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Should I include a person that helped acquire funding but did not contribute to the project as author in publications?
I have a new collaboration with Dr. Y: together with Professor X, we applied for funding for a project based on a working paper that I had worked on for more than 1 year. Dr. Y provided some successful applications he had and also edited the funding application. I was happy with his contribution in the funding application stage.
We were awarded with the funding and worked on the project. The project is not in the area of Dr. Y and he did not contribute any ideas to improve the work in the project (I included Dr. Y because Professor X advised that Dr. Y had been successful in applying that type of funding). However, Dr. Y did not even bother to put time to edit project reports properly when the research assistant sent these reports. His editing was minimal and numerous spelling errors still remained.
We completed the project and the group discussed to publish 3 papers out of the report. In preparing the first paper, I hoped Dr. Y would contribute more, but it is the same: he only edited the paper minimally. Now I don’t see any points in including Dr.Y in the other 2 papers, but Professor X insisted that I should. He said that Dr.Y is very gossiping and is going to be a professor soon and I should not upset Dr.Y.
Professor X has been my supervisor and mentor for more than 8 years (I now have tenure). Should I follow his advice? What is the cost if I do not and also upset Professor X? What is the risk if I include him in the two papers?

Are you a student? postdoc? early career? tenured?

I am a tenured (early career) lecturer. I have been able to publish a number of good publications on my own and i have a number of grants with Professor X.

In answer to your title question: no, getting funding for research is not an intellectual or scholarly contribution to a paper, and on its own it is not worthy of coauthorship.  This is a fairly standard position of editorial groups in academia and it is reflected in published guidelines for coauthorship.  Inclusion of a purported coauthor due to their reputation, position, eminence, etc., without an intellectual contribution to the paper is considered to be "guest authorship" and is a breach of academic honesty/integrity.

The International Committee for Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) (2021) states that "Examples of activities that alone (without other contributions) do not qualify a contributor for authorship are acquisition of funding; general supervision of a research group or general administrative support; and writing assistance, technical editing, language editing, and proofreading." (p. 3, emphasis added)

The World Association of Medical Editors (WAME) states that "Only an individual who has made substantial intellectual contributions should be an author. Performing technical services, translating text, identifying patients for study, supplying materials, and providing funding or administrative oversight over facilities where the work was done are not, in themselves, sufficient for authorship, although these contributions may be acknowledged in the manuscript, as described below. It is dishonest to include authors only because of their reputation, position of authority, or friendship (“guest authorship”)."

The present situation is complicated by the fact that Dr Y has undertaken review and revisions to the paper.  You characterise this contribution as minimal, but he (and others) might not agree with this characterisation.  Depending on his contribution here he might be able to mount a reasonable case for co-authorship, but this really depends on his intellectual contribution.  In assessing this, you should note that even if he made few revisions, his scholarly judgment in checking the paper (including the correct parts) might have been a substantial contribution, so be careful not to equate the volume of manuscript-changes to his contribution.
One thing that is notable here that Dr X has given a justification for inclusion of authorship for Dr Y that is political rather than scholarly --- i.e., that the latter is gossipy and influential.  This is a red-flag suggesting that the authorship is not warranted and is proposed to be granted only for internal political reasons within the Department.  The conjunction of a minimal editing role and these kinds of (corrupt) justifications being put forward for authorship is suggestive that co-authorship might not be warranted in this case.
As to what to do, that is a decision you will need to make.  There are reasonable grounds to push back here, particularly against the view of Dr X that you should grant co-authorship to avoid adverse gossip or action from an influential academic.   You could discuss the matter with Drs X and Y and let them know your view that you are concerned about the possibility of guest authorship in this paper, and see if you can resolve the matter by mutual agreement.  If this discussion does not assist, you could take your concerns to the ethics board at your university or to your Head of Department to get their advice.  I recommend that you frame your issue as a concern about guest authorship, noting that this is a breach of academic rules.  Even assuming you do this in a professional way, you should be realistic about the fact that doing the right thing here might lead to a conflict between you and Dr Y (and possibly Dr X depending on where his sympathies lie) and so you will need to decide if you are prepared for that.  Since you are a tenured early-career academic, I think you are big and ugly enough to take action on possible misbehaviour at your university, so I would counsel you to follow up with your concerns to ensure that the proposed authorship is properly considered.

Thanks so much Ben for your insights. It looks like the position of a tenured academic is quite different from those of posdoc or PhD students. Also, your analysis on contribution of Y and possible solutions is very useful.

Assuming you want to continue this collaboration in the future, I suggest that you don't arbitrarily exclude Y. You could/should have a conversation with them asking for their view on authorship and whether it is warranted. Don't make it confrontational, but ask their advice as a senior member of your field. The alternative is a very nice acknowledgement within the paper.
In some fields the answer would be clearer than in others. In particular, in some, a PI is always listed on all work of the lab that they have organized and found funding for. They may not contribute directly to the ideas, but they provide an environment in which those ideas can flourish. Other fields are very strict about what constitutes authorship.
An "extraneous" author on a single paper isn't going to be the end of your career, whether valid or not. The advice of X is also worth considering. Think of the future as well as the present.

Thank you, Buffy.


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Student continuously makes insulting comments during my lecture - how do I handle him?
I teach in a small college and one student seems to have an obsessive need to make comments aloud during class.  Sometimes those comments are funny (he is the class clown) but sometimes they feel abusive and critical when aimed directly at me.  Yesterday when I was reviewing an exam he made it a point to say twice that he learns better from my supervisor, "I want ___________ to teach us; I learn better from him."  Last night I also mentioned the wrong date of their next class.  I apologized for misspeaking and corrected myself but not before a negative comment was made by him about being wrong.
In the past, I remember distinctly him making a negative comment when I made a mistake, "come on man, get it together" and a few minutes later when he couldn't answer my question in class, I jokingly said, "well, as you said to me, 'come on man, get it together.'"  The whole class laughed aloud at my comeback to him.
Last night's comments really stung.  When he commented that he wanted to learn from my boss, I agreed that my boss is brilliant and that he should reach out to him, to which he said he already did.
What do you do or say when a student basically tells you that you are not a good teacher, to your face, in front of the entire class??  Thank you!

Have you asked your colleagues whether this is common behavior for this student?

Country would be important here as cultural norms come into play.  Different institutions have different rules as well, so there is quite a bit of context missing.

I would like to express my sympathy.  Sometimes a professor and a student just have (as the phrase goes) irreconcilable differences.  I have had a student in my class who I was sure simply could not handle a college class, who did swimmingly once they transferred to a colleague's class.  It really makes one doubt oneself professionally, and you shouldn't.  I am sorry that you have to deal with this.

@LSpice "t really makes one doubt oneself professionally, and you shouldn't" Why not? are we the perfect entity enlightened by a superior entity? I think there is always room for improvement.

@EarlGrey, re, certainly it's appropriate to think about whether something like this (while unquestionably inappropriate) can indicate points where a teacher might improve.  But I assume that the poster has already done this.  Sometimes it's really not the teacher's fault, and not really even the student's (although abuse is inappropriate), just an incompatibility that makes everyone's experience worse.

Before you pursue any of the other suggestions proposed here (return fire, kick him out), talk to him one on one about this at an opportune moment, i.e. after class or during office hours in case he visits them.
Do not focus on how his comments "stung". Do focus on why his comments are inappropriate to make in class. That is, do not pretend that his comments did not hurt you, but do not dwell on it. Rather, make a clear, brief, and defensible argument why his comments are inappropriate.
I would tell him that he can raise concerns about your quality of teaching with you in private, but that class time is not the time to make snide remarks about your teaching, because it disrupts the teaching process. Of course, you should only say this if it is actually true, i.e. if the reason that you want him to stop is because you actually believe that it disrupts the teaching process, rather than because his comments sting.
Example: "Look, judging by your comments in class, I see that you don't seem to have a lot of respect for me as a teacher. That's fine with me, you don't have to respect me personally, but you cannot keep making these kinds of remarks in class."
Then, depending on your teaching philosophy, you can supply a truthful reason why. For instance, because a certain basic level of authority is required for you to run the class smoothly, and what he's doing goes beyond constructive remarks and well into the territory of undermining that basic authority. Students are free to decide whether or not they like your teaching, but they don't need him egging them on.
Be brief and do not engage in discussion about this. State this as a fact and be prepared to back it up.
Decide beforehand how far you are willing to escalate this. If they are unwilling to be reasoned with, decide whether or not you should tell them that you require a certain basic level of respect from your students as a prerequisite of participation in the class.

I disagree with this part: "Example: "Look, judging by your comments in class, I see that you don't seem to have a lot of respect for me as a teacher. That's fine with me, you don't have to respect me personally, but you cannot keep making these kinds of remarks in class." I don't think explicitly affirming the right of this disruptive student to continue disrespecting the teacher is appropriate. A teacher is owed a measure of respect by the student. At the very least the student must act outwardly as if he fully respects the authority of the teacher. The remainder of your advice is good.

