text:
Surname change during PhD
I am in my second year of my PhD and am about to get married. I plan to take on my husband's name with my name and not keep my maiden name. But I have two publications already. What can I do so that I can associate my publications even after my surname change. Also, if I keep on publishing with my maiden name and use my husband's surname socially, and also change my surname in passport, won't there be a conflict when I apply for visa to attend conferences due to the two different surnames?

If you keep your (maiden) surname as a middle name after marriage, and publish that way, everything will sort itself out after a few publications under the new name.

When you apply for a visa, you'll almost certainly have to tell them any names you used in the past which, of course, includes your maiden name. The worst case is that you require a letter of invitation from the conference organizers and you'll have to ak them to address that to your professional name, rather than your passport name.

Honestly, though, if you only have a couple of publications in your maiden name, it seems easiest to just switch to using your husband's surname for everything.

The visa issue is not really Academia specific. Usually, you should be able to have an option to specify "Other name used" or "Also known as" when you apply for visa.

@scaaahu et al. I don't think this is can be considered a duplicate, because the linked question refers only to the CV, while here Rose asks a more general question. In fact, the most upvoted answer here virtually corresponds to the most downvoted answer there, considered as a non-answer to the question.

@MassimoOrtolano I actually hesitated to vote to close as duplicate in the first place. It really looks like the linked question is a duplicate of this question because this question is more general than the link one except the visa issue at the end. I think both question ask the same thing, but the linked one is narrower. However, the linked one was asked first. I believe the two questions should be at least linked together. I'll let the community or the mods decide if we should merge the two question. (I won't insist, but I won't retract the vote neither because the two are closely related)

@MassimoOrtolano I flagged the mods to consider the merge. (It's close to my bed time now. I don't have the energy to ask a question on meta)

Currently you are Miss Brown, soon you will be Mrs Green and later you will be Dr Green. I do not think this is a good idea. According to the problem page of our newspaper there are airline for which "Dr" implies "male", issue tickets for the wrong gender and then cannot or won't correct their error. My daughters are medical doctors and both call themselves Dr Brown at work and Mrs Green at home. This allows them to keep their two lives separate.

The usual answer in this situation is to continue publishing under your maiden name. Would this be a problem in your case? (Your concern about visas is not an issue.)

You should also consider registering for an identifier, such as ORCID or Researcherid. This way you can have an additional layer that relates your profile with your work. It is used in many submission websites and it is becoming quite common for funding agencies to require such a profile when submitting applications as well.

Having been in the same situation, let me share my experiences.
I was fortunate enough that I did not have anything published yet, only accepted, so it was possible to get the name changed before the paper was published (if you have anything in the pipeline, make sure to notify the editors as soon as you can). But as it is only a few papers, I would suggest the following:
Clearly you can't get your name changed on any printed versions, but it is certainly worth inquiring whether it is possible to have an addition made to electronic publications stating the new name (with a footnote about the change).
If the paper exists in any other form (such as on preprint servers or personal webpages), make the change to those versions (again with a footnote explaining the change).
If you cannot get the name changed on the papers in any way, make sure you point out on any future CV's and similar that some of the papers are in a different name. For many purposes, this will be the main reason it is important to be linked to those first papers.
Be prepared to sign all mails with both names for a while, at least the first time you are in contact with someone, so that people will be aware of the change. And make sure to keep whatever email you used to use (if you have one that includes your last name), so people trying to contact you about those papers can still do so, even if they are not aware of the name change.

Often your passport will have your maiden name, too. There might even be an empty field in your current passport. If in doubt for a Visa that you already have: call the embassy. Most likely they will tell you to use the name that is in the passport (surprise) until you get the passport changed. If you get a new passport, your will have to get a new visa obviously. Your new passport will likely contain your old name, too. Ask a friend that is married about their passpoe
rt. If you just get a sticker/stamp/print in your passport with the new name then it's not a problem. Essentially, consider a Visa to be tied go your passport, and assume that until you get your passport changed you have to use your old name when traveling. It is fairly standard to become married and change the name, you know... some people even get married abroad. Authorities know how to process this, and the usual procedure seems to be: use the old name until you get a new passport.
As for publications:
You can't change "printed" copies, but you can make sure all your webpages and your CV clarify the name change: "Jane Doe (née Obama)" such that when someone searches for your old name + affiliation they do get a pointer to your new name. That should be your key objective: if someone googles for the publication and your old name, they should find your new identity.
As for impact: of course some people will not associate these publications easily with your name, unless you do some good follow-up publications or get to know otherwise. But neither for your PhD nor for your scientific career this will matter much on the long run. Obviously your PhD committee will learn about the name change... and you can still add your old publications to your scholar profile as well as list them in your CV (again, you can emphasize the name change by giving your maiden name).

The easiest work-around, which completely eliminates ambiguity, is to use the word nee (more strictly née), which means:

originally called; born (used in giving a married woman's maiden name after her surname).

An example (from Google) is: "Mary Toogood, née Johnson".
This will ensure complete consistency, and leaves nothing ambiguous.
Hope that helps. :)

How do you propose to achieve "complete consistency" when there are already publications without this modifier?

@BenVoigt - Because anyone who comes across this and knows/finds out the meaning of this modifier, knows what exactly is cooking here. And of course, the modifier comes into existence only when you get married, so it is not a matter of concern that earlier publications didn't carry this. (Of course, they can not!)

-1, doesn't answer either of OP's questions, and isn't clear on when/how to use the double surname (while OP states that she does not want to preserve her maiden name).

I shudder to think what Google Scholar and other indexing services will do to a paper authored by "Foo, née Bar". Not a good suggestion for someone who wants all her publications associated with whatever name she goes for.

I assume you're suggesting that OP use née in her CV, not on the title page of her paper.  Right?

@JeffE - Yes sir, CV or wherever else she's planning to keep some kind of a list of her publications. If the list is titled in this manner, and some entries in the list have surname 1, while others have surname 2, there would be no ambiguity (if I'm right).

you can use both your maiden name and your husband's surname in parallel.For example if your name before marriage was X Y, and your husband's name is A B, then after marriage you can use X Y(B) as your name. This can be solution of your problem.And during VISA you have to show your marriage certificate and the supportive documents in the context of your maiden name.

This does not really answer the question: the OP clearly stated that she doesn't want to keep her maiden name.

I have never seen anybody use a name with parentheses in it.


text:
Paths to mathematics/university/research while dealing with a few difficult situations
I'm a (just turned) 17 year old student (Year 11) from Australia in a bit of a tricky situation. Unfortunately, I spent most of the last few years and am currently in a psychiatric unit. I've also liked math for a while now, specifically certain subfields of algebraic topology and differential topology/geometry, like (topological) k-theory and cobordism for the former and spin geometry/index theory for the latter.
However, I've fallen very far behind in schoolwork and because of the risk associated with my going back to school, my the school admins decided to prevent me from returning  (it was not a good school  anyway - an all boys school (club) full of Neo-Nazis (that isn't even an exaggeration), rapists and the like. This leaves me in a difficult position because I don't thing it's possible for me finish school (I've been described/diagnosed by almost half of the DSM, MDD, Adjustment disorder with depressive features, GAD, SAD, BPD, cPTSD, NPD, OCD, ASD - all at different times).
I also can't really go back to home, so sometime next week I'm being put into a youth hostel/communal living place/refuge (this is bad because I might never get to see my cute dog (golden retriever) again). I really want to go to university to study math and eventually do research(?) in some of the areas I mentioned above but I don't really see a feasible way there. I know asking for life advice online is questionable but I really don't have any idea what else to do. Any suggestions/hard truths/similar experiences/comments in general would be really appreciated. Thank you all.

Matt, this forum isn't the right place for this kind of question, so it will probably be closed soon, don't take it personally. I'm not that familiar with the Australian system, but why don't you try contacting the undergraduate admissions offices at several schools and letting them know all this? Some of them might blow you off, so don't give up after the first try, but they would probably be able to help you navigate this.

Can you start at a new school once you have moved to the communal living house? I would hope that since you are a minor you have some sort of social services key worker who should be helping you with matters like this.

Some proportion of diagnoses are wrong.  The more time you've spent in the psychiatric unit, the more diagnoses you might have.  Some might have always been wrong, and some might have previously been correct but may no longer apply.

Please update us!  It's been three years now.  What happened?  Or did nothing happen?  How have you been spending your days?  Please [edit] your question, add an addendum at the bottom, and tell us.

