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Are two undergraduate degrees better than one master degree?
I have finish my BSc in physics. I want to work in a interdiscipline like biophysics or econophysics. Because these are mainly physics, one can study higher with spending little effort to understand biology or economy concept. However, I think that having a stable knowledge in other discipline would also help you better in researching. Since I have studied physics, mathematics isn't a problem, therefore I can skip it to shorten the study time, which means the amount of time I spend will approximate to the master degree duration (I hope so). Another point is I can be more flexible than one who only know his/her specialization.
The biggest disadvantage is I don't have a master degree, of course.

One minor remark: As an economist, I would not consider econophysics as interdisciplinary. It does not use anything from economics, no economist would consider it as part of their field and only physicists are working in it. And, to be honest, a BA in economics does not help you to do research in any field. However, you could do a Master's in economics. That is (in Europe) quite common, takes as long as a Master's degree and has all of the positive effects you mentioned (and more).

@TheAlmightyBob: As an economist, what's your opinion in econophysics? I read its wiki and see that economists seem not to care about this. Am I right?

I think it is pretty useless. Don't get me wrong, I think most people with a physics background are very well qualified to do economics research. However, ignoring everything that has been done so far and not trying to present it to economists is not helpful for anyone. I would suggest looking at quantitative finance. Most researchers do not have any economics background (mostly math and physics) and they are using techniques similar to /taken from physics. However, as I said before, as someone with a Physics BSc you are probably well qualified to do a Master's in Economics.

Your guidance seems to be very interesting. Do you have any more suggestions? Thank you. Also, while econophysics isn't considered to be in mainstream, I think it's larger day by day, right? There are books introduce to it, forum or blog for discussion and top university like Yale or Houston or MIT have groups to research.

@Ooker in my university, they use Introduction to Econophysics, by Stanley and Mantegna. It is quite accessible.

Traditionally, a Master's degree makes you a Master. Two Bachelor's degrees makes you a... Bachelor. Actually, you can't be "admitted to the degree of Bachelor" a second time, since you're already a member of it.

Disclaimer: the following is my practical experience on research. I have no idea about the opinions of admissions committees and the like, but it probably depends greatly on the country and the relative quality of master's and undergrad education.
I am a theoretical physicist by formation (5 years degree). Then I did my master's thesis (I had taken enough courses) in Bioinformatics, and I am doing a PhD in Biophysics.
When I start a new project (or tackle the next sub-project), there are a bunch of things about Biology and Chemistry that I don't know, but most of them are actually quite easy. I am sometimes lacking "the bigger picture", being able to my questions into a broader meaning, but that is not so important. For example, my master's project was to improve the number of identified peptides in an experiment using computational techniques, and that is a very clear goal. What to do with this improved results? Obviously, we can improve the things we already do. But, are there biological questions it can help answer? I am not sure, but there are experts on that.
For the middle picture range, I rely on my advisors. They are also physicists, but they have learned along the way pretty much what they need. And after just a few months, I was surprised of how much I was able to help the new members of the lab.
Actually, I believe taking another undergrad degree would not help so much. Of course, I would be faster at the beginning, because I would know what things like "the $C_\alpha$ residuals" mean, but the actual meat of the project, where we spend months, is probably not covered (or not covered in enough detail) in most undergrad degrees. And the main reason is that these details are known only to those who have actually worked hands on with it.
Let me give you an example: in Physics we talk about spectra all the time, and all the information you can extract from it, with perhaps, the only limitation is the noise of your instrument. The truth is, unless you have a VERY expensive camera, you are going to find very funny stuff, like two spectra taken right after the other, with exactly the same experimental set up, will not have, on camera, the same intensity; and even the profile of the line. To compensate for this you need to get clever, and it very much depends on the details, so it is very difficult to teach unless your lecturer is an expert in spectra analysis and can tell you how they do it. And still, most people can just rely on the spectra pre-processed by the experts, so they don't need to know this. Unless, of course, you want to work with raw spectra yourself (been there).
Lastly, a master's or a PhD has some courses. They are usually quite specialised, targeted for your level and background, and can bring you up to speed in the things you need to know about your field quite nicely.
And to add some peace of mind, my former lab hired a postdoc coming from computer vision. His biological knowledge had quite big holes, but nevertheless, in a couple of weeks he was already doing amazing stuff with very good ideas.
Bottomline, go for the advanced studies. You can always take Biology or Economy on the side (for example Open University or unofficially at Coursera).

How could I forget Coursera? This maybe the solution. Thank you so much. My dissertation is in biophysics, and I agree that learning what is a C_alpha residue is not so hard. However, I have a feeling that biophysics is still physics, and we need more communication between biologists and physicists. If possible, I would like to be able to understand both field. Do you have any advices? Thanks again.

@Ooker you are going to take biology courses. The difference is that they will be specialised into your interest, and stripped of things you already know. For example, you don't need to be explained what a spectrum is; and you probably don't need to know the anatomy of a rat. Also, when explaining genetics, for example, they can use Markov Chains and get in more depth.

To prepare some samples, I know you have to add a buffer to stabilise. A biologist would know which one, and how much, but for my job that is largely irrelevant. They know the pros and cons of each. But I agree that we should have a strong interaction; we can discuss together the different options, maybe I can come out with an idea to compensate for a certain con.

Do you have any suggestion if I want to be the a communicator between physicists and biologists?

@Ooker collaborate. Get together and discuss things. Organise a journal club, participate in joint research...

As someone who was in a situation similar to yours I always would recomment the advanced degree. The key difference (at least in most U.S scholls) is that with a B.S/ B.A you have a lot of "fluff" classes to make you more well rounded. Going for a M.A/M.S cuts away a lot of that and focuses much more on just the relivent classes. This makes getting the advanced degree much more time efficent.
Another point I'd like to make is that rarely does two degrees do anything. When getting a job for example, you get more money with an advanced degree. There isn't anything (to my knowledge) that gives you more for two degrees. So you've just wasted years of your life for not much reward (knowledge? Maybe, but certainly not any more than with a Master's in a specific field).
One final anecdote: I had a teacher who had two Master's in something or other in a field where PhD's reign supreme. Because of this, he wasn't allowed to be a full fledges professor but only an instructor (much less stable and much less pay). I say this because, yes he had two "advanced" degress, but two doesn't equal the higher degree. In this case, I believe you would just be limiting your options with the second B.S. In any case, good luck :)

I strongly disagree with a 2nd BSc degree. First, even if you manage to somehow avoid officially some courses because of your first degree, all BSc degrees have a minimum duration which is typically longer than a MS. So, it is not going to be faster or easier. Second, even if you get the 2nd degree you will know less than the ones who have a MSc in the second area. Also, a MS is a nice way to connect with potential advisors if you want to continue for a PHD and work on a specialized thesis similar to your interests.
To make a long story short: If you can get to MSc program of your area of interest with your (partially irrelevant) BSc degree, go for it. Then cover the knowledge you are missing on your free time. It is not going to be easy, but if you pull it off, it will work better for you in the long term. Disclaimer: That is what I did and it worked for me. Hope it works for you too.

Actually my second degree is for the worst case: I have to quit researching to make money. I need not to make money now, just in case life is getting harder. But you are right, if I really need to make money, a MSc might still be better.

A masters degree is far superior. The study done at a graduate level far surpasses the study at an undergraduate level. Employers look at a masters degree with much more acclaim than they would 2 bachelor's degrees.

I am a D.Phil. (PhD) student at a Doctoral Training Centres at Oxford and my experience is that a Master's degree in interdisciplinary bio-science would do you much better than a second BSc. I was one of 11 "mathematical sciences" students in my year with a couple of mathematicians and a bunch of physicists. None of us needed to relearn the skills from a BSc because we all had them, what we needed was direction on what is important to learn for working between disciplines. If I were you I wouldn't go for the second Bsc, I would go for a Master's or alternatively as I was recommended skip the Master's and go directly into a PhD program.

Please be careful not to phrase references to websites with which you're affiliated as if they're advertisements.

I removed the link

His link is useful to me.

Just search DTC Oxford and you will find what you are looking for

What if there is no master's degree in interdisciplinary bio-science available? Like the only choices available are BS Bio, MS Bio, MS Phys?

It depends on what you want to do next, and where you want to do it. In Switzerland, you are supposed to have a Masters degree to start doctoral studies, however with you bachelors degrees you can probably convince them to accept you (depending on the fields). In Australia, most people do not have Masters degrees before starting a PhD.
+1 for flexibility and broader knowledge.

