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How do I address false propositions defended by the lecturer?
Since I began my master studies (graduate school) in economics I have encountered too many false mathematical propositions. When I encounter a mathematical proposition which I think is false, I write down an argument (usually a counterexample or a refutation of a premise) explaining why the proposition is indeed false. Since I hold an MSc in mathematics, I am almost always able to do this.
Afterward, I present my argument to the lecturer (who may be a professor) who presented, defended and/or used the proposition. If it is my first time talking with him or her (sometimes I send an email), he or she will usually assume that I am wrong even though he or she did not understand my argument. The teacher will defend the proposition again and I will again explain why I think it is false. After a while, he or she will either ignore me, reject that I have something valuable to say, accept my argument, or tell me that I should read a certain book or certain research articles. If I am a bit unsure after I have talked with the lecturer, I almost always read the book (the relevant chapters) or the research articles. As of now, my readings have just cemented my beliefs in my original arguments.
So, during the course of my studies, I have encountered false propositions and my lecturers do not seem to respond to critique. In fact, I question their competency when it comes to discussing mathematics. In addition to this, they seldom trust my knowledge. Thus, I have the following questions.

How am I to pursue my mission to convince the teacher that what he or she is defending is false?
How can I approach the teacher with respect (I am more like an activist than a politician) and send a message that my knowledge is important and that I am of the opinion that I know something to be false which the teacher think is true?

After reading Paul Romer's article on "mathiness" among economic theorists, I feel that this problem may be larger than I thought.

EDIT: Since this is not a forum about mathematics, I thought I would not comment on the false propositions made. But for those who understand mathematics and mathematical statistics, this is not about propositions which are invalid only if a certain variable is negative or different from zero; because the chain rule was falsely applied; because the hazard function was wrongly characterized; because a limit computation was false; because the conditions for when a matrix is invertible is not satisfied; because the lecturer did not check the second order conditions in an optimization problem; because economists considers infinitesimals etc. These cases have all occurred. But other and more significant false propositions have occurred in my program, which has to do with e.g. the difference between applying ordinary least squares (OLS) and applying generalized least squares (GLS) when estimating certain parameters; the consequences of omitted variables in econometrics and under which conditions we can get unbiased estimates by controlling for the correct control variables; the properties of the Nash product; how different assumptions of an error term affects macroeconomic conclusions; the difference between homogeneity and homotheticity of a production function and the consequences this has for certain relevant propositions in mathematical economics etc.

Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat.

Disclaimer: I am primarily a student of physics so I'm not sure if the same issues arise in studying economics as well. Since your main question is broad -- it would be applicable for any discipline with complex mathematics -- I am writing an answer, albeit from a physics perspective.
First let me summarize some of the points made in the comments and add a few of my experiences.

It is plausible that an economist or an engineer would use a heuristic argument to "prove" an statement, even though this is not proved in a mathematically precise way. For instance, the "proof" may not work everytime, but it may work often enough. Cases where it fails may not be of interest or not easily characterizable, which is pretty much the opposite to what we do as mathematicians. I've seen some fields that work like that. So the issue may be a lack of common language between the OP and the lecturer. - Shake-baby

Have you looked into this? One of the most common cases of derivations being unsatisfactory in physics (in my undergrad) is that a LOT of context is often implicit (as opposed to being explicit in math). Frequently, one needs to be aware of several small points (mentioned somewhere way back in the text) while understanding new concepts. Even more frequently, one proceeds to do calculations without explicitly stating important conditions.
Examples of what I think would be at least slightly alarming to mathematicians:

Functionals will be considered without specifying which function space is the domain. Also, we often ignore measure theory entirely (in formal training) even though we see integrals over function spaces.
The level of differentiability will almost never be specified. The implicit assumption often is: take as many well-defined continuous derivatives as needed.
Naked "delta functions" are welcome. The more, the merrier.
Physical intuition is often more valuable than a solid definition. In a recent graduate class, we were discussing the fundamental group for special cases like a torus and a projective plane by cutting up paper and playing with rubber bands. However, topology was not a prerequisite for this course (!) and several of my peers had not studied it formally (neither did we define "topology" in that class).

If experiment matches theory, all's well and fine. Is there a mismatch directly because of wrong assumptions? Cool! We've got new physics to play with now. Does this hand-wavy approach mean that physics is "wrong"? It simply means that the level of rigor in physics in insufficient for a mathematician but is (often) perfectly fine for model-building or experiments.

Suppose you are at a stage where the former point (of common context) is not an issue and still you are facing major difficulties in communicating.

How am I to pursue my mission to convince the teacher that what he or she is defending is false?

First, I would like to point out that "to convince the teacher that what he or she is defending is false" is your mission, should you choose to accept it. No external agency has thrust this responsibility on you. That said, there might be many good reasons why you might feel that you should do so such as:

You want to help correct a misunderstanding of the professor for his/her benefit and the benefit of other students.

You consider that stating and believing false statements to be true is a bad thing by itself and so you want to correct that. This is different from the first point in that this point would apply even if you were the only student in the class.

Fortunately or unfortunately, convincing people is hard. Convincing people that they are wrong is much harder. Convincing people that they are wrong and that you are right is much, much harder [1]. Sometimes it's easier when the opposite person is a scientist. Sometimes it's harder. You try your best and reason with the person in good faith; it will work sometimes and sometimes you just move on after being unsuccessful.

How can I approach the teacher with respect (I am more like an activist than a politician) and send a message that my knowledge is important and that I am of the opinion that I know something to be false which the teacher think is true?

Permit me to break me down the question bit by bit:

How can I approach the teacher with respect

Be polite in words and manners and act in good faith. Some professors might get annoyed if sigh loudly. Others might not even notice or care if you yawn while they are making a key point. There isn't a silver bullet. The teacher is also a person, just like you. Is the teacher is trying to impeded your learning? No. Remember: the fallacy is the key issue, not the teacher.

(I am more like an activist than a politician)

If I understand correctly, you mean that you take speak in an argumentative manner as opposed to a soft tone. I have sometimes been guilty of this myself, especially when I felt what the opposite person is saying is very wrong and very stupid.
One possible solution is: write, instead of speaking in person. I understand this may not be the most practical in a lecture setting but courses often have online forums which make this more convenient. An email (or forum post) allows you to (i) collect your thoughts, (ii) frame your arguments fully and (iii) most importantly, gives you time between framing your points and actually clicking send -- in this time you can go over the language and double-check it (or have a close friend look over the email) and alter it if needed so that your tone does not come off as hostile.
Consider the following two emails:

(1) On Tuesday, you said that the isomorphism that takes the fundamental group with one base point to the fundamental group with another base point is path-independent. That statement is incorrect. It is true if and only if the fundamental group is abelian.
(2) On Tuesday, you said that the isomorphism that takes the fundamental group with one base point to the fundamental group with another base point is path-independent. Isn't it true only when the fundamental group is abelian? At the time, had we already assumed that the surfaces under consideration had abelian fundamental groups?

Perhaps you think that these two are roughly the same/interchangeable. Perhaps not. I would consider the second one more polite and preferable compared to the first one. Moreover, the second version expresses two things which are missing from the first -- (i) a possibility that you misunderstood something (humility) and (ii) a desire to arrive at the right answer together (cooperation). In contrast, the first version just says, "Here is the right answer. You are wrong." (superiority).

and send a message that my knowledge is important

It is the truth which is important. In this special case, your knowledge coincides with the truth ... but are you always correct? Probably not. If a teacher is dismissing your claim as false, don't take it personally (trust me, it never helps). This can get really hard, especially if it happens publicly, but you must keep your cool.

After a while, he or she will either ignore me, reject that I have something valuable to say, accept my argument, or tell me that I should read a certain book or certain research articles.

There you have it: there are all different kinds of professors. Is that a surprised? Some accept your arguments, some don't ... surely, a reasonable academic would accept an argument if it was true? Unfortunately, life isn't so simple...
Footnote:
[1] Based on the author's interactions (mostly with Indians).

+1 especially for pointing out that nobody is forced to be a missionary. See also https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/86852/31917

A common defect of mathematicians is to believe that all of science works like mathematics. In mathematics a statement has a set of assumptions and a conclusion, and the statement is false if you can find one counterexample. In all other sciences you have some basic knowledge about the world as additional assumptions, and a statement is false if there is a reasonable counterexample. This is even true in physics, where people integrate the delta "function" from 0 to infinity or believe that there is something like a Bayesian probability.
To scold a scientist for incorrect use of mathematics is not only petty, but also displays a lack of understanding of science. A theoretic physicist or economist is not a poor mathematician, but has an insight which allows her to make mathematical "mistakes" while being right. So attacking a single proposition does not make sense, unless you can invalidate the whole application of the proposition together with the intuition leading to the application of this proposition.

