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Is it ethical for a student to commit self-plagiarism from a non-academic source?
There has been plenty of discussion on the basic issue of students self-plagiarizing from one course to another as well as academics self-plagiarizing prior but unpublished material in a later publication, but I was thinking of something slightly different that I haven't seen discussed.
Is it plagiarism for a student to submit material that was written prior to the course start date or otherwise outside of the supervision of the instructor as long as the material was written outside the aegis of academia? Most self-plagiarism policies that I've seen, such as Harvard's, mention that the prior work must have been submitted to another course for it to constitute self-plagiarism.
If doing something like that would be ethical, would any of the following further situations be ethical?
1) Submitting prior material that was prepared for a prior class but never submitted/turned in. This could be because the student withdrew from the course before submission, the student was expelled before submission, or the student decided to start over from scratch on the assignment. For example, a student writes a paper on Mary Shelley for his Survey of British Literature course, but then decides that he really would rather do a paper on Jane Austen and writes one on her and turns it in instead. Later, the student finds himself enrolled in Introduction to Science Fiction and finds himself without a lot of time. Is it ethical for him to patch up his never submitted Mary Shelley paper (e.g. with corresponding corrections to make it meet the expectations of the new course) and turn it in?
2) Submitting prior material that was completed and submitted for a course that the student took an an unaccredited university (or a university whose accreditation is not recognized by the student's current institution as legitimate). Since an unaccredited university is, for most intents and purposes in academia, academically equivalent to no university at all (degrees and credits are not recognized, etc.), this would seem to be ethically equivalent to submitting material completed under the supervision of a private tutor.

There are a lot of discussions on self-plagiarism.  Here's one:  https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2893/attitudes-towards-self-plagiarism?rq=1  In my opinion, you can't plagiarize yourself.  I know, Harvard and Yale have policy against, it; I'm not there.  For my Master's degree, I was allowed to quote myself from non-academic conference presentations I had given.

Thanks, but I'm looking for thoughts on this specific subset of self-plagiarism with the understanding that "traditional" self-plagiarism is already widely considered to be unethical.

Definitions may vary, but I have always considered citation to be a protection against any sort of plagiarism.  Just make it obvious what part was copied and where it was copied from and you're not plagiarizing.  Of course they can then flunk you for not putting in enough work on the assignment...  (and you can also be in violation of copyright IF the original work was circulated commercially).

How did your instructor respond when you asked them this question? (You did ask your instructor, didn't you?)

The best approach would be to discuss this with the instructor of the course to see whether it satisfies the requirements of the assignment.

Short answer: you are not committing self-plagiarsm.

It is self-plagiarism, if you intend to reuse significant portions of your own published material without proper attribution.
Looking in to your aspect, your situations do not account to any materials being published in any sort. Attribution in here refers to adding a remark to be able to access the original source of the information; in other words, citing it. What will you cite if that's the case?
You are publishing a material with the intention to benefit a wider scientific community in addition for receiving credit for doing so. The material itself is not published in any way available to the public nor does the original source have any constraints on its public exposure (check this part with the institution just in case). If all this applies, then by no means are you committing self-plagiarism.

In the first case you mentioned, submitting work you have never previously submitted, that is absolutely ok.
In the second case, even if an institution is non-accredited, technically you still submitted the work to be graded, which is tantamount to "publishing" it. Whether you would get caught depends on whether that non-accredited institution submitted your work into the universal database (Turnitin or whatever).

I agree with both these points.  If it hasn't been submitted, it can't be self-plagiarism.  If it was, even if it was unaccredited, it is reuse.  I don't think the question ought to be "will I be caught by TurnItIn".)  But I think it makes sense to ask the instructor if it would be OK.  And if it was the instructor asking this question, and there is no university policy, then I imagine it'd be a judgment call by the instructor (I'd allow it myself).


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Under which criteria should I accept a MSc thesis?
I am looking for MSc thesis offers, and under which criteria should I accept a position or not?
About me: my field of study is Machine Learning for Robotics applications related to space. I am also applying for PhD positions after my MSc thesis.
Thanks.

I always urge my students to make sure that the following criteria are fulfilled:

Do I have the fundamental knowledge to complete the work? If not, it does not mean giving up the topic but objectively assessing how much effort I need to gain the necessary knowledge.
Do I understand the problem? The problem has to be well defined because, in the end, you will have only 6 months. You need in this case to know what is the input and what is the output you aim to reach. Also, how you go from input to output (I mean methodology).
Do I have a realistic time plan? Initially, it does not have to be very detailed but you need to have a time estimation of every task. For example, if you will need data collection and labelling, you will need to count several weeks for that. Will this be considered a significant contribution? Ask your supervisor. Will I have enough time to implement my approach? Estimate it yourself.
Are there any related work? It is very unrecommended to start something that was not investigated before (i.e. unlikely in ML) because the goal is not to start from scratch but to push the state-of-the-art. When you have a concrete state of research from which you are going to start, the task will be much easier and you won't struggle a lot.
Is the supervisor expert in this area? Researchers try always to extend their research interests and their first attempts are with theses. This is completely normal but if the domain expertise of the supervisor is far from the thesis topic, you will have to consider that you might have weak supervision.

I would also recommend:

Do not underestimate the difficulty of the problem neither overestimate your capability to solve it. I noticed that most of the students tend to make the problem more difficult than what was proposed by the supervisor. When the supervisor is less seasoned in a specific sub-domain (which happens a lot), it will be problematic.
Before you start, spend as much time as you need to prepare a good proposal that should contain: a) problem statement, b) motivation, c) state of research, d) proposed methodology, e) baseline approaches, f) evaluation scheme.

3b. Do they have a realistic time plan?

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Is reusing the description of an example use case shared between two papers self-plagiarism?
I am currently working on two papers A and B to be submitted to different conferences.
Paper A is already submitted and under review and I am currently writing paper B.
They address different methods but stem from the same project and thus refer to the same example use case.
Q 1: Is it acceptable to reuse a paragraph describing the use case in verbatim or is this considered self-plagiarism?
Q 2a: Does it make a (positive) difference if I cite paper A in paper B?
Q 2b: How would I do that, given that it is not yet accepted/published?

Welcome to Academia! It is preferred if you can post separate questions instead of combining your questions into one. That way, it helps the people answering your question and also others hunting for at least one of your questions. Thanks! Also, there are already relevant questions at least on some parts of your question, please, take a look around first.

Thanks for the heads-up! I felt that the "follow-up" questions would make no sense on their own, but I'll think again.

Even if I try to reformulate my writing when it is probably unnecessary (for instance I try to change even the experimental part concerning instruments), if one found a nice formulation of a paragraph (especially as it seems a closed in itself part to be used as an example) it can be even a pity to change it. The other paper, that would be probably anyway cited, can be cited again at the end of the paragraph. Of course, it need to be a paragraph, not more.  Very minor changes suffice. One cannot really invent new examples if one example is needed.

Note that plagiarism in scientific work and especially self plagiarism is something that is judged by the community, not by courts (generally, though there may be exceptions). So, yes, copying a paragraph from one "to be published" article to another, might be judged self plagiarism. So, cite the older work in the newer.
There is also, potentially, a copyright issue, though I suspect that you hold copyright at the moment to both, making it moot.
As to the "how" of it: "The following paragraph is taken from ... by the current author(s)". Or, perhaps, a footnote to that effect.
While it is a bit less likely to be the case for conferences, you may have an opportunity to update the final text of the second paper once the first appears and before the process ends for the second. The submission may not be the final form of the paper and a less formal (but correct) citation may be all that the reviewers need.
Citation is proof positive against claims of self plagiarism. It permits the reader to refer to the cited work  as necessary.

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Possible reasons for an author to withdraw authorship from an almost ready paper
What can be some possible reasons for an author to request his name be removed from an almost ready paper?
The authors consist of 4 students and our professor. A few days before the submission deadline, the professor told us to remove his name from the paper for "personal reasons".  This makes me wonder if he thinks the paper is of very low quality. Is there any other possible reason?
The field is computer science. The supervisor contributed a lot and the paper was written for a conference.

Or it is not in his field, or he thinks it doesn't fit his profile. But, yes, a good assumption is that he thinks it is weak. Why don't you ask him?

I would directly ask him if he's concerned about the quality of the paper, since you both understand that it affects everyone's views of the paper if a professor's name is missing. Don't let him dodge worrying about that fact; bring it up directly so he realizes he's damaging your submission by this action.

At the very least, ask him if he thinks that you ought to proceed with the paper, or withdraw it.

In general coauthors should communicate with each other about what they're doing and why.  It is strange to withdraw as an author for "personal reasons," as this is a purely professional decision.
A supervisor of a graduate student has much more responsibility: they have a mentoring role on the project and they are training the student both intellectually and professionally.  In my opinion it is not acceptable for an advisor to take their name off a paper without offering any real explanation.
Of course this puts you in an awkward position.  I would nevertheless recommend trying to talk to your supervisor about this, preferably in person. If you have your own concerns regarding the quality of the paper, then I'm sorry to say that you should think very carefully before going ahead with the submission.  It might be appropriate to tell your supervisor that you will delay submission until after discussing the reasons for their withdrawal, but I leave that decision up to you.

