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What is the best way to collaborate with a professor whose current work one is extending?
I am currently doing a research project and I have found some mistakes in the paper of the professor whose work I am extending. I feel that it would be best if the professor is willing to co-author my paper. There are several reasons for it. First of all the professor is a PC member of the conference in which I am willing to publish. So, the error which I am referring to can hurt his ego and I am afraid of negative review because of bias. Second of all, if he is willing to co-author, my ongoing work can definitely improve and I will have a higher chance of acceptance. In that case, he wont be reviewing my paper as he is a co-author.
But the professor is from a different university and previously there was no collaboration between their university and ours. I am not a professor but merely a graduate student. What should my best course of action to collaborate with him? (He is a very high profile professor)

Can your supervisor put you in touch? Otherwise I think you just have to email him.

First of all the professor is a PC member of the conference in which I am willing to publish. — Careful. At many conferences (especially in theoretical computer science), submissions from PC members are forbidden. At others, submissions from PC members are allowed, but held to higher de facto standards.

I am more afraid of getting a rejection because if the professor is not a co-author he will definitely review my paper and most probably give a negative one. If he is a co-author, however, we can put his name in the conflict of interest, so that way there wont be a problem. The only issue is whether it is wise to contact him or submit the paper to a different conference without him.

What should my best course of action to collaborate with him? (He is a very high profile professor)

Your best course of action is to email him, explain the work you've been doing, and politely suggest exploring the possibility of a collaboration. However, you need to seriously work on your mindset before writing the email, because right now I feel like the reasons you are interested in the collaboration are not good reasons - you seem to be interested in the reputational benefit of having him as a coauthor and in the fact that if he is a coauthor then he can't be the referee for the paper; in other words, your collaboration offer will not be based on a genuine interest in the intellectual contribution this "high profile" professor can make to the work, and therefore I would say it is not being made in good faith. If I were the professor and got wind of what your motives are (and it may not be so easy for you to hide them, even if you try to phrase the email dishonestly, which in any case I would not recommend doing), I would not only refuse to work with you but would also develop a poor opinion of you that could be long-lasting and would be hard for you to correct.
To summarize, you are putting the cart before the horse here. You should contact the professor if and only if you are genuinely and in good faith interested in an intellectual collaboration rather than a mere formal coauthorship. Even then, keep in mind the professor may refuse your offer, because he is busy or for any number of other reasons (or for no reason at all). Your offer should be phrased in a tactful way that leaves your dignity (and any potential interaction you may have with the professor in the future) intact in the event that he is not interested in your offer. Good luck!

Good suggestion. I will take it. I think I am going to submit my paper to another conference then.

I would argue it could be appropriate to contact this professor. In general, it is great when you can work with the original author to make sure that you both understand the points of agreement, and collaborate on a future paper. When authors are willing to do this, it is much more efficient and pleasant than dealing with criticisms at the referee stage. When a new collaboration happens, it can lead to a much better paper! My best-cited paper happened because of something like this when I was a graduate student.
An example of this happening recently in the field of olfaction research:

The original controversy - https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/07/150707093344.htm
The collaborative outcome - http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/02/artificial-intelligence-grows-nose

HOWEVER
You need to perform significant "due diligence" before you hassle a professor about potential errors. You are asking them to devote a lot of time and effort to your criticisms, and take seriously the possibility that you are right and they are wrong. If you list three potential errors, and the first one is something where you show a trivial misunderstanding, they might not devote time to the second and third. Here are some steps you can take:

Make sure your advisor agrees with your analysis of the mistakes.
Double-check to see if the other research group has addressed this point - either in a correction to the paper, a note on their website, or in a later paper on the same topic.
Ensure your email is as clear and polite as possible (again, your advisor should give you feedback on this, to make sure your points are coming across clearly)
If the errors are simple typos / potential misprints that don't affect the conclusion, don't make that the major point.

Edited to add: It also helps if your advisor knows something about this high-profile professor. Some people are very hostile to any criticism, or just don't talk with anyone below their "level." In my successful collaboration, my advisor knew the other professor, at least to say hello to.

that's the problem, my advisor does not know the professor in person, and there was no previous collaboration either. So, I was thinking what should be my best approach. I can do what you did or I can submit the paper in another conference in which he is not a PC member.

Personal responsibility dictates that if you know enough about their work that you are able to extend it to new applications, then you should work on your own, reference their results where necessary and without making any assumptions about their opinion or insisting that they take time away from what sounds like a fairly busy schedule, proceed on your own.  If you have quick questions about specialized knowledge that's probably the best way to correspond.
In all likelihood, unless you have an equally sterling reputation, they'll ignore you; however, their opinion will likely be part of the refereeing process if you want to submit something related to their work to a conference with which they are affiliated.  Don't commit the faux pas of trying to chase them down like they owe you something, especially if you think their work has problems.  You're responsible for your own career and your own decisions.

This is a little harsh. It can be very responsible to form a new collaboration to fix a result in the literature! Other people don't owe you anything - but you are all researchers, trying to improve the collective understanding. It's a lot easier to do that by email than to submit a paper, have them write a paper in response, etc...

In your experience, what would happen if one member of a collaboration is less qualified and tries to correct the work of a more high profile individual?  Be honest.

I've never had a bad response, personally. Maybe this is because all of the corrections have been reasonable - or maybe I just haven't dealt with a sufficiently jerkish senior prof! [They exist, of course.] I am fairly cynical about the social environment of academia, but you have to, at some level, believe that researchers care more about whether results are right rather than who has more prestige. If I didn't believe that, I'd quit.

Life is short.  One of the authors died when they were writing one of the textbooks I'm using.  Parts of it had to be rewritten after the fact and there are still glaring mistakes.  The bottom line is that I'm working on my own judgement, and I would be miserable if I wasn't.


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Pursue a PhD in a different field than MSc
I have recently obtained a MSc in Molecular Biology with research on viral gene expression. It has been a long interest of mine to work on stem cell biology and neuroscience and I am wondering if it would be possible to pursue a PhD on the field. Or is it too ''late'' for me and should only look into virology?
Thanks

This will depend a lot on your country. In France and Germany people seem to hop less across subjects than in England for example. - In terms of education, a PhD/Doctorate is generally the last stage where you can undertake a larger realignment of your subject field. (Again, some UK institutions are, ehm, different.) Lastly: If there is anything linking the two fields so that you can claim some relevant experience, just go ahead and try if you are sure this is what you want to do.

@JeffE But the field, to me, seems to be the same: biology.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


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Is it OK to include public domain (wikimedia commons) image in a research grant proposal?
Obviously, with a proper attribution.
Thank you.

Normally yes, as long as you clearly cite the source (even if the license does not require it, plagiarism rules do) and of course the image should be appropriate for the research proposal (regardless of source).  To be sure, carefully check any rules applying to your particular research proposal; it is possible (but unlikely) they have unusual rules that may prohibit this.  For details on how to cite, see this summary page on Wikimedia Commons (thanks Buffy for the pointer).  Note: most images on Wikimedia Commons are not public domain, but under another free license — check the specific image for details (it's even possible images have been wrongly uploaded to Wikimedia Commons, but there are limits in how far you can practically go to verify that the license information there is correct).

See the Wikimedia statement here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Reusing_content_outside_Wikimedia

It may be worth stressing that an image being on wikimedia commons, does not imply that it is in the public domain! More than likely it under a creative commons license or similar (which probably would not pose a problem for inclusion). However, it might also appear under a "fair use" rational. It is even possible that the image should not appear on Wikimedia commons at all, because it is copyrighted and does not have the appropriate license.

@mmeent Thanks, added (as for your final point: yes, but there are limits in what end users can practically verify).

@mmeent, your claim that images may appear on Wikimedia Commons only under a "fair use" rationale is not correct. Wikimedia Commons is designed as a repository of images released exclusively under a free content licence, or in the public domain. You may be thinking of some of Commons's sister projects, such as Wikipedia, which may allow fair-use images under some circumstances.

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


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Does GPA matter ?!
I'm still undergraduate, have 2 years to graduate but i don't like my major so much and my college. i go twice a week. i don't attend lectures too much because professors and the contents are so weak and doesn't based on understanding just on  final exams and i don't like it. i started to learn from Youtube and other websites but the GPA is not good is about 2.3 so my wish and hope is to do master abroad as Europe (Sweden or other country) to live there and work better than middle east.
So it can be or not ?! is it possible ?!
i don't search for scholarship.. i can pay for studying but not much from working there but at least understand what i really study not just rules and put them in a paper to get full mark..

"my wish and hope is to do master abroad as Europe (Sweden or other country) to live there and work", work on what if you don't like your major ?

