text:
How to inform a student about my appreciation of his/her original solutions
In the final exam of a course, a student has solved some problems in a really ingenious way.
He gets perfect score anyway.
What is the appropriate way to inform him about my appreciation of his solutions?
(Also what if I don't have the occasion to meet him again?)

I would think that the traditional way of rewarding talent would be to recognize that talent by letting him do research with you!

As a student I will be thrilled if the professor asks for my permission to show my work in future classes.

@Compass: letting? The questioner might have to beg the student to remain in the same place for research ;-)

Care to share what the question and solution was?  I'm interested.

A undergrad colleague of mine solved a Computer Science problem in a very ingenious way, so ingenious that it became his master's thesis. It was due to proper feedbeck by the faculty.

@SteveJessop Only if the student realises s/he's smart - maybe he's kicking himself because he thinks he went about the question in a "stupid" [turns out to be "really ingenious"] way!

I once found an unusual solution during an exam and I was thrilled that the massive amount of red the corrector had used on it formed the sentence "This solution is very neat and appealing."

Just write the student an email and express your appreciation. Don't overthink this. Then again, don't go over the top ("you are the best student I ever had") - you never know how he will take this.
Depending on how well you know the student and on whether you would actually be willing to do so, inform him that you would be happy to write a glowing recommendation for him if he ever needs one, e.g., for admission to grad school.
And as Compass comments, think about how you can help the student develop even further. Do you have any follow-up courses, maybe even advanced ones that the student would usually not take but that you think he would be able to follow? Tell him. Can you give him a research project? Take him on as an Research or Teaching Assistant?

At some point, this turns from "helping the student grow" to "nurturing your own future grad student", and that's OK. This is a mutually beneficial thing, after all. And it's never too early to snap up the promising students. If you don't do it, others will.

Well, as a student, I will be glad if my work gets appreciated. Recognition like these act as confidence booster. But, don't overdo it, as it may make student think too high of himself.
Assuming that the final exam sheets are returned to the students, you can attach a (very) short note appreciating his ingenuity. Trust me, I get excited even on a simple "Good Job!" on my exam sheet (my professor does it rarely though). Other option could be to write him a short email. You may invite him to have a discussion on what further he can do with the ideas he demonstrated in the answer sheet. Depending on how high you think of his subject knowledge, you can offer him a TA job, as pointed by Stephen Kolassa.
But, most importantly, you should make sure that the student does something big with his talent, by referring him a book, an online course, or any other course in your or other department.

I know a professor who writes a special note to top 5 students in his class. Something along the line of :

"congratulations on a great job in my class ABD255 ... specially I appreciate the way you handled assignment 5.".

He also offers any recommendation letters that the student might need in the future and an open invitation to do master thesis with him. These are some good ways of showing your appreciation as they will likely count towards the student's career.

You already did: you gave him a perfect score.

Not quite so. A undergrad colleague of mine solved a Computer Science problem in a very ingenious way, so ingenious that it became his master's thesis. I think OP means the student went beyond just a perfect score solution.

@Mindwin: The OP does not suggest taking on the student to convert their solution to a thesis, only that he wishes to "express appreciation". It's really incredible to me how many times I see basic human interactions asked about on academia.SE!

OP does not, but he also does not not.

What the frak

Here we answer the question posed, not the question not not posed. He has also not not asked us how to make good pumpkin soup; should I add the recipe?

At least in most countries and courses, a perfect score can be achieved by understanding the course material as presented, and applying brain to some kind of application of theory. What OP describes is a student going beyond that - it's not an "ingenious solution" if it's the 'perfect' solution on a model answer sheet.

@OllieFord Interestingly, until just under 10 years ago, the highest grade in Denmark actually did require something like this (at least the way it was applied in high school. At university, it was still hard to get but could be obtained "just" by getting everything right).

Yes I would expect that here, too. The downvoters are short-sighted or, at the very least, the OP should go forth and tell us which jurisdiction we're supposed to be answering about.


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Marie Curie early researcher (ITN) PhD in management at average ranked business school versus regular PhD at a strong brand name
I have been offered a Marie Curie Fellowship as a PhD researcher. That means I would be employed by the business school to carry out 3 years of a PhD project approved by European Commission. I would simultaneously have the status of a PhD student and a business school employee.
However, the business school is perhaps ranked around 9 to 10 in that country. A serious concern is if other (better ranked) schools in that country and in rest of Europe will look down upon my PhD just because it is not from the list of elite schools in Europe. This particular school is not ranked by 2 of the well known rankings, though it punches way higher than its size and overall reputation research-wise in a third ranking, which is often considered the most trusted by students embarking on PhD at a business school.
I know what the project is and who my supervisor will be. He is an active researcher, though I don't know to what extent he would go on to support me during and after PhD.
The alternative is a regular PhD program, with a full scholarship at a pretty strong brand name within Europe (another country). However, its research ranking is not very good, but the overall impression of that school Europe-wide is impressive. The school overall features in top 30 worldwide in one of the rankings, but for research in my area of studies, it ranks between 100-150 by 2 rankings and about 200-250 by the third. This school is ranked 3rd-4th in its country and is known internationally for its MBAs et cetera, so at least recruiters would know the school. I don't know what project I would eventually finalize and the supervisor I would get, but as they say, the chances of things going wrong are lower at a good school.
My goal: I am looking at a career in academia afterwards. Some professors I spoke with have hinted that it is often the name of the graduating school that gets you noticed. Could the mention of Marie Curie fellowship compensate for any weaknesses of the specific school I attend? If so, how do I overcome the reputation and get noticed when the recruiters are said to be interested in shortlisting based on the recognition / popularity of schools?
EDIT: The Marie Curie Fellowship is at a business school that has only very recently (last 3-5 years) published in the highest rated journals but the brand image has still not improved in view of the professors I spoke with. I told them about the high impact research it has in recent years produced but according to them, it goes in the following order (for fresh PhDs in business) where your CV may be dropped after considering each of the following: 1- School where candidate did his PhD, 2- Publication record, 3- References, 4- Supervisor, his record, placement and publication record of his other PhD students. Any business management professors / anyone related to academia in business management, please give your input.

"recruiters are said to be interested in shortlisting based on the recognition / popularity of schools?" No, people hiring you for a postdoc will be far more interested in the work you did during the PhD than the logo on the mug you drank out of while doing it.

What do you suggest should I do? The Marie Curie thing is a European Commission initiative meant to train PhDs as professional researchers so that they can work in academia if they wish or industry should they prefer. I am solely interested in academia and worry if this 'aim' of having dual grooming would be counted as a disadvantage in the academic world since the recruiters are professors themselves and such a PhD may wrongly hint I am open to considering industry options? In case I choose the stronger school, I feel letting go of the marie curie fellowship would be being thankless

@user92608 I edited your question in the hopes it might be slightly clearer. Academia SE generally doesn't answer "What should I do?" questions, but questions that are abstracted from your own situation, like "How do European business school hiring committees usually balance X vs. Y?" are more on-topic. Please feel free to [edit] your question further, as you would like.

@cactus_pardner That is very kind of you. Thank you!

@user92608 ONLY reaserch output and paper published, are important

Don't professors responsible for hiring new faculty shortlist candidates based on where they've graduated from (fresh PhDs)? If there's one vacancy & 60 applicants, naturally the department will cut down the workload by shortlisting 10 promising ones based on prestige of graduating institution since better department = better facilities, supervisors, & peers for intellectually stimulating research, & usually better research. What you're saying suggests I could get PhD from a 2nd tier school in India & still get hired at a top 100 school in the US if I've good publications. Any thoughts?

@user92608 Your prior comment is a new question in itself! I believe that good publications trump all (if ethics are in order), but the possibility of getting good publications is lower at a much worse department.

Forget the ranking and look at the substance.

@ cactus_pardner - Thanks for that. Both schools are great, however the difference in prestige and recognition within Europe is miles apart!

@ Henning - Thank you for your comment. What exactly do you mean when you say 'substance'

Having a Marie Curie scholarship is quite an achievement, congratulations! I know of schools who will take you right away if you have a Marie Curie stipend, no matter if you already know someone at that school. In Germany, rankings are often disregarded, as they tend to be highly biased. Go for what is more interesting for you, and that sounds like the ITN!

Whatever the answer is, you may want to especially pay attention to answers specific to business schools. (The professors mentioned at the end of the question do teach at business schools, I see.) (I have taken a U.S. B-school class and had friends in the PhD program there, and I have worked (inside and outside academia) with people with PhDs from B-schools, but I am not an "insider" by any means.) My guess would be that academics at a B-school may be less dismissive of a dual-purpose program like Marie Curie, especially if you point out it will help you teach MBAs who are almost all industry-bound. However, MBAs that are connected to professors with name-brand pedigrees might be easier to "sell," meaning that the school name would help you get hired. (Perhaps see how schools characterize their faculty in materials for marketing their MBA program.)
A lot of it comes down to: do you like the PhD project you would be doing? Starting off with a sponsored project under the EC aegis could be a huge advantage, if you can envision an interesting project developing there. (If it would just be a glorified annual report, with significant constraints on what you can examine, then that may not be as impressive.) Instead of being "that candidate from the research university not ranked by list a or list b," you would be, "the candidate who works with the EC job-training data," say.
Also, maybe it works differently in business or this is lost in translation, but the academic job market doesn't involve "recruiters," as far as I have heard. You'll apply to many places, and the people making decisions are faculty members. They would probably care about the schools' research rankings and the quality of your research, among other interests. (The more research you would be expected to do, the more your research pedigree matters; the more you're hired to teach, the more your ability to offer the MBAs an elite experience matters.)