True, that is common. As I suggest in my edit, this is about significant mathematical propositions which invalidate the whole application of the proposition. However, an economist can be a bad mathematician. In those fields within economics in which one via mathematics a priori searches for certain relationships between a set of variables, and accept mathematical deduction as one's way of arguing, then one certainly can make mathematical mistakes which are relevant for the study at hand. That is explains why economists try to pay attention to mathematics.

Regarding the larger debate on the relationship between mathematics and economics, see e.g. The Philosophy of Economics: An Anthology by Hausman, D. M. This should explain why mathematics is such an important part of mainstream economics today and is also the reason for why e.g. economic historians are so into the debate of the usage of mathematics in economics. One should also note that many insights in economics come from the marginalist approach (which relies heavily on mathematics), and not necessarily from empirical studies or some professionally developed intuition.

How am I to pursue my mission to convince the teacher that what he or she is defending is false?

By publishing your corrections.

How can I approach the teacher with respect and send a message that my knowledge is important and that I am of the opinion that I know something to be false which the teacher think is true?

The more you publish, the more your opinion will be respected.  For now, try once; i.e. do give the instructor an opportunity to consider your point of view.  But one unsolicited correction per mistake is enough.
Version 2 of @theindigamer's email correction is a good approach.  Another possibility is to give the correction or contradiction verbally (in class or in office hours), with a polite prologue such as, "I see a contradiction [flaw] in your argument.  Would you mind if I explained what it is?"
Try to find kindred spirits in the economics world.  At the very least, you'll feel less isolated.
Most importantly: make sure you figure out, and explain, what harm is done by the error.  If pointing out a mistake would be unproductive nitpicking, then just note it down for yourself in your Big Book of Math Mistakes in Economics.
My hope for you is that you can eventually be seen as a helpful resource by your instructors, colleagues and students.  Also, I hope you will not get too frustrated with the mistakes you encounter, but will instead find a way to discover what's interesting about the mistakes.  Maybe you'll figure out some patterns, and even be able to trace back to the origins of certain mistakes.

It would be helpful to hear some feedback along with the downvotes.

I have not downvoted, but I have note upvoted either.
It seems to me that publishing my corrections will not be possible. But I will publish a small discussion in a journal about the relationship between mathematics and economics. So I do not think the whole idea is bad. I would also like to try to present the faults made in the program to the prefect of the department of economics. However, I do not know how that will affect my own opportunities. In total, I think your suggestion is a bit too short and it has to be nuanced.

I think your suggestion to give the instructor an opportunity to consider my point of view is a good comment. I see what you mean by a polite prolog, though I would not say that "Would you mind if I explained what it is?" sends a message of politeness. Your most useful suggestions are that I should try to explain what harm is done by the error, and I appreciate that you hope that I will be seen as a resource by my instructors. That is my hope also. I see science as a collaborative project and that students come with different perspectives, some useful, and some not.

I downvoted because the suggestion that the student should publish their corrections is out of touch with reality, and would not be helpful even if it were possible.

@TomChurch - Papers sometimes grow out of corrections and updates to someone else's work.  And what about publishing a comment?


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What happens in a thesis defense when the non-committee members leave the room?
I've been to many PhD proposals and defenses, but I've yet to give either myself. At every talk I've seen, after the speaker finishes his/her presentation and the non-committee members ask their questions, we're asked to leave the room. I assume the committee then asks the speaker questions.
Are these questions any different from normal questions you would get at a talk or do they function as a sort of impromptu oral exam? Do students prepare for them in a particular way or it is just assumed you'll pick up on what you need from your studies and work on your thesis?

Some committees use the time to talk about detailed changes to the thesis. Such as things they want to see added, typographical errors, etc. But the practice is not universal, at some institutions all the questions are public until everyone except the committee is asked to leave the room.

It may be different from university to university, so keep chatting with your fellow grad students / alumni and ask about their experience may be a good idea.

Just to illustrate that it depends a lot: In my department, we still have to do a so called “Rigorosum”, where the defendant is asked about some mostly random topics from their discipline. In the next university, 25 km away, the defendant may choose between just talking about their thesis and a Rigorosum (which probably nobody ever does). You have to look into the regulations and if they don’t exist, ask somebody with experience. It’s definetely a case of Academia varies more than you think it does.

You are allowed to ask people in your department who graduate before you. In a well run department, any problems that might lead to a failed thesis defense are caught and fixed before it gets that far.

I don't think there is any universal answer to this question.  I just defended about 8 hours ago, in my case there was a pre-defense and a defense.  The pre-defense in our program tells the student what needs to be done to successfully finish the program, the actual public defense is largely ceremonial.  When I met in private with the committee they just shook my hand and that was the end of it.
I am aware of other defenses, where there is an oral exam after the non-committee members exit the room.  But, from what I have been told the questions in this exam are largely for clarification, and to determine what needs to be done to graduate.
I'm sure some others can clarify, but usually your dissertation advisor has your back, and you have already done the work at that point.  So the defense is more of a chance for you to share your work, than a second order comprehensive exam.
It really depends on your country, institution, department, and program.

I do believe congratulations are in order :)

"usually your dissertation advisor has your back" — yes!  Obviously, s/he doesn't want to have someone go up for a defense and have them fail.  I'd imagine in most fields (in the US at least), advisors won't even consider letting you defend unless they feel assured you'll defend successfully.

At my PhD institution, there were reportedly a couple instances where people did fail their defense because their answers to the questions from the committee were unsatisfactory. I didn't get names attached to any of these stories, for obvious reasons, but they're recent enough that they should be more credible than just some sort of departmental legend. So it presumably does happen. Of course the point that your advisor has your back is definitely true.

I didn't do anything special to prepare for the non-public questions during my defense. The questions seemed pretty normal, there were only a few of them, and then the committee asked me to leave the room for a few minutes while they discussed me. Then they came out and congratulated me on passing.
This pattern repeated when I was on a committee. I don't know if others are different, but that's been the pattern at 2 US universities in my experience.

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The name of the document which prove my studies at the university
I am originally from one country but study at university in a different country. Now, my native country asked me to prove that I study at this university and I want to ask my university to bring me document for that. What is this document used to be called?
Can I call this document "study confirmation letter" or "confirmation of studies"?
I found (here) the phrase "proof of study" ans also "Certificate of Enrolment" (here), "proof of enrolment" (here) but "proof of study" as well as "confirmation for studies" both seems to be for those who are graduated already while I'm still student there. I would like to take you advice for the conventional way (that everybody at the university office can understand) to call what I need.

Talk to them. I'm sure you can explain what you want.

In USA, many schools call this "Verification of enrollment" (VOE)

In the U.S., often "transcript" is the document shows the courses you've taken and the grades you received, whether or not you obtained a degree. If you completed even a single course (in the U.S.) the university/college can send "official transcripts" to other institutions to prove what you've done.

They didn't ask for transcript but for confirmation that I was studied there. They don't care about the marks.

Also see here (the people there sent me to ask here): https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/134366/does-study-confirmation-works-for-my-purpose?noredirect=1#comment272030_134366

@UbiquitousStudent What answer are you waiting for that you haven't already gotten here or there?

I once had to acquire a "Certificate of Matriculation" or "Confirmation of Matriculation," similar to what is described here: http://www.ed.ac.uk/student-administration/order-documents/matric-certificate.

I think there is not a single standard name for this document (I am assuming you are asking for its name in English - if not you should probably specify a language), as all the comments show, but there are some simple phrases that would convey what you are asking - it isn't necessary that you know exactly the name for the document at your institution. Also, what you are asking for isn't that special, the university should understand what you need.
I would suggest you simply request "proof of enrollment."
Note that your university might have some automated process for producing such documentation, for example at my current institution there is a process for "enrollment verification" here, and a particular email address to contact if you need the verification mailed or sent in a more official way than obtaining a pdf.
A web search for your institution plus "proof of enrollment" should direct you to something similar for your institution - I tested it on several US and UK universities and all gave me the necessary information on the first or second result returned.

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Is my professor being unfair?
She is sweet and helpful whenever I go to her office to ask questions about the problem sets or discuss my exam results. I have always felt like she is very picky when grading the worksheets or exams, at least in my case. For example, she would penalize a large portion of the points for a small mistake in a problem, and it really frustrated me. However, this morning, I talked to a classmate about a problem where we made similar mistakes. I lost four points out of five, and he lost half a point out of five. When I emailed to the professor about it, she told me that I am kind of “wronger” than him and that I could go and talk to her more, but that she was willing to give me one more point. I talked to her mainly because I thought it was unfair, not because I wanted that freaking point. In that problem, we had to draw a free energy diagram, and I made the energy curve between two conformations higher than both products A and B, but it should be smaller. But all the other parts of the graph are correct. For my friend, his conformation energy is higher than product B but lower than product A.
I am frustrated about it because I still think that it is unfair. I mean, if you assign a certain portion of grade to that part of the problem, only that should be taken off. For example, if you assign half a point for that portion of the graph, then only half a point should be taken off no matter how wrong that part is. However, in my case, 4 out of 5 possible points were taken off.