I like my major . i don't like the way they teach you it in my college and you are not allowed to go to another one.

yeah start it over and waste 3 years ... i can't it's 3 years .... rules here are very difficult as i now study mechanical engineering if i want to go to another one i will study another major....... i don't want it because i like mechanical things i want to work in this field. it's complicated. my hope is 2 years again and in 2019 apply in master abroad so it could be with my 2.3-2.6 GPA ?!

I'd really try to get the GPA up. You must go to class even if you don't like it!

studies here are not credit hours so what you study is done .... it's now 2.3 i will work hard this next two years to get 2.6-2.7 maximum (fixed) so what you think ?! i'm good in software programs and other things, i can get recommendation letters too so ?

No sure ... i pay to study and understand if i won't why i will continue !

I am voting to close this question as it is related to undergrad course.

@chessofnerd Who says that ?

You can find professors in your department which you like their style, and study the courses by yourself from books, and ask your question to those professor. I also do this actually, but in my case, I generally study further concepts by myself.

You also want to build positive relationships with your professors. You'll need their recommendations when you apply to graduate school.

Short answer:
Yes, it does matter.
Slightly longer answer:
The GPA is one of the few ways universities can use to assess someone's academic abilities. There are a lot of flaws with the system but there aren't many alternatives. Presenting the courses and grades automatically indicates your (alleged) proficiency in the material. If you think your classes suck and you learn better outside of class, you should be doing the work in addition to your schoolwork - not instead.
In addition, the ability to keep your grades up is an important indicator of perseverance and of the ability to set and reach goals. Whatever profession you will end up having, you will inevitably have to do some things that you don't enjoy much. A successful person won't complain and throw in the towel if the task is boring - they'll suck it up and do it anyways. So your ability to go to boring classes is, in fact, an indicator of important personality skills that also contribute to your GPA.
It's sad if the educational system doesn't satisfy your needs, but you can still try to make the most of it and supplement it with your own education. That said, history knows plenty of successful college dropouts, so my advice is by no means universal. However, my suspicion is, a lot of people in the academia will think like me, so if you do want to get a Master's, it probably isn't a good idea to ignore the system altogether.

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


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Can I ask the Associate Editor of a journal for an update on a paper I refereed?
I wrote a referee report for a paper and recommended a minor revision. This was in December 2019 and I have not heard from the associate editor regarding the fate of this paper.
Is it inappropriate for me to request an update on the status of the paper? Whether it was rejected outright or whether a revision is in the making?

Why would you want to know?

So now the referees will be loading up the editor's mailbox with questions on the status of the paper? I never expect any further info on the paper from the editor. I've done the referee report and my part is over.

I am changing jobs and will not be able to review a revision of the paper if I have to wait much longer for it. In any case, I decided not to ask the editor.

Ask sure.
But you may not get a response at all or just get a “it’s in progress” or “it is completed and published or not”. He/she may decide to give detail if they wish.

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


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I withdrew from my graduate program and have a 3.6 graduate gpa. Can I apply to another university?
I withdrew from my graduate studies due to academic bullying from a professor I would continually have throughout the rest of my graduate studies. I was given F's and C's in classes taught by that professor and they were deliberate no matter how precise my answers were. I took it to the Dean but he her friend and I showed him the assignments and tests and he refused to "go on a witch hunt" as he would say. Therefore I decided to leave before my gpa dropped drastically and get kicked out for academic deficiency. There were also blatant attacks and passive agressiveness during the lectures and conversations I had with the professor. I did the right thing it was obvious there was foul play. What I wanted to know is if I have a chance at being accepted by another graduate program? I can get letters from other professors from my department as I always scored A's in every other class not taught by this tyrant professor.

Of course you can.
Try to distinguish between confiding in a close friend or relative, or a therapist, vs. presenting your situation to a potential teacher, administrator or colleague.  With the former, you can provide details and get moral support.  With the latter, keep it short and simple.


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Does getting a post graduate research TOPIC off the internet constitute plagiarism?
I'm currently applying for a post graduate scholarship and need to do a research plan. I have an idea of what I would like to research on but i found a better coinage of the topic on the internet. Would it constitute plagiarism if I use this topic from the internet? its just the topic I need.
Would also appreciate any help on how to write a research plan.

You will need to conduct a literature review, and it includes all the previous work that helped you come up with the idea and what you are going to add over the existing results.
If you cite the references of previous work, say clearly what they did and how your work is different (i.e. your work should add a new knowledge that is not known from previous work), then building on previous ideas is not a plagiarism.
If the idea is published but no one did the actual work, then, you must cite the source that provided the idea and say that no one did the work and you will do it.


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Is it common for a thesis-based master hasn't got the thesis topic?
The supervisor just tells students to learn knowledge and practice skills that will be required in their research in the first year but doesn't have their topic decided. Is such case common?

This can happen. The formal thesis topic is quite an open field.
Perhaps, the supervisor doesn't want to spoon-feed and force a topic on to you, but rather would want to have you come up with one. By exposing you to various tools and techniques, and (presumably) side-by-side pointing to some useful literature, and asking you to dig for more works yourself, he/she is essentially doing a good job. Basically, what he's saying is - this is what happens usually in the field, tell me if you come up with any ideas regarding what you want to do. He/she is basically throwing the field open to you.
Since your master's is thesis based, I won't find it very surprising though if he/she has already planned something as a backup option, in case you don't come up with anything reasonable. But he/she will likely not reveal that unless he/she is absolutely convinced that you are struggling to come up with anything doable.
In my experience, this approach is not very common, but not very rare either. And of course, it is a good approach, the goal of course is to train you to think.
Hope that helps. :)


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Is it an appropriate way for a student to ask for marks?
A student requested to meet marker(me) to talk about midterm. He thought the mark was unfair. But we met, he just told me to point out why he was wrong. He got 0 for that question and I had no idea why he thought the mark was wrong. I was unable to give a very clear explanation. And the student just got angry, like I owed him. After this unhappy experience. I decided to let students state why they think the marks are wrong and attach snapshot in emails. If I think the reason is unjustified I will just point it out and refer them to the instructor. Is that a good policy?

Possible duplicates: https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/87521/should-a-marker-ta-handle-students-marking-issues-by-email, https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/85180/should-the-marker-be-responsible-for-explain-assignment-and-exam-or-the-instruct, https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/84977/how-to-handle-a-student-who-will-not-accept-that-he-is-wrong,

I am confused by your question, and you might edit to clarify. Do you not understand what was wrong with the student's answer? And is there any subjective component to the grading?

Just so I get this right: You are checking exams, wether the given answers match some reference sheet you have, but you have no clue why an answer is right or wrong? Never taken that exam yourself? I'm sorry, but that sounds very wrong.

@Karl That is not the case. In my view, the student's answer didn't even make sense to me. I don't know what to explain because I didn't see anything correct in his answer. Maybe the student just totally disagreed with my marking in the first place. I just wanted to say to him that I can do nothing if you cannot even figure it out yourself by reading the sample answer. But I couldn't say that as a TA.

@Karl The student seemed not take marker's words seriously. When we were talking about another, he just annoyingly claimed that his answer was right, which turned out to be the opposite. If he told me in the email that he just disagreed with my marking then I should just tell him to meet the instructor but not me.

You really should be able to explain why an answer is wrong, incomplete, or why it does not address the question asked.

Short answer:

It is expected for an evaluator to give appropriate reasons for the reduction in marks. However, I welcome your new policy -- it portrays openness and trustworthiness.

Detail:
Evaluation of answer scripts can be a tiresome work and it is only human to make mistakes at times. We usually take extra care when evaluating the final exams, but most would not pay that level of concentration for a mid-term assessment. It is only natural for some students to doubt the marks awarded for some of their answers. In such cases, I believe the students have their right to claim for the marks which might have been overlooked.
When asked why the answer is wrong, it would be the duty of the evaluator to state the reasons clearly. Only then the student can correct the mistake in future. The whole point of assessment tests is not only to measure how much the students have learned but also to set them on the right path and know where they are going wrong.
The following approach sounds more diplomatic for a student when asking for marks:
"Sir/Ma'am, may I know what is wrong with my answer so that I could give a better answer next time?"
When the evaluator explains the answer, the student can then point to where the explains concepts appear (if they do) on her/his answer. Then, the evaluator can make the necessary correction in the marking.
Politeness is the key. This approach is what I have adopted for my whole life as a student and expect the same for my students too.
Your approach seems quite new yet attractive to me. Usually, clarification with marks are done in office hours outside class. You never really know how this might work until you put this to practice. But it does give the impression to the students that you seem to be a more open and trustworthy evaluator (IMO).

The students are given sample answers, so they should know what the correct way is before asking the marker.

What is stated above is a general guideline for any written exam, @Tony. What might seem obvious to us may not be so obvious to them.