Master's for sure. I would rather be a master of something than a jack of many trades. Specialize. Comparative advantage and all that. Or perhaps you would rather be a jack? Then maybe 2 bachelor's is for you, but interdisciplinary doesn't imply jack/2 bachelor's I guess.
Re: Econophysics, you can try out quantitative finance/mathematical finance. I am currently a grad student of QF, and we are learning stuff like Brownian motion and Feynman-Kac theorem. Basic for you Physics people, right?
There's the small difference of applying the stuff to finance (allocation of scarce resources over time) rather than economics (allocation of scarce resources), but hopefully that's not too far from your intention.
If you want to get into QF/MF, you could take a master's in it or just get a master's in Physics and learn the Finance on your own. Finance is relatively easy to learn. Things to check out:
Quant Stackexchange (save it from beta please)
Quantstart.com
Emanuel Derman
For Mathematical Finance (the Finance is introductory while the Math is not):
Hull's Options, Futures and Other Derivatives
Bjork's Arbitrage Theory in Continuous Time
Please be patient with the cute math you may see.
For Economics (Basic-Math Basic-Economics book):
N Gregory Mankiw's Principles of Economics

Thanks for your answer. What I want is knowing the whole picture (that's why I think about learning another degree). Anyway, it seems that finance and economics are different disciplines, right?

@Ooker Well yeah, but they are not too far apart, I think. Afaik, econophysics is just a fancy term for mathematical economics since if you are going to apply physics to economics, it will be through math. But economics is broad. Finance is a part/an application of economics I guess. If you are going to economics, you will have to pick a field to which you are going to apply math/physics. While finance is broad too, mathematical finance, I believe, is not. Try checking out the Wiki page for QF/MF. I also added some books in the OP if you happen to be interested.

Disclaimer: I am neither a finance nor economic person. That is, I do not know much about finance or economics in general. I know enough finance to apply math though. Hope you find fulfillment and happiness @Ooker :)

If you are not a finance or economic person, how come you know much about them? Anyway, thanks for your effort to help me decide :D

@Ooker I don't know much about them! Hahaha. These are just my guesses. Again, when I say "I am neither a finance nor economic person", I mean it in the sense of not knowing much "about finance or economics in general". For example, I don't know about the basics of development economics, behavioral economics, behavioral finance, personal finance, corporate finance, etc. My knowledge of fin/eco is limited to what is needed for mathematical finance. If you want an idea, check out the Hull book. It's like introductory finance for those who know Calculus and Probability.

How are you? @Ooker

Thanks for asking me. I decide that I'll study higher about applying physics in evolution. What makes you come back?

Cool! Yay STEM! I was just browsing my SE activity while trying to dig up something from one of my comments before. Hahaha. Your race salutes you, scientist.

I'm not really sure what you mean, but I will take that as a compliment. Thank you.

Earth doesn't have that many STEM people so to be one is worthy of a salute from the human race I guess?

Ah, it's really a compliment. At first, I think you are mentioning to my classification. Never mind, thank you so much :D

nevermind, I just make a click it by accident. Sorry about that

It would depend on how useful your first bachelor's degree is.
If you majored in most liberal arts or humanities areas, then a second bachelor's in business, engineering or information tech could open up some doors for you that your first degree did not.
The first question to ask yourself is "Get a Master's in WHAT?"  That's an almost impossible question to answer if your goal is to get a better job.

"Or perhaps you would rather be a jack?"
Do people need to be reminded that medical doctors in Canada, and elsewhere, earn 2 bachelor's degrees? The first one is either a BA or B.SC., and the second undergraduate degree is an "MD". Same for teachers, BA or B.Sc. plus a B.Ed. Ditto for Law - BA or B.Sc. plus an LLB (Bachelor of Laws), now called a 'Juris Doctor', but it is still an undergraduate degree. Even though the 2nd bachelor's degrees in these professions are undergraduate, they are 'professional' undergraduate degrees.
So for many professions, 2 undergraduate degrees are both necessary and sufficient. So much for the "Or perhaps you would rather be a jack?"


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Should I reproduce figures from other publications in my thesis to make it more self-contained?
I am working on a computer science master's thesis wherein I occasionally cite figures and tables from other works. Currently, the way I am doing this is something like

Foo et al. (2021) visualise that this and that is detectable (see their figure 2).

... where "Foo et al. (2021)" is hyperlinked to the bibliography at the end of the thesis with LaTeX.
Personally, I think this is sufficient information for the reader to know where to find the information I am discussing. On the other hand, I am biased because I have already read the research and hence have an imprint of the figure in my head (and/or have the figure pulled up in a separate PDF). I have a feeling that just pointing to "their figure" is somehow sloppy. I think my doubt comes down to these worries:

If the source is behind a paywall (this is never the case for me, though), the reader might not have access to the figure.

If the source is hard to find (which sometimes happens with really old sources) or even disappears (if they are published on university servers instead of official publishing servers), the reader might never have access to the figure.

Even if the source is two clicks away (jump to bibliography and open in browser), the reader still has to stop reading and do all of that, and also now has to scroll back up to where they jumped away from. Backreferences probably won't work since I cite most of my sources at least three times.

The reader needs an internet connection.

The reader needs to be reading on the computer.

Unlike internal references to my own figures, I have no hyperlink that specifically points to "their figure", only to the document in which it appears. This breaks stylistic consistency.

Should I reprint the discussed figures and tables in my thesis? I would of course put an appropriate citation alongside them to make it obvious that these aren't my own.
One immediate objection I have is that we have a page limit, and hence reprinting figures when they exist elsewhere seems like pointless inflation of valuable space. Putting them in appendix would have the same issue with jumping away from the text, but at least the reader doesn't need internet.

Note: this is not a question about whether I can reprint a figure/table. It is a question about whether I should.

How crucial the figure is to your thesis? Would the reader have to see the figure in order to understand your thesis? Or the figure is just there for reference purpose?

@Nobody I guess that's subjective. The thesis is 70 pages, so the reader will still understand most of it globally without looking up these figures and tables. Nevertheless, they will probably have a hard time understanding the text surrounding the reference, and also, if they don't trust me and cannot verify my claims because the source is hard to obtain, then it's even besides the point whether it's essential to my point, since it's essential to their sense of truth.

@Mew I think the text surrounding the reference relying on the source, and "the source is hard to obtain" gives you reason enough to include the figure in your thesis.

Generally, a thesis needs to be more complete (self contained) than a normal paper, though the advisor can give more detailed guidance about what they consider acceptable.
But, if you want to reproduce the images and such from the work of others, you need to deal with copyright issues. Your citation comments seem appropriate and you are avoiding plagiarism, which is the other major issue - good job there.
But, especially, for images, care is required. An image can carry a lot of information so reproducing a published image (or even an unpublished image created by someone else) is different from quoting a few lines from another paper.
There are some exceptions to copyright law for scholarship, but they don't completely override the requirement to quote "sparingly". If you want to use such images, the best recourse is to ask the publisher for permission. It is likely to be given so long as your work doesn't diminish the economic value of the original. Things behind paywalls, will, of course, have their own issues and calculations by the publisher.
Even reproducing figures has issues, just as over-paraphrasing does.
But, for an academic work, pointing to originals is normally sufficient, as the likely readers also probably have, or can obtain, access to the things you point to.
The dance is a bit subtle, of course. Talk to your advisor.

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How many publications are required to get a postdoc in plant science?
It is my humble question to all of you: how many publications are required to get a postdoc in plant science? I have seen researchers with plenty of publications not get any postdoctoral funding, but one of my seniors got it with only one publication (that too in a MDPI journal).
I am utterly confused.

The CVs of people who got jobs like the ones you want are the most reliable source of information.  Ignore the advice of people who are not familiar with your field and personal goals.

There is more involved in hiring at any level, including postdoc positions, than simply counting publications. It is a judgement call by those hiring as to how a candidate will "fit" a position and an institution.
So, in any field, the answer is somewhere between zero and a huge number, depending on how things are weighed. Even seemingly insubstantial things such as "This is a friendly and easy to get along with person" can make the difference.
Zero publications might actually occur if a committee sees a late draft of a remarkable dissertation - likely to be published, and with interesting research ideas going forward.
Research potential is probably more important in most decisions than research history, though. But a good history indicates potential, of course, especially in an early career person. Not infallibly, however.

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I cheated in some of my engineering exams including finals during my time at University, am I a fraud?
During my second and third year, COVID made all my engineering exams online. The exams were not proctored. Some of the exams I cheated by working with a group of friends. One person would have the exam open and we all would help and gain extra time by working on the solutions before we did our test. I would look at my friend's exam and keep notes of the answers and work out the solutions/methods in my own time before going on to do my exam. Our exam question are not all the same - they do change it up a bit between each student - however, some of the questions would be the same and some would just have different values but same layout of the question. Because of how the lecturers set up the exam I got grades that were average around 40-70% in some of those exams, although my assignments helped boost those grades up. I know that when you do an engineering exam you still need to know the topics and how to apply the methods therefore some of those exams were lower than others.
After my undergrad I decided to do a master's in which I did not cheat apart from getting help on a online quiz for one of the courses.
I never plagiarised or paid someone to do my work, I only collaborated with my friend during some of my online exams and assignments.
I know what I did is cheating in some of these exams including some finals and assignment, I regret ever doing it, I feel ashamed and guilty and rightfully so. I just can’t comprehend why I did this, I wish the exams were in an exam hall.
I want advice on what I should do next. I’ve graduated and working as a graduate engineer in an engineering company. I feel like I don’t deserve this job and that I’m a fraud. I also feel like I don’t deserve the degree and that I should revoke the degree and tell the university about what I did. I aspired to be an engineer ever since I started this course and want to be a professional engineer in the future with a chartered engineer status. But I feel what I’ve done in the past means that I cannot achieve this as I would be a fraud and unethical because I cheated in those exams.
Should I leave engineering? Return my degree and tell the university? Am I a fraud? Should I work toward an engineering chartership (professional engineering)?

