text:
Is it considered unethical/bad etiquette to contact another potential PhD supervisor while waiting for a response from my first choice?
I have contacted a potential PhD supervisor and currently he is reviewing my work, however this evaluation process seems to be taking too long.
Is it ethical to give my research proposal to another professor (another university) while he is reviewing my work? Will this reflect negatively on me if he finds out about it?
There is a good chance that these two professors are in contact with each other ( though I can't be sure!)
He is the foremost expert in my field and I would prefer to have him as supervisor. I just don't want to lose my other opportunities.
Note : I have already secured funding for my PhD. I am only looking for a reputable school (and supervisor). I am considering two institutions in Europe, in Netherlands and Germany.

Culture and context might help give better answers.  I had a situation similar, in which eventually my first choice worked out, and it left a bad situation for the second choice.  But im sure everyone will have stories

Well I am considering two institutions in Europe, in Netherlands and Germany. There is a good chance that these two professors are in contact with each other ( though I can't be sure!)

Finding a PhD advisor, like finding a job, is not a serial process. You can—and should—have multiple applications out simultaneously. If you get an offer you find acceptable, then you should take it.
If you are concerned about missing out on an opportunity with your first-choice advisor if someone else makes you an offer, then you can send a polite email informing the first-choice advisor something like:

I would really like to work with you, but I am starting to receive offers of admission from other advisors. They would like to have an answer by <date>. While I understand you need time to make a decision, would it be possible for you to give me an answer by then?

If they're serious about having you as a PhD student, they'll respond.

I'm assuming you are a normal student, i.e. you don't have single-author papers in science or something similar. If you have, contact your only choice again, if he has money he should hire you.
Assuming you are a normal student, then yes, contact other Professors and programs as well. This is normal (at least in the natural sciences) and increases your chances of actually having a position in the future. Don't worry about this reflecting negatively. If someone does, you maybe wouldn't want to work with this person anyway. Honestly, however, there are many applicants that individual withdrawels don't bother us too much.
Also, consider being less picky. If your choice of Prof. is indeed the foremost expect the (prior) probability of him actually hiring you is rather low. To increase the (posterior) probability of being hired, you need to stand out.

I am not worried about funding as I have secured funding for my PhD. I am only looking for a reputable school (and supervisor)I have two conference papers and two review articles.


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How to cite authors with same surnames?
How should I use in-text citation in case of one book from two authors with same surnames?
For instance; a source from Paul Ehrlich and Anna H. Ehrlich.
Which one is correct?

" ... " (Ehrlich & Ehrlich, 2015)
" ... " (P. Ehrlich & Ehrlich, 2015)

" ... " (Ehrlich & Ehrlich, 2015)
" ... " (P. Ehrlich & A. H. Ehrlich, 2015)
" ... " (Paul Ehrlich & Anna H. Ehrlich, 2015)

Are all correct. The adopted reference style will dictate which should be used.

Thanks, I use APA style

@Shadovx in APA the goal is to make sure the in text citation unambiguously links to a single item in the reference list. In this case it would be the first one. Now if P Erlich wrote a book in 2015 and A Erlich wrote an article in 2015, you would use initials, but if P Erlich wrote two things in 2015, you would use 2015a and 2015b.

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text:
How to improve myself as a recitation (discussion,lab,tutorial) teacher?
This question is related to How to improve myself as a lecturer?. However, being a PhD student, my main teaching obligation is leading recitations, i.e. sessions for groups of ~20 students that take place each week after a lecture and the content of the lecture should be revised mostly via exercises.
If you do not use the term "recitation session", please see a related question:
What is the equivalent of European "seminar" in US universities?
At my university (Charles University, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Czech Republic), in the mathematics/theoretical computer science classes, usually you have a 90 minute class where the recitation teacher reminds students of what was said in the lecture, hands out or writes exercises, and then, in shorter blocks, students go through the exercises and one student shows the solutions on a blackboard.
I'm not very fond of this structure and I would like to improve my classes with ideas that I cannot find at my university (where we usually do things the aforementioned way).
Some ideas that I've had in my previous years, which you can judge effectiveness of:

handing out "cheat sheets" containing the entire course notes (with compact proofs) beforehand: usually useful, as lecturers rarely have such compact notes beforehand, but very time consuming.
trying to ask each student how he is faring and offer personal advice: when I was a student, I preferred this model, but it takes a lot of time to go around 20 people and shortly talk to each one; my students (in an exit questionnaire) argued that they want more exercises done per class, so time is of the essence.
allow group work during a class -- this seems natural to me (science is mostly done in groups) but often results in people not being able to perform as well in final exams. Plus I am not yet sure how to allow groupwork so that groups don't delegate the work to the one enthusiastic student in the group.
use text questionnaires through and after a session to find out what students would like; I am very happy with the information in those and will use those in the future but students of one university tend to suggest improvements which they have noticed at the same university (especially where it is expected to go to one university for the 3-year Bc. and 2-year Master's).
filming yourself (as was suggested in the lecturer's question) is definitely a valid option but I feel it won't help me as much with recitations, especially since (I believe) there are not many great recitation sessions publicly available on the internet.

I've taught Biology discussion sections, and trained graduate students to teach. I'm a biology education researcher, so I am familiar with studies that measure student learning in different environments. I'd summarize good teaching as follows:

Find the student misconceptions.
If you are good at your subject, you likely have not struggled to learn it. Your biggest mystery is what do students not understand. Unfortunately, students don't have the meta-awareness to tell you, so you'll need to figure the misconceptions out together, at least for the first run-through of the course.
Show students their misconceptions.
Because students don't know what they don't know, they often feel like they understand material that they actually do not. When you show them they don't understand, they are more eager to fix the problem.
Give students an opportunity to learn.
Your class activities will indeed include a lot of group work, because discussing a problem, asking questions and answering them keeps everyone improving right at the sticky points. The big secret to group work so that everyone stays busy? Groups must be only 2 or 3 students. And you'll be walking around and asking the quiet students what they have figured out, so there is no slacking.

Here is an example of how to make this work. It's copied from an earlier answer of mine.

Look over the problem set the night before, and determine the easy ones from the hard ones.
When students arrive, tell them to start work on a difficult problem. Plan on giving them 5-10 minutes -- whatever they need until many of them slow down. Walk around as they work and just see how they choose to work.
After several are stuck, have them get into groups of three and compare their techniques and what they found difficult.

(note: students hate group work because it is more painful than just listening. Most classes will try not getting into groups, or not really talking, just to see if they can get out of it. A cheerful forcefulness works well on American students)

Walk around again and ask questions like, "Tell me how far you are. Can you show me a part that is difficult? Can you get out your lecture notes and find the section relevant to this problem?"
Usually at this point you will see a sticky point that more than one student is wrestling with. Now is a great time to pull everyone's attention back to the front of the room and you can work through that problem (or one similar) and answer questions for 5-10 minutes.
Have students return to the problem and complete it. Then they can do a similar problem on their own to reinforce.
Move on to the next topic and assign a new, difficult problem.

As you can see, this process shows both you and the students what they don't understand, and provides space and motivation to fix the problem. Because you're visiting the groups, they must produce.
Things I wouldn't recommend for a recitation:

Making course notes or a study guide. Students should be making their own.
More lecturing
Questionnaires are fine, but again, students don't know what they don't know

We've actually posted an example of discussion work for biology here: http://vimeo.com/33801546

I've been leading tutorials (much like your recitation sessions) and studio based learning sessions for 7 years as a TA, and have been teaching as a professor for 2 years.  An effective way to improve teaching, at least for me, has been a keen interest in the scholarship of teaching and learning.  Through delving into research I've radically changed my own viewpoint of what it means to be a teacher, and deepened my understanding as to how learning works.
In my own teaching, I try to structure my classes around student centred, active-learning principles.  I act more as a facilitator of learning, and have students actively discuss and work to achieve the objectives for a class.  Rather than overtly lecture on a principle, I'll prepare readings for the students ahead of time then in the session have students discuss and reinforce the key elements of a principle through a realistic application, usually in small groups.  They will all present their work and then discuss their approach and its merits.
The above example is only one small and, to be honest, quite vague example of more active learning.  The key is that the focus and effort should be on and from the student.  There are many, many more great examples and other evidence-based effective teaching methods out there.  One fantastic resource that I routinely read and recommend is:
Ambrose, S. A., Bridges, M. W., DiPietro, M., & Lovett, M. C. (2010). How learning works: Seven research-based principles for smart teaching. [Link to this book on Google Books and Amazon]

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How to list academic courses and grades on a pdf form?
Many US graduate programs require a list of courses with grades when applying.
Some schools provide a pdf form to fill out like this. However, since it is a PDF, how can a student list the courses on the document? I have tried an online pdf editor but it has been ineffective. Is there any alternative?

print, write and scan? Old school, but it works...

Will they allow handwriting?

