text:
Suitable candidates to ask for reference letters for PhD application?
I am going to graduate this semester and would like to apply for a PhD after a one-year research assistant position in the same lab I have been performing my two-year research projects.
I notice that quite many universities in Europe e.g. Germany and Switzerland, require 2 or sometimes 3 reference letters for the PhD application. However, I can only get one, which is from the PI of my current lab. There is also a mentor of mine (a PhD candidate), and a lab manager (did their PhD a long time ago, still participating in research), but I am not sure whether I can ask them for the letter since they are all in the same lab).
I am the second author of a journal article, and hopefully, a second paper will be under peer review by the end of my RA job, and I may be the co-first author or second author. But I can't really be sure about that since the project is only halfway done. (This is the main reason why I chose to stay in this lab)
Therefore, may I know who are common persons that I can ask for a reference letter?

You can ask anyone who knows your work. The fact that several are from the same lab does not disqualify them.
That said, some variety if probably better. Consider other professors in the department who know you.
The PI in the lab you work at now might have good suggestions.

Thanks. I understand that some variety is better, but most, if not all professors have only taught me for one semester (three months). Although I love asking 'good' questions (they claim) frequently, I don't think I know them, or they know me except in the lecture setting.
So, just to confirm, I can actually ask for others in the lab who know my projects and work ethic to write the second reference letter for me?

Yes, ask for the second letter from the person in your lab. Your cover letter might note that these people know you better than professors you only saw in class, even though you did well in those classes.


text:
Do you know any system in which a PhD Student can apply for their own reserch grant?
I would like to ask about any funding for PhD Students to buy lab equipments, reagents etc. Because I know a lot of scholarships and travel grants for PhD students, but no research grants.
I know PIs and postdocs are eligible to apply for grants and provide the funding of experiments. But in many cases I cannot see any differences between an experienced PhD Student with good publications or a young Postdoc with less outstanding publication list. Neither of them will get a grant for postdocs but the young Postdoc has the chance to apply. I understand that it is necessary to make a difference between a postdoc and a PhD Student, but okay, let's provide less money as a grant or sg.

Some scholarships come with some money  for lab consumables or equipment, books etc., for example the Kekule fellowship.

Yes, you are absolutely right. My field is molecular biology and my country is Hungary. I am not sure whether I can find sy from my country, and it is not necessary. I am curious about this question in general in any country.

Yes. For example several of the fellowships listed as answers to the question, Options other than the NSF for PhD level grants?, will fund research expenses.

As far as I witnessed while doing my doctoral degree in Germany (in applied computer science), it was pretty much the norm that most doctoral candidates would write - or at least contribute to - one or two research grant applications in the course of their candidacy.
These grant applications were usually meant to secure follow-up funding for the doctoral candidate themselves (once their current funding runs out), or for other future doctoral candidates in the same institute (who could, for instance, build upon the work of the applying doctoral candidate).
Now, I'm not sure whether this is what you are looking for, as these doctoral candidates would technically not personally apply for the grant themselves, even though they collected all the input for the application and wrote it. However, unless I'm mistaken, it's also not the PI or postdoc who would personally receive e.g. money for lab equipment, but their institute or group, as a (depending on the size/scope of the grant, the sole) participant of the project.

Thank you for your answer. It seems there are differences between fields and countries. In my country we don't need to write research grant applications and our PhD scholarship is funded by the government for 4 years. Additionally, we have the chance to apply for extra scholarships given by either the government or companies, but this is only for living costs, so it's a scholarship, not for buying lab stuff. And the fact that we have no chance to provide the financial basis of our experiments (at least partially), makes us much more vulnerable.

@research_isn't_easy: Ah, then to add some context: There are various ways of how doctoral candidates can be paid in Germany, but a common one (at least in applied CS) is to be employed by the university. Your salary comes from a grant that has been awarded to the institute you work for, which covers some amount of staff (i.e. money to pay to employees working on the project), material (i.e. money to buy lab equipment etc. from), and other expenses (e.g. travel expenses to project meetings or conferences).

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text:
Is it okay to say that I have a paper under review when applying/talking to potential supervisors?
As I am applying/talking to potential supervisors is it appropriate to mention (but not elaborate) that I have a paper under review at a specific conference? Or would this be a potential breach of double-blind process of the conference?
I would not mention the paper's name, but perhaps the areas the paper is related to

Related: Should I mention (double-blind) submitted conference paper in CV?

That should be fine. You might get asked for a copy of the paper in which case a conversation might be needed. If the professor isn't a reviewer for the conference then sharing it should have no effect.
But showing some research output is a good thing in approaching a potential advisor.
The information that you have an unnamed paper under consideration doesn't break the double blind process.

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text:
Why did only a few professors reply to my Ph.D. positions inquiry?
I am doing a M.S. degree in a mechanical engineering program. In the previous three weeks I sent a letter inquiring for an opportunity to over 20 professors whose lab's website clearly showed Ph.D. position information. I received only 4 rejections, the others did not reply, is there any reason? Is there any way to solve this problem? Should I resend them my letter at a later time?
The format of my letter like this:
attachment-1:my transcript
attachment-2:my cv

Hello Professor,
Paragraph-1: Personal information, like my name, graduate school, my thesis topic, my publication condition.

Paragraph-2: Where I found your position information, why I chose your labs(I indicated the interesting topics they listed in their page)
Paragraph-3: My qualification, like my programming level, practical experience of simulation, related courses I ever took.
Paragraph-4: An ending sentence, like: looking forward to your reply, have a nice day.

I found potential reasons to account for the lack of replies:

Its summer vacation.
I have a weak academic background.
Professors do not think my research field can match theirs.
The content of my letter is not unique, professors may think this letter can be sent by everyone.
I didn't put the professor's name at the start.

Related, possible duplicate: Is this way of writing e-mails to professors asking for funded PhD positions to work under their supervision good?

What country? .

You mention that their labs websites show PhD position information, but in my experience most professors who welcome direct PhD proposals like yours will state as much on their personal profile.

In NA and the EU they many are off on vacation, or at least free from teaching classes and wanting to get other stuff done...

Things that look like mass mailings are easy to delete without response. Blind emails that are long, with attachments, are easy to delete without response. In the US, applications are normally not made to a professor, but through a departmental system, though you haven't yet given a country.

@Roland out of curiosity, is there a reason you leave such emails unanswered? Wouldn't it be better for the student to know they're rejected for sure as opposed to assuming you forgot about the email/haven't had time to respond etc?