Disagree with anything to do with the need to justify yourself or explain how things work. He is disrupting your class. Let him know that further disruption is actionable, and may result in his being removed.

Re @Deepak's comment, I don't think a teacher is automatically owed respect any more than a student is; that is a good baseline and starting point, but some teachers, and some students, simply lose that respect.  I agree, however, with your minimum requirement that both teachers and students are owed respectful behaviour from one another (that is, teachers from students, students from teachers, teachers from teachers, and students from students) while in the professional environment.

I agree with most of this, but you don't have to make up a seemingly impersonal reason like "your comments disrupt the class". The comments are impolite to say the least and that's as good a reason as any to ask/demand that the student stops. Something like: "Your comments X and Y were very impolite. I will not accept this in my class. Do you understand?"

Yeah, it's totally reasonable to expect a base standard of respectful communication in class - you don't insult and belittle your students, they don't insult or belittle you or their peers. This is pretty much the base standard for having a good discussion. If you need a justification for yourself, having someone delivering putdowns is likely to make the class less willing to ask questions when they don't understand, or to try and reason out answers with you.

I find these students always understand that this behaviour is not acceptable when you push back on the boundaries. Often they're surprised you let it go on so long.

@LSpice Sometimes respect means “deference” and sometimes it means “basic dignity.” I sense when you say you don’t think everyone deserves respect you are thinking of the first meaning. Here, the student is falling short on the second meaning.

@Deepak Very strong disagree on the first part of your comment. Teachers are not owed a measure of respect from students merely by dint of being teachers, especially not in third-level education. Teachers and students both deserve respectful behaviour as part of social etiquette, but actual respect is earned, not preordained. It is perfectly valid for a university instructor to tell a student they have a right to feel however they feel about them, but that their behaviour needs to change.

@JanusBahsJacquet +1 for distinction between "respectful behavior" and "respect". The former is owed in just about any professional/academic context, however it is not precluded by the latter.

@Deepak "A teacher is owed a measure of respect by the student. At the very least the student must act outwardly as if he fully respects the authority of the teacher." I think you are possibly saying the same thing, just using different words. The point was to communicate to the student that you are not reacting out of hurt pride but because such comments are out of place in a classroom.

@Dúthomhas "Disagree with anything to do with the need to justify yourself or explain how things work." So how exactly does it hurt to explain why this kind of behavior is out of place? Contrary to popular belief among some people, explaining why you're doing whatever it is that you are doing when you are in a position of authority is not in any way a sign of weakness or a concession of any kind and does not in actual fact diminish your authority. It's just what people do when they wish to communicate their intentions clearly.

Because it enables engagement, which doesn’t further OP’s stated objective.

@Dúthomhas No, it doesn't. I explicitly said "do not engage in discussion about this". Explaining what you're doing and engaging in discussion about it are two different things.

@JanusBahsJacquet Fair enough I guess. This may be a cultural difference as Asians (at least Indians) are traditionally taught to be respectful, even reverent, to teachers throughout their lives. But as we can't really control or mandate what someone thinks or feels, outward behaviour is all we can work on, so we're in agreement on this point.

@AdamPřenosil My main point was that I don't think it's worth explicitly affirming that the student may continue disrespecting the teacher. As I mentioned in my latest comment, I am in agreement that outward behaviour is what the focus should be on, so maybe just emphasise the need for the student to conduct themselves decorously and respectfully in class without using phrases like "you don't have to respect me", etc.

@Deepak Understood.

This is the adult world, not school.

What do you do or say when a student basically tells you that you are not a good teacher, to your face, in front of the entire class??

At the third level you tell them to be quiet or leave.
You might tell the entire class that this is the adult world and here they are expected to listen and learn, not behave like children.
This student is behaving like some secondary school kids do, and I would be surprised if they did not behave just as badly in high school.  But the third level is the adult world and the adult world does not tolerate this behavior.  Neither do you.
The remarks they are making are designed to annoy you.  They're gaslighting you.  Do not engage in tit for tat exchanges — that is what they want.  That's what entertains them.
Check with your academic office (or supervisor) what the allowed punitive actions are.  There will be a formal approach to this, usually with increasing levels of severity.
Typically I'd expect you to be required to do something like email a formal warning to the student that they must behave or could be subject to formal punishment, including suspension or expulsion from lectures or even the school.
But the bottom line is that this is the adult world and you hold all the cards.  Do not play their game.  Play the game as set out by the institute's rules for behavior and conduct.  These give you power.  Use it.

Last night's comments really stung. When he commented that he wanted to learn from my boss, I agreed that my boss is brilliant and that he should reach out to him, to which he said he already did.

This was a mistake.  You engaged with them using their rules.  Don't do this again.

I'm a bit puzzled by this answer because you start by stating "this is the adult world, not a school" but then your advice is to deliver a school punishment. I teach classes at university and it's crystal clear to me that the university rules of conduct give me absolutely no power at all. If I ever would expel a student, the consequences would be worse for me than for the student. But I never need to resort to that, specifically because this is "the adult world" and I don't need the threat of school punishments to have authority on students.

I disagree with the last paragraph.  Of the stated responses, I think saying back to the student "come on, man, get it together" was less than desireable at best, and wrong at worst.  But I think saying "if you prefer another instructor's methodology, then feel free to reach out to them" both shows (or at least puts on the appearance) that the instructor does not have a vain need to be the best to all students, and shows a desire to respond constructively even to inappropriate comments.  I think it was a great response to a very poor and inappropriate situation.

@Stef In the adult world there are rules and punishments and systems that lay out those.  There are procedures in most institutions.  I am quite surprised you say you have no power at all.  You don't probably have the power to just force someone out on the spot but there should be a procedure to allow disciplinary procedures to be taken against trouble makers.  I am afraid you have been lucky about not experiencing this kind of gaslighting abuse as I think it is becoming more common.

@Stef "I teach classes at university and it's crystal clear to me that the university rules of conduct give me absolutely no power at all." - I'm astounded by that. I once had a student who would repeatedly disrupt lectures, and my manager's advice to me was to tell them to leave, and call security if they refused. It's not fair on the other students who are there to learn if the disruptive student is allowed to stay and keep preventing the lecture from continuing.

@kaya3 I guess that depends what you mean by "disruptive" and "repeatedly". Yes, the university has procedures. Yes, it's possible to get students expelled or have them removed by force or whatever other drastic measures you can think of. But that would be quite extreme. In my experience, those behaviours don't just happen out of the blue. Students constantly test where the limits are, and if they find no limit, they keep pushing. If the teacher lets cheeky remarks evolve into repeated disrespectful behaviour evolve into physical disruption of the classroom, yes, you can call security, sure.

But if your only way to get authority over your students is reporting them to the disciplinary committee, then you're going to face two problems: 1) The student won't respect you and you'll have absolutely no authority in your classroom. 2) The university will brand you as "that teacher who can't handle their students and keeps reporting them to us for no reason".

@Stef Maybe this is something to discuss with your university (via the staff union  ?) but there are many steps up to expulsion.  There are suspension of some privileges, like library and study room rights or lab access, or specific bans from specific lectures pending a formal apology.  I'd expect a formal warning letter to be the first step on the university's formal procedures.  Security is called when someone refuses to respect whatever punitive measures are undertaken.

My point above was not that there were no disciplinary committees in the university, just that those are reserved for extreme situations.such as a student assaulting someone or cheating in final exams. Not for a student being late or cheeky or the teacher having no authority.

@Stef Regarding the effect this has on how students view you, I think with the rise of what I'd called the internet generation there are more and more who learn to abuse other people.  I think most students are, nonetheless, quite happy to see troublemakers removed and I don't think it undermines authority at all.  Most students respond to a verbal warning, but the real troublemakers need a formal procedure and I think most students accept this and are quite happy to have peaceful lectures.  It is for many their first real experience of the rules of the adult world.

In my case the rest of the students were relieved that we could get on with the lectures. I don't think the student was expelled, they were just not allowed to attend lectures for that module any more. Either way, I definitely had power in that situation to do various things in order to ensure a good learning environment for students who were there in good faith, whether or not that power included things that would have been an overreaction, and I'm surprised if there are universities where the lecturer doesn't have some kind of power to address disruptive behaviour.

Our standard syllabus says that disruptive students will be asked to leave. Simple. (Specifically, leave the class/lecture for the day. They are still enrolled in the university.)

