text:
I got caught cheating on an online exam and I feel so guilty. What do I do?
What happened:
I got caught cheating on an online exam consisting of 25 multiple-choice questions and a written part of my exam worth 55/80 marks. I had access to a one-page cheat sheet, but I still went to another website to double-check a few of my multiple-choice questions. However, I didn't cheat on my written answers.
I think deep down, I felt guilty, but I repressed my memories of what happened when I cheated on the exam to the point where I even forgot I cheated. It didn't help that I have a bunch of mental illnesses I had to deal with: depression, anxiety, ADHD, autism.
When I first got an email, I thought it was the wording of my written answers, but then it turned out there were screenshots of me accessing the website. At that time, I got an anxiety attack and I denied it by trying to show the reasoning behind my answers.
When I met with my teacher:
A few days later I went to the meeting with some stuff prepared and my cheat sheet, but then the evidence of the screenshots was there and I panicked. I got an anxiety attack in front of my professor. I didn't know what to do and felt like the world was ending. At that moment, I denied it and tried explaining my side of the story, saying that there were technical difficulties and I had trouble with my exam, causing me to get logged out. Those technical difficulties happened, but I think the memories returned at that point, making me feel even worse. I didn't know how to explain that I felt guilty, and I felt like I would get expelled or suspended. I already struggle with talking to people on a daily basis. Worse, the incident would be on my transcript and record.
I admitted that I cheated and took accountability:
After the meeting, I had time to reflect and I emailed my professor about how I wanted to own up to what I did so that it never happens again (I finally admitted to what happened), and how I wanted someone with me in the exam at all times. My professor decided to give me a 25% deduction, which I am extremely grateful for, but I'm still really anxious about if it would appear on my transcript. I guess it's a consequence I can never forget.
I'm planning on transferring to a university since I'm currently in college, which is why I'm so scared about this being on my record. What if the university doesn't accept me because I cheated once in the past? Plus, I'm not sure how to move forward. I feel like a horrible person because I have to live with this mistake. I really want to take accountability and move forward, but I don't know how. It also sucks because I was never taught how to study and usually relied on pure memorization. I want to be a better person, but I feel like I never can because of what I did.
What do I do? How can I move forward and ensure this doesn't happen again? I don't want to succumb to the temptation of cheating or to my impulses again.
edit: For clarification, this was the first time I cheated. I never cheated in high school, and I always make sure that my citations are correct so I don't accidentally plagiarize. But I always felt so overwhelmed to be perfect because I had expectations from others to fulfill. I'm not as strict with it as I was in high school, but I'm still recovering from the mental burnout and the negative effects it caused me. I feel like even if I got away with it, I don't know if I can even keep this secret. Over time, I know that the guilt will fester, and I'll end up confessing to a friend or my parents about it.
I feel like my mind is a jumbled mess. I feel regretful for forgetting that I cheated and denying the accusation out of panic. I want to die of shame and embarrassment because I know what I did was wrong. I will talk to a therapist about this, but I feel like I'm a humiliation, like I'm a disgrace. I hate myself so much for this. I cried myself to sleep, and I feel like I can't even function as a proper human being.
I already sent a thank you email to my professor, but I'm planning on sending a reflection letter because I feel like I need to show that I want to improve myself.

With depression, anxiety e.t.c. do you have a mental health professional that you see regularly? I am not sure if this is something to be answered quickly in an online forum. However, I do think that you feeling guilty about this shows that you are a good person, trying to do their best.

It seems you're not sorry you cheated, but you're sorry you got caught. was this the first time you ever cheated? How many times have you removed cheating cases from memory? I think your professor was kind enough to let you go, it won't be on the transcript.

This was the first time I ever cheated. And even if I got away with it, I think the guilt would eat me up either way. I have trouble keeping secrets of what I did when it comes to lying, and the longer I keep it, the more horrible I feel. I don't know what to do to show that I've learned from my mistake and that I want to take accountability

You're providing a very inconsistent story. In your original question, by your own admission, you wouldn't remember all the times you've cheated. Your comment indicates otherwise. By the sounds of the situation, it seems more likely you've cheated in other ways, but may not necessarily believe your actions constitute cheating. Your question indicates denial (lying) as your initial response, so an immediate denial again appears to be part of a pattern. I don't believe you're lying now, however, given you've listed a few mental health concerns, I hope you seek professional help for that.

Thanks, I plan on talking about this to a therapist because I don't want this to happen again. I feel ashamed that I even cheated in an exam by searching outside sources and that it's the worst mistake I have ever made. I don't know how to forgive myself and move forward.

When faced with a major emotional crisis, I really don't think that "ask for advice from strangers on the public Internet" is a very wise strategy.  You say "I plan on talking about this to a therapist" so I would suggest you do that first.  Preferably before you read any responses to your Internet posts.  From what you are describing, it sounds urgent.

In order to ensure that you don't cheat again, I suggest you think why do you cheat on exams.
If it is because you are not sufficiently prepared for the exam, then the best course of action is to plan your studying, not overload on classes, and commit to the classes you are currently taking.
If it is because you are feeling anxious or depressed, I suggest seeking professional help to deal with those issues, which likely affect you in more ways than just how you handle yourself in classes.
Another point I will mention is that there is no shame in doing poorly in a class. Students often breeze through high-school where things were easy for them, and then receive a rude awakening in college. Accept that you are learning difficult things now, and that you won't be perfect. I got a C in calculus 101 and it's the grade I'm most proud of, went on to do a PhD in math. When you retake a class you get to learn stuff better, and understand course expectations more. I have a lot of respect for students who overcome adversity, and this is something that graduate admission committees do look at (e.g. a student who did poorly on their first year and then moved on to do really well on their last couple of years may actually scan positively for some).

Thank you so much - now that I think about it, the reason why I cheated was because I felt overwhelmed with the expectations of being "perfect".  I remember feeling so guilty right after I cheated though. I'll most likely learn and try to access resources to help me through this. I don't know how I'll be able to forgive myself though.

Disclaimer: I am not a therapist nor a school counselor. This is just my opinion. Take it with a grain of salt.
It seems like you are showing genuine remorse for what you did. That's a good sign. You should be very thankful to this professor. Typically, cheating means expulsion and/or a grade of F in the class. While I don't condone what you did, I do understand the insane pressure to do well. Perhaps it is time to do some soul searching and think why you are pursuing a college degree. Is it because you want to please your parents or because you want to better yourself? Although the first reason may indeed push you to greater heights, it will inevitably catch up with you at a point where you are burnt-out and fed up with it all. It is not sustainable motivation. If that's the case (which is my guess), then at least find an academic track that you like doing. I started as a pre-med student in undergrad, so that I would be the first MD in the family. But after some rather regretful accidents in the chemistry lab (I had to pay $10 dollars for a broken pipette) and some low scores in human anatomy, I soon realized that it wasn't for me. I didn't want to force it anymore and went my own way with a mathematics specialization, without caring what my parents thought.
Also, while I do get the anxiety and mental health concerns, do realize that poor mental health and anxiety are NOT excuses for poor behavior. If you suffer from mental health issues, follow up with your therapist (which you seem to be doing already). I am not a PhD in psychology, but this sounds an awful lot like obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) or the like. What stands out to me is the suddenly cheating without remembering (a compulsion) in response to a trigger to double-check (an obsession). Now you feel lots of shame and guilt directed at yourself. Let's say for argument's sake that you do have OCD. The treatment for that is exposure-response-prevention (erp) therapy and being able to sit with the discomfort of uncertainty about your future (since you express concerns with it being in your record). In that case, you would want to gradually expose yourself to triggering situations, such as interacting with the professor. It isn't an easy thing to treat, but it can be done. But again, this is just a hypothetical scenario, not actual medical advice.
Again, I get that mental health issues make studying much more difficult than what it needs to be. I would have a conversation with your therapist and ask if he or she can provide a letter to request special accommodations. This is only to level the playing field and can give you assistance when taking quizzes or exams. There is no shame in using these if you need them. Sometimes a matter of extra time can make a lot of difference. I wish you all the best.


