text:
What are the general ethical procedures to restart abandoned research?
Please note: this is a hypothetical situation
Sometimes, for whatever reason, research is started by another academic (not necessarily known to you) and abandoned part way through (more often than not, the reason is tragic).  This will potentially leave research incomplete.
In a general sense, what are the practical and ethical considerations and procedures to restart and complete the research that has been abandoned by another academic?

Do you mean to pick up someone else's research or your own? Your student's? It is not clear

@PeterJansson I have added a clarification.

Do you mind specifying the particular field or, at least, the general area of science you are talking about? (even hypothetically ;)).

@fedja that is not necessary, as the question is in general - the answer below can apply to multiple fields.

Exactly. That's why for every particular field (like math.) 50% of it is not applicable (skip data, materials, NDA) and the rest 50% are just general common sense principles that apply to any human interaction, not research only. :-)

It seems to me that the ethics here really relate to the foundation upon which you will build. Conducting additional research and writing additional papers is not problematic in itself, but if you must use materials, data, and ideas from informal conversations then you have ethical and/or practical considerations. If you have never met the other researchers and have just read some papers, found it interesting, and then they stopped publishing, I don't see how you would have any obligation to those researchers. This is academic life- we build on the work of others. In fact, you might say we have an ethical obligation to advance the field.
Coming from this perspective, what is acceptable with respect to the foundational elements would be governed by the normal rules. So here are some examples:

Data: If you need actual (generally unpublished) data from the other researcher(s) then you will have to ask for the data and have their permission to publish that data. You should acknowledge the source of that data in any related publications.
Materials: If you need code or study materials, you will have to ask for it as well and you will be bound by any relevant licensing restrictions. Again, this should be acknowledged.
Ideas: If you are building on informal conversations with previous researchers, then you should seek their permission and acknowledge that as well. This is about not losing friends, unless you are under NDA, in which case it may be a legal matter as well.

There may also be cases in which your reputation and friendships may be at stake, for example if you publish research that competes with that of your old advisor. This should not generally be a big concern with projects that are abandoned. If in doubt, you should probably communicate your intentions and seek their blessings.
In many cases, particularly if others have given advice, it may be a good idea to ask if they want to be involved as a coauthor. A researcher who has had to stop doing their research, perhaps due to lost funding or changes in their employment, may be excited at the opportunity to help advance the field while improving their own CV, by just providing some past data and helping with some writing.
The most important thing is to be sure to always give credit where it is due.


text:
What consequences should I expect after violence in my classroom?
I am a teaching assistant and master's student in the math dept. at a large state university. I was holding a discussion section this morning when some young man walks in with his shirt off acting verbally belligerent. He comes up to the front of the room and just kind of stands there, not saying anything just kind of smiling in this creepy way and showing absolutely no signs of embarrassment or anything.  After asking the class if anyone knew him (no one did), I told him he could either leave right now or I would get someone to remove him.  I'm a small guy and he wasn't huge but he was certainly bigger than me.
He didn't leave so I stepped out of the room to get someone, although in retrospect I had no idea at the time who I would have gotten, but then as soon as I stepped out I realized that that probably wasn't a good idea since he could take my stuff or who knows what.  So I walked back in and sure enough he's got my water bottle in his hand, so I grab it from him and say something to the effect of,

!@#$ it, does anyone big want to help me get this guy out of class?

And two guys stand up, and one of them is clearly super pissed at this guy disrupting class and goes straight over to the guy and BAM hits him in the face super hard and he goes down and then hits him again and then kicks him in the face all in the span of like 5 or 6 seconds, like a proper #$!%ing beat down, and there are girls screaming and I'm a bit in shock as I was expecting him to just kind of strong arm him out of the class, and one girl comes up and is like

stop hitting him stop hitting him!

I don't exactly remember what happened next, but the guy must have left and then the assistant dean appeared almost immediately. I talked to her privately and explained quickly what happened, but I didn't say that the student hit the guy, I just said he got him out of class. She said I would need to file a report. I then held class as usual, and everything was fine.
I tried to talk to the student privately after class, but the assistant dean came back in. I asked the assistant dean if she could step outside while I talked to the student in private, since I didn't want to incriminate him. But she got super offended and told me that "I shoo you, you don't shoo me, get this straight I'm your superior." So I apologized, but I think maybe the look on my face wasn't sufficiently contrite, I was really taken aback.  So she writes down my name.
No one -- not my professor/student-teacher liaison, not my ombudsman -- seems to know what I should expect from all this. I also really don't want the student to get into trouble, since I did ask for help removing the guy. I scheduled a meeting with the dean, and now I'm super worried that I'm going to be fired or kicked out of my masters program.  What should I expect from all this?
Update: I found out that the guy who was disrupting class got arrested later that day and he was not a student.  I also talked to several students who said that this is not the first time he has done this, and that several weeks ago in another class he walked in and lit a cigarette, and the professor took the cigarette out of his mouth, stomped on it, and then physically threw him out of class.

I shoo you, you don't shoo me, get this straight I'm your superior — [facepalm]

You should have called the campus security/police when the incident was happening.
Had you done that, you'd worry about nothing right now. How did you know that guy did not have a gun? Why did you ask the student to help you to get the guy out? It was the security/police officer's job. You put all the students' and your life in danger !
Now, what happened already happened, too late to change that. To answer your question, you should talk to your professor, the department chair and the assistant dean. File the report. Just tell them the truth. You can use this question as the draft of the report. Take out some improper words. Admit that you did not know the appropriate action to take when it happened and you learned a painful lesson. Ask them to provide security trainings so that you'll know what to do if this kind of thing ever happens again. They'll understand. I don't think you'll be kicked out. A reprehend action is probably unavoidable.
To answer the question directly: It really depends on your department and school. If they had established security procedure and provided training to all faculty, staff and students as how to deal with this kind of thing, then they should also have the procedure as how to deal with anyone who did not follow the procedure. If they never had the security procedure, It's time to have one now. You can put that in your report.

I really didn't know the appropriate action to take as I didn't know the # of campus security, and didn't even realize there was a phone in the room to call them on (assuming it had the # for them).

@banned This is something you can put in your report - you did not know what number to call. As available phone, in these days, many people have cell phones.

ok yah that makes sense.

You are fine. There WILL be an investigation but if everybody were taking the most sensible actions during a "crime event", we would have no criminals left in no time. The worst they may do, IMHO, is to introduce an obligatory security course for faculty and students and you'll spend a few evenings listening to what exactly you should do in such cases (which won't hurt much). I would, probably, dial 911 right away (yeah, those guys are good not only for issuing traffic tickets), but if that wouldn't scare the guy, everybody would have to improvise in some way.

@fedja yah dialing 911 did cross my mind but I guess in the moment, and even now I suppose, I couldn't/can't quite tell how serious the situation was, as I don't think the disrupter ever officially broke any laws.

Feeling threatened is enough to call 911. Some guy looks at you funny while you are walking down the street is enough.

That is not YOUR problem. It is his task to explain the police squad what he was doing there and why they should tell him that he was a good boy and let him go. That's your only real mistake: you are too kind ;).

@fedja lol that's a nice sentiment, I really do appreciate your responses, they've calmed me down considerably

Also, don't forget that students aren't children and that your TA duties do not include the work as a bodyguard. As a matter of fact, they showed it. Knocking down the offender in uncertainty is actually a good way if you are sure that you can pull it through. That saves lives, not wastes them, even if some crooks may classify it as "overstepping the limits of necessary self-defence".

@banned I added "Ask them to provide security trainings so that you'll know what to do if this kind of thing ever happens again." since this is something they should have done.

The last thing they taught me once is that your first task is to raise the alarm. So, if nothing better, just cry "Fire!" (not "help"!) at the top of your lungs. That will attract a lot of attention and, unless you are dealing with a suicidal maniac, will stop him at least temporarily.

"You should have called the campus security/police when the incident was happening" applies to every student in the room just as well, doesn't it? There is no reason to expect a TA (who, technically, is a student as well) to be the smartest and strongest person in the room despite he is "in charge".

@fedja The TA is the lead of the classroom by default. I think someone did call the authority - how did the assistant dean show up in the classroom?

@fedja, "this will attract a lot of attention".  It could also cause panic that could lead to deaths.  See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shouting_fire_in_a_crowded_theater#Literal_examples

@fedja "Knocking down the offender in uncertainty is actually a good way" This is extremely dangerous and I council you against promoting excessive violence. Someone standing in front of you should not prompt your violent reaction - better to let the authorities step in (otherwise you are inviting assault charges).

@Joel As I said: "if nothing better". Sometimes you don't have time to get your phone out, though in this particular case it was possible. As to violence, I still firmly believe that if the situation starts spiraling out of control (and a teacher in distress is a sign of this), the external help can take minutes to arrive and you have strength and ability, you should attack first and take care of consequences later. If it is the offender who will take the first move, it may be far worse. Once you attracted the outside attention to the situation, you are on your own until the help comes.

I just wanted to add that campus security is imho not very common in a lot of European universities.