You should check the rules and regulations of the college to see if he violated any rule. If he continues doing this, kick him out of the class. If he does it again, you need to take it further.
You cannot let him (or anyone) pushing you around like that. Once students know they can do it without any consequence other than hurting you, they will always do it.
I don't think "lecturing" him is a good idea. It is something that you cannot fix easily. A student with such a behavior will not listen to you. He probably needs to fail a few times (because of his behavior) to become a better man.
Years ago, I was such a student. I mocked teachers for their academic "incompetence" because I thought I knew way more than them. Years later, I regretted doing that so much. Such an attitude could not take one so far.
Furthermore, it could also be a general problem of many students studying at that small college. Probably, you will need to learn how to deal with it as well.

Definitely don't do this before talking to the student first. Whether or not we may hypothesize that "a student with such behavior will not listen to you" is irrelevant.

Agreed with @AdamPřenosil's comment.  The first thing any disciplinary hearing convened in response to a student complaint will want to know is—what did you try to resolve this with the student?  Protesting that it was clear in advance that nothing would work will not, and should not, be a defence.

So you think you would personally have benefitted from being thrown out? Did you fail a few times and learn from it?

I feel that none of these answers are adequate, because none of them direct OP to take ownership of their role in this.
If, as stated in the original question, this has been going on for some time, then you have established for your students that this classroom environment is informal and that snarky "class clown" comments from the students are allowed.  Had you established from the outset that they were not allowed - as I can assure you many other instructors do - this would not be happening.
After allowing "funny" comments from the class for an extended period of time, it is not appropriate to suddenly try to seek out a way to punish the student because you didn't like one of the comments.  You made this bed - probably in a misguided attempt to seem easy-going and likeable.  This is how that bed is, sometimes, and is one big reason why other instructors enforce more restrained environments.
The best thing for you to do is to meet with the student privately and frankly tell them that although you have allowed "quips" from the class in the past, going forward they will not be allowed.  In the course of doing this, specifically acknowledge that you realize that your role in setting the previous behavior boundaries, and explain that you have decided to make a change.  There is no need to talk about your personal feelings about any particular comment, and in fact doing so undermines your position.

You describe the student as being somehow evil or bad. Instead, they might have a neurological disorder such as something like autism spectrum disorder that they have never overcome. Some of the symptoms listed at the above link sound similar to what you are seeing.
If this student generally behaves like this in other classes than yours then this might be the explanation. You can (probably) explore this with your colleagues who have had interactions with the student.
How you deal with it depends on rules and regulations. You might be able to refer them to a counsellor. You might, yourself, get advice from a counsellor in how to deal with such people.
Among other things, people on the spectrum tend to have poor social interaction skills. This is just what you are seeing. Punishment, then, isn't what is called for, but professional help may be. If this is the actual explanation you won't be able to correct it on your own.
Note that the privacy of such folks needs to be respected.

That is a good call...

Many students, if not most, will test the teachers and the boundaries, even unconsciously. Even great students can behave horribly if the teacher can't hold a minimum of authority. There is no need for a psychological disorder to explain this fact.

If the student has behavioral problems that is something that the school should have already notified you about, along with an action plan that all parties (school, student, teacher) are expected to follow. Sans that, student can expect himself to be held to the same social standards as all the other students who paid to be there for your instruction.

@Dúthomhas, re, I do not think that it is automatic that teachers will be formally notified of students' behavioural issues.  At least, I am not aware of any such policy at my (private, US) university.  At most, I am formally notified if there is an accommodation due the student, and I might be informally notified "oh, watch out for that student."

At the university level “accommodation” is the correct word for this. Unfortunately, I did speak more absolutely than correct — colleges and universities are notoriously uneven about this kind of stuff.

-1. I don't think armchair diagnosing a student with autism and then blaming rude behaviour on this assumption is the way forward here. Autism is also not something to be "overcome", in the same way that wheelchair users don't just need to "overcome" their inability to walk.

@astronat, I'm not diagnosing anyone, only pointing out the possibility. I know senior researchers on the spectrum (friends, actually) that have learned to control the effects. Professionals are needed for both, of course. I don't assume otherwise.

It is perfectly fine to have challenges - or some would say a handicap -  but your teachers should know this if you want to be be treated differently than everybody else, and know it from the start.  Given this story, I don't thing the student is on the spectrum.

@ThorbjørnRavnAndersen, I think one should not presume from this post, or from anything other than being told by the student on the basis of competent diagnosis, to be able to determine whether or not someone is on the spectrum, and this answer does not seem to claim to have made such a diagnosis.  (For that matter, nor has the student asked explicitly to be treated differently, as far as we know—they have behaved inappropriately, but that is a different matter (that needs to be addressed).)  I think this answer merely suggests the possibility for consideration (and perhaps discussion).

@lspice thank you for clarifying.  My point still stands - if you need special treatment, let people know.  I don’t think it is the case here

@astronat if given the choice i'm sure the vast majority of people in wheechairs would love to overcome that disability.  and speaking as someone who has a spectrum disorder similar to autism i can assure you we (or at least many of us) try to mitigate and overcome the negative effects they bring.  also this is hardly a "armchair diagnosis" -- if this was middle or high school sure, but at the college level this is extremely unusual behavior, to the point where psychological issues are the most likely explanation (but of course this should be verified through the accommodation office)

Some kinds of disruptive behaviour can be spectrum-related. This includes clowning and a penchant for the (seemingly) irrelevant. However, a knack for political manoeuvring is not typical of the spectrum.

This depends on where you are. In the UK some universities have personal tutors for students. In my first year teaching here, my English accent was funny and two students kept laughing at me the entire session. A quick email to the lecturer, with the implicit next step of talking to their personal tutors, quickly corrected the situation. Also, if the student has some particular condition, some unis let you know via email.

Your only option is to flash a brief smile when he does that, spend as few words as you can on any responses (basically, his measure of succes is how much he can distract and unsettle you). Think of phrases such as: "Good point. Anyone else?"
Your responsibility is to the learning experience of everyone in the room, and while they may find him amusing, ultimately they will feel he detracts from the value they get out of an expensive education. So most others will appreciate your firmness, even if they do not speak up.
Also (and there is some evidence of this in your question) this kind of student will always try to ingratiate themselves with your boss, their boss, and their boss. The basic mechanism is this: at some point the student underperforms and you have no choice but to give a poor assessment, which they have now ensured is pre-tainted. "He have me a C because he had it in for me." (I know cases of guys [it is usually guys] who played this game with several supervisors all the way to a PhD. In a way, it is better if you've dealt with them as undergrads or master's students, because it is so much worse with a PhD/grad student.)
Do not be drawn into this game.

I find none of your examples to be an insult (as you called it in your subject). Not constructive, but far from being an insult.
Probably nobody likes to hear things like "I want ___________ to teach us; I learn better from him.", but it might even be true. Tell him that he's not going to choose his teachers, case closed.
"Come on man, get it together" is not constructive either, but you should learn to ignore such things.
So, in my humble opinion: Take a step back and rethink how bad his remarks actually are. Do not shoot back. It's a fight one doesn't want to get into, and I'm not sure you would win it.
And... teaching is not about winning against your students in the first place.

The boat may have sailed with this particular student or even class, but for the future (in new/fresh settings), I would advise this:

If you are generally a humorous character yourself, joking around, being very jovial, dial it back in class. You can still be that way before and after, but make it a habit to be formal or maybe even a little stiff in class. The class room is not entertainment - you are working there, and some of the students are as well. (This is assuming from your SE handle that you're teaching a "hard", technical subject, anyways.) Your teaching should be clearly visible as an earnest affair, making the misbehaviour of the student even more obvious.
Do not feel alone in this. The troublemaker is not only disrespectful to you, but also to the other students, and disrupting them as much as you. You can be sure that a good portion of your other students are quite annoyed as well, assuming most of them are there out of their free will and not due to compulsory education.
Do not engage with silly comments. Treat them as ugly presents handed to you - you do not need to accept them. You can observe them and decline to accept, if that makes sense.
If at all, try to be compassionate. Have pity with the student who has to behave like that, and will very likely at some point in their life run into problems due to that because they maybe won't work too well in work or private settings.
Hurtful comments take up only   a second of the time of the troublemaker, but can work on you for days or months. You have spent time thinking about it; you spent time writing this question; you are spending time reading the answers, and so on and so forth, while the troublemaker has very little investment, and probably a modicum of joy. Be aware of this imbalance and use it to lessen the impact of the comments in your own mind.
There is no need whatsoever for you to take the "advice" or a comment from someone to heart, unless you respect them. They are just moving their vocal cords and pushing air molecules around. They could be ill or a bad person, but certainly not a leading figure for you. Reserve that for people you look up to.

These tips are not meant to reframe the situation, but to give you tools how to lessen the impact in your own mind. I assume the student in question is not running around drawing a bleak image of you with your supervisors, or anything like that, and thus really hurting your career.
It is generally hard to impossible to change other people; it is much easier to change yourself. If indeed you feel a need to change the situation outwardly, instead, the proper measures would depend heavily on your local culture and regulations - best discussed with your own supervisor or support structures of your uni.