Universities typically demand qualifications, which you don't have. You could get some: You seem familiar with advanced areas of mathematics, perhaps you can study some revision guides, teach yourself whatever you need to know to get some qualifications. (I'm unsure which institutes you can enrol with in Australia. I presume such institutes must exist. They do elsewhere—not everyone follows the traditional route.) Alternatively, you could reach out to universities, explain your situation, negotiate why they should admit you without typically mandated qualifications. Perhaps you have someone who can help you, e.g., some staff member who happens to know an academic who is willing to help you navigate the system.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
Grad school - Is transferring to another school for a Master's program (Computer Science) a good option?
I am an international student in the US (important as my stay in US is tied to my student visa, issued to attend my current university).
I joined as a grad student in the MS CS program in one of the okayish public universities (ranked ~50 on QS/US news). I joined in Fall '18 and am still in my first semester. I took all the so-called "difficult" courses, but I find them very trivial (considering my undergrad was from a very good university). I am very disappointed with the curriculum and feel the coursework is not at all rigorous for a grad-school.
I might sound super arrogant, but I feel out-of-place when I talk to other students and hear them cringe about how hard the courses are, or how they don't have enough time to finish assignments within the deadlines as I find all of the coursework very trivial and feel that the assignments are a joke.
Fortunately, I am working with one of the best profs the university has to offer on a very impactful project and the research is going great. But that's the only plus point I see from sticking around.
My aim from grad school is to get research experience and join one of the Big 4s or upcoming CS unicorn startups. I cannot see myself joining one of the Big-Ns after graduating since the students from this school rarely bag a Google/Fb/unicorn startup job.
Since December is the Fall'19 admissions deadline, I am thinking about reapplying to those top 10 CS schools which I couldn't get into last year (probably because of my poor undergrad GPA).
On the other hand, since every CS company just asks leetcode-style questions in interviews, I can just be super good at it and try to nail whatever interview I get without wasting another year and then doing the same.
I'm not really interested in any kind of credit transfer either since I would like to start fresh in a more rigorous curriculum.
I'm not sure if switching schools would be a wise decision and could really use some advice from the community here.
PS :
Probably related -
Is transferring to another university an option for an unhappy PhD student?
Posting with a dummy account for anonymity.

I think you should stay where you are. My thoughts below.
Research. At the beginning, the classes seem hugely important and there is a lot of angst about whether you are at the "right" grad school. By the end, the only thing that matters is your research.
You write:

Fortunately, I am working with one of the best profs the university has to offer on a very impactful project and the research is going great. But that's the only plus point I see from sticking around.

This may be the "only plus point", but it's the crucial one. If you're doing good research, learning something, and publishing good papers in good journals, then your PhD is going very well.
Rankings.
I think you would have a legitimate concern if you were at a predatory grad school that no one had ever heard of. But you say your school is ranked ~50, so presumably it's a "real" school that people have heard of. Going to a "slightly" better school will make ~no difference to a hiring committee. Going to a famous, top-10 school might make a difference, but even that is maybe less than you imagine.
Other students. I would point out that it's not necessarily that the other students are dumb; it's that they haven't covered this material before. But even if they are dumb, that just makes it easier for you to get the resources you need. One of the best talks I ever attended was from Karen Kelsky, who made the point that hire-able grad students are able to "pass" as a professor -- in the way they dress, the way they interact with colleagues, and the work they do -- so the other students are really irrelevant here, your "colleagues" are the faculty.
Time. I would also consider that transferring schools is a lot of work and, if you start from scratch, it will mean wasting a year of your life while you repeat "year-1" of grad school. Grad school is worth taking your time and doing well, but I would also seriously hesitate to lose an entire year -- you only get so many years in the workforce, so an extra year in grad school means one fewer year in the meaningful, interesting job you'll eventually find.
That said, I admit that getting a degree from MIT or Harvard would be exciting. If there's a way to apply to such schools without burning bridges, it might be worth sending in an application "on a lark". If you get in and have an advisor lined up, then I might even consider switching. But I would remain fully committed to your program until then -- it seems like things are going fine, and there are definite downsides to transferring even to a top school. Good luck!

Thank you for the detailed answer. This really helps. I have decided to stay and focus on my research. Thanks again :)

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


text:
Is it dishonest to omit publications in one's CV?
The question in the title is motivated by recent comments on other questions on this site that were surprising to me.  Is there a precisely defined and widely accepted standard for CVs that would mean omitting one or more publications in a CV is dishonest?
Please base your answer on one or more references and not merely personal opinion.
Note that this question is about honesty, not about whether it is a good idea to omit publications.

"Is there a precisely defined and widely accepted standard for [anything in academia]?" ---No.  ;-)

There's no reason to list low-quality papers (such as that one based on your undergraduate thesis), ones in an unrelated field, ones at low-impact conferences, etc.

And in case omitting one or more publications in a CV is considered as dishonest: Does "publication" include technical reports, papers at non-peer-reviewed (or superficially reviewed) workshops, workshop papers describing work in progress, posters, articles in trade magazines, ...?

My question is an ethical one.  I don't believe the other related questions and answers make any claim about the ethics of this.  I'm fine if this question gets closed as "mainly opinion based", which would mean the answer is actually "no", as I expect.

How horrible is that one publication you want to omit, and why didn't you ask the journal to retract it?

"Dishonest" may be a bit too harsh for me, but it is definitely a case of "not the whole truth".
Considering that one often sees "Selected Publications" (e.g. short bios in leaflets or short CVs in grant proposals), I would always assume that "Publications" is the headline of a non-selective and complete list of publications.
My conclusion is, that omitting some publications in the list but not using "Selected Publications" may make it seem that there may be "a skeleton in the closet". On the other hand, one may argue that "Publications" means "Scientific Publications" and that certain papers, accidentally published by disreputable publishers, are not really scientific, so one may skip these in the list…

When I see "Selected Publications" in someone's CV, I immediately assume there is a skeleton in the closet.

Well, I know some people who select their publications to keep their CVs shorter than a telephone book.  But you probably don't mean these guys...

@Dirk Anyone with a publication list that long surely has a few skeletons in it. ;-)

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


text:
Should bad prior work be ignored, or cited and criticised?
A high citation rate is desirable in academia.  Citing other work doesn't cost much, so citations are cheap to give but desirable to get.  That brings me to the question:
If a previous article addresses a topic similar to the one I'm writing, is that a sufficient reason to cite it?  Or should the prior article meet a minimum quality to "deserve" a citation?  To put it bluntly: if I'm aware of a prior crappy article, should I ignore it, or cite it and write why it's crap (of course in a more diplomatic way)?
In my field, some articles questioning anthropogenic climate change get quite a lot of citations from colleagues pointing out flaws in their reasoning or statistics...
Note that I'm exclusively talking about peer-reviewed publications.

I think the question you ask in the second paragraph is much more interesting than the complaint you register in the first paragraph.  Who knows why someone fails to cite something?  Lazy, personal grudge, carelessness...  I would edit out the first paragraph and let the good question stand on its own.

@KennyPeanuts Fair enough, even if my need to vent a bit was what led me to the question in the first place, it doesn't add anything to the question itself.  I've edited it out now.

There's a certain amount of judgment that needs to be exercised here. One of my more frequently cited publications is an attempt to correct methodological errors in a previous work (which was also highly cited). While it got the point across, it has also led to my work not being cited by the other authors, even though they've adopted the methodological points laid out in my paper.
Now, part of the reason why we discussed the work in detail was because there were major problems that led us to being unable to reproduce their results when we used their techniques with the "advantages" of modern technology. Since it in fact "inspired" our work, we felt the extended discussion was appropriate. However, if the same paper were to present results that were simply wrong, and didn't have the same "primacy" within the research literature, we would have probably ignored it.
Literature citations in standard journal papers (as opposed to review articles) are not meant to be ecumenical or exhaustive. Your job, as an author, is to exercise judgment as to which articles provide an accurate overview of the state of work in the field, and provide the best support for the arguments you wish to make.

I think your last paragraph nails it and I assume that the decisions about relevance are the judgement calls you refer to in the first paragraph.  However the way it is written it seems like the judgement you refer to is in reference to not causing petty grudges with those you criticize (which I don't think should be factored into a decision about whether to cite or not).

Negative citations is what you describe. It is something of a fallacy of the system that a paper may get many citations and therefore seems important when it is clearly sub-par and is referenced in a negative connotation.
Seen objectively, one should give credit where it is due. If someone was first to realize something then that is the origin of the idea (in official terms), how good or bad the paper is, is irrelevant. In some cases first discoveries may just be gut feelings and not well-founded.
I sometimes have to bite my lip when I reference some papers because I really do not think they deserve it (because I know the background) but realize there are no two ways about it. You can of course chose not to reference it, as you have the freedom to chose what we cite, but you may end up getting reviews asking you to add it (if it is something key).
In some cases it is possible to provide objective criticism of a paper. The problem is that the shortcomings will have to be clear.

It depends what is your goal. If you are doing a thorough review of literature, you will have to cite prior work, even if your opinion of it is low (and you can briefly state why). If you are doing a comment, follow-up or other work where criticism of the prior work is key to your argumentation, then of course you have to cite it. But, if the field is otherwise plentiful and there are other more successful prior works which you can cite, you don't need to be exhaustive, and you can thus omit those works which you consider subpar (or of low originality, or derivate works).

