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How to score class participation, correcting for natural outspokenness?
When my students ask questions and participate in discussion, class is more thoughtful, more fun, and more effective. I encourage their participation by checking in with them regularly, and making sure that they have time to speak and that they get a respectful hearing. Still, perhaps half of them never say a word. It seems like being in our mutual interest to get them to speak in class.
Because of these positive effects, like other teachers I have tried to encourage participation by making it part of the grading rubric. Some measures assess students' class presence within a particular timeframe, but this is hard to distinguish from attendance. More subtle is to give credit for speech, by filtering and counting contributions, whether online or in person. The speech measure is confounded by the fact that some students are happy to talk all the time while some never even want to. Without rewarding loudmouths or penalizing shy international students, what are best practices in scoring class participation?

I usually did not speak in such classes, and just accepted that my grade will be lower because of that.

The thing about grading participation is that you may incentivize students to talk for the sake of talking, whether they have something useful to contribute or not.

It would help if you had participation-grade-check-ins throughout the semester, since it can be hard for students to tell if they're talking enough, especially in a large class. That lets shy students know they have to speak up more and also gives you the chance to tell more talkative students to tone it down. (I was once told, "Look, I'm only gonna call on you once per class but it's not personal," and that helped me a lot--you can bet I made sure I used my one comment judiciously and prepared it well.)

This is not the final word on the topic, but... I prefer to grade students on the quality as well as the quantity of their in-class participation. Adding an explicit explanation of this in the syllabus and explaining it in class is helpful here. The idea is to encourage thoughtful contributions from everyone, which allows you to warn and then penalise those who speak too much while not contributing much of worth. This hopefully creates a bit more air time for those who are hesitant to jump in and speak.

In a seminar a prof had an easy way to break the speaking barrier. Each time one student was randomly selected to summarize the talk given and one was randomly selected to ask at least one question. Some of us put that under stress, but it did typically start a conversation and increased participation - plus we also took some communication skill improvement from that class rather than "just the content".

Is "speaking in class" or "communicating about the topic in groups" part of your learning goals for your students? If yes, then you should first communicate this to your students and then think about how to include participation in the grading rubric based on the learning goals you set.
However, if you only want students to participate in the lecture to make your own teaching experience better, I think it is unreasonable to include their participation in their grade.
Put differently: I think that the grading should reflect how well the students achieved the learning goals of the course and nothing else. (This may be different in school, but for a undergraduate and graduate courses, I think this is reasonable.)

You want to grade people, in part, on their participation. If a person isn't speaking in class, whether it's because they're shy or because they have nothing to say, they're not participating.
If part of the assessment of a class involves an oral presentation, and a student refuses to present because they're shy then it would seem unlikely that we might say "we'll let that person pass the presentation component of the class because it would be unfair to punish them for being shy." Rather, I suspect they might fail that component for not producing material upon which they could be assessed (i.e., not delivering a presentation).
You mention online discussions. Obviously that might pose less of a barrier to shy people. Ultimately though, if you believe that participation is something upon which students should be assessed, and students are made aware of this, then shy students just have to accept that all other things being equal their grade may be poorer than their more outspoken peers. Perhaps this will encourage them to (take steps to) speak up. Perhaps they'll benefit, both in terms of their grade and in their lives, as a result.
As for dealing with loudmouths, I think the answer here is relatively straightforward: You don't assess them on the quantity that they produce, but rather the quality. You decide whether what they're saying reflects meaningful participation and thoughtful contributions, or simply blabbering.
tl;dr Grading people on the basis of their informal participation adds a few wrinkles (i.e. punishing shy students, and increasing the subjectivity of grading everyone else) but if a teacher decides that this is something they consider important then these wrinkles may just have to be accepted.

The question invites suggestions of how to assess participation, rather than asking whether assessing participation is actually a good approach, so I'll leave this as a comment rather than as part of my answer: If you believe that participation is beneficial to academic performance then surely a better approach is to put your energy into encouraging participation, and then assume that those who participate more will perform better academically (i.e. in exam/essay marks).

The OP did not say that they believe participation will improve exam/essay grades.  Assessing class participation is another method of measuring academic performance.

When my students ask questions and participate in discussion, class is more thoughtful, more fun, and more effective.

Here is some food for thought for you.
Your assumption is that participation in class discussions can be encouraged by bestowing a grade benefit on those who participate actively.
Do we know whether that's true?
Aren't there better ways to encourage participation in class discussions?
What would you do if everyone had stellar participation?  Unless your groups are small, I bet it would get unwieldy.
Have you surveyed your students to find out what they think about the class discussions?  What their individual goals for themselves are?
Side note: I often see a gender correlation when it comes to level of participation during class.
(Personal comment: the most recent class I took, quite a few years after leaving grad school, had almost no student participation, and I hated how quiet all the students were.  I really need the give and take.  But those students were such lumps on logs, I doubt anything would have gotten them to pry open their jaws.)

No, I don't have evidence that it's true. Thanks for calling that out.

Provide the students with low-stakes or low-pressure opportunities to participate! Award points for people who send you interesting questions or links by email. Or, if you want, for those who come to your office hours, or talk to you after class. Another option is to do some activities in class and say they're not graded, but that you'll give participation points to people who hand them in (and who clearly at least took a good shot at it). This can double as a way of collecting feedback on what the students are and aren't understanding.
I always have a mix of students in my undergrad classrooms; a lot of them are shy or introverted or non-native speakers of English. Back in my own undergrad years I was pretty timid as well (easy starstruck by professors + still outgrowing childhood shyness), so I get it. Nothing wrong with extraverts, but I'd be uncomfortable if my classroom were set up to give an advantage to the ones who don't have any qualms talking in class.

What you can do is tell those students that notoriously always answer (in my experience there always are some) to give some others a chance as well. If the few that always contribute also have the best contributions, you should tell them to just wait a little bit for the others to speak up and still hear them out afterwards. If the most frequent contributors have contributions of mixed quality, you should tell them to favor quality over quantity and also adjust your participation grade accordingly.
Other than that, I don't think you can force people to speak up. This is a well known issue in the context of MBAs. Women typically have lower grades in those classes that heavily use participation grades.


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Measuring the Effect of Public Relations on Scientific Journals Impact Factor?
I’m looking at the correlation between communications outreach and a scientific journal’s impact factor/citations. I intern for a communications department at a University’s engineering school and we are trying to motivate more of our scientists to share their publications with us for media and press release. The biggest issue we have with convincing scientists to become interested in this is the lack of quantitative data that shows the benefit of us publicizing their journals. I’ve done some prior research and the most I could find was others acknowledging the lack of research done in this area and proposing that social scientists should look into this. Do you have any suggestions for further reading into this topic, either previous studies done, or potentially how to best go about this research on my own? Potentially what factors would be the most useful to compare between journal articles that we have/have not done press releases for, or if this would even be a useful measure?

I am confused now. Do you mean publicizing the papers or the journals? Those are two very different things.

I believe journals.

