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How to be a good (Applied) Math graduate student
I am a first year graduate student in applied math at a relatively good school here in the US. I'm looking to concentrate in something at the intersection of CS and Applied Math (quantum computing perhaps), but I've always been a sucker for pure mathematics, and I'm glad I'll have a chance to learn more if it here. I want to run by my approach on how I think of getting through the first few years:
I am someone who has somewhat broad interests and likes to study mathematics based of its physical applications. Therefore, I am keen during my time here in taking in as diverse areas as algebraic topology, computational geometry etc. I also think I'm sufficiently self-motivated to open up math books on my own and study from them. The problem I feel with me is that I think I'm all over the place, and as someone who isn't naturally talented in mathematics, I find it very hard to commit to memory a lot of things I learn. One thing I don't get at all about graduate school is why still have timed exams under stressful conditions. It seems the whole purpose of teaching math at school, college and university is to weed out the those who can't perform under pressure. No wonder we end up losing a lot of students along the way who don't wish to continue studying mathematics. And here I am someone who's also not naturally talented in math, but I am still trying to go through these stupid motions. Therefore, I've seen myself not being able to perform well in the timed exams here. I've done well on take home exams, and I wish there were more of these in graduate school, because the whole point of doing mathematics is not to be able to do it under a time pressure (sorry for this rant here; I feel very strongly about this issue). So my approach going forward is to try not to worry about my performance on timed exams. Rather focus on the learning outcomes and hope I am able to check off the relevant boxes (pass a written qual etc.) in a timely manner.
Does this approach sound all right going forward? Or do I need to change my way of thinking going forward and perhaps be a bit more focused etc?

You should try to finish any qualifying exams and other requirements early so you can start the thesis work.


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A small part of my transcript is hard to read; can I get into trouble?
My university does not provide official transcripts in English, so I sent mine to a certified translator for translation. There is a footer on each page in Persian, and unfortunately, on one page, this footer covers the cumulative GPA and total passed credits of a summer semester; it is not unreadable but hard to read.

Since December 15 is the deadline of some of the universities I want to apply for, there is no time for me to ask for another certified translated transcript. Do you think applying with this transcript might be a problem?

Surely asking someone to fix a poor layout on the transcript they provided you is reasonable and quicker than asking for a new one? I'd at least ask first.

@AzorAhai-him- This transcript is certified, signed, and sealed by the ministry of foreign affairs. In order to get another, the translator can fix the layout in a few minutes, but I do have to post my original transcript again for the ministry, and it takes at least ten days for the sign and seal.

Oh that's a bummer

Apply with this transcript and to be on the safe side make sure you mention your grades (especially the parts that are hard to read) somewhere else where they are easy to read. In this case, someone who wants to 'confirm' your declaration can 'easily' (or with a little effort) check with the image you showed.
Perhaps also provide the originals? I am assuming the grades will be in the same numerals so at least the numbers can be read.

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What online writing software is used in your country for academic papers?
I am looking for ideas to understand what is out there. I am familiar with overleaf, word online and google docs. I understand this is not really scientific but if you are familiar with general habits of researchers per country, that is what I would like to know.

Does this answer your question? Academic writing software

As international student in China, we are using overleaf, up to now!

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Publish Abstract of Research paper in Researchgate before appearing in IEEE Xplore
I have 3 research papers accepted in 2 different intl. conferences in July'21 and the co-authors presented the papers already in August,21 (conferences are IEEE Sponsored, and going to index/publish by IEEE Xplore). However, none of these papers appeared in IEEE Xplore yet. Maybe it will appear few more weeks later. Now, my question is, can I publish the papers in Researchgate(only title, author names and abstract)? I mean, if IEEE Xplore rechecks the plagiarism before publishing the paper in IEEE Xplore, then it might appear the title and abstract of my paper is already in researchgate and as a result plagiarism score crosses 30%+ which might result not publishing the paper. Is my assumption true? I am worried about the plagiarism might cause an issue. In short, can I publish the title and abstract in ResearchGate to an already presented paper but before appearing in IEEE Xplore? Thank you

IEEE allows for this.  Check their policy.  They allow authors to post accepted papers on their web-site, as long you include the standard boiler plate.    For example, many papers are posted on ArXiV before they are published by the IEEE.   Also ResearchGate will 'steal' papers from ArXiV.

Please clarify your specific problem or provide additional details to highlight exactly what you need. As it's currently written, it's hard to tell exactly what you're asking.


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Choosing my "best works" for a tenure-track application
My question is related to this one, but is more specific (and has no answer there).
I am a postdoc in mathematics, applying for tenure-track jobs for the first time. Some departments ask me to indicate my 3 best works.
To explain the motivation for my question below, here's my publication record so far:

Paper in a top general math journal with a senior coauthor (from my PhD thesis). Cited many times.
Recent preprint with senior coauthors of a strong result, with a senior coauthor.
Paper in a top general math journal I wrote as a postdoc, singly authored.
Paper in a much less prestigious journal I wrote during my PhD, singly authored - this paper was rejected from several top journals - but a "famous" top mathematician read it carefully, talked to me about it, and said that is at the level of the top journals in maths.
2 papers from my PhD thesis, in subfield specific-journals, that happen to have relatively high impact factors, but in reality are very far from the top journals.

Papers 1,3,4,5 are in one subfield of math, while 2 is about something rather different.
I decided to include the preprint (2) in my list of 3 best papers because it is recent, and it is my only paper in this "hot" subfield.
While I would appreciate any advice on my particular situation, here's a more general question which may apply in different cases:

Should I include paper (4) among my 3 best works? The advantage: It is a way to say: "Clearly you'll notice that (1) and (3) are great, because they are in top journals, so let me tell you that (4) is also great, and you can ask Prof. X". The disadvatage: Including (4) will force me to drop one of (1) and (3), and so maybe the hiring committee will miss the fact that I have 2 papers in top journals? And maybe it will be like saying: "I actually got lucky with the paper I didn't include, it's not one of my best works".

Someone who knows you and your work can answer better than anyone here. Can you get advice from your postdoc mentor? From faculty at your postdoc institution, if that's not one of the places you are applying?  From your thesis advisor?

@EthanBolker: I'm not applying in my postdoc institution. I asked my postdoc mentor and my PhD supervisor and they said to include 1+2 definitely, but weren't sure about whether to include 3 or 4, and each tended in a different direction with no convincing argument.

@EthanBolker: Here's a simpler question: Will a hiring committee almost definitely notice a publication in a top math journal, listed in my list of publications, even if I don't include it in my top 3 papers? I don't know if it's possible to answer this, but maybe it is.

Instead of including paper 4 in your list, can you get a letter of recommendation from that famous top mathematician who thinks highly of it?

@MathPostdoc If your application is strong enough to get to the stage where they are actually looking at your work they will certainly see and pay attention to whatever's on your CV.

I'm not entirely sure how these things are typically evaluated, but "person such and such said it's good" doesn't seem like it would hold much, if any, weight when listed here (it may be easy to claim and hard to verify, if nothing else). Individual opinion could matter a lot, but that's what formal recommendations are for. On the other hand, if you believe them saying it's good means it's likely that the person reviewing your application would think it's good, that might be a different story, although it having been rejected from several top journals might lead one to think twice about that.

What country is this?  Are your postdoc mentor and PhD advisor in this country, and familiar with what is expected of such questions?

I think that they concious of some people having their name attached to a lot of papers without having contributed much. So rather than look through 20 papers that they had almost no impact on, the process has a limit of 3. I don't think they'd mind if you mentioned your other 2 as a side note when you submit your top 3. You can say "In addition, these other 2 published papers are also indicative of my high quality work and have had a high impact."

Does paper 4 have some obviously apparent quality like a high number of citations, did it lead to an important future work by others, or something? Because right now I don't see an objective metric by which you would include it in the top 3. If the primary plus of the paper is its endorsement of someone relevant, never forget that he might be also mistaken.

You’re overthinking this. It seems to me that you’re trying to hack the system by coming up with some clever trick to convey more information in the “3 best works” field than it is designed to communicate. We have seen these sorts of things before. Generally speaking such strategies do not work and can leave a poor impression.
“3 best works” means just that — whatever you think are your best works by some reasonable criterion that makes sense to you (papers in top journals are very appropriate to list in such a situation). If you list papers that are not actually your best works, you’re missing an opportunity to push the competitiveness of your application to the max. You may also leave people baffled if someone actually does look a bit more closely at your application and is left scratching their head about what signal you’re trying to send exactly by not including an obviously top paper. Maybe it will have the effect you imagine, maybe not. Personally when I am reviewing job applications I tend to be more impressed with candidates who engage with the process in an honest, good faith way and don’t give me the impression they are playing some weird game I don’t understand.
Good luck in any case!