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


text:
How to deal with an uncommunicative advisor?
So I have an advisor who seems to be kind of peculiar. He is quite famous in his field and has good reputation.
However, his way of working with students is more like waiting for him to come up with ideas for students. And since he has "good taste", he is always aiming for big goals which makes it take a lot longer to formulate any concrete project.
Research ideas from students are usually discarded. It's been over a year and I still don't have a research project. Also, for papers that he thinks aren't that important, he will ask his student to write it up and rarely take his time to read the paper or provide suggestions for revising which means that students have to wait a long time to get anything published.
The other funny thing is that he almost never replies back to his students' emails and rarely helps his students in finding postdoc positions. How do I work with this kind of advisor and is it a good idea to switch advisors?

Also, for papers that he thinks aren't that important ... students have to wait a long time to get anything published. — Is the advisor a coauthor on these papers?  From your description, it sounds like they would have been too far beneath his notice to make significant intellectual contribution, in which case he would not be a coauthor.  In that case, you do not need to wait for his feedback, advice, or permission to publish.  Find other senior mentors if you think you need help, but then just submit it yourself.

It's been over a year and I still don't have a research project - Different fields and countries have different cultures.  What is the norm in your area?

If your advisor is that smart and famous. Trust the process! Your time will come soon. Most likely s/he knows what they are doing and it is virtually very hard to change or even for him/her to feel the need to change! This may not what you need to hear, but this is from my experience with similar advisors.

Have other recent students been successful in getting the PhD? How long did it take them? Were they successful in getting faculty positions?

I am in US and a top university, I am not saying that he will delay graduation for students, there is even one student graduated with no publication. However that certainly does not help the student to survive in academia. I think currently he is kind missing the path himself, since he has told someone that he has not been doing anything interesting for over a year.

If the advisor is well respected externally in her field and active (what is her publication/conference record in the last 5 years?) and relatively supportive in other ways (interesting conversations about research topics, is available in person when students drop, has funding) and if she has a group of supported students/postdocs in her group; then my advice is to decide whether your personality allows you (cheerfully or pretend-cheerfully) to take on some leadership roles in self-mentoring.

start a weekly or bi-weekly group meeting, journal club, or similar where also people in the group talk about what they are doing. (try to arrange that it is convenient time (check his class schedule/university meetings) but do the meetings even the weeks he cannot show.
schedule a 20-30 minute meeting with him once every week or two regularly to discuss progress, don't count on him to set it up. Make sure to prepare something (at the beginning) that isn't asking for help so much as showing off things you find interesting or have accomplished that week.

The point is to avoid appearing as if you need hand-holding, but to get some interactions going which are positive and useful for yourself to succeed. (And show of how much of a self-starter you are).
The delay in publishing papers - if there are senior co-authors, also look to them.
On the other hand -  choose another advisor
Sometimes email gets buried, but a consistent 'never replying or acknowledging an email from student(colleagues,department admin)'  gives me the heebie-jeebies. We have had several faculty in my department over the years who had that trait and in their particular cases it never made any sense except as some stupid passive-agressive issue. So, on the basis of that trait alone, I'd suggest finding someone else who is more excited about their work and respectful of other's time and energy.

Thanks for advice! Some facts first, I am the only student left in his group, he rarely takes any postdoc. The whole group is quite small and he has been stuck with coming up with great ideas for several years without much progress and ignores student's ideas simply because they are usually not groundbreaking.

I have same experience too, but he always replied our email. What I suggested is you should talk to him what do you want and be polite, also you need a good impression for him. I think that he will hear you if you have a good impression for him.
If you couldn't make it, I think you should ask your dean or headmaster, or someone else if you want to change your advisor. But I think he's a good choice for learn in real world. In real world you will face many personality. Take him as a challenge will be good.
For his "good taste", better you investigated by asked someone or your senior, they might be help you.

I think you should ask your dean or headmaster, or someone else if you want to change your advisor — This is weird advice.  Why would you need permission from anyone except your new advisor to change advisors?

Switch advisors and complain to your dean. When I was still in college, I had this issue with many professors. My o.chem prof promised research to many, but never got around to it, similar to your situation. I eventually had to switch advisors because this guy went nowhere fast. I also wound up complaining to the dean when other profs engaged in uncommunicative behavior, as well, because they are obligated to engage in timely communication with all students since their academic future relies on it.
From my academic experience, profs who are unhelpful are truly only out for their own good and could care less about you. Thus, you must switch advisors as soon as possible for your own good. Remember, for the most part, nobody but you cares most about your future, so stay actively engaged in your academic career to avoid these characters.
Hope this helps!

And what was the effect of complaining to the dean in your case, if I may ask?

All professors that were not communicating with their students were reminded of their obligations and students began receiving quicker and more frequent e-mails from the profs in question. Of course the dean's office tried to downplay everything, but more communication resulted. What's good is, where I went to school, if a prof received like three complaints, then further action was taken to stop the poor behavior, so it's good to start documenting stuff like this.

Most of the things you discuss in this post are matters of advising style which will work well for some students and not for others.  Some students need more hands on advisors or smaller projects, and while other students will find more success with this advisor's approach.  So if it's really not working for you consider switching, but strangers on the internet won't really help in identifying whether this advisor relation is working out for you specifically.
There is one big exception to my first paragraph, you say your advisor "rarely helps his students in finding postdoc positions."  That's a big red flag and a problem.  Presumably you want to get a postdoc, and if your advisor is not successful at placing good students in good postdocs, then you should probably find an advisor who does better.  (Unless you just mean that he is successful in placing postdocs, but somehow does so effortlessly, in which case  it's not a big deal.)

I agree with the overall tenor of this answer, but I am not sure about the line "if your advisor is not successful at placing good students in good postdocs, then you should find an advisor who does better".

Ok, softened it a little.  I can certainly imagine situations where someone who wasn't generally good at placing students would nonetheless be the right advisor for a particular student.  And of course, one shouldn't hold it against advisors for being willing to advise weaker students, someone has to do it.

It's your idea of "placing". Perhaps this reflects the relative standings of what you do compared with what I do, but with a PhD in the cohomology of Banach algebras one is not going to get a postdoc in the UK. I was extremely lucky to even get one in Canada, and not have a 2-body problem or similar.

I do agree that if the advisor does not do what they can to help, then this can be a red flag.

@YemonChoi: Well, there's two issues here.  The first is whether it's the advisors fault or is to blame, and certainly there could be situations where faculty with a poor placement record with good students are not at all to blame.  The second is whether a student should work with a given advisor.   And there it's important to make decisions that will accord with your career goals.  If getting a postdoc in the UK was a very high priority for you, then I would have advised you to switch fields.

You keep presuming large amounts of choice where there was none. I like to think, several JFA papers and a Crelle paper down the line, that I have proved it's worth training and then giving a break to those who got into mathematics because they liked it rather than casting around for areas that they think will have better postdoc prospects 4 years down the line. It is worth pointing out that the postdoctoral funding system in the UK is AFAIUI very different from the States

Sorry, I didn't mean to disparage your work, I was just taking your description of the situation completely as you described it (that your choice of field completely excludes the possibility of staying the UK).  I also have no objection to someone deciding to do a PhD primarily for the enjoyment.  Anyway, I've learned from your response and your good points.

No worries, Noah; sorry if I over-reacted. Problems of online textual communication, and all that :)

By 'rarely help his students in finding postdoc', I mean he will write a recommendation letter, and that's about it. He will never do anything trying to promote his students.

@Nobody in that case, I agree that this is not helpful behaviour. My own supervisor was very supportive in as much as was possible: introducing me to people, suggesting people I could approach, and writing non-generic reference letters AFAIK

This may not be possible, but you could help him overcome  his 'ideas block'.   Be proactive, ask him the specific areas that may be fruitful or if not, look for areas yourself.  Read up, and then send him a bunch of 'interesting' problems/ideas and justification for why each is interesting and its significance.  Be creative, think outside the current trend. This list at the minimum will be helpful to you in your PhD even if you change adviser.  If you stumble on something interesting, I'm sure he will reply.  Better still if he tells you why the ideas are bad.  You can choose to argue your case or accept that they are bad; no harm done, either way you learn something.  If in the list there is something worth pursuing, he may give you something more concrete (refine what you said) or spur him/her to come up with something more concrete.  Good luck!


text:
Why and how to go to the US for a PhD-exchange semester?
Context: My wife and I are both PhD candidates in good-but-not-major eastern European universities, aiming to defend our theses in fall 2017 (i.e., in 15 months). She works in accounting, whereas my research focuses on engineering science. She has been accepted in an east-coast US university for an exchange semester as of January 2017.
Since for obvious personal reasons I do not want to stay one ocean away from her during 6 months, I'd like to visit US-universities at the same time (+/- 2 months).
Questions:
Exchange semesters are not common in my lab. So I lack perspective on how and why to go to the US. So here are my questions:

What is the purpose of visiting another university at the end of your PhD? What would be expected of me if I do go there?
Must such exchange be formally validated/accepted, or is a casual agreement with the lab PI ok? (N.B.: I am financially independent)
Can I directly contact "the one" Professor (of international and cross-fields renown) my research and saying that I'd like to collaborate, or is it mandatory to be recommended? Are there tacit how-tos?
Should I mention my wife's situation?

