text:
How flexible are number-of-pages submission guidelines for conferences?
I'd like to submit a paper to a conference in computer science. The conference's submission guidelines state 14 as the maximum number of pages. Should I take it at face value? My paper is 20 pages long (19, if you disregard the bibliography). If I submit it, can I expect an automatic rejection for being too long? If I'm able to cut it down to 14 pages, but the bibliography spills to page 15, will it count as eligible?

Although Buffy's answer, "ask the conference chair" is fine, I'd add "expect the answer to be no."

The conference publishes guidelines, font size, line spacing number of pages. Ignore at your peril.

Beyond other answers, I've seen conferences exclude bibliography from page limits. But explicitly. Just like deadlines are firm to the second.

Ways of dealing with this could be a separate question, but I'd also (a) try moving less interesting material to an appendix/technical report/extended version to cite, as long as the paper stands alone (b) revise the paper for concision "locally" (by changing text, and typesetting with less blank space) (c) search for examples of (a) or other techniques in other papers in your venue; I see (a) justified explicitly for "space reasons".

@llrs: The first sentence in the question says "a conference in computer science", but maybe it should be expressed in a tag.

Think about it. If there are supposed to be 15 papers each 14 pages long, that is a 210-page conference report. If everybody submitted a 20 page paper, those 210 pages would become 300 pages. You can ask, but don't expect the answer to be "yes."

Oh, thanks @O.R.Mapper. Must need to rest some more.

Just follow the rules.  If you learn to be very rigorous about following submission guidelines, it will help your papers get reviewed better.  Also, the attitude of care will carry over to iother parts of your work.  If you can cut it apart to get two LPUs, all for the better.  Otherwise condense the story.  No, no extra page for the references.

Some conferences allow one or two extra pages to be included for a hefty fee (around $100/page). Check with your advisor if he would be willing to pay this extra fee.

times that by the number of participants and you get an idea as to why they enforce guidelines.

@guest: "LPU" is a very ridiculous unscientific concept in modern academia.

None of the CS conferences I have ever submitted to had ever been lenient on page limits. There are often automatic checkers that will not allow you to upload a paper that exceeds the page limits. Conference guidelines are usually very clear and unambiguous, go and read them. Some conferences allow an appendix or a link to additional material that reviewers can read at their discretion.
Regarding splitting the papers - if you can do so in a clean way, and both parts make sense (tell a compelling narrative, have meaningful results) then sure. Otherwise, expect two rejections.

In some areas (theoretical CS), I think there’s often a tiny bit of leniency — I’ve seen papers published that were one or two pages over, and one of my own papers expanded a little past the page limit during post-acceptance revisions, though in a way that didn’t affect the total page count (e.g. original limit was “14 pages + bibliography”, my original submission was 14 pages plus 1.5 pages of bib, after revision it was 14.3 pages plus 1.5 pages of bib, so still 16p total).  But agreed, I don’t think there’s ever very much wiggle room allowed — certainly not 19p for a limit of 14.

@PLL: With pain I've managed to bring it down to 15 pages, but I'll be hard pressed to scrounge up anything else to omit. As part of the reduction process, I had to whittle down the bibliography too, so I can no longer claim that the last page is devoted to a bibliography.

It is fairly standard to omit proofs and place them in the appendix. Some theory conferences have a fun rule: first X pages must be reviewed, the rest is read at reviewers discretion.

@Spark: Doesn't the appendix count towards the page limit?

@EvanAad: Policies on appendices vary.  Most common, in my experience, is that appendices are not included in page limits, but then (a) the paper must be self-contained to an acceptable standard without the appendices (e.g. referees are explicitly allowed to ignore the appendices when reviewing), and (b) in some cases the appendices may be published only online, not in print copies.

It will vary from conference to conference, of course, but expect the committee not to be too lenient unless the paper is extraordinary in some way. You can and should just ask. But 15 is certainly going to be easier for them to agree to than 20. You can expect that others are asking the same question, of course.
If the conference uses good reviewers prior to acceptance you might get suggestions for how to shorten it and if you accept the advice it would make it more likely to be accepted.
But I think a paper nearly half again as long as expected isn't a good candidate for acceptance. Unless it is extraordinary.
But the conference chair can give you the accurate answer.

What if I split my paper in two and submit both parts as separate, but related papers? Is this an acceptable approach? Do conferences allow multiple submissions by the same writer?

@EvanAad That's something that I saw done before. Check previous proceedings to see if happened in that specific venue

Expect no response if you email the chair about this. This is really not something I would ask the chair. There are written explicit guidelines. If this is a small workshop then maybe you'll get something, but for big ones (say the big ML/AI/TCS ones) I doubt that they'll hear anything back.

@EvanAad: if you split into two papers, I would expect most conferences to simply judge each resulting paper individually (or at least, to aim to do so).  So each half would need enough good-quality novel material to earn acceptance in its own right, and a good self-contained exposition.

"If the conference uses good reviewers prior to acceptance you might get suggestions for how to shorten it" - this assumes the manuscript will even get to the reviewers if it's too long, which, IMHO, can be a very bold assumption. Adhering to the page limitation is one of the few things that can really be checked automatically or by anyone who doesn't have any idea about the content, and thus is one of the prime candidates for desk rejecting a manuscript for (or having the submission system automatically reject the uploaded file).

@O.R.Mapper, I was thinking of a paper only a bit too long, not one that was 30 pages with a limit of 14. So one that gets submitted at 15 pages might find a way in if shortened a bit with reviewer help.

@Buffy: That's true. And some trickery with font sizes might get the paper through the submission system. I wouldn't get my hopes to far up about reviewers suggesting ways to shorten the paper - my papers usually were on the verge of being too long, and yet I have only ever seen reviewers suggest medium to large amounts of additional content they want to be added to the paper.


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Relevant experience but I did a mediocre job.. should I include it in the cover letter?
I am writing a cover letter to apply for a paid PhD position. I was thinking if I should include the experience of doing my master's dissertation. The methodology is very similar to that of the project, but the problem is I did a mediocre job in the dissertation (got a C, meaning "Good"). I am ashamed by the grade and was thinking for this highly competitive position, a "good" job might be kind of bad.. Should I include it in the cover letter or just leave it and highlight my other experiences (which are not quite research-related)?

@NateEldredge "relevant" sorry for the typo

Goid question!!!!

This may depend somewhat on your country and your discipline, but in general a PhD is a research degree.  Research experience is the absolute most important and relevant experience.  Any research experience at all is better than none. You should mention it.

Thank you for the response. I think you are right about this. I am asked to include my transcripts anyway, hiding it might seem suspicious. It could also be a good idea to explain what I've gained throughout the process other than the grade.

This reminds me of a quote from a Scott Adams book: "Mathematically speaking, in the long run you are much better off doing a lousy job at something that looks good on a resume as opposed to doing a superb job at something that sounds dull."

source: Stack Exchange

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

sort: votes


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How to find host institution - Marie-Curie individual fellowship
How to find the list of host institution for Marie-Curie individual fellowship? Does it mean that the host institution must have already received or get approved for Marie-Curie individual fellowship?
Another post on host institution MSCA IF

If anyone has it, it would be the Marie Curie site... but this answer may help : https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/132898/72855

@SolarMike could you please provide the link? I am getting messed with the huge amount of information in the site. Moreover, candidate must always choose the host institution mentioned in the site?

See the linked document in that answer, I’m not copying that link just for the sake of repeating it here...

@SolarMike  thank you, understand.

@scaaahu I read the above link before I post. I have a distinct question. For the ease of reading, I add the above link.

Dup vote retracted.

How to find the list of host institution for Marie-Curie individual fellowship?

There's no list, any legal entity in the EU or in a partner country is eligible: http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/ref/h2020/wp/2018-2020/main/h2020-wp1820-msca_en.pdf p.76
As far as I know it's more common to apply with a university or a research institution, but companies can be host institutions as well.

Does it mean that the host institution must have already received or get approved for Marie-Curie individual fellowship?

No, but it's possible that the institution would have to be registered on the EU portal (this is how it works for H2020 proposals, I'm not sure about Marie Curie actions).
The eligibiity conditions are rather easy to satisfy, but in order to have any chance of success it's very important to understand that the selection relies very strongly on the excellence of the research proposal in collaboration with the host institution. This means that before applying, any serious candidate must contact a potential PI and design a detailed research plan with them. I think it's crucial to understand what the EU expects to achieve through these grants in order to write a decent application, because they are not just giving away funding to kind junior researchers :)
Some EU institutions have a specialized office to help applicants write good applications. If the target host institution does it's a really good idea to contact them and ask them for advice, it can drastically increases your chances.
(and yes, the EU website is a monster, but given time one can find really useful information in there)

[Edit] additional sources of information (among many)

https://www.mariecuriealumni.eu/magazine/news/want-become-marie-sk%C5%82odowska-curie-fellow-individual-fellowships-if-spotlight
National Contact Points (NCP): https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/support/ncp (select target country and Marie Curie Actions)

Now I am getting some clues. Unless one who already received/applied the fellowship or guided someone tell the fresh applicant, it is impossible to find where and how to apply.

