text:
Professor answers a question wrong, how significant?
I have a university professor in an operating systems class who point blank told me in writing that in the linux operating system, kernel race conditions cant/dont happen. After pressing him he changed his answer. Do you find this significant? Do you feel that given other similar occurances its enough to speak with the department chair or is this a lesser offense more appropriate for the student/professor evaluation at the end of the semester?
I kid you not i felt he used a racial slur in the lecture and he followed it up with a one on one question concerning "race conditions" and he gave me such an answer, even in writing.

Answering a technical question wrongly is very different from using a racial slur.

This seems more a rant than a question.

Professors are held to some serious standards. The technical aspect is too trivial IMO to allow for such. Its against university policy for a professor to not uphold academic competence per my university. Hes taught the class 3-4 times and designed it. You may ask why did i ask such a trivial question? i actually asked if it was in the rubric for an assignment and he took it further with the analysis.

"Professors are held to some serious standards": For what concerns the technical part, hiring systems are not perfect and there are certainly incompetent professors around but, most of all, professors are human and make mistakes too. For the racial slur, instead, there's no excuse.

"Professors are held to some serious standards": In my experience, this applies to hiring and researching.  During teaching, the standards are extremly low.

I do not think the question deserves so many downvotes.  It's a common misconception of new students that a professor who does not know everything about their subject is incompentent.

As others have pointed out, there are two separate issues here.
Answering a technical question incorrectly is really not an issue at all. I seriously doubt that your professor is incompetent -- it is likely that he misspoke or tried to oversimply something. Unless this is a pattern, I wouldn't take any further action.
Using a racial slur is a very serious accusation. If he really did this, you should complain.
I would also consider the possibility that you misjudged the situation. Within the past couple of days, you have described being isolated after nine years in college and have raised concerns about another professor with (in my view) little justification. Of course I do not know the real situation, but I can imagine that isolation and a long tenure in college might cause one to take an unnecessarily adversarial view toward the faculty.

While I don't know anything about computer science (?), if a human answers one question wrong, this is almost never significant enough to raise a complaint, especially if this person changed their answer. Mistakes can happen. If the person turns out to be generally incompentent, you could consider complaining (maybe do some research before if the department chair is actually able/willing to do something about this). (I cannot judge if their wrong answer is af all connected to the class.)
I'n not quite sure if I understood your last paragraph. If the professor did use a racical slur, document this and do complain (again, if possible, do research beforehand what the possible consequences could be. In some countries, certain racial slurs are unfortunately accepted and you may be the one facing consequences).


text:
ResearchGate: removing wrong uploaded article without affecting no. reads/citations
I recently noticed that the wrong article was uploaded to ResearchGate by a co-author several years ago (the title describes the article from a conference proceedings, but the uploaded paper was a journal article). It has a number of citations and reads.
I want to remove the wrongly uploaded journal article and upload the correct conference article, but I am not sure if removing the journal article will remove the no. of reads and citations that the paper has received over the years. Does removing the article also remove the no. of reads and citations?

I’m not familiar with their system, but why would you want to? Those people citing that paper are citing the paper as it currently exists. If you change the paper those citations are pointing to, you’d risk confusing anyone who follows the citation trail.

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text:
Asking my PhD advisor for a postdoc position. Is it bad to appear desperate?
I am soon to defend my PhD thesis in computational materials science. I have just two publications, which I believe is the most important reason for getting no response from postdoc applications. The lack of publications is majorly due to my initial slow productivity and subsequent delays from my advisor in manuscript corrections.
Earlier this year, my advisor said that if I am unable to find a postdoc position then I can remain as a postdoc in the lab after my PhD for 6 months and work on a different projects and publish the remaining papers. She also offered that alternatively, I can extend my PhD to next semester (till April) and look for positions in between (it's cheaper to pay for a PhD than a postdoc). I have already spent 5 years 2 months on my PhD. I don't want to extend it anymore.
Now, it's already November and I have no offers or responses. I am trying hard for any position. I am not sure if I will get one.
I want to ask my advisor for a postdoc position and want to let her know that I am desperate for an immediate position so that I can improve my CV.
Will that look bad?

It's definitely October, unless you're in a crazy timezone lol.

Also short postdocs like this in the lab  you graduated in are not uncommon in my field, although I'm nowhere near computational materials science.

@AzorAhai: UTC+28800?

I did a 4-month one as the time between my thesis submission and my viva was spent actively and intensely preparing for my viva presentation, and I had no time to dedicate to applications as I was already dedicating 12+ hours day to work. 4 years later can't see it impacting me negatively. Might look different in countries like e.g. UK where the amount of work expected between submission and viva is minimal, e.g. some corrections, and you basically get some free months.

First of all, your advisor of all people really should not be somebody who you need to play games with regarding the state of your career (academic or otherwise). They really can only do their job (advising you, also in questions of career development) if you are being honest with them. In that sense, it shouldn't really matter if it "looks bad" - if your situation is bad they should know.
Further, your advisor already offered you a temporary job, and presumably they did so under the assumption that it would only be a fallback if you did not find a more permanent next career step. Now this situation has arisen - why would it be bad to take them up on their offer in exactly the situation that the offer was made for?

Plus, it sounds like a six month postdoc would be good for the group and the OP.

I infer that the question is about how this will look to future employers, not how it will look to the advisor.

In particular, there's no benefit to describing yourself as "desperate" to your advisor when taking her up on her offer. As for how it looks to other potential employers ... well, if the situation comes up (against your hopes) that the only two choices are this short-term postdoc with your supervisor and no academic job at all, then having the postdoc is the better-looking choice.

I fully agree with xLeitix's answer in that you have nothing to be ashamed of in front of your supervisor - especially since she has already offered.
On the other hand, when talking about whether this will look desperate or impact your career prospects (in academia) negatively, I'd like to offer a different perspective from Anonymus Physicist's answer.
From my experience, and the experience of the people around me, what hurts your academic career the most is having a long period without a (research) position after your PhD. (But I've also noticed that nobody even notices short gaps of a couple of months). So while it would have been better if you could move away to a new lab straight away, it would be worse if you had no arrangements at all. I actually found it fairly common amongst my academic peers to take a short position with their PhD advisers, and all of them went on to have successful careers (some in academia and some in industry).
This practice might be more common in countries and programmes like mine in France where the workload is very high after submitting the thesis manuscript and while preparing the viva, and somewhat less common when the workload after the thesis submission is low, or the funding typically lasts only until the manuscript submission and not the viva (like the UK), but it is not unheard of in a European academic setting.
I took a 4-month position with my PhD adviser after my PhD, as the viva preparations were overwhelming and I did not have time to look for another position earlier (or sleep, really). The only "consequence" I saw when applying with that information on a CV is that the short position was considered an extension of my PhD work, and not as a standalone postdoctoral experience. But, as long as it is just a short position (up to 6 months I'd say), you can see it as a time to improve your CV and publication list while applying for your first "proper" postdoctoral position.
I never aspired to end up in Oxbridge or Ivy league, but I am currently being considered for faculty positions at some good and some excellent Universities (in my opinion). It all went quite according to plan for me. I do not feel that my success in my current faculty applications, or my academic career, was in any way affected, negatively or positively, but a 4-month postdoc with my PhD adviser.

One more exception on when it is okay to accept a position in the same lab after the PhD (which does not apply to your case but I am mentioning it for completeness) that I have seen (in the UK) is obtaining postdoc funding (for oneself) through a Fellowship, to which one can apply while finishing their PhD. Since obtaining a Fellowship means you are self-funded (and the funds were awarded to you by name), having successfully secured research funding will become the strongest line on your CV and the institution where you chose to do it will become less important.

My interpretation of the question:  You want to pursue an academic career.  You are considering taking the offered postdoctoral position in your PhD supervisor's lab.  You want to know the implications of doing this for your long-term career.
Doing a PhD and postdoc in the same lab does look desperate, and it is harmful to your career.
I recommend figuring out what job you want.  Identify people who have that job.  Read their CVs.  Then do better than what they did.
If you're seeking an academic job in computational materials science, you are right that having two publications at the end of your PhD will be a problem.

This may be discipline specific.  I know a number of people who have done post-docs at Cambridge after getting a PhD there.  I don't think it harmed their career.

@MartinBonner That's not discipline specific, that's Cambridge specific.  If you're in the top 10 in the world, different rules apply.

I'm sorry, but I don't think taking a short-term postdoc in the same lab where you did your PhD looks all that bad. Especially in countries where the time between submitting your thesis and your viva includes intense preparations (I know that vivas can vary greatly in intensity and formality). I took a 2-month break and a 4-month postdoc offer from my PhD supervisor after my PhD, continued on for a longer postdoc and am negotiating between different faculty positions now, about 4 years after my PhD graduation. I don't see the 4-month postdoc impacted me negatively.

@penelope My advice would be to find a postdoc position first, then prepare for your viva.  Doing it the other way around suggests lack of advance planning.  Of course practices vary; some places have no viva at all.

I did wonder if that might be a factor.  It just happens to be where I know people.

