Due to covid, I did not relocate to other place for postdoc and I have been pursuing postdoc with my PhD advisor for the past 9 months.
I have already destroyed my chances of getting an academic position by being a simulation guy in a experimental heavy research field. I am trying to find another position but failed so far. I am having an ongoing discussion about a postdoc position with another professor from another university. He will let me know if he secures a grant.
Meanwhile, my advisor has offered me one more year of postdoc position. Am I heading on to disastrous career by considering her offer?
For the past 9 months, my work has been different and I am enjoying the new learning opportunity.  But I extremely worried about my future.
Please advise.

https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/158669/i-made-a-mistake-of-staying-with-my-phd-even-when-i-had-lost-interest-in-it-sho

https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/126889/transitioning-from-a-phd-to-postdoc-is-it-acceptable-to-stay-with-the-phd-advis

"He will let me know if he secures a grant."  It takes months to get from grant announcement to hiring staff.  Look elsewhere.

Am I heading on to disastrous career by considering her offer?

No.  There is nothing wrong with considering and accepting a job offer from your PhD advisor, or an extension thereof.
What is disastrous for your career is not looking for a better job and taking one as soon as it is feasible to do so.

I have already destroyed my chances of getting an academic position by being a simulation guy in a experimental heavy research field.
There are two sides to this. One: the received opinion is that anyone who can code better than the reigning professors (i.e. just about anyone) will do just fine as a simulation person.
Two: the received opinion is that good "simulation guys" who understand what the experimentalists are talking about are hard to find and worth their weight in gold.
The truth lies somewhere in between. Make your best guess and act accordingly.


text:
Advice on what to do before applying to Grad School in CS
I’m a graduate of Carnegie Mellon, B.S. Computer Science. I am contemplating doing a masters in something Computer Science-related as well, but my GPA is a bit on the low side (barely above a 3.0). I went through a rough patch during my time at CMU, and in many of my core CS classes I struggled a bit, oftentimes not getting anything better than a C. I also found it quite tough to find a internship/job in the tech industry in spite of doing all the interview preparation I could possibly think of. I eventually ended up getting a full-time software job at a corporate and investment bank, where I currently work. I thought I would take a break from school and get experience working for at least a couple of years before deciding what to do further.
Although I don’t miss the stress/anxiety that I went through in my undergrad years, I do kind of miss some of the challenging material I got exposed to in my classes (especially those related to algorithms, complexity and machine learning), and I feel like I want to contribute something to the world of Computer Science, as crazy as it might seem. In particular, I am interested in applications of Computer Science in Economics, as well as in addressing the issue of Climate Change. Since my time at CMU, I have taken a really hard look at myself and what went wrong back then, and am determined to change myself for the better. Right now, I feel convinced that I had the wrong mindset and simply made a series of poor decisions that prevented me from doing well, learning, growing and getting opportunities.
Given the position I am in right now, I know it is really difficult to get into grad school with the grades I have, especially after reading a few forums online (Need help and advice concerning how to apply and look for grad schools and How do you get a bad transcript past Ph.D. admissions?) and discussing with a few people. However, I do feel that I am still interested in Computer Science, and would consider having a research job in the future (apart from being a senior software engineer), either in academia or industry. Does anyone have any advice on what I should do before I even bother applying for a masters to advance in my career path? Should I take online classes as well? I know for a fact that I need recommendations from research professors and quite possibly even a published paper on a research project, but I’m not even sure where to start or how to get there, given where I work right now. Any advice would be greatly appreciated - thank you!

It's good that you have some sort of (specific) idea as to what you may want to do.  I'm a potential applicant for grad school in CS myself, so take this with a grain of salt, but...
The fact that you went to a top CS school like CMU will carry some weight.  A 3.0 from CMU will definitely carry more weight than the same GPA from a lesser-name school (maybe even a little higher than 3.0).  However, a 3.0 GPA is still low, regardless of where it comes from, so you will still need something to show for that.  As you mentioned, you'll need recommendations that can speak to your abilities and convince departments that you are much better than what happened in your undergrad.  My advice would be if you have some sort of connections with a few professors from undergrad, feel free to reach out for advice and see where you can go from there, maybe even see if you can get recommendations from them.  In addition, without focusing too much or being too negative, explain in your statement of purpose how you recovered from your earlier issues in undergraduate, especially if it was because of an extenuating circumstance(s).
As far as research experience goes, you could see if there are any options back at Carnegie Mellon, although options may be more limited there, especially if professors can only afford to bring on enrolled students.  Even if not, they may be able to point you to other opportunities that could help you get where you need to go.  For CS + economics, there are also opportunities at other institutions or even in industry if you look around.  You don't necessarily need a publication (you may if you want to get your PhD at Carnegie, Stanford, etc. but others will take students without publications).