Do you have any recommendation on how I can remove my name too politely?

@SuperMike Sounds like that should be a different question entirely, despite the common origins.

Here is a scenario: Professor X for personal reasons won't have time for xx months to proofread the manuscript and make changes if it turns out they are needed. (Maybe this is the sort of thing they do Fris and Sats, and their medical treatment will take one of these days and leave them too tired the other. Whatever, the point is this may have nothing to do with the quality of the paper.) Rather than withholding publication, which would be unfair to their coauthors, they ask that they proceed on their own. Maybe Professor X even feels the paper is fine, and so wants the students to proceed.

(On the pther hand, they rather do not discuss their treatment with students, so "personal matters" it is. Professor X worries the students, against their own best interest, may choose otherwise to wait.)

@AndrésE.Caicedo: "for personal reasons won't have time for xx months to proofread the manuscript and make changes if it turns out they are needed" would already be a much more acceptable explanation.

@PeteL.Clark Fair enough. I'm probably trying too hard to read the situation charitably.

Even though the professor thinks the paper is low quality, that does not mean it is low quality for you too.
A professor might not want to appear in a boarderline paper, and that is very natural. On the other hand, any paper significant enough to get published in a peer reviewed journal or proceedings (except fraud ones) is valuable for a master's student.
The number of possible reasons for him to withdraw from authorship is maybe hundreds, if not thousands. But the real question is, is it a reason for you to withdraw as well?
I think not.

Complementing @padawan's answer: If you think the paper is very low quality this is a red flag that you should worry. I think you should consider convincing your colleagues about not submitting the current paper to this particular conference and agree to work further to improve it and submit to another conference.

"On the other hand, any paper significant enough to get published in a peer reviewed journal or proceedings (except fraud ones) is valuable for a master's student." I disagree.  Peer review is no guarantee of anything, in particular not of correctness or quality.  A paper has to be very shoddy indeed for it to actively hurt someone's academic reputation and career, but many student papers confer no value for the student.

Provided that the conference is good enough, what is the metric for a paper to be good or bad? If we don't trust the reviewers, then who will decide?

"[W]hat is the metric for a paper to be good or bad?"  Well, quality.  You seem to be asking: "If a few people spend several hours each looking at a paper and decide that it is correct, novel and important, how could it not be correct, novel or important?"  The answer is simple: the community consists of a lot more than a few people, who collectively will spend a lot more time looking at the paper.  Also, the chance that a paper is good increases with the quality of the publication venue [that's what the quality...means!] but never to 100%.

On the other hand, when a paper published in an excellent venue is found to be wrong or useless, there can be significant backlash against the authors.

@PeteL.Clark My question remains. Who is deciding quality? The community indirectly decides to transfer their judgemental skills to some very restricted subset of community by legitimizing some conferences and journals. We publish in those organs because we think they worth it. They have good impact factors since we, scientists use the works published in these organs, approved by assigned reviewers. Unless there is a system like StackExchange which is open for all scientists to vote for quality, reviewers of outstanding conferences/journals are the metric.

You seem to be arguing that a paper is good or bad according to where it is published.  That's not true.  And my answer remains: the community as a whole judges quality.  Every time I read a paper, I evaluate it.  If I see an especially good or bad paper, I remember it, tell people about it, and so forth.  The most important decisions in academia -- hiring, grants, promotions -- are made by actually evaluating the quality of the work, not just where it's published.  I invite people to visit me because I like their work, not the journals they've published in.  And so forth.

Said differently: You decide whether the paper is good or bad, when you read the paper yourself.

@PeteL.Clark: Peer-reviewed at least means that the referee(s) considered it somewhat interesting and novel, which implies some non-negligible chance that other assessors (e.g. PhD admission committees) will make the same judgement.  If five PhD admissions judges think it adds nothing and one thinks it’s a small positive, that’s still some advantage.  I agree many published papers are quite low-interest, but it’s hard to see how they can fail to have some positive expected value for the student.

@padawan: Don't forget grad students are often asked to review papers. Even in their first couple of years. They don't necessarily know what's going on... and it takes a lot of faith to assume they'd catch your mistakes when they've just started digging deeper into the field themselves.

In medicine there are clearly defined rules for authorship, although they are not generally followed. Computer science does not even have such rules, unfortunately.
The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors has an excellen page about this at http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/defining-the-role-of-authors-and-contributors.html

Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work; or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; AND
Drafting the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; AND
Final approval of the version to be published; AND
Agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

(notice the conjunctions!)
Additionally, anyone who contributed substantially must be listed as author.
I strongly suggest that you ask your professor why they want to be removed as author. Communication needs to be strong between authors!
I know that I once added my professor as a courtesy, and he insisted (rightly so) that his name be removed, as he was not a substantial contributor. I needed to learn to stand on my own academic feet, he said. "Honorary" authors should be avoided at all costs, as they indeed did not contribute to the work or stand behind it.

Some guesses:
A professor might have too many projects going on (or coming up) and feels that he/she cannot and want to contribute in the future, i.e., he/she doesn't want any additional work with rebuttals, revisions, resubmissions, conference presentations etc.
A professor is assessed differently from a PhD, e.g., the paper might contain great ideas, but it might have some shortcomings. Some shortcomings are more acceptable for a young researcher than for a senior. For example, simple methodological issues that can easily happen without experience and can easily be spotted by an experienced reviewer. They might not be extremely severe, i.e., cause your manuscript to be rejected, but can cast a bad light on a supervisor, who should have seen such issues.  However, it would be strange for a professor not to admit that he/she overlooked the issues and not to point them out to the collaborators.

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Publishing a very mediocre paper as undergraduate?
Given that I am an undergraduate is it a good idea to publish a very mediocre paper (nothing novel, results way bellow state of art) in a conference/competition that accepts such papers?
Our results are good compared to everyone else (we are ranked 3rd) but the paper adds little to no value to the field and the conference/competition is mediocre (but not very bad).
Should I include myself in the authors or not, given that I am in the top of class in terms of grades and aiming for top US universities for PhD? My professor declined to be in the paper but everyone else in the team is okay with it.

Wait, wait: Do you have a "medicore paper" or "very good results"? If you have both, that would be a problem on how to write things down, not of whether or not you should publish it. Or are your results only "very good compared to...", meaning "we are bad, but the others are worse!"?

@Bemte Great point, the answer is "we are bad but others are worse".

If your paper truly contains "nothing novel" then it should not be published.  But I am not really sure what you mean by that.  I would ask yourself this question: does this paper contain results that were not previously published in the literature, and that could be of some value, even if slight, to future research?  If yes, I think it is worth publishing somewhere, and with your name.  Your grades don't have anything to do with this decision.

So you want to publish rubbish, just to have a publication on your CV? If you really are a good student, you will find other ways to get publications. Remember that such a publication will stay with you forever, everyone googeling you will find it. On the other hand, once you have some publications, no one will care if you made your first one during your undergraduate or later.
Also: Talk to your professor. He will have reasons to decline and will be able to tell you more about the pros and cons of publishing this paper, given your academic plans. I would put quite some weight on his opinion, as he knows the paper and has lots of experience when it comes to the field, accepting or declining PhD students, etc.

His opinion is that "it won't hurt" you as a student to publish this but our paper is not good enough for me to add my name...

Yes, but you are not only a student, you are aiming for a academic career. Of course one day, when you have been famous for 20 years, no one will care anymore about what you did as a student. But in your first years, when you only have 2-3 publications maybe, this might be really problematic. I don't know how bad the paper really is, if it is still acceptable, although not good, or just really, really bad, so I can't give you a definitive answer - but you should really consider the pros and cons, and maybe also discuss with others (other professors, people responsible for PhD admission,...).

Perhaps 'chill out'(?) UG students on stackexchange often seem either overly 'impressed' with themselves ("how can I kick my advisor off as co-author since I think it was my idea")  or overly worried  ("My advisor asks me to publish stuff that is not as  'important' a result as I'd deserve to publish as my first paper"). In both cases, I usually assume the advisor is likely correct, and the student is likely over-reacting. Am I misreading? I read as advisor putting a student name on paper that the advisor deems conference-worthy. It will prove student participation for student's grad app.

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Conference issue >> Rejected paper is still in the database/submitted
Last year I submitted a paper in a local IEEE conference. The paper was rejected. This year I have a plan to submit the modified version of the paper in another conference. When I checked the file in Turnitin, I found that it is already been submitted in that conference by that university. The university put the file in their repository.
I emailed the organizing committee and they gave the following reply

“Since, it was (university_name) who organized the ICCIT, and the original paper was checked through (university_name) account for ICCIT, that is why the matching shows (university_name) name there. It is standard practice that if one submitted a paper to any conference and it is checked in the TurnItIn, then it should be in the repository.
  You may inform the other conference (where you are submitting) that this paper was once submitted to ICCIT at (university_name) and it was rejected. You may send them the rejection notification of ICCIT as the proof.”