Note that I would have wanted such an exchange, even if my wife would not have been accepted for this exchange. However, her situation imposes the period.
My scientific supervisors do not have contacts in the US.

Update: I contacted "the prof", they accepted, (my supervisors got irritated because "one doesn't do that in our lab!", we discussed), I finally went to the US, learned a lot, had "the prof" in my thesis committee… and have now a PhD (-;

If you have only EU passport, you may be eligible to stay up to 90 days in US using ESTA in order to "attend short-term training (you may not be paid by any source in the U.S. with the exception of expenses incidental to your stay)". Otherwise appropriate visa is needed (e.g. J-1).
Contact the professor directly. You can't lose anything.
The purpose could be to improve your thesis, initiate networking, start some collaboration etc.
AFAIK, I didn't need any formal agreement - only when I applied for grant, I submit a formal letter of the host Professor that he will welcome me.
Your wife situation is that you'll be there for your personal interest anyway and that's opportunity to collaborate.
Ask your university department for international relations, whether there is some agreement with the US university and yours, there might be opportunity to cover some expenses of your stay there. It's better to get at least partial funding from your home university and claim that your home university pays you during immigration control and makes it easy with the host Professor lab.

I did internship after my PhD in US and stayed only 1 months and above mentioned points saved me from possible disappointment during border control. Host Professor welcomed the fact that I was independent financially. I used a small university grant from "eastern european" university which covers part of the expenses - the flight tickets, all other I paid from my pocket money.

@DSVA - yes. It needs to be considered in advance whether ESTA is enough, per https://www.application-esta.co.uk/all-about-ESTA , it can be used to "attend short-term training (you may not be paid by any source in the U.S. with the exception of expenses incidental to your stay)". Otherwise appropriate visa is needed.


text:
How should I deal with being harassed by my supervisor in a non-work situation?
I'm a female student in some huge and popular university in my country.
I have a supervisor who is much older then me. He is a very respected person in our community.
We worked together a lot, it was fine. We communicated about personal issues as well, but nothing sex-related and/or inappropriate. No physical contact, hugs or even handshakes.
There was nothing special until the day we were celebrating something along with a lot of other teachers and students. I had drunk more then I should and stopped realizing what was happening. Then I found myself face to face with my supervisor and he started to harass me. I waited for a lucky moment and ran away.
Now we are ok with this and go on working together. This episode is ignored but not forgotten. I feel responsible for this but not guilty. I know that I'm not the first student he had close relationships with. And I know that he thought I would not mind it, so, now he is sorry. I know about two very alike situations with my friends in two other universities in my city.
Should I blame myself for this episode? I think that only for my careless and non-professional behaviour, not for the sexual issue.
Do you think I had to leave the university or communicate to the authorities or something?
How can you prevent yourself of having such a person as your supervisor? In my opinion, if he wasn't interested in me that way, I could drink even more and nothing would happen.

I'm not in any position to advise you, so I can't answer your question, but I want to say that this problem is more common in academia than you'd think - and I've been in your position before so I empathise. It is NOT your fault. And to clarify: have there been any further episodes? Are you comfortable working with him, or not (either of these is fine, but if you aren't comfortable, a change needs to be made)? Also, what do you mean by "I'm not the first student he had close relationships with"?

Thank you for your response and support. Yes, I know that the problem is common, so I'm trying to learn more about it. No further episodes, he is sorry and he apologized, we don't return there anymore. I'm rather comfortable in work, but that situation was a shock for me and now I have some problems trusting him. But this education means a lot for me and I'm so close to graduating, the change would not worth it, I think. Not the first - there are people I respect, they told me that he had already had relationships and even marriage with students.

Hi @jango and welcome to Academia.SE! Questions asking directly for opinions on a personal case are generally closed as off-topic, and asking about "your" country is a bit too broad. However, your question is related to a common, or not-so-uncommon, situation in the academic world and might have a general interest. Could you try to reformulate your last question so that is less opinion based?

@MassimoOrtolano Hi, sure I can and would try, but it was a little difficult for me to formulate a good question so far. Some help anybody?)

Your supervisor did something wrong.  What, if anything, you do about it is a personal choice.  Maybe you should talk to your university's counseling service about identifying your feelings/wishes.

Thank you. Counseling service is a very good idea, but I'm afraid that if I talk to somebody about this situation irl, I will fail to keep it quiet.

Thank you. I understand and partially agree with your position. In fact, we were not along all the time and most of the celebrating crowd were good acquainted and drunk, but the problem appeared only between two of us. I mean, it was going to happen somehow anyway and I was only way too careless. I don't say that drinking a lot is a good thing to do, especially in society. But I don't think that every one would sleep with a drunk student, so how could I know I'm in such a bigger danger than I thought I was. And I'm sure that I hadn't done something truly sexual-provocative, just felt asleep.

@AnonymousPhysicist, it might be better to seek outside help. Go to a support group or a professional who is bound to keep this private, unless you really want to escalate the matter. Doing so might very well be extremely damaging to OP (an unknown graduate student against a star, the accusations of "she drank too much and provoked him, and now is trying to take advantage again" are very loose on some tongues). Yes, it sucks. Very much. My deepest sympathies.

Thank you. You are right. You know, I guessed that this type of situations are so common but I really doubhted that people would think, say and write exactly the same things I feel. My family and close friends did. I'm also a reasonably religious person and talked to one known clergyman, so even he supported me this way as well.

At least it does not sound like the most malicious of encounters, just bad luck and a alcohol-loosened inhibition. The right answer is in such situations by both: "I drank too much, let's stay out of each other's way until we are sober again." Failing that, the current state of things is as good as it could possibly be in such a situation (not great, but if you do feel you can continue working with the supervisor, at least workable). I wouldn't apportion much blame, people are human, but if you must blame, the supervisor gets one share, and getting unguarded with alcohol at work gets another.

Thank you, you are right. I still have a little doubt about speaking of people are human here, I don't understand how drinking and sudden sex can be regarded as human signs, but generally I agree with you.

It's your fault for drinking too much. And if you were so drunk you were not in control of your actions, how can you even know that you remembered the alleged "harassment" correctly? You may have made up the whole incident in your head. Let it go. It has no effect on your life except in your mind.

First, I would recommend that you put away any feelings of guilt and responsibility, and instead begin planning to protect yourself.  Unfortunately, it appears likely that your supervisor is a predator and abuser given several red flags in your story.  In particular:

Your supervisor waiting until you were impaired by alcohol before making unwanted sexual advances.  This is a massive red flag of abuse: safe and respectful people talk with prospective partners when they are sober.
Your supervisor appears to have sought an isolated environment in the midst of a group event where he could assault you and where you could run away without others noticing.
Your supervisor appears to be manipulating your interpretation of his sexual assault on you: you say things like "we are OK with this" (taking a collective view) and "I know that he thought" (taking his view) and "he is sorry" (how did you feel?) that indicate that your view of the situation is being strongly influenced by his view.  To be blunt: it doesn't matter what he thought or felt; what matters is what you thought and felt when you were sexually assaulted.  Making you feel responsible for his feelings is an abuse tactic.
It sounds as though your supervisor engages in grooming for abuse, by picking certain "favorite" students and violating professional boundaries with them (talking about personal issues).  Some people just have minimal filter with everybody, but the picking favorites is a red flag: abusers often do this in order to identify people who will be good victims for their abuse, and then may wait quite patiently for an opportunity to switch into their preferred mode of abuse.
Your supervisor chose to make a sexual advance on their student, over whose life they have a huge amount of power and control, rather than waiting until you were no longer their student and could be more of a peer as a partner.

Now, it's possible that your supervisor is not a predator and abuser, but that's a lot of red flags, including an actual sexual assault.  Furthermore, most abusers do not believe that they are abusers, and can often be very persuasive to others, including the victims that they ensnare.
So, what would I recommend that you do?  Unfortunately, the student/advisor power dynamics make this a tricky situation to navigate without doing harm to yourself and your career.  I would thus recommend that you start by protecting yourself and then find resources or otherwise get professional support to help decide how to proceed.

Never drink or otherwise impair yourself when you may encounter your supervisor, even if there are other people present.  He has isolated you for assault once, and may do it again.
Find some good resources on abuse and familiarize yourself with their information and recommendations.  One site that I would recommend as helpful is: http://www.abuseandrelationships.org/.  Even though you are not in a sexual relationship with your advisor, a) your supervisor just attempted to start one, and b) you are in an important relationship due to the student/advisor connection.
If you can, begin consulting with a professional therapist or counselor with a good reputation for helping victims of assault and abuse.  Having a trustworthy and professional third party will be very valuable for helping you get a clear perspective on your situation and figuring out what is the right path for you, as well as helping deal with any emotional repercussions of your assault.