The professors I asked for opinion are in different business schools (not affiliated to any of the 2 business schools concerned), in different countries, and educated and third countries. 2 of them suggested choosing the regular PhD program at the reputed business school for the fact that the interview call received for the first job will more than likely be a reflection of where I did my PhD from (considering I am similarly productive, publications wise, at both regular PhD at top school / Marie Curie PhD at average school). Nice suggestions though :)

Indeed, in academic job markets it is the faculty members, usually lead by the head of a specific department and a team of members, all dedicated academics who assess if a particular would be a good choice. 2 such head of departments in respectable universities of Europe said that: 1- Prestige of institution counts, e.g, if a graduate comes from an average school, the CV is likely to NOT be shortlisted. If however, it is a renowned school, the professors who hire will go to the next step, aka, assessing how promising I would be based on publications record and research impact

I disagree with this answer, bcs being a student and phd candidate of business school, are two completely different realities

But the end result is same = PhD after 3 or 4 years and then you get back to the job market and try to sell yourself to the best possible school for a better future. What do you think given the situation in question and the choice?

@SSimon I may be missing something from the European context, but I believe both opportunities OP has are as a PhD candidate. Also, I agree that the quality of research is extremely important to getting a faculty position; however, I believe additional factors may be important to business schools, and the advice OP received suggests that. It would be great if any folks with European business school academic experience (e.g. PhDs and/or faculty there) could chime in.

@ cactus_pardner Indeed, both opportunities are as a PhD candidate, the difference being that the Marie Curie Fellowship will simultaneously be a temporary employment contract of 3 years (length of PhD). Also, it pays very well (three and a half times better than the other option) but let's not consider that because in the long run, it is better research training, better supervision, better networking opportunities with competitive peers, and the resultant research publications that will help me find my first job.

@user92608 honestly, being good PhD student in business studies is extremely hard, eighter you have a good mentor with high h index or your destiny is preatty much trade collegue what is left for you

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text:
How do I tell my advisor about mental health problems?
I'm an undergraduate student (20f). I have 2 academic advisors - one in the Honors College & one in my department. I met with the Honors advisor recently to discuss study abroad and we somehow got on the topic of me not ever taking breaks. My GPA had fallen the past semester, and she warned me that if I don't start taking care of myself, I could burn out before getting my PhD (which is my goal).
I've suffered from anxiety/depression for years and recently begun to see a psychiatrist and counselor when I stopped eating, starting passing out, and developed repeated thoughts of suicide. All of that happened this past semester when I took an independent study with my Dept advisor, and I don't think he noticed. I want to be able to continue my research, so I'm trying to take care of myself. Unfortunately, that means I need to diminish my work load some.
I've been working with my Dept advisor closely for 2 years. He's helped me go to undergrad research conferences, get published, get grants etc. Always there for me academically, but the relationship's still very professional. We're officially starting my thesis work in the fall, but I told him I would start the readings this summer (halfway through the list). However, if I'm going to slow down the pace, I feel like I ought to give him reasons so he doesn't just think I'm slacking off. At the same time, I don't want to make it overly personal and make things awkward between us. He always asks how I am and it's a joke between us that I always say "tired" and he says "me too." I know that he pushes himself incredibly hard and never gives himself a break.
I would really appreciate examples of how I could word the email. I was thinking of asking him to meet some time (we're both in town over summer) to discuss and then tell him. Would it be better to do it over email? How do I tell him that I can't handle my current workload and still expect him to respect me as an academic?

I just have to say this: congratulations for standing up for yourself and go get help. that's a huge, not-easy-at-all step that you took. i hope everything turns out great for you :)

I've been in a comparable situation, suffering from a depressive episode for one year at least, and it really helped (but it was also difficult) to talk to my advisor. I did not even mention depression expressly; I just said that I had a lot of worries at the moment that make me less productive than I wish I was. In retrospect, I wish I had approached my advisor earlier, because it was a reality check. I imagined my advisor to have expectations that I simply could not meet. It turned out that I was the only one putting pressure on myself. A huge relief. (Also, google "impostor syndrome").

Just to point out the obvious, you need to take a proper vacation, one where you go somewhere and switch off completely and unplug from the internet and do other activities. And not feel guilty about that. This is very important self-care.

You might consider consulting with your university's mental health services about this as well, if you're not doing so already.  They have a lot of experience with these issues and they could communicate with your advisor on your behalf if that is helpful.

Thank you for mentioning impostor syndrome; I'd never heard of it, but it sounds a little too familiar for comfort.
@JairTaylor - I tried. Multiple times. It took them 4 months to get me to see the school psychiatrist & I never managed an appt in the school counselling center. The mental health services here are underfunded and overcrowded (the school had ~5 suicides this past year).

Also a vacation's not really an option, as I can't afford to take time off of work. Maybe a small weekend trip.

Good for you for recognizing your illness and for getting professional help.
My answer has two parts.
Regarding how to tell your adviser, I suggest that you can write a short, factual, but non-personal email that contains all the information you want him to know.  Something like this:

Dear Professor X,
I need to tell you about a health condition that I have struggled with
  for some time.  I have a psychological condition involving anxiety and depression, and I am receiving professional medical treatment for it.  We have a course of treatment that is appropriate but it will take some time to be effective.
One consequence is that I will need to be more careful about the
  amount of stress I am experiencing, including avoiding a stressful
  work load. I have decided that my past work load (including X, Y, and Z) is too much and not healthy for me.
Considering the alternatives, I have decided to focus my effort on X and Y, and to discontinue (or cut back on) Z.  I remain committed to academic excellence and my career goals, and I believe this new work plan will be more likely to be successful than my previous work patterns.
I will be happy to meet with you to discuss this decision and alternative suggestions you might have. However, there are aspects that I hold private and will not be open to discussing.  Thank you for understanding.
Best regards,
Student

You only need to meet in person if the Department adviser requests a meeting.
The second part of my answer comes to me intuitively based on the way you have written your question and the background.
I sense that you might have a belief in perfectionism -- that the only acceptable level of effort is 110% and the only acceptable level of results is perfection. You might have a very negative association with being perceived as "lazy" or "slacker" if you take any vacations or breaks.  You might also believe that any error or misstep is a sure sign of unrecoverable failure.
If these resonate with you, then they need to be addressed to avoid recurring patterns of overwork, exhaustion, and eventually burnout.
Since you are seeing a professional psychologist and counselor, I suggest that you raise these questions and your responses with him/her.  No need to respond here (in public).

EDIT:
Anticipating some objections, I know that making explicit mention of "psychological condition" and "anxiety and depression" may be risky and may go against cultural norms.  As a matter of ethics and morality, I believe it is important and necessary for all of us, individually, to act against those cultural norms that are harmful and counter productive.  In this case, it is prejudice against mental illness, but I hold the same views regarding racism, sexism, and other cultural dysfunctions.
Of course, each individual needs to weigh the potential consequences of going against cultural norms.  If you can't bear the potential consequences, then don't do it. You'll have to leave it to others to push for changes to cultural norms.

I agree that it is better to involve the adviser sooner rather than later and to keep the message factual and, i would say, non-apologetic. However, consider that by writing an email rather than seeking a personal conversation, you are putting your health issues on record, once and for all. This may become a problem eg. if you are on a fixed-term employment contract (as many PhD students are, at least in Europe), once you need an extension, although employers are ethically and often also legally obligated not to discriminate on grounds of health.

Thank you. I understand your point about acting against harmful cultural norms. I greatly appreciate the sample email and will use it as a starting point.  Perfectionism is one of the things I'm discussing with the counselor....

@henning I understand the objection you are raising about "putting your health issues on the record, once and for all."  But this sort of avoidance behavior is what helps to maintains the cultural stigma against mental illness in the first place.  Also, by not being clear in the email exactly what the condition/problem is, the student is leaving room for ambiguity and misunderstanding, which offers "plausible deniability" later for the Professor and the department. By explicitly stating the health issue now, the student has stronger evidence if there is discrimination later.

i tend to agree to the second point, and i also like your text suggestion. but i don't think it's the responsibility (although it would be brave) of people who suffer from mental health issues to fight against their stigma.

I'm not really sure the OP has to disclose that it's a mental health issue. She could simply communicate to her advisor that due to a health treatment, she won't be able to work as many hours as before.