Probably a question for the university :)

The two easiest approaches to this are:

Most PDF viewers have a "typewriter" tool that you can use to write on the document.  For example, the built-in Preview application on Macs has an "add text" tool for writing on the document.  It won't turn the PDF into the form, but you can just write the text where you'd write if it was a form.
As noted in the comments: print, write, and scan/photograph.

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How relevant is a candidate's BA institution when applying to graduate schools in the US?
In the American university system, how relevant to the graduate admission committee is the institution from which a given candidate obtained his/her bachelor's degree?

The general answer is

Very relevant, but considered in the context of the rest of the application.

It seems hard to say more in the absence of a more focused question.  Before you do that, you might try to search the site: I can't say that all possible versions of this kind of question have already been asked and answered here....but certainly many of them have.


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Can I get a postdoc in China more than 3 years after having received my PhD?
It's been 4 years since my PhD and now I'm applying for a postdoc in China. The Chinese website mentions that the age limit for applicants is 35 years and the applicants must have received their PhD within the last 3 years.
I heard that Chinese universities are strict with age when it comes to postdoc positions. However, they can be more lax on post-PhD experience.

Yes, you can. I have just spent 2 years in China as a postdoc. When I got there I was aged 36, and good 6 years since my PhD.
When I finished my postdoc I got an official certificate from the government. All procedures were registered at a portal with the central government. Whilst finishing I was offered yet another 2-year-long postdoctoral position at CAS Beijing for a fair salary, but refused it because my experience there was a mess. I never heard of some age limitation for these positions.
However, I should note that China runs mostly by common practice and institutional rules are confusing if followed/known at all. That means that everyone does things in a certain way, and trying to take different paths typically leads to confusion and renegotiation of terms. In the case of postdocs, relatively few Chinese PhDs take them, and usually a single postdoctoral position straight after "graduating" as a PhD. Thus someone seeking a 2nd/3rd postdoc position as an older PhD may look "awkward" for the administration and thus they may not know how to deal with the situation. A typical situation would be that some enrolling system/paperwork includes the options "( ) 1 ( ) 2 ( ) 3 Years since Graduation" at some point where a local secretary gets stuck and starts claiming "it cannot be done". Usually this is to avoid a discussion and getting into trouble.
My bet is that this is a matter of debating with whoever is directly encharged with the paperwork to find out a "mutually agreeable" solution. Actually my sincere advice would be, do a postdoc elsewhere.
Good luck!

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What is the English term for a Belgian non-university higher education institution?
I graduated from what is known as a "Hogeschool" in Belgium. When trying to explain this term on English websites, I've always used the term "University College" or "College", However, I'm not sure what terminology to use. Wikipedia doesn't have a Dutch article that's linked from "College", and "Hogeschool" is referred to "HochSchule" or something like that. Google on the other hand just translates "College" as "College" and "Hogeschool" as "University".
However, Hogeschool and University are not the same: University is a step above Hogeschool, and I want to avoid ambiguity with people thinking I graduated from a more prestigious kind of higher education than I actually am.
What is the proper English term for a "Hogeschool"?

@NajibIdrissi That's another datapoint, but I'm concerned that people not familiar with the term might view me as graduated from a full-on university (which is a step above hogeschool).

In English (well, at least the UK), you want to describe the level of your qualification, not of the institution you acquired it from. The word 'college' is used (among other things) for somewhere that teaches both school-level and university-level courses, and it is possible to end your studies at any year-equivalent. The question becomes: do you have a bachelors degree, and if so is it an honours degree?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hochschule seems helpful - it says the distinction is to do with what (graduate) degrees an institution is allowed to award. It may be that you're worrying about a distinction that most English speakers are not concerned with (at least in that context). The UK, for political reasons, uses the term 'university' quite broadly, and would include an institution that only offered undergraduate degrees within that.

@JessicaB - OP wrote, "I want to avoid ambiguity with people thinking I graduated from a more prestigious kind of higher education than I actually am" -- suggests he's looking for a simple way of appearing less intimidating, or of ensuring he's not claiming more of a pedigree than he has. // It appears OP has a Bachelor's degree, although it would not on its own, I think, be enough to apply for master's or PhD; the "honours degree" seems to be unique to the UK (i.e. not a US term) but I think the answer is no.

Just tell them you "went to Carapils College, if you know what I mean wink wink" and they will be like "No, I don't know what you mean"

@aparente001 British English terms in this context are deliberately chosen so that the prestige of the institution is not conveyed, either direction. Honours degrees exist in the US and Canada, they are just less common.

@JessicaB - "deliberately chosen so that the prestige of the institution is not conveyed, either direction" -- that certainly increases the challenge for OP. // "The UK uses the term 'university' quite broadly, and would include an institution that only offered undergraduate degrees within that" - That doesn't carry neatly over to US English.  As you may know, in US English, "university" isn't used for community colleges (two-year institutions) or colleges that don't offer masters or PhD (four-year institutions).

My answer will assume that it is similar to the German "Fachhochschule" as suggested by @Roland.
I'm not aware of a specific term that already exists in the U.S., that most people would understand.  (There might be something in use in the U.K.)
If you need to tell someone what your credentials and academic experience are, you might want to say something like this:

I graduated from a "Hogeschool" in Belgium.  This is a technical school, an institution of higher learning that grants a terminal post-secondary college degree in various applied sciences.  Graduates typically work in industry after graduation without going on to pursue a Master's or a PhD, as might be the case with university studies.  It's roughly equivalent to a non-Honors (four-year) Bachelor's degree in the U.S.  There is less student choice in course selection, and it features more of a hands-on approach, building on-the-job experience through co-op education.

If you want a shorter, more informal version:

I have a Bachelor's from a technical college or Hogeschool, in Belgium.  It's still considered "higher education," but it's less high-fallutin than a university.

Please feel free to adjust anything I didn't get quite right.

Sounds like a polytechnic.

@PeterTaylor - Good idea!


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Is it normal for a professor to contact only one specific TA regarding the course?
I am one of the teaching assistants for a course with multiple TAs. However, the professor keeps sending all the important information regarding the course, like when the exams are, information about assignments, and all other such things only to one specific TA. We, the other TAs, get to know about it only through them.
It might have been easier to understand if the course was offline and that specific TA was somehow more available. But in our case, the course is going on online, and it is just a matter of sending the same email to us also. I tried to ignore this at first, but it starts to get annoying when any information has to go through a middleman before it reaches us.
What might be the reason for professor doing this? Earlier, I was wondering if the professor was somehow annoyed at us, or if we did something wrong; but he seems fine, when I talked to him. What do you think we can do to address this problem?

Is this TA senior?

Does this TA make sure you get the information you need? If so, is there another practical problem resulting from the situation?

Often times there is a 'lead' TA who talks to the professor. But they also should be holding TA meetings to go over and discuss stuff...

@Azor Ahai -him No, they are not senior to me.

@Snijderfrey Yes, they usually does make sure the information is passed on. The only problem is that, since there was no communication with the professor about this arrangement, it makes it a bit weird for me, atleast. Like, earlier I kept wondering if I did something wrong, and now, if I have to clarify something related to the course, say grading or something, I keep wondering whom I should ask, the other TA (in case they were informed of it earlier) or the professor.

I don't find it especially unusual, but would interpret it as mere convenience for the professor. Perhaps he made an agreement with that person to interface with the larger group. A busy person might want such an "assistant".
He may also expect, or at least hope, that your questions will be filtered through this person also, with answers bounced back to everyone as needed.
I don't think there is anything to be done, unless you want to ask him why he does this. Or have a conversation with that "special" TA.

Thanks! Yes, I think I might have been unnecessarily worrying about it. It might just be that the professor is busy, and thought it's more easier for him this way.

I think that the "your questions will be filtered through this person also" is key here (good answer, +1). Sending emails to 10 people carries the risk of receiving 7 answers, and out of these 4 are identical. Filtering through one person will reduce this. I would not say that this is very nice, but certainly very convenient.

At some institutions, it is common that one of the TAs (the senior one, usually) becomes "head TA" or "TA in charge", and their extra-job is to coordinate the other TAs, so that the professor would have a single point of contact. This makes things much easier for the professor.
I'd guess that either this is a common behavior in that institution (for courses with a large staff), or this is the way of the professor to make their life easier by dealing with only one TA instead of having the same conversations many times separately with each TA.

What do you think we can do to address this problem?

Talk to the professor. Mention that the emails only go to one person and ask if the expectation is that they should forward them immediately to the group, or something else.
For all we know the professor is not that tech-literate and thinks they are on a group email chain or something. Just ask.

And if you know how to do it, offer to set up a group email so the professor can just send everything to one email address and know that all the TAs will receive everything. A lot of non-technical people don't realize that is an option.

@usul Thank you for the answer. I think that offering to help the professor with the emailing might be a great idea.

As a description of how this could happen: perhaps there was a group list at one point and someone hit reply instead of reply-all once and it turned a group email into a conversation between two.


