text:
Is it fair to give zeros to students who missed early assignments because they added the class late?
Last semester, I was teaching a class where
there is a small assignment (~2% of the total course assessment)
that students need to submit every week.
Unfortunately, some of the students joined the class late,
due to add/drop forms that needed to be signed manually,
or for other unknown reasons.
Is it fair to give zeros to students who missed early assignments
because they added the class late?
There were a few students who may have missed 3 or 4 weeks of assignments.
Response to comment
Q: Were the students not able to physically be present?
Were the students not able to predict that they would take your class?
They were physically able to be present.
Some students may not have been able to predict
that they were able to take my class.
For example, one student had to add the class after the add date deadline,
because he was admitted late to the university.
Edit
After thinking things through,
I checked that the last date for adding the course is the Monday of week 2,
and the first weekly assignment is also assigned and due in week 2.
I found in the data that there were several students
who did not attend in week 1,
but all of these students attended and submitted
the weekly assignment in week 2.
Consequently, all of the students in the course
were registered by week 2,
and would have been able to submit all the weekly assignments.
Thus any students who did not submit a weekly assignment
deserve to get zero for that assignment,
unless they have a reason to be excused.

If students were auditing a course with the expectation of enrolling when the paperwork was sorted out, why didn't they do the assignments at the appropriate time anyway? Certainly they couldn't get them "officially" graded before they enrolled, but if they were taking responsibility for their own education they shouldn't need "extra time" to turn them in after they officially joined the course.

@alephzero in some schools, you can join class A, then swap to class B, so you as you do it within the add/drop period. So a student may have been in a completely different class the first couple weeks.

@iheanyi: The only case where I'd remotely have any kind of sympathy is when this class's lectures conflicts with the schedule of the class that the student swapped with. Even then, you should be keeping up with the materials of both, just maybe through some way other than attending lectures. The add/drop deadline should have no bearing on this.

To show why relying on the add/drop deadline is ridiculous: there are cases in some schools where students can add/drop courses until the end of the semester (I'm not talking about the very-rare cases that require a dean's exception or something, there are much-more-typical cases). That doesn't mean you should be letting them skip all the homeworks. Which means the two should be independent.

Do your institution have an official policy on this?

Again: The assumption that students added late were attending the class prior to registration is not part of the question, nor is it the protocol at many (most, U.S.?) institutions. It's not even possible if you don't know in advance what section to which you might be added.

Does your institution charge students for classes they attend, wether they are registered or not? ( then no, it's not fair). Does it allow unregistered users to attend classes? (Then yes, it is fair, but only if ) Has someone explained those new users that they can ( and should) attend from day 0 wether they are registered or not, and that their grades will be recorded even if they fail to(register), for the next time they apply?    (Then Yes, it is fair.

@Mehrdad If they're allowed to add a class near the end of the semester, how are they expected to pass?

@Random832: By having done the work since day 1 like they were supposed to?

@Mehrdad So, in other words, there is no accommodation, so in effect they're not really allowed to add classes, the school is just happy to take their money for a class they are doomed to fail.

@Random832: They're really allowed to add classes. They're also adults and understand that it's their responsibility to keep up with courses they're adding, not the responsibility of instructors to bend over backwards fifty times during the semester for every single student who wants to add the class at an arbitrary point in time. And students aren't exactly stupid enough to avoid the class and then expect to be able to enroll halfway through the semester and succeed. The system works out fine.

@Mehrdad So it sounds like this is mainly an alternative to no-penalty dropping of courses? In other words, students attend the class all semester, and then decide whether they want to have it on their transcript or not at some point and officially "add" the course (or not) then? That's a very different use of adding courses than I'm familiar with, but I can see how it would work.

@1006a: Note that I'm not claiming this is very common, or even possible for every student in every situation. There are a few restrictions and hoops to jump through after a few weeks into the course that I'm not inclined to mention here, but I'm saying they don't require extenuating circumstances or a Dean's approval or anything like that (there are other cases that have those kinds of requirements). (cont'd)

@1006a:  As for use cases, you can (say) drop a course because something prevented you from finishing it successfully (exam/project/trip/family/whatever issues) but then add it if that gets resolved. I'm sure a few do what you're describing too. And I'm sure there are other use cases. But by and large people commit to their schedule early in the semester. Modifying a schedule this late isn't rare per se, but given that there are a few hoops involved it's not so common either, and people avoid it whenever possible.

At most institutions, the last day to add a course is set up by the institution, not the professor.  We have an obligation to honor that, which means allowing students to enroll, with full full privileges, up to the last day they're allowed to.
Giving 0's for assignments they've missed is inconsistent with that.  I prefer to simply ignore previous assignments of the sort you're describing - if their score for that part of the class would have been based on 13 weekly assignments, now it's based out of 11.  (Sadly, this can be a little hard to administer depending how you calculate grades.)  Alternatively, they can be asked to make up the work; it is the responsibility of students to keep up with the courses they've enrolled in, either by auditing them while deciding or making up what they missed, so it's reasonable to ask them to do the assignment on a reasonably short time scale (I usually like two weeks, which should be enough time to avoid excessive overlap with any other commitments, but one week would be appropriate if the assignments are short and it's not an exam-laden week).

There's actually an easy way to substitute scores for missed grades in a traditional spreadsheet. Take the average of the completed assignments and set the missed grades as the average. So if you have a 87% average in 11 assignments, the remaining 2 missed assignments would both get assigned scores of 87% as well (as opposed to 0% or excluded) This keeps the overall weight of the assignments equal in your spreadsheet.

Personally, I really don't like corrupting my data records by overwriting actual test scores (or blanks) with other numbers for grading purposes. (Later: Did that student really do assignment 1 or not?) Another option perhaps is to give all students a computed grade of max(avg-of-13, avg-of-last-11).

@compass I was thinking of some LMS software (including the one my institution uses) which doesn't provide a way to do this (but which insists on reporting averages to the students anyway, even though it can't calculate them correctly).

@Henry LMS makes the hard things easy and the easy things hard. The ultimate goal is to try and be fair to the student. Regardless of whether you fill in the blank, use averages, or something, as long as it is fair, everything is kosher.

I totally disagree with this. It means students can just avoid enrolling until the last day and avoid doing homework in the process. If students are thinking of enrolling in a class, they need to be attending. In my experiences profs just say "let me know if you're waitlisted/auditing" so that they can do the appropriate stuff on their end (like getting you access to the materials). If physically attending is not possible then that's another story, but inherently you have no obligation to change your schedule because of this. What if the add/drop deadline was at the end of the semester?

@Mehrdad: If students are trying to avoid homework by not enrolling, they can always be asked to make it up, as I mentioned. (I've never seen this - the benefit of getting extra time is outweighed by the delay in getting any feedback, and there's the risk of losing a slot if the class fills.) Professors are under an obligation not to invent an add deadline prior to the official one; prior to that day, students should be able to enroll as full participants.

@Mehrdad: If students have to have already audited a class to add without penalty, what happens to students who drop a course and need to replace it? What if they want to replace it with a course at the same time, which they couldn't have audited? As for your last question, if the add/drop deadline is at the end of the semester, students should be able to add the course without a penalty at the end of the semester. Presumably with a combination of making up work and forgiving missed work (for instance, by basing the grade entirely on the final).

Re: LMS: As an example, Blackboard can't handle programatically overwriting grades (nor would one want that, as above); but it does easily support dropping a certain number of low grades of some type (which is what motivated my switch to that, as in my answer elsewhere). My philosophy on LMS is to not fight the tool (be just a tad flexible on making your policies match what's supported there).

@Mehrdad: At some institutions, there is no such thing as a waitlist/audit for individual sections. My department does call up needy students a few days into the semester and add them to courses; but it could be any of 50 different sections run with different instructors and policies. Saying "go to class before registering" is simply infeasible.

@Henry: Then they should have planned accordingly? Is it too much to expect students to plan out a schedule with a couple backups before starting a semester? They're not babies. If there are time conflicts then that's something they know from the semester before; they're adults and need to figure out how to keep up somehow. At my college neither students nor faculty seemed to think this was unfair; it was expected that you'd attend if you might enroll. In fact, students complained because the system didn't let them officially enroll in conflicting classes, not because the classes conflicted.

@DanielR.Collins: By "sections" do you mean discussions for the same lecture, or discussions for different lectures? Discussions for the same lecture should be similar enough to accommodate students from each other (certainly no "policy" should be wildly different?!), so if they're not, there's your problem -- not the lack of an official waitlisting/auditing system (which isn't necessary for this). Discussions for different lectures are different classes, it doesn't make sense to go to one but enroll in the other. It's certainly feasible even at a larger scale, I've seen it with my own eyes.

