text:
How can I ask a lecturer not to disclose (my) grades publicly?
In my university, some, but not all, professors upload online the grades of every student and their names next to them a few days before making them final at the end of the semester. This is done to give a chance to the students to point out any mistakes the professor may have made.
No one other than the students can see the final grades. When the professor uploads the non-final grades, they are visible by everyone.
Since few people get good grades, others are jealous of them. Long story short, I really have an issue with this.
Is it unreasonable to ask my professors to email my grades instead of uploading them online, like they do with everyone else? What other alternatives do I have?
I live in a European country.

This depends on the country you're in, I've that in the US there are some signs that you can sign to prevent others from publicly revealing your grades.

@Olorun: In fact, in the US it is illegal for the school to publicly reveal your grades unless you have signed something allowing them to do so.

@Olorun: Still not allowed, under US law. Grades and similar data can't be shared with anyone except the student and authorized university employees. Not even the student's parents are allowed access.

@NateEldredge I don't think it's quite that simple with respect to parents even though that's prima facie correct. There's some muddling complexity with students who are still dependents. (See for instance https://www.rochester.edu/parents/policy.html ).

@virmaior: Interesting, I didn't know that.  I think the universities where I've worked have had policies that they didn't release grades to parents of dependent students (although they may have been allowed to).  At least, if they did, such requests had to be handled centrally and not by individual faculty.

True, I think that's always managed by the registrar. I remember filling out the thing granting my parents permission as a minor and dependent in 1999 at my undergraduate institution.

A friend of mine was studying at a university in Europe told me that at his university they publish the results of everyone except those of the members of the Royal Family who were also studying there.

When I was teaching at a German university, these lists were always opt-out.

In the UK, not even the Royal Family are exempt. Results at Cambridge for every examination used to be posted on display to the general public (including "Wales, H.R.H" when he was an undergraduate) for about a week after the final exams. The results for all students of my old college are printed in full in the college alumni magazine every year.

"A European country." Which one? The UK? Belarus?

In Cambridge they still are, unless you explicitly opt out. The existence of this opt-out is not all that well publicised, and it is relatively rarely used. I always go and check how my students have done - depending on what year they are in (i.e. if they have already headed off on vacation) I often know before they do. I would note, however, that only the classifications (1, 2.i, 2.ii, 3) are published, not the raw (%) results.

My experience from European universities is that even there, the grades should not be posted by name, but instead by a student ID number. However, in most cases, the university requires the public posting of the grades in such a manner (for exactly the reasons you suggest—to allow for petitioning of changes in grade).
Moreover, because of the large number of students who may be taking a course, it can be highly impractical for the teaching staff to respond to individual requests for reporting grades by email. (Imagine having to send out 1800 emails for a single course!)
Consequently, while you might ask for anonymizing of the grade reports by student ID instead of name, I think it would be unfair to ask the professors to report individual grades by email, unless you have an exceptional and demonstrated need for such an email (for instance, you are unable to get your grade because of extended absence without Internet access).

it can be highly impractical for the teaching staff to respond to individual requests for reporting grades by email - In the US, where posting student grades by ID is illegal, we use an LMS like moodle or blackboard, not email, to make students aware of interim grades. Do they not use LMSes in Europe? Why not?

The primary reasons for not using a LMS like moodle or blackboard is probably the cost of setting up the system. In Germany (where my direct experience comes), the issue is more that the system requires the grades to be "published," and because the LMS system is not integrated with the grade submission system, would lead to significant duplication of effort, if it were at all possible.

@aeismail: Hmm, my (German) faculty uses a software, which double as grade-submission system and to inform the students of their grades.

@ff524 Yes, we use it (for instance my university has one developed internally), but maybe not all universities have one. Moreover, some professors, especially the older ones, didn't learn how to use such systems. Finally, I've seen professors not very concerned about student's privacy.

In our university (Italy), profs are allowed to post grades with names, but they cannot stay up online more than "a reasonable amount of time" (in practice, we take them down after the exam season is over).

I recall that when I was an undergrad, the prof for one of our courses hanged on the billboard a sheet with the columns (student ID number, exam result), while the the prof from another course hanged next to it one with columns (student name, student ID number, exam2 result).

One of the purposes of student ID numbers in Germany was exactly this, to be able to anonymously (i.e. without the names out in the open) post grades. Meanwhile, the tendency seems to be the assumption that the student ID numbers are too permanent to be sufficiently secure, which is why we are usually forbidden to post any grades with student ID numbers online now (although temporary public announcements printed on paper and put up at a bulletin board are ok). The interpretation of the respective privacy laws may differ between university and department.

@ff524: In my experience, using such LMSes never works flawlessly enough that a fallback method that works for everyone would be completely obsolete. For a start, neither teaching staff nor students are experts at using all the different LMSes in use (and universities rarely impose a single one because different teaching staff have different preferences and would not want to be that restricted in their choice, or have already set up certain things in running systems and would not want to switch). Then, each class has at least some cases for whom access doesn't work sufficiently well, ...

... be it because they entered the class at a later time and somehow never got an account, or because of the seemingly omnipresent students from other universities via all kinds of cooperation programs, at least one of which per class was invariably not considered while the LMS and its access restrictions were set up. Then, outside of CS, or at least in non-engineering subjects, I have repeatedly seen a slight general aversion to spend a lot of time in learning how to use such complex systems. This is quite understandable IMO; I consider properly configuring an LMS quite a bit more ...

... demanding than using SVN or Git, so I wouldn't expect anyone whose preferred method of collaborative version control is sending around differently named Word documents via e-mail (that's completely ok if SVN is deemed too difficult) to take the time to learn how to configure an LMS for anything more specific than uploading files accessible to the whole course and adding a text saying "All other info will be announced in class." In short, no LMS compares to the ease of use and reliability of a printed list at a bulletin board. For more details, a separate question might be appropriate.

@O.R.Mapper Student IDs are too easy to infer from multiple result lists and can be hard to keep secret for other reasons. Thus, their usage for public application or announcement lists should be forbidden. What's really needed are unique keys per exam. (My university has been dragging their feet and only reacting in small ways. We've been using exam IDs for years now, and it's very liberating in several ways.)

@ff524 many universities in Europe use secured web portals to communicate grades. But just because there's a system doesn't mean lecturers will use it.

In the UK you expect to get your grades on a web portal (which is often integrated with, but not part of, an LMS) ... but for them also to be published on a board on results day. It's the same in schools. It's just how it is. If you're jealous of other people getting higher scores then you should have worked harder.

"Imagine having to send out 1800 emails for a single course!" but mail merge?!? The grades are presumably digital already and someone in a university aught to know how to do a mail merge, so that all the students can be emailed with their own grades at once. This is possible even if all you have is an email client.

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@ff524, I can't say, but compare http://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/52314/why-do-faculty-use-the-software-blackboard.

This sounds like the way it's done in Germany. It's useful to know but by no means as general as “European countries” seems to imply. AFAIK, in France, the UK or the Netherlands posting a table with full names and grades available to all students is frequent.

@Jekowl: as a software developer, I'd see that a task that's really easy to do, but more or less impossible to do to the complete satisfaction of everybody who wants to stick their oar in. Result: it's not universally done ;-) Even if someone in the university knows how to do a mail merge (or otherwise communicate confidentially and individually with all students, as for example we know they do for some matters such as applications, or collecting whatever money is due), you still have to herd the output from several hundred cats (sorry, professors) to several thousand destinations.

Yes, it's unreasonable. Any request for special treatment for you personally is unreasonable unless it is grounded in genuine need: e.g. a disability or an acute change in personal circumstances.
If you feel strongly that this practice is wrong you should instead seek to change the practice for all students through the usual university channels for seeking change and raising grievances.
Other posters have suggested that posting results is illegal under data protection legislation, they are wrong; Data Protection legislation does not forbid the posting of exam results in Europe in general although specific countries in Europe may have stricter limits.

This guideline document from FU Berlin explains that publishing exam grades by permanent student ID numbers does not fulfil German legal privacy requirements. Likewise, this document from the central data protection agency for universities in the German state of Baden-Württemberg says exam results can legally only be published online with prior written consent by the student. ("publish" in the sense of making publicly accessible)

According to this FAQ by the state agency for privacy in Schleswig-Holstein, the same (prior written consent) is also required for reading out a grade aloud in front of a schoolclass in Germany. Lastly, this explanation by the data security officer of the Swiss Canton of Basel-Stadt suggests publishing a non-anonymized list of exam results online is just as illegal in Switzerland.

@O.R.Mapper Still doesn't mean it's forbidden in Europe or the EU generally. As a matter of fact, it's common and accepted in France or the UK so even if you want to argue it ought to change in principle, it's not by any means obvious it's illegal or immediately useful to the OP to know this.

@O.R.Mapper: I should have specified there is no EU wide legal infringement. There may be in specific countries but since the OP doesn't specify...