@QuoraFeans - Of course, the student has the option to be somewhat or very vague.  As in any complex social situation where the "whole truth" may be uncomfortable to one or both parties, we can use vagueness and euphemisms to attempt to steer around the discomfort. However, the more vague you are, the more room you leave for the other person to infer meanings that you might find even more negative than the "whole truth".  The phrase "health issue" without any other supporting evidence might be interpreted as a "white lie" to mask something else (e.g. social discomfort with the Professor).

Be careful: e-mails stay forever. I recommend a face to face conversation.

Update: I emailed him a version of the template you provided. He responded, saying that I can slow down because I have time to complete my thesis/degree. But when we met this past week to come up with a schedule, he commented that stress/anxiety tends to be built into academia.

@stressedout Thanks for the update, and glad that he had a positive, constructive response.  About his response to your schedule, I wouldn't read too much into that. It is true - the life of most grad students involves stress/anxiety/depression in varying degrees. But grad students can make choices that make it manageable and survivable. Stay the course, and you'll probably make it through OK.

I believe that the letter suggested by MrMeritology is fine. I just want to add a remark which might help you overcoming the burden of writing such a letter. Chances are that your advisor already knows about part of your problems, and is actually pondering about how to formulate the question "How do I tell my student to slow down and get professional help?" on academia.se. Academics might not be the most observant of all people, but they do talk to each other, and most would honestly try to help. However, approaching someone who has problems is quite delicate and even the best intentions may do more harm then good. So in writing such a letter you may well do a favour to your advisor and save him worries about how to go beyond the tired-joke.

This has happened also to me, and only you know how hard this is.You have to be really,really strong but very careful also.
It is highly possible that if you are too honest he might not be so open-minded.
Something like
"Currently, some health problems I am dealing with are making me slower in my research"
would be a good approach through e mail.
It is a good way to mention that you have some issues but not necessarily mental.
See how he responses to this and then you can talk face to face and explain (if he asks) the details.
What you really need to do is explain yourself in such a way that you will be honest and straight.This will act against anxiety since you will have earned some time to breathe.
Next, focus on doing research just for a small amount of time every day in order not to feel "out" of academics but not to feel sick again.
Good luck!!! Remember,all you have to do is breathe in and out,and life goes on.

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Where do French departments in the US posts jobs?
I'm near the end of my PhD and so going on the job market for posts in academia. I'm in linguistics, but I specialize in French. My chair is familiar with where linguistics departments post jobs openings, but neither of us are sure of where French departments (who may still hire some linguists) typically advertise when they have job openings since they'd be unlikely to use the linguistics-specific sites. What are the top 3 or so places to find openings in French departments?
(I'm also not looking to leave the US, so I'm looking for French departments in the US specifically.)

Be aware that departments that teach French might not have that in their names. For example, at my school, the relevant department is "Romance Languages and Literature".

Here is the MLA Jobs List: https://joblist.mla.org/#languages
You can search by language.

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text:
Student not giving mid-project report and not coming to defense
Context:
I am a researcher in a Western European university.
As part of a masters courses in my uni, students have a rather long project to do (each student has its own project). This project is divided in two parts: an analysis part (short, they need to understand their project and state how they want to achieve it) and an experimentation part (the main part of the project, they need to achieve as much as they can). Each part is evaluated with a report and a small defence.
In this context, I have a student working on a project I submitted. The first part of the project has now ended and I have the following problems:

the student lied to me on the submission date for the report
they did not submit anything
they did not come to their defence

What I did as an advisor:

during the project: took several hours to explain the project and provided help to prepare the experiments (they are not done right now)
offered my help for writing the report (asked for the student to send drafts regularly and to ask about anything unclear, never received any draft)
I was present at the defence to help them if they could not answer questions

What happened then:

they scored the worst marked for the first part of the project
I did not received any explanation nor excuses
I can decide whether I accept that they continue the project or not

So my question is: what do you advise in such context?
Here I listed a few options:

let them do the rest of the project and help them with the experimentations (note that at this point I do not expect any workable result anymore, but maybe they will work better than on the first part)
forbid the student to finish the project (it is likely that they won't be able to validate the project anyway due to their mark at the first evaluation, and I will have more time for my research, perhaps doing their project by myself)
ask the student to submit the report before deciding (we will loose some time on the rest of the project, but it was explicitly asked to submit this report and I could make sure that they understood what they need to do).

Any help / advice will be greatly appreciated!

What does the university guideline say? If you decide, then the question is: can they carry out the experiment without evidence that they understand the theoretical part?

University told me that I was free to choose whatever option

Also, I can help them by saying "Do X and try Y", as for my side I know what should be done,but I fear that in the end we will both lose our time

Have you physically sit with and/or spoken with the student in person recently? Is it possible they're currently sitting alone in their house suffering from depression? It's not unheard of for people considering suicide to just stop participating in the world.

I saw them a few days before the report submission and they told me that everything was fine and that they would send me a draft of their report the same day. Receiving nothing, I decided to ask for the draft again the next day and they just kept saying "I'm gonna give you this at the end of the day"
Now I want to meet them again but I have no response from them. I know that the responsible of the masters degree is looking for them as well

Failing a student should always be the last option, but in this case it definitely sounds like a valid option. You should communicate with whoever is responsible for the master's degree or those projects for the details, but in general I would report the grade for the whole project as failed. Continuing will not only be a waste of time and money but depending on the experiments might actually be a danger to the student and others.
If what you say about the students behaviour is true and they deliberately lied to you, it might also be a valid point to not accept the student for any of your future projects (I assume you are not the only one offering them) as you may not be able to grade them impartially after what happened.
On the converse though, whatever you do, be careful in how you do it and how you present it to the student. Right now you know only part of the story. The student might simply be lazy and lying about it, but there might equally be some urgent private or psychological reasons for it. And failing such an important class and possibly their whole degree might be what convinces a clinically depressive student to do something irreversible. It's not your job to deal with this, but if you suspect something, your university might offer some psychological student counseling you could involve as well.

Thank you for your answer, actually it's very hard to make a decision as long as I do not have any face to face discussion with them. But right now, the facts are not on their side

Not sure what you expect here, given they have submitted nothing then they will have nothing to experiment on.
So, basically they have failed this assignment and will need to replace it if possible. That will depend on the regulations in force at your institution.

Actually, as I submitted the project I can just tell them "Do X and try Y"
Also I can not check whether they understand everything or not

@belitd You state "they did not submit anything", but did not mention that you submitted on their behalf. Should that be taken into consideration as their work?

My sentence may have been unclear, I just meant that I submitted the subject, I didn't do their work, but I certainly know how I would do it.
And they chose to work on this project based on the 1-page document I wrote stating the main goals and giving some technical hints. I never submitted a report on their behalf and would certainly not do that.


text:
When to withdraw/is this professor being reasonable?
I am currently in a difficult science class that is important for my major.  I have a current GPA of 3.5 that I am very focused on keeping. This semester I had a vacation out of the country that I had been planning for years. I spoke to all my professors about it and only one had any problem with my being unable to make two classes. This professor said that I would be unable to make up any of the class work and would receive a zero in all assignments given during the time I was gone, nor will I be allowed any extra credit to make up for the missed class work. As a result I worked extremely hard at keeping the highest grade possible in the class and when I left on vacation my grade was 97%. After I got back I found out I was pregnant. Sadly there were complications and I was hospitalized and had a miscarriage barely a week later. This caused me to miss an additional class. Though I spoke with the difficult professor about what was going on and offered to provide any documentation required my grade has been dropped to 77%. If my GPA drops too much I will lose my scholarship money and internship opportunities.  I have time to withdraw but I really don't want to waste the time and money. I have never had a professor treat me like this before, is this normal? I would like to hear some educated opinions.

This semester I had a vacation out of the country that I had been planning for years You plan to take vacation during a semester?

It was planned two years before I started college.

In the US, it is up to the professor on how he/she wants to handle a student missing class without a valid excuse. Vacations are not valid excuses (doesn't matter how long you've been planning it, and why would it?).
However, medical issues are a valid excuse and the university usually has a policy on how to handle it, which professors have to adhere to. I would recommend talking to your advisor or the chair of the department about this.
As @ChrisPhan mentioned, this particular situations looks to be protected by Title IX in the US. Most universities have staff known as Title IX Coordinators that you can contact. I imagine that they will take this very seriously.

Thank you so much, that is really helpful. Hopefully I can use this to excuse my final absence and raise my grade to something I can fix with a little effort.

Yes, Title IX.  You should plan to speak with your campus Title IX coordinator on Monday.  In the meantime, you can be reading up on your university's policies and start assembling your medical documentation.  I recommend scanning things like doctor's notes, hospital or emergency room admissions and discharge paperwork, to have handy to send as email attachments when needed.  // I suggest you change your wording: from "vacation" to "family travel commitment."  It looks better.  Also, ...

