text:
Possible Grading Discrimination
I took a course, with 2 term exams (20% each) and a final (30%). I achieved close to the highest score on the first term exam, the highest score on the second term exam, and the highest score on the final exam. In all cases, I was significantly above the average score (by >20 points). But I did rather poorly on the assignments, so my final score was 420/600. The average score was 250/600, and the class is graded on a curve.
The Professor gave me a final grade of B, instead of an A, claiming that a different student (caucasian) had a higher pre-final average than me by 40 points. This is possible, due to the assignments, but does not take into account our performances on the final exam, which was very difficult. The other student has not yet taken the final exam due to "external reasons" (so, it's possible no one will get an A in this class). Can I accuse the professor of discrimination, as I feel is the case?
How can I handle this?
Additional details:

The "pre-final" score is a weighted average of Exams and HW
I may have received the highest grade in the class. The student who didn't take the final has not yet received a grade.

something’s not right.  From a comment below you claim to have 420/600, which is 70% for the course.  Yet all exams (on which you did very well) are also worth 70% of the grade, suggesting you did not do well on assignments.  It is entirely possible that another student could have had scores close to yours on the term exams and done really well on the assignment, so this person could easily end up with more than 420 points and therefore ahead of you…

@ZeroTheHero As explained below, said student had a higher HW average, hence the higher pre-final average. However, as he did not take the final, I have explained to the professor that the entire comparison is moot. I am not aware if he received scores close to me on the term exams, but that is indeed a possibility.

@ZeroTheHero Well, I have presented all the facts. There is not much more to add. I will just say that as he has not taken the final, I told the professor that I don't think he should be part of the conversatoin.

so taking this other student out of the discussion: you want an A with 420/600, in a class where the average is 250/600, and in a class where apparently you did very poorly on assignments?

Basically, that’s the gist.

This is pretty confusing; I moved some of the details from the comments into the post. Two more questions: (1) do you know that you got the second-highest grade in the class? Seems strange the professor would only give one A. (2) Was the average grade on the final much lower than that of the midterms? If so, then I can better understand your concern that being allowed to skip the final is an unfair advantage.

Yes, as the average indicates, final was significantly harder than any term exams and the allotted time was 2 hours for 35 problems. As for your first question, the other student (who did not take the final), did not receive a grade yet, according to Professor. So I may have received the highest grade.

I'm not following. Why doesn't the other student have a grade? Do they have to take the final after their "external circumstances" have resolved?

@cag51 Yes, indeed they have to take the final eventually -- they are given up to 4 months to resolve their "external circumstances"

In summary, I think you should file a grievance with the department. I assume that your professor is tenured, so the likely outcome is that he will receive some feedback / counceling on how to do his job better in the future.
Now the gory details..
I don't like grading on a curve. I think it's inappropriate for most classes. If the same material is taught every semester, but in some semester the students are so strong that almost everyone deserves an A, but in some other semester the students are so weak that almost no one deserves an A - so be it. Grade the students based on their own work, not that of their random cohort. Much of your frustration seems to stem from the use of the curve. I hope that your professor will stop using the curve in the future.
As other people pointed out, the numbers that you posted show that although you did well on the exams, you didn't do any homework, which is part of the grade. A lot of people (myself included) don't like students who skip the required homework. So if some student's final grade were borderline B+ or A-, and the student did not even attempt the homeworks that are part of the grade, then I'd definitely go for the lower grade. Frankly, it sounds to me very much that your professor simply decided to penalize you a whole letter grade for not doing the homework, which to me sounds excessive. This is why I suggest that you use the process for appealing your final grade, which your department undoubtedly has. You may get your grade changed to B+ or even A- if indeed you got a B because you skipped the homework. And don't skip the homework in the future!

Professor informed me that student did not take final due to "external reasons", which may be personal.

Your professor really shouldn't be discussing other students with you! If not for the curve, I'd just say that other students' performance should not concern you. But it does, because of the curve; and your professor may have broken some Federal rules by telling you too much. Here is some free training that would benefit him: https://studentprivacy.ed.gov/training/ferpa-101-colleges-universities :) Now the other student appears to have solid grounds to complain that the professor victimized him and violating his privacy by discussing him with you.
It's possible that the professor treated the other student better than you because the other student did the homework and you did not. This sounds most plausible.
It's also possible that the professor treated the other student better than you because the other student is caucasian. I see no evidence here of anyone's race being relevant, but you're free to make this allegation to the department, and see how that plays out. But practically, you're better off focusing on your grade being too low, rather than on someone else's grade being higher than yours.
When I was an undergraduate, many decades ago, it was quite common for a course syllabus to say that students who turned in all the projects and scored better than some threshold on term exams could skip the final and get an A. It seems to be less common these days and many departments actually have grading policies requiring that everyone take the final.
When I teach, it seems that every semester some students don't take the final with the rest of the class because they have some disability requiring them to have "double time". So they take the same exam as everyone else, but with a separate proctor, and get more time to work on it.
And some students can't take the scheduled final (for example, I once had a very pregnant student who went into labor on the day of the final), and take it later. Schools have procedures for that.
My point is that if you don't see some student taking the final with the rest of your class, you should not assume that he's getting some preferential treatment. But your professor is definitely wrong to discuss the other student with you.

Thank you for your in depth answer. To clarify, I completed all homework which combines to 51 pages of LaTeX-ed math, but received low grades on the HW because I got many questions wrong. I learned from my mistakes and did well in the exams.

Thanks for the clarification. I misunderstood, I thought you didn't do any HW at all. So the trend was that you were getting HW questions wrong at the beginning, but were getting everything right by the end of the semester. Given that many students cheat and use Chegg or copy their homework from others, I think penalizing a student for trying on their own and getting HW wrong at the beginning of semester is far too harsh.

Before you accuse anyone of anything, get facts.  Avoid confrontational language like “accusing”, and instead “seek clarifications”.  Establish for certain the facts that you have laid out, i.e. make absolutely sure someone really got an A without completing the final exam. There could be rumours and incorrect information circulating so you need to be sure about your facts.
If you need additional clarification, if your final grade is not as per course outline or other usual scale of assessment, consider an appeal. In most universities there is a formal procedure for such appeals, often with various stages, eventually escalating to deans and/or review panels.
Before you “accuse” an instructor of discrimination, make sure you have followed due process else the system will ignore your complaint.

I highly doubt that someone could skip the final and still earned an A.

That student did not receive their grade yet, but is claimed to have a higher pre-final average due to HW by the Professor.

why not as a first step wait until the marks come out? How can you know you have a B is the marks are not yet out?

@ZeroTheHero Because he gave my final mark, but not the other student's mark. The other student has not taken the final (due to external reasons).

@DarkRunner Why is the other student relevant at all? Stop wondering and thinking about the other student. Is your grade fair relative to your score on everything in the course, including the final?

@BryanKrause No, it is not fair, because I achieved (1) 3% shy of highest score in Exam 1, (2) Highest score in Exam 2, and (3) Highest score in Final. As we are graded on a curve, I deserve an A.

@DarkRunner And homework? You conveniently seem to leave that out. Do your grades convert into some point total? How does that total compare to the threshold for an A?

@BryanKrause Yes, our grades convert into a point total out of ~600. My point total is 420/600 after the final. The Professor claims that the other student's point total pre-final was higher than my pre-final point total by ~40 points (due to HW). However, this student has scored lower than me on the term exams and has not taken the final, as noted above, whereas I achieved the highest score on the final. Hence, the comparison makes no sense. It should be noted that neither of our scores meet the threshold for an A, but after calculating points, our grades are scaled on a curve.

Check with your grading system, 420/600 doesn't look that high to me..

@Alvi15 Difficult class; Avg in class is ~250/600. Hence, the final grade is curved after calculating points.

@DarkRunner I agree the comparison doesn't make sense, so stop making it! How many points did you need for an A? 420/600 is only 70%. With a curve, a B seems likely fair in grading schemes I'm familiar with.

with due respect: it seems to me quite a bit of information is missing but if you are wronged and the facts are in your favour, follow the appeal procedure.  Accusing people without all the facts will get you nowhere.

@BryanKrause I am not aware of points needed for an A. I only know that 93% is the minimum for an A, but I do not know the scaling/curve that the Professor uses.

Could you clarify to either Professor or someone about the scaling/curve that is used for grading? From my experience, wrongful appeal will dock your points, might be different for others but I would do everything else before appealing.

@Alvi15 Possibly, but I feel that I have sufficiently justified the case for an A on my part. The burden of proof is now on the Professor.

Your calculation could be flawed as you do not know what's the exact math the Professor used. We can't possibly know whether it's a mistake (yours or professor's), discrimination, or even a system error...

