text:
Options other than the NSF for PhD level grants?
There is a big push in the PhD program I'm headed into for candidates to apply for NSF grants (in fact, one of the required classes for the first year is a class on writing grant proposals, and as a final project, every candidate submits an NSF proposal). I'm assuming this is the same for any Science/Math PhD program, as funding is tight for many departments, and a grant basically makes you free for the University.
Are there any other options for Science PhD-level grants I could apply for?

This seems to be a shopping question.

"I'm assuming this is the same for any Science/Math PhD program," No, most are not so well organized.

Perhaps this should be community wiki.

What type of science are you in? Physical, life, ect.?

A few government fellowships come to mind:

DoE Office of Science Graduate Student Research (SCGSR)
DoD National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellowship (NDSEG)
DoD Science, Mathematics & Research for Transformation (SMART)

There are also many fellowships from industrial research labs that you could look into, depending on your field (Intel, IBM Research, Microsoft Research, Facebook, Nvidia, etc.)

Note that fellowship programs are more oriented toward support of the student, and expect application for the fellowship at the same time as applying to programs, while this question is about proposals written during the first year, presumably toward support of particular research.

It's worth noting that the DOE SCGF was unfortunately only funded in the years 2010 and 2012, and does not appear to be accepting applications.

I think all the answers given so far (and several others) are included in the list at gradschools.com.
Start with the list here:

Federally funded portable fellowships

It includes DOE CSGF, NASA, DHS, CDC, NDSEG, and NIH.  Almost all the fellowships listed are primarily for STEM students.
A few of these are also relevant:

Portable Fellowships from Independent Organizations

In particular: Hertz, NPSC, and a couple of others that have more narrow eligibility requirements.

Don't forget about:

NIH Individual National Research Service Award (NRSA) predoctoral training fellowships

For the international students, there aren't a lot of external funding opportunities. But do check out the HHMI international student fellowship. You can apply for it during your second or third year and it supports the student for the third to the fifth year. Unfortunately, only institutions with an HHMI investigator can nominate students for the fellowship, and only students in natural sciences are eligible.

For international students, there often are funding opportunities at the home country.

@vonbrand that's true without saying. But usually these opportunities come with strings attached so it's always nice to have alternatives.

Some other funding sources include:

The EPA STAR Graduate Fellowship
The Ford Foundation's Fellowship
NSA Fellowships
Google Research
The Data Incubator

If you want to work for a Federal Agency, I would suggest searching their webpages for Fellowships/Internships. Some state agencies might also offer fellowship/scholarship/internship opportunities.
Note: Edited to add new fellowships that I learned about after the post.


text:
46 year old CPA wants to earn reputable doctorate - need advice
I am new to this forum and need/want advice. I am 46 years old, hold a CPA license and have a Macc from an AACSB accredited university.
My goal is to obtain a doctoral degree and research/teach at a university...not necessarily a top university, but not a small, liberal arts college either.
It appears that I have almost certainly missed the traditional PhD boat due to my advanced age (though I will still apply to several schools). While no program head would admit it, my understanding is that BUSINESS Phds in the U.S. really don't accept students much older than 30.
I've also researched DBAs/Executive Phds too. And while I don't hate the idea of these, the price tags are usually somewhere around $120,000 before travel expenses (these are hybrid programs).
Further, I have ZERO desire to obtain a Phd from a school like Walden, Capella, Northcentral, etc.
So my question is this: what do you think (you obviously can't know) my prospects would be with an out-of-field Phd? There are a few Phd degrees in the U.S. in fields like Human Resources, etc. that are somewhat related...but are not true business degrees. In other words, they would not be AACSB accredited because that is only available for business schools. There are a handful of these programs throughout the U.S. at reputable schools that are both hybrid and affordable.
I would have a Masters in accountancy, a CPA license, and of course the somewhat out-of-field doctorate.
Any advice is appreciated. Just remember...I am 46...not 22 with tons of options.
Thank you

Dear Jeff, welcome to our community. I am afraid that your question is too personalised to fit in the scope of Academia.SE. The idea is to ask questions that could apply to others in the future. However, I am sure that there are other questions you could ask that would help you and others in the same situation. I would like to invite you to perform a little search here in some of the questions related to age and academia, it may be useful for you: https://academia.stackexchange.com/search?q=Age+phd

What do you mean by out-of-field doctorate?  You don't know what you want to get your PhD in or you just don't want to include it in your question?

@TheDoctor I think the question will receive answers that are generalizable to the question "Is 46 too old to start a PhD?"

@DeanMacGregor In that case, it is a duplicate: https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/24577/i-want-to-do-research-but-im-too-old-for-a-phd

@TheDoctor touche.

Age may create new questions in the minds of some, but they are solvable. And you can probably find plenty potential advisers who will see your experience as a positive. You just need to leverage your background in your favor and make a good story about how your career has led to this step, even if it a major change in area.

@Dean MacGregor "Is 46 too old to start a PhD and enter a new profession (university teaching)?"

If you want a PhD, but you're not too fussed what subject it is in, this begs the question "Why do you want the PhD?".

@ Dean and Flyto, first of all thank you for your input. The out-of-field doctorate portion of the question simply references the fact if left with no other options, I may not be able to obtain a position in a school of business if the PhD was not a business degree.

To further clarify, I very much want to pursue a business PhD. I found a "fall back" program that covered some issues that I thought I could integrate into my research, but was a bit surprised that they requested a GRE score rather than the GMAT. It gave me immediate second thoughts. Thanks again!

I suspect the reason for wanting a GRE score rather than a GMAT score is that the GMAT is used primarily for MBA candidates only, who will not be in the candidate pool for the program you're interested in. Thus, by using your GRE score, the admissions committee will be able to compare an apple to other apples, rather than compare an orange to other apples.

Is your goal in getting the doctorate purely so that you can teach? Have you considered foregoing the PhD and getting a lecturer type position instead?

@ Dave. I understand that. But it appears that business schools prefer the GMAT for PhD programs rather than the GRE. I see professors at research universities in business departments that do not have "business" PhDs. However, I suspect that is because they've been in the field for a long time and business PhDs specifically weren't as prevalent when they were younger. I suspect that wouldn't fly these days, but confess my ignorance on the subject. Thank you

@ David K. No. I wouldn't mind the teaching aspect, but research is my main goal. This is my last great adventure (I've had a few) and I want to give it everything. I would teach as a lecturer or at a community college only if I had to settle for a hybrid DBA program...which is not my ideal goal. I would be taking a pay cut almost certainly and so if I have to settle for a DBA I'd likely just stick with my current position as it would be easier to stomach the DBA's costs.

@JeffFisher You should edit your question to clarify your goal. At the moment, it says that your goal is to teach and says nothing about research, whereas your comment says your goal is research and teaching is something you'd put up with to get that.

Have you looked at Nova Southeastern University?  If not, you should do so.

Thank you,  Bob. I'm not interested in IACBE schools...yet

Age >40 not a problem
I am a faculty member at a top-50 business school.  We would definitely consider candidates who are your age.  In fact, your age is something of an advantage in that you would certainly have substantial real-world experience.
... but we train researchers
Your stated primary goal of teaching would definitely be a strike against you.  Top PhD programs are primarily in the business of training people who have research as a primary goal.  The training we offer is primarily how to create new knowledge, as well as socialization into the institutions of academic research.

Thank you! I'll make sure to forsake the term "teaching" and instead use the term "research". The fact that you mentioned it indicates how important the distinction is between the two terms. It's also nice to know that there is actually a chance.

@NajibIdrissi Yes but the same applies to teaching jobs.  I think the point is that if your goal is to be in academia then it is desirable for you to be a good researcher.  The answer to someone who can't find a job in academia would be the private sector not some placement where only teaching is desired.

@NajibIdrissi to clarify, I only meant that at my school (and I believe at top-tier programs in general), we do not accept people who are seeking teaching-only careers.  It's true that there aren't research jobs for everyone, but our niche in academia is training people who will get those research jobs.  Teaching faculty are hugely important -- and these are great careers that probably have the greatest impact on student experience -- but we just don't train them.

I can identify since I went for a "PhD-and-academic-career" after 25 years of a professional career in the private sector (Finance & Administration Director kind of stuff). Although countries are rather different (mine is Greece), we are both in the "western civilization" chunk of humanity so maybe some similarities apply.
What the persons interviewing me for the PhD wanted really to be convinced about, was that I was really serious about pursuing an academic career. In other words "I am doing the PhD for the love of science" (translation in the ears of third parties: I am bored with my life / I have a mid-life crisis /I failed in my current profession etc), wouldn't have cut it. "I want to change course because I very much like scientific research, and I like teaching too), and generally I like engaging in new things" was the correct approach.
And then, even though I had completed a full-time 2-year Master of Science when young, they had me doing it all over again, in order to qualify for the PhD.
I am not sure though about not exploiting your past education and professional experience.
From my economist's point of view (I am a certified accountant also), there is abundant space for important research in linking/bringing together the Accounting and Economics points-of-view on researching the workings of the private sector in the economy.
Or, embarking on a research project combining Management Science and Accounting with a quantitative approach, appears also to be an open field.