...start your story, when speaking with administrators, with the hospitalization, then the pregnancy complications, then the family travel committment.  In other words, tell the story backwards from how you told it here. The beginning should be, "I am concerned about how to catch up in X Class after a recent hospitalization. // And Lynn, may I add, I am very sorry for your loss.  Miscarriage is so often swept under the rug and treated like some minor medical mishap on the par with having a small mole biopsied.  In fact, it's a significant loss.  Hang in there, my friend!

all_licenses: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/


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Working as a computer scientist with a research focus purely in pure mathematics
I'm aiming to work in a computer science department after getting a PhD in computer science on theoretical computer science research, but my research interest/trajectory will be focused on solving a problem in theoretical computer science of which it's resolution falls entirely within the realm of pure mathematics(representation theory). This approach would have me publishing primarily in mathematics journals, presenting at mathematics conferences, and collaborating closely with the mathematics community rather than the traditional computer science one.
I'm wondering:
How common or advisable is this path, where your research as a computer scientist will be indistinguishable from pure mathematics research?
Could this impact my prospects for a career in computer science, especially if I aim for roles in CS departments?
What are the unique challenges associated with pursuing a CS PhD with a focus so deeply rooted in mathematics?

For what it's worth, there is a well-known approach to P=NP using representation theory of complex semisimple Lie groups (branching rules). However, so far, nobody was able to make it work, it is a hard problem. :)

This is an answer from a US mathematician whose work is occasionally not so far from computer science (and who regularly teaches the automata theory course for the computer science department, being the closest thing to a theoretical computer scientist on campus).  The purpose of this disclaimer is to give you some indication of how I could be wrong.
Hiring and tenure at research universities is far more grant-driven in computer science than in mathematics.  At a research university, a computer scientist is generally expected to bring in substantial grant funding, whereas the expectations for mathematicians are generally much less.  There is much less grant funding available in theoretical mathematics (as well as in theoretical areas of computer science) than in directly applicable computer science (or applied math).  This means you may be held to standards that you are simply unable to meet.  Indeed, most lower-ranked research universities (like mine) have very few or no theoretical computer scientists, because they expect their computer scientists to get substantial grants, and the relatively smaller amount of funding in theoretical computer science all goes to a few researchers who are all at better-ranked departments.  (Also, they expect their computer scientists to have grad students, and it can be quite difficult to recruit students capable of making contributions to theory at a lower-ranked university.)
That being said, there are also a lot of mathematics PhDs competing for not many professorships in mathematics, and it's not clear your job prospects will be better as a mathematician.  (I have said before that, if you are looking for a research-oriented job in mathematics in the middle of the next recession, whenever that is, you might have to be at least a longshot potential Fields Medalist to get one.) Just be aware that your job prospects in academia will be worse than prospects in other areas of computer science.  I can certainly see that you might find teaching introductory programming more interesting than teaching calculus (though you should be prepared to figure out ways to pass students who cannot figure out how to write a program on their own, just as mathematicians have to pass calculus students who can only do problems by blindly memorizing solutions to problems they have seen).

Also worth thinking about: What's your fallback if your line of research gets completely stuck (for you individually or for the community as a whole), or worse yet, if it's killed off (say by relativization results)?  Would you move to neighboring areas of math or neighboring areas of CS?  Try to move to primarily teaching or administrative roles?  Quit academia and research and work as a programmer?

I don't think the comparison to "longshot potential Fields Medalist" is useful. The number of longshot Fields Medalists is vastly smaller than the number of math faculty positions at R1 universities, even in bad years. Furthermore, the list of longshot potential Fields Medalists includes approximately zero applied mathematicians, whereas ~50% of open positions are in applied mathematics.

@WolfgangBangerth: I really think the next bad year will be that bad, with only a literal handful of positions open to theoretical mathematicians.  Those applied mathematicians who can apply for NIH money will do better.

This makes no sense. There are perhaps 100 R1 universities in the US alone, with perhaps 4000 math professors. To replace retirements, there are a steady state of at least 100 positions per year, or 400 positions per Fields Medal cycle. Across the countries that can reasonably compete for Fields Medalists, that is surely >1000 positions per Fields Medal cycle, and that must doubtlessly be vastly more than the number of people on the Fields Medal shortlist, even if one took into account that during bad years that number of positions might be substantially smaller.

I will also point out that the number of applied mathematicians who have NIH money is a relatively small fraction of all applied mathematicians.

@WolfgangBangerth: I anticipate that my department and many like it will never again hire a theoretical mathematician.  Most retirements in theoretical mathematics will not be replaced.  Many universities no longer have Classics departments and only have two or three Philosophy faculty.  English departments now usually have many non-tenure-track faculty teaching general education writing courses (coordinated by a non-tenure-track director of writing), with only a handful of faculty doing research in literature.  Theoretical mathematics is going in the same direction.

I don't doubt that there are departments that are phasing out pure mathematicians, but it's not what's happening at most R1 universities.

@AlexanderWoo huh, that's news to me. But I guess like Wolfgang said, perhaps there are different trends in different unis

I don't know how common it is currently, but in the past it was quite common. I'd guess that you could make it work as long as you can deal with the required teaching and advising in CS. It might also give you an opening into a math department.
Lots of parts of CS are very mathematical, in a theoretical, not just computational sense. And note that a lot of collaboration in many fields, inducing CS, is done with people outside the immediate department. If you publish, it will be respected.
It could also be an advantage at many universities to foster collaborations between the CS and math departments. The last place I worked had too little of that I thought. All of my own collaborations, and they were many, were with people at other institutions, many in other countries, many of them mathematicians as was my own background.
And, don't imaging that this current project will be your last one. Depending on how it goes and how you manage to fit in to a CS department collaborating with mathematicians, you might move focus in either direction.

The other two answers here are excellent and give you a viewpoint from relatively more senior people. Like Alexander, I'm at a lower-ranked R1/R2 borderline math department (we'll be R1 after January upcoming). My specialty is somewhere in computational mathematics, so in this sense intersects heavily with chunks of the theoretical side of CS.  I've been on the job market in the last two years, and think it's worth providing some perspective on that.
The publication culture in computer science is largely distinct from the traditional cadence of mathematicians and theoretical computer scientists. Most CS professors publish a larger number of shorter papers. Many of those go into conference proceedings rather than traditional journals.
Theory-focused research programs don't mesh incredibly well with that cadence. At the extreme end, if you don't diversify a bit to include several conference proceedings papers during your PhD, it seems from my anecdotal experience that most CS departments will not really know what to do with your tenure-track application. Perhaps you'll have 3 journal articles or so in review or published by the end of a PhD. If they are very high quality, maybe one of the higher ranked CS departments could appreciate them. If not, then you'll be competing with applicants who on paper have some order-of-10+ or whatever number of conference proceedings.
I say this from at least some experience. Last time around, I threw in a few applications to CS departments angling as a type of very theoretical computer scientist. None of those got much traction, and it seemed to be for the reason above. Think of it another way: CS departments process quite a number of graduate students these days. Those students need projects. Many of them need the projects to run on relatively short schedules and entail software experience because the students are not aiming for an academic career.
How are you going to show the CS departments to which you apply that you're going to be able to fit into that schema effectively? It's not impossible by any stretch. I have colleagues in CS departments who pull this off. But if your goal is to get a tenure-track job at a research-focused CS department with a theoretically-inclined program, I'd encourage you to be strategic. Yes, write some theory during your PhD. But be willing to sacrifice some of that theory for a number of quick and more applied conference papers. Trying to figure out this balance seems to be one of the unique challenges of this theoretical CS/computational math space.

Theoretical computer science has its own conferences - SODA, FOCS, et c - publishing in those can work.  However, you do bring up an important point, because if OP is planning to work in geometric complexity theory as I'm guessing, then even these conferences aren't good venues for their work.

@AlexanderWoo Right. Hopefully my answer gets across-- I'm not trying to say that there aren't appropriate venues available. Just that the classic theorist's approach of publishing some smaller number of more detailed papers largely doesn't seem to work to land a CS job without some adjustment.


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Is it strange if I start learning frontend?
I've always loved doing research, and I’m now a PhD student in computer science, focusing on AI at a good university. But recently, I’ve been feeling terrible. My performance has been poor, and it’s frustrating because I’m putting in long hours at the university — often more than anyone else I know. Yet, I’m still not productive.
I'm 29, which sometimes feels too old to start learning something new. I want to continue my PhD mainly to stay in my current country; I don’t want to return to my home country. But I'm not sure if I'll be able to stay or if they’ll ask me to leave because of my performance.
On top of this, I’ve never worked in the industry. I've always been drawn to frontend development and wanted to try it, but I’ve never had the chance. Do you think it's possible to start learning frontend in my spare time and switch to that after finishing my PhD? By then, I’ll be around 32, starting out as a junior, which is hard to accept. I’ve built a strong academic record, yet I feel ready to leave it all behind.

Note that your performance is likely poor because you are putting in long hours at the university, not despite it. Humans need to rest and relax regularly.

I don't know. Thank you for your comment.

