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Is it against the law to judge you based on your age and marital status when you applying for a PhD position?
A few weeks ago, I sent an email to a professor in a western European country in the hope of getting a Ph.D. position in the field of management. I have 17 years of work experience and 8 years of academic experience at the same time, I am a 45-year-old man, married, from Iran. Although the first round interview was successful, the professor called me on the phone and said that my age and marital status is his concern and the scholarship can only cover my expenses not my wife, I said I have enough money to cover my wife expenses and the evidence which was my life-time saving is available. At first, he said OK, but still do not receive any contact from that university. I have already asked questions that if my age can affect my Ph.D. application? Almost all of my friends said no, and I am almost sure that this is true in The United States and Canada. But I was shocked for the first time when I had such a conversation with that professor. I do not mention the name of the country and the university because it may seem immoral. Another question is whether it is moral to record all the interview by an application or software, and if you are judged by your age or any other personal issue then we can bring the case to the court of law?

Can you please specify the legal jurisdiction of the university, beyond merely Western Europe.

From my knowledge, assessing your ability based on your age, race, and sex is strongly prohibited in most western countries and if this happens we can bring the case to the court of law. If the professor simply said no, it was acceptable but when he called me on the phone and left his concerns about my age and marital status, it is another issue. I currently communicate with many university professors in Australia and New Zealand and never heard any remark about my age and other things which may seem problematic from their sides.

I know the question is about Western Europe, but interestingly, in the US, what has been done may not actually be illegal. As the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission notes, non-US citizens which are not authorized to work in the US are not protected by equal opportunity laws. I think the conduct as described is highly inappropriate, but I think you would have great difficulty in winning a court case given that you are neither a citizen of the EU nor physically present.

Sorry to say this, but it might be connected to the fact that you come from Iran. It can actually be very difficult to employ you. Not so long ago, a colleague at a neighboring institute (not a university, but still public) tried to hire a person from Iran as a postdoc. Financially, everything was fine, but there was no way to achieve that this person was allowed into the country as an employee. They really tried hard. A family (wife/children) was involved, too. I thought it was really sad, a missed opportunity for all sides.

@Afshin: That is true, but the details of anti-discrimination laws can vary between jurisdiction in ways that may affect assessment of your matter.  If you can specify a legal jurisdiction then it will be possible to identify the operative laws at issue and see the relevant prohibitions and defences.

Whether or not something is legal depends very much on the jurisdiction. There is nothing we can help you with without knowing what the country is (and even then it would not be a suitable question for this particular forum). This also pertains to the question of whether or not it is legal to record a conversation without the other person's knowledge -- this is different even from state to state within the US, for example.
As for the actual concern: Whether judging an application by the applicants age and marital status is legal is something that I cannot evaluate, as mentioned above. But from the perspective of a potential employer or student supervisor, it is a concern one could have: If you have a family and the university cannot cover your family's living expenses, it is probably that you might not finish the entire program or stay with the research project. If you have a family, you may also not be able to work as many hours as a 24-year-old single person. I would like to stress that I do not think that these are legitimate concerns to have without concrete evidence -- for example, one could have a conversation with an applicant about these specific points -- but it does not surprise me that some potential supervisors may have such concerns.

"for example, one could have a conversation with an applicant about these specific points" Hmm, from the OP it seems to me  that this is precisely what the professor in question did.

@JochenGlueck The way I read the OP is that the interviewer informed the applicant of these concerns, not had a conversation about them.

Thanks for your reply! Since the OP answered to the interviewer's concerns by explaining his financial situation and the interviewer seemed to be ok with it (at least at first), it seems that there was indeed somekind of conversation. But admittedly, it's impossible for us to tell whether the interviewer entered this conversation with good faith. [...]

[...] The sentence "The professor [...] said that my age and marital status is his concern and the scholarship can only cover my expenses not my wife" could, of course, mean anything from "The prof said he doesn't want me as a PhD student due to my age and marital status" to "The prof said he'll be happy to have me as a PhD student, but wants to make sure that I'm really completely aware of the financial consequences which my decision might have for me and my family."

It might not be discrimination from the professor or department but instead legal restrictions and limits on mature students.
Some scholarships do have age restrictions for example the Rhodes scholarship is for 19-25 years. It might not be something in the professor's control.
Additionally, some countries have age limits on student visas for example Switzerland has a 30 year age limit on visa for Master's degrees. They may have another restriction for PhDs.

Yes it was, fixed!

Yes, it is illegal to discriminate based on age in the area of employment and occupation (and often, a European PhD position is a form of "employment"). The legal framework is the same in all European union countries, based on directive 2000/78/EC. Martial status is not covered by any European regulations, but some individual countries do have laws concerning this.
All European countries also have a national equality body that can investigate alleged cases of discrimination (and provide a lower barrier-to-entry than the formal judicial system). They might be able to help you out and provide you with additional information. However, if you did not record the phone call and have no other evidence concerning the alleged discrimination, this will make it much harder to succeed.

It is not clear to me whether making access to a PhD position depend on the applicant's age necessarily constitutes age discrimination as specified in EU directive 2000/78/EC. Article 6(1) allows for various exceptions (which might or might not apply to PhD positions).

@JochenGlueck It allows for "objectively justified" exceptions. It sounds like in this case it was an ad-hoc decision by the professor (since the application was only rejected after the first interview round) based on a hunch that the applicant would be more likely to drop out because of his age rather than some kind of formal policy. The bar for objective justification is set very high and an ad-hoc decision like this would never meet it. Of course it depends on the individual situation, my answer simply provides a pointer in the right direction for OP to further investigate his rights.

Yes, I agree that these exceptions are unlikely to cover the particular situation described by the OP (assuming that he was indeed denied the position due to his age - which is not completely clear to me from the information provided in the question). I just wrote my comment to point out that the sentence "[in the EU] it is illegal to discriminate based on age in the area of employment and occupation" comes with a number of legal subtleties.


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How much study gap is acceptable in New Zealand?
I got my Master about 4 years ago from Iran. Since then, I have been working in a research group and published 4 papers in journals with IF between 1.767 to 4.594, including a paper related to my dissertation, and still working on 2 other research projects with my former supervisor in the university in Iran, based in Tehran. I was about to apply for pursuing my Ph.D. in New Zealand in the fields of Mathematics and Industrial Engineering when the pandemic emerged. I am a bit worried that the educational gap affects my plan negatively. Plus, I am at the age of 44 with 18 years of practical experience in industries and research, and I cannot fall asleep because of my worrieness.

I doubt you will get an answer from someone familiar with New Zealand, but I strongly suspect New Zealand academics, as in other countries strongly influenced by the UK, will not care one bit how many years it has been since your masters.

Are you interested in any university at all in New Zealand or do you have a specific university or universities in mind? If so, have you been in contact with anyone at that university / those universities?

Yes. Auckland University of Technology and The University of Waikato. I made contact with them about my age and the research proposal. About my age, they said it doesn't matter but about the education gap there was no answer. I've heard from one of my colleagues in Iran that the gap doesn't matter but as you know nothing is more precious than first-hand information from the main source, in this case, someone who is well familiar with academia in New Zealand.

Who did you contact - a specific researcher you are interested in working with, the head of department (say of Mathematics) or a general information officer?

I suggest editing the information provided in comments into your question to make it clearer.

What is so special about New Zealand? It is usual to apply to much more than two universities when looking for a place where to do a PhD. If you are serious about doing a PhD, I would suggest you also apply to some other places as you may easily get rejected from the two universities you mentioned.

By the way, have you tried the University of Auckland? (Informally known as Auckland University, but a separate institution from Auckland University of Technology.)

Thank you all you guys for your comment. To user2316602 I will definitely apply to more than 2 universities but in New Zealand, I probably go for those universities that I have mentioned, or maybe I changed my mind. Do you have any university in your mind that does not reject a candidate easily? To J W, I applied for Auckland University 2.5 years ago but rejected. At that time my research background was not good enough to compete with other applicants, but nowadays, I have several published papers and research projects in my pocket.

It sounds like you have still being doing research and publishing since your masters. If you have still been keeping your skills fresh, that means you haven't really had a gap, regardless of whether or not you were registered as a student. Just explain this when applying and your gap will not be a concern. Your recommendation letters and publications can attest to that fact.
Age should not be a concern from the university's perspective. Although, a prospective supervisor may wonder about your perspective -- why do you want to do a PhD now? why not earlier? If you can give a good answer about your aspirations, then that will allay any concerns.

I have sent a direct email to the Auckland University of Technology and said something that I've asked in the question above. They replied this morning with these words: "We don't have any requirements for consecutive study". What is that mean? Does it mean that it's not a problem if I continue to do my research since my graduation date?

That just means they don't have any rules that would be a problem for you.

Thank you very much Thomas for your comment.