There was a case that a student came to meet with an answer that didn't even make sense to me. In this case, I don't know what I can do to him. I think the student is just a trouble. But the instructor just keeps saying that meeting students is necessary, shrug.

@Tony Yes. It happens all the time; there are some genuine requests and many others like the one you just stated. You might explain what is missing in the student's answer or make him/her explain what's right about his/her answer. But all this might be straight forward with your mailing idea. You could just forward such troublesome requests to the instructor if he insists on meeting up with such cases.

I think sometimes email can do a better job than talking face-to-face. Also it saves time. But I still need to meet students as the instructor's requirement. The student I mentioned talked to the instructor before meeting me. He claimed that he thought the mark was wrong and needed to be increased. But in fact I didn't give a wrong mark. In this case meeting may just make situation worse, I think.

Sample answers are not enough, because every problem has multiple correct solutions.  (Even for problems with unique correct answers, there are multiple correct paths to those answers.) You do need to explain where and how the student is wrong. That said, "This sentence is grasmmatically meaningless." and "Your first sentence is inconsistent with the definition of X." and "You are solving the wrong problem." are prefectly legitimate explanations (if true).


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Experimental research work on a similar experimental setup patented by someone else
For my PhD thesis, I have conceptualised an experimental setup which is similar to an already existing patented design. Can I do research work on that setup (conceptualised by me) by simply citing that patent ? Are there other things to keep in mind ?

Are there other things to keep in mind ? -- Yes, you need to determine what is the expected outcome of the research, given that a key aspect of it has already been patented, and is the expected outcome enough of a justification to commit to doing the research in the first place. Have you discussed this with your advisor?

Everything you can imagine is patented nowadays, especially plausible research ideas. Just cite it. Make a big deal of your system's differences if you are worried. If you don't make gobs of money from it, they have no reason to come after you; patent suits in the US cost $1M to pursue.

You should probably consult an IP lawyer. Your institution probably has someone who can help with this. Depending on what you are doing you may be using the patent idea or not (ie violating). You might be able to get a license from the patent holder. Lots of possibilities here.
In one scenario, the patent owner may be interested in your work.
But there is too little stated in your question and too much implied to be able to give nay definite answer.

I think not all patents have the same rules. Sometimes only commercial use is forbidden, research use may be ok. Some patent holders are reasonable and will give you explicit permission to use it if you ask nicely. Others refuse. It doesn't hurt to ask, though.
If your design is only similar, but not exactly the same, it may not even be covered by the patent. You should look carefully at exactly what the patent is for. Or better yet, ask a patent lawyer to look at it (your institution probably has one).
In practice, patent enforcement usually happens when the patent holder finds out, and then sues you for causing them to lose income they "deserve" by virtue of holding the patent. Since you will probably obtain little income from the patent, the case will not be very strong even if they do decide to sue. But more importantly, the journal where you expect to publish may have stricter rules on patents than your local regulators, so I would check their policies as well.

On top of others excellent answers, just to add that please check if the patent is already expired. There is a status stated in the patent information (18-20 years from the approval time). If it is already expired, then I guess there is no concern on the legal side.


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How is the job market for Chemistry like?
Apologies if this isn't a correct website to ask. But I'm a UK student applying to study Chemistry at university mostly because I'm good at the subject and I enjoy learning the applications of what it can bring to us in the future like nanotechnology. I applied to UCL (Chemistry with Managment), Durham, Manchester, Bath and Warwick. I intend to get into a career in finance or IB possibly but not too sure yet.
I've recently decided to take a year off to see what I actually want to do with life and also just to relax after being burnt out over countless times and travel.
I think most of my problem is because of the fact that I take other people into account of chemistry and not just block them off.
So I just want to know what I can do with a Chemistry degree?

I suspect that this may be off-topic here since it's not really related to academia.

Haven't checked the figures, though I seem to recall that Bachelor's in Chemistry have a bit of trouble in the job market.  Usually they're more advisable as preparation for another degree, e.g. for a graduate degree in Chemistry or a professional degree in Medicine.  I guess the US patent office (USPTO) would probably accept it as a qualification to be a patent examiner, so there're specific careers like that.  Or if you're interested in finance, getting a graduate degree in a Business field might be a possibility.

In my (biased) opinion, you can't go wrong with a science subject. Have you asked your chemistry teacher for advice? How about your school's careers adviser? (I have voted to close your question as it's not about academia; a better place to ask it would be thestudentroom.co.uk)

Subscribe to your local job portal. It'll tell you more about what jobs are out there than most people can. Using Google for the term "uk job portal", I found these two sites: jobsite.co.uk and reed.co.uk (there are a lot of others). Search for positions requiring chemistry at your degree level (e.g. if you're applying for a PhD position, search for "PhD chemistry"). These job portals usually have lots of refine search options as well, such as sorting by location, salary, and so on.
I'd recommend subscribing and staying subscribed to these job alerts throughout your studies. Even if you never apply, at least you know what's out there, in case there's a change in market trends.


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APA: Citing an annual report over multiple years
I have looked everywhere for an answer to this question. I don't often use APA format. In Chicago, when referencing in-text an annual report over a span of years, one simply types: (Smith, multiple years). I'm referencing an economic report, published annually, to analyse performance over a span of six years. Must I create a separate reference for each year, or may I do the same as in Chicago?
Best guess is the reference will look like:
Smith, J. (2002-2016) Annual Report
OR
Smith, J. (Multiple years) Annual Report

If it is not in the most updated APA Style Guide, I would consult whoever is reviewing your work, because APA can change so much that sometimes you will get different answers regarding format, depending who you ask.

I don't work in APA much, but in the several papers I have had published the journal has had particular requirements for special cases like that. Step one would be to reach out to the editor of your chosen publication.
In the mean time I would probably cite them separately.

Smith, J. (2002) Annual Report
   Smith, J. (2003) Annual Report
   Smith, J. (2004) Annual Report
   etc.

with the in text citation (Smith, 2002, 2003, 2004 ... ). I find it preferable to include too much detail and be asked to scale back than vice versa.

I would show the range.  I am kind of a nit at trying to follow format.  But then there are times when you have something not covered by the book. I find if you are doing all the regular ones perfectly that the editors allow you some freedom to freestyle when you have something not covered.  At the end of the day people want to be able to find things from your citation.
Again, don't make the regular ones a mess or freestyle those. But when something is not 100% covered, just decide you are the grownup and write it the way you want.

I use a lot of citations.  I would probably cite and allow for multiple years as long as the citation hasn't dramatically changed over those years (like a climate survey -- the trend would be the same).  It may also be useful to pull a specific quote/note from the most recent source (cited specifically by its year) to further illustrate your point, but I don't think it's needed unless that's the basis for your additional work.

I would suggest the following touch-ups to your two suggestions. Besides hyphen, an arrow, or a double dot, or a colon may also be used indicate a series without a break.

A series of reports without a break (note the plural, "Annual Reports", which is not the exact title. It is a class indicator):

Smith, J. (2002->2016) Annual Reports

A series of multiple reports, all have the same title "Annual Report"

Smith, J. (Multiple: 2002..2006) Annual Report

If the series is not a continuous sequence, the years may be enumerated in increasing order

Smith, J. (Multiple: 2002, 2004, 2007) Annual Report

If there is a mix of continuous series and isolated years, a combination can be used.

Smith, J. (Multiple: 2002..2004, 2007, 2011-2014) Annual Report

If it is a report / essay for your University check with them, if it is a paper for a journal, again, check with them. They may even have information on their site.


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MBA dissertation without any mathematical equations in it?
I do not understand maths.Total ignoramus ...Is it possible to do a MBA dissertation without once referring to any equations ? eg: a-b=???

I'm not in this field, but a certain formalism always helps to point out things precisely.

I don't understand the downvotes. It certainly makes STEM people feel dislike it, but it is still a good question.

@scaaahu It might be a fine question, but it is formulated in an utterly terrible way, with the barest minimum of effort put into even making it comprehensible.

I teach statistics to social science students, so I see this fear of math a lot. I have taught now in the 1000s of students, and have come across only one case where there was a true inability to do math. All the other cases it was just fear blocking their ability to do math, and you can overcome fear. So rather than avoid the problem, a more productive way forward would be to face your problem and solve it.

Thank you for the answers.I do appreciate your valuable time.My apologies for the way I placed this question.I am new to the forum and at the moment my burning question(I spend hours reading other dissertations), is how I can avoid having equations explaining my view point.If I do interviews I have to process and explain in a numerical equation so that it has a meaning.I battle with this and will keep searching for a way to overcome it without making my dissertation look like a high school essay.I do appreciate the comments.Negative or positive, I learn from each one.

Your key problem seems to be "If I do interviews I have to process and explain in a numerical equation so that it has a meaning". Can you say more about that? Why do you think that statement is true, and if so, why do you think that that is a problem?