They expect you finish in exactly 3 years with 3 months slack in France. Every month extra is something you will most likely get asked about when applying for academic positions, not to mention that your PhD contract runs out and you need to eat and pay rent. And then, my viva presentation preparation was 12+ hour days for 3+ months after submission. And before the thesis submission, it was some months of crunch time to get that finished. I'm just saying, the advice you give me now, 4 years later, is different than the advice my adviser gave me then. And it all worked out just fine in the end.

@penelope Sure, and in the US, you often get up to 9 years to finish.  And if you have a job offer, your odds of failing the viva are greatly reduced (not for a good reason...).     Practices vary.  Feel free to post your own answer.

@AnonymousPhysicist Considering how much practices vary, it might be useful to add a US disclaimer to your answer? It's simply wrong for most European places I know (hence the downvote) but seems like good information based on experience for US positions.

@penelope No, because I have experience in multiple countries.

You are happy to acknowledge that practices vary in the comments, however your answer still reads like what you are saying applies universally. Based on my experience in multiple countries, I consider what you wrote false. But, I'll keep it at that, I've voiced my concerns and posted my answer. Thank you for your contribution, even if I don't agree with it :)

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text:
How different should my Statement of Purpose be from school to school?
I'm preparing for my (second round of) grad school applications, and as such I am (re) writing my Personal Statements and Statements of Purpose. I am already tailoring them to the specific school I intend to send them to - in the sense that I make sure to reference the correct school, their location, professors therein, etc. What I am wondering is, how much of my statement should be specifically written with this school in mind?
Currently, a large part of my statements are quite similar - these are my academic qualifications, this is the research I have done, this is what I learned, this is how it's applicable to my graduate interests, etc. In a 10 paragraph statement, only the first paragraph and last two paragraphs directly reference the university I am intending the statement for. Is this sufficient? Or should I be creating each statement from scratch and linking every element in it to the university I am applying to? Something in between?

If you can't find anything more what could be tailored, then it is probably enough. No need to start from scratch all the time.

You may be making a mistake in writing about the past in your SoP. Your accomplishments are probably detailed elsewhere. Make the SoP forward looking, what you intend to do in the future, including beyond grad school. Mention your past work only so much as it directly supports your suitability for the degree and field you wish to pursue.
For a doctoral studies application, I don't think you need to tailor it too much unless there are specific working groups that you want to join. Then it is a good idea to mention them and also to mention professors that you (truly) know something about and might want to study with. And, of course, if you are applying to fundamentally different programs, such as in different fields, you need to tailor it to the specific case.
Later, for job applications, the SoP should be more closely tailored to the job as described in the call, but not so much for continuing studies.

Caveat. If there is nowhere else to mention your accomplishments then, of course, the SoP is the place for that. But don't just repeat what is easily available elsewhere.

You mention that if I don't have somewhere else to talk about accomplishments, the SoP is a good place for that. Most applications allow to include a CV; is that a "somewhere else" to your mind? A CV generally lacks detail about the individual projects...

Precisely, so use the SOP to complement the CV, not to repeat it.


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Timeline-wise, is it safe to plan attending the SODA conference if I apply for positions this year?
I am applying for faculty positions in the US this year (in computer science).
Ideally, I would want to attend the SODA conference (January 5th-8th) and was wondering if it is safe to assume that on-site interviews are likely to start at a later date.
The reason why I ask is that the early-registration deadline ends December 2nd, probably before I'll know which (or how many) universities would want to interview me.

Would you mind either removing the name of the conference or explaning if this very conference is somehow different to other conferences? Keep in mind that a well-known conference to, say, US computer scientists may not be known to, say, Africal gender scientists.

First, you should be aware that on-campus CS faculty interviews have already started.  Yes, yes, I know that even the earliest application deadlines are still several weeks away, but at least in some departments (like mine), stellar candidates can be (and have been) invited to interview well before the application deadline.
That said, you should not worry at all about interviews colliding with SODA, for two reasons.  First, as Buffy says, most North American universities are on winter break that week; holding a faculty interview when none of the faculty are in the building, and many are out of town, would be pointless.
But more importantly, if a department invites you to interview for a faculty position, they will work with you to find a date when you are available to travel.  No sensible (North American) department is going to both devote the time and money and energy to fly you out for an interview and insist that the interview happen on one specific date.  If someone does suggest an interview on January 7, you can quite reasonably respond that you are attending an important conference that week, and ask for a different interview date.  If they really want you, they'll accommodate your schedule.
Remember that departments want their faculty to succeed; in particular, they want their faculty to be visibly active within their research communities.  The fact that you are attending SODA works in your favor, even if it makes scheduling slightly more complicated.
tl;dr: Yes, it's safe to register for SODA.
[I've served on faculty recruiting committees for at least 15 of the last 20 years.  I've also attended SODA every year since 1994.  See you there!]

Clearly I have applied to a couple of insensible departments, because they always paid for my trip and were generally highly inflexible about dates (but this was in Europe, so YMMV).

Yeah.  European hiring processes are... different.

The conference window is pretty small. I'm not sure why you'd be concerned. You should get, from any reasonable institution, some leeway in scheduling an interview. I think that is especially true in a case like this. Even more so if you were presenting, though you don't indicate that you are.
And it might even turn out that some institutions will also have faculty at the conference, making for an additional opportunity.
And if you get an especially hopeful response to your application there is no reason you can't cancel the attendance at the conference, assuming you are not presenting.
But, I'll also note that many US colleges are on break during that period and so are unlikely to be holding interviews then. Not impossible, but less likely than during the coming term.


text:
Is it appropriate to ask a professor to buy me a book for research?
I work in a lab on a variety of projects using a variety of techniques. For a recent project I was thinking we are probably going to use fancy machine learning method X which I am vaguely, but not intimately familiar with.
I have no doubt that there is a plenty of information about X online and that there are no shortage of free resources via a variety of means. However, there is also a new text which covers X among other topics that I was going to buy anyway. Is it appropriate to bring up the new relevant text with the professor with the hope of getting a copy from the research budget seeing that it is relevant to our recent project? Or is it better for me to just buy my personal copy out of pocket?

I'd really recommend checking with your library before talking to the professor, since this kind of issue is their forte.

I am not sure sure of the comment above if not for avoiding to buy a book that is already there. Otherwise research groups can and do buy books. Tell the supervisor you are interested in that book. S/he could buy it or propose it to the library.

Yes, it is appropriate to ask to buy books relevant to research with research funds. Professors often do so for their own use. It's certainly possible your professor would prefer to save the funds and rely on other resources available freely or through the university's library, but that's not a reason to avoid asking.

The book will probably be the property of the lab in this case though, rather than "belonging" to the student. This will probably make very little difference until such time as the student moves on though.

Purchasing a book should be in the possibilities of a budget in any first world university's research group.

I would say yes. However you may want to check your (university) library as well. They regularly buy books that are in need of researches and they may have a procedure for that.

I would check with the library first, also check how long you can use the book if they do buy it for you. The book will become the property of the library, so you need to hand it in afterward. If that doesn't pan out just ask the professor what the procedure for books you use in your research is. The answer will let you know if it is customary to buy it for you, or if you have to buy it yourself. Also ask if you have to return the book after using it, just to be sure. Before all that, find out if this is interesting for others in your team. You might be able to study it together, to stay motivated and to inspire each other.


text:
What do faculty members mean when they say "happy to find a time some time to chat more about it..."?
Sometimes in correspondence with faculty I get emails that end with a sentence like "happy to find a time some time to chat more about it though, just let me know."
What medium do people usually mean when they say this? Is this an invitation to schedule a phone call? Or because this is on an email is it best to stick to to sending responding with a detailed email about the said topic?

The "just let me know part" invites you to let them know your preferred times and propose a way to have a chat.
The typical medium to let them know would be via email. And then the typical medium to chat would be in person. But that's it's not so important. You've been invited to make a suggestion without much advice. So any response that is both reasonable and polite should work. Even if the professor will "counter" your suggestion with an alternative.

To add, a reasonable response also includes something along the lines: I'm busy right now but very interested to have a chat in the future. I'll get back in touch with you then to coordinate!

Send him a meeting invite.  If your topic is small, just ask for 15 minutes.  If long, ask for 30 or 60 or whatever.  A good time to ask for is 5PM.  Copy his assistant, if he has one.  If he is not available, he will just counter.  But just take action and send the actual invite.
Face to face is best (location "your office"), phone is next best (or even better Skype/Zoom, etc. now that even the geezers has been forced to learn them).  But phone is still fine, especially if he doesn't want to do video.  Don't ask for a chat meeting...that is bizarre and distracting. IF he volunteers that, then fine, take it.
You don't need a document, but have a simple outline (can be in the meeting invite description field) for breaking down the topics and making sure key questions are asked.  (You can allow the meeting to be natural and back and forth, but having an outline will help make sure the time is not wasted.)

Instant messaging (on a mobile) is bizarre. But there are decent chat clients that run on desktops. I've used them very successfully.

Please keep all comments free of ad hominem and attack the idea, not the person. Anecdotally, I've also had a many of successful business meetings over chat as well, and indeed you can find entire companies that run their business over slack and similar tools. Culture varies significantly from place to place.