This means I always need to inform the conference committee with a separate email that I submitted the paper previously and this paper was rejected. And Turnitin will always give me reply that it is a plagiarized work.
Please share your opinion and suggest me what can I do.

Shared opinion: Well, that is annoying, both to you and to the conference committee, as you generate more work. You say that the paper is online, but not under your name but rather under some university account? Can you maybe contact said university about removing it? (Unfortunately, I'm not that familiar with TurnItIn, so I don't know how deleting papers there works)

they are telling me "It is standard practice that if one submitted a paper to any conference and it is checked in the TurnItIn, then it should be in the repository." How can it be!!!

Assume you submit a paper to a conference and it gets send to reviewer R, who is an expert on your field. The paper gets rejected, however, R found your ideas really interesting, as he is also working on this field. A few months later, R publishes a paper that copies most of your results. As your paper never got published, it might actually seem like original work - and it might take you (as maybe the only one who can tell that it is plagiarism) years before you stumble over this paper.  That's just an idea on why it might be good to leave even rejected papers in the database...

No, my rejected paper is still in their database and that's why turnitin is finding similarities

Is the paper in a database at TurnItIn or at the university? Either way, did you try to get it removed (you being the author and holding the rights and everything...)?

I think, It should be in university database

Let us continue this discussion in chat.

What is your actual question?

Is it the case that rejected conference paper will always reside in the database?


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Is it useful to include my teaching experience in primary school when applying for lecturer position
I've just finished my master degree recently, and now looking for job, lecturer, in some university. However, I found that my teaching experience is very limited. Is it a good idea to include my teaching in a basic school in my resume to enhance my application?

I'd say that if it's the (only) teaching experience you have, you should probably mention it. Teaching is teaching. Regardless of the level at which you teach there are some basic skills which are common to most, if not all, scenarios. For example one expects teachers at all levels to be pedagogical. Moreover you'll be telling the selection committee that you are familiar with the job type, albeit at a different level. Indeed you know how to prepare a lesson, you have an idea of how the marking process works, you know how to keep students interested, etc.
Another important point to note is that primary school teaching experience shows that you were deemed competent, and responsible, enough to be allowed to work with kids, which is something I believe can say a lot about you. We all know how protective parents are with their little ones. Allowing you to somewhat shape the initial part of their lives definitely implies trust and recognition.

It is almost the only teaching experience I gathered in an independent manner, however, I spent the last semester in my Master working as part-time teaching assistant in my school for one undergrad course. Aside from my work as a grader (part-time) for two undergrad courses, one term earlier. Should I add all these together?

@AlFagera By all means yes. If it were waitressing experience then I'd understand your concern when applying for a lecturer position. Teaching experience on the other hand is extremely relevant. If you're afraid of putting too much you can always filter out the appointments you feel are not as important. However you said yourself that you consider your teaching experience is limited hence you might want to include all of it.

This is the all teaching activities I've. Do you think it is fine? ( not limited as I said). I'm saying that, because most of the job advt I found they looking for two years of teaching experience (at university level).

@AlFagera The problem might be a different one then: they are looking for 2 years teaching experience at university, and you might not fit that category. Whether you should apply although you might only partially fit the application criteria is up for discussion, and ultimately you are the one who should make that decision. If you do decide to apply I'd mention as much teaching experience as possible. If you want to continue this discussion, how about coming to the chat?


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Where to find grad school acceptance rates?
I've been searching (without luck) for the kind of information that was very easy to find when I was applying to undergrad; namely, information such as acceptance rates and median GRE scores of accepted applicants. I'm planning on applying to pure math grad school. Is there some online resource for finding this information?
Update: I found one resource for this information, but I'm not sure how accurate it is. After clicking on the colleges it had acceptance rates for most of them; search filters are on the left. http://www.petersons.com/graduate-schools/SearchResults.aspx?id=MTRkODRkYWEtODEwZC00OWU3LTk3NDUtYjliNDdhZTYxZDk5

Interesting question.  Undergraduate admissions are handled by dedicated admissions staff, whereas graduate admissions are normally determined by a committee of the department's faculty.  This generally means that graduate admissions are less likely to have the same sort of systematic marketing, record-keeping, and transparency.  I would not be too surprised if many (most?) departments simply don't make this information publicly available.

UPenn's outdated but still helpful page on their average GRE scores. A 170 (max score) on the new GRE is equivalent to a 780 on the old GRE due to the smaller buckets. A 168 would probably be the minimum score for competitiveness. According to US News and World Report, Penn's mathematics program is #17 based on GRE scores and other factors, so it is likely that average GRE scores for the top 30 are pretty much 170 on Math.

Some good resources are mathematicsgre.com and thegradcafe.com - at both websites, people will post their GRE scores, the schools they applied to and whether they were accepted or not.

Have you tried emailing them and asking?

This may not directly answers you question but I found it useful when applied to grad schools in the past. GradCafe results shows different applications results for institutes. Applicants usually put their GRE scores and GPA along with the decision.
Most importantly, some applicants communicate with their school and write something really useful as a note (like # of application received/accepted/rejected).


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Tenure vs nontenure jobs
I'm trying to understand an excerpt from a New Yorker article about the mathematician Yitang Zhang. The excerpt is included at the bottom. If possible, please help clarify Yang's point about tenure and nontenure positions; commentaries on the accuracy of his point would also be helpful.
In the excerpt, Yang seems to be asserting that nontenure positions are generally undesirable when he states,

There are people who try to work nontenure jobs, of course, but usually they’re nuts and have very dysfunctional personalities and lives, and are unpleasant to deal with, because they feel disrespected.

However, in the preceding sentences he seemed to be describing benefits of nontenure jobs:

If you become a good calculus teacher, a school can become very dependent on you. You’re cheap and reliable, and there’s no reason to fire you. After you’ve done that a couple of years, you can do it on autopilot; you have a lot of free time to think, so long as you’re willing to live modestly.

I feel like he's contradicting himself. Is his point that while there are benefits to being a nontenure Calculus teacher, most people in such a position are “nuts” with “very dysfunctional personalities and lives” who “feel disrespected”? I feel like I'm not quite understanding him. The full excerpt:

Zhang’s preference for undertaking only ambitious problems is rare. The pursuit of tenure requires an academic to publish frequently, which often means refining one’s work within a field, a task that Zhang has no inclination for. He does not appear to be competitive with other mathematicians, or resentful about having been simply a teacher for years while everyone else was a professor. No one who knows him thinks that he is suited to a tenure-track position. “I think what he did was brilliant,” Deane Yang told me. “If you become a good calculus teacher, a school can become very dependent on you. You’re cheap and reliable, and there’s no reason to fire you. After you’ve done that a couple of years, you can do it on autopilot; you have a lot of free time to think, so long as you’re willing to live modestly. There are people who try to work nontenure jobs, of course, but usually they’re nuts and have very dysfunctional personalities and lives, and are unpleasant to deal with, because they feel disrespected. Clearly, Zhang never felt that.”

I was just about to say that Deane Yang posted about this on facebook to clarify his comment slightly; he specifically mentioned that the adverse conditions under which untenured faculty, especially adjuncts, work does lead a few of them to become bitter about their circumstances. (Not facebook friends personally, but friend of a friend)

Justin, I think you raise good questions, and I'll try my best to clarify what I intended to say.
Regarding the first quote you cite, I did not meant to imply that in general non-tenured faculty are dysfunctional. The vast majority are incredibly dedicated and hardworking teachers. When I said "most", I really meant that most adjuncts who believe they have proved a major theorem (as Zhang did) are almost always wrong and usually "have very dysfunctional personalities and lives, and are unpleasant to deal with, because they feel disrespected".
As for the second quote, I was trying to be facetious. Those of us who are tenured professors know how many responsibilities and duties we have in addition to our research and teaching. So I like to say that Zhang had set up the perfect situation for doing research over a long period of time. He didn't have tenure (which as I said entails a lot of distractions) and just had to teach calculus (which, after a year or two, requires minimal preparation time outside of class). In addition, he had no children, and his wife lives on the other side of the country. This was perhaps not a good joke for a broader audience, but my colleagues all get it.
Finally, my point about Zhang is that he really was a good mathematician who had received very little respect from his peers and yet showed no signs of being bitter about his experience, even though he certainly would be justified in feeling that way.