Once you've taken all of those other steps, you will need to decide which of several paths you want to take, ranging anywhere from filing formal charges against your supervisor to quietly changing supervisors to simply protecting yourself and carrying through to graduation.  Unfortunately, all of the choices you make are likely to risk serious negative consequences to you, and only you (hopefully with aid from an experienced and supportive therapist or counselor) can decide which path and which risks are the best choice for your situation.

Wow. That's really such a useful information! Thank you very much.

@jango a comment you made on your question--your advisor started assaulting you while you were asleep or passed out? That's another huge red flag.

Let me express how sorry and embarrassed I feel (as a male) that you have been put under such stress for no other reason than being a young female, which behaved exactly as some her male co-students would have done (socializing on a faculty party).
There are In my opinion 3 aspects of this: Professional/etiquette, Legal and emotional. I wont discuss about legal, since you were not specific on the country and specifics of the harassment, and since I feel that this is not the direction you want advice. I will skip emotional, because to judge what has happened I don't need to understand the emotions behind. For that I have to say it does not contribute if you (seem, pretend or believe) to like each other (in one direction or two) or not.
Let's gather the facts:

He is your supervisor - he has the objective power
He is an employee, he gets paid for his work, and you are a student. In some sense, his customer.
He is older, in an environment where he believes that it's acceptable to get sexual with students in the presence of other teacher and students (This tell me that something is wrong with the faculty ethics there) - he has control
It seems normal for him to have relationships with his female students, who are in a insecure emotional state of transition - if that is a habit, it is clear that he is experienced in abusing his position (This again tells me that something is wrong with the faculty ethics there)
I could imagine that something like this incident would have been a misinterpretation of him, but in that case, i would have expected an sincere apology towards you
It is clearly unacceptable from an etiquette viewpoint to skip hugging and other more personal forms of interaction in a social relationship and wait until the other person is drunk enough to touch him/her in a sexual way.

So these are the facts as I see them, and my summary is clear: He behaved unprofessional, irresponsible, and as it seems intentionally abusive, with a lack of professional and interpersonal ethics. While you being drunk may have allowed him to do what he did, the failure is on his side.
I reinterpret your questions to:
I have a supervisor, which seems to be intentionally abusive if he believes he can get away with it (and I assume that this may be true). Given the asymmetry of power, what is the way with the least further harm for my life to get away from there and avoid future harassment for me from such nonprofessional and abusive people.

I assume that he is not emotionally involved in this (given his history), so there are good chances that he at least does not take your "rejection" personally and has some hidden issue with you (and e.g. takes revenge when grading). So I don't expect his behavior to be a recurring thing (towards you). However, if you have the feeling that the grade of your work was affected by it (or he make strange remarks indicating that he expected different from you), you should evaluate further steps.

My first advice: Try to walk away from it as unharmed as possible, as a student in a university you will fight an uphill battle in such contexts. Clearly separate you own good (getting away with a decent grade and without being harassed any further - if he tries it, walk away directly and go to the faculty) from the good of the others (i.e. telling the responsible person at the University about this - possibly do this later, after getting away.). Don't let people tell you that "women are at fault because they would need to go after such persons stronger" - in such a situation it is not your responsibility to clean up other peoples mess.
The second advice (as much as i hate to give it to you in this context): The world is full of seemingly nice and close people  (students, teachers, colleagues) who lie to you, and will exploit your weaknesses. Some people are psychopaths and these are very good liars. Getting drunk (since it weakens you temporarily) among people you don't know is not a good idea, so only get drunk with people you know well enough.
The third advice is: look for the publication record when selecting a supervisor. If you see a stable pattern (e.g. Master students which are still there as Postdocs) of coauthors around him/her on the articles it means usually that he/she does not cause people to run away for emotional, sexual or other (workload) abuse.


text:
What is the nature of the "assistant professor" position in India?
In this recent academia.SE question, the questioner mentions that as an undergraduate they did research with an assistant professor.  That faculty member had a master's degree (only) at the time and has since moved on to be a PhD student at another institution.
To my American eyes, it seems strange to have the positions of "graduate student" and "faculty member" intertwined like this.  In a comment, the questioner wrote

Just to shed some more light on this, I come from India and here it is part of official policy to allow people with graduate degrees to rise to posts as high as assistant professor. I am not sure why this difference in academic practice has not come to the notice of admissions committees in the US in spite of the fact that thousands of Indian students have gone there over the years.

Well, I am the chair of a graduate admissions committee, and indeed this difference in academic practice had not come to my notice until now.  I would like to understand it better -- in particular:
1) What does this position entail?
2) Which Indian institutions and departments are (still) hiring assistant professors with masters degrees?
3) Can a master's degree assistant professor retain that position indefinitely?  Do they?
4) What percentage of higher-rank Indian professors did an assistant professorship between a master's and a PhD degree?

[Here follows more information about why I am asking the question and context about how what I know so far makes it sound different from the US.  It is not necessary to read this part or address it in an answer.]
In the United States there are so many PhDs looking for academic jobs that the days when someone without a PhD can teach advanced undergraduates at a research university or nationally ranked liberal arts college are almost completely past (more precisely: there are still some such people, but they were hired a long time ago).  However there are other institutions of higher learning in which faculty can teach with master's degrees, and I have known some cases.  (I suspect that the window for this is shrinking as well, as we continue to produce many more PhDs desiring academic positions than the market can bear.)
But I don't know of any American institution of higher learning in which a faculty member with a master's degree can be an assistant professor but have no higher rank.  Moreover, the type of institution which has tenure track faculty with master's degrees is quite different from the type of institution in which (i) faculty do research with their undergraduates and (ii) send students to graduate school.  (I tried to choose language to minimize the elitism / academic caste-ism in that last assertion, but that minimum is unfortunately positive, since American academia is elitist...)

If you look at the US in, say, the late 50s or early 60s - it was quite common for people to be hired as Assistant Professors and expected to finish their PhD by the time they were up for tenure.

@Najib: I am the chair of the admissions committee at a department at a US university, which is why I am trying to understand Indian admissions from a US perspective.  The OP from the linked to question said he was applying to US, Canada and Europe, so I am tackling part of that interface.

"Translation of academic ranks is usually doomed to fail."  I'm not attempting a translation but rather an understanding.  Also I think your sentiment is a bit defeatist: I believe I know how to translate "Lecturer [UK]", "maître de conférences [France]" and a few other things into American terms.  They do not correspond exactly to any American academic rank, but one can still convey the meaning.  [And I wrote that comment before I noticed that you yourself offer a translation of the latter term on your bio!]

@Najib: If by "translating" you mean "selecting a rank in US academia and consistently using that rank instead without any explanation" then I agree.  I meant "understanding followed by description."  Anyway, I edited my question to make it more clear that I want to hear about the Indian system and what I want to hear about it.

Indian universities are not very homogeneous, but it may be helpful to divide them into two categories:
(1) National institutes/universities:The top-tier universities with highly competitive admissions and recruitment processes. A commonly stated figure is that 1% of applicants make it to these institutes, though I think it may now be closer to 10%, with more institutes opening in recent years. In this category, an Assistant Professor must hold a PhD and have 3 years post-doctoral experience.
(2) Other universities: One requires a Master degree and must qualify a national-level entrance exam to become Assistant Professor. Yes, one may continue in this post without a doctorate, though in practice this is rare. Full professors (and perhaps associate professors too- not sure on this) require PhD.
The second category might appear strange from a US perspective. It may help to recognize that these universities tend to place pedagogy over research. This is an outcome of having a large population and limited employment prospects without a college degree.


text:
Can age limit be an issue for postdoc in China?
I have got post doc position in China a year back when I was 34. Due to Covid situations, my permit expired before and now lab fellow is planning again to apply for work permit but my age is 35 now.  Can someone tell me I will get the work permit or visa?  Or due to 35 above age,  would I be denied?

China doesn't grant work permits to people older than 34?

It is mentioned on Chinese university website that they do not consider people with age over 35 for post docs. I have offer letter issued a year before but need to apply for permit again.

That's not the same as getting a visa.

Related: https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/149518/17254

I hope so.. But my contract is also updated now that's showed my age is above 35 and PhD with more than 3 years.. So I want an authentic information if it's get approved this time by the university or foreign permit issuance office?


text:
I have an issue with one of my teachers and a chance to address it, but they're writing me a letter of rec. Should I address it?
I'm trying to transfer, I'm a good student and one of my teachers is writing me what I assume will be a fantastic letter.
I am in an upper undergrad level (200+) CS course with this teacher. We had a group project, and without going into too much detail, I was discouraged from intellectual exploration and feel like I was put into a box.
We're submitting our individual write ups, so I have the opportunity to address my feelings about the project. What I wrote is strongly worded but I feel like it gives a fair assessment of what my problem was.
Is this a bad idea? I will feel awful if I have to let this slide without saying something about it, but I also strongly dislike my institution and want to do what I have to do in order to transfer. Should I include my assessment or should I hold off until after I apply?