Maarten Buis, thank you for helping me .Really apprecaite it.In all the dissertation's that I read, part of the methodology seem to involve reducing your research to a mathematical problem.I read statements that conclude :I have sent out a 100 interviews and received back 75. The probability of my answer is based on I < 100 but > 75! This is really confusing to me.I am bad at explaining this problem.I It is embaresing,I have been researching for years, but still, not able to overcome this hurdle.

This is what methodology courses are for. Some people can get this via self study, but most need a course to structure the information for them. Your MBA program may offer such courses, but you may need a more basic (undergraduate) to get the basics.

Think of it this way: in your later career you will be required to (pretend you) understand such statements, so learning what they mean now is right.

Thank you Martin.I eventually got that answer from uni.You reach the same conclusion with the sparse info I was able to supply.Thank you again.


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Should I work at a lab prior to getting my PhD in Education?
Do applicants to the field of education even apply to work in labs prior to applying? Does it truly help?

What goal are you trying to achieve?

What kind of lab? Experience in a condensed matter physics lab probably won't help much for a PhD in education.

It certainly depends on your specific field within education, which is quite broad, but in my experience many people pursuing PhDs in education have their prior lab/research experience as teachers - working in the environments they plan to study (and I don't mean only people who are getting a professional PhD in education, I am referring specifically to research PhDs and people who expect their future careers to be in higher ed rather than back in the classroom) and collaborating with academics who want to study those environments.

I'm in an educational psychology PhD program at a large R1 university that's not especially competitive or prestigious and there are many students who had no research or lab experience before starting.  That being said, working in a lab may help your application to be more competitive, particularly if you work in a lab at the university you're applying to (so you can meet people) or you have opportunities to publish or present research (which I think would be sort of rare for a non-student employee, but I could be wrong).  In fact, my program has a lot of part-time students who teach (or do some other school-related position) during the day and take classes towards their MS/PhD in the evenings, who have never worked in a lab, and who intend to go back into teaching (or school admin or school psychology or whatever) after they finish the degree.


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How can an undergraduate TA ask to give a lecture if they have given one in the past?
TL;DR: I have given a lecture once for this course in the past during an emergency, and would like to re-challenge myself once I get adequate prep time, as I feel it is an important experience. Is it a possibility for me to do it in a non-emergency situation? How would you feel if an undergraduate TA asked for your permission to give a lecture?
Some background: I am currently a undergraduate teaching assistant for a junior-level undergraduate research statistics course in the US. There is one other TA besides me who is a third year PhD student (referred to as GTA from here). Both TA's only teach the lab and help grade. We (normally) do not go to the lecture sections.
During the third week of school, there was a big conference that GTA was going to attend, so I was supposed to teach the lab alone. No problem. The Friday before, I have a meeting with GTA to cover the lab content. While there, he informed me that I was also supposed to cover the lecture that third week. Apparently, our professor was ill and would not be returning, and I was the only one available to cover the lecture. The GTA and all three of the faculty members with prior experience teaching the course were all going to this same conference and could not teach it. Apparently, an email was sent to GTA, HR, our advisors, and all the important people except me. In the chaos, our professor forgot to inform me that I was giving the lecture.
The first lecture was the following Monday morning, and I did not have enough time to prepare a PowerPoint with the lab prep also going on at the same time. The professor did not have any material pre-made for the course for me to reference (PPT, etc.), so needless to say, I completely botched that lecture. Fortunately, I was able to prepare a very good PPT for the Wednesday lecture and redeemed myself and managed to get through all the required material. However, the whole experience has left a sour taste in my mouth. I KNOW I can do better if I have more than three days to prepare, and I know that week's performance reflects poorly on me. This experience also made me realize how important it is to practice preparing for a lecture before I become a professor and it have a possibility to poorly reflect on my tenure package. I would really like to have a chance to give another lecture in the future for this course .
Now I know my giving a lecture was a very special case, as I have never heard of an undergraduate student giving a lecture. The professor is currently not back yet, and the graduate TA is teaching the lectures. I was informed that the responsibility should not fall on me again this semester, as there are three experienced faculty members that can cover the lecture before it comes to that.
While I probably will not do it until next semester given that the professor is not back yet, I am just wondering if this is something that would be appropriate for me to even try asking permission for. I am not sure how I should approach him on this topic. How would you feel if an undergraduate TA asked for your permission to give a lecture?
Just to add: The professor is not aware that he did not inform me that I was giving the lecture, so I don't want to bring up the fact that I want a second chance, since I don't plan to make him aware of our miscommunication. I don't want to guilt him into giving me another chance if it would make him uncomfortable.
Thank you for your time.

I think it's great that you are going after teaching experiences. I don't think there is any harm in asking, and I think B. Goddard's answer covers some of the main problems with it. I would also consider alternatives that might expand your teaching experience without taking the place of scheduled lectures, for example leading a study session on a tough topic in the course, or on an additional topic of interest to some students that can't be covered in the course time. Of course encouraging attendance might be tough but it would at a minimum give you more experience preparing.

My first reaction, if a TA or GTA asked to give a lecture, would be to worry about the time.  Almost every undergrad math class is in a rush to cover the material.  At the end of almost every course, almost every math lecturer is wishing for another day or two.  And you want one of my precious, precious days?  Even if you do a really swell job, you might leave some loose ends, which I have to spend 5 or 10 minutes the next class polishing up. Then I have to cram that day's 50 minutes into 40 minutes.   I say this so you know what you might be asking.
The second thing is that, depending on your location and school, there may be rules about who can teach at what level.  In Texas, there are laws (from the state legislature) which say that a master's degree can teach math classes only up to a certain level.  And that a grad student can teach classes only up to a certain level.  And some schools advertise things like, "All classes are taught by professors."  So you might run into a rule or law that simply prevents you from lecturing in a non-emergency situation.
Having said that, I don't see any problem with you approaching the professor and saying that you would like more experience lecturing.  You understand there are hurdles, but if possible, you'd like to do another lecture.

Thank you for your feedback! I definitely want to be fully aware of what I may be asking of the professor. I am actually at Texas A&M University, so the laws portion is quite relevant. I tried to find if those regulations were posted anywhere, but I cannot seem to find anything. As far as you are aware, is there a rule in Texas that would prevent me from teaching as an undergraduate?

I don't know, exactly.  I taught at Texas A&M Commerce for a while.  There were profs with only master's degrees who were not allowed to teach DE.  At UT-Austin, I was going to be gone and no professor could cover for me, so I had to get special permission for my GTA to cover a lecture.  I think this was a UT rule, not a state law.  But I'm not an expert on the rules and laws.  I just do what what they tell me.


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Do STEM professors retire from research at age 65, while continuing to teach classes?
I see many STEM professors work well into their 70s, 80s, and sometimes even into their early 90s - mostly in teaching, but their research careers were outstanding.  One of them that I spoke with told me that he hasn't done research in many years - though he teaches a class every semester.
Do STEM professors "retire" from research at age 65, while continuing to teach and enjoy their tenure?  Or are many professors still active in research past retirement age?
I'm asking primarily about US universities.

Certainly some remain research-active beyond that age; I know a few personally.  I don't know if there are any statistics on this, however.

In my experience it is more common to retire from a faculty position, stop teaching but continue to be active in research.

I know two mathematics professors who retired (when they could have continued working) explicitly for the purpose of devoting more time to their research.

This is very much a function of the regulations of the institution in question, and the health and desires of the faculty members in question.
I have known a number of faculty members who start to wind down their research groups at age 65 or even a little earlier, while others wait until about age 70. I also know of schools that don't allow faculty members over 65 or 70 to bring on new students, thereby effectively "shutting down" the groups. But I do know a handful of faculty members who were active as researchers into their 70's and even into their 80's.
In countries other than the US, policies are much stricter. In Germany, for instance, professors must retire at 65 unless their successor allows them to continue to supervise students and conduct research.

Depending on the type of research and the resources needed, it is also possible to remain research-active even after having officially retired from one's faculty position.  In this case I don't think the institution's regulations would have much bearing, as presumably one can do as one pleases in retirement.

the part about the German regulations is not correct (at least it is incomplete). One can opt to work longer, there is the status of an Emeritus (if you were retireing before the 1980's), and the successor is not formaly the one who decides (at least to my knowledge) but the university can define regulation based on the (slightly different) state regulations.

@OBu My answer about Germany is based on direct observation in NRW. It’s up to the successor to allow Doktorvater arrangements to continue.