text:
Is it a good idea to send multiple GRE scores?
I have two GRE scores. The first one is V149+Q169+AW4 and the second one is V159+Q170+AW3.5. I'm applying for MSCS programs in some top universities. I've heard that admission officers don't care about AW scores, but some others said AW is more important than the verbal section (even for mscs programs). I will definitely send my second score but should I also send the first one to compensate my 3.5 AW in the second time? Some universities have the policy to accept the highest scores from each section. But I'm also worried that my 149 verbal score in the first time will hurt me if I send both.
Please help. Any advice is appreciated!

I doubt that sending the second one would make any difference. The ETS seems to consider a 3.5 and a 4.0 on the AW test as nearly equivalent.
https://www.ets.org/gre/revised_general/prepare/analytical_writing/score_level_descriptions/
Assuming this is the US, the GRE scores are only a small part of any decision in any case.
At the moment, also, coronavirus is making the GRE both less useful and less used.

I would add to that, it also depends on the field, Verbal outside social sciences is less important.

Just curious as to why the corona virus is making GRE less useful and used?

@HermanToothrot People aren't able to take it.

@Herman Toothrot: Less used because fewer people are able to travel to take the GRE, and many testing dates in the previous few months were canceled. Less useful because of the irrelevant variance effect on not reporting a score being heavily influenced by factors that used to not be present (travel issues, taking care of sick family members, having to self-isolate if exposed, deemphasis in the role played by the scores in admissions, etc.).


text:
How to mention about my university's MOU with the university in which I'm applying for Research Internship?
My university has an MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) with certain universities in which I am interested in applying for the position of research intern.
As I will be mailing professors of my domain of those universities for the internship, how should I mention in the mail that my university has an MOU with their university?
PS: My university's International Programme and Collaborations Department said, while applying to a university, if the student mentions the existence of an MoU, it may increase his/her chances to receive an acceptance from the university.

An MOU can mean anything.  You need to be more specific as to the content of the MOU.


text:
Tone to use in describing your "research project"
This is an extension question for this What exactly is "briefly explain your master research project" in a PhD application? (CS field)
Suppose I am writing a brief description for my research project (for my phD application), should I be using some "higher level" vocabulary or easy understanding words? This is because I don't know whether the admission committee will understand ...
Will there be different between a master and a phD when describing the research experience?

Let me get this straight: you don't know whether an admissions committee made up of some of the most qualified and experienced people in your field will understand some difficult words?

?! so if I'm applying for CS, the admission committee are the people who hold a CS related degree???

@GarlicSTAT The admissions committee will be made up of professors in the program you apply to.

!! Really?! So it's not like undergraduate where the admission committee are "general" people?

The admissions committee for PhD is the faculty of the department where you are applying. So these are people who are professors in CS (in your case). You should write using words that are understandable to CS faculty, but not necessarily people who have published in your precise area.

@GarlicSTAT Related: https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/917/who-typically-serves-on-a-graduate-school-admissions-committee


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Asking recommender to avoid talking about a project that was abandoned
I'm applying to grad school and have requested a professor to write a recommendation letter. He said he'd be happy to write one for me. I had worked on two projects with him. While working on the first one, I was a full-time collaborator and I was able to deliver the targets we had set out. This was two years ago.
During the beginning of this year, we decided to start working on another project. However, I couldn't devote much time to it because I was working on a full-time job. My responsibilities on my job kept me engaged and I couldn't make much progress. Slowly this project fell through the cracks. Since the professor is an extremely busy person it is unlikely that he would recall details around the first project. I'm worried he would unwittingly be influenced by the failure of the recent project.
How do I request him to take into account the fact that I was busy with a job while working on the second one and hence factor the first(successful) one strongly into the letter? I do not want to ask for it directly because it would appear pushy.