I like your ideas regarding research. My research ideas center around connections between accounting and human resources. Of course, most of my thoughts eventually find their way into economics. Thank you for your encouraging comments.

want to earn reputable doctorate - need advice

Your desire is misplaced. That is, an academic degree is not a goal in itself, it is a recognition of work done. A university "awarding" the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, or Master of Arts, or whatever, means that its academic bodies recognize your academic work - studies and/or research as the case may be - at the institution makes you worthy of that recognition.
So don't think about what degree you want to achieve, think about what kind of research you're interested in doing. If there isn't a specific question you want to study in depth, then you should not enter a doctoral problem. Or at least - if there isn't a narrow field which you want get into in great depths, don't enter such a program.
I realize that I'm saying "If you're not a researcher then you don't get to teach" - and that's partially the point in much of the academic system: That Humboldtian principle, the marriage of the expansion of knowledge by research and the dissemination of knowledge by teaching. There are colleges, and peripheral domains within universities, when non-researchers teach. Sometimes this creeps into the core programs too. In those cases, a wealth of practical experience can work in your favor looking for a teaching position. I would consider that non-research-based route as well.

Thank you. My desire, however, is not misplaced. I have very specific research ideas, and they are the reason for earning the degree. I've just not shared them on the forum. Look, the fact is that without the degree, it does not matter what one's research acumen may be. Ironically, my question has been understood by everyone I've talked with outside of academia, but there seems to be a disconnect to some extent with those already in the field. I suspect that's due to rigid language...semantics that actually matter, but that I don't understand.

@JeffFisher: It's not about the language, it's about how you approach things. If you try to "get a doctorate", you're much more likely to get stuck, have trouble focusing, be stressed out or become depressed, etc. You'll find many questions about this experience on this site. I'm not saying it's impossible - some/many people eek out doctorates through mental fortitude, or because the academic standards in many institutions and departments are rather low IMHO. But I would advise against it.

And yet you don't know what my approach is exactly. Surely you would agree that the only way to do formal, university research is to be either the holder of a doctoral degree or a student in such a program. Please don't confuse the very limited post I made as the entirety of my approach/desire/thought process, etc. Doing so only proves that the language/semantics that I referenced earlier is IN FACT a major contributor to the misunderstanding of said approach/desire...., etc. Thank you for your input and for the extra motivation. I hope that was your intent.

It is pretty difficult to provide a specific advice because you probably have pretty tight constraints in terms of time, family, location, etc. My advice would be to spend a lot of time exploring opportunities and weighing different options. PhD at 46 is definitely a good idea if you like teaching. It takes only 3-5 years to get it and it will make you employable long past the retirement age.
My personal opinion is that you should give a lot of weight to a location of the university so you don't have to spend too much time/money traveling as your opportunity costs must be pretty high now.
Also you should analyze the skills that you have and see what kind of research you can apply it to. Being an experienced accountant, you probably have quite a few valuable skills that you can apply to many fields. Going out of field is quite alright as long as you are interested in it and apply the skills you are strong at. For example, my masters was in finance and I ended up doing PhD studying risks in agricultural business. Worked out just fine and of course I went into another field after I got the PhD, applying my new set of skills. Come to think about it, progress is pretty fast so I'll probably end up working on a field that doesn't yet exist later in my career.

Arthur, It seems like you know me pretty well! Your advice is solid and mirrors exactly what I've been doing. I've decided to cast a large net in search of a program. Of course, geography is a concern, but obtaining a PhD and moving into research is my last great quest. The opportunity cost will be high...very high! But I've grown weary of looking up the answers. It's time to create the answers.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
How to come to know that you have done some thing non-trivial in the research?
I am a PhD student. I was working on some problem from last 5-6 months and some days I was able to solve it. I discuss with my research team including my research supervisor. I told them my idea and approach and then they discuss for 40-50 minute and asked me few questions and I gave them answers. They ask me to combine it with my previous smaller result and told me that it is a complete research paper. but here is a problem, I have seen some of the research papers written by some senior colleagues in my research field and with respect those people my research problem and its solution seems less significant. I am not comparing myself with them but with respect to these top researchers my work seems small. Some time I feel that I have done something non-trivial and some time I feel like my research work in trivial.

Question : How to come to know that you have done some thing non-trivial in the research? One way is to read the research papers of others. What are other ways?

This is usual after solving a problem

Do not listen to the Impostor Syndrome.

Knowing what is a publishable result is something that comes with experience. For now, trust your supervisor's judgment and write up and submit the paper. Even if it turns out that your concerns are valid and the result really isn't significant enough to warrant publication, writing the paper is still worthwhile for the practice. If the result is indeed trivial, the editor and/or reviewers will undoubtedly let you know.

It's not surprising that the work of a Ph.D. student "seems less significant" than that of "top researchers". That seems an unreasonable comparison.  The reason those guys are top researchers is exactly that their work is (usually) better than what the rest of us produce. That's not a reason for all of us non-top researchers to stop publishing. If your adviser says you've got something worth publishing, then write it up and publish it.

@user419308 Thanks. That obviously depends on how big one takes the"top" to be. When I think of top researchers in set theory, I think of people like Shelah, Woodin, or Todorcevic.

In a recent project I felt that I had somewhat trivial results, and that I needed to add more to it before writing the paper. The new steps turned out to be so non-trivial, and take so long time, that I decided to write up what I had in the meantime. By putting the work so far in the form of a proper paper - you know, with an introduction that attempts to convince others that the work is interesting and worthwhile - I ended up convincing myself that the results were non-trivial and made for a good paper already.
In hindsight I had worked on related stuff long enough that my results seemed less novel to me than they would to another person. So, my advice is to write it up, and trust your supervisor.

Two points worth making:
Firstly, that there is a huge range of published papers out there. Some are ground-breaking, while most are incremental. The incremental are still worthwhile.
Secondly, that when you have been working on a problem for months or years, it's easy to lose perspective. Because you've been absorbed in it, it starts to seem trivial or obvious, but to people who aren't intimately familiar it may still be new and interesting. The best way to regain this perspective is probably to talk to your colleagues, but you could also consider presenting at a conference (being careful not to prejudice future journal publication).

The poster child of your second point is Perelman and his work with Ricci flow. According to him, he just extended the work of others. According to everyone else, he completed what is likely to be one of the most important results in mathematics.

In my opinion, there are two key points to non-trivial research.

Novelity. If no one has done this before, it's new. To find this out, you do literature research. Well, you surely did literature research before going all-out and trying to obtain this result yourself?
Impact. How important is this result for the field. This is a tricky part, as you might try to answer this yourself (and should, really, in the why-does-this-matter part of the introduction of prospective paper), the real answer to this is the acceptance by the community. First stop is peer review, second stop is citation metric.

Judging a work is inherently subjective, and if its your own work, its easy to be positively biased or negatively biased towards it. (In my field there is a popular saying - when you do an experiment, everybody believes it except you; when you run a model, nobody believes it except you).
Naturally, the less subjective the judgement becomes, the more validity it gains. Staying up to date with recent research is very good, but its still individualistic and subjective - you are seeing other's research through your own lens of affinities and biases. This can be tackled by actively discussing themes with your colleagues/fellow students. Do this even with people in related but non-identical fields. Establish networks with peers in other universities/labs- this will really help you stay up to date, expose you to different perspectives and build friendships that will be invaluable in the long run. Be active on discussion fora/stacks related to your field. Imagine how easy we have it today (in this aspect) compared to the days of pen-and-paper correspondence.
Finally, IMO the most important way to judge the quality of your work is by writing and submitting it. Obviously, submission is (with reasonable exceptions) the ultimate yardstick of quality (from multiple perspectives- co-authors/reviewers/editor). Notwithstanding this, the writing stage is crucial - a lot of bias and ambiguity vanishes when you put it on paper and structure it into a report/manuscript.Write, read, edit, read, edit. This process will force you to examine your work with the right degree of critical review.

Out of my own experience, and that of my colleagues, PhD students almost inevitably hit that point (usually by the end of their PhD) where they come to believe that their work is insignificant.
I believe that this feeling of lack of achievement boils down to the fact that the researcher is so much into their research that it seems trivial to them, regardless of its real value.
You know your domain too well to correctly value it.

'Trivial' is a very subjective term.  A work can be trivial in the colloquial sense in that it is not a current hot topic or active area of research, or it can be trivial if your conclusions are not substantiated by the data available, or trivial in that it solves only a very esoteric problem.  In the best case, you conduct a work in a hot area, address a foundational assumption, and obliterate it with tight experimental design and clear data. If your data is strong, results substantiated, and the topic important to you, it is certainly non trivial in your arena.

I will also point out that trivial is a temporal term as well. What is trivial in the 1950's (perceptrons) is of immense importance today (neural networks).