After the advice in the comments section, I found Deane Yang's clarification of his comments here. What he says is,

This is a beautifully written profile by Alec Wilkinson of Yitang Zhang, who recently proved a spectacular math theorem about gaps between primes.
There is however an extremely unfortunate quote by me about untenured faculty. I just want to apologize to all untenured faculty, who are among the most underpaid, hardest working, and most dedicated people working at universities today. I know this firsthand working together with the instructors in my department.
What I will say, however, is that the adverse conditions under which untenured faculty, especially adjuncts, have to work does lead a few to become bitter about their circumstances. This is an extremely unfortunate circumstance that we tenured faculty need to address.


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Advisor getting married, should grad students chip in for gift?
Our advisor is getting married over winter break.  None of us are super close to him and the wedding is going to be a very private event that none of us are invited to.
Should all of us (his graduate students) chip in for a wedding gift for him?
What is the etiquette for this?

Might depend on the culture of the region. Where in the world are you?

If you happen to be one of my students, then yes, I would like a gift. And sorry for not inviting you, but the wedding is in Australia.

@DaveClarke: all the best then! :-D Great comment.

We're in the US if that changes etiquette, thank you for all the tips!  I think we're going to all chip in a little bit to get him a gift card to a local restaurant that he and his fiance like and a congratulatory card.

You must do something. Building social relationships with your work colleagues is really important. If other students are organizing the collection and suggesting an amount, I would give that much. If they are organizing the collection, but not suggesting an amount, I would chip in two beers worth of cash. In some cultures two beers will be on the generous side, while in other cultures it will be on the cheap side. It won't be out of place in any culture. If no one is organizing the collection and you want to take charge, then I would suggest asking people to chip in one beer worth of money (all students should be able to afford this). If no one is organizing a collection and you don't want to take charge, go out and buy a card and get the other students to sign it.

I laughed here; can't imagine my supervisor getting married.  It is just nice to see the supervisor involving in life..
For the question, Why not? It is a big day for your supervisor. Just make sure the gift come from group of students not only one student. If you missed the first day after his return (assuming he's going on vacation for marriage), then no need for a gift. Either ways, a verbal congratulations is a must here :)

And by no means should it be terribly expensive. Perhaps about $5 US per student would be collected to purchase a single gift. Note that my monetary amount is in line with Daniel E. Shub's "two beers" standard.

Supervisors are also humans :) ... sometimes


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Advisor's wife is having a baby, should we be getting him something?
My advisor's wife is having her first baby and he told us about it at our last lab meeting.  We understand that this will mean he might need extra time/patience as the big day approaches, but are we supposed to be doing anything else?  What is the etiquette for this as one of his students?  Should we be buying him some kind of baby gift?

It would be a nice gesture and could enforce a good relationship. It is more a matter of general etiquette than academic ditto.

I find it really warm. I think you should! Live beyond work!

While not a duplicate, the answers might be helpful. http://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/5694/advisor-getting-married-should-grad-students-chip-in-for-gift

That's why I picked up crocheting and knitting, best investment ever. Some homemade frozen meals would be nice as well, since new parents often don't have time to cook. If you are good at photography you can also offer a free photo shoot and a couple selected prints. Hanging origami baby room decorations, pre-mixed cookie ingredients in a jar... there are many ways you can express your care and respect without spending a lot of money. :)

@DanielE.Shub - the link you shared, its the same advisor :P

@avi I missed that both questions are by the same person.

A personal gift from you, as an individual student, is not expected, at least by European or North-American etiquette. It may be nice to pool with other students and group members to offer a small gift (either something for the baby, or something for the father). It'd be more customary to offer it after the baby is born, rather than now.
On the other hand, there is no strong expectation that you offer a gift. I.e., if you decide not to for any reason, he won't think it weird.

I completely agree with @F'x's assessment: no gift is necessary really. Having said that, if there's something you can do that's simple and doesn't strain your budget, then as a courtesy (from a colleague to another) that might be welcome.
Having been in this situation myself (from the advisor's side) I can say that one thing parents of a new child lack that grad students might have more of is time. If it's possible, lab folk could offer to help running meetings without the advisor, do guest lectures in classes if it's appropriate, and so on. Again I emphasize that it's not necessary at all, but it's a gift that would not cost you money, and would be greatly appreciated by someone who probably isn't sleeping very much :)

This is the same answer I gave about weddings but it holds for births also.
You must do something. Building social relationships with your work collegagues is really important. If other students are organizing the collection and suggesting an amount, I would give that much. If they are organizing the collection, but not suggesting an amount, I would chip in two beers worth of cash. In some cultures two beers will be on the generous side, while in other cultures it will be on the cheap side. It won't be out of place in any culture. If no one is organizing the collection and you want to take charge, then I would suggest asking people to chip in one beer worth of money (all students should be able to afford this). If no one is organizing a collection and you don't want to take charge, go out and buy a card and get the other students to sign it.

Buy a book for the baby.  That is an appropriate academic gift, and it doesn't threaten professional boundaries.
Of all the gifts we received after giving birth or adopting, the one that meant the most to me was from a children's librarian.  She gave us a card congratulating us on our adoption, along with a book, Pat the Bunny, that came with its own small stuffed animal that went along with the bunny in the book.
Any activity book for the really early stages of reading a book to a baby would be good.  For example a book that has holes in the pages, for the parent to stick fingers through the holes to simulate one or another animal, is good.  Or one of those books that has texture materials glued in.  If you go to a bookstore you can ask the clerk for the section with books for babies.
I personally found that the books with the finger holes, or the texture materials glued in, made more of a hit than the vinyl books that were safe for slobbering or bathing.  A book with sensory and theatrical capacities is the best first book, I think.
It's true that a book can't be used right away, but that means that your gift will be remembered longer than the pacifier or the rattle.


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Should an undergraduate writing an article for a semi-academic magazine list a university affiliation?
I'm an undergraduate student at the University of Waterloo. I'm writing a paper potentially for IEEE Security and Privacy, which is a semi-academic magazine. Basically, papers follow the abstract, body, lots of references format, and read like research papers, but apparently generally exposit some random software gadget produced by the author's research etc, so not a super-academic journal.
My question is, how should I put my name on the paper? Should I just write "Yuhao Dong" or "Yuhao Dong, Faculty of Mathematics, University of Waterloo" or something else? I don't want to be misunderstood to be a faculty member.

The answer to this and all such similar questions is in two stages:

first, check the journal's guidelines for authors. The answer's probably there.
If the answer isn't there, ask your editorial contact at the journal.

You should put your name, your university, and (if appropriate) your department. Sometimes it can be difficult to figure out which department to put. When I was in undergrad, I listed the departments that were paying me, or in which my concentration (i.e. major) I was. If when you were working on the project, you were employed by some professor or received an award (say NSERC) through your department, then that is the easiest affiliation. In your case, this means that you would go further than "Faculty of Mathematics" and say something like "Department of Combinatorics & Optimization, University of Waterloo" (I am just randomly guessing a department in the faculty, replace appropriately). Sometimes, it might make sense to instead of placing a department to place the name of the lab on which you worked, but for that ask your professor.
Further, if you plan to stay in academia (or go to grad school) then you should decide at this point (I am assuming this is your first publication) what your academic name will be. Search Google Scholar for your name, and see if somebody in your field is already using it. If it is a common name then it might be worthwhile to add an initial to disambiguate.

This research is independent and not funded by my university (nor does it actually require much money except temporarily renting some Amazon EC2 instances and hacking up a whole bunch of code), though some friends have given informal help and I put them in acknowledgements.

To answer the title question:
Yes, you should include your university affiliation. (Particularly important if you plan to stay in academia or go to grad school--and at this point I would advise at least keeping those options open.)
Consider something like this:

"Yuhao Dong, Student, Department of Mathematics, University of Waterloo."
OR
"Yuhao Dong, Candidate for BSc, Department of Mathematics, University of Waterloo."

This clearly indicates where you have done the work, as well as specifying that you are a student rather than a faculty member.


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Gift to a supportive professor?
As you might have seen from my history I had a very bad advisor who deliberately underpaid me, stole my research work and undermined my career at multiple phases.
Now I am done with my university and leaving next month. A professor in my department had been very supportive of me during these times, giving me advice on how to handle this situation, gave me recommendation letters to apply for PhD programs at other universities and also got me a internship. I just want to thank her for her help. I usually would have got a champagne or something but I know she doesn't drink alcohol. Any advice?

I think this might not be the best place to ask this here. However, something that accompanies coffee and/or tea would most likely be very much appreciated.

Similar questions where you can gather some advice: https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/4825/is-it-appropriate-to-bring-some-kind-of-gift-for-a-host-professor/, https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/5694/advisor-getting-married-should-grad-students-chip-in-for-gift, https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/14087/advisors-wife-is-having-a-baby-should-we-be-getting-him-something/

The gift I appreciate most from an advisee who is leaving is: a nice card, and assurances that they will email occasionally to let me know how they're doing. If some chocolate or cookies I can share with the lab accompany the card, that's nice too :)

This question is also somewhat related.