A general answer, whether encouraging or discouraging won't really help you. What you need to do is apply to a few places, making your best case in the application materials. Don't neglect any aspect of it.
Your applications will succeed or not, based on what your background is and, perhaps, how much support you get in letters of recommendation.
I'd guess, and they say, that your age isn't an issue. As for the rest, it is what it is. You might get some advice from an admissions committee or professor about any gaps you need to fill and then you can address those.

Thank you very much for your comment.

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Can political escalation between Iran and western world affect Iranian students?
Can political escalation between Iran and the western world affect Iranian students in getting admission from university in Canada, Australia, and European Countries?
After two years of hardworking, TOEFL exams, publishing articles in journals, etc. I am ready to apply for many universites to pursue my PhD, but I am wondering if it would be successful or not. The political escalation between the Iranian regime and the western world is escalating on a daily basis and universities may reluctant to accept applications because of sanctions or any other reasons. Even they issue the admission the embassies may cause some trouble for students. I don't know what to do???

Don't confuse the actions of governments with the actions of individuals. There may be visa problems and such, but generally individuals in academia are welcoming. Here in the US, I have neighbors from Iran and have studied with Iranians even when relations were much worse than now. Interesting conversations over coffee.

Thank you very much for your comments.

@Buffy Agreed, but I would not downplay the extent and impact of visa issues.

Can political escalation between Iran and the western world affect Iranian students in getting admission from university in Canada, Australia, and European Countries?

I will go ahead and disagree with Buffy, many other on this page and get plenty of downvotes. The truth is yes, it can very well effect your chances. Here is an example,
https://nltimes.nl/2019/10/17/amsterdam-univ-scientist-fire-rejecting-turkish-student
This was just one extreme incident where nationality based bias was explicitly mentioned. I am pretty sure anyone can get away with implicit bias to a certain extend. The very sad truth is some  people get railed up in politics and start to overlook people or institutions based on their governments decisions. I was talking about a fairly old Romanian mathematician and he impilictly mentioned similar issues. Romania, as you well know, was very much in the USSR orbit. From what I understand, he or people around him had various issues regarding their country of origin and he was still troubled by the fact. I have also heard (from the 2nd or 3rd hand) that goes along the lines "students from X country can't do well here" allegedly uttered by an admission offical for a doctoral program. There are also some alleged bias for certain ethnic groups for undergraduate admission in US. Court on that is still going on I believe. I have also been personally warned by an American mathematician saying something along the lines of "you will have a harder time getting admitted because of your nationality".

I am ready to apply for many universites to pursue my PhD, but I am wondering if it would be successful or not.

You should apply. These are relatively fringe cases. Although it is possible that a bias exists, it is less likely for an entire admission board to be biased. You might not get into a program that you normally get but that is life. We can't give up on our aspirations because of some sugar coded facism. If you have the financial resources, I would advice you to apply more places. Most schools publish names of their graduate students as well. You can check and see if they have students from Iran or another Islamic country.

universities may reluctant to accept applications because of sanctions or any other reasons. Even they issue the admission the embassies may cause some trouble for students.

I have no opinions on this point.

It's my honor to have your opinion here. I keep them in my mind. Thank you very much.

Yes, unfortunately, and there is precedent (although not specifically with Iran).  In Canada, we had a problem between our government and that of Saudi Arabia.  The government of Saudi Arabia chose to restrict how their students could study here (explanation here).
So to the question: is it possible?  Yes it is and has happened before.  However, as @Buffy said, the actions of governments and those of individuals are not the same thing.  I know that Canada, at least, does not restrict entry specifically for being from a particular country.  It is, admittedly, more difficult for residents of some countries to gain entry here than it is for residents of other countries.  However, so far as I know, in modern (post cold war) history, Canada has never closed its doors completely to students of another country.  The USA, again unfortunately, has done things like this very recently.
My advice (and I hope that of others) is to proceed as though this isn't happening.  Apply to the universities you want.  If nothing happens to restrict you, then not applying is a bad decision.

Thank you very much for your comment.

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In Politecnico di Milano, Does the university wait until the end of the deadline to review all the documents?
I am preparing for applying for a Ph.D. program at the Politecnico di Milano in Italy. I am working on the initial proposal. The 36th call starts on April 26, 2020, through May 29, 2020. I don't know whether the university waits until the deadline to receive all the application forms and then review the documents or they start to review as they receive applications and when they reach their capacity before the deadline, for instance, mid-May, and then they quit the review and ignore the other upcoming documents from the students?

Yes, in Italy all the applications, for whatever position (PhD student, postdoc, professor) and regardless of the university, are reviewed after the deadline.
No, none of the applications that arrive on time can be ignored.


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How much does GPA of individial subjects matter for PhD admissions
How much does GPA matter for PhD admission? Just came to know that I scored a passing grade in statistics, still managed to score 45 percentile though.
I scored perfect gpa in stats physics though.
Was wondering what kind of impression it makes and will it affect my chances to get into a good grade school!

No single thing is likely to be determinative of graduate admissions. Committees will look at a lot of things including your GPA. They want to make a prediction about your likelihood of success in their program and thereafter. Grades in the subject of study are important, but a single grade might be ignored. What courses you did well in probably has more effect as well as required standardized tests. Letters of recommendation are important in some places but not others. Research experience can help. In some places you have an interview.
The idea is to build a picture of future expected success. Show you are on a trajectory to success.
But good grades are better than bad or mediocre grades, of course.


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Retroactively Awarding Extra Exam Time
Since the beginning of the Corona Virus pandemic and the adaptation to distance learning, I have had to adapt my classes to hold exams via video calls.  In previous semesters when I've had students with special accommodations (i.e. entitlement to extra time on exams), the students would generally go to a different office where they would take the exam with a special proctor who was aware of their entitlements.  My institution however has levied this burden to instructors to keep track of students' various time limits on exams.
A student of mine with an extra time entitlement had emailed me to confirm that I was going to honor this.  I didn't have the time to respond to them via email prior to the exam, but I had sent this student a private message via the video call platform to confirm with them their extra time and wrote out instructions for submitting their exam.  This student however never read my message, and as a result submitted their exam prematurely claiming that I hadn't confirmed their extra time entitlement.  Because the video call platform doesn't record private messaging into their transcript, I have no physical evidence to show the student that I had messaged them at the start of the exam.
I'd like to know what would ethically be the right way to handle this situation.  I want to honor this student's time entitlement, and potentially give them the lost time to complete the exam, but I'm already at a place where I have to go over the exam with my other students.  I'm not sure what the correct way to handle this situation is.  It's frustrating because there was a second student who had a similar entitlement during the same exam, and they read my message and took advantage of their extra time.

does this call platform start with "Z" and end with "OOM" ?If it does, and you are the meeting host, I believe you can save private messages in your local transcript as long as you have interacted with them (which may not be a huge help in this case, but better than nothing).

@Z4-tier That is actually incredibly helpful to hear.  Whenever I download my video lectures it shows the transcript of what was in the chat box, but I’ve never seen private messages saved.  I’ll look into this.

You don't have to be the person who decides what to do in this situation. Actually, there are many reasons to remove yourself from making further decisions. Take it back to the administration of your Department / University, give them a fair account of what's happened, and let them decide what to do.

Indeed, the student probably has a "case manager" who would be your first point of contact.

Dmitry's suggestion is an excellent one. I would like to offer another. You can explain the situation to the student and offer a few compensation options. It can be boosting grades in ratio of the lost time or another exam of similar difficulty. I fear an administrative decision might yield a negative result for the student. As far as I am concerned, the student should not be in a disadvantage when it is not their fault.

Not that it was necessarily OP's fault either; this sounds like a textbook communications breakdown.

@wizzwizz4, I didn't mean to imply it was OP's fault. It probably is the fault of whoever informed OP late that OP is responsible for accommodations.

It’s actually nobody’s fault.  I knew about my responsibility far in advance of the exam; this situation really just was a communication breakdown.


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Who should I ask for recommendation letter after graduation?
After graduating for two years, I decided to apply for the Master program. I have prepared essays and scores but now I am stuck with recommendation letters. I have got 2 - one from the current manager and another one from my undergraduate institute. However, I am struggling with one last letter.
I came from a big public school (UC system) and for some reason, a lot of my upper-division classes were taught by instructors, not professors. And unfortunately, at least three of the instructors either left the department or left academia (got into the industry) and I am not exactly sure if I can contact them (even if I could, they are no longer in the department and that might be an issue..).
I have previously contacted one faculty that I have TA(undergraduate IA) for months ago. But that doesn't work due to some complicated issues (the faculty's schedules). My latest research volunteer experiences(short) were 4~5 years ago and it was extremely hard to contact supervisors as well.
Is anyone can give me any suggestions? I am living in another country right now, so visiting the campus is not really feasible. Understanding that Master's program does not care about LORs as much as Ph.D. programs, I am worrying that I couldn't have all the required documents.