Given the modern age, I doubt that it is an invitation for a phone call. An office visit perhaps, or a text back and forth via email or a chat app. I would probably be offering an office conversation myself, but others might not. But the phone is a poor mechanism for such things. It requires an immediate response to questions and offers poor opportunities for capturing important things.
At this moment, of course, April 2020, face to face meetings are generally impossible, but in normal times that would be my basic assumption. For a department with a coffee lounge it is pretty natural to meet there and discuss whatever is of interest. Normal times. Hope for their return.
But a detailed email might be overkill. Think of it as more of a prolonged conversation and don't flood the recipient or you may wait a long time for a reply if they are busy.

An interesting perspective. I don't know anyone who would prefer an instant message to a phone call, given office meetings aren't an option right now.

@AzorAhai, a chat can go on over several days. Documents can be exchanged. With the right application the text can be saved and shared. It doesn't need to be on a mobile device.

Depending on the type of conversation, I would suggest a video call. It's the closest substitute for a normal face to face meeting there is.

@Buffy For sure! Not saying it was a bad option. Just not sure I agreed totally with your answer as posted

When I write something like this in an email, the primary purpose is to signal that I am open to continuing discussion of the topic, and my response shouldn't be seen as the final word. Sometimes students (and others!) are shy about coming back for clarification or to point out flaws in my response to their question, and I want to encourage them to do so.
Generally, unless you're someone I know well, I wouldn't expect a phone call or in-person visit as an immediate response. Either continue the discussion by email, or send an email proposing that the matter is best resolved by some other medium (phone/video call/in-person meeting/etc) and asking to schedule a convenient appointment.

Is this an invitation to schedule a phone call?

Yes, or an in person visit, or a video call.  I would describe this sort of statement as extremely generic and carrying little meaning.  It's like saying "Have a nice day."


text:
What do people usually ask letter writers to emphasize in a letter of reference?
I hear that a lot of letter writers to let them know things things you would like for them to "highlight in your application".
What do most people ask their letter writer to emphasize? Is it personal anecdotes between themselves and the letter writer? their own work ethic? their personal theoretical contributions to projects?

People are sometimes asked for such things, if for no other reason than to remind the writer about what the applicant has done. But, there is a more important consideration.
The fundamental requirement of a supportive letter is for the writer to make a prediction, even if not explicitly stated, that the subject of the letter is both highly qualified (the past) and has great prospects for success (the future).
When possible, provide some evidence, especially about things that might not show up in a CV.
Everything in the letter needs to support that primary goal, no matter how stated. Anecdotes might help, past research, great questions in class or the office (curiosity). But make sure that the main goal is addressed. Otherwise the letter is just noise.
Qualified (check). High likelihood of success (check).


text:
Question on academic integrity and using summaries
I was taking a philosophy class, which met twice weekly. Assignments for each class consisted of reading select passages from different philosophical works. In addition to the selected passages, our teacher provided recommended secondary literature/commentaries to help navigate the texts and provide different perspectives.
In regards to the readings, due to various (mostly health-related) reasons, I often fell behind. This, for the most part, was not an issue, as the essay assignments for the class concerned very specific sections of the texts. In writing these, then, what I would do was consult both online summaries of the relevant sections and peruse the relevant sections from the texts myself.
Come the final exam (for which we were provided the questions ahead of time), while I was initially concerned that my having fallen behind would hurt me, it turned out that most of the questions I could answer based on what I already knew. As I was preparing for the final question, however, I realized that I needed to really understand one section of a book that I hadn't read; this was the night before the exam. This section was really dense, so while I tried for a time, and got partway through it, I decided it would be more prudent to consult one of the recommended commentaries in order to understand what the philosopher was saying. While I was doing this, I tried a few more times to make it through the actual text again, but I didn't get that much further. The secondary sources clarified the argument the philosopher was making, and I used what I'd learnt to finish my answer. Ultimately, the information I'd gleaned from the secondary source took up only a small part of my final answer.
At the time, I felt a pang that maybe I was doing something unscrupulous, and thus that I should just rely solely on the primary text. Would it be wrong, I asked myself, to rely predominately on the secondary text given my minimal understanding of the primary text? But I also knew that I had somewhat of a history of compulsive, irrational guilt which had affected my performance in the past, and thus I was more determined not to let this hurt my performance on the exam, so I did end up using the secondary source.
After the exam, I later informed the teacher that in preparing for the final, I had consulted online/secondary sources that provided some information/ideas which I hadn't taken from the text, and he replied that this was completely fine. I realized, however, that I hadn't said specifically that I hadn't made it through the relevant section completely and with trying to understand it fully, and that maybe I should've actually clarified this as well.
The crux of my dilemma, then, is to what extent I should have read/comprehended the original text before relying on secondary texts/summaries. Generally speaking, throughout the course, while I relied a lot on secondary sources/summaries, I made efforts to read the actual texts as well. For the final, however, I tried to read the actual texts, and did to an extent, but understood it only superficially, and ultimately the bulk of my understanding came from the secondary texts/summaries. Moreover, as I was reading the primary text, I felt a bit that I was only doing it so that I could subsequently turn to the secondary text without reservations—i.e., without relying on the secondary text entirely without having read the primary text at all. It's worth noting as well that the secondary source I consulted predominately in answering this question was recommended by the teacher, and to my knowledge it was never stated explicitly that we could only use secondary commentaries after having read the primary texts.
I'm wondering whether I should feel bad about this going forward. I've come to the conclusion that, while at worst this may have been a minor infraction, it isn't worth feeling bad about and I shouldn't let this hang over me at all going forward, nor should I attempt to further clarify this situation with my teacher, especially given that the class is over.

Don't worry. There is no academic dishonesty in studying from secondary texts when preparing for a philosophy exam. Nor is there any academic dishonesty in failing to read the primary texts.
You don't need to further clarify the situation with your teacher.


text:
Should I explain a solution to a problem that only existed due to a mistake in the fundamentals in a bachelors thesis?
The title is pretty broad, so let me narrow it down a bit:
As part of my bachelors thesis I had a practical part that was about developing a software. Due to a mistake in planning of my architecture, I was stuck with a problem that required a specific algorithm to solve. If I planned that architecture better, or spent the time actually revising the code (would have taken too much time at that point), I wouldn't have that issue. Is this still something I should put in as one of the few "interesting" algorithms I encountered on the paper? Should I admit that the algorithm only existed due to the limitation of my architecture?

If your advisor is an approachable person, ask them! Standards for bachelor theses vary a lot between fields, universities and graders. It may also be that your advisor is the only person who will ever look at the thesis (if at all).
Learning to ask higher-ups is an important skill to learn for your life which is sometimes not tought well in schools.
So, let me summerize my answer: Ask!


text:
Transitioning from Electrical Engineering to Astronomy/Physics
I have a Master's Degree in Electrical Engineering(Fresh Graduate with emphasis on Electronics/RF-Microwaves). I'm thinking Engineering is not for me and want to pursue Astronomy/Physics.

How hard is it to do so?
What ways I can transition?
How can I be sure that the fascination with the subject is a genuine interest?

Thank you

What country is this?

Note that a duplicate question still exists at Astronomy. It is probably best to delete one of them.

I'm currently in the United States (where I got my degree). But for the studies, I'm open to relocation to UK/ Europe too.

The gap from electrical engineering to astronomy or even physics is big for a PhD. The other way around it's easier as physicists anyway specialize after master in a distinct topic, while electrical engineering is already quite specialized. Astrophysics is a field of physics that needs a thorough background in most of the physical theories apart from condensed matter physics. You would have to catch up a quite huge background. Only option I see is to dive into a very specialized PhD topic like, e.g. pulsar radiation or solar physics and trying to do simulations/data analysis on such systems. Other topics will need a lot of self-teaching and I'm not sure, even if you would be willing to spend this time, if supervisors or professors would like to offer you this time with alternative candidates. And many physics students want to get tenure in astrophysics, the competition is much higher in this field than in big fields like condensed matter physics.
I would rather suggest to you to look into topics and fields of condensed matter physics like spintronics, quantum sensing, quantum computing. Electrical engineers sometimes will have here an advantage over candidate with a master in physics concerning a distinct topic/task like circuitry development for superconducting quantum computers or quantum sensors.

Doing a transition within the US is probably going to be easier than moving to the UK/EU. The reason is that doctoral programs have fewer requirements for entry. With your EE background you already should have a fairly good grounding in basic physics and mathematics. You may also have some basic research skills from your MS degree. If other things are equal (grades, letters, ...) you should be able to gain entry, but will likely require some advanced coursework as part of the doctoral program. This is pretty normal in the US.
I'm not an expert on European standards, but have the impression that they want students to be farther along in field and with more research experience. Of course you will only know for sure if you apply. I suggest that you apply to a variety of places that meet your needs.
I suspect, also, that there are more job opportunities in your current field, both in academia and industry, which might factor in to your decision making.


text:
Is there any advantage to request a in-person interview over a Skype one?
I have recently applied to a PhD position and have been invited for a Skype interview. I am thinking about proposing to have the interview in person instead.
The website states that "interviews will be conducted either in person or via Skype", so in person interviews are possible. I will also not ask for any compensation, since flights are very affordable and I can be hosted by a friend.
My reasons to ask an in person interview is to get a change of seeing the campus/offices and to maybe appear more motivated and invested in the position.
How do you think such a request would be perceived? Would it be slightly appreciated or make me look like I am trying to hard? Or would it be completely indifferent?
Furthermore, are there substantial differences with regard to the interview itself? Would it be "easier" in person because it is easier to connect, or is it "harder" because you are subconsciously by everything you do before and after the interview?