@Mehrdad: Yes, it's unreasonable to ask a student to fully participate in several extra courses, adding a third to a half to their workload, just for the privilege (?) of adding courses the way the school's policies say they can. It's doubly unfair when the request is physically impossible because the courses happen at the same time (or, as Daniel Collins points out, because they may not know which class they'll be assigned to). Joining a class late and having to catch up is penalty enough; starting them with 0s is unfair (to them and to other professors) and serves no educational purpose.

@Mehrdad: I'm having trouble parsing your terminology. By "section" I mean "one of the classes formed by dividing the students taking a course" (Meriam-Webster, def. 11a: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/section). Although the same course title, they are all run with separate instructors, lectures, assignments, etc. IME, that's more common than not. If at your institution students are waitlisted in advance for a particular section/instructor/syllabus, then that's a very different context.

@Henry: What is it about a little bit of planning ahead that you're so against? We're not asking them to do rocket science here. The college is being nice by letting you add courses later; they could have just banned that entirely, requiring them to do their due diligence before, and that'd have been fair. What would you have done then? Like I said at my institution this simply wasn't something people complained to any visible degree about (and trust me they had a lot of other visible complaints); you were expected to keep up with courses regardless of enrollment and that worked just fine.

@DanielR.Collins: I'll phrase it another way. When you're talking about students going to one section but being added to another -- are these taught based on the same syllabus, graded as part of the same grading curve, assigned the same projects, etc.? Or are they totally independent of each other? I'm saying if they're totally independent, then there's your problem -- having an official auditing or waitlisting procedure doesn't solve that. Where I went, there would be more like a couple of independent lectures (for larger classes) with many discussions each. Not 50 independent lectures!

@Mehrdad: “Do all the work for one or two extra courses for three weeks" is a lot more than "a little bit of planning ahead". What is it about a little bit of bookkeeping that you’re so against? It’s a lot less work for the faculty member to grade late homework than for students to do weeks of extra homework. Being “nice” (which was probably done out of a belief it’s good policy rather than as a gift to students) was a decision by the school. It's not the prerogative of individual faculty to undermine that policy by punishing students for following it.

@Henry: You realize you only have to do the work for extra courses if you haven't already committed to your classes, right? I'm saying just plan ahead early so you can commit early and you won't have this problem. That's what adults do. If you don't want to commit by the beginning of the semester then make it work on your end, don't expect people to dance around you. I keep saying this and you keep ignoring it but I've literally seen this system and it works fine.

@Mehrdad: That's exactly what I mean by undermining policy: demanding that students either do lots of extra work or operate under a more restrictive policy ("commit early"). You're calling for a different policy ("plan ahead") that matches your values and pretending your values are so universal ("That's what adults do") that they justify imposing that policy unilaterally. They don't. If your school's add rules are more generous than you like, you push to change them, you don't pretend that being asked to follow them is some unreasonable demand that you "dance around" your students.

@Henry: How about you call your policy "relaxed" instead of calling mine "restrictive"? Have you never seen a respectable university that does what I'm telling you? Here, just to give you one of a myriad of examples: http://www.math.ucsd.edu/~abowers/past/20a_winter_2016/waitlist.html

@Mehrdad: I didn't call yours restrictive, I called it more restrictive than the school wide policy that it's undermining. No, I have not seen a school like you describe (though perhaps they exist). I have seen individual professors unilaterally failing to honor the add date, often under the mistaken belief that everyone is doing it: professors often don't know what administrative policies look like in other classes, especially outside of their department. (You linked to someone describing a policy for students to hold a position on a waitlist, which is not the same thing we're discussing.)

@Henry: How's this? Department-wide policy: "You should attend class and discussion section from day one, turn in homework, etc., if you intend to enroll in the class once space opens up." If you still think this is still somehow inadequate -- is there anything in this world you find convincing? Can you show me some written policies which agree with your own viewpoint?

@Mehrdad: You've again linked to a waitlist policy. I'm not sure what these examples are supposed to prove; individual people or departments doing things they shouldn't is evidence that they happen, not that they're okay. You might be looking for my institution's add policy, which specifies the requirement to keep up with work as an explicit part of the policy. It's not my preferred policy, but I don't object to professors giving 0's for missed homeworks at such an institution, because it's an actual part of the written policy.

@Henry: How about you show an example of a school that actually has written the policy you're advocating? You know, the policy that instructors should allow students extensions/drops/etc. for homework if they enroll late? If you can't find one, then have you considered maybe that's not their intention, and you're the one interpreting the absence of a policy incorrectly?

@Mehrdad: Again, not all institutions have waitlists for particular sections. E.g., At U. Texas, they can be turned on and off at each department's discretion: http://registrar.utexas.edu/staff/waitlists ("Why should I turn a list on or off?"). At my institution, there are simply no waiting lists. But in both these examples the department can add students late to sections of the department's choosing, which cannot be known in advance.

At my institution, the official policy is that students are not allowed to attend classes they're not registered for (http://devpolicylibrary.gatech.edu/student-life/d.-attending-classes). This would make it difficult for a professor to require students to attend classes while on the waitlist.

@DanielR.Collins: Again, I keep telling you, it's totally irrelevant whether you have an official "waitlist" or not. A waitlist is just an official name for a bunch of students trying to get into a class who have not yet succeeded in enrolling. Waitlist or not, the situation is exactly the same, and hence the policy I'm talking about is the same: if you're trying to get into a class, you should be doing the work from day 1. I'm confused why you keep bringing this up, especially given it seems totally independent of what you mentioned earlier regarding there being 50 sections instead of 1.

On the other hand, it's possible to be sitting in on a class and doing the work without having officially added it. While I think it would be gracious on the part of the professor to allow students to make up missed work based on having added the course later, I don't believe that he should be obliged to do so.

@Mehrdad And what do you do when the number of students exceeds the room capacity? In many Universities (and mine is one of these), the class size is set by the actual number of seats in the room  assigned to the class, and often, there are no bigger rooms available. Students end up on the waiting list because there is no physical space in the classroom for them....

@NickS: Then they don't let you enroll. It's obviously contingent based on spots being available...

@Mehrdad The question was not about enrolling, the question was about students on waitlist. Those students are waiting for someone else to drop the class, which happens often. How do you force them to attend?\

@Mehrdad Also, isn't this the class policy at your university? Check what it sais: "No student may enter upon any organized instructional activity until registered and enrolled with the approval of the appropriate study list authority."http://www.registrar.ucla.edu/Registration-Classes/Enrollment-Policies/Class-Policies/Class-Attendance

@NickS: You don't force them to attend, you assume they keep up with the material and proceed accordingly. You can give them access to the material if they ask you, etc... what you don't do is change the deadlines for them. I'm not going to respond to your last comment aside from pointing out that it also very clearly says "Late registration may not be used to justify inadequate performance in a course" as I do not wish to discuss where I may have gone to college on this website (and if you've stalked me and figured it out then please respect this and keep that to yourself).

@NickS: Do note the "Auditing Classes" provision of the same site you linked to: "With instructor consent, registered students and interested individuals are permitted to audit a class." So the instructor can allow you to audit from day 1 and expect you to have kept up from day 1 if you ever enroll. Obviously a sane instructor isn't going to outright disallow you access to the course and then blame you if you manage to enroll!! I'm really confused why these are not obvious...

@Mehrdad First, sorry if I gave the wrong impression, that was the website you posted as an example, I thought it was your website, that's what I meant by your school, which was the wrong choice of words, sorry for that :) Second, IMO, students which end on waitlists, have no guarantee that they will get into a class, but many times they are forced to take a number of courses per term (this most likely differs from university to university). In order to make sure that they get into class, they often need to join the waitlist for multiple courses, in the hopes of joining one....

Asking the students to do work in all those classes, not knowing which one might open is IMO a bit too much. As for the last post, yes, that is a good choice at the university from which you posted the example, but not at my place. When the number of students reaches the class limit, no matter if the student wants to join or audit, there is no physical place in the room for them and they are added to the waitlist.

@NickS: (Ah I see, I didn't remember that, sorry.) Yes, that is true. Waitlists do not keep going until the end of the semester, they end after a few weeks. You are expected to keep up in those first few weeks. The procedure for enrolling later is not waitlist-related, and as I said in another comment under the question (not here), it is not that commonly used as there are some hoops to jump through and it is not guaranteed or automatic. One such hoop includes instructor consent and your own signature, implying you both know what you're doing and have figured out how to make it work.

No, it is not.  Some accommodation must be made, either in how the grade is generated, or preferably, with an opportunity to make up the work.  The latter discourages gaming your calendar.
Three or four weeks, though, is ridiculous.  If they were in the class by all but their official registration, they should have found a way, or you should have found them a way, to turn in assignments.

My solution to this is to have a certain number of low or missing assignments dropped from each student's weighted total at the end of the semester, and to have this number be at least as many assignments as in the add/drop period. So then I think it is fair in this case for late-adds to get zero on those assignments; they can still conceivably get top marks for the course, but they're working without a safety net. And the rule and processing is uniform for all students. I don't recall any major complaints after I explain the drop policy to late-adders.