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


text:
Being asked to take up a part-time status
TL;DR
I want to maintain full time status for now but my department is asking me to switch to part time status, I'm not certain that is a good idea since international students need to maintain a full time status. I'm being asked to sign and hand over a form giving up my power to be a FT student. I realize my mistake back then was responding positively when they asked the first time around if I wanted a PT status change or not (it was something I was considering, but it seems it may not be the best option, even that aside the window to make such a decision is pretty vast, stretching all the way into the Fall semester)
It is nobody's fault, they may be only trying to help me their own way, but I also need to maintain my visa status.
I'm an international grad student at a US school.
So since the next semester might be my last, I was inquiring for a part-time (PT) status with my department. I wanted to know how it worked, but apparently, I didn't even have to ask, because they started forcing it on me. The administrative assistant in my department kept shooting me regular emails asking me to sign a form for something THEN AND THERE (for something which did not have any urgency), only stopped after I called them out on it. This sort of got my attention.
So I looked into it.
Intl students can only go part-time on their last semester, this is because of an (obscure) rule (which no one informed me of, but I had to dig out on my own) which states that if an intl grad student goes part-time, they cannot be allowed to re-enroll as full time. That is, after going part-time, re-enrolling as full time becomes a void act.
So if I were to go part-time and wanted to stay on for whatever reason, I wouldn't be able to.
Okay let's say this is fine, but this is something which can be decided before the next semester, which is 3.5 months away and can be done anytime within the next two months. So what is the problem? They're asking me to DO IT NOW. Mind you, if I were to fill in that form and submit it, I hand over all power regarding my student status (WHICH CANNOT BE RESTORED) and THEY'RE BREATHING DOWN MY NECK using every tactic they can into pressuring me to hand it over.
Yes, I know everything that is associated with being a full-time student and am fine with it (and may have even considered, but only considered a PT status) but I'm not really comfortable doing something this major and unchangeable in one go THIS QUICKLY.
So what else is wrong at this point? Remember what I said about the form and how it can be submitted anytime before the Fall semester (at least a few weeks before, by then I can definitely let them know). Thing is, they're forcing me to adhere by a non-existent deadline and HAND IT OVER NOW, this is straight up coercion, I've already submitted forms which keep me on as a regular student, but they're sending me threatening emails marked with underlined and bolded red text to hand over power regarding my student status.
They're using a classic pressure tactic of giving me like 2 days to submit it or go bust (for now at least).
This sucks. I want to let them know that if there is such a change, I will declare it to them well before time (and give them ample time to process it) but not the way they're going about this ( I want to have standard status for now ). It almost seems to me that they're very interested in sending me to PT status and doing so IMMEDIATELY (leaving me unable to change it back once that happens).
I have only been able to dig a few things up, but not more than that, plus mostly everyone is either deflecting or tight-lipped about stuff like this. Nor am I really sure about all the exact formal nor informal consequences + rules associated with a thing such as this, so how to let them know that it's fine what they're asking and I may be all for it, just that it's inappropriate for them to hound me like this for something this ultimate/final when there's no real hurry? (given that this is a major decision, I'm not blaming anyone, if it seems okay, I'll let them know well ahead of time and they'll also get what they want, so it's a win-win, just that I get all the opportunity to consider it as much as is allowed by the university ) Also if anyone has any other info about PT status and if they have been a PT student / know someone who has been one, please let me know.
I can't really say that I need more time, then they'll use that against me and definitely try and get a YES out of me.

I didn't read your too long question because it's too long and because you don't even mention in which country you are.

Welcome to Academia.SE! Would you please highlight what is exactly your question? What is "Intl" ? What is FT student? What is PT status?

Heh...International

What if you just ignore them?

Welcome, and good luck! Your question may get closed if people still think it's unclear what you're asking, and it's off-topic to just ask for general advice. @Magicsowon has a great suggestion you may want to [edit] in. You haven't mentioned your advisor/supervisor. Have they been involved? If not, make sure you communicate to them why you want to think this through carefully; they are more likely to understand and support you. Further, consider a charm offensive toward the admin associate.

Please edit your question to make it readable.

@Mark They're threatening to not process / sign my List of Coursework (POS) form for the next semester

Obviously, you did not read @aparente001 's answer before you wrote this new version of the question.

@scaaahu - I'm actually a little confused about that.  At some point (two hours ago?) it looks like OP took almost everything out and wrote basically a one-paragraph bare bones question.  Then apparently rolled back to the previous (full-length) version.  It looks as though perhaps OP tried to do a severe pruning, and then rolled back to the full text, perhaps in preparation for a more fine-grained rewrite. I suggest we wait a while and see what OP decides to do with the "manuscript" before responding.

Does going part-time affect your funding? If you're international, is it allowed under your visa?

@cactus_pardner I'm sorry I don't see how a charm offensive is relevant here? Can you give me an example?

@mkennedy I'm not sure if it is allowed under my VISA

@moin Sometimes people bake cookies "for the office," or offer to get a cup of coffee for the admin associate, etc. Nothing big enough to be a bribe, but it says, "You're a human being who's probably stressed." Hopefully the admin will mutually acknowledge your humanity: you're not delaying because you don't care or to cause problems, but you want to get this right. IF you talk in person, it might be good to say, "I'm checking with the International student office to double-check how this affects my visa." Something so that you can resist the pressure to do the paperwork then and there.

What is the deadline for getting the signature for the course list? // I suggest replacing "asked" with "pushed" in the title.  It's stronger than "asked" but weaker than "coerced."

How to let them know that it's fine what they're asking and I may be all for it, just that it's inappropriate for them to hound me like this for something this ultimate/final when there's no real hurry?

Without caps except the normal ones (abbreviations, beginning of sentence, etc.)

Without boldface

Without anything remotely resembling bad language ("suck" is a no-no)

Without exclamation points

With at most one repetition of one item (preferably, no repetitiveness)

With calmness and dignity -- do not let them smell fear or desperation

By responding to emails with at least a 12-hour delay -- preferably 24 hours

By stating something positive in each interaction, e.g. "I would be happy to meet with an administrator about this"

By being at least as polite as them

By calling their bluff, e.g. "If there are any departmental or university policies that could affect my decision, I would appreciate a copy or a link"

By moving up the hierarchy (one rung at a time) if need be (e.g. go from administrative assistant to chair, assistant chair or director of graduate studies)

Also recommended:

Ask your advisor for guidance

Keep your advisor apprised of problems, developments, plans

I'm speaking from experience.  If you can follow the above guidelines, you will have an easier time staying on an even keel through this, and you'll be more effective.
I strongly encourage you to practice presenting your case in the style and format I'm recommending,
by editing your post.
Remember, the most effective style is succinct, polite, calm, dignified.  (If it comes out a little stuffy, so be it.)

Ultimately you are responsible for yourself, as you have already found out.
You know what the rules are, so if you feel you are being unduly pressured, then you need to bring other people into the loop in your response. Talk to your advisor as well as whoever is responsible for overseeing PhD students in your program. Include them in your response to the administrative assistant. Also, when writing, show that you know what you’re talking about. Many times people acting in such a manner rely on the lack of knowledge of others to get what they want. You’ve done your homework and know your rights. That gives you an advantage. Use it.


text:
Software to use for creating posters for academic conferences?
And how much time does it usually take? I'd like to create a poster without having to put too much time into formatting.

Yes, PowerPoint is good enough. All you need is extra creativity. Then you can save it as picture format or save it in Pdf.

Not an answer, but a tip: use Powerpoint's Rulers and Guides features to keep things neat, it allows a much tidier end result for very little effort.

And if I have to create a poster for a conference that is not academic I should use another software?!

Powerpoint. There are hundreds of PowerPoint poster templates available online, many of them are good, and it is one of the standard formats people accept — and can be exported to PDF for easy post-conference distribution.

Ppt is the best for quick and dirty poster design. I'd caution against latex unless you really need the math.

Coming from a LaTeX world, I just had to do my first Ppt poster. It's been a pain in the a__. But not because of the math. Alignment and margin control has to be set all manual, with guessed accuracy. Hence I second the dirty in @EpiGrad's comment.

I made all my posters in ppt. If you use fancy transparent backgrounds (like I did) you may have some trouble with printing pdf, but you can always just save a large image, which will be printed correctly.

Earlier versions, and possibly the current version, had a mximum size limitation.

@Sebastion - PowerPoint has the ability to control the size and position of any object to the hundredth of an inch. Right click the object and then choose size and position. PowerPoint 2007 and 2010 have an autoalign feature (it works better in 2010) that automatically aligns the object you are dragging around to the edges or center of other nearby objects.

@BenNorris This "ability" is, to a human, about as useful as writing the .pptx file by hand (it's XML after all). I care that I can express my wishes to the machine, and the machine carry them out for me. TeX and similar systems are mostly declarative - we declare what we want, and the system actually does the job of figuring out what it means in terms of object positioning. I find that TikZ, when used properly, is much more declarative in spirit and after some learning leads to higher productivity. Even writing object positions in XML seems faster than clicking on dialogs in PPT.

Posters are not the goal of PP. It is not free, not open, not for printing.

I would recommend Inkscape:

vector graphics
powerful
free
intuitive
cross platform

I wonder if this would be better as a comment to the Illustrator answer. While there are differences between the two, the work flow for making a poster is almost identical.

+1 I use Inkscape, and there are plugins for LaTeX so you can add vectorized math or content directly from your LaTeX-based publications. Also it's free....

@DanielE.Shub If Inkscape was an Open Source version of Illustrator, you could have a point - but it is not.

@torbenl According to http://inkscape.org/ Inkscape is a: vector graphics editor, with capabilities similar to Illustrator, CorelDraw, or Xara X. Of your bullet points, the two that differentiate Inkscape and Illustrator are free and cross platform, but I don't see how this matters for making a poster. This is nothing against Inkscape. Had you posted first, I would have made the comment on the Illustrator answer.

@DanielE.Shub To me free and cross platform matters. I can use Inkscape on MacOSX at work, and on Ubuntu at home - and I do not have to pay for it.

