text:
dissertation cover photo
I am going to submit my doctoral thesis, one of the optional things we can do in our university is having a photo of author on the back cover of hard copy of thesis. I have no idea for that. How do you think about that?

It will be funny to look at it in 30 years from now ;-) - go for it!
Nobody except from close friends / family members will ever see it...

And thesis reviewers / advisors, though.

It is very likely that nobody except you and the people you will give your thesis to will ever see the hard copy of your thesis. (And some random people looking at some theses in the library - however, if this is not uncommon in your university, they will not judge you negatively for having a picture.)
So, you should consider:

Do you think it's nice to have a photo of you on your thesis? Many people like to have a nice thesis on their shelf which has not only good context, but nice formatting, nice colours, nice pictures etc. Some people see a thesis as a pure formality and are happy to do as little "style" things as possible. In which class do you fall? And if you care, do you think the thesis looks better or worse with your picture?
Will the people you give the thesis to appreciate it? (Don't forget to consider parents and grandparents!)
How much more does it cost? Do you feel it is worth the price?
Is there a place at university you really like (e.g. a certain place in the library, your office, the mensa etc.) and you would really miss it after your studies? It can be nice to have a picture of yourself in that place on the thesis (if this is allowed).


text:
About the information on Professors who write Reference Letter
I applied for some research positions and send the name of my references. I would like to know that: Do the full list of my references will be forwarded to each of professors by institute which I applied for. In other words, Will professors whom I add their names as my references be informed about the name of other references of mine?

While anything is possible, I think that would not be normal practice. I think it is unlikely.
However, in some smaller fields in which there are fewer professors and they know one another, it is possible that someone will mention a name to another person. But this would only occur, I think, if there was some question raised by a letter of recommendation.

Thank you for your answer. In fact , I mean that the Institute which I have already sent my reference info to that, will send the list of the name of my references to each professor or not?

I think that would not be a usual practice. More likely that the institute would want that not to happen so that the letters received would be independent of each other. But it is an individual case, so it can't be entirely ruled out.

Normally the process of solliciting and receiving reference letters is confidential: it implicitly discourages the possibility of two referees somehow harmonizing their references to the advantage or disadvantage of a candidate.
Of course people talk and people use their common sense: it’s likely that a member of supervisory committee will have guessed that other members of the committee will also serve as referees.  It’s also possible that a candidate might let a prospective referee know who the other referees are so as to provide context.
Most reasonable people will write a reference letter to reflect their personal appreciation of a candidate; while general statements can be shared between colleagues and some specific phraseology can be discussed, I have never shown a final version of a reference letter to a colleague, and no colleague of mine has ever shown a final reference letter to me.
However, it would be very unusual for an institution to solicit a letter of support and announce the list of referees for a candidate.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


text:
Recommendation letter for a short time collaboration
I have started my 1 year postdoc in math three months ago, of course after 1 month the university was closed and I have to work at home, due to Corona Virus. Recently, I want to apply for another postdoc position in another country. One of the required documents is a letter of recommendation from current mentor. I do not know whether it is reasonable to ask a recommendation letter from my current mentor, because I have just worked with him for a short time. Does he give me a recommendation letter?

One-year postdocs are weird.  At least in the US (I guess you may not be based on the timing of this question), if you are looking for another academic job, then your next round of job applications might be due sometime between 2-5 months after you start your postdoc, and you probably want to ask for letters at least 1 month before the first due dates.  This means, global pandemic or not, your postdoc mentor can only get to know you so well before it's time to ask for a letter.  (And just because there's a global pandemic, doesn't mean you can maintain communication with your mentor.)
My advice is:  ask for letters from people who can best evaluate your work, for the kinds of jobs you're applying for.  So the answer to your question depends a lot on your situation and your relationship with your current mentor.
For research letters for academic jobs, you should ask a selection of people who can give a good overall picture of your research spectrum to date (maybe you've only worked in one focused area, but maybe you've worked on several different things, and you don't want to end up asking only people who can talk about aspect X of your research and all ignore aspect Y).  I assume you are still young, rather than having postdoc-ed for 10 year now---once you've been out awhile and have a larger body of work, you want to focus on your most important and your recent work.
That said, there are a couple rules of thumb to balance against this:

It's standard to ask your PhD advisor for a letter, at least if you're a recent PhD.  If you've done multiple years of postdocs, it's also common to have at least 1 letter from a postdoc mentor, but it also doesn't look weird to not have one because postdoc mentors may or may not know your research better than senior collaborators, experts elsewhere, etc.  The point is that you don't need to ask a postdoc mentor to write you a letter just because they are your postdoc mentor.
It looks better if your letters come from both a variety of institutions and well-known experts in your field, to show that your work is well regarded by (at least a small part of) the community.  So if all of your other letters would be coming from your PhD institution, then I would definitely try asking your postdoc mentor (or think of some other experts, who you may or may not know personally, but are familiar with your work--e.g., maybe they've cited your papers or asked questions at a talk you gave).  As long as you have a decent relationship, and your mentor is familiar with some of your work, I would expect your mentor to be willing to write a letter.

If your contract is only a year long, your mentor is likely expecting you to be applying for jobs very soon. I don't think they would be surprised; in fact, they should encourage you. I would not hesitate in asking for a reference.

And he will surely tell you if he can't/won't. There doesn't seem to be any downside.

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


text:
How does a candidate look like when he applies for another PhD program while being enrolled in a program?
Suppose, someone is enrolled in a PhD program in a university 'X' in, say, Serbia (totally hypothetical and suits my analogy).
After one year, after publishing 5-6 research papers, he thought that a West-European or North American PhD has greater brand value. So, he applies for a different PhD program in the same discipline/topic.
How would the selection committee perceive about this particular candidate as opposed to someone just came out of a masters degree?

Wow. Five or six papers in the first year???? My alarm just went off. I don't know of any field, actually, in which that is possible and have those papers have much merit. If they are good papers, the candidate will be sought after nearly everywhere. But I'm going to doubt without evidence, including who published the papers. (see caveat below)
However, many students change universities in the middle of doctoral studies and for many reasons. Wanting to change countries or even regions of the same country is a common reason.
This person will be judged in the same way that everyone else is: are they highly predicted to be successful in this program and what is the evidence for that. The background coursework will be considered as well as how they did. Any research experience? How good are letters of recommendation, etc.
Those papers, if they exist, would be evidence, of course, but possibly not positive evidence. But even zero papers in the first year is unlikely to be of much importance in most fields. Association with a lab that produces hundreds of papers a year and each paper has hundreds of co-authors would be an exceptional case, of course. But most of those co-authors play a relatively minor part in the advancement claimed in the papers.
Any application should be focused on those positive predictors of success, not the fact that the person is changing and not on the reason they are wanting a change.


text:
I think my degree isn’t great. What to do?
I'm a full time employee (20 years), adjunct instructor (10 years), and student (off and on, currently on and about done with a 4-year degree) all at the same institution.
I've been programming for 25+ years, and have had an AS (Assoc. of Science) degree in "Systems analysis and programming" for 18 (2-year degree, fewer general education courses than an AA, focused on technical work - nursing, respirator therapy, xray or nuclear med tech, nursing RN, etc.).
Unfortunately, for me to move up or to change jobs I need a bachelors or a masters. So I got a "general sciences" AA degree (to finish off gen eds) and am almost done with a BAS (B. of applied science - LOTS of in-depth technical work).
I also happen to teach at the same college I work full time (support online learning).  The courses I'm allowed to teach due to my lack of a masters are limited to classes that ONLY apply to an AS degree - 2 linux admin courses, a intro to SQL course, a intro to Java course.
And while I am 4 classes away from having my BAS, I think the degree isn't set up properly and I've not formally learned any of the things I'd hope to learn.  Got plenty of programming - but none of the other skills that go with it.  No unit testing, use of version control systems, no working with other peoples code (except for minimal reviewing of others code - no actual passing of code back and forth to work on it), minimal exposure to development methods like Agile, Scrum, etc.
So... do I just shut up and deal with it, and try to find a masters program that will give me what I want (had enough programming, thinking of IT Project Management related things)?
I've considered writing a letter to the lead instructors, department adviser, department chair, the various VPs over technical ed at our institution, and the provost (who all know me, like me, and appreciate the things I've done for them over the past 20 years), but I'm not sure if making them aware of my disappointment will do anything about fixing the program for future graduates, or if it will just be me whining....
Not exactly sure what tags to use, so I hope I got 'em right - give me a comment if they should change, or feel free to edit.
Edit for the comment about content -
The degree I'm finishing the programming core gave me a 3rd semester of Java (JavaFX and Tomcat web apps), Android development, Angular/NodeJS development, and MongoDB.  This is on top of what my AS had me do - 2 terms of Java, C, C++, Access & SQL, HTML/CSS/Javascript, and PHP.
The common overall program core stuff (that the networking track students also do), has had a few business courses (intro to management, principles of e-commerce, security policy), covered some planning - a UML/diagramming class (only exposure to dev methods, and that was just a list of comparisons of waterfall vs up vs agile) and a business dept. based project management class - we got to plan building a bird house :(.  Technology wise the common area also includes operating systems and security models, ip networking and routing, and a bits-and-bobs hardware class.
So, plenty of technology and language-specific skill set stuff.  But none of those things I'd expected to cover (unit testing, version control, working with a true team, etc) that aren't language-specific but ARE critical job skills.