I think it's great that after all the negative faculty experiences you have had, you are still able to recognize and want to thank a faculty member that helped you out.  That is very gracious of you.  Nevertheless, I voted to close: what kind of gift to buy a faculty member is not a question that is well-suited to a community of experienced academics who know nothing about the faculty member in question.  You already showed that you know this faculty member better than we do: we would not know not to recommend champagne/wine.  In this situation your guess will be better than ours!

Having said that...there are some gifts that essentially every academic would appreciate.  For instance, how about a nicely bound book of blank paper together with a nice pen that would write particularly well on the paper in the book?  Not everyone would actually write in it, but even if they don't then it sits around in their office looking good.  (Apologies for the hypocrisy, but it does seem like a nice gift idea.)  Of course this really just exploits the fact that academics write things down and thus applies much more broadly.

A pen is the traditional academic thank you gift I believe (obviously a nice pen!).

I disagree with this close and am voting to reopen - I think this is a perfectly reasonable, general question about etiquette in academia.

A cat. No wait. A card with "thank you" should be enough.

It's nice that you want to do this for your professor. Thinking over what I would like (and have received in the past), the following comes to mind:

a note (email, letter, whatever you prefer) saying essentially a longer version of what you said above. A heartfelt note of this kind is the best kind of thanks.
if you'd like to get something more tangible for the professor, a little token that they can place on their desk (like what Pete L. Clark mentions) is always nice. It doesn't even have to cost lots of money. I have students who made paper models for me (I teach geometry) and I have them all over my desk :).


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Does having a masters degree from a Chinese university have negative view for a PhD applicant in the United States?
I love travelling and I was thinking of getting my Master’s degree in mathematics abroad (I got my bachelors in the USA). I know that I can get funding if I go to China for my master’s.
Will it be viewed negatively if I try to apply for a PhD in the United States?

It really depends which university. Degrees from Tsinghua, for example, normally carry a lot of value internationally.

I have some experience with Asian Universities, particularly Japanese.
First, take into account that having a Masters might boost a bit your application to PhD a bit, as long as you publish something over there. Also, if the profesor you are going with is unknown, it might not help you at all.
Second, many people think that studying abroad and traveling are similar things, when they are really not. You'll have to deal with the hardships of asian Academic culture, which are very different from the American ones.
You'll also have to deal with the hardships of life, be sure to know the language at least to communicate basic thoughts and deal with the fact that you might not like food there (Protip: Chinese American Food is somewhat different of real Chinese Food)
I would put more, but I would be edging on ranting, which I'm probably already are.

I have traveled to other countries before and I understand what it means to live in another country, was just thinking china wouldn't be so bad, because most of the good students come from China in my undergrad program, plus the cost of living there is not as great as Europe. Plus, I am not looking for the top schools, just need to get a PHD to help out in getting a job.

Most of the good students of China are good because they went to the chinese elementary and secondary school system, which is very demanding, University education is a bit more laxed compared with USA, specially graduate programs.

So its harder than USA programs?  Then why are not Chinese math programs ranked higher?  Are you talking from personal experience?

Ranks aren't everything. A lot of chinese universities are now publishing as much as American universities and have Professors who have moved back from US to teach in China.
Ph D programs were always about the fit between you and your advisor, not really going to miss anything with regards to ranks.

That's not what I said, in my personal experience, Westerners Graduate students are usually better prepared than Asiatic students in term of high order math, Asiatic students are crazy good with the calculations, but the foundations they should have gotten in Undergrad are clearly not there.

I think it would be good - maybe great.

Math is a universal language, so its not like you're learning American History in China.
Math is generally at a very high level in China. Take for example Secondary student's math scores in Shanghai, considered tops among the world in OECD (PISA) scores. These students will get that MA in China in Math.  Many are the geniuses who score an 800 on the SAT Math section in China without even trying.  So much better than American kids.
The university system may be not so well-developed, maybe your thesis isn't really guided, you might have like a few classes a week, you may live with 3 other slobs in a dorm bed.  But the tuition is probably really cheap, the food even cheaper and so are the calculators, because they are abacuses - some of them.
Your PhD program will see you did something great and unique. And if you come away unscathed and with a better command of Chinese and a wider worldview, you have done yourself a service.
Final reason, you learn to use an abacus, the most important reason.


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Should I warn a professor about his bad internet security practice?
A relatively old professor from another institute "forwarded" to me, using his work email, a work-related message he had received on his Gmail account.
However, he actually saved the entire Gmail webpage and attached it. A saved Gmail webpage may contain personal information and should not be shared with others.
He is based in a distant city and I didn't meet him in person (yet), but we work remotely on the same project.
Should I care and tell him about this bad security practice? How?

Yes. You should form it as a question though. "when you attach a whole web-page, is there a security risk... like personal info that might show up in the code or something?" Or something to that effect. Because maybe the professor considered it already and it's H(is/er) POV that matters, since it's H(is/er) life. This is my opinion. And I'm stupid, so take it as a grain of salt :P

@Jakar I don't think it helps to phrase it as a question, especially when you know the answer.

One problem you may encounter if you try to help with this is that this person seems to have so little computer knowledge that there might not be a reasonable way to educate them up to the point of understanding why they shouldn't do what they did.

I must say, I find it somewhat funny one would be highly concerned about the possibility that a one-time snapshot of the GMail web interface sent to one other person might contain some excerpts of personal information, while, at the same time, there is apparently not the slightest trace of concern that the sender seems to divulge their entire work-related correspondence to Google, and whoever can backdoor-in there, by routing it through GMail.

@DavidRicherby framing something as a question (when you actually know the answer) is actually an effective technique for teaching someone without causing offense, particularly when the subject is accustomed to being recognized as an authority.

@DanHenderson When the question is so leading that it's obvious the asker knows the answer, it can look patronising or even sarcastic, especially in a tone-of-voice-deaf medium like email. If you ask, "Is there a security risk?" it's pretty obvious that you know there's a risk -- that's just not the sort of question one tends to ask apropos of nothing.

@O.R.Mapper Many people own smartphones, so clearly convenience is more important than the worry that major corporations have unprecedented spying power upon them (I would be more worried about a major corporation knowing where I am at any time, than about them reading my work e-mail which are by default public in principle under the UK Freedom of Information Act).

@DavidRicherby An important distinction, it's pretty obvious you think there is a risk, but in asking the question (without any sarcasm or the like) you show the person that you are assuming that they are competent and have a good reason for doing what they did, thus you are deferring to their presumably superior knowledge.

This is a more a privacy issue than a security issue. Each one can decide how much he wants to share, do not assume others need to have the same standards as you.

If this was a one-time thing and you don't know this person very well, I would avoid bringing it up.
Once you know this person fairly well or communicate with them on a semi-regular basis, then sure, in your next email to the person just put as a note at the end of the email that they might be cautious about including the entire webpage.
The concern is that it might be off-putting to someone if they don't know you well and perhaps this professor actually verified that no personal info was included.

It's possible that he verified no personal information was included, but this doesn't seem likely.  (I can't imagine a good reason to want to save the gmail web page and send that instead of forwarding the e-mail, and I'm skeptical that anyone who would do this would be capable of verifying that it was safe to do so.)

Anyone savvy enough to verify that properly would know how to forward an email properly instead of saving and attaching the entire page.

@user2357112 I have seen [old] professors do far stranger things. Maybe the professor did it for some other reason, who knows, my point is to not jump to assumptions about someone that you barely know.

@AnonymousMathematician There is an easy way for a person who doesn't understand much about security. Don't fill in any informations that should be kept private, and delete every email containing them. They may feel even more confident than following the right way, though technically they may still leave some traces by accident.

I think it is first necessary to evaluate the actual risks involved in such practice. Forwarding an entire email web-page is indeed a bad habit in terms of security, but it does not necessarily point to specific vulnerabilities (like remote code execution, injection-based attacks...) with a clear risk assessment.
My point from the above is, given the circumstances, it's hard to articulate the exact risks caused by this incident. If this is an isolated incident, especially if you don't have a relatively close relationship with this professor, I would strongly discourage you from bringing it up. Keep in mind that it's hard to express the right degree of sympathy through an e-mail, and therefore, you might come across as picky, arrogant or even rude. (This is especially true if you're emailing someone who isn't familiar with you personally)
EDIT: I also agree with @Austin Henley's answer, especially the last part: "he might have actually verified that no personal info was included"

Do you think he also verified that the saved html did not contain a random token which could allow a third-party to hijack his account?

Judging by his bad security practice I doubt he verified anything but the actual content itself. Bear in mind that random tokens and session cookies are not saved in the HTML body, but rather in the response sent back to the client's user-agent (e.g Firefox). In any case, the argument is not whether this is bad security practice or not (for which the answer is obvious). The argument is whether the OP should bring it up despite all the circumstances mentioned above.