Attempt to contact your previous instructors, wherever they have moved to. At least they know you. Professors and academics move around a lot and their recommendation letters are still valid and respectable. If moving around is a barrier to recommendations and support letters, I think academia will cease to function...
Whatever you are doing now (post-graduation) is likely to be relevant and may be helpful. Any jobs or roles that you have held will support your work especially if they are in the research/writing vein.

It is important for you to attempt to contact people who instructed you throughout your last course. They know well about your performance and are well-suited to write you a reliable recommendation letter

Sorry, but "throughout your last course" isn't well defined and you are probably assuming that there was some personal contact and not just exam scores.The problem is more sophisticated than you imply.


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Where can I easily find best-paper-award-paper of a conference?
Recently I read an article on tips for PhD students to improve their scientific writing skills. There, one suggestion was to find and read the best-paper-award-papers in highly reputed conferences in your discipline and understand the writing style, the way of presenting information, flow, language etc.. I believe it is worthwhile to spend some time on this to improve my writing skills. However, I tried whether there is an option to find such papers in a typical database after filtering information (my discipline is Electrical Engineering, so I tried IEEE-Xplore) but could not find it over there. So I would really appreciate if someone can suggest me the easiest way to find such papers online?
Note: I am interested in finding such papers related to highly reputed IEEE and IFAC conferences.

Note that in some fields "Best paper awards" do not exist, so that tip may have a limited validity.

@MassimoOrtolano Thank you for your information. As far as I know, there are such awards in leading conferences in my research area: Electrical Engineering + Control systems.

Applies to computer science as well. Maybe there should be a tag for "conference papers are a thing" fields.

Unfortunately, there is a lot of variety in how much effort different conferences invest into making the information on best papers visible and long-term available.

If you're lucky, the website of the conference lists previous best paper winners on their website. Sometimes this only applies to individual editions (years) of the conference.

In a majority of cases, this might not apply. In these cases, you might be able to retrieve individual award winners by googling for search strings like  (if the conference name is ICSE), "ICSE Best Paper" and "ICSE Distinguished Paper". Such search strings may lead to tweets and researcher websites of award winners.

Another option is to contact the steering committee of the conference and ask for the list of best papers. This might have the positive effect of raising awareness that there is interest in this information, which might at some point lead to more efforts into making the information available online.

Identify the top conferences in your field and look to their websites to see whether best paper awards are present and, if so, which papers received such awards.


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arXiv submission with PDF and data, preferred submission strategy?
arXiv does not allow PDF and other file types on the same submission. My (many)coauthors are not tex savvy, and want the paper describing the database to be in PDF format so that their (also not tex savvy) community can access it. The database is 4 files, csv & json, and small, within arXiv size limits.  The coauthors want their preferred word letterhead, which would be a long process to recreate in tex of any flavor.
I see three paths forward:
1) put the paper describing the database into tex format without their letterhead, or reducing it to an image. Be done. Incur an unknown level of coauthor confusion and wrath (they are oddly worked up about this).  I would value easy (converters that work?) solutions in this vein.
2) Have two arXiv submissions: a) the pdf of the paper b) the csv data dictionaries (2) and json databases (2). Reference b in a.
3) Write the arXiv folks asking for an exception. I'm not sure they do this.
What is my preferred submission strategy? Any other path forward? Educating my coauthors sounds slow and hard, so yes, I know it is an option, but I'd rather not.

Just to clarify: do your authors not want to use TeX at all, or do they not want a TeX source file to be available for download - even if that enables downloading of the PDF file?

How much trouble would it be for you to convert the paper to latex, including the letterhead? Maybe I’m naive, but it seems to me that if you present your coauthors with an already working solution without them having to lift a finger, they won’t require any “educating” but will simply follow the path of least resistance and say okay. The downside is you’ll have to do the work upfront before getting their official approval, so you’d want to know you can live with a scenario where they disapprove. (Also, it’s admittedly a bit sneaky, so prepare a good explanation to diffuse any tension/anger.)

I bit the bullet and spent three days building the letterhead in TEX. I then requested, and was granted, a size exception. It solved my problem, but was not ideal.

I see a fourth way forward. You could upload the database to a separate repository and cite that in the paper. (E.g. Zenodo allows multiple files, but putting them in an archive file might be beneficial.) Then submit the PDF version of the paper to arXiv.

1) put the paper describing the database into tex format without their letterhead, or reducing it to an image. Be done. Incur an unknown level of coauthor confusion and wrath (they are oddly worked up about this). I would value easy (converters that work?) solutions in this vein.

Well, don't do that unless you can get your coauthors onboard. If you can convince them, you can try Word -> TeX converters. Some possiblities can be found here. The letterhead might have to be handled separately, possibly as graphics that you then auto-vectorize in Inkscape or similar tools.

2) Have two arXiv submissions: a) the pdf of the paper b) the csv data dictionaries (2) and json databases (2). Reference b in a.

I don't think arXiv allows a separate submission for only the data. Hence suggestion #4 above.

3) Write the arXiv folks asking for an exception. I'm not sure they do this.

I have never heard of them making an exception, but I have also not heard about anyone asking for one. However, even if exceptions could be made, that rarely translate to "a quick process".


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Review lasting 6 weeks
The status of my paper which is in review since 3/02 is "A review is overdue. Two of 4 Assigned reviews are completed". I read in the journal site that review generally takes 1 month and the minimum number of reviews to make a decision by the editor is 2. The number of reviews is 2 since 1 March and the editor didn't make any decision? What should I do?

Write to the editor and ask kindly what the current status is.

It's not true that just because your manuscript already has two reviews that the editor will make a decision. For example, maybe the two reviews disagree with each other, or one of the two reviews is poor and the editor is waiting for the third review as a tiebreaker. The third review is ten days overdue which is not a good sign, but you can't tell from the outside. For example, maybe the reviewer had emailed the editor saying the review will be late, and the editor is (sensibly) waiting as a result.
As for "what should I do", the answer is always the same. If you're concerned/impatient, write to the editor and ask what the status is. Otherwise just wait. The review process for your manuscript doesn't seem that long to me, so I would wait, but it's up to you.

The third review is ten days overdue which is not a good sign Ha! In my experience with journals (in computer science), lateness is measured in months, not days.

To echo @Thomas 's comment, this varies a lot by field. Some fields this is a big deal. Others this is routine.

@Thomas true, but being late in the first place is not a good sign =)

I've once had to wait 14 months and it was accepted with minor corrections


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How to mail a professor informing that I am interested working at different place
I have asked a professor for summer reading project(he agreed). Later, I was also selected for summer internship programme a top institute in the country, how do I tell the professor that I don’t do the summer reading project and want to go there?
The professor is a very chilled guy in person to the people he knows. I have barely talked to him. He knows that I exist on earth and that’s all. I don’t want to sound like a poser. Please help me.

What answer are you expecting other than "tell him politely"?

These sorts of things are best handled face to face, not by email which is less personal. Go see him. Tell him about the situation and that it is an opportunity that you don't think you can pass up. Thank him for his help and interest. Let him know that your project will need to wait or be abandoned for you to do this internship.
If he is doing his job properly, then he will support you. And the face-to-face can actually strengthen your relationship for the future.
You can, of course, say all those things in an email, but it won't have the same effect or impact.

I am not in the university and He’s not university. So that’s also a problem.


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Mistake In an Email to Professor that is already sent out
I wrote an cold email to a professor to inquire about research opportunity. But I made an unforgivable mistake that I wrote his institution name wrong in the text. I should have wrote 'your research group in [institution A]',  but I somehow subconsciously wrote [institution B]. This is going to make him feel that I am cold emailing a couple of professors which is indeed what I am doing(but I am not writing generic emails), and this error escaped my three time re-examination.
How should I compose my follow-up email to correct this or is there anything else I can do?? Thanks guys. Cold emailing professor is already making me feel weird.

See the answer below.  It is normal to enquire about position at two or more places. So don't worry too much.

@Alchimista Thanks, you make me feel relieved a lot.

The way I see it, you have two choices:

Do nothing - I do not endorse this, as it transmits the message that you do not care, or even worse, you did it on purpose;

Send another e-mail with the proper apologies (do not over-do it), and correct the mistake.

The message can be as simple as:

Dear ....
In previous e-mail I wrote: "...ABC..." while I intended to write "...XYZ...". Please accept my apologies, this was totally unintended. I cannot even explain it to myself.
Yours...

Words may vary.

+1, but for option #2, I would be even more concise (1 line), something like: "Sorry for the typo, of course you are at [institution]."