@DarkRunner If the professor says 425 points is the threshold for an A, and your case is "I have 420 points and feel I sufficiently justified my case", you have zero case. Instead of asking about this other student, ask what the points needed for an A would be.

@BryanKrause As 93% is the A threshold, 558/600 is the exact threshold for an A. However, no one in the class meets this (since I have the highest post-final average; the only student with a higher average did not take the final). Professor does not explicitly state curving scale.

@DarkRunner This conversation with you is exhausting me. I suspect anyone reviewing your case will feel similarly unless you adjust your communication style.

Likewise (exhausting). Thank you for your time and advice @BryanKrause

Your professor gave the other student the final grade before he/she even takes the final exam. In my opinion, that should haven't been done. However, it is not necessarily a violation of your institution's code of conduct, which you will have to check it yourself.
At many institutions including mine, the exam structure is totally at discretion of the course instructor. That means that they may change it if it is really necessary (e.g. adversarial situations), even for a single student. They can change the mode of the exam from written exam to oral exam and vice versa. Thay may grant exam exemption based on students' performance (e.g. regularly submitting homework with excellent results; class participation;...).
However, the main point of my answer (this part) is to address the question whether or not it was unreasonable that he gave you a B (for 420/600) while giving the other student A. You mentioned that the final exam accounted for 30%, which was 180 points. Before the final exam took place, his/her score was 40 points higher than yours. It implies that he/she could earn up to 180 points at the final exam (560/600 which is 140 points higher than yours), so it was not too unreasonable to give the other student a higher score than yours given his/her past performance.
Also, as other people pointed out in the comment section of ZeroTheHero's answer, 420/600 (~70%) seems not to be a high score for an A. However, I don't have information about the grade distribution of the course, so I cannot give any opinion on whether or not he/she or you deserved an A.

Sure. I see your point. The average score in the class is ~250/600.

@DarkRunner but if the marking is relative it simply means you did  well compared with the rest, not that others did not do better than you.  The average could be depressed by some very poor performances, or the distribution could be bimodal with lots of people well above the average…

Sure, certainly possible, although it is a small class.

I have been already exhausted because it is quite late here, but I tried to write the answer. Feel free to edit if there is any stupid mistake like "30% of 600 is 200". And good luck to you @DarkRunner. Try to get good grades but don't be too obsessed with grade. It does more harm than good.

Thank you @Pikachu피카츄 I appreciate your input. Best of luck

I agree with @ZeroTheHero entirely, but I'm going to take a slighty different approach here and focus on the way you have phrased your question. You use the word discrimination, and it is that word that is worth examining.
Discrimination often has two faces: discrimination against someone or something (perhaps on the grounds of sex, race, personal dislike, disability, or age), and discrimination in favor of someone, or for someone, (again perhaps, on the grounds of sex, race, favoritism, disability, or age). Your tone suggests that you think you might have been discriminated against; you feel hurt and as if you have been treated unfairly. However, even if some kind of discrimination has occurred (as yet unproved ... to quote @ZeroTheHero, "get the facts"), it might be that the discrimination has been exercised in favor of the other person rather than against you.
The distinction is important. For example, in my university, the entrance examination grades of student applicants from low-socioeconomic backgrounds are given an automatic boost of 5 points. However unfair that might seem to a student who missed out on a university place by 1 point because they were beaten by a low-SES student whose original unboosted grade was 4 points lower, the policy is intended to exercise a positive-discrimination bias in favor of low-SES students, rather than to punish high-SES students. Similarly, at many universities, a student with who is registered as having a disability will be given more time to complete an examination, even in the absence of proving that the specific disability would have had an impact on performance in the exam!
Discrimination in all it's guises, positive and negative, often seems unfair to at least some people; but it is a deliberate and lawful element of a great deal of public policy in the United States, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom.
My intention, with this somewhat discursive answer, is to point out that unless you know the policies of your university in details, and unless you know the circumstances of the other student in details (which is highly unlikely), then any accusation of discrimination is likely to be on very shakey ground.
Following on from @ZeroTheHero, your first step might be to have a longer conversation with your professor, and ask exactly how your mark was calculated. You could also ask, without reference to any other student, whether that process applies equally to all students, or whether the university policy includes any positive discrimination aspects.

Thank you for the extensive answer. Professor has provided a detailed calculation of my grade explaining 420/600. However, it is doubtful that he would concede/state whether this is an instance of positive discrimination. And furthermore, I doubt University policy explicitly discusses positive discrimination, but perhaps.


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Are journals supposed to avoid publishing papers from persons of notorious reputation?
As a recent example, Vladimir Putin's daughter continued publishing papers in Western journals after the start of the Ukraine war, despite being under sanctions in the US:

U.S. and Swiss scientific journals are continuing to publish
scientific papers authored by Maria Vorontsova, the eldest daughter of
Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, Russian media outlet Mozhem Obyasnit
reported on its channel on Telegram on Sep. 5.
Vorontsova has a PhD in medicine, and is an endocrinologist by
education. The outlet clarifies that links to her publications in
Western scientific journals are available on the Moscow State
University’s Istina (Truth) website, which collects scientific texts
by all university staff.
"She writes articles on endocrinology and medicine for U.S. and Swiss
publishers: The Endocrine Society and MDPI Publishing. Four papers by
Vorontsova were published in 2022 and 2023", writes the outlet.

Is it considered good practice for journals to validate the background of the authors of submitted papers? Or are they supposed to be completely neutral and publish good papers with a complete disregard for what the background of the author is?

Comments have been moved to chat; please do not continue the discussion here. Before posting a comment below this one, please review the purposes of comments. Comments that do not request clarification or suggest improvements usually belong as an answer, on [meta], or in [chat]. Comments continuing discussion may be removed.

In short, the answer is negative.  There exists no convention prohibiting journals from publishing works by authors of a questionable or even outright blemished reputation.
The example of Maria Vorontsova is, in my opinion, irrelevant, because to my best knowledge she never participated in politics or propaganda or financial schemes.
A relevant precedent is the case of Valery Fabrikant, a well cited expert on mechanics of solids, who is now serving a life sentence for four first-degree murders.  In jail, he has continued his research and has published dozens of papers and a monograph.
This case was discussed, e.g. in this article.

"Vorontsova leads state-funded programs that have received billions of dollars from the Kremlin" - United States Department of the Treasury, 2022. So yes, she and her research are part of Russian "financial schemes", as you call them. Hardly anyone would believe that any random researcher can get such grand grant money.

Another example is Andre Bloch: ''Bloch killed three of his family members, for which he was institutionalized in a mental asylum for 31 years, during which all of his mathematical output was produced''.

You have a poor example. Is there evidence that she, as opposed to her father, is a "person if ill repute"? That sounds like guilt by association.
Since she is in medicine, suppose that she develops a breakthrough treatment for some serious widespread disease? Does the world forgo the treatment?
In reality, even a person who has themself done bad things, could still produce good and valid scholarship. I think the editors and reviewers need to disassociate themselves from such considerations and consider only the validity and value of any such publications.
Many journals use double blind review, so the reviewers won't be influenced in that case. Should an editor use their own value systems to decide who is "worth" publishing. I think that would lead to bad outcomes. If they are denied publication is it ok to plagiarize them so that their work becomes known?
Seems like there are too many downsides to this. If the person is truly evil, lock them up. That is an appropriate sanction.
And, of course, where do you draw the line? And is there no such thing as rehabilitation in such things.

I know nothing of the daughter or her views or actions. If she should be punished, though, it should be for actions. The sanctions, on the other hand, are to prevent the use of others to monetize actions in support of the regime and the war and to put pressure on the principals. Even infants would be sanctioned, I'd guess.

The US certainly thinks that his daughters are of "ill repute": https://www.npr.org/2022/04/07/1091340068/vladimir-putin-daughters-sanctioned-russia-ukraine

@JonathanReez, actually all of his family and many of his associates are sanctioned, but not all for individual actions. That said, I know nothing of the daughter herself.

Putin's daughter is in an unusual situation, being under US financial sanctions. This is a much more specific situation than just generally being a "person of ill repute". In the sanctions announcement, she is described as:

These individuals have enriched themselves at the expense of the Russian people.  Some of them are responsible for providing the support necessary to underpin Putin’s war on Ukraine. This action cuts them off from the U.S. financial system and freezes any assets they hold in the United States.

As a result, it may be illegal for institutions (including journals) that do business in the US to derive revenue from publishing her research. I do not know the legalities, and such a question may be better suited to law.se. This is not fundamentally about checking the background of the submitter, but about determining whether it is legal for the journal to accept her research at all. It's not really about research at all - it's a basic requirement for any institution doing business in the United States.

More likely it would be illegal for business to compensate her for publishing, not for deriving revenue themselves. Authors seldom get a financial benefit from publishing papers. Books would be a different issue, given royalties normally paid.