@Relaxed: My commens were meant to clarify the earlier version of this answer that insinuated it is generally not forbidden in Europe, as well as the current version that, while adding a restriction later on, still claims the desire uttered by the OP is "unreasonable", assumes it is "special treatment for [one person] personally", and that the notion of posting exam results being in conflict with data protection legislation a generally "wrong" claim. The answer is probably meant to express the correct ideas, but at least in the current state, I think the my references are still helpful.

"Yes, it's unreasonable. Any request for special treatment for you personally is unreasonable"  I wouldn't call a request for privacy unreasonable. I find your answer very peculiar... How can privacy not be 'for you personally'??

I think your request is very reasonable and what your professors do is unethical and likely illegal¹ (not that I would recommend outright suing before trying to talk to people).
A solution you could advertise to your professors and that neither requires any software nor a big additional effort is the following:

In addition to their names, students give some arbitrary name or similar on their exam sheets that they can remember, e.g., Paul Erdős, Ichabod Numberwrangler, Robert'); DROP TABLE STUDENTS;-- or AxPeYvs2`{P97_E$T+!?tj0YY.
When the grades are published, this name is used instead of their real name. In the unlikely event that two students chose an identical name, use an initial or similar to distinguish them in an unrevealing way (or use e-mail).

¹ I am not familiar with every legislation and it may depend on the exact circumstances, but for example this document from the central data-protection agency of the universities of a German states that even publishing results in connection with the student ID needs a written consenst from the student.

The illegal aspect of this depends of the country: when I was student in France about 10 years ago, it was common that the grades are posted in a corridor, and everybody can see them. I don't know if the practice changed

@Taladris yes, up to a few years ago also in Italy grades were published on billboards along the corridors with names and surnames, but now are given through electronic systems.

@Taladris: That does not necessarily contradict it being illegal. There are a lot of common practices that only survive because nobody is suing. For example the physics department in my university organises physics lab courses for medical students and they have to be organised in an entire different manner, because you can rely on some of those students suing whenever there is a slight chance of success.

"not that I would recommend suing" -- why not? Have the student union pick up the suit. It's all but certain to succeed; this practice is in violation with EU law (iirc, cf Directive 95/46/EC). Some professors won't change their habits unless the sky falls down on them; well, we can arrange that. (Usually, the serious suggestion of a pending lawsuit will cause the head of the university to fold, and stern words to the offending parties follow.)

By the way, student IDs may not be publishable as well; by cross-referencing multiple result lists it can be possible to identify individuals by adding some unrelated knowledge (e.g. the year they started and which courses they took).

@Raphael: Because, if I understand the situation correctly, suing would be a disproportional step of escalation. You can try talking to the professors or the department first or have the student union do it. If that fails, you can still sue. (Also note that I only do not recommend suing and do not recommend not suing.)

@Wrzlprmft Fair enough. In my experience, people who still publish private information without second thought need the hammer, but that does not mean it always is like that. Also, the dean of chancellor giving a call may be hammer enough. If there already is enough sensitivity about privacy issues at that university in general.

I find the notion that anybody would care about this enough to sue completely ridiculous. Though potentially not surprisingly so in ahem particular countries. Not everything has to be fixed by a bloody lawsuit for goodness's sake.

Data protection laws DO NOT forbid the posting of exam results. A two second google should satisfy you of this, e.g. http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/newsnight/michaelcrick/2011/05/exam_results_not_restricted_by.html or https://ico.org.uk/media/for-organisations/documents/1135/publication-of-exam-results-by-schools-dpa-guidance.pdf

@JackAidley: That’s why I said likely – I cannot know every legislation in Europe regarding this; it is certainly illegal in Germany (see O.R. Mapper’s comments on your answer). Moreover, one of the documents you linked recommends strong precautions (e.g., “Schools should make sure that people are aware as early as possible [what will be published]”), though I cannot tell right now to what extent this is required by law.

@LightnessRacesinOrbit: As I noted earlier, some medical students in my country will use every chance for suing if it means that they may be able to continue studying despite failing their physics course three times. This is sad and has ridiculous consequences affecting all students, but it’s sadly very real.

@Wrzlprmft: Good lord.

@LightnessRacesinOrbit Actually, law suits don't have to be that bad. A quick verdict by a judge can be a very effective way to force a big institution to change it ways. I agree with Wrzlp... that it's kinda out of proportion to directly go that route, but if the University is not open to changing their ways on this it can be a very effective last resort.

It is fine to ask your professor if there is some way to keep the grades confidential when they are posted. As others say, perhaps they could be posted as an ID, or maybe the professor has access to a way to easily send it as an email.
However, keep in mind that there is a strong possibility that you will receive a negative answer.
You seem concerned about peer harassment, but most people at the college level can, and will, act like grown adults. If you do happen to encounter harassment, just staying professional should remind them of this. If not, there are avenues you can take to report harassment, but they sometimes vary - so you'd have to check your own school's policies and procedures.
Congratulations on your achievement

If what the professor is doing is legal in your country, and he is unwilling to accommodate your request, you should petition the institutional hierarchy, dean, president, or such for a change in policy.  If you have a student governance committee/senate/parliament, you could approach them to approach the university to change the policy to use student ID's.  In the U.S., published student IDs should cannot be the students federal ID number, aka social security number, nor a portion of that number.  This requires a structural change to the computerized student records system and may take years to effect.  In the interim, a system of nick names could be devised so that only YOU and your prof knows the whose nickname is whose.  Also, most electronic databases have a record number assigned to each record, i.e. each student has a different record number, somewhat akin to a line number in a paper and pencil grade book.  The prof could display that record number instead of a name.  Maybe not the best solution, but probably the easiest to effect in the short term.  He only needs to communicate students' record numbers to each student privately.  Be mindful that, whatever the alias system is used, the ordering of the names on the posted list should not be in the real name alphabetical order. If your name is Aaron Aardvaark, or Zybignu Zzypata, most can detect who is first or last on the list.  Beyond the university, you can petition your local senator or MP, as the case may be for a national or state law.  That, again could take years.


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How should to-be-published articles be referenced?
Can I use an unpublished but about to be published soon paper as a reference for a conference paper?
Suggestions would be appreciated.
Thank you!

about to be published here means already accepted in the conference but not yet published because it gets published few months after the conference..

For the conference paper, are we talking about the submission version, or about the camera-ready version? Answers will be different depending on which one you mean.

we are talking about camera ready version

The usual way of handling this situation is to use [in press] in the reference instead of the publication date to indicate that the publication is accepted but not yet available. Usually you should also provide soft copies of the to-be-published articles so that the reviewers can have access to them during the review process.
Note that some journals (there is no conference publishing in my field) will postpone the publication of your article until all in press articles are online/published to make sure the references don't need further editing and are correct and useful on the long haul.
Note: Do not use in press if you only speculate that the cited paper will be accepted, only after a firm notification of acceptance.

I doubt any conference will (or can) postpone publication of their proceedings in the described way. Note that the final version of the proceedings is often handed out digitally, or even printed, to participants at the first day of the conference.

Some conferences do...i have to submit the camera ready paper after the conference

Also the online version is not available after some months...i guess a reviewer wants the online version..

@O.R.Mapper I guess journals have a more archival vocation than conference proceedings that aim at disseminating new material quickly.

@jpara good point, I edited my answer accordingly.

@jpara: Fair enough, conferences are certainly organized in different ways across fields. As for "some months", the online version is rarely available before a few months have passed after the conference even on all the conferences I have been to (that would distribute all camera-ready versions on CDs/DVDs during the conference). I suppose the proceedings are caught in some administrative limbo for a while before they get publicly accessible.

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What are my obligations towards my adviser after the defense, revisions, and all forms signing is done?
Just few days ago, I completed all requirements for the degree, all is set and done. I am organizing a workshop with my adviser to be held in few months. Right now, we are reviewing the submissions. My adviser insists that I am not qualified to review the papers because he designated me as a student organizer and my degree completion does not change that. But he expects me to write the reviews that were assigned to him! On top of that, he cannot cover my travel expenses for the workshop, because of the University policy not to pay expenses for the former students. So, I'm on my own to find the travel funding - I will need to ask my employer for funding.
What bothers me is that when convenient, I'm treated as a student (to write the reviews), but when not convenient, I am treated as a former student (funding the travel expenses). What should I do? I talked to him twice now, and I still getting emails asking when the reviews will done.
Is this a common practice? Am I out of the line to question it? And what does this say for our future relationship working independently in the same field.
I should say that I have a job and funding lined up (funding starts after the workshop). So, I don't need a letter of recommendation from my adviser, but staying on good terms would be beneficial. On the other hand, my adviser was hoping that I could fund some of his students over the next year with the funding I received.
Thank you!

What country is this in?

@BillBarth This is in United States.