Thank you all for the advice, I feel a bit better from reading everyone’s comments. Honestly, I really could not sleep and work because of this guilt. I have decided to move on and not expose my cheating and take this as a lesson for myself. I’ll continue to work in engineering and be the best I can in my work. I’ll work towards my chartership which will take some years to achieve but I believe that I can build and repair my integrity and ethics while working in industry as an engineer. I’ll hope this will be enough for me to achieve my goals and someday be a professional engineer that can be a leader. I hope the mistakes I’ve made at university will be compensated through my work in industry. On the point of safety critical work (my work includes safety critical work), I’ll ensure my work is done to the standards and regulations in my industry and always keep an eye out for any unethical practices. I’ll also try and go through my lecture notes on those courses and try and understand them better - although those courses do not help me with my current work but you never know I may may work in those specific field in the future. In addition, I’ll work on learning new stuff to support my future.
You do not understand how helpful it was to receive feedback from you guys. I felt like I was in a dark place but I’m glad I’ve found some light. I’m an engineer and not a fraud, I feel so bad and guilty but I believe I can give back to the community and work hard in my field. Thank you all for your help.

Maybe talk it over with your priest or therapist or best friend.

While there is nothing in your past behavior, as described, that indicates that you were honest, I suggest that you let the past be the past and move on.
In fact, it was yourself that you cheated, not just "the system". There are possibly some things that you should have learned but did not, by taking shortcuts. Or, should have learned more deeply, in fact. But even that is in the past, and you may have learned those things since.
Since you seem to be feeling guilty, you may also have learned some lessons about honesty that should serve you well going forward.
But the point of education is learning, a point which is too often ignored.
Let it go. There is a phrase in the Bible: Go and sin no more. We can all learn. We can all change. Beating yourself up over it or something like returning the degree does no one any good, provided that you act responsibly in your engineering practice, including making sure that you do have the required skills.
Continuing to obsess over it is a form of self defeating behavior, actually.

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Hi again, I’m trying to move on from this but my mind keeps making me feel guilt. How does one simply move on if they are constantly reminded of their past. My mind keeps bringing up that I’m a fraud. I just don’t know what to do. I would just like to know if I’m a fraud because of this. I don’t want to wrong my employers nor do I want to wrong the clients. Sorry for bringing this up again.

Yes I did attend the lectures and watch the recordings for it. I did revise, although I gave into the temptation of collaborating with others during the exams.

There were some topics that were difficult to understand so I would rush through them

Am I a fraud?

Depending on what your definition of a "fraud" is (or what someone must do to be considered a "fraud"). But yes, you unequivocally cheated and committed fraudulent acts during your studies.
That being said, the real world often isn't black and white. The crime that you committed is most likely a victimless crime (disregarding the possibility that your scores affected the grading curve, if that even exists in your case, but I seriously doubt that). It is obvious that you feel guilty enough to seek advice on the internet, which is probably more than what I can say for 99% of cheaters.
Based on these facts, I honestly don't see a point of dwelling on it. Cheating on one undergraduate course over ~6 total years in academia is unlikely to affect your understanding of your field, which at the end of the day is what really matters. If you feel like you have adequate knowledge in your field and that you are ready to pursue the next step (whether that is going in the industry or pursuing further academia), then it would be extremely unwise (from pretty much every faucet except a moral/ethical standpoint) to essentially "snitch" on yourself.
As a side note, this would obviously vary wildly depending on your profession but in my experience as a Software Engineer with nearly a decade of experience, 50% the knowledge you gained (especially in undergraduate courses) is pretty much insignificant (obligatory "depends on which specialisation/work you do"). As a practical example, I was notoriously bad at theoretical (and applied math to a lesser extent) math and pretty much got passing grades for all of them. Not one concept taught in those courses has ever become remotely useful in my job (in a pragmatic way), when I mostly deal with cloud infrastructure and fullstack web development. Do take this as a grain of salt as our situations would obviously vary but this should lessen your imposter syndrome. For me, if I cheated on say Linear Algebra I, it would not have affected my potential or capacity to be who I am today in any way.

(1) You did cheat and obtain your bachelor's degree fraudulently. However, only parts of your study were impacted by your dishonesty, and presumably, during the Covid pandemic, many others fell into the same or similar temptations.
(2) You are planning on obtaining a professional engineer's degree that will (I hope, you do not give your country) test and certify your competence. Work for that and your cheating will become unimportant. Alternatively, seek out other professional qualifications that include a certification of your skills. This will ease your conscience.
(3) For the future, learn that you can give in to temptation and that you need to build up resistance, such as pride in your educational accomplishments and in your professional standings. People who are aware of their short-comings are actually better qualified to work in ethically gray areas. As a working engineer, you should and build up a reputation of someone who does not bend rules. If you achieve this, then your cheating has turned into something positive.
(4) Given the lack of gravity of your offense, there is no need to inform the university or offer to "give back your degree".

PE is based on an undergraduate degree.

My country doesn’t do PE, it has chartership which requires engineers to meet the competencies laid out by the council. There’s no exam but there is an interview where you have to provide evidence of meeting the competencies - which includes the academic education accreditation as well as number of years in the industry).


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Publishing new file format standards in academic journals
In my field of research, I have observed that many people are reinventing the wheel for certain types of applications which does not seem to be a great use of research time. To make this more concrete, I have noticed that there are several different file formats to exchange CAD (Computer Aided Design) files which are all not necessarily useful in my area of research (Computational Engineering, i.e. simulation of some sort based on the CAD file). For example, in my area, I mainly need the surface definition of the CAD file which will then be used as a boundary condition in my simulations, yet, any available CAD format makes this process either unnecessarily complicated or straight-up impossible, due to surface impurities that arise in the process of generating the surface information (tessellation, in this case).
That being said (and talking to commercial software vendors who face the same issue), I figured it would be good to come up with a new file format that is specific for our computational modelling requirements and stores surface information in a way that can be directly consumed by our simulation tools. There is an argument to be had about whether we really need another file format (which I don't want to dwell on here), but if I wanted to work on something like this, one thing I noted is that there is no standarisation in place.
As an example, a popular file format we commonly use is the *.stl file format which is used for 3D printing. Its great for that 3D printing, it stores the surface definition and even if there are impurities, these will be so small that the 3D printer will basically just print over them. In my area, even a tiny gap in the surface will cause issues setting up simulations, so time-consuming pre-processing has to be done to bring the surface quality up to a standard required by the simulation tools. Even more problematic is that the company that came up with this format does not seem to be around anymore (or at least it is no longer associating itself with the file format) so basically the file format is not standarised, everyone can have their own implementation of it which leads to some incompatibilities when trying to generate it with one software and then reading it with another.
Thus, given the lack of a standard, it would be useful to have a standard for a domain-specific file format. This would be mainly used (initially) for academic research, though a new file format (and its standard) may not qualify as novelity and thus I wonder how one would go about publishing such a standard in a journal? Has anyone experience with such an endeavor?
To be clear, initially I am not considering going for an ISO standarisation or similar (due to cost implications) but rather follow best practices such as guidelines provided by the open-source initiative: https://opensource.org/osr
The other reason I am looking into publishing this is to make this available to academic researchers who would likely be the early adopters and it makes sense to disseminate that knowledge in areas which the target audience is reading.
Looking at similar efforts elsewhere, there seems to be a trend to publish efforts in conferences (which may be a good idea in terms of informing other researchers about this development), but when it comes to a standard itself, it feels more natural to put this into a journal rather than a conference (i.e. this would be a reference paper).
Any suggestions on how to go about publishing a standard would be welcome. In my field, as far as I know, there are no such journals dealing with standards, perhaps there are journals dealing with this specifically?

Unfortunately, this is what you face: https://xkcd.com/927/

there is some truth to it but as I was mentioning above, the most used file format does not have a standard but rather a set of beliefs how this should be implemented (hence the idea of standarising a bespoke file format).

Knowing what my engineers do while converting 3D CAD files into input for other analyses, it is highly unlikely that your file format would cover any single use case, much less all the use cases.

Not my field, but wouldn't it be more useful to provide (automated) methods to process/correct commonly used file formats for analysis rather than contributing yet another file format? Admittedly this is probably also harder to do.