Student continuously makes insulting comments during my lecture - how do I handle him?

After reading the actual descriptions of the "insults" the first thing that came to mind was neurodiversity which is discussed in @buffy's answer.
It doesn't sound like Tourettes necessarily, but that's certainly something that one does not warrant "handling" the individual.
To me it sounds more like just being honest, speaking the first thing that pops into one's mind without the socially appropriateness filter keeping it from moving from thoughts to vocalization.
"Get it together" sounds to me like someone trying to fit in, be more social, but in a way that seems inappropriate to most of us.
If there's room to allow a bit of this from this student, without it seriously impacting other students, it might be worth considering just ignoring it, especially if their participation and progress is otherwise within an acceptable range.
Perhaps "handling" the student in some specific way isn't really necessary, and working on not letting it bother you, or even trying to see the humor and honesty in it might be a better approach. That's based on the question as written, there could be extenuating circumstances of course.

Keep things open but feel free to return fire
As a preliminary matter before giving advice, I'll just point out that the ideal of academia is generally pretty open about what you can say in class, both as a teacher and as a student.  In particular, the ideal of "academic freedom" generally includes the freedom of academic staff and students to give their opinions and beliefs in relation to the subjects of study (which arguably would include the quality of teaching or resources for those subjects).  This is valuable because it allows students to learn to remain calm and learn in contexts where they encounter unpleasant ideas or discussions.  In view of that, so long as comments remain somewhat on topic to the lecture/subject area it is usually best to allow that commentary.  The idea is to try to create an environment where everyone is an adult and is able to behave as an adult.
In the present case, I would counsel you to allow this student to make his adverse remarks about the quality of your teaching, etc.  However, this could also be an opportunity to teach this young man that academic freedom and the resultant freedom of speech is a two-way street --- if he wishes to make negative commentary about his lecturer in front of other students during that lecture, he should be prepared for critical commentary to be returned in kind.  Therefore, I would say that you are doing exactly what you should be doing --- let him make his comments but return fire with your own zingers.  Try to keep things light-hearted to make everyone laugh and avoid escalating the conflict, but feel free to "put him in his place".  You are probably not the best lecturer on campus and he is probably not the best student, so if he wishes to draw attention to the former fact, feel free to likewise draw attention to the latter.  If this student insults you publicly, feel free to insult him right back (in a proportionate manner), ideally in a light-hearted way that will entertain the other students and keep things from escalating.  Next time he tells you that he would much rather be taught be your supervisor, tell him "I'd rather be on a beach sipping margaritas with [insert beautiful movie-star], but it looks like we're both stuck with each other".  If you are concerned that your return fire might escalate things, you might also consider having a short conversation with this student (or even with your entire class) just letting them know that you wish to allow an open dialogue in class, and treat them as adults, but that this is also a two-way street.
From what you have described, it sounds to me like this student has poor social skills and is not good at gauging when a comment is a legitimate observation on a topic and when a comment is crossing the line into being an insult.  Given his lack of ability in this area, being on the receiving end of some of your own responsive barbs might actually allow him to see what it is like when someone publicly draws attention to your shortcomings, and it might teach him some humility.
Finally, it is worth noting that some of what you're encountering may become easier as you develop your own teaching competency and become more self-assured in your own teaching.  You will get better and better at teaching as you practice it more and remarks like this won't sting at all.  If I were to make a mistake in a lecture and get teased by a student it would just make me laugh at myself along with the other students and then I would probably see if I can get them back with a (light-hearted) zinger later.

There is a difference between discussing an unpleasant idea, and purposefully making the discussion unpleasant. When you mention returning fire, and putting students in their place – that's risky. This is a college, not a school. The students are adults, and should be treated as adults. If a professor can teach the students good manners, that's great. But that's not an obligation of a professor, and a professor is not required to be prepared for executing that. This may easily turn unprofessional and put the professor in trouble.

Of course it's risky, but so is any course of action in this situation.  Treatment as an adult means that if another adult insults you then you are free to return fire.  Description in OP shows that he is already doing this to positive effect without things getting unprofessional.

@Ben "Treatment as an adult means that if another adult insults you then you are free to return fire." I don't think this is how it works if one of the adults is in a position of authority over the other. Your boss should never insult you, even though you're both adults. But they are well within their rights to demand not to be insulted, and to back up that demand with potential consequences for the other party.

@Ben if another adult insults you then you are free to return fire – no, this is not how a civilized society works.

Some more examples might be helpful. The movie star example is benign and non-abusive; I don't see any real problem with that (though I'm sure others will disagree). But a "zinger" that "calls attention" to the fact that he "is not the best student" seems like it might quickly cross the line.

It is hard enough for professional comedians to handle hecklers tactfully. I don’t think we should be asking instructors to carry that same burden. A better answer would defuse and redirect, not reinforce the behavior.

"any fool can backtalk; it takes two to make a conversation of it." (Fred Price, Tools_for_Teachers)

Answering abusive behavior with more abusive behavior creates as abusive environment. This will get us nowhere good.

All personal ethical issues aside, I would expect a documented or admitted behaviour of two-sided disrespect to make it harder later to pursue any disciplinary remedy against the student, and might (and should!) open the teacher up to disciplinary remedy taken against them.  At my (private, US) university, I would expect at least a stern talking-to from the chair if I said something even just perceived as unpleasant, much less actively nasty, to a student — especially if I improperly referenced private information such as their class standing.

everything else about this answer aside, the op hardly seems like someone who could use this advice successfully (no offense to the OP, this is a very particular skill even seasoned stand up comedians struggle with).  it's like wrestling a pig, all you do is get dirty and the pig is going to beat you with experience.

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Is it common that a supervisor doesn't even read their students code?
My friend is very frustrated, he realized recently that his supervisor never read the code he was working on for the last year for his PhD.
As he described the situation, his supervisor doesn't seem to see a problem in that fact, and says that it was always hard for him to read any of his students' codes. However, he continues asking him 'stupid' questions about how the code is implemented and asks him to include those answers in his thesis. When my friend mentioned that the thesis already has these answers in such section or paragraph, the supervisor quickly pretends that he means to describe it in more detail, and my friend is afraid that he never read the thesis at all, except for some major sections.
So my question: Is this a common practice in academia? Are supervisors required to read their students' work or not; and if not, how do they ensure that the work is correct?

Is the question about whether supervisors should read code, or about how to deal with advisors who save all their feedback until the last minute? We try to separate to one question per post, so that others who have the same problem in future can find this post and benefit from it.

The question posted here doesn't seem internally consistent, perhaps in part because you're posting on someone else's behalf, which doesn't seem to make a very coherent story. For example, you say both that the professor and student meet weekly and provides him regular feedback, and then suggest the supervisor isn't involved until the thesis is almost done.

I tried to relay the story as I heard it, the meetings are held and the only thing that happen in those meetings is my friend is talking and the supervisor is taking notes. My friend isn't learning anything from his supervisor. Just giving him tools to be used against him later.

It doesn't seem like you have a problem to resolve here, just a third-party complaint to issue. That's not a very good format for this site which is meant to collect answers to specific, clear questions that are useful to other readers who might find them with search in the future.

I will edit the question to be specific to one question then. Thank you

What's your friend's field? "asking him 'stupid' questions about how the code is implemented" Why is "how the code is implemented" is a stupid question?

I don't know what he meant by 'stupid', I assume questions showing that you don't know how the code works.

Is it possible there is a disconnect in communication styles, and the supervisor is using the Socratic method to get the student to think more deeply about what they've coded and written?

It is common for supervisors to not read their students' code. That is because code is hard to read if it's not written by you. You can note this effect yourself if you try reading the code of open source projects (e.g. Stockfish). The last time I tried to read someone else's code from scratch, it took several days to get a sense of what the code was doing, and I still didn't understand every line.
How do the supervisors know the code is correct then? Well, how does anyone know the code is correct? You test the code on simpler cases and make sure it works. For example, take a program that takes five points and calculates
the area of the resulting polygon. In that case, if you give the program the same point five times, it should return 0. Similarly, if you give it only three points (if the program requires five inputs, give one input three times), it should return the area of the corresponding triangle. You can verify this case easily with pen & paper, since the formula for a triangle's area is known.
And then there are other checks. For the pentagon-area program above, if you give very large numbers, you should also get a very large area. Does that happen? If you give five points in the 1st quadrant (i.e., positive x-value, positive y-value), you should get the same area with the five mirrored points in the 3rd quadrant (negative x-value, negative y-value). Does that happen? For each test that the program passes, the more confident you can be that it is working correctly.
The last line doesn't mean that it is working correctly. Example of papers getting retracted because of a bug in the code. But that's typical of science - just because Relativity has passed every experimental test it has faced doesn't mean it is correct.