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Assessing quality of research groups within math departments as a prospective PhD student?
First, let me quickly say that I've read as many related questions on this site as I can find, and I believe my questions haven't been directly addressed yet.
I am currently selecting between a few PhD programs in mathematics and have read many different accounts of how to best approach the process. There are several top answers here that suggest that one should try hard to attend the program with highest prestige, as long as this doesn't directly compromise your ability to pursue research in your field of interest (or land you in an area in which you are unhappy). Most posts then qualify that statement carefully, reminding the OPs that measuring prestige is not the same as comparing ranks on USNews (in multiple threads it is suggested that there is little difference between schools that differ by 10 points).
My questions are:
1) Are the AMS groupings generally a better indicator of a program's quality than differences in USNews ranks? Is it an unwise move to attend a Group II school if you are admitted into Group I schools, given that your ultimate goal is to work as a research mathematician?
2) How does one start to compare programs' strengths, specifically in their subfield of interest, without resorting to some kind of online ranking? Which metrics are reliable indicators for the strength of the specific research group in a particular department?
Honestly, I wish I wasn't thinking so much about my future in these terms. I come from a humble undergraduate institution, and many of my options represent a positive leap forward, for which I am very grateful. However, I can't help but feel the pressure of the competitiveness of the academic job market (all hearsay to me). When I read that hiring committees pay close attention to these numbers, I feel like I ought to do the same.
Thanks for any insight

FYI: the /r/math community on reddit will be holding a Graduate School Q&A panel very soon, so I suggest crossposting your question there, as well, to get some advice specifically from the math community.

For both your questions, I will posit that the key factor is whether the group in question is doing "high impact" work. For example, are their papers interesting and often cited? Are they working in very "popular" areas? Do the respected researchers in your (sub)field know the names of the senior group members?
To your questions:

I am not a mathematician, but I do know that the rankings will be at the level of the "department average", where faculty hires will be based on the "group" or even the individual. So, a high-power group in a third-tier school is better than a lower-power group in a higher-ranked school.
The factors listed above are perhaps the "true" criteria -- but, as an undergraduate, you are probably not in a position to judge your prospective advisors' work. This is why the rankings are so useful. If you have anyone at your current institution that you trust to be well-informed as to the state-of-the-art in your (sub)field, you may want to ask that person for some advice as well.


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How can I ask a professor I've had as an undergrad for a recommendation
I am currently a Masters student adn I'm applying for an abroad research program which requires two letters of recommendation. This professor already wrote my recommendation to get into grad school (he was my professor during undergrad) and I want him to resubmit the letter to my research program. I wanted to know if this would be an okay email to send:
"Hi Professor __,
I hope you're doing well! I wanted to reach out to you because I'm currently enrolled in a Masters Program and I found out a few days ago about a research program called ____ in Germany. I was hoping to apply for it for this summer, and I wanted to know if you would resubmit my letter of recommendation (the one which you wrote last year)? The deadline for the application is ____. Sorry for such a last minute notice, I only recently found out about this program. I completely understand if it wouldn't be doable or if you don't have the prior recommendation, no worries if that's the case! Thanks again!
Best,

"

That's certainly fine if you just need a letter resubmitted, but often the best letters are tailored to particular opportunities - i.e., a letter talking about how well-suited user130306 is for Arbitrary Masters Program is going to look funny when you are reading that letter as a committee member for Abroad Research Program.
I would suggest acknowledging in your email that the recommender may need to write a new letter (though the previous one may be suitable as a draft) and ask if they are willing to do so. Implying that they can just resubmit a previous letter might be perceived as (weakly) rude or not understanding what recommendation letters entail.
Also I presume your second letter will come from someone at your current institution? It's certainly okay to use a previous recommender when you have not spent much time at your new institution, but ideally letters come from people who can best describe the current you.


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How can I mention a personal tragedy in a statement for PhD?
I am currently applying for my PhD in pure math. I am also finishing up my masters. Unfortunately my brother passed halfway through the semester and I received an incomplete in one of my classes because I was absent too much. I also missed the GRE Mathematics subject test which is required. I spoke to the head of the department who said that they will consider my application without the GRE subject test. I don't know if he is going to personally be reviewing my application or if he's even going to remember he said this to me.
Anyways, should I put this in my personal statement? So far I've talked only about my math research interests, experience, etc. But maybe I should add a concluding paragraph that explains my current situation? How can I approach this? I took my regular GRE and though my score isn't awful, it's not great and I just feel like my brother passing in the past few months has tremendously had an affect on me. That being said, I've worked so hard and besides this incident, all my grades for my masters degree have been high to low A's. I want them to know this isn't me at my best. But I also don't want it to be a sob story.

Yes, you should absolutely mention it. If you do not, the program will not have the necessary context to evaluate your application fairly -- which is bad for them and worse for you.
You should also mention that the program already agreed to consider your application without the GRE -- as you say, it's anyone's guess whether they will remember this concession if you don't remind them. In fact, I worry that a well-meaning secretary might trash your application in any case (as it appears incomplete), so it might be worth indicating this in a more visible place or even calling to confirm that your application was passed to the committee.
Now, for how to mention it: concisely. 1-2 sentences is all you need. "I performed poorly during this brief period because my brother died" is all they need to know -- you don't need to dress that statement up too much or say much more than that.

If you go to town making this statement too long, it will sound like an excuse. So, be very clear, direct, and above all concise.
The one thing that might be worth adding is a reason to be confident that you will not continue to have grief-related problems as a PhD student (i.e., give some evidence that things are improving).

I do not recommend putting this in the last paragraph as you suggest. The last paragraph should send them off on a high note ("declare victory" and look to the future). Instead, put this into the relevant body paragraph.
Sorry to hear about your brother.

Don't "remind" them that they agreed to consider your application without the GRE, thank them for having done so.

thank you so much! the other thing is: if i don't get admitted, my family is going to force me to move back to india and i won't be able to pursue my education there because im a girl and in my village it's not acceptable, etc.. anyways, should i put this in as well in order to say how much this means to me?

Interesting question...that might be worth another post, I don't think there's an easy/obvious answer (other than: how can your family force you to do anything?).

User:

I would mention it (you need to explain the issue or they just see the negative).  But I would try to do it in a matter of fact way (you are not asking for any special pity...everyone has deaths in the family as a part of life).  Also if you can mention how you will or did compensate for the issue (will take test later, or "took a practice and got a 700 which I feel shows my ability", etc.)  Also, if you can take a little of a matter of fact tone that it was an issue and is behind you (will not affect your work in the program) that would be best.
No.  Telling them you will have to move back to India and live in a village and not be educated because you are a girl is a whine.  May be very true.  But it's nobody's duty to spare you from that fate out of pity.  Instead if you don't want that, do the work to prevent it happening.


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Including descriptions in a CV
I am a graduate student and am updating my CV for my upcoming postdoc search. While doing so, I found that it looks nicer (format-wise) with just the names of the projects, service activities, awards, etc., than it did with a 1-2 sentence description over 2-3 lines.
I could remove the descriptions entirely, or I could shorten them to a single line. In either case it would be more consistent and more nicely presented. As far as I have seen, there is no convention on what should have a description and what shouldn't.
What rules of thumb do you have for whether or not to describe things on your CV? If you do add descriptions, how do you do so without it turning into padding?

I would do both, meaning I would create a long version with 2-3 lines of description and a short version without (or describing only 1-2 projects). The trick is to submit the right version for each application (based on what the postdoc ad is asking for).
(In case this helps: for me the "winner" was the short, 1-page version with 3 lines of description for two projects and an awful lot of links to Google Scholar, ResearchGate, degree certificate from my uni, etc.)

Generally, in both industry and academia, it is my impression that people tend to quickly gloss over resumes and CV's, as time is a valuable commodity and such people are already busy with reading so many resumes/CV's amongst other things they have to do.  Your best bet is to keep it short and concise on paper (i.e., short bullet points with relatively short sentences) as opposed to long, potentially run-on sentences.  As has been mentioned, it's a good thing to tailor your resume/CV to the job/postdoc position that you are applying to, but in general, especially if you have more things to put on your CV, you'll want shorter and more concise descriptions.  If you want to describe more in detail, you can always do this on a website or LinkedIn page.  You'll also have an opportunity to go more into detail about your past experience pertinent to the job at hand in the interview process.


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Missed including undergraduate degree information in graduate application
Whilst applying for a part-time graduate degree, I only stated my most recent graduate degree in the application (completed a year ago). I thought (possibly incorrectly) that I need only state the most recent and relevant information.
I did not state my earlier graduate degree (obtained 12 years ago) and undergraduate degree, received over 15 years ago.
I subsequently interviewed with the programme director regarding my application and I'm awaiting a decision on the outcome. During the interview call, there were no questions raised about the education information in my application?
How can I mitigate this situation? Should I call the department and supply the omitted information?

Did you also submit a full CV?

