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What are parameters I can use to compare two researchers' work in Pure Mathematics?
I am a 2nd year master's students in Pure Mathematics.
I am interested in knowing how should I compare the research of 2 pure mathematicians working in same field, say topology. I want to work with one of them for my master's thesis. Both have the same specialization. This will also help me to know which is better for PhD applications. One way I do this is, I go to their Google Scholar profile of Prof A and Prof B and see who has been cited more. The more someone is cited the better.
But, I am not able to think of any other parameters. One can think of who has published more papers and divide each paper by number of co-authors and then do a total.
I am asking this assuming both work in same branch of pure mathematics.

For your purposes, helpfulness is more important than reputation. Some top scholars are too busy to help you effectively, likewise untenured faculty. Ask other students, more advanced than yourself, what to expect from each.

I'll leave it to others to tell you why this is a bad idea in general and just note that unnormalized quantities like the total number of papers will only tell you which one is older...

Flipping a coin probably works as well as anything else.

As a masters student, you presumably have an adviser, who could give you better information than counting papers, citations, etc. (I didn't say "perfect information", just "better information".) And you could ask a few other faculty members for advice too.

"The more someone is cited the more the better." This is the very wrong assumption you are having.
Being a good researcher (may) imply having a lot of citations, but the opposite is absolutely not true.
Additionally, you may expect some difference if one has 10'000 citations and the other has 100, but any difference smaller than 2 order of magnitudes tells you nothing about quality.
And let's not start the discussion about the h-index or related metrics, which clearly tells you at which stage of their academic career is someone, and nothing more.

@EarlGrey I am not aware about what h-index is, Can you please elaborate on that?

@XZYZ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H-index. However, neither this nor any other publication-based metric is going to give you the information you need to make a good choice between supervisors.

@AndreasBlass "As a masters student, you presumably have an adviser" -- I thought this was about choosing an adviser: "I want to work with one of them for my master's thesis."

@nanoman You are right. I don't have an advisor.

You ideally want the person you click with/click with more.

Go and talk to them (each one separately), and have a conversation about your interests, their interests, and what kind of Master’s thesis projects each of them might be able to supervise you to work on.
Also, if you are able to talk to their former and current students, get their take on what each of the two professors is like to work with. That sort of feedback could be very valuable.
Remember, you are trying to find the best thesis adviser, not the best researcher. Those two qualities are far from identical and do not necessarily align. Thus, the professors’ publication records will not necessarily help you and may even mislead you to make a drastically wrong choice.
At the end of the day, it’s probably best to go with your gut about which prospective adviser’s attitude and skills are the best fit for you, after doing the research I’m suggesting above. The relationship between a student and adviser depends closely on psychological factors which cannot be captured by how the two professors look “on paper”.
Finally, it’s good to keep in mind that the professors too may be evaluating your fit to be their student. Don’t assume that you necessarily get to choose, or act entitled like you’re interviewing them for a job and they need to impress you with how cool they are. (It may in fact be more helpful to adopt the mindset that it’s you who needs to impress them. But mainly you should approach the conversation as a professional interaction in which two people are considering helping each other reaching a shared goal. In other words, act neither entitled nor obsequious.)
Good luck!

you are trying to find the best thesis adviser, not the best researcher  Voted up for this.  Talking to their students (discretely) is really good advice.

Just to tack on something about following the former students: even if you aren't able to speak to many/any of them you can usually see where they went on to work. If at least one of them got the kind of position you want, that's a good sign. Ultimately, though, you need to understand the personalities and that there will always be risks and unknowns.

It's complicated. This exact same problem is encountered when universities have to hire a new professor, choosing among several candidates. The only satisfying solution people have found is having a committee with several experts in the field (say geometry/topology) review their work, interview them, and spend a nontrivial amount of time in the process. Often there are disagreements. If universities could replace all this work with a simple Google Scholar search, they would do that in a heartbeat. :)
Bibliometric indices can help you tell a poor mathematician from a great one, but when ranking people of similar level there are so many confounding factors that they become unreliable. In addition, as the comments note, "which one has the better research output" is a very different question from "which would be a better advisor".
So unfortunately there is no short answer: read about them and their research, check their website, ask around to other students and faculty, and try to form an opinion based on this. But unless you find major visible differences, the answer is probably going to be that they're both good choices for your future.

I wouldn’t say it’s the “exact same problem”. In hiring, the main thing departments are trying to evaluate is how strong of a researcher someone is. This is quite a different parameter from how good someone will turn out to be as a graduate adviser, and it seems to me that evaluating these two distinct parameters call for quite different methodologies.

The kind of reductionist task you are attempting is quite dangerous.  Researchers are also persons and you want to consider (if only in the abstract) the pros and cons of working with a well-cited researcher who happens to have issues when dealing with others and/or graduate students.
In research and in graduate studies, personalities matter because research is done by humans and not by drones (at least not yet).
I suggest you consider talking with current and former students to find out the atmosphere in the group.  Does this or that person send graduate students to conferences, and how often?  Do they send graduate students on academic visits or summer schools?  Do they encourage students to meet with guests, or guests speakers?  Do they “promote” the work of their students of keep the spotlight for themselves?  Do they have transparent guidelines and expectations for the funding of students and their activities?  None of these would show up on a Google profile or in a citation index.

It almost sounds like you are trying to optimize a career path, rather than start a research career. If so, I think that's quite misguided, from almost any angle. If you aren't fundamentally guided by a passion for something in math, and make your choices on that basis, I doubt counting citations is going to help you.
In my experience, I've seen very few mathematicians focus on career path and come away happy and successful. Math research isn't a corporate hierarchy. Many of the most successful researchers I've known, just worked very hard, often for years in relative obscurity, pursuing an original program. The payoff came when they had interesting results, not when they had enough social connections and bullshit to fill their resume.
How do you imagine the number of times a professor has been cited, to affect your work? Are you hoping that you'll hitch to the bandwagon of a hot, emerging field?
I've known a few highly talented students who ended up with illustrious, Fields Medalist, advisors, where it probably backfired from a career view. The problem is that being a Fields Medalist doesn't mean being generous with students, writing compelling, or even fair, recommendations, having realistic expectations, encouraging or advising well, or being an engaged advocate. I'm sure most people who've sat on a hiring committee have read stellar recommendations for mediocre students with generous advisors, and mediocre  recommendations for stellar students with arrogant advisors.


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Should I avoid sending a thank-you note to the editor, after a paper is accepted?
Many journals use EditFlow to handle submissions, referee reports, etc. The standard acceptance email you get from EditFlow, upon acceptance of an article, is sent to you, and cc'd to the editor handling your paper, and sometimes cc'd to other people, like a managing editor. This standard EditFlow acceptance email includes the text:

Please do not reply to this message.

Until today I never noticed that text, but now I see that it has been present at the bottom of every EditFlow acceptance email I've ever gotten. I have always replied to these emails, writing only the editor handling the paper, to thank them for their time and attention.
Is the intention of "Please do not reply to this message" to keep authors from sending requests, questions, etc. to the wrong person? In that case I think it is probably fine that I continue to reply to the acceptance email, replying only to the editor handling the paper, to send them my thanks.
Or is the intention of "Please do not reply to this message" to avoid putting editors in the situation of getting thank-you emails from every author that gets their paper accepted? In that case, I think I better stop sending these thank-you emails.

That phrase means that the message was sent by a software application and there is no person watching for replies.
Your direct response to the cc'd editor isn't necessary, but isn't wrong.

In other words, I'd interpret "Please do not reply to this message" not as an instruction, but as information: "The 'sender' of this email is an automated system, and replies to it won't be read by anyone."