Could you list the things included in the BAS program? From what you were missing, I would not expect this to be covered in depth in a CS BAS (at least not in our University), but we would add various conecptes which lie underneath or behind such things. Of youres, our students can work with verson control, they are doing team work, they learn scrum etc., but it's just a smaller part of the overall idea. What you are describing sounds more like an advanced programming course. Which theoretical and techincal concepts are tought?

@OBu - info added.  Definately NOT a "comp sci" course - unlike the university down the road where the CompSci BS degree gets you ONE semester of programming (Java) which they figure is enough for you to demonstrate algorithms, etc.  Remember this is a BAS - Batch. of APPLIED Science.  The big metric is "how many graduates have jobs in the field and how well are they paid".

http://norvig.com/21-days.html is food for thought

@BasileStarynkevitch - thanks.  Those methods are how I ended up working on getting a piece of paper. My concern is that "are we teaching the right stuff or enough of the right stuff and do the people in charge know it"?  Having seen what my fellow students that have fairly high GPAs aren't capable of doing, I'm not sure I'd hire one of 'em based on the degree track, etc.  There are a few I would - whether they had the paper or not.

I got my degree in computer science. That's a very broad field, and to a very great extent I got to choose which parts of it I studied. There may have been courses that mentioned things like test-driven development, Agile methodologies, etc. but they were almost certainly electives and I didn't take them. As far as the core classes go, there are just too many other, more fundamental topics to cover in them: algorithms, data structures, language theory, and just plain programming practice. You don't get good at programming per se by messing around with a Kanban board or whatever.

@user1172763 - no.  but for students who have already had a ton of programming courses wouldn't it make sense to include perhaps some planning skills, or maybe a small project with a couple of sprints or using a kanban board as part of learning more advance java and working on projects?  Good news is project management from next term on will be an IT course taught by a scrum master (well, mistress).  Remember applied science - think health care fields other than MD, or machinist vs engineer.


text:
FERPA alternative for German universities
Is there anything similar to US Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) that is valid for German universities, or education system of Germany in general?
I mostly concerned in preserving student's data in electronic form, e.g. am I allowed to share and collect assignments and test results, say, via Dropbox or own server? I hear in US the online data storage must be FERPA-compliant to preserve privacy in the first place, but I don't know what acts and policies govern this case in Germany.
I understand that many universities use own platforms, such as Moodle, adapted for the current needs, but what should I pay attention to if I want to go beyond?

Thanks for your edit. Note that while I do not consider your question for general laws bad or unanswerable, your university may have its own, much stricter policy on these matters and it’s them whom you probably best ask to solve your problem.

@Wrzlprmft Let's assume that there is no explicit policies at the university level (or nobody really cares), so I'd like to find out what higher-level act or directive I should be aware of in this case. And I'm appreciated for your edit too, I'm still not familiar with the tags on ASE.

In German a good place to start is the term datenschutz. They tend to take that very seriously. On the other hand I am required to save assignments until the student graduates. So bottom line, you will need to talk to someone locally who can advise you.

@MaartenBuis "...someone locally who can advise you" -- Like an IT-department (IT-Abteilung)? But what if they also cannot help; what normative document on Dataschutz should I read (I'm not a native speaker, but I can read German)? Maybe there is a keyword like "FERPA-compliant storage" that I can use in German (e.g. Dropbox uses it for promotion in education sphere)?

I would expect more of the legal services. Anyhow I would expect that Dropbox would immediately raise many red flags.

Also look for a datenschutzbeauftragte

@MaartenBuis Good point! I guess you can summarize your comments and post an answer then, I would happily accept it; contacting a chief privacy officer is a nice idea indeed.

@andselisk: "Maybe there is a keyword like 'FERPA-compliant storage' that I can use in German" - That keyword will probably be "Datenschutz-something"; there is no keyword like "FERPA" because privacy laws apply to handling data related to persons in general in Germany. Implications for teaching/student data are typically just derived from the generic privacy rules. (Because of that - and because German laws usually do not come with buzzwordy acronyms ;) )

@O.R.Mapper Oh, really? :D There are over 20 German acronyms including "Datenschutz" keyword: BDSG, BfD, CEPD, DANA, DSB, DSG, DSG-EKD, DS-GVO, DuD, DVD, EDÖB, EDPS, EDSB, KDO, LDSG, LfD, PDSV, PRev, RDV, SDDSG, TDDSG, ZAfTDa, ZD (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abk%C3%BCrzungen/Gesetze_und_Recht).

@andselisk: You don't want to claim that abbreviations such as "AAÜGErstV", "AbfVerbrBußV", or "AbsFondsGBeitrV" come anywhere close to "FERPA", "CISPA", or "SOPA" and the like, do you? Even for pronouncable acronyms of German laws such as "ABAG", the German "public" will more likely read them as single letters rather than as a word (i.e. "Ah - Bay - Ah - Gay" instead of "Ahbahg"), in contrast to what is at least my impression from mentions of widely known American (bills of) law(s). In general, I'd say the German law abbreviations are mostly used for shortening text in legal documents, ...

... not very much for "public consumption". Point in case, "FERPA" is apparently a well-known and often-used acronym here on [academia.se], and everyone (at least from U.S. academia) immediately knows what is referred to. In contrast, mentioning "BDSG" without establishing the context by mentioning the "Bundesdatenschutzgesetz" or at least "Datenschutz" before will probably earn you the written equivalent of a blank stare among (non-legal professional) Germans. With all that said, note that my comment was meant rather tongue-in-cheek, not as a hard and scientifically proven rule.

@O.R.Mapper All I'm saying is that German legal system doesn't lack bureaucracy and certainly doesn't lack "buzzwordy" acronyms either. If you can point me towards the right act in this chaos, please feel free to do so, otherwise I'm afraid I don't see your point.

@andselisk: My point is that there probably is no single keyword to search for beyond "Datenschutz". And that the mere existence of acronyms for any given law does not imply that they are used equally widely as e.g. "FERPA" is.

@O.R.Mapper I see, but that's pretty much what Maarten Buis's comment says.

According to the German Datenschutzgesetz and several state laws, it is forbidden to use private cloud services for storage of personal data. If you are at a university with access to ZENDAS, you can get a review of dropdox here.
A local server is fine, as long as you contact your local "Datenschutzbeauftragten" and announce the service. (S)he might have a form to fill in to evaluate the data security issues resulting from your installation.
Tehre is no specific rule for universities, but the general rules from the German Datenschutzgesetz apply for universities as well.
Platforms like moodle might breake existing German laws, it depends on the configuration of such systems (especially the tracing of activities is a problem).

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


text:
can I reuse Coursera material for my lecture notes?
I have some doubts about reusing some material from Coursera for a set of lecture notes that I put online as part of the courses that I am lecturing. In some ocassions I use some Coursera material, mostly exercises that are based on source codes provided by the authors, and referenced them in my lecture notes. The question that I have is that if need to ask for permission, to the lecturer that is given the course on Coursera, to reuse his/her material or only with referencing would be enough?