@Buffy One could argue that the positive attention conferred by publishing someone's research is a form of in-kind compensation, given that publications are typically critical to a researcher's professional success. I don't know which way that would be ruled in court, but I don't think it's so cut-and-dry.

Banning someone's publication in a journal would likely be a very blatant violation of the First Amendment, because it would effectively restrict the speech of an American publisher, even if she tried to publish an article in support of Russia (which is not the case).

@JonathanReez That would assume she is an American citizen... Publisher themselves are not expressing opinions through the authors, authors do.

I wonder if accepting a paper is actually "doing business with her" in a legal sense. Also is a company is supposed to actively prevent it, set up measures to filter her out, or it is just a ground for possible restriction?

@Greg sanctions always restrict American citizens and companies by definition because the U.S. government doesn’t have any authority over foreign nations. In this case those sanctions would tell the publisher they can’t publish a certain paper just because it’s written by someone disliked by the government, which is a huge 1A violation.

@JonathanReez probably not, publishers are specifically publishing the speech of others, not hosting their own. This would be violating free speech of the author, not the publisher, someone who isn't protected by American law. Under free speech, they wouldn't be able to restrict the publishing house talking about the individual's work and analysing the implications, but that's not publishing someone's work.

@NAMcMahon as a classic example imagine the US trying to ban Mein Kampf from publication. On the surface it would be restricting a German’s speech but the courts would still throw out such a law.

@JonathanReez That is a false equivalence, Mein Kampf is often viewed as a political work so has stronger protections then other things. US has banned books, would you imagine them allowing the publication of national security details, that restricts what a US citizen can say but is allowed. The US seized the copyright for the book, so they actually probably could have if they had decided to, since they are just exercising copyright. And I am specifically stating that free speech doesn't apply to the publishers since this isn't their speech (unless they choose to write about it by themselves).

It's worth-noting that in this particular case, MDPI is a Gold Open Access publisher that exclusively publishes OA papers for money. The current Article Processing Charge for its journal Medicines is CHF 1400 (~$1500 USD). MDPI is a Switzerland publisher, but suppose that a US publisher accepts a paid OA paper from a sanctioned entity, it would likely be a violation of US sanctions - Publishing for a fee is not unusual in Open Access publishing - Science currently charges $4,500 from authors.

The brief answer to the title question is 'no'. A paper by a "person of ill repute" might attract more attention from the journal's editors, but they are (in theory) supposed to base their decision on the work presented and not who the author is.
Putin's daughter is a different case from "person of ill repute", however. The law can prohibit journals from working with that person. That makes this a legal question, and the answer to that would depend on the exact sanction.

I do not recall any "instructions to authors" that asked authors not to submit if they were family members of world leaders who started wars, nor instructions to reviewers to evaluate such things.
In some areas, it is feasible that conflicts of interest would arise from authors' connections to world politics, and journals should be vigilant for these, though policing conflicts of interest is mostly the job of the broader scientific community, and journals do not have investigative resources, they mostly set policies and rely on author self-disclosure.
I think it would put everyone involved in quite a difficult position: what are the criteria? what are the boundaries? Who decides if your war is sufficiently legitimate? Who is a close enough family member to be included in the circle of exclusion? Children and spouses only? What about nieces and nephews? How about kth-degrees and nth-removal of cousins?
In some cases, economic sanctions may apply, but these are not really the decisions of journals but rather laws that apply within some political jurisdiction.
If not only relatives of certain world leaders, which individual crimes are sufficiently bad to exclude authors? Murder? What about mere manslaughter? Sexual assault? Is a conviction necessary, or only sufficient suspicion? Which committee is responsible for deciding?
More broadly, the principle of academic freedom would seem to set the bar quite high for what would exclude an author from publishing entirely.

The only cases where the background of an individual author is relevant is if they have shown themselves to have academic dishonesty. If they gained "ill repute" by publishing fraud, committing perjury, or otherwise being dishonest, then they deserve stricter scrutiny, not an automatic rejection or disassociation. The whole question is whether the paper is approaching the truth of the matter or is just a bunch of lies and deceptions packaged up to look like the truth.
There are many, many documented cases where the past criminal or immoral actions of a researcher do not mean that scholarship created before, during, or after the course of such immoral actions is at all less likely to be a better approximation of the truth.
The classic case in the future will almost certainly be research papers in a few years from former president Trump's legal team. When does a previous pattern of what are widely perceived as lies about constitutional law and elections discredit a lawyer from publishing on unrelated fields of law or other study. Does past lying mean they're likely making up their study on the history of university swimming pools? Or should that scholarship be taken at face value? The answer likely is somewhere in the middle.
This doesn't even approach the question of how the experience of doing actions that being "ill repute" might assist in taking truthfully about the reality of those actions.

You've omitted a very important part of the news article you quoted:

Vorontsova publishes articles not by herself, but in co-authorship with colleagues from Moscow State University, in particular from the Faculty of Basic Medicine, where she has been the deputy dean since 2022.

In other words, Vorontsova is almost certainly just adding her name to actual researchers' work - and those researchers almost certainly have no choice in the matter, given who her father is. Therefore, blacklisting a paper simply because her name appears in its author list would not be hurting her so much as the real  researchers.

Putin's daughter is an individual, she has nothing to do with the Russia-Ukraine dispute. There is no evidence that she is involved in the war. A journal only interferes with the originality and suitability of an article, not with the history of an individual. The journal does not impose restrictions on the character of authors. A journal is not an international court to judge the crime of an author, but only to judge the quality of an article. Not only Putin's daughter but also Putin himself can submit an article to a journal, and in that case, the journal must show a valid reason to reject his paper.

BUT See @Molot's comment on Michael_1812's answer.

@RussellMcMahon, i have seen. My answer is for general concern. Journal would judge the quality of article not the quality of author. As Buffy answered "Since she is in medicine, suppose that she develops a breakthrough treatment for some serious widespread disease? Does the world forgo the treatment?"

I removed some side-discussion about censorship (ironic, I know). If you have concerns about the moderation, please post on meta. But this post has a "controversial" notice, so it should be clear that "You may use comments ONLY to suggest improvements."

source: Stack Exchange

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sort: votes


text:
How should I explain my gap year in graduate admissions?
I have a bachelors in physics and math (graduated in may of this year), and have been struggling within myself to figure out if I would like to pursue a graduate degree in physics or engineering.  During my time as an undergrad, my physics GRE scores were terrible.  I had so much work and found myself trying to get good grades that I didn't fully comprehend all of the material I was being taught; it was more of a study-and-get-the-grade kind of thing.  Not that i'm bad at physics, but the grade was important at the time and I felt swamped.
So I decided to not apply to grad schools until I could get my PGRE score up.  Fast forward to this summer, and my score has improved dramatically.  It is now at 800 which is fairly respectable as far as I can tell.  The problem is, I haven't really done anything during that time except study for that test and I am afraid the schools I am applying to for physics will think poorly of me for this.  I plan to apply to jobs and internships while waiting to hear back from these schools, however, so as not to waste away doing nothing and to get some work experience.
What should I put in my statement of purpose to improve the way those reading it view me, if anything?

Taking a semester off before grad school really doesn't sound like such a bad thing that'd need a ton of explaining.

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


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Working on other stuff (side projects and activities) without permission from the professor and department
I started a postdoc in a new lab a few months ago.
In my former lab, people worked on a variety of activities all the time. By these I mean activities other than the funded project and teaching, e.g. reviewing papers, grant writing, participation in working groups/editorial boards/societies/etc, (co)authoring papers on other topics, meeting researchers from other departments for informal discussions, and so on. Of course to a reasonable extent that it doesn’t conflict with the main activities for which the researcher is paid.
I was thinking that is the norm in academia, however in my new lab people seem to work only on their project and don’t do anything else. While I am not prohibited to work on these things, I am uneasy and puzzled to continue, but also I am not sure if bringing this topic to my professor is the best idea.
Should I continue working on these without an explicit permission? It is really important for my career to do other work too, e.g. I am currently finishing a paper I have been working on during free time, but it has nothing to do with my current project (which is good for my cv).
Can I have repercussions if I publish a paper on a topic that is not part of my funded job? Can I just say I worked on it in my free time or during weekends?

Reviewing papers, grant writing, and participating in committees are considered "service activities" that are part and parcel of academic jobs, whether or not it is formally declared in the job description.

I was thinking that is the norm in academia, however in my new lab people seem to work only on their project and don’t do anything else. While I am not prohibited to work on these things, I am uneasy and puzzled to continue, but also I am not sure if bringing this topic to my professor is the best idea.