The crux is that "good" is a multifaceted and subjective notion. I read the question more as "what definition of 'good' to apply" than as "how do I game the system".

Thank you Dan and thank you @lighthousekeeper. Indeed, I was not trying to game the system. I was just not sure what the system wants from me. The very fact that Dan thinks this looks like gaming the system gives me my answer. Thank you both again.

Nothing wrong with gaming the system. In fact it is naive to not doing so when possible because it will put you on disadvantage compared to those that will (everyone else, despite sometimes denying it, it is easy to convince yourself you aren't). Multi billionaire companies (Board of Directors) sometimes goes the wrong way because they put bad metrics towards their CEO's and CEO will just maximize the metric (play with the system) to get bigger bonusses that sometimes lead to downfall of the company but that is BoD fault not CEO. Analogy applies do Academia.

In this case, "gaming the system" in a good way is putting forward papers that are most likely to be positively perceived by mainstream academia. This means papers in top journals (even if you personally have some ethical objections to the publishing industry), papers with lots of citations (even if you have a "pet" paper that you believe was underappreciated by your peers), etc.

@MathPostdoc ok, good to know. The point I was making is that to include a paper X on the list instead of a paper Y, where Y is clearly better than X, with the justification that “you already know that Y is great so let me tell you about X”, would be what I consider gaming the system - it is giving a dishonest answer to the question you were asked with the hope of allowing you to get more of the hiring committee’s time and attention than they are disposed to give you or will be giving other candidates. …

… But if that’s not the case in your situation and paper (4) has a reasonable claim to being actually better than (1) or (3) in some respects, then sure, feel free to include it and there is no issue of gaming the system. I don’t have any advice about whether (4) is good to include in such a scenario, that would depend on a lot of specific details and even on pure luck.

1,2,3 sounds like a great choice to me.  Remember that the committee won’t be working in a vacuum, and will have your recommendation letters.  Presumably you have a letter writer who will talk about 2 and then it’ll be clear why you think it’s in the top three.  Dan’s answer is right, you shouldn’t try to explain your reasoning here, but that’s ok because your letter writers will do that for you.

Thanks. That's a good note regarding the role of the letters here.


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Is it possible for a professor to write a negative letter of recommendation?
Is it possible for a professor to write for an undergraduate student who is applying for a graduate program, a negative letter of recommendation? More like a minor criticism? If so doesn't this affect the student's academic career?

If one is only allowed to write positive things on an LOR, what is their use?

If LORs did not affect students’ academic careers, what would be their use?

Could you clarify your question? It's clearly possible for a professor to write absolutely anything they want in a letter of recommendation. Do you mean to ask whether it's ethical? Common? An important determinant of the student's chance of admission?

@Oбжорoв the choice of which positive things to say and how positively to say them gives plenty of use to LORs without needing to say negative things.

Well, this depends on who will receive those letters. If Prof. A in your department receives a "recommendation" letter from Prof. B about student C that tells "Dear Professor A. I would like to tell you that C is the most lazy jerk I ever met in my life. His personality is irritating and futile. Doing any business with him is a total waste of time. Also, he is dumb as hell. Best regards, Prof. B" - Then, what would Prof. A do in your department? Would he say to Prof. D "drop out the application of C right now" or he would just throw out the letter in the thrash bin and forget about it?

What does negative mean?  If I write, X is in the top 1/3 of students at SE University, is that positive?  Negative?  Or what about:  X came in with a weaker background, but worked hard to make up for it, and ended up with a B+ at the end of the semester.  Some people will view it as a positive, and some as a negative.

@Oбжорoв The candidate would presumably only ask professors who have a positive things to say. If they can't find any, there won't be any LOR, and that will be a big red flag to the admissions office.

You can certainly write a lukewarm letter of reference.  I knew a mathematician who I won't name, he had a famous supervisor who wrote him lukewarm letters, which causes him to end up at an obscure university despite his ability.

Yes. Letters of recommendation are sometimes called letters of reference, to emphasise that they can contain both positive and negative remarks on person's performance, achievement and character. Most people are not perfectly excellent in everything they do; they have strengths and weaknesses. A fair letter of reference should reflect both.

If so doesn't this affect the student's academic career?

If you ask someone to write you a letter of recommendation, you should expect them to speak their mind and give you a fair assessment that you deserve. If you are not ready to accept their  judgement, do not ask them to serve as a referee. Surely, a negative reference can negatively affect student's academic career, just like a positive one can positively affect it. The same can be said about academic grades --- you pass an assessment, it is graded, and your academic career is affected by this grade. Not every grade is good, and neither is every reference letter.
Having said that, many academics will probably refuse to write any reference at all, if they don't feel that they can write a positive one.

If a letter of recommendation doesn't affect the student's academic career negatively, then it's not actually a negative letter of recommendation (LOR).
It is perfectly fine to add minor negative points about a student, provided that they do not indicate unsuitability for what the student is applying for. If your interaction with the student was in a way that you have to do that in order to write an honest letter of recommendation, the best course of action is to advise the student to seek a different LOR writer. If they insist on you doing that, then they have been warned (depending on the culture, you may need to add explicitly that the LOR won't be positive only for them to get the message).
Actually, a minor negative point can add trustworthiness to a letter of recommendation. If everything you write about a student is completely positive, then it may not appear to be representative of the student's performance or ability but may look like a canned LOR given to all students. To avoid this impression, adding some information "between the lines" is however sufficient.

Sure, it's possible.  If you're asked to write a letter of recommendation then it is open to you to do so, and to write a negative recommendation if you think that is warranted.  In practice this is rare, because most of the time, if an academic has a negative view of the student then they will just decline to write the letter.  So it is possible to write a negative letter, but it would be unusual.
As to putting a minor negative point in a generally positive letter, that is much more common.  Indeed, you don't always have a student who is so good across the board that there is no area of development that is worth mentioning.  Usually a positive letter of recommendation will give an overview of where the student stands relative to their cohort (e.g., all students in their year, students you have previously taught/supervised, etc.), and then it will talk about their strengths and then talk about areas where they might need some further development if accepted to the relevant program.  For a positive letter the positive points will substantially outweight the minor areas for development, but you would usually still mention them if you think they are substantial.  In some cases a student is good enough across the board that the letter is entirely positive, but not always.

tldr; Many letters have varying comments, it won't necessarily sink an application.
I have written many letters and read many as part of our graduate admissions committee.
I'd say that there are a wide range of letters from the absolutely glowing to the "tell it like it is" variety. After all, there are a wide range of students interested in graduate school.
Having some level of criticism, minor note of critique, or measure of faint praise is not uncommon. For our chemistry graduate program, we often have ~350-400 applicants.
Does it affect a student's academic career? That depends a lot on the whole portfolio. And probably what school is evaluating you.
If we see one or even a few negative comments from one letter writer, but the rest of the application is strong, we'll probably write it off as a possible issue between the student and one professor. (After all, we're all human and personalities don't always mesh.)
If we see multiple notes across the letters, we may have a reservation about a student. But that doesn't necessarily sink the application. Maybe we decide to admit and give them a shot, but they don't get a fellowship. We'll still read the personal statement, transcript, etc.
Most faculty will be up-front when a student asks for a letter. I can remember one case, where a frankly mediocre student in my class asked for a letter. I suggested they ask someone else since they were currently getting a "B" average in an upper-level course. They felt despite their current grade, that they needed a letter from a classroom instructor, because they had two research experiences and letters from those.
My letter was fair. I mentioned that I believed the research letters would better evaluate how the student would do in grad school, and that they had a "B" in an admittedly tough upper-level course (quantum chemistry).
I don't know if that student got into their top choice, but they did go off to grad school and got a Ph.D.
Top schools likely have hundreds of top students. A minor critique could sink your application. On the other hand, there are plenty of strong grad schools (we're usually ranked 25-40) that are willing to take good students even if there's a minor note here or there. Students are human and there are often stellar students with imperfect applications. I've seen countless in this category.

I don't know about negative, but you can certainly write a lukewarm letter of recommendation which is basically not a recommendation.
I knew a mathematician who I won't name, but he/she had a famous supervisor who wrote him/her some ''lukewarm'' letters of recommendation.  This caused him/her to end up at a rather obscure university despite his/her ability and definitely had an effect on his/her career.

What do you "know" about your anecdotal case, and what are you presuming?


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Is it a bad idea to apply for MSc and PhD in the same department?
All in the title -- I really want to join the PhD program, but I'm considering "hedging my bets" in case there aren't enough spots or the stars don't align by applying to the MSc program in the same department, which also happens to be extremely strong. Since it's to the same department, I'm guessing the same committee will be looking at the two applications.
My question is, would it weaken my applications in any way to do so? (If so, please elaborate?)

I'm confused. If you've not nearing finishing your masters yet, why do you apply for phd, especially formally?