@torbenl I think that information would improve the answer significantly since being able to edit the poster where ever you work is critical.

@torbenl: Isn't Inkscape essentially open source Illustrator ? just like gimp and photoshop.

@Suresh: Inkscape is an open-source Illustrator like a Schwinn is a manual Harley-Davidson.

Is there an open source variant of illustrator ?

@JeffE => Inkscape always works, does not require a drivers license, and does not pollute the environment :-)

@Suresh It is not an Open Source version of Illustrator   but it has similar capabilities.

@tobeni: Exactly.  Inkscape's great for simple stuff, and you get more exercise using it, but it's not the right tool for anything really serious, and once you use Illustrator, it's hard to go back.  Also, it's kind of clunky, and Illustrator has this whole outlaw leather chic going for it.

Ah. Now I realize that an outlaw leather chic is what was missing from my life thus far :)

While I'll agree this is a reasonable fallback it doesn't offer anything that's specific to academic poster layout; and there's no "hand-holding" as in design themes or mechanism for enforcing design consistency etc.

I've been trying inkscape for a presentation poster and honestly I can't recommend it for this purpose at all. Its text handling is abysmal, and this is obviously necessary for any poster.

I haven't written a poster yet, but if you're a Latex savvy, there are plenty of packages that allow you to design posters.
See related questions:

"How to create posters using LaTeX"
"What can you tell me about poster design and typography in LaTeX?"
"Conference Announcement Poster"

The problem with LaTeX posters is that they look like LaTeX posters.

@DaveClarke I think you have it wrong, it is not a problem, but in fact an advantage, that LaTeX posters look like LaTeX posters.

@DanielE.Shub: In any case, that LaTeX posters look like LaTeX posters is certainly a defining characteristic of LaTeX posters.

@DaveClarke: Yes, and the problem with PowerPoint posters is that they look like PowerPoint posters.

I collected considerable experience creating math- and graphics-heavy TeX/LaTeX posters and I do not recommend it (hence my downvote). Too much work for little effect. Inkscape with LaTeX rendering plugins turns out to be much faster due to the immediate visual feedback during editing, while retaining  all the benefits of LaTeX rendering.

@walkmanyi For posters, I really think LaTeX is too text-centric. TikZ lets me produce something that looks like powerpoint, but is arrived at with much less effort, and is much more immune to last-minute changes.

In general there are a number of different distinct workflows that lead to a poster. Each workflow has a number of software implementations.

Word Processor (Word, Pages, OpenOffice Writer)
Presentation Software (e.g., PowerPoint, Keynote, Impress)
Vector Graphics (e.g., Illustrator, Inkscape, OpenOffice Draw)
Desktop Publishing (e.g. Publisher, In Design)
LaTeX

There are advatages/disadvatages to each category and to each piece of software within a category. For making a poster, the differences within a category are much smaller than the differences across categories.
Word processors are probbaly the weakest for layout, but are likely the software you are most familair with. Presentation software is a little stronger on the layout and also something you are likely familiar with. Vector graphic programs are really strong on the layout, but take a lot of fiddling. Most academic work doesn't require extensive use of a vector graphics program, so most people are not familiar. There is little added benefit of learning one. Desktop publishing software is really designed for making posters and other complicated layout (think magazines and brochures). There is almost no reason for most academics to master a desktop publishing software. LaTeX is an "oddball" you can use it for everything and it is well suited for both simple layouts and complicated layouts. The learning curve is pretty steep.

The open source desktop publishing software Scribus seems to have lost some of its teething troubles (e.g. LaTeX is now supported for formulas) and might also be a good choice for designing a poster.

+1 for Impress. The OpenOffice/LibreOffice suite is perfectly capable of great posters. Moreover, the Draw program is excellent for schematics in papers/posters.

I want to add an additional tool that I always use:
Adobe InDesign

Our school also recommends InDesign as an alternative to Powerpoint for posters.

+1: InDesign, or similar software, is the right tool for the job. In my eyes using PPT for a poster is equivalent to using Notepad for coding a homepage, it works but that's not the right tool for the job, and the result will likely be ugly.

Can you comment on the ability of InDesign to include LaTeX formatting of mathematical equations?

I would like to avoid bringing this question into the subjective situation but I'm personally a fan of Adobe Illustrator as it combines the speed and ease of ppt (but not as quick and dirty) but it provides much more control. If you save the files as *.SVG or *.PS files, you can get really into the details and obtain a WYSIWYG level of detail. Plus, if you're aiming to print your poster, it becomes much easier to switch between RGB and CMYK color.

Can you comment on the ability of Illustrator to include LaTeX formatting of mathematical equations?

As always, if you are on a mac, you can use the combo omnigraffle + latexit.

For completeness, Apple's Pages has quite a few nice poster layouts.

+1 For me it works well. Especially as I recycle slides from Keynote. (But I know only LaTeX/Beamer for comparison.)

I recommend the free and open-source desktop publishing program Scribus, available for a wide variety of operating systems including Windows, Mac, and Linux. Unlike many of the programs suggested here, Scribus is specifically focused on tasks relevant to poster production: layout, typesetting, and high-quality printed output. For example, Scribus includes a "Preflight verifier" to warn you about potential problems with your exported PDF file before you waste €40 on a messed-up A0 colour print. I've used Scribus for several conference posters and it's always produced good results. These days I personally tend to use LaTeX with the tikzposter package, but I know that some people prefer interactive, WYSIWYG tools for poster design -- and in those cases, Scribus would be my first choice.

Had to make a poster in 12 hours. Had used PPT before and didn't like it. Spent 4 hours wrestling with Scribus, found it the same. Already familiar with LaTeX, so I tried tikzposter and had something presentable by the deadline.

Microsoft Publisher is quite easy to use if you're used to work with MS Office already (especially Powerpoint). It helps you with some basic checks, e.g. that images you include have sufficient resolution, you're working in the correct color space, ...

Is publisher better than ppt in any obvious ways for a poster like this?

I haven't made any posters in Powerpoint, but I do believe so. You can specifically design for a paper size of A0, check the print resolution of included images after scaling, check how it looks like in CMYK, things like that. Overall the additions might not be worth spending money on for everyone, but if you get it for free from your university I'd use it instead of PPT.

You can do whatever paper size you want to in ppt. Thanks for chiming in though, resolution is a problem in ppt, as they make it hard to import vector graphics (EMF is not an export option when making many graphs).

I've just used Microsoft Publisher to turn an 8-slide PowerPoint presentation into an A2 poster for a medical conference.
I copied each slide into Publisher and then blew them up to 140% and distributed and aligned them. I added a blue frame, then saved it to PDF for the print shop.
This is probably the best and easiest way to turn an existing PowerPoint presentation into a large poster for professional use.
PowerPoint is very easy to use, but I would recommend using proper publishing software for actual publishing work. PowerPoint gets used too often for things it isn't good at. There's loads of great free and open source (and indeed paid-for/proprietary) software out there - don't limit yourself to trying to do everything with the basic Microsoft Office suite.
(Publisher is also part of Office but it's a proper DTP package.)

For your use case, I'd go with M PowerPoint. I have spent anywhere from 4 to 16 hours on posters, depending on the level of detail.
My progression through poster design software went as follows:
M PowerPoint - easy to use, basic layout a breeze, limited in typographical tools
M Publisher - more layout tools, still easy to use coming from a M Suite background
Illustrator - fully featured vector graphics, more control of print/graphics settings, more layout options, harder to learn (but worth it for stunning posters, IMO)
Latex - tried, but didn't fit my use case very well. I needed more interactive control of design elements and the basic templates looked quite drab.
Future - perhaps InDesign, which may add some typesetting features that Illustrator lacks.

I'd rather call your future as 'Creative Suite' because you can stack advantages of Illustrator, InDesign and Photoshop. With LaTeX enqueued you have an ultimate tool for poster design.

There are various templates to create poster using markdown*, cf. the list at https://gist.github.com/Pakillo/4854e5d760351206084f6be8abe476b2:

https://github.com/odeleongt/flexdashboard-poster
https://github.com/odeleongt/postr
https://github.com/bbucior/drposter
https://github.com/mathematicalcoffee/beamerposter-rmarkdown-example
https://github.com/jhollist/markdownPoster
https://github.com/BenBarnard/pdfposter

That first template allows to go from a human-readable code like
## Row 2 {data-height=75}

### **Methods**

#### Workflow

**Dependencies**

This poster template dependes on the following R packages

- rmarkdown [@rmarkdown]
- flexdashboard [@flexdashboard]
- webshot [@webshot]

To use `scripts/generic-content.R` you will need a GNU/Linux system
and a working installation of `imagemagick`.

to a poster like

* : If you are not familiar with this tool, Markdown is a lightweight markup language that starts to be used everywhere: as you may have noticed, https://academia.stackexchange.com/, https://github.com/, various forum and a large community of software developer has started using it or supporting it to some extend. It is easy to learn and intuitive.

I've used Microsoft Visio to create posters before.
Its original intent is the creation of flowcharts, technical drawings, simple  floor plans etc. It's much better at this kind of diagramming than Powerpoint - but offers a bit less "design hand-holding". On the other hand, it's not as bare-bones Inkscape - but allows for less fine-tuned messing with the graphics, or at least makes it more complicated.
Sorry for recommending closed-source software, but - it's also an option.