@cag51: Usually I go for the "short and clear" too. In this particular case (and others similar), I think it is not a very good idea to be "in a hurry" - the professor might fell under-valued by the "student". Otherwise, +1

Yeah...in my imagination, the original e-mail was already far too wordy (they usually are) and so sending another formal e-mail (even a brief one) is really digging the hole deeper, whereas a one-liner probably wouldn't do any harm. But maybe that is an unjust assumption about the original e-mail.

I feel you. Extremes are never good. It may not be possible to fix an email which is too long, with another one which is too short. Joke: Depending on font size, almost any e-mail can be a one-liner :D


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Is it okay to ask the professor to let another student continue my Master's thesis topic next year?
I am a Master's student in an Engineering discipline and I don't think the nature of my Master's thesis topic can be finished in time, realistically speaking (GUI development) and I have a month left. This project was actually proposed by the professor at the start of the year and I naively accepted it at the time. I am trying to suggest to the professor to let another student to continue my project next year and maybe improve on what is lacking and add more functionality. Is it common for projects to continue year after year?
There is one feature or function of the GUI which cannot be finished due to the lack of data quality. The data is actually collected and given to me by other PhD students, so it is not my responsibility to produce the data which is used for my project. The bulk of the main code and GUI has already been worked on and I will be able wrap up my project if this single feature could be dropped. However, if this feature is dropped, the scope of potential applications that my GUI can have becomes very limited. However, my supervisor is very keen on having this feature. What the PhD students are saying is that it is my responsibility to be able to work with low quality data and find solutions to go around it.

In the thesis there is usually a section called "future directions" or "recommendations" in which the candidate can lay out what can be done to improve or scale up the deliveries. Projects being developed in succession by different students are common, at least in my field (biomedical.)
As for whether you will get full credit, the question at its current state cannot really be answered because too many details are missing. For instance, has this likelihood of non-completion been on the advisor's radar? Or are you just dropping the bomb one month before the due date? Who has been causing the delay? Were any barriers or difficulties you faced raised and discussed? How incomplete is the project? All these can go into the consideration of your final grade, and that can of course include a potential "F."
I'd suggest, given the time limit, stop trying to get guessed answers on this forum. Instead, immediately schedule a meeting with your supervisor and make sure both are on the same understanding. Upon discussing with the advisor, come up with a list of tasks that need to be finish to make the Master thesis a reasonably stand-alone work, and complete it. Be realistic and don't be a yes-man (like what you did at the beginning); if the list grows too big, say so and trim it down together. Diligently follow up weekly and deliver the project.
Of course, if the project is grossly behind or substandard, you may want to prepare for an extension or walk away with a fail grade. The results of this discussion will vary depending how professional you have been behaving in this duration and perhaps many other factors. I wish you good luck and feel free to come back and update us by revising your question.

I have edited the question.

@Senyokbalgul, thanks. I'd say that my recommendation does not change. The PhDs are unlikely the group that decides your thesis grade. Bring this issue up with the supervisor and see what happens. The lack of quality in the data is likely an unexpected event, so I think your supervisor would not attribute that as your fault. Prepare a couple alternatives and hopefully you'll walk away with a acceptable plan.

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


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2nd bachelors vs 2nd masters
I already have a BS and MS of a certain degree. I am contemplating going for a 2nd BS or 2nd MS, in which my employer is willing to provide financial aid. The employer is generally supportive of me getting a 2nd degree with the belief that I will become a better employee, and I am interested in the fact that I can put it on my resume to potentially be more desirable to companies.
So there is the option to get a BS for this 2nd degree, or skip the BS and go directly for the 2nd MS. I'm not sure which option would benefit me more. I believe I have done enough related real-world work that I could easily stomp out the BS (though it would take longer), or at least not struggle too badly if I skipped the BS and went directly into the MS.
Would an employer see more benefit in having 1 BS and 2 MS, vs 2 BS and 1 MS?

Also likely field-dependent. One I was looking at, translation in Canadian universities, has a very practical BA and a more theoretical MA... to the point where the certification for professional work requires that you have the former and the latter was not going to be sufficient. You could email or call a couple department heads and get their opinion; I did this and found them surprisingly eager to clarify the value of the different programs.

Can you edit to add the lengths of the BS and MS? (Presumably the lengths will be on a part-time basis.)

Ask your employer. They're the ones funding you after all.
Having said that I strongly suspect they'll prefer a 2nd Masters as opposed to 2nd Bachelor's. Several reasons:

Masters degrees usually take a much shorter time to get.
You learn more in a Masters. Bachelor's degree are broader in the sense that you often have breadth requirements. You can't focus everything on your major. That doesn't apply to a Masters degree.
You learn more advanced things in a Masters degree. If you have a Masters in [topic], you are assumed to be qualified for jobs that require a Bachelor's in [topic]. The reverse doesn't hold.
Holding two Bachelor's degrees is pretty unusual. Why do you need two? Why didn't you do a double major?

Discuss it with your employer, but I strongly suspect they'll prefer a 2nd Masters (they might even be assuming you'll do a 2nd Masters).

In just about every case, it would be better to pursue only the MS degree. Most BS degrees require a large number of preparatory and introductory requirements, with the degree-specific material largely occurring only in the final 1.5 or 2 years in the program.
Do not get a second BS degree after you have already completed an MS degree. While some may question even the wisdom of seeking a second MS degree, if you will receive new training in a field that you have not explored before and you will learn new skills that make you a candidate for different career paths then it may be a reasonable thing to do.


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Potential repercussions from overlapping university appointments?
Consider a situation in which a professor starts a position at one institution on the 1st of a month, and finishes their position at their previous institution of the 30th of that month.
What are the potential legal, conflict of interest, and professional issues? Would these be mitigated if the month is spent on leave? Are there other considerations?

Why don't they just arrange to terminate the contract with university #1 when they start at university #2? It can't be the first time that contract periods overlap between institutions.

Country matters. A professor was found out to hold two positions (in parallel) in Germany (he spent half the week on one, and the other half on the other) and he was fired (which shows how big an offence that was - it is almost impossible to fire a German professor), as they are not allowed to hold two state positions at once. Such an overlap may be reason for termination. Better check with your institutions, in private institutions it might be possible.

A related situation: in the US it's quite common that if a professor wants to quit her job at University X to go work at University Y, then X will let her go on unpaid leave for a year instead of resigning.  Thus for the first year she is on leave from X and employed by Y.  If at some point during the year, she decides she liked X better after all, she can just go back there, without having to reapply for her previous job.  This doesn't seem to cause any particular problems, though I don't know if there are special arrangements involved.

From the standpoint of the law it should be fine. Most (close to all?) countries allow you to hold several appointments in the same month. If not, some part-time workers (think waiters, bartenders, etc.) would have a hard time making ends meet.
The other legal factor is the employment contracts. These could require you to seek authorization from the current employer before starting outside employment.
It absolutely is a conflict of interest, but one that should be possible to solve by disclosing the situation to both employers. The actual solution might be the one-month leave you mention, quitting the first position earlier, getting a thumbs up from the current employer, or doing a 50/50 time split the first month. Either way, the current institution deserves to know if you begin to work for, and earn money from, a new institution - whether you intend to leave your current job or not.
Note that the possible conflicts of interest don't just concern the pay - if you use resources from the first institution to benefit the second it can also be bad. This isn't really solved by a leave, but by disclosure and then handling the resources responsibly.
I don't really see any professional issues, assuming you handle the conflict of interest issues professionally (i.e. disclose them). After all, it is rather common in academia to have more than one affiliation. Of course, one also needs to be professional in choosing which affiliation to put on papers.
Another consideration, especially in the US, would be benefits and medical insurance. The easiest way to handle this is probably to waive those benefits for a month at the new job. And if the two institutions are in different jurisdictions you might have a fun time figuring out how to do your taxes correctly...

Another benefit of disclosing the situation properly is that you can then ask HR (at both institutions!) if there are other relevant issues in the specific case. Ultimately, it's their job to know how to handle these things, not yours.

This is purely a contractual issue in the US. In Germany it can be statutory but in the US it is in the detail of the contract.  Usually an employment contract will specify the outside appointments one may enter into, if any, and the means for getting approval. Some institutions are liberal and others far less so.  I know a Duke Univ professor running his own hedge fund, and a UCL professor running a computer-assisted fashion design company out of his office (literally, as in his business partner sits in an extra seat in his office).  But many institutions have a problem with this.
It is best to check the detail of your contract and if there is any conflict to be up front about it. It is a very small amount of money involved compared to the legal and potentially reputational burden which may ensue. If you have questions it is possible to consult employment lawyers who specialise in these matters. Unlike regular contract, there are many terms which are not viable or not enforceable depending on the jurisdiction.

I suspect there will be legal issues, but it ultimately depends on the two employment contracts. Conflicts of interest might include the old institute not getting the recognition it deserves. Neither is truly mitigated by a month spent on leave.