@GregMartin Yes, precisely. It's common in lots of autogenerated replies. In this case it's probably the message sent by the system and cc'd to the editor when the editor tells the system the article is accepted.

Thank you. I suspected that it is most likely that the email indeed means only what you (Greg Martin and Ethan Bolker) suggest, and not that it is intended to cut down on unnecessary emails to editors. But I made this Stackexchange question to quickly check that others also interpret the email that way before I wrote another thank-you note to an editor, since after all, sending such a note is a case of doing precisely what the email says not to do. Thanks for your responses.

source: Stack Exchange

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

sort: votes


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Which journals accept articles already out as preprints?
I want to send our preprint, that we put online around three months ago, to a journal. How can I know which journals accept articles previously put online as a preprint? Many of them do not mention this in their guidelines. Please do not tell me ask the editors, since in most of the journals editors do not answer or take a very long time to answer!

If it was already published, why do you need a preprint? And, sorry, but only the journal can answer for itself.

It was not published!! preprint is not peer reviewed! I do not need pre print! Do you know what preprint means?

What was published 3 months ago?

@AhmadTurani I do think Buffy likely unintentionally changed the meaning of your question by trying to clarify it; please use the [edit] to improve the question yourself and make it more clear. Note your original said "I want to send our priprint which was published around3 months ago", bold mine. If you only have a preprint, not published, why say published?

@AhmadTurani The term published is ambiguous these days.  Posting on a preprint repository is technically publishing, but most academics just say a preprint was posted.

There's typically no policy against submitting preprints (since most submissions are preprints), so the answer is "all of them".

Yes but a few journals I saw, is against it.

@AhmadTurani really? Can you give an example?

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


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Criticizing students (in an emotional way)?
My question is about interacting with students/colleagues, and criticizing them specifically, and to what extent a certain kind of criticism is productive.  I hope this will not become about "students/academics need to develop thick skins" because, yes, there is a question of how to respond to (or ignore) experiences ("develop a thicker or thick enough skin"), but there is also a question of how to evaluate one's own or other's behavior ("should I do this?  what are its merits?").
I'm not sure I have the language to explain exactly what I'm asking so I'll go with examples.
Example 1: I'm grading exams with a professor as a PhD student; we're in mathematics so it's a math exam.  I come across something a student has written and have to second-guess --- it's not something I would have written --- I just don't think about this concept that way --- but is it actually wrong?  Time is of the essence (kind of...) and I don't have a pen and paper in front of me so I simply ask the professor, "Is this true?"  The professor responds emotionally, I would say, something along the lines of "Yes, of course, you should know that!"  It wasn't even the words as much as the person's facial expression conveying scorn, disappointment, etc.
My feeling is: is the object of grading together accurately assessing the students' work or proving how smart we are/we can do it alone without help?  In the end, it doesn't matter: I'm doing fine in my career and I accept that I'm a person who asks a lot of "dumb" questions.  But I can't help feeling the professor's reaction was unproductive and I'm uncomfortable with the idea this is commonplace in academia.  I mean, do I really believe I'm supposed to just know everything immediately off-the-top-of-my head and heaven forbid I should ask the person I am working with for their help?  What was that interaction really about?  You could say, "Doesn't this motivate you to do better?" but no, that only motivates me to be a better mentor than them, I don't think it made me a better mathematician/more knowledgeable about the subject/etc.
Example 2: I'm at a meeting with my faculty supervisor and another postdoc.  At some point, I chime in with something (very simplified) to the effect that "2 + 2 = 3 + 1" and the supervisor looks very disappointed and responds in a condescending tone, "No, no, that's not it at all, 2 + 2 = 4."  That's not what was actually said, but it gets the point across --- we are saying the same thing in two different ways.  It's not the professor misunderstanding what I said that bothers me, it's the emotional part: why should he show disappointment in his face or talk in a condescending tone?  Is that going to bring out the best in me?  Will I respect him more for treating me that way?  My point-of-view is no on both questions, especially the last one.
What do I miss, though?  This seems common to me.  Is there a silver lining here?
Example 3: Here I am the culprit.  I'm talking to a student about some reading they did.  I'm finding myself getting quite concerned that they're not at the level I think they should be at --- not just concerned, but peeved, probably because I didn't think the student and I should have been put in this situation in the first place (think: admissions).  I start to imply by my tone and word-choice that I think the student isn't where they should be, but not in an encouraging way, in a peeved way (think: Example 1).  The best words I can find is I'm kind of "putting them down": not in a completely unprofessional way, but more like I'm conveying implicitly, "You have a lot of work to do, I'm really surprised we're having this conversation."  To me in the moment, it seemed like I needed to convey they weren't where they should be and how "bad" that is, but while it was happening, I started dialing back because I realized it wasn't fair to the student and could make our relationship less productive (not to mention I was being kind of mean!).  It wasn't fair because we had just started working together; they were where they were in terms of preparation (we can't change the past); and, upon reflection, my job (without going into details...) was really to pull them up as far as we can go, not to give them unsolicited, tacit advice about how they measure up.

Immediately after writing this, my mind goes to the refrain, "Well, some will use the sense of outrage from being treated this way and use it as 'fuel' to work harder, prove 'em wrong, etc."  But, again, that's a bit like the "get a thicker skin" point-of-view.  I know what to do as the "victim," so to speak --- I have played the "I'm gonna use it for fuel" card plenty of times in my life --- I'm trying to figure out what is or isn't good leadership/mentorship/etc. and I just feel like I encounter what I think of as "unwise or regrettable behavior" (including in myself) quite frequently.  I want to be a good mentor/advisor/etc. in the future.
But there's always a catch.  It's all too easy!  In the examples, I judged others and myself pretty harshly and it felt good, right?  So, what do I miss about these interactions?  What's the hard reality preventing this from changing, or what am I failing to acknowledge here?  I worry something is missing.  (Maybe I just need to focus on research and stop fretting about emotions/behavior/etc., but that's a dodge!)
As someone who is still junior in academia, how can I "defuse" these situations when they happen?  Is it possible to convey to mentors/supervisors/more senior people that their behavior gives me pause/makes me think less of them/etc.?  (I realize how much I am asking in that last question, but still!  Part of the problem is I start to distance myself from people when this happens, to no one's benefit.)

About Example 1: I usually try to be polite, but while I'm grading papers my personality rapidly deteriorates.

I am not sure. I have the feeling that academia infuse people with some sense of entitlement, so they ego grows infinitely and it is always the other people reactions to "neutral". Let's take example 2: you chime in. How exactly? we do not kwow, maybe you had a tone that came out as particulary supponent, or "better knowing", so the reaction was equally stronger. Example 1: maybe there were some disbelief in your question (beacuse you would not expect the solution to have that form) so the professor replied so strongly.

Pardon the question: are the interactions 1&2 woman (you) with man? I see a pattern (on the other side, not on yours, although in the previous comment I addressed your "possible" side)

@EarlGrey, alas, I am simply a sensitive man...  However, yes, it does add insult to injury a bit to have these experiences and then think, "Aren't we supposed to be trying to do better for the sake of people from underrepresented backgrounds?"  If I felt like more of an outsider (e.g., as a person from such a background), presumably these experiences would give me more desire/reason/etc. to quit.

@EarlGrey, as far as your first comment, it's interesting...  I have noticed multiple experiences where I have felt insecure and tried to voice my feelings looking for encouragement (e.g., "Well, hopefully I will be able to find a job next year...") and others have misinterpreted what I said as arrogance/gloating rather than insecurity/looking for encouragment.  It's to the point where I'm trying to be more conservative about what I say around people I'm not close to --- my assumptions about what could lead to misunderstandings were too liberal --- and that includes asking fewer questions.