From my experience going in person is the better choice:

They will see you as very motivated and you show that you really want
that position and you are not just doing a quick skype interview (and
on the same day 3 other ones)
Personal empathy can develop much better in person than via skype
Your explanations will be much clearer e.g. using a white board etc
to explain

So, if you have the possibility then go in person!

You also have a chance to see and evaluate them as you suggest. You can get a sense of the state of collegiality, for example.

On the other hand, they might insist on a Skype interview precisely because of these reasons.  Hiring protocols often require not only that candidates are treated equally, but that equal treatment of candidates is documented. Someone who had only a Skype interview and later didn't get the job can reasonably complain about unfair treatment. The sentence "interviews will be conducted either in person or via Skype" could mean "We haven't decided yet (when the ad was written) whether all interviews will be held in person, or all interviews will be held via Skype."

...but this doesn't mean you shouldn't ask.

What if you're an introvert with not-very-strong social skill and you fear your in-person contact may actually cause a false repulsion? Also, for me, I'm a lot more likely to get nervous in person unless I have some casual chat (say, over a coffee) before the interview.

Some people have exceptionally strong skills in selling themselves as highly qualified candidates (more than most people with their level of qualification), and an in-person interview would provide a better opportunity for such candidates.

Surely you can ask them, but don't expect too much. They arrange a Skype interview because that's less costly. When they arrange Skype interviews, they plan to interview a bunch of people in a few days. By contrast, if they invite you to visit their lab, they need to spare a whole day for you. So they arrange a Skype interview to save time. If you ask them and they just ignore your request, don't feel too surprised.


text:
Submitting manuscripts from a phd thesis when my supervisor is not available to review the final draft due to health issues
I'm planning to submit papers from my completed PhD thesis (finished less than a year ago) but recently found that unfortunately, my supervisor who had a significant contribution to my thesis is not well and not available for a review, preparing for chemotherapy :( What would be the ethical way of publishing papers and respecting their intellectual contribution without inconvenient communications with them at this stage?
Thanks, in advance, for sharing your suggestions

My suggestion is that you submit in the normal way, but several days (say a week) beforehand, send her/him a note that you are submitting, along with a copy of the paper. You seem to indicate that the supervisor should be a co-author (field dependent)and if so, do that also.
In your note say that submission is pending unless you are advised against it. Make the note itself short so that little effort needs to be spent to make a quick decision. In particular, don't ask for a review and revision of the paper.
"I expect to submit the enclosed next week unless you advise differently... I will wait if you prefer.".
If you don't get a request to wait then just submit it. If they are well enough to review it, they probably will.
Of course, if there are no time constraints/limitations, you can also just wait.
But note that if the situation is dire and your advisor is near death then it is time for you to step in to the legacy along with his/her other students. You will have sole responsibility for these situations soon enough in that case.

Thanks, @Buffy for your suggestion. this is a really good idea at this stage, I'll send this email ("I expect to submit the enclosed next week unless you advise differently... I will wait if you prefer."). And I really hope my supervisor get better soon as they were very supportive during my study...

My suggestion would simply be to respectfully ask your advisor, or your advisor's family, what they would prefer. They may give you a go-ahead to handle everything, or not mind having something familiar to review to take the mind off the impending treatment. Overall though, be prepared to be patient.

I think that, except in rare cases, the advisor's family has little knowledge or interest in providing advice. In fact, asking them might induce panic. My spouse would have no idea whatever of how to respond, for example.

@Buffy You're right that it's a sensitive matter, and that a lot will depend on individual personalities. Hence, trying to contact the advisor directly first is probably advisable. However, from my limited experience with solving more time-sensitive (but non-academic) matters with someone undergoing chemotherapy, sometimes there is no choice but to go through a family member. Sometimes they may not know how to respond, but can at least forward the message. But yes, it's something to play by ear.

Thanks, Anyon. yes contacting with their family would be an option but at this very sensitive stage, I don't want to contact them for this very unrelated issue when I try to imagine my self in their situation. I think I'll do Buffy's suggestion...

Randy Pausch's "Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo) shows that cancer needn't make one unavailable. I cannot speak for your PhD supervisor, but you should consider the possibility that they are continuing to work. (The precise situation is unclear from your question.) If they are, then you should communicate as per usual. (Whether you mention cancer depends on the relationship you have with your  supervisor.) Otherwise, Buffy has some good advice.
The OP comments:

you're right I cannot decide for my supervisor to continue working on the studies or not but the question is how can I get the answer without inconveniently communicating with them about this unrelated issue at this challenging stage of their life

Your supervisor may not consider communication inconvenient; they may expect you to proceed as usual. Perhaps you can establish your supervisor's preference without communicating directly. (E.g., by contacting someone from their department.)
If you do follow Buffy's advice, then "several days (say a week) before[ submission]" is not enough, since your supervisor may be busy during that period (e.g., receiving and recovering from treatment, on holiday, working, ...). Give them at least twice that, maybe even a month.

Thanks. Yes you're right I cannot decide for my supervisor to continue working on the studies or not but the question is how can I get the answer without inconveniently communicating with them about this unrelated issue at this challenging stage of their life. I think I'll do Buffy's advise and send the final draft before submission and add their name as a co-author...and if there wasn't a No answer then submit it.

@Ella My edit adds a response.


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Doubting my PhD ability
Writing this from a temporary account. I am enrolled in a PhD program in math, and more and more often I am doubting my abilities in doing the program.
I work, so it happens, de facto under two scientific advisors. I continue my work which was quite successful at undergrad level, but feel stuck into a dead end. Furthermore, all I obtain after hard work seems to be easily generalised by other people who spend much less time thinking on my problems, rendering my effort obsolete. This PhD is very important for me, allowing me to get satisfaction from teaching younger students, talking to scientists, earn money and receive grants, but I find myself undeserving of all that and actually suspect myself to be an impostor masterfully imitating mathematical research. It is exacerbated by the fact that these unsurety problems seem to disappear when I move, as an amateur, to a completely unrelated discipline; I’ve already published articles and suspect that, were I able to supplement vigour with formal training, I could have been a monograph-level of researcher right now. However, as I mentioned, changing PhD to such an unrelated field is not even an option.
It is vital for me to complete my PhD. So I’m looking for some advice from this remarkable community how to drag myself out of this learned helplessness; some possible options would include:

Change topic and do some unconnected math research? I feel that would put itself as a silent rebellion against my scientific advisor, as well as contravening my PhD, to say nothing of the fact I’m unsure in the very ability to produce a fast result from any branch already;
Slightly alter the direction? Similar;
Force myself and push until I produce something meaningful for my topic? As one can see, I’m hesitant about it.

In fact, I’m currently abandoning my “world level, Fields medalist” hopes and would be satisfied with getting any king of PhD to be allowed to teach undergrads in peace. No other career but academic is imaginable; and yet I find myself with inability to progress in mine.
Another option everyone will introduce at once is “why don’t I talk with advisor frankly”. I’ve tried that but found myself too timid to be completely frank, and I am wary about latter due to PhD importance. It is necessary to maintain some cordiality with advisor. Hopefully there is some way out of this self-made problem. Especially invited are opinions of those people who had rocky PhDs back then and persevered.

See these almost-dupes: https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2219/how-should-i-deal-with-discouragement-as-a-graduate-student and https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11765/ive-somehow-convinced-everyone-that-im-actually-good-at-this-how-to-effect

... and this one: https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/127246/103542

I was also enrolled in a Math PhD (Numerical Optimization), with difficulties due to lack of time (I was working as a Math teacher simultaneously); when I finished my PhD courses my advisor proposed a research topic... One year at a half later, I also was at a dead end, unable to find any good result and doubting myself.
When I told my advisor at last that I'd decided to move to another program in another university, he propose another topic, assuring me success. He was sure I would get it (as we know, advisors spend time with their doctoral students, and a student failure is also a fiasco for them) because he knew the subject well (the first topic was more unknown to him, and therefore more challenging, but it was also possible that there was no solution!).
He was right: In the new topic, I quickly got results, tutored for my advisor, I was able to present partial results in congresses, got some articles accepted in journals, and at last, two years later, I finally got my PhD. I lost almost two years, but seen from afar (ten years have passed since then) everything is OK.
By the way, recently I saw (in www.researchgate.net) that somebody has the answer to the first problem that I wasn't able to solve ... so it was solvable, and my advisor was right in proposing it to me!
Well, that was my experience, I think similar to yours. Hope this is helpful.