If you know you’ve omitted information, I would correct the situation as soon as possible. If the information is received before a decision is made, then you cannot be accused later of hiding it. It may impact acceptance—materials weren’t sent according to deadline, after all—but you’re reducing your later exposure by coming forth now.


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Paper rejection probability after two round of major revision.
I would like to know the paper rejection probability (very rough) after two round of major revision. At the 1st and 2nd revision, I have revised the paper properly according to the reviewer's comments. The reviewer has raised a new issue in the 2nd revision and the reviewer has recommended me to revise the paper again. I have revised the paper properly again and submitted to the journal. The number of assign reviewer for the paper is only 1 (Reviewer 1). The paper has been reviewing for 7 months.
In the 2nd revision, I could not understand the editorial manager paper status meaning. The paper status has changed from "major revision" to "with editor" after submitting the revised paper. After 1 week later the paper status has changed to "under review" and then after two weeks later the paper status has changed to "with editor". I have not received any email from the editor so far. This morning I have checked the paper status and I found that the paper status again has changed to "under review". I would be grateful if someone could help me to understand the meaning of the status.

@NajibIdrissi You may want to familiarize yourself with subjective probabilities https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Probability_interpretations

Lean back (as in work on something else) and stop checking the online status system.

In general, few editors would allow for several rounds of resubmission unless they would like to publish the paper. Therefore, the probability of eventual acceptance should be much higher than the base acceptance rate at the journal.
With regards to the status updates: "with editor" means that the editor is about to look at your resubmission and make a decision on whether to send it out to referees. "Under review" means that reviewers have been assigned. In some cases, it does not mean that the reviewers have actually agreed to reviewing. The switch back to "with editor" suggests that the reviewer has either declined to review the paper again or has completed the review. In the former case, expect the paper to switch back to "under review", in the latter case expect to hear from the editor soon.

Why not check with the editor whether she already has received the review or when she expects to get it? You could even ask her how to interpret the status changes. I would find those a bit confusing as well.
At the risk of giving you false hope, I'd say I think you are in a good position and the chance of rejection at this stage is slim. Why do I think this?

The editor has already decided they are interested in the paper; it would not have been send out for review otherwise.
Being asked to revise your manuscript after reviews again indicates that both the reviewer and the editor think those revisions are doable and that the manuscript would be publishable after revisions.
In both revisions you managed (I am inferring this from what you wrote) to answer the reviewer questions to your own satisfaction and the reviewer also found your answers at the first revision sufficient.

All this together makes me think you have a quite high chance of acceptance currently.
Please see What does the typical workflow of a journal look like? for general information on journal workflows.


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How many resubmits of my thesis support paper can I expect from my sponsor and readers?
I'm preparing a support thesis paper for an aesthetic creation for my MFA. How may times can I expect my sponsor and readers to send my paper back to me for edits?

There’s no fixed answer here. Some advisors are willing to look at drafts in progress and pitch in a lot, while others only want to see almost finished drafts. Committee members beyond the advisor would probably only want to see one or two drafts to edit. Further, their comments will be more high-level than in depth.
But the best way to make sure is to ask!


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What order should teaching experience be listed in a teaching dossier when applying for teaching jobs?
Should a teaching dossier list teaching experience in chronological order (starting with most recent) or should I order things by relevance to whatever I'm applying for?
I'm applying for a job which has listed teaching Calculus and Linear algebra as the primary expectation.
My more recent experience has been with Adult Basic Eduation which is not relevant to the posting, so my gut says not to emphasize this first.
Are my instincts correct?  Should I put my older work experience at the front?

In general, there are two approaches: chronological and thematic.  Also note that you can do some suppressing of minor items that don't seem relevant to the specific position.  However, you'll probably not want to suppress your current or most recent employment situation. // In a cover letter you can pull out and feature the key items from your CV as your primary selling points. // If you like, you might possibly be able to find a spin for the recent job, to paint it as bolstering your suitability for the position you're applying for.

There is no official standard, but chronological order is always easiest to follow. However, if you have a non-standard dossier, you could sort your teaching experience according to what is most important.
But the best place to emphasize your relevant experience is in the teaching statement.


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change the citation of preprint version into journal version of article
In my article, I have cited a preprint version (arXiv) of one references. After my article has been published in the final form, I received a request from the author of the preprint article asking me to make Corrigendum that tells the readers about the journal version of his cited article. I am new in the publication field and I want to know whether I should obey to his demand and make the corrigendum or leave the citation as it is.
I might mention that the contents of both preprint and journal versions are similar and the version that I have read and referred to in my manuscript is the preprint as the journal version was not available at the time I wrote the paper.
Thank you for your advise.

Is there a major difference (a grave mistake or something) in the journal version? Apparently not.
Is there a grave mistake in your paper that you cite a preprint? I don't think so.
You also cite the version you were working with, which is Ok and a right thing to do.
I'd correct the reference in my database for the future use (and obtain the journal version, of course), but I won't bother with corrigenda. They are for bigger mistakes than just a wrong version of a reference.

First of all, papers reference other preprints all the time, especially in my field where the submission to publication time is quite long.  It would be ridiculous if everyone published a corrigendum every time a preprint you referenced gets published, especially because this is not an mistake.  If for some reason journals allowed this, there would probably be more corrigenda than research articles.  So, no.
That said, when you go through the final proofs stage for an accepted manuscript you should check the preprints you reference to see if publication data is available for any of them before your work gets published.  (I can't tell from the question whether the other paper was published before you could make changes or not.)

No way you should have to bother about such bookkeeping. And it is not even clear that citing the journal version is the right thing to do, now or in the future, if you read and used the preprint version.
Nevertheless it is clear why your correspondent wants you to make the change: for bibliometric robots that ignore preprints, your article will not be considered as citing his. One more case of the publishing system asking scientists to do pointless work.

Nevertheless it is clear why your correspondent wants you to make the change: for bibliometric robots that ignore preprints - Do many bibliometric robots ignore preprints?  For math, I think the most commonly used databases people look at for citations (MathSciNet and Google Scholar do, I'm not sure about Zentralblatt) count preprint citations.

Scopus and Web of Science ignore preprints, while Google Scholar takes them into account. See this related question: https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12025/preprint-citations-paper-citations


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How to find Special Issue of Journals?
I was exploring IEEE and Springer to find their special issues but there is no specific link or option to track special issue articles. How can I find them for my specific domain?


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How important is being in a good institute for a theoretical physicist?
Will being in a underfunded institute and with mediocre colleagues hinder the performance of a theoretical physicist to a great degree?

given enough exposure, doesn't everybody think everybody nearby is mediocre?

@davyjones Given your question, have you ever worked with really great people?

Si tacuisses, philosophus mansisses ...

@CaptainEmacs, Aye Aye Captain, of course I'm exaggerating. I've seen really great people work, yet those people never say anything about their colleagues being mediocre.

@davyjones I now see belatedly that I missed the sarcasm in your first statement, fair enough...

You need two things, I think. One is a good advisor and the other is enough funding or other infrastructure to support your research. With that, and hard work, you can be successful.

I don't see why mediocre word seems to have offended anyone here. Is it wrong to say that all people in scientific community are not equally talented? Isn't it also true that there is vast difference in productivity of researchers from institutes elite and institutes and bad institutes? BTW I'm a graduate student.

I don't know which place you come from, but you must be very lucky if my assumptions are wrong. Unfortunately I'm not from such a place I suppose. I'm from india and in our country, about 95% of people academia are in there because they couldn't get any other job. They'd can't be less interested in teaching or learning. Even the term mediocre is a euphemism for such people.

I don't want to put them in the same bag as the other few great people and disrespect the later. Those are the people who dedicate their lives for research. It'd be a sacrilege to call them all equal. My question is if It's getting difficult for me to make it to any of the good institutes with actual researchers, should I consider the other mediocre institutions?