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Are DOD Young Investigator Research Program (YIP) grants transferable to new universities?
Backstory: a colleague has a YIP with the AF, funded, and has been hired by a new university. The Program Officer is on personal leave (3 months now, no end in sight). He is pushing harder, and hearing non-options like 'don't go to the new post' and 'reapply'. Has anyone seen a DOD YIP move successfully?  If so, how?

Is there another program office he could contact?

The answer to your colleague's question is specific to his funding award, his program officer, and his specific situation. Only his program office or someone else from DoD could answer his this question. That being said, a quick Google search found another funding request that describes general DOD grant policies:

Transfer of Award to New Organization: Unless restricted by the specific Program
  Announcement, a change in organizational affiliation will be considered on a case-by-case basis
  by the USAMRAA Grants Officer. If approved, the PI’s original organization will be required to
  agree to relinquish the award. The new organization will be required to resubmit the entire
  application on behalf of the PI, including regulatory documentation. Extended times for transfer
  may put the award funding at risk. A transfer will not, unless under extraordinary circumstances,
  be allowed for any organization that includes a study site/clinical trial at its location.


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Admissions - University - Graduate School. Is this a commitment?
I recently applied to a graduate engineering program at a university and was contacted by a professor who was interested in my application. We discussed the projects that he is undertaking and seems to think I would be a good addition to the team. A week after the interview, he reached out stating that he has instructed the university to offer me the MASc position in the program I was applying for, and discussed the courses he would be interested in having me taking and the total funding he is willing to provide for the program. I replied back stating that I would love to join his team.
My concern so far is that I have not received an official letter of admission from the university and I am not sure if it is practical or ethical to apply to other universities in the meantime in order to ensure that if things won't work out I have a backup plan.
My question: is this the right thing to do or should I wait for the decision to arrive from the main university I applied to?

If you haven't received an official offer of admission from the university, you haven't been admitted (yet), no matter what the professor tells you.

Depending on the country, this can either be very close to acceptance or pretty far away.

Not knowing the policies of the university and whether the offer from the professor amounts to a commitment or not, I'd say yes, you can apply elsewhere, but as you have given at least a verbal/email/whatever assurance, you can't accept any other offer.
I would make other inquiries somewhat discrete, however, so as not to cause concern should the first professor learn of them. You also shouldn't represent yourself as being entirely free to accept an offer in the interim.
But you can also inquire of the administration of the first university what is the actual meaning of the offer given and accepted. Can you expect paperwork to follow or is it still tentative? You have a right to know this, of course.
You could also, perhaps, ask this question of the professor involved, asking him/her whether you should keep looking or is it a signed-sealed-delivered offer.
You don't need to leave yourself at risk, but you shouldn't put others at risk either.
And congratulations.

Well, the thing is after the interview, I went to meet him and he showed me around the University. When I told him I had not received an offer yet, he took me to the graduate coordinator to ask what the issue had been. Apparently one of my references had come in late... but it did arrive before the deadline. Now the admission board is reviewing the application to see if everything is appropriately filed. My worry is my grades as I didn't do well in the first semester of my final year. I am still well above the minimum cut-off for the program but not sure if that will help...


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A Last Minute Meeting Request at the End of the Year
The class and year has ended.   I wanted to meet with  a professor who served as a great mentor with me during this year. I wanted to thank her in person and discuss pedagogy. I unexplainably dissed her by leaving at the end of the last class without thanking her or saying goodbye.
Feeling great guilt and disappointment, I emailed her to set up a last chance meeting. She responded with a long winded email about how busy she was [possibly a polite-go-away], but suggested possible times a week later.
I responded, in a clearly selfish and urgent manner, that I was available after the dates she suggested.
She responded with a "ok Ethel... i will write to you when I'm finished this week."
Upon further consideration, I feel that I might have come off as entitled to her time.
I'm considering taking back the meeting request and just writing a heartfelt email instead, possibly before she has a chance to attempt to set up a meeting.
Does anyone have advice?

I think you might be over-worrying here; perhaps your professor might have felt a bit distracted or irritated by your original email (then again perhaps she might not) but in any case I don't think her second response indicates anything too bad.

Did she indicate she was unhappy about being "unexplainably dissed"? I can't imagine ever being angry that a student didn't thank me or say goodbye.

Someone in academia telling you how busy they are is quite often not a polite go-away but the simple truth. You have to learn to say "no" or "I am busy, can this wait?" She determined that she had more urgent matters at hand (which is common at the end of the year) and that she still would like to offer you her time, at a time where she actually can focus on what you have to say. If this is important to you and she can make time for you, I would really wait and have the meeting. It might even be a nice pick-me-up after a stressful week for her.

You probaly have no insight into the timing issues of your professor, so it is premature to make assumptions in any directions based on basically no information. Tthis is a common mistake in the relationship between teacher-student. Lecturers or teachers typically have more taske to perform than what a student sees which causes confusion and skewed perspectives of what can be expected.

This might be a very busy time - grading, exam board meetings etc.
As she is prepared to set up a meeting, then meet and thank her in person - it’s always nice to receive feedback / thanks / recognition...

I recommend writing the thank-you email. The professor will appreciate having this matter closed, and not needing to spend mental energy tracking a request for a meeting on an unknown topic (mixed in with many other work items and responsibilities).


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Problems with my boss in academia: who to ask for some advice in Austria?
I have some problems with my boss at a university.
The problem does not only include cooperative aspects. It also involves some problems related to a post-doc project that I developed and that I gave to my boss (current principal investigator) who proposed to expand the project and provide funding for PhD research. The project is now in his name on the promise that he would let me lead the project.
Now, my post-doc project has been removed, and my boss started to develop the project as he wants without coming to any agreements with me at all, because he is the principal investigator.
Now, the question: in such a weird situation, who can I ask for advice in Austria? I asked the head of research, and he told me to talk with my boss (and I did). I don't know how to deal with this situation, I feel like people don't really want to discuss this issue and I may ruin some relations with other colleagues as they may feel awkward to get involved. On top, I am on the weak side: I can either resign or follow his directions without complaining. I cannot work on my initial project proposal, and I am not author anymore of the proposal.

Are you in need of this project to fund your position?

Hi @Snijderfrey, I guess I couldn't fully understand the question. I would say that this project was the topic I wanted to work on. There was more information on a previous explanation of mine, but since I was asked to focus the subject, I provided only the basic information useful to build a repository. Basically, there is a broken: on the promise to let me work on my project, after 2 months since the beginning and only congratulations on the quick progresses, my boss suddenly changed the project on his whim, without caring of my original proposal.


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Providing evidence of being the major contributor of a successful grant proposal helps your opportunities to get a job in the academic field?
I recently worked on a grant proposal for a project. As it sometimes happens to post-doc researchers, to move forwards in their career they have to ask a senior researcher to act as the principal investigator of the project. Often, grants do not provide a difference between PI and author, so it may happen that the PI would be considered as the main author.
My question is: if I had to apply to your university (or in any other context) for a junior position, being able to provide evidence that I was the main contributor of that grant application (meaning that I was able to write the literature review, concept of the research, methodology, contacting external advisors, resulting into a funding), would it contribute as a positive element when assessing my CV for an eventual junior position in your university?

Yes. Draft a short (one page or less) statement of contribution to the work of writing the grant, with room for your signature, the PI's signature and the signatures of anyone else who contributed to the grant. Send this to your PI and ask if they think it is a fair representation or whether they'd make changes, and if they'd be willing to sign it so you can use it when applying for jobs. It's probably a good idea to talk with them first to float the idea, explaining that you think it would be really helpful when applying for jobs.
You could use sites like these for inspiration:

The CReDiT system for describing authorship in detail
This list of a variety of author statements.
another set of examples

You might also check out the APA Science Student Council's guide to co-authorship which has these rather useful checklists and worksheets:

Worksheet for determining authorship
Research responsibilities checklist
These also don't quite fit grant-writing but will give you an idea of the sorts of work that goes into a research project so you can create your own list of what needed to be done for the grant, and who did what.

These are all for journal publications, and I've not seen anything similar for grant-writing but I think it's a great idea to make this! If you do end up doing this, it'd be great if you share how you went about it!

There is no question that it is a positive aspect to your application to any university that values research in any way. It is a valuable skill. In some positions it is a job requirement, and so early experience is a valuable element. Even when it is "guided" by a senior PI it has value. After all most doctoral research is also guided by an advisor.
You can list such things on the CV, but don't overstate your role. Make sure that the PI is aware of your contributions and will mention them in any LoR.
Even those places that don't require real "field" research often need funds for student research or for such pedagogical things as research into learning, so even quite modest places will not discount such experience.