Once again, the discussion is not whether or not this is bad security practice (for which the answer is obvious). It's about whether the OP should mention this issue despite the circumstances. One of these circumstances is the fact that this incident does not lead to any obvious vulnerabilities (session cookies are not compromised). In my opinion the circumstances are not enough to email and warn the other party (especially when you don't know that person very well)

@AbbasJavanJafari random tokens are used for things like CSRF protection in the html, and the session might have ended up in the url of the page. It is admittedly unlikely that gmail would have such security hole, since it is well-known for some time that passing sessions in urls parameters is quite insecure, and it's only safe to do so through cookies (plus csrf!). Yet, I'm sure many sites are still vulnerable. OTRS didn't remove ids from URLs until version 4. There's even the -now deprecated- use_trans_sid php setting that automatically add them.

You shouldn't do this, because there's no point in doing so. If this person isn't tech savvy enough to be able to properly forward an email, they're certainly not going to be able to understand a subtle security risk like this one.  As long as he's not doing something egregious (like sending you his password in plain-text), don't worry about it and just be glad that he didn't print out the email and snail-mail it to you.

I think that there is no need to worry about protection risks because google gmail solved this problem already. And HTML page contains text content + tags + css + js etc. Important information is located in browser cookies which is impossible to be sent to each other by save page. The most important user session information located in cookies but not in HTML.

If you have to send him an email in reply anyway, I would.
Just write your email, and then as a PS something like "Maybe it would be better not to forward a saved Gmail page, since it might contain private information."
That way you have mentioned it, and if the professor is interested in improving his security, he could ask you what would be a better way. Otherwise he could just ignore it.

I don't think you're in position to educate people you don't know very well about computer security. So, unless the professor actually shared some information he shouldn't have, you shouldn't express your concerns.
If the Gmail page you have received does contain sensitive information, then it's entirely appropriate to give him a fair warning. In that case, I would also reassure the sender that I have deleted the sensitive part and didn't transfer it to anyone else, if that is the case. And of course, if there's a password or pin code in plain sight, I would advice him to change it ASAP.

The best gift to a person is to let them know about their faults, but give it to them in the same way that you give gifts to people. You wrap it up in a gift wrap, you don't just say " Hey you! You are very uneducated with the way you are sending mail" instead you use the best and most humble worlds. Most of the times when you do such people are pleased with it.
Don't you ever remember when you had some coffee on your face from the morning and no one told you till you got home! The same day you walked into 3 different meetings that day, You would want to bang your head on the wall that why didn't someone tell me!!!?!???:|
People would love to know about their faults so they could improve theirselves all the time. Unless if the person is very childish.
I would go indirect and say: " ...btw How are you avoiding the security risk when doing such..."
Either he would admit that he doesn't know anything and would just ask you more about it. [ The whole point is for you to just ask a question, and let him conclude his mistake]
Or he would say that he knows what he's doing.
Obviously your tone in the moment that you say such should be be very humble.

I concur with Jasper. Writing a email (or even giving a call) centered around the potential security risk might have negative impact on your relation. Or might not, but who can tell?
Some professors really hate when it when they got "taught" something by a student.
Or you may get a response like "Why are you hacking me?", after presenting results of an (unasked for) security risk assessment.
Adding a harmless side note ("PS") to a conversation dealing with something else entirely might be more palatable.
Still, there's a risk that a recipient misunderstands your message or motive, even when the wording is, in theory, totally clear. Especially when the recipient believes that he indeed has some deficiencies in that area you discuss. He might even consider it as a hidden insult. Write your mail, think about it for a day or two, then send it. Or not.


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Academic Programme of Work for the next 3-5 years
I have an interview for an academic position, and I have been asked to prepare a programme of work for the next 3-5 years. I have googled but I am not certain what sections should this report include. Does it only focus on research? Does it include teaching and research? Please refer a good sample. Thanks in advance.

For many universities, the expected balance of effort among research/teaching/service is known, possibly published. for teaching universities it might be 20/60/20. For research universities it is much more weighted toward research, but the others are likely > 0. Service can be both inside the university and outside.

It will depend on the university and if their focus is more on teaching or research.
For research these plans should include things like:

What grants you will apply for / when (this is very important)
What projects will you be working on during the next 3-5 years
What resources/people/etc will you need any how will you get them?
How will you build your research group/lab?
Plans to disseminate your work, in particular outside academia (ie. industrial collaborations, government policy, etc).

For teaching these plans should include things like:

How will you develop your teaching methods over the next 3-5 years
Does the university require you to complete any teaching training programs, if so it's worth mentioning this
Any new courses you would like to develop and how would they fit within the existing curriculum.

You want to make sure it is well thought out, realistic, and achievable at the university in question. Tailor it so that your plans fit with the University's ethos.
If this is a university which works under the tenure system these plans should result in you having a plausible case for tenure at the end. It's difficult to refer to an example since it's highly individual.


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Context based teaching
In areas such as information and computer science, what is meant by teaching in different contexts?  I have noticed some teaching positions require a document detailing contexts one has taught in. I have been searching on this topic and have found examples such as this one , but I doubt this is what universities require. Your assistance is greatly appreciated.

You are right, the exemplar you refer to is not what they want.

Generally speaking, teaching context is your reflective approach.

In areas such as information and computer science, what is meant by teaching in different contexts?

Just as you have context in information systems research, it is so in teaching. Essentially, what is/are the context(s) under which your teaching took place and how do you go engaging within those context.
Context covers the nuances, sociotechnical, structures, agencies, mechanisms beyond just demographics or description.
In IS, (IT, CS) teaching context goes beyond mere introducing and using 'technology'.
With technology enhanced learning (edtech), teaching context would also speak to

rationale for introducing the platform
how the platform was dynamically engaged from a scholarship of teaching, learning and assessment
what interventions took place for learners learning: learning outcomes, equity & diversity, learning experience...

Context implies reflexivity, the research-based teaching.

A thought from PennState.
Some literature 'context' on teaching contexts

book chapter on understand teaching context
article towards supporting well-being
approach to teaching

Teaching in different contexts often means teaching in different ways using different methods and different situations. All these differences are combined into the covering phrase "contexts".
It is asking you to explain if you have taught in a large lecture room, a small group tutorial, in a laboratory practical, one-to-one support tutorial, pre-recorded video and how you changed your approach for the different situations. They want to measure your teaching experience and approach against other candidates.


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Should I accept an invitation to review a research paper as an undergraduate?
I recently received an invitation to review a paper at a conference in China. This is the first time I am being invited to review. I do feel qualified to do it since I have worked on the topic for more than 3 years and also have a publication at a renowned conference and another publication in a Q1 journal. However, in the invitation e-mail, I am greeted as Dr.- which states to me they might be thinking that I hold a Ph.D., whereas I am still an undergraduate, in my final year. What should I do? My advisor has suggested me to accept it as he feels it would be good for me and my experience would increase since I am more into researching stuff.

Make sure that the conference is reputable, and inform them of your educational status. They haven't done their homework, I fear, which is worrisome.

I was worried about this too. But after looking into them thoroughly, I saw that the papers they accept get indexed by good places like EI Compendex, Scopus, and ACM Digital Library. And they are doing the conference for the 12th time. So my initial fear of it being fake has been mitigated from my mind. But then again, I don't know how much renowned it is. If you are interested, I can share the name/link. And thank you for your opinion and time, Professor. @Buffy

No need. You've done your homework. They likely found you due to your publication(s).

Even reputable journals and conferences often write to you as Dr. Lastname, because it's easier to assume everyone has a PhD instead of doing the research every time, so don't worry.

The fact that they think you have a doctorate is a bit of a worry. You should probably inform them otherwise, but say you are happy to do it and feel competent to do so. Ask your advisor for advice on that.
It would be good experience for you, but the committee probably needs the heads up.
If you haven't yet seen the paper, then you may need to make the decision about your own competence after you do. There is nothing wrong with turning it down if it seems like a stretch.
Your advisor probably gives the best advice overall here.


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Will a study gap of 3 years harm my chances of getting admission to a graduate program in the US?
I have completed my undergraduate in 2018 with a CGPA of 3.86/4.00 and have not enrolled in an MS course. This is because I have decided to gain some research experience. And also the current pandemic has affected heavily my decision on the MS study.
However, in the last three years, I have been involved in numerous research projects and published 14 research articles, attended 16 conferences with 10 conference abstracts, I have worked with multiple volunteering organizations, and also gained professional experience of about 1 year in a company.
Now, my question is, will this STUDY-GAP of 3 years harm my chances of getting admission into a PhD program or an MS (research-based) program?
In the US, one can apply directly to PhD after Bachelor's degree.
I need your suggestions. Thanks...

No, if anything such a gap should strengthen your application. Admissions committees like to know that you'll stay the course, and people who aren't coming straight from undergrad tend to have a better perspective on what they want to do and hence commitment to the PhD. On top of that, you haven't just "wasted" that time, but done very successful research by the sounds of it.

I know people who did their PhDs in their 40s and 50s (and got permanent academic jobs afterwards).