Seems like you don't point where is ΔΔG*, as well...

Teachers got to be bit more careful during evaluation. The evaluated copies coming to the online forums! :)

in the upper picture the center mountain is the tallest, whereas in the lower picture it is the smallest. This means that both pictures say the complete opposite concerning the speed of the center reaction a-b: the upper picture says that it is much slower than the c-a and b-d reactions whereas the lower picture says that this reaction is much faster. Notably the upper graph thus also says the opposite from the reaction scheme using arrows, which is shown on the same paper.

When lecturers mark the worksheets / assignments, they try to assess student's knowledge and understanding of the subject. Of course, they can not look inside the student's head, so they have to make judgement based on what they see. Mark schemes and rubrics are introduced for the sake of objectivity and consistency, particularly when several lecturers share the marking. However, we have to accept that no mark scheme and rubric can cover absolutely everything. There are always some distinctions between students' works which are not accounted for in the mark scheme, but still (by a lecturer's judgement) should be accounted in the grade. That's what she probably tried to explain to you when you asked.
It is impossible to tell from the fragments you show if your work is really of the same quality as you peer's or not. We can't tell by just looking on your graphs --- something essential may be written in the comments above and below. To me it looks like these two papers are both wrong in some aspect, but I am not sure these errors are "equivalent".
You professor backed up a little by offering you an extra mark. It is hard to tell, if you really convinced you that she's been unfair, or she just don't want to spend her life arguing about it. It may well be that she deviated from the rigid set of criteria prescribed by the mark scheme, but I would not blame this on her personally. The mark scheme is not the law, in a sense that it is probably not more important than your professor's expert academic judgement. I can see a point in your frustration, but it really looks to me just as a manifestation of the complex nature of academic assessments in general, not as her bias against you.

I don't know whether this professor is grading fairly.  I'm not comfortable with the subject matter.  But if you are concerned that the grading may not be consistent, it is entirely appropriate to raise the question.
When it's a teaching assistant doing the grading, the concern should be brought up with the professor in charge of the course.  In this case, it sounds as though the professor is doing all the grading without a TA.  So you could raise the concern with the dean of undergraduate or graduate studies.
When you do, stay nice and calm in the way you talk about the situation.  For example, leave out emotionally loaded adjectives: "I talked to her mainly because I thought it was unfair, not because I wanted another point."
If there is inconsistent grading going on, the department will guide the professor to be more consistent.

"I talked to her mainly because I thought it was unfair, not because I wanted another point." Yes, if it is about unfairness, stress this above all else. Talk about how you want to learn about what you could have done better. If the issue of the grade is on the table, your teacher is going to have her guard up, afraid of a "gotcha moment". In my experience stressing that you accept the grade as is, makes you both more sympathetic and makes this conversation a lot more productive.


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How to transfer non graded subjects to gpa?
Hi I am sending an application and the university needs all of my grades in GPA format.  I am using a GPA calculator to convert my grades, however there is a subject which was not graded it is only accredited. I talked to the university and they say they need all actual grades. They have been slow to answer me, how can I put the grade? as an A?

Classes which are graded pass/fail, audited, or similar cannot be converted to GPA and should certainly not be amended to a grade of "A" - that would be very unethical.

Thanks for answering but how can I explain this to the university they take forever to answer and last time they were very explicit that they needed all subjects in GPA

Is this an application to a US university? Options to take class pass/fail are very common in the US and I can't imagine a university having trouble dealing with that situation. For other countries I don't have enough familiarity.

It is US the problem is that they take forever to answer my questions I guess I would just inform them that it is a pass/fail class and hope fo the best

I would agree with that course of action - they might be confused if you are using different terminology, pass/fail should be straightforward to them.

At my U.S. institution, we do not want applicants to attempt any "conversion" process. We want to see official transcripts.

Is it possible that they only want graded courses reported, not pass/fail?

@PatriciaShanahan:  No, that would make no sense.  Any U.S. institution has to be used to seeing pass/fail courses on a transcript.

Upon reflection, I wonder if this post is in fact spam, to advertise that dubious (!) web-site that purports to do "conversions"...

Please give us the name of the university you are applying to.  We can help you interpret their online instructions.

EDIT: Thanks so much for your answers turns out that saying that it was a pass/fail class was enough I just wasn't using the proper term and the university got confused

While this was ultimately cleared up in the comments, for future readers:
In the US, the term for a class which counts as credit but has no grade attached is "Pass-Fail". You either get credit towards the degree, or you don't, but there is no grade attached. In general (I'm aware of no exceptions to this in the US, at least), pass-fail courses do not count for purposes of GPA, so there's no way to convert a credit-only class to GPA - it's just a class you received credit for.
One situation which is more complicated is if you have a class that provides something like a "narrative grade", which I'm told exists but have no personal experience with, and it doesn't have a direct correlate to GPA systems in the US. If you encounter that you'll simply need to speak with the institution to which you are applying and they'll have to make the determination as to how to handle such coursework.


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How to politely decline a postdoc job offer after signing the offer letter?
I recently was offered 2 researcher job offers in two different countries. The first one is from the USA and the second one is in Japan. The professor in USA prepared all the documents for a J-1 Visa and after receiving them I have been issued a visa for 2 years.
I have now been offered another, more suitable job in Japan (more related to my interest and higher salary). I am also very interested in living in Japan. Although I applied to both jobs at the same time, the selection process in Japan took a month longer than the US process.
I accepted and signed the offer letter from the USA professor. This is an agreement to the professor that I will join, moving forward the professor will issue the documents for J-1 Visa. I was also asked in the interview whether I am considering any other job positions somewhere else. I replied yes, but my first preference is this one (the USA one).
How can I politely decline or inform the US professor of my changed situation? How would the professor in the USA feel after everything is done and I decline at the last moment?

What other communications have you had with the US professor since receiving the offer?  Did you formally or informally commit to accepting the job?

There was no commitments. I just accepted the offer and signed in the offer letter. There was nothing mentioned about any commitments. The problem is, I was asked in interview whether am I considering any other job positions in somewhere else. I reply yes, but my first preference is this one (the USA one).

Signing the offer letter is a commitment to take that job, just like the offer letter is a commitment to give you that position. These may not be contracts in the legal sense, but if you sign the letter and do not take the job, most people will view this as reneging on a commitment.

Signing a contract IS commitment. Promising to go there even if you have an other offer IS commitment.  What s not clear about that? (Since you got a visa, it is clear you already signed the contract - you cannot have visa without it)

If you said "yes, but this is my first preference", it means "no, no other offer ever would make me give up this one". What you said was not true, as it turned out that Japan was your first preference.

OP, can you desribe the contents of the offer letter? So we can understand exactly what you've signed? @AJK: Why would the signed offer not a legal contract? I would guess that it is.

You're betraying their trust, it's not possible to do that politely. If the roles were reversed and they decided not to give you the job after committing to give you the job, how would you feel?

How can I politely screw over the US professor should be the title of this question. He/she probably already committed his/her funds and already spent some on the visa process, etc. How a PhD holder simply states that there was NO commitment after signing an offer letter is simply beyond me.

I can't believe this question as 15 upvotes... y'all really think this is a good question?!

Related, and almost-duplicate: http://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23721/how-to-turn-down-a-postdoc-scholarship-offer-after-signing-a-contract?rq=1

@Mehrdad A question can be good even if one doesn't like the opinion or the possible actions there described. And it can also be upvoted just because it generated great answers.

@MassimoOrtolano: yes, I know a question can be good even if you don't like it, but that doesn't mean it is. I'm asking: is this actually a good question? It's basically asking "How do I screw over a professor?", and people think this is... a good question? How far can you take that logic and have it still hold? If it asked "How do I murder someone" would people still upvote it, thinking, "Geez, I don't agree, but that's an excellent question!!"? If the answers are good, people should just upvote the answers... the state of the question right  now is a little ridiculous.

@Mehrdad My understanding, from the question and the OP's comments, is that the OP didn't have the perception of screwing over the professor: cultures around the world vary, and situations that are obvious to someone are less obvious to someone else. Along the years I had to answer somehow similar questions from students coming from different countries, and I understood that the perception of what is a commitment varies a lot.

So, yes, I think that this is a good question because it manifests a problem that exists, and the answers given provide the right advice, explaining also that in this kind of situation there is a commitment.

Politeness is absolutely misplaced here. It would be only fair to be completely honest to your professor about the situation. With a little luck, he wont mind letting you go. Or as a compromise, maybe the salary and or subject of the postdoc can be aligned more closely with what you'd have in Japan? Worst case, he has no room to maneuver and has committed major resources to get you for that position and relies on you to fill it. It's for you to decide how to deal with that situation, but first you should find out what situation you're really in.