"I didn't put the professor's name at the start."
This! Obviously, this is highly subjective, but whenever I get one of those emails, they go directly to the trash bin. If you cannot even find the time to insert my name, this tells me a couple of things - be they true or not, but those are the immediate assumptions I am gonna make of you:

You just want the degree for whatever reason, but have no actual interest in the work itself. No consideration is given whether our interests are compatible, and you are likely only vaguely familiar with my work (quoting a few topics from the website doesn't really cut it). There is nothing specific about my work that makes you want to spend the next few years with me over any other random researcher.

Yet, you expect me to hire you, spend days writing grant proposals to fund you, support you for years (academically, socially, mentally) and spend many hours working with me, but you do not even have the decency to find a few seconds to enter my name. This would be unacceptable even for low-qualification entry-level job applications in many places.

The reason you do not have that time is because you probably sent dozens of emails to any researcher you can find and expect some of them to stick.

I am sorry of this sounds harsh, but I know quite a few profs who've been there, invited some of those candidates, just to find that their concerns were justified. I am of course not saying this is true of you, but please understand that after many anonymous generic applications, a lot of them start to feel like spam.
So here are my suggestions for future applications:

Address the person by name (and title, as some might be offended otherwise).

Instead of showing interest in their topics, show familiarity with their work, i.e. read their papers!!, I repeat, read, and make sure you understand, their papers!! Be specific about what ideas and approaches are most interesting to you, and why. But make sure to be genuine and thorough - its their work, so they will know immediatly if you fake it because you didn't get the important ideas.

Make sure to suggest what you might contribute to their lab. Academic research is a high stakes, high competition environment, and taking on a PhD student is a risky investment. The prof needs to get the impression that you are self-motivated and have something new to contribute, rather than being a diligent student who just does well in classes. A PhD is VERY different from getting a Master's, so don't think of it as "going to school" anymore. At the end, it's publish-or-perish for anyone in that line of work, and that goes for you as well.

It's sometimes a good idea to state your reasons for doing a PhD. Want an academic career? Qualify for a senior position in industry? Become an entrepreneur? Different labs have different outlooks on that, and compatibility will depend on your objectives.

In some cases, especially when applying to the US, some professors might feel that you are more interested in coming to the country than the actual PhD work. I obviously don't know your background, but do check your applications to see if they might give of that vibe. I get lots of applications from Pakistan and Iran specifically that only seem to have that purpose, as their previous work has almost nothing to do with my interests, but they do talk a lot about their visa requirements.

Hope that helps, good like with your other applications! :-)

Each of the 20 professors you wrote to may have received hundreds of letters like yours.
I think a quick  acknowledgment with a "sorry, no" would be better than no response, but I can understand why many emails like yours are unanswered.
I doubt that a second email from you would make any difference.
Keep trying at schools where you think you might succeed.

Lately I find that sending a polite "sorry, no" email often results in the applicant continuing to send inquiries, which has further discouraged me from replying to messages (like OP's) that appear to be generic and spammed to many people.

@DavidKetcheson I have the reverse experience.  Not replying can lead to resending but a polite “sorry but no” is usually enough to close the discussion.

This depends on what country you're in, but at least where I live, it would be rather uncommon to approach a professor about a position directly via email. Open PhD positions are posted in some university-wide job application system, and there is some designated contact person for questions, sometimes multiple for different questions (e.g. a professor for questions about the research, and an HR person for questions about contracts). Applications sent directly to the professor will just get ignored, as they don't follow the required protocol.

Don't send during vacation time
I think during the vacation time July-August nobody reads their working emails, and even if they are, they ignore unimportant stuff till later time. So I agree with your "1" it would be better to send it in e.g. September.
Write personalized emails
I would definitely spent an effort to write unique emails starting with
Dear "Professor Name", instead of simply "Professor". I absolutely agree with your item "4" and "5". It is a small change, but it makes a feeling of a general letter one can ignore, rather a personal inquiry.
Skill level is not crucial in the very first email
I would disagree with your "2", "3". I would say, skill level is usually determined by the interview or direct conversation. I think to get in contact with a professor, usually plain interest with some basic background knowledge should be enough. So don't think it is because of your poor knowledge.
Be polite and ask
I think very important part is to ask direct, simple yes/no questions, which people can easily identify and answer within seconds, reading your email.
Also entertain the idea that website information might not always be up to date, so it is worth to ask, whether the position you have found is still available.
E.g. instead of general: "looking forward to your reply".
" On the website xyz42.com I found an open PhD position in your lab, which I am interested in. Could you tell, if this position is still available? I am this with that background... Please, let me know, if it possible for me to apply."
HR department
Another thing, that maybe not everywhere professors handle initial PhD requests. Maybe try to send similar email to the HR department? They were hired to reply to emails like yours :) So the probability of the reply is much higher. And you still can mention professors name who you find interesting to work with.
Hope it helps and good luck with your PhD :)
P.S.
I am not from engineering field, but from physics so my judgement of professors behaviour might be heavily off

Countless useful responds made in this thread. I feel sorry I can not choose each of them to be the best one. But, what you said actually helped me. Thanks a lot.


text:
Recovering from a blunder I made while emailing a professor
Yesterday I emailed a professor inquiring about a research opportunity. He replied within an hour, told me to follow his profile to find the open position, and that he would be pleased to receive my application as I was fit for the position. I followed his profile on LinkedIn and emailed him that I would love to submit my application for position A.
Now comes the awkward part, he wanted me to apply for position B, not position A. I think I seriously messed up this opportunity. He hasn't responded to my mail yet. My research area is better suited for position B. And the deadline he mentioned in his first email was for position B, too.
Anyway, should I tell him I didn't know about position B since I am considering applying to it? (I didn't see position B. He posted position A two days ago and position B one week ago. I'm dumb. I hate LinkedIn now).

How do you know which position he wanted you to apply for?

He told me he'd be shortlisting candidates for interviews in around one month for the position (not specified). Position A closes on 28th May and Position B on 28th March. I assumed position B makes more sense this way. Isn't it?

At least in my institution, "positions" are much more fluid than you must apply for this and only this position. It's not a big deal for me at least to interview someone for one position and actually employ them in another. I don't think this "blunder" makes you look "dumb."

I don't understand what the problem is supposed to be. You feel like position B is a better fit for you, and he wants you to apply for position B, but somehow this is an awkward blunder that messed up your opportunity? In any case, you can apply for either one, or for both. You don't need his explicit prior written permission to apply for A rather than B if you feel like it.