Good point, my idea was to start with a standard as there is relatively little agreement for the file types that are currently in use, i.e. my thing was having a standard int he first place, even if it is in version 0.1 is better than no agreement and may result in buy in easier. But its a good point none the less, thanks for your input

@atom44: Yes, we already have "automated" methods and tools that deal just with that, but there are no "one size fits all" solutions. This requires more work on a deeper level, by restricting how data is exchanged (through the file format) you can get rid of a lot of problems before you start with the cleanup process. Even a new file format will not solve all problems, but it will sufficiently cut down on issues we currently face so that automated methods can be much more effective.

Your approach and objectives are not very compatible with the traditional model of publishing in journals.
Said model is that a researcher makes an advance in a specialized area, writes up a compelling article and sends it to experts who decide whether the advance merits being shared.
Contrast this with what you've described. What you are proposing is not an advance but a restriction in how a certain type of file should be prepared. People use it in different ways; you believe that there should be fewer ways to use it. This already demands a very strong reason for further consideration. Your description does not make a compelling case- you don't indicate that other researchers face problems with this. Commercial software vendors may have some agreement with your idea, but orderly commercial productions are often orthogonal to the messy and diverse requirements of researchers. That's why many researchers write programs, despite not being trained or compensated for it.
Further, the standard would work if and only if you understand the needs of most researchers using these types of files. You must judge whether you are in a position to assert this; the information in the question does not suggest this. Having worked with these types of files for different purposes, I've always found tools (mostly written by researchers) to help me with converting and making different versions compatible. I cannot claim that all purposes are met by such methods though.
Finally, if a researcher must do this, conferences are the right way to go. There one can get a real sense of whether the idea is useful and worth exploring, as well as finding stakeholders who would support such an effort in the future.

Well, my question was about how to publish a standard in an academic context, not whether I have the credentials to undertake such work. I was sparse on the information I provided because it was not adding value to the question. That said, if you wanted to have more info, there are essentially 3 criteria a file format should have to be useful in our field (CFD): support for higher-order, tessellated elements (quadratic/cubic/quartic triangles), water tightness guarantees and only manifold connected triangles.

Sure, tools can help to some extend, but you can't transform a linear triangle to a higher order element without losing information. There are similar efforts under-way using a dedicated file format that stores computational meshes (CGNS files), but they don't look at CAD. The idea here is to complement this by having dedicated meshing and CAD file formats which remove a lot of time wasted on pre-processing (honestly that research time and money can be spent in better ways). That being said, I probably agree that conferences may be a better starting point to gauge interest

It isn't much about having credentials as being aware of the needs of all users. An alternate framing could be convenience vs customizability-which is a recurring debate in many R&D areas.  Besides conferences, maybe CFD support fora/user groups could be a good place to gauge interest.


text:
Approaching someone outside my department for work experience
I am a masters student at my university within the school of mathematical and science.
Within this school there are two departments, the maths department and physics department.
These two departments are very close and tight knit especially at the postgraduate level.
I am within the mathematical department.
Within the physics department there are many professors that are part of a world leading research group at a top experiment and research centre in the world.
This research centre offers work experience/ internships.
I want to ask these professors for work experience at this research facility.
How can I approach them and ask them for this?
How long shall I wait after the start of term to ask them?

Why not? Worst case, they tell you "no".
Just make sure you are able to prove you have the requisite skills and background, and willingness to come up to speed fast.

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


text:
Discussing conditions of an offer
I have been made an offer to study for a masters at a top university in London.
The offer I have been made is quite specific with requirements in individual components of the course. I have accepted the offer.
There is a strong possibility that I may miss the conditions of the offer but only by an extremely small margin and this is obviously causing me much anxiety.
I am thinking of emailing the university and asking them hypothetically what would happen if someone missed the offer by an extremely small margin just so I can start to make preparations.
I was thinking more of emailing the program head to understand what they would usually do in this situation.
My question is, is it a good idea or not?
Could it effect me in a negative way?

Is this something like a minimum GPA requirement or something like a degree received by requirement or when you must be in residence?

It is something like a minimum GPA requirement to meet the conditions of the offer.

For minimum GPA, there isn't much utility in letting them know ahead of time.
They either have an absolute GPA cutoff or they have some flexibility. If there's an absolute cutoff, then there's not much you can do.
If there's flexibility, then you can try to argue mitigating variables at the point when you have to tell them your final grades. There's not much advantage in starting the argument before you present your grades, and in some ways this may hurt your chances because they might think you should be using your energies right now to try to improve your grades.
In all likelihood, you were accepted with awareness that your grades were weak. In that case, they may want you to go on academic probation or you might have to forgo some scholarships/funding until your grades improve. Not the end of the world.

I was thinking about not letting them know about me personally. I was planning on asking them hypothetically. The idea was to email them questions to find out more information about the course and the modules they offer i.e  For example on their website it says students may take up to 2 undergraduate modules and I was thinking of asking them would a person be allowed to take more than 2 in any case, for example missing the offer slightly etc...and then at the end just slip them a hypothetical question about their requirements and if someone did not meet them

What's the point? Either they have leeway or they don't. Bring sneaky doesn't help your case, in fact it hurts it. Do your best with your grades then see what they say.

Ok, makes sense

I was planning on asking them hypothetically. — Yeah, that never works.

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


text:
Should I inform my potential supervisor that my family has just suffered from financial hardship?
Here is my story. I am an international student intending to pursue a PhD program in Australia. I have found a potential supervisor. I showed him lots of enthusiasm about how I really wanted to work with him. He agreed to supervise me and encouraged me to apply for a university scholarship, and I did. The result will be out in a month.
However, recently, my family has gone into a financial problem. It probably makes it impossible for me to do research there without financial assistance. He won an Australian Research Council grant last year.
Should I inform him about my financial situation before I receive the result? Should I ask him about potential sources of money to cover my living costs, e.g., RAship?

Hi! Could you please add a few more details; in particular, would this PhD be a paid position?

As an Australian with a PhD I was under the impression you cannot enroll in a PhD program that isn't funding. In general though the standard PhD scholarship isn't a lot of money relative to the cost of living in most Australian cities.

You can get more than the standard in many cases (particularly if you're an Australian citizen which obviously isn't the case here), and often a top-up as well (the CSIRO for example often awards top-ups).

Never enroll in a PhD program if it is not paying you a living wage.
It is very unlikely that an Australian university will allow you enroll in a PhD without getting paid.  Check housing costs!  The pay will be terrible compared to other jobs in Australia.
The time to discuss your financial needs is after you receive an offer.  There is always a (very small) chance they will offer more than you need if you have not told them.

This this this. Not only for your sake, but for the sake of all other aspiring PhD candidates. A PhD is a job and should be remunerated as such.

While it is difficult to predict the outcome or response, it would probably be a mistake to withhold the information if it affects the likelihood that you can begin studies.
Be careful how much information you reveal about your family, though, but make it clear that you will need something like full funding, no matter the source, to begin studies.
It might not make any difference, depending on how much say they have in funding or what funding sources they might control. But it at least gives them information they need about the future.
Good luck.

Yes, you do not need to give lots of family details, ... just say that you need full/adequate funding.

These answers cover a wide range!
Here is another perspective.
Imagine that the potential supervisor is a human being.
More specifically, imagine that you are in that position. Imagine that you are trying to choose between two potential students. One will be less interesting to work with. The other will be more interesting to work with but (like you) is an “interesting situation” which will involve thinking about funding, finding sources of it, wondering whether the money will come through and so on.
Which one would you choose?
——
So coming back to your own situation — you acted honestly given your financial situation at the time you applied. So nothing wrong there.
Your financial crisis could have come at any time. It could have happened in the future: say, just after you got the offer.
FOR THESE REASONS I would say, don’t complicate the selection process. Let it proceed normally. If and when you are chosen, then say “Since I applied, such and such a situation has arisen” and see what happens. Nothing dishonest or unreasonable about this. And even if nothing is possible at this particular moment in time, you still have a status of “we liked this candidate but circumstances got in the way” - which may not be such a bad thing in the future.

It is usually a bad idea to try to do a PhD candidature with no financial support (except for a person who is independently wealthy) and supervisors are well aware of this reality, so they will not be surprised if an applicant who is accepted for the candidature but denied a scholarship decides not to take up the offer.  Having said that, it is still useful for a supervisor to know in advance if there are any impediments to having a student start a program of study.  Consequently, I see no reason to defer telling your supervisor that you will only be able to undertake a candidature if you receive a scholarship or some other form of financial support to cover your living expenses.  Feel free to ask about alternative avenues for funding if the scholarship offer is not forthcoming, but do not assume that he can fund you as a research assistant out of his own research grant.  It is best to have these conversations earlier than later.