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Citing literature reference as a statement of purpose title
I'm currently putting the finishing touches on a few grad school applications, and some of them require that my statement of purpose has a title. For one reason or another, I decided that the title of my essay should be a meaningful, yet obscure quote from my favorite novel.
How do I cite this? Including an entire bibliography seems like severe overkill, but not citing the book at all seems.. careless. I've currently just provided a link to a website where they've published only the relevant page of said book, but even this seems lazy! Any guidance is appreciated.

A footnote would be pretty typical, with a standard format citation.


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How can you write a citation for a screenshot from a YouTube video in APA style?
I need to use a still from a YouTube video in my presentation and I'll have to cite it in APA style. How can this be done? I've done something like:
Channel Name. (Year). Title of video [Video]. YouTube. URL to video
Would this be enough or do I need to add something to make it apparent that I used a screenshot from this video?

There are examples of APA video citations here. If it's just a screenshow, I would add the time.

Using the format description to state it's a screenshot might make sense, assuming on exists for video citations.


text:
How can I state my collaborations in my thesis?
During my PhD I had the opportunity to collaborate with people with many different affiliations.
Now that I am ending my Thesis I would like to read sum hint on how to compactly mention them, their affiliations, and possibly the logos of their affiliations.
I say possibly because I don't know whether I can do that legally speaking.

At almost any university, your thesis will include an "author declaration" stating that the thesis is your original work, and that you have clearly stated the contribution of others to your thesis. (I have included the relevant parts of that declaration from my university below this answer.)
Subject to those conditions, in theory, you can state how others helped you in any way you like! In practice, your thesis examiners will expect your thesis to follow the usual pattern of theses they have examined before. If you read previous theses from your university, you will probably find that:

Collaborators who have worked on material throughout the whole thesis are thanked in an initial Acknowledgements chapter;
Collaborators who have worked on material for one specific chapter are thanked in an Acknowledgements section at the end of that particular chapter.

The thanks can include affiliations (for example, "I am deeply grateful to Professor Frodo Baggins of Shire University for his experimental assistance in observing the melting conditions of cursed golden tori"). That will usually be enough. Logos often will not be included in the thesis. (Having said that, collaborator logos are often included in the slides for oral presentations).
Remember, the thesis is your work, as your declaration of originality will state. You should be proud of it as your work, and your collaborators would not want to overshadow that achievement.

At my university, any thesis will reproduce the "declaration by author" which includes these statements:

This thesis is composed of my original work, and contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference has been made in the text. I have clearly stated the contribution by others to jointly-authored works that I have included in my thesis.

I have clearly stated the contribution of others to my thesis as a whole ... The content of my thesis is the result of work I have carried out since the commencement of my higher degree by research candidature ...


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What is the role of a University Archivist
I am wanting to know roughly what it is a university archivist does,
and what sorts of documents are in the collections they manage.
An acceptable answer would be "It varies wildly from institution to institution",
if indeed that is the case.
On the other hand, perhaps it is a very consistent position, with well understood tasks and duties.

In general, an archivist is someone who preserves records and artifacts of the university's historical record. The part that probably varies from institution to institution is which objects are retained.
For instance, some might keep minutes of board of trustee meetings, letters to the president or chancellor, and other records, while others may choose not do so.
As a further example, the Yale University archivist has the following responsibilities:

Works with the schools, departments, and offices of the university to appraise the records that they create in the course of their activities and to select those that need to be preserved for future use;
Works with students, alumni, faculty, and friends of the university to collect papers, graphic materials, audio recordings, and objects that document Yale life and history;
Promotes, supports, and sponsors programs and activities that contribute to accessible information, interpretations, and research on Yale history.


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Is it ethical to award points for hilariously bad answers?

Q: Why are the outer planets of the Solar System so much more massive than the inner planets?
A: By the central limit theorem, everything eventually appears to look like a Bell curve. Therefore planet masses increase with distance to the Sun before decreasing, and the planets at the end of the distribution (Mercury & Pluto) have small masses while the planets in the middle (Jupiter) have large masses.

One doesn't need to know anything about astronomy or planetary formation to know this answer is nonsense.  Furthermore, the student should have known that Pluto isn't a planet (Mars is also less massive than both the Earth and Jupiter, and Neptune is more massive than Uranus as well, breaking the trend).
On the other hand, it's funny nonsense. Funny nonsense has gotten immortalized as internet jokes, and if the joke is to be believed, even led to an 'A' for the student. There's even a journal for funny research.
Is it ethical to award a few points for this answer?

This extended discussion has been moved to chat. Please read this FAQ before posting another comment.

what is the real/physical answer to this? :)

@Ben it has to do with the so-called frost line - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frost_line_(astrophysics). Beyond this line the temperature is cold enough for volatile compounds to form solids. Within this line only rocks remain solid (hence all four inner planets are rocky), beyond this line the volatile compounds can accrete and form gas giants.

Is it ethical to award a few points for this answer?

No.
It does not demonstrate understanding. If I wrote a good-intentioned, but poor answer and got the same amount of points, I'd be peeved.

This answer led to some debate, which has been moved to chat; let us remember to be nice.

I'm expecting an answer like "it is unethical because  leads to " not "it' unethical because it makes me feel peeved" or "it's unethical because it's not in my rubric."  Your feelings and grading criteria are preferences, not ethical matters.

@AnonymousPhysicist the answer could easily be expanded to address your concern. If students are awarded passing grades for being funny while demonstrating a complete lack of understanding of the subject matter, that harms the students who did understand the subject matter, by devaluing their own grade. It will harm them much more directly if there is any kind of quota or scaling of grades based on average performance. They would be justifiably peeved, because it does actually hurt them.

@AnonymousPhysicist: The question is of the form “Is [this pedagogical action] ethical?”  So it seems pretty reasonable that answers are addressing the question “Is it good pedagogy?” and leaving implicit the step “following good pedagogy is generally ethically good”, since this last step is uncontroversial and is nothing to do with this specific question.

It's definitely about ethics. If someone is inappropriately rewarded, the efforts of the honest and industrious students are devalued.

I agree that it's unethical, but I think this answer needs to expand on why (or include the comments that do so)

I tend to give at least 1 point out of 10 for almost anything that could be construed as being relevant to the question.
Compared to the responses I tend to give 1/10 for, this is better in several regards:

It has a logic to it.
The writer obviously knows it is wrong.
The writer demonstrates knowledge of something (in this case normal distributions).
The writer demonstrates some intellectual creativity.

It depends somewhat on my standards for partial credit on the problem, but I'll probably give a good coherent joke response 3/10.  On occasion it might be 2/10 if I feel like I need to reserve 3/10 for slightly correct responses that are less good than some responses I'm giving 4/10 for.
Let's face it - awarding of partial credit isn't perfectly accurate, and any numerical score I give has an error bar of a few percent.  (Almost always, the central limit theorem works and the errors mostly cancel out rather than stacking up, leaving still a few percent error.)  I think it's fine to put a thumb on the noise here.

I used to do this as well, until I realized that this just trains students to spout random nonsense (or, in the case of home exams, google for Wikipedia definitions) if they have no idea what the actual answer is. I'm now pretty strict about "is this an answer to the actual question" when evaluating freetext answers.

@xLeitix, note that the OP seems to be presenting an exceptional case, not the norm. So I don't see the issue of encouraging bad behavior.

@xLeitix: The general ability to figure out what nonsense is vaguely relevant is more valuable than any specific fact from my courses.

@xLeitix People often complain that colleges don't prepare students for the real world, in which spouting nonsense is how you succeed.

@Studoku not something an academic should try to support in this context in any way though (and no, spouting nonsense doesn't make you succeed, having enough confidence in your nonsense sometimes does and we primarily remember the cases that come with some success because they are so outrageously contrary to a meritocratic ideal or just hilarious funny but easily forget the everyday foolish stuff that got people just an annoyed pair of rolling eyes).

I like this answer, but don't share your confidence that "[t]he writer obviously knows it is wrong."

@AlexanderWoo, while knowledge of the central limit theorem and bell curves is certainly useful knowledge in some courses, such as calculus and statistics, I don't see it being relevant to the given topic of astronomy.  Without that relevance, a simple 2+2=4 could justify partial credit for any question in any course.

It depends on what form of ethics you are following.
Virtue ethics?
Truth is a virtue; this answer is not true, so to reward it as though it was the truth is dishonest and unethical. Your job is to reward truthful answers, not funny ones, so you would be in dereliction of your duty.
Hedonic ethics?
What matters is making people happy. Giving the student extra marks will make him happy, but if the students who gave more accurate answers find out, it will make them all unhappy. Allowing that to happen would be unethical. Therefore we must consider whether they are likely to find out...
Kantian deontological ethics?
What if every examiner always gave points for funny answers? It would create a situation where the ability to tell jokes was more useful for achieving qualifications than studying. This would be bad for society. Therefore, this is unethical.