I think the responses are overblown. I agree that a contract is a commitment. But a contract can be revoked if both parties agree. All responses I see "assume" that the professor in the US is going to be heart broken etc. Such exaggerations! I suggest that you politely write a letter to the Professor explaining your circumstances that you applied to two universities and after signing their contract you were offered a more suitable one. Apologize for putting the professor in this situation, have him/her hear your heart and ask for his/her advise. As a foreign student in the US, I do understand.

Also the professor preparing J1 paperwork is not groundbreaking. It's something professors in the US are quite accustomed to doing. It's not like he walked barefoot to USCIS field office and mopped their floors to help get your visa. That process has not even begun if you hadn't made a trip to your nearest American consulate for a visa.

Just noticed this topic in the newspaper today: "Graduates face blacklist if they gazump on job offers".  Apparently OP is "on trend".

Joining the other commenters: I'm not sure what you think a "commitment" is if signing an offer letter and having your employer issue a visa do not qualify!
I'm not sure why you think that your answer in the interview is relevant: it is perfectly normal for you to consider other positions until you accept one, at which point you should take yourself off the market.
I think it is very likely that the offer is not legally binding: I have seen such things happen to departments, and they have never pursued the matter legally.  What will happen though is that the people who offered you the job will feel that you reneged on them, and in particular that you broke your word.  That they have gone to the time and expense of successfully getting you a visa is likely to amplify their feelings of ill will.  (Also, it could make them be less willing to hire foreign workers needing visas in the future: please think about the implications of that for a while.)  It is possible that this could damage your academic and professional reputation in the long-term with this faculty member, at this university, and perhaps in broader circles containing them.  It is also possible that they will get over it rather quickly and hold no lasting grudge.
If you want to renege for a permanent academic job in a country that you distinctly prefer living in: in my experience, while some will call that action dishonorable, most will ultimately countenance it as something that you needed to do in order to get the happy life you want.  But if this is a temporary job for which you cannot see your way to your next job or staying in the country you want to live in: this could turn out to be a decision that you regret.  Whatever you do, I certainly urge you to get up to speed on how academic hiring works: this will stop you from making serious mistakes in the future (and may convey other advantages in your future career).

Please consider explicitly spelling out that OP has committed to come work as a post-doc with the US professor.

I'll be blunt, you would be losing a lot of face if you back out of the job offer in the United States a month after it was issued. It could be so far as to prevent you from ever working with anyone in that group again.
While an offer letter is not a legally binding contract, the understanding in the United States is that by signing and returning it you are accepting their offer and committing your services to them. Typically this also means you should contact other prospects to let them know that you are no longer on the market. In the event you have another interview lined up, usually people in the United States will inform the people that made the offer and negotiate accordingly.
Generally backing out of a offer letter is only acceptable in the United States if extenuating circumstances occur that would render you unable to do the job. Think something along the line of major illness, death in the family, and so forth. Even then, depending on the circumstances and the position, the employer might just negotiate a delayed start date for you to allow you to take care of things.
As mentioned by another person, double check what you signed. I find it very hard to believe that they would have started the J-1 Visa process without having an employment contract from you as well. In contrast to the offer letter, an employment contract is a legal document that has clauses enforceable in court. They can't force you to work but there may be a clause that allows them to claw back fees associated with your hiring process if you back out of the contract in bad faith.
Pragmatically, if you haven't already tried to back out of the deal with the group in the United States, I would recommend that you just politely decline the position in Japan and continue with the offer you originally accepted. Granted you would be in the United States instead of Japan, but if you can get an offer from a group in Japan once, most likely you can do it a second time.

and if you can get an offer from the U.S. once, you will most likely do it for a second time. But that's irrelevant with the subject...

I find it hard to believe that an employment contract has relevant enforceable clauses.  Human traffickers often tell their victims that they have to "work to pay off debts" - which this sounds like.

@emory It's actually not that uncommon in the United States, the question is usually more about enforcement than anything else. Typically, if an employer is spending money or advancing funds (ex. moving expenses) on an employee, they may be able to recoup that loss in the event of breech of contract.

"While I doubt they can force you to work" Of course they can't. Slavery and indentured servitude have been illegal in the US for quite a while, now...

@DavidRicherby That's what I get for writing without coffee, it's been clarified to be more pedantic.

@DavidRicherby Also, as a curiosity more than anything else, slavery isn't totally illegal in the United States either. It's just that it's been limited to a power of the state.

I think other answers here address your direct question, but probably aren't the answer you were hoping for.  Here's an idea that might make everyone happy.

Just take the US job.  As AJK commented, you've made a commitment to do so.

The next step is where your politeness skills can start to pay off.

Contact the Japanese team and ask them very politely if you can turn their job offer into a paid visiting position for a year or six months or something like that.  At least in principle this is not out of the question.  For example, maybe your boss in the US won't mind you working from Japan for a period of time, or maybe you could do it after the US job is over, or take a leave of absence.  All of that could be negotiated; the main point is that if you can take an extended paid research visit to Japan in any form, it will look good on your CV, and satisfy your desire to spend time there.  You can decide later where you want to live long-term.  In general it's a good idea to visit someplace before you take a job there anyway!

If you can do things this way, then you will strengthen your network, improve your chances of doing interesting research, and keep everyone happy.
tl;dr: Build bridges, don't burn them.

"Furthermore, you can decide later which of the two institutions you actually want to get your degree from." - Note that this question is about a postdoc - doesn't involve earning any degree. (Also note that the OP does not say what the duration of this postdoc is - hard to say if "visiting" somewhere else for a year will be feasible.)

OK, missed that it was a postdoc - I'll edit accordingly.

In addition to the issues raised above, it's possible that the Japanese would, because of your actions a) withdraw their offer, or b) feel you are untrustworthy.  Your worse case therefor is losing both offers.
(As indeed might be the case if either establishment sees this correspondence!)

This seems more like a comment than an answer...

To directly answer your question of how to do this "politely":
Simple: generously pay back everyone that you can for the damages you may be incurring.
You made a commitment (that's literally what signing something means), and you're reneging on it, so the only way to save any face is to make it up to them, and short of actually finding a clone of yourself who can live the life you would've lived, the next-best option would be money.
In which case, I hope you're really rich, because I imagine you're going to need a lot of money. Think about all the things that could have gone wrong, and how much it might really be costing them. The professor might very well not be able to get a million-dollar grant down the road because you're not there doing the work you promised for him/her, stalling his/her progress.
If you can donate enough to the research/department/college/university/etc. to cover all these costs so that they don't even think about getting upset, then I'm sure you'll save lots of face — I don't imagine they'll mind missing 1 hire if this gets them (say) a million-dollar donation! It'll easily help them find other people. But if you're not quite rich enough to do that, well, sorry, I'm pretty sure there's no other way to do it politely. When you err, the polite thing to do is to shut your mouth and make it up to others.  If you can't, then, well, you can't.

I would do the following:

Talk to them (if possible, in person) and explain that a major and unexpected event occured, that motivated your decision about the position;
Politely apologize to them;
Offer to cover all expenses they had with the process.

Even this not being the case, there are things that happen in life that could issue a change of events (e.g. a divorce, children, a disease, family, etc). It is better for everybody if you forfeit the position now then later.

The thing is, getting the Japan job offer is not a "major unexpected event".  The other examples that you mentioned in parentheses do match that description.  However, there's no real support as yet for the final conclusion. If the OP said "I've decided that living in the US would be horrible and make me depressed and unable to work" then yes, such a conclusion would be warranted.  If the OP said "I just prefer Japan slightly more" then, I'm sorry, they may have to put up with living in the US and doing the job they have committed to do -- hopefully w/ the minimum amount of whining.

+1 for offering to reimburse expenses. That shows the apology is sincere. Is disagree with @JoeCorneli , the worst thing to do is go into a new job reluctantly, thinking you missed out on the opportunity of a lifetime because of it.

Do not listen to other respondents.  The United States is "employment at will" which means that you can resign from your post-doc at any time for any reason - even a dumb one.  The J-1 visa is not your problem.
If you feel unreasonable pressure to take this post-doc, then that is slavery which is illegal in the United States.  Call the Department of Labor and report it.

-1 Just because the United States is employment at will doesn't mean there aren't ethical considerations. There may also be legal considerations for early termination of a contract as well.

"If you feel unreasonable pressure to take this post-doc, then that is slavery" That is perhaps the most magnificently, spectacularly wrong thing I have ever read on this site.

My understanding is that this answer is correct in the sense that the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution means that you cannot be forced to work at this job even though you have signed a letter accepting their offer. That said, the offhand comment implying that doing so would be for a "dumb" reason needs explication. You can legally walk away, but there may be ethical and career consequences to doing so.

@BenjaminMakoHill I meant that since one does not have to explain one's reasons, one could do so for a good reason, a bad reason, or no reason at all.  No one is owed an explanation.

@emory If you sign an employment contract with an claw-back clause due to early termination, you can be compelled to explain your actions or bad faith may be assumed.

-1 for "Do not listen to other respondents" part.