I would say, just wait for the result for now. Your future advisor may have asked other students to apply as well. So, waiting for the result is a good approach before talking about hardship or other personal issues. If you get accepted, then they will send you an offer letter with all financial incentives or stipend details. Most likely, the stipend will cover your expenses; you can figure this out once you read the letter. That might solve your problem even without talking about your hardship. Otherwise, you can talk about your hardship after receiving the offer letter and negotiate. There may be other opportunities such as fellowships/grants available in the university you applied which can be additional money and your advisor can help you to apply for those. For now, just wait for the decision.


text:
How will not doing a bachelor thesis affect my chances of masters and PhD?
My university (math major) offers the option to write and present a bachelor thesis instead of taking 3 courses. Due to my changing tracks (from applied maths to pure maths) I have lost my ability to present a thesis this June and will instead have to wait until next June.
It will however mean that I will have to delay my graduation by at least a semester, if not a year. I would like to avoid that because a) I am quite fed up with my current institution and b) Delaying my graduation would come with a significant personal and financial cost.
Now that context has been provided, how will not doing a bachelor thesis affect my chances of getting into a good masters and then PhD program?

What is your location?  In the US, I would say that recommendation letters are far more important than any bachelor thesis.

Possible duplicate for PhD: https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/176908/63475

@GEdgar The advisor for a bachelor thesis is probably the best person to write a recommendation letter.

@GEdgar I'm in northern Europe

Having done a bachelor's thesis, a master's thesis will go more smoothly. There are just a number of decisions that will be easy to make after you have made them badly before.

Your undergraduate thesis (or lack thereof) shouldn't matter at all for PhD programs in Europe, presuming you plan on doing a Master's degree first.
For getting into a "good" Masters program, this might depend on the country. For instance, many good universities in Germany only expect that you have a relevant Bachelor's degree (with a minimum average grade). So if you have your heart set on applying to a specific elite program, it might be an issue. If you're a bit more flexible, it should be fine.

It depends hugely on induvidual factors, but originally the system was created that first you make your bachelor and then you get your masters. Probably this is also in the head of your profs, and in the head of the people creating the rules and requirements of your University.
But most importantly: the idea, that you focus to some field already in your pregrad years and you try to become really good in it, is very welcomed in the eyes of a professor focusing since decades to a field. You see your 3-7 years in your institute an eternity, they see the first small steps in a career path.
To become really welcomed by them, they want to see a career path which points to them. And, a path needs at least two points. And the topic of your Bachelor, followed by a Masters on the same field, that is already a very strong... arrow to the direction of that field, and any prof with influence, for example, into entry decisions to a Phd program, will want to at least talk with you.
This effect does not exists if you only have a masters in your nearly empty CV (yes a CV is practically empty until ca. masters in their eyes).


text:
Extra Charge per page increased after publication
My paper was accepted and published online in a reputed journal who has extra charge per page quoted as Rs.X /per page. I knew that page will exceed and I'll have to pay 5 * X as I can afford it. After that i didn't recieved any intimation from them, now after an year i received a mail that paper is going to be published in print and pls pay 5 * 2X (recently they increased extra charge per page to 2X)
I don't know what to do, I'm not  capable of paying twice for it.
Can someone guide me what to do and what happens if I don't pay for it? My paper has already been cited 5 times in other papers as reference.


text:
Should I apply to an academic tenure-track job even if I am not a 100% fit?
I am geographically limited in my academic job search. I have seen some jobs I am qualified for, but might not be 100% fit. For example, I have the qualifications but only a few papers on the topic whereas most of my work is in other areas. Any insight would be appreciated!

You are looking for a job that suits you, not for a job that you are a good fit for.

This is a deeply personal questions that is unanswerable here. The answer entirely depends on your own personal preferences.

yes, yes, yes. Oh, to be sure: yes

Unicorns can exist in both employers and employees.

One aspect that I don't think many are considering here is you will have to ask your referees for a reference. They may not appreciate having to write a large number of references for jobs that don't seem like a good match.

Not applying is suboptimal and self defeating. It is the university that you apply to that makes the determination of your "fit". They know things that you don't and there may be factors that make you seem better to them than you do to yourself.
Yes. Apply. Put some effort into it.

BEST Answer ! !

Being a perfect perfect fit is unreal.
Many applicants may have abilities/experiences that you lack, and you may have many other abilities/experiences that they lack.
Applying is the only way to be considered to get the job. Skills that you need to get the job done may come with some time in the job.
Apply, and if you don't get the job, apply for the next offer you find.

In the 1980s, when he was just out of grad school (having finished both a PhD in cultural anthropology and a JD), my father applied for a teaching position.  They were looking for someone with research experience on the Navajo Nation (which was my father's research area) who also had experience in the law (my father clerked for Justice Feldman, and then served as legal advisor to the minority party in the state House for several years).  There were a bunch of other weird little details in the job description which exactly fit my father's experience.

It turns out that the job description had actually been written in an extremely narrow way so that they could hire a specific person (not my father).  Boy were they pissed when they had to interview him, anyway (even if they didn't end up offering him the spot).

But this is the exception that proves the rule.  In general, no one is ever a perfect fit for any position. :D

@XanderHenderson - You should really try to turn those comments into an answer... it is a good anecdote

If it's somewhere that you could envision yourself being successful and somewhere that you would like to work then you should apply.
Often the research areas specified in an advertisement are the result of an internal negotiation with different people having a different opinion about what is needed (or would benefit them the most). So they are not necessarily rigid requirements. Depending on how specific the requirements are there may be few, if any, people who are a 100% fit.
The panel can ask for anything they want but ultimately they will need to choose from the applications they receive. Just make a solid case for why your experience/future plans complement the department/university (and are viable there) in the application.

“Don’t put limitations on yourself. Other people will do that for you.”
— James Cameron (2010 TED Talk*)
*The quote is at the 16:10 mark, but do yourself a favor and watch the whole thing.

You should read the job ad in the broadest possible sense.
If you are working in a field, there is a natural tendency to read things like job ads (or other descriptions of qualification) in a very narrow sense: While you know something about X, you certainly know a few people who know significantly more about X. Nevertheless, you might be a real expert on X - not compared to those few people, but those might well not apply, but compared to the vast majority of other applicant - which might well make you both an expert on X, and the most qualified candidate.
Of couse, it also depends what the people who wrote the job ad had in mind. There is always the possibility that they had someone specific in mind, or a very specific field. But another possibility is that they thought that field X is fashionable, but they will be rather happy to hire someone who knows lots about X, even though he/she is not among the 10 leading researchers in the field.

Yes.
Assuming you are actually interested in that job.

Because the other answers, simple as they are, were still too complicated.


text:
In which cases does my employer get informed?
I was thinking of attending a Harvard Online Certificate, but I saw these:
https://online.hbs.edu/legal/ that it says about in which cases my employer gets informed.
So, what I want to ask is this:

If I use my university e-mail (I go to a different University) to register to the program, does my employer learn that I attend also Harvard Online Certificate?

If I give my university e-mail to Harvard Online, do they ask my University who I am?

I have a valid university e-mail. The problem is that I don't want my employer in the University I attend, to know that I attend also Harvard Online certificates program. There is nothing illegal, but there is no need for my employer to know that.
From https://online.hbs.edu/legal/:

SOURCES OF INFORMATION
We may receive information directly from you or from third parties such as marketing partners, social media companies, or your employer or educational institution if you are enrolled in our Services through or in connection with an organizational agreement.

We may, for example, share information under the following circumstances:
....
To report to your employer on your progress and participation in a Service if your participation in the Service is sponsored by your employer, and if you have so consented or we are otherwise permitted to do so.

"I cannot copy the text due to copyright law" - that's not how copyright law works. Please quote the relevant text here. Questions on this site must be self-contained and not require visiting an outside page to comprehend, especially because that page may someday soon disappear and make the question entirely useless to others.

Are you "enrolled in our Services through or in connection with an organizational agreement"? Is your "participation in the Service" "sponsored by your employer"?

I will pay the money for the certificate by myself.... no employer included...

I think you're responsible for reading and understanding the terms yourself, there's no special knowledge of Academia necessary here.

The way it is written, is a bit confusing to me...Sorry!

I think you're worried about "or we are otherwise permitted to do so.". If so, I suggest you to ask Harvard directly. There is no way we can guarantee they will not inform your employer in some cases they are permitted to do so. It does sound lawyer's talk. You either let them give you black and white explanation about what exactly are the cases they are permitted to do so or you don't register the program. If you absolutely don't want your employer to know about it, I would not register if I were you.

However, I am wondering why you don't want your employer to know about it. Is there conflict of interest ? Or something you rather not tell us ? In general, there is no harm to participate in such a program.

Harvard Online is not likely to contact anyone about your online certificate.  You may request that they send proof of your studies to your employer.


text:
What is the effect of a PhD student dyeing their hair blue?
I'm a male 19 year old Phd student (in a field in the exact sciences), I dyed my hair bright blue. Personally, I think it transmits a great message and is generally cool. Although, I'm not sure how well received will it be in my university, in teaching, while visiting other universities, meeting new researchers I never met before and while presenting in conferences.
Picture of the hair can be viewed here:

https://i.sstatic.net/3a2Ib.jpg

Questions:
What effect might dyeing your hair blue have as a PhD student?