I agree that the norm in academia is, and should be, that staff on all levels need to have sufficient freedom to pursue their own interests in addition or within the funded project(s). As a postdoc, this is particularly troubling, because you need to use your postdoc time to diversify your research themes, skills, and collaborative network. Basically, if you are a postdoc and sitting in your office all day working on a single project, you are doing it wrong (and hurting your career big time).
I don't think that sneaking a little side project here and there by your professor is sufficient. As a postdoc, you should be able to dedicate significant work time towards progressing your own career. I suggest you bring this up with your professor, and, if they don't appear to understand or accept your concerns, I would start brushing off the CV and get back onto the job market.

To involve in activities for what you are not paid is ethical as long as you do it in your free time. In EU most people follow a strict office hours like 9-5 with a break in between. In such cases whatever you do after 5 p.m or before 9 a.m is your choice. You are paid or funded only for the hours.
But, some people mostly researchers tend to not like having a strict office hours. For instance, I would sometimes work in the middle of the night as soon as I get an interesting idea. In such cases, you can still work on projects that you are not being paid off as long as you stay productive in your paid job too.
Other scenario is what you do as leisure time project having connections to what you are paid for. Like getting a ground breaking idea from a project you are paid for but then publishing that idea on your own without acknowledging the funding source. That is unethical. You should at least state that in your acknowledgement as "Results of this research work arised during authors work during "this project" funded by "this source".
Finally, doing such unrelated works in your unpaid time is good for your career. It shows your passion. Wonderful part in such projects is that you are your own boss. And that shows on successful completion you are capable of handling total freedom without procrastinating.
And to involve in such projects you don't need permission from your Professor. But letting him know depends on how close your relationship with you professor is. My PI is a wonderful person and spends almost 2 hours a day with me. We share a lot of stuff and it would be awkward for me to hide such a thing with him. But if the PI is super busy and never caring, you don't have to explain him about your leisure time activities.

this is not true for EU

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Is a paper that takes existing techniques to solve a practical and more specific problem valuable enough to get published?
Let's consider a paper that uses many different techniques to solve a practical problem. The techniques that the paper uses have all already been published by others. This paper only modifies or customizes these techniques a bit to fit the particular question that the paper is solving.
The techniques used are from different disciplines. So the paper is more or less similar to an integration of these techniques. These different techniques were proposed or published for a general purpose with no specified applications before. Now this paper integrates them together and solves a rather specific and practical problem.
I understand that this kind of very-specific-problem-solver application paper will get cited less often than those algorithm papers that may be applicable to many applications. However, let us leave the impact factor issue aside first.
Is this integration and application valued by the peers? Is this paper valuable enough to get published? (not considering its impact first)

Related: http://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/12374/application-of-standard-techniques-to-new-data-is-it-publishable

In my opinion, yes.
You paper will prove that those techniques are useful and usable by using them to solve a practical problem. I consider it a contribution to human kind, thus valuable to get published.
Whether or not it will be accepted by journal/conference is another issue. You should try. Please send it to be peer-reviewed.

I am currently facing a dilemma, where I am not sure whether I should devise new technique (algorithm) for my problem or just borrow already-existed algorithm. If I just borrow, I will have some time for other improvements or more features. But if I try to figure out new algorithm, I will have no time for others.

@perfectionm1ng This sounds another question. I would do both if time permits if I were you. Time constraint is an external factor. I did not put it into consideration when answering this question.

Thanks, for my case, the time constraint is the biggest concern here. That is also why I have to choose one.

@perfectionm1ng You could do the second paper for the new new technique (algorithm).

...or you could include both techniques in a single, better paper, instead of optimizing the number of bullets in your CV.

I wouldn't have any doubts about this. It is the essence of applied science, where theoretical techniques get to be tested through their application on practical problems. And as you write, it is usually found that some modification and customization is required, or even, that some techniques actually don't work with some sub-class of problems, or that some techniques are better suited to some sub-class compared to others. Further, a paper that compares the application of different techniques on the same problem, is even more valuable.

... and therefore it should go to a journal where the application is a suitable topic.

@cbeleites Very true. The existence of such journals is tangible proof that the matter matters.

Definitely!
Such publication will not only be helpful to the community whose focus is on the particular problem under investigation in your paper, but, will also be instrumental in spreading the knowledge of the techniques you employed from other fields.
In order to improve the technical quality of your manuscript, I would even suggest that you elaborate on the techniques used. Often analysis techniques originate from complex mathematical treatises. Applied research employing such techniques help in making the techniques popular and useful for practical applications.


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Is Fundamental Groups (Algebraic Topology) sufficient for graduate programme interview?
Is Fundamental Groups sufficient for graduate programme interview?
Suppose if someone is going to  complete  master program  and planning to do PhD. He/she is doing preparation for PhD interview(viva).
In PhD interview  he/she chooses two topics Algebra and Topology.
In algebra: linear algebra, group theory and ring theory.
In topology: point set topology and algebraic topology.
Algebraic topology is a very hard subject and contain many topics like  fundamental groups, homology, cohomology etc.
My confusion: Suppose if professor asked to the candidate    do you read in algebraic topology ?
Suppose he/she said  yes.
Suppose he/she has read only about fundamental groups topics but  didn't read homology, cohomology topics, etc.
My first question : Can we choose only fundamental groups and skip the other topics like homology, cohomology  in algebraic topology for Phd program interviews?
Or  do we have to read fundamental  group, homology etc
My second question : Is there  will be any  negative impact if he/she says to the professor  that I have read only about fundamental groups in algebraic topology  due to lack of time?

I think we might need a little more info here as to context.  Interviews for acceptance to a PhD program is not universal across the globe, so knowing a bit more about the typical requirements in your part of the world would help.

I am not aware of many PhD programs that would require an incoming student to be broadly read on the entirety of algebraic topology (or any other large subject matter) as an entrance requirement.
I also have never given nor received a PhD application interview that required the student to go into specific knowledge on topics that he or she is not familiar with.
When I was a PhD applicant (this was in the U.S. and I know Europe has a different approach), I was interviewed by many professors at different schools. Their focus always was on letting me explain what I (emphasis) knew and what I (emphasis) was interested in. I never was quizzed or tested on topics that were not familiar to me.
Even in a viva, I do not believe that they will just begin throwing out every tricky question they can think of. Most schools have a specific syllabus of topics that they will expect you to be familiar with.

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Why do professors list current position of their students on their webpages?
I see that most professors list their former Ph.D students and their
current positions on their web page. Is it a kind of advertisement? If so, why? If not, why not?

I am not familiar with that practice, at least if it is exactly as you describe: Is it really professors listing the current positions of their alumni on their web page, or is it alumni who list their current positions on their former department's website?

It's a pure advertisement of how good leader the prof is if his students are so successful.

@O.R.Mapper Yes, it's exactly as described: some professors, on their own page, have a list of their former PhD students; if a student is still in academia, there'll often be a statement of their current affiliation and/or a link to their homepage.

What do you mean by “most professors”? Are you referring to professors in a particular jurisdiction? The comments on the answer suggest the rules about this vary significantly between jurisdictions.

Someone wants to reach person A.  He knows that A was my student.  So he may look on my web page to see if there is a good link for A

In my case at least, I provide this information mostly for the purpose of recruiting future graduate students. By demonstrating that all of my former PhD students and postdocs have landed in desirable positions (be they in academia or in industry), I am able to make a strong case for the value of a PhD obtained as a member of my group.
In my opinion, this is extremely important information for a student when choosing a graduate program and choosing a specific research group. What has happened to previous students? How many have finished? Of those who finished, where are they now? Unfortunately, this information can be quite difficult to obtain unless the professor is willing to provide it. And one needs to know what happened to all of the students--knowing that a couple of students are now successful is not that useful unless you know how many others went through the group as well.

Shouldn't the former students provide consent for this?

Frankly, I never thought to ask. They all have academic web pages or public LinkedIn pages that provide this information. But I suppose that, particularly for my students now in industry, it might be polite to ask. I can see no legal reason not to, however. Their PhD degrees under my supervision are a matter of (public) academic record, and there is no legal obstacle to saying "John Smith is a chief scientist with StartupCo" so long as it is true.

"I can see no legal reason not to" - that will depend on the legislation, of course. For instance, while I cannot find any explicit statements now, there are at least various clues that in Germany, federal privacy laws require employers to remove any profile-like information of their former employees once those employees quit their job. (That notwithstanding, it is common practice in German ...

... universities to list alumni; possibly because the alumni are not likely to sue and rather benefit from being listed in that particular case. Still, it remains legally slightly dubious territory.)

@O.R. I suppose the question then is whether German privacy laws apply to university professors in the same way as former employers; I suspect the language refers specifically to employment relationships though.

@DanHenderson: For all intents and purposes, the organisational unit within the university that includes the professor's group is the employer of the research assistants who are heading for their doctoral degree here.