I don't know if it's possible for this funding call but sometimes (like with NSF proposals) the PI can include a co-PI and that person can be a postdoc. That's probably the best case scenario.
But here you seem to refer to something different. How would you be able to provide evidence that you were the one who wrote the application if you're not listed as a PI?
In any case, I think showing that you provided a major contribution to a funded application is always good for CV when aiming at an academic position!

Sometimes, it is called "named researcher", which means the one who will be most likely hired as "postdoc"  in case the PI wins the grant. And it can also be interpreted (at least it suggests so!) that the named researchers was a co-author of the grant proposal.


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Applying to CS PHD with an undergrad degree in math
Would getting an undergrad degree in mathematics hurt my chances of of getting into a CS PHD program? Are there statistics on admissions rate by major online?
Edit: in the us

This might depend a bit on where. What country?

My bad : United States

If you intend to go into theoretical CS, I would think mathematics could be more useful than a CS degree if it doesn't have a strong focus on theory.

Hurt maybe, but you can probably still get in. I did a BS in math, MS in Electrical and currently a PhD in CS which I am working on exiting. Probably change to CS is easier than Electrical which can have a more physics focus.

Wouldn't hurt your chance at all ! I know so many awesome CS people all have a math or physics undergrad degree. So go for it

I doubt the statistics would help you much. But a switch from math to CS is possible with just a BS/BA. You will have time to catch up on some things.
I'll assume that you can program, but you probably want to take a few electives in CS if they are open to you. Data Structures and Algorithms is the most important but a couple of additional theoretical courses would help. Database Theory, Operating Systems, for example.
And look to getting good letters of recommendation from both math and CS professors.
Double majors are a possibility in some places, but a math major with a CS minor would probably give you everything essential.
Note that both math and CS are a lot about abstraction. The mathematical way of thinking is a benefit in CS.

I know several people who have been admitted into strong CS PhD programs with only undergraduate training in math. Don't accept this answer as I don't have numbers/statistic to back it up, but qualitatively I will say the following:
If you are pursuing theoretical computer science, math is definitely an acceptable undergrad to come from (maybe even preferred in some departments). Obviously it helps to have more discrete mathematical courses and things closer to TCS (ex: automata theory, complexity theory, algorithms etc...)
If (and I doubt this is the case but I dont want to make assumptions) you are interested in entering the applied side of things, you will probably hurt your chances if only carrying mathematical training. Math classes will teach you to handle proofs and be creative with abstract thinking. They will not teach you how to work comfortably with systems programming, or architect software well, or build effective distributed systems Etc... and any competent applied CS researcher knows this. That said you can always start trying to acquire this experience (maybe even do some research as an undergrad in an REU or similar program) to beef up you application.
There's also no hard requirement to start a PhD immediately after graduating undergrad. Take a year or 2 or 10 if thats what you need to make the transition.

Mathematics knowledge is very useful in many areas such as machine learning, pattern recognition, artificial intelligence, etc. Especially for basic scientific work. There may be differences according to countries, universities, institutes. For this reason, you can increase your chances by carefully examining the required skills in the applications and by correspondence with the advisors.


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Request Colleges internationally to let students participate in a survey
For a student research project in the field of IT I would like to interview students who have little to no experience in participating in Open Source projects. My professor said that only interviewing students from my university in Germany is not representative and that I should consider different countries as the motivation to participate in open source might vary from culture to culture.
My survey will contain very few questions that I have not yet found in my primary studies. Is it appropriate that I ask different universities in other countries to let their IT students participate in my survey?

I'm suspecting that Germany has quite strict rules, but don't know what they are.

Unfortunately, I think universities would perceive this as spam. Perhaps correctly so: consider the situation wherein tens of thousands of people want to do surveys of undergrads at universities around the world... Even if it de-facto happens, it is spam, and no sane administrator would sanction it.

In many places (say, the US), there are laws that govern any sort of research with human subjects. This applies even to questionnaires. These laws differ widely from place to place and it is even possible that asking a question in some other country Y might have issues.
In the United States, universities have an IRB (Institutional Review Board) which will look at what you want to do and approve it or make suggestions about how to improve it within the law and ethical regulations.
Germany may well have similar laws and regulations.
Wherever you are, look to an IRB or a Research Office to obtain valid feedback on your plans. This will, perhaps, ease your approach to universities in other countries to obtain permission for your questionnaire.


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My group members are trying to take credit for the group project that only I worked on. How do I stop this?
Two students (who also happen to be my friends) and I were assigned a fairly difficult (I spent over 40 hours on it) group project.
It felt like they didn't care about the project, and if you looked at our group chat, it is basically me listing out a bunch of tasks required, asking them if they can do some of it, them saying something like "ok i'll look into it," and then never replying for days. Eventually, I will come back with screenshots of some of the tasks I have completed by myself and them replying with "wow nice job." This goes on for 10 weeks. I have learned my lesson now because in retrospect, I really should have told my professor about this way earlier because by the end of it, I realized they never bothered to even look at the project. The due date for the project has already passed but the final product was obviously mediocre.
The professor in charge of the project has expressed his interest in hiring 1 or 2 of us to continue to work on it, and now they're both suddenly interested in the project. They will be contacting him shortly about the opportunity (it's a paid position at the university).
I wasn't really too bothered about them getting the same mark as me despite making next to zero effort in the project, but the fact that they want to now take a job that they don't really deserve grinds my gears.
How do I tell this professor that I was the one who did all the work without coming off as tacky and desperate (I have evidence from chat logs, and our document history)? I know I'm also at fault here for not expressing my frustrations earlier, which is why I am so hesitant, but I believe this is becoming really unfair. I am also hesitant on ratting them out because I have known these people for quite a while and I consider them my friends.

I seem to have read a very similar story before.... However, here is but one result found on here among many relevant : https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/91526/72855

From my experience, honesty is your best choice. It can come of as tacky anddesperate, but most professors are human beings too and might have experienced a similar situation.

Are you interested in the job?

I think you should consider telling the professor exactly what you've told us here.  As you've already acknowledged, it would have been better to tell the professor about the problem as soon as it became apparent, but even now it would be good for him to know --- both in connection with the current hiring situation and in connection with his future classes.

If you aren't interested in the job being offered, I'd just let this go. As far as the course project/grade is concerned, that issue is past. The project was a group project and was submitted as such. I assume the professor allowed you to organize the group as you saw fit, which resulted in your doing all of the work. I think that is poor practice for the professor. But the ship has sailed. You also had other options at the time for project organization or complaint that you didn't use. Yes, I see that you recognize that.
But if you don't want/need the job you have little to gain by keeping your "friends" from taking it.
If you do want it, however, you should visit the prof during office hours (no email for this sort of thing) and explain that the work was yours. He/she can probably verify this easily by asking you a few questions about it without the need for screen shots etc. I doubt that you would suffer by sticking to the truth, though your friends may resent it and you will need to explain why you treated it as a personal project rather than a group project. Yes, I understand the drivers that cause that, of course, which is why I don't care for the professor's willingness to let it happen.
But also consider the fact that if he hires you and one of your friends you will be back in the same situation again, working with an unproductive partner. That might not be a good outcome for you in any case.

Note: If a professor wants a "group" to create something he/she needs to also teach how to go about that. Letting inexperienced groups self-organize seldom results in a good outcome.


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Faculty interview: 15 min. PPT explaining Teaching philosophy and Research Vision
I have a faculty interview call that asks me to summarize the following two points in 15 minutes PPT. The interview will be on Zoom.

How would you describe your teaching philosophy? With examples from your previous teaching experience?
How do you think your research can help develop the research direction of the school, outlining vision and plans for the next three years?

Any suggestions will be highly appreciated as it is my first such interview.

You have to explain your teaching philosophy - we don’t know it and cannot guess. And as for how you implement and support the research direction - same thing. Slides though: clarity & brevity.

Well, what is your teaching philosophy? What did you research and what does the faculty you apply for research already? How does your work fit in. That's what you have to explain.

This might help you: https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/41891/72855

On the first point, there are some questions you should consider.

how do you lead students to have insights? Through in-class activities, assignments, projects, reading, essays, test taking? How much emphasis is placed on each aspect?
are your assignments/projects/tests creative? Or merely regurgitation of the material?
how do you account for the (expected) differences in learning style? Do you adapt your style to fit theirs?
how much work outside of class is expected?
how do you detect and respond to plagiarism?
how do you deal with disruptive students?

Regarding research, what is the reputation of the school? of the department?

What is their faculty known for? Theory vs lab vs simulation-based?
Can you find collaborators? (on campus and elsewhere)
Do you have collaborators outside of academia (National Labs, industry)?
How much money do you need?
Do you have special requirements?
How much staffing is required?
Can you use undergrads or grads or postdocs in your research?