@user199 added some links  in the answer, hope it helps. Good luck!

No words to say thank you. I’m wondering, in general, MSCA accepts only one proposal per applicant or multiple proposals from an applicant can be submitted?

pdf linked above p 13: "Only one proposal per individual researcher per call will be evaluated." This means only one application but you can re-apply at the next call (one year later I guess)

I got this, thank you a lot.

all_licenses: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


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Should thesis defense slideshow be shared?
As mentioned in Academia.SE, it is encouraged to share one's thesis manuscript and publish it online. What about a PhD defense slideshow? I am quite glad with the work we did on this presentation and it has, I believe, at least the same quality of the ones I did during conferences at that time.
The only con I see is that a slideshow is often not self-sufficient and must be accompanied with a speech, which would explain why few thesis defense are shared online from what I have seen.
On the other hand, in my particular case, I believe that someone reading my manuscript or our articles could  understand more easily thanks to the TikZ graphs and other figures on the slideshow.
Finally, maybe the best is to ask the supervisors' thoughts about it?

Ask your supervisor. That said, I see no reason not to do this.

There is no particular reason why you can't share this, though not the best idea for patentable ideas (US perspective). It would be hard to find a publisher, I think, other than your own web pages.
You could put a copyright notice in it, and/or a license if you really wish it to be shared.
While the talk that accompanied it may be essential or not, note that you can add subtitles to the essential pages and include a link to the thesis itself if it is available.


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Are confidentiality agreements in internal reports lifetime?
I gave a talk in the most valued French conference of my field (Operations Research) during the first year of my MSc in 2018. I kept working hard, dedicating my life to research during the final year at a French CAC40 company Research and Development lab and signed for the following confidentiality note within my internal report:

This memoir is confidential. Therefore, any difusion of its content outside the Master
Parisien de Recherche Opérationnelle’s professorship or the DASSAULT SYSTEMES’
personnel is strictly forbidden. All information in this document is the exclusive
intellectual property of DASSAULT SYSTEMES. Any receiver of this document cannot
communicate its content without written authorization of DASSAULT SYSTEMES.
ENHANCED PRIVACY
DASSAULT SYSTEMES CONFIDENTIAL 2019
ANY REPLICATION, MODIFICATION OR PUBLICATION IS STRICTLY FORBIDDEN
THIS REPORT MUST BE RETURNED TO THE COMPANY AFTER EVALUATION BY THE
JURY

At that moment of my scholarity, I had no idea how valuable my internal report was. I graduated from my MSc with honours, pursued in this very field during my thesis and I am still dedicating myself for operations research and to publish during my post-doc with the aim to be an assistant professor, hopefully.
Will I be allowed to publish my 2019 MSc memoir online at some point? Is the confidential note from 2019 expirable? We are more than 5 years later, I guess my ex-company published those results on international journals now, though I did not search it. Another side question: is it important to search the litterature for it?

If the results were published any confidentiality agreement would be mute, don't you think? Would you not expect to be included as a co-author?

You should ask the company or a lawyer about this. However, I kind of doubt there will be any timely expiry unless explicitly stated otherwise.

Both comments should be combined into an answer.

What do you mean by a "memoir"? And, whose lifetime, exactly?

It seems if there is no time limit in the notice then it would depend on whether perpetual contracts are acceptable legally in your jurisdiction. This seems like lawyer territory.

I think "memoir" is a poorly translated French word, perhaps adjacent to "memo". I take it that it is an internal report within the company.

Time does not turn proprietary information into non-proprietary automatically. You need to communicate with them, preferably with any manager you worked with.

@WolfgangBangerth, thank you for the correct vocabulary :) I still have a lot to learn in English Language <3

@BryanKrause, you wrote that this seems like lawyer territory while in my mind, this is about sharing knowledge to the scientific world

@JonCuster, I agree, no date was written, I will find a way to contact Dassault

@JKHA Whatever your goals are, the question you ask is about law. Sometimes law cares what your goal is, sometimes it does not.

The simple solution is to not make assumptions, but to ask the company for permission to publish and end the agreement. If they are hesitant, ask them for a future date on which they would agree that it is ok to publish. Their reasons for wanting confidentially may well have become obsolete.
But you seem to have agreed to give up all IP rights. In essence you are asking for them back. Since they are literally the owners, it is up to them to agree, or not. If the work is so important to them that they consider it a trade secret then you won't get permission.
If they have published the results already, then there are issues of plagiarism on their part if you aren't listed as author, but I doubt (contrary to a comment) that it constitutes release from a signed agreement.
You might be able to list the work generically in a CV, however, without details, noting that the work was done confidentially with control by the corporation.
You might also be able to point to their publication of the work if it has happened, but even claiming that it is yours, without their agreement, has legal implications given your agreement. They might agree to let you do that, at least if you ask. But, yes, you need to search to see what the current situation is.

This summarize the whole situation quite well. Thank you Buffy :)


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List of words to present equations in an article
I have 13 equations (LaTeX: \eqref) (constraints more precisely) to present in an article's paragraph and, as a non-native, I would welcome any other suggestions to present these constraints in order to avoid repeating oneself too much in the context of Academia.
Here is what I have currently found and used:

Constraints \eqref... state that...
Constraints \eqref enforce...
Constraints \eqref are...
Constraints \eqref set...
Constraints \eqref ensure...
Constraints \eqref allow...
Thanks to constraints \eqref...
With \eqref,...

My suggestion is: don't worry about repeating yourself in cases like this. This piece of grade school writing advice might not work well in a scientific paper. When certain words have a precise mathematical meaning that you want to convey, you should not go out of your way to avoid using them.
As a fellow romance-language mother-tongue speaker, I also have difficulties in un-learning certain habits, flourishes, and involved sentences that are seen as elegant in my native language. But English, especially scientific English, is different: use short, simple, direct sentences; use a boring word order; repetition is fine when a certain word or sentence structure is the best one.

+1 Parallel sentence structure is actually recommended by guides such as The Elements of Style.

Those are all reasonable. But not really synonyms so it depends what you're trying to say.
You could use 'satisfied' or 'emerge'. For example: Constraints \eqref are automatically satisfied because of ..., the constraints in \eqref emerge due to ... etc
You don't necessarily need to write 'constraints' every time. Eg. According to \eqref ..., Using \eqref ..., Substituting \eqref into \eqref ..., etc
You could use 'Equation' instead of 'Constraint': Equation \eqref shows that ..., Equation \eqref requires .... etc. Or even '\eqref captures' ... although I personally try to avoid starting a sentence with a number.


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Faculty job application - search committee chair, dept head, and follow up emails
I recently interviewed for a tenure track position in a public R1 University. There were 4 candidates. The last one interviewed at the beginning of April. Two weeks ago, I have been told by the chair of the search committee that they have submitted the summary to the dept head and now the choice is in her hand. Currently, I am still waiting.
The emails from the chair and the dept head have always been very matter-of-fact and straight-to-the-point. Particularly, when I sent thank you emails to all the people I met during the interview, the chair is one of the few who did not reply back (overall reply rate ~75%). Does it mean anything? Should I be worried about it? Or am I overthinking? Did you have a similar experience to mine but got the offer anyway?

Thanks for all of your responses. I did not get the position. Therefore, I still think the "vibe" matters. I assume that if I was their top candidate, our interaction would have been more positive.

Let me paraphrase this answer. 'Under the assumption that my model is correct the data show that my model is correct'. I hope you can see the circularity of your argument!

You're overthinking it. All parties involved are required to be neutral between all candidates, and so can't say much that would actually mean anything to you. You'll just have to wait and see.

Probably overthinking. The chair has other duties, of course. And, since they have the responsibility to make a decision, they might find it improper to communicate outside the committee.
Let it go. You will learn soon enough.


text:
TVT Transactions - time to decision
I have submitted a major revision to TVT (Transactions on Vehicular Technology). It has been 10 days with the Associate Editor. How much time does it usually take to receive a decision?

If it needs to go back to reviewers, then quite a long time. They may be looking for some new reviewers.

This is not specific to TVT.   Some editors only perform their duties once a week/month.  Then you have reviewers, which may not meet the specified deadline.  Also, some reviewers may refuse to review the revision.  This means the editor will likely search for a new reviewer.    There are many factors that will influence when you will get a decision.  Lastly, a major revision does not mean it will be accepted, it could be a reject once a reviewer gets a clear idea of your work.


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How to study with ADHD
During my childhood, I have had ADHD. My last visit with a psychologist was over a year ago and he said ADHD is gone and now is filled with anxiety. I agree that I might be anxious sometimes.
My problem is one thing: There are things, courses I do not like, and do my best to procrastinate them and even if I commit myself to do them, I get distracted surfing the web and social media. I also close them but open them later.
In contrast, in those courses in which I'm interested, I have good focus (maybe hyperfocus) and have good efficiency. The problem is that most part of the university doesn't amaze me and hence it is boring and my efficiency is low.
I'm currently an honors bachelor's student and I'm doing good. But how could I increase my efficiency in doing tasks that I HATE? As you know, a bachelor's degree is filled with miscellaneous courses
Thanks.