Note that in some jurisdictions, students are allowed to mark some or all aspects of their academic profiles/information as confidential and faculty/staff are legally(?) obliged to obey that confidentiality (in fact, if a student marks their entire profile as confidential, faculty/staff can't even say that that information is confidential if someone asks, they have to act like they have no information on the student at all).

this can also be misleading as a generalization.  I know some labs that only post their successful alumni, for the reasons you state.  But that is not about showing 'all students'

@O.R.Mapper, PhD is not an employee, but a student. I believe the law hasn't touched on this matter yet. But I certainly see it coming in litigation-cultures such as the US, unfortunately.

@Dilworth: Depends on the country. In Germany, at least in CS and some 5 years ago when I was still in academia, people heading for a doctoral degree would usually be employed by an institute in a university headed by a professor. That is, they'd sign a work contract with the university and receive a salary. They'd be subject to the wage agreement negotiated by the union that represents university (or rather, public services) employees. They'd get an office, teach in classes, and take no classes or exams.  Optionally, they could also register as students, but the only reason to do so ...

... would be to get certain benefits such as reduced fares for public transportation. Thus, as I said, this may differ largely by country, but a blanket statement like "PhD is not an employee, but a student." is not quite correct.


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Is it reasonable to write the major part of my statement of purpose on machine learning for masters in data science?
I am an aspirant for masters in data science and I have mentioned in  major chunk of my Statement of purpose about machine learning and my past experience with it. Is it okay or not ?

Actually, the SOP should look to your future, not the past. Your CV tells what you have already done, so you don't need to repeat that. But if you want to talk about machine learning, talk about how that background applies to your future in data science. If you intend, for example to work at the intersection of the two fields, talk about that.
But in general, you want to convince the admissions people that you have realistic goals and are well suited to achieve them. The main focus should be forward looking, not backward.


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Is the idea of "boarding university" still a formal policy?
In the past, most education centers were boarding schools in which students live full time. Still there are boarding school at high school or college level. However, for universities, students just tend to attend the class and leave the campus. Even, dormitories are just like rental projects rather than keeping the students to live in the campus.
Old-fashioned universities like Cambridge still have the so-called colleges which are responsible for student life (to live in the academic community). In this classic model, the university is investing in colleges to build an academic community outside formal education, which is conducted by technical departments.
Is it a formal policy for modern universities to keep students within the campus beside the formal education? OR they prefer if the students attend classes and leave the campus?
The reason that I ask this question is that social activities are conducted by student clubs. If students do not join clubs or somehow live in the campus, it is not responsibility of the university administration (and they normally do not care). In classical universities like Cambridge, keeping the colleges active is still responsibility of the university administration.

Even, dormitories are just like rental projects rather than keeping the students to live in the campus. — I don't understand the distinction.  Yes, the students pay rent to live in the dorms, but then they do in fact live in the dorms.

@JeffE: I could imagine the OP is referring to the difference between a provides-a-bed-for-sleeping-hotel and a provides-a-full-day-experience-full-of-activities-resort kind of accommodation.

Some universities do require students to live on campus the first year (or two). E.g., Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has its First-Year Experience program, and "requires that all first and second-year students reside in Institute-owned or -leased residence halls.".

I don't know what you mean by "formal policy".  There are certainly institutions that, as a matter of policy, try to make it possible and enjoyable for the majority of students to live on campus, and where, as a matter of preference, the majority actually do so, although it is not mandatory.  I can add an answer about that if you like.

In the United States, it tends to depend strongly on the particular university and the population that it aims to serve.  In general, the more local and "non-traditional" that students are expected to be, the less that a university will feel obligated to assist in the arrangement of housing and board.
Thus, for example, a place like Williams College, where the students are mostly "traditional" undergraduates coming from far away to a small isolated town in the mountains, expects to house, board, and provide a full campus life for essentially all of its students.
At the opposite end of the spectrum there are places like Suffolk University, which is in the middle of a big city (Boston) and historically focused strongly on professional postgraduate education and on students enhancing their education later in life.  Suffolk doesn't even have a campus per se---it just has about a dozen buildings scattered around the center of Boston, and until quite recently did not have any dormitories at all.
Across the whole spectrum, most administrations will consider it their responsibility to provide a rich intellectual environment for students both inside and outside of the classroom, e.g., by supporting student groups.  The degree to which this happens "on campus" and with direct university investment varies greatly depending on circumstance.  No university in America, however, will attempt to confine students to a campus---some merely recognize that geography makes it more difficult for their students to leave.

Some American universities require students to live in dorms on campus for the first one or two years of their studies. This is probably the closest you get to the old system.
Among the practical considerations that enter this conversation is certainly that it is an enormous organizational and financial effort to house the number of students who attend university today. My university has 60,000 students. Imagine the effort to build enough dorms for all of them. Most universities will not have the financial resources to do so, and many will also not nearly have enough space on campus to build such dorms.

keeping the colleges active is still responsibility of the university
  administration

You don't seem to understand the role of colleges at Oxbridge. It is not the university's responsibility to maintain the students' social lives. In fact, the university is not directly responsible for the colleges at all, as they are technically separate entities, but that's minor details. Colleges do form a focus for social life, as being part of a community is beneficial to learning, but students are entirely free to socialise elsewhere or live elsewhere (just not too far away).
As jakebeal has said, the culture of a university community can be very dependent on what the university population is like, as different groups have different needs. Other factors can also play a part, eg. London universities mostly have less of a community feel because there are many other things on around that students can get involved with, and also because a large proportion of students travel home at weekends. In contrast, UCDavis makes up half of the town, so there's not much space for students to separate. Some universities have a policy of trying to create spaces for students to learn together, others don't. Many will offer activities beyond the curriculum because it attracts students (and hence money). But I have not personally come across any where the university is considered to be responsible for extra-curricular activities.


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Asking search commitee for a specific teaching topic
I have an on campus visit for assistant professor position in CS department. The search committee sent me an email that they will soon send a topic for teaching demo. I am thinking of asking her to give a teaching demo about a specific topic. Is that proper to ask?

Generally speaking you can ask for just about anything as long as you do so in a professional way. If you suggest a topic, however, try to assure that it is one that would be interesting to them and at the teaching level they are interested in hiring you for. At a liberal arts college it would be undergraduate, but at an R1 type of university it would probably be at an upper level or graduate level.
And if you express a preference, don't make it a demand, they may have a reason for wanting to see you deal with a specific topic. And it might be better to mention a few topics than a single one.
However, once they have assigned you a topic, it would be a mistake to complain about it.
And, once you have the topic, make sure you understand the level of education of the likely attendees if they will be students.

If the search committee has decided to assign you a topic, you should teach the assigned topic.
If they ask you to choose a topic, then you should choose.
The committee makes the rules, not the candidate.

Seems a bit harsh. Why do you think that the OP shouldn't ask?

@Buffy Asking alone might send the wrong signal ("I prefer to show you how well I can teach that one specific topic, rather than the one you intend me to teach").

I tend to agree with this answer. In theory, asking should never be wrong, but in practice even asking might send a signal that OP does not want to send. Then again, the chance of this mattering are probably really slim.

It could also send a signal that you act professionally, as a colleague. There is no way to read the minds of others, and no reason, IMO, not to express your preference. "Silence is Golden" only for children.

@xLeitix Interestingly, if the chance of this mattering are really slim, that would be a valid argument for actually asking. Preparing a decent demo lecture on a new topic might take a full day or more, and that time might be used more efficiently somewhere else. I think it depends on how urgently one wants that particular job.

If they say they will send you the topic, then you should prepare and teach that topic.
This may well be because they are asking all candidates to teach / demonstrate that topic so they can see who has the deeper knowledge or those who "miss" or "gloss over" important points or concepts.
If you ask, they may find that curious as they have already told you they will send you the topic - that might send them the wrong impression...


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Advice for On-Campus Interview?
I have an on-campus interview next month. Being my first time to make an on-campus interview, I have no experience on how to properly do that. I was asked to give a teaching demonstration for 30~45 minutes. The university is focused on teaching  and they have only a master program (no PhD ). I am planning to present my research work as "a teaching demonstration". Is that okay?

I am planning to present my research work as " a teaching demonstration" --- My guess is that you should not do this, but instead pick a topic likely to be in a class that you would be expected to teach. The degree of mismatch between one's research work and teaching is somewhat field dependent, but it's hard for me to imagine any request for a teaching demonstration being satisfied by a presentation of your research work unless the department explicitly says so (which has actually been the case for me a few times). Did the department provide any guidelines for what they want to see?

No. But I contacted the search committee chair and he sent me the following "just make sure you will be teaching the subject, instead of presenting it like a research talk"

What is your field?