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Do "News and Views" articles count as publications?
Several journals have short digest articles highlighting specific research publications. One of the best known examples are the Nature News and Views articles.
They describe these articles like this:

... short, accessible articles focused on one scientific advance independent of the author's own research. They are almost always commissioned by the editors, but suggestions can be made. News and Views articles generally describe a published research report but sometimes take the form of scientific meeting reports. News and Views articles are personal views by specialists in the discipline, and are not usually peer-reviewed. See each journal's guide to authors for more details.

This is common also in other journals, sometimes they're called "Spotlight articles" or "Research highlights". Whether they are peer-reviewed likely differs, but their common ground is that they discuss and highlight a recent paper in the same journal. They always have doi nr and are citeable.
My questions are

In CVs, do people list them under publications, and if not where do they list them?
What about book reviews?
Do people add these type of articles to ResearchGate and Google Scholar?
Do people in general view them as a positive thing for your academic career or a waste of time?

Articles like this are essentially a form of review article (review articles, likewise, are sometimes peer-reviewed and sometimes not, depending on venue).
Just like other reviews, when they appear in a significant publication venue they can be extremely high-impact. They are part of the scientific dialogue and they get cited, just like other articles. Moreover, even if not peer-reviewed, they are typically by invitation and still with editorial oversight.
As such, I do often see these types of articles listed under publications, on people's publication profiles, and being of value to a person's career.

While they're respected by hiring and tenure committees, they should not be listed with peer reviewed publications. I recommend a separate section of the CV.

First of all, I wouldn't generally recommend to publish in not peer-reviewed papers, although this is obviously just my personal opinion. If they are counted as publications, this depends on multiple factors, such as your research field, university standards, or the research stage you are in.

In CVs, do people list them under publications, and if not where do
  they list them?

Publications can be fine, but not peer-reviewed publications is more accurate.

What about book reviews?

No. These are not book reviews.

Do people add these type of articles to ResearchGate and Google Scholar?

It depends. If you are a college student or starting your PhD, yes, it can be better than nothing (or not, depend who you ask). If you are an experienced researcher with a good number of publications, I don't think so, at least, I wouldn't do it.

Do people in general view them as a positive thing for your academic career or a waste of time?

Same argument than before, in my field and my country are generally considered a waste of time, since they are not positively evaluated in any way and they are not peer reviewed, so you will not get any feedback of the quality of your research.

@dan1111 I guess we have different opinions. I think there's enough research out there to copy-paste your own research on different places with slight changes. Unless a meaningful discussion regarding the highlighted paper is done, I don't think these kind of articles bring anything new to the community that worth the effort.

They still mean that you research is relatively high impact.

While a News and Views piece is not a peer-reviewed publication, writing one for Nature or PNAS or similar is not a waste of your time either. The exposure in a high profile venue is valuable, and you get a chance to steer the discussion around an important paper or topic. They are also often quite community; News and Views pieces in top venues are typically well done and help place work in context.

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


text:
Can I fill an application for a PhD program, and send the scores of GRE and TOEFL later? How much later?
For a PhD application due in mid-December to Mid-January, what is the deadline for sending the GRE and TOEFL scores? I know the answer is different based on the university and the program I am applying to, but I think there is some date which I can't exceed.
I want to apply for a PhD program this year, the deadline for the application is between mid-December and Mid-January, but the GRE and TOEFL scores won't be available till mid-March. Is that acceptable?

As an applicant last year, I think that scores arriving so late would be unacceptable at most universities (at least in physics). Universities will start sending out offers starting in February and your application cannot be fully evaluated by then. You should check for deadlines on university websites; no point in getting a general deadline if all the individual ones are before it.

I think you are missing a key point here; the scores are a part of youra application. As long as your scores haven't reached the university, your application is incomplete.

@theindigamer: We do accept GRE scores after the application deadline. And we will start looking at your application even if it doesn't have GRE scores. So if they arrive in early January, they're still taken into account, and your application isn't thrown out for being incomplete. But as the first comment says, mid-March is after the decisions are made, and so is too late.

@PeterShor, in my first comment, I meant the "soft deadlines" usually stated on the university website as "we should receive your GRE/TOEFL scores no later than the last week of January" or something similar. Sorry for not making that clear.

How can you already know that your scores take that long? If the testing center nearest to your home has no slots open, you can always travel a bit further. It should be possible to get the results sooner. Especially for TOEFL you don't need to study more than a few days. (If you have more or less the required level, if not at all, then even a few more weeks will probably not help)

It depends on the university and the department and there is usually no way to tell from the outside unless the website is explicit. Unless you have information to the contrary, you should treat the deadline as the deadlines for all materials to arrive.
Many universities/departments will red flag missing TOEFL scores from international students and treat the file as incomplete - which means the application won't even get forwarded to the admissions committee. Some programs will also red flag missing GREs for both domestic and international students. The committee won't see these files.
In the application management system I used at my old department, I could run an alternate search for incomplete applications and still find incomplete or flagged files, but they wouldn't show in the default view and certainly not in the exported spreadsheet we used for committee ranking assignments.
So if your materials are arriving late, I'd write to both the graduate school and the admissions committee director or graduate studies director and make sure they know to flag your file for further attention. They may also tell you there's nothing they can do about an application that is missing material.
By the way, we usually have made our decisions by mid- to late- February so your scores arriving in March will definitely be too late and your application would likely get rejected as incomplete (unless you can argue that the TOEFL is inapplicable because you went to an English speaking college or some other reason).


text:
What's required for a PhD in pure math at MIT?
I'm new to college and I was wondering.
I want to complete a PhD in pure math at MIT.
Could you complete a Bachelor's degree at another university or  would you have to get a Master's degree before you could enter the program?

In the US it's typical to enter PhD studies directly after undergraduate.  Of course, MIT has relatively high standards.

@Kimball Indeed, similarly to how you need to be relatively good at football to play in the NFL.

Possible duplicate of How does the admissions process work for Ph.D. programs in the US, particularly for weak or borderline students?

https://math.mit.edu/academics/grad/admission/faq.php

Do I need a master's degree before applying?
No, a bachelor's degree (or equivalent) is required.


text:
How should I refer to my master's thesis in its text? A paper?
Occasionally I need to refer to my master's thesis itself in its text, e.g. in the sentence "These rules are sufficient to compute any differential in this ____".
I was wondering which of the following terms are appropriate to fill the gap: paper, thesis, text, work.

Dissertation is another widely used term.

It's not a paper because this term usually denotes journal articles.
You can use the term thesis or the more generic work, instead.

I personally referred to mine as a study, or more specifically "the current study" (text or work would fit as well). This was you can avoid using the first person.
Examples:

the aim of the current study was to...
Smith et al demonstrated that.... which is in agreement with the findings of the current study
Results of the current study challenge the notion that...

Thesis and work are widely used terms. I would use thesis to refer to the text itself, and work to refer to the actual work that has been done, prior to the writing, which is reported in the thesis; e.g. the experiments, implementation, process, etc.
Text would also be correct but I have not encountered it very often in the context of science and engineering.
I have also seen the term book used for this purpose. Usually this is within theses of which many copies are printed as books and circulated.
I would argue that paper is not a correct term to refer to a thesis.

"document" seems to be a good general solution.

Hi, and welcome to Academia.SE. Would you care to expand on your answer a bit?


text:
Why do US/Canadian universities make you do master even if you have a first class honours from Australia?
In Australia, when you want to do a PhD, you only would need first class honours (some universities even accept second class honours upper division). For instance, please see the self assessment for the Australian National University:

I guess that most of the UK universities have the same requirements (at least Cambridge and Oxford).
Why do almost all US/Canadian universities make you do a Master's (before doing PhD) even if you have a first class honours from Australia?
I think the time that is spent for studying masters, can be saved for postdoc; on the other hand, UK/Australian PhD programs takes 3-4 years but US/Canadian PhD programs are much longer.

The University of Texas at Austin admitted me to a PhD program with just a Bachelor of Science degree. Not all top US universities require a Master's to enroll in their PhD programs. I could have gotten a Master's degree along the way during my PhD program, but I chose not to do so.

@BillBarth, I am guessing that the OP is asking about the first two years of coursework when you are admitted to a PhD program. You may or may not choose to get a master's degree from it. But in any case you need to go through it. Or can you skip it if you already have a master's from a good university and taken all those courses and beyond?

@Bill Barth: I've been in several Ph.D. programs (long story), and none of them required a Masters. What you did have to do was pass the Ph.D. qualifying exams within a certain time constraint and/or with a certain number of attempts. There were course requirements as well, but these were generally not much of a concern (unless you thought you wouldn't pass the Ph.D. exams and needed a Masters to fall back on) and probably would be waved or altered (i.e. allow advanced graduate level courses to substitute) if a student passed the exams upon entry to the program. (This pertains to math.)

@DaveLRenfro, that sounds like a much authentic explanation. I recommend you to convert your comment into an answer. Currently, the other answers are from confusing to incorrect.