I'm no professor, but if it were me, I would simply ignore an email that says "I thought I wanted to do X, but now I realize I want to do Y". Then do Y, you don't have to tell me, especially if I will see which you do in the end. (The suggestion to apply for both positions seems like a useful one, and somewhat also alleviates the perceived gaffe, to my mind, if ever there was one.)

" he wanted me to apply for position B" how do you know he wanted you for the other position? Did the professor know you from before? If not, the professor suggested you to apply for B is because he somehow got to know your skills (spent some time reading your cv / asking around, even as simple as asking goolge about you) and then found you may be a candidate for position B.

To clarify, is it correct that he emailed you suggesting to apply for the position, and then you emailed him again expressing interest in the position for project A? Is this how he is expecting application submissions?

Not sure if this comment will make you feel better. But if you consider this a blunder, you have no idea what a blunder is. I once sent a SMS to my friend and said some regretful things about my professor. Then checked again to see it was mistakenly sent to the professor himself ♂

I don't see a problem here. Just apply for position B. The cover letter will explain your motivation for applying for position B. No need to mention position A anymore if you're not interested in it. Also no need to do anything differently than if you never mentioned A in the first place.

Perhaps you could apply for both and indicate which you'd prefer. Or, since it is a bit unclear, apply for the one you really want and indicate somehow, perhaps in a note (email) that you have additional interest in the other.
If the skill set for the two positions overlap, you are probably able to be considered for either.
Alternatively, just ask them which they think you are more suitable for, assuming you are more or less neutral between them, which may not be the case.
To be honest, this doesn't seem like a blunder on your part, just odd interleaving of times.

I followed his profile on LinkedIn and emailed him that I would love to submit my application for position A.

After you have been invited to apply, an email saying "I would love to submit my application for position A" is just noise that will be quickly ignored/archived. I would not expect a response to that email (what would the professor respond to that anyway?). At this point, he is waiting for an actual application, so just send that.
It is also not a blunder to apply for position A. If you are interested in both positions, then mention that in your application, stating your preference if you have any.

Just explain everything to him:

I just realized that I was looking at another position (A) with a different deadline, when I sent you my earlier email, before I noticed that there is also position B. I think my research area is better suited for position B, so I will submit an application for that. Sorry for any confusion!

I don't think you messed up anything, by the way. It's just a minor mistake.

Given that your professor seems to be of the type to encourage people, his heart is probably in the right place. If so, then I think if you simply explain the situation to him in a forthright manner, as you have to us, you'll find that he'll simply say, "Oh, of course, that makes more sense!"
If you can do it in person without being a bother to him, you'll likely get the best results. People are typically much warmer and much more facilitating towards a face in front of them than they are to a block of text on their desktop.
Also, most people who aren't horrible will appreciate humility. Showing that you are willing to say you think might have goofed up tends to be an endearing quality.
Personally, when hiring people, I like it when people are willing to admit ignorance or to point out a mistake they've made. It shows that they aren't prideful and won't stubbornly refuse to admit they're wrong some day in the future when it's crucial to know it so we can correct the problem they've caused.


text:
What to do about an unprofessional instructor?
I'm a Chinese freshman majoring in statistics. It's not me, but my classmates who are suffering from poor teaching in their Python course. They have no prior programming experience, so they aren't aware of their instructor's mistakes, but I think this must be stopped.
Let me show you this instructor's unprofessionalism:

She teaches the students Python by playing videos to them, which show her giving lessons to the seniors. Actually, she didn't say more than several sentences during a four-hour class. If one can learn Python simply by watching videos, why should one bother to come to the classroom? Students need face-to-face teaching! Also, I guess her video tutorial can't be the best one among all those online resources.
The students don't have time to practice in class, because their precious class time is used to watch pre-recorded videos.
Here is some of her code:

s=input("s:")
patten="0123456789"
for x in s:
    if x not in patten:
        print('非全数字')

While it's merely an incomplete code snippet, I suppose the misspelling of "pattern", the existence of "0123456789" instead of string.digits, and the mix using of ' and " is enough to demonstrate her ignorance of good coding.

s=[11,22,33,44,55,26,47,88,12,19]
a=[]
for i in s:
    if i%2 != 0:
        a.append(i)
    else:
        continue
print(a)

Yes, this works, but it's definitely not pythonic, and my classmates are learning Python, not "C/C++/Java programming in Python". If I were the instructor, I would teach them list comprehension.
In fact, she is the chief editor of the textbook being used, and that textbook is also unprofessional in my opinion. For example, it opens a file using f=open(...), rather than with open(...) as f:.
She never ends the class on time. The class is scheduled to end at 11:30AM, but usually the "hardworking" instructor ends the class at around 12:00pm. Probably this is because her videos can't convey much information in 3.5 hours.

My question is: what can I do to help the students? I think Python programming skills are very important to statistics students, and my classmates deserve a better instructor. I didn't take that class, so I don't mind it if I do something that may anger their instructor, because she can't give me a failing grade.
My fellow students think this instructor is "not that bad", presumably due to their lack of programming experience, and thus are reluctant to make a change.

Don't have time to write a full answer, but two comments: (1) in an introductory class, teaching basic programming principles is way more important than whether code is "pythonic"; (2) it seems a little "off" to me that you don't even take the class, recognize that the students that do take the class are reasonably satisfied, but still feel that you need to make a change happen.

Also, you will have an easier time making your voice be heard if you distinguish between disagreements w.r.t. the content the tutor is teaching, and perceived unprofessionalism. Don't get me wrong, a few things you tell us do sound fairly unprofessional, but that the tutor does not use "using" or list comprehension is not among them.

@xLeitix Yes, this is an introductory class. My classmates don't know SE and its rules, and I think it may be too late to introduce SE to them now. And to me, only teaching by video-playing is horrible enough.

I agree that the video teaching thing is weird, and probably rather unprofessional. I would definitely focus on that more than his choice of language constructs to teach.

@xLeitix Agreed. While I think list comprehension is better, the tutor can have her own choice.

Many of these criticisms can be irrelevant considering neither op nor us knows the context or other details. There can be several good reasons why one chooses specific programming style or delivery in an introductory lecture, which may be beyond the swift judgement of a freshman who never actually visited the class.

@Greg I'm not sophisticated enough to call myself a "programmer", but I do have some experience in Python programming. Also, I changed my major last year, which led to a one-year degradation, so while I'm still a freshman, I've already spent one and a half years in this university. But you're right, maybe I should go to the classroom myself to see what's actually happening.