Coursera's terms of service state that students can only access course
  materials for their own purposes; they are not meant to be distributed
  more widely.

Also they have

Even if you are the creator of published content, you do not
  necessarily own copyright.

This means that you have to directly contact Coursera and ask the question from them.

No matter what the copyright says, it may fall under fair use. No idea if it does, though.

About 18 months ago I assisted a professor at the institution I was with with the same question. The short answer is: contact Coursera about the material you wish to use and they will put you in touch with either the instructor or the institution that owns the IP (or both) to make sure all permissions are covered.
Additionally, Coursera was extremely helpful at setting up a private instance of the course that the prof's students could access, that he could modify, and that all assignments came into. Going through official channels takes a bit of extra time, but is well worth the effort.

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


text:
How to apply for a research funding for companies?
I recently graduated from PhD and right now I am working in a consulting company. My manager asked me to write a proposal to get public funding to do research. The topic is computer science and semiconductor industry. Since the company is located in Germany, I can apply for funding institutes in Germany and Europe. However, I have difficulty in finding funding institutes to support research in the industrial section.
So, I am looking forward for your suggestions and help.

In Germany it is typical to apply for public funding through the federal ministries such as BMWI or BMBF. You can look up funding programs at the BMWI Förderdatenbank.
You will find some information about the programs of the BMBF here (in german).
Usually the ministries have certain topics open which you can apply for with a consortium of different industrial and academic partners. At least that's how we get public funding.
See here for a currently open call for application.

In  the US through our National Science Foundation, you'd need to partner with a university who would, at least in name, lead the project. All NSF programs have eligibility requirements, and those don't usually include private non-educational entities as leads. Also, you'd need to openly publish your results. In the end, due to the Bayh-Dole Act, the university probably has the right to patent and license for sale the results, but your company would probably not be able to do so itself.
I assume that the EU and Germany have similar constraints on government grant funding, but I'm not 100% sure. It would be worth looking at some prior EU and German grants and see if they do.
You could also look at trying to satisfy government contracts in the defense industry. There are whole multi-billion dollar defense contractors in the US (Raytheon, Lockheed-Martin, etc.) that do research on behalf of the military here to deliver much more than guns and planes and such. The government frequently wants algorithms (e.g., weather prediction, signal processing), etc. to satisfy our defense needs. I suspect that yours do, too.

Partnering with non-profit institutions is key. Also it is very important that you design your project in keeping with the call, rather than the other way. Also remember that, given funding will be public, there will be key rules and limitations in terms of industrial protection and exploitation of the research results.

The European research funding is managed trough the cordis platform. One of the current open programs is Horizon 2020.

the best way is to look at the financial and funding structure of the institution that you would like to ask for cooperation. This information or data are available through commissioner for information of public importance. You need to be aware, that there is law in Germany that if institution is funded 100% from Government, they are not allowed to make profit outside of institutional funding,
I suggest you to  find institution in countries of EU and Europe that give legal right to institution to  cooperate and accept grants and cooperation from a private sector. Usually, Czech republic or Poland, or maybe Serbia that is outside of EU but still in Europe have these laws, that basically gives full autonomy with who they will cooperate and how.


text:
Degrees path for AI and ML Research (eventually) – Math vs. Computer Science?
I hope this is the right place for my question; I've been searching online and hit a bit of a roadblock, so I thought I'd seek some help.
I'm in my late 20s, and I've got a chance to start fresh from an unfulfilling career path, beginning with a bachelor's degree. It's a unique situation, but I'm grateful for the opportunity and fully committed because I believe I've found my true calling.
My passion for AI and machine learning has grown significantly, and I eventually want to pursue a Ph.D. in that field. Now, here's the dilemma: I'm torn between starting with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics or Computer Science. The deep mathematical roots of ML make me worry that a CS degree might not provide enough groundwork in the math and theory necessary for advanced research.
Living in Europe, I can't major and minor like in some educational systems (at least where I live); it's an either-or situation here.
I know one can fill in knowledge gaps through self-study, but I believe starting from the right place will be a massive confidence booster for me.
Thanks a bunch; any help is greatly appreciated!

Just a note (perhaps too late for the OP) that some universities in Europe offer a degree in AI itself, for instance the University of Groningen in the Netherlands.

My background is in mathematics: thesis in complex geometry, Ph.D. in something that could charitably be called "discrete optimization". During my Ph.D., I did inferential statistics, essentially analysis of experimental data for psychologists. (Once a few papers were in the pipeline, the lead author married me, FWIW.) It was these papers and my statistical contributions that got me hired in a research job in forecasting. That was in 2006; nowadays such jobs are called "data science" or "machine learning" - these terms did not exist back then. My job title for the last years has involved "data science".
From this vantage point, I would say that CS beats math hands down as preparation for a career in AI/ML. Math is wonderful, but all you need for most of AI/ML is calculus of multiple variables and linear algebra. (Lots of both.) Both of these will happen in your first semesters. Everything beyond that is wonderful, (and in my personal opinion, much more fulfilling than most of what is happening in AI/ML, but your mileage will almost certainly vary from mine) but essentially useless in AI/ML. And you will get most of what you need in these things in a CS bachelor program. Most of what is data science nowadays happens in CS departments, and you will learn most of the tools for AI/ML in CS.
What I most use out of my math preparation is the way of thinking that I got inculcated with there. Mathematicians object when I say that studying math is essentially brainwashing: the way you think is reprogrammed, and consciously so. What you end up with is precisely the way of thinking you need in any analytical field, from management consulting to AI/ML. This is absolutely great, but unfortunately you don't get to learn the actual tools you will be using in that career...
That said, I would very much recommend a third option beyond math and CS: statistics. That CS departments managed to brand themselves as the Machine Learning experts is in my opinion the greatest feat of scientific marketing ever. It is essentially the Machine dog wagging the Learning tail, because the field is all about learning from and dealing with noisy data, i.e., teasing signal out of very noisy data. And that is what statisticians do. Having data science done in CS departments is like having physics done in the tooling workshops, or in the engineering department. Don't get me wrong: engineers are absolutely fundamental to any kind of physics research - but engineering is not physics, and computer science provides the tools used in data science/machine learning, which IMO is a branch of applied statistics. Computer scientists are very good at what they understand. But in my experience, while they are great at designing and developing databases and software to analyze data, they have a very hard time with the specific way of thinking that is required for data science, most of which can be summarized as "being comfortable with noise" (Kolassa, 2016 - ping me if you are interested in that article, and in the meantime, this may be interesting). And of course, the same applies to mathematicians. Both mathematicians and computer scientists can become good data scientists. But both typically underestimate the statistical knowledge and understanding they need. (Conversely, statisticians typically have an easier time understanding that they will need to acquire CS knowledge.)
So, after that little rant, I would recommend you prefer CS over maths if your goal is ML/AI - but that you take a very hard look at the statistical part of any ML program you might be thinking of attending. Ideally, see whether the university actually has a school of statistics, or at least whether anyone in the data science track actually has statistical credentials. Good luck!

As you have assumed, both are needed. But university departments differ in their focus. I'd guess a CS department with a lot of focus on math and theoretical aspects would probably be a bit better than a pure math department. The faculty profiles of a given department will tell you a lot about what seems important to them and to the faculty as a whole. A math department that is already doing applications to ML would also serve.
But the real purpose of this answer is to give  you a bit of a warning about this career path. It is currently very "hot" with a lot of people  preparing to enter it. This implies both a lot of competition for positions as well as the possibility that most of the very important questions will get answered before you have a chance to enter. I can't guess at the probability of that, but with a lot of effort one can expect some (maybe much) progress. And you are several years away from starting a career.
That aside, enter a field that you truly "want" to do and can accept the possibility that it might not be very hot in the future. There is a saying that "You don't choose mathematics. Mathematics chooses you." That was certainly my case.

Definitely go with maths, you can learn the programming aspects yourself, but without an undergraduate degree in mathematics, lots of doors are either closed or very difficult to open (in terms of what you feel you can then study, but also in terms of jobs to some extent). A maths degree on the whole closes no doors, but not doing one can be trouble in research in the sciences generally.
The skills of technical analysis are so high in maths that you will be well prepared for serious research in ML. Also, the mathematics of machine learning (and data science generally) would be an option, which CS won't help with. Maths, physics, those two degrees for ML if possible. Otherwise, a lot of ground might need to be made up later.