"Employment at will" does NOT mean there will be no CONSEQUENCES for bad decisions.  "The J-1 visa is not your problem"—I wonder, do you think it is your problem if you can't get another job because of the astonishing level of irresponsibility shown in abandoning this one?  Or is your concept of "employment at will" actually that others should shield you from the consequences of your own decisions?

@Wildcard of course there are consequences for every decision (aka opportunity costs).  There are also opportunity costs for not ditching the US post-doc in favor of the Japanese post-doc.  Only the OP can know if it would be a bad decision or not.


text:
Adding another author to a paper that hasn’t contributed?
I’m a non traditional postbacc student have been working in a medical clinic for the past 2 years. I have been working on a case report for months. Almost done… just working on the introduction and conclusion. 2 weeks ago a college student (rising junior) came to clinic and my professor wants to add him to the paper. By the way, he has never seen the patient discussed in the case report. He is leaving in a week and hasn’t done anything for the paper. He has started working on his project with the professor. I’m unsure how he could help since I’m almost done and he is unfamiliar with the science/the field. Should this student be included in the paper even though he just came and hasn’t contributed? I don’t think it would be fair…

You should first ask your advisor why he should be added. He may have contributions but you don't know.

Thank you for your response. He hasn’t. For example, the paper is on a specific cancer and on certain drugs for treatment and during clinic visits, he asks me to spell the name of the cancer and the name of the drugs.

Then I would tell your supervisor that you don't believe this person should be included as an author for the reasons you mention, and ask for their advice/decision.

You don't know what you don't know.

@melissabe I'd recommend to ask the advisor regardless of whether you are convinced that "he hasn't". You'd want to understand their reasoning, don't you? (You may not agree with it but anyway...)

In your shoes I would feel annoyed.
But I have questions:

How long have you been working on this report– two months or much longer?
Why haven't you asked your professor? Do you have a difficult relationship?
Were you advised or told? It seems the latter, in which case do a little sleuthing  and discover how your professor knows this student so well that he recommends that his name be added in the report. If nothing suspicious turns up, then you'll probably have no choice but to follow your professor's instructions.
This college student arrived in the clinic two weeks ago and is going to leave next week. Can you include this information in the acknowledgements? This would make it clear that his contributions were added when the bulk of the  report had already been written.
For example,

My thanks to XXX for his words of support, and acute analysis of bla, bla, bla… in the last month of writing this report.

It would be strange to refer to an author in the acknowledgements; are you suggesting this as an alternative to including them as an author, or in addition?

@BryanKrause I would make sure whatever contributions were made by the newcomer to acknowledge them in the paper, and to include at least one time-date. If the OP has spent four or more months on the paper, it is incomprehensible why a stranger's name should be added, mere weeks before it is peer reviewed and/or published. First the OP needs to ask their professor, investigate and then, if possible, challenge the professor's recommendation. If there are there three or four authors, a quick mention of the third (or fourth) author could also be included in the  acknowledgements.

You do not put authors in the Acknowledgements section. That section is to recognize contributions by non-authors.

@BryanKrause  First the professor owes the OP an explanation. Failing that, perhaps a compromise could be agreed on, a few sentences  in the acknowledgement dedicated to the college student's contributions and leave it as that. If the OP has been working on the paper for "only" two or three months then it's not worth the battle, and chalk it up as one of life's experiences. We don't have all the background info, ergo I said "I have questions" I was hoping for a little clarification at this point.

Okay, but besides all the questions in your answer, which are not an answer, the only suggestion you provide is to suggest using the acknowledgements section to label their contributions as minimal with a passive-aggressive shot that they only were involved for a month.

Should this student be included in the paper even though he just came and hasn’t contributed?

Well, in an ideal world, decisions on authorship weigh the contributions of each proposed author as the primary if not exclusive defining factor. Also, such decisions on authorship status are nominally worked out if not in advance of the publication at least at any point along the way when a change is proposed via congenial discussion among all proposed authors. Taking your statements as gospel, the answer to including the student as co-author is no, and the approach being taken to include the student at the last minute without discussion is professionally disrespectful and potentially unfair.
In the real world, politics and emotions get involved to skew the decision process, often unfavorably and unfairly, as you are experiencing. Based on your background information, your advisor is making an executive decision to overrule the respected approach to determine authorship. You will have to decide your path forward.

Accept and move on. Your professional life will not be defined by this one personal and professional insult, especially as your statements suggest you are quite early in your career by normal standards. At best, argue for a clear statement of author contributions at the end of the article if the journal supports such statements. Otherwise, nod in agreement, finish your work, and look for the next (and better) opportunity all the wiser.

Confront and demand equitable treatment. This can be done in a professional manner. An opening question to your advisor might simply be to ask how the decision to add the student keeps in line with your understanding of what authorship means. Perhaps by example your advisor is under the (ill-conceived) belief that authors are just the folks who happen to be working in any way even minimally on the project at the time of the publication. You may have no battle to win here, or you may have a chance to educate yourself and your advisor both. The first option to accept and move on is always at your command as needed.

Withdraw your contribution. This is the "I am taking my ball home and leaving you pick up the pieces" approach. Rarely is this the wisest choice. But at least you should see it as the furtherest extreme measure that could be taken (but should not).

You are not the first in this situation, and it is not always an easy one to resolve. I hope my answers provide sufficient background to help you decide where to go next.

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


text:
I accidentally brought in an exam slip with notes on it and was discovered by an invigilator
I sat for an exam at my university today and I had accidentally brought in an exam slip with notes on it. It was found by the invigilator and now I have an accused academic misconduct with a hearing to be conducted soon.
For your information, the exam slip is a piece of paper that contains information about our name, student number etc. along with other details about the exam we are sitting for. It is compulsory to bring in this paper and invigilators will check them along with our student card.
Now what happened was:
Last night before I went to bed, I wrote the notes to recap on what I had studied, and because it was just a recap I didn't bother to write it very clearly, I just scribbled a rough illustration of the architecture diagrams on it. It was not meant to be notes that I would read again later on nor was it meant for cheating, so I just grabbed the exam slip and wrote it on the empty spaces there. The paper had 2 sides, one with information another one blank. I purposely wrote on the side with words because I was confident I would check the paper before entering the exam hall should I forget to erase what I scribbled. I was afraid I would forget to erase it if I wrote on the blank side which I usually don't check.
However, I had pulled an all-nighter the day before to study for the exams and I was very tired, so after doing the last recap, I didn't erase it nor did I keep my notes, I just left everything on the desk and went to sleep. The next morning, I woke up late and was in a rush to get to school. I just left the other notes on the desk and grabbed the exam slip and threw it in my bag. Now because I live far from campus and I was already late, I arrived 30 minutes after the exam. So obviously, I was in a panic and just grabbed whatever was necessary and entered the exam hall. All I was thinking about was to write as fast as possible so that I could finish the exam on time. I had very much forgotten about the exam slip. So, while I was writing my name and student no. on every page of the answer script, the invigilator came to check my exam slip and saw the notes there. She showed me and my first reaction was to keep that back in my bag or erase it like I was planning to, cause it was really an honest mistake. Usually that would be possible if the exam hadn't started but because i was late, I missed the first few minutes where students were allowed to check and return any accidentally brought notes (I had discovered an accidentally left note in my pocket once before, but luckily that time, it was before the exam started so I managed to return the note.). So now, it became an academic misconduct (suspected of cheating) and I was told I will soon get an email to notify me of the hearing that I will need to attend.
I am very much panicked and worried right now, as I really didn't mean for this to happen. After checking the policies in the handbook, it says that the type of penalty include warning letter, fail grade for the course, or fail grade for the entire semester. It is my first time being accused of such, and I don't know what I should do. What makes me feel more devastated is the fact that this course is one that I must complete by this semester. I am transferring to another campus and this course is the last required course that I need to complete before I can transfer. If I fail and have to retake the course next semester, there would be complications in the application process and may cause me to not be able to transfer. I really had hope even at the moment the exam slip was discovered, cause I knew it wasn't on purpose and I didn't even open the slip at all nor did i manage to write anything on the answer script yet. I even thought I was lucky that the lecturer discovered it before I really started to do the exam, else nothing I say would have changed anything. But, I'm starting to think that the board will not believe I'm innocent even if I am.
I looked up other incidents online, and most people say that just be remorseful and admit that you cheated, and that the fail grade is what you deserve if you brought notes in. But do I really have to admit to something I didn't do? And I know it may be greedy of me, considering how I'm at risk of failing the entire semester, but I don't even want to fail this course. I studied like crazy for the past few days because the assignments took up most of my study week, and now some scribbles on the exam slip may cause my efforts to go down the drain. I also read about how some people had evidence to prove they didn't cheat, but the only evidence now is that exam slip which is proof of me bringing notes into the exam hall and no proof on my side to show that I didn't do it on purpose. To be honest, even if I wanted to cheat, I wouldn't do it so stupidly on the one piece of paper invigilators would definitely check. Or at least, I would have tried to hide it or something. At the time, I saw the invigilator coming to check my card and slip and I didn't even give it another thought, instead just went back to writing my student no. until the bomb dropped and it was too late.
It's really frustrating as it seems that all odds are against me, considering that 1. It was clearly stated that exam slips cannot be written on. (Sadly I didn't bother to read the many instructions) 2. There is evidence that notes were written and brought into exam hall 3. Even if it was a mistake, it is still considered my lack of responsibility to check beforehand.
I fully understand that it was all my fault for not taking the exam slip seriously, and just thinking of it as just another piece of paper. And I am very remorseful for not being more careful and responsible in checking the slip beforehand. However, do I really need to fail this course just because I wasn't careful? I get that the circumstances look suspicious, but what should I do or say during the hearing so that the board understands I really didn't plan to cheat? Is there anyone that can share their experience?
And please, what I need are some practical suggestions on what I should do during the hearing. Don't tell me to stick with it or just learn my lesson and move on. I have very much learned my lesson and will triple check my exam slip from now onwards. If it was another course, I wouldn't be so worried. But for this one, I really need to do everything possible to avoid failing because of this mistake.