May I point out the story of Prof. Sue Black (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sue_Black_(computer_scientist))? Prof. Black started a PhD at age 31 (after a rather difficult early life) and went on to have more success and impact than most academics can ever hope for. So I seriously doubt that 29 is too old to learn frontend development, a concept that you can pick up the basics in in a matter of weeks or months.

What does "frontend" refer to?

@WolfgangBangerth User-facing parts of software, commonly web UI. As opposed to "backend" which handles the actual storage, processing and similar tasks.

I'm 29, which sometimes feels too old to start learning something new.

Bull. You think being 29 makes you too old? I know people in their 60s who have been successful in PhD programs. Moreover, I think you know this is bull, since your "Plan B" also involves learning something completely new (front-end development). If you want to quit your PhD, fine, but be honest with yourself about the reasons.

I want to continue my PhD mainly to stay in my current country; I don’t want to return to my home country.

You are presumably on a student visa, so your presence is inherently temporary. Unless you have a plan to obtain permanent residency, this merely postpones the inevitable.

Do you think it's possible to start learning frontend in my spare time....

Is it possible? Well, yes, of course. But I don't think it's a good idea. If you wanted to take up sumo wrestling in your spare time, fine, that sounds like a good hobby. But learning front-end will use many of the same muscles that you should be using to be successful in your PhD. This is not a good hobby, this is adding even more work onto your plate, at a time when you are already struggling.
So again, I think you need to be honest with yourself about your plans here. If you are serious about finishing your PhD, then you should avoid distractions like this. Whereas if you've decided to quit your PhD, then fine. But have the courage to make an affirmative decision, rather than just putting less and less effort into your PhD until they eventually fire you.

By then, I’ll be around 32, starting out as a junior, which is hard to accept. I’ve built a strong academic record, yet I feel ready to leave it all behind.

So the good news is that if you make an affirmative decision to switch, then you don't need to wait until you're 32. If this is the right choice, then you can save two years and add at least $100K to your lifetime earnings. You'll be happier and richer!
On the other hand, it sounds like you've never done front end development before. Switching career paths to something totally new seems a little bit reckless. Further, the job market for front-end development is relatively saturated, and AI is changing things rapidly. I cannot, of course, tell you which career to pick, but be cautious of thinking that "the grass is greener on the other side" -- instead, think carefully about the pros and cons of all your options. Good luck.

Yes, especially as you said, "The grass is greener on the other side." This is a huge fear for me. I know the current situation was my dream in the past, and now I am in trouble. What will happen again if I switch? I don't know.
To be honest, the learning at my age was about all things, including the front.
Thank you at all.
Yes, that's right; I have to think more and be honest with myself (I don't know how :)) ). Thank you

"If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice" as is well known to Rush fans.


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Where can one find research proposals in mathematical disciplines such as theoretical CS and Operations research?
Does anyone know where I might find sample research proposals specifically related to these disciplines?
Are there repositories, university archives, or publications that make such documents accessible?

This is off-topic, it's what we call a "shopping" questions where we are asked to supply list of things.

There is generally no such resource. People treat proposals as confidential, at least the ones that were not funded, because they might still want to re-use the text and ideas for future proposals. As a consequence, they are not typically made public and there will be no institution or archive that collects them.
People are often a bit more lenient giving out proposals that were funded, but they too are not made public by researchers' institutions or funding agencies. That is, you will only be able to get access to such proposals if a researcher specifically gives it to you. For that, at the very least, you will have to explain why you want it.


text:
Is it okay to clarify to a PhD interviewer about a question that I was hesitant to answer then, but am not now?
Today, I had a PhD interview and the interviewing professor asked me about my plans after completion of PhD. I clearly stated that I wanted to fund my own startup and setup my own venture, to which he cross-questioned that why do I need a PhD for founding a company. Even though, I tried to to clarify that my venture would be based more on the research that I'm going to do, he seemed a bit unsatisfied with the answer.
Finally, he told me that if I had any queries or had to say anything, then I'm free to mail him regarding this.
My real answer to his question "why do I need a PhD for founding a company" was that "I didn't want my years worth of research work to end up in some corner of an archiving website, where no one is going to take a second glance later. So, I wanted my research to bloom into a company for the public benefit."
But I was extremely hesitant to give this answer to him back then since it could have implied that his work is also in "some corner of an archiving website, where no one is going to take a second glance later" which would be extremely demeaning.
But, now that I think about it, I feel that I should clarify this stating this proper reason in an email which I gave above.
Would it be a wise idea to do this? And if it isn't, is there any other way of putting it to express my idea to him?
All inputs are appreciated.

@NajibIdrissi Perhaps, you've a point there. But I was considering a research proposal that wouldn't just stay on the papers and can be transformed into a product.

Your answer addresses why you want to found a company after getting your PhD, but not why you want a PhD before founding your company.

A lot of faculty don’t think about companies has being for the public benefit. If you turn your research into a company you will likely get a patent on it, or try to.

But I was extremely hesitant ... since it could have implied that his work is also in “some corner of an archiving website, where no one is going to take a second glance later” which would be extremely demeaning. Yes, actually it does sound demeaning (not to mention misguided and wrong). Can you explain how you plan to avoid giving that offensive impression in your emailed clarification?

@DanRomik That's the part where I'm asking for an advice, I guess.

Ok. My advice is not to say anything to an academic that implies their chosen occupation is a waste of time. If you think privately that that’s the case, it’s probably best to stay silent, and in that case I’d also suggest that you consider the possibility your opinion might be based on a misconception.

@DanRomik I'm not saying that a PhD is a waste of time or anything, but if something doesn't stem out of your research and if your ideas stay only on paper and don't make it into the world; that's the part I'm a bit concerned with. Staying silent about this seems to be a good advice though.

@user98798 I feel you don't understand what research is. 'Making it into the world'...if your research is published, you collaborated to the collective project of 'science'. But this is a discussion off topic.

@user98798 your concern is valid and is even shared by many academics. However, the way you expressed it in your post (as I quoted in my comment above) is rather poor. It implies not that a PhD is a waste of time, but that a life spent doing research as an academic is a waste of time. It’s completely reasonable to think that an academic might not be the best use of your time, and I don’t even think that’s inconsistent with wanting to get a PhD. But what you said goes far beyond such a sentiment. At least that’s how it comes across.

@DanRomik Please feel free to edit my question to remove the parts that were hurtful. I'm extremely sorry for being overly direct; I intended no harm or to offend anyone. Your feedback is highly appreciated.

I’m not offended, and don’t see that you did anything that requires apologizing for. Anyway, good luck with your application.

He is asking you why you need a PhD, he is not asking you why you want to sell your research. So, I think the focus of your response is misplaced; why does it have to be presented in a way that if you're not a CEO + PhD then you're a loser who will spend the life publishing shelf fillers?
Instead of comparing to (you + PhD + company) versus (other + PhD + no company), think (you + No PhD + company) versus (you + PhD + company.)
There are dozens of way you can cast this decision positively without dissing the interviewers:

The vigorous training in scientific thinking will enhance my credentials as a CEO.
I would love to work more closely with the R&D so that I can better tailor my company's strategy.
I love to challenge myself, PhD is a great milestone, a trial for me to hone my grit.
I would love to see my research idea turned into a product that people would love, it's always been my dream.
There is a lack of research perspective in the current industry, I wish to change that.

Generally, try to project the difference between the normal you and a better you, not a better you and the inferior you. Some of the negative comments, as you said, may be hurtful even it's not targeted at anyone but yourself.

The second paragraph is really good!

Actually, I think this might not quite be right. I think the professor is choosing between (you+PhD+company) vs. (someone+PhD+non-companycareer) so that is the relevant comparison. I would agree that the correct answer is a positive one, not a negative one. Instead of "didn't want my years worth of research to [negative thing]..." talk about "I do want my years worth of research to [positive thing]."

First, a direct answer, but watch for caveats afterward. Yes, you can certainly respond to clarify. He has actually invited you to do this. So, there is no problem.
However, from the question and a comment, you seem to have a bit of a misunderstanding about a couple of things.
Least important is that you think your reply will insult him. Under those circumstances you would be unwise to say that, whether it turns out to be accurate or not.
But the most important thing is that you seem to have a misunderstanding about the difference between research and development. You seem, to me at least, to be focused on development, and if that is really the case, it might turn out that the faculty of the institution won't consider the work to be appropriate for a doctorate. That isn't necessarily true, however, but research is about extending knowledge, not about building a product. It would be good if you can clarify that in your own mind before you reply to the professor. Maybe you don't need a PhD, just a development team.


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Branches of software engineering
I have to decide on which branch of software engineering to focus my studies. In my institute, the branches are not fixed. Each student has the possibility to propose their branch. For example, I could propose to do my specialization in "learning machine". At the institute, there is no person who advises the student on what branches are currently available in software engineering. So I'm a little lost.
I wanted to ask if you can name me branches of software engineering that you know. On the internet I have not found much info about it.
I also appreciate advice on which branch is going to have a better long-term future.
Sorry for my English. I know it's a somewhat ambiguous question, but for me it's very important.