That does not make me much less confused, since you are saying "their" journals. Do you mean the journals for which they are editors? Managing editors? Actual owners?

https://arxiv.org/pdf/1409.4269.pdf for individual publications
(from personal experience:  I prefer media office of publisher over the one of the university)

Journals to which they were an author.

But you are not an author to a journal. You are an author of a paper and you publish that paper in a journal. And PR for journals would not make much sense coming from others than the journal itself (which probably has a publisher with a department for that specific purpose).

Ah thank you for that clarification. I'm super new to this and didn't know the difference. So then I guess what I meant to say was that they authored a paper that they published to a journal. An example of something we would do pr work for is http://www.pnas.org/content/113/34/9457.abstract which may give you a better understanding than I can.

So that is a link to a paper. I am sorry to say this, but if you are this unfamiliar with the difference between a journal and a paper then I have a feeling you might not be the right person for finding out how to do these things (or how big their effect is).

True, but that's why I'm asking for help. Despite the learning curve it may require, I still want to learn more about this issue. The people around me have used multiple terms interchangeably so I wasn't aware of the difference. Do you know of any previous research on this topic that I could at least get started reading about?

Impact factor does not measure public relations.  It is not an indicator of much besides citation frequency.

First, a proxy for scientific communication may be seen in Altmetrics.
Second, Impact Factors are indicators based on citations.
Therefore, you could take a look at the numerous studies that have investigated correlations between Altmetrics and citations.
(By the way: It seems that one cannot find research on the direct correlations between Altmetrics and Impact Factors so easily; the reason behind that may be that Altmetric.com does not allow researchers to analyse Altmetrics on a journal-level, as far as I am aware.)

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How do mathematics graduate committees view Mathematics subject GRE scores around the 60th percentile?
I am a little curious as to how mathematics graduate programs in the United States view subject GRE scores. Does a low score in the range of 60th percentile rule one out of top 20 programs?
I am quite slow and I probably got 35-38 (attempted 38) out of 66 questions right in the subject test which will probably put me somewhere between 55th and 65th percentile. As an international student, I have no idea how terrible such a score is and I am considering stopping the application process to US universities since I doubt if I stand a chance.

Does a low score in the range of 60th percentile rule one out of top 20 programs?

I am already confused by "a low score in the range of the 60th percentile." A score in the 60th percentile is, by definition, high rather than low.  A math PhD student should know that. :)
In terms of whether that score would "rule you out": again, every program and even every member of every admissions committee has to decide how to weigh the various factors.  But that is why you apply to more than one program.  I think that if your application is otherwise magnificent, you are a very likely admit at several top 20 programs.

As an international student, I have no idea how terrible such a score is and I am considering stopping the application process to US universities since I doubt if I stand a chance.

Yes, you stand a chance, so please don't stop your application for this reason.  The smart thing to do is to divide the programs of interest to you into tiers and apply to a few schools in each tier.  For instance, my program (at UGA) is about the 50th best in the US, and for us a 60th percentile score would in all likelihood not hurt your application at all.  So it would be smart to apply to some schools in the UGA tier.  (Perhaps even UGA itself...)

Relatively speaking, 60th percentile is low. "Low" is not defined as "lower than average." It's low for someone aspiring to get a PhD.

Also, a top 20 school has a miniscule acceptance rate. It's true that the math GRE matters little, but to get in you otherwise have to be truly stellar. Best at your school, depending on the school.

@Matt: "Relatively speaking, 60th percentile is low."  No, I disagree: the students who take the math subject exam are virtually all aspiring to get a PHD.  Conversely, not all students who want to get a PhD in math in the US take the math subject exam: PhD programs below a certain level do not require it.  So getting a 60th percentile really does indicate an above average performance among the OP's cohort: i.e., PhD seekers.

"Also, a top 20 school has a miniscule acceptance rate." They are certainly competitive, but I think you may be overstating things a bit: a top 20 department will routinely send several students per year to other top 20 departments.  In my department (about number 50) it is often the case that more than one student per year is admitted to a top 20 department.  Your description sounds more accurate for the top five departments than the top 20.

@PeteL.Clark, while I understand a 60th percentile will mean I have a better score than most test-takers, I was asking if 60 is a red-flag for a graduate admission committee at top 20 US institutions. (In addition, my GPA isn't stellar but I think my letter writers are experts in their fields who were happy with my during my summer internship.)

I didn't do well on the math GRE.  That may have been a factor in a rejection I received from a math department.
However, I was accepted by a very good comp sci department.  In my statement of purpose I indicated a strong interest in the mathematical side of things.  I was able to do a lot of math in my CS coursework.
So, that might be an option for you too.  Also, don't forget about the option of taking courses as a non-matriculated student.
I don't remember what specific number I got. Maybe your result is fine, viewed in the context of the whole student.  (Which hopefully is the approach the departments you applied to will take.)

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Authorship for papers not completed before leaving, where I am major contributor?
I am a senior freelance software engineer, with about 10 years' experience. I've been working in a university setting for the past year, as a contractor. Usually I work in a commercial environment.
During the year, I've done 15-20 days' work on each of 2 different projects that should have turned into papers, but didn't due to lack of time from the PI. These projects are more or less complete from a coding point of view: they just haven't been written up by the PI. I believe the time required to write up should be 2-4 days each.
I've now decided to move on from the team (partly due to frustration at projects like these being blocked, which means I don't have much visible output) and am documenting and handing over my projects.
My question is this. On these projects, is it reasonable to ask for authorship on any paper that is written based on my work after I leave? And - assuming that my estimate of 2-4 days' work remaining above is correct - is it reasonable to ask for first authorship? (Our field is epidemiology / life sciences, so I believe that authorship order reflects overall contribution.)
We weren't doing traditional scientific experiments - these are data-driven research projects. So the hierarchy is probably more like the wider digital world, in which execution is generally acknowledged to be more important than ideas. Specifically, my code would have collected the data; my coding decisions would have driven 95% of the design; and I would have written an iPython notebook forming the basis of the methods and results sections of the paper. The PI would write the intro and conclusions and pull together the paper. For example, one project was to do comparison of datasets in the scientific literature, and the PI's idea was pretty much "hey, let's look at dataset A, see if we could match it with dataset B, and draw some conclusions". My contribution was to see if that was possible, learn about datasets C and D and E and F, decide F was the best match, do the actual matching of A and F, and draw the conclusions. The PI will literally just write up the conclusions.
In both cases the original idea was the PI's, and they have provided guidance as I worked, but probably not more than 0.5-1 day in total.
I'm not sure how authorship works after I've left. The ICMJE's author definition says that authors should be involved in drafting and approving the paper, but I won't be involved in that (well, unless I work for free).
However, it's very important for my commercial reputation that I can point to visible work done during the year, so I would like to be named as an author, rather than all the work just vanishing under the PI's name.
One other point: the PI previously put me down as second author on a project where I'd done 99% of the work, and when I queried this, claimed there was no convention on authorship order in our field. Fortunately, I was able to resolve this amicably. But given that experience, I'm now keen to clarify the position about authorship before I leave, and I'd welcome advice on convention and etiquette in this situation.