It depends.
A good student who is very self motivated can rise above. That means you would need to be doing a lot of work in addition to the work assigned in class. If you can do that, consistently for your entire degree, you can come out knowing as much as you would in a "tough" school.
It's a two-fold challenge.
First, there is doing it and keeping it up without somebody to drive you.  If you are that sort of person then GREAT! More power to you, I wish you well. But you won't need my good wishes, you will be too busy creating your own good future.
Second, there is getting recognition for this extra work. Eventually you will want to do something after undergrad. Whether that's grad school or industry or whatever, you need an entrance that allows you to get some credit for the extra work.
Sometimes, a possible solution to the second part is to publish something in a research journal. Lots of undergrads publish a research article. Of course, it's a small fraction of undergrads overall. But if you can publish something it will go a long way to helping you in whatever your plans are for after undergrad.
Sometimes it's extra-curricular projects. Are you technologically gifted? Build something keen. Are you software creative? Write an interesting and useful computer program. Are you the gifted writer? Write a web site that explains some interesting physics topic. Are you a good video presenter? Maybe something for the Khan academy.
https://www.khanacademy.org/
If you are fortunate in the "summer jobs" you get, that can be very helpful also. One of the undergrads I met at a "cow college" was doing some interesting work with a local research company. They were doing a thing with testing microwaves for therapy in sports medicine. He got to do some of the mundane measurement work. It looked good on his resume, it taught him a lot about microwaves, and it paid the bills.
Sometimes a nearby school will have enrichment opportunities. If you were at a small school in Southern Ontario, you could consider managing to get some time at McMaster University.  They have a pool type nuclear reactor. You could get training on that for a few months. That would look pretty good on your resume for certain jobs and grad schools. Many universities will have some kind of lab or facility that you can do some kind of exchange program.
From the other side of things, a gifted student in a "tough" school may not achieve maximum results. Tough schools can sometimes be very regimented and by-the-regulation-book. "My way or the highway" kind of thing. It does not always nurture the creativity of a young student who has just come from a high school where he was top-of-the-pops while hardly trying. And tough schools might not have a friendly environment. Students might be far more competitive minded, angling for scholarships and such.
The right school for you is a difficult choice. And it's one that, once made, is difficult to unmake.


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What is the etiquette for applying for multiple PhDs?
I have applied to 6 funded PhD projects in fairly broad areas. I had an interview for the first one just over a week ago and it didn’t feel like it wen’t well and I never heard back from them. The second one was day before yesterday and they have emailed me this morning with an offer, asking me to get back to them by Monday. I am still waiting to find out if I have been shortlisted by the other 4, which are at two local universities. I am not sure what the etiquette is here.
In an ideal situation I would love to know which programmes wanted to make me an offer so I can pick between them but realise I have this time limitation and realise they need to make an offer to someone else if not to me.

Does this answer your question? Is it bad to apply to multiple master/PhD programs in different universities?

https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/118435/applying-to-phd-programmes-in-multiple-universities

https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/116044/multiple-phd-applications

What country? .

"just over a week ago ... I never heard back from them" This is nowhere near "never heard back from" territory.

@AzorAhai-him- In my experience, lots of things are slow, but interviewers tend to be rather quick to give feedback after a physical interview. So one week without any news after a physical interview would be longer than average.

@Sursula no my question is different. I know it’s fine to apply to many options but now that I have an offer I am not sure how to proceed.

Just accept the offer for now and wait for other offers. Select one from the best.

@Stef In academia?

@AzorAhai-him- Yes. The whole recruitment process can be slow, and responses to emails and applications can be slow, but after an in-person interview I've always received an informal follow-up within a few days. Of course this follow-up is informal and conditional, and probably I've been lucky with this, but that is my experience.

It is hard to predict the outcome but one option is to see where you are on Monday and either accept the offer or ask them for "a few more days" to consider your options. This seems early to me to be asking for final decisions, however.
And, the world isn't an ideal place. On Monday you may want to settle it, especially if this place is desirable, which I assume since you applied there.
And, since they will take care of themselves and their own interests, I think you should do the same.
Also, there is a generally useful piece of advice that may apply here: "Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good."

You can explain the situation. It is perfectly reasonable for you to look at multiple options. They may give you a bit more time or maybe not, but if they would hold it against you you really would not want them to be your supervisor.

You don't say where you are, and the answer may depend on this, but from a UK point of view:

the first one may well still get back to you. The time between interview and offer could well be longer than a week, even if you are a first-choice candidate. (Offers may need to be approved by a committee, not just by the people who interviewed you.)
The second seems to be acting unusually quickly. In particular, I would expect you to be given more time to make a decision. Obviously it is good for them (particularly if you are going to say no) to get a decision as soon as possible. But quite possibly more time is available if you ask.

I think it is probably not feasible to wait until you get a decision from any of the later places. But if you would prefer the first position, I think it is worth asking the second place for a few extra days to decide and informing the first place that you have an offer from elsewhere but would consider an offer from them if it arrived before the new deadline. They may well be able to speed the process up in these circumstances (but doing that by Monday is very unlikely now, unless they were about to make an offer anyway).

I don't see an issue with asking them for more time OR agreeing to the current offer and then later down the line declining it when / if you get a better one. Just don't sign anything yet.
Just one bit of unasked advice: Do not accept an offer for the lack of a better one and "just to do a PhD". You will not finish it.


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Request to move-up interview
This may be the wrong place for this question, but the format here is better. Please advise of a better website if I'm totally off base for this site.
My situation: I hold a Masters of Accountancy and am a licensed CPA. I am lucky in that every job for which I've applied has contacted me for an interview. So here's my dilemma:
My initial second choice brought me in for an interview yesterday and I NAILED it! They actually gave me a standing ovation for my teaching demo, and all but told me I was getting the job (I was told to expect an offer within a couple days). The position is non-tenture track, but the department has a massive overload and so I am not concerned with job security. This is a public university. It's located in a small, rural community with a larger city about an hour away....so I would have to commute.
My initial first choice wants to schedule my campus visit a full 2 weeks from today. It is tenure-track (I am starting a doctoral program in 2020).  The pay would be less for this job, but I would teach EVERY class in accounting because the department is small. Also,  the overall workload would likely be less in the long-run. This is a small, private university much closer to my current location in a city that fits me a bit better culturally (closer to what I live in now).
I also have two more interviews after that, but I am hoping to cancel those as soon as possible.
So I have three questions: 1) How long does the school with which I interviewed realistically expect me to take before I accept or decline their offer? and 2) Would it be inappropriate to request the second interview be moved up?
3) Finally, if I do request the interview be moved up, how candid should I be about my reasoning? I just don't know if the first school is moving at super light speed or not....there's just so much I don't know.
Thank you

A tenure-track position you would have while pursuing a doctorate?

Yes. I would have 6 years to get the doctorate. I'll need 3 years for a reputable DBA degree. I would automatically lose the position if I failed to get the doctorate within the 6 years (though they indicated in phone interview that they would likely just switch me to non-tenure track if that happened). The non-tenure track has the advantage of not having a 'clock' start upon employment, but it is of course non-tenure track (until I get the doctorate).

Business schools operate differently from moreal traditional departments. That said, tenure-track offers still need to generally be signed off on by a dean. Even if you interviewed for the tenure-track position tomorrow, and you are the last planned interview, the offer could still take a couple of weeks.
My opinion is that a tenure track position is enough of an upgrade over a non-tenure track position, that you are justified leaving at any point. Non-tenure track positions are abusive to young academics and if a department won't make a multi-year guarantee to you, I believe you can leave whenever you get a markedly better offer. In that light, I suggest you let the tenure-track process play out withough you trying to speed it up. I suggest you slow roll the non-tenure track offer and if they force you to sign before you hear about the TT, you do, then if you get a TT offer, you back out.

Thank you StrongBad.

Also generally non-tenure line positions teach courses that are more easily filled in by a range of faculty members if the department can't find a replacement. Harder to do with a tenure line that's teaching highly specialized upper division courses.

@guifa. They actually gave me a list of classes that are currently listed as "staff", and yes those were intro level courses. However, they also offered to let me sub out any ONE of those for the fall semester and teach a more advanced course. The also gave me a HUGE list for the spring and basically I would have many more choices then....but you make a good point.


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Should undergraduate researchers expect payment?
I'm about a junior-senior in college and got the chance for an interesting lab that's conducting research information theory, where the role would be to help write ML model code. This is an area of interest for me and I think I could learn a lot from it.
I want to know if it's reasonable to expect to be paid, because this position doesn't compensate. I've heard of some positions that are and some that aren't. Money isn't that big of an issue but it's a nice to have. There are part time jobs I've been considering and admit that if I were to receive payment, I would probably spend more time doing research on this than working on my own projects. I am grateful for the opportunity to learn, disclaimer, I know I'm not entitled to anything.
I know it's related to and I don't want to open up the argument for should interns be paid. But are undergraduate researchers normally paid?

Should note I don't really have a desire to go into graduate school, I just thought I'd get a computer job after graduation and hack away. A little bit of ivory tower academics would be fun though.

Usually, undergraduate research assistant positions are compensated in two ways: 1) academic credit or 2) hourly wage.
From my own personal experiences, paid undergraduate research assistantships are hard to come by. In the United States, a lot of these positions are considered "work studies" where it's considered an on-campus, part-time employment. However, even then, a lot of these positions were restricted to lower-income students who were able to document financial need. Usually, the research labs would be using their research grants to fund these paid positions. As many people in academia may know, research funds are also hard to come by. A lot of labs may have limited funds that they prioritize for hiring more important positions like Graduate Research Assistants/Associates or Lab/Project Managers.
Undergraduate Research Assistant positions compensated via academic credit are much more common since they allow for students to take fewer classes (and also saves the lab's funds).
However, when neither options are given, then it's ultimately just a volunteer position where the undergraduate may take on the position for intrinsic value or to gain experience.
Ultimately, a lot of professors and researchers may agree that it makes sense to compensate undergrads for hourly wage if possible (especially if they're putting in significant amount of work every week!), but a lot of times, it's really just the fact that the labs do not have the adequate funds to do so.