“You put all the students' and your life in danger!” is an unnecessary exaggeration.

@fedja "There WILL be an investigation but if everybody were taking the most sensible actions during a "crime event"" the action of the student to remove the guy was in no way a sensible action, and I would imagine may itself constitute an assault, which was effectively authorised by the TA.

Calling the police should have been sufficient to scare the naked guy. No need to call security if you don't know the number.

You should have called the campus security/police when the incident was happening. This is partially true, partially ridiculous. It is true that the OP should've notified security (who are properly trained to handle these situations). However, from the OP's description, this happened too fast for them to have done anything. How long would it have taken for a campus police officer to have gotten there?

@jwir3 In the past, I had encountered numerous incidents that were similar to the one in the question. Some were before the cell phone era,  Most of them ended when some one said the police is coming. Of course, there are terrorists who are not afraid of police/security. Most people are. How soon the police can arrive at the classroom depends on  how efficient they are. We cant control it. I stand by my advice. Even If you want to do something else, you still call the police as the very first thing.

@scaaahu > Even if you want to do something else, you still call the police as the very first thing. I absolutely agree with this. I was simply stating that I'm not sure that only calling the police will resolve the situation.

Short: Contact a local union representative, and ask them for information and advice.
The advice given by others (speak the truth, contact your department head and ask for his help, etc.) is good, and if cool heads prevail, you shouldn't be in too much trouble, though the experience must have left you in bad shape. Also, on that note, do not hesitate to contact the school's counsellor/shrink if you need someone to talk to in confidence. Sometimes, some of the things we cannot say in official channels (“I somehow feel responsible for the guy getting beaten, after all, I set students onto him”, that sort of stuff) need to be spoken.
However, even if things are probably going to be fine, you also need to prepare yourself in case things go wrong. So, just in case serious or threatening administrative procedures are started, get informed on what your rights are, and get advice on what to say exactly. (Yes, you will speak the truth, but there are many ways to phrase it.) That's your union's job, and they can even help you further if things turn for the worse.

If you don't have a union, you could also get good advice from a lawyer… you may have access to a legal clinic or public-funded law consultations near you

Most graduate students in the US (where the OP seems to be from) are not part of unions.

@ChrisWhite not sure about where the OP is from… In many cases, you don't have to be in a union beforehand for them to actually represent you, as long as they are present at your workplace. WP says that there are “as of 2007 there are 28 graduate student employee local unions in the United States”, which is more than zero :)

+1 for talking to a counsellor.  Many people think of counselling as just for people with chronic mental health issues, but that’s not accurate at all.  If you sprain your ankle, you’d go to the doctor to help get it fixed; similarly,  when you’ve had a seriously stressful and shocking experience like this, a few sessions with a counsellor can make a world of difference dealing with it.  And many schools have counselling services that are free for graduate students.

This is excellent advice. I think one thing to keep in mind is that you did "what any reasonable person would do" in the same circumstances.

You clearly found yourself in a very uncomfortable and unpredictable situation (I'm assuming the school never prepared you for this kind of situation). The fact that you are young and relatively inexperienced should help you.
You should definitely see the head of your department and ask for his/her help. The bottom line is that you were unsure of what to do, you felt threatened, you did something which seemed reasonable at the time (asked for help). Yes, the other student seems to have gone a bit too far but for his situation there are mitigating circumstances (his teacher felt he was in trouble and asked him to help).
Basically, there are mitigating circumstances all around. Even you shooing (really?) someone whom you should not have happened only because everyone was off balance.
Yes, it is not good but for everyone involved, any reasonable third party can clearly see that there are mitigating circumstances all around.
So, go to the department chair and ask him/her what to do. Don't hide anything.

Following the answer from @scaaahu I would add to my answer that you MUST keep your dialog completely professional. Drop any profanity as it will not help your case in any way.

excellent advice here, also something else to consider - the 2 students who took him down could be seen as backing you up, defending you and the class.

While not as serious as an infraction as what you are going through, I was just recently in a bit of trouble with my school (public consumption). I  was able to get past it by doing the following things:

Spoke Nothing but the truth
Had people from my department advocate that beyond this infraction, I was an asset to the department and the school.

What you also need to do is:

Explain that you were clearly in an unsafe environment, and that beyond the stranger's threat, you put your students in danger by asking for help. While you aren't much older than the students, I assume, You are responsible for them as a Teaching Assistant.
Explain to them that, if you are fortunate enough to keep your job and stay in the program what you would do in similar situation, which is, call the police. Get on your phone and call Public Safety or the Police, that is their job.
This may have legal ramifications, depending on the particulars.
Find as many people as possible with stature to advocate for you. Does your advisor love you as a student? Time to find out.

Thats all I can really think of. I really wish you good luck, as you know this is super messy.

Everyone else is giving good answers about your specific question.  I want to add one thing: you need to think about how to handle such situations going forward.  Set up time with campus security to learn what their policies are.  You might try taking a good self defense class - not sport martial arts, and not military-go-kill-someone martial arts, but something designed for citizens who truly want to protect themselves.  If you do so, you'd be well advised to learn about the different types of violence, so you can recognize whether someone is likely to hurt you vs someone who just wants your money.  Rory Miller is a great starting place.

I'm going to look up the number for our campus' security police, and put it into my cell phone. Hopefully, I'll never have to use it, but, if this discussion has taught me anything, it's that having campus police on my telephone is a good idea. After all, those guys should do more than write parking tickets.

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sort: votes


text:
US editors and reviewers vs. Iranian authors?
Could you please let me know your opinion about the following?

Subject: US editors and reviewers can no longer handle submissions by authors
  employed by the Government of Iran

OFAC Sanctions
US editors and reviewers can no longer handle submissions by authors
  employed by the Government of Iran
Dear Dr Bruno Granier,
The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Department of
  the Treasury administers and enforces economic and trade sanctions. As
  a result of OFAC sanctions we have been made aware that US editors, US
  Elsevier staff and US reviewers are now unable to handle scientific
  manuscripts where any of the authors are employed by the Government of
  Iran. This includes the research departments of the various oil and
  gas  companies which are deemed to be entities of the Government of
  Iran.  We realize that this OFAC regulation will cause some
  inconvenience in your role as an editor but Elsevier is legally
  obliged to ensure that  all reasonable efforts are made to avoid
  submissions from Iranian  government agencies and companies being
  handled by US editors, US  Elsevier staff and US reviewers.  Please be
  aware that editors, Elsevier staff and reviewers from outside the US
  may still handle these  manuscripts and that this OFAC regulation does
  not pertain to  manuscripts where the authors are based at Iranian
  academic and research institutes.  Manuscripts originating from a
  clinical setting that are  not government run, for example, a hospital
  or clinical practice are  also exempt from this regulation.
To view the official OFAC regulation, please click here.  In practice
  the result of these sanctions will mean that:

Submissions where any author is based in Iran, and is not at an  academic and research institution, cannot be handled by US-based
  editors, US Elsevier staff, US reviewers, or any US citizens based
  outside of the US.
If an Iranian author has dual affiliations (eg.  university and  government), their submission cannot be handled by US-based editors,
  US  Elsevier staff, US reviewers, or any US citizens based outside of
  the  US.
Affiliations of Iranian authors should therefore be checked, and any manuscripts which fall under this OFAC regulation delegated to a
  non-US editor, before handling.
When assigning reviewers, affiliations of Iranian authors should  also be checked, and any papers which fall under this OFAC regulation
  should only be sent to non-US reviewers. (As an editor you should do
  what is reasonable to determine the nationality of a reviewer e.g.
  check their email address. This check does not extend to emailing
  reviewers  directly to confirm their nationality or location). Unless
  there is  specific knowledge that a non-US-based reviewer is a US
  citizen, editors can send such submissions to reviewers based outside
  the US.
If your journal workflow involves all submissions being handled by  US-based Elsevier staff, they will reject these manuscripts outright
  before they reach you.
Should there be no suitably qualified editor or reviewer, please reject the manuscript outright.
When rejecting manuscripts which fall under this OFAC regulation
  please use the new EES Decision Term "Reject - OFAC Sanctions" and the
  following text:
"As a result of OFAC sanctions all editorial staff who are
  US-based/US nationals are unable to handle scientific manuscripts
  which  are authored by Iranian scientists, employed by the Government
  of Iran.  Based on this OFAC regulation we are unfortunately unable to
  handle your manuscript. We wish you success with your submission to
  another  Journal."

We apologize for the inconvenience this may cause. If you do have any
  questions please contact your Publisher.
Sent on behalf of Dan Lovegrove
Cretaceous Research

Here is the source: http://mail.elsevier-alerts.com/go.asp?/bESJ001/mTR68G9F/uQX51PJB/xD82RH9F

“Let me know your opinion about” is definitely not a good type of question for this Q&A site…

Yes, this is tragic and stupid (and done before by IEEE), and yay Elsevier again, but there's no actual question here. Voting to close.

I am in agreement with the close votes: "Please give an opinion" does not ask a question. If there is an edit which provides an answerable question, rather than just asking for political opinions or bloviating, we can reopen.