I obviously don't know your specific project, but I suspect your estimates of the time it takes to do the non-programming part of the work (coming up with and refining the idea before "giving" it to you, writing up the paper, "packaging" it in a way that emphasizes its value) are wayyyy off.

I'm a professional freelancer, so I'm generally pretty good at estimating, otherwise I don't pay rent ;) I've seen the PI write a paper in half a day - they're very fast when they do write. The idea wasn't given to me in a nicely packaged form - I did a lot of the feasibility research. Coming up with the idea obviously takes years of experience, but then so does becoming a software engineer!

In addition, if the PI does spend more than 15-20 days working on the project, I'll be quite happy for them to be first author. I just want authorship to reflect accurately the actual contributions we made.

If you only did programming support for a project, and did not design or collect data, or design the experiment, and did not have a role in writing the manuscript, you probably qualify for only an acknowledgement, and not full authorship. I'm not clear what you mean by "feasibility research" - it's possible that work would qualify if it went beyond normal software design processes (i.e., are you determining whether the idea was feasible for YOU to accomplish in a certain time frame, or feasible at all, and what was the extent of other approaches that you considered...given the time frame you state of 15-20 days work, I am very skeptical there was extensive feasibility research necessary).
15-20 days work is a miniscule amount of time for a typical scientific publication - I would say the normal range is 6 months to 2 years. This range counts all of the failures and false starts inherent in science, refining ideas, etc. Though it is possible all of the data and analysis that goes into a paper takes place on a shorter time frame, it is unfair to exclude all of the productive failure along the way.
Programming by itself isn't really a direct contribution to a scientific project, regardless of the time spent, unless you are developing algorithms, or doing something novel (for example, optimizing a program to the extent that a previously computationally intractable question can be solved in a reasonable timeframe).
I doubt your PI actually does not know the conventions of authorship in the field; it seems more likely that they knew you were overestimating your role in the project, gave you the appropriate credit, and didn't want to argue with you over it further.
More generally, and not speaking to your situation specifically, leaving a lab should not affect your claim to authorship on any work you did while you were a member. However, meeting all the requirements for authorship will indeed require further, unpaid work. At a minimum, this would include review of the manuscript before submission and publication, and in most cases would include substantial writing/editing support, preparation of final figures, etc.

Re “the normal range [of working time an individual author contributes to a paper] is 6 months to 2 years.”  This simply isn’t possible in the fields I know, even including early exploration and false starts, etc.  In these fields, early career academics are expected to average a couple of papers a year, on top of teaching, admin, conference travel/presentation, etc… .  (And I’m told it’s more in many other fields.)  In my experience, the work of a paper may well be spread out over a year or several, but typically adds up to more like 2–3 months full time specifically on the project.

When people move on and write a paper based on their previous work, "working for free" is exactly what they often end up doing.  If they move to another position in academia they can probably work in whatever passes for normal academic hours, but that's not your position.
All authors need to know the manuscript well enough to put their name to it.  By not putting the effort in to do this (in your own time presumably) the mostly likely effect is that the work doesn't get published.
As a freelancer, you run your own business.  You know that some work has to be done that can't be billed to clients.  Earning some publications for your own publication record could easily fall into that category.  you have to make a decision whether to make that investment (and if you plan on taking contracts in academia in the future, the publications will help you).

Doing programming support for a research project, in my experience, leads to a mention in the acknowledgments, not co-authorship.  Often times that work can be substantial, but that doesn't change anything.  This is particularly true if you're an outside contractor who is paid to offer that support.  In academia execution is pretty much never valued over ideas, unless the point of the paper itself is developing a new method of execution.
I should add, my experience is almost entirely in data-driven projects, as you mentioned this project is, from retrieval to cleaning to processing to running models and analyzing.  Maybe it's different when the support involves lab work, I couldn't say for sure.
As with most of the authorship questions I see come up on this SE, I think the best approach is to always sort it out, preferably in writing, before the work is done.  If your goal is to have co-authorship on published papers then talk to the researchers about it when you get involved.  That won't help you now, but it might in the future.


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How long should a graduate school statement of intent be?
I'm attempting to apply to a graduate program for medicinal chemistry and the prompt for the statement of intent doesn't explicitly state a page length. Should I assume about one page? And are paragraphs generally single spaced or double spaced?

A rule of thumb that is in my opinion useful is: keep things reasonably short. Nobody would be keen to read pages of vague statements. After all it (hopefully) is not about the length, but about what you write.

Always an option: contact the institution and ask them. Getting a SOI of their preferred length is also in their interest.

It depends on the program, but if no requirement is set, I would go for about 500 words. That's about two pages double-spaced. You want to be to the point in these essays. Too much rambling may turn the reader off.
I never turn anything in single-space. Double-spaced documents help for readability. It's up to you, but I suggest double-spacing.


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Is it bad if I don't feel like an impostor?
I started graduate school recently. A professor was talking about impostor syndrome and said that everyone goes through it. They made a joke saying that if you don't feel like an impostor, something is wrong.
Well, I certainly don't feel like an impostor. I'm doing well in my studies and a professor even said that I'm doing "outstanding".
So, is there something wrong with me that I feel confident in my abilities?

No.  Check back in a few years to let us know how you feel then.

@AnonymousPhysicist What if I still don't feel like an impostor then, is something wrong?

I you think there is something wrong with you because you feel confident in your abilities then you have impostor syndrome :-)

"Impostor Syndrome" would happen to you (if it does) sometime in your future.  When you are on your own.  You are making your own lesson plans (for teaching), you are designing your own research program, you are deciding for yourself whether to join a collaboration with your peers.

The beginning of graduate school may be early to feel it, in general.

I've known several narcissists. They're all very successful.

This question could, in itself, be evidence of imposter syndrome :-P

This professor was just trying to reassure the folks who are feeling doubtful or worried.
Bottom line: if you feel worried about something, that's okay, it's a common phenomenon, and feeling that way is nothing to worry about; if you don't feel worried about something, great!  No need to feel worried!