Many CS programs offer a very math-heavy curriculum anyway. Thus, I’d say that a CS orientation is the way to go, since it’ll equip you with the mathematical thinking oriented with AI/ML - statistics, algebra, combinatorics, graph theory etc.
Another reason is practical: 3-4 years of school is a long time. You may think you want a PhD now, but life happens. Marriage, kids, a change in interests or financial situation… any of these may make you seriously reconsider entering a PhD program vs a lucrative industry job. A CS undergrad degree almost always guarantees access to higher paying jobs than one in mathematics. Sure- a degree in math may grant you access to a software engineering job, but not as much as a CS degree for sure.


text:
How to handle a lecture course remotely?
I tried to contact my classmates to ask for their notes, I email 5 of them and none of them have replied back.
I have a high GPA and this course is my last course at the university, I really want to get a perfect mark.
I was wondering if you could please tell me how can I study this course remotely?
How should I approach the instructor? It would be ok if one classmate could record the class voice weekly for me, but no one would do this for me.

Do you mean commute between cities?

I live in another city now due to my research.

Did you consider buying and learning from a book? Maybe your instructor can recommend one?

His assignments are different than the recommended textbook, he is copying another prof assignments(from a prof at a university at USA)

I assume you have the same access to assignments that those attending do. The recommended textbook should also be a help, actually, if it is well written and has its own exercises for you to get the necessary practice. A good way to learn is to do more exercises than the minimum assigned.

Have you tried the textbook (or whatever other resources) used (or written) by the American prof who wrote the assignments?

Talk to the instructor, ask them for advice.
Ideally you would have done this before the semester started knowing that you would have this arrangement, but at least the instructor was made aware ahead of time through your supervisor.
They are unlikely to be able to offer support that takes a lot of additional effort on their part because this special arrangement is due to your needs (placing the burden on you), but they may be able to facilitate note sharing, suggest an appropriate additional text, or possibly share some additional lecture notes or outlines of their own.

I took this course during add and drop in the very last minute. As I am away I have not had any in-person conversation with the instructor, all my communications were through emails. My advisor talked to him and told him that I can not attend regular sessions, the only difficult part for me are the assignments. project and final  are OK.

@programmer None of that changes my answer.

Bryan Krause, he already offered two textbooks but none of them are appropriate, I would ask for additional textbooks. But even I have a problem submitting my assignments, to submit them I would have to log in with my university internet id.

@programmer Talk to your instructor.

Let me add a long-shot possibility. Some universities have a way to record or even live-stream lectures. If you haven't explored this, you might see if it can be done. There might be a special office, audio-visual, or such. Even audio might be a help to you if you also have lecture slides.
Failing that, the professor might be able to record audio and send it to you or upload it to a web page. The quality would likely be better if there are professionals involved, of course.


text:
Going to Industry and Keeping Publishing
I'm currently a postdoc in theoretical computer science. My position will last for about 9 months. I have a good track of publications and enjoy a lot working at academia, in particular I enjoy to solve problems and write papers in my field. But I think that it would take something like 2 to 3 years to get competitive for a lector/tenure track job.
The thing is that I'm married with children, and my wife has a permanent job. So she will not be able to travel with me if I need to do another postdoc elsewhere. Therefore, I'm considering applying for industry jobs. I do believe that some types of jobs in within the industry would also be very enjoyable. But my goal would be to keep publishing and then eventually get back to academia when my CV is competitive enough.
My only problem is: Once I go to the industry, how to keep publishing? I mean I am pretty independent and good at writing papers alone or in collaborating via internet. And I'm also used to write papers in my spare time, during the night and on weekends. So I'm not worried about the time to keep doing research. But I'm afraid that without an academic affiliation, the probability that my papers would be considered for publication in conferences and journals would decrease.
Suppose I work in some enterprise in the automotive industry, or telecommunications industry, or even as a consultant.
Question 1) What affiliation should I put in my papers when submitting to conferences and journals? Should I put the name of the enterprise, even if the research is not being done there?
Question 2) Would an affiliation outside academia decrease the chances that my papers are accepted in theoretical computer science journals and conferences? Of course I know that some affiliations such as google, microsoft, etc do not harm, but I'm considering some jobs in much less well known companies.
Question 3) Is it possible to go back to academia after some years in industry if I keep my publication record high?

I am a good example of how it is quite possible to keep up a strong publication record in industry, as long as your job supports it. I submit my Google Scholar profile for evidence: I moved from postdoc to industry in 2008, and though I have contemplated (and been offered) opportunities to move back to academia, to date I have actively chosen to continue in my current position.
Likewise, no healthy scientific community will hold a prejudice against authors from industry, any more than they hold prejudice against authors from less well known universities.  Unhealthy communities do sometimes have cliques that make it difficult for anybody outside of a clique to publish.
In certain cases, you can even have an advantage in research when you come from industry, as it is often useful for academics to have "industry partners" who often have a broader perspective are capable of doing things that they are not.
You do, however, need to have a job that supports publication.  For that, I recommend looking into research consulting companies, rather than normal "product" companies, where you will typically have little time to publish.  If publication can be part of your job, you can keep up publication; if it is a "second job," it will be far harder.

If the research is truly after-work pastime, what would you put as affiliation?

@Raphael Depends on the policy of your company: many would actually require that you put the company as your affiliation, even if you're doing it after-work.  Some would require that you not do so, in which case I've seen people writing down their personal consulting companies or just something like "Member, ACM."

@Raphael Why do you need an affiliation?

Disclaimer: I'm not in your research area.
Q1: The affiliation under which you conduct your research; whoever pays for your research time is your affiliation on paper. Careful with moonlighting provisions in some contracts--not all companies will allow you to claim "on-the-side" IP creation. Also, keep in mind that in many companies you cannot publish anything related to your work without their legal team giving green light to the manuscript.
Q2: I would think not if the venue is reputable. Double-blind review wouldn't hurt (that's how my research area operates).
Q3: Yes. But you must realize that keeping your publication record high while working for a company is much easier said than done, especially if that company doesn't attach value to publishing. In my experience, pretty much the only reliable way to discern whether publishing is valuable to a company is to look at (recent) past history in the particular division you will be employed at--a publishing culture is not built overnight.

What is this magical land in which publication review is double blind?

@DanielSank Plenty of places. 44% of researchers in a 2008 survey had encountered double-blind reviewing as an author (& 42% as a reviewer). It was most common in clinical research & humanities/social science. http://publishingresearchconsortium.com/index.php/112-prc-projects/research-reports/peer-review-in-scholarly-journals-research-report/142-peer-review-in-scholarly-journals-perspective-of-the-scholarly-community-an-international-study

@Andrew, I wasn't being facetious. If only physics did the same.

@DanielSank ah, apologies :-) You might be interested to see this other study, which splits out opinions by disciplines - a small majority of physicists seem to agree with you, so perhaps there's hope yet! http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/asi.22798/full

@Andrew Frankly, I think the journal system rather out of date. We no longer need restrict ourselves to review by one to three individuals who may each have conflicts of interest. If a service like arXiv could figure out a reasonable up/down voting system for freely published works I think we'd all be better off.