"Is this a common practice?"  More common than it should be, perhaps, but it is certainly not a standard practice.  "Am I out of the line to question it?"  Absolutely not.  "And what does this say for our future relationship working independently in the same field."  Good question.  I suggest calling him and having a conversation about this.  Don't pick up the phone until you're sure you can stay calm and cordial no matter what.  When you talk, work up to being as frank as you can, to the limits of his receptivity.  Try to make sure that he knows that your funding gives you some leverage here.

@PeteL.Clark, I can understand a University not generally being able to pay for a non-employee's attendance at a remote event, but in my experience, there is always a way to make it work if some employee wants it done.

@Bill: Hmm, maybe I misunderstood.  I was interpreting the policy as "We can give funding to outside people so long as they are not former students."  Upon reflection, that is so ridiculous that your interpretation seems likely to be correct.

@PeteL.Clark Thank you for the sanity check. I will engage into the negotiations. The mentioned University policy is according to my adviser. I did not verify it. But I too find it curious, because you have some autonomy over your funding.

@Orion: You should look independently into what the funding policy is.  As a general rule, it is best to inquire into funding before you sign on to something requiring travel (although it is all too easy not to).  In my field we do not have "student organizers" so I don't know anything about the finer points of that.   But it is hard for me to read your situation in any other way than that you are being unfairly penalized for having graduated.  This is a really bad departmental practice, and it may well be worth discussing it with other faculty: the chair, the director of graduate studies...

My adviser insists that I am not qualified to review the papers... But he expects me to write the reviews that were assigned to him. — Repeat after me: "I'm sorry, but as you just said yourself, I'm not qualified to write your reviews."

It looks like your former adviser is being a bit of a xxxx... Has this been the case in the past? Are you concerned about him getting back at you if you refuse to do his job? Can he have a negative impact on your life/career?

@A.G. I am his first student to graduate. Not staying on his good side might have negative impact should I consider going for an academic position in the future. Something he very strongly encourages me to do and I haven't decided yet. My job is in a research lab and there he won't have negative influence. Then there are soft consequences, opportunities missed. He is obviously better connected in the field than I am, and animosity is not going to serve anyone.

@JeffE: I don't recommend that level of snark if OP wants to maintain a decent relationship with his former advisor.

@BillBarth no snark needed, but the point is well made - he should clearly ask the advisor to make up his mind; either he is qualified to write the reviews and sign them himself; or he isn't and shouldn't write them. The advisor can't have his cake and eat it too.

@BillBarth I don't think there's any chance of maintaining a decent relationship with this advisor. OP might be able to get recommendation letters from him, by agreeing to his abuse, but that's hardly "decent".

@Peteris, I agree, but there's a way to do it without dynamiting the bridge behind him. He's the advisor's first PhD student, clearly the advisor has some things to learn about working with former students and now colleagues. This can be a growing and learning experience for both of them, or everyone can end up bitter. I think OP has a choice as to how it goes.

I agree with @Peteris, it can be done carefully. My plan is to center the discussion on upgrading my role as an organizer, and defer any discussion about the reviews until we have the agreement on my official role. The discussion is motivated by the realization that it is very hard to ask my employer to fund the travel where I am representing the University. Then, I need to build up why it is in my advisor's interest to upgrade me: good for his reputation to have a student who already graduated, and frees him of the responsibility and liability - financial etc.

We can go from there. Once the role is set, then we can talk about responsibilities, including the reviews. I do not plan on agreeing to do the reviews without written conformation that my travel would be covered. If my role is upgraded, I'll gladly do reviews assigned to me, and will take care of my funding.

Other cultures may have different approaches to the ethics of this, but I think it's pretty out of line for the US.
I would recommend standing by your commitment to help organize the workshop, but I would not do your former advisor's reviewing for him. You've graduated, you're a fully-fledged member of the doctoral community.
Pete's comment is pretty spot on. Be as nice and cordial as possible, but be firm in your refusal to do his work for him.

Removed incorrect "not". Just mentioning it, because it changes the whole sense of the sentence. +1 for "I would not do your former advisors reviewing for him."

You've graduated, you're a fully-fledged member of the doctoral community. — For the record, you were a fully-fledged member of the research community even before you graduated.  Otherwise, you wouldn't have landed a job.

I would only upvote this answer if there's also advice on HOW to refuse to do the work. That's the hard part. Of course OP knows that he shouldn't do the work that is not his.

Just to give an update. We had a conversation that stayed pretty civil, and at least the expectations are clear now. I will be upgraded to a regular organizer, and will be responsible for my own funding. He would not allow me to be a reviewer in order to maintain high-quality of the workshop and not bring any questions over the peer-review process credibility. I did not agree to do the reviews for him. I got a guilt trip for putting him in a very bad position. He would not have agreed to do the workshop had he known I wouldn't be reviewing the papers for him.

All said and done, I feel good about it. Not thrilled, but in peace with it. @Anh I structured the discussion over the roles and common interest: transitioning to the new phase of collaboration that is less day-to-day, but with more impact to his benefit. That I am willing to accept more responsibility for more independence, and that I am committed to organizing the workshop, and not putting him in a difficult position. Circling back to these points, whenever the conversation became tense, helped keep the tone cordial. At the end, we agreed to disagree.

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What to do if assignment is against student's religion?
What is the proper course of action if while teaching an undergraduate or even secondary school course an assignment violates the religious beliefs of a student?
For a more concrete example of where this might happen, let us consider an art class with a Muslim student (Disclamer: I am not an adherent to, or scholar of, Islam; please forgive me for any misunderstandings this post might contain):
Within Islam it is considered haram (forbidden by God) [1] to produce images of non-plant living creatures (including humans), this is called tasweer.[2]
Now if I were to assign a portrait of a person to the class as an assignment, what would be the most ethical option, should a student raise a concern to me about this? Would it be appropriate to assign an alternate assignment?

[1]: Similar to a christian sin, but with a stronger connotation from what I can tell; literally: taboo.
[2]: I believe this is from a hadith, but one that is deemed to be the most accurate/reliable.

Another concrete example is "you have to use this pirated software for your assignment, download it from the course website". Although this also violates laws, only religious students objected.

In this particular case, I would respect the student's wishes, and follow the suggestions below, BUT refer them to the outstanding research by Professor Michael Barry on the tradition of courtly art, ie Indian and Persian miniatures which were anthropomorphic and authorised and valued by the highest Islamic religious authorities. I'd also consider involving everyone in a course in sacred geometry drawing on the art and symbolism of Islamic culture.

@LeonConrad I wouldn't recommend that - it comes across as suggesting to the student that he is misinterpreting the religious requirements, or suggesting he follow other interpretations of those requirements than his own. The student does not want to feel like he has to convince you of his interpretation, nor do you want to be convinced; the student just wants to know how he can meet class requirements given certain restrictions.

@ff524 I don't see our views being mutually exclusive - no convincing either way is implied, just a mutual widening of horizons and awareness. The wider our horizons in my view, the more tolerance and understanding there is in the world. Sensitivity in handling the situation and mutual respect are implied - I would have thought that was obvious. Obviously this would most easily be applied in a liberal and tolerant society. The liberal educator has choices, always.

@LeonConrad In the context of education in general, it is certainly nice to widen horizons and awareness :) My concern only applies to the student saying, "I can't do this assignment because of the requirements of my religious observance" and the instructor replying in that context "This is another interpretation of those requirements"

Don't think that only Muslims will object to such an assignment.  All Mosaic religions have such a prohibition, although exactly how broadly it is applied certainly varies.  Someone who uses a broad interpretation probably shouldn't be in such a class, however.

@BenVoigt Fair point, but the Islamic tradition has the benefit of having an an emphasis on the interpretation of scholars, especially through the rulings called fatawas. Both the size of the religion and the emphasis on these (cite-able) fatawas (also called fatwas) caused me to cite Islam as an example (as the scholarly writings allow me to learn about such practices from a reliable source, avoiding misinterpretation).

Is this an actual problem? It sounds like you are making up an example for the sake of this question, but I don't believe a lot of Muslims would consider this a rule to be followed in modern day. There is no need for discussing hypothetical questions. If you had an actual situation you should use that as example.

@eBusiness: The question isn't about many, the question is about some.

This is ridiculous! If your religious belief doesn't permit you to do some things, then avoid these. What's the point of enrolling then complaining about assignments?

@eBusiness Yes this is a hypothetical situation, however, it is not an unreasonable one. I cited the modern interpretation of the Islamic law by Abd al-Aziz ibn Baz, Grand Mufti (highest religious official) of Saudi Arabia until his death in 1999. While I agree that this might not be a common occurrence in American institutions of learning, that does not make this situation an unreasonable one. I cite this meta question.

@user The student may not have been informed of the assignment before enrolling in the class (or before the add/drop deadline for enrollment)

In the given case, if there is only one portrait as part of the course, then why not a portrait of a pet?

@ian It is considered haraam to depict animate beings, not only humans, therefore the pet would also be prohibited.

@marczellm That's different. Piracy is illegal, if your instructor is compelling you to use pirated software you can easily report them to the university administrator or the police.