I'd suggest to look at this more generally.
Up to recently, there was science that required one to have a philosophical mind. There were such people, scientists, who thought and felt differently than others, and who were literally a different kind of people, because they wanted to know the hidden truth of things and think more rationally than others who looked only at the surface. They were special people to talk to; they were interesting not only by their deeds like most other people, for example engineers — from whom it is always a result that is eventually required, and nothing else than a result, — but also, and especially, by their words. They could be spiritually enlightening people to converse with, and that was the main value that they brought to the society as a whole: rationality, and education. They could not only give you what you need, like other intelligent people who do not shy away from some work, but they could also tell you what you should in fact need, and what you should think about things in general. To sum up, they knew something, and they wanted to know, and they changed and moulded their minds in order to know, and they strove to know by all ways, all their life. And what they would tell you could well be much better than what you could think by yourself. It was not merely sporadic, there was indeed such role in the society.
Now, such science is gone, or almost gone, and certainly it is being pushed away as philosophical nonsense, or as a violation of liberty, or under many more pretexts. People who take the place nowadays are usually just ordinary people with an ordinary organisation of mind, to the ordinary exception that their mind be well suited to their profession at hand. And that profession has nothing to do with knowing the hidden truth, rather it is centred around deliviring a result, like all other people do. Of course, still someone entering academia might do so because he has a philosophical inkling in his mind, but what matters is that he can do all his duties no matter whether he is a philosopher or not, without paying any attention to the philosophical spirit even if he is endowed with it, and that, therefore, even in the case he is, still his philosophical spirit undergoes no meaningful development during his education and work, his conclusions remain as meagre from the philosophical point of view as anyone else's would be. Quite generally one might say that such people perform the role of, so to say, a meta-engineer: the object of their job is to endow other people of action with ways to go and templates to use.
So there is a mix of the present and of the past. The memories of the past role of scientist still remain. A young scientist can see that he is bright and hard-working, but he also is still taught, often implicitly, that there is something more that is required from him, and he feels, quite vaguely, that he does not possess in his soul that which he should have. He is not that special in his thoughts and in his feelings, he is just like all other people around him, especially like those of them who have acquired, too, a difficult profession: for example, a doctor, a lawyer, an engineer, an economist. What is worse, his own profession differs from most other professions in that he does not deliver any results immediately, his results might or might not make a difference only in the future, sometimes in the distant future. He is like, say, an IT security specialist, who is only thanked in a handful of unlikely events, or even not at all. That exarcerberates his feeling that he is not doing enough.
Now, of course, if he can see his real position, and is not trying to think he is one who he is not, namely a scientist of the past, a man of wisdom, then certainly he shall not feel he is an impostor, and will simply take for granted the contingencies of his own profession. In society, all memories wane eventually, and one of this special role of a scientist is probably destined to go the same path, unfortunately. One might make a prediction that in twenty to fifty years there will be no more impostor syndrome in academia. This is merely a thing of our days, a result of a social change not yet complete.
What does that mean, eventually? That it is actually quite fine not to have any "syndrome", as usual. It should be just like elsewhere: some work, some do not, but those who do not usually leave… or are supposed to.


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Scholarship case - Accepting more than one university offer
I have applied for the said foundation as well as the Chevening Scholarship to pursue my Master's degree (Postgraduate).
Recently, I received two universities offers.
At the beginning and as a Syrian student, I did not know that accepting an offer may affect accepting other offers. So I accepted a university with an average ranking.
Now that I have received an offer from a better university, can I accept other universities' offers? Knowing that I need to accept at least two universities offers, because the universities that I applied for in the first scholarship differ from the other one. And each university is giving me 4 weeks to accept the offer, if I did not accept the offer I will not be able to provide my offers to the scholarship committee after 4 month if they picked me. Many thanks. I would really appreciate a prompt answer for this dilemma.

You didn't realize that saying to one university "yes, I accept to study full time at your university" meant that you couldn't accept the same thing at another university? Even as a student of another country, you should have understood this.
For the matter of needing to accept 2 different universities for 2 different scholarships: you can't. Either you need both scholarships to agree to both pay for the same university, or you need to make do with 1 scholarship.

sorry, I did not mean to be rude in my question. The only thing that I am afraid of being rejected from the scholarships in which I accepted its university offer. consequently, If I won the other one, I will loss it's universities' offers. Thank you for your courteous, timely response.

@samardati The answer to that question depends upon the specifics of the scholarships and is considered off-topic here.


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Is there any research done on ideal proctoring algorithms?
I am a grad student TA and I proctor exams. I want to know, what is the best way to proctor? As in, paths to take while walking, when to stand, when to walk, etc.
Is there any rigorous studies on what catches the most cheating? How does the algorithm change for larger or smaller classrooms?
I am interested in scientific studies, not anecdotes. Are there any rigorous studies for this?

I don't understand the downvote, surely proctoring exams is on topic for academia.SE. I want to keep it scientific and not just anecdotal. This actually seems like a very interesting problem in optimization, too.

The way you asked this question might be out of scope ("shopping question"). Even so, I think it is on-topic. Personally, I don't see the need in making a science out of catching cheats.

The determination of such an algorithm is certainly a math (or perhaps CS, etc) problem, but since you're asking about such results and how to apply them, rather than how to determine such an algorithm, I think it is perfectly appropriate for Academia SE.

@ian_itor What do you mean it's a shopping question? Aren't shopping questions like "what program should I choose" etc.?

I think asking for studies/publications on a specific topic could be viewed as "shopping"

As a graduate assistant course instructor, I had two students who turned in identical homework assignments once.  I was convinced there was something fishy going on, but my supervisor and I decided we didn't have clear proof.  He arranged for a special, large classroom shaped like an L for the final exam.  The students who were under scrutiny were assigned seats that were so isolated from others, cheating would have been just impossible.  They both failed the final.  One ended the course with a failing grade and the other with a D.  I personally think that preventing cheating is more ...

... important than catching students in the act.  Also, I can say that I found the spaciousness of that large classroom made the proctoring MUCH easier. // I'm sorry, this isn't scientific, so I'm not sharing it as an answer, but I hope my experience is a little bit helpful.

Network interdiction is a mathematical problem with characteristics similar to yours. The name "David Morton" comes to mind. He used to be at UTexas and is now at Ohio State. You should be able to find pointers to some of his research. (As @aparente001 hints, however, this might be more trouble than it's worth.)

Unpredictability may be key to preventing cheating. If people taking the exam can't predict when you are going to walk past them, it may be harder to e.g. pick a time to use a cell phone. If you follow any fixed path or plan, it gets easier.

@PatriciaShanahan - My proctoring days were long before cell phones.  I suppose that cell phones have changed everything....  I wonder if there's a simple detector that would notice electronic devices.  I wonder if mirrors would help.  Also, I wonder if there are ways to design exams such that there would be less of a need for quick data retrieval.

Guys, you are missing the beauty of the challenge. The ultimate question is - is there a scientific approach to this  - something that gives a principled answer to: how do I best prevent cheating and catch those who commit it.

"Is there any rigorous studies on what catches the most cheating?" - It seems there is some disagreement on the merits of this question, and I tend to side with the search for creative answers, but this was the one part of your question that bothered me. I suspect the way to catch the most cheating would be the most covert observation possible - essentially baiting your students to teach. I would strongly disagree that this is the optimal solution. Without any studies in mind, a game theory approach is probably going to get you further than a graph theory traveling salesman approach.

I proctor tests for high school science teams and one thing I do is require them to turn off their phones and place them face down on the desk in front of them. That way I can see them, and know they aren't using them. If you don't advertise this before the test, no one is going to bring a decoy phone either.

Put a video camera at each desk, and another in the ceiling over each desk, and another under each desk, and three more in each bathroom stall. Don't tell the students about the cameras. Hire a team of hundreds to scour through the videos. It'll take years, and you'll probably land in jail, but if there's cheating, you'll catch it.