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Is there any use in obtaining a Master's degree on the way to PhD?
I'm doing a PhD in two fields in the US (a joint PhD), and I expect to finish it in two years. I only hold a bachelor's degree from a European university. There is an option of getting a Master's degree along the way to my PhD (either in one or in both of my fields). Are there any benefits of doing this? I realize that it may be a little late to ask this question (people who choose to get a Master's degree along the way, do this after the first two years typically; but many choose not to get it at all), but I'm still curious whether it would be worthwhile doing. If that matters, I plan to pursue a career in academia.

If you are set on getting a PhD, I don't see any benefit, personally. I went straight from Bachelors to PhD and have never had any reason to want the Master's degree. The benefit along the way, I suppose is if for some reason you don't finish the PhD, you at least have something.

Do you have to do anything different for the master's?

@AzorAhai-him- I believe I don't (except technical actions like submitting some e-forms).

How are you expecting to get a PhD in two years?

Where I went many moons ago, after passing the qualifying exam they awarded a Masters automatically. So one picked up a Masters by default on the way to the PhD.

There are jobs out there, including in academia, where a masters is mandatory and a PhD is an advantage.  If you get a masters degree in the course of your PhD, you can get those jobs before your PhD is awarded.  This is particularly helpful during the period when you have completed your PhD requirements but did not have your degree awarded yet.


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Do French master's programs let you choose an advisor at a different institution?
I am about to begin my second master's degree in math in France. I am not from France; I did my first master's in my country.
In my course, master's thesis is in 2nd semester but I want to start working on it in 3rd week of August because I will apply to PhD positions in November and December in other European nations as well as France. My Potential advisors are not from France but other European nations.
So, under French system can I have a advisor from another nation and can I start working early on the thesis?

Your question does not directly match your title. You could have a non-French national who works at a French University. Please edit your question. Also, the answer would be specific to a given University's and department's policies, unless France has some national-level policy

Please do not add additional questions, particularly after you've already gotten answers to the first. I do not understand what "more detailed answers" you expect. Ultimately it doesn't matter whether "French masters programs allow (X)", what matters is whether your masters program allows it for you specifically and whether this other person will agree to advise you, and the only place you can get that answer is going to be from whatever program you are applying to/has accepted you and from your desired advisor.

This will depend wildly on the institutions and programs (both host and guest).
At my Alma Matter, the Master Logique et Fondements de l'Informatique program stipulates:

Stage de recherche (mémoire de master)
Vers le LMFI : Les étudiants de master dans une université étrangère
qui souhaitent faire un stage de recherche (mémoire de master) à
l'Université Paris Diderot peuvent prendre contact avec X.
Depuis le LMFI : Les étudiants du LFMI ont aussi la possibilité de
faire leur stage (mémoire de master) dans une université étrangère (ou
en codirection entre Paris et l'étranger). Les étudiants intéressés
peuvent prendre contact avec Y.

It essentially says that you can do your research with them if you are in a different institution, and that you can do your research in another place.
But, in both case, the important point is that you need to reach out to X or Y. This will be essential, and cannot start too early: having two institutions agree on the modalities of your thesis will be extremely complicated in some cases.
As nobody here is going to list all the possible combination of institutions and program, I assume that this is the best answer you will receive: ask.

There is no definite answer to this question: each Master program or even curriculum within a Master program can define their own rules on how subjects and advisors for Master thesis work can be chosen by the student. From those that I know it could range from subjects and advisors only to be chosen in a defined list of subjects / advisors set up by the program to widely open as long as the subject of the thesis is in adequate relation with the topic of the program.
This information should be indicated on the program's curriculum. If you cannot find it, you should ask your question to the Professor or Associate Professor in charge of the program.

This isn't an answer, since I don't know the French system, but advice that might help.
My best guess is that this is uncommon, since the institution you are enrolled in has little influence over an external advisor and that person has little incentive, especially financial and time, to help you when you need it. And, an advisor from another nation is probably harder to arrange than one from another French institution.
So, make sure that you have permission to do this before you start, or even commit to a program. The head of the program is probably a good source of information and can give permission if it is possible at all.
Another option that could possibly be open is to have co-advisors, one from the "home" institution and one from away, where the home advisor is responsible for keeping all the duckies lined up and the external one for the actual advice to help you advance in field.
Starting the thesis research early is also a bit risky in case you can't come to an agreement on the topic and the plan with all of the interested parties. That doesn't mean that the effort is wasted in the long term, but without a specific agreement, you might be required to change focus, putting what you have already done on hold.
Be cautious. Talk to those with authority. Get permission. Good luck.


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2nd Year Mathematics (Europe), my Uni results are declining. How do I improve higher level mathematics problem solving abilities?
Context: I am a final year BSc. Math student (Europe).
I got some decent results in my first year, top of the class in Calculus I and II (with simple proofs), good results on basic Linear Algebra (determinant, systems, etc). But the second year has been brutal, I barely got through my Topology, Probability, Linear Algebra (Abstract), Abstract Algebra (Groups, Fields), Complex Analysis, Numerical Analysis(theoretical), Diff Geometry courses. Noted, the level of abstraction has considerably increased and no longer do the exams require simple, plug and chug formulas calculations.
What are some remedies to such a decline in performance? Higher level mathematics requires a lot of Theorem, Lemma, Corollary memorisation. I am trying memorisation techniques, writing statements on post it notes, etc.
Is there some applied mathematics specialisation that is suited for a student that excelled in Calculus, even some Real Analysis, has good spacial ability/memory but is mediocre(the grades happen to show this is not an understatement) at all the rest?
Grades is a motivation factor for me, it makes me feel fulfilled and relaxed. I am feeling quite frustrated and ashamed of myself (although I worked really hard), even scared higher level mathematics might not be for me( I was looking forward to enrolling in a MSc. in applied mathematics)?

What about mathematics do you enjoy?

Thank you for your question. There are far too many aspects of mathematics that I enjoy to be expressed in 500 characters. But summarising I would say the everlasting process of learning new mathematics excites me, as it is very niche and structured, also it conforts me that it is so applicable, knowing that any profession (outside academia) I happen to choose, mathematic ability will be a valuable asset.

"Higher level mathematics requires a lot of Theorem, Lemma, Corollary memorisation." Well, it requires some of that, but it's certainly not the first thing that comes to my mind when I think about what makes mathematics difficult. Just taking a stab in the dark here, but is it possible that you are trying to supplant the process of understanding mathematical results by the process of memorizing them? The point isn't to be able to recite back some theorem you read in the textbook, the point is to understand what it says and why it's true.

I agree with Adam. Math is not about memorisation (or at least only a tiny party).

Odd that you say on the one hand that you have good spatial ability, but on the other that you struggled in topology. What did you have trouble with exactly?

The formalism and proof construction. @ElizabethHenning.

Do you like statistics and programming? Maybe you would enjoy some sort of data analysis.

I might gently suggest that you've hit a wall because you haven't fully internalized what math really is: it isn't about arithmetic or calculation, but abstraction, and abstraction alone. Don't memorize, instead work through proofs yourself, so that you understand exactly what the abstract statements mean; memorization isn't understanding. My test is always this: if you enjoyed undergraduate abstract algebra, then continue with pure math. If you didn't "get" abstract algebra, you might consider a more applied path.

Thank you for your answer @AtomJZ. I think the same so too. I bought the book Book of Proof by Richard Hammack by the beginning of year, I am going to spend some time reading it this summer.

@ElizabethHenning, thank you for your recommendation,  yes I dabble with programming.