@Lodinn: Unless things have changed substantially from when I was a student, it is not particularly unusual to have people enter a PhD program straight from an undergraduate degree with honours.  Plenty of people have come into their PhD candidature without a masters degree.

@Lodinn I'm guessing you are not in the US; in the US it is most typical to apply to PhD programs after the bachelor's degree. There may be an opportunity to earn a master's along the way, and some people may choose to do a master's first to get additional research experience before applying.

@BryanKrause Correct; I did not realize the depth of my folly - most of the people I've collaborated with in the US were PhDs and I silently assumed US follows a similar system to the Bologna process. It is so confusing, in fact, that I'm about to ask a separate question about it! Thank you.

I see no problem with this.  Departments are well aware that people often need to make multiple applications in case they are not accepted into their preferred program.  To ensure you don't waste the department's time you should be explicit in your application for the masters program that this is a "fallback" position if your application for a PhD candidature is unsuccessful.  That way, if they decide to accept you into the PhD program, they will not spend much time over your other application.
I would love to be able to reassure you 100% that adding a masters application will not harm your chances of acceptance to a PhD program.  Ideally it shouldn't, but I will add this slight caveat.  There is a fairly well-known principle in behavioural economics that says that the "choice architecture" of a decision can affect the result.  In particular, when people are presented with a set of ordinal options, there is sometimes a slight cognitive bias in favour of the middle one --- this is sometimes called "the Goldilocks effect".  By giving a set of two options, there is no clear middle option, but the cognitive effect may be to make you look less appealing for admission to the PhD program.  I'd love to think that the admissions committee would be immune to this heuristic bias, but you never know.


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When is a good time to ask for a next academic position?
As a final year PhD student with less than 1 year to go before the PhD is completed, I am interested in continuing in the same group as a PostDoc. However, I do not know if I should wait until I am asked or should I ask if my supervisor has funding for me to continue as a PostDoc.
About how many months before (or after) the PhD ends is it the most suitable for supervisors to comment concretely if they can offer me the next position?

A word of caution: doing your postdoc as the same place as your PhD is usually seen as a poor career move. You might have trouble building a comparable research profile to your peers, with whom you will compete for a small number of long-term jobs later.

I understand the concerns. However, I have other priorities: as a non-EU citizen I would like to become a EU-citizen which would be possible within this PostDoc tenure. Plus the place I work at is becoming the hub for my field of research in Europe.

The time to act is now. You need lead time to arrange any future position. You should have a conversation with your supervisor about your future. It can be wide ranging. Ask for advice about where and how to achieve it. Include a request (or a query) about staying on and asking if that is possible (desirable, mutually advantageous...).
But you also need their help even if you won't be staying. It is best to develop a plan for that however it needs to play out.
Now is the time.

Thanks for your advice, I acted on it, and got the position I wanted!


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My undergraduate research was published but I do not know what my authorship level is. How do I find out?
I recently published my undergrad research in Information Theory at this conference called IEEE ISIT 2022. I looked up the published paper, and my name is at the first and then the other authors' names follow. Does this mean I am the first-author of the paper? Or what kind of author level do I call myself? It was a paper written primarily by me but my professor and two other students also helped.

Ask your professor what is appropriate for your field.

Congratulations on your success.
If you look at the conference proceedings, you will find that a slight majority of the papers have authors listed in alphabetical order. This suggests that some teams follow the Mathematics convention of alphabetical order and others follow the Computer Science convention which embeds information on the role of the authors in the listing of authors.
If your name comes alphabetically after at least one of your co-author's names, then you are a recognizable first author, you are the student that did the work and to whom more of the credit goes. As it is traditional in my part of Computer Science to (almost) always list students first, it is not apparent from the author listing that you had the principal idea. If not, then you are the first-listed author with no information about the contributions encoded in the list of authors. "Ontologically", you appear to be the first author and can call yourself this in a statement of purpose. However, I would be careful about not appearing to be bragging and instead give the same information that you gave us in your question. With other words, I would advise you to relate your success in a statement of research interests or something similar and not make a big deal about what type of author exactly you are, even though, in fact, you appear to have been the primary author.


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Research experience not matching what I want to study in the future. Problem?
My research experiences have been in Information Theory and Computational Number Theory.
However, in my PhD in Computer Science, I want to do research with professors working with computer algorithms, computational complexity, graphs etc.
Will it be an issue for me, when I apply for the top 20 grad schools, that my research experience does not align well that closely with what I want to study?

Assuming that you will stay in the US, this change of field shouldn't be a problem. However, limiting your applications to the top 20 grad schools will be a problem and you risk finding no open slot in so narrow a field. You are naming at a very small target that has a lot of very highly qualified applicants.
If you start with a bachelors it will be easier to switch as you have more time to align with the new field. With a masters would be a bit tight, since you still need to pass qualifying exams in most places and these are usually broad based requiring some advanced coursework for most students.
But a lot of people starting with a bachelors make much broader jumps to the final research area.
Cast a broad net, top 50 at least. There are a lot of good R1 universities in US. Have a few backups at minimum.

Okay so to clarify, I am currently an undergradute senior in college. I have had two REUs in Information Theory and Number Theory, both of which can still be considered parts of the theory side of CS. I want to study theoretical computer science for my PhD also but I want to work with professors with expereince in computer algorithms, complexity, graphs etc. I am concerned because my undergrad research was not in algorithms.

Not a problem, but cast a broader net than top 20. Seriously. I don't care how good you are.

Yes, of course, thanks!
But my research experiences shouldn't be a problem right?
I will be writing about number theory and all in my personal statement but I am just worried that the algorithm prof reading my SoP might not know a lot about my reseearch/what I did because of his potentially limited background in Number Theory. That is one part I am worried about.

Presumably you have undergrad CS courses, including algorithms. I've been assuming that. But you'll have time before serious research begins. Pass those qualifiers.

Yes, those I do!

Also,  I will be writing about number theory and all in my personal statement but I am just worried that the algorithm prof reading my SoP might not know a lot about my reseearch/what I did because of his potentially limited background in Number Theory. That is one part I am worried about.


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Will it hurt to not get a letter of recommendation from REU advisor?
So I will be applying to graduate schools in Computer Science this fall. I am an undergrad senior currently.
Last summer, I participated in an REU. I am wondering whether I should get my REU mentor's recommendation letter or not. The thing is that it was an REU outside of my college, so my mentor does not know me that well apart from seeing me in the 9 weeks we worked together. Am I better off just taking letters from people from my home college and those I have taken a good number of classes with?
I already have another summer research with a prof from my college so he will write one letter to talk about the research results.
Can I exclude my REU advisor and take the other two letters from professors who taught me?
What should I do? The REU was alright I guess; I feel like I did okayish during my stint.

You choose the references who know  you best and think the best of you.

What is an REU?

“Research Experience for Undergraduates”: it’s an NSF-funded program for undergrads to do summer research with someone at another institution.

Short version: I wouldn’t consider it a red flag or anything, but if things went reasonably well then the REU letter is likely to be more helpful than a course-based letter.
I’m a computer science professor who’s been on the other side of admissions several times now. When I read rec letters — and I don’t think this is unusual — the biggest signal I’m looking for is evidence of being motivated for / good at your research experiences so far. This is usually hard to glean from anywhere else for undergrad applicants: there often isn’t a publicly available document of the research like a paper, or if there is one it’s very unclear what the undergrad actually contributed to this multi-author project and writing. A research letter can ideally say what working with you was like, which is likely to have a lot of bearing on what your potential advisor working with you would be like. If your REU was like mine, then you might have had a lot of contact and talking about ideas with your supervisor, and even in a short period of time this can teach them a lot.
Doing well in classes is of course a positive signal, but letters that say “student X was in my classes CS 201, 301, and 333 and got all As, very impressive!” add essentially nothing over just a transcript. If it’s someone who you’ve talked to a lot, especially about going deeper beyond the course material or having done a cool class project or anything like that, it can be a positive sign, but it’s hard to weight as strongly as a research letter imo.
Another factor that may be relevant is if your REU supervisor is a more established researcher in the field than the professor you’re weighing against. “This kid is really smart” letters from, say, a professor at a small liberal arts college (if that’s the kind of place you attend) who doesn’t work with many grad students are harder to calibrate, at least for me (incidentally an alum of a small liberal arts college), than someone whose publication record I can look up and get a quick idea of the kinds of students they’re likely to be familiar with.