What I wrote is strongly worded but I feel like it gives a fair assessment of what my problem was.

I would reconsider the strongly-worded part. Giving a fair assessment is good, but people rarely react well to sharp criticism, and this can burn bridges. My advice is to state facts, not conclusions. For example, rather than saying that you were "discouraged from intellectual exploration" (a conclusion), you could say that you were "disappointed not to be able to pursue X" (a fact).

Should I include my assessment or should I hold off until after I apply?

Assuming what you write is not ridiculously far over the line, I would not expect your professor to change their letter of recommendation. Particularly if they've already written it, I doubt they would take the time to go back and make changes.
But, consider the cost-benefit analysis. The (potential) cost is burning a bridge (you can mitigate this by being diplomatic). The potential reward  is that future students might have a better experience, but this is likely only if the professor (a) does not already agree with you, (b) agrees with you after reading your report, and (c) chooses to address your feedback.

I suggest that you leave it alone. Or at least leave it alone for a few months and see if you, then, feel the same way.
There is much to lose and little to gain.
And, while you may feel unsatisfied, you may still have learned from the course and the project. You can, in fact, learn from people that you don't like. If your time hasn't been wasted then don't let emotions spoil what may be a good thing.
As long as this isn't a situation in which you need to protect yourself, give yourself time for reflection and evaluation.

Have you tried speaking with this professor about the project, in an open and non-confrontational way?  We don't have any details about the event you're describing, but maybe the professor had a perfectly valid reason for what was done, even if it isn't clear to you right now.  Ask for feedback about that project, and why you were asked to do it the way you were.
Professors are people too, with all the same weakness and faults.  A strongly-worded criticism in the official record is not likely to be taken well, nor is it likely to result in positive change in the future, nor is it likely to improve the recommendation letter they write for you.
If you have already discussed it with the professor and remain unsatisfied, I would still advocate for leaving it alone.  You already discussed it with them and didn't get anywhere; a strongly-worded review is unlikely to get any further.  It's natural to have the urge to repeat a point with extra force if you feel like you weren't heard the first time, but that urge also hardly ever accomplishes anything.  Take your fantastic recommendation letter and move on.
Good luck at your new institution.

Part of maturing is resisting the urge. The urge to say the first thing that comes into ones mind, the urge to say the second thing that comes into ones mind and the urge to say anything at all.
If you do not like your project, remember this, and do it differently when it is your turn to arrange things. My experience is, you will with high probability suddenly discover how difficult it is to get things right while balancing every other constraint around it. You do not know why they designed the project the way they did. You talk about 200+ course participants? Perhaps they simply do not have the manpower to manage each of you individually, who knows?
Also, I find it remarkable that a comparatively minor criticism (such as the style of a problem-solving session, compared to - say - bullying, intimidation and the like) so much more often elicits the urge in people to write "strongly worded" responses. If people stood up to the system earlier in serious violations, who knows, perhaps we would not be where we are?
Maybe you are right in your criticism. Maybe not. We cannot judge. But you should think very carefully what you wish as outcome from expressing this criticism. If it is just venting and making your point, I recommend to drop it.
If it is that you really wish to improve things for future generations, and that's what you sacrifice your own well-being for (namely your letter of recommendation), that is your decision - in this case, the "strongly worded" part is counterproductive. You will neither get a fantastic LOR (unless the teacher is a saint) nor help future generations. The best in this case is a factual, but not charged list of suggestions for improvements. Best is you concentrate on the really important ones rather than a long list of "could be improved" entries.
Finally, keep in mind the possibility that you have not seen the whole context under which this project has been run and your teacher actually knows what they are doing.
Sometimes (and we, your internet advisers, cannot ultimately judge whether this is the case here) not saying anything is the best thing to do.


text:
Do graduate schools check the disciplinary record of PhD applicants?
Do Physics (STEM) graduate schools in the US check for disciplinary record if they don't ask for it in the application? The outcome of the violation doesn't appear on my transcript. Only way a graduate school can find out is if they ask my school (in US) for my academic record. I am not going to lie if they ask but some school's application form doesn't ask for disciplinary records. Does that mean they will not check for it?

This will surely depend on the school.. many schools also don't have the concept of a "disciplinary record"..

This can't be answered without knowing where the information is available.  It would depend on the country and sometimes on the preferences of individuals.  In any case, do not lie about your record on your application.

Is this a question about the US or elsewhere? Laws differ.

@Buffy it's for US

@AnonymousPhysicist Could you let me know what more I should include?

@user111388 what kind of school are those?

@user131275: many (most?) schools in Europe (minus UK).

Please don't vandalize your own post.

In the US disciplinary records are protected by FERPA, so one school can't check another's records without written permission from the applicant. Others here that say that the school you are applying to is free to ask you about why your transcript looks the way it does, are right. If you got kicked out of a school or failed a class for cheating, expect your transcript to reflect that somehow that's legal and to be asked about that in another way that's legal.

But the outcome of the violation is not on my transcript, does that mean they can not ask for it without my permission?

@user131275 how would they know about it if it’s not on your official transcript or other documents sent by the university where it was committed? FERPA prevents that university from telling without your written permission.

It is not on my transcript but it is on my educational/academic record

@user131275 that’s definitely not something that one school can get from another. Some schools won’t even let you buy your own official transcript, just an unofficial copy. My uni only sends official transcripts to other unis for money.

FERPA has exceptions for the prior consent requirement such as disciplinary records (you can find it in the link in your post). My question is do schools ask for it?

@user131275, I think you're misreading the places that say 'prior' as they're mostly related to children, and, no, to my limited knowledge, graduate admissions committees don't go seeking the other records of applicants than they ask you to send or have sent like letters of rec. and transcripts. That would be too much to review.

Generally speaking, in the US, you can depend to some extent on a "right to privacy" that would make such an inquiry improper and replying to it also improper. But it isn't necessarily assured.
The US Constitution is silent on a right to privacy, but many Supreme Court decisions have expanded that right, though not to the extent of the EU's Right to be Forgotten. Also, many US states will have privacy protections in place that make the communication of certain kinds of information improper without the consent of the person involved.
However, if some transgression of a student is also law-breaking, then the rules may change and the information may be part of the public record in that case.
In addition, most (I think) US colleges and universities would treat disciplinary action against a student as a private matter and some might purge the record upon graduation (or after some time period). Part of the philosophy is that if we are to punish a student for some act then that should be the end of it, though the record might be retained until graduation to guard against recurrences.
Overall, I doubt that, given the more or less general, if informal, sense that privacy is a right, that any graduate school would ask and that the likelihood of getting an answer would be very small.
Part of the reasoning here is that the grad school would have no particular reason to ask, having no evidence of any wrongdoing on the part of an applicant.
Of course, it is not outside the realm of possibility that the candidate would be asked directly about certain kinds of misbehavior, and if asked it would be a potential problem if a candidate were to lie (as noted by Anonymous Physicist).

Yes some applications asks if the applicant has been placed on 'probation/suspension or expelled' etc for a violation, and some don't. My question is those that don't pose this question on their application, would they ask my current school for disciplinary records?

It seems doubtful, as I said. Asking you is a different matter, of course. They can also ask you for a release for such information and then it is up to the university as to how to reply.

In my experience some schools take a very hard line on academic dishonesty and expel students for cheating on exams. This would probably show up on your record.
Other schools give students a few strikes by having an internal list of disciplinary action, so that a repeat offender can be identified for expulsion. Otherwise the list stays private and probably won't come to light in future applications.
Discipline regarding drinking in dorms and things like that probably won't show up unless it gets so bad that you have a criminal record.


text:
Should we acknowledge manufacturers who provided free samples in a publication?
We recently asked several manufacturers if they could send us a sample of their material(s) for us to test towards their suitability for a process we developed. They sent us free samples. Once we identify the most suitable material we plan on ordering more from that material.
After receiving the materials, we decided to expand our testing towards optimizing said process and we have enough content for a publication. I am now wondering if we should (or have to) thank the manufacturers in the acknowledgements for their provision of free materials, even though we did not explicitly ask them for materials for the purpose of the publication.

Particularly if you will name a ‘superior’ product you need to talk to your local legal team first.

@JonCuster I am unsure if the legal aspect is necessary. After all, we will not generally name one product as superior, but as superior for OUR APPLICATION. That does not devalidate the product for other possible applications.

You should definitely mention this in the paper. There is a conflict-of-interest concern here so that you should be as transparent as possible. This arrangement is very common with pharmaceutical manufacturers and academic research.
Whether you do it in the acknowledgement or within the methods is really up to you, I'd probably put it within the materials and methods, as part of the ordinary recognition of where materials come from. E.g.:

Basket-weaving materials (straw, Intl Straw Corp, Des Moines, IA, USA; wool, Sheeps Down Under, Wagga Wagga, NSW, Australia) were donated by the manufacturers.