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Mechanical Engineering and Mathematics Double Major
I am entering University this next semester as a mechanical engineering student, but I need advice about potentially getting a second major (most likely in mathematics).
Here are the main points regarding my situation:

I haven't yet committed to getting a double major and won't need to make the decision until, at the earliest, my sophomore year
I've always been fascinated with mathematics, which was actually part of my decision to major in mechanical engineering since it's largely based on math
I'm going into college with 30 hours already, with 8 of them being inapplicable in most majors except as free electives.
I've already researched and found out I could do both majors (mechanical engineering and mathematics) by taking 18 hours this semester, 17 for the next three, 16 for the next two, and 15 and 12 for the last two respectively. However, I'm also taking at least one 3-hour class each semester online to lighten the load
I've gotten a couple of decent scholarships that have made expenses for these first 4 years to be fairly low (a little over 3k a semester), but most of these scholarships don't apply after 4 years.
I'm hoping to participate in the club sports program as well as a couple of engineering clubs to help with my resume, but I may not depending on the workload. I'm also hoping to get an internship during the summer after my sophomore and junior year.

So I've been thinking about getting a second major in mathematics, but I'm also open to getting a second major or minor in something else, or just not doing it and focusing on engineering, but I want advice regarding the situation. Please feel free to ask for clarification and thanks for all the advice in advance!

Ask your academic advisor this question, please.

Is it necessary to do the 18 in your first semester? It may be better to start with 15 and then decide how to proceed after you have the lay of the land a bit more. But ultimately this comes down to how you prioritize your goals; there is no real question here that we can answer.

It’s impossible to provide a general answer to this question.  You need to discuss with your academic advisor(s) and consider their advice.

I've always been fascinated with mathematics, which was actually part of my decision to major in mechanical engineering since it's largely based on math
This is not true.
Some of the best mechanical engineers, especially those involved in mechanical design, are fairly poor math students.
Of course there's more to mech eng than mech design. Common specializations are:

Energy management - heat, mass and fluid transfer study as used by HVAC and process plant design engineers.

Plant Management - tribology, reliability, failure mode analysis, maintenance scheduling, etc studies used by maintenance engineers/managers

Energy Generation - mechanics and design of existing & alternative energy generation processes

Biomechanics - mechanical engineering aspects of living systems, esp. of the human body, artificial limb joints, organ ducts, etc

Nanomechanics - study of nanoscale mechanical systems

Mechanics of materials used in engineering - mechanical metallurgy/materials science

Engineering computation - modelling and numerical solution of complex mechanical engineering phenomena

I would not rate the standard of math used in mech eng to be too challenging - it's usually application of existing analytical/numerical solutions of differential equations. There is little discrete math and little scope for someone with a liking for pure math. In my opinion a typical electronic engineer would be a much more capable math student than a mech eng student.
Frankly I don't think that mech eng and math are a good combination and I feel that you should do a single major in either of these subjects. The high-class math analysis done within mech eng will be done by people with math major BS and a MS in things like math modelling, continuum mechanics, fluid dynamics modelling, etc.
On top of that good math students should be reflective while good mech eng students should be dynamic and practical. Yes, if the math comes easy you can sit down after a dynamic day at mech eng and maybe get the benefit of trade-offs. But that would be at the expense of having a normal student life: when your BS is done and you look back at college life you will regret neglecting the opportunity to have met so many interesting people at an important point in their & your lives. There is only so much time in the day.
I would advise choosing one of the two disciplines on the basis of (1) which you would prefer not to lose; and (2) the type of people that ultimately you want to spend your working days with.
Note that traditional mech eng jobs like mech design, plant management and energy management are fewer and fewer so that your stream has to be among the newer streams - biomechanical, energy generation, nano-mechanical systems, modelling.
Also be aware that some math graduates (especially those going into financial sector and social sciences modelling) are paid waaaaaaayyyyy more than mech eng graduates. Yet this is totally irrelevant to your decision, which must be based on what is right for you not the bank. Good luck.

I agree with most of the answer except the last para - "math graduates are paid waaaaaaayyyyy more than mech eng graduates". That's contrary to my knowledge. Anyway, +1.

I refer to those app math graduates going down the financial math/investment modelling route. In EU €100k including bonus is not unusual in Y1 post graduation for such people. Sure, I accept that math modellers in engineering roles, e.g. power generation, aerospace, pollution control, etc are usually pegged to engineers' salaries and have to acquire expertise through additional study to move up the pay ladder. Apologies for that. I was concerned that OP might be taken in by overpositive math professors trying to recruit him. Edited my answer.

I would say Finite Element Method combined with Mech Eng is probably one of the best choices for the OP. Of course, Probability/Stats in applied math makes money, but it doesn't seem to be aligned with OP's own interest.

@Nobody There's a lot of ex-mech engs going down the FEA route => large supply of FEA engs => mundane work + low salaries. Computational aerodynamics is a big and complex field and close to where his internship is. But really, it's for OP to feel his way towards the "right" work arena.

Thanks for the info. I did not know FEA Eng is that bad.

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text:
Can the affiliation of the authors be ordered in reverse?
I am currently a student at University D, and I am writing a computer-science paper as the first author. The paper, however, has no connections whatsoever with University D. Instead, all of my research was done as part of an internship at University T, and the corresponding author (my advisor) is also from University T.
I am planning to order the affiliations as follows:

My Name2,*, Advisor's Name1,†
1 University T, 2 University D

And label on the footnotes:

* Research done in internship with University T.
† Corresponding Author

My question is: is this allowed in computer science? It is obviously the only logical choice to make University T the first affiliation of the paper, so the question can also be framed as follows:
Must the first affiliation of the paper be the affiliation of the first author?

Update: Final Decision:
My Name{1,2,*}, Advisor's Name{1,†}, 1 University T, 2 University D

The usual choice would be for you to list two affiliations, i.e.

Your name1,2, Advisor's Name1
1 University T
2 University U

or perhaps even something like

Your name1,*, Advisor's Name1
1 University T

With a footnote

* Now at University U

But I think just being an intern at university T does not indicate that I have a formal "affiliation" with them. During the internship my formal affiliation should still only be with university D, right?

@ShiranYuan if you were affiliated with University D when doing the work, then your original claim that the paper has nothing to do with university D is not true. Just list University D first in that case.

In both computer science and elsewhere, the order of affiliations is typically dictated by the formatting requirements of the paper, just like the order of citations.
Individual authors with multiple affiliations will order those affiliations from "most important" to "least important", but if you know the order of authors and each authors' affiliation list, then the full affiliation listing will be algorithmically determined. Indeed, in the LaTeX formats commonly used in computer science publications, you will have no ability at all to set affiliation order!
More importantly: unlike author order, no reader will care about affiliation order on the paper. They will only care about being able to tell the affiliations of the authors.
For your case then, I would suggest asking your advisor whether or not they think you should list a dual affiliation. I wouldn't sweat the details, though, or even bother about the "I was an intern" footnote unless your advisor thinks it's important to include, since cross-institutional publications like this are entirely commonplace and unremarkable.

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text:
How much does networking matter for a career in academia?
I know in industry, it's all about connections "It's not what you know; it's who you know." To what extent is that true in academic hiring?

and how do you know this is uniformly true in industry?


text:
Non-Funded PhD in Education the US
I have been accepted to a US university for a PhD in Education. The problem is that I’m not given any funding packages. I reached out to my professor and program director, and I was told to check for assistantships. I’m not sure if they become available though.
As an international student, I was wondering if there are other options for me to seek funding that can fully support my tuition and living expenses?

Have you looked for any fellowship from your home country ? Education is the foundation of a country. There may be some fellowship available.

Yes, but I am from Iran and we don't have fellowships for studying in the US.

You solved a puzzle for me. In the 1970's, there were a lot of Iranian students in the US universities. A few decades later, almost of all of them seem to disappear.

In the university that I am accepted, there are almost 300 other Iranian students.

@Parmis since there are already 300 iranian students, get in touch with them or their association (for sure there is one, a quick google gives you plenty of results for many US universities, see for example Purdue https://web.ics.purdue.edu/~icc/ , Urbana (IL) https://www.icauiuc.org/ , Boulder https://mines.campuslabs.com/engage/organization/iranian-student-association ... )
Don't be too depressed to discover that a relevant % of them is from wealth family that can support them through their PhD studies ...

@Nobody the students until the 70s were the lucky consequence of the unlucky plan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Iranian_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat

In some cases, it makes sense for you to apply for a Teaching Assistant position at another department (for instance, Math Department if your subspecialty is Math Education). But, in general, it will be tough since your visa will not allow you to work outside of the university.