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Writing a paper about a conceptual idea, that might not be possible, basically theoretical fiction
Curious if there are certain outlets to distribute a paper pertaining to conceptual ideals regarding future technological topics and or method advancements in physics or computer programming, science. I understand how science is provable and routed in a nonfictional foundation, but sometimes imagination is a great outlet. I understand a simple answer would be publishing a fiction novel, but it seems somewhere in my lifetime I have read or learned about how many incredibly smart people ponder ideas that are inconceivable to be proven mathematically, and publish a paper somewhere. This is in the hope that maybe it sparks a future interest and research to actually prove if something is possible.
What is this correctly referred to as in regards to the topic of science, if it is even legitimate? And how is the proper way to maybe title a paper such as this without coming across as completely academic and accurate? I know this may prompt an answer stating that it all depends on how you explain what you are describing in your paper, but it is more about if this type of paper is allowed and accepted to certain outlets.
Maybe a great example would be writing a paper about if this world we live in is a simulation.

Papers have been published about the simulation hypothesis. I think much of what you're talking about falls under the discipline of futurology. See, e.g. https://www.nickbostrom.com/

@Max Where would you submit a paper such as the ones you mentioned to? Thanks for the response.

Take a look at Nick Bostrom's CV and see where he has published.


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Publication Approval Letter
I will publish a conference paper and as I'm a PhD student the committee asked "If the corresponding author is a PhD/MSc student, he/she also should send a Publication Approval Letter from his/her supervisor".
What does it mean? What is a Publication Approval Letter?

I don't understand what you mean. Who is requesting such a letter? Can you say more about it?

I will publish a conference paper and as I'm a PhD student the commission ask for this letter

they said " If the corresponding author is a PhD/MSc student, he/she also should send a "Publication Approval Letter" from his/her supervisor "

Means that your boss is aware. I am a bit surprised that junior researchers are treated as from a kindergarten but it is what they want.

In some fields journals and conferences may want to know that a student is "authorized" in some way to publish. This might especially be true if your advisor is a co-author, but not the corresponding author. They just want confirmation. The letter should come from your advisor and can be short and to the point.

Judging from your comment, this publication approval letter is supposed to show that your supervisor approves of the publication (i.e. that your supervisor is aware of the publication and has no problems with you publishing it). You'll have to ask your supervisor for it.


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Do faculty at Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, etc. only want to hire people from those universities?
This is what I have heard from someone who did his PhD at Princeton. Harvard, Stanford, Berkeley, Princeton, MIT, etc. are biased towards accepting candidates who got their degrees from those schools.

About "biased": do you mean that they unreasonably prefer grads from those programs to very-comparable people from other programs? After all, the filters to get into these particular programs, and finish, are pretty strong, so that's a pretty strong recommendation for someone already. Early in peoples' careers, they often have not "hit their stride", so that their grad program (and advisor) may be a very significant descriptor... and other people may not yet have had a chance to do the things that would show what they can do.

@paul garrett: Yes. Meaning: a PhD candidate with the same thesis, application, etc. from Hoolala University will be worse off than his/her twin relative from Princeton. Or more strongly, that they only seriously consider applications from a few universities.

@Ben Linowitz: That answers my question. I guess that professor was wrong...when he said it it was something like, "Ugh, they only want applicants from those universities. It's so stupid..."

I think if you pick a school department that interests you and look to see where the professors are from, especially recent hires as compared to more senior/famous individuals, you can get a pretty good sense of what the norm is there and how often they have people from other places. Preference networks in hiring are in general pretty strong, and private institutions are no exception. The causal arrow is not always certain, nor is cause even always present.

@Gradstudent, the students from fancier places have fancier people writing their letters of recommendation... so it's impossible to say "everything's the same", except for the name on the diploma.

@paulgarrett It's possible for someone from a lower-ranked school to have a good enough network to get fancy letters, although of course it's harder to make those connections in the first place.

@ElizabethHenning, well, yes, and/but if we allow in our premise ("otherwise equal") lots of low-probability events, any answer seems lots less relevant to anything.


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Email signature, multiple engineering disciplines
I am a PhD student in environmental engineering, but I received a masters in Mechanical. Within engineering, the two fields are very different, and I feel my value-add is my multidisciplinary approach and ability to communicate between. However, I don't want to appear pretentious or boastful.
I intend to go back into industry when I am finished, and I continue to have a lot of communication outside of academia. I wondered if anyone has a diverse background and/or experience dealing with others who list multiple disciplines in their signature?
Many thanks!

What is your question exactly? I find that unclear.

It's not clear what are you asking for?

I think the question is "What do I put in my email signature". In which case my answer is that I wouldn't try to use an email signature to replace my CV ;-) If you have a formal job title, maybe include that.

https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/90241/how-should-degrees-be-listed-in-an-e-mail-signature https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/8984/what-should-a-proper-email-signature-look-like-for-graduate-students

In my experience, email signatures present only your A) Current position, and in some cases B) Highest degree (for both academics and industry), along with additional contact information like an address or phone number.
E.g.,

Ag Tech, PhD
Senior Engineer
Very Green Company
1234 Long Forest Road

or

Ag Tech, PhD
Asst Professor
Tree State University
1234 University Ave

For fields where technical qualifications or certifications are particularly important, you might list out all those qualifications as additional letters after your name (for example, in medical fields, perhaps also in trades).
One would not typically list either "environmental" nor "mechanical" in your email signature. It could be appropriate to list both in a CV though, something like

Ag Tech
Environmental/Mechanical Engineer
...
PhD Environmental Engineering, 2019
MS Mechanical Engineering, 2016

but you wouldn't present it like that in an email signature.

Name
Job title (optional)
Phone number
E-mail (optional, helps with some systems where address is not shown)
Website (optional)

That's pretty much the norm for the working world.  I wouldn't list your discipline.  Personally, I wouldn't even use the "comma Ph.D.".  (The people who emphasize having the union cards tend to be the weakest ones...it's eerie how common you see that correlation.)  But in any case, don't tell us the field.  Your signature is not your CV.
FWIW, I just do name and number.
If you just feel like you HAVE to advertise, then put your personal website in the signature.  But don't link to the CV, link to home page.

Stating your qualifications isn't boastful, IMO. There is no reason that an email signature needs to be short. Mine is quite long, but for other reasons.
Probably overdoing it to put your entire CV there, of course.
It is only boastful if you list things for which you are only marginally qualified. And most people will ignore the signature after the first email.
And, if your mailer is at all competent, you can have different signatures for different purposes.


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How to spot accidental/deliberate plagiarism and how to prove it?
This new question is related to this What to do when a section of a published paper has a section which contains similar results as mine?.
In my previous question(linked above), I had asked that inspite of a paper of mine posted in arXiv, how can a paper be published which has a Section containing exactly same results as mine with wordings changed.
The answer from most of the members were that there is no harm in doing so as two researchers can develop similar ideas and hence can publish same results. In fact it is wrong to accuse other person whose results were published later than mine of plagiarism.
Also there is no need for the other person to be aware of my result because it is posted in arXiv.
My humble question is : How do you prove then that a paper has been plagiarized?
I found that there are several punishments for plagiarism, one loses ones grant, ones job, ones reputation and so on.
Now if someone proves a theorem of a published paper by changing the wordings of the proof and when accused of stealing simply says "Oh! This got proved already, sorry I was not aware of this", should the author of the original paper let him/her go away with this excuse?
My questions are : How to prove plagiarism?
and  How to spot accidental/ deliberate plagiarism?
If someone can please help me, I will be grateful.

Surely it depends on the field? In mine it would be easy enough to prove/disprove, because we'd both have dated lab books describing what we'd been doing. It would either be that we'd done the work at the same time (unlucky, there are definitely academic 'fashions' where lots of people publish on similar topics) or they hadn't done the experiments until after my paper could have been seen by them, which would look more suspicious, especially if it was a departure from their normal research.

If someone plagiarizes my publication, it is a problem for the journal (or other outlet) that publishes the rip-off or, if it's a thesis, for the thesis committee. But it is absolutely no concern for me. My work has already been published, and that's all that matters to me.

Why do you think that that other paper is plagiarizing you?

One important thing to keep in mind is my advice to students in my mathematics courses: Never try to prove a false statement. The thing you are trying to prove had better be true, otherwise you might end up fooling yourself in your attempts to produce a proof. I suppose lawyers might disagree with me, but academicians will generally agree, I believe.

@MaartenBuis; because the results in Section 1 of their paper are exactly similar(wordings changed) as mine, though the rest of the sections are different from mine

I am sorry, but that does not convince me.

should the author of the original paper let him/her go away with this excuse?

I honestly don't know what you mean by "let him/her go away", but I think you're overestimating your own power in this situation. The rest of my answer will basically say not to accuse someone of something unless you can prove it, but even if you can you are not this person's boss. Your main course of action open to you, if you can prove plagiarism and the author denies it after you talk to them, is to write to preprint server or journal and present your evidence. At that point, it is up to them to decide what they want to do.
But people also read the literature and your work has priority, so a more positive spin on things is that you proved the result first and people should cite your work if that result gets used.