This is my solution to the problem.

Don't students still complaint that it's not "fair" because they didn't have a choice of what homework to drop?

@Mehrdad: No, I've never heard that complaint.

That's pretty lucky!

@Mehrdad: I don't see it that way; no one is making a "choice" about what to drop.

I don't see it that way either, but I've seen other students who do see it that way, because they view this as "this guy had 2 chances to avoid doing the homework he don't like, but I didn't". They feel they don't have a chance to make a decision about not doing the homework in the first place.

I have never in over 3,000 student-semesters ever heard anyone assert that they were intentionally choosing to skip an assignment based on its content.

content, maybe not, but, from overload of work from other classes? for sure. A lot of people might, at some point, do the maths, and  if even missing assignment X and getting a 0 guarantees them a 8/10, it's worth to spend that time in Y assignment due next week that they need to pass that class, instead of failing that class but gaining a small decimal advantage on yours.

@DanielR.Collins: my history GCSE had a drop system for coursework, and I got full marks on my first N pieces of coursework (IIRC the rule was 6 pieces in 3 pairs, count one of each pair and drop the other). As it happened I did not intentionally choose to skip an assignment, but I very well might have if my workload in other subjects had been high. Time better spent. My teacher did argue that there was a risk that a 100% mark could be revised down by the exam board and then it would be useful to have a second shot at it, but that argument wouldn't apply to most university courses.

... so in short, the history coursework system did create an advantage in geography for students who were (a) time-pressed and also (b) good at history. But then that's always the case when subjects compete for time, even if the coursework marking scheme isn't exacerbating it. So although it's lucky nobody ever complained about it, it's not as if they'd have an especially compelling case if they did :-)

Yes, it is absolutely ethical, if and only if students have access to the necessary resources, including this homework policy, from the beginning of the semester, regardless of whether they are officially registered.
I've had an "adding late does not excuse missing homework" policy in my syllabus for years, partly as a defense mechanism against the long waiting lists my classes usually start with, and partly to avoid students missing important early material that they will need later in the course.  Moreover, I prioritize the waiting list by the initial homework scores, and I actually remove students from the waiting list if they don't submit homework.
In short, if you want to add my course late, you must demonstrate that you have engaged with the early course material, because otherwise, you're going to be totally lost later.
But to make sure this is fair, I release all my homeworks on the public course web site (not behind some stupid password-protected LMS), along with lecture notes and recordings of the actual lectures.  Moreover, the TAs and graders do not know which students are officially registered; they grade everything that is submitted.  The additional work is a minimal burden on the course staff, which quickly fades out as registered students drop out and active students take their place in the official roster.
Being officially registered for a class is a mere administrative hurdle.  It has no bearing on the students' ability to do the work.

Hmm, this policy would be pretty crappy in other schools with different add/drop policies and of course, requires that a teacher do what you did, which is post things publicly and make it well known the pitfalls to students joining your class late.

You don't need to release the homework publicly, you just need to say "if you're waitlisted or auditing then come talk to me so I can get you the materials". Other than that I agree with you wholeheartedly, it seems crazy people are saying this is somehow unethical. It's totally ethical, people should be doing the work.

@Mehrdad You don't need to release the homework publicly — True, but it's much simpler than the alternative.  I don't have time to deal with 100+ students coming to my office to get an extra copy of the homework.

@iheanyi You say that like requiring profs to post course materials publicly would be a bad thing.

@JeffE: It is indeed, no doubt about that. But some LMS allow you to add students who aren't in the official roster, so you don't have to print it for them or something. So if you don't feel like releasing it publicly (many don't), you can just ask for their names at the first few lectures so you can add them.

@Mehrdad Yeah, but then I'd have to use an LMS.

Right, that's the alternative you were proposing to a public course website. I wasn't saying you should switch to an LMS, I was just saying that the alternative of using an LMS isn't as bad as printing 100 extra copies of the homework and waiting for students to roll in.

I actually think it is a good thing to post materials publicly. But, I'm pretty confident (based on my personal limited experience at 3 different schools and anecdotal reports from friends at a few others), that this is not the norm. So, I was criticizing your answer since it's based on an assumption, which I feel is critical to your answer, that's not safe to generalize.

To give more context to why I felt public posting of course materials is not the norm, despite my limited sample size, as an undergrad, and then later a TA, there was a growing push to using Blackboard and similar online tools to disseminate course materials. These were universally locked down on a course level - as in you needed to get the specific key for a given course in a given semester or be enrolled by the prof or TA. Most profs who maintained sites didn't use SEO, making it hard to discover if you even thought to look. So, the only way you'd know is by actually attending the 1st class.

Since future handouts (if any) would not include the deeply nested on university's domain URL and of course, that even assumes any of this was available online at all. Perhaps such a policy works for graduate courses where the typical student has more apriori knowledge of a given professor and how they work but unless things have changed a lot, it doesn't seem workable generally for undergrad courses.

So you have 100 students on a wait list, who for all intents and purposes take the course, but don't get time allowed for it in their schedules? Sounds like you basically reject the notion of "adding a class late", which is fine as long as the university doesn't create the opposite pressure. You can't add late, but you can start the course and then drop out at the point where the university informs you that the list is closed and there's no prospect of getting any credit for it. Are you in fact teaching a MOOC with a small sideline in university credits for a select few participants? ;-)

So you have 100 students on a wait list, who for all intents and purposes take the course, but don't get time allowed for it in their schedules? — Nope.  I'm teaching a class with 100 more participants than will fit in the room, and I am happy to help anyone who make time for the class to jump the necessary administrative hurdles to get credit. — drop out at the point where the university informs you that the list is closed — Nope.  I maintain the list myself, and I request overrides, with documentation of effort if necessary, if a space opens after the official add deadline.

Are you in fact teaching a MOOC with a small sideline in university credits for a select few participants? — Nope. Last semester, my classroom held 400 students, and I ended the semester with 400 registered students, including everyone who started on the waiting list and who did the work.

In general, I would say "no", it isn't fair. Further, you may be promoting the appearance that you are penalizing someone for wanting to take YOUR class, even though that might not be your intent.
The school policy, apparently, allows students to add classes late. Your policy makes it appear you are contradicting the school policy.
In general, I believe this policy makes you appear unreasonable. Students will come and go, but you will remain and so will your reputation.

Yes, it absolutely is.  Assuming this is a taught course, students who join three or four weeks late have missed substantial instruction.  In the U.S. four weeks is more than a quarter of a semester.
However, you must set the date of the first assignment at least a couple of days later than the official drop/add date.  Students who join during drop/add may have to scurry to catch up, but they ought to expect that.
Of course, I've made the assumption that there is an official drop/add date, and that it is reasonable compared to the duration of the course, e.g. seven days for a 16-week semester.  If not, that's a large problem, and one to take to the Faculty Senate or a similar body.  Having students join a class at arbitrary times during a term seriously compromises the quality of instruction for the entire class and abuses the instructor.
If there is not an official drop/add date or the drop/add period is long compared to the duration of the course, then you must make accommodation for students who enter late.  As Scott Seidman has already written, that should be to allow time to make up the work, not by changing the grading plan for those students.

I strongly disagree. At my institution (and possibly OP's), the add deadline is three weeks into the semester; it would be unreasonable to delay regular assignments for weeks because of that. Indeed, I would argue that one should prefer to have returned at least one graded assignment prior to the drop deadline (assuming the timing and nature of the course make that possible) so that students underprepared for the course have more warning.

@Henry In your circumstance, I agree with you on both points, and I have edited my answer to reflect that agreement.  I work with a 7-day drop/add deadline.  In my case, it is impossible to return graded work before the deadline for large classes, and reasonable to make the first assignment due shortly after drop/add.  (I also have to say that a three week period seems unreasonable to me.)

My undergrad institution actually had a three week add deadline out of ten weeks (though even the students understood that this was extreme and that joining a class you hadn't been auditing after three weeks was an unusual and risky choice). My views on the importance of following the add rule are influenced by the professor who wouldn't let me add a course because I'd missed the first day and felt that allowing any additions would mess up his teaching style. In retrospect, this was unfair not only to me, but to his colleagues who had to pick up his slack by teaching students he wouldn't.

@Henry I agree that professors should follow the institution's drop/add rule.  In fact, before your comment, it never occurred to me that one wouldn't.  I'd have an unpleasant chat with my department chair if I tried that.

Consider also the following situations in which a student may add late: 1) being waitlisted because the class was full, 2) changing majors shortly after semester start, 3) replacing a class they dropped to maintain full-time status, 4) changing sections due to unforeseen scheduling conflicts

@Tristan With the exception of 4), all of those should happen during drop/add.  In the case of 4), a professor could choose to accept the work from the other section.  Allowing students to change classes haphazardly during the semester disrupts the other students and seriously disadvantages those who make late changes.