Could you explain what you mean by "tutor"?  Is it the same as "instructor"?

@aparente001 Hmm...kind of. Once a week, around one hundred students sit together in a classroom, and she gives them programming lessons. I'm not an English native speaker, and I'm not very familiar with the difference between "teacher", "tutor", "instructor", "professor", etc. Sorry for the confusion.

Is this in addition to, or instead of, some other form of instruction?

@aparente001 No, there are no other forms of instruction (apart from assignments, of course)

So could we call this person the instructor?  In other words, the person who teaches the class?

@aparente001 Yes, exactly.

Please roll back my edits if I have misunderstood anything or misconstrued what you were trying to say.

Well, my answer is twofold:
First, the teaching method ssems like a misunderstood version of inverted classroom teaching - maybe an explanation how the teacher could support the students better might help. But it would be best if this comes from the course members or some students organization and not from an "outsider" not involved in the class.
Second, the "bad coding style" - it's hard to tell what is good or bad without context. Some problems are obvious (e.g. "unpythonic" using of space characters, typos) and you could point to the official coding guidelines which are worth reading for any programmer anyway. Maybe you can suggest those as course material.
All other "probelms" you identified could be part of the teaching concept and there are rationales for each:

I would not introduce string.digits (and any other library method) to beginners unless they see a need for it. The task given could be a step towards generating such a need.
The mix of ' and " could have educational purposes as well (even though I would have used an example like my_string = "let's say 'Hello'").
List comprehension is hard to understand for beginners. It is a powerful concept for intermediate or advanced programmers, but usually beginners are having trouble understanding the nature of a loop.

Maybe you can offer to support the course as tutor / student teaching assistant or else, with this you could influence the course content and improve the overall situation.

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text:
Applying for Masters when Family Member is Associated with Department
I intend to apply for a masters program in the coming months. A parent is a professor in the same field at a nearby institution and is also an adjunct in the department I am applying to.
Do I have any ethical obligation to "disclose" (or, for that matter, to avoid) this fact in my application? If I do not address it, could it be seen as trying to hide a conflict of interest? If I do address it, will it be seen as inappropriate name-dropping? If I must mention it, what is the proper way to do this?
I have an uncommon last name which will probably be recognized, and some members of the faculty already know that I am the child of their colleague.

A good test is to imagine your actions spread over the front page of a newspaper.  I think "Banchak discloses familial relationship when applying for college admission" doesn't sound awful.  "Banchak does not disclose familial relationship when applying" sounds even more innocuous.

Have you looked at the application form? My institution has a space of the form where they require applicants to identify any relatives associated with the university.

@Rhialto, I remember that kind of thing when applying to (undergrad) college, but haven't found a field like that on this application. This makes me somewhat confident I'm being overcautious, but at the same time I don't want to torpedo my chances over some stupid oversight.

I think you should say nothing.  If your name is uncommon and your parent also teaches in the same department, it seems certain the admissions committee will twig to the connection.  If they do that on their own, human nature being what is, you'll probably inherit a slight glow.  But if you make any mention, I think that will sound like name-dropping.

Nepotism is very common in academia.  There is some good reason for it.  If a parent has a higher degree, there is a strong correlation that the child will do well in a graduate program.

@MikeP - I think you are misusing nepotism.  But I agree with what you're saying.

Yes, whether it's genes or environment, children tend to get them both from their parents.

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text:
"Caught" in a plagiarism program for an exam but not actually cheating
So I'm in a very strange situation.
I got a mail that said that there is a suspicion of cheating in my Python coding exam.
It said that I and two other students have very similar answers on the test so I contacted these students and compared our exams. It is very strange because this was an exam for basic Python and the questions are not very hard. The thing is that we had similar answers on a couple of questions but there are not a lot of ways to answer the questions.
I don't even know the other two students.  We will have a group meeting this week and I have no idea how this will go. How can I prove that I did not cheat?

Any cheating detection system, automated or not, needs to have the property that it produces zero false positives. The meeting is part of that system and should assure that you aren't accused wrongfully. But it isn't well understood that a system permitting no false positives will almost invariably produce some false negatives. But the consequences of error in a cheating detection system are so asymmetrical that such a rule is required.

Don't worry, this situation is much more common that you think.

@DmitryGrigoryev i compared our texts in a plagiarism checker. It is a 42% match, it’s really really strange. Is it even possible to have a 42% match and not get found guilty?

If the tests are about the basics, then whoever came up with the idea of using a plagiarism checker must be a complete fool. There aren't all that many ways how someone can solve very basic problems. "There are two integers, a and b, your task is to exchange their values. Your solution is not allowed to even slightly resemble any of the millions of previous solutions."

Does this answer your question? Accused of cheating due to the time accounted by Blackboard

Something seems odd about this. Telling you which students you were similar to gives away some potentially sensitive information - I'm not sure why it would be included.

Without having any subject matter experience to turn this into an answer, you could try putting the question on mechanical turk or equiv and generate statistics on answer similarity.  I'm not sure how to do that while also excluding the people who will google and copy/paste instead of coding from scratch (maybe ask them and pay them either way so they don't lie?), but this general approach might be relevant.  Whether it is worth doing now…is another question.

It might help if you told us the exercise. If it is just a few lines of code then it would be extraordinary if there weren't similarities between  answers. But, how did you contact the other students if you "don't even know them"?

@vsz Not only are there not that many ways, but the students from the same course, using the same professor and texts, won't even express the full space of possible solutions to a problem.

@GGG how many lines was your solution? A 42% match sounds extremely low. But note that a decent code comparison tool won't to a text match, but rather it will perform syntax normalisation etc. to remove comments and variable naming differences, so the tool's score could be much higher.

Don't panic. If you did nothing wrong, all you need is to explain what you did and everything shall be OK.
Based on some similarity metric (computed automatically or spotted by a naked eye), your lecturer or teaching assistant marked your work as a potential case of collusion (working together on individual exams). Now you are invited to a meeting, whose purpose is simply to investigate what happened. As a lecturer, I attend them routinely (from the other side than the one you find yourself in), and I can tell you that 50%+ of cases are dismissed immediately.
During the meeting, you will be asked a number of questions. One of them is likely going to be "did you work together with someone"? or "did you share your work with someone"? Answer honestly and provide details when they ask you to. Don't stress out and try to remain calm and polite as much as possible. If you need support, you usually can bring a student union representative or a personal counsel with you.
Don't overthink it. You are not accused at this stage, the misconduct is only suspected by the system. This meeting is not a trial, it's more like a routine checkup. There can be similarities between you work and the work of other students, but as you said, if the problems are simple and straightforward, the similarities are quite possible.