In addition, you may want to outline the scope of the conflict in a separate disclosure section, and note that while materials were provided for free the companies involved had no input on the design, execution, or presentation of the results, assuming that's all true. Remember, "conflict of interest" doesn't mean your work is corrupted, it just means that interests conflict, and the best way to defuse any perceived issues is to be transparent.
You may also want to address whether this was an appropriate use of the materials from the perspective of the manufacturers. Presumably they expected you were going to use the materials to decide whether to purchase more: they're providing them as a sales tactic. Instead, you've created a product (research paper) out of the freely given materials, and that product could reflect positively or negatively on the people providing you materials. As you can imagine, someone could be quite upset if you've used their free gift to explain to everyone that their product is inferior to their competitors. If you've signed any agreement about the transfer of materials I'd first check whether that agreement has any statements about how the materials can and can't be used, and if it's unclear or unstated, it's probably worth reaching out for permission, or just asking to pay for the value of the samples if that's feasible. Jon Custer recommends in a comment to consult with your institution's legal team and I think that's a very good idea.

You probably mean “defuse” in “ diffuse any perceived issues ”.

Definitely the sources of the materials should be disclosed in the body of the paper.  This is relevant to interpreting the results of the study, as it might turn out, for example, that NSW wool has has different properties than Scottish wool.  If I got the samples for free then I'd be inclined to also acknowledge the manufacturers, as a matter of simple courtesy.

"quite upset if you've used their free gift to explain to everyone that their product is inferior to their competitors"  That is a very strange idea.  Companies send gifts to reviewers with the expectation of an unbiased review all the time.

@AnonymousPhysicist Just because some companies do a thing doesn't mean every one does or that every "gift" comes with the same terms.

I suggest that you ask each of them whether they would like to be acknowledged or not. Some might not want to be named, especially since you didn't make your intention about the use clear.  Many corporations are (very) sensitive about being named in any way that might affect their brand.
If some say yes and some no, then you have a dilemma and you might have to be clear in an acknowledgement that there were others who prefer not to be named.
In general, however, it is good to acknowledge such contributions to a study but also to make the use clear and that the research will likely result in publication.


text:
As an inexperienced thesis supervisor, how can you guarantee fair grading?
Being a PhD student, I just finished supervising my first masters thesis. Now I have to assess and grade it. While I have a grading template provided by the university (listing the different aspects of the thesis and points out of X for each aspects), I am finding it hard to estimate how good the single achievements are compared to, well, the general level of theses. If I give full marks now because everything has been done satisfactory and well, and the next thesis that I supervise is even better - I cannot give that one better marks, so it would feel like I misgraded the first thesis.
I imagine that once you have amassed a certain amount of supervised theses, you can estimate the general level of one thesis much better and probably feel more competent to grade fairly and correctly.
But in my situation, having no previous experience in grading, how can I make sure as best as possible that my grading is neither too lenient nor too harsh?

Do you have acceess to previous theses and their grades? It could give you at least a reference to compare against.

Are you the only supervisor, or is there a more experienced member of staff involved  (at least formally). If so, that would be the person to talk to.

@PieterNaaijkens there is a second supervisor (a professor) that definitely has more experience, but if I rely on her too much, that would kind of make having to seperate supervisors futile, wouldn't it?

@Louic I have access to some, but there all at the "good" end of grades, as our university library stocks only the theses with the best grades and our institute also rather tends to take only the top students for master theses. There is no real spectrum of differently graded these available to me.

The first time I supervised and graded a Master thesis (I was also a PhD student at the time), the other supervisor and I both graded the thesis independently and then compared grades. It's a good way to learn while maintaining a level of independent judgement. In the end, both our grades were in the same 'band' (say, an A in the US system or a First in the UK), and diverged by only a few points.

@Roland I was not aware that this system is so uncommon. At my university, one of the supervisors has to be a professor, the other one is only required to have at least the same degree that the student wants to obtain. Grading is done by both thesis supervisors.

(@Roland) Final undergrad dissertations can be assessed at least partially by PhD students in the UK, not just BSc, but the various 4-year straight to masters. I absolutely agree with your conclusion to get help from the relevant senior colleague  - and would go so far as to say that while part of the prof's job, it's also part of Sursula's training and job to have that discussion.

I am not sure you are considering correctly the grading as something "competitive" and absolute (i.e. there will be a more perfect thesis in the future, so the today perfect should not be graded as perfect), but at  at least this experience can count towards your https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/167963/good-ways-to-get-teaching-experience-in-non-teaching-position (yes, supervising can and must be part of teaching)

@EarlGrey Please correct me if my assumptions are incorrect! This is precisely the reason why I am here asking question, to get rid of misconceptions that I might have due to my inexperience.

@Roland True, generally PhD students help in preparing the Master's thesis, but I never heard anyone (formally) reviewing...

there is a second supervisor (a professor) that definitely has more experience, but if I rely on her too much, that would kind of make having two seperate supervisors futile, wouldn't it?

For many aspects of the jobs of educator and supervisor, you learn by doing. So, an appropriate course of action here would be to

First, try to write an evaluation to the best of your ability following the guideline you were provided, and advice from people with more experience on the question.
Secondly, you submit your work for feedback to a more experienced coworker. Here, the second supervisor seems appropriate, but another senior faculty you trust could be also helpful (they may not know the details of the thesis you are supervising, but they know the classic "beginner's mistakes").
Finally, modify your evaluation according to their opinion. If you think you had to do a major revision of your evaluation, you can go back to point 2. for another round.

I was feeling uncomfortable at first when doing this kind of task, as things can be hard to evaluate but you get used to it through experience. For example, one rubric for the evaluation of student research projects in my institution is the quality of writing of their thesis out of 20 points. But the first thesis of even the best students is seldom a flawless work, so how harsh should I be? I could know the answer only by comparing my evaluation to other faculty members.

Grading should not be on a curve.

If I give full marks now because everything has been done satisfactory and well, and the next thesis that I supervise is even better - I cannot give that one better marks, so it would feel like I misgraded the first thesis.

This is incorrect.  Full marks does not indicate that there is no room for improvement.
Use the grading template.  If it's not detailed enough, unfortunately people unfamiliar with your degree program cannot help you.   Ask a person who is familiar, such as the degree coordinator.

how can you guarantee fair grading?

For small sample sizes, you cannot.

@DanielHatton Anything that involves ranking students should be controversial.

@AnonymousPhysicist So you are against grading altogether, as grading will always rank students? While I somewhat understand this viewpoint, it doesn't help with my problem.

@Sursula Just that small subsets cannot be expected to form nice predictable ranks. Grading is necessary still, but constricting the grading process to an outcome that produces ideal ranking would be doing a lot of labor for little fruit. Maybe a student gets a higher mark than the ideal ranking would imply, but that is an artifact of the subset and not a big problem. Grading someone more severely because there might come a better one next year would be a mistake. Or less severely on the inverse basis. Give the grade, worry about ranking when you have a decent set.

@ AnonymousPhysicist the approach @DanielHatton describes isn't exactly ranking students.  It's ranking specific aspects of their work, and only getting to that point by comparison to more-or-less objective criteria

@Sursula I teach at a community college and I'm anti-grading. My final exam is a mock job interview and at the end I ask them to give themselves a grade based on their performance. They are pretty honest with themselves about how they did and graded themselves fairly. There have been many papers/books written about the problems with traditional letter grades. Google "Ungrading" or "how grading hurts students"

@Sursula "grading will always rank students" is false.  There should be ties.  Many ties.  Nobody needs to know any grade other than their own.

You seem to have the misconception that grading is, somehow, competitive and that there is some linear scale on which you need to place student work in relation to other work.
I suggest that you work to give that up.
Every piece of work is unique and they don't compete with one another. Treat each as such.
Note that grading scales in some (not all) places are intentionally quite broad. Letter grades in the US, for example are quite broad categories. Strict numeric grades are a bit different, but it is probably incorrect to think of them as having true precision. What, after all, is the essential difference between 87 and 88? You are making judgments after all, not measuring.
And, is is true that over the years there is some likely "drift" in the meaning of grades. It is often lamented, but things seem to generally work out in any case. IIRC, Einstein was denied a teaching certificate upon graduation from (the predecessor of) ETHZ.

Talk to an experienced supervisor in your department
I would assume you at least have a second marker to moderate your inexperience. They will balance out your lack of calibration to some extent, but you can - and arguably should - go to your more experienced colleagues and seek their opinion and guidance. They may not be willing, or able, to read the whole thing but they should be able to spare five or ten minutes to help you calibrate your marks if you put the effort into explaining why you chose the mark you did.


text:
How do you send personalized information to each student in Moodle?
My institution uses Moodle as our learning management system. I want to send some information to each student that is personalized to each student but without any other students seeing it. This is a need I often have from time to time, but my most recent need is to give each student a  unique ID to access a separate online resource.
In the past, I have done things like posting a spreadsheet with all student information, except that I somewhat hid their student IDs by only showing the last four digits of their student IDs: that way, students could identify which row applied to them, but could not easily tell which one applied to any other student (unless they already know their student ID). This is an unsatisfying solution, since a student who knows another student's ID would then know their information.
Is there a way to send small bits of information customized to each student? I'm imagining some sort of interface where I could maybe upload a spreadsheet with each row having a student IDs and the custom information in other columns, and then students would only see own their uploaded information, not any other students' information.
Edit: In response to one of the answers: my point here is that I am looking for an automated solution where I can post feedback to many students (whether 20 or 200) at one time, yet personalized based on some criteria (in my example, giving them individual IDs for an external computer system). So, individual entry of feedback one-by-one is not an option for my need here.
Note: I've searched around other StackExchange sites, and Academia SE seems to be the one that would be best for responding to specific how-to questions for Moodle. I'm surprised there is no tag for "Moodle" or even for "learning-management-system".