Your application package should cover more than your coursework experience and academic success, which is something an admissions committee can read right off of your transcript.  They don't need an instructor to tell them you got an A.
Your promise as a researcher will be something an admissions committee will be very interested in.  There may be other ways you can cover this elsewhere in your applications package, but I recommend that at least one of your recommenders be able to speak to this in a letter, whether it is one of your local profs or your REU mentor -- though if you has a positive interaction, I'd really encourage you to ask the REU mentor for the letter, unless your other potential letter writers are stellar.  The REU program is quite a feather in your cap, and you should highlight it.
If you choose to go with your local profs, I would recommend not going with someone who's entire interaction with you was having you as a student in a course, unless there's something more than you just sitting in a room and getting an A on homeworks and exams -- again, your transcript will cover that.  You should focus on profs you've interacted with extensively during a course -- especially for those courses you've done an extensive project in, and the prof watched your progress on the project.  It makes for a more meaningful letter.
You didn't talk too much about why you don't want to ask the REU mentor, other than the limited 9-week interaction.  A 9-week direct interaction is a LONG interaction, but if your mentor runs a large group, and you didn't work directly with them, it is possible the interaction was, indeed, limited.  If this is what you're worried about, there may be a person in the formal mentor's lab that might be a more appropriate letter writer than the mentor themselves -- maybe a high level grad student or postdoc who you worked with directly.
If your concern is that you don't want to bother your mentor, just put that right in the trash!!  Mentors in these programs have an expectation that they'll be solicited for letters.  Also, one shouldn't develop a reticence to ask for support when you need support.

In CS at least, I would not ask a grad student to write a recommendation letter, and probably not a postdoc. OP could certainly suggest to the professor that it might be helpful to talk with a particular student/postdoc who interacted more closely with them, though.

Sorry, it is a bit late to reply. My REU mentor was quite passive-aggressive at times. He doesn't reply to emails a lot. Even when I ask him for help on editing and making sure the abstract that I had to submit to apply for a conference is fine, he didn't reply even though I sent him 2 emails. When he does, his replies are cold. I am worried that even though the work was decent and I have it on my SoP, not having my mentor write a letter will hurt. What do you think about it? I have written about the work on my SoP and resume, but I might not have a mentor talk about it, which I am worried abt


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Computer Science: Can I change research groups during PhD?
I am currently an undergrad looking to apply to PhD programs in CS this fall. I just had a quick question about switching research groups in PhD. So I will be applying to the Theory group at most schools, primarily because my research experiences have been theory related and I enjoyed them quite a bit. However, I am also taking two stats (data analysis )classes right now and the projects I am doing in them are really interesting. I am really loving those classes right now. I am also taking a udemy course on Artificial Intelligence and I am really finding it cool to learn!
If, say, I get admitted to a PhD program and after taking classes for the first year or so, I develop more interest in the statistical side of computer science (like ML or sth) and enjoy it a lot more than theory and want to commit to ML research, will they let me do so? I heard that we are free to choose any area we want after getting admitted and exploring courses for the first two years. I just wanted to have some sort of a backup for my future in case my interests go on to change in the early stages of my PhD .

What country?  PhD programs work differently in different places.

In the US, if you begin doctoral study with only a bachelors then you have plenty of time to decide on a dissertation research area and choose an advisor. Years, actually.
The first years of the program are normally advanced coursework leading to the comprehensive exams. Only then do you need to specialize. Some places (many?) actually have little real research up to that point.
Not every place even thinks in terms of "research groups", though there are often seminars with a few faculty and a few advanced students who focus on some small sub-field. In some cases you can even attend several of these as long as you are able to maintain your coursework.
But in general, you don't need to commit to anything specific early on. Time enough for that after comps.

Caveat: I think there are a few places with a different system in CS, so inquire and know the places you are applying to.


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Is it necessary to get a recommendation letter from every mentor I did research with?
I am a senior applying to CS PhD programs this fall.
I have got two summer research experiences and my mentor from Summer 21 is writing one of my letters. In summer 22 also, I worked on a research that produced decent results. I have written a paragraph about it on my SoP and some points about it on my CV but a bulk of my SoP talks about my summer 21 work instead (75% summer '21 vs 25% summer '22). Will it hurt if I do not get a letter from my mentor from summer '22 but mention it on my SoP? Like will the letter be required to verify that I did the work I claimed to do on my SoP?
Main reason for not wanting his letter is he was quite passive-aggressive at times, often gave cold replies to emails, ignored two of my emails when I was planning to apply to a conference and wanted to verify a short 200 word research abstract with him, and threw in the "I need to go somewhere" card many times when I would ask him a few questions in the lab. He did agree to write a letter but I feel super uncomfortable about taking his letter, and he wasn't the most encouraging or proactive person either. Will not having his letter hurt me, particularly since I write about it a bit on my SoP?

Normally, in the US, three letters are requested and it is the student applicant who chooses who is best. You don't need letters from everyone you have had contact with, or even research contact, but you need letters from people who both know your work and can honestly predict your future success.
So, think about who fits the bill properly and avoid those whom you think might not support you whole heartedly.
It is hard to say whether that raises any questions with respect to your SoP, though I doubt it. If asked about it you can reply that you thought the other letters gave a more complete picture of your abilities, which I suspect is true.

Can the other letters include people I did not do any research with but took classes with and did well in class hw/projects and eventually got a good grade?

Yes, but better if they know you well. Several courses. Advanced courses. Anything beyond the ordinary. Great papers.

I am currently working on my math senior thesis in network flows. But my advisor is just a recent PhD grad -- he is currently a visiting assistant professor. Should I ask him to write my letter? I do not know what impact it will have since he has only recently gotten his degree and my school is his first job as a prof.

Hard to give advice. Balance it against other possibilities. The letter writer doesn't need to be a superstar. They do need to know you, be believable, and predict your future success. Along your educational journey, ask people for advice when you feel a connection. Let them know that at some future point you may want/need a recommendation from them.


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How to handle a lack of authorship even though you deserved it?
In Summer 2020, I worked on a research team with 2 colleagues and a supervisor on a ML paper. We (myself and my 2 colleagues) heavily built on some work that the supervisor did in the past to come up with a new channel adaptation approach for common CNN models. Due to our significant work done, we expected to be notable authors on the paper.
In September 2020, we took a step back from working on the paper due to school work. There were some other students who were able to help at the time of publishing in November 2020. Unfairly, we got last authors on a paper that was built on our approaches.
We tried to get the paper published to CVPR (a notable computer vision conference), but had some problems that unfortunately got it rejected.
However, next year, the supervisor (without telling us) was able to get a new paper republished in another notable ML conference. Initially, we thought the paper was quite different. But, it turns out that the conference paper had our approaches almost to a T. Furthermore, we got no author credit, even though graphs and algorithms from our work clearly made it.
As an undergrad, I was really hoping to get a published paper on my record, and I put the commensurate work for that during the research term. Instead, we got no author credit to the final conference paper, and our work was clearly taken from the previous paper, but not properly credited.
I am wondering about complaining to university authorities, but I am not 100% sure I want to start a mess for a paper I don't think I could get authorship to. That being said, it would be a huge help to get a paper authorship for grad school apps.
If any guidance could be provided as to what I could do for the authorship, or whether I should complain, it would be greatly appreciated.
TLDR: Supervisor published a paper with the work of myself and my colleagues, but didn't credit us at all. What should I do?

https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/126485/my-supervisor-published-our-work-without-informing-us-can-we-retract-the-paper

https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/140316/supervisor-published-my-thesis-figures-without-including-me-as-an-author

Definitely, tremendously helpful. I think the 3 questions above cover the gist of what I was looking for. Thank you!


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Should a PhD Supervisor check if the methodology is correct?
I have noticed i made a mistake in my work. I need to follow some steps (wich weren't real clear for me at the beginning of my PhD and my supervsior never said anything about them), and i just saw i made a mistake. I have defined those steps in the wrong order. Let's say i did step 4 before step 3. Which obviously changed the results I was getting (now that the order is correct, the results are really bad).
It is my supervisor role to check if i am doing the correct steps in my work? Check if my methodology is the correct one?

Your supervisor's role is to guide you on your work, but not to proofread and verify every single step of your research. They should have checked, at least in your first year, but ultimately it is your work. Therefore, if you are looking for an excuse for a failed outcome, your supervisor's negligence is not it.  You are the person that should demonstrate that have gained the ability to work independently as a researcher and can become an expert in an area of study. A bad outcome means you are both at fault.

Can anybody explain the reason for the downvotes?

@rhermans Why are you assuming i'm looking for an excuse for a failed outcome? I have by myself corrected the wrong steps. If i was trying to make excuses, i wouldn't do that in the first place.

Because when you ask if it is correct to assign somebody else responsibility for your work, it suggests you are dividing the load of the error, and therefore explaining why you should not bear all the blame. Implicitly, it suggests an excuse. I think it would be insufficient to answer your question and explain all ways your advisor has failed without addressing the fact that this does not constitute an excuse for you.

@rhermans Not at all. I'm not asking that. I am asking if it is his role to check about the methodology of the work and not if i should blame him or anyone else because of a bad result.