@MoisheKohan Thank you, fortunately, I found a TA position, and among all the applicants I was selected. All I need to do is get my visa.

Thanks, I succeeded, fortunately. @EarlGrey

This is not helpful to you, but as a point of reference: In the United States, graduate students are generally not supported by the university unless (i) they are hired by a specific investigator who has external research funding, or (ii) the department has a teaching mission that requires a lot of Teaching Assistants (TAs). The former is often the case in engineering and science departments, the latter in mathematics and some liberal arts departments. Education departments do not fall in these categories, and most of their students are self-supported -- they have to find work on their own if they need the money.
Sometimes, the department is in need of people teaching a course or two here or there, and that would provide some funding. It is something you can ask the department into whose program you've been admitted. But it is not commonly the case that all (or even many) students in Education are fully supported.

Your phrasing of 'almost all graduate students are no supported' threw me off at first as the two exceptions you mention do cover a large proportion of all graduate students. It is true however, that most of those not covered by these two cases are unsupported.

@quarague I don't have statistics about how many students are in which field, so I've just removed the "almost all" quantifier.

@WolfgangBangerth Thank you, I found a TA position, and I was accepted. All I have to do is get my visa. All it took was too much research to find a relevant TA position. Since I have a strong resume, I could get the position.


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Appendix vs Supplement
I'm surprised that this hasn't been asked before. What's the difference between Appendices and Supplements?
Also, btw, what is the most widely approved version of "Supplements"? Is it "Supplemental Materials" or "Supplementary Materials"? My field is machine learning & computer vision, if it's relevant.

In most (all?) machine learning & computer vision conferences:

Appendices = more PDF pages.
Supplements = additional non-PDF content, e.g. code and data.

"Supplementary Materials" is most commonly used in my experience. I've never read "Supplemental Materials".

Supplemental material can also be PDF files with data tables, additional examples and so on. They should not be required to understand the article, but useful for the interested reader.

@allo true, I'm not sure how to phrase properly but I guess you get the idea. Appendix is some paper extension while supplementary materials are some extra data/code/etc. "They should not be required to understand the article, but useful for the interested reader" same for appendices. Hard to find a good phrasing that applies for all cases.

The field is almost always relevant to questions like this, so I defer to the answer by Franck Dernoncourt for your case. This is just to give a flavor of how things can much vary. In physics (journals), I would expect

Appendices = additional material that is presented within the article itself (for example, inside the article PDF), but outside the main text.
"Supplements" = "information that is useful to a subset of readers but is not essential to comprehend the article’s main results". The most typical form is a separate PDF with details or additional analysis, but it can also be in the form of code, data, multimedia files etc. or some combination. Many publishers have lists of supported file formats.

I've seen all combinations of "Supplemental/Supplementary Information/Material". What is standard varies by publication venue. If there is a print version of the journal, the appendices would be printed, but supplements would not. Sometimes this is reflected in them being called "Electronic Supplementary Material" or similar.


text:
How to contact multiple potential supervisors in the same lab?
I am based in Europe and I want to start my PhD in a lab composed of several professors.
I would like to write to two of them to know if they are willing to accept new students and on which topic.
I have written a personalized email to the two professors, and I understand it to be fair to let know to each one that I am contacting the other one. Is it okay to add something like "For your information I have forwarded a similar request to Prof. X, since also his work aligns with my interests"?
Not sure it helps but I will need to be admitted to the graduate programme, it's not that individual professors have funds.


text:
Is it possible to create a classification scale similar to Kardashev to classify scientific articles?
My idea would be to build a theoretical classification similar to Kardashev's ladder to consider what is scientific, what is not scientific or what is pseudoscientific.
The Kardashev scale definition would look something like this:

"The Kardashev scale is a theoretical classification proposed by Russian astrophysicist Nikolai Kardashev in 1964 to measure the level of technological development of an alien civilization. The scale is based on the amount of energy a civilization is able to collect and use, and is divided into different levels."

Whereas today there are many different research methods, argumentative methods, academic validation methods and tests with a certain percurlarity, difference. Would it be possible to create a theoretical model to classify scientific articles?
Initial considerations
1. Some scientists, academics, philosophers, intellectuals, thinkers may think that the production of a theoretical classification of scientific articles can produce, instead of greater scientific and academic rigor, a tool for manipulating data, statistics and studies.
2. Some people might be skeptical that such a tool would be possible to make, as knowledge and methods can change over time.
3. This initial question is who is writing the first scientific article and would like some help about different authors and proposals or scientific methods. For example, initially I'm thinking of doing a literature review research on different types of scientific, academic and philosophical methods in scientific production. In this sense, I think of starting with Karl Popper, since he is well known and his falsifiability method, as far as I know it today, is still used to some extent. One of my current problems is what alternatives do we have to validate, to make a certain scientific article reliable?
4. I hope initially or previously to use the "Kardashev scale" as a starting point to define the problem of demarcation: "what is science, what is not science, what is pseudoscience". This would be interesting to analyze the degree of accuracy with which a certain level of knowledge is made, produced or used in society. On this data, "we can validate or accept certain knowledge along with a certain ethics, public morals. In the sense of a common, collective, greater good or according to the laws and the constitution that we honor in the sense of consensus, argumentation, discussion, problematization of ideas".
5. Is there any area of study that analyzes, measures, produces curation or review scientific production? If yes, what is the name of this field of study? If this field of study does not exist, how to produce a scientific article in the best way? without a cognitive bias? How many or what criteria could I use when producing or analyzing a scientific article?

This is not really a question and is outside of the scope of this group.

What is your end goal here? I should caution you that if you're hoping that your work will be influential, my guess is that you'd have a very rough time of it, especially if you don't already have a strong reputation in some existing field of science. However, if you want to carry this out simply because you find it interesting, then you needn't worry about such concerns and I wish you the best of luck.

What you are suggesting lies at the intersection of two well-worn, difficult, and important ideas.
The effort "to consider what is scientific, what is not scientific or what is pseudoscientific" is known as the demarcation problem.
The analysis and classification of scientific articles is the discipline of bibliometrics.
You sound like you are essentially seeking a bibliometric solution to the demarcation problem. I don't have one, but by showing you the disciplines to look into, I hope I have at least pointed you in the right direction.

You're reinventing existing frameworks.
For example, regulatory agencies already do this.
Some examples from the US include the EPA and FDA.
For example, the US EPA has Guidance for Identifying, Selecting and Evaluating Open Literature Studies that

provides guidance for Office of Pesticide Program (OPP) staff to assist in their evaluation of open literature studies of pesticides. Consistent with the Open Government Initiative, this guidance is also intended to make transparent to the public how we identify, select, and ensure that the data we use in pesticide risk assessments is of sufficient scientific quality.

Likewise, the FDA provides Guidance Documents.
For example, the clinical guidance page notes that

Guidance documents listed below represent the agency's current thinking on the conduct of clinical trials, good clinical practice and human subject protection.
Guidance documents are not binding for FDA or the public. Guidance should be viewed as recommendations unless specific regulatory or statutory requirements are cited. An alternative approach may be used if the approach satisfies the requirements of the applicable statute and regulations.

NASA also has Technology Readiness Levels that are also related to your idea, but less so than the EPA and FDA.


text:
SOP highlighting a change in career path
I am eager to pursue a postgraduate diploma course in supply chain management, a path I believe aligns perfectly with my analytical thinking capabilities. Now I neither have relevant experience nor an undergraduate degree in the field. With a BA in human resource management and over 6 years of experience in content writing, I have honed my skills in crafting website copies and blogs for reputable online directories. While transitioning to a career in supply chain management, I recognize the value of my transferable skills and am determined to leverage them effectively. As I embark on this journey, I am committed to conveying my genuine reasons for this career change in my Statement of Purpose. I would greatly appreciate any insights you can provide to help me construct a compelling SOP for the university I am targeting. Also, I have a 2-year gap right after my graduation mainly cz I have to be there for my mother who was battling a serious health condition and needed constant care. Although I did do some odd jobs, but I believe it would do me a disservice to disclose it on my sop. Can I instead divulge this personal detain on an sop?


text:
Article Suddenly Open-Access
A few months go I published an article in an American Institute of Physics journal in the traditional subscription format. While this journal offered an open-access option with an agreement with my university library, for whatever reason at the time of submission I did not elect this option.
Today I have recieved an email that my institution has paid an article processing charge and the article is now open access. Is this common? I am more than happy for the article to be open access, but I find it odd that I was not contacted.