Your major courses are the tools that will let you pursue a career or further study in your discipline.  The core courses, which you call miscellaneous, are the Swiss Army Knife.  They give you tools to understand and deal with whatever life slings at you.  That makes them important, whether or not interesting.

Following on @BobBrown, you need to find a way to own these things. Whether you like a subject or not, it is building your cognitive muscles in different ways.

@BobBrown I agree. I should also mention that this is my second major and I have passed a lot of courses to find what branch of science I really like. But is there any way to just increase efficiency with studying things you don't like? I mean I have been doing the same during these years and can tell it has too much waste for sure.

You're measuring your efficiency by comparing how fast you learn a subject you do like vs one you don't? What would happen if you convinced yourself you do like the latter but that you simply are not yet aware of its core concepts, framing it as something of a personal challenge then. But it's honest to admit that sometimes a subject simply resonates less with one at the beginning.

"As you know, a bachelor's degree is filled with miscellaneous courses" Only in America. In most of the rest of the world, a Bachelor's degree focuses in on courses related to the actual degree - if you're doing an IT degree, you'll only be taking IT courses.

Here is what got me through Undergrad:

Sit in the front row, even if you stick out like a sore thumb.
Write down everything the professor says by hand. Don't type it out, just write.
Focus on one subject at a time. If writing a paper, just write that paper for a couple of days.
Turn off your phone. If you don't need a laptop for the class, don't bring it.
A spiral notebook helps you focus more than a binder. Loose pages are the enemy.
Avoid scheduling classes in the evening or around times where you would rather be doing something else.

This is good advice for anyone, not just those with ADHD.

Just as a preface: ADHD is a spectrum, you might not have it anymore or maybe it just diminished enough to not meet the threshold. Don't feel like you have to be perfectly focused at all times.
Here are a few tips that help me deal with my symptoms:

Use detailed todo lists: Split tasks in VERY small chunks, probably smaller than you think. I find that starting tasks is the hardest part so making each task easily doable helps to get going. Depending on how you feel on a specific day, it might be as small as "Read paragraph X". Plus, crossing off items gives a nice little dopamine boost which helps keep going.

Use the pomodoro technique: Set a timer for 25 minutes and start working immediately. After that 25m, take a 5m break. You can keep a piece of paper nearby and note down unrelated things that come to mind during the working period and check them during the break. Just be careful to get back to work after the 5m, it's easy to get distracted.

Lastly, don't be too hard on yourself when things don't go great.
It's easy to chastise yourself with things like "if only I worked harder...", "if only I was more motivated..." and fall into a vicious circle. Keep in mind that ADHD is a neurological disorder, not a personal failing on your part. When things dont go great, take a moment to calm down and start again. It's hard and you'll need to put in a lot of effort, but you can learn to live with it and succeed.

I know nothing about ADHD, but these are also pretty good suggestions for lots of people. And the last paragraph is especially valuable.

@Buffy Absolutely, pretty much everyone will have some issues with focus or motivation at some point in their lives, ADHD just makes those issues so prevalent and systematic that they affect your life in major ways. In a sense, it's very similar to feeling sad versus clinical depression. Methods that "solve" occasional focus issues will help cope with the symptoms of ADHD, but they won't change the underlying neurological causes.

My daughter thinks it helps her to put a place in her to-do list (e.g. "Do dishes in kitchen").

@JosephDoggie I could definitively see that working. I find that reducing cognitive load as much as possible helps to get started.

My ADHD trick for social media is to use my ADHD to restrain my access to it.
First of all I deleted all Facebook/Instagram/LinkedIn/etc applications from my phone. This worked decently until I started using web browser to access them. For that, I changed my password to one that is very long, has special characters and there is some uncertainty in them ("Was the last word upper or lower case?"). Of course I logged off and prevented my browser from remembering passwords for those services. With this setup it became incredibly tedious to log in (ADHD does its job here). Of course, if I needed to access a class facebook group, I could do it (but ideally from an incognito card, so I am logged out on close). However, when I picked my phone during classes and subconsciously went to facebook.com, I faced the wall of having to guess that password again. This effectively killed the habit.
Things got a bit problematic when I joined a sports club which utilized facebook a lot for announcements. Without a constant access I was cut out of the context most of the time. What worked really well was to simply set up a second account "Firstname LastnameSports", add no friends, and link my main account in the profile picture. Unfortunately, this way I have access to the default facebook wall, but thankfully with no follows and friends the content is so dumb and boring that I don't have any urge to use it.

Regarding the general problem of sitting in a class and paying attention, medication really helps. Just note that there are different substances and it is advised to figure out which one works the best. A caveat to that is that, at least for me, they work much worse, if not sometimes negatively, while I am hungry. They also lower appetite making things more tricky. A good thing is to remember to stay well fed, and to always have some water around you.

Have you considered seeing a psychiatrist to see if you need prescription meds?  I don't (for mental health) but I could see them helping some people.
Apart from that, I personally motivated myself by saying "I (or my parents) paid a lot for me to take this course, so I want to pass it!".  Such a self-statement may help others, and make things worse for some people, so do what is applicable for you.
To me, music actually helps me study, but his also will vary from person-to-person.
Some people study better in a group, for me, (except for watching training videos) I do better strictly alone.
So do what works for you.
My daughters are not taking a full load at college, but only a partial load.  Again, you would have to decide what works for you, and what is best for your situation.
Best wishes to you (and all who read this).


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Professor using student paper as an example of what not to do in class?
So a professor used a grad student's paper (anonymously) as an example of what not to do or what she doesn't want to see in the papers. The student was blindsided as the student wasn't notified that his paper would be used as an example, the student hasn't received a grade yet, and was not giving any corrections.
What would be a good way to handle this situation?

Depending on the field, things can get a whole lot more uncomfortable than that.

What would be a good way for WHO to handle the situation?

When you say "paper" do you mean a journal submission or an assignment? To me "grad student" suggests the former (as my grad school didn't have that kind of assessment), but other bits of your question suggest the latter

If I were to do something like this, I would use an old paper from a student long gone, and anonymize.  It's easy enough to generate fake examples, though.

@ScottSeidman I would find that using using an entire paper from students "long gone" (unless perhaps you mean deceased) without their prior permission is still disrespectful. Depending on the intent, extracting single sentences from a random sampling of papers is to be preferred.

What would you do about some other student having this happen to them? What could someone ever do about something like this?

From what I understand, in some jurisdictions this might even be problematic from a copyright point of view. Quoting (also verbally) is only allowed with citation and only if the paper is published.

Stuff like this, it's not breaking any rules so you have to let it go (unless copyright or something like that).  I presume you already know from peer review that referees can be pretty scathing and insensitive at times?

I'd say learn from the situation and see where you can improve yourself in the future. - And all the people complaining, I truly don't understand where the problem is (given that the student wasn't identified). One way we can improve is to learn from other people's mistakes.

@StigHemmer for WHOM*. Sorry, could not resist!

@Trunk, please do not answer in comments.

Was the paper really bad ? While I don't condone the behaviour, try imagining making an effort with your course and then having to mark some reports from students who clearly don't give a shit and don't care if it shows. It's not fun.

So the paper was read while the author was listening to it being read in the class? Or did this happen while the author wasn't in the class... and he found out afterwards?

For an undergrad, maybe it's a little harsh, depending on how the prof did it. For a grad student... accept it and move on. Heck, if you don't have bigger things to worry about than this, be happy that you're in a pretty darn good position.

Just tell them it's inappropriate.

This sort of behavior by a professor is poor pedagogical technique and, in many cultures, poor etiquette.  It is not misconduct and it is not rule breaking.  If you are a student and a professor acts this way, you can criticise the behavior in any anonymous teaching evaluations.  Otherwise, ignore it and move on.
Receiving criticism, including bad quality criticism, is part of academic life.

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

This could be done in both a clumsy, rude way, and in a reasonable way. The apparent anonymity of the student in the critique is a step in the right direction.
In terms of "what should you do?", um, well, not too much. The anonymity means that there was no public shaming... Yes, there is a shock in seeing one's work even anonymously discussed as a bad example. In my own dealings of this sort, I attempt to truly anonymize the discussion, by not using verbatim (or video capture) of anyone's work, other than my own.
A comment to the instructor, that a lighter touch would be desirable, might be the only politick thing to do.
We might imagine that "grown-up professors" would know better than this kind of thing, but many of those "grown-ups" are merely older "nerds/geeks" of a not-necessarily socially-aware sort, whose intellectual chops have vastly outstripped their sense about people.

The professor read through the paper word for word and gave critiques like "I wouldn't have said that" "Does this make sense with you" "How do you feel about this statement" It was a lot. I can see why the student actually was upset.

@Aaron, did the professor address the student directly (and, thus, not anonymously) during the critique? Or were these remarks addressed to "the room"? It makes a huge difference...

Well, the "intellectual chops" part is debatable too.