One more thing to note: given that the restriction does not apply to academics, the effects of such a ban are likely to be minimal.

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text:
How to convince people of the time required to perform PhD research?
I have found that while many have some appreciation of the level of research in a PhD (usually by saying "that's way over my head" or something similar) and I have not really had a problem with getting impatient describing my research.
Edit to add: this is reflective of my own experience, mostly studying/researching part time and working full time in an unrelated field.
The query here is how to convince people of the time required for completion of the PhD, and the continued dedication needed in order to get the intrinsic tasks complete.  In some cases, it is not 'a 1000 word book report'.
For example, my PhD (now just submitted) was highly experimental, each set of observations were 3 hours each, and I had to do about 100-120 of them (usually on weekends as I work full time). After which, I would have to do 6-12 hours of coding/data analysis.  So many did not seem to understand that time was required to do the work properly - and were perplexed when I tried to explain.
Edit to explain why I felt the need to explain, this reason I would imagine is true for many - friends and family, people that you respect, may wonder why am I seem to be ignoring them, why am I 'obsessing' over this project, why did I decline the invitation to wherever.  They may worry that we are 'hiding' behind the study.  They question why we spend so much time on our research, often not due to any jealousy, but not understanding the time commitment needed for research.
I am not after opinions, but are asking what are some strategies that can help educate people of the time required to perform PhD research, particularly for part time PhD students working in an unrelated field?

why do you care what other people think?

@nathanhayfield it is not as simple as that, part of this is convincing employers, family, friends etc.

I find that people generally understand "hours of work." So, if your PhD took you 40 hours per week, 10 months per year, for four years, then do the math.

@UV-D Employers? In academia, your employers will have also gone through the PhD gauntlet, and will understand it. As for family, friends, etc., I agree with nathan that you shouldn't care what they think, insofar as you should be happy with your own accomplishments.

@ChrisGregg I am referring to non-university employers - for example, all throughout my PhD, I have been a full time high school teacher - totally unrelated fields.  My employers all do not have PhD's and are not in academia.

All - I have clarified the question, As I imagine that I am not remotely the only one in my situation.

@earthling, I work in my paid job 50 hours a week and have been doing my PhD when I can (and have finished in 2.5 years).

@UV-D I see -- not employers in academia. I guess I'm still unclear on why it matters. Is your current employer upset at the time you are taking for your PhD (or not convinced that it takes as much time)? Incidentally, my colleagues at the high school I was teaching at when I left to complete my PhD almost universally called me crazy for embarking on something that was so intense! :) I should add--not that it is any of our business why it matters (the question is a good one), but it may help inform the answers.

@ChrisGregg I have added in an explanation about friends and family.

Ummm this is not 'primarily opinion based', it is a request for strategies.  Edited to emphasise that fact.

I often draw parallels to elite athletes since most people easily realize that athletes need to train and spend much time getting to where they are (and they usually also have some talent for their sport). The point is that to become good one has to spend lots of time and energy training. How easy it will be is unique to each person. Hence, it is also difficult to say how much time and effort each person needs to complete a PhD. Not that one has to be the best, but one has to be good enough to be at the top. Another aspect that I find useful in the parallel is that athletes usually love what they do, and it is an internal force that drives them. I sincerely believe that some such drive is necessary to complete a PhD without having to torment yourself too much.
When trying to explain the time perspective to prospective students the parallel might not be enough and it is usually difficult to make people realize the interest driven part. This is, in my case, due to the fact that people decide on trying to go for a Phd for many different reasons other than just a genuine interest in the subject. I will add that I do not mean such a drive is the only way through but it certainly helps.

An excellent answer. However I would strongly prefer to live on a planet where athletes would have to explain what they are doing and how much they train, and one of them would compare the life of an athlete to that of a scientist making parallels between the physical efforts of the former and the mental efforts of the latter. ;)

Okay, I think I get it now. "Science" as it is actually practiced is not well understood by non-scientists. I.e., experiments and analysis takes a lot of time, and a lot of hard work that sometimes must happen in long, solitary periods.  Popular media gets it wrong all the time, which doesn't help things. Science does not (generally) follow a 9-5 work schedule, and if you're trying to shoe-horn your research activities into an already full schedule (be it another job, or family/friend considerations), you're even more prone to non-regular work hours.
There are a number of ways you could have a conversation with friends and family about the amount of work necessary for your studies and research. You could start by sending a draft of your 100+ page dissertation and saying, "Look what I've been working on!" After about three pages, their eyes will glaze over and they'll realize how intricate it is.
You could certainly invite someone into the lab (if one exists), but you might just end up boring them without the contextual background necessary to see what has to happen to get your research done. However, you can be honest by pointing out the number of hours you stared at and tweaked an experiment, or the number of hours it took you to analyze the data.
You could use other famous examples from science and engineering, starting with the scientists who spent many years working on ideas (Galileo, Newton, Einstein, etc.) before publishing them, and peppering the discussion with the standard epigrams:

In the fields of observation chance favors only the prepared mind.
Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration.

When a friend of mine was writing her PhD in history at Harvard, she had stacks and stacks and stacks of library books in her foyer (it was probably a fire hazard), and there was no doubt in anyone's mind that her long hours working were of necessity.
One thing you might also consider (esp. for friends and family) is to come at the issue from a different angle: be honest about your work, but also be honest that you want to spend time with everyone, and you'll do your best to work into their schedule. Set aside time that will be explicitly for them (and without work), and do your best to meet those obligations. The time you spend on your research won't get as much vitriol if you're willing to make some effort (even if it is minor) to spend time with others.

+1 Very good advice!  Just a bit of a funny story, my 'lab' was a clear patch on a hillside facing the sun, with several standard and 'home-made' devices pointed at the sun taking readings (I have automated that process now).  So when I invited them or they invited themselves to see what I was doing, they thought I'd be there sitting on a deck chair, sipping an iced-tea and pressing a button every 20 minutes... they were not prepared for the chaos - the one or two who saw this understood (as they were roped in as lab assistants).

@UV-D Great story!

As noted in other answers, the general public simply does not understand the level of effort, over a substantial time period, necessary to produce new knowledge. Yes, the popular media have been very unhelpful, since it is more interesting to report on "geniuses" than on "hard work", obviously.
Of course, it is also completely unreasonable to imagine "(re-) educating" people about scientific/engineering processes. Rather, if one really wants to "reach" them, as is presumably the case with friends and family, some rhetorical devices seem necessary.
E.g., one can mention the thousands of people working over the last 100-200 years (or whatever timeframe you want to pick), especially the (figure out an impressive number) of documents produced in the last 20 years (or number of your choosing), and the necessity of _catching_up_ and adding something to that.
Even though it is somewhat misleading, a recitation of the thousands of pages of pre-existing research reports and the difficulty of reading them gives a not-unreasonable "pop" idea of things.
That is, in contrast to the "pop" idea that "this one weird trick" [sic] solves problems, one must convey that extensive, time-consuming experimentation (even, truly, in "pure mathematics", where there is a tradition of pretending that we don't experiment... with ideas...?) is necessary to learn how to exclude plausible-but-failing possibilities. All the "worse" that other people have already looked at the first 1,000 more-accessible possibilities, so that a "newbie" is stuck with looking at far-less-obviously-accessible possibilities.
That is, in summary, an only-slightly-hyped-up description of "prior art", and the need to understand it before pretending to do something new and worthwhile, might "make an impression".
And, then, yes, "it's not a 9-to-5 job". E.g., it seems that a requirement for an academic scientist (and other academics) is a definite urge to work nearly to the exclusion of everything else, out of curiosity. If the academic topic is not one's "job", it'd seem that 80-hour work-weeks wouldn't be necessary... but the point is that most of the "prior art" was produced by such people, giving further (rhetorical, anecdotal) evidence to the idea that further progress will not be made "casually".
The conflict with "normal" human social activities is partly inescapable. It is truly unacceptable in various regards that one's "work" could conceivably have priority over social obligations. There's really no good way to explain how "it's ok" that one refuses invitations from family and friends, "to work". If it's your own choice, you've shown that you prefer work to friends and family. Whether or not that's the case (!), it's safer and less offensive to claim that external forces require you to spend the time... this, after the "complaint" that there's sooooo much to learn.
And, for perspective, we recall that very many people have unpleasant, pointless-seeming jobs, and no "second job/hobby" of any interest to turn to. Indeed, sometimes people take offense at one's enthusiasm or dedication to one's work (whether it's the paying job or the second one). An enviable luxury, etc.
So, no way around it, a tricky thing. White lies may be optimal on many occasions...

It doesn't have to be a Phd you are studying for. I had  similar problems just doing an undergraduate degree. I'm what you call a mature student and my mother cannot for the life of her, understand why I wanted the education I wasn't able to get when younger.
She was not amused when it was explained that I had yet another essay to complete and couldn't just drop everything to attend something or other. So it is often not about you at all, its about them and their need of you. Some of the other students faced even more difficulties, especially the women with husbands and children. So, I fear you will just have to carry on and take it on the chin but for heavens sake, don't give it up. Good luck.