@AtomJZ I know "applied" is a fairly ill-defined term, but I think "a more analysis-focused path" than "applied" perhaps conveys your idea more precisely (at risk of misinterpretation). There are plenty of applied math fields that interface with algebra.

You have come up against a couple of issues in mathematics study and perhaps both of them are causing you trouble.
The first issue is that many people have sort of natural "boundary", though not a hard one. But before you hit the boundary everything seems easy and fairly obvious to you and after that it gets hard. Hard isn't impossible but you have to "think different" to continue your progress. It is a lot of work. I learned fairly early that I had to work to learn anything and managed to do it. One way was to solve many more problems/exercises in a course than were assigned. A couple of times I just went into sort of trance mode solving a lot of similar problems. This led to insight into the behavior of real functions (Analysis, if you like). It also gave insight into relationships that I ultimately exploited in my doctoral dissertation. My sister was much better/smarter than I was and hit her boundary much later. Sadly, she gave up in the quest rather than learn to fight through it.
And yes, the level of abstraction increases dramatically in every mathematical field. Expect that. Work from the concrete (exercises) to the abstract (insight).
The second issue you've come across is that insight into math isn't universal. You can have deep insight into some math fields and very little in others. Partly this is due to the first issue, above, since it is a lot of work to excel in several math fields. Most don't do that. I also had some pretty good insights into topology and might have been able to do a dissertation there, but almost none in abstract algebra, even though it is heavily axiomatic like topology. Rings still elude me almost entirely.
So, if you want to excel in math, work hard in a chosen specialty. Don't try to learn everything at the same level lest that level be low. Work on a lot of exercises. Get guidance on your solutions. Try to abstract out the deeper meanings of how and why things fit together. Keep notes to record your progress. Keep notes as to where you need to make progress.
Sadly, though, Analysis is a bit past its prime. But, pick a field that you like and are comfortable in. There is some room still for good people in most fields, even some that have cooled over the years.
But, to really reach the top in a narrow math field, you need to reach the point where you can imagine what might be true based on what is known already. I don't think I'd achieved that level yet at the point of completion of my doctorate. It came a bit later, I think, though I had to move to another field.

Note that I don't believe nor mean to imply that there are people who can't do math. Short of a brain injury all of us can. You just need to learn how to work effectively (and hard) at it. Good teaching helps, of course. And the same is true in CS and perhaps some other technical fields.

Might be good to edit out the "Sadly, though, Analysis is a bit past its prime." ... :)

@paulgarrett, care to say more?

Well, depending what we have that label mean, there are lots of ongoing analytical issues... Understanding the Navier-Stokes equation is a Millenium Prize Problem, for example.

Dear Buffy. Thank your for your detailed answer. Please tell me if I understand correctly, given I encounter a some difficulties understanding certain Analysis, concepts because of my lack of understanding in say Topology, I should visit/revisit only the topology topics needed in order to pass through the initial resistance to progress?

I'm not sure I understand your question, actually. The path to understanding may not be smooth or straight.

What are some remedies to such a decline in performance?

Firstly, a mathematical characterisation of your problem.  A decline in grades as you advance in the degree program does not usually mean a decline in your mathematical skill/knowledge --- it means that the rate at which your mathematical skill/knowledge is improving is less than the rate at which the material is becoming more difficult.  In this sense, your "decline in performance" is not absolute; it is relative to a standard that is moving higher as you go further through your degree.  Imagine two continuous time-series functions, one representing your skill/knowledge and the other representing the median skill/knowledge of someone pursuing higher mathematics as a degree then a profession.  Both functions are going upward over time, but yours just has a smaller positive slope.  (Meanwhile, for the vast majority of people in the world not doing mathematics education or professional work, their time-series is virtually flat.)
So before you do anything else, step back and breathe a sigh of relief and realise that you are actually already making substantial forward progress.  You are progressing through your degree, and evidently not failing it, and you are now in your final year of undergraduate studies.  You are probably substantially better at mathematics now then you were in first-year, notwithstanding your lower grades.  You have nothing to feel ashamed or scared about --- you are training yourself successfully in mathematics, but your rate of improvement is just a little slower than the median expectation in this type of program.

Given the above premise, one potential remedy here might be that you just need some additional time to "catch up" to the relative level you were at before.  For example, if you were to do an additional one or two years of study (e.g., in a Masters program) then you would probably bridge the gap from where you are to where you want to be.  Even assuming you were a mediocre student in a Masters program, you might exit it at a level that would be relatively high compared to a student completing their undergraduate degree.
In terms of learning methods, it sounds like you need to make the transition from "plug and chug" to first-principles knowledge and the ability to derive mathematical results.  I would suggest you concentrate your efforts on learning the underlying logic and derivation of results where you know "the formula", to give you a deeper knowledge of the material.  By practicing first-principles derivation of results, you will give yourself a good intuitive understanding of mathematical results, and be able to prove results more easily.  (When I was an undergraduate, I was the opposite; I was forever forgetting the formulas, but I had a good understanding of how they were derived.  Consequently, I could always re-derive them in exams when I forget.  During my undergraduate degree, the number of times I forgot the signs on the quotient rule, or forgot the exact form of the infinite geometric sum formula, etc., was quite embarassing, but it was also a blessing because it forced me to understand these results from first-principles instead of just memorising a formula.)

For the quotient rule, until I taught calculus and finally internalized it, I used to pick between fg' - f'g and f'g - fg' in the numerator (this was the detail I kept forgetting) by checking with the derivative of 1/x = x^(-1) (easy power rule; I did this check so much that I would immediately know it was f'g - fg' so as to get the negative sign from f' = 0). In the case of one Putnam exam problem I solved (during the test), I needed the sum formulas for consecutive squares and consecutive cubes. Knowing they were cubic/quartic polynomials, I used polynomial curve fitting to find them.


text:
Former advisor/coauthor not answering emails
I am a PhD student and my masters advisor is not replying to my emails. Why is he not replying?
When I was in the masters program he and I published a paper on a big journal. I am the first author. This has been cited ~100 times now.
About a year ago another researcher published a commentary article about our paper on the same journal. Since then I worked on a reply, and sent the full draft to my former advisor (coauthor of the original article) asking for review.
He has not replied so far, even though I reached out to him multiple times. As a last resort I informed him if you don’t reply by this deadline I will just submit this on my own. The deadline is approaching soon.
I don’t think I will get a reply. My question is, why would he do this?

How long have you been trying?

@Buffy A year, the same timeframe since the commentary got published.

Maybe he or a family member is ill? Are there third-parties you can contact him through or find out information from, like a current student you know, someone in leadership in his department, a mutual friend or colleague?

At the risk of stating the obvious: Pick up the phone and call him? If he can't answer, you call will likely be rerouted to his department's office, who will be able to tell you what's wrong or when and how to reach him.

I knew someone who got fed up with academic life, withdrew from it entirely, and took up farming. Anything is possible.

Calling or emailing his department should at the least be able to tell you if he's still around and ignoring you or else on sabbatical, retired, indefinitely away to deal with a family situation, etc. For what it's worth, I had similar situation with a professor I had worked with, and after a couple of months of trying to contact him, found out he had unfortunately died of covid in the interim.

There are a lot of possibilities, including retirement, new job, and death. It is even possible that your emails are going to spam if their mailer doesn't recognize your (presumably new) email address.
I suggest that you try to contact him indirectly through the department in which he works/worked or another third party known to both of you. The head of department might have something to say. Most people will reply to (correct) emails if they are able, if only to say they aren't interested or able.
But an administration office is almost certain to reply with something useful. And they are also likely to give the person a nudge if it is feasible.