The title of your question says branches of computer engineering but your question says software engineering. These are very different things, which did you mean?

Sorry, the translation of the title in my university is computer engineer. But I mean software engineering.

You should check out current topics through trade publications such as ACM, IEEE, etc. Searching google for "Current topics in software engineering" will also get you some insight into current research topics (there is actually a topic on quora that might interest you).

@bob-brown Why do you put my question on hold? I think the answers are more facts based than opinions. For me it is very important and I think this is the best site to recive some advice.

The flagship conference in software engineering is ICSE (International Conference on Software Engineering). You can identify the current branches and "hot topics" of software engineering by looking at the ICSE 2017 conference program.

There is no fine line that separates the subfields of software engineering and there is a lot of overlap. However, below is a list based on my experience in the software engineering research community (and you can find one or more credible conferences that focuses on each of these):

Formal methods
Program analysis
Software engineering process
Requirements engineering
Models
Automated software engineering
Software maintenance
Testing
Empirical software engineering
Human factors
Program comprehension
End-user software engineering

I'm sure there are more, but this should get you started.


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How much money can you get at Canadian Research universities versus US Research Universities in engineering/CS/Computational biology?
What is the common range of research money can you get at Canadian Research universities versus US Research Universities in engineering/CS/Computational biology? I am asking on some idea from personal grants, supervisor grants, research assistantships etc.

Please ask only one question per post.  Based on the tag, are you talking about   receiving research funding as a PhD student?  The situation would be quite different for faculty.

For the US, each school sets its own pay scale for graduate research assistants.

Please upvote my question back. Even grad phd students can get grants when they are mature enough in their research ? So why is my second question shot down ?

Let me be more clear with my suggestions. (1) Please ask only one question per post.  Thus you should edit the second question out of this post.  You could make a new question post to ask it, but please read http://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/35284/does-the-nsf-award-grants-to-foreign-researchers-not-affiliated-with-us-instutit first, since it might answer your question or be a duplicate.

(2) Please clarify your question 1.  Are you talking about funding for a PhD student, or a faculty member?  Are you talking about funding through a student's own (internal or external) grant, through a research assistantship funded by a university or a supervisor's grant, or something else?  Are you talking about a theoretical maximum, or a common range?

changed the question after comments.

I'm afraid this still isn't clear on what funding you are asking about. Money for equipment, personal stipend, tuition, health insurance, travel (with or without having a publication) - all are different, come from different sources, and very heavily according to field, place, and what you are asking for.

I did change the text but not the heading of the question. Still not clear ?

You say "research money", but you mention assistantship which usually only provides personal stipend to you for living expenses and such, so I'm still not clear what you are asking. Do you want to know personal monthly income for living, funds available for you specifically to spend on research in the form of equipment/software/participants, or travel funding - or all of the above? Are you concerned about having money to live, or budget to spend on the research itself? Right now it's a range of $0 - $100,000+ per year, but I doubt that's very helpful.


text:
Countries where lecture duration does not exceed one hour
Most (probably all) universities attribute to each subject a fixed number of credits, which in turn are [most of the time] related to the time spent in classes.
In Brazil, the majority of courses are worth 60 credits and lectures are 120 minutes long. During my undergrad (physics) I've watched several lectures from all over the world to help me study, many of them from the US, India and the UK. I've noticed that the lectures in the US and UK were rarely longer than 85-90 minutes, while in India they had most of the time the same duration as in Brazil (120 minutes). I felt that teachers in the US/UK covered less subject in their lectures, but at the same time it seemed as if they had covered exactly what could have given you a hard time studying on your own: intricate details of a proof, obscure references, hints to particular exercises, etc. In Brazil/India it just looked as if they were reading the book and explaining each and every little detail. The result was that, even though the 85 minute lecture covered specifically less than the 120 minute one, I had the impression that I learned more from it, and that it [obviously] made me feel less tired.
I've taken several courses in physics and mathematics and, from my experience, I simply cannot stay focused for more than ~75 minutes in a lecture. I'm therefore wondering how does it work in countries all over the world. Studies like this one show that an even shorter lecture might be as effective as a longer one, and this layman review points out that people can only focus for 15 minutes in a row. This suggests that the optimal length of a lecture should not exceed one hour (perhaps much less), with breaks such that students can assimilate what's being taught. Is there a country where lecture time approaches such patterns, or where other strategies regarding lecture length optimization are employed?

Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat.

Well in the UK we usually have 50 minute lectures of which we might have 2-3 per week on each subject. The evidence from educational research that I have read is that you can't stay focused listening for more than 20 minutes in a lecture so even in a 50 minute lecture it is good practice to break it up with something a bit different in the middle.

By "we" do you mean UK higher education as a whole, or you and your coursemates? In my experience of studying in the UK, 2-3 50min lectures aren't uncommon, especially at first year level, but longer, less frequent, lectures are pretty common too.

This is highly department and university dependent (my former department made frequent use of 2 hour lectures). Maybe provide some links to timetables showing no 2 hour lectures.

Given that the basic UK undergraduate terms can run anywhere from 8 to 12 weeks, with some institutions overlaying a semester system on top of that, expecting any standardisation in teaching schedule is rather hopeful.

@StrongBad How about https://www.maths.cam.ac.uk/system/files/partiaweb_4.pdf as an example of a degree with only one hour lectures [50 mins in practise] (It's this year's Cambridge Cambridge first year timetable, previous years aren't significantly different)

@origimbo I can confirm that first year maths lectures in Cambridge were in one hour slots in the 1982/83 academic year.

Can confirm 1st year maths lectures in Cambridge are still 1 hour slots (50 minutes of actual lecturing in theory).

But it only needs a 2 or 3 minute break between each set of "20 minutes", the break can be a simple ask getting 1 or 2 students to ask a question.

The 15 minutes timespan fits pretty well to lecturing on blackboards in several classrooms I taught. If usually takes me about 15 minutes to fill the blackboards (larger rooms have larger blackboards but need larger writing, leading to a constant scaling of the time) and since our blackboards in Germany often have an abrasive-blasted glass covering they are cleaned best with water and a squeegee. This takes some time and I happily invest that time with the benefit of clean blackboards, no dust in the air and a little bit refreshed students (downsides: smudgy hands, dirty shoes and sometimes slippery grounds…). For a 90 minutes lecture, as we have here, this gives about 5 cycles of 15 minutes teaching and some minutes cleaning.
On a different note: First year students who come from school are more accustomed with 45 minutes lessons and one sees that most student need some weeks to adapt to the longer lectures (even though there are the cleaning breaks) but most students in fact do adapt.

When I started undergrad I couldn't stand more than 60 minutes sitting there and listening. I could actually pay attention to no more than 45 minutes, as you said. By the second year I could already face 90 minutes with no problems, but nowadays, in my PhD, I can barely sit for half an hour. Also, I'd like to congratulate you for your effort to make your lectures easier to digest - I was only done with being a student one year ago, so I remember very well how terrible it is to have a teacher that doesn't care.

In Scandinavia, many lectures are timed roughly like a football match: 2x45mins, with a 15mins break in the middle.  I have generally found this pretty effective, both as a lecturer and as an audience member.
(My first-hand experience  of this is just in mathematics at Stockholm University, but I’m told by colleagues that this is pretty standard in other subjects and departments in Scandinavia.)

Scandinavia: always in the forefront of progress.

45 minutes is the standard "hour" in Greece, too, with 15 minutes breaks. Lecturers are free to "customize" 2-hour lectures into a single unit without break or a 3-hour lecture into 2 units with one break instead of two, usually after discussing with the students.

Poland has the same as Greece.

this is the same in EPFL, Switzerland

In an ideal world, the duration of the lectures would be commensurate to the attention span, and the schedule would be geared toward the maximum learning efficacy.
In a real world, duration and schedule are frequently determined by other constraints, e.g, the structure of the education system which can impose a minimum amount of credits or hours, the available rooms in a university, or the tradition. And these constraints make it difficult to adapt duration and schedule to the continuously changing attention span. If twenty years ago the attention span was around 45 min, nowadays it is around 20 min: how to deal with this variability in a practical way?
Moreover, determining whether a certain system is really more efficient than another can be quite difficult: after all, in the long run, several different educational systems, with different lecture duration and schedules, have been able to produce a steady flow of good graduates.
In my country, Italy, the duration of the lectures and the number of lectures per day vary in a wide range depending on the faculty. Duration typically ranges from a minimum of 1 h to a maximum of 4 h. The number of lecture hours per day can be up to 8.
In my university, up to a few years ago, there were two possible durations: 2 h or 4 h. Then we moved to a schedule with 1.5 h or 3 h lectures.
In the old system there was usually 1 break for the 2 h lecture and 2 or 3 breaks for the 4 h lecture (it is not clear from your question whether your 2 h hour lectures have, too, a break in the middle or not). In the newer system there is usually no break for the 1.5 h lecture and 1 break for the 3 h lecture.
As a student, I experienced the old system; as a teacher I have experienced both systems. When I was a student I also attended lectures in another faculties (e.g., humanities, maths and physics) where the lecture duration was of 1 h.
Comments:

4 h lectures are exhausting and inefficient from both point of views, that of the students and that of the teachers.
At the other end, 1 h lectures can be too short in certain cases. For instance, if I have to explain how a complex instrument works I want to have enough time to complete the main parts, drawing the complete block diagram. For this, sometimes, 1 h is not enough.
The 2 h lecture with a 10-15 min break in the middle seems to me the best option for both parts for many subjects. Students were relatively fresh at the end of the lectures and 2 hours gave me enough flexibility in the arrangement of the topics. With a 10-15 min break, each part of the lecture has an effective duration of about 50 min, longer than the present attention span, but not overwhelming with a bit of habit. This duration seems almost in agreement to the pattern you suggest.
The 1.5 h hour lecture without breaks is a bit too long, and I can see the students drifting toward the end (for various reasons, I cannot put a break in the middle).
Independently from the overall duration, many students use breaks to ask questions, thus keeping concentration.
Finally, it is my impression that a lot depends on the structure of the whole path, from elementary school to university. I was used to 4 h lectures also at the high school so, though exhausting, I didn't considered anomalous finding 4 h lectures at the university, and I was trained for that.