@paulgarrett Hi Paul it was all anonymous however the paper's critiqued was on zoom for 12 other students. Questions about how other student's felt about the paper was asked. So she addressed the room with the questions about the paper. In my opinion that doesn't help.

@Aaron Okay, that certainly sound like too much and maybe you should add a note to the question that you are talking about the full paper and not some excerpts. I think an argument can be made for picking a specific sentence or paragraph, esp. if one uses examples from many different students (though constructing a generic example with a similar problem would be better), but this seems to be something else entirely.

To be clearer about not giving certain types of people a free pass from being socially aware, I might add to the last paragraph something like "Building interpersonal skills might come less naturally to some of us than others, but it's still reasonable to expect such skills from anyone whose work has them deal with other people."

Ugh. I cannot believe professors do this, either as a good example or (worse) a poor example. You said that you're in the US, so it's completely legal unless it's easy to infer who the student was--for example, if there are a very small number of people in the class--in which case it's a FERPA violation.
If you believe it's a FERPA violation, then go to the department administration, and if they blow you off, go to the registrar or whomever is in charge of enforcing FERPA at your school. And if they blow you off, report it directly to the US Department of Education. I think there's an online form for that.

Protecting students is important. But what from? And how far do you escalate? Complaining is a finite resource. You spend too much on problems too small, and people will take you less seriously in the future, when you might need to complain about significantly worse things.

@vsz It's up to the aggrieved to decide how far to pursue something. FERPA is enforced by the feds if there is a pattern of violations by a school, not any single violation, so reports of minor violations are important too.

@vsz "You spend too much on problems too small, and people will take you less seriously in the future, when you might need to complain about significantly worse things." There is some truth to this, but really only if you complain about things so insignificant that they don't even justify the "fixed cost" of looking at a complaint. As long as you state up front the scope of your complaint, and limit it to what you can prove, then if it is truly "too small", the agency can simply dismiss it. The real danger is if you get a reputation for lying/exaggerating in complaints, so don't do that.

On the whole, this pedagogical technique is fair game
If this is a groundbreaking research paper in the process of peer review, this could be a breach of confidentiality. One could argue that it is a breach of the author's copyright, but it is possible that the author has waived it by submitting the paper, and even if that were not the case, the professor could argue that his/her usage is fair dealing under an educational exemption or such like.
Beyond the potential "confidentiality prior to publication" and "copyright" reasons, I see nothing objectionable in this practice. But, judging by some of the other answers, this issue seems to be very culturally contingent, with some institutions and countries having a very different attitude from mine (I am an arts & humanities scholar educated and based in the UK).
Personally, I think that analysing a weak essay can be a very effective pedagogical tool for everybody, including the student(s) whose work is quoted. Provided that the criticism relates to the content and does not involve ad hominem attacks on the author, it is fair game.
It is very important for a postgraduate student to learn to handle harsh criticism of his/her work -- robust and candid (and constructive) criticism is essential to the functioning of academia, and a serious postgraduate will have to handle it sooner or later if he/she expects to complete a PhD successfully or publish in a peer-reviewed outlet. I remember the first time I received peer-review comments in relation to a book-chapter, and, upon first reading, was taken aback by the criticism (of many months of hard work), and this despite my having a very thick skin and having candid PhD supervisors who put me through my paces. But I did take on board the comments, soon appreciated their validity, and made the necessary improvements.

Unless the professor leaked some amount of information that could make the student easily identifiable, I don't think there is anything that can be done (at least for US universities).
This answer is bound to be unpopular, but I personally wouldn't view this as a bad thing from the student's perspective (although I can fully sympathize with the student being taken aback).  The student is getting direct feedback from the professor and potentially the class, and is likely going to be getting much more feedback than the typical scribbles most professors leave in the margins while grading.  This potentially opens a window for increased learning and growth due to receiving additional, detailed feedback.  It is also reasonable practice for receiving feedback during committee meetings or a department-wide presentation.
While this may not have been handled well, at all the universities I have been affiliated with, this kind of practice is 100% fair game (including without prior notice).
What the Professor Could Have Done Better
In general, it is a common courtesy to let students know if their work is going to be publicly discussed during class. At a bare minimum, the professor should have mentioned in the syllabus that assignments may be used for anonymous, public critique.  Most preferably, this should have been announced during the first day of class.  I have also found that when students know their work may be made public, they tend to put more effort into assignments, so knowing ahead of time is beneficial.
What the student could consider doing
If the student is comfortable doing so, I would recommend emailing the professor or talking with them privately during office hours.  Depending on how the student feels, I would recommend saying something along the lines of:
a) "I appreciate the direct feedback I received in class, but having my work made public without notice made me pretty uncomfortable.  Could you give me advanced notice next time you are planning to use one of my assignments?"
b) "I appreciate the direct feedback I received in class, but having my work made public without notice made me pretty uncomfortable.  Would it be possible for you not to use any of my future assignments publicly?  If I have made some serious mistakes I would rather discuss it with you privately during office hours then have them displayed publicly to the class."
Hopefully the professor is a reasonable person who does not intentionally want to make students highly uncomfortable.  If the professor is doing so unknowingly, I think it is better for them to hear from a student personally rather than as a negative anonymous review after the semester is already over.
As long as the professor does not feel attacked or accused when approached by the student, I think there is a good chance they will be open to considering the student's feedback.

Your voice matters. There is always something to be done. Academia should be an environment where critical thinking and questioning of practices is natural and encouraged.
It could be that there are no pre-existing mechanisms to address this at your institution, e.g. some shared code for what's allowed in classes, and somewhere to report violations. If there is not, I would recommend discussing with your fellow students what their opinions are on this matter. A student council, if existing, might be a natural venue for this. An open mind should be kept, and arguments in favor of this practice should be considered. If there is no student council, it could be a good opportunity to start one. Maybe it turns out that there are other practices that students wish to speak up against. Another option might be an open letter to the head of teaching signed by you and other students who agree with you.

Needless to say this is terrible from a pedagogical point of view. Way to go and generate a toxic learning environment.
Most answers here are focusing only on the anonymity part of the question and disregarding another fundamental aspect of it: the possible impact this might have on the student's (and peers) self-confidence and trust on themselves and the instructor.
If you're the student: Send a polite email to the instructor asking them not to use your assignments (or your peers') as examples in the future. You don't even need to explain why, something as simple as "I'd appreciate it if you could avoid using my submissions as examples in the future." would be enough.
If you're the instructor: don't do this.

A better way to do this sort of thing is to not single out any one student.
This happened, very effectively, to me in my first week as a grad student.  Monday we dozen students chose technical terms out of a hat, and trooped over to the reference library (this was pre-Web).  Wednesday we submitted one-page essays explaining those terms.  Friday the professor surprised us with a pageful of howlers excerpted anonymously from all of our submissions.  He didn't need to say anything: the gasps of private recognition all around the table showed that we saw that we didn't yet know how to write.

I would still beg the question as to whether an advanced, official notice was required that your reports would be shared to the entire class in full or as excerpts. If not required, expected for holding to a standard of professional respect between you and the instructor.

@JeffreyJWeimer In my experience advanced notice is not required.  I do agree though that advanced notice is a general common courtesy.  Some profs like to 'trick' students by not notifying them (such as in this post), and while I'm not necessarily a fan of the practice, you can see it left a lasting, and in this case positive, impact on the poster.

The impact was positive.  The whole class learned, within a few seconds, what no amount of lecturing could have convinced us of.


text:
Can MEng Students Get R&D Jobs in Robotics Area in the US?
I got the Mechanical MEng offer of a top university a few weeks ago. I'm still not sure if I want to peruse a PhD but I do want a job about R&D related to robotics in the future. I'm sure there must be some people in the same situation like me. So here is the problem, can MEng students get R&D jobs in robotics area in the US? Or it is necessary to get a PhD or MS in order to get in such jobs.
I have several specific questions:

How likely can MEng students get into PhD programs of top
universities after the MEng program? Comparing with MS students?

For the R&D jobs in robotics area, is PhD required? Or MS students also have a great chance?

Thanks a lot!!!!!

Why do you distinguish between MEng and MS? PhDs aren't normally required for industry jobs. R&D is a bit different from academic research.

@Buffy: An MEng degree typically has a lower bar to achieve than an MS. The MEng is generally implemented as a fifth year tacked into a bachelor’s degree to “supercharge” it, whereas an MS in engineering is a separate two-year degree.

Is it a UK specific thing? I don't recognize it as "typical" in US, anyway. Though some universities have their own degree setup.