I use a combination of Adobe InDesign and Illustrator. You should use software designed for page layout, not something coopted for that purpose. Please don't use PowerPoint or Latex — PowerPoint is difficult to use with many many objects on a single slide, and really isn't designed for page layout. Latex shouldn't be used by anyone, unless you have so many equations in your document that nothing else will do.
I export figures into .AI or .SVG and use InDesign to lay out the poster. This doesn't take very long, and you can set up styles to ensure consistent formatting across the poster.

Your argument against LaTeX doesn't make sense. Please be more specific here.

Latex is a textual document production tool. Posters produced in latex tend to be very text-heavy, and, as someone wrote above... tend to look like Latex posters. Please collect your pro-latex knee-jerk downvotes here. :)

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


text:
How to evaluate potential advisers on grounds other than their research/publications?
While accepting an offer to grad school, one is basically entering into a lasting relationship with one's adviser - most likely, someone whom the applicant has never met before, and the only exposure has been through the potential adviser's website/publications. It is in the interest of both parties to ensure (to the greatest possible extent) that there are no personal/professional traits of either that hamper the formation of a pleasant working relationship - no-one would want to go through the ordeal of having to change advisers midway!
While the faculty has a chance to have a good look at the applicant's profile as well as his motivations (through his grades and SOP), the applicant doesn't have a similar opportunity. So, I'm interested to know what parameters can be used to gauge a potential fit. I've thought of the following:

Past students:

Did anyone ever drop out/change advisers midway, and if so, for what reasons? These would be a bit hard to find though, as I don't expect the faculty concerned would list them on their website. It would be great if anyone could let me know how to find out the list of incoming students to a department for any year.
Publication rate, taking into account the venues where they were accepted.
Time taken to graduate - though I accept this is more dependent on the student, a median figure should be telling ...
What they did post Ph.D. - did anyone get tenure if they went into academia, or is almost everyone unable to break out of being a post-doc?

Tenure status: I'm a bit unsure about this, so wanted the community's opinions about it. Just so that I'm clear, I'm only trying to calibrate the applicant's expectations about the working style of his potential adviser - and hence need to know to what extent are the following "typical" assumptions valid.
Tenured professor
A full professor is more likely to get grant funding, hence less time spent on TAship - but could also mean less time/effort spent on interactions with students (either being busy with other projects/talks, or due to more commitments to family at that age).
Tenure-track faculty (Assistant profs)
More likely to be young and energetic, and could translate to more time spent on one-to-one discussions with grad students - but funding may prove to be an issue, and may have to be on TA for a longer period.

What other factors would be relevant in this matter, and to what extent am I correct/incorrect in either the factors considered, or for undertaking this exercise at all?

There are a few things I would generally look at in a potential advisor beyond just their research/publications:

Who were the co-authors on their papers? Are they actively collaborating with people in your field - people who could be potentially useful for post-doc posts, etc.? Do their students often show up as primary authors on publications, or are they invariably buried in the middle of a long list of authors?
Personality. This goes beyond just do you like the person. Do they prefer frequent updates, meetings and the like, or is the occasional check-in enough? Are they a morning person and you prefer working nights, or the other way around? If you send a long email, would it get answered, or do they not often fail to answer emails? I've had some professors who I'm very fond of nevertheless would make poor advisors because of wildly disparate working styles.
How are their students funded? Your funding stream can have serious impact on your completion time and productivity. If every semester, its a desperate Pick-N-Mix of funded side projects, TAships, etc. you're going to have a lot on your plate that, while potentially an interesting experience, will slow down your progress.
Where do their students end up? Do they have decent career trajectories? Are they supportive of alternative paths like industry or government?
Rank and age. A young professor might be more aggressive and eager, on the other hand they're less established, don't necessarily have the same level of institutional support, and if they're not yet tenured, its possible they'll disappear. An older professor may be more established and stable, but might not use "cutting edge" techniques, or feel less of an internal drive to publish.

You listed it in your question, but just to state it as an answer, you will always want to look into any professor before joining their lab. This includes:

Looking up their publications and becoming familiar with their research style; do you agree with how he performs research? Does his thinking style seem similar to yours?
Speaking with current and past students from that lab and getting their sense of what it's like working for that professor
Talking with the professor yourself and seeing whether there's a personality match
Simply looking up their name online and seeing what comes up

I would suggest that tenure status is not as important when deciding what lab to join, unless the professor is having difficulty securing continuous funding. You can ask about funding sources when speaking face to face. Most professors are equally dedicated to their job whether they have tenure or not.
Remember, you will be spending numerous years with this person, and there's a very high cost of switching professors as the years add up. Make sure that you not only like their research but you also get along with them.

If you can get any information, don't underestimate the importance of simple personality factors---do you expect to be able to get along personally with your potential advisor?  This is hard to gauge if you don't have the chance to meet the person, but talking to current or former students may give you some idea.
Also, I'd add to your list how your advisor is viewed in the rest of the field.  Not just on the quality of research (though that's important too), but again, how much people like your advisor personally. Again, a small factor, but having other people in your field like your advisor can make a difference.
Unless you have a very close decision and need a tie-breaker, I'm not sure it's worth trying to read the tea leaves about what tenure status implies, since I suspect the person-by-person variation is greater than the between group variation.

I understand that I may get an idea about the adviser from former students, but I don't see how to understand how the "rest of the field" views him - I don't expect other faculty members to even talk to a grad applicant about a colleague, no matter what they might have to say!

+1 for pointing to personality factors (as you cannot work with someone with whom you cannot work)... Sometimes it is a matter of preferences, but sometimes there are great researchers and bad persons/managers at the same time. Asking their students for opinion (preferably f2f or, at least, telephone) may be crucial - to gouge their opinion (an their general well-being).

@shan23: Yes, finding out how other people in the field view someone is a bit hard.  If you're at a school with other people in the same field, you might be able to talk to them.  And if you ask other faculty members (ideally, I emphasize, at a different institution) the right question---not "do you respect this person" but "do you think this person would be a good advisor for me" may be revealing.  Not because of what they'll literally say (no one is going to tell you this person is terrible), but how they say it (how enthusiastic they are, for instance) may tell you something.

@Henry Personality traits are very important. I always was at loggerheads with my first adviser because he was not good at people management and not a people person at all. All he was interested in was to get tenure and by any means possible.  My next advisor was tenured and I am still with him for my PhD. He is a joy to work with and very laid back yet supportive like the rock of gibraltar. I enjoy working with him and want to be a post doc in his lab!

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


text:
Aside from working on a manuscript, what activities can help improve scientific writing skills?
I have been out of school for 5 years.  My previous writing experience was nearly 10 years ago as I completed a  BA in  18th century literature of a foreign language, and  a BA in cultural anthropology.  I've changed field for my masters degree and I am currently working on a PhD  in a biomedical/population health science.  This year I have struggled through most of the program because of the writing. One issue I've had is that qualities I once considered as strengths are bringing on my demise. The  eloquent communication, pungent analysis and metaphorical language are no longer strengths and succinctness is not part of my style ( I actually don't know how to be brief).  My mother tongue is a romance language, which may to some degree  speak to my style of communication (but this is only an excuse). An honest self-assessment has shown me that when making a point I always resort to using an allegory to build suspense or just provide clear contextual knowledge to my audience.
My issues is this,  in scientific writing manuscripts are often limited to 3500 words and providing long thought-provoking expository narratives translates into a ramble or in the worse  case, it appears that I am just spilling out information to it's legitimize myself in the eyes of the audience.
Short of taking a technical writing course, I am trying to work on these issues on my own over the summer. My plan so far is to write  a 500-words weekly blog post (NYTimes editorial style) on an issue in my field  and to conduct as many critical appraisals of articles  I review in preparation of  a literature review I am working on as a way to familiarize myself with technical writing  style for scientific publications.
I don't know if this is the best route, and would like to hear your suggestions on how to proceed. What type of activities and deliverables do you think would help me work on honing technical writing skills, aside from working on a manuscript? What reference books/websites have you used in the past to help you improve technical scientific writing for academia?

First, don't be too hard on yourself. There are many scientists who struggle to write clearly and concisely. Additionally, some of your writing skills may be hidden strengths. For instance, being able to communicate complex scientific ideas to your readers through allegories can be very valuable.
Still, there are certain activities and resources that can be helpful. The following are standard texts in my graduate program for improving writing skills:

Gopen, G. D. (2004). The sense of structure: writing from the
reader's perspective. Longman.
Gopen, G. D. (2004). Expectations: Teaching writing from a reader's
perspective. Pearson Longman.
Gopen, G. D., & Swan, J. A. (1990). The science of scientific
writing. American Scientist,78(6), 550-558.
Silvia, P. J. (2007). How to write a lot: A practical guide to
productive academic writing. American Psychological Association.
Zeiger, M. (2000). Essentials of writing biomedical research papers -
2nd Edition. McGraw-Hill.