The other thing to understand, along with the fact that it takes several days to read someone's code properly is that universities don't allocate supervisors much time to supervise each student. I am given 1.5 hrs a week per student.

The question:

Are supervisors required to read their students' work or not; and if not, how do they ensure that the work is correct?

Certainly not the entirety of it, especially for PhD students. By the end of a PhD, the student should be a better expert in their narrow topic than their supervisor. Moreover, in science, we do not repeat every single bit of others' work to be able to judge whether the result is correct or not.
And that is especially true for coding-heavy PhDs of late. My own advisor does not write or read code at all, that does not mean I should not have written any or that I should have forced them to pick up coding just to supervise me. This is just absurd.
Instead, they would have questions (usually) representative of those people in the field would generally have. In some aspects, the roles easily get reversed: advisor-student relationship is not strictly hierarchical, the advisor is not supposed to be better, faster, stronger than the student in every aspect. They are also not supposed to follow the student at every single small step. A PhD student by their graduation should be able to be independent, and they should be able to clearly demonstrate to the thesis committee why their results are correct. The less the advisor's seal of approval matters at that point, the better.
The problem:

My friend is very frustrated

I would advise approaching it similarly to reviewers' comments. If they did not understand everything you said and are asking "stupid" questions, they are usually in the right. Do not look up to the advisor as some kind of an Übermensch: if they did not understand something, what odds are there that the thesis committee will understand it? It is one's job to communicate their work clearly, not readers' job to thoroughly reexamine every nook and cranny. If I read your paper and you did not convince me that your results are sound, presenting arguments understandable by me, I would likely not even get to open your code. And all the hard work that went into it would not matter at all if you did not bother to answer "stupid" questions or thought it is my responsibility to ascend to your level of understanding to be able to bask in your infinite wisdom. Sorry.
This is not the only approach to advising possible. And there are truly stupid questions. But from your post, I got a different impression: very likely, there is value in what your friend's advisor does. If your friend leans towards offering their work only to a select few who will put enough effort in understanding it, they have gotten it backwards. If they overemphasize the role of their advisor in a PhD (as in, results are only valid iff an advisor says so, they then say so to the committee and the work gets a greenlight), that is also problematic.
So there you have it. There is a big gap between "does not even read the code" and "completely clueless about the experiments, methodology, and results". The former is definitely normal, the latter is not. Some in-betweens are also common (e.g. an advisor might not understand some specific parts of the methodology, and that is also fine).

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How Important is the GRE General / Subject compared to ACT / SAT?
I am about to graduate with a B.A. in Math and want to pursue a Ph.D. in the subject. I understand that most graduate schools require both the general GRE as well as the subject math test.
I am wondering exactly how important these exams are for admissions. Obviously it varies by school, so I was hoping people could compare them to undergraduate admissions with the ACT or SAT.
For example, as a high school student we were told that SAT / ACT scores were an important but not determining factor in admissions. Accordingly, I stressed quite a bit about my scores and even retook the ACT.
For a graduate program, especially in mathematics, is the general GRE really that important? Or is it more of a check mark — that is, to make sure candidates are able to read and write, but not necessarily to pick those with the highest scores.
Similarly, are the subject tests decisive at all? Or are they used to just make sure that you know the "basics," while the course load and letters of recommendation are far more important.

How exactly a given committee (member) weighs different aspects of an application is highly variable...

My impression is that the general general GRE is somewhat analogous to the ACT or general SAT for undergrad.  If you familiarize yourself with the format, try some practice test questions, and show up well rested, and you are generally well read person with good basic math skills, you should be fine.  (This comment is not about SAT subject or GRE subject tests.)

I guess I dont understand why one doesn't reach out to the respective schools to ask.

The SAT/ACT are there really to quantify if your abilities in the subjects tested are to-par with what you'll need to succeed generally in college. It also gives the college a means to compare individuals at a national level. The GRE itself is technically supposed to measure how your undergraduate studies have progressed your academic ability as a preparation for graduate school, but institutions vary widely in their consideration of GRE scores in their admissions process. It could just be a check mark, but it could also be integral to the selection process. Many graduate programs at my institution require nothing but the general GRE score to exceed 1000 in total, and selections are influenced much more by letters of recommendation, GPA, statement of purpose and prior research experience. Of course, a particularly low GRE score could have a negative effect on your application, much like a low SAT/ACT can impact college admissions. If they want your performance on the GRE subject test in math for a math Ph.D., it may be reasonable that they're going to scrutinize that score more than the general exam. But it's really up to the graduate admissions staff who oversee the application.

Certain programs in Mathematics will heavily weight the GRE Subject test for mathematics programs. Many top programs will have a threshold that they expect students to pass for them to actually read the application. Usually, one should view the subject test more as something that can help you be considered, not something that can get you accepted to a program.
This being said, it is definitely something that should not be considered just as a formality when applying to top 25 universities.

I completely second this: for competitive programs, it is particularly important to take the GRE subject test seriously and do well on it.  I have spoken to faculty at several schools who indicate that applications without high enough GRE subject scores are unlikely to be accepted, with the low score being a justification for rejection on its own.

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How to visit an institute when looking for job?
I am a lab technician (microbiology & molecular biology) and biology student, and I am currently seeking for job in some institutes in the UK. After sending my CVs to the HR departments, I usually got some replies with acknowledgement, or pointing to the institute's vacancies webpage, etc.
Now I would like to be more proactive, and I feel like it would be good to visit some labs in person, meet the group leaders and other researchers, learn more about their research, and see how I could fit in these groups with my expertise. I expect this to be more efficient than sending CVs to the HR, as team leaders could know about me, and consider more seriously to hire me in their labs.
My questions are, is this kind of visit possible at all? How much I need to organise it, can it be kind of spontaneous? I know there are some other institutes elsewhere, where it is accepted, and they are happy if somebody just pops in to the lab to meet people and learn more about their work. Might this attitude be general? I am afraid they will find me intrusive. And how I should organise a visit, should I write to HR, or to the team leaders, or just drop in, say hello, telling that I can return later if the time is not appropriate?

Why not send the CV to the PIs themselves?

This is what I want, just I feel it would be nicer to handle them in person, and also it would be nice to see these labs, so I could know better if I like them.

FWIW, every time I've visited a UK research institute (including my own...) has involved making an appointment, getting a security pass, etc. It's unlikely you can just turn up and talk to someone without at least calling ahead. Universities are a lot easier to walk into!

By just sending CVs to places, you are essentially "cold calling," and it's no surprise that you're getting little response.  Most PIs get random poorly targeted job application spam every day, and your email will likely simply be discarded.  Just showing up in person or asking if you can show up in person without going through the formal job application site is likely to perform little better.
Instead, I would recommend figuring out how to get introductions through professional networking opportunities.  Some key things that you can do:

Go to conferences and meet people in person there.  It's entirely appropriate to mention that you are looking for jobs at a conference, and a good conversation at a conference can easily lead to just the type of invitation visit that you are interested in.
Get introduced through a third party, such as the PI you work with or other researchers that you know, either at your institution or elsewhere.
Do your homework technically, and approach with a highly specific connection that you suggest in advance would be appropriate to discuss.  You are much more likely to be taken seriously if your email begins with something like: "I noticed your lab is doing a lot of work with Boojum Factorization, and I've been working on Boojum Spectrometry, which could improve your Boojum Factorization methods in the following ways..."

Although many academics are not quite happy with the bureaucratic difficulties and delays caused by their HRs, HR departments exist not without a purpose. In the UK, the academic jobs should be advertised publicly and the appointment should be made on the base of merit according to pre-specified person criteria.
If Dr Who uses his personal relations, or secret charms to persuade a PI to hire them, the following chain of event happen:

The post is created and formally advertised
100+ candidates submit their applications explaining how they fit the person specification criteria
Someone (an academic or HR or both) pre-screens applications and compose a short list
Candidates from the short list are invited to travel down to the University for an interview
Everyone is rejected, Dr Who is hired.

Before answering the "howto" question, please consider, if you think the whole process is fair to everyone involved, especially to other candidates?
Regarding your question, if a stranger enters my workplace "spontaneously", and demands my time and attention, I will probably feel uncomfortable. Some people may find this intrusive -- for the record, I am one of them. There are clear instructions on how to submit a job application, and "walk into the lab out of sudden" is rarely on this list.
However, it may be a good idea to introduce yourself politely to the potential PI. Usual rules apply here: it is better to send an email first, explaining your reasons and motivation clearly. If your potential PI is considering hiring new lab members, they will engage in discussion with you, invite you to visit them, and work out further steps to get you on board.

I'm assuming the first two Jake bullet points don't fit your current situation.
His third bullet point is something you can already do, though.  Here's how to fit it in.  You can write a letter along these lines: "I will be traveling in your area in the early part of the new year, and would welcome the opportunity to visit your lab."  Then describe briefly something exciting you've been involved in (such as Jake's Boojum example).  You want to give the impression that a visit would be a win-win situation.
If you have a talk you could give, you could mention that (and the title and brief abstract).