I am an industrial researcher, and I have published quite a few papers under my company affiliation, some of it was only very remotely related to my work.
The managers actually like it, they can show how innovative the department is.
All I do is to send the article for approval, add a note that it doesn't contain confidential information as it was done outside of work.
I do this because publications are actually part of my yearly bonus. Now if I came up with something groundbreaking and marketable, I would not publish under the company affiliation, as this could lead the company to claim ownership of my work.
My company is very well-known, so the non-academic affiliation is not a problem at all.
Of course, if you work at a New Age Bookstore or a Cannabis Dispensary, publications in scientific or medical journals might raise some eyebrows.
A word of warning from friends' experiences:
Just be aware that often the applicant will be the most honest person in a job interview, don't expect them to be honest to you.
If you ask them if you can publish, they will of course tell you sure, but don't be surprised if your job later has nothing to do with research (despite them telling you so and giving you a job title like researcher) and that you will have absolutely no time to publish anything.
Publishing might even be seen negatively, because some companies see you as their property and don't want you to do anything but work (and relax during your 2 weeks vacation so you can work more afterwards).
As far as returning to academia. I've seen this happen many times. One thing to note is that contacts are just as (or more) important than publications, and if you leave the community, you will have a very hard time to go back. So you have to continue to go to conferences and try to volunteer on conference committees and similar to stay in touch with people.
Also your priorities might change, once I took an industrial job, I lost interest in going back quickly, something that I did not think possible before.
You write that your cv is not competitive enough at the moment. The problem with an industrial position is that you won't have as much time to spend on publications as someone in academia, where your only purpose in life is to publish.
So in 3 years, you will compete with people who have been running the publishing treadmill for 3 more years, and of course, they will have more papers than you.
Don't underestimate the time and energy a day job takes. While my job is actually a research job, I personally don't have the energy left to publish as much as I would like to, even though my company supports publications and gives me a bonus for it. Especially as you get older, have family obligations etc., you just won't have the energy to write anything up.
Whatever decision you make, don't be afraid of change. I was terrified before I left academia and thought about the same things you do now, but in the end everything worked out well, and I even get to write a paper now and then.

The risk described is real - is there a possibility to publish? But a work environment (industry or academic) is more than an office. Therefore, the important questions are: who will be your future colleagues, and do they publish?

I'm doing what you are doing: performing a nominally research-oriented job in industry and publishing on the side. This and this earlier answer of mine may be helpful. To your questions:

You should discuss whether you should put your employer's name down as an affiliation. My employer allows this, even on work I do that is utterly non-related to my day job.
You being in industry should not matter. Hopefully. This will depend on your field - in one of my fields (forecasting), it may be a slight plus, in the other one (inferential statistics for psychology), nobody cares, because I'm only one of five co-authors, and never the lead author.
No idea about this.

I'm afraid that industry research positions on theoretical computer science will be extremely rare. Good luck finding and getting one of those!
If you can't get something in theoretical CS, you essentially have two options - either switch fields to something more applied (in which case you will need to both learn the basics of this field and establish a new reputation and network), or continue your theoretical CS work in the evenings. In this case, your employer will likely not pay for you to attend conferences, so you will either have to pay yourself and take vacation time to go, or forego the networking opportunities conferences offer. In addition, I have found that I'm too tired once my kids are in bed to do any scientific work, and I hate spending the time they are awake writing non-work related papers - my kids don't see enough of me as it is. Your mileage may vary.

There are many more industrial theoretical CS positions than one might expect, certainly in both the US and Europe.  They're still pretty rare, though, and some are not permitted to publish.

As others have mentioned, it is feasible to use a company affiliation. The other thing you may consider is seeking an adjunct (unpaid / honorary) appointment with your current university. I used a 'Visiting Research Fellow' affiliation for a few years after my PhD as I was working as a consultant.
My articles were really extensions of my PhD work and related research done on my own time. My consulting work concerned something else entirely.
The research director or similar of your current department might be able to help identify whether you would be eligible for such an appointment and how to apply. In my case, the application was a letter to the department with an outline of the research I was intending to do.

To get a job in industry that allows you to keep up a high rate of publications, high enough to make a move to academia later easy, is probably much harder than getting a job in academia in the first place.
You have to decide if you want to go on doing "mostly pure research", and stay in academia, or do "mostly application", and go to industry.

I do not believe that this is true for engineering-type fields or for certain theoretical ones.  There are a much lower percentage of "mostly research" jobs in industry, but a very large number of jobs all told.


text:
Omitted question mark in quoted material
How do I insert a question mark into a quotation that was omitted in the original material? For example, "Now we find that our land has unacceptable levels of contamination. Will it never stop[?]” Or "...Will it never stop"?

Is this a scientific publication or literature?

Are you sure there needs to be one? https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/18380/should-sentences-like-i-wonder-end-with-a-question-mark

How about: "Now we find that our land has unacceptable levels of contamination. Will it never stop” [sic]. This indicates that the error was in the original and the quote is exact.
See https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sic, the first definition here.


text:
As an American, if I get a Master of Modern Languages in Italy, how hard would it be to get into an American PhD program?
As an American, if I get a Master of Modern Languages in Italy, how hard would it be to get into an American PhD program?
My end goal is to be a professor of one or two languages at an American University but I want to do my Master's in Italy, studying French, Spanish and German, (studying through Italian.)
How hard would it be for me, if I had great grades and recommendations, to then get into a reputable PhD program in America afterwards?
I'm thinking about somewhere in Tuscany because that's where I have lots of friends and family, so either Pisa or Siena University.
More details:

I'm bilingual in Italian, I can read well enough to read adult literature, and I write well enough to be mistaken for a native. (My accent gives away I'm a foreigner during longer conversations.)
I could become an Italian citizen, (I have all the necessary paper work, I just haven't brought it to the embassy yet.)
I want to do my Master's in Europe, because whenever I'm in America I get sucked back into my English/Spanish/Italian life, and I get rusty at my other languges, (I speak 6 "world" languages "fluently", (three languages at C1/2 and three at B2/B2+).

and then a PhD in what?? (the connection between the MA you're describing and your later plans is opaque without that).

"adult" literature or literature beyond kids books?

@AzorAhai Written works intended to be read by fully literate native speakers.

Location of friends and family is generally not the best argument to choose a university program...


text:
Should I send a research recommendation letter to teaching postdoc position?
I am a math PhD student, graduating this semester. I found a teaching postdoc that I would really like to apply for but I am confused by the ad.
They ask for a teaching statement but no research statement. The duties include teaching two to three classes per semester and some course development/improvement.
They ask for two recommendation letters, "at least one of which addresses your teaching."
I have two teaching recommendation letters that I am pretty confident in.
But would it be concerning if I don't have a recommendation letter from my advisor? I just don't see the benefit in sending a research letter for a position that doesn't involve research, but I don't know how these things are judged.
Any advice is appreciated!

keep in mind that in most cases "Teaching Postdoc" is an oxymoron in that you'll be teaching but probably with very little of the supervision or mentoring that would be expected in an actual postdoc.

Fyi usually a postdoc is primarily a research position, it's unusual to use this term for a teaching position. Mind that if you are interested in an academic career you have to stay active in research, but this position might not leave you enough time for that. Of course it's fine if you are happy with this or if this particular position offers good career perspectives.

Yeah, I know that a "teaching postdoc" doesn't make a lot of sense. But from what I understand from the ad, it will involve teaching 2-3 courses per semester and some course rework/development. Also you will be assigned a mentor. I think the position is geared towards preparing someone for an educator position (not research) which is what I'm looking for.

@RebekahJones Good luck then!

It sounds like you are pretty dialed in.  My advice is to include the advisor letter.  For one thing they are explicitly open to some of the letters being non teaching.  And you have the teaching boxes checked.
Also, it still hopefully shows you in a good light: smart student, conscientious, etc.  If you could get your advisor to make some comments about any coaching, mentoring (or even personality suited to it) that would be a positive.  But even a straight research letter would still be fine.  Probably most of the committee did a research based Ph.D. so they know the world you come from even if the school is not an R1.
I would not skip the advisor.  That will look bad.  (If it is OK to send 3 letters that would be ideal...but I don't know the protocol.)


text:
Is it bad to update a job application after the due date?
I am graduating from a math PhD program next May, so I am on the job market now. I have already submitted some applications (via mathjobs.org). But most applications are due in the next week or so and I have been working on my research statement quite a lot. Now I've made many changes since the version that I submitted.
So my question is: would it be bad to upload a new version of my research statement to jobs that I already applied to and whose first deadline has past?
Most job ads say that applications submitted before the first deadline will receive full consideration. I don't want to risk begin omitted from that group by updating my application.
Thanks for any replies or comments!

I suspect it's pretty common: after all, most people have just 1 version of their RS, which they keep updating for as long as there are jobs they're applying to; but some of the deadlines will already have passed at the time they're updating it.