I would post an answer, but I don't want to use anecdotes to support my point. Having been a student I know which students cheat. You have to do profiling and focus your attention on those students. If you have international students in the body, due to cultural reasons Chinese and Middle Eastern students are the most likely to cheat (Not trying to imply that all of them do). It is very commonplace in their country. Also do it on student by student case. If someone doesn't show up for class and shows up for an exam, pay attention. If someone looks nervous, fidgeting pay attention.

There is no scientific method as to how to walk around an exam room. I think the best thing you can do is look at the students giving the exam. Also if possible scramble the seating or have pre-assigned seating. Also consider Survivor Bias in any research of this type. Because students that get caught cheating are usually the ones doing it wrong. The ones doing it right, will never get caught. Hence this data will yield nothing interesting to you.

I believe that you can formulate the problem mathematically in a way which can lead to some well-known optimisation problem.
However, I think the mathematical model you described is very restricted and the solution is not likely to work very well in practice, even if you find it. Your model only includes moving and observing a certain part of a room - plain and simple. However, in practice, cheating is prevented not only by someone who "polices" the situation. It is a more complex process, which includes some aspects of ethics, culture, community values, etc. Creating a proper culture within your School / University is much better way of preventing cheating, than walking around students following a super-optimal path prescribed by a supercomputer.
Also, the efficiency of a proctor depends not only on their path through the room, but on a lot of psychological  factors, e.g. how this person is perceived by students. A lazily walking person will not be very efficient in preventing cheating whatever the path is. A really "scary" proctor (with heavy looks, etc) can prevent all cheating sitting on their chair in a corner of the room. There is much more factors to this problem than trajectory only, and that's why I don't think the model you suggest is very useful for this problem.

Take a look at A Comprehensive Literature Review on Cheating, Simha and Cullen, and Detecting and Preventing Cheating During Exams, Yee and MacKown.  I feel like I only scratched the surface.  Not really sure why you need help with the literature search....


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Is it ethical to TA in another university?
My major field in undergraduate studies was A, whereas my current graduate field has been shifted to B (at a Canadian university).
I'm in trouble to find a TA position, as following:

At our department, B, faculty members prefer to choose the fellows, who had been in this field from their undergraduate studies. Because they themselves had passed these course within their studies, so are able to handle the case, more properly.
I'd just given a try for TA positions at department A (with which my background is compatible). Actually, the main source of funding at this department is TA. Therefore, the department does not accept unsolicited applications from the other departments for TA positions.

Furthermore, my tendency to catch at least one TA position stems from two things:

Funding,
Teaching experience.

Now, as I found that there is no potential chance at our university to hit the mark, I thought there might be some chances to be TA at adjacent universities. I realize that the same issues may be occurred about such cases, too. But, I'm wondering whether such attempt is ethical or not.
Any suggestion about resolving this problem is highly welcome.

Ethics aside, why would another school hire you as TA over one of their own students? Typically TA jobs are designated for students as a benefit to them, and hiring non-student TAs (if allowed at all) happens very rarely, under exceptional circumstances where there is some special need. (Example guidelines for hiring non-student TAs)

@ff524: Bad luck, then...!

Why don't you apply to research assistantship with some Prof at your university. At least first objective will be solved.

@Coder: I am, actually, a full-time research assistant, under supervision of my own supervisor. This RA position does not fulfill my second enthusiasm, at all. Furthermore, I'm not really comfortable with the salary of the RA position.

@Roboticist Try to take up freelancing jobs.

There are circumstances where it is appropriate to teach at another uni. I, like others, did so in Montreal, because of the language differences. But there is was a known collaboration between departments.

@JessicaB: Nice point... I may look for any potential external department, with collaboration with ours. There could be a good place to look for a TA position (If there is any collaboration, of course!).

You really need to ask your university about this.  For example, if it is part of a consortium, which would provide some financial benefit to you, your university will know.

Based on the other comments & answer, there appears to be significant regional variation regarding this topic.
TAing in another university is certainly not uncommon eg. in Northern Europe, and in fact universities regularly cross-post TA advertisements to other universities, especially for lower-level courses that don't need special expertise and need a lot of TAs.
There are generally not a lot of volunteer TAs. Based on the other answer, my guess is that this might have something to do with the lack of tuition fees in this area.

You state that funding is a major motivation for your desire to get a TA position. In my time, TAs would get a small salary and a significant discount on their tuition fees. If you TA at another university, you will miss the tuition fee discount.


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Who should I tell about switching a group-based course to pass/no credit?
First, some background:
I'm currently involved in a course which is based around a major group project.  However, the end of the semester is coming up, and I honestly can't see this project becoming anything other than a massive trainwreck.  (4 weeks to go, and people don't even have basic features working yet)  Therefore, I'm planning on switching this course to pass/no credit, so I'm not killing myself at the end of the semester under the crunch/workload.
At my university, this is possible with just a signature from my academic advisor, so there isn't any need (from an administrative/paperwork perspective) to tell anyone that I did.  However, I'm not sure who should be told from a political perspective.  On the one hand, it might be a good idea to tell my fellow group members about this, but I don't want to add more fuel to the fire of an already failing project (I don't want them to feel like they've been abandoned).  On the other hand, because pass/no credit means that I don't have nearly as much at stake for the project, they should probably know that this course won't be my top priority relative to the others that I am taking this semester.  In addition, I don't believe that the project advisor would get told at any point in this process, unless I inform him of this.  On the one hand, I feel like I shouldn't tell him how little confidence I have in this project (as it's one that he and the department are interested to see the success of), but on the other hand, I think he also deserves to know.
What would be the best way to deal with this situation?

Be very careful with this strategy. There is a risk you will let up so much that you will not get enough points from the project to pass the course.

First of all, saving this group project should be your top-priority. This is still in your personal interest since failing projects tend to get people failed in the class entirely. Also: later in life you are going to have to work with other people and things might get very difficult. Turning this around now is valuable experience for later in life when there is really something at stake.
My advice would be to talk to your group members and make a plan to get things going. If the problem is other group members refusing to work or handing in significantly sub-standard work, talk to your professor about it now. 4 Weeks is enough time to get a lot done, that gets a lot harder with 3 or even 2 weeks left.
The issue isn't that you might appear to abandon them. You yourself are now planning to put less work into it than what you yourself think the project needs to succeed. So the problem is that to a degree you are abandoning the project.

Saving the group project is especially important if you might want a letter of recommendation from any professor involved.

@StackTracer the project should have top-priority because it hasn't been given the attention it needed in the past and is failing. If you don't have the time for the project, openly admit that you are (partially) abandoning it. In that case, you can't blame group members if they are angry that you prioritized your individual course work over your group work. I would recommend some introspection on why you took on some much work that you failed to deliver on your promises. Did you make mistakes when choosing courses, did you slack off, are you not ready for this degree?