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Can deadlines for PhD admission in US be approximated?
I am expecting to finish my masters degree in computer science by mid October and then I was planning to apply for a PhD program this year.
My question is, how much time will I have after being done with my masters to apply? I know different US universities have different deadlines but a general safe assumption would really be appreciated.
I still haven't decided which universities I would be applying to. I am also aware of the fact that eventually I'll have to look up at the websites for the exact deadlines but for now I just needed an approximate idea of a date by which I should have everything ready for submission including my GRE scores (which I am planning to retake).

It varies greatly.

There are the fixed deadline places, for which there are deadlines starting from Nov 15 or thereabouts, all the way upto Jan 15.
There are also places with rolling deadlines, where it's better to apply early.

In general, you should have your materials ready to go in the beginning/middle of November and that should take care of most deadlines.

Why is day 15 of the month usually picked?

The situation also depends a bit on if you're looking for financial support in the form of fellowships. If so, then you need to be a bit ahead of the schedule for applying to the graduate departments directly—some fellowship programs, including the NSF, typically have deadlines in November.
However, in general, if the school does not do "rolling admissions," then the deadline will be somewhere in December or early January, with decisions given in February or early March, and a decision expected usually by May 1.

Most computer science PhD programs, at least in North America, have a decision deadline of April 15.

It depends on what program it is.
Most top ecology and biology programs have deadlines in early December.
Most top-20 physics and astronomy programs (excluding Columbia) have deadlines on December 15th. Columbia's deadlines are usually on the first few days of January. Mid-tier astronomy programs tend to have deadlines around January 15.
That said, there are weaker programs in Physics (like Montana State and Kansas) that have deadlines that go well into Spring.
======
As for most strong Earth/Atmospheric/Planetary science programs - they primarily have deadlines in late December and early January.
(E.g. for this year for EAPS programs - deadlines were Stanford in mid-December, Berkeley on Dec 19, Harvard/Princeton on Dec 31, Caltech on Jan 1, Yale on Jan 2, Columbia on Jan 4, MIT on Jan 5, Chicago on Jan 9, UWash+Brown on Jan 15, and Cornell on Feb. 1st).
As for my case, I was utterly unprepared until mid-December.
I didn't take my General GREs until mid-December (though I took the Biology GRE in mid-October and the Physics GRE in mid-November - those two dates are the two subject GRE test dates in autumn), and only asked for LORs in mid-December (I managed to get them all in by January 2, but a couple of professors said that they wouldn't be able to write me LORs because they would be traveling during late December - I was fortunate to have many options to choose from though). Then I didn't start on my personal statement until the last two weeks of December (and I went through like 7-8 proofreaders). So the result was that I missed the Harvard/Princeton deadline and barely made the Caltech deadline with a crappy essay. Everything past January 2 was fine though.

is there any reason why the dates are so varied?


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One professor advised me to apply to some top schools. How to use this advice effectively when applying to other schools?
Three months ago, I had a one hour interview with a professor in a scholarship. After the interview, she advised me to go to these places: the biology department of Harvard, MIT Media Lab, and Sante Fe. Since then, I have researched about my interest more carefully, and decided that my interest is slightly different. As a result, those places are not my desired destinations (except Santa Fe, but maybe for my postdoc).
I don't intend to follow the fellowship. It has a lot of restrictions. I applied for it just to have the advice after the interview.
But still, being advised to apply to those prestigious schools is an advantage for me. It indicates that I have the ability to study there, with an assurance from a professor. I think that I should show this in my SOP, even when it's just a minor detail. All I want is to optimize all of my available resources I have.
I don't think it's a compliment since after suggesting the schools, the interviewers showed me the weak points of mine. And the words from them should be honest, since it needs to help the fellows to have a good applying strategy. This is stated in the announcement of the fellowship. I think that this professor can be my unofficial recommender. All of my official ones are from my country, so if I have someone from the US, it would help me a lot. I have emailed her to ask her about this, and a reminder, but she doesn't answer.
Should I put it in my SOP? And if yes, how to do this effectively?

"I don't intend to follow the fellowship. It has a lot of restriction. I applied for it just to have the advices after the interview". Do not EVER do that. Do not waste other people's time to get free advice. "It indicates that I have the ability to study there". No, it does not. Only the committee of those schools can evaluate that and not some random outsider. "I have emailed her, and a reminder, but she doesn't answer." Reply to what? That she said something nice verbally to encourage a student and now she has to vouch for a guy she only saw once in her life?

@Alexandros For your first point: why shouldn't I do that? For your second and third points: see my edit. Also, I agree that she doesn't have the responsibility to reply to me.

why shouldn't I do that? — Because you don't want to violate Wheaton's Law.

There's no way to use this at all. If a professor who met you for an hour can say anything that your recommenders can't, then something is probably wrong. Especially when it sounds like this was more of an off-hand compliment than a carefully considered statement. If you actually get and use the scholarship then that can be very beneficial, but it sounds like you aren't interested in that option.
On a side note, I agree with @Alexandros that applying for anything that you have no intention of accepting is extremely rude and borderline unethical. I highly suggest getting rid of that habit before entering academia proper. You are deliberately wasting a lot of people's time and money, and stuff like this can damage your reputation if it becomes known that you regularly do it.

I don't think it's a compliment since after suggesting the schools, the interviewers showed me the weak points of mine. And as I said in the question, it should not be a endorsement. Let assume that it's not, then do you still hold your opinion? Isn't this professor an unofficial recommender? All of my official ones are from my country, so if I have someone from the US, it would help me a lot.

@Ooker No, the professor is not a recommender unless they agree to be one, and there's no such thing as an "unofficial recommender." You could always try asking the professor for a recommendation letter, but hopefully it is obvious why that would be a bad idea.

Given your context, without knowing the exact situation, it seems it was not necessarily advising you 'to go', but instead 'to apply' to those places, as the professor had thought they would be top programs for what you were interested in. However, if you are not interested in those places, it seems like the advice and the meeting you had was not very fruitful.  If someone can not recommend a lab that is similar to your research and interests after an interview, I doubt you can take their advice to apply somewhere as any endorsement.
Stating something like this would come off as naive and overreaching.  The only time I would take this advice into account is if the professor was actually from one of the labs, and asking you to apply to their lab themselves.  In that case, it would be possible to mention in your SOP that you have interests inline with the professor.

Must it be a lab, not even a department, to use the advice? If I can word around carefully, would it still come off as naive and overreaching? "Professor X, who had willing to spend one hour to interview me, has kindly suggested me to apply to A, B and C"

@Ooker Yes, it sound the same.  I have recommended many people to look at applying to a specific person in media lab.  It is in no way a recommendation letter from me, and in no way am I saying they can be accepted.  Further, you are not interested in the recommended places, which just means they understood your work very little, and is more reason not to care what they said.

Don't ever use anything shared with you in a conversation without that person's consent. End of story.
That's not to say that I wonder how you would. Do you expect a statement to the sort of "Professor X, who I met once and talked to for 5 minutes, mentioned I should go to Harvard. Here I am, people!" to be even remotely helpful?

this is exaggerated. I know your purpose, but I think that my version is definitely different to this. "Professor X, who had willing to spend one hour to interview me, has kindly suggested me to apply to A, B and C"

@Ooker: I meant to be clear on the first point. From your questions here, you come across as a talented, likable student who might deserve to study at a good place, but who's hell-bound to bomb his application by treating it unprofessionally. It's not the first question where you consider mentioning someone else in your SOP w/o having that person's sign-off. That's bad, and you need to understand this.

Ah ok. But if only you elaborate why that's bad

Something shared with you was intended for you, absent any proof to the contrary not for other ears or eyes. That alone should be enough. If a friend tells you something in private, and you broadcast it w/o asking her if she's ok with that - how is she going to like that? Additionally, what was said might stem from politeness only (in the same way that you might call an ugly dress your mom wears pretty), or it might have been a hedged statement (using 'might's, 'could's, 'would's, ...), or a statement that means different things in another culture, whose meaning you read wrongly. @Ooker

ah, I see a possible harm here. There is a chance that the readers will ask her directly whether I am correct/honest or not. Do you think that they will take time to ask her about that?

@Ooker: That's not the point I'm trying to make. Your friend might be angry at you if you share what you were told in private because you did it, not because others ask her "Did you really say this?" It's a question of inter-personal etiquette that seems self-evident. You trust people who will keep what you told them to yourself; it is a personal conversation, not a public endorsement. Those reading your SOP with such a reference might frown simply upon seeing it; at least I would.