That has been answered, yes, your supervisor's role is to guide you on your work, he should have checked, during your first year of work, and gradually move away from checking in detail. At which level should he check? Not to the level of proofreading and verifying every single step of your research. Some sanity checks, and high-level discussion, setting standards of evidence.

"now that the order is correct, the results are really bad" - No. Now that the order is correct the results are correct. When the results were incorrect, that is when they were bad.

An expert is one who has already made all the mistakes.

My own opinion (and practice) is that, yes, it is the supervisor's job to assure such things. Perhaps not personally, as it can be delegated to others, but it should be done.
But there are a wide range of opinions and of practice. Some supervisors are completely hands-off in such things and some are, at the other extreme, overly (looking for the right word here) intrusive.
But the student also has responsibility to understand the consequences of what they are doing and proposing. So, the student doesn't get a free pass if the supervisor fails to act appropriately. Normally students study other research in their field so as to understand appropriate methodology or, perhaps, take a course in methodology appropriate to the field.
Everyone, student and supervisor, need to review the work as it proceeds to look for any red flags so that the research can be redirected early enough to be effective.

tl;dr: Do not expect your supervisor to micromanage your work; learn to do it yourself.
PhD is a research degree. Although there are some rules (ethical, procedural) about how research should be done, an art of doing research is more than just a simple process of following some pre-determined steps. Research by definition is aimed at creating new knowledge and often new methods of acquiring the knowledge.
As a PhD student, aspiring to become an independent researcher, you should be learning how to review your own work, how to verify the accuracy of results at intermediate steps, and how to check whether the obtained results are sensible as early as possible.
A PhD supervisor has a duty of helping you to navigate your area and structure your work. However, they should not micromanage each step their student does. It is student's responsibility to understand the details of operating procedures, do the background reading, fill in the missing details sometimes (checking their own suggestions) and ask for advice when necessary.

And i have done all that. Thats why i just saw the initial steps were wrong and corrected them by myself. It's not micromanage each step, it's all about the broad methodology of the work itself (or as you say, navigate the area).

That is a good outcome: you probably learned more from this experience than if your advisor just told you (you are never ever ever ever going to make that mistake again...) It is admittedly a hard way of teaching, and there are very legitimate arguments against it, but it also has very legitimate advantages. Now you know what the teaching style of your advisor is, and you know you need to check and recheck everything yourself.

A way for the student (and advisor) to prevent methodological errors from lasting too long is for students to present frequently and in detail the steps they are taking in their research, preferably among a larger group than just their advisor. This helps to surface any inconsistencies in what the supervisor thinks is being done, and what actually is happening.

I find this suggestion bit odd. From my experience reviewers also do not check details just give 'most likely plausible' guarantee. So if your adviser also do not check the details then why bother? This partially drove me out of academia, I felt no one gives a damn. You got a paper, great! Don't bother me with details.

@tom OP says "my work". What makes you think they talk about a peer-reviewed paper? Why do you think reviewers do not check details? I am not sure we have the same set of assumptions.

Ohh I see, I guess we interpreted the question a bit differently. About reviews, I'm talking from my limited experience. Not all but most reviews I got were criticizing surface level details or exposition. It might be specific to the very applied field I was in where the math details are not too important.

You discovered a mistake in your protocol. You discovered the mistake on your own. You ask whether you can fault your PhD advisor for not telling you (soon enough) beforehand how to avoid the mistake.
Based on your statements, you may run into an issue when you raise such blame. The protocol clearly existed independent of your advisor (because you found the mistake without input from your advisor). A reasonable retort is that you were informed where to find the protocol, and you were instructed/expected to master the protocol on your own. Alternatively said, the implicit if not explicitly stated understanding your advisor had when you started the experiments was that you would not be given a step-by-step, side-by-side (hand-holding) session to teach you how carry out the protocol(s) in detail.
In summary, even as you consider to blame your advisor after the fact, consider equally how well you understood his/her expectations about how you were to master the required protocols before you even started them. Also consider how much this incident reflects on a potential lack in your ability to thoroughly deconstruct an experimental protocol to mastery before you even start it.
Maybe the bigger lesson in this incident is to appreciate why you should ask in advance for a review to find possible faults in your thinking rather than waiting until the end to reap the consequences of those faults.


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University Workload Model Design - Preparation time for Instruction and Assessment
I work for a UoT (University of Technology) in SA as a curriculum development practitioner in the Health Science fields of study.
Our academic programmes are designed to run over a 30 academic week year. The minimum academic contact hours required for lecturing is 20 hours per week, excluding preparation of instructional materials, and the set up of formative assessment instruments and marking.
I want to get an idea from the colleagues on international level how they go about in determining a fair additional factor to calculate total T&L hours.
I noticed a 4hours for prep in one of the previous comments, but need more input here.

@DanielHatton makes a good point. Are you asking what other universities allocate, or what would be a "fair" allocation, because these are likely to be very different numbers.

Thanks for remark. I am asking what other universities allocate for the preparation of lectures, in other words: Contact time (n) + lecture preparation = n+?

Our workload allocation model allows 2 hours prep per taught contact session (lecture or practical - we don't really do seminars). So a 1 hour lecture would get a total allocation of 3 hours and a 3 hour practical would get 5 hours. Double if the class is being developed from scratch.
10 hours for the first dissertation/project student and 3 additional hours for each additional student.
We get no prep time for tutorials.
We are then given 20 minutes per essay per student and 10 minutes per short answer per student for marking.

I don't think so. They are not attached to any content module, and we have the same 4-6 students in our tutor group for the whole 4 years of their degree. They are generally focused on pastoral support, helping students learn how to navigate the university experience. We also set and provide feedback on course work design to teach students transferable academic skills: how to write an essay, how to draw a figure, how to give individual and group presentations, how to fill in a job application form, how to apply for a PhD etc.

Actual time to prep for an hour lecture on a new course can (and often does) far exceed the 5 hours (6 for doubling 3 minus the actual hour itself)...

Oh, absolutely. These times are a complete fiction. I reckon i spend around 6 hours on an old lecture and more like 16-24 on a new one.


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What should I do if I want to change my track for Master's degree that is completely different from Bachelor's?
What should I do if I want to change my track for Master's degree that is completely different from Bachelor's subject in USA (non-US resident)? Currently, I am pursuing bachelor's degree in Film and Media studies but I want to change my subject to continue with different master's.

Change to what, generally or specifically? Still in the arts? And is your bachelors from a US institution or elsewhere?

It will likely depend on whether you have required coursework to be admitted into the master's program you have in mind.  If you'd like to move from film and media to something very different, like computer science or physics, it's likely you're going to need to start over with a second bachelor's first (though you may get credit for some of the work you did on the first one).  But if you want to move to something where there's more overlap, say, from film and media to communications, you might be able to do that directly.  If it's only a small difference, perhaps you could make it up as non-matriculated student somewhere, taking just the courses you need. What I would do is research the program(s) you're interested in to see if you have credentials they expect and, if you don't, what your options are to fix it.

That's a very useful insight! Thank you for your suggestion!


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Is there any possibility to change Undergrad track from Film and Media Studies to Communication department that is focused on more computational?
I want to pursue my master's in Communication that is more analytical and research-oriented and based on computational methods. Film and media recognize the area of the internet, social media, audiences/users, broadcast policy, law, technical priorities but with no 'data' related works or method. On the other hand, I have technically finished some data science-related courses like web scraping, quantitative/statistical analysis, python, SPSS, and tableau. After learning them (as a beginner and with no experience), I am trying to work on related areas, and I am very much curious to learn further. Specifically, I would love to enter into the world of computational social science, media analytics, social data and object-oriented programming to produce the more critical and analytical. Also, I found that my interest is not only based on Media but also on the Internet, Information and Technology. Can I be able to shift?

You need to explore this locally unless you want to change universities.

Media studies departments can and do include computational media.  Some departments may be called communications, others media studies or science and technology studies. The purpose of a MA degree can be to go into a more detailed area of study than your BA. See if there’s any faculty at your current college who might be knowledgeable about or have a focus in computational media, software studies, or German media theory. To start, you may want to look at the work of scholars like Wendy Chun, Jacob Gaboury, or Saifya Noble. However this is just to start: talk to faculty at your own college first.

You point out that the person may get what they are looking for in their current department, but I would also try to comment on their direct question about changing departments.

Yes, they are also welcome to switch departments, especially if there is one at their university. The OP doesn't state which department they would be more interested in at their current school, but that would be helpful to know.


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hiring postdoc : track-record versus acquaintance
When you hire postdocs, if there is an applicant with strong publication track-record who used to be trained in institutions / groups that are completely unfamiliar to you, and there is other applicant with slightly less publication track-record in a research institution / group that you are familiar with, then do you prefer hire the latter?