"for whatever reason at the time of submission I did not elect this option." what was the reason?

Yes this happened to me, just means there was some Open Access deal which they weren't aware of at the time and they have since contacted the university who has agreed to pay under that deal.

I suspect your university has come to some publishing agreement with the journal (or more likely the publisher more broadly) that covers open access fees directly, and the agreement is broad enough that it has covered your published articles retroactively.
I can only guess, but if I'm right I bet your library could tell you that's the case.


text:
When I submit an abstract for a conference through email, should I include my name and contact info in the same PDF file?
I have to submit an abstract for a conference in MLA 8th format. The deadline is on the 20th of this month (August 2023). The conference committee has not specified anything regarding this, so I am confused about where to include my name and contact information. Should I include it in the PDF that contains the abstract or separately as a body in the mail?

We can't know, you've got to ask them.


text:
Can student claim verbal or physical harassments one year after my graduation to the university? Can this claim revoke my degree?
I graduated from a U.S university one year ago. If one year after my graduation a person or a group of persons claim(s) to the university that I harassed them (verbally or physically), could this claim lead to the revoking of my degree?

For the second part, see What are the criteria for degree revocation?

As for the first part, you need to look at the rules and laws in place at the institution. We don't know those, and even if we did, this sounds way too much like legal advice for me to be comfortable giving you advice.

https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/153665/ Should be answered here.

Universities and colleges are governed by their own rules. I would be surprised if a degree revocation would be possible based on bad behavior alone, even if the bad behavior would  be criminal. Bad behavior is usually sanctioned in other ways such as expulsion or suspension, or by going through the criminal or civil justice system. After graduation, the institution itself is usually not in a position to sanction the now ex-student in a meaningful way. They could kick the ex-student out of the alumni association and send a letter of reprimand, maybe. Redress for a victim would need to go through the criminal or civil court system.
Degree revocation usually needs to be based on some type of grievous academic misconduct, such as repeated cheating on examinations or serious plagiarism in a thesis.
However, without knowing your institution and the rules of that institution, nobody here can answer this question.

People can claim whatever they want, and a claim by itself should be no basis for disciplinary action. Now, if their claim is substantiated with evidence, the consequences will depend on the severity of your actions. "Verbal or physical harassment" (your words) covers a wide range of behavior, from saying something others don't like, to stalking (I don't really know what other behaviors could be incldued under "physical harassment": if you physically touched people, that'd be assault.) It is unlikely to result in the revocation of a degree at any university I know of. But there might still be consequences if the act was illegal, e.g. if you stalked, you might still get a restraining order issued against you, etc.


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Should I upload all my R code in figshare before submitting my manuscript?
To conduct my study, I had to use thousands of lines of R code to generate random data and to do analysis. Now, when I am going to submit my manuscript to my targeted journal, do they ask to provide all the code? As I never submitted any article before, so I don't know what to do!
I have read the instructions from the journal. From there I got to know about figshare. Should I upload all my R code there first and then after getting DOI, try to submit the manuscript by adding the DOI in the data availability statement?

First, this depends on the journal and its data availability policy. The prime arbiter is the editor or associate editor of the journal. You can contact them on what they would find most convenient for their process.
Second, a paper and therefore possibly the data you generated is likely to change during the review process. If you think that your R-code is unlikely to change, you can go ahead and put it in a public repository. Otherwise, you can offer to put the code in a zip file and make it available to the reviewers with your submission as supplementary material. Depending on your paper, reviewers might just believe that you were working appropriately and not used e.g. a flawed random number generator. There are other ways to make the material available to the anonymous reviewers.
Getting a DOI now seems to me to be premature since the contents of your supplementary material might still change.

The question is about code, which is shared differently from data. Your answer has some good ideas about data sharing, but isn't well focused on the question asked.

I would use GitHub or GitLab to track my code and then issue a DOI once the paper is accepted and the code will no longer be edited (either to a GitHub tag or a figshare page).


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The UTD Top 100 Business School Research Rankings
I am planning to apply for a Ph.D. in management, and I am using The UTD Top 100 Business School Research Rankings to create my university list ( I only selected the journals related to my field). I appreciate it if you let me know whether it's a good approach and also what factors are critical to have a better placement; Advisor, University ranking (if yes, which ranking?), published papers?
Thanks


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A top German professor practises scientific misconduct according to his own institute's guidelines. What should be done about this?
There is a person who is a very big name in a certain field of a certain science subject. He is a professor at a top German university and also runs a research institution.
He gets his postdocs and PHD Students to write "free" papers for him. And it has been happening for years. Meaning that he does not actually contribute anything but still makes them feel pressured enough to add his name onto the paper and there is no footnote that says what his actual contribution is. His institution subscribes to the Leibniz Association's code of conduct. By these standards (See the section on Authorship), he practises academic and scientific misconduct.
It is clearly known (to many of the Professors at his own institute and university) that he does this but nobody has made a formal complaint or reported him. He also commonly humiliates his students and postdocs and treats them like they are his personal assistants. He does not supervise his students either and many of them are struggling and very depressed.
My view:
To me, the moral thing to do is to expose his behavior and bring it to light to those who do not know about it and he should lose his Leadership positions. He has harmed many people and this should be exposed. At least this is what I feel.
My questions to you:

What, other than reporting him to his institute's ombudsman can be done? Will the umbrella organizations like the Leibniz institute genuinely care? What about the DFG?

Can this be done anonymously?

What are the consequences that he will actually obtain?

What do you recommend or suggest to a person who wants to bring this to light and will no longer remain silent?

Thank you for not mentioning the person's name here. Since it's been a while, let me remind everyone of this policy against making specific, severe accusations against named individuals.

You wrote that many professors at his institute know about this. Do these professors think he is doing something immoral or do they see it as acceptable behavior?

@quarague Some of them do think it is immoral but they don't say anything because there is nothing to gain for them. They are not the ones that have to deal with him.

Wrt authorship: Does this affect you personally, i.e. did this happen to a publication you were an author on ? Because if you make allegations about other people's publications, the most likely outcome is that they will not support your allegations as otherwise they would have brought them up themselves. (And no, complaints over a beer down the pub do not make admissable witness statements.)

@Marianne013 Yes it happened to me in 5-6 papers.

‘He gets his postdocs and PHD Students to write "free" papers for him.’ Ignoring your spelling tics, how convinced are you?

Start asking yourself what concrete evidence you have, then ignore all of the parts that you can't back up. At that point you can ask what can be done. From my experience, people are unwilling to speak out in academia even if they have suffered, so you'll have to get sufficient hard evidence before you can think about doing anything.

I agree with your premise that this is a severe breach of ethics and, in ideal world, something should be done about it. I also totally agree with Dr. H that it will be an uphill battle.
Authorship issues are subtle: you claim they did not contribute, they claim they contributed their general vision and expertise in shaping the project when chatting with you in the elevator. Therefore, if it's just you, you are probably getting nowhere. At the minimum you need multiple victims willing to speak on record, and they need to confirm that there was no contribution at all, and that they were pressured. Again, the testimony is the only way to prove anything, and there's a huge difference between "we felt he did not contribute enough" and "the first time we discussed the project at all was when the manuscript was ready and he demanded authorship".
More generally, details matter a great deal; for example,

makes them feel pressured enough to add his name onto the paper

what does it mean, in practice? Does he explicitly demand that? Is there a record of people trying to refuse and the professor pressuring/threatening them?

He also commonly humiliates his students and postdocs

This is potentially serious, if there is a clear-cut verbal abuse that happens in public, and there are witnesses to corroborate. Again, the difference between creating a hostile work environment and being a strict boss may be subtle.

and treats them like they are his personal assistants.

This, I'm afraid, leads nowhere, the worst that may happen to them is someone tells them to stop. Even that would require for subordinates to refuse to do assistant tasks, and to escalate.

He does not supervise his students either and many of them are struggling and very depressed.

This is also nothing, unless there's a clear record of recurring negligence. He has a hands off supervision style, offers challenging but high reward research topics, or just unluckily took on inept students.