You don't, I would say.

You could send him an email with a resume and attachments of the work you did on the first project and say something like, "FYI, attached are my resume and some documents of the work we did together in case that will help in writing the letter." Present is as though you're just providing him with material to help write the letter in case he wants it, rather than requesting any particular content in the letter.

Generally, one only writes positive things in a letter of recommendation.  If you are writing a letter and cannot write positive things, do not write it.
Therefore, it is not necessary to ask that negative information be left out of a letter.
Should a reference letter for a student always be positive?


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Doing an individual PhD in Germany from abroad
In the next months I was planning to start an individual PhD in the Humanities at a German university. However, due to coronavirus restrictions I might not be able (or it might not be advisable) to move there for some months; while remaining in my home country, I might have to get a (non-academic) job in order to support myself.
Hence my question: assuming my potential supervisor agrees to keep most of our interactions virtual (videocalls/mails/etc), with occasional personal meetings, is it possible and feasible to pursue an individual Phd in Germany living (and perhaps working) in another country? As far as I know, both the PhD type (individual doctorate/Einzelpromotion) and the study field (Humanities) may allow for a larger degree of autonomy on the side of the candidate.
Please note the question is largely theoretical -- hopefully, I'll be able to move to Germany as soon as possible and find funding or employment there.

Short answer: in theory it's completely feasible, but your individual university may have some rules about it. Is your PhD funded? I don't understand why you are planning on working another job if the PhD is full time. Doing this is very hard! Payment (and how those are taxed) may be complicated depending on your home country (is it in the EU?).

Unusual times may allow for unusual (temporary) solutions. But this is a question for your particular institution.

@astronat individual doctorates are not funded, unless you apply successfully to some funding institutions (DAAD, Stiftungen, funds from the Laender etc.). Moreover, being funded by such institutions will almost certainly involve a Residenzpflicht (= you must reside in Germany while studying). If I remain in my (EU) home country because of Covid, I will have certainly to work in order to support myself in next months -- but as you point out, the relative freedom of the individual doctorate does not make it a "part-time" PhD.

Standard advice:  Get funding before you sign up for a PhD.

Most PhD students at German universities are employed by the university. And in that case, you would not be allowed to work somewhere else without a formal permission from the university's administration. Moreover, those people who do their PhD part-time usually take long and hand in a low quality dissertation. It might be preferable to get a student loan and do the PhD full time from the start. The shorter the PhD is, the earlier you can cash in on the wage surplus that comes with the degree, probably compensating the cost of the student loan.

This question is very difficult to answer in general as PhD programs and their rules are hardly standardized in Germany, every university can mostly do as they please.
In my research institute (STEM) PhD students are employed workforce and as such your contract cannot start before you present yourself to HR at least once in person. But this does not seem to be the case for you.
During these Covid days many rules have also changed or are temporarily not applied. In my experience, the administrations have become very relaxed, allowing many things that were not permitted before. For example, a friend of mine was able to receive the written assessment of his thesis by email, vowing to delete it again, while normally it is strictly required to read it in person, under supervision and the strict ban of any recording devices.
As such, in general, if your supervisor agrees to you staying in your country as long as Corona is around, there will probably be a way to make it happen.

The last point is particularly important I think. Not only are many rules adapted at the moment, they are also often adapted as needed.


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Can I leave PhD after two years to join a company?
I'm from Africa. I came to the US three years ago to do my doctoral studies. Now, I am thinking of leaving my PhD, as I have found a two-year contract management job in Texas. Could you please advise me whether I should continue my PhD or join the company in Texas?

There is no way random people on the internet can give you useful advice on this. You need to talk to people who understand the details of your situation.

Two years and then what?

Hi henning -- reinstate Monica. With those two years of experience in Texas, I can find my next job.

Can you legally work full time in the US?

Just keep in mind that finishing your PhD would give you an advantage on the job market for the rest of your professional life, it's an investment for the future. Don't make the mistake to only compare your income now vs. in this job. Think about it this way: a few years from now, what would be a better asset on your resume: having a PhD or having this job experience?