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Is it OK to contact conference chairs and volunteer to review (specific to Data Science Conferences)?
I am a final year Ph.D. student. I work in the area of Applied Data Mining and Visualization. I have published at both KDD and IEEE VIS. I primarily work in the area of Natural Language Processing, Social Media Analysis, Information Extraction and Data Visualization.
However, I have still not received any opportunity to review papers.
As per the suggestions on other questions on this forum (How to become a reviewer for an engineering journal?, How do you earn opportunites to review journals or conference papers?, How to show interest to serve as a TPC or reviewer in top conferences?, etc) there are two ways I could get an opportunity to review papers:

Publish papers (I have published three papers at KDD, 1 as first author and 2 as co-author but have not yet received an invitation)
Contact the Chairs and volunteer to be a reviewer

Question: Since I have still not received an invitation to review, is it OK to contact the chair or PC and volunteer to be a reviewer? Do you as a chair, frown upon such emails?
Note: This question is specifically for people who has served as PC / Chair for one of the top Data Science and/or Data Visualization conferences (or workshop) like KDD, ICML, ICDM, PKDD, CIKM, WSDM, IEEE VIS, CHI, etc.

Why is it a question for people who have served as a PC / Chair for one of the top data science conferences? If you don't know what you should do, then presumably you don't know whether you need advice specific to your field. My feeling is that conferences are run much the same across Computer Science.

@ThomasKing My intent was not to offend anyone. I assume maybe the topmost conferences hold themselves to higher standards (ex: inviting people only after they publish x number of papers, or only after they get their Ph.D.). Therefore only someone who has been in the organizing committee would know what the true standards are

I wasn't offended, I just wasn't sure if I could answer because of the data-science specificity. I agree that the top conferences are different from the lower. FYI I've been PC member prior to my PhD at lower-level conferences, but only PC member at a top conf. after my PhD.

There seems to be an explicit question, why you have not been invited to review papers, and an implicit one, why you have not been invited as a PC chair.
Reviewing papers
As a PhD student you should have been given papers to review, but these papers will not be given to you by the PC chair but rather PC members who may delegate one or two papers to you. The most likely people to delegate paper reviews are your supervisor(s), you could ask them.
Becoming a PC member
Since you mentioned volunteering to be a reviewer, it seems you might have being a PC member more in mind. Typically, you can only be a PC member after obtaining your PhD. At this point, people who know you should suggest your name, such as your current supervisor(s), people you meet at a conference (this has happened with me) or your new colleagues (e.g., a PI) if you move on after your PhD.
For the specific question, if you know the general chair quite well, then I think it is okay to ask if you can help out as a PC (once you have your PhD). If your supervisors or other close collaborators are SPC, you can also ask them to suggest your name. But I suspect once you have your PhD you will be asked anyway.
This is only based on personal experience, no-one can say for sure whether a given person will mind.

I agree, it is unusual though not unheard of for senior PhD students to serve on TPCs of minor conferences. Much rarer for the top-tier conferences. Absolutely agree the way to get there is to publish in these conferences and to do a good job first as an external reviewer.

I suppose that is what the intent of my question was: how to be an external reviewer?

In that case, ask your supervisor(s)! At least where I and others I know did their PhDs, that's how they got into reviewing. Your name will be put down as an assistant reviewer.


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PhD Advisor not responding to emails for letters of recommendation
I am an immigrant in US and graduated in 2018 from a good public university on the east coast. I had a cordial relationship with my advisor during my PhD.
Currently, I am working on my immigration application that requires letter of recommendation from the advisor. He replied to my initial few emails saying that he will get the letter over the weekend/soon and after that have gone completely missing-in-action.
I have been chasing after him for almost a year now. His email is definitely working and he is super active on Twitter. I also dropped him a couple of texts on his cellphone just to be sure.
What are my options? Shouldn't the advisor have ethical/moral responsibilities? especially considering the dire immigration circumstances, and the effect this application can have on my and my family's future in the US.
PS: He is also an immigrant from the same country as mine.
Edit1: I wish it was easy to just meet him in-person. Not only are we on opposite coasts, but he is also not coming to the lab/office these days due to COVID.
Edit2: Should I raise this matter with Department Head? (My advisor is a senior professor who helped department head become department head)

If I were you, I will definitely drop by his office and will not leave without the paper...

You may try to either visit him during his office hours (more or less Krebto's suggestion) or you might contact someone at the department who is in close contact with your advisor. The latter worked for me a few years ago when I had to get in touch with someone who simply ignored my (and other students') e-mails. After a few weeks, I asked a colleague of his to remind that person to respond to my message. That middleman should be a friend of both, yours and the advisor.
However, as you have been sending him messages for a year already, it looks like your advisor simply does not want to write that letter. If you keep pressuring him, e.g. directly in person or through a colleague, you might eventually get that document. But its wording might not be as nice as you had expected in the first place.
Maybe, you could also ask nicely, if there are any issues that the advisor wants to clarify before sending that letter. Those might be some details regarding your research.


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What to do in the summer if math REUs reject me? Should I still apply to grad school?
This past fall/winter I applied to 16 of the pure math summer REU programs listed by the AMS here, and haven't been accepted by any so far. Five have rejected me, and the fact that none of the other 11 have sent me information tells me I'm probably on their waitlists.
I'm in my junior year and was hoping to apply to a PhD program next fall. I have a very high GPA, but I haven't taken a really competitive course load since I have been struggling with anxiety/depression for several years. It wasn't until my junior year began that I started the year-long abstract algebra and real analysis sequences. I'm planning to take grad math classes in my senior year, and ask some professors if I can get involved in research (haven't done any thus far).
I'm starting to worry about what I'm going to do this summer if I get rejected from all of the REU's... any advice? And, does this mean that I should look elsewhere instead of pursuing graduate school in pure math? I guess I'm feeling a bit discouraged about the prospects of a career in pure mathematics.

Mid-summer update: I actually did end up getting into an REU this summer, and I'm loving it here! At the same time, I'm really glad I asked this question, since it was important (both emotionally and logistically) to be prepared for the possibility of not getting into an REU. Interestingly, the professor who I'm working with told me that he never went to an REU as an undergrad; he didn't start doing research until his 3rd year of grad school. Somehow I had convinced myself that only students who do undergraduate research will become successful mathematicians. Now I understand that while doing undergraduate research can help students to delve deeper into specific topics, beef up their resumes, and prepare for graduate school, it's definitely not the "be-all and end-all" of a mathematician's career. Thank you for the advice, and good luck to all of the other students out there!

If it is any consolation, getting a high GRE math subject test score can be a plus for your application. The test is allegedly very hard, so maybe you can spend some time this summer to work on it?

Regarding your last point: you have to remember that the job market in academia is much more competitive than when the professor was young (unless they are straight out of postdoc).

REUs are a nice way to start to get a sense of what mathematics research is about, and can certainly be helpful for graduate admissions.  But they're not a prerequisite.  You don't need to give up on grad school just because you didn't get accepted to an REU.
As for what to do with the summer, if you are interested in research, consider trying to work on a research project with one of the professors at your university.  You say you want to do this next year, so it would be even better to start this summer, when you will have more time available and won't be distracted by coursework.  Start asking them about it now.
I think it is definitely a good idea to have some sort of research experience before applying to grad school.  Partly because it is helpful in admissions, but mostly because it will help you decide if it is actually something you want to do.  Mathematics research is a very different experience than coursework, and before committing to doing it for several years, it would be wise to see if you like it.

+1, but what happens if he does this, but meanwhile he gets accepted to a REU?

@Lohoris, either he'll turn down the REU, and someone else on the waitlist will be offered a spot, or he'll tell the professor he's been accepted to the REU, and ask to start doing research after it's over. As long as he's polite and upfront, both are acceptable options.


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Math - PhD or Master's + PhD?
I'm an undergrad and have been looking at my professors' CVs. While some of them went straight from earning their undergraduate degree to earning their PhD (which is what I was thinking of doing since it seems more direct), I noticed several of them first earned a master's degree in pure math after finishing undergrad, then went to another institution to earn their PhD. I was wondering if there are any overall benefits/drawbacks to earning a master's degree at one school and then entering a PhD program at another, versus jumping straight into a PhD program?

FYI: In some countries (the UK and Australia, for example), one need not do a masters before entering a PhD programme. In other countries, you do.

Two points: (1) Some undergrad programs in the US offer accelerated Master's programs so it makes it very convenient and (2) depending on the state, public universities may get funding based on the number of graduates, so they may force all PhD students to take a MS along the way.

This depends on your branch of science/mathematics. One answer in my field of study is sometimes an undergraduate may want to further hone their mathematical chops before taking on a PhD, in which case they'd go for a maths masters first.

Some people don't do well enough in their undergraduate degrees, so they then need to do a Masters to get into a Phd program.