There is not a single verse in the Quran against drawing a picture of a live human being. The source you have cited merely talks about a subjective interpretation of particular events at the dawn of Islam. The cited text or its' author is not considered genuine by the majority of muslims. The whole point of my comment is to differentiate between religious laws and personal interpretation of religious laws (which are not included in the Quran)

@AbbasJavanJafari To my knowledge, there is not a single verse in the Quran with this prohibition, which is why I cite a source as close to the original source of the prohibition (an early Hadith) as I can. Nevertheless, whether or not it is considered genuine by the majority of modern Muslims, it has historically been of import (as seen in much of the art of the Islamic empires), and it is conceivable that a Muslim holds this belief. It is also not my place to say whether they are "true" Muslims for believing this or not. In a similar sense, it would be wrong for me to say that (cont..)

I could provide an exception if you quote a bible verse, but not one if you quote from the book of Mormon (which the majority of Christians do not believe), as this is blatantly discriminatory.

(That is not to disagree with the fact that Wahabism, which the Saudi Arabian official I cite is a proponent of, is not a terribly common form of Islam in the US)

@ff524 very well spoken on the issue of how students interpret their religion. This happens often to Seventh-Day Adventists, who consider Saturday to be the "correct" day of rest and worship even while nearly all other Christians disagree. Arguing is fruitless - nowadays both sides have more or less "agreed to disagree" and are trying to move on with their lives - staying true to their own beliefs while respecting others.

If you can make an accommodation that allows the student to participate

without violating his religious observance, and
without compromising the educational goals of the class, and
without requiring an extreme amount of effort on your part,

then it is reasonable to make the accommodation.
I regularly miss classes and exams due to religious observance. My school has a very clear policy on the matter:

If students have to miss a class session, exam, or are otherwise unable to participate in a course requirement due to religious observance, they must notify the professor and a certain dean in a timely manner (the definition of "a timely manner" is further specified in the policy)
If said student follows the above requirement, they cannot be penalized for their religious observance and the professor must offer a fair alternative (e.g., makeup exam or assignment)

If your university has no policy on the matter, feel free to adopt mine, and specify it in your syllabus at the beginning of the semester.
However, I would not take a class where I know the main requirement of a class would violate my religious observance. Indeed, I know people who have refrained from pursuing a career because a non-negotiable required class for that field would require something that violates their religious observance. *
So, if the course is Figure Drawing and someone registers knowing that he cannot draw the human figure... I don't think you are required to let him pass the class by doing still lives instead. If the course is Introduction to Art for Non-Majors, it may be possible to offer an alternative to the portrait assignment.
This applies more generally as well. If a student in good faith (i.e., not to get out of doing work) considers an assignment

illegal,
unethical,
compromising to his health/safety,
etc.

it seems reasonable to offer an alternative assignment if it does not compromise the educational goals of the course.
* See: Can a Kohen become a doctor?

+1 for the combination of "be understanding and tolerant" with "don't let it get ridiculous".

It's also not the job of places of learning to label superstition. An answer similar to ff524 will go much further to promote learning than injecting your own opinions on religion or any other subject in the classroom. Stick to teaching the material and follow the charter.

This seems to me to be a pretty good answer, the only thing that I would add is that after becoming aware of a potential religious or cultural issue it would be a good idea to add a suitable caveat to the module description/specification, e.g. "the assessment on this module involves figure drawing".  Hopefully that means that in future this sort of issue can be negotiated before the student registers for the module, and emphasises that the student has a responsibility to select appropriate modules (where there is a choice).  Hindsight is always 20/20, but that is no reason not to use it! ;o)

I would second @DikranMarsupial's comment.  As an example, when I was in high school the senior-year biology course included a laboratory class where you had to dissect a fetal pig.  This was considered an essential part of the course, and it was made very clear to all students completing the introductory biology class that if they continued on to the advanced class they would have to carry out the dissection.  If the student had any ethical or religious objections against dissecting a dead animal (or a pig in particular), they we warned not to take the class.

You regularly miss classes for religious observance?

@DikranMarsupial or, "This course requires discussion of sexual topics", "Papers in this course must be written from the perspective that evolution is true, even if you personally disbelieve", or "Due to safety regulations, students may not wear skirts in the lab".

@RobertColumbia "Papers in this course must be written from the perspective that evolution is true, even if you personally disbelieve" would be inappropriate as the student is free to submit papers expressing essentially any point of view they like (this is academia), but that doesn't mean they will get good marks for what they submit.

It's not the job of places of learning to give way to superstition. Indeed, quite the reverse: the whole Enlightenment Project was about bringing light into darkness, and all the Academia I'm familiar with puts itself broadly in the Enlightenment tradition.
So yes, this answer will read as uncompromising. Because, from experience, I've found that rigorous education is incompatible with compromising that rigour in favour of molly-coddling someone's religious beliefs.
There is no sane middle ground. If you're going to start compromising the quality of your teaching to avoid offending someone's belief, you'll quickly find yourself running out of space. Someone's going to get offended that you're teaching males and females at the same time, sat next to each other. Someone's going to get offended that anyone's drawing the human figure, let alone that they have to. Someone's going to get offended that you don't mention their pet crank theory alongside science as if they were somehow of equal merit.
If a particular course's actions are in contradiction to a student's religion, then there are two routes here. If the student is legally a child, then the student completes the actions - they are under the school's guardianship when in school. If the student is legally an adult, then they have the problem, and it's not fair on any of the other students that they should make their problem, the institution's problem. They can either fail that part of the course, or they can do the work.
If a student's beliefs contradict knowledge, science or art, that's not the problem of the place of learning. That's the problem of the student.
If this is about children, then the responsible adults are guilty of abuse, for bringing that state of affairs about, and the school should do as much as it reasonably can to make amends for that failure. Note that I am not saying that a religious upbringing is necessarily abuse. I am saying that teaching children nonsense such as creationism is abuse, because it can cripple that child's future opportunities.
If this is about adults, then they've taken responsibility for failing that part of their education, and should be marked down accordingly.
This has been something of a hot topic in Britain recently, where the teaching of creationism and other ignorances is on the rise, where state-funded schools have been breaking equality laws by selecting staff on the basis of gender, sexuality and religion, and where pressure has been put on educational establishments to subvert the teaching of several branches of knowledge, including the censoring of some exam questions on evolution, and the censoring of two university atheist society's display of the Flying Spaghetti Monster and of "Jesus and Mo" t-shirts, because these were inconsistent with some extremist religous interpretations.
Academia is the bulwark against ignorance and superstition.
I'm not saying that religion = ignorance and superstition. Creationism = ignorance and superstition. Refusing to draw the human figure = ignorance and superstition. Avoiding listening to or playing music = ignorance and superstition. Preventing females from being educated = ignorance and superstition.

This answer is not phrased in the most conciliatory way, but I do think there is truth to this. In the context of this question, I feel that everyone should adhere to the standard set by a specific course or face the consequences. If a student cannot/will not do part of the course for whatever reason, that is his or her responsibility. In my experience, subjects are too often catered to individual students which can result in the subject as a whole to evolve towards the lowest common denominator. This is particularly counterproductive because it indirectly harms the good students.

"all the Academia I'm familiar with puts itself broadly in the Enlightenment tradition". I, on the other hand, am studying at a Catholic university. I disagree with equating religion to ignorance, superstition, darkness and failure. I find the wording of this answer somewhat offensive.

There is a big difference between students disagreeing with the actual substance of what they're taught (as in your example of Creationism) and students refusing to engage in certain activities (as in the example of art in the question). I think you're answering a question which wasn't asked.

This is not what the question was primarily concerned with; the example (and the general case) is about when a student cannot complete something because the action is against their religion, whereas this answers the question of what to do when the knowledge contradicts their religion. In the case of the former, it is not that the student refuses to accept the knowledge, but that they are only allowed to apply it to things that are not haram (sin, et cetera).

I have downvoted this.  Multicultural societies (such as the one in which I live) need to be tolerant of religious and cultural differences, e.g. academic institutions should make reasonable adjustments where necessary.  The suggestion that bringing up children in a religious faith is abuse is gratuitously offensive.  With rights come responsibilities, the responsibility that goes with free speech is to refrain from causing needless offence in discussing things with which you disagree.  This sort of polemic only appeals to those that already agree with you and will change nobody's mind.

@DikranMarsupial I think you've misunderstood what I've written. I do not say that bringing up children in a religious faith is abuse. Teaching them anti-science nonsense such as creationism, however, is abuse. It can cripple their future opportunities.

+1 I think you need to clarify what you have written to make that distinction.  Personally I think it is at best hyperbole to describe the teaching of creationism as abuse.  Parents inevitably end up passing memes on to their children that are incorrect to varying degrees (if only because our understanding of the world is not static and our parents are necessarily older than we are ;o) if this is well intentioned I can't see how it can be reasonably described as abuse.  If you want to argue against creationism (and I do as well), then you are not going to change any minds with polemic.