@Tristan I'd add to that list: dropping from a higher level course to a lower level, or honors to the regular version of the same, which might be allowed for a longer period than ordinary changes (my school fairly routinely waived the add deadline to allow these during the gap between the add and the drop deadline). But, as Bob says, in that case you'd usually use work from the old course to fill in the missing scores.

@BobBrown At a school I used to work for, it was 100% up to the instructor whether or not a student could add their class after the quarter started. One of the program chairs told me he would never dream of trying to force a teacher to change their mind. In my experience, they were always reasonable, but I imagine a few didn't accept any late adds.

Even if there are no problems at all and all students do all the assignments and sit the exam as planned, it's not 100% fair, because assignments and exams are an inaccurate way to assess students' capabilities. So, the usual system is already a compromise, but it's the only practical way we can teach and evaluate how well the students have mastered the subject. So, we must not pretend as if any particular system we use for assignments and exams is the perfect gold standard such that upholding that gold standard becomes the main goal. This mistaken attitude leads to this whole idea that you could give students zero points for missed assignments, even if missing the assignments was beyond the control of the students.
The students are there to master the subject, the Prof. is there to teach the students. The system of assignments and exams exists to help facilitate this, we're not there to religiously uphold the rules, to make the rules the main issue when fixing problems. If there are problems with the assignments, you have to go back to basics and think about how you can best assess how well the students are mastering the course.

Giving zeros to late-joiners is only fair if you have it stated in the syllabus (or otherwise communicated it in a way accessible to them).
A better solution, balancing fairness to the student and the professor, is to give them the same amount of time to complete all overdue assignments starting with the enrollment cutoff.  For example, if four one-week assignments have been graded and a fifth is announced at the start of week 5, then give all new students one week to finish all five assignments and be caught up.

In the light of students being able to exploit the late entry to avoid having to do assignments, it sounds fair to the rest of the class who had to actually do the work, that late entries be given zero.
Trying to find the middle ground, e.g. having the due date after the late entries cut-off date, or handing out the assignment to the new students with a few days to get it done, sounds like a good idea.

I'm not instructor, but I am a recent student so I'll throw my opinion into the ring.
Based on the following:

Whether or not students are physically capable of attending the class is case by case, and may (almost certainly will) depend on factors outside of your visibility or the student's control
Students trying to take high-demand classes will often wait for slots to open  post-kickoff because of enrolled students dropping the class, and it's not usually reasonable to expect students to do classwork for several extra classes while waiting for such a chance to appear
I don't think I have ever met anyone in my entire educational career who waited to register for a class in order to deliberately get out of doing the early assignments
Since it's before the add drop date, it may be out of your hands anyway, check university policy or ask other instructors
It doesn't really reflect life after school. Most companies' hiring processes are agnostic to concepts like application windows
As an instructor it's your job to teach the students the material, and judge them fairly based on how well they know it, so from that perspective, it doesn't make a lot of sense to penalize otherwise possibly bright students for missing some sessions before adding the class.

A compromise is your best option. If they miss a very small portion of the class assignments, less than a few percentage points, perhaps just drop those grades from their average. If they miss a larger amount of work, consider allowing them to complete those assignments (or similar ones that cover the same material) for some amount of credit.
Anecdotally, when I was taking classes, most of the instructors with large class sizes (often the physics and mathematics courses, which are required for many majors and where there were sometimes 100+ students per instructor) had just such an alternate version of each homework assignment planned out in advance for just the occasion of students missing work due to circumstances outside of their control (late add, emergency travel, etc)

It's not fair to allow new students to add a class but then penalize their grades; you need to give late adds a reasonable chance to make up the work that they have missed. (In addition, this will let them catch up on learning that they have missed.)
Another answer suggested that students should do the work speculatively while waiting to be formally added to the class, but this may not be feasible:  if I'm on the waiting list for 9 different classes I'm not going to do 9 different assignments just in case. (This is especially problematical if I'm on the wait list for multiple classes in the same time slot -- I can't even sit in on all of them.)
If there is critical work that students will have missed if they add the class at the deadline then ask the university for an exception to the late add policy, and be prepared to have your request denied.

If you're on the waiting list for nine classes, it sounds like you've got other problems.

@PhilipSchiff at a large university it would not be uncommon for a student who wanted to take a popular class to get on the waiting list for every section that fit in their schedule, or for a student to get on a waiting list for a variety of classes that meet a particular graduation requirement.  (This is not always just a matter of poor planning, either -- when I was in school there were  required classes in my major that filled up the day that registration opened.)


text:
What do I need to include in a tenure-track assistant professor job application cover letter?
I am currently applying for tenure-track assistant professor jobs.
One of the positions requires me to submit a cover letter,
in addition to a CV, research statement, and teaching statement.
(The application is online)
I am thinking of writing the following:

October 1, 2014
Dear faculty committee
I wish to apply for the faculty position
  in the Department of Mathematics
  at Stanford University.
  Currently, I am a postdoctoral fellow at
  the University of California at Berkeley
  in the Department of Mathematics
  under the supervision of Dr. James Moriarty.
Enclosed are my curriculum vitae, teaching and research statements,
  and two research papers.
  Please do not hesitate to contact me if further information is needed.
Yours truly,
  John Watson
  Department of Mathematics
  University of California at Berkeley
  123 4th Street, Box 5678
  Berkeley, CA 12345-6789
  (123) 456-7890

What is the purpose of the cover letter?
Is it just to indicate what are the documents included in the application?
I ask this because most of the other positions for which I am applying
don't require a cover letter.
Should I include a brief summary of my research interests and teaching experience, one paragraph each, in the cover letter?

Edit:
In reality, I am not in the field of mathematics,
nor am I a postdoctoral fellow at Berkeley.
The details in my cover letter are fictitious
and meant only to illustrate the structure of the cover letter
which I will write.

My sense is that cover letters have more impact for applications at smaller schools. I think the idea is to show that you are actively interested in the job posting (as opposed to just clicking a button). My guess is that if you sent that letter to a small teaching school in The Middle of Nowhere, USA, your application might be treated as spam.

You mentioned that "most of the other positions for which I am applying don't require a cover letter" - I would argue that this is just not explicitly mentioned in these other job openings, because it is always clear that you have to write a convincing/informative cover letter if you apply anywhere! (You might want to take my advice with a grain of salt, though, as this might depend on the country, but this is my experience as someone who has written applications and has been part of hiring committees.)

I'm a mathematician, and I was at Berkeley. I wrote a cover letter similar to yours and got exactly one interview that year (it was 2010, but still). The only reason I got that interview was because a member of the committee thought very highly of one of my letter writers.
I would suggest you write brief paragraphs regarding teaching and research, and order these paragraphs depending on how you gauge the focus of the department.
I would take this as a basic template for the cover letter you are going to write. As you get ready to apply to a school, you should try to learn as much as you can about the department. Is there someone there you would like to collaborate with? Do they offer any courses you would really like to teach? Do they offer an REU that you could contribute to? You might also morph your research paragraph into a "student research" paragraph if that is what they are looking for.
Many of these departments won't look at the letter at all, but you don't know which. For the ones that do value it, you want to show them that you understand what they are doing and want to be a part of it.

What an interesting coincidence! As I clarified in my edit to my question, I am not a mathematician, nor am I at Berkeley.

It is not clear to me that the number of interviews you got necessarily has anything to do with the way your cover letter looked.

Well sure, there was a lot going on that year. However, of the jobs that didn't get halted I'm pretty sure that some disregarded my application on  the grounds that I showed no actual interest in the specific position.

I'll be honest about when I read packages (in chemistry). The first thing I look at is the CV. I also skim the cover letter. Then I read the recommendation letters and the research and teaching statements. Depending on the CV and recommendation letters, I may take more or less time on the research/teaching statements - if the candidate seems promising, I'm more thorough.
But if the cover letter is short, not tailored at least some to our department, contains obvious typos, etc. I'll get a bad impression.
Look, anyone applying to a tenure-track position has taken a lot of time to get to this point. You've secured a PhD, possibly gone through a postdoc position, and prepared the whole application.
Why spoil it with a lousy cover letter. Take some time, think up a paragraph or two about a particular department, consider what you might add, and let us know.
This tells me that the candidate is not just blindly sending out a gazillion applications.
I doubt everyone completely rewrites their cover letters for each application (I didn't). But I do want to see that someone has taken the time to carefully craft a paragraph or three about us and how they might fit.
Will we interview someone who seems stellar with a poor cover letter? Probably. But we also get ~100 applications for every opening, so why would you risk it?