@DaveLRenfro, that was my experience. Took me 2 tries to pass the UT ASE written qual, but I passed the oral a few months latter with only a few minutes of deliberation. There was a Master's-worth of coursework to do before I got to the point of taking the quals, but that's no surprise to me then or now. There was no entry requirement to already have a Master's since there was a Master's-worth of required courses in the first two years of every STEM PhD program at UT that I had any exposure to (friends, friendly profs, etc.).

They want you to teach.

The principal difference between degrees in the US and Canada and those obtained in other countries is that the bachelor's degree in the US typically contains fewer "technical" courses than a comparable bachelor's degree from other countries. For instance, a student in economics may only have twelve courses total across four years that are economics courses; the typical international student may have twice as many. This is because most US and Canadian schools incorporate a "general studies" requirement into their degrees, which reduces the amount of credits available for the major.
Consequently, the coursework phase of the PhD program is to bring everybody up to the same level—also a necessity, given the diversity of undergraduate curricula—before moving on to the research phase.
Also note that this is not a universal requirement. Some programs will admit directly to the PhD with only a four-year undergraduate degree, with no expectations or requirements of acquiring a master's degree. (This is my case—I have no master's.)

so were you able to skip the 1-2 years of coursework? Whether you get a master's or not from the US university, it is the 2 years of coursework and the qualifying exam that seem compulsory even if you have a master's from another university outside the US. Or am I mistaken?

Also, @aeismail, are you asked to take the 'general studies' courses to get your master's in the USA, if you have done your master's with 'technical subjects', or only further technical subjects? The former case would be bizarre (e.g., a student admitted for a PhD in Physics asked to take an undergraduate French Literature course so that he/she could complete requirements of a master's!), and the latter case can be a waste of time (retaking the courses instead of learning newer things) for the student. I am sure the US universities must be following some different system.

@John what you describe can happen — actually especially with languages as many masters and PhD programs require competency in a foreign language, but many bachelor programs don't. I always have at least one graduate student in my lower level courses when I teach them.

@John: No, because I hadn't taken it yet.

My experience suggests that the premise of this question is not correct. In general, US universities do not require that Australians with an honours degree to do a Masters before entering the PhD program. I did an honours degree (in pure Math) in Australia less than a decade ago, and about half of my class went on directly into a PhD program in the US or UK. I have classmates or friends who did PhDs at University of Chicago, Stanford, Northeastern, University of Oregon etc, all with nothing but an Honours Degree. In general, the same is true for the most schools in the UK. For instance, one of my classmates went on to do a PhD degree in Warwick immediately after finishing Honours.
Cambridge is an exception, as all students usually take the Part III first, which is a one year long Master degree. In other places in Europe, such as Germany, you definitely need to do a Master first. The reason for the difference between the US and European systems is that more coursework is typically required in a PhD system in the US. Whilst an American PhD involves several years of coursework, a European PhD often involves no coursework at all (rather, one is expected to do research immediately upon starting the PhD). The coursework is instead done in the required Master program.  As a result, a PhD in Europe takes just 3 years in total, whereas one in the US takes around 5 years. Once you add in the required Master program, the time required to get a PhD is roughly the same in either system.
Let me also add that the top schools in the US and UK are very competitive. A first class honours in Australia is by no means enough to guarantee one entry. In some cases a good Master degree may improve one's chances. But it is certainly not a requirement and most top US schools will and do accept exceptional Australian students with only an Honours degree (which is only logical, since domestic US students are only required to have a Bachelor degree).

I'd just add a slightly contrary perspective to this. At UT Austin, I was expected to start helping with research projects from day 1. In fact, I was working on research projects, as an undergraduate, a semester before I even started my PhD program. I wasn't required to be doing independent research at that point, but I was already getting steered in that direction as a last-semester undergrad. The fact that I hadn't taken all the PhD student startup courses didn't matter to my advisor at all. I was expected to contribute. This seemed to vary widely across UT and advisors.

@BillBarth. Maybe I phrased this too strongly (and I will edit my answer). My main point is that PhD programs in the US require more classwork than in Europe (a European PhD, in pure math, typically requires zero coursework, with all coursework being done in the Masters). I think this may well be field dependent- my understanding is that, in the typical pure math departments in the US, one is not even assigned an advisor until the start of the third year or so of graduate school.

You had my upvote and comment from the beginning. Academia varies widely and wildly.

I already have admission offers from Stanford, Georgiatech, Princeton, Oxford and EFPL. When I applied, I even had not completed my degree (last year) so your statement "A first class honours in Australia is by no means enough to guarantee one entry." does not apply (at least to me).

@BillBarth: I just looked at your university profile. I think you should know Victor Eijkhout. We have worked together on some TeX formats together and he knows me personally.

@Aditya, I do. He works for me. How is that relevant?

I am afraid you did not understand my question. I never said in my question that master is a requirement for phd programs in US but I said they make you do masters and then phd. So you get your masters along the way. Your last paragraph implies that only exceptional Australian students get admitted into the top US schools.

@BillBarth: It is irrelevant to this question or this answer. But I got excited when I noticed that you work in the same place. I have a lot of respect for Victor.

@Aditya, you may do the equivalent of a Master's degree along the way (I did), though you may not actually get the degree (I did not), since applying for and receiving the degree is not required. Most department/universities agree that there is more than a Bachelor's degree that is needed before one starts on a PhD. In the US, most systems require 2 years (ish) of coursework before the qualifying exams are taken, and the quals must be passed before the PhD can be started. This is roughly equivalent to a Master's, so many programs offer one at this point. That's all.

@Aditya, did you mean, by your question "why is * 2 years of coursework* required in the US/ Canada"? Because this is not what you literally asked. I am sorry you question was vague and not very well written.

@faisceaux: I would not call myself exceptional. My WAM (at the time of application) was 95.2, I had done several summer research project and I had good recommendation letters. Also I applied for electrical engineering not pure math but as I said yesterday to you, I have a double degrees in electrical engineering and pure math.

(expanded and edited from an earlier comment)
This pertains to mathematics programs. I've been in several Ph.D. programs (long story) and none of them required a Masters for entry or a Masters to be completed at some later time, whether the student was domestic or foreign. What you did have to do was pass the Ph.D. qualifying exams within a certain time constraint and/or within a certain number of attempts. There were course requirements as well, but these were generally not much of a concern (unless you thought you wouldn't pass the Ph.D. exams and needed a Masters to fall back on), and the course requirements would probably be waved or altered (e.g. by allowing advanced graduate level courses to substitute) if a student passed the exams upon entry to the program.
For the vast majority who were not so fortunate to pass the exams upon entry, the courses mostly acted as vehicles for you to study for the qualifying exams. In math at least (and in the U.S.), the exams are pretty much your primary concern until they are passed. When I passed the qualifying exams, there were 15 people taking the exams and only 5 passed, and this does not include several other people who decided to bail and not take the exams after some experience in graduate level courses (and the realization they would likely not pass the exams).
Incidentally, my experience is that as a general rule (in math), the more prestigious a department is, the more relaxed they are about course requirements and the less meaningful course grades are.
Leaving math, I suspect much of what I said varies quite a bit with the field of study.

This answer is not based on data but rather on my experience of both systems. I've recently spent 3 months in an Australian university as an internship in my Canadian PhD so I was able to compare.
Master degree in my field (Ecology/Biology) in North America are big research projects. They do not equal coursework even with first class honors. And honors projects I've seen would not be enough for a master degree either.
Also, in French-Canadian universities, we do not have the honor system, so I'm not surprised that first class honors are not recognized.
Edit: The previous answer also points to important difference in coursework that can explain the difference.

Which university in Canada requires a big research project for a Master's?! I have worked in Canada as a faculty member and I haven't heard of a master's with a big research project. You are not talking about a master's that you get while working for your PhD, do you? That's a completely different situation then.

@AlexanderMcFarlane, true. However, Emilie is comparing two completely different things: a coursework master's at an Australian/British university and a master's that you can choose to obtain while doing your PhD work from a US university. In the latter case, your research is meant to be towards your PhD but not a requirement for the Master's from the same university.

@John not exactly. Lot's of people in biology do research master degree for it's own sake, not toward a PhD. It can be two different degree, all in research. As the OP was asking for a "master (before a PhD)" I though he was talking about a research master degree.

Also, this might be highly field specific @John. All canadian student's I know in biology do research project and some are quite big, especially in ecology.

There are two different Master's you can pursue in British/Australian system. Masters by research in which the research projects are quite big; and Masters by coursework in which you have to take many courses and as well as a research thesis which then may not have big research. However, often times research of even masters by coursework students at Australian/British universities result into a research publication. In short, you are comparing two way too different systems and degrees, and hence students you encountered while your Australian research trip.

@John I do get this, but I don't see where the OP precise which program he's referring too.