Hoping that this also applies to females and other vibrant hair colors (pink, green, etc.).

I think that this is generally more acceptable (in society, not specifically in academia) for females...

These questions might be relevant: http://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/19472/tattoos-in-the-workplace and http://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/17363/are-search-committees-biased-in-terms-of-a-candidates-looks-such-as-long-hair

I have seen quite a few PhD students with different colored hair from all areas of the gender spectrum. Unless you are in a conservative field, I do not think it matters. This extends to lots of visible tattoos as well.

I have doubt that this question is answerable in its present form. Sure, there are people who will conciously or subconciously have a lower opinion of you and there are people who will have a higher opinion. You will also find some professors with non-natural hair colours (here is one). But without an intensive study, there is no way of telling the general impact of dyeing your hair blue.

That being said, I only remember one situation in my field where somebody’s looks were commented on and that was somebody wearing a tie and a suit as a PhD student.

If you act with respect and humility, then I don't think anyone will (or should) care. Sometimes, an "outgoing" sense of style can be a sign (or vector) of arrogance. Since you're worried about the impact of such a thing, I'm sure that's not you. It can even make you more memorable. (one of the top search suggestions for "nasa mohawk guy" on Google is "nasa mohawk guy girlfriend"...)

@ResearchEnthusiast The fact that you are interested in your hair is presented probably means you have a better presentation than 50% of your colleagues already ....

You fail to mention the field and the country you are. Without more information there is impossible for one to produce an useful answer.

What is the message being transmitted by your hair?  I'm not being sarcastic, just curious.  Really.

@DrPangloss my field is Computer Science (I'm currently in Israel but it doesn't matter that much as I'm not very worried about current colleagues and friends who know me, but about new people I'll meet).

@DavidKetcheson just the laugh-in-the-face to the whole "nerdy square academics" stereotype which is unfortunately quite common here (especially when people here the word "math" or "computer"). Also, previous "hair-experiments" had been a great confidence boost for me, which is also good :)

Go ahead, I think in CS you should be fine. Jason Hartline (http://www.eecs.northwestern.edu/hartline) used to have purple hair at some point in time. I am an economist. I went green after getting my first job (my thesis advisor got upset but I was OK with it because he was pushing other students in the mkt), after tenure I went purple.

"Personally, I think it transmits a great message and is generally cool." This "coolness" disease just won't die, will it? :( I'm particularly curious as to which "great message" you think bright blue hair "transmits".

Oh, the message of "I'm laughing in your face"? Okay, nice one, I guess.... :/

Go for it.  I've never colored my hair, but I did spend several years with long hair.  I got my first real haircut in almost a decade just after I got tenure.  In my last year as an assistant prof I could literally sit on my hair (and frequently did, which is why I finally cut it).  You know how many people reacted badly to my long hair?  That's right: nobody.  (Well, nobody that mattered, anyway.)

Do you want to be treated seriously, or do you want to be treated as a joke?  There are points in favor of each, I suppose.

I've seen bright red in PhD students.

I'm with @DavidKetcheson on this: what messages a bright color of hair or other appearance elements do send? Let me put it more succinctly: what professional messages do they send? IMHO, none.

@AleksandrBlekh not a professional message, I agree, but I do find it as a relatively subtle and completely harmless to protest against social norms and stereotypes I refuse to accept. (By the way, if this is of any relevance to the discussion, I'm 19 yo).

About half of all female CS students I know had brightly colored hair at some point. The "rebel nerd" look is kind of is a stereotype too - but it's probably confirmation bias because bright hair sticks out more. My first impression of anyone of any profession with brightly colored hair usually is that (sorry and no offense) he/she wants attention.

DONE~! (added pics as an answer)

@JeffE Nobody reacted badly to your long hair, but (for the sake of completeness) how many people reacted badly to your cutting it?

Food for thought: what fraction of people with blue hair can be taken seriously in an academic context? Now compare that with those who have natural hair color. If you think there isn't a significant difference between the two fractions, then go ahead and dye your hair blue. But I suspect there is, so if you agree, then from a statistical standpoint you can't argue that whether or not you have natural hair color is a bad predictor of how seriously people should take you. (You can think of it as prejudice if you want, but I think of it as a Bayesian prior, and the effect is the same.)

@AndreasBlass Reactions varied, but about the same number of people were disappointed vs. relieved.

I made edits to try to clarify question; I think images of blue hair that take up two screens are not really necessary and make the question more personal than needed. I imagine links for interested suffices. I still think the actual question needs clarifying. i.e., What is the effect of having blue hair on WHAT? Hopefully the emphasis now is more on the general question of blue hair in academia as opposed to OPs particular circumstances.

Small tip: when you insert an image you can change its size by modifying the url. If the image is XXXXX.jpg you can use XXXXXs.jpg to have a small version or XXXXXm.jpg for a medium version.

I just find the irony amusing that teenagers feel like being rebellious and original but do the same thing as everyone else at that age.

I think it would look even better if you put it in a mohawk

BTW it's "dyed" and "dyeing".  The words you used are pronounced the same, but they refer to death, not artificial coloration. :P

@MasonWheeler sorry (it wasn't me, just a random updater).

If you're planning on interviewing at IBM it could be an advantage.  You know, "Big Blue"... ...oh never mind.  I'll get my coat...

The effect is that your hair is blue, duh!

Yes, this sends a message. I'm not certain, however, that the message being received is the message you intended to send. I suppose it might be received as "Go Wolverines!", which could be cool in Ann Arbor but potentially bad in Columbus or Lansing. It might be received as "That's DOCTOR Smurf, pal!". It might be received as "I got into my grandmother's hair bluing kit - NOW what do I do?". It might be received as "If you think THIS is bad you should've seen the tattoo I passed on!". Or it might be received as "FRATERNITY INITIATION! WOO! WOO!! WOO!!!". Y'see - you just never know... :-)

If you are in C.S., you might want to read Ric Hehner's paper "do considered od".

"19 year old Phd student" wow

How can you be a 19 year old PhD? Did you finish your Bachelor in 1 year? Which country?

Are you unusually young for your situation in your country? If so, it may be better to avoid things like unusual hair dye that make you look even younger.

The general advice is that when you're an undergraduate student, a graduate student not yet on the job market, or when you're a tenured faculty, you can do whatever the hell you want.
The problem is that you are vulnerable when you're in the position to be hired, promoted, tenured, or retained. In those cases, having just one conservative person on the hiring/promotion/retention committee (or at the divisional, full faculty, dean or provost levels) can derail you. In those circumstances, you want to stand out in terms of your research, service, and teaching  but to try to avoid or mitigate any areas of friction where and when possible.
Since hair color is easily changeable, if I were your advisor, I would recommend that you dress (and hair color) more conservatively when you go on the job market -- and when you come up for promotion/retention/tenure.
I would also recommend you wear shoes at your job interview.
The benefit to risk analysis just isn't in favor of frivolity in these high stakes situations. Your departmental faculty may be 100% behind you and your sartorial style but I've seen faculty lose tenure bids at the divisional, full faculty, and provost level despite department support. I've seen grad students not get hired because they wore a t-shirt to a job interview thinking the institution was a cool, hip place. It was, just not that hip.
At all other times during your career, I think you are relatively free to do what you want within the broader norms of your particular cohort and department.
Note that while my home department is anthropology and I'm currently at a R1, I've also taught at two SLACs and have seen enough shenanigans in other departments and at divisional/university levels that my advice is not restricted to just anthropology at R1s but is intended as general advice. Ymmv.

Anthropology must be a lot more conservative than computer science.  I can easily imagine a member of a hiring/promotion/retention committee objecting to hiring/promoting/retaining a productive colleague because of their hair color.  But I can't imagine the rest of the committee responding to that objection with anything but derisive laughter.

@JeffE maybe that one conservative person doesn't mention the hair color as a reason, but makes other reasons up?

@JeffE Prejudice rarely manifests as obviously as that. That conservative person might not even be making up reasons, the thought could just slightly and consistently be coloring how they think about a candidate.

In fact, the only instances I've seen of attempts to sabotage hiring or tenure did not at all directly address the (inferable...) issue in the saboteur's mind, but, rather, something unrelated to the actual reason for attempted sabotage. In particular, there was scant room to ridicule the "grounds for objection", even while it was possible to understand that it could not have been the real reason, etc. These academics are not dummies.

+1 Because this is sad, but true.  Even if it shouldn't be, you have to account for the way the world is, not the way we'd like it to be.

If you're dying your hair at least in part to "transmit a message", it shouldn't be a surprise that some people you interact with will receive the message, and dislike it.