Is it common to be asked to solve exam questions during the meeting?

"Don't stress out" is easier to say than to do in an inherently stressful situation. Sadly, it is, indeed, what you need to do.

Whether it is common or not, it could happen. Be prepared, but not over prepared. That is, get plenty of sleep the night before.

@GGG I worked in three different universities in the UK, and no, I don't think I ever heard of anyone doing it. But a student is expected to be able to recognise their exam script among others, to navigate through (e.g. find an answer to Question 3) quickly, to read their handwriting for the panel, etc. Obviously, as the author, you are expected to read your script confidently and understand it well.

Do any people come with a lawyer? Being invited to this kinf of a committee sounds like a very dangerous situation that can escalate quickly.

@VladimirF Some do, but most do not. I am not convinced the lawyer would be worth their fee during such talk. As I said, this is not a trial and if you are asked about Pythagoras' theorem, pleading the fifth will not really help your case. But IANAL, and they may give you a different advice.

@VladimirF In general, treating these kinds of meetings as adversarial doesn't end up well for anyone from a teaching point of view. In particular it tends to mean that staff will be advised to follow all procedures to the letter and to document all contact with the student, which precludes variations in the student's favour and that you avoid contact unless it's absolutely necessary to avoid the paperwork.

The fact these things are not trials are actually a bit of an issue in many cases. Since you also don't get the benefit of the trial system such as proof beyond reasonable doubt or the provision of representation.

@origimbo Unfortunately they inherently are adversarial. It's just really easy for the teacher's to not think so since they've got no skin in the game. With most of teacher's/professors I've known you certainly are better off with a meeting like this than a full blown representation and paperwork thing. But there's that 10%-20% who are anything but impartial (I don't want to be rude here so I've chosen my words carefully).

@VladimirF at my university, the process explicitly allows for a student union representative to support the student. But it's also such an excessively involved process that professors tend to go with informal warnings (which they're strongly advised against) in all but the most egregious cases

"You are not accused at this stage" - that's not necessarily true. Different institutions have different processes.

Most often than not, when programmers face a common problem, a common software pattern will emerge.
In this case all you need to do is to explain your rationale and defend your choices.
If you can explain the rationale behind it, we'll have a better consideration of you and the case will be dismissed right away.

Note: This belongs to comment's section. Unfortunately I don't have enough points to comment under @Dmitry Savostyanov's stellar answer, hence this

Thanks for your answer, just one question. What do you mean with rationale?

@GGG rationale means "why you did what you did". What reasons do you have for using this method or technique, when asked about it.

One of official design principles of Python even is:   "There should be one-- and preferably only one --obvious way to do it." https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0020/

@tsttst But is OP Dutch? :)

@GGG I suspect he/she meant being able to explain your reasoning around the code you wrote.  I wouldn't be too worried about it though - I have interviewed many developers for jobs and most are not the best at communicating what they did, so your teacher shouldn't expect much. If you teacher gives you problems, I suspect that appealing your situation to the next higher level (dept. head or dean) will get you acquitted.  As mentioned earlier, the teacher is really out of line checking intro coding assignments against plagiarism since there are often so few ways to solve these types of problems.

While common problems have common solutions individual programmers leave individual fingerprints which get copied and can be the hallmarks of cheating.  So, for instance: int a ,b;  is distinct from int a,b; and int  a, b; to a plagiarism program but identical code.
Never copy-paste other sources because you will bring these tell-tale fingerprints across.
It's likely that these non programmatic tell-tales and style choices are what mark your code as suspiciously similar.

I had a colleague whose code was identical to mine. The way I found it was looking at some code in our common project, and thinking "I wrote this, but I can't remember writing it". Any plagiarism detector would have flagged both our code up.

If one follows a style guide (like this one https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0008/#whitespace-in-expressions-and-statements) their code will have identical "fingerprints" to anyone else that also does, regardless of whether they write it or copy-paste it... This indicates nothing.

authors: Vladimir F Героям слава


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Faculty stop responding after reaching out for interview
This Thursday, I received an email from a faculty member from an applied math program at a top U.S. university at around 5:00 AM (I'm in the U.S. so there shouldn't be a huge difference in time zone between us). He suggested that he considers me a strong applicant and would like to have a quick chat about my application "today", i.e. on Thursday. I replied around noon informing him that I am available at any time and asked him to send me a Zoom link or something after he decided on the time slot. No response. On Friday morning I sent another email telling him we can meet on Friday or early next week. Still no response.
I know a professor's daily life can be quite busy, but this still feels weird because he is the one who reached out, and he even asked for a meeting "today" which implies that the meeting/interview is quite urgent, but now he just disappears. I have no clue what's going on: did he somehow lose interest in my application? More importantly, is there anything I can do at this time?

There's probably not much you can do. Perhaps try to find his telephone number. Perhaps try to reach him through an administrator in his department.

There may be a possibility that your e-mails are getting into his spambox. So try to get in touch via alternative means. Perhaps, through his or her department administrator.


text:
How to mention a professor that his CV link in the university website do not work?
I want to e-mail to a professor in a US university to get a PhD position. The links of CV download and personal homepage for all the professors in the specific faculty do not work.
How can I mention this fact in my email?
Actually, I want to mention this to make the professor aware of the fact that I have checked his page and not chosen him by chance!

First, check you are on the correct (current) website. It may be that the university/department changed their websites and you landed on an old version, which is not updated or already partly removed.
If you are sure you are on the correct page, and it is the case for all professors (and faculty) that links are not working [as you write], contact the webmaster rather than the professor. There will be a more general problem that is not to be solved by the professors themselves.

Thank you. Actually, I want to mention this to make the professor aware of the fact that I have checked his page and not chosen him by chance!

There is a better ways to do this: describe why you want to work with him/her, for example how your research interests match.

@Mark: That's the reason he found the problem in the first place. It's also hard to write if there are broken links that prevent you from finding the information you want.

@aeismail what is your suggestion?