I can't speak for purest math, but many parts of computer science overlap so I think there may be some similarity...
If you know that you want a Ph.D. and are able to get into a good Ph.D. program straight out of undergraduate, more power to you: this is a fine path to go on.  This may not, however, be possible or desirable for a number of reasons.  Some examples of good reasons to get a Master's at one institution before switching to another:

You might not get into grad school on the first try, and a Master's program is a good place to progress academically while you prepare to try again (this was one of my reasons)
The Master's is a natural break-point for transferring to a program that is stronger or a better fit.
Non-academic reasons, such as family issues, following a partner, visa problems, etc.


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spelling out numbers in formal writing
I am writing a statement of purpose and wondering how to write "26" in my SOP. Do I have to spell it out "twenty-six" or can I write it as 26? I am confused by web searching.
Please help. Thanks..

This seems to be just a general writing question. See e.g. https://english.stackexchange.com/q/979

I agree, this is a general writing question, I think the rule of thumb is to spell out numbers upto about 10, and beyond that write with numerals (though this isn't a hard rule and likely won't result in a significant difference in the outcome). Though in some places spelling out small numbers may be confusing, such as in a table of numbers.

Like @GoodDeeds has mentioned, it's not very specific to academia. I'd like to provide some reasons as to why are general rules the way they are. Numbers in text make the brain kind of stumble a bit, and it is the most evident when being bilingual - when reading an English text aloud from my screen to friends, I'd unconsciously replace numbers - written as numerals - with words in my native tongue. Now, sometimes this effect is desired, similar to how scientific notation gives yet another specific perception of numbers.

So say looking at a pinout diagram I'd probably prefer "the output has 10 pins" to make me "stumble" and give extra attention to this while "she is ten years old" does not "load a library for numerical computations into the brain" and allows for uninterrupted flow and more efficient use of "common sense" resources. For numbers larger than ten, numerical representation is more common, although spelling it out may still make sense if what you want the reader to focus on is some general idea and not a very specific number.

I think this is a common enough question from academics to answer.  The following are not inviolable rules, but they tend to work for most writing:

Usually, you spell out numbers smaller than 10 if they appear in a sentence and use the numerals otherwise.  For instance, "The cost is $10,523" rather than "The cost is Ten Thousand Five Hundred...".  This is to simplify and tighten the writing.
You use the numerals almost always for decimal numbers unless there is a very, very specific reason not to.  One such reason might be in a direct quote, where the precise wording is important, such as "Dr. Smith said `the number on the console is three oh one point two five'".  Here, perhaps we are focusing on the fact that the "oh" might be ambiguous and we wanted to quote every single word exactly as it was said.  Otherwise, use the numerals.
When two numbers appear right after the other, especially in the case of counting.  Example: "There were 12 fifty-mm bolts".  This reduces ambiguity and errors compared to "There were 12 50-mm bolts", as it helps the reader to understand that one is a count and one is a size.
Years are always referred to using numerals.  So it is 1955, not "nineteen fifty five" unless, again, you are doing a direct quote where the precise wording matters.
Avoid starting a sentence with a numeral.  So "Fifteen hundred cars were sold" is correct, not "1500 cars were sold".

That should cover most cases!


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article review as a writing sample for PhD admission
I am asked to submit a writing sample, which could be an article review, a research project, a thesis paper, or a capstone project.
Which one should I submit?
I have review and research papers but all of my papers have 5 or more authors in them. So, should I submit a review or research article as a writing sample with 5 or more authors in it?
I do not have any capstone project or thesis paper.
Badly in need of some suggestions. Thanks...

It is a bit unclear. Is the review article a sole-author work?

no, i am from biomedical background, here working as a sole author is not possible , specially for a undergrade student

I can't answer for your field, but one of your current professors could probably give good advice on this. Especially someone younger who had to deal with the same issue not so long ago.

Are you sure that they do not intend that you should pick up an article and resume it? I mean is an article review or a review article? Before PhD, usually one can submit his/her thesis and not much more...

If I were reading a writing sample as part of an application I would be skeptical of anything with multiple authors. If you have only such samples you should make clear that you were the principal writer (not necessarily even a main contributor)  if that was the case. If not, then I think you should find some other document to submit, even if it was not formally published. An undergraduate term paper might serve, along with an explanation about why you chose to submit that particular piece.

@Buffy Of course. You could have fixed it.

Yes, but then my moniker gets attached on the listing page. Better that it is associated with yourself.


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withdrawing graduate admission application and reapplying to the same program
I have made some monumental mistakes in my application for graduate admission to a university in the US. I am thinking of withdrawing my application and then reapplying to the same program again. Will it harm my chance of getting full consideration?
I have submitted my application yesterday and the last date of application is December 01.
Thanks...

Without knowing more about what you did incorrectly it isn't easy to answer this question. I can't speak for all programs, but if someone had withdrawn this early in and then reapplied a bit later, when I was on an admissions committee for a masters program, I doubt we would have even noticed. the first application since that would have happened at an administrative level that never got to us.

Thank you, sir, for your comments. By mistake, I have uploaded my CV twice, both in the place of CV and in the place of SOP.

That's a really minor issue. Email someone at the school (possibly the departmental secretary) and ask them to attach your SOP to the application. Little things like this happen all the time and aren't a big deal.

Your comment suggests that this was a clerical error in an online submission.
You have time before the December deadline to find (email) someone at the school who should be able to tell you how to correct the error.
It's unlikely that anyone has looked at your application. The committee probably waits until all applicants are in to begin deciding on admission.


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What is "Residency (Tuition) Claim" in the US universities?
I am an international student and applying for Ph.D. in a university in the US. The application portal is prompting me to select (Yes/No) the "Residency (Tuition) Claim" of that state. It is saying in-state and out-of-state and something like that. I cannot understand what this is.
I am going to do the Ph.D. and it will probably take 5-6 years to complete it. So, what should I do?
Requesting suggestions. Thanks...

US universities often have different tuition fees for in state and out of state students. So it is probably asking if you are a resident of the state the university is in for tuition purposes.

For state sponsored universities, such as the University of Wisconsin, if a person has established "residency" in that state prior to enrollment, they get a lower tuition rate since the state itself sponsors them to a degree.
The rules for establishing residency vary by state, but it means more than just living there at the moment. It usually involves some period of time with a residence in the state, and therefore paying property taxes there.
Out of state students, including international students, don't have residency and haven't paid taxes there, so are charged a tuition that is closer to the actual cost of providing the education - though usually still less, since the state still subsidizes things to some extent.
In the past, in-state tuition was very low, but that is changing as the willingness of legislators to actually fund education adequately has declined in recent years.
Each state will have its own rules about this. There is no national higher education system in the US. In some cases it might be possible for a student to start out as an out of state student and, along the way, establish residency, and then pay in-state tuition.
But note that most PhD students in the US serve as TAs (or RAs) and those jobs almost always come with tuition forgiveness. So, if you have a TA, the difference is probably moot.

Thanks, sir... I will get a RA with fully funded stipends. Should I select "No, I do not claim the residency", then ?? And Yes, I am applying to the University of Wisconsin-Madison..

Excellent. Yes, select non residency. UW was just a guess. Great school though. But, sadly, a football rival of the place I went. And you may get to meet Bryan Krause.

@Buffy Alas, that final perk hasn't yet made it to the university's recruiting materials...

Actually, @BryanKrause, UW wasn't even a guess, just an example. I was thinking of schools that are great in math, specifically, not unlike my own (doctoral) alma-mater. But the "perk' will appear in a recruiting doc - soonish. Right after you win the Nobel for conquering COVID, cancer, and teenage zits.

Choose "out of state" unless you are a resident of that US state for tuition purposes, or perhaps a resident of another US state with a reciprocity agreement. Living there while a student doesn't count as residency for tuition purposes (there may be special exceptions to this, and if you were a domestic student it would definitely be worth studying more how your specific state or university defines things). As an international student you are not a resident of any US state for tuition purposes.
If your PhD is funded in some way that includes tuition remission (typical of US PhDs), it won't really matter for you whether your tuition is at the "resident" or "non-resident rate": you won't pay any tuition so the number doesn't matter (except perhaps for internal accounting, which isn't really your business). If your PhD is not funded, it's going to be extremely expensive for you and unless you or your family is wealthy enough to not care about such things you should not attend such a program.

No, My Ph.D. is fully funded covering tuition and living expenses and everything else. I will get a Research Assistantship. So, should I select, "No, I do not claim the residency"?

@DonaldAlvarez Yes, correct.


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Will errors in using articles harm the chance of getting admission?
I have applied to a university in the US that has a ranking of 130-150. I have just found that in my Personal Statement /  Statement of Purpose, I have made two mistakes using the definite article in my Statement of Purpose. Will these two mistakes in the Articles harm my chance of getting admission?
The SOP is 1200 words in length.
I have applied to the Physiology PhD program.
Thanks...

No one is going to reject an application that otherwise warrants admission because of two typos, even more so if it’s from a non-native speaker as in your case.