I would highly doubt that any large universities regularly utilize a nominal lecture duration of less than 1 hour. Typically in the US and UK, a nominal 1 hour lecture is only 50 minutes with the extra 10 minutes allowing students to get from one class to the next. Within the 50 minutes of teaching time, 5-10 minutes is generally lost to students and instructor getting settled, course administration, and lecture review and lecture wrap up. What this means is that for every lecture session 15-20 minutes of lecture hall time is wasted.
While learning outcomes are important, lecture hall time is a limited resource. Students generally do not like early morning classes or classes on Fridays. Faculty often do not like evening classes. To split a 45 minute content lecture into three 15 minute content lectures would increase demands on the lecture hall time by 50% (1 hour to 1.5 hours). There just isn't that type of capacity. Splitting a 75 minute content lecture into five 15 minute content lectures is even worse (1.5 hours of lecture hall compared to 2.5 hours).
Using really short lectures would also likely cause a faculty uprising. At research universities (and all universities) teaching is only one aspect of the job. Teaching once a week for 3 hours is much more efficient than teaching ten times for 30 minutes.
Any inefficiencies in student learning can be offset by the students spending more time reviewing material.

Language classes at my university are 50 minutes, but also occur every day of the week.

I highly disagree with most arguments in this post, especially the last sentence, which emphasizes the student should correct the lack of effectiveness of long lectures by studying even more.

@QuantumBrick when you say you disagree, are you saying that lecture hall time is not limited (or that many short lectures would not use more lecture hall time) or are you simply upset about the practical limitations that universities are faced with?

I disagree because I don't see any limitations. I'm not talking about a teacher that has two 2-hour reservations for a classroom to try to spread them in 240 lectures one minute each. I'm talking about that guy understanding that using those 2 hours will be pointless. Self organisation should be the key: research shows you should not give long lectures, specially without breaks. Why do people still do it? Organise yourself such that you can lecture for a maximum of 75 minutes and the stop using that extra time. It won't help - actually, it will inflict damage.

I only have experience with the USA.  Here, it depends on both the course and the weekly schedule.  The most common two time patterns for a "normal" course, in my experience, are three lectures a week of (nominally) one hour each, and two lectures a week of (nominally) an hour and a half each.  As others have said, the actual time will be five to ten minutes shorter, so that students have time to get from one lecture hall to the next one.
Many, but by no means all, professors will give the class a short break in the middle of the hour-and-a-half lectures.
Sometimes you'll have a course that meets only one day a week but for three to five hours; those are usually not lectures, though, but either "seminars" (small-group intensive discussion) or labs.

I've studied in 2 places in Europe and one in the US and the shortest lectures were 1hr 15mins, which again in my opinion is too much. Like yourself I also can't pay attention for so long. What is more, a lot of the material shown in a lecture that lasts more than an hour is unnecessary. Sometimes I feel that lecturers may even struggle to fill in so much time with meaningful material (at least in business) - there are only so many facts that students need to hear from you, which is why I avoid teaching responsibilities.
As a student I didn't even see the point in attending lectures - why be there so that someone reads to me off slides, when I can do that myself whenever and wherever I feel comfortable?
Your question is interesting - perhaps you can conduct a study about that? :)
I would add that perhaps on-demand online lectures are an even better solution than shortening the lecture time.
Just my €0.02.

I also never really understood why would people bother going to classes until I met some very, very good teachers. They'd still keep talking for 2 hours, but even though I didn't absorb everything, going to the classes really made a difference. I also think online lectures are way, way better: I've been watching an online course and even though the guy talks for 2 hours I split the class along 3 days and have a delightful 40 minute lecture just for myself.


text:
Is it ok to share a paper accepted for publication with a single person?
I have a paper that was accepted for publication and we the authors have already filled out the copyright transfer. There was a disclaimer saying we're not allowed to share the paper publicy before 2 years.
However, I received an email by a PhD student saying his institution doesn't have access to the journal and that he'd like a copy.
So... Is sending a copy of the paper to a single person ok? Or does it already count as "sharing online" and therefore is illegal?

Have you looked into the license agreement to answer this question?

Oh...
I guess I just assumed the license agreement would be similar to the paragraph I saw during the publication process, but it turns out all the specific publication cases are listed there. So this answers the question, yep.

Is sharing with a single person considered publicly sharing?

@karlabos Feel free to quote a line or two from the relevant agreement and post a self-answer with a quick explanation along the lines of "It seems the license agreement does allow sharing of this type: (quote)."

Is this researcher aware of certain online resources to bypass these access restrictions? Not that I know anything about such a thing...

EarlGrey: for this journal, it is not. It states explicitly in the license agreement that the authors have the right to share via email with academic purposes with other researchers.
And: Yeah I'm aware of that, but since i'm one of the authors I wouldn't recommend that to the person asking. Instead, since he asked directly to me I'd like to share it legally if possible.

It is too late in this specific case, but in general the best solution is to avoid that problem by only publishing at venues that do not prevent you from sharing your own work, e.g., open-access venues.

Take home:
Generally speaking, you can share any version of your article with individuals via private communications (e.g., email).

If you want to be sure and/or you'd like to share in other ways/places, you should check the publisher website/the author guidelines for the specific journal/the form you signed for information about how, when, and where you can share various versions of the article in question.
Most publishers and journals have guidelines posted for how/when/where you can share various versions of a paper submitted for publication. It's important to note that the preprint/author's original manuscript, the accepted manuscript (including any edits from the review process), and the (final, formatted) published journal article all typically have different restrictions.
As far as I'm aware, nearly all academic journals allow authors to share even the final published journal article with individuals via private communications (e.g., email). The key here is that you aren't posting it somewhere that anyone can download it anytime.
As far as preprints and accepted manuscripts go, there are usually even looser restrictions on sharing. For example:

This is Elsevier's website showing their article
sharing policies, including preprints, accepted manuscripts,
and published journal articles. However, they note that sharing
policies may vary in some of their journals, so if the journal you
submitted to is published by Elsevier, you should check the author
guidelines for that journal.

A similar website for Taylor & Francis also shows that you're allowed to share both the preprint and the accepted manuscript, but it also has some suggestions for using a Creative Commons license if you plan to post the accepted manuscript online.

Other Notes:

This website has a little more information on using the CC
licenses if you do want to post the accepted manuscript online
(assuming your publisher/journal allow you to do so).
ResearchGate kind of cleverly allows you to share private versions of your published journal articles in a very efficient manner by allowing you to host a copy of the PDF which only you (and perhaps co-authors) have direct access to, but with just a few clicks you can share it with other members who specifically request access. In practice, this is easier than digging up a PDF of your own article whenever someone emails you asking for a copy, and it does not violate the "no public sharing" requirements. There is controversy though, regarding "public" versions of articles hosted illegally on ResearchGate (which, to my understanding, refers to the versions that have been posted that don't require others to request access).
Lastly, I stumbled across the website HowCanIShareIt.com while looking for the publisher links and it may be of interest to others here.

Good answer in terms of content, but I would reconsider to use bold font in almost every sentence. Feels like screaming mid-sentence.

Yes, the bold text makes it harder to focus on the message IMHO. But a good answer nevertheless, welcome at Academia SE @Amie!

I think just the first sentence of this answer is accurate and relevant to the question posted here.  The remaining content addresses a different question that has been asked and answered more completely elsewhere on this site.  In particular, essentially everything you might want to know about this for essentially every journal can be found on one site: https://v2.sherpa.ac.uk/romeo/.