Right! And it would certainly be best to get some response/opinion/edits from your ex-advisor, rather than either put their name on something they've not endorsed, or omit their name from something relevant to their professional practice... Yes, it is awkward to not get any response, but I think you have a serious obligation to pursue things until you get some response.

Important messages need to go out over a more reliable channel in than just email.  It happens sometimes that some domains block other domains so that your email is not even making it to the other person's junk folder.

If possible (like a 2h drive), you might even want to go there in person.

Why should the OP not reply on his own? Certainly he should try to call the advisor, but the advisor could have easily also noted the commentary article and contacted the OP for a reply, which has not happened either. The reply will reference the original article to which the advisor has contributed, and will otherwise be based on the current knowledge of the OP. Maybe it would be better if the advisor could also contribute to the reply, but it is not required in my view.

Also if the advisor put out an email on the original article and does not make sure he is reachable by this address, it is also his fault in my view.

@RadioControlled It is not about blame, it is how to get the best response and avoid any akward situation.

@usr1234567 Why avoid "akward" situation? Is that what should motivate one's decisions?

@RadioControlled of course the OP owes their coauthor and mentor their serious effort at trying to reach them, and replying solo to the commentary is simply the wrong thing to do until those efforts have been made.  A few emails hardly constitutes a serious effort.


text:
Should tables have variables in columns or rows?
Should tables in scientific research have each independent and dependent variable be constrained to a column or a row?

Wouldn't BOTH columns and rows (unless of length one) depict variable elements (numbers, names of months, variable descriptive terms, algebraic expressions, etc.)? My guess is that you mean something more specific by "variable" (perhaps independent variable?) -- you should include this additional specificity in your question.

@DaveLRenfro i edited it but i don't know if that is much clearer...

Wrong question. The right question is: How do I present data in such a way that it is easiest to understand for my readers. Rules for presentation are always superseded by aiming to make it easy to understand.

Which is the easiest to understand out of e.g. "time" being a column or row? Doesn't ease of understanding depend on familiarity?

Yes. And what is familiar depends on context -- context only you can know as the expert in the field. For example, in most disciplines, distance is typically shown on the horizontal axis, growing to the right. In geophysics, depth (a distance) is shown on the vertical axis, growing downward. That makes sense in that context. But what is right for you is something only you can determine.


text:
To what extent would my nationality and my research topic impact my chance to get research grants in the UK?
As a new lecturer in a UK university, I am willing to apply for an EPSRC "First Investigator Award". The (STEM) topic I have in mind is kind of related to autonomous nuclear operations. I have initially decided to write about this as it may maximize my chance since

I have a solid research record in robotics;

I had worked as a safety-critical systems engineer in railway industry, and I found myself a fan of safety culture for engineering products;

my university has solid infrastructure in this field and hosts a well-known research institute totally involved in such topics. So, I can get recommendation letters from them to support my application.

But a potential problem is that I am originally from a country that has a terrible relationship with the West (including the UK) in almost any context such as energy and nuclear concerns. Now, I am skeptical whether or not this issue would single-handedly lead to the rejection of my grant proposal just because of national security concerns regardless of its research merits.
So, does any body know what the assessment routines are associated with the involvement of international PIs in the research tied with sensitive sectors in the UK? I obviously don't expect to get an answer with full details of what really happens in practice behind the scene. What I hope to catch is a rough feeling of how detrimentally that problem may impact my chance for the success (given the fact that I can only apply once for this grant).
(I already asked this question from my university authorities, and as expected, they left it unanswered.)

As a bit of a nitpick, I find the "willing to apply" phrasing which I think may come from Indian English to be quite off-putting to a US or UK speaker. "Willing" sounds like you are somehow giving something up or offering to do something, like a chore, whereas an application is typically for something that a lot of people want and you are competing to get.

I just wanted to point out something potentially embarrassing in the language used, as the word has a different meaning to many readers than you might guess from a dictionary. It doesn't seem good to me to revert the edit suggestion someone else made. Also I don't think you know what "spamming" means...

@User: please note our code of conduct: the users here are trying to help you; accusing them of "spamming" and wasting their time is unacceptable.

Somewhat related https://workplace.stackexchange.com/questions/185922/security-clearance-for-a-dual-like-naturalized-u-s-citizen/185969#185969

@schrödingcöder: That question assumes that a clearance process exists in that case, and the OP asked his chance for success. However, my question is essentially about the existence of such clearance routine related to my situation (since if there is any, I have no doubt that I will be rejected!). As another point, neither I am a Russian citizen nor the country of residence is US.


text:
How does a former student respectfully submit suggestions on how to teach a class better to a professor after graduating?
How does a former student respectfully submit course suggestions about how a professor should teach and examine students after graduating?
I always think class-feedback given by students who just took XYZ class is useless because the students don't have enough outside knowledge to accurately judge whether the professor did a good job. Maybe they think the only perpsective on a topic is what the professor said and they don't have the chance to compare viewpoints. Maybe instead of course feedback from students, professors should ask other professors to look at their syllabuses in detail and ask whether they're teaching the right things.
So, I took XYZ captsone class at a school, and after graduating and learning more about the theory in graduate school, I realized there are details not covered in the XYZ class that should be emphasized that do not requiring some esoteric backrgound knowledge only taught in graduate school. I am not even a PhD yet, and I know how to revise a PhD's class. Now I should re-learn everything from a more rigorous perspective myself.
There were practical projects that weren't done, and we didn't have a project to apply everything we learned or challenge ourselves to connect the information.
There were topics discussed without connection to the things they were related to, and undiscussed applications.
There were approximations used that were asymptotically correct, that we were told to use in non-asymptotic scenarios where they are inadmissible.
I think if we had been asked to do things more rigoursly, I might have had a higher score, but the professor made the class focused on more elementary things such as regurgitating a textbook explanation or a competition on arithmetic calculations. The person who had the highest score didn't necessarily understand the theory better. Their weaknesses weren't tested because some things weren't tested at all in class.

I'm not sure "how", but I have a suggestion on "when":  How about wait until you have taught this very course a few times in a real classroom, and you still think you are doing a much better job than your former teacher.

"I am not even a PhD yet, and I know how to revise a PhD's class." You mean you think you know. It is not the same thing. It sounds like you are a good student who wants a much more difficult and rigorous course than you got, with more stringent examining. The problem with that is most of your classmates are unlikely to be as good as you. It's a general problem that the successful students end up teaching, since they go on to higher qualifications, and for them undergraduate material is easy. You also sound like you want to make the course at least 50% longer, which is not in your gift.

I'm going to suggest that unless you have a long term relationship with them that is friendly and productive, that you don't even attempt this. It is too easy to go "off the rails" and become contentious.
And, some of the things you say might actually be justifiable in an undergraduate teaching context. Some things are difficult to get across to large groups in undergraduate education so sometimes shortcuts are suggested. It can be a judgement call and such things work for some students but not for all.
But if you do have such a long term relationship you can sit down and have a discussion about the theory of teaching (and learning) and share ideas back and forth.
But a note "out of the blue" that seems to be criticism is unlikely to be well received.


text:
Is it a good idea to put hobby pictures on my academic website?
I understand in general, it is safer to NOT list hobbies on a CV.
My question is about whether is it a good idea to put these on my academic website.
I am a PhD student in a STEM field. Right now I only have CV on my website, and I want to put pictures there. I do photography as a hobby, and my intent for putting pictures there is to add a more human touch. I am aiming for jobs in academia.
The pictures will not be listed on my CV (I tailor each CV to its purpose). These are most likely to be added as a separate tab.
Are there any potential drawbacks to adding pictures on my academic website?