BTW, I don't think you can contradict art!

@DikranMarsupial I've tried to edit that in to my answer. I'm not interested in changing minds: by the very nature of fundamentalists, there's no reasoning with them: if they were open to reason, they wouldn't be fundamentalists. And I'm not interested in courting any middle ground. I'm just providing an answer to the question.

-1 for adopting an unnecessarily intolerant tone, for effectively equating religion to "ignorance and superstition" at the end, for implying that the religious belief of the student "is the problem of the student", and for ultimately not answering the question.

@badroit I must have phrased it very badly, given that's what you've inferred from my ending. I've reworded to be more explicit about what I intended.

@marczellm 1642. 1992.

I respect your opinion; however, contrary to your experience that rigorous education is incompatible with compromising.. etc., my own experiences include many "compromises" that allowed me to participate fully without affecting educational standards at all.

@EnergyNumbers What do you mean by your comment of "1642. 1992."? I'd like to read more but I find it's not enough to go on, unless you mean the Church's apology to Galileo.

It really is amazing to me how many people seek to invoke the Enlightenment to support their intolerance, apparently completely ignorant of the fact that tolerance, particularly religious tolerance was a core principle of the Enlightenment.

Nope, you made it worse. by the very nature of fundamentalists, there's no reasoning with them — Pot, kettle, black, etc.

Its okay as long as students don't want to take a course on evolution and such. Its okay if they wish to be fully covered. But, its a problem if they expect the world to follow unjustifiable rules and live by them. How is music "bad" or "haram" is beyond me. Violent music could still be considered "haram" or even avoidable. But how do you justify neutral music by Beethoven as "haram" ?

@EnergyNumbers, thanks for considering my comment but the -1 still remains. For me, your ending paragraph is like people who start sentences with "I'm not racist but ...". In my opinion, the core fallacy of your answer is that, throughout, you reduce religious belief to trivial superstitions and then answer the question from that cut-and-dry perspective. But religion is much more complex: it is about individual ethics, identity and culture. Painting with broad brush-strokes, not considering the individual, and arbitrarily rejecting all middle-ground is, for me, synonymous with intolerance.

... also I wonder how the answers would change if the question were rather about students having ethical concerns regarding course-work: research on stem-cells, analysis of sensitive/private data, exploitative business practices, euthanising patients, experiments on animals, eating meat, observing abortions, performing sex acts, analysing snuff videos. One could imagine that any such act, even bordering on the hypothetical/extreme, can have an educational aspect. Each individual has a different line (potentially informed by religion). Nobody is right/wrong. There is only a middle ground.

I appreciate your edits, your answer is much clearer and much less offensive now.

I think this answer is correct, but unfortunately, it's not politically correct.

Your exasperated tone here is interesting because it reveals underlying suppositions about epistemology and ontology which themselves are at least in part under attack in your answer. That is, you have a strong revulsion toward what you call superstition, but don't seem cognizant of the fact that this is a clear "how things ought to be" derived from the worldview you've selected as the best one. So, you're making a worldview superiority claim on the strength of that worldview, but by what means do you select your worldview over others that allow for the existence of the supernatural?

If you were a character in a universe inside a computer, ala The Sims, certainly some Sims would argue that there is no programmer, and no computer (a.k.a. super-nature), there is only the software (a.k.a. "reality"). Your experience of the software's rules could expose the programming underlying it (rules of logic, reason, existence, and so on), but how could you discern whether those rules were inherent and fundamental properties or if they were founded on something deeper? Certainly not by merely using the software's apparent rules.

The embedded and incorrect assumption here: "If you're going to start compromising the quality of your teaching to avoid offending someone's belief..." That isn't always the case. There are often accommodations which can be made which do not compromise the quality of the teaching, and the thought put into considering an accommodation might sometimes increase the quality of the teaching, sometimes even for all the students in the class.  "There is no sane middle ground" is just plain wrong, unless you put waaaay too much stock in that false assumption.

You really cannot expect that the assignment should be counted as done just because of your religion. However, if you are a student,

Try to ask the professor to adapt the assignment. If picturing humans
is not allowed, maybe picturing geometric figures is ok.
Ask representative of your religion if the activity is really disallowed in your context. Most of religious restrictions are about actions, not about studying (may be exceptions of course).
If you know you should drop studies but are too weak to do this, the representative of your religion may just forgive you.

If you are the person teaching, you may think about adapting course (is the disallowed activity essential?) and still check with representative of religion if the students do not interpret restrictions unnecessarily broadly. Additionally, you may discuss with your administration the possibility to suggest the alternative but equally serious and difficult course for such students. Some universities like Zurich ETH allow to choose between many alternative courses, with only small percent being mandatory.
Still, if there are many assignments contradicting the religion, this probably shows that it may be lots more problems at work later. If you are not allowed to kill, that is the point of attempting the carrier of the jet fighter pilot? Even if you can actually study, saying nobody is killed in flight simulator or during bombing tests, this may not make much sense.

While this is a nice answer, it answers a somewhat different question than the one asked, since the question here is from the point of view of the person teaching.

The person teaching can take first two actions as well (change the assignment or clarify with the representative of the confession). He may also ask the student how one is going to work later if cannot even study.

check with representative of religion - Do not do this. Unless you're teaching religion, it's not up to you to tell the student that his interpretation of  religious requirements are incorrect.

You mean, it is up to the student to decide if certain assignment contradicts some very specific religion he may  have? Like "my religion disallows me to learn this type if differential equation, that also seems too difficult for me"? Impressive.

Most religions exist in many variations and interpretations, and if you find a representative of the religion who says "This is permitted" the student can still say (legitimately) "That is not the interpretation I follow." (Evaluating whether the student is making his claim in good faith or trying to avoid doing work is another issue entirely, which I don't think the OP is asking about.)

I disagree with adapting the course. There's a difference in adapting a course to be accessible for students with disabilities/illnesses/religious observance regarding the style of assessment task (exam/essays etc) and missing class, and changing the course content. Don't change the course content because someone finds it confronting, the purpose of Academia is to challenge and confront.

I think this depends on what level you are teaching at.  Below college-level I think you may need to find an alternative (but just as difficult or more difficult) assignment.
It is a slippery-slope when people institute their private beliefs on a teacher's assignment.  It is not like the assignment was for them to go to a Sunday mass.  If the assignment was hitting a lot of religious notes, you as the teacher should have a plan.  Have the students/parents sign-off on the topics/assignments or offer them another assignment to do.
If we are talking college level courses the assignments and tests should be on your syllabus.  If they don't want to do them then they can drop out of your class or they can get an F on the assignment.
As a teacher you are trying to teach them a skillset.  If that includes something that is against their beliefs they shouldn't get to pass the class because they don't have the knowledge/skill.  There is just too much grey area here and obviously the students could tell you whatever they want and it allows for animosity from students that have to do the assignments.

As an educator, the most appropriate response is to immediately escalate the matter in a neutral way - present only the facts.  The educational institution has staff and lawyers to interpret scenarios like this and provide recommendations to the teacher.  I would not recommend making any immediate compromises or snap-judgements with the student.  Educating students is stressful enough.  Let those who specialize in this type of issue resolve it, and you can focus on the education of your students.

In my six years in secular institutes of higher education, no professor has ever escalated to the dean responsible for such matters. We've always been able to settle the issue ourselves in a friendly and amicable way.

The question was not what is currently done by some educators, but what the proper course of action is. Most organizations have strict policies now around these topics due to the rising frequency of lawsuits over the slightest misunderstanding.  Know your organization's policies and follow them.  If your organization does not have any on these issues, good luck.  Some teachers are not charismatic enough to resolve the issue, and some students aren't looking for a compromise.  It's probably best to follow policy to protect yourself in the event of a litigious student (or parents).

I agree that escalating at the slightest hint of a possible conflict between student and teacher is wise. However, it isn't necessary as a first resort (unless of course school policy requires it.)

Note that the dean or whoever this is escalated to may have more of an incentive to cater to the student than to the teacher's workload.

I'm going to have to disagree with the majority on this post that you should adapt your assessment for the student if this is a college level or university level course.
Absolutely students who miss exams/class/need extensions due to religious observance should be accommodated. But at a college or university level, if a student disagrees or does not feel they can complete a particular assessment due to religious observance they shouldn't take the class. Assessments and topics are laid out in the beginning of the course, plenty of time for that student to switch classes. There's a difference regarding the style of assessment which can be altered (i.e. an exam to an essay) and the content being assessed, which is generally what would be the controversial subject.
I teach a number of controversial subjects because I'm situated in gender studies/sociology. A number of the courses I teach have controversial material and assessment tasks that are not well-suited for everyone. Many students find the material confronting, and yes, I have absolutely encountered students who find it too uncomfortable. My response? I am sympathetic to their issues, but their only option is to drop the class. A subject such as gender studies is a controversial subject, and when we delve into critical examinations of things like women and pornography, or men's aggression and violence, I cannot 'water it down' so it's accessible for those who find said material confronting. Otherwise, there's no point in teaching it.
Any student who does have a particular religious observance needs to take the time to review the course syllabus and get in contact with the unit coordinator before the start of the course. If the syllabus is not available prior to enrolling, they should still get in contact to discuss their concerns and determine whether or not the course is a valid option for them.
At some point, students have to take responsibility for their own choices regarding what classes they will take. They cannot expect to be accommodated to the point of completing a completely different assessment task to everyone else because the material is too confronting or is in direct violation to their religious observance. While the style of assessment can change (i.e. a student with a disability might prefer a take-home exam over a traditional sit-in exam) the content needs to remain the same.
Your example of an art class is a tricky one though. It would depend as to whether figure drawing is the main purpose of the course (in which perhaps the drawing of a naked figure makes up a huge portion of the assessment task/overall grade?) or if it's a relatively small component (like 5-10%?). If relatively small, they can skip it and forfeit the grade if they are able to complete everything else.