I may have to ask about academic credit because I hadn't known about that part. Thank you.

I've never understood why students would want academic credit for undergraduate research. It makes sense if you need the credits for graduation, but assuming you are already on track to graduate, it seems like "academic credit" means you're paying them for the privilege of working for them. Anyway, I mostly agree with this answer -- my experience is that undergrad researchers are generally only paid if they are (a) in STEM, (b) at a large university, and (c) doing something useful for the lab, not just a learning project (which for undergrads usually means something boring, at least at first).

@cag51 Having some research credit on your transcript also serves as evidence of you working in a research lab. Some universities or departments offer different credit courses to signify whether that time was in research, independent study, field work, etc.

Not all undergraduate research has any source of funding other than the salaries paid to professors. This varies widely by field and by place, of course, but math in the US typically has little outside funding, though it can have. If a project is externally funded it will likely have a provision for student researchers being paid. But otherwise there is no way to really do it.
Almost all colleges and universities in the US require research of their professors, but not all require that it be funded externally. Again this differs by field. All universities love external funding, of course, and top universities require it. In those places, funding for students would be common.
Some universities have a senior level course in which students do research and write a paper, though it may not be intended, necessarily, for publication. Such research may or may not contribute to the research of the professor who guides the research, and may just be used to give a bit of experience in working independently. In my own case, I was in a special Honors Program, that required a senior thesis, guided by a professor. Mine was never published (and was pretty awful, as I look back). But it gave me some experience, which was the goal. There was no payment (and no funding) other than that it "counted" as two normal courses - 6 total credits out of around 150 total.

He has other PhD students on his team and I think it's funded by the ECE dept. Credit hours would probably save me 5 hours of electives to get my degree

It depends on the field. If you're doing something that is valuable in the job market, like programming, then you should be able to find a research assistant job that pays. Particularly as you near graduation and have useful skills to offer.
At engineering schools for example, even when an internship which earns academic credit is a required part of the curriculum, the internships generally also pays a salary. Hence an internship as part of the program will be a big draw for applicants, as it implies you must be able to get these jobs for students. Unpaid research projects are sometimes called "capstones" instead.
In other fields (like journalism perhaps) which are not high-paying professions with constant demand, it can be a different story.

Professor is dealing with stats/information theory, but the position was for ML programming. But good answer


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Dataset of commercial binaries: release possible?
For my final thesis in university, I have created a dataset of third-party applications for macOS. For each version of each app, the dataset contains the original executable, the original Info.plist file containing app-specific metadata and a couple of other files summarising the app's contents (file sizes, file names, ...). Almost all apps are commercial software.
I am looking for ways to release or make available (parts) of this dataset to the public. Due to copyright law, I probably cannot just release all data. What are my options?
Here is what I've been thinking:
I suspect I could release the dataset after all binaries have been removed. However, this reduces the usefulness of the data drastically. Would I also have to strip the Info.plist files as they are copied verbatim from the application bundle? Would I be allowed to include limited parts / metadata of binaries such as linked libraries, imported symbols, functions names, strings and the like?
Another option would be to invite researchers to contact me to get access to the full dataset. Would that be appropriate?
Am I allowed to create a service à la shodan.io, that offers an API for others to work with the dataset, without providing direct access to the binaries?

(We're not lawyers here, and this may be off-topic, but I've had similar situations and will hazard a response).
This all comes down to the license agreement of the software you are using. The license will specify:

whether you can distribute it
whether your code is considered "derivative" (or allowed at all)
whether you can make the software available as a service through an API.

It sounds like you are using commercial software, so the answers to the above are likely to be in the negative. If the license agreement does not prohibit doing what you're doing, it is likely OK to publish your code and give instructions for how to acquire the proprietary software and what to do with it after it's acquired; however, it sounds like in your case, there may not be a lot left after you remove the proprietary stuff.

I'm assuming you're not looking for advice on what's legally ironclad. (If you want that, ask a lawyer.)
Surely you will be technically infringing copyright if you distribute the binaries (unless they're shareware). There might be a fair use defense but you probably aren't interested in litigating this in court. Your real problem is going to be whether this is going to be objectionable to the app owners. I'd take into account:

If it's freely available for download from the author's website, and you're not including registration keys, probably they wouldn't care unless they see some negative effect from it. (Don't show up in the top google results for the app, don't look like a place to download apps to normal users.)
If it's from the app store, Apple might also have some interest in not having the binaries floating around in odd places.
If the binary is not available until after you've paid for the app, that's probably going to be a problem.

The easiest solution to be on firm footing would be to ask for permission, but many companies might not want to give explicit permission even if they wouldn't take action against non-egregious cases.
For the metadata, I think there will be much less concern. For the Info.plist, it might not even reach the threshold of originality to count as an original work. (Again, ask a lawyer to be sure.) The API might be fine, although it might make a difference if you actually run the app vs. just examine the binary as data. As long as the users don't actually get any of the app's functionality, probably nobody will object.
Privately sharing the dataset with other researchers is unlikely to lead to trouble (except if you do it very publicly and there's a full copy of paid apps that don't use any registration key type restriction in there).
Caveat: If any of this is useful for security research and will lead to people reporting security bugs to the app authors, some of them will probably react really badly and sue you for anything they can. Definitely run this by a lawyer and be very conservative in what you do if that is the case.


text:
I want to switch PhD programme
I started a PhD programme 6 months ago.  During the selection process you were asked which areas would u like to work in. My studies specialization is in microbiology and molecular biology, I clearly stated that i wanted to carry on my research in food microbiology because I carry out my master thesis in this area. What is more, after the interview I was contacted by a professor working in this area because my profile was totally fitting the PhD they were looking for.
However, a big professor was also interested in me (the rector of the university) and directly contacted me to work with him in biosensors applied to food. I tried to go back to my interest but I found the door closed (some matter of power around...). Despite of this, I though biosensors sounded very interesting and I would enjoy it.
After the PhD kick-off I found out that we did not share the same definition of a biosensor.. they were meaning just sensors made with organic polymers. I was told to do a PhD proposal in a short time of a topic I had no knowledge in.
Nowadays, my supervisor does not follow me and they group is so new that there is only a postdoc researcher who is an engineer, we have nobody from biotech,food science or a chemist who works with sensors in the "bio" part. I am totally alone in my research in a  field I do not know. I told my supervisor and he told me to look for somebody who help me in the literature to help me. what the .....?? I really fear i do not manage to finish this PhD successfully.
I started looking for another PhD opportunities and I found one which I totally felt in love with. I would like to write the professor in advance but I am not sure whether I should mention that I am already a PhD student.
What would you do? In the applications I am doing I am commenting I am a PhD student that does not have interest nor the background in the area I was assigned..
Thank you,

Run, dont turn back!!! this situation looks like me, except opposite, I wanted to do sensors, advisor wanted food micro... dont think of it...

Be careful if you leave, it’ll be tough to get another position if others know you left a previous PhD position, even if you had a good reason I think it’ll adversely impact your competitive profile. Let us know what you decide!

Yes you can change if you want. Your advisor will probably be unhappy about this, but you have to do what's best for yourself.
And yes you can tell other professors that your position is not what you thought it would be, so you are looking to change. Yes it won't be the best story for them to hear, but it isn't universally poison either. I presume you don't exactly want them to ask for a reference from your current employer (on that note, probably should be quite careful your current advisor doesn't find out until your plan is set).
But finally consider that many (if not most) people probably feel overwhelmed, like an imposter, in over their head, etc. when they're six months into grad school. And it's probably never exactly what they expected to be doing. So just be sure this particular position is really the whole problem.

+1 for imposter syndrom, also I think OP will not like food micro if started at all

Thank u for yr advice. They point is i dont want to leave the current PhD because that would be a stain in my CV definetly. I am keep going with this one painfully meanwhile I apply to others. I dont feel like an impostor, the topic itself would be nice if I had a proper supervision who guided me or I had background in the field :(

I wouldn't call it a "stain" so much as a potential red flag in that the next potential adviser might worry that you are a quitter who will leave again. Once you get that next job though (assuming you don't change again soon thereafter) it ceases to matter other than a lost year. It's obviously far better to make a change that will lead to being productive, versus maintain an "unstained" CV with little accomplishment. Research is very competitive so you need to be proactive in making things happen.