Can you quit a PhD? sure.
Can you stay in the US and take a job? probably not.
Unless you got into the US because of a family member or similar, your visa/status in the US is almost certainly tied to your PhD position. Unless your new employer is willing and able to sponsor you for a visa, quitting your PhD will likely mean having to leave the US.


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Is there a formal requirement to becoming a "PI"?
This may be a stupid question, but I can't quite figure it out. For an academic career, it seems to be quite important to be "principal investigator (PI)" on cool research projects. Now, say for some reason you're not eligible to be an official applicant on a grant proposal (e.g., because you're abroad and the funding agency doesn't permit that), but you're still involved as a project leader, providing important scientific stimuli, attending meetings, etc. - can you still call yourself a "PI" (as long as all involved parties agree), or is that an official stamp that really only the formal appointee of the grant receives?
To make it a bit less hypothetical: I'm thinking about writing a grant proposal with my former supervisor for funding a PhD student at his institution, with me co-leading the supervision of the student.  I'm currently abroad, doing a PostDoc at another institution, and I'm trying to figure out whether there's a way I can be involved in that project and receive "official academic credit points" for it. ;-)

It sounds like you will be listed on the grant as supporting personnel. Nothing wrong with that, you will receive credit for the part you are taking. You cannot call yourself a PI at that point, but I think you have a misconception that anyone expects you to be a PI while you are still a postdoc.

Note that PI isn't used at all, or only informally, in some fields. In pure math, for example, the one that founds a small seminar or working group might be informally refereed to in that way, but it has no real import. The work of members is largely independent other than for a sharing of ideas. They don't "direct" the work of anyone but there own advisees.

@GoodDeeds thanks for the link! That partially answers my question, but the answers here helped to further clarify things.

Can you not be a co-PI either?

This is a good question. In other words, is PI something that people are formally appointed to (or not appointed to), or is a PI simply someone who does PI-like things, self-identifies as a PI, takes a leadership role in research, etc.? Compare being a project manager (someone who manages projects) and being formally awarded the specific job title of Project Manager at a specific industry employer. Lots of people manage projects in industry while having some other formal title (e.g. Engineer, Developer, etc.).

There are three only partly-overlapping senses of the label "PI" that I am familiar with in the US; as usual, things may vary a bit elsewhere in the world:

Shorthand for professor/advisor in a research setting. When a student refers to "my PI" they mean the person overseeing their research. It may help resolve the ambiguity of saying "my professor" which might be taken to mean "the instructor of a course I am taking".

"PI status", meaning eligibility to apply for grants on behalf of an institution. For example https://research.wisc.edu/compliance-policy/principal-investigator-status/ talks about the responsibilities and eligibility to be a PI. For tenured/tenure-track faculty it's pretty much a given, though others may be eligible for the role, too.

The actual bona fide "principal investigator" on a grant. This is distinct from the other uses of the term, and is totally up to the policies of the grant institution/organization. Some people may be officially a PI in this sense of the term but yet would not be called a PI in either of the other circumstances. For example, the recipient of a doctoral or post-doctoral fellowship may be officially the "principal investigator" on that grant.

For your specific situation, I think it depends on what sense you're thinking of "PI". If you're going to be someone's primary mentor, maybe they'd call you their "PI", and there's no need for you to scold them over it and demand they use a more correct title. However, if you're listing the activity on your CV it would be better to just describe the relationship rather than put any title on it. If you've mentored a graduate student, list it as a graduate student mentored/supervised. If it's a co-supervisory relationship, you may also want to make that clear. Something like "PhD Students Supervised" in a heading, and then a line like "Student A. Learner, PhD University of Important Things (co-supervised with Dr. Big S. Hot)"
If you're submitting a grant where there is some box to fill in who the PI is, well, it completely depends on the rules for that granting agency. It sounds like you don't fit those requirements, so no, you aren't a PI.

I've never heard of usage 1., actually. Is that field dependent?

Which of those would be "boss of a scientific laboratory"? The one responsible for hiring people an establishing goals and objectives?