I think the solution depends on wether the method used to reach the education objective is problematic or if it's the actual education objective itself.
I have observed this kind of situation as fellow student. We have here a religious branch that forbids watching television. On a course about topic A, we had an exercise where we were supposed to watch several episodes from a TV series and observe topic A related things from characters. In this kind of case where the topic A itself has nothing to do with the problematic method, I think it's reasonable to accommodate student, if possible. In this case student was allowed to do the exercise from book instead of TV-series, and observe topic A related things from those characters.
Had the course topic been related to media or cinematography, and the method (watching TV-series) itself would have been important to reach the education objective (such as observing how lights or cuts or positioning was done in the TV-series), then I don't think accommodation has to be made. It is up to the student to realize that the course topic itself causes problems and either decide not to take it, or just do the exercises anyway.

I really do not believe religious beliefs should be THAT much considered. Islam also suggests that you should not be in the same classroom with opposite sex (also haram). Then why is that student studying in university?
Another question is, what if I believe in HurdyGurdyism and the letter F is very much sin in my religion? Then should you not give me an F?
Every belief is of course deserve respect, but I don't believe the purpose of conducting science is much more holier. All and all, the place is where you conduct science, not a sanctuary.

Educational institutions are not there to reaffirm religious beliefs. Anyone with a drivers license has already violated this belief. My heartless opinion on the matter is you do the assignment (or come up with the closest possible alternative) or you fail. How is not doing it for religious reasons different than just not doing it? Its also an insult to all those that did do it, particularly the ones that struggled through it.

This is not a comment on the substance of your response, but simply a comment on your drivers license example: there are exceptions for civic matters such as mugshots and drivers licenses.

The most important thing first: it is not your job to know every religion, belief or variation of it, it is up to the student or his/her parents to tell you beforehand what they cannot accept in class. Even between two of the same religion, no one can tell how direct one rule is taken by the one or the other. That said, your responsibility however is to give your students and their parents enough time in advance to notify you of potential issues.
If you work with a class where this can be an issue, a good idea would be to write down the topics for the upcoming course and hand it over to your students, and then explain why you are doing this. Depending on the age of your students, they might misunderstand this as cheating away from class. In addition you should give your students the chance for a fair alternative. If such alternative is not obvious, you should talk to the student or the parents in question to find one. If drawing an animated object is considered a sin, you could hand out a picture of someone to draw. Whether or not this complies to the religion, I however cannot tell.
Religion is nothing you can come by with logic, people believe the strangest things. For some of them compromises can be found, for others probably not. It is a good thing to try to find a compromise but in strange cases also valid to refuse them. If one's religion for example expects that boys and girls are taught in separate rooms, the only thing you can offer to the parents is for their child to change school.
Also you need to keep in mind how the other students will treat a kid, which is the reason why they can't do something they want, cannot watch a certain movie or must skip topics they would have been interested in. Some things they can accept if it is explained properly, others probably not. And in the later case it might be for the better of the kid in question to not give into the believes, as the "torture" following that would be much worse.

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text:
Is it rude to ask via email to a professor if there are any internship opportunities?
I've worked for an university for one year after my master's degree. Now I'm searching another job. For the moment I've tried to ask to several professors via email if there is any internship opportunities but only a couple of them answered me. I'm wondering if I'm doing something wrong or this is not the praxis or the formal manner for this type of requests. This is a general template I use:

Dear Professor Surname,
I'm a young chemist for the conservation of Cultural Heritage.  In my career I've studied mainly non-invasive techniques for art diagnostics and authentication, such as reflectography and Raman spectroscopy. I've also learned, on my own, to use GIS software for organizing data for Cultural Heritage management. I've seen that one of name of a Project I'm interested tasks is the maintenance of cultural heritage. Therefore, I would like to ask you if there are any internship opportunities in which my expertise could be useful to your current research? Thank you for your time.
Best regards,

How can I propose myself for an internship? Which is the most accepted praxis?

Do you mean academic internship or something else? I am not sure whether or not non-academic internship would be on-topic for this site

Unless you find the chance to talk to him or her at an event such as a department morning tea, seminar (etc), and no positions are advertised, then IMO email really is the only way to ask. There are a few minor grammatical errors in your example email, so if you're writing to the professor in English you should try to make sure that it is perfect.

@posdef I'm talking about an academic internship!

@Moriarty Thanks a lot, can you tell me which are the grammatical errors in my mail? Or edit the question? Thanks a lot for your help!

@GM see the edit I have made (for grammar only, not content). Note that while "learnt" is common in British English, it is seen as very colloquial in American English. If you are writing formally, you should (debatably!) also avoid contractions such as "I'm".

In the US at least, most professors don't have the authority or know-how to hire anyone, except through standard channels for standard academic positions. (And often not even that.) And I've never personally heard of an "internship" at any university (although I wouldn't be surprised if they're more common in fields other than mine). So, unfortunately, the people you're contacting possibly have no ability to help you.

@Anonymous In laboratory science PIs often have the authority to hire certain kinds of lab help (undergrad assistants from among the students). These positions are not usually described as "internships", but they server the same purpose. Other professors may be able to put you in touch with local industry representatives which might (or might not) lead somewhere.

I don't think this practice is rude, but if these are not people with whom you have any connection, and who have not advertised a position, then I don't think you should be especially surprised that you aren't getting many responses.  In all likelihood, the answer is "no" and they don't feel like anything will be achieved by telling you that.
A few things which might be hurting you:

The email above really reads like a mass form email.  You aren't making any argument about how your expertise is relevant to their specific work, and you're putting the burden on them to think about how your skills might fit with what they're doing rather than thinking about it yourself.
Maybe this is different in other fields, but it's not clear to me what "internship" is supposed to mean here.  A paid position?  Unpaid?  You may be being deliberately vague, but if you're not responding to an ad for a specific position, you have have some clarity about what you're looking for.
I think that the slightly awkward English doesn't really help.  "Chemist for the conservation of Cultural Heritage" sounds very strange to me.  I think "Chemist specializing in/interested in/working on the conservation of Cultural Heritage" is much better.

Thanks a lot, I keep "internship" vague because if  I ask him directly for a paid position I think it could lower the chances to get a reply, however tell him directly that I can work for free will make him chose for this option directly.

It is illegal in many (western?) countries to have an unpaid position or internship, and will probably become so in the next few years in the US, so I wouldn't worry about being so vague.

To add to Ben's answer, professors usually get these emails by the dozens and for various reasons, most of them are auto-tuned to ignore them. The maximum notice such emails may get is a mention in a lunchtime comment to colleagues. Like Ben said, if you are not getting a reply, the answer is probably "no". If there are open positions, they would already be advertised on the prof's or the department's page. Some departments do not take interns as a policy and say so on their webpage.
Your best bet is to contact professors whom you personally know, or have your own professor recommend you to colleagues. Go to places where you can meet more professors, e.g. conferences. Look for professors who have published in your area and start a discussion on some paper of theirs you find interesting. Those emails do get noticed! Bring up your need for an internship in said discussion.

+1 for "professors usually get these emails by the dozens". This is indeed a big problem. It seems everybody who shows up in proximity to a faculty list gets an insane amount of such requests, to the extend that it is really difficult to not just auto-ignore them.

On the other hand, when I asked for PhD vacancies, some professors answered saying they were going to open one in [date], that will be announced [website].

To be considered above the clutter, you want to have some pre-existing relationship with the person you are asking for help.

Even I, not even a doctor yet, receive such emails occasionally, and it's obvious that they just did a copy-paste of my name / affiliation into a standard email...

Sending from a .edu email address might up your chances a little bit.


text:
What to do when you are suspicious about numerical results in a submitted manuscript that you are reviewing?
I am currently reviewing a paper and feel suspicious about their numerical results. I feel their results have been slightly modified to exhibit their superiority compare to other comparative methods.
I cannot give an exact mathematical reason why I think their numerical results have been manipulated, but it is so odd that in all 15 scenarios they have been better. Actually, I am pretty sure that their method is better than his benchmarks but not always. Maybe they modified some scenarios.
As I don't have a mathematical reason why I think some of their numbers are altered, should I ask for their computer code and run them myself?