Is it ethical to upvote this answer because it's funny, rather than because it's helpful?

@Robyn Your comment, however, is both funny and valid, so take an upvote.

Your answer is premised on the assumption that the creation of original and successfully humorous content is easier than simply spitting back the prescribed answer to a question.  This is not only unsupported, but intuitively we can see that it is almost certainly false.  The supposed slippery slope, therefore, where rewarding humor will result in everyone everywhere simply joking their way through PhD programs is absurd in the extreme.  In fact, being able to successfully make someone laugh using the material from the class may well show a greater grasp of it than parroting an answer.

My interpretation would be that they didn't know the accepted answer, and so tried to use their physics intuition to invent a theory of solar system formation on the spot. It seems they came up with something similar to Laplace's collapsing rotating dust cloud, and as a hypothesis for why this dust cloud is thicker in the middle and thin at the inner and outer extremes, the random collisions of particles in the cloud resulting in a Normal distribution is at first glance a plausible guess.
There are two aspects to this on which you could assign marks. Were they able to recite the memorised textbook answer they were told to learn? Not knowing the answer, were they able to invent a valid physical theory of their own to explain it? The latter is a much more sophisticated question. To judge it, one would need to know how much they knew about the solar system that their theory has to explain.
This would seem like a perfect opening to start a conversation about the history of early theories of solar system formation, the features they had to explain, new research on extrasolar planets, and point them towards physical reasoning, not just the rote memorisation of facts. If you put yourself in the place of Descartes or Laplace, how would you develop a physics-based explanation? That's an important skill too, and ethically you can and should judge them on how well they did it.
I'd not take off any points for calling Pluto a planet - from the point of view of discussing the physics of solar system formation, the distinction is not material. And minor exceptions to the general trend of masses might be explained by random variation. Small-sample histograms of the Normal distribution are often irregular. Are there stronger objections to their theory that they ought to have known about?

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+1, the funny response could be a knee jerk reaction to exceedingly vague question. i.e. a especific answer to a very generic question. As a physicist I hate these kind of questions. A better question could be "Why are the outer planets of the Solar System at least 1000 times more massive than the inner planets?".  Perhaps the OP is looking for a standard answer and the student's awareness of it. In this case use "Why the astronomical community agrees that...". Imagine what kind simplified answers to this question could ALSO explain erroneously situations of planets billions of times larger!

It is possible that the student believes it to be correct (I don't know the student or his/her typical performance). Treating a serious but wrong answer as a joke could be insulting to the student who sees the feedback.
Either way, you can give written feedback in addition to a grade. Even if the answer does not deserve points, you can leave comments on it for the student.

It's fine if the question is already getting undeserved partial credit. Otherwise it doesn't seem very professional. I usually write a very small 0 (a big 0 feels like "how dare you disrespect my test -- you get a ZERO, with extreme prejudice!")
Sometimes many other people are getting undeserved partial credit on the same Q with "write anything to try to get some credit" answers. Realistically those are worth 0, but often get 2/10 for the barely relevant parts they threw in by mistake. Esp if TA's are grading. Essentially, the Q has 2 free points. It seems fair to give a joke answer those same 2. If someone calls you on giving 2 points for a joke you can tell them, in nicer words "the joke showed as much  understanding as the other answers worth 2".
A joke answer is the same thing as "I don't know". It's better than a blank page (you don't have to wonder if the student didn't see it, and might want to make it up since their test was sticky or something). You're not rewarding a joke -- you're appreciating honesty and not wasting your time.
But if a student completely skips a Q, doesn't even know how to start it, the rest of their scores are often a mess, too. They know they're not passing the class and it makes no difference what score you give it. Giving them 3/10 is just a nice "I don't hate you for failing my class" gesture.

Maybe I can give some insight as I am a student who gives such answers quite regular and quite regular earns some points for it.
The impact you create usually is quite low. Assuming you, as most people do, only grant a very small, near insignificant amount of points. Most of my exams have 120 points (for 120 mins) and if I earn Points for such answers it is not much. I would say a Median of 1 and a max of 3. Overall exams, I earn maybe an average of 0.2 (0,16%) points per exam maybe less. This also means that my peers usually aren't even interested enough in it to try it themselves. The best it usually does is making a good anecdote. I also would like to compare it to missed points in exams, which I was supposed to get but didn't, I spot an average of ~3 (2,5%) per exam.
To finally answer your question. Yes, sure, it can be ethical, but it deepens wich ethic you would consider. The negative impact it usualy has is quite low and therefore the threshold to make it ethical is as well.
The last thing, I think, what you should ask yourself as well is: Does it encourage better learning? Which is, I think, a hard to answer question. But for me personally, it did.

A free form question to be answered by many students ideally has a grading rubric, otherwise it is next to impossible to keep grading consistent across graders and over time, not even within a single batch of tests.  The rubric will generally not intersect with the unexpected joke.
Supposing I own the rubric alone: the joke will generally not be worth the effort to adapt the rubric to accommodate that kind of answer with a non-zero score (and maybe re-grade previous answers accordingly).  The comical effect will wear off before this is accomplished.
I'd go with zero points and a smiley, unless I can honestly construe parts of the answer as demonstrating particular items in the rubric I'm applying.

If the awarding of points to such a student doesn't disadvantage other students in any way, then sure, it is fine to do it. The only problems occur if another person suffers in some way because of it.
And, assuming that this is a real case and not made up, it is possible that the person awarding the points has some information that the student knows a better answer (I certainly don't) and is just having a bit of fun.
Ideally, grading is of individuals, not groups. The grade of an individual student is based entirely on what that student does, not in any way on what the class as a whole (or worse, classes in the past) do. There is no predefined distribution that grades are forced to adhere to. I'm happy if every student gets full marks. If they all get zeros I'm not happy, but I know what must be done, at least. If you keep that principle at the front then lots of such questions become moot.
Of course, another issue is whether awarding those points helps that student or hurts them. Giving good grades because of, for example, hair color, would be wrong because it doesn't contribute to the learning process of the student. But I see no such harm here. It is a discrete event.

Hmmm. Is it because the gas giants sweep out a larger circumference and hence picked up more material from the primordial gas cloud? Just guessing.
And the status of Pluto is just a judgement call.

This seems to wander, a lot. How does all students getting high or low grades relate to joke answers? In the 2nd para, are you saying you give points if the written answer is bad, but you "know" the student knows it? The hair color example seems odd -- are you saying that since anyone can write something funny for more credit, it's fair?

@OwenReynolds I'm trying here to make the point that this question about awarding "a few points" to a student is unethical is if it would affect the grades of other students. This could happen with competitive grading and with many things called "grading on the curve". I don't say that I do this. I say that it isn't, on its face, unethical unless it affects others or is for personal reasons unrelated to learning (e.g. hair color). This case may not be "best practice" but it isn't unethical unless others suffer.

@Buffy if a student pays a bribe to a professor in return for a good grade, would you say that that is ethical if “it doesn’t disadvantage other students in any way”? That is obviously the wrong criterion. What about the employers who are disadvantaged by thinking the person they will be hiring knows more than he or she really does? The customers of that employer? Or the student him/herself who gets the message that paying bribes (or telling jokes) is a much easier way to get ahead in life than honest, hard work? Grading decisions have many consequences which this answer completely ignores.

@DanRomik. " if a student pays a bribe..." is hardly in the same league. Why make this about something more than it is? A few points on one question on one exam isn't going to have any overall effect on employers, etc. It isn't the medical board exam, for example. Why do you assume that the student is somehow lazy? You are making a "federal case" out of a joke. You aren't usually so unreasonable.

@Buffy I’m saying that the reason you cited for why it’s “fine”, namely that it “doesn’t disadvantage other students”, isn’t by itself sufficient to explain why it’s ethical. The bribe example illustrates that. I’m not saying that giving points for a joke answer is as bad as doing it in exchange for a bribe, but rather that a helpful answer would provide reasoning sufficient to differentiate between those two actions.

@DanRomik, then you are just attributing things to me that I didn't write or intend. THIS doesn't disadvantage other students so is fine (assuming that is the case). I make no broader claim.

@DanRomik: I am not saying I agree with this answer, but a difference to a bribe is that the professor does profit personally when bribed - in this case not. Also, at least in my experience, no employer ever wanted to see grades. And even if that was the case, I suspect that everyone had some "weird" exams (with weird grading) such that nobody can read something useful out of a single exam. And I don't see how this small amount of points Buffy suggests to give could make much difference when somebody looks at the transcript of all grades.


text:
Does auditing a course hold any value?
I was quite curious about doing neuroscience so I reached out to a prof in my institution (IIT-K), who suggested me an online course on the same (MCB80). I have audit the course and am following it through, but recently I was wondering that apart from the knowledge gained, will I have any proof that I did audit this course and I have sufficient amount of knowledge about the course? Will I be able to use evidence of my audit (screenshots) as an evidence of completing the course? How am I expected to communicate with any one else that I have done this course properly?
This is an issue because purchasing the entire course on the edX site is not possible for me as I do not have the required financial support.