Professional artists and writers face similar pressures.  "But... it's not like you're actually working!"


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Citation or inclusion of name in conference paper
I am part of a team working on the second phase of a project. The project hasn't been published in any journals or conferences yet, mainly because not a lot of work has been done completely. Practical work of a certain significant part has been done by a previous team. My team started two months ago and we have enough exposure to write a conference paper proposing the design and the theoretical work completely.
My project guide asked us to start writing a publish-ready paper encompassing everything, including the previous years practical work. He says, cite their term project and use their data. He was the guide of their term project too. I'm unsure as to whether it's right to just cite their unpublished thesis work. I think maybe they should be co-authors too since their work does comprise a significant part in the paper.
Am I right and should I bring it up to the professor? If so, how should I do it without offending him? If the question is vague, I could give more specifics.
EDIT: The field is control and robotics. The practical work is calibration of the equipment in question. The overall paper does include control strategy, dynamics and other sections that the previous researchers have not touched upon.

That's a delicate question. My own rule is to offer a co-authorship to anybody with whom I discussed the problem unless I use only the results they have already published and took the official credit for. However I don't insist and if they decline, I just give them extended thanks in the paper. So, I would definitely contact the (leader of) the previous team and offer to include all the names in the author line.
As to ow to approach your professor, it is not entirely unlikely that he is reading this very thread at the same time as you already, so once you decided to go public with it, just show him the replies you get here and ask what he thinks and what his arguments are. If he is a good man, he'll be straight with you and hold no grudges. If not, well, then you are in trouble already...

You said "their work does comprise a significant part in the paper". The question is to judge the nature of their contribution: if their work is a scientific contribution (by opposition to a technical contribution), then they indeed deserve to be co-authors of the paper. If their work is considered a technical contribution, then they should be left of.
It is a judgment call and what you say about their work ("the practical work is calibration of the equipment in question") makes it borderline. Sure, calibration is crucial, but is it an intellectual contribution, or is it something any technician with access to the apparatus user's manual could have done? In short: did they design the calibration procedure, or did they just follow an established (standard) procedure?
In all cases, you may want to bring that issue to the other authors' attention, in a diplomatic manner.

Their work is a scientific contribution. They worked on it (on and off) for almost a year. Can you expand on the 'diplomatic manner'?


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How to stop a researcher cutting corners in research?
Some avenues of research require time-intensive research and experimentation (e.g.m sciences). For example, in my case, each experiment took 3-12 hours and I had to perform over 30 of them.
Often, this type of research is performed as part of a group, where group cohesion and harmony are an important factor.  If you caught a member taking "short cuts" in their research: for example, doing one trial of an experiment instead of several or, as an extreme case, slightly altering the results to better fit their model.
It is always good to speak to the person in question discreetly, but what if the behavior continues? Also speaking to them can cause disunity.
How would this behavior be remedied, while maintaining group harmony?
(Please note, I am not after opinions, but practical solutions, particularly if people have confronted this issue before, and I have heard of this happening before, but was not privy to the details.)

Have you talked to the person in question, before reporting them ?

@Suresh this is a hypothetical situation, thankfully, I have not endured it.  But yes, your point is valid - I will add it in.

It's funny that you're looking for practical solutions to a hypothetical situation :)

@Suresh have a look here, and I have heard of this occurring and I am sure it happens reasonably often.  But, the question is not about that, it is about what to do if/when it happens.

I find this question very interesting but difficult to tackle. It will be difficult to provide specific answers to a general hypothetical situation since one is left with too many unknowns. First, one could wonder what the policies at the university are like? Do they have a panel for scientific fraud, misconduct etc.? Are there guidelines in place?  Then, we deal with persons and each situation is unique. People cheat for a variety of reasons from fear and feelings of inferiority and inadequacy, through stress and peer pressure to the narcissistic or psychopathic. Thirdly, the severeity of the problem is on a continuous scale and the response depends where you are on that scale. This also holds for the reverse problem, what works in one place may not work in another for these reasons.
In your question you state you wish to keep harmony but in essence the fact that "you" are uneasy with someones less than adequate research methods is already disharmony. So regardless if you do or do not do anything, there will be disharmony, either you will feel bad or someone else will. So there is no painless way out.
As for the case. I can see that you describe a sliding scale for what I would call poor science (overinterpreting results) to actual falsification of results. In the latter case, it is clear, one "must" pursue the problem. How this is done will vary but I am sure there are guidelines in place either at the university level or at a national level (on my home turf the national science foundation provides such services).
In the case of someone producing poor science by either, for example, being too lazy to do the work or by jumping to conclusions, there can be only one way forward: to try to confront the person and have open discussions around the science (or lack thereof) to bring out the problem in the open. It may be possible to start a discussion group where you read and discuss each others manuscripts. Such discussions are useful under any circumstances to help improve the manuscript and spot problems before submitting to a journal. Under such circumstances the problems can be discussed (if they become solved is a different matter). My sense is that a person who is aware of their shortcomings is not generally fond of talking about them so you may end up having these discussions with everyone but the one you want to target.


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Considerations for transitioning from a teaching to a pure research position
Understandably, there would be some adjustment needed, particularly if the academic had been in the predominantly teaching role for a long time (or it is the only academic role they've had).
What practical considerations are there that would help an academic currently fulfilling a primarily teaching position to seamlessly and effectively transition to being in an all-research position (any job that is all research, no teaching)?

What do you mean by a "pure" research position?

@aeismail pure research in this case, refers to no teaching, just research.

So, are you talking about non-academic positions (for example, research in government labs), or academic positions (e.g., research assistant professor)?

When you talking about practical considerations to help in transitioning from a teaching to a research position, do you mean to help in getting a research job, or help in handling the transition once you've accepted the job?

@aeismail any research job that has no teaching component.

@AnonymousMathematician I mean help handling the transition once the job is accepted.

Some issues that will need to be considered are:

getting up to date with the current developments in your field – this will involve intense and selective reading
finding new topics to work on
justifying in grant applications the gap in publication record and demonstrating potential to produce results
attracting students to work with you – this may be easier if you've been teaching a lot, as you've put yourself in a position where students can see you.

Good luck.

Thank you, Dave, this is the succinct and helpful information I am after.


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Appropriate response to sexual misconduct 'joke' made against an academic
This happened quite recently to a friend and colleague of mine.
Another colleague made an off-hand 'joke' about a friend (an academic) potentially behaving inappropriately with his students.  This was said in front of my friend's students (over 20) and within hearing range of his students, as my friend heard them laughing soon after the 'joke' was said (his own students apparently had shocked looks on their faces).
The situation was that he was setting up an experiment demonstration that required the lights turned off and curtains drawn (physics - lasers).  Understandably, my friend was very angry, hurt and terribly embarrassed and could not bare to even look at his colleague who 'triumphantly went back to his own class' soon after.
Just a point I want to make here, the reason I am saying 'joke' in inverted commas, is because this kind of infantile rubbish can and does cause unwarranted mud to stick - and is potentially a lot more damaging for male teachers/lecturers.  Also, it is a lame, disgusting, low-brow attempt at humour. (I have been a butt of a joke like that myself a few years ago and it inadvertently caused quite a bit of trouble, despite being 100% innocent and proven so).
There is no question of his innocence of any wrong doing, and being the true professional, he redirected his students back to the demonstration and completed the lesson.
He is the kind of person that does not like to make waves and does not like to make a fuss.
In summary:

Lecturer X about to start his class requiring the lights to be off and curtains drawn for an experiment. Lecturer Y comes in unannounced and made the 'joke' about X potentially doing something inappropriate with the students in the darkness.  This was in front of both X's and Y's students.
Lecturer Y went back to his class.
Lecturer X was justifiably insulted, but continued his lesson.

What course of action should he (Lecturer X) do?  Particularly to protect himself from any potential future trouble regarding allegations etc from this 'joke'?  (Which as I said, can occur).

What was the joke? I don't quite follow who was offended and why?

Jealousy is a strong force in humans (and animals), especially between males. It causes all sort of troubles for the jealous person as well as the subject of jealousy. It mostly appears as accusing another person (who is apparently more successful with females) to some kind of affairs. It has different forms, such as commenting, spreading rumors, making sexual jokes, etc. Unfortunately, academia is one of the most common places for such actions and therefore true academics should think about a serious solution for this problem.

@FranzKafka the joke was about the teacher/lecturer being in a darkened room with students may do something inappropriate to them - the offense is that is a major slamming against the integrity of the teacher and can and has got people unjustly in trouble.

@VahidShirbisheh yes, I agree and that could very well be a major aspect of this.

I don't know if I understand the situation. X tells an inappropriate/ embarrassing joke on Y in front of both X's and Y's students, right? "potentially behaving inappropriately" is about reason for telling joke (e.g. not following the safety instructions) or an euphemism for the joke content? Please, make the content more explicit (e.g. "he" is ambiguous), as it took me some time to guess who did what... Also: whom you want to protect (the joke-teller from consequences, or the victim from further harassment)?