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Is quitting PhD a good decision in my case?
Currently, I am at one and half years into my PhD in Netherlands. I had burnout at the end of my first year, I got some help but I don't think I am able to work still at my full potential.
The burnout could be of the following reason, I am the first PhD for my supervisor and I need to setup the lab as well (like buying components and materials needed) and need to build my device from scratch. Since I started during lockdown, I couldn't obtain the materials I needed and it delayed which caused some delay in making the device itself. This was overwhelming as I see myself not progressing and not doing science but engineering works.
My supervisor is very kind and understandable, I was insisted to take holidays and take help from universities which I got. The university psychologist suggested that I should go out and seek professional help as I have serious burnout and depression issues. So I applied for one and it starts next week.
My supervisor changed my topic and gave me a new one which doesn't involve hardware and now I can do things on my laptop itself. However, I was insisted that I should start working now otherwise I wouldn't be able to graduate. That is, I am technically restarting my Phd and should be completing it in 3 years time.
I really do not see myself doing this in my current state, it's like tripling down my work and my doctors suggests me to take it really slow as I am recovering from burnout. Also, an important thing I don't know if research gives me happiness anymore (or am just very anxious about it), every weekly meeting takes a huge toll on my mental health.
1) Should I still consider to pursue PhD ?
2) Is getting job in Netherlands after quitting PHD considered a bad thing?
3) If I go for job, should I get a job before leaving PhD?
Looking forward to all your valuable suggestions.

"The university psychologist suggested that I should go out and seek professional help as I have serious burnout and depression issues. So I applied for one and it starts next week."  - I'd talk to them carefully about it. Sometimes a break is helpful, but they will be able to give you the personal 1-on-1 discussion that will help you walk to a decision you're happy with.

Note that even if you leave the PhD, you can usually get your advisor and university to assist you in getting a masters instead after a short while more, and it is not a bad option in the long run. So just give priority to your well-being and choose as best as you can.

Given you are the first (and still only?) student in that lab, would a medical leave not be possible?
I think ideally, you would stay in this PhD course, because;

You seem to like, and communicate well with, your supervisor. That's worth so much.
3 years is actually not a bad length of time for a PhD project. It would be normal in many countries.
You have likely learnt more about this lab/institute/area than you realise, some of that would transfer to another position, but not all of it.

I've had friends who have taken medical leave (3 months for them) from a PhD project. During the medical leave they qualified for medical benefits from the state, so although their PhD stipend was paused, they had money for rent still. They still came along to some seminars, and they stayed in touch with their supervisor during that time, but they weren't allowed to teach and no research was expected. In those months, they managed to heal and build healthy coping strategies, and have now come back to research feeling like it's more manageable. Medical leave can be a really good move.
You could raise this idea with your supervisor, emphasising that you do want to work on their project, but you want to have the energy to do it justice.
If you did chose to leave this project, and find another position in a few years time, I don't think anyone would look poorly on it. It's a frustrating series of events, but one that most people with understand was no fault of your own. However, it sounds like you have a good thing here. I'd advise you to see if it's possible to stay with that.


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How to deal with a professor in the department undermining my field of research to colleagues and other professors?
I'm currently a first-year Ph.D Student. My field is applied mathematics. Thankfully, I was able to publish my first paper. In our institution, students usually spend two years before having their first article published.
I heard from one of my colleagues, that his supervisor, a professor of pure mathematics in our department told him that that my field of research is "easy" and that literally anyone can have as many papers as they want published.
This isn't the first time I've heard this being said by this professor, and frankly it's beginning to bother me. Especially since I spend so much time and effort in my work. Don't get me wrong, I love my field, but I can't control the way this makes me feel, especially that having this information around the department and in conferences is not a good thing, since academics, other than the ones working in the same area, and especially pure mathematicians in our department, tend to believe whatever they hear, especially when it comes from a colleague-professor. I'm thinking of talking to the professor, in a conference or if I have the occasion, and try to have a conversation with them in the subject and why not convince them that this is not the case.
Is this the right way to deal with this problem?

Let's just say that I am a pure mathematician, and I feel more competent to evaluate the research of philosophers and music theorists (okay I have an undergraduate degree in music and and advanced undergraduate coursework in philosophy)  than I do to evaluate the research of someone doing mathematical modelling (which I have never ever studied).

Have you spoken to your own advisor/supervisor about this?

This just sounds like academic equivalent of ''locker room talk'' or ''trash talk'' to me, I would ignore and just work on what you want to work on.

Anyone reminded of the way Sheldon (a theoretical physcist) would frequently disparage his engineer friends on The Big Bang Theory? These types of rivalries between theoretical and applied fields are common.

Related XKCD

Also I just want to add that sometimes this stuff is just there to ''lighten the mood'' and get people on your side, like I remember reading in Asimov's autobiography how he would sit with editors at lunchtime and they would all whine about how stupid writers were, but really it was a kind of bonding exercise.  Similarly, it's hard to get a generic pure math talk these days without the speaker throwing in some reference about how dumb physicists/engineers/applied mathematicians are to get a few laughs.

I would add to the answers here that talking with the professor is probably a bad idea. I don't see much gain in that, and possible negative side-effects outweigh it by a fair margin.

The level of difficulty of your work does not imply its value
You don't need to do anything here at all --- just keep researching in your field and publish papers that advance knowledge in that field.  Take solace in the fact that the labour theory of value is false, so the value of your research is not determined by the ease with which one can produce papers in that field.  If this professor is correct in his evaluation then that just means that there is an unmined area of research where progress and publication of results can be made with relative ease.  That is all the more reason that researchers should pursue this area of research, not a reason to ignore it.
Since you are just starting out, you should trust that the peer review system in your field will operate appropriately, and if you have a paper accepted for publication then that will generally mean that it is contributing something valueable, irrespective of how easy it was to do the work and get the paper accepted.
As a secondary point to put you at ease, you needn't worry about whether you are as good a mathematician as a senior professor, or working on problems that are as hard as those done by a senior professor, when you are only a first-year PhD student.  I'll save you the suspense --- you're not.  It is perfectly reasonable for you to do research in this field of interest to you, learn that field, and then move on to other work later in your career in the natural way that research interests evolve over time.  You will probably find that, after a decade or two, you will have some good research experience across several areas of mathematics and you will have encountered problems of varying levels of complexity.

First, not all papers are equal.  Ease of producing papers just means standards for what counts as one paper are different - doesn't mean the field is easier/harder/more valuable/less valuable.  Second, in pure mathematics, or in the arts, or in much of the humanities, there is negligible practical value, and most value is aesthetic.  Difficulty can certain be part of an aesthetic measure (cf. musical virtuosos), and then a certain version of the labor theory of value comes into play.  Of course all of this is irrelevant to the original question.