You seem to have discovered that you have a specific license to do this, so all is well. Most authors will get such a license whin they give up copyright. In the absence of that it isn't permitted.
There was a time when an author got a quite large number of "offprints" of their article specifically intended for limited sharing. I vaguely remember about 100 printed copies from an article in an ACM journal.
However: Such "very small scale sharing" is widely done, and unlikely to be objected to if you do it in a very limited way. In particular, sharing within a working group is "considered" fine.
While it might be, for some, a technical violation you can lessen the likelihood of any complaint by sharing a physical copy only, not a pdf or other electronic version, with instructions to not pass it on,
and,
sharing an older version rather than the one formatted for publication. The version  you originally submitted would likely be "ok". Caveat: User Greg Martin points out, correctly, in a comment that sharing older versions need to contain correct results and will, in any case, complicate citations. But note that some publishers are sensitive about final, formatted, versions.
Note that, while it is, in some cases, a violation, it will likely be ignored. It might not be ignored if done by someone else, but author relations are considered.
Don't consider the above to be legal advice, but just a description of how the world works in practice. One of the main reasons for copyright is to protect financial interests. But they are so small here that "the law does not concern itself with trifles" is likely to apply.

I wouldn't share an older version, ideally, because that can lead to incorrect citations (or, worse yet, incorrect science being passed along, if there were errors that were fixed in the final version). Otherwise +1

@GregMartin, thanks. I've inserted a caveat.


text:
Thesis adviser is demanding i hand over all my work
My Masters adviser (computer science) is demanding I hand over all my work including data sets, code and configurations. I do not want to be overly specific just in case. This seems fishy... or am I paranoid.

Notes:

He demanded that "we" publish an additional paper in addition to the thesis. I told him that I did not have time for anything beyond the department requirement of a thesis. He got mad and now its been one thing after another each week. Now, he wants the entire project handed over. The entire experience since my decline of additional paper has been hostile.

Has he/she just got a new student? How is this being "demanded" ? "Give it all to me now" or "we should have an update ..."

Maybe you are paranoid. There isn't enough here to say. The why is all important. Maybe he/she is just trying to be helpful and make sure you are on track. Do you have other issues with this prof?

Your thesis advisor's job is to evaluate the quality of your research.  It seems to me that they need this information to do so properly.  By itself, I don't see why this would be fishy.

"an additional paper in addition to the thesis"? A thesis is not a paper.

This sounds like he sees value in the work and wants it completed. It also sounds like you are refusing to collaborate in its completion and so he feels that he has to carry it on alone. But you hold the data he needs to do so.
Whether he is entitled to the work or not depends on how much he contributed to it. But no researcher likes to leave ideas unfulfilled so he is frustrated and probably acting badly. But if you refuse, absolutely, to help, then you are probably acting badly also. Unwillingness to go beyond the minimum requirements isn't a very strong recommendation.
It would be good if the work could be completed and papers written with your name attached to them. Even if he does the work and lists you as second author in some publications you have gained something.
But withholding the work won't get you or anyone anywhere. Others may actually do the work following similar but independent lines of thought leaving you out entirely. Parallel, independent, work is a very common phenomenon.
If he hasn't contributed anything and you intend to finish the work independently then the story might be different, but that sounds unlikely from what you write.

Yes, you are paranoid, but your paranoia might or might not be justified. There are parasitic advisers who abuse students by stealing data, ideas, and career progress. But there are also advisers who take their role seriously and want to check your work and make suggestions for improvement.
Ask your adviser's former students if they shared these things with the adviser.
Ask some faculty you trust who are not involved in your projects what they think of the request. Try to get a sense of whether it is normal in your department/field of study for this to happen.


text:
Can I submit a paper to a conference if I have presented it at another conference earlier but it wasn't published in proceedings?
Can I submit a paper to a conference if I have presented it at another conference earlier but it wasn't published in proceedings?
Last year I submitted my work to a conference and it was accepted as a long paper, so I thought it was going to be published in the proceedings, but it seems they have a loophole in their rules. Long story short they they didn't publish the long paper. They published my other abstracts, but not the long papers due to this awkward loophole. I was planning to submit to a journal, but with the reviews and revisions, it will be a lot different from what I have right now. Can/should I submit the paper to another conference instead? One that will actually publish?

Do you mean should you submit the paper, or can you. Because can you, yes, should you, that depends. If it is should you, I will add an answer, but if it is can you, then it is always yes.

Can I have answers for both? My initial question was "can I" as you can see, and yes that is what I meant. The whole process with the conference left me bitter, by the way they stated the process in the call my paper should have been published. It is a tier 2 conference, not a predatory one and now I feel my work is stuck for no reason. However I would like to know more about if "I should" too

You need to explain the nature of the "awkward loophole" to get any valid answer.

I answered in the answers what I thought, but I will modify it if I know what the loophole was.

Did you inquire the conference that's holding your paper? Did you agree to any kind of copyright transfer when submitting or when accepted? What is this awkward loophole??? Perhaps you can reveal which conference this is? Did they publish other people's long papers in their proceedings (ever)?

Okay it is a unique system, I oversimplified by loophole but that is how I feel because of the way they stated the process (in fact they made it -very- clear in this year's call so maybe my nagging or a collective one helped). Basically you submit to the conference and they publish "selected" papers as journal articles, if they are not "selected" you can ask for a long abstract publication - but the way they stated last year was more like after the review "accepted long papers" will be published in the journal.

(The journal has special issues where they publish different kinds of articles - long paper (original article) /short communications) Also they have a whole section on how authors should submit long papers as original articles. So the whole thing was quite misleading.

And for me it was even more complicated because I received an acceptance for the long paper, and then I was told I will receive the decision for the "jounal" later so I thought, okay it will be in the proceedings because it is accepted as it was mentioned. So I didn't ask for a long abstract (because if it is a long paper why go for an abstract?) then I received the reviews for the journal which was later than the deadline for requests for an extended abstract, and they asked me to resubmit basically without much content.

Then on the second round, I received some -wild- comments and the whole thing took up like 8 months, I already did my ranting so I won't go in details. Since then I submitted it to a journal and actually received decent ones (also resubmit but very encouraging) - so the bitter taste

@Memming No, I haven't transferred my copyrights (as in I wasn't explicitly asked nor signed a paper)

Anyway, they didn't include the long paper in the proceedings (special issue of the journal), they didn't include any long papers but only abstracts and long abstracts. The selected ones were published in the journal (other issues) as original articles.

I am aware that in some fields conferences are the main repositories for new contributions. I don't know how it works and I do not want to enter into this aspect.
In other fields* conferences are rather venues to disseminate and discuss results and ideas, and, at the best level, doing it in a more interactive fashion than the one permitted by papers.
Moreover "political" motivations play a big role. Note the quotes... It can simply mean an authors is curious of meeting others, or seeking collaborations.
This means that

the same talk maintains its practical novelty for an indefinite time. It is up to the authors and to the organising committee to decide what is worth a presentation;

one can desire to enter in, or present to, a slightly different community.

As such, if your research is in *the other fields and you think you should submit you can surely do it.
Often one encounter the opposite problem. Namely the author already has a paper (paper or proceeding) and is barely interested in attending /presenting, while the committee asks for a paper to be published. This is a problem easily circumvented (everyone knows that it is not the case of self plagiarism) but it seems even not existing due to the loophole (?) you mention.
Summary: hard to say if you should. Most likely you can.

The question is "has this work been published or not". If it has then you probably can't publish it elsewhere. But there is a question here about the situation.
I suggest two things. First, contact the original conference chair and explain in detail what has gone on and get their opinion about whether it is published or simply presented. The editor of the associated journal would be another (perhaps additional) source. If they agree that it hasn't been published then you are free, assuming that you haven't signed away any rights.
Second, I suggest that if/when you submit to another conference/journal, that you again explain, in detail, what has gone on. If you have the backup of the first conference chair, I suspect that things will be fine, otherwise questions will remain. It will be their decision, of course, but it will be made with full knowledge and perhaps some useful feedback.
If the basic structure of the conference system in your field is just to "present" new work early, prior to publication, then it is likely that people will agree that it hasn't been published and can be. But if the tradition is (as in CS) that conferences are the main "publishing" venue, then it will be harder.
Another aspect to consider is what, exactly, was published in the first conference. If it was only an abstract, then likely the "work" hasn't been published.
Yet another avenue to explore is whether the first journal's publisher will, themselves, accept your work for publication. If that is the case then almost all difficulties will disappear.
But the big idea in this answer is that you may not be able to make the decision on your own and the advice of other parties needs to be considered, and, that, with full knowledge.

Thanks, a full acknowledgement upfront is always a good idea. The thing is in my domain, which is also CS, mostly the work presented is published in the proceedings. So it is really not usual to just present if you are accepted for long paper. The other thing is that they didn't publish anything at all. Like I mentioned, I received an acceptance for long paper, and the reviews I received for the journal was after the deadline for a request for long abstracts (which I didn't think I needed anyway because I got an acceptance for a long paper which should mean something I would think).

In fact I am never submitting to that journal ever again because of the simply put "wild" comments I received, the problem could have been fixed if the reviewers actually bothered to read my paper.