In my field, which is not mathematics, a cover letter is a critical component of the job application. I feel like I have seen questions/answers on AC.SE that suggest in some fields the cover letter is less important. In general, in my field research statements, while specific in what the research goals are, are generally not tailored to an individual department. The same goes for teaching statements. My field is interdisciplinary and if you are applying for a position in a medical school you may use a different research/teaching statement than if you are applying for a position in an engineering school or a science school, but for any given type of department/school you would likely use the same research and teaching statements. You might tailor a small portion of them to demonstrate how you would fit into a specific department and the university as a whole, but you would not write new statements for each department. The cover letter on the other hand is where you explain how you fit into the department and university and is essentially rewritten for every application.

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text:
I am willing to apply for advertised PhD position in Sweden. Whom should I address my cover letter?
I am willing to apply for advertised PHD position in Sweden. In the instructions to apply they have mentioned about the required documents which include CV, cover letter, transcripts. I have two questions regarding this

They have not asked for a separate statement of purpose (SOP). So, should i include my motivation and research interest in the cover letter?
Whom should i address my cover letter? to the professor who have given this advertisement or to the department or admission office?

Officially, in Sweden, it's normally the department that hires students. In practice, it's likely going to be the professor that acquired the funding who is going to evaluate candidates and make a decision. Even more in practice, your average Swedish professor won't care the least bit who you address in the letter.
If you feel you need to put in a name, put in the name of the hiring professor. If you get it wrong, it likely won't matter in the least.

The letter should be addressed to whomever posted the call for applications. I don't know precisely how things work in Sweden, but in some places (and fields) admission is through a professor who hires you. This may be the case if they posted the advertisement.
And yes, the information that you would normally put in a SoP needs to be included somewhere and the cover letter may be your only opportunity. Alternatively, the application system, such as it is, may permit additional documents than those required. But, somewhere you need to talk about your goals, both for the degree and thereafter.

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text:
Should I accept the job offers before having the results for my grad schoold admissions?
I currently have a bit of a conundrum - I would like to do a Masters right after undergrad and am currently applying to programs. However, I have several job offers. In case I do not get into the programs I want, should I accept the offer now? I'm not quite sure how to handle the situation.

I think you're in the wrong place - https://workplace.stackexchange.com/

Are the jobs and Master's programs in the same city? Many graduate programs are designed around the idea that many participants have 9-5 jobs. It may be possible to do work towards a Master's while employed. If you think that would be too difficult,  you might be able to ask your employer whether you can drop down to part-time status. Another option is to look into delaying the start of the Master's program for a semester or two, so you're not leaving the job right after starting.

I'm not quite sure how to handle the situation.

I'd ask myself the following question: What would you rather happen?

You start working somewhere, then get accepted to a Master's program and can't go because you're committed to your workplace.
You start working somewhere, then get accepted to a Master's program and you completely burn your bridges by bailing on your workplace a few months into the employment.
You start a Master's and miss out on working for those places you were interested in - at least for a few years.

Which can you live with better? Make the choice.
Note, however, that:

Working somewhere usually helps you focus your research interests.
You're going to refuse all of your job offers, minus the one you accept, anyway.
Those same workplaces might be interested in you after your Master's - which is not all that far away, despite how it may seem right now.
When you're in a Master's program, you might be just studying, but if you do meaningful research, you might actually think of this as a kind of employment: A very junior researcher / research assistant, and possibly also a teaching assistant.

This is all assuming you can't combine the Master's and a paid position like  @accumulation suggested.

I don't think you should accept a job knowing you intend to back out if you get accepted to a master's program.  I'm sure people do it, but it's not something I would do.
I would be more forthright.  I would tell the recruiters at the companies that have made offers that you're considering doing a master's first and ask if they'd be willing to hold the offer while you do that.  Either way, you'd like more time to decide.
If they liked you with a bachelor's, they'll like you even more with a master's.  Depending on the size and culture of the company and your own attractiveness as a candidate, there's a good chance they'll give you time to decide and hold the offer if you decide to do the master's.  Or they may have an even better suggestion.  Worst case, the response deadlines they've given you are still the deadlines and your situation is unchanged.

And, you may get an offer to pay for your master's while you work; I did.  The master's degree will take longer if you're working at the same time, but you'll finish, and you'll have a job when you are finished.

In germany we have contracts that usually start with a 6 month trial. Meaning that you and the company can terminate the contract within 1 or 2 weeks in that time period...I don't know which country you are in and which regulations you have. But if you have similiar conditions, I would do the following:
If you think there is a chance you get not into the programs you want, accept the job offers.
If you get into the program you want, terminate the contract and say you decided to do your masters(I saw something similiar several times already).
But keep in mind when you leave the company you should always go with good terms, you could even tell them that you will apply again after you have your masters. I think leaving because you want a higher education is a very good reason and no one can blame you for leaving.

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text:
Can I ask a reference letter from my Operating Systems professor while applying to Machine Learning programme?
I am going to apply for a Computer Science master's programme in the field of Machine Learning or data science, but I asked a professor who taught me a different subject (Operating Systems) for a reference letter. Does it matter since these are two different subjects?

Can you clarify these acronyms? Specifically, what is OS?

@Florian possibly Operating Systems?

I don't think operating systems is a "different field" from machine learning; both are subfields of computer science.  A different field would be something like mathematics or chemistry.  (Even with this interpretation, the short answer to the title question is "Yes".)

This sounds like splitting hairs to me. For 2 of the 4 graduate programs I applied to in Fall 1980, I used 4 references --- 2 in mathematics, 1 in physics, 1 in chemistry. (I got accepted to all 4 programs.)

A good recommendation is one that highlights your potential as a researcher and your related technical and interpersonal skills. If the mentioned professor knows you and can vouch for your potential in these areas, the recommendation will be beneficial. Recommendations are not focused on what courses the professor teaches. A good recommendation can even come from a non-CS professor (but preferably in a related field like EE) whom you have worked with and knows you personally.


text:
Counting the the number of publications citing all of a given set of publications
I would like to specify a list of publications and find out which articles cited the ones in my list.
Is there such tool?

I don't think there is one universal "the citation graph". Which dataset are you considering working on?

You could probably use Europe PMC API for that. It would be limited to biomedical publications though. Using this module you should be able to construct your query and find intersection programmatically. Alternatively you can combine the queries on the website using Boolean logic, e.g. here is a search for a paper citing three particular publications.
Disclaimer: I work for Europe PMC


text:
Graduate Fellowship: Who to ask recommendations from
I am a first-semester master's student in my field of study and I have a question about applying for funding/fellowship opportunities.
I need two recommendation letters from professors for a fellowship that I am interested in right now, which is a foreign language-related one.
I only took the general courses that are needed to satify the mandatory course requirements for my major.
I lacked enthusiasm in most of my courses that I took this semester, which led me to be not too close with my professors.
Should I ask professors who taught me for a semester for a recommendation letter? ALso, is it okay to ask a professor that will teach me next semester?
My spring semester begins on January 17th, and the fellowship application deadline is February 1st.

Recommendations are only helpful when they come from people that know you well. In particular, your letter writers should be able to give an informed opinion on how you meet whatever selection criteria are relevant for the fellowship, for example they should be able to comment on your academic achievements and potential. Teachers with whom you have not interacted yet, but will only do so in the near future, will not be able to do that, and will likely decline to write a letter of recommendation.
Of course you certainly would not want a bad letter. I would therefore to suggest to specifically ask your letter writers if they will be able to write a strong letter of recommendation. If they think they won't be able to do that, they will hopefully tell you to ask someone else, instead of writing a bad letter.


text:
What happens if the speaker dies on the way to the conference?
Suppose that two collaborators sent a paper to a conference which was very far away (say, from US to Australia). After the paper was accepted, one of the authors took the flight to the venue, and died on the way.
Conferences generally require someone to present their work for their paper to appear in proceedings. However, in this situation, it is nobody's fault.
Is there a rule or a specific implementation for such cases?

I'm really inclined to close this as "too specific". The number of times this has happened is probably incredibly small.

Who do you think would set those rules? There is no "World Organization of Conferences", so no general rules exist. Now conference organizers are not out there to "get you". So as long as there is no bad intend (you don't have to die for that, getting the common flu is enough) I suspect that by far the most conferences would be accomodating.

@eykanal what if we replaced dieing with getting the flu? I suspect that each medium to large conference would have multiple cases of that.

@MaartenBuis - That's probably a much better question, to be honest. Now I want to edit it :)  Ah well, at least the accepted answer addresses this as well.

Parkinson's law of triviality reeks in this fourm.

I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because this is a very specific scenario and occurrence of which seems unlikely.

What are you planning OP?

@echo - Sounds like we need to spend time whether this is bikeshedding or yak shaving.

Weekend At Bernie's style fun, obviously.

I remember reading that a mathematician proposed to present the solution to the Fermat's conjecture (I think it is solved now?) but ended up presenting something else. When asked about that he said that, should the place crash and he dies, he would be known as the one who solved the last theorem. It does not help to answer the question but makes a great story at a party.