@Buffy Possibly, it's pretty ubiquitous in mine. Maybe it's less so in a field where it's less likely that an advisor is also actually the PI of a grant that's funding their students. If I search this site for "PI" it seems like the usage is mostly #1, though the other situations often also apply, it's just not the context it's been used. I would include "boss of a scientific laboratory" in #1.

In some fields the advisor is placed (last or first) on every publication, even if they had little to do with the actual work. Lots of complaints about that sort of "authorship" on this site. Is that what you mean by 1?

@Buffy I'm not intending to make any roundabout commentary on any particular situation, especially not one as specific as authorship, just noting the common conversational use of the term "PI" in my experience.

@Buffy Pretty common in the human sciences.

@Buffy the lab boss need not be any kind of PI, but they're probably #3 for at least some of the projects.

In the US, for federal grants, the "principal investigator" is defined by the grant, see the NSF search, e.g. here. If you aren't the PI on the grant, you are not the PI. I don't review early-career CVs, but you could conceivably run into someone who knows the grant, or just looks it up to learn more about it, and would see you are not the PI, and would wonder why you've listed yourself.
In conversation, it would probably be fine.

I've been on grant review boards, and the PI and any Co-Is are identified in the proposal.  (other roles may not be ... although I once spiked a proposal when the role that was going to do all of the work wasn't identified, and they thought they were going to find a web developer / programmer / database person for $20k/yr.  (for a rather complex project)

It depends where, and in which way, you want to use it.
When applying for jobs you want to list on your CV which grants you got. There, you don't want to lie. If you didn't get the grant/weren't the PI on it, don't claim so. If you were a co-applicant in some way, state this in a clear way on your CV, where your role becomes clear. Importantly, these parts of a CV often state how much money one got through those grants, so be honest here.
On the other hand, when you were a project leader for a project in some way or the other, this is something which is less regulated, and you can state more informally on your CV. However, then you shouldn't connect it to the grant money involved, but only relate it to your role in the given scientific project (design the project, guide postdocs/students, etc. etc.).

The official PI can, of course, write you a letter of recommendation describing your "central role" in carrying out the project.


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How to approach Professors from other institutes (without potentially offending the ones at mine)
tl;dr - I want to rely on Tutors from other institutes without offending the ones at mine (for not turning to them instead)

I'm studying Undergrad Medicine in South Asia.
The curriculum is pretty interesting, however, there are a few problems I face.
Most of my Tutors/Professors,

Aren't exactly keen on discussing topics/information that isn't explicitly mentioned in our course textbooks (which in turn, is the work of local publishers and is regrettably riddled with poor wording, shoddy formatting and incorrect or outdated info)
Are usually reluctant to provide us with the rationale/intuition, even for stuff that is in our textbooks.
Are usually very busy. So it gives me next to no time to sit down and clear questions with them. (Texting or mailing them is just as difficult)

They're all really nice people and have been very encouraging so far, but for the reasons listed above (exacerbated by a ridiculously rigid education-system), I've found it difficult to grow as a student under them. Changing courses isn't an option I have.
Therefore, I hope to approach (E-mail?) Professors from other institutes with my questions. Assuming they're able to reply reasonably quickly (and satisfactorily), I'll seek to establish regular interactions with them.
However, there's a very real chance that they are in contact with the faculty at my institute (among others); my institute regularly holds Conventions to which faculty-member from other institutes are invited. If my Tutors were to find out that I'm actively turning to people other than themselves for my questions, they're likely to take it as a personal insult.
So on one hand, when I go Tutor-hunting, I need to make it clear in my E-mails that the resources and Tutors at my home-institute are inadequate (regrettably) for my growth as a student, lest they misjudge the gravity of situation.
On the other hand, I can't just bluntly tell them "My Tutors and I aren't exactly on the same wavelength" (this is putting it mildly), because should they end up meeting my Tutors and mentioning this, it'll cause irreparable damage to my relationship with them.
I suppose my question ultimately boils down to this:
So when I first approach a Professor from another institute (this is likely to be by E-mail), how exactly do I word my introduction?
In a way that won't potentially incriminate me down the road, that is.