How to prove plagiarism? and How to spot accidental/ deliberate plagiarism?

The most clear situation is if there is word-for-word matching of text. A murkier situation is if the two pieces of text are similar. There's a spectrum of "text similarity" where you could see that the text is almost the same with just a few words changed, to text where the ideas are the same but formulated in a different way. You could probably make an argument for plagiarism for text near the "significant text overlap with a few words changed" end of the spectrum.
Assuming you are not in one of the clear cut cases, there's really not much you can do to prove plagiarism unless you can read the other person's mind or have access to some incriminating document where the person admits to plagiarism in writing.
Anyway, you should not accuse someone of a serious crime without serious evidence. Plagiarism is about as serious as it gets in academia. Don't accuse someone of it unless you are absolutely sure that is what is happening. Keep in mind that people do have similar ideas and so overlapping ideas in papers is not sufficient evidence to prove plagiarism.
My unsolicited advice is that life is too short for this. Focus on your work, which anyway was published first and should get cited.

Indeed, life's too short for this. Being concerned about getting credit for past achievements is dangerously close to resting on one's laurels; all that effort is best spent working on something new and exciting. I'd surely act upon it though if I'd see the article I've sent to Advances in the Hamster Nutrition Research in Nature few months later, signed by their [AHNR] editorial board. Less extremely, if their work was published in something far more visible and there's a real concern it'd get cited over yours... Still it's the best to get over it IMO.


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Avoid plagiarism when copying (paraphrasing) paragraphs for the background section of Masters Thesis
In my background section, I have a subsection which explains ideas from research papers that my supervisor has previously published.
Basically in my thesis, I build upon these ideas and so I have a few pages in the background section which goes into the detail about the previous work.
At the start of the subsection I wrote "The following section provides a recap of the ideas that are presented in (citation)."
A lot of it I paraphrased, but some things including definitions and equations I want to copy word for word.
Is this allowed and if it what is the right way of going about it?
It is a good idea to cite the paper at the beginning of the subsection once or would I need to cite it multiple times?

If you are paraphrasing everything then a single citation is enough, but provide a hint, at least, about where that section ends.
If you want to use direct quotes make it obvious that you are quoting using some textual hints (quote marks are only one way). It might be necessary to note that your quotes of definitions, etc, come from the original work.
It isn't hard to make sure that everything is correctly cited. What is hard is not making it look messy. If you can use foot/end notes then you can make citations less obvious, hiding the details in those notes.


text:
I took minor degree courses for which I have no official record - do I mention them in my phd application?
Note: this is all in Europe.
I am in the process of applying for a phd position. I think I have a decent chance (albeit still small of course) of getting the position, since it matches my profile and I know one of the supervisors well.
In 2015 I took a semester abroad, doing a minor in a different subject than I graduated in. This subject is not related to the phd subject. However, it was still a valuable experience (living abroad, being independent), which I think will help my chances slightly.
The problem is that due to an issue between the two universities, the study credits I got there ended up not being accepted, and I had to take extra courses at my home uni to compensate for this. Of course, this is ridiculous, because I basically spent half a year there for nothing (in terms of ECTS). I do have a signed document stating that I completed my semester there, as well as grade lists, but I don't have any official records saying I completed my courses.
Should I still mention the courses I followed abroad, with the risk of having to explain that I don't have the credits for it at a later stage? I may end up looking chaotic/messy if they find out I spent a semester in another university without officially passing any courses. However, not mentioning it leaves a half year gap on my CV and I also miss the independence/international experience checkmark. I did spend half a year in another country on another occasion, but that was work-related, not academic.
TLDR: took semester abroad, records of it are lost, no official proof I completed the courses. Do I mention this semester at all on my phd application? Courses are only very slightly related to phd subject.

the study credits I got there ended up not being accepted --- Not accepted at the abroad university, or accepted at the abroad university and not accepted at your home university? If the latter, I would include the courses and simply state the abroad university at which the course credits were earned. I have credits at several universities, in one case these being some school teacher-education courses I took in the late 1980s as part of an alternative certification process to teach high school (in the U.S.).

I don't have any official records saying I completed my courses — Does the university where you took the courses have official records that you took the courses?  At least in the US, most grad programs (eventually) want official transcripts sent directly from each university you've attended.

Do I mention this semester at all on my phd application?

Yes. Treat the semester as a regular CV entry, e.g., include a heading such as
MMM'YY -- MMM'YY, subject, university, country

Under that heading explain what you studied, e.g.,
   I studied courses in X, Y and Z at Master's level.

Perhaps even explain why you studied them, e.g.,
   The knowledge I acquired allowed me to ABC.

(For a PhD application, my advice remains the same, it just seemed easier to explain for a CV, rather than such an application.)

[There's a] risk of having to explain that I don't have the credits for it at a later stage?

The credits aren't necessarily relevant. You acquired new skills and those skills allow you to achieve something new.

I may end up looking chaotic/messy if they find out I spent a semester
  in another university without officially passing any courses.

You can control the dialogue (e.g., as I have suggested above) and present the semester as a plus, rather than a negative.

[There's] no official proof I completed the courses

No official proof exists for many aspects of your application, e.g., you can explain achievements without proof.


text:
What to expect, prepare, bring to a short-noticed meeting solicited by a University Press editor?
How to prepare for a meeting/discussion with a major University Press editor when they solicited/sought you out on short notice (4 days)? Because I didn't solicit them, I don't have a full manuscript -- just my conference paper, abstract, and general research ideas. What is expected in these impromptu meetings solicited by University Press editors? What should I bring to the meeting? Do they expect me to become prepared with a pitch and write a book proposal overnight? Or do I simply bring an abstract and a CV?
I would like to make the most of this opportunity, but I was solicited out of the blue during a conference and feel so unprepared. I don't want to blow an opportunity or ruin future prospects, but I have no idea what to expect. Are they meant to be low-key casual?

See this : https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/132579/72855  Perhaps you should have put the detail of the meeting in the other question.

Thanks, Solar Mike! Yeah... I'm the one who asked that question. Same person! In this question, I want to know what to bring to the meeting and how to best prepare myself to make the most of the opportunity. In that question -- I was wondering if it was common practice of managing editors of University Presses to solicit PhD students.

In a variety of humanities disciplines, getting a book out of one's thesis is a priority as an assistant professor. And, the likely publishers are the university presses...

It is unlikely that any editor is going to make any commitment to you about publishing your work, other than a book idea. You should come to the meeting with the same attitude. Don't make commitments or sounds that seem like commitments. Take a draft of your work (or an abstract) and be prepared to (a) listen and (b) sound interested.
Get and give business cards.

Alright, thanks! This helps me understand the situation a bit more! So it's more of a network opportunity and "maybe in a few years (if we share common interests) we can discuss possibilities then" kind of thing? So this is a pretty standard tactic for editors?

When you have a paper, then you can get serious about commitments. In many ways, the editor just wants to be sure that you know they exist. It isn't a personal relationship they are after. It is the papers. The papers.

Well, I have a paper long enough for a chapter in an anthology or for a journal article -- just not enough for a book yet. Do University Press editors seek authors for chapters in an anthology? Or even just journal articles? Or are they only interested in catching the big fish? Haha! Thanks -- you are incredibly helpful. I'm just trying to figure out his motive for wanting to meet with me.

Probably separate questions for some of that.

It kind of depends on what you want out of a meeting. If there's something you want to publish with the Press, then you should prepare materials. You won't have to provide anything in the meeting itself - the book proposal, your CV, etc, can be done later - but have some idea about what you want to publish, what it's about, roughly how long it'll be, and so on. If you already have these proposals ready then sure, you can discuss them during the meeting itself, but unless the acquisition editor is an expert in your field (not likely), they're not going to be very useful. Besides the acquisition editor will need to get the proposal peer reviewed, so he can't decide there and then.
If there's nothing you want to publish with the Press, you don't have to prepare anything since it's up to the acquisition editor to say what he's after.
I can assure you that you don't have to be worried about this meeting because the Press likely wants you as an author (they approached you after all) so you won't be ruining any opportunities even if you show up unprepared. They can hardly expect you to be prepared if they don't tell you what to prepare beforehand after all.

Do University Press editors seek authors for chapters in an anthology? Or even just journal articles? Or are they only interested in catching the big fish?

If the Press publishes journals in your field then they're very likely to be interested in journal articles. Individual articles in an anthology are iffier, since these books still need an overall editor. If you can serve as the editor, they're likely to be interested too.


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Authoritative source for the title of an article: print or online?
The web page for Nature volume 567 issue 7748 lists a comment called "Scientists rise up against statistical significance".  If you click on the link you get an online article with that title, and at the end there is a note saying "Nature 567, 305-307 (2019) doi: 10.1038/d41586-019-00857-9".  But the online article also has a link to a "PDF version" which appears to show the actual layout of pages 305 to 307 with the title "Retire statistical significance".
What is the correct citation for this paper? And why do publishers make our lives difficult?