Does this quesiton really need to be this long?

Honest mistakes tend to have simple explanations that lead directly to the error made and remorse for that error. Confabulated stories of innocence when caught tend to have a detailed explanations of how the many-step process that occurred was the only possible thing that could have happened at each step and things just miraculously all pieced together to lead to where you are now by no fault of your own. Which does yours sound like? You wrote on a paper you needed to bring to the exam because you planned to erase it? Maybe erasers have improved since I was a student but I don't buy it.

Since we are uninvolved, you maybe tell us the truth. However, if I were on the committee, I wouldn't be able to distinguish if you tell the truth or it's just an elaborate story you cooked up. I have seen too many cases of a big story, me finding a contradiction, then another story, then another contradiction, and so on, up to 3-4 such levels. The more you try to fudge the traces, the more suspicious things become. Own it, and understand that it is not distinguishable from a cheating attempt. And, to be honest, I do not fathom why anyone would write throwaway notes on an exam slip.

@BryanKrause This was my instinct too, but it sounds like the OP wrote their notes on a piece of paper that needed to be handed in or checked by someone in the process of verifying the student's identity. This sounds like an extremely nonsensical way to cheat. If I were the OP, I would focus on emphasizing the absurdity of trying to cheat in this way. The elaborate story about what happened, on the other hand, is strange and not terribly plausible (if it were not for the fact that this is a nonsensical way to cheat).

@AdamPřenosil Maybe the intent was to have notes in the exam room to look at until the last possible moment? Maybe they planned to "erase" but yet still be able to see the erased content and thought the invigilator wouldn't catch it? If they catch it then just hide it away, if they don't then use what's erased? I find that part of the story especially implausible, because it's not like erasing actually removes the content. It's sufficient to mask what's written before if you write over it, but I can't recall an eraser ever functioning well enough to completely hide what is written.

Did you omit some details?

@AdamPřenosil I have already written an account of the incident on the day itself for the incident report. At that time, I was completely out of it and I just wrote like 2 sentences of what happened. Something like " I came in late and invigilator found exam slip with notes on it." That was all. The invigilator asked me in private, and I just told her "I have no idea". But, later on, I tried to recall what had happened and how it all begin cause I assumed they would ask questions about all details, which is why I wrote it all out so you guys could get the whole picture. Is it too elaborate?

@CaptainEmacs Yes, I do feel that it was ridiculous of me to write things on that paper at the very first place. I would have found it hard to understand if it wasn't that I myself did such a thing. But then again, sometimes we do stupid things without giving it a second thought. Well, I guess I didn't think of the slip as anything but just another piece of paper until yesterday.

@Aruralreader So far, this is as detailed as it can get. Is there something specific that you want to know more about?

Thank you to everyone for their opinions. I posted this ques yesterday not long after the incident happened and when I was very desperate to resolve this misunderstanding. But after reading all your comments and reflecting on myself, I decided that I should just own up to it. There is nothing I can do to prove that it wasn't intentional, rather, there is proof that notes were brought in.

So, the only thing I can prove is that I didn't need to cheat. During the hearing, I will just give a simple account of what happened and accept the fail for this course. Regardless of the intention, it is true that there is a very big chance of cheating. I could have not touched that piece of paper throughout the exam, but the moment I did open it, it is already considered cheating. So, it is best I fail and retake the exam or the course (whichever given by the committee), and earn the grade without any chance of cheating, to be fair to everyone.

@user59237 I guess owning up is the best thing one can do in your specific situation. You say you can prove to them you didn't need to cheat. What is your proof?

There is no magical "avoid all consequences of your actions" phrase. All you can do is be honest. The committee may believe you or they may not.
However, it will probably work in your favor that this is the first time you did something like this.
Other than that there is not much we can tell you; we are not on that committee.

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text:
Does OpenReview Automatically Notify All Authors Upon Submission?
I am preparing a submission for the AAAI 2025 Conference via OpenReview, and I have a question about the notification process for co-authors.
When I submit the paper, does OpenReview automatically send a notification email to all co-authors listed on the submission? If not, what steps do I need to take to ensure that all authors are informed about the submission?
I have read through the submission guidelines, and while I understand how to complete the submission, I am not clear on whether or not my co-authors will be notified automatically.
Any insights or experiences with this process would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance for your help.

Not an answer but a frame challenge: If you're submitting to a conference and something about the submission process is unclear to you but not specified on the submission site, contact the conference organizers to ask for clarification!

Have you considered forwarding whatever notification you receive to your co-authors via email?  Even if they get notification via other means, it's a nice way to wrap up a submission.  You can even thank your coauthors for their help.

Yes, OpenReview has always sent me an email notification whenever a submission was created by one of my co-authors.
It's difficult to confirm if this is always the case, but having used OpenReview both as an author and a Program Chair, I have not seen any option to disable this, so I assume it's always sent to all authors.

Thank you for the answer. Reading through the submission guideline, I found this: After submission, the system will not automatically send a confirmation of receipt. If you want to receive a confirmation email, please click the paper ID to view the submission, and then click the “Email” button at the top right to send the confirmation to yourself or all the authors. AAAI will contact authors again only if problems are encountered with papers

So this in contrast to the answer given here.  Can I rely on that then?

@Luise. You should trust the answer you found on your own, direct from the source


text:
AI Detector for Statement of Academic Purpose for Ph.D. program in applied math
I am applying to various Ph.D. programs in Applied Mathematics in the United States, and I wrote my Statement of Purpose by myself even as got help from ChatGPT on the areas where my research interest may be applied in the real world. After having written the content myself (including structuring the sentences and paragraphs), I ran it through ChatGPT to refine my Statement of Academic Purpose so that it can fix my grammar, sentence flow, etc. and check for inaccurate information. The essay that is AI refined (but not AI generated) reads really nicely, but when I ran it through AI writing detectors justdone.ai and GPTZero I get 92% and 100% in probability that my essay was AI-generated.
I am wondering if graduate committee for applied math (or any of highly technical departments like mechanical engineering) uses an AI writing detector, and if so, whether they automatically reject an application whose SoP is machine-predicted to be 90-100% likely to be written by an AI. I would understand if they have a system in place for something like that for a Ph.D. program in English, Political Science, Slavic, etc., but for a very technical programs like Applied Math there is not much variability that we can introduce. I could try to write poetically, but from what I have read online I don't think writing poetically about how I have been fascinated by math and wanted to delve deeper into its intricacies and how it was better than going to parties and something that I spent long hours would be effective, because the graduate committee in an applied math department is not much looking for that especially since a lot of people can write the same thing; they are looking for statements about specific areas of interest for research and how my experiences aligns with that.
I have read related post like this post and this post and I wasn't able to gauge how much a graduate admission committee on applied math relies on AI detector.
Here are my inquiries:
(1) Does a graduate committee for applied math (or any of highly technical departments like mechanical engineering) use an AI writing detector?
(2) If so, will they automatically reject an application whose SoP is predicted bty an AI to be 90-100% likely to be written by an AI?
(3) In general, what AI-written-probability are generally accepted by the committee as human written? 30%? 50%? 70%?

Generative AI is very new, and I would be surprised if many programs have formal procedures or percentage cutoffs. My guess is that using AI to find grammar mistakes is probably fine. But if you use AI to discover actual information, such as applications of your research interests, then I would think twice before including it. If your statement reads like you needed to resort to ChatGPT, or some non-AI tool like Google, to explain why you're interested in your proposed research topic, that's not a good look. Best wishes to you!

@academic thank you so much!

If you run your original through those two detectors, what do you get?

You may find this interesting for a general look at these tools: https://www.jeffbullas.com/ai-detector/

"The essay that is AI refined (but not AI generated)" That is not how generative AI works.