@PiotrMigdal a summary has been made, the answers below also help put it into context.

@UV-D When it comes to 'allegations' - was it an inappropriate joke (i.e. it is blunt obvious, that the joke's content has not relation to the real situation), or actually a defamation (i.e. when someone can actually start suspect X; all things like starting rumors against a person, or trying to undermine one's position)?

@PiotrMigdal it was an inappropriate joke, not related to the actual situation. However, from experience, it does not matter when a joke like that, it does not really matter what the context - the damage can be monumental.

Usually the person who gets the monumental damage is not the person "affected" by a bad joke, but exactly opposite. In fact, this is an example of public hypocrisy. A "person" told inappropriate joke involving "someone". The "someone" may get frustrated, however the public will punish the "person" by extreme overreacting and therefore seriously affect "person's" life and career. Which is not acceptable, because punishment should be (if should be at all) appropriate to the offence and damage made. The damage is (most likely) light frustration, so make the person frustrate back, but not kill.

This is a very unfortunate event for your affected colleague. Usually the proverb "where there's smoke, there's fire" has some truth, but when artificial smoke is generated without the fire, it is very detrimental. As you state the comment may stick and through the grapevine it may attain any proportion.
What then to do? Well, first, I think the teacher should tell his (in this case) students that he feels the 'joke' was totally inappropriate and the he was hurt by it and also explain that this sort of action is not to be tolerated by anyone. This will set the record straight with his own class. It could spark a short discussion about political correctness and even if it takes time out of the subject teaching it will be worth it. It is a good lesson that should be taught.
The next step is to actually step up to the person who made the 'joke' and explain that it was uncalled for and inappropriate, particularly in public and at his expense. I understand that this may be difficult to do but unfortunately the choice is to do it or let it be and face the fact that the issue is unresolved.
A third step is to bring it up at a departmental level and try to turn it into a general discussion to eventually also involve students. The university/department probably has rules about (mis-)conduct and correctness. It can be fruitful to provide an opportunity to have a discussion on how people (faculty and students) should conduct professionally,it does not even have to bring up this 'joke' in any way.
Finally, being affected by a situation like this is about the worst that can happen, particularly if the 'joke' propagates without any control. It may be that there are officers within the university that can provide advice on what can be done and help defuse the situation in case it will propagate into rumours, etc. The students will therefore also be involved and can be good support if brought in to discuss the matter from a correctness point of view.

I totally agree with this. Such bad behaviour must be dealt with immediately. This is not just for the sake of the current victim, but also for the sake of the students. Surely we do not want them to think that such bad behaviour is acceptable since nobody repudiated it, right? In fact, I would say that such slander is immoral, not just bad behaviour.

Depending on the local laws and policies, that joke itself might constitute harassment of you and of your students, thus, the "jokester" might already be culpable. Certainly they are visibly culpable, but/and possibly so depending on the incisiveness and (in a good sense) subtlety of your local laws.
The usual counter-argument that "oh, it was just a joke, don't be so uptight", is just a disregard and attempted dismissal of the issue... which might have been orthodox and acceptable "back in the day" when the opportunity for various bonus intimidations of subordinates was an understood "perk" of senior positions.
To the students, one could comment that that exemplified the reasons such behavior is against policy: not that anyone was immediately injured, perhaps, but ... here's the point ... it was a distraction from the real goals of the situation, namely, learning/education/teaching. Even if everyone in the room knew that there was no chance of the "joke" being relevant, certainly most would know that there is a potentially very serious issue there, and, thus, raising a fake-serious issue burns far too many mental CPU-cycles. A big waste!!!


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Is having a specialised PhD topic a pitfall when applying to be a lecturer of STEM education, even with relevant practical experience?
This is in a similar vein as What are the potential pitfalls of having a PhD, but where that was specifically targeted as entering industry, this is targeted at becoming a lecturer of STEM education (effectively a 'teacher-trainer').
Is having a specialised PhD topic a pitfall when applying to be a lecturer of STEM education?
To give an actual example*, I have completed a PhD in atmospheric physics (with a bit of programming thrown in) and 14 year high school teaching experience, I have applied to be a STEM Education lecturer - will that PhD be considered too specialised?
**note: this is just a real life example, not a self help question.*

@UV-D One more clarification -- are you referring to a lecturer the way it is generally referred to in the U.S. (as teaching position only) or for a position that also includes research? If it is the latter, you will be more competitive if you have education research experience (e.g., pedagogy research). I've seen schools that prefer their teacher-trainers have advanced degrees in education (EdD or PhD) even for the teaching-only positions.

@ChrisGregg thank you for that, I am referring to teaching and research.

Is having a specialised PhD topic a pitfall when applying to be a lecturer of STEM education? [with teaching and research duties]

I would not call it a "pitfall," per se, but rather you'll have to do some convincing that you're qualified to research in the field of education. I applied for a couple of similar positions (with somewhat similar experience and education as you, though with about half the number of years teaching high school), and the guidance I received was that I needed to demonstrate that I had a "research arc" (or research strategy) that was consistent with the research goals of the position. Having a good deal of teaching experience may have given me an edge as far as the teaching duties were concerned, but I only had one publication in the education pedagogy realm, and that (among other things, presumably) was not enough to make me competitive for the positions (i.e., I didn't get the jobs). In fact, it probably was the case that most applicants for such a position spent time teaching at the secondary level, and my experience there was a wash.
Bottom line: if you are asked to write a research statement, make sure it is highly targeted towards the position, and try to have a long-term approach to the research question or questions you discuss. Relating it back to your hard-science degree may be difficult, so leverage as much of the teaching experience you can to inform the statement.


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Internship report - any way to request discretion from reviewers for a to-be-published paper?
I'm required to submit my internship report in my university. Since the work involved is a work in progress and is yet to be published, is there a way I can mention somewhere that it is not for reproduction?

I think it would be fair to say something like

This report concerns work in progress and should not be freely distributed pending publication of the results

I also think it would be wise to talk to somebody in a position with insights into how the reports are handled. You may not be the first to have this issue. I am sure such reports are not circulated anyway unless specifically stated they will be from the beginning. But it is better to be safe than sorry so do not hesitate to ask around to get the necessary information you need.


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High impact journals GIS and Remote Sensing
I am searching for Journals in the area of GIS and Remote Sensing in agriculture and water management, with a high impact factor. It is important that these journals pay authors for their articles ... thanks in advance if you can share even one journal's link.

Possible duplicate? What books, journals, electronic resources are most valuable for expanding Geographic Information knowledge?

"journals pay autors for the article" - there are no academic journals that pay the author - there are some that ask the author to pay for a publishing fee (mostly newer open access journals).

scientific journals or other journals no academic .... May I find in this list such , which pay authors .... etc...

You can practically guarantee that "pay the author" and "high impact" are mutually exclusive: I put to you the answer is the empty set.

I listen that there is some journals scientific that pay some honorars to author

It's actually the opposite: the best journals are in enough demand that many of them actually require the authors (or their institutions) to pay them!  (Payments are nominally for preprints, etc., but they are still just that: payments.)

This question seems better suited for Academia Stack Exchange. I am requesting a question migration.

This question appears to be off-topic because it is is a better fit for Academia Stack Exchange

I agree with the comments above—the idea of journals paying authors for articles guarantees that you will not have a high-impact journal. A trade publication might pay an author, but a reputable journal should not.
On the other hand, there are very likely good journals which do not require authors to pay "page charges" to get the article published. But you'll look in vain if you want high-quality and profit!


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How "submitted", "to appear", "accepted" papers are evaluated in a CV?
Assume a search committee is reading my CV and in the publication section they notice some of my papers are only submitted or claimed to appear in a journal (or accepted for publication in a journal). Sometimes the journal which has accepted the paper for publication lists the title of accepted articles before actually publishing them, but in the rest of cases there is no evidence to prove that the referee process of the paper is over and the journal has accepted the paper for publication. Also assume preprints of my papers are available in ArXiv. So, my questions are:

How a search committee interprets and evaluates those papers which are just submitted or are claimed to appear?

Does a search committee consider these types of publications less valuable than the published ones (assuming the same quality)?

Does a search committee refer to my preprints in ArXiv to evaluate my submitted or accepted papers?

I think it is quite simple: anything that has not passed peer review ("submitted"/"in review") means essentially nothing (note: this is in biology where there are virtually no technical reports or non-refereed manuscripts). Anything else indicating that the paper has passed peer-review ("accepted"/"in press") is essentially equivalent to a published paper.