This answer would be improved without the frankly irrelevant reference to the labour theory of value. The professor in question isn't employing the labour theory of value or any related fallacy.

@SriotchilismO'Zaic Given how modern economists can not agree on what the words in LTV even mean (especially "value"!), it is indeed a can of worms best left alone.

Imho this answer basically proves that ops problem exists. You believed the professor over op even though he's not even here.

The question is not: "is the labor theory of value true or false?"

@AlexanderWoo I would respectfully disagree that the value in pure mathematics or the humanities have little practical value. Advances in pure mathematics very often lead directly to advances in applied mathematics and applied physics. Similarly, knowledge of the humanities often has very direct applications in some areas of government and diplomacy.

I'm going to keep the reference to LTV for now, but I've changed the heading.  OP reports that the remark was that his field is easy and anyone can publish papers.  To the extent that this is a criticism of working in that field, it does sound to me like it is invoking the idea that if an academic subject is easy then its value is diminished (which is a manifestation of LTV).

My advice is to ignore them and do your own work with supportive faculty. It is a common enough feeling among pure mathematicians (my field) that applied math is somehow "less" than pure math rather than different. The goals and techniques of applied math are not the same so they can't really be compared in that way.
A professor of, say, anthropology could make the same comments and they wouldn't bother you, I'd guess, though a conversation with them might be more fun and you'd learn something, perhaps.
But, you aren't going to convince them. The problem is that they haven't tried it and, perhaps, don't care a lot about applications, or the "real world" in general as a subject of research. Let it go.
My dissertation was so esoteric that I figured it would never be applied to anything useful. Beautiful and fun, but not useful outside pure math. It took about 40 years IIRC to be proven wrong.
As a student you are unlikely to have any positive impact and an argument with a professor isn't a good start to a career. Let the faculty argue amongst themselves about such things.

I am currently doing my Ph.D. in pure Mathematics and I have frequently heard from professors of pure Mathematics that few fields (not all) in applied mathematics, as well as pure mathematics, are comparatively easy for publishing papers. So, based on that they have formulated their opinions. So, I would simply suggest you stay away from negative comments and look for positive criticism from colleagues. Also, focus on well being of yourself, your work and prioritize your mental peace.
I would also like to share quite opposite experience. I was asked about the impact factor of the journal that I recently published in by an applied mathematics professor and it was around 0.9 since we have journals with less IF compared to applied mathematics journals. They said that since I was at an early stage of my research that it was okay to publish in such journals but try to publish at better places in the near future, say for example in journals with an Impact Factor of more than 3. I was a little bit uncomfortable and try to explain to them that there are not many such journals in my field but they were quite adamant. So, I was a little confused and had a talk with my supervisor who cheered me up and explained to me how there are differences in the ranking of journals field-wise.

say for example in journals with an Impact Factor of more than 3 --- Anyone even remotely informed in the mathematical sciences should know better. Indeed, just a few moments of looking over a list of IF's (e.g. see here) clearly shows that such a restriction pretty much excludes virtually all pure mathematics journals. In fact, even a requirement of at least 2 excludes the vast majority, and also includes a few that are not all that highly regarded, so both false negative and false positive aspects are quite large.

@DaveLRenfro I tried to explain the same to the professor, but they felt that I was giving excuses. Their work is in applied mathematics but they publish most of their work in multidisciplinary journals as they have high impact factors and they have very little to no knowledge of pure mathematics journals. Now, I am not bothered as that was at an early stage of my research days and now I know better. I had to deal with them as I need their signature in my progress report as they were on my research committee.

For what it's worth, I was trying to say in a somewhat indirect way (but all that veiled) that you need not worry about what the person said as they're obviously poorly informed about the matter. (And I realize that now you are not worried, although I didn't originally know how long ago this was -- apparently at least a year or two, given your comment.) Of course, needing this person's signature, and perhaps an even more explicit endorsement of your potential, you definitely don't want to convey this impression of how uninformed they are!

Yuck! What I wrote yesterday should have been "... I was trying to say in a somewhat indirect way (but not all that veiled) ..." (word "not" was accidentally not included).

Looking at this from a slightly different angle, you said

I can't control the way this makes me feel

In every field of human experience, the single biggest lesson that any therapist can help their clients absorb is that this statement is wrong and dangerous.
Everyone who is not a sociopath has imposter syndrome to some extent, because everyone devalues their own skills to some extent. (That's not exaggeration, by the way - this is literally part of how sociopathy is defined and recognised.) So the fact you're experiencing this makes you normal. The problem then is that regardless of this being normal, it's unhealthy for you.
You can't control what other people say or think. To some extent you might be able to guide them in other directions, if you have the energy and willpower and they're receptive to it. If you're in a context where there are defined behavioural rules and they go so far as to break them, you can ask other people to intervene. But if you don't or they aren't, you simply can't change what they do.
The lesson from therapists is learning how to put aside criticism from people who don't matter. Does this person's opinion truly matter? Answer: no, not really, because you don't have to work with them. And anyone you do have to work with will be valuing your skills over his. It's not easy to do, because humans aren't wired that way. We're not cats. But it's a key mental health skill.
For myself, I'm an engineer. We've recently had to solve some problems with improving linearity fit methods to position measurements. We needed to work with someone with mad skills in applied maths for this, because they needed to appreciate that this was solving a real problem, with real data which contains errors. We didn't want a theoretician.
The professor is right that you can publish as many papers in applied maths as you want. Where he's wrong is thinking that it's easy. The reason you can publish so many papers is that there are so many real applications which would benefit from your skills, and they aren't easy because otherwise they'd already be solved!
Sure, maybe a purist can look down on this. But at the end of the day, you will have done something that makes a difference somewhere. Can he say the same? Or is he just jealous of the fact that he can't, and putting you down through his own imposter syndrome?


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Why are we required to self-report "Cumulative GPA as listed on your transcript"?
As I apply to Ph.D. programs in STEM, I noticed that many online application systems require us to enter "Cumulative GPA as listed on your transcript". I wonder how my response is going to be used.
I mean, if the committee even glances at my transcript, they will surely see the GPA. Then why bother asking me? The presence of such a question makes me feel like they will filter out applicants with low GPAs based on some automated systems without even looking at their transcripts. The thing is, I am doing a much better job at graduate school (which does not list a GPA on my transcript) than at my undergraduate institute (which does). As a result, the committee will not be able to see my graduate GPA of around 4.0, but they will see I have a GPA of around 3.0 as an undergraduate, which I am afraid will leave a pretty bad first impression.
What would happen if I enter the graduate GPA even if it's not on my transcript? The concern here is that they will not be able to find the GPA on my transcript, even though it's 100% legitimate, since my graduate school simply doesn't list GPAs on the transcript. However,  I can request a separate certification of my GPA from the Registrar, so the background check won't be an issue.