In pure maths I usually see at most 3 hobby pictures on personal academic websites. I always appreciate a photo of someone hiking, or a picture they took visiting an interesting landmark. It's a nice 5 seconds mini break from work for me. A bigger number of hobby pictures, in particular if there is not much scientific content on the remaining website, would seem unprofessional to me. If you want to show off more than 3 hobby pictures, I would find a flickr link more appropriate.

"I understand in general, it is safer to NOT list hobbies on a CV." Why?? Imagine you're applying for a job in a STEM field, and your hobbies are chess and rock-climbing. You write that in your CV, and it tells the potential employers "I like chess because I enjoy problem-solving, and I like climbing because I have a healthy life balance where I don't spend 24h/day in front of a computer." Why would it be "unsafe" to mention chess and climbing on your CV? Unless your hobbies are pretty controversial?

For the love of all that's beautiful, do not allow comments under your photos.

@Stef I mean, you made up a field and two hobbies. Bit of a strawman to say "well hiking and chess are fine???"

@Stef While reading hobbies listed in a CV might make me 0.0001% better inclined towards the candidate, in my experience I usually only remember them if they turn me off the candidate. It seems like a high potential risk for tiny potential benefit. I still remember a candidate, from more than a decade ago, who had listed "cultivating succulent plants" as a hobby. Is there anything wrong with that? Absolutely not! But it was so unexpected and oddly specific that we focused on that more than the rest of the CV. It's the only thing I remember now. And we didn't hire them (not because of this).

@terdon It turns out I've been part of that 0.0001% twice in my life already. Weird how statistics and probabilities work out.

@Stef oh, I wouldn't presume to extrapolate statistics from my own limited experience! I meant "0.0001% better inclined towards the candidate", meaning that a hobby I found interesting might make a very, very slight improvement to how I looked at that candidate, not that it would make a difference 0.001% of the time. It would never be a deciding factor one way or the other, but a "good" hobby would make a tiny difference upwards. However, a "bad" hobby would make a more significant difference downwards. That's what I meant.

@terdon, in case it wasn't obvious, succulents are a type of plant, often found in the desert: aloe, cacti, etc. I think they meant that and not like...delicious vegetables.

@Matt  Yeah, I am well aware of that, thanks. This was a CV sent to a biology lab, after all ;) Albeit one that dealt with genetics and didn't work with plants.

Many academics have a "Personal" webpage on their website. I think it is a widespread practice.

@terdon - would it have been better if he said he collected spores, mold, and fungus?

Assuming you hobby isn't something controversial, why wouldn't you want to put it on your CV?  If it's something obscure or quirky it can be a way of grabbing somebodies attention. When I'm interviewing I sometimes start by asking a quick question about a hobby. It doesn't matter what people have to say (so long as they've not made it up), but  its a good way to get people relaxed and talking which then helps the real part of the interview

I actually don't think that putting pictures on a web site is quite the same thing as putting "hobbies" there. Good photography results in things worth looking at, not discussions of f-stops and pixel resolution.

For a biology lab, it doesn't strike me as crazy to mention that you know/care about plants: it's a (mild, admittedly) demonstration that you care about life sciences, which might helpful if you were coming from some other field. Plus, memorability isn't the worst--I think my unusual experimental background has helped  a bit, even when applying for in unrelated jobs.

Here's an unhappy but sadly well-documented observation. In fields like STEM where bias (particularly gender bias) is widespread, people unconciously filter what they see through biased frames: they expect to find evidence for the suitability of applicants from the dominant group, while they expect to find red flags for applicants from the oppressed group. The same hobby can then generate differential reactions like "Ah this feels like a positive aspect for this (privileged) applicant" but "Hm this (underrepresented) applicant maybe isn't serious about STEM".
So, since the question is "are there any potential drawbacks", I must add: for members of equity-seeking groups, anything outside the norm could potentially give people a subconscious reason to take those applicants less seriously.
(Comments are welcome, but only civil and constructive comments.)

Do you have any data on the relation to privilege, or is it just a guess?

Comments have been moved to chat; please do not continue the discussion here. Before posting a comment below this one, please review the purposes of comments. Comments that do not request clarification or suggest improvements usually belong as an answer, on [meta], or in [chat]. Comments continuing discussion may be removed.

I'll assume you are smart enough not to put pictures there that harm your case or make you seem unserious professionally.
But, while such things won't actually account for much, they might induce a few readers to look around a bit. But if they don't find the professional items while looking it won't amount to much.
I can't speak against it, however, as too many "professional" web sites are overly pedantic.
Just don't lose track of what is important and make sure the site focuses on those things.

I think it's nice to see some photos, personal information, and/or hobbies on an academic website; as you say, it gives the place a human touch.  So long as the photos themselves aren't offensive, I can't see it detracting from your website.

It depends on how your site is structured. If you have a tab for "Studies", "Travel", "Photography", "CV", "About", ... then yes, this is not a problem.
Having your pictures on the same page as the CV and other "professional" information is a bit weird.

I understand in general, it is safer to NOT list hobbies on a CV.

I always look at hobbies when reviewing a candidate's CV. It gives surprisingly deep insights on them (positive or negative). So it is useful to list some but within reason.

Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat.

One idea might be to mention "I enjoy photography" and then link to a photography-based presence (e.g. twitter, instagram, web site), with perhaps zero, one or two photos on the academic website accompanying the link; then people can indeed enjoy the photos and find out more about you as a rounded person, but it doesn't distract from the main purpose of the web site.  This is just a suggestion; I can see already people feel very differently about this issue as a whole.
Just another quick thought is that many potential recruiters, collaborators, prospective students might look you up online more broadly anyway to get a  fuller picture.

If you are not part of a minority in your field:
For 95+% of hobbies it won't make a lick of a difference if you put them on your website or not. People won't think you are brilliant because you are into playing the violin, and they won't think you are a lazy bum because you are into video games. It's your personal preference if you want to put your hobbies on your website to add some personality flavour or not, it won't meaningfully change the direction of your career either way.
The only (obvious) exception are hobbies that are offensive to a significant chunk of the population - stay clear of the same topics that you also would not raise when meeting your significant other's parents for the first time (sex, politics, religion, illegal activities) and you should be fine.
If you are part of a minority in your field:
Keep your website professional. There is a serious chance that anything you put out will somehow be held against you in the future, for no real upside.

Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat.

In my experience browsing people's websites and (in very few cases) assessing them based (partly!) on these websites, I can speak only of one potential pitfall with hobby-related content:

Make sure it doesn't make the main (professional) content of your website any harder to find or access.

Specifically in the case of photos, this means that you don't put them centered at the top of your page where they distract from other material (auto-flipping albums are particularly bad), nor set up your site in such a way that it is unnavigable without Javascript ("artsy" WiX templates are one of the worst offenders in this space). Anything behind a "photography" link is OK. This generalizes to other hobbies and aesthetical preferences, such as hacker-style green-on-black text. The order of importance for an academic website should be roughly "research > teaching > other content > visuals".
In my little experience with hiring processes, I have never seen hobbies used against applicants. Arguably, I haven't seen them brought up in favor of applicants either. But job hunting is only a minor part of what your website is for.

I think it's a good idea in general, however do consider that it's trivial to download an image on a webpage and do a reverse image lookup on it.
By doing that, someone can find potentially embarrassing social media posts if you have social media accounts on facebook, twitter, instagram etc.
My advice would be if you're going to do this, use unique photographs that you don't use on other websites.

This almost certainly won't matter practically, but one downside to putting hobby-related content on your professional webpage is that it's very likely that your university has a policy against doing this if they're hosting the website. For example, my university says: "Do not use Pages to share hobbies, family information, favorite links, or other personal content that is unrelated to your professional, research, or academic work."