It's a tiered system:

Peer-reviewed published articles. Published means published in any form, so it includes papers in all states published online on the journal's website, including “in print”, “ASAP papers”, “just accepted papers”, etc.
That's top notch: it demonstrates your ability to perform research, write it up and publish it. Those are key requirements for the job.
1b. Peer-reviewed accepted papers. All search committees I know will assume good faith, and accepted papers not yet published (thus without proof) are considered as good as published papers. If you want to (and the application format allows for it), you can actually join a copy of the manuscript (not as proof, but for committee members who may want to read your paper to judge its quality).
Submitted papers, non peer-reviewed papers. This has some value, as an indication of your recent activity. It is especially useful to the committee if you have few papers (junior researcher) or have not published much recently (so that it is clear you are still active). Again, you may want to join manuscript(s) to your application, or give a link to arXiv if you deposited it there.
In preparation, in writing, … There is no clear standard on threshold for what is a paper “in preparation”, so these are usually worthless on a CV. The only exception is if you have very very few (or no) published papers: applying for a PhD position, or early application for post-doc position, with 1 or 2 published papers. Otherwise, my advice is simply not to mention manuscripts you have not finished writing.

The other case I can think of for including work that's in preparation is if it would be your first contribution to a field relevant to the job for which the CV is tailored - include it as a discussion starter.  Otherwise don't mention it.

"accepted papers not yet published (thus without proof)" - the bracketed part is not even necessarily true. Acceptance of papers can be known months ahead of publication, e.g. for conference papers, or for journal papers with a public review process, etc.

First you need to distinguish between publications that have passed the review process (accepted, in press) with those who have not (in prep, in review etc.). The first group are just as published as those that are printed and should/could be listed among the published. The others have not received the accept decision and despite their quality are not yet officially approved by peers and journals. Hence they are equated with manuscripts.
You can divide your manuscripts and papers in as many categories you like in the CV but the bottom line is that those that are not through the peers review will not be counted as highly since no-one yet knows of their deemed quality. But, that said, manuscripts (of all forms) indicates activity so they are not a complete loss in the CV. Unfortunately people have very wide views on what can be included. One person stated that a manuscript existed if it had a title, an abstract, some text and some references. With experiences like that it is perhaps not difficult to imagine that a list of manuscripts in different stages may not count for much other than an indication of activity (no matter the reality).
As for manuscripts in public archives, there will be a middle ground. They obviously exist but have not been peer reviewed. An evaluator should be able to check its quality fairly easily, even if they are not necessarily an expert on the topic. It is also doubtful reviewers search for papers on their own, commonly what they receive to review is what they look at. So the value of such papers is less clear but I would definitely set up a separate category for these sorts of papers in the CV between published peer reviewed and unpublished manuscripts.

Indeed—papers that are accepted but not yet in print count as publications as far as most funding agencies and other organizations are concerned. You just need to provide the documentation that the paper has been accepted as evidence.

@aeismail for the upcoming UK REF only "in print" papers count, but I agree that in most cases "in press" is good enough.

I overall agree with your answer, in particular as it describes quite exactly what I see in hiring committees. However, I cannot help notice that "those that are not through the peers review will not be counted as highly since no-one yet knows of their deemed quality" is symptomatic of the way the evaluation is conducted: we rely more easily on the opinion of an 'usually) unknown editor, based on a unknown report of an unknown referee, rather than on our own judgment.


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Can I payoff student-loan debts working as a professor after getting a Ph.D. in mathematics?
I have been recently accepted into graduate school for my PhD in Mathematics. I feel very prepared and excited. However, my route is somewhat untraditional as I am "going back." That is, I am walking away from a well paying job. (I should mention that I am unmarried with no children.) I still have a lot of debt from undergrad. And, I am about to accumulate more (although an assistantship will help defray some costs). Obtaining my PhD and teaching at a college is my dream. As such, I am taking the plunge-no matter the cost.   Working with the assumption that I will be about $100,000 in debt when I graduate, is it feasible to "live" even if I secure a tenure-track position? For instance, can one "request" to teach intersession and summer sessions for extra income (as a professor)?

If you're going into debt while in math grad school, there's probably something wrong. The vast majority of universities (at least in the US) will pay a livable wage in addition to full tuition & fee waivers. Virtually all the grad students in my department, for example, are either TAs or RAs.

I will not know about the assistantship until Spring. I am entertaining the possibility of "not getting one."

I see at least 3 question marks. "Should I take on debt" and "Is it feasible to live" are purely opinion based. The extra teaching question is potentially interesting, but probably not in this context.

Obtaining my PhD and teaching at a college
[palm face] what a nightmare. It's basically a nurse's station: every day on the job, you will have somebody throw up (at least mentally or emotionally, if not physically) because they can't digest the math you feed them with (think College Algebra), and your job is to clean it up and make these guys happy. Unless you make it to St. Olaf in the end, which is VERY doubtful. Also, if you indicate that your career dream is teaching rather than research, no faculty is going to take you seriously as a Ph.D. student. Sorry, they need to publish.

If teaching mathematics is your goal, you do not need or want a PhD.  You should look into student loan forgiveness for teachers.  Our society needs more math teachers.

@StasK: That's a very narrow and cynical view of college teaching, and IMHO fairly offensive to those of us who do it.  Plenty of mathematicians find it rewarding to teach mathematics at lots of different levels, yes, even college algebra.  If your teaching involves feeding students math that they can't digest, you're doing it wrong.  It may be that faculty at top research universities are most interested in students who want to research, but there are lots of other universities whose students mostly go into college teaching.

@Nate, I apologize if my comment struck you as offensive; however if the OP has a rosy view of academia, they have to see these cynical views before throwing their best 20-something years to an exercise that may turn out less rewarding than expected. I taught statistics to unprepared undergraduate audiences: students who have only seen integrated math cannot follow the logic of a proof or a derivation, and thus cannot maintain the whatever little math I was able to instill on them. So in the later part of my teaching career I just concentrated on developing their statistical software skills.

Since nobody else has offered a direct answer to the title question...

Should I take on debt in order to get a Ph.D. in mathematics?

Absolutely not.
If a PhD program isn't willing to waive your tuition and offer you a stipend (in the form of an assistantship or fellowship), they don't really want you.  Go somewhere else.  If they decide not to give you more funding after a semester or two, you're done.  Go somewhere else.

The question title was changed after most of the answers were submitted. I think the question was actually not reflective of the content. The OP is not asking about can he get a degree in math without debt—he's asking if he can afford to pay off student-loan debts once he's finished!

@aeismail I disagree with your change to the title.  The text of the question clearly suggests that the OP expects to take on more debt.  "And, I am about to accumulate more...." and in his comment, "I will not know about the assistantship until Spring. I am entertaining the possibility of not getting one."

His actual questions are: "Working with the assumption that I will be about $100,000 in debt when I graduate, is it feasible to "live" even if I secure a tenure-track position? For instance, can one "request" to teach intersession and summer sessions for extra income (as a professor)?" As for accumulating more debt, some grad students take on loans, in addition to receiving a stipend.

In most math PhD programs in the US, your tuition costs are covered by either the department or your advisor, and you receive a stipend on top of that to cover your living expenses. While it may not be enough to cover the lifestyle you are accustomed to as a working professional, it is certainly enough that you should not need to accumulate substantial debt as a doctoral student! Moreover, you should be able to put any subsidized loans you have in deferral during this time, so that they do not accumulate interest during this period.
With respect to income as an assistant professor, what exactly is permitted depends on the regulations of the particular institution at which you are working. At most schools, however, you are entitled to have "consulting contracts" which would supplement your salary as a faculty member; however, such contracts and the workloads associated with them normally have to be declared to the university. In addition, at many schools, you are paid only a nine-month salary; you can "earn" the remaining three months through external grants and other means (perhaps teaching summer courses, and so on).

Also keep in mind that the percentage of Ph.D.'s that get a tenure track job within 5 years is around 15% in technical disciplines: http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_magazine/previous_issues/articles/2013_09_16/caredit.a1300199

The American Mathematical Society publishes annual data that is more detailed and more focused on mathematics PhD recipients in the U.S. - here is a link to the most recently published employment report (there is a long delay while they gather and process the data each year): http://www.ams.org/notices/201408/rnoti-p874.pdf

Having a lot of undergraduate student loan debt and expressing the amount in dollars makes it sound like you are in the U.S.  On the other hand, I haven't heard of a U.S. math grad school admitting anyone in September, so I'm puzzled by where you are.  I'll answer assuming it's the U.S., but this answer may not apply in other locations.
As aeismail pointed out, U.S. Ph.D. programs in mathematics fund their students at a level that should let you make it through grad school without new loans.  If such a program admits you but won't provide funding, then that shows a serious lack of confidence in you.  It amounts to saying that you're welcome to try if you can afford to pay for everything, but they don't think it's a good use of their money.
It seems from your question and comments that you've been admitted now but will not learn about funding until spring.  I would strongly recommend applying more broadly this fall, so you can see what your other options are.  If the current school does not come through with funding in the spring, then you should view it as just barely being admitted (and you should factor that into your estimate of the likelihood of getting a good job - they might be totally wrong in their judgment of you, but this would indicate that they don't expect you to be one of their more successful students).
I'd recommend taking your favorite among funded offers of admission and treating unfunded offers as tantamount to rejection, but of course it depends on how risk averse you are.

Working with the assumption that I will be about $100,000 in debt when I graduate, is it feasible to "live" even if I secure a tenure-track position?