I attended one of Gopen's writing seminars on my campus several years ago and found it to be very helpful. It made me radically re-think how I organize my writing and has helped me streamline my papers. His "The sense of structure" is an excellent starting text, while "Expectations" provides more supplemental information. Gopen & Swan (1990) will give you a nice overview of his technique. Silvia's book is given to all students when they enter the program. It's short, well-written, and covers not only writing well, but writing efficiently. Zeiger's book, like Gopen's, is more about the mechanics of writing and will help you clarify and shorten your writing.
In addition to these texts, I've found three techniques that have improved my writing.
"Kill your darlings"
Start by writing your initial draft of a paper in whatever style seems most fluid for you. Don't worry about reducing your length or verbosity at this point; that will probably hinder your flow of thought and slow the writing process. Once you've written the first draft you can worry about cutting for length and clarity. Next, take that first, raw, overly-expository draft of your paper and cut it by 20% of its length. I prefer to do this by word count, but you can do it by page length. Let it sit for a day or two, then cut the second draft by 20% of its current length. You can continue this exercise until you hit a roadblock and feel you can cut no more, but I usually go through at least three cycles. At this point, if you are able, give the paper to a close friend or classmate and ask them to cut 20%. Often, they aren't as married to certain phrasings and they are able to do this readily! Granted, 20% is an arbitrary number, but the point is to learn how to reduce the volume of your writing gradually. Overtime you'll be surprised how much more natural this will become. A quick google search can provide you with examples of common words and phrases that are generally unnecessary in writing, providing you with a starting point for this task.
Keep a "Look Book" of well-written articles
I have a folder on my computer where I keep articles or pieces of writing that are particularly well-written. These are often instances where complex ideas were explained clearly and succinctly. I especially earmark any examples that pertain directly to my area of study. When I feel stuck writing a particular section or paragraph, I look back at these examples for inspiration.
Write using active voice
This suggestion is a bit contentious. Traditionally, scientific students have been encouraged to write in the passive voice, and some faculty and journals still require this convention. In recent years, the scientific community has begun to acknowledge the benefits of writing in an active voice (Hudson, 2013). Active voice is generally clearer and is often more concise. If your program will allow it, this can be an effective way to reduce the complexity of your writing while maintaining your meaning.
Additional Citations

Hudson, R. (2013). The Struggle with Voice in Scientific Writing.
Journal of Chemical Education, 90(12), 1580-1580.
Wickman, Forrest. (2013). Who really said you should "kill your
darlings"? Retrieved from:
http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2013/10/18/_kill_your_darlings_writing_advice_what_writer_really_said_to_murder_your.html

Thank you. This is extremely helpful.  You have answered my question and provided an invaluable response.

Ironically, your sentence "Traditionally, scientific students have been encouraged to write in the passive voice, and some faculty and journals still require this convention" is a good illustration of how the passive voice can be useful.

In my own experience, I have found the best way to improve my writing is by reading papers from groups who publish high-quality work. I know with my first, first-author paper, I went through writing probably 50 different versions. It's just something that takes time to work on and develop. I know I will continue trying to improve as well. Best of luck!

I have found David Lindsay's books very invaluable in my journey of scientific writing and I would therefore recommend them in addition to those listed above.

A guide to scientific writing by David Lindsay. This is a very concise book which gives you an overview of scientific writing.
"Scientific writing = thinking in words"-David Lindsay. It's available online at this link.


text:
Incorporating Cellphone use in a Course
Most educators have some policy regarding cellphone use in class. Often this policy is "no phones" or "I don't care."
I would like to take different approach. I would like to learn of ways to incorporate the use of cellphones in the learning experience of the students. As such my question is
How can cellphones be used in a class to the benefit of the learning of the students?

What's the difference between cell (smart) phone and tablet or laptop?

Cell phone and smartphone are nearly synonymous terms now. A tablet can or cannot have phone calling ability. Laptops cannot make phone calls except through the internet.
Students may or may not bring their laptop to class but everybody brings their phone.

@DarrinThomas I interpreted the comment to mean 'why do you specify phones when laptops and tablets serve a very similar purpose in class?'

Oh, well in my experience laptops and tablets are not as common in class where I teach. Therefore, I was not looking for ways to incorporate laptops and tablets. It would be nice to here of strategies for all forms of tech but I want to limit this discussion to cellphones.

I had a professor at my undergrad who would use an online service to create "mini-quizzes" throughout class; essentially, we would log into the service with our smartphones, he would place questions on his slides, and we would answer through the app/website. He could see the results live, and if enough people got something wrong he would go into more detail (this is very similar to the "iClickers" that some universities use).
I've seen some professors use Twitter as a means of enhancing the classroom - they would create a class account, and everyone would be expected to contribute by uploading photos, tweeting related news articles, and so on. I seem to recall this working best for classes in the natural sciences (biology, etc.) or fine arts (not that it couldn't be adapted for other fields, of course).
I also know of a professor at my undergrad who taught an interdisciplinary course that brought English majors, computer scientists, and a few others together to create a mobile application for a so-called "Poetry Walk" around the town. The group worked together to choose sites around town, create a piece of poetry associated with that site, and then build an app that would trigger a particular piece of poetry/spoken word based on your location.
Long story short - there's a lot of potential for mobile devices (I'm with scaaahu, if you're going to allow phones, why not allow tablets and laptops too?). It's really up to the instructor's imagination.

Based on O.R. Mapper's comment, I want to make a note that, for the foreseeable future, any activity in class that makes use of mobile devices should still not necessarily require students to have a mobile device. Simply put - this places students from less-fortunate (poorer) socioeconomic backgrounds at a major disadvantage, and it publicly reminds them of that.
The only exceptions I can think of are:

A university such as my current one  that requires all first-year students to have a laptop that meets at least certain specifications. In that case, asking students to bring their laptop is acceptable (though personally I think the requirement is a bit unfair, but that's my opinion).
A course that requires the mobile device as a central piece of the course (i.e., the mobile app development course I mentioned earlier. Though development platforms - smartphones - were still provided by the instructor in that case).

Regardless - if having a mobile device is not a requirement for enrollment, as an instructor you have a responsibility to ensure that all students have the opportunity to participate equally in the activity.

What did students who don't have a smartphone do in those classes?

@O.R.Mapper: Usually laptop or tablet. I don't recall anyone not having some form of device - the 1st and 3rd courses I mentioned were CompSci, though. As for Twitter - I believe students were expected to use university/public computers at least once or twice throughout the semester. That said - for the larger classes (general chemistry, physics), I saw two options: (1) the university rented iClicker devices to students, or (2) the dept. handed out index cards with numbers at the beginning of the semester; we used those to answer multiple-choice questions on the slides (fairly ingenious IMO)

If you need devices for a class, it is good practice to have some available that students can unobtrusively pick up as they enter, so it doesn't become obvious that they don't have their own.

@O.R.Mapper I haven't done this myself, but I think one can set it up so that one can use either a phone or a clicker, so those without smart phones just buy a clicker.  Is this totally fair?  No, but it's not completely egregious.

@JessicaB: While feasible, it strikes me as odd that you treat the fact that a student chooses not to buy or bring a device as something that is secret or maybe embarrasaing and thus would have to be worked around in an unobtrusive way.

@O.R.Mapper Maybe your culture is different, but in mine it is not acceptable to make it obvious that a student doesn't have as much money as others.

@JessicaB: That is absolutely the same in my culture. However, if absence of a smartphone or other device leads you to conclude that the person doesn't have enough money to buy one, this sounds indeed like a cultural difference. +1 for your suggestion then :)


text:
How to get students to highlight academic text more effectively?
When I give students readings (articles, textbooks, etc), they sometimes literally come to class with entire pages colored yellow with a highlighter. I cannot begin to understand how they discern that everything on a page is of equal value to know.
As such, I would like to know of some suggestions for how to teach my student how to approach highlighting academic texts effectively.

What grade are your students? Probably no one ever taught them how to properly annotate a text. I don't know if it's your job (i.e. you teach in high school) or if you inherit a situation from before, but you can organize a class to give tips on annotations, even just by showing how you do it. There is a gazillion of articles and books about the subject, I will write a proper answer when I find some good suggestions.

@FraEnrico university

Personally, I never found highlighting text to be useful for me. I read it, synthesized it into something understandable (to me), and made whatever conclusions necessary from it. There are a few occasions where I will highlight, such as when authors put almost all the useful numbers in a table, but have one buried somewhere in the text on a different page - then I will highlight it so I can find it again.

Emphasise that there is no right or wrong method
I don't think it is worth giving a prescriptive set of rules on what to do and what to avoid. Learning is a very personal process and what works for one person may be useless to another. I think the most useful thing that a teacher can do is to describe as many different techniques or variations as possible, and let the student decide what works for them. It may be that highlighting the whole text just helps them to read by providing something for the hands to do. I believe some dyslexic students find the bright colours more helpful than a black and white page.
Encourage your students to examine their own learning process.
Encourage them to think about what it is they are trying to achieve via highlighting - help reading in the short term? Long-term memory retention? Make reviewing the article at a later date easier? But hopefully, if the purpose is to pick out key points, then by making them stop and consider this consciously, they will be able to draw their own conclusion that highlighting an entire page is not helpful.

Don't.
Dunlosky, John, et al. "What works, what doesn't." Scientific American Mind 24.4 (2013): 46-53. -- What Doesn't Work:

HIGHLIGHTING
Students commonly report underlining, highlighting or otherwise
  marking material. It is simple and quick — but it does little to
  improve performance. In controlled studies, highlighting has failed to
  help U.S. Air Force basic trainees, children and remedial students, as
  well as typical undergraduates. Underlining was ineffective regardless
  of text length and topic, whether it was aerodynamics, ancient Greek
  schools or Tanzania.
In fact, it may actually hurt performance on some higher-level tasks.
  One study of education majors found that underlining reduced their
  ability to draw inferences from a history textbook. It may be that
  underlining draws attention to individual items rather than to
  connections across items.
WHAT YOU SHOULD DO INSTEAD:  Highlighting or underlining can be useful
  if it is the beginning of a journey — if the marked information is
  then turned into flash cards or self-tests. Given that students are
  very likely to continue to use this popular technique, future research
  should be aimed at teaching students how to highlight more
  effectively—which likely means doing it more judiciously (most
  undergraduates overmark texts) and putting that information to work
  with a more useful learning technique.