I interview 3 or so people and make a decision based on many factors and considerations. It is never so black and white as you seem to imagine.

There is really no general answer. Look at the individuals.


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References from econometrics and marketing journals in computer science proposals
I am researching machine learning models for predictability, and I am doing a literature survey/review right now.
Can I use research papers from non computer-science journals in my proposals?
For instance, I am using machine learning to predict X. The reason why X should be predicted and the 'state-of-the-art' research related to predicting X is not to be found in computer science journals, it's mainly found in economy/econometrics and marketing journals.
So in summary, is it normal or O.K to use references from non-computer science  journals in a computer-science related research proposal?

Well, I did.  No one complained.  (If this is for coursework, ask your professor.)

This is perfectly fine. You are now doing interdisciplinary research. Defined by the NSF:

Interdisciplinary research is a mode of research by teams or individuals that integrates information, data, techniques, tools, perspectives, concepts, and/or theories from two or more disciplines or bodies of specialized knowledge to advance fundamental understanding or to solve problems whose solutions are beyond the scope of a single discipline or area of research practice.

Thanks a lot, this is very helpful. The reference there was very useful as well because I can (and will) use it in case I get questioned!

Why not? Even if it was not ML/AI-related, it'd still be perfectly valid.
But especially with ML, most of the time, the motivation for the study lies in the subject area. It makes sense to look for similar problems (if only in formalism) in other domains, too, and see what has been done to solve them. So yes, perfectly normal to end up with something like "we are doing a research in economics and this is why it is worth studying but a superficially similar problem was solved to some success in seismography, let's see if we can draw from that experience".

Great answer, very helpful, thank you.


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Can I publish a paper while being employed by a scientific publishing house?
I have got a job offer from Springer Nature as associate scientific editor. I am joining the company next month. Currently I am a postdoc researcher at a university. I have a couple of papers from postdoc that will be completed over the course of the next year.
Given that I will be in the employment of the publishing house during next year, will it be ethical to submit my paper to a journal associated with Springer?

As long you are not the handling editor, I don't see it as a problem.  Your situation is the same as the editors of any journals.

Ethically yes, as long as you don't have any influence over the decisions necessary to publish it. This can normally be arranged by a journal. This avoids any actual conflict.
But, practically, it will depend on the rules established by the employer. I suspect that most will not want to rule it out, entirely. They will likely establish rules to avoid not only conflict of interest, but the appearance of conflict of interest.
So, in the specific case, ask Springer.


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What's the career progression of associate scientific editor at a major publishing house?
As someone who has been offered a position with Springer Nature as an associate scientific editor, I am unclear about the career progression in such an industry?
I am currently a 2 year postdoc in chemical engineering in the US.
Is it possible to shift to an industry other than publishing after reaching a senior position or if this doesn't work out after a year or two?
How about returning to a research position (tenure track) or research associate position after one or two years?

Isn't this already answered in Career options in scientific/academic publishing for PhDs and Postdocs? This was linked for the previous question you asked, as well.

@Allure The links and the career progression you mentioned in your comment were about someone who doesn't have a technical background and a PhD. Their career progression would likely be very different than a person with a PhD and/or postdoc. Since this is an academic community, there might be some graduated PhD student who traversed through this path or might know someone who has.

If that's the focus of your question then it's a duplicate of What should one consider when pondering a career as a scientific editor? which explicitly deals with having a PhD in academic publishing. Voting ot close.

Does this answer your question? What should one consider when pondering a career as a scientific editor?

In math, in the U.S., if you did not already have tenure, this might be a bad thing. That is, although it might be a useful activity, it's not directly about research or teaching, and somewhat indicates less interest in those aspects of academe.
After tenure, taking a year or two leave to do such things, or to work at the National Science Foundation, is considered legitimate service... but it's not a strong point toward tenure, at least in my observation. You'd want/need to continue research output during your time there, which might be difficult due to commitments of time and energy, even apart from Chem E lab needs...


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Timeline for late tenure track positions
I have been waiting for a week after my first-round interview for a tenure track position in the US. The interview went well, I think, and ended up with a nice response from the chair of search committees. She was impressed with my presentation, but I took it as her courtesy. From the interview, I also knew that the initial interview was completed yesterday.
This position was posted in March (very late) and closed in April (very short). If offered, the candidate will have to work in August. I am curious to know if anyone has any experience with such quick hiring. What should the timeline be for the hiring decision?

The "standard hiring timeline" is largely a myth.

Lots of strange things are happening this year.  My institution is still hiring for tenure track positions starting in the fall, but this would not happen in a normal year.

@BrianBorchers I thought the job market closed this year. I haven't seen any posting in Mathematics from your institution.

No, we didn't have any positions in mathematics this year- I'm talking about positions in other departments.  My point was simply that the hiring process has taken longer than normal at our institution this year.

After the last interview, the committee will have to come up with a ranked list of candidates. Then this is forwarded to the department head for approval. Then this goes to the dean for approval. Then an offer letter will have to be drawn up. This has to be approved by the Office of Equal Opportunity. This process can easily take 2 or more weeks, and this is particularly true at places where final exams are running at the same time.
In other words, have patience!

Thank you for bringing up the fact that the final exams are running now. What you have said is about the activities after the second round. May you let me know your experience of what they should have after the first round, especially, for late positions?

1-2 weeks seems like a reasonable turn-around time in academia. You should hear shortly, but not yesterday.

I hope so because this is my last chance in this year's market. I am also an applied mathematician like you. :)

Timelines in hiring can be messy, especially if the committee does not immediately agree on a candidate or there is some other stuff going on behind the scenes that leads to extended discussion meetings. In many places, scheduling meetings is now messier than ever, since we still live in pandemic times. The fact that they want to hire someone to start in August may help a bit to speed things up, but doesn't have to.
In short, one week is nothing. If you have not heard back after 4-6 weeks, you might want to contact them and ask for the status.

Thank you for your advice. I posed this question because it seems only top candidates will be contacted within a week after the initial interview.

@ttguest - one would suggest that only top candidates get an initial interview. Then the messy time-consuming discussions start. Have they indicated there will be further interviews at all?

@JonCuster During the initial interview, they responded that the last candidate to be interviewed would be on 5/5. I just googled the fact that top candidates (after the first round) should be contacted within a week.

In addition to the other good answers, it may be (as at my R1 Univ in the U.S., regarding math) that although some advertised jobs have been allowed, economic/budget issues may be so unsettled (here, the state legislature still hasn't given us a biennial budget!) that no actual commitments can be made.
A very awkward... and ugly... situation, yes.

Thanks! I suppose all R1 students took their candidates already because it is May now. Is that true?


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Meeting with the decision maker after the final interview
My second interview for a tenure track position in US was completed last Monday and I was the first interviewee. Today the chair of the department has contacted me to arrange a meeting saying that he wants to discuss about my application. Also, he wants to know my phone number.
Do you have any idea concerning this meeting? What should I prepare for? Thank you.

"Last Monday" and "today" are descriptions of a timeline that don't age well...

There is too little information here to know why the chair wants to talk to you. The fact is somewhat promising - if the school was not interested they would not follow up in this way.

That is why I address the question. Should it be another campus interview?

@ttguest Who knows. You can speculate all day, but short of actually knowing anything, it is only that: speculation.


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Is it common for a lab to pay for international moving expenses?
I am a senior postdoc. My lab is moving from UK to Austria, the IST specifically.  We have been told reimbursement for moving is not possible.  There are tax benefits that we need to apply for, which would of course not cover the moving expenses directly, but over time.
And even so, we would have to apply for them, and may not qualify.  Shouldn't personal relocation expenses (at least partially) be paid for by the lab or receiving institution, at the very least as a sign of good faith?

This is a workplace issue, or possibly legal, not an academic one. I sympathize, but no one here can really help other than to scream along with you.

I suspect there is little room for manoeuvre here. I do not know about Austria specifically, but in many countries the tax authorities lay down very strict rules about what is permissible around relocation expenses - presumably to avoid companies using this as a tax-efficient back-door to paying 'sweeteners' or 'golden hellos'.

This is on topic for the site, but it is not a question.  It is a complaint.  In many places moving expenses can be negotiated, but a sensible choice is to negotiate higher pay instead.

@avid Why would it be a tax loophole to pay expenses proven by receipts? And otherwise, it would be taxable income (and you could deduct it from taxes yourself if you had receipts), so again, why would this be a loophope if a company wants to pay you 10k extra salary at the beginning of your job?