Widespread in the US, I don’t know if it shows up in the UK.


text:
Is it ethical to cite the complete version of a paper in the short version of it?
I've written an article which is 32 pages long, (including 1.5 page of references and 3 pages of appendices). I intend to submit it to a conference which accepts 20-page long articles including references and excluding appendices, with at most an additional 10 pages for appendices.
The obvious way to proceed is to move some parts of the original article to the appendices. Indeed, some proofs are very similar to proofs published in former articles (which are of course, cited throughout the proofs). Thus, it's no big deal if they were to be moved to the appendices, since the original proofs are, to my opinion, what makes the article interesting.
However, the article will still be 32 pages long. A possible fix is to simply remove the previous appendix of the article. This appendix is a proof written in a previous article (which I'm not affiliated with in any way). The goal of the appendix is to show that this proof can still be applied to the more general context the article deals with. The proof is essentially the same: at the exception of some trivial tricks in the equations, the only thing that differs between this proof and the original one are the equations.
However, I'm quite embarrassed to simply say "trust me, do the same proof and it'll work". A solution I've thought about, since the article is already an eprint available on Internet, is to cite this eprint in the conference version of the article. Something along the lines of "This proof can be found in the full version of this article [1]".
Is it ethical, and likely to be accepted by the editors?

Sure, it's ethical. This issue has nothing to do with ethics. Your second question is the more relevant one. Some conferences will expect papers to be complete, self-contained works that can be read and understood without reference to much longer works that are posted elsewhere, so in such a conference your suggested solution would be frowned upon and possibly lead to rejection. Still, there's nothing unethical about submitting such a paper. And as @Uwe's answer says, in some disciplines it's considered totally standard to cite a fuller version containing additional technical details.

On one occasion, I had a paper rejected for not citing another version. Unbeknownst to me, a student had published a early version of our paper. When I stumbled upon it, I explained to the student that it’s enough reason alone for a rejection... which is precisely what happened. The reviewer said it was suspicious that we’re publishing the same content twice, and the editor agreed.

Cover both paper the same topic or are there differences? Having the same paper published twice would be unethical...

@DanRomik - seems like a good answer; please put it in the answer box :-)

Referring to the full version (technical report) of a paper in a conference publication of the same paper with a strict page limit is completely standard, at least in computer science.

Actually, it might be essential to cite an earlier version, if it is or will be published. If you imply that the two works are independent then you are being dishonest and open yourself to charges of self plagiarism.
Presumably the longer/earlier paper has a more complete context a reader of the new version may well want access to that context without guessing that the earlier version exists.
Yes, cite it.
And be aware of any copyright restrictions that may apply if you have given up rights to a publisher.

This is a good point. It would arguably be unethical not to cite it.


text:
Fired from TA position without cause/notice, what to do next?
I am a post-doc in the USA and was a teaching assistant in the same university. During my TA appointment, I attended a one-week course outside the city. Prior to leaving, I got permission from the head TA, e-mailed the course instructors, and got one of my colleagues to cover my class and office hours.
One day before my return, I got an email from the instructors asking why I was absent from the classes. I apologized and explained everything, but they were furious. A week later, I got an email that I was terminated. No reason was given, and I got no reply to my e-mails. I even called HR and got nowhere, but was told that I would be financially compensated.
I feel that this was unfair, particularly since another TA had done exactly the same thing and nothing happened to her. I do not think they should get away with this. My research PI wants to get involved since he thinks I was not treated fairly. What should I do next?
UPDATE: I took permission from the head of TA.. instructors told us in the orientation that she is the one in charge. I had one of my colleague who did the same and was not fired! I got one of my fellow TAs to cover my discussion section in exchange to cover her grading which I did! They treated me unfairly as I told them even to take the salary from me for that week. When I mentioned that another colleague did the same and I feel I am biased against, they did not reply. I asked her and she also took the permission from the head of TAs. I do not want money from them but this might show up on my record in the future and I never had any red flags in my resume and I feel I am discriminated against!

You should contact either or both a lawyer and the department head or Dean and make sure you have a copy of your contract and conditions. This is probably not the stack for this question...

In most parts of the USA, an employer has the right to fire an employee for any reason (other than illegal discrimination on the basis of sex, race, etc) or for no reason, at any time and without notice, unless they have a contract specifying otherwise.

Does you contract allow you to let somebody cover your teaching?

Are you fired from being a post-doc, or just from your TA assignment (but still continuing as a post-doc)?

Your situation might not be equivalent to that of the other TA, depending on the details regarding how/when they went about getting permission and how important the conference was versus your course. Are you required to have the instructor's permission in advance? Did you perhaps imply to the head TA you had this permission based on the minimal email interaction? There's so many potential nuances to political fights. And you seem to have nothing to gain anyway.

I am fired from my TA assignment not from my post doc job. I am hired with a contract not as at will employee. I went for one week course ( pre-commitment) award I got! They did not ask us to contact the instructor for permission. My colleague also contacted the head of TA. Also, even if they have the right to fire me without notice, why did they assign me grading the day before it and do not reply to my inquiries on the email. I do not need money from them but I do not want them to get away with it, especially that I never had any situation like that anywhere! Thanks.

The other TA also got someone to cover her lab and lecture. Also, she contacted the head of TAs not instructors. Also, in orientation they told us that we contact the head of TA and only contact the instructors if we have any trouble with the curriculum or the students!

@SolarMike I don't see how a TA contract could be worth the cost of a lawyer.

No reason was given — Your description makes the reason quite clear: your instructor was "furious" that you left your post without their explicit permission.  Also, you were an "at will" employee, so no reason is legally necessary.  I'm not saying the instructor acted fairly or reasonably, but from a distance, it looks like they acted legally.

From what you say, it does seem like you did nothing wrong and were nonetheless fired. I would call this an "injustice", but I can't see where anything bad happened to you.

Your post-doc contract was not violated.
You were not financially impacted. On the contrary, it sounds like you get the money without having to teach, which is a win.
You mention some concerns about your resume, but this is frankly nonsense -- no one is forcing you to write "I was a TA but got fired" on your resume. In reality, no one will ever know.
You perhaps have some legitimate concerns about your reputation. Sitting down with the department chair or someone responsible for the department's teaching may be helpful. You may also want to ascertain whether there is anything in your file that could adversely impact your reputation later (e.g., anything that would show up if you applied for a reference -- or even a security clearance).
Are you eligible to teach in future semesters? If not, then you perhaps have grounds to file a complaint and try to get your eligibility reinstated. But you would have to follow the university's procedures -- I doubt you would have any legal recourse since you weren't fired due to race, gender, etc.

It is good that your research PI is willing to help you. If you have a specific "damage" you would like to be compensated for, I would ask for their assistance in achieving this. But "seeking justice" is likely not actionable -- instructors are usually allowed to handle their TA assignments however they want.

thanks for your detailed response. I work as a full time post doc research fellow and was teaching only for 3 months in the summer school. I get my main salary from my PI in the research and my visa is sponsored by him not the summer school. They fired me only one week before the summer school ends! Do you think this will show up in my records? I tried to know and went to the HR and she seems to have no idea about it and she is telling me that my profile is still active. I feel I am discriminated and biased against and they do not communicate at all!

Moo most certainly "did something wrong". They did not ask the person responsible for the course for permission to swap assignments. This is certainly a fireable offense in my university, and I would be surprised if it weren't in Moo's. To clarify, it feels like the instructor may be overreacting (if there is not something that OP is not telling), but a formal complaint has virtually no leg to stand on.

I had the impression that Moo had at least informed the instructor in advance. Getting "permission" may be wiser (or even required), but I didn't want to speculate too much.

As to whether this will show up in records, I have no idea -- this will vary by school and by situation. If I were to guess, I would suspect that a copy of the letter terminating you would be placed in your file.

Even my PI in research wanted to contact them because he thinks I am
  not treated fairly. What to do next?

First, you should relax.  Being a TA is not a big deal.
Second, you should wait.  This is a situation where your PI ought to be responsible for helping you out.  They already said they would try, so let them try.
If your PI does not succeed in helping you, then you might follow the university's official complaint procedure.  Keep records of everything just in case.

I understand all of your replies. I did not get my PI get involved as I don’t want to go back working with them. But I feel discriminated against, especially after giving me cold shoulder and do not reply to any of my emails as if I was not there! So my main concern that they do not get away with it and let the officials know of it but I do not want to go back to them or even asked for financial compensation, however, they compensated me well! Also, it wil be in my resume fore ever that I got terminated without knowing any reasons for their actions.

@Moo in the very last line of your post you state you have involved your PI, now in this comment you say you did not get your PI involved ... which?...

I said my PI wanted to get involved as he does not think that they treated me fairly but I did not get him involved yet! I only contacted HR! All of that happened in last 4 days

Relax.  This is not a big deal.  "my main concern that they do not get away with it" If you are looking for someone to be punished, you will probably be disappointed.

"it wil be in my resume fore ever that I got terminated" Why are you listing TAing on your resume?

@Moo If your PI thinks you have been treated unfairly, how does he know? You must have contacted or talked to him....

@solarMike I am talking about my research PI not TA PI because I showed him all emails that they sent and how they do not reply to myemail! Plus, if they fired me for performance- related reasons why they do not mention that? Why they gave me permission from the beginning to go to the course? Why they assigned for me grading the day before that email? I finished the grading9 am and received that email 2 hours afterwards!

@Moo then being clear is something you should cultivate - Using PI to refer to two different PI is not helpful... like asking for the wheel size snd then finding out the rear ones are larger...

PI is a role related to grants and research, it’s very confusing to call someone in their role of teaching a class a PI.