Well, this quote is useful but it doesn't say stop highlighting. Rather it says to teach "students to highlight more effectively".  I want to know how to get students to highlight more effectively.

To be clear, there is no evidence that highlighting is ever anything but a waste of time. As it says, to be optimistic, "future research" might turn up something positive... but at the moment one would just be taking shots in in the dark.

@NajibIdrissi please consider this quot from the quote "Highlighting or underlining can be useful if it is the beginning of a journey "

@NajibIdrissi Thereforem I would suggest to start with highlighting but to include additional support for students to master content. Highlighting is useless in isolation as most learning methods are. Combinations of learning tools is a stronger approach

I don't think you can conclude that highlighting doesn't work from that study. An alternative interpretation is that people don't know how to do it.

I've not been able to access the full article from which the quote is taken, but I can well imagine that looking at an average effect (if that is what they did) might be misleading. Learning is a very personal process, and highlighting might have done nothing for most individuals but been very helpful for a few. Drawing the broad conclusion that highlighting is never useful might be premature.

Also: "performance" at what? There are various reasons that we might want to highlight some text.

@Davidmh: It's not one study, it's a literature review: "... we reviewed more than 700 scientific articles on 10 commonly used learning techniques...." (p. 48).


text:
Supporting ESL Graduate Students
I've had to support several ESL graduate students in the past. In general, they were smart and capable but really struggled with the reading and writing aspects of graduate work. They did complete the prerequisite ESL courses and passed one of the standard English test to enter university studies (IELTS, TOEFL, TOEIC, etc) but there seems to be a disconnect between their preparation and their performance
I would like to know what other educators have done to support graduate students with limited English proficiency?

Does your school offer an intensive English program or ESL certification courses?

Did they pass some English proficiency test, such as TOEFL, before they entered graduate school?

@JGreenwell yes we have an ESL program but there seems to be a disconnect between completing this program and actual graduate work

@scaaahu yes the must past the TOEFL or an equivalent test

I would mention that in your question as I have noticed this same problem at multiple universities, ESL program completion != proficiency or technical reading skills, and it will avoid the "take ESL course" answer

In my observation, simply taking a class in English as a second language is by far insufficient to acquire even modest fluency... if one spends all one's spare time with people speaking one's preferred language, rather than practicing English. But I'd hesitate to try to demand that grad students speak English outside work... ! Thus, the unfortunate but observed conclusion is that most non-native English speakers cannot reliably be expected to improve much while in grad school, for example! (Or, for that matter, as faculty...)

@paulgarrett  The fault does not lie entirely with the (much maligned) ESL students. It seems to me that some ESL students have no idea of the level of English proficiency needed to succeed in grad school. University admissions offices rarely mention such things in their promotional materials.

@user_of_math, oh, indeed, yes. I have no idea how to improve the situation, really, having observed a variety of failures over many years...

Support in what capacity? As a teacher? Research supervisor? Dean or other administrator?

as a teacher and or supervisor

Keep working on your own English, for starters? "yes the must past the TOEFL", etc.

I think you should let the students know that they need additional practice and should be prepared to read more papers, seek help from the university Writing Center, and get a native English-speaking buddy to discuss the field with in-depth for practice.  I know the last thing that any graduate student wants to do is more work, but it might help if you emphasize to them that you care about their long-term success in the field, and that reading and writing at a professional level in the field are crucial to that.
The foreign students and researchers I have worked with are primarily Chinese, so that colors my experience, I'm sure, but many of them were not educated with an eye to being good readers and writers.  They may have been trained to read for memorization, not comprehension, because they expect to be told what to do by senior researchers rather than critically respond to ideas and generate their own.  So it may not just be a language barrier you're dealing with here, but also a cultural barrier where research is conducted differently.  Your students may not understand that they will be expected to interpret, rather than passively absorb, the literature, and that they will have to kick their reading skills up a notch if for no other reason than that.
See if you can enlist some of the native English-speaking grad students to reach out and lend a hand to their ESL colleagues.  Again, I do understand that no grad student wants to do extra work (boy, DO I understand), but you can emphasize that it will benefit them, as well.  They will improve their own understanding of the readings tremendously by having to explain them in terms their classmate can understand, and they will also become better collaborators.  Make sure they know they can mention doing something like this in the "service" section of their CVs.


text:
What is generally the correct procedure for publishing translations of my own work?
I am putting a paper out and would like to also put out a companion non-English language version. It will be identical, just a translation, and publishing the same content in another journal would be dishonest (or seems dishonest to me) and I don't want to do that. What is the procedure for this?
Currently, I think it best to just host the translated version on arXiv with a link to the original, but I wanted to solicit outside opinions.

If during submission, you clearly state that this is a translation of paper X, then I don't see an issue. It might however be a good idea to inquire with the journal beforehand whether they do publish translations of already published papers; not all journals might do that.
Also, you need to check with the journal where the English version has been published whether their copyright allows to publish such a translation in another journal, and of which version (e.g. the pre- or post-review version). Note that this might even be a point to consider when you want to post a translation on the arxiv.
Finally, there might even exist journals where you might be able to publish both the English and the translated version in the same journal, maybe even alongside each other; this might well alleviate those copyright issues.


text:
Can I tell my advisor I want to finish my PhD in 6 years?
I am an international student, studying for a PhD in Electrical Engineering at UNC and just finished my first year.
My employer gave me a full scholarship to the US. So, I have a 6k monthly salary while they cover all tuition fees and medical.
I would like to take my time to finish it in 6 years. No rush as I am enjoying staying in the US and very fortunate to have my children study here.
However, my advisor is pushing me to work harder, he plans to graduate me in four years. How can I tell him my opinion? I am afraid it will give him bad indication that I am not serious while I am interested to do good but during a longer period of time.

The professor may actually need your results for other  things.

Is there any sort of connection between your employer and professor?

A solid majority of US PhD students take more than 6 years to finish.

There is a term for this, Perpetual student -  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perpetual_student -  If you actually need your PhD then future employers are going to ask why it took so long. You may lose credibility. Also, how long will the employers be willing to keep paying for this?

@Anonymous Physicist - Wow, really? Is this statistic written anywhere? Are these students  in employment at the same time?

Back in the age of dinosaurs when I was in grad school, one of the other students was getting his PhD while employed by IBM (full time at grad school, no other assignments). When he finally graduated, shortly before his allotted time ran out, the committee gently chided his advisor for keeping him too long - his thesis had to be bound in two volumes since it was way longer than anyone else’s. The advisor could only beg forgiveness based on his student’s unwillingness to graduate until his time was up. That last year or two will be highly productive and your advisor will appreciate it then.

@chasly - reinstate Monica: In a survey of 2017 Ph.D. graduates in the U.S., the median time was 5.8 years, which incidentally is essentially the same median time I recall seeing on more than one occasion several years before 2017 (in The Chronicle of Higher Education). So "A solid majority of ... 6 years ..." should probably be "A solid majority of ... 5 years ...".

@chasly - reinstate Monica: See also this report on Physics PhDs from about 10 years ago. "The average length of time to earn a physics PhD for degree recipients in the  combined  classes  of  2010  and  2011  was  6.3  years."

@chasly-reinstateMonica NSF survey of earned doctorates.

Related questions (full of wrong answers about PhD duration) https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/18478/phd-duration-in-the-usa https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/151834/how-long-does-a-phd-take-in-the-united-states

The length of a PhD is highly dependent on the program, overall averages are completely irrelevant.

I suggest, fairly strongly that you go along with the professor and make four years your target. There are a number of reasons for this.
First, you want your advisor happy with you and with the opinion that you are making progress toward a common goal. They may actually need your results as part of a larger picture.
Second, there is no guarantee that any doctoral student meets their time target. Things happen in research that can't be predicted. Some of these lead to additional time. You have a cushion that you can fall back on in this case.
Third, if you do finish in four years, there may be additional opportunities that arise are not visible now and that might make sense at that time. Perhaps you can find a way to just stay on with additional research if your funders are happy. And you may find that you can find something suitable elsewhere, but still in a place you want to live.
Things happen over six years that aren't predictable. Who would have guessed six years ago that the US and the world would be in the current state it is? We hope that in six years it will be better.

“If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?” ~~Albert Einstein

Congrats on being a very lucky PhD student :)
It's important to discuss this with your advisor in order to understand their request and try to find a compromise. Don't be afraid to explain your point of view to them, but try to have an open mind about their perspective as well. For example is it related to some of the institution rules? or to their general research plan? does the duration of their students' PhD affects their evaluation? As you can see it's crucial to communicate in order to understand the problem and find the appropriate solution.
A simple suggestion in case it helps: as far as I know most institutions allow some form of part-time PhD. This is often used for people who have another job or a serious health issue for instance. Naturally the normal PhD duration is extended proportionally for these students, so this could be an option worth exploring.