This is a very delicate issue as academia is a tightly closed society and very protective of its own. From your question it seems the individual may even be a Leibniz Director and these people are top level and excellently connected internationally, with just about everyone in their field as well as with the DFG and industry. Also for the Department Head to be on his or her department's papers for "free", while not strictly adhering to Good Scientific Practice, is somewhat an acceptable misdemeanor. So, while your intent is admirable, I see it as unlikely you will be able to generate any real momentum to change anything but you may be risking seriously harming your career.

is somewhat an acceptable misdemeanor - no, it is not "somewhat acceptable", it's a severe, despicable violation of academic ethics, please stop downplaying it. It's similar to plagiarism - both constitute appropriating credit for someone else's work - but worse, in the same way as robbery or extortion is worse than theft.


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What are my chances of admission to high-ranked PhD programs given my mediocre GRE taken in 2018 (154 V, 153 Q),but Master's degree in Yale?
So hey everyone! Basically I have been lately considering applying to a PhD in Political Science, 2 years after I finished my Master's degree in an Ivy League institution in a related field. As it turns out, most of PhD programs require GRE, which in my case is 1) old but still relevant (taken in 2018) and 2) somewhat mediocre (154 V, 153 Q). Yet, this is the score that got me into Yale 4 years ago.
My current calculation is that my Master's degree from an Ivy and my academic performance there may bolster my application. GPA was not calculated but overall performance was good, way better than my bachelor's. Besides, I hope PhD admissions will take it into account that I took GRE 5 years ago. Hopefully I'll get some discount as an international applicant too ;).
However, I keep worrying about my score especially when I see something like "average score of our students is [more than mine]". I am planning to apply to schools like Stanford, a couple of Ivies, NYU, and some lower ranked schools. In addition, I am considering Canadian schools, like McGill, UofT, and UBC.  What do you think my chances are to get admission to the schools of my choice given my background?

Welcome to Academia.SE. We can’t estimate your odds of admission, see the linked page for the rationale. If it’s possible to boil this down to something of more general interest (“how does X affect my application?”), you might [edit] your post to ask the boiled down version instead. Good luck.


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Submitted to jounal status average time
What is the average time for a manuscript status to stay " submitted to journal" in elsevier? I submitted over 2 weeks ago and still no change, this has never happened with me before, usually status changes to with editor after afew days. Other colleagues who have previous experience with the same journal say it usually takes afew days. Does anyone have a similar experience with elsevier? When do i send an email to request a status update?


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Is it okay to reuse the structure of an old grant proposal for a new proposal?
I am currently working on a grant proposal. I have previously successfully applied for a grant from the same grant provider and thus I am now planning to use the same structure for some parts of the new proposal. However, it feels a bit strange to do this at times because I end up writing pretty similar things. That is not only because certain sections like impact and methodology are not that specific to my research topic for this grant, but also because the current proposal builds on the previous successful one, so topically there are also similarities.
Just to be clear, I am not copying anything verbatim etc, but I am using the structure of the old proposal for some sections (i.e. I look at what I covered and in what order). Is this generally seen as okay? I would think so given that grant proposal templates are also often published in books on the topic etc, but I wanted to double check.

Having some experience reviewing grant proposals when I worked at a U.S. Government research organization, I’d say I would have no problem with the kind of structural similarities you describe.
Would it be appropriate in your circumstances to explicitly mention the grant you did receive? Being transparent about that would probably provide a means to eliminate any impression that you were now being deceptive, double dipping, or anything like that.

Thanks. I should have said, yes I actually point out explicitly that I have previously received a grant with a similar topic that this current grant builds on


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Can I publish a paper during my PhD study without notifying my supervisor?
I have been working as a reserach assistant in an american university during my PhD study. My supervisor stopped my assistanship during a summer semester during my PhD. This was one semester before my graduation.
During this semester, I was asked by another PhD student (fresh PhD student) who is working in another group to revise his paper which was under revision and give him my feedback. I revised his paper and made few formatting, and he generously add me as a co-author when he submitted the revised version to the journal. The paper is not related to my PhD work, and I used my personal computer to revise the paper.
I would like to know if it is illegal to publish this paper without notifying my supervisor or not.

Why? What are you trying to avoid? This is a course of action which makes no sense unless there is something specific that you are concerned about.

"Can you? Yes. Should you? No." - Federico Poloni

No, it is not illegal.
Your supervisor could be upset with you, though, either because they are merely jealous (feeling you are working behind their back) or because they view this as something that is impeding your process towards your degree.
In a healthy relationship, it would be best to let your supervisor know just to keep everything honest and clear.
It's also worth considering whether your contributions truly warrant authorship. Certainly some fields are very generous with authorship, but others expect coauthors to have had more substantial contributions than just revising the manuscript. It's possible your colleague will expect you to return the favor in the future, which could be seen by some to be inflating each of your publication records or cause conflict if your other coauthors disagree (my personal view, though, is that this sort of thing is the absolute least concerning form of gift authorship, so I feel a bit weird cautioning against it when other forms of authorship abuse are so common).

TL;DR: Can you? Yes. Should you? No.

It's all a mixed bag. Not every adviser will be against it, but it is also not a bad thing in general to get some autonomy. Much depends on the seniority of the OP as PhD student and on the relation of student and supervisor. I am actually more concerned about how OP became coauthor. Was there an intellectual (rather than just editorial) contribution? The journal may also wonder how that author is being added at revision time and may become a problem for the original author. These are things about which the supervisor may have been good to consult with.

In addition to what Bryan has already said: generally speaking, you should expect that your advisor/supervisor is there to support you. Meaning they want to know how you're progressing towards graduation/finding a job so they can provide advice. If you publish another paper, that makes you more competitive as a job applicant. Maybe they want to say something in their letter of recommendation about how you're able to work with different research groups.
Towards the end of my PhD, I took some statistics courses because I wanted to be more competitive for industry jobs if I decided to go down that route. And even though this was time taken away from my research, my advisor agreed that this would benefit me. We even discussed different areas of industry I might like to research or previous students of his that I could reach out to for questions. My advisor was able to provide me this advice because I talked to him about what I was doing, what my CV looked like, what journals I was looking to submit my work in, etc.

I don’t think you have anything to worry about. In fact, chances are your advisor will be happy about what you did. On a related note advisors, professors, the department chair, etc., like to see students stay active in their chosen field. When I was a graduate student I gave some talks (at institutes and universities) about research I had done. My professors were really happy to see me make this kind of contribution. Stay active in your field and everyone around you will be impressed.


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Find papers that use specific sample groups
I've been tasked with finding all papers within a journal whose sample groups contain children. There are journals between 1999 and 2023 that I need to search through.
My first thought was to try to create a list that could be updated as each paper is found that fulfills the sample group, but I'm getting a little overwhelmed on where to go from there.

If you have a list, then you have "found" them. What more are you asking for here?


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Is it important to address all the suggestions by the research paper reviewers?
I am new to research and sent my first research article to a journal for publication. Today they sent me a mail saying that my "manuscript has been accepted subject to revision". For your reference, here's the entire mail of the reviews. I am sorry, it's too long.
I have already fixed the referencing and citation issues. My question is, do I have to work on the methodology and literature review as well or are they mere suggestions that I can overlook?
Please help this noob researcher.
"Reviewers comments are attached below which are intended to help you to improve your paper for final publication.
The manuscript has been accepted subject to revisions. Please find the attached comments from the peer reviewers and take the following actions: 1. Review the manuscript according to the reviewers' comments. 2. Provide a response to each of the reviewers' comments in a separate, new and modified Word document. 3. The abstract should be limited to 150-190 words.  MLA 8th or APA 7th edition should be followed for referencing. Please rewrite the abstract/ article (if applicable) and send back the complete article in a single WORD file ASAP. Send both the original and the revised manuscripts conforming  to the reviewers' comments.
REVIEW 1

The study is new, usable, and informative as per the current scenario in today's era.

Author/s are advised to format the paper as per the journal template (APA 7).

The Paper is good and is recommended for acceptance.

Plagiarism – 4% only

Title may be modified

To be published this paper:

needs to rewrite the Abstract mentioning the findings/result as well

To make those unique, all in text citations and work cited are to check with (MLA 8th / ) APA 7th edition required by the Journal

in text citations and Works Cited/ References need to be modified/ edited

may include researcher's own findings/judgments along with his/her brief critical analysis in the last section of the paper

-the article/paper should be 4000 to 6000 words long
REVIEW 2
STRENGTHS
This article is recommended for publication for the following strengths:

Research innovation

analytical, con/textual, and argumentative discussion throughout ...’