Probably they have another department for computing the cumulative GPA, and the question is posed to decide whether to send the transcript to that department or not.
As far as I understood, your main concern here is whether to hide your grad GPA or not. Maybe posing the question that way might help the clarity a bit more.

@padawan I think you misunderstood my question. On the contrary, I want to expose my graduate GPA. I have edited the last paragraph to clarify.

a pretty bad first impression --- This from a 3.78 GPA?? Or is this a typo and you meant a 2.78 GPA? (Still higher than mine was . . .)

@DaveLRenfro I don't know man. I heard that it's easy to get a GPA of 3.9 from a U.S. institute due to GPA inflation. For example, Harvard has an average GPA of 3.8. I am among the top performers in my undergraduate institute, but my GPA seems bad compared to applicants from other institutes.

I don't know about other stem fields, but in math I suspect once a GPA of 3.75 to 3.8 is reached there's not much help a higher GPA would give, and at this point almost all attention would be paid to WHAT courses were taken (minimum required for the degree, or lots of "beyond the minimum" stuff such as graduate level courses and honors/thesis undergraduate courses), what the letters of recommendation say (big difference between "one of our best students this year" and "possibly the strongest student I've ever taught"), performance on things like Putnam exam and independent research work, etc.

FYI, I did not downvote your question. (I just noticed it got a downvote.) Maybe the downvote is because your question is too specifically tied to your own situation to be a good fit here, I don't know.

@DaveLRenfro Thanks mate! The comment regarding GPA is reassuring. I think the downvotes are made by people who hate my "I am not going to play by the rule if doing so would put me at an unfair disadvantage" attitude, but your explanation also makes sense to me.

"I think the downvotes are made by people who hate my 'I am not going to play by the rule if doing so would put me at an unfair disadvantage'" ... well, yes ... because it's not unfair

When the committee sees that there are mostly A's on your graduate school transcript, they'll have an idea what your graduate school GPA is. You don't have to worry about it at all.

@AzorAhai-him- To clarify, what I am seeing is that the application process forces me to hide my strong graduate GPA simply because the graduate school does not print GPAs on their transcripts. The process is essentially punishing me for an administrative decision made by the Registrar. (I know they will probably look at individual courses on the transcript, but an overall GPA surely matters, otherwise they won't ask me for it.) I am clearly at a disadvantage, and this feels unfair to me.


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Missing optional resume in graduate application
The department I am applying to doesn't explicitly require a resume (and doesn't even recommend it), but there is an item named "resume" in the "supplemental material" dropdown menu which I have overlooked. I realized that I didn't upload the resume only after the application has been submitted. I have contacted the admission office, but the auto-response says "We cannot update submitted applications with new SOP or CV or other information."
There is some information in my resume which isn't mentioned in the SOP, e.g. my experience as a teaching assistant. While I have requested a professor from my home university to include the TA experience in his recommendation (because I am his TA), it is said that most institutions in the U.S. don't read letters from Chinese professors. Besides, I suppose a resume serves a nice overview of my previous preparation, so I feel like the absence of a resume is going to hurt the probability I get admitted. On the other hand, there must be some reasons why the resume is made optional, unlike most institutions.
Should I be concerned? Is there anything I can do at this point?

I hope downvoters explain how this question can be improved. Is it unclear, too board, or off-topic?

I do feel for you regarding US and China relations. I'm in a long distance relationship with a woman from China. It would be challenging enough without having to cope with the various political things going on.

It is an interesting situation. Would you be allowed to fill up a second application with the exact same data + your resume? If there are not expilicitly mentioned warning saying "do not apply twice!", I suppose you might be able to get away using a different e-mail adress and a different phone number.

We cannot update submitted applications with new SOP or CV or other information.

Unfortunately, this means that you will not be able to update your application due to the regulations of admission. Thus, overthinking it will not help but to make you uncomfortable.
Regarding to your situation, there are two possible scenarios I can think of:

The application interface in the website is standard for every department. Therefore, it might be the case that the committee will discard all the resumes uploaded to the server. In this case, nothing changes for you.
Although it states otherwise in the website, a short resume might be OK for the admission committee, for the purpose of demonstrating relevant skills of yours that you had to skip for CV and SoP. If you have none, then again, nothing changes for you.

I personally think that the first scenario is more likely since it is not explicitly recommended. Considering both scenarios above, you are only worse off if you have been in some off-topic projects, which demonstrates your abilities and/or skills that might be relevant to the position you are applying to.
However, if you really want to learn if you are in a disadvantage, I'd suggest you ask one of the committee members.

When you email, instead of asking if you are at a disadvantage, it would be better to just include your resume, explaining that it contains information about your experience as a TA which might otherwise be missing in the application.

It seems as if you have done all you could. If they won't accept supplementary material, then they won't. I'm not sure about the comment on not reading letters, though. It seems like it would be a flaw in the system as long as the letters are in (readable) English.
If you get past initial screening you can raise such thing in interviews or in future correspondence, of course.
And, take more care in the future, of course, though it doesn't help at this moment.

My experience with letters of recommendation from Chinese professors is that they do get read but they're often frustratingly uninformative (e.g., the applicant comes from a good family). If the letter says the applicant did a great job as a TA and gives some details about that greatness, I think it will be noticed.

There is a power dynamic in the application process that any applicant needs to be conscious of. There are only a small number of positions for a large number of applicants, which grows to be a very large number at elite institutions. In other words, there is a significant power imbalance to the detriment of the applicant.
The consequence of this is that the institution that offers the position sets the terms of engagement. Defying or even questioning these terms of engagement is a surefire way to get excluded from the process, and thus rejected for the position. Practically speaking, this means that if an institution asks for information in a particular format, you'll need to be prepared to change everything in order to suit that institution's needs.
A second question is as to what needs may result in a format that excludes a resume. While the specific answer will depend on the institution in question, a general reason is that reviewing resumes takes a long time. Institutions that receive a large number of applications therefore often try to standardize the application process in order to save money. This can mean that they standardize sections of the resume submission process, or do away with resumes altogether.
As an applicant, this type of standardization is frustrating because it makes the application process more stifling, more time-consuming, and more dehumanizing than it already is. This is the price job applicants pays for the power imbalance.