I"d probably cite the print version of the title, with the rest of the print information (including page numbers), and then add "on-line version titled 'Scientists rise up against statistical significance' at" followed by the URL.

@AndreasBlass, that is probably the answer. I'd also note that online things can change and print is less likely to.

You appear to have found something quite bizarre: not just this article, but many of the Nature "Comment" articles appear to be titled differently in their HTML and PDF versions!
So, how to sort such a bizarre occurrence out? In my opinion, it's ambiguous whether print or online is "definitive", since many journals do not even bother with a print edition any more, and following a DOI will take you to the HTML version.
Instead, I would revert to first principles on the purpose of citation: to enable a person to find the document that is being referenced.  To this end, I suggest searching online (as somebody who might follow the citation would). Here, one finds that the HTML title predominates (perhaps unsurprisingly), and thus I would recommend using the online title in this case.

On the other hand, they can change the online title tomorrow, while the print version is more or less stable/reliable in the long run.

@rg_software The actual print version, yes.  The PDF is just as potentially unstable as the HTML.  In both cases, you're counting on a commitment from the journal not to change things.

@jakebeal  A good answer.  An alternative, suggested in a comment above by AndreasBlass , is to include both titles in the reference.  Or the title could be omitted (which seems to be the referencing style used in Nature).


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How to cite a journal paper which do not have a page number?
I was very annoyed with the Elsevier's journals. Many of them do not provide the page number of the paper.
For example, see, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165168420302176
You can not find any page number, expcept a weird seris of numbers "Volume 176, November 2020, 107674".
Should I use that "107674" as the page number? (If I do this in bibtex , it would looke like pp. 107674)

Yes, that's normal, and 107674 is the page number.

Or should it should be issue number?

Why does it matter anyway? I find it lot easier to track down papers using title and author names rather than journal issue and page number.

@Vibex it matters to formality

If it's a formatting requirement you can just use 107674 and don't have to worry about it further. My point is that you are probably overthinking this because readers will usually use other information to track down the paper (DOI, title, year etc.) before resorting to page numbers.

@Vibex Yes, I totally understand. It is the reviewer complaining about it without giving any solutions.

@Vibex, people are different. I use page numbers all the time to find papers from references...

Officially that number seems to be called Article Number (see the Table of Contents of Vol. 176 of that journal; the journal seems to have switched from 'page numbers' to 'article numbers' with Vol. 166).
It nevertheless seems safe to call it the page number. The reason is that Elsevier itself deposited that 'article number' as the 'page'-metadata in CrossRef (a depository for research papers' metadata).
See here: http://api.crossref.org/works/10.1016/j.sigpro.2020.107674, where it says:
"page":"107674"

Website like CrossRef or Google Scholar uses web spider to crawl data from the internet automatically. As a web developer, I do not think we should directly use the provided metadata, as they might be wrong.


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Can a cat be a co-author in academic paper?
One of the most famous cat physicians must be F. D. Willard, who co-authored many physical papers.
My question is simple:
Is it academically correct to have a cat/dog as a co-author of a paper, in principle?
Does it correspond to the academic code of ethics?
Does the author has to be a natural human?

If you are an established professor it has a very different impact than if you are at the beginning of your career. It won't help you to appear foolish if you are just starting out.


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How do you self-teach yourself about a field you don't know about, specifically for STEM?
When I was in an undergrad, I joined a DNA nanotechnology lab and the assistant professor who was member of the lab gave me bunch of papers to read to get acquainted with the field. When I joined a computational physics lab, it was the same and the professor gave me a paper to read. I do understand that, in labs, you don't have textbooks but bunch of papers to teach yourself.
I am curious about how people in academia self-teach themselves about a field they don't know about. Would they read a review from major peer-reviewed journals, such as Science or Nature, and then dig deeper from there? How would they get teach themselves techniques, and knowledge? When I was in a lab, I didn't have to worry about those things since professors gave me things I needed to read. But, if there was no person like that, how would the researcher get acquainted with the field?

Would they read a review from major peer-reviewed journals, such as Science or Nature, and then dig deeper from there?

Yes.

How would they get teach themselves techniques, and knowledge?

Techniques can also be learned from journal articles, but it's also typical to defer to or collaborate with other researchers who are more familiar with those techniques, or to travel and visit labs. In my personal experience, several times contacts at conferences etc led to communication between labs. The lab I worked in during grad school a few times hosted grad students from other labs both inside and outside our institution that spent a few days or hours here to see how we did a particular thing, and similarly people from our lab would travel around.
When academics travel to give talks at other universities, one of the key parts of their visit is to tour other labs, which can include observing techniques used by those labs.
I'd add that this doesn't just apply to new or unfamiliar techniques, either: it's part of the normal art of improving research methodology.
More broadly, though, mid- and later-career academics don't tend to move from field to field arbitrarily (whereas it's not uncommon to make a big jump between undergrad and grad school: you simply aren't that committed to a field at that point): they usually have some adjacent knowledge that's taking them into that area, so they aren't starting completely from scratch.


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PhD supervisor making me do a LOT of non PhD work
2nd year PhD student going into 3rd and final year in September, in the UK.
My PhD supervisor is a brilliant researcher, and for the most part I enjoy working with her. I do have a second supervisor but she is essentially useless.
My project is pretty hectic, I enjoy working on different components at once. That said, I have a defined research question and thesis chapters.
However, recently my supervisor has tasked me with helping on lab work for a project which needs to be completed for a grant application. This project has nothing to do with my PhD (other than I will be using the same method). It involves about 10-12 hours of hands on time per week. This is a significant amount of time out of my work which is intense enough without this. I mean I would frequently work from 7-7 on it alone.
I have been told I can only be paid for the weekend work (which consists of about 1 hour of the weekly 10), but this to me seems dodgy. The work has nothing to do with my PhD and is directly impacting my ability to get stuff done.
The fact is I'm scared of saying any of this to my supervisor, as at the end of the day I am planning to do a post with her and I feel like if you present as inflexible it could hurt me down the line. However I do feel a bit taken advantage of, and at the end of the day considering that doing this work for a few months is only prolonging my thesis submission.
Just wondering if anyone else has experienced anything similar or has any advice?

What about asking academic rep (if this is something you are willing to accept)? maybe you can ask to be a named Co-investigator on the grant. An academic CV would generally have not only your job and papers, but also how much money you have been able to secure. If you are interested in continuing in academia, a name on a successful research grant can give you a nice boost.

Although there may be a number of people here who are quick to claim that no PhD advisor would ever take advantage of the cheap and free labor that PhD students can be coerced into (by means of using degree and thesis requirements as a figurative cudgel), I think that it is somewhat common that PhD advisors make use of such free labor. This should not be.
This being said, there are a few things to consider:

The grant application you are assisting in might be a direct means of funding your future research. That is the "pay off" for you. Nothing happens in academia for free. Make sure that you are being compensated, but also keep in mind that not all compensation is directly and immediately monetary.
A few months of weekend work is sometimes part of "paying your dues" in academia and can open up further opportunities for you. (Such as a future post-doc with this professor).
Address your concerns as to timeline with your supervisor. If she dismisses your thoughts entirely, you may want to consider if this is really a professor you want to do a post-doc with.

I agree with the end of your first paragraph, and I think our answers are effectively the same, but I'd warn that although "there may be a number of people here who are quick to claim that no PhD advisor would ever take advantage of the cheap and free labor" there are just as many who are quick to propose that students should act completely selfishly at all times to protect themselves from being abused, when no such abuse is taking place.

@BryanKrause I tend to believe that students need to become more aggressive in asserting themselves when it comes to advisors overstepping their bounds. It seems to be a common ailment on academia.SE: "My advisor is taking advantage of me." A much less common issue I hear of is graduate students who are being asked to do reasonable things and think them to be unreasonable abuse.  At least at my university, I see a much higher percentage of the former type of abuse taking place. The leverage models clearly favor the advisor heavily. They have much better avenues for rectifying abuses.

Perhaps, but much like with "internet advice" for couples, usually the difference between a crowd-sourced and more professional opinion is "break up now!" versus "have you told your partner this bothers you?" Being assertive need not mean being aggressive, and the advisor/student relationship need not follow an adversarial or zero-sum model.

And then this question shows up: https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/133404/how-to-say-no-to-more-work-as-a-phd-student-so-i-can-graduate which is a situation where I'd want to make exactly the opposite point that I made here. :)

For my field (biological sciences), this doesn't sound like a lot of extra unacceptable non-PhD work. It might be different for yours. In a collaborative field, typically not every project you work on will be part of your thesis, and not all of the work in your thesis will be solely yours.
Since you rely on other people's work, including other current and past students, you should expect your work to also help other current and future students, as well as the lab as a whole (i.e., your PI).
That said, it is perfectly acceptable to have a conversation with your supervisor if work is preventing you from making suitable progress on your own thesis. This sort of conversation should be part of your regular meetings with a supervisor: your goals for progress on your thesis and checkpoints towards those goals.
It sounds like these other tasks might be somewhat temporary, so try to set a plan with your supervisor that keeps you on track to get back to finishing your primary work. However, I would suggest you go into that conversation with a collaborative mindset, treating both this task and your thesis as shared goals between you and your supervisor: that is, your supervisor will (or should) want you to complete your thesis on time as well, so you can work with her to achieve that shared goal, as well as what should be a shared goal of completing the work for this grant.