Related: Mentioning a Professor and his comment in a mail without his permission

@gnometorule I don't understand. This is not a friendly, private talking. It's a professional talking, witnessed by other people. I buy that the readers might frown upon seeing that, but I don't understand why it is an inter-personal etiquette problem.

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Can one really 'lose' old bad grades and get a fresh start?
15 years ago I was young and dumb, now I'm not as young. No way around it, I did poor in college. My grades were abysmal and were part of a period of my life that has long since passed. I'm now at a point in my life where I'd love to go back to school and earn the degree I never did, but I've got my past mistakes looming over me.
Even if I start in a community college and get a perfect 4.0 for everything I'm enrolled in, my previous transcript will bring down my average. Completing a bachelor's is going to be far more of an uphill battle than it would be even just for an adult going to college while juggling a full time career and family. Is there any process to either ignore college work after a certain number of years have passed or a method to have them expunged?

Your new GPA won't take into account your grades from previous schools.

If you attend a different school you can always just not transfer a transcript (if you're ok with all grades being thrown out)

@Jon, pretty sure that's not allowed, 100% not allowed of financial aid is involved.

Do they ask you if you've attended before? At my university, all credit transfer needs to be done pro-actively

@gilliduck my brother did exactly that (after only 6 year), and he had financial aid involved.

@Kimball Depends on the specifics. I believe some community college transfer programs (e.g. to meet legislated general ed requirements) and some university systems ("we're one university, different campuses") will carry over grades.

That's not necessarily the impediment you may think.  The institution where I taught would not accept nor transfer credit over ten years old.  Pick one or two colleges you might attend, visit their admissions offices, and ask.  There's a good chance you can start fresh.
There are two things to keep in mind.  Your transcript from your old institution will still be there, and you will be asked for it when you apply for any degree program.  It may lessen your chances of admission, but probably not because fifteen years is a long time.
The other is that you should be honest about your education history on your resume.  Once again, fifteen years is a long time.  Do well now and no employer will even consider that ancient history.
Go for it!

+1. People change. People grow. Others generally recognize that.

People who have understood that they made mistakes in the past and now want to rectify them, are amongst the most motivated individuals one can find. A good school recognises that and will give these people a fresh chance. A school that doesn't think so, is not one you would want to attend anyway. Good luck!

Having read hundreds of grad school applications, I can only echo this: Your case is far from unique, and admission committees know that people change and give them a second chance. Focus on what you can affect (namely, getting a degree now) instead of worrying too much about what happened 15 years ago.

Where I teach, not only would the age of the old courses lead to transfer problems, but our school also has the idea of academic bankruptcy, where newer courses (with some restrictions, almost none would apply to you) can be semi-erased.  They remain on the transcript, but are not counted as part of the GPA.  So I would say go for it, and as part of the application process check with the appropriate people there to see (a) if those old courses will be considered at all, and (b) if so, whether they have any equivalent of our academic bankruptcy.

My own undergrad history was fairly lackluster, to be honest.  (Without comparing grades, I don't know how it relates to "abysmal", but that's not the point.)  When I was thinking about getting a graduate degree, I started by taking classes without being formally part of the degree.  (In fact, I did that for both grad programs, now that I think about it.)  The nice thing about this is that they'll often let just about anyone sign up.  Maybe you need to talk to a professor first and have them champion you a little, but it certainly isn't anything like as complicated as applying for a degree.  Most universities are happy to have someone paying the bills for a class.  (So, there is that expense, and the extra time.)
Once you have taken a course or two at the university you are interested in, you have a transcript there.  Assuming you do well, you can now use that as part of your application process.  If you strike up a relationship with the professor(s) of the course(s), you might actually have someone to use as a reference.  If you have evidence that you are now a better caliber student than you were as a ~20 year old kid, that also gives you something to talk about to the admissions interviewers.
So, even though you may not be able to expunge old grades, you would have a pathway to start fresh at a school where your old grades won't be part of the transcript.

There is basically a "statute of limitations" for "old" grades. In most colleges, it's something like 10-12 years. Your 15 year absence from undergraduate work is outside that period.
That means that you can get a "fresh" start in a community college or four year undergraduate program. When applying to graduate schools, you will be supposed to submit your old grades, but they will be mostly discounted. What matters now is what you can do "now."
Even if your grades were say, 8-10 years old, just within the "statute of limitations," they would be heavily discounted. Graduate schools know that people can change, especially from one life phase to another. You have passed the "life phase" criterium.

This depends on the school. I had a 25 year break and my old grades and classes were automatically counted at my new school.

For completeness, and not because it is a big deal for gilliduck, some schools have a formal process for calling a mulligan on your academic performance.
At the schools where I've taught that have this is is called "academic bankruptcy".
The basic deal is that you draw a line and say "nothing before this counts". So you are starting over, this presumably this time you have a better idea of why you are there, what you want, and how much effort its all worth to you.
Now this is a little strange and at least some place that have this concept will, none-the-less, list your old classes on your official transcript. But they don't use them in the GPA printed on the transcript and they don't affect your degree.

I also know of at least one place that will let you apply an academic bankruptcy to a transfer application.
That is, you fill out a form that says "I got bankruptcy in such-and-so term", and they check that with the registrar at your previous school and then only count your post-bankruptcy performance in determining your transfer eligibility.

The simple answer is "sort of".  Your undergrad GPA can have a tendency to follow you for years in that it is often on the resume.  That said, a new program can give you the chance to start anew.  For example, I got a 4.0 in grad school and a 3.3. in undergrad.
It's actually unclear if you want to finish a bachelors, improve the current GPA on your resume, or go to grad school.  And why?  Let me answer based on a few possibilities:

Never got your bachelors:  Don't worry about the GPA...transfer credits as much as you can and get the college degree.
Don't like the GPA on your resume.  I advise to leave it on if 3 or higher.  Just develop your career and resume based on what you do now.  Sure a pedegree from CalTech is nice but at the end of the day, if you are doing things in industry, people care about that way, way more.  Especially for someone of your experience.
Want to go to grad school, finished bachelors with low GPA.  (Why?  And in what field?  It probably won't increase income.  Not I'm not saying not to do it...but just think on why.)  All that said, if you want to, it is very doable.  If you can show that have the aptitude (good test scores would help here), than people may look past the poor college performance.  They will figure you partied a lot and grew up now.


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How do I ask a professor to contact another professor he knows to accept me as a Masters student *via email*?
I did research with a professor during my senior year (2017/2018) and we published a paper together. He wrote me a letter of reference for my grad school applications.
One of the professors I'm interested in working with at another school is his sister-in-law. I've tried emailing her to no avail. I had a friend suggest I have the professor I know email her instead, since even the fact that they're related aside, a professor is more likely to respond to an email by another prof.
This is identical to this question: How do I politely ask a professor to contact another professor he knows to accept me as PhD student?
However, the answer to the previous question suggests subtlely bringing it up during a conversation. I'm not in school anymore (just graduated) and don't meet this professor in person anymore so I need to do this via email.
I was hoping someone could give some advice about how to compose an email politely requesting him to contact his sister-in-law on my behalf? I feel fairly embarrassed having to do this since I am asking for quite a bit of him, but I figure it's worth a shot. Worst case he says no.

Welcome to Academia.SE. I edited your question slightly to avoid the "help me draft a mail" line -- we don't do writing help here, but people may have advice on how to approach the situation, especially given the sister-in-law angle. Good luck!

I think it would be helpful if you asked for an introduction, no commitment on either side. He probably knows she's bad at e-mails (which is astoundingly common) and won't find it weird/inappropriate. Asking past professors for introductions is really common.

Since you aren't now his student and can't visit in person, I'd send a rather longish mail first requesting that he do you this favor, sending a letter to "Prof X", then giving the background that you've been unsuccessful and finally reminding the prof of the old work you did and any relevant updates.
I think that making the request first will permit him to quit reading at any point so that the length of the mail is less important as normally a short mail is appreciated.
"Longish" implies about a page with about 3 paragraphs, not a monograph.
Somewhere along the way note that you really want to work with his relative and that you know of the relationship. But don't make that the main focus. Letter from Prof A to Prof X.
But I don't think you are asking a lot. Part of his job is to send out such letters. It may be that sending it to a relative will cause him to send a different sort of letter, but perhaps not. The other prof may take a recommendation from a relative as having more weight (honesty) or not. But that is up to them.


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Is it wise for an undergraduate to contact a professor they would like to work under for a PhD program
Would it be wise to ask my current undergraduate research advisor to put me in contact with the people he knows within the math department at his former Ivy league school. I really need help to best navigate the academy.

“Would this method work?” What method do you propose, and what outcome are you looking for?