WEAKNESSES
To be published :

needs to include recent references from the last 2-10 years/ Literature Review should be enriched

To make those unique, all in text citations and References are to (re)check with APA 7th edition as required by the Journal

SUGGESTIONS:
Theoretical framework must be developed
Modify/ update Works Cited / References
REVIEW 3 :
AUTHOR: N/A
----------- Overall evaluation -----------
SCORE: 4/5 (Good ),  accepted after minor revision.
*Resubmit after modification "
Thank you for reading. Your response will be highly appreciated and will contribute to my academic life.

My main takeaway from these reviews is that probably the reviewers were not competent to review your paper and probably the journal just wants to take your money while pretending to do peer review.

What does your advisor say regarding this matter?

@BryanKrause I agree. These do not sound like legitimate peer reviews. They are very vague and nonsensical, and don't refer to anything specific in your manuscript. Reviewer 1 and 2 have a duplicate comment. I would double check that this isn't a predatory or predatory-adjacent journal.

@BryanKrause, thank you for your comment. I'll keep it in mind.

@JochenGlueck, unfortunately, I don't have any advisor. I'm doing this on my own.

@MelaGo, Hello. Thank you for showing concern. I have checked and they have ISSN and DOI number and these information aligns with the details of the journal. I am pretty sure it's not a predatory journal. Thank you for your concern though.

@AbdullahRayhan Those are not good criteria for identifying predatory journals. Well, I'd agree if they didn't have those things they are definitely predatory, but having them does not make them non-predatory.

In general it is necessary and appropriate to  consider all reviewer comments, but since they can be wrong it isn't always appropriate to change the manuscript because of them.
But if there are points that you think are incorrect or take you off topic or whatever, let the editor know that you have considered them but decided not to change anything in that instance.
The editor will need to make decisions, of course, but they seem favorably disposed to the paper at the moment. Just do due diligence in reviewing the reviews and considering what changes are appropriate and which are not. The paper is still yours.

Thank you for clarifying.


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Follow-up mail after initial interview for a postdoc position
I had a zoom meeting with my possible future boss about a postdoc position, and I thought it was quit good. After the meeting, we exchanged a few mails, but after that, the responses halted.
A week ago, I sent another email and did not receive a response yet.
I thought about sending a follow-up email to the possible future boss with CCing a member of the lab, to ensure the mail would be read. Will this be a bad choice?


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When to contact the faculty after a postdoc interview
I recently had a postdoc interview in which the professor said would contact me by next week. Later on, I got an email from the professor saying recommendation letters would be requested from my references. However, one week passed, neither my references nor I have heard anything from the professor.
Should I contact the professor or just wait for a few more days? Anyone know why my references have not been contacted despite what the professor said?


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Mendeley Bibliography Settings
I'm trying to format my bibliography in Mendeley. Specifically, I'd like it to have this format (in a single document):
Text 1
References for text 1 (1, 2, 3)
Text 2
References for text 2 (4, 5, 6).
How can I do this using the Mendeley cite plug-in for word? Essentially I want to split the bibliography in two.
Thanks!


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Is it too pretentious for an undergraduate student to have their own personal page?
I am an undergraduate student from Brazil. I am not a mathematician yet because I've never published an article. I am very close to starting my master's degree and would like to have a personal page to talk about the areas I'm interested in — General Topology and Algebraic Topology — and post the lists of exercises and LaTeX solutions that I typed. I am afraid of seeming arrogant and pretentious because I am not even in my doctorate.

‘I'm afraid of seeming arrogant and pretentious.’ Who do you think  would find a personal web page pretentious?

I don't know. Maybe some colleague or teacher will make me a joke.

C’est la vie, friend.

How would they even know about your website if you do not actively advertise it to them? I don't think that university staff makes it a habit to find out if their students have personal websites.

One comment "...post the lists of exercises..."  Those lists may be subject to copyright.

If your personal page is arrogant and pretentious, it will come off as arrogant and pretentious. Otherwise it will come off as "this person wanted to have a personal website so they could be googled" which is a fairly normal thing to do, even if it's not the majority choice for college students.
Make sure not to create a resource for cheaters to lift answers to homework problems.

Next time you're afraid of looking arrogant and pretentious because you have one page, think of all the people who have a linkedin page plus a facebook page plus a github page plus whatever else.

Maybe some colleague or teacher will make me a joke. If this is your concern, you can simply use a nickname and point out that the page is yours page only to trusted persons (or if required when applying for some fundings/projects related to divulgation and communication, for example).

We had a task to create our personal web pages as students in the first semester (as part of a scientific computing course).

Yes, it is fine, but if you intend to maintain it into the future, keep it professional in all respects.
It isn't likely to be found by many people, however, unless you also make it useful in some way. That is, useful to mathematicians in your case. Book reviews might work, or alternate problems/exercises in your field.
But stay away from things like solutions to book exercises, which might be used by others to cheat in courses. And pop-culture lessens the professional nature of the site.
IIRC, some universities provide web space for students, so it isn't unheard of. Those might disappear at graduation, however.

"stay away from things like solutions to book exercises, which might be used by others to cheat"  Other people cheating is irrelevant to the operator of the website.  People might also use Wikipedia or Google to cheat, but nobody opposes their existence.

To take a more optimistic view, solutions to exercises might also be used by others to learn!

Are "book exercises" typically summatively assessed?  If not, then the issue of cheating doesn't really arise.  (Same goes for "homework".)

If you're worried about pop culture lessening the professional nature of the site, maybe have two sites: one for worky stuff, and one to kick back and have some fun.

"And pop culture lessens the professional nature of the site" - I'm not really keen on this perception. Your site is your own and it's as much a reflection of your personality as it is your professionalism. xkcd what if? is a great example of being able to demonstrate scientific proficiency in a humanised context. Something like that would be a great way to demonstrate soft skills. Of course, it does depend on whether this is a page on the actual university site or a personal project

@AnonymousPhysicist, there is a major difference between publishing an algorithm with some sample exercises (so the students can genuinely learn) and the very same exercises that may appear on the exam (so the students cheat by memorizing the answers).

@TrangOul There's a difference, which is not relevant to this situation.  Cheating is solely the responsibility of the cheater and their co-conspirators.  Public information is not a conspiracy.

I self study and it would be really good to have book solutions that I could use. I don't always have the opportunity to pay for a course and I would definitely like to study things on my own before I take a course. Math always seems impenetrable because math texts have less wording and few worked examples.

@heretoinfinity, reading solutions is too passive. You learn more by doing the exercises. If you have the discipline to work hard at an exercise and only look at the solutions when you have spent (considerable) effort, then it can be fine. But insight comes from active learning, not just seeing things. That is also why lectures are only the start of learning a subject, not the end. Feedback is necessary along with the active learning, but there are better ways to get that if you can arrange it. Printed solutions are a poor crutch.

@buffy I don't just read the solutions. I solve the problems and I check my solutions against the others.  Why would you assume I would passively read them? I sense a general bias towards solutions, which isn't good if you are in the teaching profession. I understand that neural plasticity only works with active learning so I agree with you there but feedback is important. I attempt problems on my own and if I am stuck after a while I read the solutions. I l have to learn a number of things and I am always optimizing for time.

@Buffy moreover, sometimes problems are poorly phrased and seeing solutions after some attempt at questions saves time. A lot of time

"pop-culture lessens the professional nature of the site" I suppose so, but there is no reason academics cannot talk about their non-academic interests publicly

@AgnishomChattopadhyay, my advice is simply that people at the beginning of their career are wise to stress the professional so that they are taken seriously. Once established, it becomes less of an issue.

"IIRC, some universities provide web space for students, so it isn't unheard of." Back when I was a student, the www had just been invented, almost no one had heard of it and all students had a directory under their home directory mapped to public www. Just write a .html file there and you had a home page.

"It isn't likely to be found by many people" You'd be surprised. I did a translation of a German poem into English and put it on my web site, sending links to a few friends and family. Ten years later I found my translation being used in an Indian secondary school English textbook, without acknowledgement either to myself or the original poet.

I had a webpage as a grad student where I had a lot of tutorials on how to use the various tools that we used in circuits classes.  I also had some of my lectures, and tools.  It got about 100k hits a year by the time I left, and then it went away a year later.  It wasn't until it went away that I found out how much it was used as a resource.   The Internet is actually written in pencil.
I would suggest having a github or something similar as it's free (currently) and free of the requirements of the department.    This will let you keep the work long after you are finished with school and it can follow you when you change affiliations.