I assume you didn’t just walk in to the office one day and got told “pack your things! We’re moving to Austria!” Instead, my guess is you were asked if you were agreeable to the idea of moving, told under what terms, and agreed (well, perhaps with the alternative being that you would become unemployed, but still).
If my guess is correct, the time when you were asked would have been the best time to ask the question about relocation expenses. If you have already agreed to the move under terms that do not include covering your relocation expenses, then sure, you could bring it up now, but it’s possible that that ship has sailed; if the PI or receiving institution are stretched for cash, they have little actual incentive to be receptive to your wishes.
Bottom line: there is no “should” or “shouldn’t”. In the workplace, you commonly get what you have leverage to ask and can get people to agree to give you. It sounds like you don’t have that kind of leverage in the current situation. Perhaps your PI will be understanding and agree to your request, which is reasonable after all. But there is no rule or ethical principle that says what should happen.

Indeed. Presumably the legal position is that OP will terminate their employment in one country, and commence working for a new employer in a different country. Merely by coincidence, several of their current colleagues have also been hired by the new employer.

your guess is not correct - we were told over email that the PI was moving, and that was that.  no negotiations.  there's no should or shouldn't, I guess you're right since what does that even mean.  I filed this under "emotional response" ya know.  however i would simply like to hear other people's experiences with this sort of thing, so i can potentially understand what is acceptable behavior here, meaning is it acceptable to us as a society to relocate a lab but leave the employees to foot the personal relo bill

@wezmah and no one checked with you and the other lab members whether they were interested in moving to Austria? What I mean is, forget the relocation expenses, even with expenses covered moving to a different country is a big deal, so it doesn’t sound like the PI could simply make a unilateral decision to move the entire lab without having at least most lab members on board with the decision. To be clear, I’m not challenging your account of the events, I just find the story baffling and don’t really know what to think. Were you at no point asked to provide any input into the decision?

we labbies were never asked to provide input, correct

@wezmah well, honestly I don’t know what to make of this. Unless I’m missing some key piece of context here, this is no way to treat a senior postdoc or indeed any employee. Sounds more like indentured servitude than an academic job. With a boss like that, the relocation expenses may be the least of your problems. Anyway, good luck and I hope things work out.

I assume you were asked whether you would move with the lab? And if you were, there was some discussion about administrative things, e.g. dates, changes in salaries, who pays for moving costs?

@wezmah: if I had never been asked, I'd seriously consider getting lost during moving. I.e., you do have a UK employment contract presumably specifying even a location within the UK. I don't think there can be any way how such a contract could change into an Austrian employment contract with some location over there automatically. So, consider whether you want to move or not. If you already signed a new contract, have a look at the probationary period and your rights to end that contract. Sleep a couple of nights over the decision, but don't let anyone bully you into moving where you don't...

... want to go. When a PI moves, from what I've seen it is fairly typical that a sizeable part of the group moves with them, and another sizeable part does not.

@DanRomik Of course the group is not asked if the lab should move. If the PI takes a new job, they will move their lab. I.e., people can decide to stay behind on their ongoing contracts until they expire (or the university terminates them, if they are legally allowed), or then join for a new contract, hopefully with longer runtime. Or do you suggest a PI is obliged to ask their group for their opinion before taking on another job? Or to keep running the old lab (with which funding)?

In my country, Italy, no one would pay the relocation expenses, especially at the postdoc level. I can hardly imagine any university administration in my country approve this kind of expense. Those I know who moved to nearby countries like France and Germany, and also UK, either at university or in industry, had to pay out of their pocket the relocation expenses.
Therefore, here around, I would consider the payment of the relocation expenses the exception rather than the rule.
On a side note, though, I'd consider the behaviour of your PI rather problematic, for not discussing first the relocation with the whole group, and I'd consider leaving.

I have received funds for relocation from multiple universities (not in Europe, though).  In one case, I got a ridiculously large sum.

@AnonymousPhysicist In Europe it is rather uncommon, at least in my experience.

thx to all for helping me come to terms :-<

I can speak for Germany: moving to a new job (which this would technically be) is up to certain limits an expense that can be deducted from income tax. This also means: reimbursement by the (new) employer is treated like a one-time bonus payment, and subject to taxation. My experience with this (years ago) is that if you do the moving yourself by car going only once, the deduction may cover the costs, if you go for more convenient options, it will cover a fraction of your costs.

@cbeleitesunhappywithSX Reimbursement upon presentation of receipts (e.g. for the flight, or moving company) is not taxable.

It depends greatly on your current and prospective institution’s policies. Mine for example covers relocation, even domestically for new hires living more than 50km away and transfers between campuses (as we have several). The lab is obligated to cover this from our budgets for new hires so we cannot do so if we cannot cover these expenses. In my case (also as a postdoc) this is clearly stipulated in my contract and job listing.
I suggest you inquire with HR to fully understand your situation, there may be support you and your supervisor are not aware of. If for example your supervisor ends your current contract and hires you again at the new institution you may be eligible for this. Unfortunately there may not be and your institution may not be legally obligated to have a similar policy. Of course as your advisor they should have made some efforts to understand your options to relocate already. I do not mean to assume that they haven’t but they will be busy and may not have exhausted all options to cover these expenses. You should also make it clear to them that relocation expenses are considerable and are a significant concern for you.

Note that Japanese law requires relocation to be covered for transfers if your commuting time would be longer than 100 minutes each way. Private companies and Universities both do this. Local laws and regulations vary and may be different in the country you are relocating to. Make sure you understand these before confirming your new position. Applying for expenses retroactively is a bureaucratic nightmare which is best avoided.

If the "lab" (=the research group) moves to another country it is not the same employer, so it entirely different from the case you mention, where one research institution (e.g. a national lab) moves a group to another location of that instution (same employer).

@user151413 there seems to be a misunderstanding here. This applied to your new position, if your lab is moving to a new institution you will need apply for a new contract with them. If you are being transferred to another campus, it will depend on your current employer. Either way inquire with HR for your new position. It depends on local laws and regulations but many employers offer support for relocation expenses so it is worthwhile to ask.

This is only partially true. When it happens, the university generally has a separate budget to move someone to a given position (eg hiring a new faculty or international postdocs with a scholarship). However, if a  whole lab is moving the budget is generally for maybe the professor plus one or two extra people, definitely not for a whole lab.


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Mendeley iOS alternative 2021?
I have been using Mendeley to mange and annotate articles for quite a few years, I have built up a big library which I use everyday. Unfortunately Elsevier has stopped support for the iOS app and it is not possible to read and annotate articles on a tablet anymore. Since this is my preference when reading, does anyone know of any mobile based alternatives for Mendeley or will I have to transfer my whole library to Zotero or Endnote to still be able to read on a mobile device? Thanks

What would constitute an alternative?

Something that I can read and annotate PDF’s on that syncs with a desktop app to use for writing

update I tried PaperShips an app that claims to sync with Zotero and Mendeley but after paying for the upgrade I found that the app doesn’t sync and it hasn’t been updated for a couple of years, the support emails addresses also bounce. The case is still open!

Not sure if this satisfies all requirements, so just a comment: What about using zotero and annotate/highlight pdfs with adobe reader? Annotations and highlights can be saved with/in the pdf files. To sync them across devices, save the pdf with the zotero library on a sever that supports webdav. (Perhaps dropbox works? I use my private nextcloud server.) Zotero also allows you to store notes with each reference, which might work as substitute for annotations directly in the pdf.

(Also, I would prefer zotero over Endnote, because it's open source and developed by an independent non-profit. If they ever stop supporting certain OSes or features, there's at least a chance someone will write a fork. Yet it looks like zotero for iOS is still in beta. // There's also (closed source) paperpile, which focuses on annotations and is geared toward users of google docs. I have only tried it for a few minutes.


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Where can I find standard high school textbooks used in the US and UK?
So for example, India has this government organization called The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT). They produce their textbooks which are also available to download for free here, for the grades 1-12 for all subjects. From my experience they are one of the highest quality textbooks in India.
Similarly, where can I access such textbooks which are of the highest quality, and are used in the US and/or UK? I'm mostly interested in searching for textbooks for the grades 8-12. I want to get a flavor of what kind of education do students get exposed to in the US/UK and I plan on reading their textbooks for the grades 8-12.

In the US, at least, some of the states have lists of approved books. Texas for example has a list: https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/handle/2152/19095
Maryland, or at least some large counties there, may also have such an approval process.
There are probably others. But note that some of the textbook selections in Texas are very controversial, as the selection board is sometimes dominated by creationists and other science deniers. So, use caution with this list and any other.

"as the selection board is sometimes dominated by creationists and other science deniers": I've stumbled on this when I was a high-school student, around 35 years ago, while reading a book from Asimov, which was a collection of essays on various topics. A chapter was dedicated to the increasing influence that creationists were having on educational choices in many US states. I couldn't believe that something like that was really happening (he's exaggerating!—I thought at the time), and I'm sad to apprehend that it does have happened.