What is the goal of completing the course? If it is a prerequisite to work with the professor, an audit may be sufficient. If required in a formal context, then maybe not.

Many of your questions (about edX) will be answered by Wikipedia. Whether you can get transferrable credit for any course is up to the individual institution who might accept such a course or not. I don't know, but doubt, whether and institution would tell you before you take such a course whether it would "count".
However, it is a potentially viable resource for learning. But that depends on what  you actually do in the course, not just what you see or sign up for. If the course provides you sufficient practice and feedback on your efforts then you could learn something, even if you have no  visible "credit" for it.
Audits, even in face to face instruction can be valuable provided that the student does the work and gets appropriate feedback.
And even if you "purchase" an entire course there is no guarantee that a university will accept what you have done. It is pretty risky for certification, even if they issue "certificates". However, the sponsoring institutions (MIT and Harvard) are reputable, so there is likely less risk than if it were run by "Dr. Buffy's Online Diploma Mill". I'm pretty sure that one is disreputable.


text:
What does 'PI' mean?
I am a senior in undergrad who is a physics major applying to PhD programs. I keep on hearing people saying get rec letters from PIs or contact and have a good relationship with PIs.

Or 3.14159265358... :D

https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/108443/what-does-pi-mean-in-australia

Can you specify the relevant location? It turns out this acronyms means very different things in different countries.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnum,_P.I.

Oh, it's not Personal Instructor? :D

The abbreviation "P.I." stands for "Principal Investigator" and is routinely used in the United States to denote a "head of the laboratory" or "research group leader" (wikipedia), and serves to refer to active researchers with potential funding for PhD students or post-doctoral researchers.
It is used by various organisms more formally, as the two examples below show.
The United States' National Science Foundation
Quoting the section D.1.g. of their Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) from January 2017 (which is the latest version to this date):

g. PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR/PROJECT DIRECTOR (PI/PD) means the individual(s) designated by the proposer, and approved by NSF, who will be responsible for the scientific or technical direction of the project. NSF does not infer any distinction in scientific stature among multiple PIs, whether referred to as PI or co-PI. If more than one, the first one listed will serve as the contact PI, with whom all communications between NSF program officials and the project relating to the scientific, technical, and budgetary aspects of the project should take place. The PI and any identified co-PIs, however, will be jointly responsible for submission of the requisite project reports. The term "Principal Investigator" generally is used in research projects, while the term "Project Director" generally is used in centers, large facilities, and other projects. For purposes of this Guide, PI/co-PI is interchangeable with PD/co-PD.

The United States' National Institutes of Health
Indeed, the N.I.H. uses the same term for a similar notion.
Quoting their glossary,

Program Director/Principal Investigator (PD/PI)
The individual(s) designated by the applicant organization to have the appropriate level of authority and responsibility to direct the project or program to be supported by the award. The applicant organization may designate multiple individuals as program directors/principal investigators (PD/PIs) who share the authority and responsibility for leading and directing the project, intellectually and logistically. When multiple PD/PIs are named, each is responsible and accountable to the applicant organization, or as appropriate, to a collaborating organization for the proper conduct of the project or program including the submission of all required reports. The presence of more than one PD/PI on an application or award diminishes neither the responsibility nor the accountability of any individual PD/PI.

Typically, only faculty can be PIs under University guidelines. So in a group with 5 PhDs, 4 of whom are postdocs, there is only one "PI."

Do you have any evidence that it originally comes from the NSF in the USA?

@user1271772 Nope, that's just a guess.

@Clément Can you take it out then?

@user1271772: Oxford English Dictionary has a citation from 1906, predating NSF by 40+ years.  "R. S. Woodward Rep. of President in Carnegie Inst. Washington Year Bk. 21   'There have been about three hundred and sixty men and women at work under grants during the past year... They may be classified departmentally as shown in the following list, which gives..the names of the principal investigators conducting these works of research.'"

So, is it correct to understand that one can't be a PI without a grant? That is, if I am doing unfunded research in my spare time, I can't legitimately identify myself as a PI on that research?

@RobertColumbia I would think that it is not appropriate, indeed, to call yourself a PI if you do not have funded projects. But, again, a lot of people are misusing this term, so…

Here PI possibly means Principal Investigator. Normally, Principal Investigator is the holder of the grant and its lead researcher.

+1. It's probably more "a" grant holder, rather than "the" grant holder in the context of this question: their admissions committees want letters of recommendation from established researchers, i.e., people who are PIs on some grant.

In Australia, "PI" means partner investigator. This is someone who is involved in a grant application but is not eligible for funding. For example, they might be an international collaborator.  This is different from the rest of the world.
A grant applicant is a "Chief Investigator" or "CI."
Reference: http://www.arc.gov.au/eligibility-matters
What does "PI" mean in Australia?

PI stands for Principal Investigator, or Primary Investigator.  Essentially the professor that heads a research project.  With regards to a project or even lab, there may be one or more PI, in this case they would be called co-PI's (i.e., you may be technically working under more than one professor).
To address the second part of your question, while some people do mention the term PI as it stands towards getting letters of recommendations, ideally you should get letters from professors who can vouch for you best.  While it may be ideal to get one from a PI, there could be a professor also affiliated with the project that may not be the PI, but who has worked with you more closely than the PI(s) have.


text:
Can public political criticism of my alma mater result in my BA being revoked 35 years later?
Perhaps it is a sign of paranoia that I even ask, but is there a chance that the private college I got my BA from back in the 1980s would revoke my degree if I were to publicly complain about its political stances?
Unfortunately, I have never donated significantly to the college, so my views don't hold any real force.
I doubt they would do so. And if they did, I find it unlikely that it would set off a chain reaction. But theoretically, my teaching degree depends in part on my MA, which in turn depends in part on my BA. Theoretically, if my BA got revoked, I could lose my teaching accreditation and hence my job. But can they?

Thank you to everyone for these thoughtful and detailed responses. My fears have been broadly dispelled, although some anxienty remains. I probably have more to fear in my current setting directly, than through a chain reaction involving my degree.
I have posted some thoughts in the comments under the first response and will remain engaged in the discussions above.

"my teaching degree depends in part on my MA, which in turn depends in part on my BA. Theoretically, if my BA got revoked, I could lose my teaching accreditation and hence my job." That's not how pre-requisites work.

Moderator’s notice: For the sake of this question, assume that the complaints in question are reasonable, i.e., the college is actually overdoing it and the complaints are uttered in a civil manner. (Otherwise, as already noted, a degree revocation may be the least of the asker’s worries.) Refrain from making general accusations against any political movement or anti-movement as well as from using any derogatives to characterise it.

Your country???

I'd be more worried about your job, if your comments end up making for an unfriendly environment for your students who aren't part of the majority in your country.

@Close-voters, have a look at the answers so far: There's a consensus and the answers are supported by experience rather than guesswork or preferences. I don't see why the question should be closed as opinion-based.

I have a couple of questions.  First does an MA/MS degree actually depend on having a BA/BS?  Sure, you generally need the lower degree to be accepted into a masters program, but a quick search says that it is possible to get a masters without a bachelors.  So the OP's MA would seem to be secure.  Second, if the college revoked a degree that you depend on for a living because of your expressed political views, would you not (in the US, at least) be in a position to sue them for a very large amount of  money?

@jamesqf I don't think OP means exactly that, but teacher licensure rules can be arcane.

I'm stating the obvious here, but the answer depends heavily on the country. In countries run by a totalitarian government, or where the rule of law is not functional, or both, anything is possible. Both of the above are depressingly common. So I recommend stating your country for useful answers. Answers that apply to Western Europe may not be so relevant to other places, for example.

It looks like the question has been edited to remove any mention of the political views in question; therefore, the related comments have also been removed. Also, please avoid answering in comments.

My American BA was counted as part of the coursework for a western European MA program which was, in turn, later counted as covering the subject requirements for my teaching accreditation in that same western European country.

@Thomas but how do prerequisites work?

I've been working in Academia for the past ten years. The only cases of degree revocation that I am aware of were due to severe cases of academic misconduct such as plagiarism, fraud, or large-scale cheating. The rationale is that gross academic misconduct invalidates the achievement the degree should certify.
Revocations on grounds of expression of (political) disagreement with the issuing institution are unheard of in rule-of-law democracies. I've never heard of such a case, although it would certainly have become very well-known.

I guess this answer should be tempered by pointing out that how you express your opinions is probably a factor at play here. Writing a polite letter to the president is fine; torching the library isn't.

@avid yes, but even then OP would be prosecuted for arson, with his degree intact.

My understanding is that the severe academic misconduct needs to happen in acquiring the degree (and this is why e.g. Andrew Wakefield still has his degree).