@NoahSnyder I think they meant PI as in "the head of the lab that OP does research in", not the instructor of the course. It's a fairly common term in the experimental sciences, as far as I know, but I agree that it's a bit confusing in other contexts.

Why they gave me permission from the beginning to go to the course? — But the instructor didn't give you permission; the head TA did.  Unless there was an explicit policy delegating the authority to approve absences to the head TA, you have no reason to believe that they had such authority.


text:
How to gauge how professional/formal to dress for a tenure track interview
Departments vary a lot by discipline when it comes to what is acceptable attire for men and women both on a day to day basis and at interviews.  Some demand a suit, while this would be ostentatious at others.  Whereas some wouldn't bat an eye at seeing a backpack at an interview, while others would sneer at anything that isn't a leather satchel.  For instance, I've been eyeing this convertible messenger/backpack like this for a job interview (in environmental sciences), but my colleague in the MedSci department says leather or nothing.  Are there any rules of thumb to determine what is and is not appropriate when interviewing at an institution whose office culture you're not familiar with?

The [tag:academic-dress] tag is specifically about cap-and-gown style outfits, not about dress more generally, so I removed that tag.

https://theprofessorisin.com/2017/08/23/lets-talk-backpacks/

Could the downvoter comment?

I left the URL, but dropped the hyperlink, reducing the spam-look

Why is this bag techy?

You seem to be looking to buy a large backpack specifically for job interviews. May I ask why? I feel like I am missing some context here, and given context this may turn out to be an X/Y problem.

@AnonymousPhysicist: This seems either heavily out of date or heavily field-dependent (the author is an anthropologist). I have seen my share of job interviews, and I only ever remember one person lugging a briefcase in academia (and that person was known for this and doing it not just for job interviews; it's part of his unique style). If the main argument against backpacks is really "they make you look like you are still mentally a grad student", then there are enough arguments against briefcases on the same level (how about looking like an administrator, hardly a good look when hiring ...

... is mostly decided by faculty?). The only non-falsifiable signal that carrying a briefcase can imply is grip strength, which is actually a useful health signal (it correlates surprisingly well with physical and mental health), but taking such a signal into account opens a huge can of ethical worms (disability and general discrimination issues). I would thus view a person advocating for a candidate based upon their briefcase as either being superficial or trying to hire on health; not a good view in either case.

What do established professors do at conferences in your field? If many carry backpacks (which I'm guessing they do), then I think it's okay for a job interview too.

I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it is a shopping question, the answer strongly depends on individual preferences and the link seems like a spam.

@user2768 I said it is techy because it is a polyester canvas like material rather than leather, has contrasting stitching, and is produced by Patagonia (a well-known outdoors gear brand).

@xLeitix The slightly longer version of the story is that I'm on the market for a new everyday carry bag, but since I'll be on the job market in a year, figured I might as well be forward-looking and buy something that would be appropriate for job interviews as well.  Since this has hide-away straps and can also be used as a briefcase/messenger bag, I figured it might be able to pull double duty in that way, but wasn't sure it was appropriate for interviews.

@darijgrinberg this is a good point, thanks for pointing it out.  Just like it could be a bit much to wear a suit to an interview in some departments, it could equally be excessive to have a leather briefcase, for instance.

@DmitrySavostyanov I can assure you it is not spam.  I am merely trying to determine the appropriateness of clothing for tenure track interviews, which varies significantly by field, as I understand it.

I'm on the market for a new everyday carry bag, I'd consider a backpack or a satchel appropriate for interview, conferences, day-to-day, ... A (suitable) satchel probably fits better with any type of clothing (including suits), in general, than a backpack does. Then again, it obviously varies, e.g., Samsonite is a brand picked by many executives. That said, you probably can't get (nor would you want) a 25L satchel.

@user2768, I've edited my question to seem less spam-like.  That said, I don't see this objection being raised on this related question, which is admittedly less specific but has the same tenor and topic.

@user2768 The word "techy" means "characteristic of the technology industry". The questioner appears to be asking in good faith, and I don't believe it is appropriate to accuse him/her of spamming.

@academic The question has been edited numerous times, the original looks like spam, take a look. (In addition to the reasons mentioned above, low user reputation was another reason.) Given the volume of comments the OP has made, I now believe the question was asked in good faith, I didn't when I made the comment. Regarding, characteristic of the technology industry, I don't see the bag as techy, under your definition. Technical has a different meaning in the outdoor gear market.

Based on the edit, I have voted to reopen. I think there are useful rules of thumb.

I have been on the hiring side of several dozen academic job interviews.  As such, I am somewhere between amused and alarmed that you think your bag will figure into the job selection process.  If your research concerns the bag or if you were giving your talk from inside the bag maybe -- otherwise, how does this even come up?
Preparing for job interviews is a good thing, but I advise you to concentrate your preparations on the things that could matter.  Perhaps you can further work on your slides or on some other aspect of your job talk.  Perhaps you could do further research into the faculty of the department and plan specific things to say to each of them.  And so forth.  These sorts of preparations are still unlikely to make a difference in the outcome...but more so than ruminating on your choice of bag.
Good luck.

To be fair math is probably all the way on one end of the spectrum here (with probably business schools on the other end).

Have you never considered factors like how well a candidate will "fit in" to your department or how "professional" they seemed? How do you think you intuited these things?

I agree with Pete here. At least in the searches I've been in, given the extreme competitiveness of funding and applicants nowadays, we are only concerned with getting the "superest" superstar from the pool. Also at my school they like to stick recent hires on the committees, so it would be biased the other way if anything.

@Dawn Exactly. Women also tend to get judged more harshly on superficialities, regardless of whether the people doing the judging are aware of it.

Your answer would be also appliciable to very unprofessional bags (such as very dirty ones with holes). Would you also sas that this makes no difference?

@user111388 I don't think a very dirty [bag] with holes is necessarily unprofessional, by comparison a bag with an inappropriate slogan (e.g., racist, sexist, homophobic, ...) or design would be, and I believe such a bag would make a difference.

Yes, I understand this to be very field dependent, which is why I included the detail of my discipline.  For instance, my brother, who was a medical student, mentioned that he had to buy a leather briefcase, as anything else would look schlubby.  Also, your response is a false dilemma, one can be concerned with their appearances and still offer strong content.
@ASimpleAlgorithm, what do you mean by them being biased the other way?  That a more formal-looking briefcase or satchel would be seen as highfalutin?

@elduderino260 more broadly that conservative and businesslike attire might be as much of a "turn off" to young profs who are anything but conservative and businesslike, as they might help you with members of previous generations. At least to the degree that such things factor in either way, which is nada in my experience. I have seen candidates make opposing arguments regarding Trump to committee members at dinner, and still get offers.

@Dawn: We consider "fit" for the department based on interactions with the job candidate.  Moreover, when someone has been brought in for an interview, they are already the top choice of a certain subset of the faculty and have to compete against candidates who are the top choices of other subsets of the faculty.  Those in the middle have to be won over by arguments.  "His bag was better than hers" is a very strange argument.

@elduderino260: I take your point that my answer is coming from a mathematician, so maybe it would be good to get an answer from someone in your field.  But in terms of the "false dilemma": no, I don't think so.  You can't optimize every single thing in your job search.  Even if you could, some things are much more important than others, and you should spend your time accordingly.  It's not even clear to me who would see your bag in a job interview in any more than a passing way.  So (in my opinion, of course) thinking about this is really not helping you with your job search.

I don't think the point here is either about optimizing everything or about picking candidates based on their bag. "Fit" is a vague and potentially insidious criterion that includes things like how the candidate presents themselves, which includes what they wear and what they carry. No one passing bigoted and irrational judgments ever thinks that's what they are doing.


text:
Sending a follow up email for a research assistant position
I have submitted an application for a research assistant position in field of psychology and neuroscience  in the USA. The person to whom I submitted my application seems to be the lab manager (not quite sure though). Let's call this person A. But I also find the job posted under another lab member (let's call this person B). It has been 20 days since I submitted my application.

Should I send a follow up to person A?

What if I still do not hear back from person A after sending a follow up?

Or

Should I send an email to person B referencing that I have submitted my application on … to person A?

What is an appropriate amount of time to wait before send email to the PI of the lab inquiring about any opening her/his lab?

Note, my qualification does fit the job requirements. Also the job posting dated at the beginning of this year so there is a possibility that the job has been filled. In this case, can still express my interest in this job and ask to be considered for future opening?
Edit: please assume that the job has not been filled. Also there is no deadline for this job. They have something along these lines "Job will be closed when the right candidate is selected."

Job posting was beg of the year, but when was the position supposed to start / to be filled? it is quite likely it has already been filled.

"Research assistance" or "research assistant"?

Usually in the US, "research assistant" is a graduate student. Are you sure this is a job available to applicants who haven't matriculated as a PhD student at the university?

The answer written here assumes the position is still open and they are still searching for candidates.
Send a follow-up email to person A, cc'ing B.
Then, give them one week to reply (I mean, wait one week, not giving them a deadline :) ! ). If they do not react, try to call them on the phone (A or B, they seem to be equally involved in the decision process).
It is by far less time consuming for both parties (you and A, or you and B) to discuss such a thing via phone.