Would it be wise to ask my professor to put me in contact with his former Ph.D. advisor given I want to do a Ph.D. with his former advisor

What you suggest seems fine to me, but you could, and probably should, take it a step farther. Try to arrange a series of conversations with your advisor about how to approach graduate school in the long term and the admissions process in the short.
In particular, you will learn a bit about what life is like for a student at the institution you want to go to. It won't all be rosy and it will be hard.
He probably also knows a bunch of people other than at his alma mater and could make recommendations about them as well.
The personal touch never hurts, but with some admissions systems it may not help a great deal. The admissions process is often handled by a committee or even by administration rather than by individual professors. You will still need to make a good overall impression on the admissions people in any case.
On the other hand, don't necessarily close down your options to a single person. If that doesn't work you need the flexibility to go elsewhere.


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Research papers/articles comprehension
I am new in the PhD field (hydroinformatics). I have a question: How can I understand a research paper thoroughly? I am perplexed about how the authors got the results. How can they calculate it? How did they get their graphs, tables, etc.? In general, I can understand the abstract and conclusion, but the methodology and discussion part of a research paper are quite a pain.

Do you talk about one specific paper or any paper?

You are a new PhD and don’t know very much. It gets easier with reading more papers, doing your own research, and writing your own papers.

@Sursula Thank you for your anwer, I am talking about any paper related to hydroinformatics.

@JonCusterThank you for your answer, That's a relief

Even after you've earned your PhD and can quickly read a paper in your field once through and understand it entirely if you start reading papers from another field you run into this problem again. Though the closer the new field is to the old, the less prominent this will be.

Understanding comes with practice, experience, and discussion. Good abstracts and conclusions are written to be easily digestible, and in my experience a good number of academics primarily skim those two sections to see if a paper is "worth it" before diving into the methodology and discussion. That's because understanding those sections can take some serious effort, even for people who are well versed in the field! So don't lose heart if those are the scary sections.
To get there, you have to do a lot of work, read a lot of papers, and talk about those papers with lots of people. A PhD is very much not a solo effort. Do you have an advisor, labmates, or other professors in your department/field/organization? Ask them (particularly your advisor) about what their favorite papers are in the field, or if there are any good review articles recently. Then read those papers, take notes, and follow up by having discussions with other academics. "I read that paper you suggested, but I didn't quite follow their method of doing X. Do you have some time to talk about it?" They probably have insight that you're still developing and are often able to guide you in the direction of the right answer.

One of the best ways to learn about papers is to join a journal club which senior academics attend. They will know about all the little hidden things in papers 'They wrote that they did X, but we all know that really means they did Y'. They will be able to parse the complicated methodology that confuses you. Take notes, annotate the papers and keep them for later reference.
If there isn't a journal club, start one! Try and invite some senior academics to join - even post docs can be very helpful in learning about how to read and evaluate papers. The senior academics might be busy, but you'd be surprised at how much they enjoy talking and giving their opinion about papers once they get the chance...
I can't stress how much joining them has helped me critially analayse the literature and learn how to better design experiments and analyses. There's a whole trove of useful information hidden away in the minds of senior academics and one of the best things you can do as a student is to try and tap into it.


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Options about responding to offer from editor to transfer manuscript to lower-tier journal
I recently submitted a first-author paper to a top-tier scientific journal (A). The editor responded that the paper would not be reviewed in that specific journal (A), but that it could be transferred to (and guaranteed reviewed by) a middle-tier journal (B) under the same publishing family.
Searching online, I believe this process is called (or similar to) "cascade peer reviewing". The benefits would be that I would not need to entirely resubmit and would be guaranteed peer review.
Despite these benefits, I prefer to submit the paper to another top-tier journal (C) in the same publishing family. I tentatively plan to transparently ask the editor if we can defer the offer, submit the paper to journal C, and if the paper is rejected from journal C, then reconsider the offer to transfer (or perhaps entirely resubmit) to journal B. Would this question be lacking in respect and/or grace?
I plan on asking my coauthors if we should ask the editor directly about this detail on their policy. However, before even asking my coauthors, I wanted to check with anyone's experience with this topic here. If this idea of even asking is considered inappropriate, then I would probably avoid asking altogether.

Despite these benefits, I prefer to submit the paper to another top-tier journal (C) in the same publishing family. I tentatively plan to transparently ask the editor if we can defer the offer, submit the paper to journal C, and if the paper is rejected from journal C, then reconsider the offer to transfer (or perhaps entirely resubmit) to journal B. Would this question be lacking in respect and/or grace?

You are almost in a game theory situation! This depends upon your time and need for a high-tier publication. Here are two approaches I use:
Try for another top-tier journal: What I have done is leave the manuscript in the system for journal B, and not respond and because journals A/B considers a lack of response to be a decline to transfer. Usually, journal B gives you multiple months to respond before un-submitting the journal article automatically.
During this period, I submit to journal C. I usually hear back from journal C before I time out at journal B.
Easy publication route: In my experience, some journals will give a paper an editorial only review (i.e., the editor reads the paper and reviewer commens/response and then accepts) IF you address all of the peer review comments from the first review.
I would discuss both rotes with your co-authors. Depending upon your timeline and career stage, either route might be the best choice for you.

The first approach seems unethical, since journal C will usually require a confirmation that your paper is not currently submitted to a different journal.

@MKR It depends upon the policies of journal A/B. In the journals I have submitted to, the transfer process is not considered under review. It's a purgatory where they assume you are not going to re-submit unless you opt in.

The value of the editor's offer is basically zero, and, while being polite, there is no point in making arrangements to keep it, in case that your paper is rejected at the other journal.
Assuming that your paper is decent (which would be required to avoid a rejection anyways), it will almost certainly go through review in any suitable middle-tier journal that you send it to. Hence, the natural strategy is to send the paper to top-tier journals as long as you still have some confidence in a successful outcome. When you lose that confidence, you can send it to any middle-tier journal, either the one the editor suggested or another one.

I assume you submitted to Nature something (or even Nature, whoop whoop!) and now they are offering you to transfer it to Nature Communications? Because that appears to be their usual practice, and it is a win-win -- at least, for Springer-Nature. These manuscripts often become good papers that are highly cited, pushing Nat Comm's impact factor -- and, they are at least half-reviewed. Nature editors are professional editors *) and take time to carefully check the paper before sending it out for review. So, even if only a Nature Methods editor has looked at the paper, it is 10% reviewed.
If this is the case, you can absolutely try another journal before going to Nat Comm. NC is very fine too, but it is somewhat more commercial (costs you 4k). The editor knows the game, they will not mind. I am still a little bit annoyed that I did not know this 10 years ago and accepted the offer.
*) OK this is not 100% true because there are now so many Nature something journals, and I don't think they all have professional editors. Let's say, the top-10 or top-20 has.


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Conflict about my authorship with former supervisor
For four years I worked in the laboratory of my former supervisor. For unknown reasons, she always mistreated me - I had the smallest salary in the laboratory (and when I once asked her why, she cut my bonuses and then completely canceled them). She often lied to me about laboratory projects (and we had less than 10 people in our lab so it was hard not to notice), never taught me anything ("I have no time for you"), did not invite me to go to conferences, etc.  When I asked her questions on this topic, she stopped giving me any work for a while. Apparently to teach me obedience.
However, I worked hard.  I did a lot of wet biology for her projects and advised her on techniques that could be used to get the results she was interested in. But I never received scientific publications.  Everything I did was never right or enough for her to put me on the list of contributors.
Now I have moved on to another laboratory, and I no longer depend on her. And I have proof that I have done work for several of her published and forthcoming articles.
For example:

Emails and excel files on drosophila mutant longevity studies with statistical analysis done by me.  I had to go to work on weekends for three months to get this analysis done.  The reason why myself and another researcher working on this project (who was also on strained terms with her) were not included: "This work was assigned to another researcher as his doctoral dissertation."
A lab journal with documented "wet" studies, an email and an edited article on working with bacteria by me with a draft version that was provided to me by her. I have rewritten it fully. Reason why I was not included: "It's not a valuable addition."
Excel file and e-mails related to the ways we could do a scientific experiment on bacteria.  One of the proposed options was used in a published article, and I also ordered the reagents for it.  The reason why I was not included: "You were not around when we got this bacterium (during the expedition where they did not take me), so we have the right not to include you."

The two papers I did myself, my bachelor's and master's theses, were my only publications in the form of patent documents.  I was told to be grateful that I was allowed to use them, even though I did them from start to finish on my own.  For four years of research, this is not much, and since I want to apply for a PhD, this is not a good background for me.
Therefore, I have a question - does it make sense to fight for my authorship in these cases? Or is it better to forget about these four years as a nightmare, not seek justice and move on, because I will lose more reputation than I could gain?

related: https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/183939/is-it-ethical-to-deny-someone-co-authorship-who-had-not-had-the-chance-to-contri

Which of these are already published/forthcoming and which are still pre-submission? The cost-benefit analysis changes…

Partly published, but it is a long study with future articles on this subject 2) is in pre-submission 3) published