That’s bizarre!  Do they actually enforce that rule?

I expect it’s mostly enforced in cases of controversy? I doubt anyone is being paid to look through the websites.

Perhaps it is good if it is likely that other people in your field share that hobby. For example, I have joined some hiking parties when attending a conference --- hiking is a relatively popular hobby.
I have also gone climbing together with people at conferences. These activities are great for also simultaneously discussing research.
So maybe the hobby can act as an icebreaker.


text:
Should I use the university or personal account for note-taking?
I'm a first-year medical university student and was given a Microsoft email with the uni's domain that is also connected to a free Office 365 subscription.
The uni wants us to use their email to contact them regarding anything related, and that's pretty reasonable. But, I was experimenting in the past with OneNote and was planning on using it for note-taking in the upcoming year(s).
My question is, how good of an idea is to use my uni's OneNote account and not my personal? Yes, I'm a bit paranoid regarding privacy, etc., and I seriously consider the things that could/may happen. I have changed my password but I'm sure that won't stop them ... Legal issues? What if they have 100% access to my notes? Everything?

What country? Privacy laws may (will) vary.

I removed your second question because it's unrelated and not something we can really answer here on Ac.SE.

@AzorAhai-him- Thanks for the edits. I can't say the country, but privacy laws are generally a bit "lax"... No one would probably care.

There's no rule against it.

In your medical studies, are you going to have sensitive medical information about patients on your computer?

"I'm sure that won't stop them" - stop whom?

Neither. Take handwritten notes. It's faster and allows the other half of your brain to conceptualize simultaneously. Med students have so much note-taking to do that you'd need single-hand typist speeds to keep up.

@Trunk OP could be taking handwritten notes on their tablet which is synced to an online account

@Agnishom Chattopadhyay OP could also be using a shorthand simulation keypad linked via interpreter software to a doc file. But i still think conventional paper notes are more natural and more effective pedagogically.

I can’t begin to imagine taking notes by hand being faster than typing notes. I’m confused by that notion.

@Trunk: I took handwritten notes through four years of a PhD program… On a 2in1 convertible  tablet PC, using a pen, on a predecessor of OneNote. I totally agree, handwriting is much more natural for taking notes than typing. I continue to take such handwriting notes and meetings in OneNote2016 nowadays, frequently without network access. I prefer to export to MHTML over PDF.

@Trunk This should be an answer, not a comment.

@Federico Poloni  Made it into an answer. If you are a mod, please transfer the resulting comments above and delete this one.

I see many comments mentioning typing, but Onenote is typically used to write with a stylus, not to type.

Somehow this discussion has moved from university account vs personal account to typing vs writing. Some people are better at writing. Some people are better at typing. I am naturally a fast typist, and my hand hurts when I write a lot. Some people struggle to type, and they would probably prefer to write. Each user has surely worked out by now which method is better for them. Why are we debating it here?

The privacy concerns are not to be dismissed, but my first worry would be retaining access to the notes in the future. A few years from now you will no longer be affiliated with the university, and they will probably close your university account. Will it be possible to export your notes to keep access to them? Will it be easy to do? Will you remember to do it before they disappear?

Very serious questions. That's also very important. Exporting wouldn't be an issue, but remembering it, could. Thank you.

@AlexandrosKordatzakis Exporting as PDF will mess up anything you've drawn using the "ink" feature, including hand-written notes. If you export, export as notebook files from the desktop client (hard to do, but iirc still possible).

@wizzwizz4 Thank you!

@AlexandrosKordatzakis Microsoft has a habit of removing features, so please confirm it's still possible before you rely on it!

@wizzwizz4 Presumably this desktop client is the same one used by paying customers. The idea that Microsoft is removing features from paying customers is horrifying. Maybe the best option is, as suggested by some other answers, not using OneNote at all.

If you want a OneNote alternative, Xournal++ is a good option. (I've only used the original Xournal, but from the screenshots, Xournal++ looks better.)

I personally like Windows Journal, the (100% offline) predecessor to Onenote.

Apparently, there is no such thing as “100% offline” with recent versions of Windows.

@Brian Oh you still can get the office 16 OneNote version that allows oflfine files, but the standard 365 version is pretty much cloud only. Not sure if you can export the cloud files to a local file, but that's definitely a feature I could see getting axed in the future (mostly because the cloud version integrates well with the needs of enterprise clients, which is usually one main reason for backcomp).

@BrianDrake What do you mean? Windows 10 can still be installed without a Microsoft account (I did that less than one year ago) and used while airgapped, as far as I understand. They try to add all sort of telemetry while you are online, and you'll need to connect for security updates, though.

That exact thing  happened to a university email account I used for a couple of years. I didn't want to use it, but was forced to, and then I lost all the emails in that account after I left the place I was working at, and the account shut down. For some reason (I can't remember why) it wasn't possible to bulk transfer all the emails from that system to my regular email address. I suppose forwarding them one at a time would have been possible, but perhaps I just didn't take the time to do it.

Assume that the university, as well as Microsoft, has access to anything you write on "their" systems. How they use it is up to them.
The same is true for other providers as well unless you use encryption. The same is probably the case for any "cloud" based system.
If security is a serious concern then use your own systems, and back them up to an external drive (or such).
Remember that "free" isn't necessarily free. You pay in other ways than money.
My university also uses MS systems. I know for a fact that MS reads all my incoming mail, and outgoing if sent through the university system. In particular, they process every link in every mail. I've been fighting this for months.

Ha! Since you've proven it, I don't need to do any more research ( will probably do, but I believe you for now ). I'll stick to my accounts. At least they're not related to my Uni. Thank you.

I'm so glad Microsoft "reads" every one of my emails. Otherwise I'd get 20 invitations a day to submit a publication to a predatory journal instead of just the one that slips through.

@Ian, while the anti spam filters are nice, it is also the fact that MS will use information from your email for marketing.

My understanding is that is incorrect. Microsoft notes in their FAQ: "In many cases, data collected in relation to your work or school account is owned and controlled by your organization." My understanding from our IT folks is that they don't get to sell our data for marketing.

@Ian, I got a couple of emails from MS a month or so ago indicating that they have the data to do this. In particular, I got offers from them.

@Buffy Are you sure you have an enterprise O365 account there? (I mean that's what I'd expect if it's a university account). From my understanding Ian is correct there - although I guess this could be a difference between the US and Europe. But getting "offers from them" should be doable even without scanning your mails for advertisement usage.

@Voo, the email suggested that the offers would be based on my email usage. They let me opt out of receiving them, but without mention of opting out of collecting the info. They are a business. They monetize everything they can. They aren't alone in that, of course.

@Buffy Interesting, I've worked with large companies that used O365 and had strict privacy requirements which meant they couldn't share some information with US providers (and required encrypted emails which was an unbelievable hassle). But now that I think about it, that might be a special European contract or something they had to specifically negotiate with MS. Seems awful of a University to force employees and students to use a mail account where data is shared for all kinds of purposes with a commercial entity.

Personally, I think you are framing this problem totally backwards. You need to be worried more about Microsoft selling your personal account data to a data broker. As Buffy notes, you are the product, so of course they are going to sell it. The "de-identified" data they sell is trivially easy to re-identify. Also, the US government has no qualms about buying it in bulk and using it without a warrant.
In Microsoft's privacy FAQ they say:

In many cases, data collected in relation to your work or school account is owned and controlled by your organization.

As Microsoft notes in their privacy policy:

Enterprise and Developer Products are Microsoft products and related software offered to and designed primarily for use by organizations and developers. ... In the event of a conflict between this Microsoft privacy statement and the terms of any agreement(s) between a customer and Microsoft for Enterprise and Developer Products, the terms of those agreement(s) will control.