This definitely depends on environment: your research field's culture, your department's culture and your university's culture.
As someone that had a mohawk phase often during grad school, I can only speak from my time in my PhD program in mathematics (in the USA). In my experience, I would cut it off before any conference, any research visit, and the job market as it felt not right for me.  I kept the mohawk when teaching. My university never complained about the hairstyle and I won teaching awards from the students. The most I heard from colleagues was that it probably made mathematics "more relatable" to the students and the occasional "you should grow a tail in the back so you're like that jedi...." On the other hand, I would feel uncomfortable with a mohawk in my new university.
In my experience, computer science and mathematics seem culturally the least focussed on appearance. Everything is contextual, though.

Mohawk phase. My brain can't handle this, as all of my professors were ancient or computer science grads.

I had a mohawk sometimes as an undergrad .Undergrads were called students back then 1984 .I did NOT have this when in a PAID research position .I do not know what is right in these times .Maybe undergrad is wear anything and staff member get with code ?

In some fields with significant client-facing time, colored hair (or other similar notable features like significant visible tattoos or piercings) is generally unacceptable. My knowledge of this primarily comes from clinical psychology, but I'm sure that there are other similar fields (for instance, social work). For somewhat obvious reasons, maintaining a professional and somewhat conservative appearance is important when a significant part of your degree involves doing clinical work.
In non-clinical fields, I think that this is generally okay (unless you have some particularly conservative faculty), but I will let other answers address that.

I'm talking about computer science / mathematics.

@ResearchEnthusiast Sure, but the question's scope can be broader than that. If someone googles this in a couple months (and most stackexchange sites are built for google traffic) they might not necessarily be from your field and might find this helpful. And the CS/math perspective is never underrepresented at this site.

@ResearchEnthusiast In computer science, where it's not unusual to see acceptance of graduate students who aren't even wearing shoes, funky colored hair fits in just fine.

@jakebeal: you see graduate students like that.  But do you see faculty like that?

@GEdgar: Sometimes, yes.

@GEdgar: Yes, I see CS faculty walking around without shoes in the department building.

Go for it.  You won't be the only one.  For instance, take a look at Lorrie Cranor, a Professor at CMU in Computer Science.  Professor Cranor is an extraordinary researcher, a leader worldwide in her field (perhaps the leading researcher in her field), incredibly well respected for her many deep and seminal contributions.  She has also sported blue hair from time to time.

So, in my opinion -- go for it.  Feel free to show a little personality.  Academia is populated by people, and everyone is different.  Don't be afraid to be yourself.

I would say, Go for it -- when you become a Lorrie Cranor. Until then keep it professional and focus on your studies rather than your hair.

At my former department Ph.D.'s were obtained by students who had dread locks, lots of tattoos, or changed their hair colour on a monthly base, and a male wearing skirts. So at least in mathematics blue hair should not be a big deal. At an early stage of your career some deviation from the norm might even be advantageous. When visiting a conference you get too much information to process in too little time, so you do not remember every single talk. But you might remember the guy with blue hair talking about Ramsey theory.

It could be an effective form of personal branding.  I went to a conference recently where a graduate student had blue hair.  She was the most memorable person there.

I would think that there are more important traits for personal branding than hair color or such. That is, of course, if we're talking about professional personal branding, which is implied by the OP posting the question on this site. In regard to your "most memorable" remark, I hope that you meant non-professional impression, otherwise it would be irrelevant IMHO.

@AleksandrBlekh branding is not typically based on matters of substance.

You're right, but only partially - while product/service-focused companies' branding is mostly not based on substantial matters, I think that professional personal branding in academia is.

I bet if you will come to the conference absolutely naked or just with nipples showing from your costume, you will be remembered as well (and way better than any girl with a blue hair). The question is: do you want to be remembered as that freak who do not understand professional norms, or a guy with the most excited and interesting talk.

@SalvadorDali the lack of creativity ("freaks") is very ironic considering your nickname.

From a practical point of view, that would depend on the background color of your slides when making a presentation. Blue hair on a blue background ... a real faux-pas. Blue hair on a red background would be even worse.

I've seen at least one computer science professor at an Ivy League school dye his hair an interesting colour (green, blue, yellow). And most of my class-mates thought they were cool.
Do be careful though - some people might not take you seriously. One thing I noticed about these professors is that they were incredibly confident and incredibly smart, yet friendly at the same time.
Does look pretty slick though!

I can't bring any good example on hair color, but I think that brightly coloured suits might seem as odd and unprofessional as brightly coloured hair. Xavier Sala i Martin, professor of Economics, is popular for his brightly coloured and ever changing jackets, which he wears even in very professional contexts. When asked about them in interviews, Xavier Sala i Martin plainly explains that his jackets are just a marketing strategy. Therefore, Anonymous Physicist's answer about hair colour as personal branding or Jan-Christoph Schlage-Puchta's one about being remembered could be pointing to effective and not so unusual strategies.

Nice question. Though it did strike me as being somewhat out of the blue...
Smart to be asking after the fact. 19 years old and already on the Pile it Higher and Deeper track...who wouldn't get the blues! Ok I'm done.
In the academe, and the exact (as opposed to the approximate) sciences in particular, it is tacit knowledge that blue hair is a major showstopper, effectively ending one's academic tenure. Actually, security isn't really supposed to be letting you on campus (nb for those campus visits). Needless to say, job talks and conference presentations should only be done remotely (avoid using Zoot for avatar though tinyurl.com/nzo9cgo). ;)
Seriously, I would suggest the following rule of thumb: Even a genius should look presentable during formal networking or when interviewing for jobs.
If blue hair = presentable in the 21st century, then no worries. But some old school (20th century) profs might not be as "with it."
Applying the rule of thumb to your questions suggests that blue hair should be OK when (a) teaching (undergrads will assume you are cool and/or strange, grads will have enough problems of their own to notice/care); (b) meeting other researchers (unless...see rule of thumb).
To go all the way, you will also need to frequent the gym, and dress the part (despite comments to the contrary, I suggest suit and tie as daily wear). And you just might be taken for a blue chipper. Good luck!

authors: Bob Jarvis - Слава Україні


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What exactly is a research paper?
I have heard a lot about people doing research and writing papers about it, but I’m not sure in which cases the papers would be called a research paper.
Here are a few hypothetical example cases I could think of:

A found a technique to increase clock speed of microprocessors
B did research on life on a historical person by visiting people and places related to him. She/He found new information and She/he was first to successfully join the bits of information about that persons life.
C researched about a writer. She/He did not find anything new, She/he just collected various information from different sources and put it together.
D used sources like internet and books to show how technology X is very essential for doing Y. Although this may be obvious to some, no one has written about it before.

Assuming each of them writes about their work, who would write a research paper? When is something called a research paper?
My Internet research so far was not successful, as I did not understand the concept of a research paper and everyone said something different.

• E made a systemetac study of what kind of papers were published as research papers and which were published as review papers or similar.

@Wrzlprmft https://xkcd.com/1447/

How could D search the Internet for books and articles on a subject if nobody’s written about it before?

Any matter that one finds novel or improvement over a conventionally used method supported by practical results, simulation, or theoretical construction deserves to be published as a research article (paper).
In your cases, the following applies.

A's article could be a research paper provided her/his method is novel or unconventional.
B's article could also be a research paper as such papers are available for life sciences as well as historical biographies.
C's article can't be classified as a research paper although it can be recalled as a survey paper.
D's article do not have sufficient qualities for a research or survey paper. It may be published as a news or magazine article.

A research paper is a paper that contributes some new knowledge to your field. That is, if you do some work (research) that adds to the body of knowledge in your field, and you write up the methods and results of your research in a paper, this can be called a research paper.
So in your example cases:

If A's technique is an important bit of knowledge that will move the field forward, then a paper describing it is a research paper. If it's a straightforward application of things that are already known, or a hack that's not going to move the field forward, it's probably not going to become a research paper.
D's work would not be considered research, if it's obvious to those in the field.
I don't know enough about standards in history to judge what's considered a contribution to the field, so I can't comment on B or C.

When studying at higher levels of school and throughout college, you will likely be asked to prepare research papers. A research paper can be used for exploring and identifying scientific, technical and social issues. If it's your first time writing a research paper, it may seem daunting, but with good organization and focus of mind, you can make the process easier on yourself. The paper won't write itself, but you can plan and prepare well so that the writing practically falls into place.
for more info: http://www.wikihow.com/Write-a-Research-Paper

Complementing the other answers, a research paper is usually something new and useful that other researchers in the field might want to read. I'm "defining" it as such to say that what is considered useful changes from field to field.
Therefore, some stuff that would be considered a research article in one field (replicating experiments, physics for instance - correct me if I'm wrong), wouldn't be published in another (computer science, in this example).
That said, remember too that the definition of original contribution can change as well. A survey paper doesn't present any new methods, but the original contribution is the comparison of many methods in the same conditions.
There are also introductory papers, meant to gently introduce/summarize a specific problem/context to non-familiar readers. The methods presented are usually not new contributions, but the different presentation/approach is the new original contribution...


text:
Losing focus in an exam, how does it affect my goal - grad school
So I'll explain my self briefly, I've just finished my first semester in my undergrad program and my goal is to move on to masters in the US in Stanford or near that area.
So obviously grades are very important and here's the problem, I'm putting the hours in throughout all the semester (easily 10 hours a day, sometimes longer) and I don't have  issues with understanding nor with executing what was learned but come the day of the exam and I do TERRIBLY and I can't explain why, I don't know whether it's because of stress  or something else and I feel lost as everyone I score a B instead of an A I feel like my grad school goal is only getting further away from me.
I'd appreciate any tips or ideas with how to deal with this.
I'm currently retaking all the tests to improve my grades but it's exhausting because the material is not the problem...
In case it matters, I'm talking about computer science.
if the title is inappropriate please let me know how to change it
Thank you
Edit: my topic is different from the one  mwhombat linked to because where I live you don't get to pick your courses I can't focus on project based courses some have then but most don't so I HAVE to get better at test taking

You say you can't explain why you do badly in exams, but the title of your question says that you lose focus in exams- could it be the two are connected? Do you need advice on test taking in general or more specific advice on how to improve your concentration in an exam?