@MassimoOrtolano, decisions of the Texas board are periodically in the US national news. I think the board members are elected officials and a lot of effort is put in to promoting these people and ideas. Climate change denial is another hot topic. We have a long way to go, I guess. The other problem with the Texas board is that since they control such a large market, publishers are too willing to cater to their demands. This is more serious, actually, than just what happens in Texas.


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Is it appropriate for a lecturer to invite the course to dinner before grading?
This semester, I attended a seminar where the grade will be based on work turned in by attendees in about a month. The lecturer has set up a 'get-together' of all students in his home, where he will be preparing dinner. Alcoholic drinks apparently will also be provided (beer).
I do not plan on attending, but I am worried this may affect my grade (declining/not answering an invitation).
My question is: Is it appropriate for a lecturer to organize such an event?
I am sure he means no harm, as he is very nice in general. As he has organized dinners with his courses before (last time I know of, it was after grading), I suspect my universities policies do not forbid this.

There used to be a time where this was just a way of offering the students and the profs an opportunity to talk, get to know each other better, and, simply, have a face-full (as opposed to "face-less") relation to each other; learning more about research and student/university life. Of course, today, with evaluations, scrutiny and a general shift in attitudes (as well as a rise of the size of the courses) etc., the assumptions are generally more sinister.

You say a seminar. In a "real" class in your program, I'd be more worried, but what kind of seminar is this? If it's one-credit (or S/NS) class, I don't see what the issue is. Although Spark's points regarding dietary issues/drinking stand.

Declining an invitation is fine, not answering may be considered impolite

I think it's completely appropriate.
As an anecdote, when I was an undergrad I was in a similar situation. The professor of a WW2 history class I was taking invited all 20-or-so of us undergrads to his home for a barbecue and tour of his collection of WW2 era guns, equipment, newspaper clippings, and so on. It occured before final grades came out.
In hindsight, it was one of those great lasting memories you make in school. I ended up majoring in a different field, but have since still kept a keen interest in history because, at least in part, of the experience I had there. Had that professor decided not to have such an event I would absolutely consider my undergraduate experience to be lesser than it was, and I think the same is true for many of my classmates both in that year and every other year the professor held such an event.

We, of course, don't know you or your lecturer, but I would be absolutely shocked if he has anything but pure intentions. If you don't want to go just reply to the invitation that you've got a prior commitment and can't make it.
Given you know that this lecturer has had this event in the past (after grades) indicates that it's almost assuredly done with positive intentiontions. Perhaps this year he has to travel immediately after he finishes grades, or the school scheduled his final later than last year and he has less time than normal. Maybe he's done it after grades in the past and had low attendance from foreign students who often have to travel right immediately and he wants to include them as well.

“I don’t think it would have all got me quite so down if just once in a while—just once in a while—there was at least some polite little perfunctory implication that knowledge should lead to wisdom, and that if it doesn't, it's just a disgusting waste of time! But there never is! You never even hear any hints dropped on a campus that wisdom is supposed to be the goal of knowledge. You hardly ever even hear the word 'wisdom' mentioned!” - Franny, in J.D. Salinger, Franny and Zooey
Where I was an undergrad, the school in fact reimbursed professors for the costs of hosting students in upper level classes, once per semester, for dinner at their home.  (I'm sure there were various restrictions and caveats, and probably only actual food costs were included, but I don't know the details.)
It was felt, correctly in my opinion, that social contact between professors and students improved student learning - not only specifically in the subject matter of the course, but in life in general as well.

As you say, it may or may not violate university policy, but I do think it may cross some boundaries either way.
Let me put it this way - if a fellow lecturer came to me and asked me whether it's appropriate to organize such an event I would advise against it:

It excludes some students (in particular, those who are probably less sociable than others, those who don't drink or have dietary restrictions, or just those who don't like the lecturer).
It offers students a plausible argument against the lecturer in case they get a bad grade: it makes it appear as if they are playing favorites.
There is a power imbalance: grades aren't out yet, and students may feel like their grades depend on how nice they are to the lecturer (they may not be wrong!).

In general, socializing with students when a course is ongoing and their grades are still not set is something I would not recommend. Students like you who are uncomfortable and worry that their grades may suffer are exactly the reason why.

Your points are valid, but why not assume that the invitation is nothing but a nice gesture of respect towards the students and will not affect the grades? It might show a lack of instinct to have this event before grades are out, but the OP does not give any indication that grades and attending this event are indeed connected in any way.

It may well be. But as I say - it is really about appearances. On the flip side - the lecturer is getting course evaluations. A cynical person may see this dinner invite as an attempt at bribery.

I would accept bribery if it were the students inviting the professor ie currying favour...

"It excludes [...] students [...] who don't drink" is nonsense, at least as far as Germany is concerned. (The OP is from Germany.) There are always guests who don't drink alcohol, because they have to drive home by car, for health reasons, for religious reasons, or whatever. As somebody who seriously dislikes beer, I have to say that I've never ever encountered a social event where I didn't get a glass of water.

I think it is ludicrous to ban all social contact between professors and students on these sort of grounds. Social contact is good. It is bad to give support to the idea that there is a malign motive behind every friendly gesture.

@JeremyC how do you get from not recommending having a dinner party in your house for your students because it may make some of them uncomfortable to "ban all social contact"?


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How, and what to expect when switching fields (from bachelors to masters)?
Just context, you can skip directly to the question at the bottom should you wish to.
I'm currently on my 4th out of a 6 semester pure mathematics Bachelors. My grades are 4.0x-ish out of 5, which is good for the 2nd highest for my batch (but I'm guessing for most Mathematicians, and even for myself, it's either A's or you don't understand). I had passion doing mathematics at school (several medals in international math Olympiads), and still get that glee when learning the material given to me.
The issue is I've been noticing several red flags (for the first time I was in a real danger to fail a course, though in the end I still got a B), and starting to find out the limit of my capabilities (I can understand the material just fine, during the semester. Can't recall anything afterwards).
Another issue is I have no love for the academic world (sorry!), and would prefer a professional career instead. Thus, I want to switch from a 'pure' field to a more 'applied' one.
Question: What to expect when switching my field of studies? How should I prepare for it? I'm open to reading/learning the basics by myself so as to be a little more prepared. Are there things that I should be aware of?

If your inclination in not toward a career in academia, get involved with internships with small, large, new, old organizations offering them. It’ll be a solid complement to your classroom education.

An unfortunate consequence of the pandemic is that a lot of companies are withdrawing their internship programs, and the ones that retain them keep it for locals (I'm studying outside of my country).


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Asking for a recommendation letter, when I am only close with Professors that handle practice classes
I started my studies in fall 2019. On my second semester covid hit, and all classes were turned online. Even after restrictions started to be lifted and classes can be held offline, a lot of classes (especially the lectures) are held online, often a pre-recorded video or a pre-written/typed document. This results in me having basically zero interactions with the lecture professors.
The saving grace is that I'm close to most of my practice professors. However I asked a practice professor about a recommendation letter, and although he/she said he/she would give me one, it might be on my best interest to ask from the lecture professors.
My question is, is the assertion above true? Also, should I still try to ask for recommendation letters from my lecture professors (who might not even remember me)? I did get an A, but "he got an A" and nothing else seems like a weak recommendation letter to me. I actually got a B in the class that the practice professor taught me, however I'm very positive that I would get a strong recommendation letter from the practice professor, hence me asking him/her (unfortunately for this class I also have no relationship with the lecture professor).
Another question is that I have a professor who I have a positive relationship with, and I think I'm about to get a third A with him/her. However, while the subject is very serious and foundational, I do not think getting an A is achievement in this particular class, as the exams were too easy, and everyone got at least a B (I think).

Let me suggest that you try a hybrid approach. To be honest, I've never tried this, but the times are weird so I'd consider it if I were the professor and someone came to me with the following.
The dilemma is that a person with not much reputation knows you and your work, but their superior who has the reputation doesn't really  know much about you.
In some similar circumstances, a professor will ask the student to provide a draft of the letter that they might edit and then submit. But I'll suggest you explore something different.
Perhaps the "practice" instructor, I'm guessing a TA under the direction of the professor, can have a conversation about you with the professor and themself write a draft for the professor to edit/approve/sign. The professor is assured of some independence and really only needs to depend on their trust of the assistant. And if the assistant knows and respects your work, then you would probably get about the same outcome as if there wasn't the need for the intermediary.
I'd consider asking the assistant whether they are comfortable with this and let them and the professor work out the details if so.
Odd thought for odd times, perhaps.

I see, this is an interesting idea. I am unsure of how to communicate this proposal though, should I suggest it to my professor? Or is it better to specifically make a request for it to my professor? I am an international student, so I am not so sure about what level of "blunt-ness" I should use, to maintain polite-ness.

I would first take it up with the person you know best; the TA.

Nice answer. In fact, I was such a TA once and got approached by a student for a letter of recommendation. We did exactly what you suggested and everybody was happy.