I didn't ask the editor yet. Should I ask him first? @EnergyNumbers

If you have sufficiently many numbers and Benford’s law is applicable, you could use it to test the data. (But remember that you can always tweak the data such that it complies with Benford’s law.)

Complementing the other answers, either in addition to, or apart from, asking for the codes and running them yourself, I don't think it is a bad idea to explicitly ask the authors, something like this:

The standard algorithms for executing (bla bla bla), e.g. as followed in the works of Refs. [1-3] (feed these in), are suggestive of a standard accuracy in typical algorithms. The current work appears to have bettered the same, which is a strong point in favor of publication. However, the authors should include a comment in the manuscript, mentioning what changes have they implemented to the typical algorithms so highly prevalent, which leads to this enhanced accuracy.

My jargon may have to be twisted a bit here, but I think I convey the point.
This being a query in the referee report, the authors shall be obligated to feed in the details, and if there is some manipulation involved, it may end up being exposed.
Hope that helps :)

this is a good one @the-dark-side

You say that you don't have a mathematical reason to be suspicious. But have some reason. You should formulate this as a reason in your report as well as you can.
Moreover, I think that it is totally reasonable to ask for code and data to reproduce the results. Probably the journal has some policy about reproducible research and you could refer to that.

I cannot formulate my feeling and speciousness. I have worked with these methods before, they don't always give the best results. In some case older method (his benchmarks) gives slightly better results. @Dirk

@Electricman I think you formulated them fairly well in your question, i.e. with reference to your surprise at the domination of one method over another.

So I should explain my reason fairly and then ask their computer code to reproduce the results? @fmark

"I have worked with these methods before, they don't always give the best results." This means that the editor picked the right person to review the paper. You know the field, and you have experience in practice. You should have confidence in your assessment that the results shown are too good to be true.

I think I will ask for the code to see if I can reproduce the same results. However, if their results were not too good I wouldn't be suspicious. However, regardless of this case, I think it s very difficult to catch manipulation in results generally.  Why journals do not ask for the computer code as well as the manuscripts? Imagine there are methods A,B,C and the proposed method X. We know method X is brand new and A,B,C are older methods. So the author simply may put some bad numbers for A,B,C and then shows his X method is better. As X is brand new, no one get suspicious @WolfgangBangerth

If there are any "standard" or widely-used benchmark problems for this application, it would be reasonable to suggest they are used (and give a reference to the problem definitions, and other papers reporting the results, in your comments). Selective benchmarking is hardly new as a sales and marketing technique, though one might hope that an academic paper would present a balanced view.
Even if you can afford the time and effort to get the code and reproduce the results, you might end up with a "my test problems are harder than your test problems" debate, which may be irrelevant unless the paper claims its method is always better - and that would be a brave claim to make in any non-trivial situation. A method that is better "only" in some circumstances may well be worth publishing.

"Even if you can afford the time and effort to get the code and reproduce the results, you might end up with a "my test problems are harder than your test problems" >  What if I ask his/her computer model of the given problem?  So if I cannot regenerate their results by the given code, it means manipulation in results.... @alephzero

You state that you don't have a mathematical reason to believe their numbers are altered, but in most cases, that shouldn't stop you from considering an application of
Benford's Law to evaluate the digits of the results (bear in mind there are a few cases where it doesn't fit).
Edit: There is a quick free checker at http://benford.jplusplus.org/ just type in your numbers

I don't think they manipulate the results manually. It seems they have run the algorithm with a high resolution and picked the best results while other methods have been run with lower resolution. This study is depondend on the selected resolution.  But it worth to check. As there are only 21 numbers, so Is Benford applicable here? How can I apply them? is there any software for that? @robbat2

i added a link to a site where you can check it easily.
By resolution, if you mean screen resolution, beware that device distribution was one of the things found to NOT follow Benford's law, because few devices have such large resolutions, and very small resolutions caused unreadable text/layout.

I mean the searching resolution in optimization algorithm. @robbat2

I think that it's mandatory for science to have open source code and opendata. It's not science otherwise. Using results of a computation without seein the code it's like trusting a theorem without asking for the proof. So absolutely ask the code.

I agree with you. Journals should modify their policies and ask for computer codes during submition of the manuscript. But it is not common at all. It has not yet happened to me at least.  @asdf

I think that it's mandatory for science to have open source code and opendata. Not necessarily, but it should be.

Not necessarily before publication or during review, and it depends on how much code and data you're talking about; it would be unreasonable to insist on all source code including e.g. drawing a minor chart on p. 19. Generally reviewers should filter out the worst behavior, then after publication other researchers can try to get access to the data and replicate the results. If they can't (or find anomalies) they try to correspond with the authors. If that doesn't work, then they can publish the correspondence / report to oversight bodies. Irreproducibility is one thing, falsification another.

Downvote explanation: What I do is still science, but no, I won't be putting people's medical records up on GitHub.

Whole point of publication is to provide information for reproducing the research work. Therefore the report needs to be written to make the work clear enough to justify the improvements. (I wish it was to exactly share it with public)
You could refer to that and ask for more information to help your review process done faster, it can be a way to make the code or generate/collect data. Anything that is needed to reproducing it. obviously sharing it is much easier, but then it should be attached to the paper or hosted publicly for readers as well. reviewer and readers should be on a same ground.


text:
Is creating fully functional software considered to be a quasi experiment?
I'm sorry if this is a bit subjective, but I really don't know where to find the truth.
In my hometown, lecturers usually will only approve research in computer science & information system where the result is new software.  The goal is creating a software that can be used directly by business.  Usually, research that can't be 'seen' and used directly will be rejected and considered useless.
As in my university, lecturers said that creating new software is a type of research called a quasi experiment. Students are expected to perform the following activities: gathering requirements, designing UML models, and implementing the source code.  In the seminar (final exam), lecturers will ask a lot about business process and customer satisfaction.  No maths.  Most questions are subjective and hard to prove.
Is it true that creating a fully functional software or web site like this is a kind of quasi-experimental research?

Which level? Undergrad/Master/PhD?

It is Undergraduate major.

This attitude towards research sounds rather bone-headed to me. However, I'm not sure if this question is better suited to academia or cs.stackexchange.com

As undergraduate research, you mostly don't have the time, experience nor support to create a full fledge project from scratch. By that I mean creating original work in you field. Thus, given the scope of the project, implementing a software is a valuable exercice that can also be really useful for research. For exemple, in my domain (bioinformatics) there is a special issue of NAR (Nucleic Acids Research) solely devoted to webservers. The latest issue can be found here.
I think one of the big issues you are facing (in almost every field) is that the amount of knowledge you get when leaving the bachelors has been pretty constant for the past 50 years. At the opposite, the level of new research has grown exponentially in these time. Thus, the gap to create something new is constantly growing.

You're right, students get a lot of experience from developing software like this. Do you think a simple research on User Interface (HCI) backed-up by surveys and scientific methods will be more 'scientific' than developing a website by trial and error?

HCI is a really cool field which I don't know really well, but certainly full of potential. If you could do a few mock ups with survey and then try to analyse the different comments that could be highly valuable. If you have a lot of motivations, you could probably find a few papers to guide your research. As a terribly vague starting point, you can find a list of journals (probably not exhaustive) in that field here: http://www.idemployee.id.tue.nl/g.w.m.rauterberg/hci-journals.html#HCI

I've tried but lecturer will reject it because the research can't be used directly! They don't think HCI is a useful research because no direct benefit.

Well, if you can develop a framework that given a few options automatically creates some webpage with a predefined look, that could be awesome (and "useful"), but probably really complex. I must say I find it a bit sad pushing for 'direct' benefits, since you never know what is going to happen next...

Most lecturers here want their student to develop software only.  They say it is a scientific quasi-experiment, and most students will write 'quasi-experiment' in their paper. Do you know what it is?  I feel that developing software is more 'trial and error' rather than a scientific process.  It's hard to prove if my software is 'right'.

Unit-Test! And wiki has an article on pseudo-science http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quasi-experiment . If you want to continue discussing we should probably go to the chat.

Depends what your definition of an experiment is:

 1. a scientific procedure undertaken to make a discovery, test a hypothesis, or demonstrate a known fact

This covers scientific programming, but not a lot of other areas of software development.

 2. a course of action tentatively adopted without being sure of the eventual outcome

Well, for sure all software development is done without being sure of the eventual outcome! You have hopes, you try stuff, you analyze its consequences, you find a way of improving the software or mitigating the issues, and you learn something.

what about quasi-experiment? is it part of point 2? is it scientific?


text:
Is it possible to be a paid RA in a math or computer science lab in order to be immersed in the academic research context?
I'm currently a research assistant in a neuroscience lab at MIT and I'm considering pursuing a PhD in math or theoretical computer science. The RAs in my lab who want to eventually become neuroscientists are in a perfect place - a large, collaborative environment where they get paid to work closely with neuroscientists and learn hands on what the entire research process is like in that field before committing to a 5 year grad program.
I want an environment as close to this as possible in math or theoretical computer science to solidify my belief that I would be happy pursuing research in these areas. Is this kind of opportunity available in these fields? What is the closest I can get? I did an REU program in undergrad and loved it, but want more if it's out there.
Thank you so much for your advice, this is a great community.