In essence, a speaker who dies on the way to the conference is no different from a speaker who has to cancel because of a reason other than death, like a family emergency, illness, injury, logistical problem,... and there are already articles on this subject.
I am going to quote relevant parts here from https://www.mpiweb.org/blog/article/4-ways-to-handle-event-speaker-no-shows because this is effectively what you're faced with: a no-show.

Always have a “Plan B.”

When planning your event, create a list of speakers you have worked with in the past and keep their contact information in your event file. When you have an existing relationship with a speaker they will usually be very willing to jump in to help you if their schedule is open. Keep in mind the geography of where your event will be held and make the list accordingly based on where speakers live. When interviewing speakers to hire for your conference, ask them about their plans in case of an emergency. While you never want to get that call from your speaker saying they are too ill to speak to your audience, if they have already found a fantastic solution it will make your day much better. (Speakers who are members of the National Speakers Association can tap into this network no matter where in the world they are scheduled to speak.) A few years back I received a call from a speaker who was scheduled to present at a conference in my hometown who had a bad case of food poisoning. There was no way he could go on stage, but he remembered I lived in Austin, Texas. Since I was available the speaker had a possible solution before the organizer even knew there was an issue.

Look to your event agenda

A multi-day industry event will have a full docket of speakers who will already be present at your conference. Look to see whose program could be upgraded from a breakout to a keynote. If it is a breakout session you need to fill, see if the keynote speaker has additional content that can be delivered as a “booster shot” for those who might want more from his or her main stage program (some speakers will charge you for the extra presentation, but most will be happy to step in and help you out in your time of need). A friend of mine who was scheduled as the opening keynote speaker at an event was recently asked a week ahead time to stay for two days and also deliver the closing keynote because the final speaker had a family emergency. Problem solved, and they created consistency in the opening and closing bookend presentations.

Create an interactive expert panel

Your audience is full of brilliant people. Select two or three topical questions that are cutting-edge and involve timely issues within your industry. Enlist your master of ceremonies or a leader in your organization to be the facilitator and explain openly and honestly about how the speaker could not be there. Proclaim this to be a fantastic and unique opportunity to crowd source knowledge and best practices. Have a panel of two or three people talk about the issues and allow the attendees in the crowd to share their input. Make the audience the heroes and have a high-level, interactive discussion.

Make it a networking opportunity

Turn the speaker-less session into a “Networking Speed-Dating Bonanza” by encouraging people to make more contacts. A main reason people attend live events is for the networking opportunities, and most meeting organizers admit that no matter how much time they schedule for people to mingle, people often want more chances to meet others on site. Make this space in your agenda a facilitated experience to foster powerful connections. Do not be timid or overly apologetic in explaining the changes to the agenda. Leadership by the meeting organizers is paramount to success in a situation where you need to adjust your program on the fly. Confidently communicate to the attendees that the keynote speaker canceled, and be honest about the reason. Let them know that with their support and participation the meeting will still have an equal or greater impact than was planned.

Beyond the issue of dealing with the no-show itself, there are also some other things specific to the situation of a death. Academia usually is a pretty tight community, so there are bound to be other people at the conference who know the deceased in some way.

It is probably a good idea to start the time slot of their presentation with a moment of silence.
If multiple people died (as happened in the XX International Aids conference in 2014 after MH17 was shot down), a candlelight vigil or other memorial event can be appropriate, as well as dedicating part of the opening ceremony to honor those that died. Both of these things were done by the aforementioned conference.
You may want to give those stricken with grief a way to deal with that grief, like providing grief counseling to whoever needs it.
Provide condolence books onsite for those who wish to dedicate a few words to the dead. After the conference, send these books to the relatives of the deceased along with whatever else is appropriate for the culture of the deceased (usually flowers, but this may vary).
If the payment for the presentation hadn't yet been delivered to the deceased before his death, it's usually appreciated by the family to donate this to a charity. An obituary for the deceased may mention which charity, but if that's not the case, a charity related to the conference subject is probably the most appropriate.

While this answer is generally informative, it is not really an answer of the question. The OP did not ask what an appropriate reaction could be, but if there is a general rule.

@J.FabianMeier The user posted 2 separate questions: 1) what happens if a speaker dies; 2) is there a rule for when speakers die? Since question 2 has the answer "no such general rule exists", I answered question 1.

I think, the question was "my coauthor won't give the talk because he died on the way to conference, will our article get included in the proceedings?"

It is up to the conference committee to decide in exceptional circumstances. This is probably all that can be said about this.

Maybe someone who has faced a similar situation might say more, though.

there was some flight with Dutch academics, that went to conference in Australia, plane was shot above Ukraine. Does anyone know what happend with it? @padawan

Still, any conference might decide different on this. But actually, it is not fundamentally different from any other incident that prevents you from taking part, like illness, Eyjafjallajökull, ...

"Rules are for the guidance of wise men and the obedience of fools" - there are always exceptions...

This only matters in CS where conference proceedings are prestigious, so examples from other fields aren’t going to be relevant.

There are conferences where the organizers would try to find somebody who is remotely familiar with the paper (e.g., a close colleague of the author or one the reviewers of the paper) and ask him to give a talk on behalf of the author. BTDT.

In my experience, it is more important for the organizers that at least one author of every paper registers for the conference and pays the registration fee. Of course, it is expected that at least one author also comes to present the paper, but it is not always possible, due to personal accidents, visa issues, etc. Also, I think conference proceedings are published before the conference, and I don't think it is possible to remove a paper, when during or just before the conference it turns out that none of the authors can attend.

So you're saying that as long as someone pays the registration fee, the organizers don't care what happens at the conference?

There are all kinds of conferences, some publish before, some after, some even allow you to submit your paper after you have held your presentation.

That's definitely not the case for AIAA, which has a "No paper, no podium and no podium, no paper" policy. They definitely take the paper offline if somebody doesn't show up to present it. So your answer is certainly not universally true.

@tpg2114 Then, this confirms J. Fabian Meier's answer that everything depends on conference organizers. But personally, I was more familiar with the situation where conference organizers and proceedings publisher are different bodies (e.g., many CS conferences publish proceedings in Springer's LNCS). In this case, after some point the orgs aren't supposed to have control over the proceedings volume, and this point seems to happen before the conference date. At least, all parts of the process that are visible to the authors do: copyright transfer, accepting the publisher's version, etc.

The "no podium" applies if you believe the speaker never intended to appear.  If they die en route, clearly it's exceptional circumstances and will be forgiven.  If they get the flu, it's a bit harder, since of course they can "claim" to get the flu without ever really planning to go.  One thing conferences can do is to make sure the same person or institution isn't always conveniently unavailable.


text:
If a postdoc is interested to apply for a future professorship in his/her current institution. What should she/he do in the postdoc research period?
Based on the discussion in a previous question
Apply for assistant/associate professor at same institution as postdoc?
If someone is interested to apply for a future assistant/associate professorship in the same institution where one is currently working as a postdoc/research scientist. What one should do in his early stages of postdoc research to build independent scientific contribution so that the institution of interest would like to include him/her in its faculty members?

What country is the institution in?

Say it is a US research major university.

What one should do is no different than what one should do to get a professorship anywhere else: do the best work one can, hope for the best, and (as explained in the question you linked to) assume this is most likely not going to happen. This question is essentially a duplicate.

Thanks for your comment. Actually my question is an extension to the previously mentioned one. My core question here is how to develop an independent research that can be distinguished from the posdoc mentor main work. So, it will be possible to have a new contribution when applying for assistant professor position in the future.

@DanRomik if your eventual job search is limited to the current university, then your strategy should be different.

@Wind yes I understand what you're trying to achieve, and I wish you the best of luck, but the "new contribution" aspect is largely irrelevant. If you do sufficiently good work, and are lucky enough to have the stars align in your favor in several other ways, you will be hired by the postdoc school; in the other 98-99% of cases, sadly that won't happen. There is no particular winning strategy that will increase your odds any more than the obvious strategy of doing the best work you can. That's my opinion based on my experience. If StrongBad or others disagree, I'm happy to hear their thoughts.

@DanRomik I disagree.  I have heard of two cases where internal faculty hires faced difficulty because their work was too similar to the work of the professor who was previously their supervisor.  In one case, the internal hire was denied tenure.  In the other case, the supervisor was promoted to administration.

@AnonymousPhysicist Indeed, duplication of research area has prevented us from hiring many good candidates, including at least one former postdoc that I can think of now.  Maybe the OP wants to focus the question on this aspect, and say what field they are in and how much overlap there is with their current supervisor.  (It's much easier to do different research from your mentor in math, say, than in some lab science.)

So, in case of an engineering postdoc using computational approaches for certain practical applications, how is it likely that she/he can conduct a research project distinguished from the main work of his mentor (either by using similar techniques for different applications, or by using different techniques/methods for the same applications), so he/she can try to avoid the duplication issue?