@HebaMohsen I think that's a polite way of saying "this is a dangerous approach".

@buffy Computer scince

If you want to mention your research at all, consider the following plan. The think you really want to avoid is being overly pedantic and going over the head of the likely audience. Pitch the talk at undergraduates.
In such a talk, you don't want to try to impress people with your brilliance. It is more important to stress that you are inspiring. Save brilliance for the later session in the faculty lounge with  Sherry  instant coffee.
You don't give your field, but your profile suggests it might be mathematics or similar.
In the talk, rather than going through details of the research, you can talk about what it is that got you started on it. Make it relevant to some undergraduate course, if possible. How does this connect to, say, elementary topology, or even Calculus. In some math fields this is easy. You don't have to draw all the connections, but just give a hint that what they are now studying has extensions and that those are "interesting."
Talk about the main result just a bit, but mention why it is important. If possible, talk about what future explorations might look like.
Your goal is to show insights into the field, whether math or not, and not details.
But the main idea is to leave the typical fairly good undergraduate with the idea that "I can do that, too."
If you can make it interactive, all the better. If you can ask questions, for example, you can get them engaged. Leading questions, actually.
And even if you skip talking about your research altogether, do the above things in your talk.

I do not suggest this. You should probably be tailoring the presentation to be aimed at 1st, or maybe 2nd, year students/classes and you should attempt to make the lecture be understandable to non-majors. You should be pretending that the audience of the class is a general elective audience. While in actual practice a lecture in a class does not need to be self contained, a teaching demo should be.
Getting back to the question, almost anything that would be considered research related would be too advanced for a general elective audience. Now this does not mean to go completely away from your area of research. If you are electrical engineer whose research is biomedical
in nature and are interviewing at a joint EE/CS department, it probably doesn't make sense to give a CS lecture on compiler design or even EE lecture onpower enginnering. You would be better served by giving a biomedical lecture. Of course, if the job advertisement asks for someone who can teach compiler design, well then, there is your lecture topic. Similarly, if the search chair suggests a topic, follow that advice.
The biggest thing to remember is teaching schools are not inferior to research institutions, they are simply different. They want to make sure you care about teaching and not your research. They generally tend to look at research as a way to get students to learn. Focusing on your research will probably send the wrong message.


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What are the biggest differences transitioning from undergrad to grad school?
I was recently accepted into a graduate biophysics program and have a couple questions about what I should expect going into my first semester. While I'm going into a physics PhD, I'd like general advice from any field. I have two specific questions, but welcome any advice that you are willing to share.
What is the biggest thing to overcome/accomplish during your first semester and a graduate student? Looking back, what is something you wish you would have done differently?

Your second question might be a bit opinion based for the site. For the first question, a big one is learning time management, to juggle classes, teaching and researh. See e.g. https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/56963/17254

What I should have done differently: I should have started reading journal articles earlier than I did.  I should have thought about long-range career planning instead of just having fun with my studies.

Some time during your undergraduate degree, you hopefully moved from the 'repeat back information' paradigm of high school, into the 'integrate information from many sources, analyse it, form your own opinion and defend it' paradigm of university. However, this is not always true for mathematics, physics and similar subjects where there is a right answer that can be constructed.
If you have not made this paradigm shift, this will be a big difference. Because you are now in a research environment. The answer is not necessarily known. What is important is bringing together different types of evidence and working out what is going on.
It may also be true that you have not written an essay during your undergraduate degree (I did only one in my maths degree). This may also be a big transition.
I found my later social sciences undergraduate degree (particularly philosophy courses) to be invaluable in developing good writing skills. A short essay (eg 2000 words) forces you to be articulate arguments really clearly, which is great for research writing.

This may be closed as "primarily opinion based" (especially the second part), but I'll take a whack at it.

What is the biggest thing to overcome/accomplish during your first semester [as] a graduate student?

Your first 1-2 years is likely taking classes. So, the biggest thing is passing those classes. This should be achievable (though a lot of work), so I'll list also two secondary goals: making friends, and finding an advisor (though this may be a bit early to line up an advisor; every university has a different process).

Looking back, what is something you wish you would have done differently?

Stayed in my office more. I tended to work on my own at home; while I learned a lot, grad school would have been more fun if I had made more friends and done some of the work collaboratively.

Also, understand to what extent you are to be pursuing research while taking classes in the first few years. This varies by program.

CULTURE   SHOCK    especially  if  you are transitioning  from  one  state  to  another   state   and  from  one  university  to  another  university.  Even if  you  grew  up  in  two  locations  in  two  different   states  like  i  did.  if  you   are   setting  up   new  "home' in  a  THIRD location,THERE WIL BE CULTURE SHOCK.  The  new  university     and  even the  new  department       college  will have  DIFFERENT   sub  cultures,   so it  may  take  MORE   than one  semester or   quarter  to  adjust.
Your    cumulative  GPA,   weighted  or unweighted, MEANS NOTHING.   You  are  in  an  entirely DIFFERENT   degree  program.  if you  DO NOT   maintain   3.000000 or higher  GPA  on  4.0000000  scale,  you  will  be put  on   academic  probation,  and possibly  not  be  eligible  to  have   teaching  or  research  assistant  ship.   You  are  competing   with  graduate  students   who have  been  there  longer  than you have.  You  are  also at  some point  competing  with FACULTY    members  for professional  recognition.You HAVE  to   able  to  WORK  with  cooperate  with OTHER  pwoplw no matter how  much you like  or  dilike  individual  people. Graduate  school is  TOUGH.   Your  ego is  going  to take  a  beating.  You WILL   be  gossiped  about,  no matter  WHAT you  do..
You also HAVE  to  be  able  communicate  well  in Writing,  in  Academic  English ,  which often  is like   foreign language  to  many people  who  did NOT  grow  up  with parents   who  graduate  college  degrees   who  were  both   teachers  like  i  did.  If you  do NOT know how  to use  a library  and  resources    a  library  has,    i  suggest  you  go  to library  orientation  in  the  first   weeks  of  classes.You HAVE  to  do YOU OWN RESEARCH  now  and  know  HOW  to use   a  search engine.  NO ONE is  going  to  do your  homework  for  you  OR  spoon feed you links  and hyperlinks.
If  ALL you have  right  now  is  self  esteem  with no self  respect,  you may NOT  survive  graduate  school.  Low  esteem   is   survivable.    No  self  respect  may NOT  be  survivable.I  dropped  out  of  graduate  school  for  7  years,  but  I  DID  go  back  to  college  and  i  went  back  to  graduate   school.  i  DID  graduate.  I SURVIVED   graduate  school,  but  only  because  i  was  stubborn  and  i  REFUSED  to  give  up on myself.
I  started   graduate  school in Spring  1981.   i   graduated  from  graduate   school  on  July  29,  2000.   that  was 20 YEARS of  my life.  My mother   died  while  i  was  working  on  My  FIRST  bachelor's  degree.   My  father  died  while  i  was  working  on  my master's  degree..   I  have  THREE  bachelor's   degrees.  The    third  one  had  reason  that  made  sense  to  me   and  it took only  2  years  to  get.
College  staff  can  be   GOLD  mines  of  information   about  faculty members,  staff,   College  and university  services,  like tutoring,and     what  is    available  in   the  local  area  like  medical  doctors,  dentists,  grocery  stores,  restaurants,   bars,  whether a  county  or  town /city  is  "wet"  or  "dry",  drugstores, pharmacies,  and WHERE  things   are.
Congratulations  and  good  luck. Remember how nervous   and  scared you  were  when you  started  college?  Th is  Act   2.  LIFE ins  continuing  education process  and  it NEVER STOPS.   You   will make  mistakes  and you  will have  failures,  small  and   big.  Learn  from  your  mistakes,   Take  responsibility   for  your  actions  and  consequences  of  your  actions,  because you do not  get  do-overs  in  graduate  school.   You either learn,  adapt  and  SURVIVE,  or you  don't.

WHY the random CAPITALISED words?

That's my online  writing   a  style.  i  am used  to  answering  questions   on  Yahoo  Answers. I   am  addicted  to  Yahoo  Answers,  and  i  do NOT like  Reddit.  The  capitalized  words  are  for  emphasis...  The  capitalization   is NOT  random.  it  just  SEEMS   to  be   random.   I  cannot  read  your  mind  and you  cannot  read my mind.

@CarolMiller1600 Perhaps you could use italics or bold face instead of using CAPITALISED words for emphasis. That would fit more in the overall style of this site.

" if you DO NOT maintain 3.000000 or higher GPA on 4.0000000 scale, you will be put on academic probation" Many schools have GPA requirements in grad school, but the specifics vary a lot by school and program; this precise policy is far from universal.