Try a student loan calculator.  The details will depend on your interest rate, repayment schedule, etc., but for an order of magnitude estimate, you'd need to pay roughly $1,000/month to be debt-free in ten years.  Whether this is feasible depends on how frugal you are and how much you might make.  I've linked to American Mathematical Society salary surveys.  You should be careful not to get too optimistic: fancy jobs can pay starting salaries in the $80,000 to $90,000 range, but few people get such jobs and in any case typically after a postdoc.  A typical starting salary for a tenure-track job at a teaching-oriented college is $55,000, and getting a tenure-track job at all is certainly not guaranteed.

For instance, can one "request" to teach intersession and summer sessions for extra income (as a professor)?

Sometimes.  If you find a job at a research university with a low teaching load, then deliberately increasing the teaching load would be a bad way to get tenure.  If you end up working somewhere with a high teaching load, then you might not want to increase it, but I'd expect that you could take on summer teaching if you need the money.  It may not pay very well, though.

Just my 2 cents here, but in my opinion, going into a math PhD which is not financially covered 100% more or less; meaning tuition and basic living expenses are paid for, sounds like a bad move to me. Even full teaching assistantships are paid very badly.
One can spend a lot of time in a PhD program. You said that after you graduate, you want to be a math teacher. Well, math teachers don't get paid that much.
If you aren't fully covered under your current arrangements, I suggest you try and find an institution that will fully cover you.
Having said that, you don't give a lot of details about what your financial arrangements during grad school will be, or details about your current debt. If you gave more details, people might be able to offer more concrete responses.
I think that asking about such things in a personal finance forum such as Personal Finance & Money would also be a reasonable thing to do, as this is partly a finance question.

If your dream is to do a PhD in math then go for it by all means, but take into account that you are not putting yourself in the best situation. Could you delay your entry into the PhD program to pay half of the debt with your current good-paying job? You could delay and apply to other programs as well to see if you get more funding. I mean by all means pursue your dreams, but please take into account the financials of it. Also, it might not be your dream after all, once you have spent a few years in the program. The reality might be different than the dream, and for that reason I would suggest working a couple more years, paying off the loan and then entering with a better situation the PhD program.
In any case, you should be able to pay the loan after the PhD straight after graduating, just as if it was part of your mortgage, but you'll have to make some sacrifices, and I assume there is the possibility of you getting married, having more responsibilities but also possibly another source of income. Please take this into account when making your final decision.


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How to effectively address conflicting suggestions from reviewers
A bit of background, I am doing research in atmospheric physics and detection systems
Recently, I received a paper submission back with revisions suggested by a couple of reviewers.  For the most part, the revisions were definitely constructive, justified and most importantly, helpful.
That is, except on one particular crucial aspect of the paper where both reviewers made suggestions, that they labelled as critical for the paper's success.  However, the suggestions were directly opposite.  i.e. Both suggestions are mutually exclusive, but equally feasible.
What is an effective means to address this conflict?
I have spoken to my academic supervisor and he is not sure how to proceed either and we have double checked and both suggested paths are feasible.

Isn't this a big win? Your one paper has just become two ... or possibly even three: one for each of the two suggestions, and one comparing those two approaches and the one you'd proposed.

@EnergyNumbers (+1) that is potentially true, we are under time constraints (especially with the use of equipment). Time constraints also with other commitments (aren't we all?)

Not enough for an answer, but just because they are mutually exclusive doesn't mean Reviewer 1 knows/thought about Reviewer 2's idea and vice versa. It could be that one is better than the other and they will both see that, it could also be that both are equally good and choosing either one will satisfy both.

@tpg2114 this is very true - it is a case of trying to figure which is better and more relevant.

In my capacity as editor for a journal, I see this quite frequently. I think it is a pity that you are left on your own to try to resolve the problem. An editor should provide some indication of possible solutions in tricky situations like this. So my first advice is to contact the editor and briefly explain the dilemma and ask for some advise on how to proceed. If you can, you should also provide your opinion on what you think is reasonable. After all, you have made your study and knows its strengths and weaknesses better than most.
In some cases, I have experienced how authors have used conflicting reviews to swing their paper in one or the other direction. This is certainly also possible since the reviews, and this is important, constitute peer's views and opinions, not an absolute and definitive truth to be followed.
Lacking the necessary insight into the details of your work and the issue at hand, I would also add the following. If you think you can bring up the conflicting views in the discussion, you may perhaps add both to your paper and simply arrive at a conclusion that the jury might still be out concerning the burning issue. I realize this may not be applicable in your case, but could be one way to acknowledge the existence of several, seemingly valid views.

Often, but not always, reviewers try and be helpful. For example, a reviews that simply says that "crucial aspect of the paper is broken/wrong/needs to be reworked", tends not to be as helpful as "crucial aspect of the paper is broken and would be improved by doing X". Of course when you get a second review saying to do Y and X and Y are incompatible, then you have an issue. I would think about X and Y (and possibly Z) and decide which you want to do. Then respond to the reviewers and acknowledge that you improved crucial aspect with method X (or Y or Z) for the reasons you decided to use it. Hopefully, the reviewer will be happy that you improved crucial aspect and not upset that you didn't use method Y. If after the second round of reviews you still have conflicts, explain the problem to the editor and ask for advice.

So very true - both reviewers were fantastic -thorough, insightful and extremely helpful.  This is excellent advice.

Yes — the important thing is to address the reviewers’ criticisms/concerns; but how you address them is your own decision.

Reviewers' suggestions are just that: suggestions. So, read both of them, make your own idea on how useful each of the suggestions would be, then depending on available resources, you may choose to follow one, the other, both, or none.

If you can do both, then of course do it, compare the results, and that will vastly improve your paper!
If you cannot do both, then decide in advance on which seems more likely to you, and follow this course (X). Then, add mention of the other method (Y) in the revised paper, saying something along the lines of “it would also be interesting to see how doing Y improves the results of Z, though we do not expect it to be as efficient as X because of …”. And explain in your letter to the editor that you have followed the avenue which seemed best to you, out of the two suggested by the referees. If your case is convincing (yet concise), you should not have a problem with the editor: you're the expert, after all!
If you think both have value, but (i) you don't have the resources to do it, and (ii) though the suggestions are valid, your current results already bring something new and significant to the field, you may decide not to follow the suggestions. Include them, with some background for each, in the revised manuscript and explain that it may be useful for future work to consider those. In the response to the editor, make your case that though it is interesting, it would be out of the scope of the current study, and your work meets publication standards as it is.

What I would probably do is:
In the appropriate section, acknowledge that two routes had been suggested, and then explain why you chose to take the route you did.
edit: sorry, didn't fully read through the answer above mine before posting (which says much the same thing).

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


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How does the US government shutdown affect academics?
I hope this question does not offend our American fellows.
I've read in news that the US government is partially closed  and many agencies and services run by US federal government is no longer available, for example national parks, many websites, etc. I was wondering if this temporary government shutdown has any negative effects on academic life in US?

Somewhat related: http://academia.stackexchange.com/q/8061/2700

This is a great question; I don't see how it could offend anyone.  (At least, I'm American, and I'm certainly not offended.)

This is UCS take on it.

Unless the shutdown lasts for a very long time, I suspect the long-term affects will be minimal. Shutdowns happen often enough – due to snowstorms, hurricanes, power outages, and so forth. When these happen, there are some annoying delays, and then everyone gets caught up. I think there's a good chance this will "fix itself" in a similar way, sometime down the road.

@J.R. There absolutely are long-term and career-level effects of this shutdown. See http://www.nature.com/news/politics-the-long-shadow-of-the-shutdown-1.13978. There may be even larger-scale implications than one persons career. For example, our plan to get geothermal heat flux measurements from under Antarctica, a key parameter in ice sheet behavior (and therefore sea level rise), has been cancelled this year.

@mankoff - I didn't mean to imply there would be zero adverse affects. However, to support my point, the "broken" links and "shut-down" websites given in many of the answers below seem to be working now. It's disappointing that your research has been cancelled for the year, but there's still a possibility it could be refunded next year, in which case this becomes a debate over what would be classified as  "long-term" negative effects.

I think we still disagree about the severity. Yes, your point is supported in that websites have re-opened. But for many this isn't about a website. It isn't "I couldn't download a paper or data set for two weeks". The long-term effects may not be minimal to the large community of Antarctic researchers. Equipment costing 100s of thousands may be lost, buried in snow. Ph.D. students now have no data and pre-tenure researchers delayed a year (or more) means major career changes.

@mankoff - I don't dispute any of that. Tough loss for the Antarctic team. But there has to be a good portion of academia who are not studying ice flows, and the impact to them is more of a nuisance than a major loss. I guess the bottom-line answer is that for many it was an annoying glitch, some others may have lost a grant or missed a chance to present research at a conference, and for some, the timing was awful and the impact severe. You've given one example showing how bad it can be at one side of the spectrum – but that's not the entire picture for all of academia.

It definitely has. And by that, it has an impact even on academic life outside of the US. One of the most important data and literature resource in medical and life science is the US National Center for Biotechnology Information, running for example the literature database PubMed. Now it has a statement on its website saying

Due to the lapse in government funding, the information on this web site may not be up to date, transactions submitted via the web site may not be processed, and the agency may not be able to respond to inquiries until appropriations are enacted.