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Sharing research results in platforms that may soon disappear
The recent open science/source/access movement has put pressure in publishing not only in open access journals, but also in sharing raw data/figures/etc.
That being said, given the volatility of our current sharing platforms, how can that be done successfully in a way that will last for a significant amount of time and not die out with obsolete technology?
For instance, some people suggest (for instance, [1,2]) sharing and uploading data to ResearchGate, figshare and other platforms, run by companies that are likely to go bankrupt, disappear, be outcompeted or become obsolete in the near future.
If we dig a little deeper, the recent boom in open access journals is also likely to die soon and it is possible that only a few publishers will survive. What happens with the published papers that die with the publishers?
What about the software to read the published data/research notes? How can we guarantee that data will be readable a few years in the future?
Is there a way to publish data/papers that is not subject to the uncertainty of time, making it time-resistance, in some way?
[1] http://science.sciencemag.org/content/354/6308/142
[2] https://gsnmunich.wordpress.com/2016/11/05/how-to-legally-re-use-your-own-figures/

What is wrong with using version control? I had a quick look at figshare, more specifically at the "Information And Computing Sciences" and "Mathematics" categories, and I didn't see anything which couldn't be stored in a version control repo. Moreover, I find figshare lacking in certain features readily available in most version control solutions, e.g. revision history, branches, wiki, issues, etc.

So, a related thought.  If a university library gets electronic access to back issues of a journal, can they safely get rid of their paper copies of that journal?  Or if they do that will they regret it in 20 years?

I am voting to close this question as it ask too many questions at once and also looks like a rant in disguise, presenting a lot of unsupported claims.

You could publish the papers and raw-data on the platforms available now, but also store both yourself. Then you could re-upload when platforms change in the future.

I don't think this solves all issues (and potentially introduces new ones). The purpose of publishing data online is to facilitate its administration. Keeping track of data over decades is already an absurdly difficult task, having to keep track of dying platforms is only going to make it harder.
Moreover, this does not solve the issues of having papers published by journals that may die, or data stored in formats that may be unreadable in the future.

Saving data like this is not hard, with storage space getting ever cheaper, downloading whole copies of archives is no issue. Keeping everything readable is more challenging with changing formats and standards. Keeping everything (easily) searchable is going to be really hard. However these problems are inherent in any very-long term storage. That is why I advised you to keep an eye on how your publications are stored yourself, because any real solution is lacking.

Publishers of subscription journals can participate in backup schemes that archive the journal content and will make it available if the journal publisher goes out of business.  See the CLOCKSS project:
https://www.clockss.org/clockss/News


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How can I conduct research when my college has no such facility?
In developing countries like Nepal, people don't usually carry research activities during undergrad studies, but I want to get into it from undergrad itself. I am currently studying research articles, consulting professors and will be contacting governement research organisation to ask for support for devices required.

Since you specified Nepal, I'd like to make a suggestion - there are some excellent research institutes in India where you can apply to be a 'Junior Research Fellow' after completing your Bachelor's. You won't get a degree, but you will get a modest stipend and the chance to boost your research profile.
I had some friends from Nepal during my undergraduate studies, and a few of them applied to these places, got selected, and after a year and a half of doing research there, went on to top-notch European and American institutes to do graduate studies. I hope you look into it. Good luck!

Is there any way where I can take my studies and research parallel ?

And certified experience is a must?

I think you would need to be a student enrolled in one of the Indian institutes to study and do research simultaneously, unless there is an option to do research remotely - but you should definitely contact faculty in the IITs and IISc for more options! Good luck!

I've never heard of any US university requiring an "experience certificate". I don't even know what that would mean.  There's certainly no organized system for "certifying" such things.
If you have had research experience that is relevant to your field, you can write about it in your statement of purpose, and get letters of  recommendation from people familiar with your work, and universities will take it into account.

Will it be appropriate for undergrad level lab experience if I get involved in Neurobiology research which I will be pursuing in my Graduate university rather than getting involved in Computer science related research at present?

And this would obviously be different thing than my field since I'm a CS student but I would wish to do it for the sake of knowledge I will be needing in my Grad university. Will it be a wise idea or I should just stick to CS research?

In general, research experience in a field closer to the program where you are applying will be more valuable.

@ManishYadav: You should keep in mind, of course, that admission to places like MIT is ridiculously competitive, and that many extremely qualified applicants still get rejected.  It's not a good idea to plan your entire life around getting into MIT - make sure you have lots of alternative plans.  If this research fits into those plans also, great, but don't do it solely as a route to MIT.


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How is a part time research job (from a University) perceived in the academic job market?
In a similar vein as the question How is a part-time degree (from a reputed institute) perceived in the academic job market?, what about holding a part time research job (Research Fellow)?
Currently, I work part time as a Research Fellow, part time High School Teacher, part time Programmer and part time Drone engineer - so, as a result, the amount of research output would be considerably lower than I would if full-time - a position I am aiming for in the near future.  I already have a PhD.
In my CV, it will be very clear that this is a part time position, due to the overlap of my professions - this is different to the part-time degree scenario in the linked question, in that I am already in academia. How valuable is a part time research job with respect to joining full time academia (or industry)?

Well, it's much better to have a part-time research position than no research position---or more accurately, it's much better to be doing some research than no research.
I assume from your question you are either looking for a tenure-track/permanent faculty position at a research school or a research-oriented postdoc.  If you want me to assess your chance of success, I can't accurately do that without knowing a lot about your situation---in most areas I know of, the job market isn't great now, but certainly some fields/geographic regions/types of positions are less competitive than others.
Basically, for a research-oriented position, you want to convince the people in charge of hiring that you're going to do great research and contribute a lot to the research group you're trying to be a part of.  Generally this is easier the more research you've done.
However, if the amount and quality of research you've done is impressive for someone doing other work part-time, that will probably taken into account--which is maybe what you were really asking about.  For instance, if two candidates have comparable research and one had a heaving teaching load at the time and one had a light load, the one with the higher teaching load looks more impressive.
But if your research output is considerably
less than the competition, it's harder but not impossible to be viewed as a top candidate.  Here outstanding references can help make up for this.  Also, this is probably not a much of an issue if you are looking for postdoc positions.

The importance of your publications list is implicit in this answer.  I'm bringing it to the fore to make it extra clear.  One little addition: any honors you may have garnered, such as best student poster, or something like that, can help.


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I wish to try out a technique which my supervisor does not want me to, because its not his expertise
As a part of my PhD work, I wish to try a technique which is upcoming and frequently in use. I am not sure if it will be successful, though I have a good feeling about it. My supervisor is simply against it because he does not understand it. And unfortunately he does not have sufficient Math background to understand it either. He is not interested in exploring such ideas and rather is interested in getting more publications in his chosen techniques - partly because he has friends in those conference committees and mostly because it seems he does not know anything else.
By the way, my PhD is funded by the university. I am not interested in looking for another supervisor. It's a headache! What should I do? The new method will at least need 1.5 months.

Why not do both of the techniques? You can write a paper with a different professor at your university with the new technique. 1.5 months is not much, I think you can work also on that and separate what you work with your supervisor by what is worked without.