@HAEM: At least in Germany, a doctoral degree can be revoked for research misconduct that is unrelated to that degree, at in at least one case it has. On the other hand, regarding the library example, I can find nothing about the Unabomber’s degrees being revoked.

@Wrzlprmft In 2012, the Harvard alumni association printed a bizarre entry, apparently sent by Kaczynski himself: https://www.boston.com/uncategorized/noprimarytagmatch/2012/05/23/ted-kaczynski-the-unabomber-lists-himself-in-harvard-1962-alumni-report-says-awards-include-eight-life-sentences

@Wrzlprmft: my understanding for Germany is that the doctoral degrees tend to be somewhat different in that respect, since there are Prüfungsordnungen that have provisions to e.g. revoke the degree if the holder is later on found guilty of a criminal offenses (with sentence > x). For Diplom/Bachelor/Master degrees, I've only seen provisions to revoke in case it turns out later on the exams or theses were not done correctly. (And those degrees are the ones that carry legal meaning for several professions)

I sit on our university's Senate which is the body that would have to deliberate a degree revocation. Even a straight-forward case of plagiarism in a degree requires a long, drawn-out and surprisingly contentious decision, and it might happen once or twice a decade.  This is the last step of a very, very long and drawn-out process.
So no, I wouldn't worry, outside of demonstrable research misconduct that puts the entire integrity of the degree in jeopardy.

@Nat I'd imagine the relevance of plagiarism is that no-one (at least in an academic context) would argue that it is either acceptable or irrelevant, and the debate is only about what level of sanction to apply. In OP's case that would not be so.

Yes good question @Nat: plagiarism is the most significant academic crime, and puts the integrity of the degree itself into question. If they were to engage in other behavior - even serious crimes - we would not revoke a normal degree as the degree itself was completed under proper circumstances.
Honourary degrees are completely different, of course (we would revoke under other circumstances).

@Roland: In some sense plagiarism, misattribution, and making up data out of thin air are all variations on a single offense -- misrepresenting the source of data.

A paper can have perfectly valid and valuable results, no matter how much plagiarism or misattribution there is. Making up data invalidates the paper, and possibly other papers whose authors innocently relied on that paper.

I think the chances of having your degree revoked for criticizing the political choices of a university are more or less zero. Degrees are awarded for academic reasons, not moral ones.
The exception to this is honorary degrees. Honorary degrees are given to some for expressly moral judgement even though the recipient hasn't completed any classes or met the required academic standards. They are awarded because they represent to sort of character that they would like the world to associate with the university. If they prove themselves not that have that character, or stop having that character, then it makes sense to remove the honorary degree.

w.r.t. honorary degrees, Robert Mugabe looks like an obvious example where Edinburgh University in the UK, and University of Massachusetts and Michigan State University in the US look to have revoked degrees they'd given him.

Bill Cosby is another example. A number of his honorary degrees were withdrawn when he was convicted of sexual misconduct.

Princeton University only started admitting women in 1969. Even in the mid- to late-1980's the alumni magazine (Princeton Alumni Weekly printed letters bemoaning this fact from alumni of various older classes (issues that old are not available on-line). However, as an alum, and son of an alum, I read through the magazine from the mid-70's until today. Even by the standards of that time the letters were sexist and demeaning. No degrees were revoked.

Could you provide references? Also, why is it clear that this example generalizes to the college the OP asks about? Couldn't it be that it was Princeton's choice not to reprimand sexist letters?

Where I thought you were headed with this answer is that, since Princeton has a questionable "unwoke" moral history, they are in no position to judge the OP (lest they be judged).

@PhilFreedenberg - and what 200+ year old institutions can claim a pure ‘moral history’? Princeton is no better or worse than basically all the others.

I remember those letters well! What I liked best, however, were two alumni who used the Class Notes section to renounce their previous condemnation of co-education. One said it hadn't occurred to him that co-education meant his granddaughter could go to Princeton even though his grandson didn't get admitted. The other was impressed that at that time (late 1970s) the Women's Athletic teams were very successful while other than basketball, the Mens' were in an extended dry spell.

You need to read up on the legislation regarding your activity and location. I'm unaware of revoked undergraduate degrees affecting graduate degrees on a chain reaction. While your BA might have been a requirement at the time in order to receive your MA, it's been already fulfilled and it would require a separate procedure to revoke it, too.
Most jurisdictions would protect your job based on either the acquired rights principle (such changes cannot have retroactive effects), the reasonability principle (disproportional punishment to the misdeed), or the notorious knowledge principle (your aptitude has been publicly recognized). In my jurisdiction, even undergrad students who committed fraud in the acceptance process would not have their studies fully revoked, although the institution was allowed to expel them.
Therefore, I would be highly skeptical about having your BA revoked: it would have little effect (alone) on your career, it's likely to be overturned in most courts, and taking such extreme measures without strong evidence of gross misconduct would reflect quite poorly on the institution. Honestly, I cannot see why they would jeopardize their reputation in such manner, instead of just taking you to court, where they could build a case and cause more damage to your career.

Historically, there have indeed been cases in which degrees have been revoked for purely political reasons, including cases where the degree holder espoused, or was perceived to have espoused, political views at odds with those of the university:

In 1930, the Tunisian scholar Tahar Haddad published Our Women in the Shari'a and Society, a controversial book advocating expanded rights for women.  Haddad was declared an apostate and his alma mater, the University of Ez-Zitouna, stripped him of his degree. [1]

In Nazi Germany, the government passed legislation to revoke the doctoral degrees of Jews and political dissidents, and certain university senates independently issued revocations of their own accord. These revocations were not universally considered to have been voided after the regime's downfall in 1945, leading some universities—among them Vienna's Technische Universität Wien and the University of Wroclaw, standing in for the dissolved Schlesische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität zu Breslau—to formally reinstate them years later. [2–4]

Beginning in the 1970s, Soviet universities would often revoke the degrees of academics (often but not always Jews) who had emigrated, or even merely attempted to emigrate, for political reasons. [5, 6]

I'm not aware of any similar politically motivated revocations happening in modern times in Western countries, though it is certainly conceivable that this practice continues or could occur in the future in authoritarian or politically unstable regimes.  If you got your degree in such a country, and if your words or actions reflect unfavourably on that country or on your university, then it is possible that your degree may be stripped as punishment.  (Without knowing what university you attended, what the political situation is there, and exactly what you said or did that they may find objectionable, it's not really possibly to quantify the risk.)  However, if you got your degree from an accredited institution in a country that broadly protects freedom of political speech, then you probably don't have anything to worry about.

References:

Ziba Mir-Hosseini. Justice, Equality and Muslim Family Laws: New Ideas, New Prospects. In: Ziba Mir-Hosseini, Kari Vogt, Lena Larsen, and Christian Moe, eds. Gender and Equality in Muslim Family Law: Justice and Ethics in the Islamic Legal Tradition. London: I.B. Taurus, 2013, pp. 13–14. ISBN 9781784537401. DOI: 10.5040/9780755609277.ch-001
JTA. Poland University Restores 262 PhD's Stripped by Nazis:
Wroclaw Shamefully Zealous in Targeting Jewish Academics. The Jewish Daily Forward, 8 January 2015.
Monika Scislowska. 7 decades on, scholars to annul Nazi revoking of doctorates: Polish, German academics to denounce the stripping of Jews’ university qualifications during WWII. The Times of Israel, 8 January 2015.
Juliane Mikoletzky. Continuities and Discontinuities: Personnel Policies from 1945 to 1955.  In: Juliane Mikoletzky and Paulus Ebner, The Technische Hochschule in Vienna 1914–1955: Part 2: National Socialism – War – Reconstruction (1938–1955).  Vienna: Böhlau Verlag, 2016, pp. 177–192. ISBN 978-3-205-20132-8.
David Baltimore, Paul J. Flory, Arthur Kornberg, Polykarp Kusch, Marshall W. Nirenberg, Arno A. Penzias, Mark Kac, and Jack Cohen. Degrees Revoked in Soviet Union. Science 216(4544):360, 23 April 1982. DOI: 10.1126/science.216.4544.360
Dorothy Hirsch. Scientists in the Soviet Union. Nature 292:578, 13 August 1981. DOI: 10.1038/292578a0


text:
Can I ask for the first reviewer's comments while I wait for the second?
I submitted a manuscript to a journal seven months ago, and I recently received an update stating that one review has been returned while another is still pending. The editorial office mentioned they will arrive at a decision as soon as possible.
Given the lengthy review process, is it appropriate for me to ask for the comments from the first reviewer? I would like to understand their feedback to help me decide whether to withdraw my manuscript or continue with the process.

Why would you withdraw your manuscript based on the first report?

if the comment is negative, the possibility of rejection becomes significantly higher and it may not be worth waiting for a response from the journal.

But you have already waited seven months, which presumably means you will have to wait significantly less time to get a final decision than if you withdraw and resubmit to a different journal. And the second report may be positive. Frankly I don’t see the logic of withdrawing part way through the process based on incomplete information on what one referee thinks, unless you yourself have lost faith in your own work.