Academics usually have a written set of duties to their students under university rules.  This falls short of a fiduciary duty to the student, but it usually entails duties to facilitate the progression of their candidature.  It is perfectly acceptable for a PhD student to work on other research outside their PhD topic from time to time, but the supervisor should not assign work to the student that is at odds with progression of the candidature or advancement of their academic progress.  In view of this, the work that your supervisors ask you to perform should generally fall into one of the following categories:

Research, administration, and other work that is related to your PhD candidature;
Coursework or other learning activities that are properly connected to your PhD candidature;
So long as it does not hinder your ability to progress your candidature, research work that you have voluntarily accepted and which is unpaid, but gives you some valuable academic benefit (e.g., co-authorship of publications, your name as a researcher on successful grants, etc.);
So long as it does not hinder your ability to progress your candidature, research work that you have voluntarily accepted and which is paid (and even then you should get appropriate credit for your contribution).

From what you have described, a small amount of the work that you are doing is paid, but most of it is unpaid.  Your supervisor should only be asking you to do this work if they judge that it will give you some academic benefit (albeit one that might not line up with your PhD research topic) and they judge that it will not hamper your progression in your PhD candidature.  If you have concerns about this, you should raise these with your supervisor, and ask for an explanation of how this activity will advance your academic development, and how you can balance it with your PhD research.
Depending on what has been arranged, you should get some academic benefit from this work, due to being listed as an applicant on an academic grant, or as a co-author of publications.  If this is not the case, you should not be doing the work.  Since you are undertaking lab work for a grant application, you should ultimately get credit for this, through co-authorship on publications that use your lab work, and possibly also being listed as a co-applicant (or at least given an acknowledgement) in the grant application.  You should make sure to negotiate this up-front --- have a talk with your supervisor about expectations for co-authorship, etc., to see what credit you will be given for your contribution to this research.  Assuming you are given appropriate credit for your work, it might be a valuable addition to your accomplishments during your candidature.
In any case, in the first instance, I would suggest you raise all these concerns with your supervisor.  Make sure to have a discussion about what credit you will get for your work, in terms of co-authorship of papers (authorship order, etc.), and whether you will be listed as one of the applicants on the grant application.  You should also discuss timelines for your PhD candidature, and make sure your supervisor is giving you time to progress your actual topic.  If you are unsatisfied with your supervisor's plans and responses on these issues, raise the matter with the relevant graduate-student co-ordinator and ask for a second opinion.  Also note that, if you are not getting appropriate academic credit for this work, and it conflicts with your PhD research, it should not be assigned to you.

Maybe see the extra lab work as relevant experience and developing your skills?
You can use that relevant experience in your CV and future job applications.
The major issue is the impact on your mental health and your social life. You are already in your final year, so you should be scouting for future jobs and opportunities now.


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Transition from university teaching career to curricular assessment type jobs?
I'm curious if anybody here has ever transitioned from a teaching-strong academic career to a curriculum assessment type job (in calculus, for example)? If so, what would you be able to say about that? That is, what do you think a successful applicant to such a job should have on their CV, coming from academia? What would you be able to say about the types of tasks you were involved in, once hired? How did the lifestyle differ (or not differ) from your past academic experience? You know, the works. (If it matters, I'm coming from an American context.)
I should perhaps say a bit about myself to help clarify this question more.
I graduated with a PhD in mathematics in 2017, having worked as a part-time graduate teaching assistant for six years (two semesters as full instructor-of-record). I have now completed two years of an intensive teaching post-doc, with one more year to go. This position has given me the ability to teach a wide range of undergraduate courses: calculus 1, 2, and 3, linear algebra, complex analysis, topology, real analysis 2, abstract algebra 1, and four semesters of an active-learning/group-work/IBL style logic&proof course for non-math majors.
These last two years, I have employed various teaching styles running the gamut from teacher-centered to student-centered. In graduate school, I was fortunate to serve as a TA for various instructors who I observed, and assisted with, employing techniques like flipped classroom, IBL worksheets, group work, etc. I have written several creative quizzes, exams, and interactive proofs (further details upon request) in all of my classes, and have come to quite enjoy this part of the job. I am preparing a conference talk and paper about work I did this past spring semester to revolutionize my department's logic&proof course for non-math majors.
I know that I would like a math education-focused career, but I am lately considering the possibility that perhaps being more behind the scenes rather than constantly in the classroom might be a better fit for my temperament/personality. Assuming that a transition to a curriculum assessment/specialist type job (still learning the lingo) is even feasible for someone with my experience, would it be advisable? Assuming, down the road, that I wish to return to university teaching, would it be possible? It strikes me that having experience in developing unique, cutting-edge curricular materials might actually be a benefit for a university instructor. Anyway, this is a new idea that I'm beginning to explore, so I'm gathering all the information and perspectives that I can at this stage.

This can be very rewarding, especially if you have capable and knowledgeable colleagues (i.e. not those identified by HR on the basis of buzz-words in a resume), but for someone with your background the pay is typically less than for teaching and your job security is also subject to fickle market trends. I'm reluctant to say more here, but possibly this could provide some useful search ideas.

Could you edit the question for length?  I'm very curious what a "curricular assessment type job" is.  If it is not at a university, your question might get closed as off topic.

This seems like an extremely narrow career path. There are employees of the College Board, of course, and editors of textbook publishers, but I don't know of others outside of academics who mostly do this as a byproduct of doing other things. Perhaps getting employed by an online course delivery system might work. But still, narrow, I think. Where there are thousands of universities, there are only a few jobs at places like Coursera and similar.

Possible google searches are math + consultant + education and curriculum + math + coordinator, but opportunities at the post-HS level are virtually non-existent, since as @Buffy said, this is the kind of thing that faculty take on according to need and interest. Perhaps you could gain entry as a college math lab coordinator, and then try to expand your job duties after you're in such a position.

There's a role at many schools called "program coordinator" which may be either a service position held by a faculty member (perhaps in exchange for a reduced teaching load), or it can be a non-faculty job help by  staff member. In the latter case it seems to be a good bit lower on the food chain and pay scale versus faculty.

Is this related to becoming expert in some accreditation system, e.g. ABET?

I suggest the following course of action when thinking about any non-standard career path:

Identify people who already have the job you would like to have. Get in touch with them, and ask them as many questions as you can think of (about their job, how they got it, etc.). If you can't find anybody, chances are that this job doesn't really exist in your area. For instance, I am not sure if my university employs anybody for "curricular assessment", although we have a few people who more or less work fulltime on program management and development (which may be close to what you have in mind).
Find out what qualifications these people have, and which qualifications they had before starting their job. It's well possible that you may need additional training before you can realistically apply for the job you are looking for (e.g., to become a program manager in my department, you typically want to be a mid-career academic with considerable pedagogical training and some publications in education-focused journals and conferences).
Let everybody and their dog know that you are interested in transitioning into such a position. One challenge with non-traditional career paths is that most people in your network may not even be aware that you might be interested in such a job if they happen to come across one. The only solution for this is to make sure that your entire network is aware that you are not looking for a standard faculty position.
Volunteer for every opportunity to take on a role in your department that comes close to what you want to do. Besides giving you valuable experience this will also help you become known as the person doing program development in your department (and, hopefully, beyond). If a suitable job opens up, you should be the first person that people are thinking about.

In a nutshell, it's really not all that different from how engineers transition into management positions in industry. First, you make sure that people know you are interested in a management position in the first place. Then you get the necessary training and take over more and more management tasks, until a suitable opportunity arises and you get asked to transition.

One possible option is to do this at the university level, where a possible career path would be as follows:

Get a tenure-track faculty position at a university that cares about teaching. Your qualifications should make a very positive impression on the job market, especially if you have a respectable math research record as well.
Once hired, continue to invest time in your new department as you've been doing. Volunteer for leadership, service, and administrative roles.
Once tenured, try to transition into an administrative role. You could work as your department's undergraduate director, seek a role in the Dean's or Provost's office, etc. Alternatively, you could seek a job in an accrediting agency, or in a national organization like the AMS or MAA.

But beware (as you might already be aware) that many professors have a habit of tuning out "curriculum assessment". Your influence will be a function of your ability to persuade people; even if you obtain a lot of formal power, that doesn't mean that anyone will listen to you. "Assessment" has a reputation for being useless busywork, which you might have to fight.
That said, if you want to work in higher education, this is probably your likeliest career path. My impression is that, for better or worse, no one outside universities has much influence on college-level pedagogy.
There might also be options at the K-12 level or elsewhere; I don't know anything about these and so won't comment. Good luck!

In Australia for primary and secondary education you’d probably want to get in touch with ACARA - the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority. I’m not sure where the OP lives, though, since this question doesn’t have a location tag - and I’m not sure if primary/secondary education are within the scope of this Stack, anyway.