How long would it take to get some preliminare results or something like that? I had an idea and my PI said yes but he wasn't convinced and toll me not to waste too much energy and time on this. After the first results it changed to "ok, forget everything else, I want this finished first"

I think we need to know what field you are in. Is this new technique expensive and would the supervisor have to pay for materials, reagents, etc.?

do you mean you want to make the new stuff a core part of your dissertation? or are you just exploring?

also, how far along are you? do you have an approved thesis project or are you earlier than that?

@mobileink I have an approved thesis project, and I am not trying a new direction. I am facing a problem and am trying to solve it using a method of my own. My supervisor does not like it because he wants his students to only in his core area and publish only in his favorite confereces, probably because he has lots of friends there!

hmmm.  my condolences.  the obvious thing is to make your supervisor think it was his idea. ;)

and of course if your idea is really good, tuck it away and just do what you need to do to get the degree. then you revolutionize sciencw!

remember you have the rest of your life to annoy the Powers that Be!

@mobileink My professor unfortunately is not even capable of understanding the idea. And the idea is not even fancy. After coming to university I realized how people can get published in top journals with excellent writing skills and hardly proper CS background! In academia connections matter more than talent. In business world that is fine, but it is sad that it is like this in academia.

@kmm I do not need any additional resources. I can do it just using my laptop. I work in computer science.

to be a successful scientist you must be a competent politician.  don't be discouraged by this, just accept it as a fact about the world. Science is no different than business or any other field in this respect. and fwiw never ever badmouth your supervisor in public, or in private for thst matter, no matter how dim he is. no good can come of that.yes, there is much to be lamented about scientific publishing - but don't say that until you get tenure!

How does this question connect to the situation you described in your first question in July?  In other words, could you provide an update to the old question, and explain how the current dilemma relates to the previous one?

This is a question you can only answer yourself, because it's about the balance between working on stuff your group is experienced in and trying out new stuff. But let's list some arguments why you should not go off doing something just because it's interesting:

You probably have a Phd topic yourself, and every month spent on something not directly relevant means you're defending a month later. Will this fit in another publication you're planning to write?
Your supervisor is not an expert in this subject, which will definitely cause you to make some avoidable mistakes that will take time or make the project weaker. If your supervisor cannot help you, do you have someone else that can guide and teach you?
Even if it's a new and fancy technique, new and fancy doesn't do anything for you if you're not an expert already. You'll probably figure out stuff that has been figured out already. Will it bring direct results that you need for your other projects?
You'd not be doing this project in magical extra time, it's something you'll be doing instead of something else. Is it really that much more interesting than something closer to your expertise / project?

Your Phd is about doing research. Bringing projects from start to finish and publishing. Not about learning for the sake of learning. You probably did enough of that, now it's time to push the boundaries of knowledge.

I slightly disagree with this response(although I don't gave a negative vote). I believe that pursuing individual projects that could lead to publications is a very important aspect of a PhD. Of course, that don't have to take a lot of energy and be time consuming, but it should be done, finding and exploring ideas counts equally or even more than working on problems already defined and assigned by the PI.

@MikeyMike: I only listed reasons why someone could decide not to do a project like this. I think kosmos already has enough reasons to want to do this project.

I think this is a perfect complement to the gut response of "Why not? What have you got to lose?".

@MikeyMike I kind of agree with you. I am doing PhD to learn, publishing is a part of the process. When I get an idea, if I can implement it and then get it published then that is true learning for me. Doing what my PI says is like working in a company and getting its vision implemented. If I had to do that I would not be living on  a student's salary!

@kosmos I think you're the only one to judge if you can implement this and get it published. You're lacking the support of your supervisor and there might be a method closer to his core expertise that might solve this problem faster with less effort. But you could also introduce something relatively fast (2 months) and fix an otherwise unsolvable problem. Without the information we cannot really say what's the case, I can only advise to also look at your own endpoints. Publishing and finishing your Phd.


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How to estimate cost of a course when price is quoted per semester but program has three semesters?
I'm looking to get an MBA at University of Texas at Austin. I'm planning on working full-time while going to school, so I'm interested in their Evening MBA program.
I'm trying to understand costs. According to their website, the program takes 2.5 years to complete, that's equivalent to 5 semesters. The program costs $15,320 per semester, which should mean that the total program costs $76,600.
However, on this page they have 3 semesters per year, which doesn't make any sense to me. Add up all those numbers together, and you end up with a total cost of $107,240.
So which one is it? Is a semester not really a 6-month period in academic lingo?

UT Austin and TAMU are roughly in the same schedule. The "third" semester you see is the summer session, with five, eight, or ten week sessions.

They mean: 2.5 years, assuming you attend 2 semesters per year.  Most students (and faculty) take the summer semester off.

@GEdgar So you mean, if I take the summer semester, I can be done in 2 years instead of 2.5?

You could, yes, but be careful: summer course selections are usually very limited.

That depends on whether the courses for your program are offered in the summer.  It could be that MBA courses are not offered in the summer.

The program is designed to include two summers.  Spring, summer, fall, spring, summer, fall, spring.  That's two full years (spring, summer, fall constitutes one year) plus an extra spring semester. Here's the tuition cost for the 2019 cohort.
Here's the actual schedule in PDF format for the 2019 cohort.
What @SeanRoberson said is true in general but is irrelevant in this case.
$107,240 is correct.
(May I suggest you talk to their advising people to find out how feasible it is to work full time while enrolled in their program?)

If they actually have three terms per year, then why do they call them semesters and not trimesters?

@AxiomaticNexus - Tradition?  I don't know, all I did was read their web page.

I sent them an e-mail asking for clarification because this still doesn't make any sense.

@AxiomaticNexus - I hope you can understand their response better than mine.  Their materials make sense to me, and I'm sorry I was not able to clarify them sufficiently for you.  By the way, I don't think you will receive a response until Monday.

@aparente001 When they say an Evening program, they generally mean it. Most classes are Mon/Tues evenings or Tues/Weds if there's a Monday holiday. Throw in some weekend seminars to help make up the time and there's maybe two weeks over the two years that you might have to take leave from work.

They charge you the same for a 2-credit-hour semester as a 10-credit-hour one! http://www.mccombs.utexas.edu/MBA/TEMBA/Program-Information/Curriculum

@AxiomaticNexus We technically have three trimesters, but most subjects don't teach in the summer, so the majority of people think and talk about the two semesters. It may be similar there.

@mkennedy - I don't know anything about business school.  I just know grad school for math and computer science.  For those, the amount of time one has to put in outside class would make it extremely difficult to be a "full time" grad student while holding down a full time job.

Each institution defines the length of a semester differently.  Even within a university different programs may use different calendars.  A semester is usually shorter than six months, but often there are two a year.


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Supervisor discourages me from using a method he doesn't know. Can I work on it and publish it by myself?
Either my supervisor is wrong in not letting me work on an idea which he does not understand, my bad that I am  stuck with someone who is not open-minded. But I suck it up.
But I am enthusiastic about the idea and wish to work on it myself. I can find time for it and it is very useful for my future opportunities. My supervisor is not really worried about my future.
So firstly, how to manage this exercise by getting what I want, having no effect on my PhD and keeping my supervisor not too angry (after all my Phd is still influenced by this guy). Secondly, is it ok to write it up myself and publish it? I am not using any ideas from my supervisor for this work, of course the learning from previous works will be used - which is already published!