However, the usage of your data is dependent on the exact agreement entered into by your organization and Microsoft. At my institution, we maintain full control over all of the data, and I would expect a medical school to do the same. You can usually find more information at the Privacy and Cookies page when you are logged into your institutional account. You can also ask your institution's Office 365 administrator for full details.
Sure, there is the risk that your institution could use your notes against you if some sort of conflict arises. They almost certainly have full and total access to your data. However, I trust my institution to not be miss-using the legitimate notes I'm taking much more than Microsoft.

Using a hosted not-taking system is a bad enough idea already:

it may stop operating at any moment at the company's discretion (just check out https://killedbygoogle.com)
the company may change it at any moment in a way that makes it unusable to you
the company will go bust at some point (feel like speculating when?)
your notes can be lost in a datacenter fire
your notes can be lost to a hacker (deleted or modified, that is, not leaked – I doubt that privacy is much of a concern regarding uni notes; but as you state that privacy is an issue for you, that's even one more reason for you though not relevant for most people)
the service may become unavailable at any moment due to a whole host of reasons (DDoS attack on the service, failure of technical infrastructure of the service, you not being able to connect to the internet)
if you don't live in the U.S., consider what happens when there is diplomatic conflict (the GitHub repositories of Russians recently got deleted due to diplomatic conflict between the U.S. and Russia)
etc., etc.

Carefully consider the fact that you have somewhere between virtually no control and absolutely no control over all of these and consider what losing access to your notes would mean to you at an inconvenient time. Also carefully consider the fact that you will have absolutely no recourse if any of these happen.
Now you're trying to add even more modes of failure by putting your university's mail server admin in charge of your notes. You're also adding another failure mode: At some point, you will lose access to that email account. If you forget to move your notes (if that's even possible and if that's possible by the time you want to move them – remember that features may get scrapped at any time), you might regret that because you will never be able to look at your notes again.
I know that I still sometimes look at the notes I took at a student, and I can rest assured that I will continue to be able to do so because I took them in Emacs via org-mode. If you want to do the same, a hosted note-taking system definitely isn't the way to go for you.

This is a decision you need to make for yourself, weighing up the issues
discussed below.
Both accounts have the same issues: reliability, security and privacy. But the
university’s account has these issues with both the university and the service
provider (Microsoft).
On one hand, if the notes are an important part of your course, you might want
to use resources provided by the university for those notes. That way, if those
resources fail for any reason, you have an organisation to hold responsible.
Generally, with a free personal account, the service provider is under no
obligation to continue providing the service (at least beyond whatever notice
period their terms of use specify), so you do not have such reliability. Of
course, a paid personal account is a different matter.
On the other hand, if you do not intend for the university to see these notes
(which seems to be the case, based on your question), then you might want to
keep them off university systems. This avoids any issues with your privacy,
other people’s privacy, and any other legal rights that might apply (such as
copyright). In particular, it helps to prevent the notes from being used
against you in any dispute with the university, an issue mentioned by other
users.
You would still have the privacy issues with the service provider, but you
could deal with those by locally encrypting the data before uploading it.
This might not be an option for OneNote, but if you can make it work, then
there should be no problems. This is true for a university account too, except
that they might object to your use of encryption.
Another issue is that the notes are not just part of your course, but also your
writing that you should be able to use for whatever purpose you like. For this
purpose, you want to ensure reliable personal access to those notes, which
suggests that you should either:

ensure that the university account has an effective export mechanism (that
you are disciplined enough to use when necessary); or
use your personal account to begin with (but note that if it it is a free
account, it still might not be reliable, as discussed above).

Thank you! All good points!

My question is, how good of an idea is to use my uni's OneNote account and not my personal?

MS has access to your notes and can use them to the extent of the contract that either you (personal MS OneNote TOS) or the university (MS Enterprise contract) has signed.
Your university is likely to have access to everything you store within their realm because they will have administrative rights. Whether they can/will do it or not depends on the country.

A few other points to take into account
If your notes are closely bound with the MS universe (adding flags for the calendar, attaching Outlook messages, ...) then you are indeed better off with MS OneNote.
Keep in mind, however, that you may be able to efficiently export the notes or not. Best case, they will compatible with your software, worst case they will be PDFs or plain text and you lose all the MS specificities.
Now, if you will have plain notes with references and backlinks, you should seriously consider using a system that stores notes in a text format that is wildly recognized. Markdown is probably the best one today.

you can use software such as Obsidian to manage the notes and their interconnections
you can store the notes in a more privacy-friendly environment
you always have a copy, so even if terrible things happen, you do not need to access your MS account to recover them

I would strongly consider switching to something more portable.

This answer is not clearly laid out. It does not make it clear that it does not answer to the question as posed; rather, it challenges the premise of the question. And it is not clear what the basis for that challenge is. The way it is laid out, the main issue seems to be the type of notes being taken. But the OP has already played around with OneNote and presumably considers it suitable. On what basis do you challenge this?

@BrianDrake: on the basis that OP is concerned with privacy and legal aspects of his notes. I covered that part in the first two bullets (there is not much more to say without knowing the country and the kind of contract the uni has passed with MS - and I know these contracts very well and how they vary wildly). The second part is an alternative that answers OP concerns. Moreover, I mentioned that the kind of notes they take will influence the answer - "played with" may mean 3 years or 10 minutes.

There are some good points in this answer, but I object to the way it is presented. The presentation suggests that the dot points discuss secondary issues to be considered under the main issue of the type of notes. It should be the other way around: the main issues are privacy and legal issues, with the type of notes being a secondary issue. I note again that this answer seems to violate one of the most basic rules on Stack Exchange by not answering the question (which is whether to use the university account or the personal account).

@BrianDrake: ok, fair point. I restructured my answer.

Before you use the uni service for this, you should just check that you are permitted to do it. The fact they have exposed one aspect (email) does not necessarily mean they intend you to be able to use the other aspect (note taking). It is possible that they did not intend you to have that part of the service. Or that they don't intend you to have more than some tiny amount of storage or bandwidth etc.
The worst possible consequence is likely to be that they shut off the note taking ability, possibly without warning. Or that you find you can only take some trivial amount of notes, ten pages or some such. Or that they don't retain the notes past some not-very-useful time, like one week or some such.  Or various other highly annoying restrictions that could easily interfere with your use of the service as you thought you could.
So check first.
Meantime, consider an ordinary dead-tree-paper notebook in addition to electronic note taking. It is only my personal process. But I prefer to take notes on paper, then transcribe them to an electronic format. The transcription process is very often a very useful learning process. I uncover parts of the material I did not understand, and I "burn in" the material when I go over it again.

It seems unlikely that the university made a mistake here, but it is possible, and either way, the remaining paragraphs of this answer would still be valid. Why does it have a score of −3?

@BrianDrake uni emails almost always come with an Office365 subscription (at least if the uni has a deal with MS, which most do and is the case here). There are limits on storage enforced by MS on part of the uni, which are obvious to view from OneDrive, but otherwise this answer just demonstrates a lack of awareness of how uni accounts work.

@TamoghnaChowdhury The agreement is between the university and Microsoft, and making assumptions about it from the outside seems dangerous. That seems to be the general theme of other answers and comments here. In particular, there is a dispute in the comments on Buffy’s answer about whether Microsoft can use the data for marketing. If this is not well-established, then what else might be different between accounts or between agreements?

@BrianDrake My point was that the OP is allowed to take notes with their uni account, there's no questions about it. The question is whether the OP should take notes with their uni account. This answer disputes the premise of the question, which is not super useful.