It's not "bad" to update your application after the deadline, but based on all the committees I've been on, the odds are low that your revised version will be looked at. What most of us do is download the full set of applications shortly after the deadline, and then start to read them. We don't go back and look to see if the applications have changed, and even if we wanted to spend time doing this, I don't think it would be fair to all applicants. (And please don't email that your application has changed, unless it's something amazingly important, like your recent Nobel prize!) All that said, it won't hurt anything to update your application, but your time is likely better spent doing other things.


text:
What are the best methods for independently publishing an academic book?
I am a statistician and am thinking of writing a book on variations of regression.  I submitted it to one place who said that even if they accepted it, they would pay $1100.  That's very little. So I am thinking of self publishing but was wondering about the best methods - LaTeX? Pressbooks? or what?
"Best" in terms of ease of use and ability to produce the files needed for a book in various formats.

"Best" according to what criteria?

What are you looking for by self-publishing? Do you want to make print books? Make a profit? Achieve wide readership? Just make some PDF files and leave it on your website?

My advice is to go with a commercial publisher if you are so luck as to have one already willing to do an advance.  They have the marketing channels to do something with your book.  No promises of course, but self published works are incredibly unlikely to break through into being used.
Just take care of yourself in terms of rights and such.  (You need to give them the work in question of course, but make sure it does not impact any future production.)  Also, even while negotiating rights, realize they are "a customer" and really the most important one.  So don't be a jerk.  If anything try to establish a connection to be exploited later and give them a little "come on" (without making commitments) that you are up to publishing more with them.


text:
What do the offices of very junior faculty at Yale look like?
I am writing a novel and one of the characters is a brand new member of the faculty in the psychology department at Yale. She works there part time, and has a therapy practice in another location.
I want to describe her office, but I don't know how it would look. How big? Any windows? Would it be just hers or would she share?
EDI: Sorry for the off topic question, but thanks for the helpful comments and answers!

Go visit Yale and ask for a tour.

This question seems out of scope. It is also poorly tagged.

"Any windows?" Is this meant seriously? I.e., are there indeed some offices at some US universities that don't have windows?

@JochenGlueck Yes. My office in grad school did not have any windows. A few years later I had a 1 year position at a school where I had a window but it was so obscured by outside machinery (If I recall correctly air conditioning units) that there was almost no natural light let in.

"are there indeed some offices at some US universities that don't have windows" yes, this is quite common.

are there indeed some offices at some US universities that don't have windows? --- Of the 4 colleges/universities I've taught full-time at, I had a window at 2 of them and no window at 2 of them. One of the former I had two offices -- 2 years with a window and a 3rd year without a window, and one of the latter I had three offices -- 1 year without a window, different office for 2 years without a window, 1 year at still another office without a window.

@JochenGlueck Sometimes, people's offices are in the basement.

There might be photos at https://communications.yale.edu/yale-photos

Also, I did my undergrad at Yale, and the quality of offices was highly variable from department to department. English for example had very nice spaces, and math was in an old, almost falling apart pair of buildings. Also, from a writing standpoint, readers aren't going to care if your office description is not perfectly aligned with reality. (I did write a short story a while ago where I had to get the geography of Brandeis correct, but that was mainly because my spouse went there and she gets to look at all drafts so she insisted on changing things..)

Thanks for all the replies to my comment! I'm genuinely surprised. (I guess I always took it for granted that almost every office has a window. Turns out that I was quite wrong.)

From a brief look at the Yale Psychology department website, the Yale department does NOT train students to practice at psychologists or therapists, and is unlikely to hire a professor who practices rather than doing research into psychology (including research into what practices are effective for therapists).  Having a therapist teaching in the Yale psychology department is about as realistic as having a physician teaching in the Yale biology department (rather than in the medical school)

@AlexanderWoo I don't have a bunch of time to snoop the webpages further, but if there's some confirmatory evidence, I'd be happy to integrate it into my answer. I suspected the same as what you're saying, but I'm in math like you so am slightly shaky on what an academic route looks like for therapists.

@AlexanderWoo: I do not know about the Yale faculty specifically, but they do have Clinical Psychology. It is absolutely not far-fetched for clinical psychologists to be licensed and possibly practicing therapists or psychiatrists. Professorships in Clinical Psychology frequently require being a licensed therapist. Source: my wife is a professor of Clinical Psychology and a licensed therapist (though in Germany, not at Yale).

@StephanKolassa: And on that web page it says: "The Clinical Psychology area is dedicated to research and training in clinical science. The graduate program aspires to educate the next generation of leading academic and research psychologists and to create an environment for advancing research related to psychopathology and its treatment." - no mention of training future practicing clinical psychologists.

@AlexanderWoo: yes, and I wrote that I do not know about the situation at Yale specifically, but that this setup is not unheard of, at least on other parts of the Western world. I do wonder how many graduates of this program do become research scientists, and how many go on to be licensed as therapists. In Germany, the vast majority take the second route. Which is why I believe that requiring clinical psychologists to have at least a rudimentary understanding of therapy is a Good Thing. YMMV.

Your best bet to answer this question is to visit the psychology department at Yale in person.
That being said, if you're trying to be pedantically accurate, it sounds to me like you may need to do a little more research. Or perhaps not, but I think the following is useful advice for anybody in a similar situation in the future as well. As a commenter points out: pedantic accuracy may not be what you're going for.
I do appreciate, however, authors that don't over-embellish work conditions for academics. Our offices are often smaller and less attractive than they're portrayed in external media, even at wealthy places like Yale and especially for junior faculty.

[...] [She] is a brand new member of the faculty in the psychology department at Yale. She works there part time, and has a therapy practice in another location.

To figure out what offices you're trying to locate, you likely need to know what this character's job title is. Once you know a job title, you can visit Yale in person or call their psychology department's public number. A secretary will probably happily answer some short series of questions about what their offices look like.
If you want to be extremely accurate, you need to do research on what a typical career path looks like for a psychology professor and determine where in that path your character falls. Ultimately, you must decide whether your character is on an academic career path, or if they are an adjunct professor whose main job is their practice and perhaps teaches one class part-time. You can then ask about the job title you're interested in for the offices. You will already be slightly wrong to the reality in this latter case, as Yale's psychology department doesn't list themselves as hiring any adjuncts. In many places, adjuncts have no office, or a shared office, frequently without windows. Assistant professors likely have their own, I suspect with a window at Yale.

She works there part time, and has a therapy practice in another location.

As an aside, you may be taking some significant authorial license with this if you want your character to be going down the academic route and not just teaching a class once in awhile as an adjunct. I'm less experienced with how assistant professorships go in medicine, but in most disciplines being on the tenure-track at a place like Yale does not leave time in the day for a person to maintain a whole independent second job. I've heard of physicians and psychologists practicing as part of their tenure-track assignment, sometimes in a faculty practice that the university administers, but I don't think I've often heard of people maintaining an independent practice.

Thanks. I do know that quite a few psychologists do research and do clinical work (this is one of the differences between a PsyD and a PhD). I don't know the specific situation at Yale.


text:
USA - Undergraduate Final Transcripts and PhD Programs
I am curious about how final transcripts play a role in a graduate program that has already accepted you. For example, if a student with a 3.02 cumulative GPA was accepted into a Physics Ph.D. program that requires a 3.0 cumulative GPA, but does poorly during their last semester of undergraduate classes so their cumulative GPA falls to a 2.98 while still passing all their classes.  Would this student be subject to rejection from the Ph.D. program if they were already accepted into?
I am not in this situation, I am just curious what the implications are for doing poorly on your last semester of an undergraduate degree after having already been accepted into a Ph.D./Masters program.
Thank you!

Tangentially related: in the UK at least such requirements are sometimes set by the funding body and not the university, so if you don't meet the conditions of the offer you will no longer be funded.

There are no "laws" that describe what schools can do in such situations. Everything depends on how strictly the department obeys whatever regulations are in place. Some may say it only counts when the decision is made, and others will insist on it being valid at the time of degree completion. Many schools do not have strict GPA cutoffs for admission, in which case the issue is moot.
In general, though, I don't think I've heard of a school withdrawing an offer because of a small change in GPA. Usually it's when someone contracts "terminal senioritis" and has their GPA fall drastically after the admission offer is made.


text:
2 references required but space for 3. Should I leave it blank?
My Masters application only asks for 2 references, and both my references have agreed to give me one. But there is space for 3 names. Should I leave it blank? I don't really have anyone else to ask and it did not mention to incliude a third anywhere on the website/ admissions, etc.
What do I do?