Yes, you can ask, but I wouldn't mention the possibility of withdrawing when you do. They might comply or not, but given it has been a while, I'd guess they might be fine with it.
Focus the letter on the fact that you may need to think about improvements as needed.


text:
Bad typesetting
I would like to ask community how do you deal with unsatisfactory typesetting. I have extremely bad experience with 2 journals: i) Scientific Reports of the Nature family and ii) Physica Status Solidi B.
After the acceptance, my manuscripts went to production, and I got proofs to read. They were horrible: the text was mutilated, the references skewed, latin, greek, small, bold, italic---these words have no meaning for the production team. I sent them proofs, insisted on seeing the text again, and sent them proofs again. After all, the papers were published. Only small portion of the corrections was taken into account. I am ashamed in front of my colleagues for such an unreadable text.
What worries me most is that many equations are wrong and it is not even possible to decipher their meaning. What can I do in this situation?
Notice, the accepted answer to the related question suggests to write to them back and complain until the problem is fixed. I am skeptical about this because there is no pressing reason for the editorial/production team to fix typos within any given time-frame. At some point they will just ignore you.

You might be interested: https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/81625/elsevier-production-team-messed-up-my-paper-what-should-i-do

I wonder how journals would respond to disclaimers: The typesetting of this article by <> may have introduced mistakes. For an author typeset version of this article, please refer to [X].

@user2768 I tend to believe It is a good idea, as a way to exert some pressure.

Complain to the journal: it sounds like the production team aren't doing a good job but they've also become deaf to your complaints. In that scenario, complaining to the journal could lead to the editorial board taking up your cause, in which case the publisher is under greater pressure to take action.

Let me quote the answer from the linked question "You could try contacting the editor in chief of the journal to see if they could get the problem fixed. This worked for me when I had similar problems with a paper last year." This is a possible way, however, it can last forever. There is no pressing reason for a journal to fixed it within any given time-frame. One may well get polite and assuring responses without anything being done.

@yarchik one might also well get polite and assuring responses and everything gets fixed in less than a day. How would you know?

Right, this is possible. However, I extrapolate from the responses in hand. In SciRep they may suggest to publish an Erratum. This is a joke, they essentially blame me for their wrongdoing.

@yarchik your question is "What can I do in this situation?". If you're not willing to do anything because nothing might be done anyway, why even ask the question?


text:
How do researchers from different institutions get to know each other to begin a collaboration?
Quite often, graduate level research is done by researchers from different institutions, whether different universities or cooperation between a university and a private corporation.
How do the researchers get to know each other? How does the collaboration begin?

related: http://academia.stackexchange.com/q/3613/324 and the questions pointed out in the second comment there.

Downvote.  This is an open-ended discussion.  It isn't constructive.

Go to a conference/workshop.  Ask intelligent questions in talks.  Talk to speakers afterwards.  (Have your advisor introduce you if you're shy.)  Eat lunch with them and their students.  Hang out in the hallways.  Talk about your research.  Listen to other people talk about their research.  Listen to gossip.  Throw in a few dirty jokes.  Grab some coffee, or beer.  Scribble on napkins.  Go out for dinner with the students.  Drink.  Play pool.  Try that new absinthe place around the corner.  Scribble on napkins.  Throw up in the alley. Stumble home.  Sleep.  Grab coffee.  Run into someone you met at the absinthe place.  Commiserate about your hangovers.  Talk about your research.  Scribble on napkins.  Have a good idea.  Skip the next four hours of talks.  Fly home.  Exchange drafts over email/github.  Chat on Skype.  Revise, revise, revise.  Submit to the next conference.  Repeat.
Very important: Do not skip the first 15 steps.

Can I get a t-shirt with this text on it?

Ahem. I might point out that while socialising over drinks is indeed a popular way to meet other academics (* hangs head in shame *), there are plenty of non-boozy social activities that can lead to collaboration.
But socialising either way is definitely good to get to know each other to the point where you/the other person feels comfortable authoring a paper together. It makes it easier to assess how pleasant/productive working together will be if you've met in person.

you can follow some parts of this protocol but via twitter

there are plenty of non-boozy social activities that can lead to collaboration — Absolutely!  The important thing is to do something social (and preferably slightly stupid) that has nothing to do with research.

The key is really to widen your connections and make yourself known, and this can be done in several ways. To socialize in meetings (a la JeffE) is certainly one way. Personally I have never found collaborators that quickly, sometimes you strike up a conversation (at a meeting or through other means) and maybe years down the line, the right idea comes up where this collaboration gets started. So as with many scientific discoveries, collaborations may start where you least exepct it and with persons you have known for long for other reasons. Hence making yourself known for good science may attract other persons to contact you as will you with those you can see common ground. Becoming a "known player" (however you want to interpret it) in the field is also likely to provide results in the long term. I would also add that you should listen and learn from colleagues about other people. I do not mean gossip, but rather the way other scientists are thought of. This will prepare you for contacting them. Another example of get known and know your surroundings. Finally, also remmeber that we are all different in how we interact and there is therefore no single way to strike up collaborations.


text:
Does putting an article I wrote on university site conflict with IEEE publishing rights?
I have published a few months ago a paper for an IEEE Conference, the paper got published and it is indexed in the IEEEXplore. I have received an email from a research coordinator at the university that I am currently working on, asking for the online printed version of it. In the affiliation of the article was written the name of this institution, but I wonder if they are going to put in to be available online for free at the university webpage. In that case, that would not cause a problem with the publishing rights of IEEE?

Whether your institution plans to put it online is a question you have to ask them.
Whether they are allowed to put it online depends on the policies of the journal where it was published. You will need to read the copyright  transfer agreement that you accepted when the paper was published.

This is not necessarily accurate, if your institution has a certain type of open access policy.  See my answer for more details.

IEEE policy explicitly allows the author, their institution, or other pre-print repository such as arXiv to distribute the final preprint version of any document, but not the version from IEEE Xplore.  Scientifically, there is no reason to differentiate between the two, so as long as you send the final preprint version, it accomplishes the task of spreading information and there is no conflict with IEEE policy.

Many universities now have an open-access policy that reserves a prior non-exclusive license to distribute any research done at their institution.  It is likely that your university has such a policy, and that is the reason for the request.  You should check with your university (or look at this list).
If such a policy is involved, the natural legal question is then

What happens if an author at such a university then signs an agreement transferring copyright to the publisher?

This has been considered in great detail by Eric Priest in a study published in the Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property, Vol. 10, p. 377, 2012.  This seems to be the most authoritative work available on the matter.  His conclusion is that the non-exclusive license granted by Harvard-style open access policies will remain in effect in such cases, at least under US law.  This is based on a careful analysis of section 205(e) of the US Copyright Act, which reads:

(e) Priority Between Conflicting Transfer of Ownership and Nonexclusive License.— A nonexclusive license, whether recorded or not, prevails over a conflicting transfer of copyright ownership if the license is evidenced by a written instrument signed by the owner of the rights licensed or such owner’s duly authorized agent, and if—
  (1) the license was taken before execution of the transfer; or
  (2) the license was taken in good faith before recordation of the transfer and without notice of it.

This doesn't seem to address the question that was asked. The OP doesn't indicate that the university holds any copyright interest in the work at all.

@ff524 Fair enough; I have edited the answer.  I can name 200 universities that make these requests because they have an OA policy.  Can you name one that makes such requests and does not have an OA policy?
I think that most of the people arriving here will be from institutions with such a policy, and I strongly suspect that includes the OP.  In that case, they have a prior license, whether the OP knows it or not.

My university has no OA policy. I routinely get requests for copies of my publications, similar to what the OP describes. Most often, the person requesting it wants to look up some details about it for a report to funders (industry and/or government). I also get requests to post my publications in various institutional repositories (again, mostly to show to funders).

@ff524 The title of the question is a bit different from the question itself, but both ask for legality of an article being on the university website. And this answer surely treats the case when the university has an OA policy. So it is quite directly an answer to the question. Or do I miss something?

@tohecz the question asks whether posting on university site conflicts with IEEE policies. While this answer is broadly relevant to the implications of posting a paper on a university site, it is only tangentially relevant to the question about IEEE policy (which actually does not conflict with institutional OA policy).


text:
Differences between cover letter and research plan?
I want to apply for a PhD positions and it says to include the following:

a cover letter
Research plan – this should be a personal statement motivating why you are applying for this position

I usually put in the cover letter the statement of why I am applying, but in this case how should I separate both of them?

In general, the discussion of research in a cover letter is much briefer than a research plan. The former is generally one or two paragraphs, while the research plan for PhD positions is typically one to two pages.
A good "research plan" (or in this case, more accurately a "statement of purpose") should explain why and how your past and present experiences prepare you to undertake the topic you'd like to study as a PhD student. Note that this is not meant to be a "life story"—we don't care what you did when you were five years old. Instead, tell us about relevant experience: research, professional experience, service work, and so on.