@MisterMiyagi I've copied some poorly written English prose into ChatGPT, given it the prompt "rewrite this in better English", and gotten decent results. Proofreading is definitely within the software's capability.

@academic Right but then you can't claim to have written the final product. At best it turns you into the proofreader for the AI

AI "detectors" have very high error rates, and should not really be used for this purpose (or, perhaps, any). But that does not mean they will not be...

@academic I've also got decent results from GenAI. I've also got unrelated, made up, and wrong results. If you word the query right you have a high chance that it will generate something that is close to the original - but it will still generate it from scratch, with all the pitfalls this includes.

Not likely, but professors get enough garbage from ChatGPT that they will probably see the signs.

Not automatically, but again, AI written stuff will probably either consciously or subconsciously rub the committee the wrong way.

There's definitely no standard in this.

It's Worth noting a few more things:

Your letter was AI generated. If you fed in something you wrote, got something it wrote, and handed that in, then you didn't write it.
Using an LLM to check the accuracy of your letter is a terrible idea, as that's one of its weakest points. You are very likely to shoot yourself in the foot by doing this. What if it says something wrong? What if it's right but vague enough to leave a bad impression?
AI detectors are notoriously inaccurate, and I would be hesitant to join any department that relied on them as fact. So don't take them too seriously, whether they say something is or isn't AI.

What does the detector say about your unedited letter, the one that you did not use ChatGPT for.
If you are using AI to make it look like you have skills you don't, you are likely to just hit a roadblock when you start your PhD. It's dishonest but also hurts you.


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Reference letter from visiting faculty vs unrelated faculty?
We have a visiting faculty in our department, her main research area encompassing Embedded Systems, which happens to be my area of research as well. I have worked with her on my Minor Project (Undergraduate). I asked her if she could write a recommendation letter for me, and she said she sure can but I should approach other Professors/Assistant Professors who are not a guest faculty in my department. (She doesn't yet have that "Prof." in front of her name.)
There is one more Professor, with whom I haven't worked but have taken four-five courses and hence he knows a lot about me and my abilities. However, since I am applying for MS, prior research experience of course matters. Also, the problem is that that Professor's field doesn't include Embedded Systems.
And since my research field is going to be related to Embedded Systems, wouldn't it be better to get it from the teacher who teaches Embedded Systems and with whom I have worked?
I am confused as to which faculty to get the reference letter from. Would it be beneficial to get it from the teacher I have worked with but is a visiting teacher?

Don't you need more than one letter? Who are your other letters from?

I need two letters and I have one from the head of the department already.

If you've worked the most closely with that instructor and you have a letter from the head of the department that should be fine.  If you're really worried you can request one from an actual faculty member and then add the visiting faculty as an additional reference.

@DaveKaye: Would adding more than the required amount of letters look bad? Though, it would help the board make an informed decision. What do you think?

Look bad?  Of course not!  What you want to say is "here are the two letters you asked for" and then "Here is an additional letter from a visiting faculty member."

If you are applying to a M.Sc. position in a particular research area, and there is a senior researcher (i.e., someone with their PhD) in this area who has supervised your work on this topic and can speak positively to your research abilities, then I think it would definitely be beneficial to get a letter of recommendation from this person, whether they are a Professor yet or not.  At the same time, a professor with whom you have taken a number of courses could also provide a strong reference for you.  And yes, if they are a more senior figure, then that may carry more weight with an admissions committee.  A senior person may also be better able to compare you to other students that they have encountered over the years, and, if this comparison is positive, this can be really compelling in a letter.
But there are a number of other factors you need to consider in getting the best possible letter of recommendation.  First of all, the letter needs to be positive.  Secondly, it needs to contain specifics.  Third, it needs to speak to the requirements/criteria of the position/scholarship that you are applying for.  So you need to figure out which of these people can write the better letter, all considered.  If you were to provide them with some talking points for their letters, which set of talking points would be stronger?
I am surprised more students do not simply ask the person whether they can write a positive letter in advance.  It's amazing, but you do occasionally see support letters that actually criticize the applicant.  I think it's fair to establish in advance whether the referee can indeed produce something positive.
Of course, cultivating both of these relationships would be a good idea to help you in your future career.  There may be other cases where you need three letters (e.g., for scholarship applications).  Some people also list references on their C.V. in a special section.  You might ask them whether would mind being listed in this way, whether you use their letter or not.  When an applications committee reviews your application, they put a lot of weight into references from people they are familiar with.

Thank you, Sir, for the elaborate explanation. I believe the problem arrives when I know both the letters are gonna be positive. I like the CV idea, though. Wasn't familiar with that.

Also, I am gonna list Embedded Systems as the sub-field in my application, because that's what my undergraduate research has been in. If I use your criteria now, I guess I should ask the visiting teacher to write the letter.

@Shaneb- Can I add 4 references' names inside the CV? (I am asking because I want to submit 4 letters where I have options.). Needless to say its for PhD positions.

@BlackSheep - Yes, I have seen 4+ names of referees on a CV before and I think that's fine.


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How much time should I wait for a professor response before contacting another one in the same university?
I send an email for a professor that I'm interested to work with him. He asked for my cv. I sent my cv in the same day. He didn't reply. I sent a reminder next day then there was two days off. How much time should I wait before contacting another professor?  and he might not reply??

Unless there's a reason that you haven't shared in your question, you can send the same request to more than one prof at the same time.

You leave many details out. Responses should differ by the customs of the field and the country. For example, in Computer Science, most Ph.D. students are supported, which means that faculty will be very careful about selecting students. In pure Mathematics, few faculty will have more than one or two concurrent Ph.D. students. This also means that they will be very careful about selecting students. In these examples, evaluation and consideration will take usually more time than a week.
In general, you have not made yet a(n implied) contract with the professor you selected and are therefore free to contact others. You run of course the risk of getting two "bites", but it is reasonably common for students to end up with a different group after coming to a university, so that faculty should not hold this against you.


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Strategies for handling Maternity leave the last two weeks of the semester
I am about to start my first semester, teaching as a tenure track professor. I’m in the U.S. I also recently found out that I was expecting my third child due mid April. Our spring semester ends at the end of April going into the first week of May.
I am very nervous about telling my department head that I am pregnant, primarily because I am the only woman in the department, there are generational differences, and racial and ethnic differences (he’s an older white man and I’m a younger Black woman). He also doesn’t have children and isn’t the biggest fan of children.
I would like some advice on how to break this to him. Additionally, strategies on handling the last two weeks of the spring semester. I would like to go online and asynchronous. I feel like this would inconvenience my colleagues the least Compared to having them take over for my classes for the last two weeks.
My university does have maternity leave even if you haven’t been there for a full year. I would get six weeks but I might not need this considering I am on a nine month contract.
Thanks in advance!

If your due date is April 15, there is a 17% chance the birth will happen in March.  Plan for that too.  Also plan for a period of disability before the birth.

Six weeks is a very meager amount of maternity leave.  Insist on getting the whole six weeks, no matter what time of year the birth is.

A few thoughts if that's your real name, you might consider changing it. Second, if you are due in April, this is still very early. Seems a little too early to bring it up in the event of a miscarriage. Finally, the end of the semester seems like a good time to be out. Write a good test that a colleague can grade, maybe prerecord a few lectures, instead of having to have a colleague teach half your class.

If you haven't already, you may want to meet with someone in HR, to make sure you are clear on all the details of the leave policy, before talking to your chair.

nine month contract - in two very different ways :-)

Congratulations!  Tell everyone instantly and fully (when you happen to want to do so - no earlier or later than YOU prefer to tell them) ! The law and society is FULLY on your side, nothing is more important than pregnancy. Congratulations!

There shouldn't need to be a strategy. It isn't a game. It is a right you have as a person and it doesn't depend on any lack of chauvinism or racism or sexism or... by your department head.
Tell him of your expected due date. That should be the end of the story. If he can't deal with it, then he can't do his job. At least he has time to plan to cover you and you can help in that. It is much easier than a case in which someone suddenly has a health issue that demands quick action that may not be planned for.
Congratulations. Your life comes first, including your right to have a family and be respected for it.

Break it to him early (and take your full leave entitlement)
There is no particular strategy you need in this situation, save for the fact that it is best to give as much notice as possible.  Agonising over how to break the news to your Department Head in the optimal way is likely to delay this information, and so it is a net negative.  Tell your Department Head about your pregnancy as soon as possible to ensure that the Department has as much time as possible to adapt to your leave.
I suppose it is reasonable to be nervous about how a person might react to your news, but leave is leave --- it is a legal entitlement in your employment contract.  Take all six weeks of your leave and do not make the mistake of feeling pressure to eschew your leave in order to make things easier on your colleagues.  (If anything, put pressure on yourself not to short-change your new baby.)  The fact that you are developing a transition plan is good, and your suggestions sound reasonable to me.  Discuss them with other relevant academics to see the best way to conduct hand-over of your duties and transition into your leave.
Oh, and congratulations!