Do I need to make any notes for person A about cc'ing person B? Do I also need to great person B in my follow up email to person A? And thanks for the response.

I would put as object "Follow up for application to position X" and then start the email "Dear A, dear B," and then concisely write as if you were talking to one person only. Depending on their answer, it is a good time to ask about possible other openings/future collaborations.

For calling on the phone, this depends on the professor.  Some are only required to list their phone number on their website or course syllabi, but won't actually answer the phone (I had one professor do this during my undergrad).

@Daveguy yes, correct, but there is always a way to contact directly some person (or at least to make some indirect pressure), for example calling the department secretary and asking to speak with A, or B. This is a matter of job application, not of student taking exams, so even if the number of applicants is high, persons A or B should take into account this workload and should expect being contacted personally by the applicants (I do not say it must happen, but it is likely to happen).

I would also suggest going to their OH, but depending on OP's location, this may not always be a possibility

It doesn't hurt to send a follow up, since it has been so long since you first applied.  Definitely send a follow up email to both (and as EarlGrey mentioned, you could have only one of them as the primary recipient, while CC'ing the other).
However, job websites do tend to leave positions open that in reality have already been filled, from past experience.  If the listing is months old, there is a good chance that the position could be filled already.  As I mentioned, it definitely doesn't hurt to send follow ups to make sure that the position is still open or not, but if you don't get any replies, you may need to just cut your losses and move on. (EarlGrey did mention in a follow up comment that the position was posted months ago, and many such positions generally start at the beginning of the upcoming school term, if not at the beginning of the summer)


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Is there such a thing like "18-months/half-time syndrome"?
I am about 1, 5-2 years in my Ph.D. studies in the no-man's-land between bioinformatics, systems biology and proteomics. (If you are not sure what those terms are, read: "biomedical research")
Coming from a more mathematical/technical background I was thrilled to work in this field, and my M.Sc thesis was pretty successful. Now diving deeper and deeper into the field I feel much less motivated to go on. What frustrates me most, is how little we really understand of complex biological systems, and all our efforts in the field are essentially just waddling in the darkness, trying to find the "holy grail" that may or may not exist. I personally feel that there is an undeniable lack of rigor even amongst the most respectable of scientists out there:

most biologist really have no clue beyond pipetting liquids left and right, as soon as it comes to data analysis they expect something along the lines of: "computer says yes/no" (see: little Britain's famous sketch)
computer scientists/mathematicians can't really cope with the uncertainties in the data
statisticians are essentially the con-artists of the field, rambling on undecipherable monologues. Sorry if I offend someone but it feels like one can prove/disprove anything with some creative use/interpretation of statistics.

Putting my rants aside, I went up and talked to one of the younger group leaders in our dept. I feel close enough to the person to give my honest opinion and respect his thoughts on the matter. The first thing he asked me after I was done rambling on, however, was how long it has been since I started. When I told him it's been about a year and a half, he smiled and said: "well, it was about time". According to him, it's common for a Ph.D. candidate to become jaded with his/her work somewhere between 18-months to 2 years in. He claimed that one simply gets deep enough into the field to see all the potential problems/pitfalls in research, and feel negative about it all.
Which brings me to my question(s); is there such a thing as 18-months syndrome, in your experience? Could it be a discipline-dependent phenomenon or applicable to other disciplines? How can one avoid getting stuck in a tailspin (negative spiral)?
PS: I wanted to tag this question as "research-psychology" but don't have the rep to create a new tag. If someone with more rep agrees with me on the tag, I would appreciate the help :)

I am not going to answer, just a piece of advice. To get out of there, you need now to boost your ego. To do that, you need to achieve a success. Not a mediocre paper, but something what you believe is at least marginally useful and could have an impact. You already know enough to do that, so close your eyes, steam ahead and on the other side of the tunnel you are out of the low.

I like how, as someone with a background in biology who has moved into computational epidemiology, you managed to insult me three times within the opening of your post.

@EpiGrad that's very odd, please elaborate on what exactly it is that you feel insulted by, as I did not intend on insulting anyone when I wrote this question. Also note that down-voting a question based on a personal disagreement isn't really nice, I mean if you think that the question isn't valid/relevant or downright offensive I would understand that, but if you downvote because you do not agree with my assessment of the different fields, it's hardly objective. Anyhow, looking forward to your reply

@EpiGrad Hmm I suppose you are referring to the dotted list of different parties involved in this particular cross-disciplinary field. Well, it was meant to be written from the perspective of the "others", and is in it's right an extremely cynical view. As I wrote there, I did not mean to offend anyone, unfortunate that you felt that way...

@posfed Downvotes are, in general, hardly objective for a question like this. It is somewhat more aggressive than I usually downvote things, but I think spending half of a question outlining the way Certain People Are Terrible is not the makings of a well formed question. Beyond that, my vote is now locked in unless the question is edited - I'd reconsider, but I can't. Reasons for insult to follow.

@posfed My BA was in Biology. I knew a great deal more than just pippetting (indeed, I hate pippetting) and while I was a Biologist, I wrote my own data analysis routines. I currently work in applied math/CS, and a lot of my work is on uncertainties and messiness in data. My PhD was stats heavy, and I collaborate heavily as a stats guy - wherein I try to produce clear, interpretable, defensible models. You managed to go through a list of my various "hats" and characterize each one as having an "undeniable lack of rigor". How could that not be insulting to the people in those fields?

@EpiGrad I understand you reaction. You should try to put the text into the context however, the question is about a very intense frustration with the work and everyone else involved in it. From that perspective, it makes sense that I would have such a negative image of the people involved, including "my own people, mathematicians/cs"... (cont'd)

@EpiGrad You have to realize that you have an uncommon profile, as is. In my experience biologists are uninterested in data analysis, and statisticians are incapable of explaining their ideas to scientists of other disciplines, that might not be you or most other people you know. But sadly that was my experience, and thereby my frustration at the point I wrote this question. For the sake of brevity, in case you want to discuss this any further, I suggest we move it chat http://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/2496

Everything is possible: I'm pretty sure, from a large enough population of former PhD students, most will tell you that they felt demotivated at some point, but the timing will depend on the individual and the particular circumstances.
It is true, however, that mid-PhD corresponds to a particularly large number of negative factors, and it is common to feel bad about your thesis around that time. Heck, it's common even that there is a PHD Comics that highlights it:

(Don't mind the exaggerated x-axis scale. The area highlighted corresponds to mid-PhD.)
Now, why is that? Well, among your rants, most of the factors are actually listed in your question: Now, you know the field well enough to see not only the good, but also the bad in it. The initial elation has left, and you are left with the doubts. This is sometimes accompanied by deep questioning about your progress: Have I done enough? Have I taken the right course of action? etc.

But the most important point is: how to get out of it? Well, part of the problem is a natural “oscillation”, which means this is probably actually just a low point, a bad moment, and it will actually get better. Don't have too much fear of “spiraling down”: you've made it thus far, and you're aware of the issue!
As for more actionable advice, I would say:

Now that you are more knowledgeable of the field, you can actually start to make better choices: if you don't like a given approach, just steer away from it. You still have some time to do so, and it is part of your PhD to learn making strategic decisions (if you haven't already).
You may not see it, but you will be much more efficient during the second half of your PhD than the first, mostly because you have learnt a lot already and can make better decisions.
Pick a few challenges (one or two) that you would like to meet, and focus on those: you'll feel much better if, instead of chasing some holy grail, you can help solve these specific issues that you care about.
And remember: completing a PhD means becoming an expert in your field, and that actually means being able to critique its practices, recognize the good and the bad. It sounds like you have actually achieved this goal!

I hope this helps…

Isn't "absorb cynicism of labmates" the proper area to have highlighted, both from the timeline and the comments in the 6th paragraph?

For long projects it is common to feel frustrated or even desperate after some time. You cannot continue for years only with the energy that you had originally. Some of the initial magic is fading and you realize there are bad sides. Do not worry. You will also start seeing new good sides on this too. Maybe you and the other researchers in your field are not going to save the world right there right now. But you are all part of a collective effort that advances knowledge.

Every PhD is a series of ups and downs, and it might just be that what you are experiencing. If that's the case. don't worry, it'll pass.
However, reading your rant... as someone with a very similar background, I might be able to offer some perspective. I have seen this exact same thing before, and I've heard that rant, not least from myself, several times. Obviously, I can only guess, so please forgive me if I am making assumptions about you which might not actually apply.
Most likely, there is a mismatch between how you view yourself and what the field requires.
You have chosen an interdisciplinary field, which requires you to be a generalist, yet you come from a specialist background. Given that you've switched gears, I'll assume you are more of a generalist.
Now, you need to understand that many people in the relevant subfields are specialists, however, you put them down for not being well-versed in everything you consider important in a generalist setting, rather than accepting that they will be more skilled in their area of specialization than you might (be able to) recognize. I'd call that Dunning-Kruger if that wasn't thrown around so much these days. Especially your statement about statisticians is concerning in that regard. Calling established researchers con-artists 2 years into your grad program is, shall we say, questionable.
Most likely, you consider yourself a "big picture" person, given the field you have chosen, which often goes along with a more individualistic (perhaps even a bit confrontational) personality, that sole author on that one important paper, rather than one item on a page-long list of 3 consortia. This will not work in biomedical research, or any larger research effort for that matter. It is vastly complicated, a big team effort, and you need to learn how to become a player in that community. If you cannot find a role for yourself in that setting, you are very likely to become ever more frustrated. You will also be considered arrogant if you don't adjust your views on the perceived shortcomings of adjacent disciplines, meaning at some point people might just not want to work with you.
In an interdisciplinary field, that's a career ender...