Could someone with enough points try to create a tag for Academia SE for "learning-management-system"? I'm surprised no such tag exists already. Ideally, I would also like tags for specific LMSs like "moodle", but I don't know if that would be too specific (there are currently around 50 or so Moodle-related posts on Academia SE, so its already fairly popular here).

You should be able to do that yourself - it only requires 300 reputation.

I'm not sure we really need a tag for that, because LMS are different across universities. For instance, in my university students have an institutional email address which is of the form ID@etc. and I'd have simply took the IDs from the LMS and generated automatically the personalized emails. Probably before creating the tag as @DavidZ says, it would be better if you ask on Academia Meta.

@DavidZ: Wow, I didn't know I had that power!

@MassimoOrtolano: I assume that when you said "I'm not sure we really need a tag for that", you were referring to a "moodle" tag, so I went ahead and created a "learning-management-system" tag. I have asked about "moodle" on Meta like you suggested: https://academia.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/4118/would-lms-specific-tags-be-appropriate-moodle-in-particular

I can't help but have a vaguely-nauseated reaction to the phrase (or acronym) "Learning Management System". The very use of such phrases is a passive acquiescence to the for-profit publishers' attempts to insinuate themselves as "essential" players in contemporary education. Srsly?

@paulgarrett, I really have no idea what you're referring to, especially because the vast majority of my experience with an LMS is with the open-source Moodle. (I did have a couple of brief stints with commercial ones, though.)

I'm answering as comment since it's not directly an answer: I gave up using moodle for such things, I'm using excel and python scripts for sending the mails via outlook. If someone ist interested, I could post some sniplets as answer, but since it is not really an answer, I'd stick to the comment for now.

Here's a quick thought based on a different learning management system (LMS). Sometimes in other LMSes you can upload feedback to assignments: you batch download each person's file, add comments, and upload each file with exactly the same name. Perhaps you could try a workaround like that, perhaps requiring you to create a fake or trivial assignment and get everyone to submit it.
For a more general approach that is LMS-independent, you could use a spreadsheet and your email program with mail merge. That is, one field would be email address and another field would be the comment, and optionally you could have the person's first name in another field. Then you could send a generic message with blanks filled in by the program. (You could send out a practice message to your own addresses or without any personalized content beyond student names and you can check your Sent log to see if it worked right.)
(The latter solution defeats the purpose of a LMS, but limited feature sets do, as well.)

Actually, your first proposal is exactly what I came up with as a workaround, and I gave detailed instructions how to do that in Moodle.

It's too bad that so much of this has to be workarounds! I wonder if there are feature request lists for Moodle? My sense is that LMSes typically try to use universities as go-betweens and discourage instructors from corresponding with them directly, but this may mean they lose out on the ability to better serve their users.

This is the workaround solution I eventually came up with:

Create a gradebook item (it could be called "Special Info" or whatever is relevant). Set the grade type to "Text" so that it does not affect any actual grades in the gradebook.
Use the Grade Import features to import the personalized information you want. But here's the key: instead of importing the personalized information as an actual grade for the "Special Info" grade item, specify it as "Feedback for Special Info" in the "Feedbacks" section of the import wizard.
When importing is completed, students will find the personalized information in their gradebook as feedback (not an actual grade) for the grade item you created for that purpose.

It's not the most elegant solution, since it artificially presents the information as a grade (but without affecting other grade calculations), but it gets the job done. Perhaps someone can post a better answer.

I actually did not know how to solve the problem when I started writing my question, but in the process of writing of a question, I came up with this possible (though imperfect) solution. So I've discovered a new value of StackExchange sites: posting questions can help me come up with answers to my own questions! (Well, maybe it works once out of 50 questions ...) :-)

With so many ways to give feedback within moodle I wonder why you are creating a separate spreadsheet with feedback in it? You can type feedback directly into any assignment activity you create in moodle. Even if the assignment was a traditional paper pencil assessment you can still create an assignment and post the feedback within it for each student.
You could make private wikis in moodle for each student where you can post comments. In addition you can put each student in their own group and make a forum that only group members can see.
Another option is to send a message through moodle with the personalized info. By far the simplest answer is to avoid creating externalll spreadsheets and use the feedback options already built into moodle for assignments and quizzes.
You could also start a thread at moodle.org to see if this is a feature the larger community may want to include in a future  release. Lastly surely no institution uses moodle without some sort of on-campus support. Have you talked to your support team on campus?

I've edited my question to clarify that I want an automated solution. Any means of one-by-one feedback completely defeats the purpose of my question.


text:
What is the feasibility of entering a PhD program in Computer Engineering without a B.S.or M.S. in CS or Computer Engineering?
I've realized that I wouldn't have the funds to finish a master's in Computer engineering, especially considering the fact that I have a non-STEM degree so l would have to take prerequisite classes so I can catch up on the material. To be noted, I have some CS research but other then that that is the most CS/CEN exposure I have. So I would like to know the feasibility of doing a PhD in Computer Engineering without either a B.S. or M.S. in CS/CEN.

Depends what you studied. From Philosophy, I'd say no way, from Electrical engineering perhaps yes. Also some countries require a MSc for a PhD and some others just a BSc.

It is hard to offer much if any encouragement. I'm curious, though, about why you want to do this. What is it about this particular degree that will get you to your goals that something else for which you are better prepared wouldn't do? There are places that grant a doctorate with only two requirements: pass the prelims and write an acceptable dissertation. But finding an advisor even there would require extraordinary other qualifications of some kind I think. Prelims are usually pretty hard to pass without the coursework.

I do not think you are going to get a PhD from a reputable university without demonstrating general knowledge of your field at least equivalent to a master's degree. There are two common approaches:

Applicants prove they already have that general knowledge, usually by reference to their prior degrees, and the PhD program is research only.
Applicants may have a lesser level of knowledge, but the program includes coursework as well as research.

For the second approach, you still need to convince the university that you are a good prospect to learn the required material in a reasonable time.
Someone with a STEM degree is a much better prospect because they have learned and applied relatively advanced mathematics. Most universities will be able to fill their PhD program with people who already have at least a bachelor's degree in the actual subject, and so meet most of the prerequisites for the graduate courses.
Some universities do not enforce prerequisites on PhD coursework if you have the knowledge and skills. I did take several graduate courses without having taken the prerequisite undergraduate courses, but I had extensive practical experience, as well as having studied academic papers and textbooks.


text:
Supervisor wants me to withdraw from program
I have had continuing problems with my supervisor in that

I used data from a publication but didn't cite it properly (this was an honest mistake and during discussions, I plainly said that I received the data from elsewhere) leading him to accuse me of academic dishonesty.
I had some publications in journals not of a good standard and he started accusing me of lying and having fake publications.
I did a lab presentation for which I was not prepared enough and he called me lazy and incompetent.
I got delayed in providing him with some research material and he plainly stated that he does not want to supervise me anymore.

I am planning to talk to the chair of the dept about my issues but are these sufficient grounds for the chair to recommend that I be withdrawn from the department?

I used data from a publication but didn't cite it properly

It is hard to say from that description, but yes, that can qualify as academic dishonesty/misconduct and be grounds for removal from a program. That said, except in the most blatant and worst cases, programs, and universities, generally try and provide some other sort of punishment.

some publications in journals not of a good standard and he started accusing me of lying

I cannot see how publishing your work would be grounds for dismissal under any circumstances. Lying obviously can be related to academic misconduct and be grounds for dismissal.

got delayed in providing him with some research material and he plainly stated that he does not want to supervise me anymore.

Not meeting deadlines can be grounds for dismissal, but generally there is a procedure that most be followed. The fact that he does not want to supervise you anymore is probably the most problematic issue. Your program may require you to have a supervisor, if so, you will need to find a new supervisor.
It sounds like things are going poorly and a talk with the department chair (or head of graduate studies) is appropriate. If this is the first time you are talking to the department chair, then I highly doubt the conclusion of that meeting would be you being kicked out. The meeting might start the process of you being dismissed, but more likely, it will start the process of trying to improve your situation and resolve the issues.

apparently, these journals are what people term "predatory journals". However, I am of the opinion that whatever the status of a journal is, get it published if they are open for publication and accept papers.