I would think that a 'statement of purpose' or a 'personal statement' is broader, unless it is specified  what you should write in it. It might be that what you did when you were five is the thing that makes it unconventional and favorable.

I suggest the "statement of purpose" is equal to "Statement of research interest"?


text:
Implications of being accepted without funding to a computer science PhD in the United States?
I was accepted into Ohio State University CS PhD without funding.
I have heard that people who can show their capability may get funding after getting into the program. Is this understanding correct?
Is being accepted without funding a dangerous sign? Does this means that the faculty doesn't care about you?

One possible implication is "hunger".

One more thing I don't understand, is that it's a huge department with many grad students: http://www.cse.ohio-state.edu/people/grads.shtml. Could you elaborate "hunger"? How can they host this many students while being "poor"?

By "hunger" I mean: if you do not have any funding, you will not be able to buy food, and you will get hungry. More to the point: how will you support yourself?

Eat clay and drink wind? kd.
I don't plan to go there. I will go to work instead. Just asking about the phenomenon, as well as ranting about how impolite OSU CS department is.
I honestly believe that it is unethical to admit a phd student without funding.

Related question: http://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/8034/will-self-funding-a-phd-hurt-employment-chances

@user1745048 The question of "is it ethical to admit a phd student without funding in a field where funding is standard" is another (interesting IMO) question entirely...

It's not clear whether this is your only offer, or whether you're comparing OSU+no-funding with Other-University-with-funding

"How can they host this many students while being 'poor'?"  Apparently by not giving them funding

@user1745048 re working during the PhD, many departments/supervisors do not like this. I would talk to them first about this option-you don't want to start and then have conflict/more stress.
I know 2 friends currently working/studying:
A friend took on an unfunded PhD in Canada from a well-funded uni.  She worked during the first year and studied, but still have a class to take.  She is now working abroad to raise some money to do another year.
Another friend who did a PhD part time in the UK. He is now 8 years in (very unusual in the UK-they like to have you out the door in 3 years).

I cannot comment on the US, but in the UK, funding is scarce. So, not getting funding doesn't mean they do not like you, but it means that they have no money to fund you (which is a slight, but important difference). Nevertheless, I discourage to do a PhD without funding, for various reasons: in short, motivation of the supervisor, motivation of the student, motivation of the department. In the US, they may have more money, so not getting any of it may be a bad sign. But, in the UK, apart from above downsides, it does not necessarily mean much.

My answer applies exclusively to CS in the United States, or other scenarios in which the standard PhD offer comes with guaranteed funding.
Implication #1: How the department feels about you
First, I will quote from an answer by JeffE (who is a member of the admissions committee at a top CS department in the US) to another question (also about CS PhD offers in the US):

A typical PhD offer from a strong department includes guaranteed funding in some form.

That may come in the form of guaranteed RA/TA work, or something else, but whatever it is will be promised at acceptance. Therefore, the main implication of a PhD offer without funding is that (as you have intuited), the department does not consider you a top candidate for their program. As JeffE remarks in the same answer:

Do not accept a PhD admission offer without funding. If they really want you, they'll pay for you.

You asked: "I have heard that people who can show their capability may get funding after getting into the program. Is this understanding correct?"
It's not impossible to get funding after beginning the program (e.g., if you really hit it off with a potential PhD advisor who has grant money to spare).
But this depends very much on luck and circumstance, not just on merit; so unless you like living dangerously, it's not an advisable strategy.
Implication #2: How it will affect your future prospects
Having said that, if you somehow manage to support yourself while doing a PhD, it probably won't matter to anyone that you were self-funded. Per Suresh's answer to another question:

There's nothing on your CV that needs to indicate exactly how you were supported during your Ph.D.

You know you've made it when your answer get cited in other answer. Academia h-index, anyone ?

I was about to post this answer; looks like I already did!  In case there's any doubt: Ohio State has a strong enough CS department that it can offer funding to the students it really wants.

is this answer only true in US, or it can also work in Europe?

@Ooker the first sentence of this answer says "My answer applies exclusively to CS in the United States, or other scenarios in which the standard PhD offer comes with guaranteed funding."  (regardless of where, or what field)

so does EU fall into this scenario?

@Ooker Educational systems vary tremendously across Europe. In some countries in Europe, funding is standard for CS PhD students.

would any offer from the US, regardless of the field, comes with guaranteed funding?

It might be worth checking if you have been:

Admitted and told that you will not get funding,

or

Admitted with no funding decision made as of yet.

My university has a central admissions process for graduate students that is entirely decoupled from the process by which I make funding offers to my students. The university sends out an letter of admission that has language about "without funding," which has led to students expressing concerns similar to yours.
(This year, the faculty in my area are heading this off by sending informal "recommended for admission" letters to the admitted students, with a note that funding decisions are made at a later date and that they should interpret the University letter as being of the second type.)

I was part of Student Association in my university and I used to get this question many times from newly admitted students for CS PhD programs. I have told those students also that PhDs in CS without funding is not a common scenario in US universities. Usually projects come along with the funds and part of these funds get redirected to you in order to conduct the research. You may want to try out other options. I am sure you will find something better. All the best.

Is being accepted without funding a dangerous sign? Does this means that the faculty doesn't care about you?

Yes and Yes.  I've never known a PhD student to be accepted without funding of some sort.  Generally, the number of PhDs a department admits is also the number of students the department can cover with RAs/TAs.  I have no insider information, but my guess would be the school had a dearth of qualified applicants to the CS Masters program, and gave you one of their slots.
Self funding a PhD puts you at a tremendous dis-advantage, as all the other students are funded to do their research, but you will have to find outside work, and do research "on the side."
Also, consider what incentive your advisor (if you are lucky enough to find one) has to work with you.  The prof invested in other PhD students by funding them, he's got skin in the game (so to speak), and incentive to make them succeed.  As an unfunded PhD, your priority will be near the bottom of any prof.
I would recommend following one of the two options below
1) Don't accept the unfunded PhD slot and re-apply.  Since you were accepted, you may be able to ask why you weren't funded.  They may provide suggestions to help you re-apply.
2) Switch to the masters program.  Masters students aren't usually funded, so you will be competing with others like you.  You will work with the same profs, and will still have a chance to impress them.  One of them may fund you.
I've know several Masters student who were employed by a prof after proving themselves in class.  Generally, the prof fast-tracked them to the PhD program.


text:
Can I apply for a PhD in the United States with a 3-year undergraduate degree from Italy?
I'm currently studying in Italy for an undergraduate degree which is 3 years long (standard BSc in Computer Science). Since I'm also U.S. citizen, I was thinking it would be interesting to perhaps apply for a PhD in the states since it doesn't require a master's degree (it does in Italy). Is this possible or are the systems inherently different?

It usually depends on the university policy. Some universities require a master's degree whereas others set a cumulative GPA limit for applicants. You should check the university website.

Remember that a Bachelor's degree In the US is a four-year degree, with the Master's being at least an additional year (for students who want to have a life outside class and homework, anyway.)

Many universities in the US have policies that prevent students with a 3 year bachelor's degree from applying for graduate admission.  To get into one of those programs you would have to complete at least one more year of study before being admitted to the graduate program.

Which is a good reason amongst others for the OP to look into MSc programs in the United States, then use those to get into a PhD.

Is a three year bachelor's degree "a thing" in the American college/university system?  I've never heard of it.

3 year bachelors degrees are not at all standard in the US although there's been some discussion of moving to a 3 year bachelors degree to align with europe and to save money.  US Universities that won't accept 3 year bachelors typically won't admit a student to either an MS or PhD program with a 3 year bachelors.

Thanks for your response.  I didn't quite get this before, but I now I think you're saying that the policy against 3 year bachelor degrees is designed to apply to European degrees, not American ones.

Actually, these kinds of policies were largely seen as being applicable to degrees from India.  The Bologna process has changed things so that the 3 year bachelors degree will be common and somewhat stronger.  I expect that many schools will adjust their expectations in response to this.

I doubt I can afford the 1 year master's program in the states (even if it's only 1 year). I guess I will simply opt for a 2 year master's program here in Europe which I assume would then be enough for a PhD in the states, right?

In my experience European students have typically completed a masters (or whatever their country called the "second cycle" degree) before coming to graduate school in the US.  Then again, I work at an institution that doesn't accept 3 year bachelors degrees for admission into the graduate program.

@LucaMatteis you could certainly apply to US PhD programs with your master's degree from europe, but even then, (1) you might be required to earn a master's degree first or (2) you might be required to take a substantial amount of coursework as part of the PhD.

This seems strange to me. I always assumed that the 3 yr bachelor's programs in UK or rest of Europe were equivalent to 4 yr US bachelor's due to A-levels in UK or similar studies in Europe. That is, yr 1 there is closer to yr 2 in US. (When studying in UK, I was a yr 3 in US but yr 2 in UK).