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How can I do undergraduate research in high school without special math programs?
I'm a 10th grader and I really love math. I study it at the upper undergraduate level, participate in competitions, engage in the philosophy of math, etc. But I've been wanting to do research while I'm in high school. My original plan was to apply to a math camp like SUMaC or PROMYS, but this unfortunately is no longer an option. I've already sent an application to SUMaC; I did well on the exam and got a good recommendation letter but I don't know if that's even useful at this point.
(The main reason is that my parents don't want me to go out of state for a couple weeks out of fear that I may die or something very unlikely happening, and convincing them otherwise is impossible)
The good thing is that they are fine with programs or events that take place in-state. I'm within commuting distance of a well-respected public university that I will attend as dual enrollment next year, I can give the name if necessary but I like to keep things as general as possible. Can anyone offer some advice to me? Do such opportunities even exist? Thank you!

I don't know how it is in math, but in my field, the university has special programs for high school students. Try googling " high school summer research". You can also cold email professors (see this Q&A for strategy). I doubt many professors think a high school student is going to do much of anything useful; it's mostly a learning experience. I personally have accepted a high school student to my lab from a cold email. Good luck!

Do you mean a State within the US or within another country, or a different country altogether? SUMac and PROMYS are in very different places.

Do any of your instructors have a math PhD? Can any of them introduce you to someone local who does have a PhD in math?

You could also check nearby universities for any programs/summer courses they may have, as well as look for online summer courses/programs.

that I will attend as dual enrollment next year --- If you want something in addition the (presumably) advanced undergraduate courses you will take next year, better might be studying some tangential or omitted topic from your courses. For example, if you're taking a complex variables course, then maybe dive more deeply into things such as covered in these books or in this book. If you're looking for something to do now or this summer, perhaps contact the possible instructors of the courses you might take.

I would aim more for "hands-on experience with real math" (of similar kind to the math camps that you mentioned) than for "undergraduate research in high school". Undergraduates doing research is in many, perhaps most, areas of mathematics already a stretch in the sense that it often seems to be simply a fancy word for an undergraduate reading up on some more advanced area of mathematics This is of course great for students like you who take a keen interest in math, I am just saying you should take the word "research" in the context of "undergraduate research" with a pinch of salt.

Most areas of Mathematics are now so well developed that you would need years to work yourself to the frontier of research. Even a field like Graph Theory, which could boast of some successful, accomplished amateur scientists is now difficult to enter, because you need to know so much. Having a guide is therefore extremely valuable. You will find potential guides at your local universities.
If someone from a high school would approach me, I would be worried about your potential to actually receive results. Now, based on a cold email, I would have no idea whether you would be a new Ramanujan or Dantzig or whether your perception of your ability differ widely from the reality. I would need to see some evidence of your capability to even think about talking to you. (If you talk to a candidate and then decide that it is not worth your time, it might be very time-consuming to convince them to look for someone else.) Thus, your reference letter and your test results are important information.
I am a bit skeptical about research at the high-school level. First, high school is not only about academia and you do not want to burn yourself out academically and miss on the normal socialization. Also, most research presupposes solid knowledge and the acquisition of techniques. While the history of Mathematics is full of individuals who had such raw talent that they could acquire these very quickly and become astonishingly productive, the chances that you are one of these exceptional individuals is low. But even if you are, acquiring background knowledge is important and a good test of your talents and of your interests is to learn a mathematical theory. I would recommend for a high school student to learn Linear Algebra (I liked the book by Serge Lang, but there are now probably better ones available) or elementary number theory, or graph theory. If you are thinking about applied Mathematics, consider learning a Programming Language such as Python.
The reason I am proposing this to you is that a high school student who has understood Serge Lang or who has taught themself programming and can show me good code is one that I would be interested in mentoring. If you are not one of these exceptional people then learning any of these topics is still useful, and if you are one of them, then it would show by the little effort you would have to expend on it.
I know that I am not really answering your question, because you want some type of established program. But it sounds to me that your parents have ruled out this possibility. Now, if you have already done this, then you need to identify individuals that are going to be helpful at a university, usually by common interest.

As Thomas Schwarz correctly explains, research in math is difficult without much more background than you are likely to have without advanced degrees or the equivalent. However, depending on your local circumstances you may be able to do something that is research adjacent and that will give you a better idea both of math and of research in math.
If any of your instructors has a PhD in math, or can introduce you personally to someone who does you can do something like the following.
Ask the person if you might read their doctoral dissertation and, afterwards, have some discussions with them about it. Expect it to be very difficult. You will learn what a serious research document looks like. It will probably have a lot of references to earlier work. Follow up on those references, through some academic library if the person doesn't have copies. Trace the ideas back.
Ask for an hour of their time every few weeks for a while to ask questions and get further guidance.
Researchers in many fields need to do something like this. It is called a literature search, though most such searches start with more than one paper.
Take a lot of notes. Note definitions. Note the pattern of proofs. Think about (and note) variations on those definitions that might lead to other things. Note the things you don't understand.
Expect that you won't understand everything. When you meet up with the person again, ask a lot of questions based on what you don't understand. Ask for guidance in understanding the paper, not just for answers. Try to answer their questions if asked. It is OK if you are wrong at first. But understanding can come from keeping at it.

Some people with a research-based masters might be able to help, but not quite to the same extent as a person with a doctorate. And the paper that they give you might not need to be a dissertation, but those are usually more complete with background references than the typical paper written for experts.

Mathematics is one of the fields where you actually could do research all by yourself. It is also one of the fields where there is very little interest from the academics on engaging with people who do not have an advanced background since it just means that we would have to explain a lot before we could get to anything interesting.
I do not know any suggestions on programs or other organised/supervised ways to help you pursue your interest. But my suggestion is to, speaking as someone who did exactly this when I was in high school; find a topic or problem and find out everything you can about it. That is doing research!
Do it to learn about problem solving, you will likely not find a new solution, but you will get to practice new ways of finding solutions and new ways of collecting information. And those are the central skills needed to do research in mathematics.


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How to Reference to Online Articles
What is the right method to follow when referencing an article published on a website?
For example, I want to include the below sentence from this article.

A mere 81.7 seconds later, a chunk of insulating foam tore free from the orange external tank and smashed into the leading edge of the orbiter's left wing at a relative velocity of at least 400 miles per hour (640 kph), but Columbia continued to climb toward orbit.

Is the below a correct way to do so?
"A mere 81.7 seconds later, a chunk of insulating foam tore free from the orange external tank and smashed into the leading edge of the orbiter's left wing at a relative velocity of at least 400 miles per hour (640 kph), but Columbia continued to climb toward orbit."
Under References:
Hutchinson, L, 2016. 'The audacious rescue plan that might have saved space shuttle Columbia, USA, ARS Technicia
Thank you,

Does this answer your question? https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/8098/how-should-i-cite-a-website-url

Since the web isn't a permanent repository, either reference something that is, or give the date on which you access the web article as part of the reference. And in your example, give the URL at which you found the article, not just the title of the website. So, more like this:

Hutchinson, L, 2016. 'The audacious rescue plan that might have saved space shuttle Columbia, USA, ARS Technicia: https://arstechnica.com/science/2016/02/the-audacious-rescue-plan-that-might-have-saved-space-shuttle-columbia/, accessed April 1, 2020.

The Internet Archive and its Wayback Machine is permanent, but the date will be required for resources that change.

Thank you, Buffy. If I also ask, in the body text of the research, in addition to the quotes, should I add anything? As in, (Hutchinson, L, ARS Technicia)?


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Is it expected to pursue a PhD after being a pre-doctoral research assistant with a professor
Does being a research assistant but previous to being a doctoral student under one specific professor mean that you are expected to apply for a PhD with them as supervisor in the following year?
I assume there is no such demand but afraid it's acquiescent to some professors.

No, there is no such general expectation. The two are independent. Either the student might not apply or the professor might not accept them if they did.
But some professors will hope for such and perhaps "expect" it. That is an individual thing, however. It might be good to have a chat with them (not email - a chat).

If I hire student assistants I see that as giving them the opportunity to peek inside what it is like doing research. That way they can make up their own mind on whether it is something for them or not. Not wanting to enter academia is perfectly understandable. So I expect them to be curious about doing a PhD, but also that the decision has not been made yet.