@CarolMiller1600 - Welcome to StackExchange.  I have a suggestion for you (in addition to steering clear of all caps as the lizard said).  Proofread.  Write your draft, then step away and do something else for at least ten minutes, then come back and read your draft in the area below the box where you type in your post.  It will show up in formatted form down there and that is easier to proofread effectively.  Also, make sure your browser is spell-checking as you type. Final tip: you can learn formatting tricks by pretending to edit someone else's post (i.e. read their markdown).

Why would we assume that someone good enough to get into a phd program in physics would even need to worry about his/her gpa dropping below the acceptable level? I'm sure he/she is a great student and will do fine. Stress and panic over grades is not the way to get through this. Work hard and be positive.


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Including link to professor's page in resume
I am applying for PhD positions in computer science. I have been fortunate to get the opportunity to research under some really good professors (specifically, one who has a high h-index, another who is the academic director of a large scientific institution). While these professors are respected, they are not pioneers in the field and so not known to everyone.
Thus, while mentioning that I worked with these professors (specifically in my resume, but in general wherever it's required), I usually include a link to their profile. My question is, is there a specific format or convention that people follow while providing more information about a professor?
For instance, many professors have multiple profile pages across different institutions that they're associated with---which one should be used then? Sometimes, they have poorly maintained profile pages but have really good research work, which makes their Google scholar page much more impressive. Some even have Wikipedia articles about them.
If I want to highlight different aspects about a professor, can I link different pages against their names? In my case, that would mean linking the Google Scholar page for the professor with the high h-index while linking the profile page of the professor holding the important position.

Most people interested will know how to find them...

If they're well-known enough to have a Wikipedia page I think it's pretty likely that others working in the field will know who they are.

I would assume that someone really interested is capable of using a search engine. Personally, I would find it strange if there are any links.

To add on to the answers here, (from my experience) if you are applying via the graduate admissions portal, most of them parse your written documents (including CV, Resume, SoP, Personal Statement etc.) via some kind of a parser. Essentially meaning, it will be converted to plain text. The problem with hyperlinking is that, those will not be clickable in plaintext.
I know for a fact that this is true for Harvard's SEAS application (it was very clearly mentioned in their portal).
In my opinion, if you can succinctly mention the work you have done with the professor in your statements, it should speak for itself. And moreover, the research community is small and there is a good chance that professors from one university will know professors from the other who are working in a similar field.

This would be a useless exercise at best. If the professors are as good as you say a quick Google search will offer all necessary information. Moreover, applications are often filtered through various HR/IT systems that may render links unusable. Some reviewers (myself included) will print physical copies of applications which makes URLs unlikely to be checked.
Generally, if you worked with someone your CV should say
Worked with X on Y which resulted in Z, where if Z is a published work then that should be referenced.
As a final note: just because you worked with someone good does not necessarily say anything about you. If you worked with someone and it resulted in something good- that’s more meaningful.

As long as both parties did something useful compared to just hanging on coat tails...


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Potential Red Flag (on my side) in PhD Interview
Before anything else, I want to mention that my field is mathematics. Recently, I had an interview for a Ph.D. program for a research group that consists of two fields, say X and Y. On the application, I indicated to work in the field of X. However, in my statement of purpose, I  mentioned that recently I also got interested in the field of Y, though I don't have much experience in that field so far.
Due to the structure of the program, I have some time to pick an advisor in the program (slightly more than a semester). When I got asked whether I would like to do some more exploration before committing to a project, I mentioned that the program requires me to take courses on field Y in the first semester, and as I am interested in that field, I would like first to see whether I would like to switch my studies to the field of Y. There were only two professors on the interview, both were on the field X, so I am wondering if this can be seen as a potential red-flag that I am unfocused.

They asked you a question and you answered honestly, in good faith. That is not a red flag.

It seems to me that you are overthinking this. If a student wants to decide between X and Y and both X and Y are supported, then it is not a lack of focus to delay the decision until you learned enough about Y. A lack of focus would be wanting to do both and Z and A as well. You answered a honest question honestly.
Internally and not visibly to you, there might be all sorts of dynamics. If your answer were to get you rejected from the  program, then to me that would be indicative of internal problems that are good to avoid. E.g. if only people in X want to take on students or if no other good candidate wants to work in X, then your answer would not be optimal, but then they should have asked you differently. That example would be some form of entrapment and if this were a game that played on you then you are better off outside of this program. However, few places are that dysfunctional. You should assume that their question was honest. From the perspective of an outside observer, your answer makes perfect sense and shows that you are honest in your interactions with your potential advisors. I personally would count that in your favor. At least, you did not contradict your statement of purpose.


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How will a 'fail' in a course affect chances at graduate school admission?
I'm a second year computer science student in Australia. I hope to apply to one of the top 10 US universities for MS or PhD program. I have received high distinction (highest grade possible here) for all my courses since my first year of university, have done an internship at a major company, and have published one paper. However, I received a 'fail' for a course I took at my current university while I was a senior in high school, which shows on my university transcript. Will this greatly affect my chances at graduate school?

Short answer, since I've already addressed a similar case in the answer mentioned above: this should hurt you very little so long as you can maintain your current record throughout your undergraduate program of study. When I consider graduate applications, I am not interested in how a person performed at age 17 or 18; I am interested in how he or she will perform in my program. Four years of high marks and outstanding additional activities are a good indicator. One bad grade from high school is irrelevant.
If the transcript is sufficiently vague that someone could possibly be confused about this, have one of your letter writers mention the situation in the letter. But my personal feeling is that even this is unnecessary.

In fact, even if it was not while in high-school, let's go further and say one of its last courses (as long as it wasn't necessary for graduation or that he fixed it afterwards), one bad grade among mostly great grades is not something that is usually seen as an issue! It is somewhat expected that even a good student might not feel well while taking a single test or not be the best at one specific subject.

@ResearchEnthusiast I wholeheartedly agree!


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Student doesn't want to take credit for his own extraordinary paper
I am the advisor of an absolutely brilliant but unusually young student.
He has written an outstanding paper relating to this field, one which I am extremely certain will be worked upon and appreciated by many, because of the paper's influential value.
However, he has asked me to publish the paper under my own name because he wants to "expose himself to the insights of others regarding his own insight." He doesn't want to publish under his own name, because he feels that when people find out that the author of the paper is so young, they'll give him the treatment that a clown gets in a circus; praise and praise. Such praise he believes is extremely detrimental to this stage in his career.
He says, further, that he doesn't want to feel like some child prodigy, which in turn feels like being some painting on an exhibition that people admire and later walk by, and that it's likely for his peers to feel "intimidated" or be struck by some other negative thought which will come naturally.
I insisted that none of these things will happen and that he should take the credit for what he has rightfully done, but he says, "They need to know and if you publish this paper, they will know. And if I publish this paper, they will know and later forget."
I don't know what to do in this scenario.

Why can't he publish under a pseudonym (and disclose that it's a pseudonym)? That's a lot more ethical than misleading others by saying you wrote the paper.

Are you a co-author?  If so, in my mind that would eliminate the concern of it not being taken seriously.  Then there's an experienced researcher on the paper as well backing it up - who cares if the first author is 17?

New account, implausible story....this one triggers my troll detector. Perhaps related to http://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/58929/my-paper-was-too-revolutionary-reviewers-at-a-top-journal-rejected-it-by-simp ?

Haha! Someone doesn't want to take credit for their work? Def Trolling

I am sorry, but I do not believe this story. The whole premise that publishers find out about the age and care of the author is flawed (at least in physics, where I have not yet seen a journal that publishes or requires CV’s of the authors). As a supervisor in this field you should at least have commented on this. The only exception is if your student has published his CV/age somewhere but then he risks being “discovered” as a child prodigy much more through this (being a PhD student at the age of 17 makes him eligible for this anyway) than through publishing a paper.

Related Meta discussion: What to do with questions that are likely to be made-up click bait?

@Wrzlprmft: The story is certainly unusual but hardly impossible.  There certainly have been people who have done very impressive work at early ages. And if you'll note, the concern is not with the publisher's reaction, who as you say would not know the student's age, but with the reaction of the community in general.  A student who seems to be a "prodigy" would very likely have experienced such "circus clown" treatment and I can understand them wanting to avoid it.  So I think the question is plausible, though not something that happens every day.

@Wrzlprmft: (This is not to say that I necessarily agree that the student's fear is justified, or that it's reasonable to avoid it by publishing under another name; only that the fear is understandable.  I think this site can help by addressing whether this fear actually is justified, and what might be some more constructive ways to address it.)

Implausible as it may seem, I fail to understand why someone would troll with a question such as this. It's a well written and non-provocative question. Doesn't smell like trolling to me.