Even if you have done the best you can, if there are no openings for a new faculty at the end of your postdoc, you will have to apply elsewhere. I think it is more likely for a postdoc to stay as a postdoc at the same university than for a postdoc to progress the ranks at the same university.

I could write a book about this, as I'm sure many faculty members could! My answer involves two major points: political reconnaissance and becoming intellectually self-assured.
First, I suggest you make some good acquaintances in the faculty beyond your PI and get an honest opinion on what it might take to be able to join it. The comments to your question about duplication are potentially valid, IMO, but the degree to which it matters or the precise interpretation is going to depend on the personalities involved, the political climate in your institution, and the tenure/promotion manual of the department/college/university.
Of course, you just can't show up to the bar one evening and ask people point-blank after a couple of drinks :) You need to genuinely show interest in the direction and health of the department over an extended period of time, and possibly get more involved in departmental decision making, administration, or teaching. Diplomacy and politicking is key here.
Even if you don't get to formally ask some questions, thinking about them can help you detect subtle signs of their answers in the communications between faculty. E.g., Is there a prevailing mood that your PI's research area is popular among the faculty? Is it an area that the department even wants to expand? Do they even expect to be hiring anyone in the next 2-3 years? Is your PI going to be your champion and partner (you'll probably need that!) or is he/she going to perceive your presence as a colleague to be a source of departmental competition for lab space, students, money, attention, etc. I've known some PIs manipulate and exploit their post-docs so that they essentially become trapped in their position as essentially cheap technical labor (your experience with the PIs work is very valuable to them). There is usually a lot more going on privately that will affect the eventual decision to hire anyone new. Use the chance to reconnoiter and make alliances to your advantage while you are this close to the action. It may become clear that it will be much better for you to make a clean break, and you might get a stronger recommendation from your PI as a result.
Second, you have to plan early with your PI to show off your contributions above and beyond what the PI has done in establishing this particular line of research. If, between that and chats with other friends or colleagues, you can't figure out what you are or will be doing in the very near future that distinguishes your creative input and future personal direction as independent, then you won't be successful in communicating that in your writing or presentation to hirers.
IMO, your PhD study was supposed to be the time where you figured out a line of independent thought that you take forward during post-doc work. You should be dedicating time to develop those ideas into plans for projects over the next decade or more. You should use that to (diplomatically and respectfully) push your own agenda: you must stake out your space in your work and your perception in your community. Anything less and you are frankly setting yourself up for being labeled (fairly or unfairly) as not "faculty material". Gossip works the same in academia as it does in any walk of life, don't be fooled by the intellectualism.
If your PI is dominating your direction of work then get some side projects going of your own (even secretly), but discuss with your PI how to get more involved in the planning before it's too late! You won't last a minute in faculty-level academia without being assertive and developing healthy skills of persuasion. Fakers will be called out quickly, so get ready to defend your plans.
In any case, don't get your hopes up for staying on at the same institution. An academic career path is already extremely tough to succeed in without restricting your future options like this. I know first-hand how it is hard to imagine leaving a place you know and like but there are usually other good opportunities out there that you'll need to better appreciate. Stay brave and open-minded.


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How has the application review process for NSF graduate fellowships changed?
I was looking for some information on the site that might help for applications to the GRFP.  I found JeffE's answer to an old question extremely useful.  However, I noticed that some of the advice he gives appears to be somewhat outdated.  For example, the answer claims that it is a very bad idea to provide more than 3 recommendations, since any extra recommendations will be ignored.  However, the NSF site now states:

Applicants are required to submit three reference letters. There are five slots available for applicants to list reference writers. Applicants are strongly encouraged to utilize all available slots.

Have there been any other changes to the application criteria in the last few years that might invalidate any of the points in the old answer? Is there anything new to consider?

Great question! I don't know the answer, but I'm keeping an eye on this.

One major change on the review side is that the GRFP reviewers no longer meet physically; rather, applications are distributed electronically to reviewers, and reviewers are given a few weeks (about a month?) to complete their reviews.  In principle, the change allows for more thoughtful reviews of each application; in practice, I have my doubts.

First off, as a single data point, I was awarded the GRFP this year with only three reference letters.

Each application consists of the following components: a 2-page personal statement; a 2-page description of past research; a 2-page description of proposed future research

Currently, the GRFP requires a 2-page Graduate Research Plan Statement, and a 3-page Personal, Relevant Background and Future Goals Statement. This latter essay combines and shortens the previously required 2-page essays.
That's the only thing in JeffE's post that is obviously no longer true.

I believe they strongly encourage you to fill all 5 slots so that you don't get stuck in the situation where one of your 3 references fails to submit your letter by the deadline. If only 2 letters are submitted then your application is incomplete and thrown away. By filling all 5 slots, you are hedging your bets in case this happens.
To my knowledge, they still only actually look at 3 in the review process.

If this is actually true, a huge amount of professor-hours are being wasted writing letters that will never be looked at.

And it's a huge amount of additional worry for students too, developing significant relationships with three professors it's hard enough, let alone five.

I didn't say it was a great recommendation...


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Electronics Engineer Doing a Bachelor Thesis in Physics
I am an electronics engineering undergrad currently choosing a topic for my bachelor thesis.
I  have always been interested in physics in general, and in quantum mechanics in particular. To make sure my attraction to quantum mechanics wasn't merely that of a layman reading about the cool properties of the quantum world, I studied as much textbook quantum mechanics as I could lay my hands on. I audited online courses offered by MIT and Stanford in addition to the studying I did from the best undergraduate textbook out there. And I was doing that parallel to my university engineering work.
Now I have the opportunity to apply for a bachelor thesis at a prestigious german university in the topic of Quantum Dot Qubits, which is, as you might have deduced from the name, a quantum mechanical topic.
But because physics is not my major, I had doubts about whether I am qualified to apply, so I looked at the university's undergrad physics curriculum and, not surprisingly, the Quantum Mechanics courses included titles that I know of but did not have the chance to delve deeply into. But I am quite confident (with a hope that I am not overestimating my abilities) that I can catch up to whatever I am lacking (which is not a lot - pretty much little chunks here and there) pretty quickly.
For the past couple of days I have been deciding back and forth on whether I should apply, with my leash being that ,whatever I have studied, I don't have as much experience as the physics students (I did not solve as much problems) to carry out the highly physical research that would be assigned to me. But I saw this post and this post, and after reading that "Bachelor theses are closer to literature reviews" I think my decision is going to be to apply after all and acquire the chunks of knowledge I am missing on the go. Would that decision be wise?
EDIT (Jan. 23, 2017): 5 months ago, I successfully completed my bachelor's thesis in the field of quantum information, and I got the top grade. I am currently applying for grad studies in the same research area.

There are two major issues here: on the one hand there is learning and mastering a topic, on the other hand there is writing a thesis merely.
For the former: quantum mechanics is a very delicate subject that requires a deep understanding of classical physics and analytical mechanics, not to mention mathematical methods as theory of operators on Hilbert spaces and differential equations. Learning quantum mechanics is also about understanding quantum mechanics: it is already difficult for people in the field and it will especially be for whom is from the outside. Moreover, there are different sub-topics areas that you may be involved in, and they may differ from what you have read around (quantum mechanics is not what people think it is).
You will certainly finish writing your thesis successfully, but that does not mean you will have majored and understood the topic well enough to continue doing research about it. A thesis on quantum mechanics is useful if you want to continue investigating the subject in your further career (as, for example, trying to switch to a master's degree in a more related physics area, like nuclear or solid matter physics, or even theoretical physics). Most depends on what you are planning to do afterwards. If you will continue on the engineering side it is advisable to work on a topic that will get you a job as engineer, eventually, otherwise you are going to end up with a science salad without being expert in either field, neither physics nor electronics, since you could have invested your bachelor thesis time otherwise.
This said, do apply for it. It is always good to at least have the possibility to decide, rather than regretting not to have applied; in addition, always go for whatever makes you feel passionate.

There are two dangers here.  One is that you might feel deflated if you aren't accepted.  The other is that you might spend too much time on the application.
If you can apply without letting yourself get carried away, then I agree, there's nothing wrong with applying to something that is a bit of a stretch.

Edited to add:
Oh.  Thanks for explaining.  Well, in that case, I will describe a possible course of action for you.  It is called, in the vernacular, "get 'er done."  In this scenario, you finish up the Bachelor's in a fairly efficient way, by sticking with your original focus, leaving yourself free to steer your studies in a slightly different direction, if desired, following graduation.
I don't think you would find yourself locked into sticking with your Bachelor's thesis topic area forever.
Perhaps you would enjoy doing some formal coursework in quantum stuff while you are finishing up your Bachelor's.  That would help you fill in any small gaps you might have from the self-study approach, and also allay any lingering self-doubt you might have from having done the autodidactic thing.
Another thing you might want to work on concurrently with finishing your Bachelor's would be to do some networking with some quantum people, so as to make it easier to veer that way after finishing the Bachelor's.
In other words, maybe it would be less messy if you finish baking the cake, or at least get it in the oven, before starting to mix up a batch of cookies.