Concerning the National Institute of Health, the website http://www.usa.gov/shutdown.shtml states that

Research into life-threatening diseases and other areas will stop, and new patients won’t be accepted into clinical  trials at the National Institutes of Health

I'm not sure how to interpret this, but it could mean that the research personnel is on unpaid leave.

Yeah, it is a good example. I suspect many recruitments also will be halted if it last so long.

@VahidShirbisheh I'm not sure whether they will withdraw money that is already budgeted. But at least funding for new projects under government agencies will probably stop.

@silvado not probably. The NSF website says "No new grants or cooperative agreements will be awarded."

I am a fellow at NIH. This is correct, most people are on leave. Only so-called exempt (I am lucky to be one) personnel can continue work (and be paid). However, we are expected to maintain status quo, not do new things

It's not just NIH. NIST resources have also been shuttered.

In the US most academic institutions are not run directly by the Federal Government and so are not shut down. That is even public universities are run by the states, not the Federal Government, and so are not shut down. So the teaching side of academic life in the US is not really impacted unless the shutdown lasts long enough to interrupt student loan and grant payments.
Research is another issue and it depends on how exactly you are funded. If all of your federal grant money has been transferred to your university then it is there and you can use it. But you won't know when the next installment will come. If you work directly for a federal research unit then you have been shut down and sent home.

It has been increasingly hard to get grant money from agencies like the NSF. The sequester hurt a lot, and now this. It may get worse before it gets better.

@JonathanLandrum I was talking more about grant money that has been transferred to University controlled accounts not the process of getting the NSF to approve grants. Actually making accounts is very vulnerable to everything. The usually reliable accountants who move the money around are now furloughed so won't be making any transfers even for approved grants.

It appears that the shutdown may result in the cancellation of a whole year of research in Antarctica.
Update: The NSF just shut down all Antarctic research, though they have left open the possibility of restarting some of it if the shutdown ends very soon.
Update 2: Antarctic season is "open" but some projects will still be cancelled this year due to the delay.

Just as an example:
Today I tried to download this paper from NASA, but failed. It was only then when I realized the US Government has been shut down.

There is http://www.archive.org, of course :)

This affects people outside the US too: some databases maintained by US institutions, like NIST, have been effectively shut down. In the case relevant to my work, I don't have access to the NIST Chemistry Webbook and related databases, which is a royal pain in the buttocks.

Foreign students on internships at federally funded institutions have also been furloughed, and are now sitting around waiting for it to reopen.

The Wonder database containing the surveillance data that the CDC collects has been shut down.
Epidemiologists worldwide use these data.
If anyone is searching for the data that was in the morbidity tables from the National Disease Surveillance Survey (NDSS), that data up to May 2013 is available on github.


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What are evaluation criteria for NSF postdoctoral fellowships?
I am currently working on applying for an NSF postdoctoral fellowship and I was wondering if anyone had insight into the following questions:

Is it practical to have a proposed research project that is not directly in line with the applicant's previous research (I'm thinking of a research project that in some way falls within the same subspeciality but none of the work I've done before naturally segues into this work)
Is it disadvantageous to apply to work under someone who already has numerous postdocs (say around 4)? The worry would be that a panel would think that this would reduce the sponsor's ability to be an involved mentor
When it comes to Broader impacts, in particular things like educational outreach, is it all right if this occurs in another country if I am applying to be supported by the NSF while at a foreign institution.

See the "help" link to discover the type of questions appropriate here.

I think this depends to a large degree on how intelligently you can write about this subject.  If you have a carefully thought out research plan, and can point to how your previous experience prepared you for it, I don't think it should be a huge problem.  That said, there's no reason to really go out on a limb in the description.  It's not like you're required to do the research you propose, so I would be more inclined to suggest doing a mix of problems from the new and old areas.  Also, talk to your recommenders about it.  If they're enthusiastic, it will really help.
I wouldn't over think this stuff.  It's just impossible to know what people will think.  I would concentrate more on what you think is best for you.
You should discuss anything cool you've done with educational outreach.  If it was in another country, I don't think it's a problem at all.


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Scantron Tests For Math Courses
I'm a student at State University of New York. My math professor gives scantron exams which consist of true/false questions for calculus and graph theory courses. Each question presents a problem and a solution, and all I have to do is just mark it right or wrong (by doing calculations on a separate sheet that won't be collected). I'm a transfer student, so I've seen how real math exams are written. The first time I saw it I was quite surprised.
Is this kind of testing typical for math courses?
UPDATE: after taking 2 exams this week, one in graph theory and one in calculus 3, I can say with certainty that scantron exams are useless. Why?
In calculus 3 I got 11 correct answers out of 12, and I was guessing 5 questions. Together with the curving that my professor did, I got 95. I didn't know the answers for almost half of the exam, and yet I got an A!
In graph theory I got 19 correct answers out of 25, and I was guessing about third of the questions. After curving, I got 86.
End of proof.

I agree that scantron exams are not optimal for accurately assessing students, but I hesitate to call them useless. If you've never graded mathematics exams/homework/quizzes/workshop writeups before, you'd be surprised by just how much time it requires. Sometimes using the scantron is just a matter of practicality.

I think your math professor is lazy. Grading scantron exam papers is time saving. He can grade 100 students' exam papers in an hour. How many students in your class? Does he have TA? If it's a large class(>100 students) and no or only one TA, it is understandable. (I am not saying he is right in doing it.)

@kigen Maybe I shouldn't use "useless." Inefficient is more appropriate. I understand that it takes a lot of time to grade, but that's what you signed up for, no? It's part of being a teacher.

@scaaahu You're absolutely right, he is lazy. He's teaching three classes, so I assume he has less than 100 students, and as far as I know he doesn't have a TA.

Multiple choice exams certainly do get used in math, by many people and at many places. (At the university I'm at, we use them for the calculus sequence, and then move to short answer exams after.)

"we use them for the calculus sequence, and then move to short answer exams after." In my case there are only two scantron tests for a semester. Is this still typical?

We typically have three four (two-three midterms and a final), but how many midterms one has also varies widely, and probably mostly independently of the format of the exams.

As I said, it was a big surprise for me, because in my previous college, which was a community college, I had 5 exams and one final exam. Quite a radical change.

@wizardo I'm with you on this one. This seems a strange way to hold a math test. However, if the teacher successfully butchers the answer enough to require significant algebraic manipulation, I can see how it could still prove difficult and computationally intensive for the student.

@JonathanLandrum That's the problem - the problems aren't that hard (which is good for me). The difficulty level is easy-intermediate at best.


text:
Is including an own paper in the literature review a bad practice?
I am writing an article on a rarely researched topic in my field - 4-5 articles exist, as far as I know. I recently published a related article, still making this topic a rarely researched one.
Would it be a bad practice to include my own published article in the literature review?

It is quite common that reviews are written by persons intimately familiar with the topic so to answer your question: quite the contrary

I recommend that you refer to your work as if another person wrote it.  (That is, write "Noche (2013) discovered that ..." instead of "In 2013, the author discovered that ...".)  This aids in the double-blind review of your paper.

@JoelReyesNoche yup, I am going to treat myself as a third person. Unfortunately, double-bind review process is quite rare in my field...

Note that in some fields not including your own relevant papers in a literature review can be considered academic misconduct. This is to prevent authors from publishing the same results multiple times.

No, not at all. You should cover all publications which fall within the scope of the review, and if one of them happens to be a paper of yourself, then of course you still have to cover that in your review. Just make sure that you try to be objective in the way you discuss it. Best practice would be to review your paper as you would review a paper by any other author.
Maybe you have a coauthor in the review who was not coauthor on the research paper? Ask him/her to do the review section about that research paper.
Also note the positive aspect of this situation: having published a research paper in the area you are reviewing gives you more credibility as an author of a review in that area.

No, I don't think its particularly bad practice at all, assuming that the paper is indeed relevant to the topic, rather than being a stretch.

The reader is reading a review paper to get a picture of the field as a whole - by not including your own papers, especially in a small field, you are in effect denying them an understanding of a significant percentage of the topic.
Many fields have review papers invited (or proposed as "Would you like to invite...") by people who could be considered experts in that field. I think there's a pretty clear expectation that the people best qualified to write a review work in the field, and may end up mentioning their own papers.
In meta-analysis, failing to include your own papers (or including your own unpublished work) has the potential to bias your findings. While your paper might not be a meta-analysis, the principle still holds - the paper should be an in-depth review of the available literature.

That being said, treat your own work with an even hand and, as has been suggested, possibly have someone else read it over to make sure no "Clearly the right answer is (Me, 2013) whose staggering genius is beyond the scope of this paper" has slipped in.

It is common to cite own works in science, and this is not considered a bad tone.

I just received a referee report a few weeks ago where my referee told me I needed to cite more of my own papers in the literature review section. So it definitely doesn't seem like it is bad practice, especially in mathematics.