+1 for this comment The Internet is actually written in pencil. Good advice for many things, not just this question.

The internet is written in pencil ... a part from what is written with your real name. That is going to bother you forever.

Sorry for your loss. You learnt the hard way why back-ups are so important....

It used to even be expected.  When I started university in 2001 every student got allocated some space for a homepage on the university servers.  That might vary by country, and be less popular post social-networking, but it's completely normal.
For Computer Science students graduating, having a personal Github page with most of you major projects is almost a must, currently.

(+1) It used to even be expected. I've been wondering about this since the present question was asked and reading the comments and answers. I thought maybe this was perhaps a country/culture-specific issue (indeed, several high school students I taught even as long ago as the late 1990s had personal web pages), but after seeing your answer I'm now wondering whether this is something that was more common a couple of decades ago, but less so now with the rise of facebook and other social media outlets.

I have learned some very difficult mathematics from blog posts written by some (admittedly, genius) mathematicians when they were in early years of college or even still in high school. So having a web page with your personal thoughts on mathematics should not shed any negative light in you.
But if you are afraid of coming off as arrogant, then don't be arrogant! Having something along the lines of "Hey, I am a second-year student, and here I will teach all of you how you should think about mirror symmetry" is something that could only be justified by immense knowledge of mathematics, while "Hey, I am a second-year student, I am interested in mirror symmetry and this is my understanding so far" sounds completely fine, even if the actual content following this line turns out to be completely wrong.
As others have suggested, you should probably stay away from posting exercise solutions. Even though there is precedent for that too, you really should consult with a senior colleague before doing so. The most important thing to consider is whether the result of the exercise is useful on its own (there are books in which critical results of the subject are hidden away in the exercises), or is the point of the exercise is for a student to practice doing something.

You should have a web page listing your name, the university where you study, and a way to contact you.  If your name is common, you might add something else that would help identify you.  No matter what you do in your future career, this is a helpful thing to have.
Including any math in your site is not particularly important.  Anyone searching for your page will be looking for your contact information.

Is such a site supposed to serve only as a business card?

No it's not.
From what you describe, it looks like you want to have a web page like it was in the good old days of the Internet of Ideas (also called Internet 1.0 ... T&C apply, these names are made up by me).
If you have an apple and you share it with me, we both have half an apple.
If you have an idea and you share it with me, we both have an idea.
If your page is pretentious, it will look like pretentious.
If your page is full of claims like "I will demonstrate Fermat's theorem", it will look like it is a crank page
If your page is full of exercises and their solutions in Latex ... it may be interesting both for you and for who will find it.
I do not have an opinion on the general issue with cheaters and future versions of ChatGPT using it, you may reflect on this aspect.

Yes, it's fine. Moreover, this will help you to showcase your accomplishments get more opportunities in each step of your life. Just gradually add it over time. In addition, if you add blog section and put stuff there, you will be able to improve your English, your writing skills, shich is helpful in both, in academia and in industry; moreover, in life.


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Phd Position follow up
After been unsuccessful in my previous endeavour to secure a PhD position I wrote to another professor at a different institute in Germany. She wrote back to me after a couple of days saying she was on leave at that moment. She also wrote that she’d be hiring in a specific area of research and should I be interested in working in that area she would be happy to follow up with me once she’s back. I wrote back to her confirming my interest. But then got an auto reply that she’d be on leave till 28 Aug. Be as that may on 11 of Sept I wrote to her again reaffirming my interest and this time I got an auto reply again that she’d be on extended leave till 12th September.
I hoped that since I wrote on the 11th and she was coming back by 12th I might hear back from her in the following days. But till now it has been dead silence. Should I write to her again, although that may seem I am bothering her. Or is she no longer interested in following up anymore ? She had stated in her initial email that she wants to hire for this fall.

Imagine how many emails might have amassed after a 4 weeks or so period of absence. Answering them all takes time, and then there is also the new semester to prepare.

https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/200892/phd-position-in-germany/200894#comment543373_200894 Also this question is very similar to your previous one

Academics receive a huge amount of emails (it can very well be more than 100 a day), and the more senior they are the more emails they receive.
If the professor has been on leave for several weeks, they have an incredible amount of work to catch on, including going through all the emails. For this reason, it is likely that it will take a while for them to respond, and it is also equally likely that your email gets lost in the pile of all emails.
Generally, I would suggest to wait for a while (around two weeks), and if you have not heard back by then reach out again (politely). The time period might change depending on the urgency of the email: if the professor mentioned that they wanted to start interviews in early October, I would follow up earlier than two weeks, whereas if this is for a PhD position starting in September '24, say, there is no harm in waiting a little bit longer.


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Should I do a second master to increase my chance of getting into a PhD program?
In my country (France), your first and second year of your Master are two different program. My second year of Master was in a remote program (the exams were not remote).
After 20ish applications, I have only got shortlisted for two of them.
Recently, a university's prof had the kindness to review my application material and told me that my CV and motivation letter are good and that the only issue he sees is my Master being a remote one and the fact that I had not applied to french universities but European ones (because of deadline issues related to the end date of my Master).
He advised me to do a second Master.
Do you think it is worth a try or will it be a waste of time ? I will have to wait until next September to start the new Master...
I thought of doing more research to compensate but in France, at least in Physics, researcher only take in students for their thesis and not people who are not students anymore.


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Disillusionment with academic system/ political aspects
I am in the early stages of figuring out the steps I need to take to lay the foundations for a career in research (hopefully).
At the moment I'm still investigating the options for an MSc, which allow for enough scope for eventual PhD.
The reason I'm posting here is to find out more about specific aspects of academic life (in a general sense). I'm particularly interested in the amount of time that is spent on what would be considered 'the bureaucratic/ institutional politics/ interpersonal dynamics' side of things?
It seems like a lot of energy and time is expended on balancing ones work with having to navigate other variables, such as making the right connections, finding supervisors, and not stepping on the wrong toes.
From the perspective of academics who have worked the system, is this seen as 'paying your dues'?
Or is it be considered to be a deterrent to certain students who might be gifted/ creative, with the potential for significant contributions in research?
Is there room for visionary/ idealistic type students to be able to learn the necessary academic rigors and discipline without hampering their unique ways of seeing?
Can such students thrive if they end up pandering to egos or limited vision (if that is the case)?
This doesn't put me off, as this is one of the possible areas of research that interest me.

This depends so heavily on the country, field, uni, your ambitions etc. There is no "general sense".

Not a direct answer to your question, but:  Please do not be under the illusion that industry is really that different.  The specifics differ, but human nature still provides political, bureaucratic, and necessary but uninteresting tasks along with "the good stuff."

Ph.D. students entering their studies seeing themselves as "visionaries" and worried about the "limited vision" of their potential advisers are, in my experience, quite commonly weeded out before or during their qualifying exams about 1-2 years in. You're entering a Ph.D. to learn, not to share wisdom.

The reason I posted was to find out more about how being a visionary type might fit. My way of thinking and processing is different as I'm neurodivergent. One such aspect is zooming out to see the big picture, but sometimes it's too big. I can focus when necessary, but I can overly focus too. My question was to find out more about the areas that might be problematic, I just didn't realise they were actually a neurodivergence issue. It's helpful for me to reflect on this more, so I can 'root out' the institutions who claim to be 'inclusive' and 'diverse', but they aren't really.

To reply to 'anonymous', I'm not sure how it was implied I had a rosy idealized view or interest in industry? If anything, I'm overly cautious about the serious decisions I make and it usually dispels any illusory notions. With respect, your comment seemed to be based on your own assumptions but they were not applicable in my case. Whilst I appreciate input that's actually related to what I was asking, there's not much value or substance to your comment.

I think you are asking several different but related questions. It also sounds like there is a specific situation you want to ask about... But in general, I would say academia is like most other professions - I don't think it's any better or worse than other career paths in the senses you mention.
Like with all professions, interpersonal dynamics are crucial, though arguably it matters more for some fields and at some places more than others. For example, you really need reasonable interpersonal skills if you want to run a lab or research group properly - but you would need it even if you were more of traditional solo humanities scholar who always publishes alone, since you need to work with your colleagues to agree on teaching and governance as well as with non-academic staff for administration of the department, managing grants, organising conferences, etc. Like with every profession, some people are better at this than others: so many young scholars leave academia because of awful senior people who are just bad managers, bullies, or only interested in growing their own power, but there have recently been high-profile cases (in the UK) where the bullies have faced consequences so there may be hope yet. The general rule of 'be a good person' should be followed.
You can't escape bureaucracy - but that's true of all professions really.