This is a grey area. On the one hand, your employer is paying for the PhD, which from the perspective of the professor would be as if you were self-funded, so you're not using any of the professor's grant money.
From a financial perspective, you have no reason to adhere to the timeline of your supervisor. However, your supervisor is giving up his/her time and expertise, for you to pursue research.
It is reasonable to assume that your research goals are also of interest to your supervisor, and potentially impactful on his/her work. While they are supervising you it is also a collaboration in pursuit of research goals and thus the effort you invest - reflected in the time to complete the PhD - is partly your supervisor's decision.
My recommendation is to find out why the supervisor wants you to graduate in four years, and how the supervisor ascertains that it is possible. If he/she has given you a problem for example that he/she would have worked on to further his/her own research, it is probably that.
Once you understand the motivations of your supervisor, you are in a better position to gauge whether it would be appropriate to discuss extending the timeline.


text:
Found a figure duplication problem in an already published paper
I published a peer-reviewed article several years ago. Recently when I look back on my paper, I suddenly realized there had a figure duplication problem in one of the main figures (That main figure has more than 20 sub-figures, I only have a duplication problem in two cases). What is worse, the original data is lost due to the broken laptop (This is a great lesson I have learned) so the original data is not available anymore.
However, (1) I can run an experiment again to show the same outcome; (2) this mistake does not hurt the main conclusion; (3) and the result has been validated by other groups. I am wondering in such a situation, should I talk with my mentor, rerun the experiment, update the figure, and ask for a correction for this paper. Or I should ask for a withdrawal since I can not provide the raw data anymore (I have seen the author retract their papers because of unavailable raw data e.g., https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2045615/).

You should definitively discuss this with your mentor, who presumably knows the conventions of your field. If conventions or journal policy are still unclear at that point you can always check with an editor of the journal what course of action they do prefer.
Take the following with a dose of salt, because my physics perspective probably isn't to be trusted in your case given that you linked to a medical journal. However, I'd think that if you can repeat the experiment (with proper approvals in place) to fix the mistake, and the mistake doesn't invalidate the main conclusion, then an erratum/corrigendum is probably the better outcome for all parties. The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors has some guidelines on how journals should handle corrections and retractions, which  seems to agree with my position:

Pervasive errors can result from a coding problem or a miscalculation and may result in extensive inaccuracies throughout an article. If such errors do not change the direction or significance of the results, interpretations, and conclusions of the article, a correction should be published that follows the minimum standards noted above.
Errors serious enough to invalidate a paper's results and conclusions may require retraction. However, retraction with republication (also referred to as “replacement”) can be considered in cases where honest error (e.g., a misclassification or miscalculation) leads to a major change in the direction or significance of the results, interpretations, and conclusions.

If even pervasive errors can be handled as an erratum, probably your case can too. Finally, here's an example of an erratum fixing a rather large image duplication problem by repeating the experiments. Also see this Retraction Watch post.

thanks a lot for your notes. I published a journal belongs to nature groups. I have checked their policy but do not found a clear clue how to deal with such a situation. https://www.nature.com/nature-research/editorial-policies/reporting-standards#availability-of-data. It seems like there has an enormous gray area between retraction and correction. Also, I have tried to contact my supervisor weeks ago but he kept quiet yet.  Not sure should I just hide the mistake and move on or I should try my best to make it face to the public. I sweat in these days because of this issue.

@whatshouldIdo Yes, there's a grey area, largely because every case is slightly different. However, don't try to hide the mistake. That's never the right or honest approach, and you might end up featured in some less flattering online discussions, like in the Retraction Watch post I linked. It always looks better if you address your mistakes before someone else points them out.

Thanks, Anyon. If I would like to do the correction, should I re-do the experiment firstly and ask for the correction. Or I should ask for correction firstly and with their permission I can re-run the experiment. I do not mind running the same experiment multiple times to increase the chance to get a higher chance for correction. Also, my supervisor stays really cold with me and I have a hard time communicating with him (I am not sure if he will retract the paper to protect his scientific integrity). If you were me, would you still suggest facing this problem as we planed?


text:
Latin academic positions
I was wondering if there was a standard system, at some point in history, for academic positions in Latin.
What I mean is that today each country has a standard system that names each academic position, for example in England if you are the head of a university you will be called a "chancellor", regardless which university you head, as long as it is in England.
Different countries today use different words for different positions, some are derived from Latin, some are not. I was wondering if there ever was a standard of Latin-language academic position titles that have been used in the past at some point by several or more countries? Because I'd wager some countries had Latin titles but they were the only ones to use them.

History of Science and Mathematics may be better suited to answer: link

@J.Doe, I will try, but honestly I think it isn't the appropriate place, at all.

Now that I look closer you may be right; although it certainly wouldn't be the first question about naming-conventions there either... Their exact scope remains a bit vague to me.

@NajibIdrissi, they told me to ask here. :)

Seems like a reasonable fit here. Hopefully you will get an answer.

@Roland, oh, sorry, it seems I have omitted to add a bit of information.

There is no homogeneous system to name the position in LA. Moreover, there is no unique academic structure. This situation is a source of misunderstanding and many times you cannot find the equivalence position.
An example in Uruguay: In Medicine, as undegraduate you can be student or (last year) internship. In a Department of a Faculty (named "Clinica") you can be (in order) Resident, Chief of Clinic (also named grade II), Assistant Professor (also named grade III), Agregate Professor (also named grade IV) and lastly Titular Professor (also named grade V). Hope to help in some way.


text:
After switching PhD supervisor, can I get credit for the work I did?
My PhD supervisor abandoned me after 1 year. I did a massive amount of work, but now cannot continue working on that project anymore.
The supervisor cut all ties with me and there is no turning back, so there is no way he would serve on my committee. However, there are some other PIs on that project.
I just want to get credit for my work as I believe it is unfair not to get credited for it.

Can you clarify what you mean by credit? Do you mean that you want your name included in publications, or are you saying that you want that work to count towards, or be included, in your phd?

@GrotesqueSI Both. But in dissertation is more important.

You can always ask another PI on that project and see what they say.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but unless your new supervisor/PI is willing to integrate your old work into their research program, you are probably just going to have to start over. Even if a new PI were willing to help, it would be risky unless they have sufficient background and knowledge in your previous work to properly evaluate it and give you guidance. You may just need to abandon (for now) that line of inquiry and integrate yourself and your research into a new working group if necessary.
There are a couple of points that you should keep in mind. First is that you have learned something, presumably, during that year and you haven't lost it. That might be something valuable in itself. Second, you can, perhaps, return to that line of research in the future, once you have finished your degree and established yourself.
It is important to note that it is common for doctoral students to "lose" time in unproductive research, though a full year might be somewhat rare. This is due to the very nature of research in many fields. There is no schedule on which you can depend for results. Many follow a line of research that proves unproductive and leads to abandonment and starting over with a new question. This is quite different from your situation, but has a similar result.
In my own case I worked on three problems in sequence. This was in mathematics. The first problem proved to be too easy. I could generate theorems at the rate of about one per day (maybe my memory of long ago is a bit faulty, but it was something like that). My advisor and I decided after a bit that this wasn't sufficiently "deep" to result in much of anything meaningful, so I abandoned it. The second problem was too hard and after several weeks of hard thought I couldn't get the smallest insight into a solution. I haven't followed up to see if anyone after me (50 or so years) has had a success with it. But, on advice of my advisor, I abandoned this one also. As with the typical Three Bears story, the third problem was "just right". I was hard and interesting and resulted in a nice, unified, theory, not just a few isolated theorems.
I don't think there was anything particularly unique about my path. Research is looking at the unknown. Scheduling when it can become "known" is essentially impossible. Even Einstein worked on Special Relativity for ten years before he came to the resolution.
In your case other considerations, not very nice, are forcing you to adapt to the real world, messy as it is. I suggest that you look forward, not back. Yes, it is painful, but if you treat it as just a learning experience and move on, you still have the opportunity, with a new PI, to start a successful career.

I have no way to judge that. Personality and the internal power dynamic might be a consideration.

It's unclear from your question what country you are based in and if those PIs in the same projects would be willing to become your new supervisors. If they accept you as their student (which makes sense) then there is no reason why you shouldn't be credited for the work you have done.
On the other hand, if you change your project completely, then you might need to start over.


text:
If I copy from any source do I also have to use inverted commas along with the source?
I am writing a report in which I have to define some terminology. If I copy from any source and paste it and mention the source will it be enough or do I also have to mark inverted commas along with the source.

This question strikes me as a better fit for English Language Learners. The mechanics of quotation in English is not specific to academia. On the other hand, there are no moderators to do a migration...

Yes, if you directly copy text parts, you need to use quotation marks (the inverted commas) and cite the source.
However, in most cases it is better practise to not use a direct copy of the text with quotation marks, but do an indirect copy, i.e., you paraphrase the source material with your own words. Then you do not use qutation marks, you just cite the source.
The reasons are that you can write a text that is better to read with the indirect copy method, and that you show that you have understood the source material by citing it with your own words.

I'm assuming you mean "quote marks" as I've just used them. Yes, you need to indicate precisely what you have quoted (copied). The usual method is quote marks, but some other options are available if you make your intent clear. For example you can indent paragraphs like the following, indicating that it is a direct quote.

When in the course of human events...