Most important, I question your statement that you need to "make it clear" that you are dissatisfied with your current faculty. That seems like a terrible idea unless you wish to break ties with your current institution.
You can, of course, reach out to people about topics of interest without giving motives beyond your interest in their work and the answers they might give you.
But there may be little incentive for people to give you very much support, as they are busy and have their own responsibilities. But I don't think you improve that incentive, at all, by complaining about your current situation.
If your emails are subject/topic based then word getting back to your current professors should have no consequences. But if you say offensive things, you can expect that people will take offense.
But you might also ask yourself whether you are at the right institution or whether you should be looking for another.

+1 Yep. Now that you mention it, whining about my current institute in the Email isn't exactly the smartest thing to do.  I'll give this answer a day or two before I accept it. Thanks!  :-)

It sounds like the issue you have is a knowledge or veracity of information issue. If you are being taught incorrect information, it would have serious implications for you when you practice and sit exams.
The issue is how to clear and develop a system to mitigate and manage the issue of incorrect and correct information. I definitely think that formally approaching outside institutions will not solve this problem and also expose you to your current institution. No professor or other group will help you with educational deficits from your own education. The scope and complexity is too broad and demand is too intensive for ongoing discussion.
Are there anyone or other instructor that can support you in your institution even if it is outside their field of practice? Clinicians or invited clinical speakers are usually broad enough to verify and point to relevant resources without implicating themselves too much with your problematic teaching staff. In the clinical world there are always clashes of treatment and diagnostic approaches so this is quite a familiar issue compared to lecturing by non-clinicians.
Are you able to source and afford tutors or instructors privately? There are always online support and education options but unfortunately cost is a big issue. Expanding your collaboration is another way. Medical SE will be happy to clarify your connundrums if you are able to cite sources and the area of doubt with your instructor for example.
Good luck. Learning to deal with the hierarchy is an important part of medicine.  Despite being a "science", evidence based medicine can be subverted and ignored by the hierarchy. Learning how to deal with this tension and duality is tough but important.


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Ok to independently investigate questions of interest to previous advisor?
I am a Ph.D student in Mathematics, and during my undergraduate career, I worked with a professor on a certain topic (topic X, if you will) that strongly interests me. I have now moved to a different institution for my Ph.D studies. This summer I collaborated with him on a paper in topic X, although the collaboration seems to me mostly one sided (as in, I did virtually all the work, and am even unsure as to whether it is ethical for him to be an author of the paper).
I understand why the professor could not prioritize our work because he is really, really busy with other projects in many topics and with his own advisees. Nevertheless, I feel that I am at a point where I could start working independently on questions in topic X that are very interesting to me, and I think his supervision is no longer necessary. Therefore, I'd like to begin working on these questions by myself, or perhaps in collaboration with other people in the area.
I also have a very friendly, advisor-student (though he's no longer my advisor) relationship with this professor that I would not like to lose. Would it be, in some sense, a betrayal to his interests if I start working independently on questions that he is interested in solving too at some point? He is usually very "territorial" about his research projects, and I'm not sure whether he would feel offended that I want to work on these questions by myself, because I think he expects that it would be a collaboration.

Yes, maybe I should have clarified this, so thanks for asking. Some of the questions I have come up with myself, and other questions the ex-advisor came up with. All of these questions are natural extensions of a project he started a few years ago. The question I am most interested in solving right now is a question that follows naturally from our most recent project, and which is an analogue of a question for a related problem he solved in collaboration with someone else.

Go ahead and work on the project on your own.  The fact that your former advisor introduced you to the general topic does not give him veto authority over where you will go with the topic in the future.
Having a former advisor who is interested in the problems should be an asset, not a liability.  If you find an interesting result, you have somebody more knowledgeable and senior in the field who you can show it to.

Dubious response: OP says clearly both that the supervisor is territorial and that the OP does not want to lose the good relationship. Of course, the OP is entitled to work on the topic, but just saying that OP can basically override the supervisor's interest's, without warning OP that this can damage the relationship is unsound advice. Alternatively, OP could coordinate his initiative with the ex-supervisor. But if OP doesn't want to do that for whatever reason, OP most likely will end with having to choose between working on the topic or keeping the good relationship with the supervisor.

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