It seems like a lot of energy and time is expended on balancing ones work with having to navigate other variables, such as making the right connections, finding supervisors, and not stepping on the wrong toes.

I would consider finding the right connections and supervisors/collaborators a part of work, not something to be balanced against it. Like in most professions, networking is important. Stepping on the wrong toes is bad, but you can't control other people's reactions, so if you follow the general rule of 'be a good person', you should be fine.

From the perspective of academics who have worked the system, is this seen as 'paying your dues'? Or is it be considered to be a deterrent to certain students who might be gifted/ creative, with the potential for significant contributions in research?

None of this should be 'paying your dues' - you will have to do admin, work with people, and manage relationships throughout your career (as in most careers). It can be annoying, and I personally find networking very hard, but it shouldn't be a deterrent as you'd have to deal with this whatever you do. Amazing research - even of the most world-changing kind - will rarely get you out of these duties/responsibilities.

Is there room for visionary/ idealistic type students to be able to learn the necessary academic rigors and discipline without hampering their unique ways of seeing? Can such students thrive if they end up pandering to egos or limited vision (if that is the case)?

Noone wants to make you a worse scholar - the only way your vision gets limited is if you let it by, as you say, pandering to others who don't have your best interests at heart. But why would you pander? At your stage, the most important thing is to find a good supervisor and a good department: ask the current graduate students what the atmosphere is like in their department (they are often very frank). Like when you search for a job in any profession, you need to do your research about the company/department you join. And if you hear bad things, avoid that department. Sometimes, bad things happen, but overly egotistical colleagues are not the norm and interpersonal disasters are not the default situation in academia.
I get the sense you are talking about internal politics. This, I avoid like the plague, because it has the potential to take over your life. But sometimes internal battles have to be fought, if it's over the direction of your field or over moral issues like creating a safe and inclusive learning environment. The key is not to let disagreement over a single issue spill over into other areas of interactions with your colleagues. Some colleagues are better at this than others, but again this is not unique to academia and this should be discoverable from asking around. (Also, drama tends to find people who like drama.) Finally, you will usually escape most of this as a graduate student, especially a masters student - they are rarely involved in internal politics. As a PhD student, you will be exposed to it a bit more, but you will usually be on the sidelines of internal politics unless you make yourself (or are made) a pawn - but most departments are sane enough to leave students out of any mess. Choose a sane supervisor and sane department by asking around before applying to ensure your chances of encountering trouble like this is minimised.
Academia can be a lovely place. In a well-functioning department, your life could be amazing. In a dysfunctional department, your life could be hell. I have been in both. In my corner of academia, to judge from discussions with colleagues, the two are just as common as each other. I wouldn't be put off by this (I would put more weight on job prospects in general and levels of pay), but just go in without rose-tinted glasses (which you clearly don't have).

This is exactly what I was looking for when I posted, thank you! Sometimes I find communication difficult, but I appreciate your understanding of what I was trying to ask (in a convoluted way).

There are all sorts of institutions and all sorts of situations. I've worked for some literally crazy people (committed to institutions crazy) and some evil ones. But there was enough good in the jobs I had that my experience, measured over a career, was net positive.
Most jobs have three types of expectations/requirements: Research, Teaching, and Service. The balance between them depends on the institution and also the career point you occupy. Service is usually something like 10% of the job and it can be service within the institution (committees and such) or outside (community stuff). At a research institution, research is usually about 60-70% of the job with the rest teaching, either large low-level courses or upper level and graduate courses. At a teaching institution, the expectations of teaching make up that 60-70% with research covering the rest. Teaching institutions normally expect close and friendly interactions with students. Research institutions may expect the same with grad students.
Pure research with no other obligations is pretty rare in academia itself, less so in some (government) funded laboratories. Some superstars can make this work in academia, but it is rare. Graduate student advisement is probably the minimum needed, but a job with only that sort of expectation, beyond research, is, again, pretty rare.
As for academic freedom, it is usually pretty secure, even with a crazy (or evil) department chair. This may not be the same in some countries, of course. In some places, tenure is pretty sacrosanct with attacks on it garnering wide condemnation both inside and outside the institution. There are instances of some fairly racist people being protected by tenure. I've known some oddballs, too.
Politics, however, can be a negative factor with faculty factions constantly bickering with one another. Early career people are cautioned against joining in on this.
Yes, there is room for excellence, even when there are negative factors. You don't need to be "plain vanilla" to succeed. Having commitment to the job is needed and usually rewarded. I think the same must be true outside academia as well. Having a bad boss ain't fun. Tenure helps.
Another aspect you mention, however, is also important. You need to build up a circle of collaborators over time. People who have similar interests, either in teaching or research (or both). People you can share ideas with, possibly leading to combined research. People you can talk to at conferences. For a doctoral student it is useful especially to try to get connected to the circle of your advisor. It is useful to keep in contact with trusted professors, not just advisors.
If you are extraordinarily introverted it is worth learning how to overcome the tendency to keep to yourself. Learn to speak in public, for example and to share ideas. Some people need professional help to accomplish this, but most early career people need practice, at least.

Thanks for such a thoughtful and detailed comment. It's really useful and I appreciate you taking the time to share your practical insights. Especially your observations about how to overcome introversion.

Bottom line: even in the academia, there is a reward for people doing good work.
All the other things you mention ('the bureaucratic/ institutional politics/ interpersonal dynamics') are just on the background and mostly out of your control.
You face them if they intrude in your life, otherwise you can stay out of them and ignore them and do your own good work (please note: this is exactly the reasons why abuses and discriminations happen on a daily basis even in academy where most of the people strive to be the visionary/idealistic student you depict)
The visionary/ idealistic type students do not exist. Academics are adult people living their life in this world. Pretending something different or a special treatment of academics is detrimental to them and to the world (see my parenthesis here above).
Minor addendum: "there is a reward for people doing good work." the reward is proportional to the situation, you can be as skilled as a Nobel prize and your work as good as Nobel prize work ... and your reward will be proportional to the Nobel prize of your situation.

"The visionary/ idealistic type students do not exist." Actually, I think the OP was referring to themself.

@Buffy someone thinking of themselves as a visionary/idealistic student has an ego as big as the big-ego people of the today academia creating all the bureaucratic/ institutional politics/ interpersonal dynamics mess that OP wants to avoid.
Nothing wrong with having a big ego and knowing it, but it is important to realize that there are multipe forms to have a big ego. Deserving of being outside social dynamics is one of them.

Hmmm, as I usually tell people, "I'm not perfect, just the best." ;-)

I'm sorry if I came across as arrogant, it was not my intention. This was something that I was aware of when I posted, but it's difficult to avoid sounding pompous when using terms such as 'visionary' and 'idealistic'. Just to clarify my meaning, I was referring to myself but not as positive attributes. I'm neurodivergent and my mind works in it's own peculiar way. Although it's useful for coming up with ideas, seeing patterns and being highly focused, I have to be mindful of my big picture ways. Being idealistic is part of my nature, but its often seen as unrealistic (understandably).

@NedtheStaffie having a big ego is not necessarily negative. But one needs to be aware of it. One thing is idealistic "I strive to do the best possible thing", another is idealistic in the sense "if everyone else do like I think...". The distance between the two seems enormous, but in reality is almost zero.
If you are an idealistic visionary, striving to do the best thing possible, being a professor and having people working for your goals, how do you manage them? You will for sure note to yourself they have limited time with you ... so you squeeze them, for the benefit of everyone!


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NDSEG Eligibility Confusion
I'm pretty sure I'm eligible to apply for the NDSEG fellowship however some wording across their various pages seems somewhat vague and slightly outdated. I'm applying for grad school this fall to start a master's program in fall 2024, and I do intend to do a PhD. To me, it seems that they're now accepting applications for those either in a master's or doctoral program but that wasn't always the case. Can someone confirm that I am eligible to apply to the NDSEG even though I'm applying for a master's?


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What is the benefit to having administrative tasks in academia?
I see that some professors are super busy with administrative tasks like deanship, directorship, etc.
Is there any benefit to having such administrative tasks in academia?
If so, how?