I am actually a little worried of a third danger: not being able to excel compared to if I did the thesis on something closer to what I am already studying.

I'd say check carefully that you have the requisite knowledge (or can get it easily) and apply. Worst that can happen is that you are turned down. Don't limit yourself, let others do the limiting if need be.


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Is it an ethical issue if about half of a subsection of a paper consists of quotations?
I wrote a lengthy mathematics paper that consists of about 8 sections.
For comprehensiveness and consistency purposes, I have a subsection that massively quotes one of my supervisor's papers (there is no other paper in existence that covers that subtopic in the same detail, I tried to preserve the original rigor and formulations, and that paper is simply brilliant). I stated what is being done at beginning of the subsection, and everything is properly referenced.
About half of the subsection is citations, and about half of it is my own text.
The supervisor was extremely happy with the paper, and I got great feedback from the faculty.
However, I'm a bit embarrassed by the massive citations in the subsection, and I am concerned that there may be an ethical issue with that. Normally, I don't  quote any text in my papers (although of course I use references) -- the entire text is my own.
I would appreciate your opinion on this issue.

@Roland I heard something to the effect that even if quotations are properly referenced, if there are too many of them, the work is considered unoriginal. Even though in this paper, it is confined to one subsection, I am not comfortable with that for this reason. I think there is a reason why people don't usually do what I've done.

I don't think there is any issue with this, but do you actually need all of those quotations? Is it not possible to just bring up the conclusion of the paper and refer the reader to your advisor's paper for derivation, etc.?

@Hadi The purpose of that paper was to be a comprehensive and consistent-in-detail introduction to the entire topic, including earlier results, advisor's results (his are the only ones that are difficult to even reword), other results, and my own results. If I left out the quotations, there would be a big gaping hole in that sense. I quoted the theorems and propositions and referred the reader to the advisor's paper for derivation (maybe that doesn't really count as quotations, but I considered them as quotations to be safe).

With a proper citation,
and if the total content of the paper has enough substance that is original,
and the supervisor/advisor is happy with it,
and the other faculty are too,
then it is fine.


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What are the most efficient ways of establishing a track record in a different field of research?
I am interested in expanding my areas of research to a somewhat unrelated field, where less than half of my current competences would be directly applicable. To start collaborating with other researchers in a field, it is necessary to have some experience, and ideally, to have some papers published in that field.
One suggestion that I got when discussing this question with a colleague was to try replicating existing results from a paper, but with a sufficiently different approach to be able to publish a paper with these replicated results.
However, when I was entering my current fields of research, I was not replicating the results of others; in several cases, my research was really novel despite me being just a beginner at that time. But, I had the advantage of being a PhD student with an advisor; now just getting an advisor in the additional field does not seem to be a practicable option (maybe I'm wrong about that).
So, merely trying to replicate the results of others to establish a track record in an additional field of research seems to be somewhat suboptimal to me. Are there any better approaches that I could consider?
For context, I am currently a senior postdoc and work at the intersection of several STEM fields. My research topics are already quite diverse, but the additional field of research that I am considering would be an outlier in terms of similarity.

Are there nearby (or zoomable) seminars in the field you want to enter? If so, start attending them, partly to see what sort of work is being done, partly to become known to people in the area, and partly to notice gaps that you might be able to fill with some research of your own.

The search for the "most efficient" approach is going to be fruitless. It is seeking the "perfect" when the "good" is enough and will waste less effort. As in many things, the perfect is the enemy of the good.
But you already noticed that you worked better when you had an advisor who you could bump ideas against.
I suggest that you find a way to attach yourself to some working group in the new field of interest. Perhaps you can start one yourself. Perhaps you can find a few people locally or at a conference that draws a lot of researchers. Perhaps your advisor already has a core group that can help you if you can join them in some way. Perhaps a senior faculty member where you are has people in their circle.
Get yourself into a long-term conversation with a group. Bounce ideas off of them. Collaborate on various ideas of theirs or yours. Perhaps you can get a few joint papers. Perhaps you can speak at a conference on the developing ideas. Perhaps you can expand the circle of interest.

As well as the excellent answer by Buffy, find a collaborator who is in that field already and has a different set of skills. You say that you do have relevant competencies, so you can probably find someone in the field who is missing some of those (or has a project that needs more time than they have available).


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Is the HAL-id shown on a paper awaiting moderation definitive?
I deposited a paper on HAL-archive yesterday, and it's now "awaiting moderation", so it's not online yet. It has an assigned HAL-id. I am writing an application that will expire before the HAL deposit is made online, and I need to cite this paper.
Is the ID I'm seeing now definitive? That is, will this id be the same when the paper is made online? Also, the link to the article is the same?
Note By HAL id, I mean the resource identifier. Here's an example of a paper that is now online (from https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-03461780v1):

After waiting a few days, I can confirm that the id shown while the deposit was "awaiting moderation", is the same as the final one when the paper is public.


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How to work authorship of software developed with another University
I am supervising a PhD student, enrolled at another University, where the co-supervisor is employed. We developed some useful software in her thesis and published 3 papers. In this development another member from the other university also participated. Now she will defend her thesis and leave, and it is not clear yet whether they will be interested in further development of this software.
I am really interested in this and I am the only one who knows how to use it in different contexts so I can foresee that I could get 30 publications with this tool in the next 5 years. I have the feeling (and I could obviously be wrong) that since the PhD student will leave, the colleagues from the other University will not work anymore on improving the software. But if I get new publications with the software, they have the right to be included as co-authors on all the papers even if they do not anything at all.
We are friends and we work together very well, but I think this is unfair. And I do not know how to present this situation to them. If I tell them exactly like this I feel they will get upset. So I am lost and I do not know what do here. Most optimal situation I can think is that on each new paper, tell them that I need to add some minor features to the paper (so that we work) and then I can feel they have the rights to be co authors of the paper. Are there better ways to handle this? I feel that we should have settled everything from the beginning, but it is now when I realize about this.

I don't see the problem here as one of co-authorship, but one of potential plagiarism. That is easy to avoid with proper citation. But it depends, also, on what you intend to do in the papers.
In a similar case, suppose you found the software and the original papers online or elsewhere and you do some derived work. The originals were done by people who are strangers to you. You cite the original and acknowledge the people who form the foundation. But you don't have to invite the strangers to be co-authors. I don't necessarily see a difference here.
If they don't participate in the new work they aren't co-authors of it.
But, it might be worth some effort to try to convince them to participate fully and, thus, become co-authors.
It would be a different case if you were re-writing the original papers.
As for the software, you have to be sure that you have an appropriate license to extend it. If you haven't ceded ownership to someone else, then you have joint ownership among the three(?) of you. Get their written permission to extend it, and list everyone as co-authors (co-creators) of the software. But the software and its use are separate things. If you find novel uses of the software without the help of the others, they aren't co-authors of the resulting papers.

when you say "If you find novel uses of the software without the help of the others, they aren't co-authors of the resulting papers.", is that your personal opinion or is that something legal or for which you can give some references? if this is written in law, that would for sure save me

Actually, the "law" would work the other way. Laws don't "permit" things, but prohibit them. There is civil law about copyright infringement, but part of the very reason for IP law is to encourage extensions for the common good. It is complicated, of course. Euclid (and his heirs) has no claim on your mathematical work, for example.

then, is it there a law that prohibits a former co-author to be new author of a totally new work if he/she was not involved on the new discovery?

No, that is a matter of custom only. But not a good custom in the minds of many academics. But, everyone needs to agree on authorship.

Many fields have rules for deciding who should be an author.
See for example http://www.icmje.org/recommendations/browse/roles-and-responsibilities/defining-the-role-of-authors-and-contributors.html#two for Medicine.
This sets out four criteria which must be met to be an author.
Using those criteria it seems that if your colleagues don’t want to engage further with the software and resulting papers then they won’t meet criteria 2 and 3, and possibly not even 1. They won’t want to be on the hook for criterion 4.
It seems to me you need to find a similar set of criteria which are acknowledged by people working in your discipline and use those to have a conversation with your colleagues.

Is the software published? In that case, you can cite the software every time you use it, giving appropriate credit to the whole past author team. They get the - deserved - citation boost and you have no problems with gifted authorships. Plus, there may be additional people wanting to use it.

@rhialto do something like ICMJE exist regarding authorship but for patents?

@Opentheway no idea - I’ve never had much interest in patents. I’d take a guess that if there are any rules they’d (1) be legal ones and (2) would differ by country - so the best person to ask would be a lawyer.