Do you see adding a non reference person being beneficial?

@Aruralreader I don't think so. My 2 references are pretty strong since they are both academic (what the program wants) and relate to research I did/ concepts in the field. It doesn't mention anywhere to have 3 references, and the program webpage (in the pic) says "Two Letters of Recommendation". I think maybe it may be how the page is laid out, and you fill in 2 or 3 depending on program requirements, but im not sure

If you don't have anyone completely supportive, then yes, leave it blank. A mediocre recommendation won't help.
Requiring three is pretty common though, so make sure you got it right.

It hasn't mentioned anywhere to include 3. I'm assuming the 3rd is for a 'backup' It says this: provide contact information for academic referees from university faculty. Applicants should name referees who are capable of speaking to their experience and interest in the research stream. Applicants who have been out of school for 5 years or less should provide at least one name of academic referee from university faculty and one professional reference. Applicants who have been out of school for more than 5 years should provide at least 1 name of an academic referee from the university faculty.


text:
What is the difference between TV-L E13 and TV-L E14 positions? Is it negotiable?
I am trying to wrap my head around the German research system since I have an offer for a position. I understand the TV-L concept, and that you can go up a step depending on your prior relevant experience.
I do not however understand what distinguishes the TV-L E13 from TV-L E14 positions for postdocs. What are the differences and is it something that you can negotiate with the institute (seeing as TV-L E14 is better paid)? Sounds like there should be a difference somehow.
In my case, I have a 4.5-year-long PhD and an additional 4 years of research experience. If my understanding of the documents is correct, I would land in Grade (Stufe) 3, is that correct? If not, could anyone elaborate on how the prior experience is calculated for this purpose?
EDIT: the follow-up is now moved to a separate question

Voting to leave open, but I do recommend removing the followup question - or changing it to a much broader question about how academic career progression works in Germany

@Flyto fair enough, I have now posted another question with the follow up part to separate these two questions

The key difference between a TVL E13 and E14 position would be the job responsibilities and required qualifications. In an academic context, E13 positions are for researchers at graduate or post-graduate level working under supervision. E14 positions have a higher responsibility in the sense that these would typically include project leadership and / or supervision tasks. Typical academic roles that should be filled at the level of an E14 position would be group leaders, principal investigators of projects, research lab managers, or just someone supervising graduate or other post-graduate researchers. Nevertheless, someone working in these roles may still get only E13 due to budget reasons.
If the position you have an offer for includes tasks at E14 level, then it certainly is something that can be asked for. Whether or not it will be possible to make it E14 will mostly depend on how the position is being funded. It may be that this was specifically budgeted as an E13 position, and then it will be difficult to change that through negotiations from your side. If the position was announced specifically as E13 then it may be a high administrative hurdle to change that. However, if the funding is just a bunch of money without detailed budget plan, it may be easier to get it as an E14 position. Especially if it is only for few years, the total salary spent need not be much higher in E14 compared to E13 because you would likely start in a lower grade (Stufe).
Regarding the grade I think that indeed with more than 8 years of research experience you should definitely get Stufe 3 in E13. The number of years could even be enough for Stufe 4, but I've heard that new hires will usually get Stufe 3 at most. However, if you get an E14 position, then I guess that you can just get Stufe 1 or maybe 2, depending on whether you have some prior experience with the E14 type of tasks I mentioned above.
As a side note, there is also the possibility to start in E13 and then being promoted to E14 if job responsibilities are accordingly and the budget is available. In that case, one would get the lowest grade in E14 where the salary is still at least as high as in the most recent E13 grade one has achieved.

6 years of experience is enough for Stufe 4 (Stufe n lasts n years). I know of one case of a new hire starting at Stufe 4 due to having 6 years of experience. It was not E13 nor E14 though.


text:
Choice of personal pronoun in single-author papers
Which personal pronoun is appropriate in single-author papers - 'I' or 'we'? Could the use of 'I' be considered egotistical? Or will the use of 'we' be considered to be grammatically incorrect?

see also http://hsm.stackexchange.com/questions/2002/how-did-royal-we-become-a-standard-of-scientific-writing

Your question is similar to https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/11659/using-first-person-or-third-person-in-papers

Easy solution: get a co-author. It wouldn't be the first time

Very rarely is 'I' used in scholarly writing (at least in math and the sciences).  A much more common choice is 'we', as in "the author and the reader".  For example: "We examine the case when..."
One exception to this rule is if you're writing a memoir or some other sort of "personal piece" for which the identity of the author is particularly relevant.
Now let me quote Paul Halmos (Section 12 of "How to Write Mathematics"):

One aspect of expository style that frequently bothers beginning authors is the use of the editorial "we", as opposed to the singular "I", or the neutral "one". It is in matters like this that common sense is most important.  For what it's worth, I present here my recommendation.
Since the best expository style is the least obtrusive one, I tend nowadays to prefer the neutral approach.  That does not mean using "one" often, or ever; sentences like "one has thus proved that..." are awful. It does mean the complete avoidance of the first person pronouns in either singular or plural. "Since p, it follows that q." "This implies p." "An application of p to q yields r." Most (all ?) mathematical writing is (should be ?) factual; simple declarative statements are the best for communicating facts.
A frequently effective time-saving device is the use of the imperative. "To find p, multiply q by r." "Given p, put q equal to r."...
There is nothing wrong with the editorial "we", but if you like it, do not misuse it.  Let "we" mean "the author and the reader" (or "the lecturer and the audience").  Thus, it is fine to say "Using Lemma 2 we can generalize Theorem 1", or "Lemma 3 gives us a technique for proving Theorem 4".  It is not good to say "Our work on this result was done in 1969" (unless the voice is that of two authors, or more, speaking in unison), and "We thank our wife for her help with the typing" is always bad.
The use of "I", and especially its overuse, sometimes has a repellent effect, as arrogance or ex-cathedra preaching, and, for that reason, I like to avoid it whenever possible.  In short notes, obviously in personal historical remarks, and perhaps, in essays such as this, it has its place.

You can download the pdf of Halmos' complete essay.

+1 for the Halmos quote.   Your example ("we let...") is certainly a place where I wouldn't use a pronoun at all!

@DavidKetcheson Yeah, good point.  That was a lousy example.  I've replaced it with something at least a little better.

@DanC I completely agree with your answer and what P. Halmos said. I just happen to be reading a famous single author's math book, famous enough to be the bible of its field of study before I saw your answer. The first 20 pages contains numerous occurances of "We call something X...". In most cases, they are common definitions. Some are obviously the author's call, not necessarily the readers'. I am wondering they are good use of "We" or not.

@scaaahu Without reading the specific example, I can't be sure, but... I would liken "We call something X" to saying "this is how it's done" descriptive of those in the know and prescriptive for those new to the area.

I can see the value of Halmos' advice in the specific field of mathematics, where the entire content of a paper is composed of incontrovertible facts. However, in the natural sciences things are rarely so clear-cut, and in the end what most papers express are not facts but opinions. These are highly informed opinions based on evidence, but they are opinions nevertheless. In my view it's counterproductive and misleading to try and avoid any mention of whose opinions they are, so I think it's very appropriate to introduce such a paper with "I argue that...".

Additionally, outside of mathematics you have to deal with descriptions of experiments. It's a question of style whether to say "a device was constructed", "we constructed a device", "I constructed a device". Personally, I find the first incredibly awkward (constructed by whom?), the second a bit jarring (wait, was there someone else involved?) and the third perfectly fine.

@D.W. Did you read the last line of the quote?

I, for one, find the idea of using 'we' in a single-author essay to be utterly bizarre. Authors should take responsibility for their own work and leave the readers out of it.

Authorial "we" is quite common, even in single author papers (at least in math and related fields). The explanation I've heard is that it should be read as both the writer and the reader (as in "we now prove...", meaning that we two shall now prove it together). Some people find it awkward, and insist on "I", but this is unusual (and I've heard of referees demanding "we"). In cases where "we" is truly nonsensical (for instance, introducing a list of people being thanked), people who avoid "I" either find an alternate phrasing or refer to themselves in the third person ("The author would like to thank...").