What did the people in Stata Center say when you walked over and asked?

This was cross-posted simultaneously to cstheory.stackexchange.  Please don't do that.

A word about your terminology: a "research assistant" at many schools is already a PhD student. If you mean getting the opportunity to be a "research affiliate" or "associate" or some other position that implies you are working for the professor before you enroll in a degree program, this becomes a challenge, largely because of the "culture" of mathematics and computer science. There are very few large-scale mathematics and computer science groups, in part because there isn't a need for an extensive support staff. Thus, the positions that you're describing typically aren't available.

Opportunities to work in specific labs are abundant, but you need to start up a conversation with the professors who run individual labs or research groups to see what is available at your school.  Whether or not you can get funding for a position will vary per lab/RG.  It is generally more difficult to get a funded position in a math or theoretical computer science research lab because without experience, there isn't much you can do to justify getting paid (whereas in an experimental lab you can at least help out with the menial work that is inherent to experimental labs).
My suggestion: make appointments to see professors or lab directors in the labs or groups you might like to work in.  Plan on working for free for at least a year, in order to prove your worth.  If that means taking a second job elsewhere, so be it.  Be prepared to discuss why you think you will make a valuable team member to include a discussion of your long-term goals.  This should be more than "I might want to work in theoretical computer science."  Do some pre-reading of recent papers that have come out of the lab, and know something about the professor's background.
Unfortunately, jumping into a theoretical research group probably isn't the best way to test the waters for a particular field (esp. without a good background already), so you may get more worth out of continuing to take courses in those disciplines you find interesting, and doing a good deal of reading on your own.


text:
Are there other cities in the world like Boston where a large number of good postsecondary institutions are located?
The really unusual thing about the greater Boston area is that so many and such good postsecondary institutions are crowded into that area. Harvard, M.I.T., Tufts, Brandeis, and others.
Is Boston unique in all the world in that respect, or is there some comparable place elsewhere?

While the number of institutions may be interesting in itself, it may be instructive to look at number of principal investigators or post-grad students in an area instead.

I don't think an objective answer to this question is possible.

Chicago has both Northwestern and University of Chicago (which usually ranks pretty high; it also boasts a high number of Nobel prize winners on its faculty as well as famous alumni like Barack Obama).

So, "good postsecondary institutions" is a bit hard to define. University rankings are probably about the only thing less meaningful than impact factors, but they'll do to give us a basic idea here - do any cities have a large number of universities that are rated higher than the lowest one in your set?
The US News & World Report has a handy list searchable by city. Annoyingly it doesn't quite work for the US (it defines city strictly) but it's a good approximation. Brandeis is rated #280 (making it fifth in the Boston area, if you include Northeastern).
On the US News & World Report ranking, and plugging in a few likely candidates, there are

six London universities ranked higher than Brandeis.
five NYC universities ranked higher than Brandeis.
four Paris universities ranked higher than Brandeis.

So that's one higher, one equal, one close. In the specific case of London, Wikipedia has a handy table of universities by ranking. Depending on which metric you want to use, it has either five, six, or eleven (!) institutions ranked higher than Brandeis.
So with these admittedly flawed tools, it looks like London is likely to be an answer, but there are a couple more close contenders. There may be other concentrations in the US depending on how generously you define the city areas - I would guess the Bay Area around San Francisco is a likely candidate, for example.

While I don't disagree with you (I also don't think that the Boston area is quite as special as OP seems to think) there are probably a bunch of better-ranked universities than Brandeis in Boston - Boston University and Northeastern at least come to mind, and I am not an expert in US universities.

@xLeitix yeah, I had this problem through not really knowing the area :-). I actually thought BU was on the list, so hmm, I guess that makes it on par with London on the USNWR at six each over #280

London is a complicated one, because five of those six are actually part of the same university. (The exception is Imperial, which was also part of the University of London until relatively recently).

For Paris, one should likely add Université Paris-Sud and Ecole polytechnique. UVSQ might also count as Paris university and is just slightly below the cut-off.

I think one needs to take into account that Boston is a much smaller city than NYC or London, making its large concentration of top notch universities feel a bit more exceptional

@PeterTaylor: The University of London is a very loose federation, whose sub-units are independent for most practical purposes. This is why institutions like UCL and LSE are listed separately in ranking tables. (BTW, Oxford and Cambridge are less than 100 miles from London, so that adds two more world-class universities in the area.)

+1 for the line "[u]niversity rankings are probably about the only thing less meaningful than impact factors"

@NajibIdrissi, "inane rankings based on arbitrary criteria" - sarcasm is not necessary. It's not about academics (which I am not) caring about such things, but that humans in general find it very hard not to categorize stuff into ranks. It's simply human nature. And with all due respect, even though I am not american either, I do know the names of "MIT" and "Harvard", as well as I do know "Oxford" or "Cambridge". There needs to be no "inane ranking" to know universities with a long heritage which made it to world-known status. The OP basically asked for at least one example... given here.

@NajibIdrissi believe me, I have never in my life paid attention to rankings other than for the annual amusement at watching all the press releases when the new set comes out and everyone is Top In Something... however, I couldn't think of any other quantifiable way of answering the question other than "here are some cities with a decent number of universities which are important enough that I have heard of them". They're all about as meaningful (or not) as each other, but USNWR happened to have a website which filtered by city and not just country, so I used that to save time.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I'll try to demonstrate this.

— Boston is the location for 35 colleges, universities, and community
  colleges.1 — there are about 152,000 students at Boston's institutions
  of higher learning.
  www.bostonplans.org

Considering that Boston's population in 2016 was about 4,667,000, student population in this city is  3.3%.
On the other hand, population of Oklahoma City Metro area is 1,457,758. It's a home to 20 universities (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_colleges_and_universities_in_Oklahoma_City)
with a student body of about 75,000 or 5.1% of the population.
USA Today ranks Oklahoma City# 3 vs Boston#9 in Best Cities for students.
http://college.usatoday.com/2015/04/09/best-u-s-cities-for-millennial-college-students/
I hope you got my point.

Your population figure for Boston clearly includes far more than the cities of Boston and Cambridge, I suspect including Worcester. Are you including Norman and Edmond in Oklahoma City? If one goes by percentage of population alone then expect the student populations in Chapel Hill, NC, Ann Arbor, MI, and Iowa City, IA and the like are far higher. And that suggests that the absolute size of the population has to count for something too, although just how to do that is far from obvious.

I follow the logic of the original question.   Brandeis is not in Boston itself but in Greater Boston Area. So I included metropolitan areas. Population figures for Boston and Cambridge alone would be under one million, but then it wouldn't include Brandeis and some other fine universities.

. . . and hence my question: whether you included Norma and Edmond?

There are just over 44,000 students at UIUC. The total population of Champaign County, Illinois is just over 200,000.

Yes, I included Norman and Edmond. And other suburbs of OC.

@JeffE: Oxford, UK has c. 44k students at 2 universities in a population of 160k, but the population of Oxfordshire is much higher, at 680k. I don't know how best to compare to Champaign, and I'm sure there are plenty of other cities in the world where a university dominates. But anyway I think it's fairly clear that even a university on its own in a desolate wilderness (like University of Warwick, for example. Badum tish.) with near-100% student population, does not have "so many and such good postsecondary institutions ... crowded into that area" :-)

Melbourne and Sydney Australia both have a large number of world class universities. I'm not sure what you're cut-off is for world class, but looking at this site and focusing on Melbourne as the example (24th July 2017):
Monash and University of Melbourne are both in top 100 globally. Deakin, Swinburne, and RMIT are both in top 500, and La Trobe is 535, Victoria Uni is 613. So that's possibly 5 or 7 strong universities in Melbourne depending on how you define things.
Sydney is similar, especially if you include satellite cities like Newcastle and Wollongong. And you could be even more inclusive and include Canberra.
A few reasons for this concentration of universities:

About a third of Australia's entire population lives in and around Melbourne and Sydney.
Higher education is one of Australia's major export industries. In particular, fees from many international students across Asia support the sector.
While we have the group of 8 in Australia (i.e., perhaps analogous to Ivy League) that have been around for longer and often rank in the top 100 or 200 in the world, the structure of universities in Australia is such that most strive to be complete universities contributing to international research. Thus, there are many universities in Australia that are in that next group (e.g., the 200 to 500 range).

As RAA answer this is great, but that just shows the question is broken right?

@virmaior : I'm guessing "RAA" = "reductio ad absurdum", but that's just a guess.