I cannot imagine a US university that would not have very clear procedures for handling a faculty member having to go on maternity leave in the middle of a semester. Department chairs handle all kinds of strange and difficult business, but this situation should be very straightforward for your chair to handle, in coordination with the relevant administrative/HR units on campus.
I agree with @Buffy that it should not be up to you to devise a strategy for handling the last weeks of the semester. Your department should offer you guidance how to handle this. They may or may not think that asynchronous teaching is an acceptable or ideal solution.
If the chair is bigoted towards you due to your race, sex, or pregnancy status, that is a very serious matter. It’s hard to offer generic advice given that you have not yet suffered any discrimination but are merely fearful of becoming a potential victim of discrimination, but if you have any concerns that you are being mistreated over your pregnancy, I’d suggest consulting an attorney.
In terms of what to do: talk to either the department chair or an HR person on your campus. I don’t think anyone would expect you to initiate this discussion as soon as you learn about the pregnancy, but giving the department at least a few months to plan for your going on leave would probably be considered reasonable and appropriate.
Last but not least: congratulations!

Your profile says you work for a very privileged university.  Not all universities have staff to update their policies.  Not all have functioning HR departments.

@AnonymousPhysicist I said: "I cannot imagine a US university that would not have very clear procedures for handling a faculty member having to go on maternity leave in the middle of a semester." Are you disagreeing with this statement? To be clear, I can imagine a university that wouldn't offer good maternity leave benefits, but even at such a place I'm pretty sure they wouldn't be fazed about how to deal with a faculty member giving birth.

@DanRomik Sadly I think it's far from uncommon for universities to be downright backwards when it comes to accommodating pregnant faculty members appropriately. While it's better than it once was, sexism is still very much entrenched in the system.

To augment the suggestion of consulting an attorney, I'd also suggest getting in touch with the university's faculty association/bargaining unit/whatever it might be called.

@GregMartin I think you missed the point of my earlier clarification. There are two separate issues here: 1. whether the university offers good maternity benefits such as paid leave or other accommodations for faculty members after childbirth. I can see how some universities may not do that. 2. the separate issue of whether the uni will be confused about how to handle a faculty member going on (paid or unpaid) maternity leave. What I said was that I can't imagine a university not knowing how to handle that situation. That's not at odds with being "backwards" in the sense you're referring to.

It's a reasonable clarification, and I agree that the odds are different in the two cases. However, I can definitely still imagine universities or departments not knowing how to handle maternity leave. There are still academic departments who have hired at most one woman in the history of the department....

@GregMartin - the department chair may be clueless, but I'm sure that the university HR policies have dealt with any number of women employees (not just professors).

@JonCuster HR departments tend to have policies for everything, but when left to their own devices, these policies tend to only work well for precisely the type of work done in the HR department. I think at my current institution, if I want to finish preparing my Monday morning lecture over the weekend, I would officially have to apply for a permit to do so and give the precise hours several days in advance. So a policy might be there, but especially if it was never used by a professor, it might be ill-suited for the situation and need severe adjustments involving all sides in order to work.

@AnonymousPhysicist Universities have insurance which isn't eager to pay $80,000 to the lawyers every time somebody goes on medical leave.

You didn't mention your teaching load, but maybe there is some flexibility there?  In exchange for a light or no load in the spring, agree to another coarse in the fall or more coarses next year?
At some schools/departments you aren't expected to teach your first semester, maybe you can move that to your second semester?
A lighter teaching load in the spring won't solve all your problems, but it will help.

Careful about making commitments past the due date. Yes, there are the magic low-maintenance babies, but for most people taking on even more work when they have a baby is not realistic.


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What are the step-by-step process and potential consequences of changing name of a Scopus-Indexed Journal?
I work in a central bank in Asia region. My institution regularly publishes a journal, and it is a Scopus-indexed journal. In order to improve the journal's visibility, we are exploring the idea of changing the name (rebranding) of our journal. What steps do we need for it, what are the potential consequences on the current index or performance (CiteScore, Impact Factor, etc) of our journal?

Maybe if you say what investigations you have done yourself, or what happened when you looked on the Scopus website or contacted Scopus, then you might get some replies here. But this is quite an unusual thing to do and perhaps nobody here has any experience of it.


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What are the strengths and weaknesses of wanting to study everything and how can I use it to my advantage?
I'm a master's student in STEM. I changed my undergraduate major 3 times before settling on physics because it was the most general degree I could find. I'm now in a master's program and need to choose a research topic but I'm having a hard time settling on anything because I'm fascinated by everything. For example, I'm interested in numerical analyis, partial differential equations, nuclear engineering, neuro-imaging, biometrics, theoretical nueroscience, data compression, and more (I've read publications in every field listed). I am finding this to be a real problem for me as I need to choose a research focus to write a thesis on. It's almost like I've developed FOMO about research I haven't done. I am not planning to do a PhD at this time, but I believe I could be a competitive candidate in most of the fields I listed based on my GPA. Am I broken?? What advice can you give me on overcoming this, and how can I use this to my advantage?

I’m interested in all sorts of things, too. Pick something that you believe has good job prospects to focus on, and study the others as a hobby in your free time. Choose a life that gives you plenty of time to keep studying for fun.

As one of the founders of SE said, you have to 'be smart and get things done' - if you can't dive in and get things done then you will not get a PhD no matter how interested you are in all these different things.

I think you're both right. I need to lean into SOMETHING to be able to substainably study more of anything.

‘Am I broken??’ If you’re asking that seriously, see a counselor.

@Significance if you post this as an answer I will accept it. I think that's exactly what I need to do. Thanks again

I initially posted this as a comment, but I’ve been asked to repost it as an answer:
I’m interested in all sorts of things, too. Pick something that you believe has good job prospects to focus on, and study the others as a hobby in your free time. Choose a life that gives you plenty of time to keep studying for fun.

I am also somebody who finds many diverse topics interesting in my subject. There are, as you said, some positives and negatives to this.
Positives:

There will always be something that you want to know more about or work on. This is a huge advantage if you decide to stay in academia.
It's likely that you will always be self-motivated and will take the initiative to learn about the things you are curious about, rather than someone else pushing you to delve deeper into a topic because it is relevant to your field of research.
I've found that knowing (even a little bit) about a lot of different things can help you connect the dots between seemingly unrelated problems/topics. I've found science to be a huge interrelated web of knowledge, so being able to refer to diverse literature and find (or create) solutions from different fields is a huge skill.
Related to my previous point, wanting to learn about multiple things at once may enable you to design a unique research project oriented towards teaching yourself multiple things at once. Your focus doesn't necessarily have to be one thing. You could focus on two or three things if that is something you enjoy and can handle time-/stress-wise.

Negatives:

It's possible that the topics you are interested in may not be the ones that are 'in demand' in industry or 'well-funded' in academia. From this perspective, it's perhaps better to focus on something that will give you transferrable skills or prepare you for a job you want.
It's possible that, even when you're trying to focus on a narrower research idea, you will be pulled in different directions because you find everything interesting. While exploring other topics is fun in and of itself, this might impede your progress in the project you are working on.
Your learning may lack structure. This is something I've faced in my years as a student, research assistant, and PhD candidate. My advisors and I had to work hard to provide me with enough structure for a project that was very exploratory. Much of my learning was driven by reading Stack Overflow or Cross Validated answers, poring over or writing my own code, attending conferences, reading books about the history of my field, and having one-on-one conversations with experts. While this is not necessarily a poor way of learning (in fact, I'd advocate for it), it's not well-suited for everyone. If you're someone who thrives on structure, then you may have to take responsibility (or seek advisors who will) to structure your learning in a way that is not overwhelming.

In general, I think it is a wonderful advantage to want to learn. You sound like you're highly motivated. During your master's, I think it's important to teach yourself the skills required to do good research, write articles, and present your work so that you can apply these to your work. I can understand the FOMO about research you haven't done, but you have a whole lifetime for that!

I think I've met people like you in Philosophy of Science/Science and Technology Studies departments. If you have interest for philosophy, that'd be a subject where you could make good use of your interdisciplinary interests. (For sure it's not the only one, but I thought I mention this one in particular.)

I have a professor who comes from your dept in Bologna! For me, philosophy is not so satisfying since it doesn't produce beautiful plots!

@try_hard There are people working on the role of diagrams and visualisation in science though. (But of course if philosophy is not your cup of tea, so be it.)

My comment may only be applicable for research.
May I mention disadvantage first. One biggest disadvantage is that higher education tend to require deep knowledge in one field, but it is unlikely for person like you, that have wide knowledge, may have a deep knowledge on a subject. Of course if you are genius you may have deep knowledge on many subjects, but unlikely.
The advantage is that nowadays interdisciplinary research is popular, so if you have wide knowledge, that would be helpful.
My suggestion: choose one that you like most to have a deep knowledge on it, while maintaining you wide interest if possible.