@NateEldredge: I do not find the impressive work at an early age impossible nor the fear of the “circus clown” treatment. It’s the details that are fishy.

@Wrzlprmft "at least in physics, where I have not yet seen a journal that publishes or requires CV’s of the authors" I have seen brief bios on review papers and on papers receiving an editor's suggestion in physics journals.

Incase anyone is curious, If true, I see the student as possibly aware of others who had problems with the 'prodigy' term.  Maybe not the same but related:, "As a young teenager, he was scouted by NASA and served there for four years as a researcher. But, after years of pushing himself to the limit, he started to feel a sense of emptiness and void in life"  https://storify.com/LinkAsiaNews/a-korean-genius-finds-happiness-in-ordinary-life

@Corvus brought this to mind... http://scholarlyoa.com/2015/11/20/is-this-17-year-old-korean-ph-d-student-a-plagiarist/

Does he study in engineering field and could you say his degree?

Having worked in a math department, I know such behaviour being rare, but perfectly possible, see e.g. Grothendieck or Perelman for analogous stories. A guy I know created a really elegant method, but he never wanted to publish it because he thought it's nothing special and the field didn't interest him. Another friend developed a novel method in his thesis (I do not think it is publicly available), but went to industry and didn't publish. I know these methods and cannot even use them since it's impossible for me to give proper credit if I would. "Private communication" feels far too weak.

If he's a PhD student, he has to publish papers regardless of his age. I doubt many journal publishers would ask for the authors age (even the top tier ones). Make him understand the importance of publication and his destiny as a researcher.

Yep. My advisors were not limited to the academic/scientific part, I got some life lessons from them as well. Learning to deal with the consequences of the research is well within those boundaries, IMHO.

Well, of course, you absolutely cannot publish the student's work under your own name, so take that off the table right away.  You can explain to the student that a fundamental principle of academic ethics is that one absolutely does not take credit for the work of another, and that doing so would jeopardize your entire career.  So whatever the resolution of this situation is, it can't be that.
Ethically, the student could publish under a pseudonym, but I don't think it is a great idea.  If the work really is that significant, researchers in the field are going to want to talk to the author: contact him to ask questions about the paper, invite him to conferences and seminars, suggest collaborations.  In principle he could refuse it all, or decline to give any contact information, but this would ultimately limit the impact of his work, and it seems that it's important to him that his work should have an impact.  Moreover, I think using a pseudonym would actually divert the attention away from the work and toward the mysterious author, and when his identity eventually is discovered (as I think it must), the result would only be more of the unwanted "circus clown" treatment.
Now, I think I can understand the student's fear.  I think many people in fields like math and physics have had the experience of laypeople saying "I don't have any understanding of what you do, but you must be really smart."  It may be meant as complimentary, but it can be very frustrating - there's an implication of "You are different from me, I cannot relate to you, and I don't want to try".  It's emotionally uncomfortable.  So for a person who not only works in a specialized field, but shows unusual talent at an early age, this effect must be greatly magnified, and I can sympathize with the wish to avoid it.
The difference, though, is that people within the field really don't behave like that.  Their attention really will be on the work itself.  There may be just a little bit of extra amazement at the author's age (since physicists are human too), but it won't overshadow the work.  It seems that you've tried to reassure the student of this, but he's not convinced.
So perhaps you should try to put the student in touch with one or more people in your field who has had the experience of being a "prodigy", and gone on to be a successful, mature researcher.  This person should hopefully be able to better relate to your student's concerns, share their experience of what it is actually like to enter the field from such a background, and offer guidance for managing unwanted attention or similar issues.  This might help the student understand that his fears are unfounded, and encourage him to go ahead with publishing under his own name, which I think we can agree is ultimately what's best.

Absolutely amazing point made there! Put him in touch with other brilliant students!

I will attempt to answer this question from experience.  In the comments @tonystg suggested that 17 would count as "exceptionally young."  I started my research career at approximately that age.  I got to know quite a few young people who were making exceptionally rapid academic progress.
Sometimes a student will make a lot of progress in one academic field; this does not mean they will have equally good understanding of the broader social context of that field.  The solution is socialization with other people who are exceptional or unusual, preferably including those of a similar age and with similar disciplinary interests.  Personally, I got this sort of experience at Simon's Rock College.  You should also teach your students, exceptional or otherwise, about how to strategize effectively to achieve their career goals; tell them how admissions/hiring decisions made.
Imagine an African American student came to you and said they were concerned they would face racism in an academic setting. Hopefully you would advise them that while racism is not normal, it does occur.  It can also be overcome by a variety of strategies, such as persistence, education, and unity among those who support diversity.  You can support an academically talented student in a similar way.  Please do not suggest that they will not be mistreated.  This will only increase the harm the student experiences because it implies the student deserves the unfair treatment.  Personally, I was frequently treated like a clown at a circus when I was young.  I was also occasionally physically assaulted.  However, I do not regret my efforts to learn and become a scientist one bit.  It's worthwhile to learn to cope with other people's bad behaviour so it does not stand in the way of your goals.

Ethically, you cannot publish that student's work under your name which you will need to assertively convey to this student. The suggestion of a pseudonym can be a viable solution.
A conversation that needs to happen is about the value of research & publishing papers. Make sure to acknowledge the student's fear and explain why you feel this paper has merit and should be read by others.
Especially with younger students, the feeling of being outside the norm makes them uncomfortable. They struggle to fit in and often choose to conceal any ability that makes them "different." As it was suggested, connecting them with peers of similar age and talent can help.


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What is the best way to cite NCBI data for my paper?
I'm currently writing my paper, and I have to compare some DNA sequences. But I found some samples have already been analyzed.
So I used analyzed data from NCBI and my own new data (different species) for the comparison.
Now I want to state clearly that I used their data in my paper.
What is the best way to do it?
Should I write their GeneBank accession No. and put the papers in my references?
I'm worried if that is not enough. Should I contact the authors of the paper?

On a fairly abstract level, you might find the FORCE11 Data Citation Principles of interest: https://www.force11.org/group/joint-declaration-data-citation-principles-final

How many samples are we talking about? Normally, NCBI data are mentioned only for their accession number if you use them per se. But if you want to refer to their analysis also, then you would need to cite the papers as swell. If you have taken 1000 sequences, you cannot cite 1000 papers, but you do have to provide the genbank number.

The way to cite NCBI databases, services, and data is described by NCBI itself in an "NCBI Knowledgebase" post here: https://support.nlm.nih.gov/knowledgebase/article/KA-03391/en-us
In addition, NCBI provides a separate file with lots of examples:  ftp://ftp.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pub/education/supportcenter/NCBI_services_citation_examples.txt
Don't guess, look it up !
(Archived permalink: https://web.archive.org/web/20181028213653/https://support.nlm.nih.gov/knowledgebase/article/KA-03391/en-us)

You ought to do the following

Cite the GeneBank with the appropriate accession number.

In addition to citing their main paper,

Benson, D. A., Cavanaugh, M., Clark, K., Karsch-Mizrachi, I., Lipman, D. J., Ostell, J., & Sayers, E. W. (2013). GenBank. Nucleic acids research, 41(D1), D36-D42.

Cite the data source. I suppose the following details would suffice:

Title: "GenBank: Accession No. X"
Publisher: National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI)
Online: URL

Cite the source where the data was previously analysed. This includes the paper which publishes the data and the original location where you have found it.

Clearly specify which set of data was used in your study that was already analysed in the main text in addition to that you've analysed.

The OP does not ask how to cite Genebank

@BioGeo I've added the details for clarification


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When writing a paper what's the difference between contributions and objectives?
I'm currently writing up a study of a model which worked and had a clear statement of contributions.
A reviewer has asked me to clarify what the objectives were.
In the case of a project which went as expected, how are these different to the contributions? (I can see how if the results were unexpected they would differ).

It's a bit hard to say without more detail and context, but surely one of your objectives was to evaluate the model? Your contribution was, maybe, that you showed that the model is, in some sense, valid

Usually, the scheme of a scientific study has a hourglass shape scheme, from wide, to narrow, and wide again.
In the first wide, we use the introduction to describe the general topography and bring focus to a particular problem. Then we narrow down to describe how our experiment is designed, data are collected, analysis is done, etc.
When results are ready, we interpret them, and then again widen up the scope to talk about implications, applications, and recommendations in the Discussion section.
In my opinion, objectives are a list of actions to perform, or questions to answer so that you can complete the narrow part of the study scheme. Contributions are a list of applications or significance to other researchers that brought about by your work, and they are perhaps more fitting in the second wider part of the study scheme.
For instance, the objective of a project could be "to validate a low cost blood glucose measurement device." And if it is indeed valid, the contribution could be "allow more people to afford to measure their glucose, and potentially lead to better diabetes control in the population."