In single-author papers, I think consistency trumps any particular rule or style. As the Haimos essay suggests, you can achieve whatever style you choose; you just need to make sure that it makes sense.
For instance, don't switch back and forth between "I" and "we," or between active and passive constructions too close to one another. Make the use of "I" and "we" clear to indicate active participation in the project (for instance, for assumptions or approximations made, you choose that—unless it's something everybody does).

I agree with "don't switch back and forth between 'I' and 'we'", but I disagree with your comparison of that with "[don't switch back and forth between] active and passive constructions".  There are contexts where habitual use of I makes sense.  I know of no analogous contexts for repeated use of passive constructions.  As a general rule, writing extensively in the passive voice is just bad writing.

+1, "I" or "We", it's your call, but be consistent (and also use the present tense, but this is another story).

The passive voice is useful for switching the emphasis. But what I meant was don't go "We modeled X. This was done to study Y. We will not look at Z further. Z was not modeled because A." and so on.

"We modeled X to study Y. We did not model Z because A."

@aeismail: I honestly can't find anything objectionable in your proposed counterexample!

I believe that mixing I and we is in fact possible and not incoherent. Just think of the author as speaking in front of an audience: When s/he describes what s/he is doing (or did), s/he can say I. (In fact, it makes no sense to pretend that the audience was collaborating by saying we here.) However, when the author is referring to something s/he has demonstrated earlier, it makes perfect sense to say "as we have seen" or if the author invites the audience to "think along" as in "if we now assume ..." This kind of mixing I and we is perfectly fine (although the we is still patronizing).

@Christoph: The key phrase in my answer is: "too close to one another." One right after the other is confusing; after a while, it doesn't matter which one you used a minute or two ago.

When not faced with a journal/publisher specific style, my go to style guide is APA. I really like the APA style blog. In this post they explain:

If you’re writing a paper alone, use I as your pronoun. If you have coauthors, use we.

They go on to lash out against the editorial we

However, avoid using we to refer to broader sets of people—researchers, students, psychologists, Americans, people in general, or even all of humanity—without specifying who you mean (a practice called using the editorial “we”). This can introduce ambiguity into your writing.

There is also another related post about using we and avoiding ambiguity.

The context is important, though. If you are writing a scientific/mathematical paper, writing "I" will come across as odd and unprofessional, so this would be pretty bad advice.

There are already two good answers for this entry, one is also accepted. But I'm going to give my two cent answer anyway...
This is what I learned from a workshop on writing scientific texts. Basically, my suggestion would be avoid using either "we" or "I" in the whole paper, except the "Experiment and results" section1. The idea is that by using passive form in the text, you avoid both issues related to being egotistical or ungrammatical.
Then in the "Experiment and results" you use "We"2. Why not using passive form in "Experiment" section? Well, you could but the idea here is that these results can be produced by everyone, including readers. So "we" is not referring to author(s), but to author(s) and readers.

1. This might not be the case in fields that papers do not have an experimental section.
2. Once could object that this will result in inconstancy in paper which is a valid objection.

Why the factually incorrect "we" in the experiments and results sections? This is nonsense. The "we" should be used iff it can refer to author and reader.

The "royal we" works
The "royal we" suggests a hypothetical population of peers who hold some position.  This hypothetical population may-or-may-not include the reader, at the reader's option.  And since it's a hypothetical population with a subjective number of members, "we" is appropriate.
Even if you're talking about a real-world action that you did to perform a specific experimental step, it's still accurate to describe the hypothetical population as having performed that action.
This approach has a few advantages:

It's easier for readers to put themselves into your shoes as a member of the population engaging in the study.

It avoids distracting the reader with inconsistent pronouns for the authors across papers.


text:
When submitting a journal article, can I cite a paper which cited my arxiv preprint?
I had uploaded an arxiv paper about 4 months back which developed an algorithm. After uploading the preprint we got some good feedback from a colleague, following which we have added additional simulation results and a more detailed discussion.
In this span of 4 months, the paper has been cited a couple of times. The original work was primarily theoretical, whereas the papers which cited our work successfully applied our algorithm (with minor modifications) to power systems. Hence, when submitting to the journal, I would like to cite these papers to show that our methods have practical application.
My question is: would this form a citation loop which is undesirable? They have cited my work, and I cite their work. Is this firstly even allowed?
Field of research: Intersection of applied mathematics, engineering, and computer science. The paper is likely to be submitted to a SIAM journal.

This question is not a duplicate of the one indicated. This question is about citing an article by someone else who has cited your own preprint. The other question is about cyclic citations among only one's own articles.

This depends on what the journal's policies are. But in general (i.e. unless the journal overrides this), there's no requirement that the paper you submit be exactly the same as the paper you put on arXiv. It's often the case that the last round of edits you make prior to publication won't be reflected in the arXiv version, and you could consider the addition of citations to be part of that round of edits.
I have seen citation loops in the past, and nobody raised an eyebrow about them. In fields where posting preprints on arXiv is common, it's well understood that this can happen.

You can cite any other work. The fact it cites an unpublished paper poses no problem. Only make sure you cite it in an appropriate way (for instance with a footnote like: "this paper used a preliminary preprint version of the present work"), and update your reference to that paper as your publication progresses.
I have seen a case where two papers published in the same issue cross-cite each other, as both authors were aware on the others' work

authors: سيف رحمان مومن


text:
What is the normal total time for Peer Review for a general paper submission (Not a Special Issue) in IETE Journal of Research Taylor Francis?
I have submitted a paper in IETE Journal of Research (http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tijr20#.VrL0xvl97IW) on 22/09/15. Still the status is under review. Is it usual for this journal or I should make a polite query to the editor.


text:
Is it OK if I hate a piece I wrote several months after publishing it?
I wrote a blog post for a magazine run by scholars. A few months later, I read the post again. I hate it! I can think of three-four different ways I could have written it differently. Granted, I was asked to comment on an ongoing political issue at the time and didn’t have enough information back then. However, I could have organized it differently, omitted paragraphs, and focused on different issues. Is this normal? Do you have similar experiences? If I don’t like what I wrote four months ago, what would have established scholars thought of my piece back then?

I think everyone who has published stuff has articles out there that we regret. If it is technical, often we have come to understand the problem better. As you say, you didn't have all the info and wrote an opinion piece that now, with more info, you don't fully support. Sounds entirely normal to me!

I have pieces of code from 2 weeks ago that I hate and I've been programming over 10 years. It happens, take it as a lesson and move on.

@scrappedcola then there is the story about how an engineer can do for $10 what any normal person spends $100, BUT be careful - the engineer will spend $1000 doing improvements...

It might be worth discussing on meta whether it's worth creating a tag for imposter syndrome, but if there is support for it then it should probably be [tag:imposter-syndrome] in English.

Thank you! I think now that I am rewriting chapters of my dissertation for publication, I notice my flaws in my writing better. It’s a humbling process...and a nerve-racking one!

@SolarMike lol yea you don't even want to know the number of "refactors" that have come up in this horrible project. Def a lesson on proper architecture processes.

It's called 'publication remorse'. (Actually, it isn't, but there should be a name for it.)

Short answer : Yes
Why - because hindsight is the equivalent of 20:20 vision and writing for tomorrow is like looking through fog...
So, let it go, if there is nothing to apologise for, go and concentrate on the next one - bringing in your experience of this one...

If it is out there, you are stuck with it. You might try to publish a better piece in the same venue, of course. But complaining about it or trying to hide it or deny it will bring you up against the Barbara Streisand effect. This will just make the thing you "hate" more visible.
In such situations, if your piece was somehow inappropriate or offensive, apologies for your past behavior is usually the best bet and can be a part of the "better piece" suggested above. But it has to be a real apology, not a nopology such as "I apologize if anyone was offended by remarks". Another classic is "I'm sorry that you were upset with me." I suspect that you understand that, of course, since you are asking this question.
Yes it is ok to hate it. It is called growth. What people think of it is up to them. You have no control over that.
I don't know what you wrote, of course, but if you write in an emotional state, such as anger, let it cool before hitting "send". Read it over. Ask about what the long term effect would be. Think. Revise as needed.

Thanks! I didn’t write anything offensive. : ) But thank you for taking the time and responding. I appreciate it!

@Karin I'm glad that is the case. I've edited for clarification.