I just had nothing too specific to say, but in general:    I usually black out and forget trivial actions but I wouldn't say I'm losing focus in the sense of thinking if something that is not the exam at times I'm just freaking out to the point my hand is shaking and I can feel how I'm never going to reach my goals  (I'm sorry if this is not the right forum for this)

"because where I live you don't get to pick your courses" If prior postings that seem to answer your question are not applicable because of your geographic specifics, you really need to put geographic specifics into your question.  Otherwise you're wasting everyone's time...especially your own.

I'm sorry I didn't realize it matters. I'm from Israel

I would try to find some of your class mates, that are performing very well on the tests and ask them for some advice. If you don't know anyone yet that is performing very well, this is a great opportunity to make some new friends. Taking tests is really an art form all of its own, and I'm sure those in your class that score highly will have some insights they could share with you about how to sit a test well. Also ask your faculty if they have old papers, you could practice with, you might also ask a member of the teaching staff to perhaps do a mock invigilation with you also.

"I usually black out and forget trivial actions but I wouldn't say I'm losing focus in the sense of thinking if something that is not the exam at times I'm just freaking out to the point my hand is shaking and I can feel how I'm never going to reach my goals."  If you put this in the question, you may get it reopened.  Test anxiety is an issue for grad students as well. // Short answer: tell a medical provider and an academic advisor about what you experience.  Both may have resources to offer.

I would try to find some of your class mates, that are performing very well on the tests and ask them for some advice. Regarding what sources they are specifically studying, how they decide what material to prep for the exam and what not to etc.
If you don't know anyone yet that is performing very well, this is a great opportunity to make some new friends. Taking tests is really an art form all of its own, and I'm sure those in your class that score highly will have some insights they could share with you about how to sit and prepare for a test well.
Also ask your faculty if they have old papers, you could practice with, you might also ask a member of the teaching staff to perhaps do a mock invigilation for you, with an old paper, and give you feedback about how you did, and where it fell short. Practice makes perfect.
Also isolate the reason you are not doing well in the tests. Is it because you simply do not know the answers? Or are you running out of time? Or are you not reading the question properly under exam conditions? Once you know this you will be in a better position to develop a strategy to improve in the key areas that are impacting your scores.


text:
How/whether to update PhD admissions committee about new scholarship
I applied to 4 US PhD programs and I've received 3 rejections and 1 waitlist.
I also applied for a scholarship for $25,000/year x4years and just found out that I got it.
I'm thinking that I should update the school I'm waitlisted at because the scholarship could probably help my chances of getting in. I have some questions I'm hoping I can receive some input on here:

How should I go about updating the waitlist school about this scholarship? Should I do this in writing or by phone?
Should I inform the schools that have already rejected me about the scholarship--is it possible they may change their decisions based on this new information? And if so, how should I approach telling them?
The scholarship would require me to research a certain (widely researched) disease and maintain one of my MSc supervisors (at a different institution) as a co-supervisor during my PhD. Is it likely that the school(s) will mind this (especially the second part)?

Thanks in advance for any and all feedback!

Is your question (1) specific to the waitlist school? Or is it strictly the requirement of the scholarship? If latter case, you need also to worry about the schools that rejected you. In other words, if it is the requirements of the scholarship, question (1) and (2) are the same question. Please clarify and update your question if it needs be.

Thanks for the feedback--the scholarship requirements apply in all cases, so I've separated that into a distinct question.
I was hoping to find examples online of how people have worded 'update' letters, but I haven't found much. And I'd imagine this would need to be approached a bit differently at a school where one has already been rejected (assuming it is even acceptable/advisable).

You should definitely notify the program for which you are on the waitlist, since this could matter for their decision.  If they have contact instructions on their webpage or in the notification you received about being on the waitlist, then you should follow those instructions.  Otherwise, you could try replying to the notification e-mail.  I'd recommend doing this in writing, rather than by phone, so that you can provide details.  You can just say something like "I'd like to update you on a development in my application: I was just notified that I have received the X fellowship, which ... [give the financial details and any restrictions].  Please let me know if you would like any additional information."
It can't hurt to ask the schools that have rejected you, just in case, but you should expect the answer to be no.  I'd phrase it very tentatively (along the lines of "I understand that this is probably not possible, but I don't suppose that my application could be reconsidered in light of this fellowship?").  Don't spend much time on this, since I'd expect that the most likely outcome is that someone will spend 15 seconds typing a "Sorry, that isn't possible" email in response, but I don't think anyone will be offended if you don't sound presumptuous.
Regarding the restrictions, it's hard to predict how much the department will care.  You should definitely mention these details in your e-mail, so they can make an informed decision.

Thank you for the helpful response!
As predicted, one of the schools I was rejected at responded within 15 seconds that a change in the decision was unlikely.

You can conduct the second try during the next admission application cycle - and the time frame of a cycle varies between admission providers then you can attach the paper that indicates acceptance to financial support.
Else, If I was in your situation and I am really interested in a specific program I will try to call the professor at his office. Still no result, I will try to meet him face to face to describe the whole situation if the university in the same city.


text:
Should I spend my summer as an independent researcher?
I am a Masters student at a mid tier school (and perhaps getting dangerously close to low tier for my field specifically). I am planning on applying to PhD programs this coming Fall. I applied for close to two dozen internships for this summer, both at research labs and in industry. I was rejected from all of them. Needless to say this was pretty emotionally devastating, and made me question my career choice altogether.
My options for this summer are to get a job, which is not related to my research field, or use my savings to self-fund research.
On one hand this seems like a completely crazy idea, but in my field I don't need any serious resources beyond a powerful computer to do research, so I should be perfectly capable. My past research has essentially been independent with light guidance from a professor at my university.
And for context, I have one conference publication as first author, and I am finishing up a project from this last semester which I expect to be publishable in the near future.

Have you checked PhD application deadlines for "this coming Fall"? Or do you mean Fall 2018?

Ah I worded that badly. I mean I will be sending applications this Fall. So my expected start date would be Fall 2018.

This is a very personal decision, which of course must be partly based on your financial situation.  One great thing to do in the summer prior to writing grad school applications in the fall is to do some GRE subject test prep. // If you don't need the money, and you think you'd be able to make good academic progress over the summer, then by all means work on your academics. // It is important not to take the rejections personally.  Job hunting and internship hunting is a tremendous crap shoot. // You might be able to rescue the question (which is likely to get closed) ...

by asking for help in Academia Meta to make the question less about you and more about the situation.  I'm not making a specific suggestion how to do it because that is not my forte.  But I have a hunch this question could be saved.


text:
Where can I find correlation between US News ranking and IPEDS database?
I have been building a search tool for colleges and universities in US. I could find most of the data from the IPEDS database. Now I am trying to relate the colleges with US News ranking. I'm trying to find any source of data which could give me ranking of colleges with their UNITID/college name .
Any clues on how to get the rankings data along with UNITID ?

What is IPEDS?  What is UNITID?

database of colleges from government nces.ed.gov/ipeds/datacenter/. UNITID is the unique identification of each college

I can't answer your question, though I like it.  But I'm wondering if it is possible and easy to do name matching from US News ranking (assuming you can find it in electronic form) with the college names in IPEDS data base.

I checked with IPEDS and they do not have any such co relation with them. They will rank based on completion data, enrollments or any other variable they have data for, but not for US news or financial times ranking

I uploaded a file to wikisend (free and no sign-up file hosting service) with the correlation.
US News and IPEDS ID
Actually pastebin never expires so here's a link to it on pastebin:
http://pastebin.com/FNEaJ1vC

Very nice. And this is latest data. Not sure how the national university ranking is different from Engineering and MBA program ranking

The above source appears to be limited in years.
I've found this current source:
https://andyreiter.com/datasets/
Contains IPEDS ids and USNews & Report rankings up through 2022.

Where is the reference with IPEDS? That was one of the important co-relation? Can this dataset be used as a reference on any website? Asking this because PDF mentions "not for publication"