How is this question different from your previous questions, I wish to try out a technique which my supervisor does not want me to, because its not his expertise and I want to change my thesis topic (to the extent that the ethos is still in tact) but my advisor does not agree. What can I do?

It's pretty clear from your other posts that you've already made up your mind about who is right, despite anything people here say. Not sure why you keep asking.

@ff524 If you find this question a duplicate, just say that and be quite. If I have made my mind or not, is none of your business. Your rudeness is not appreciated and I suggest you stop moderating if that is your nature.


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Repeat dropper and failure at multiple community colleges. Is there no hope for me?
I had a very rough upbringing and I have been lost for all my 20's. I just turned 30 a month ago and its really hitting me hard. I dont want to be a nobody all my life.
I've finally had enough and I have a fire lit under my ass to change my life, but before I can, I need some questions answered:
I want to go back to community college and transfer to a UC (berkeley or UCLA) to get an EE or CS degree. I know I am capable of it and I know I can do it, there is nothing stopping me, I am so hungry for it.
However, in my early 20's I was enrolled at 3 different community colleges at different times and flunked out each time. When the time comes that I want to transfer, will this screw me over? I have heard in the past that they will find out all schools you went to, is this true? These events happened about 10 years ago, do community colleges keep transcripts this long for inactive students? Could I simply just enroll into a community college that I have never attended?
I dont know what my best course of action is, if I did academic renewal on all 3 schools, would they not factor in all the GPAs?
I'm just having a hard time thinking lets say I go back to community college and get a 4.0 with 60 credits.  But since I have my previous past grades with pretty much less than a 1.0, effectively making my GPA like a 1.5 or something.  Is this how it works when I want to transfer?  I understand there are personal statements and all that stuff but would this all be for nothing if I decide to go back to school?
Thank you for any help you can offer.  Im in a dire situation.

What @dan1111 said s very true, that the most recent results count. I do have a suggestion. How about putting one foot in the water and starting out with one or two classes, rather than enrolling full time? If that goes well, you can increase your credit load. Best of luck!

If you succeed now in community college, the previous failures are unlikely to be a factor.
The point of the admissions process is to determine whether you are capable of succeeding in a university now, not ten years ago.  Your recent track record will demonstrate your present ability best and will be weighed most heavily.
Plus, you have a very plausible story for why things are different now: you have matured, and now have a motivation and direction you didn't have previously.  When you do apply, you should highlight this story.
I don't think there will be a problem here, assuming you succeed now (best of luck to you).
If you do attend the same institution, you should apply for an academic renewal, so that your previous failure doesn't drag down the GPA.
At other institutions, don't worry about it.  You may need to include a transcript for them, but the old GPA will be considered ancient history and will probably not make any difference.

I want to second this.  You'll be far from the only one with a past history of bad school performance - what will matter is how you perform now.  Working how you overcame your earlier issues into your statement of purposes could actually make your past a positive.  The ability to overcome adversity is absolutely a non-trivial skill for a grad student.


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Unintentionally disrespectful in the Statement of Purpose/Academic essay
I am applying to Master's program in Computer Science. In my Statement of Purpose, I mentioned the names of a few Professors with whom I would like to work. However, accidently, I failed to address those Professors with a respectful title (I mentioned A and B, instead of Profs A and B). Now that I submitted my application to that graduate school, I am unable to change the uploaded SOP document. I realized this mistake within a few minutes after submission of my application.
Therefore, how can I rectify this blunder? Is it advisable to send an email those Professors regarding my mistake? Or is it wise to email my concern with a modified SOP to the graduate department?
Finally, will this error can hurt my graduate school application?

In which country are you? In Canada and most of the US (I guess) people would probably not notice.

I really would not worry about typing "prof X" rather than "Xavier"... If this is the biggest issue in the application, you should be well on track...

I would not be surprised if the effect is actually the opposite one: the lack of titles suggests that you are somewhat of an insider to academia, which speaks in your favor.  (That might happen if I were to evaluate your letter!)  Of course, your mileage may vary.

For applications to the US, I don't think this is considered disrespectful. In fact, I do the same in my own SOPs.

In fact, at my institution (US), we are actively encouraged by professors to refer to them on a first name basis.

It's a pretty common blunder for international students to assume an (Australia or UK) academic is a professor when most are not. It can come across as a bit ingratiating to be addressed as "Dearest Professor". I really shouldn't worry about it.

I don't think you can be unintentionally disrespectful. You can unintentionally appear disrespectful however.

The culture regarding the academic titles is quite country-specific. In some countries (e.g. Germany) academics are more often referred to by title and surname, Prof. Famous, even in a classroom. In some countries (e.g. UK) students will address their lecturers by their first name, but refer to them by their title and surname in official writing.
However, these traditions rapidly change now because of the cultural mix in academia. With the growing numbers of professors with unusual names for European cultures, it is a more common practice now to include both name and surname after the title, e.g. Dr. Hu Rich.  It is impossible to maintain the same standard, and I don't think that academics generally care too much. It is still considered a good tone to keep the titles in official academic writing, but I don't think we expect all MSc candidates to know this.
Overall, my advice is: don't worry to much, don't write to correct it, just make sure you do it properly next time.

There is, of course, no guarantee something won't hurt your application. There are some people who care deeply about being addressed by their title, some for good reasons, some out of culture, and some just because.
But honestly, I very much doubt most of the people reading your application will care. An SOP is not a driver of admissions in most programs, often being used instead as a way to gauge whether or not you have any idea what you're actually signing up for, etc. A minor error like that likely won't matter. I would relax and let it go. Emailing the professors in question just draws attention to it, for little gain.

+1 for the generally good advice: "I would relax and let it go". Applies to most situations in life, this one included.

I failed to address those Professors with a respectful title (I mentioned A and B, instead of Profs A and B).

You are confusing addressing with mentioning (or referring to).  When you refer to a researcher, the name is sufficient.  If I understood you correctly, that is what you did.  That’s fine.
It’s when you address a researcher or professor that using a polite title is appropriate, such as “Dear Professor [Surname]” or “ "Sehr geehrte Frau Professor Doktor [Nachname]."

Lieber Herr Professor @Wrzlprmft - thank you.  I am a disaster at German grammar.

You have to thank @MissMonicaE. Also, I am not a professor.

Liebe Frau Professor @MissMonicaE - Thank you.

@Wrzlprmft - Well, thanks anyway.  (My idea in using German as a second example was to use their preposterous titles which I find so funny.)

Oh, we can be far more preposterous than that, e.g.: “Herr Professor Dr. phil. fac. theol., lic. jur. can. Hinterwald”.

"Lieber Herr Professor X" sounds really strange to me: On one hand the formal "Professor", on the other hand the much less formal "Lieber". I would rather write "Sehr geehrter Herr/Sehr geehrte Frau X".

@Jan-ChristophSchlage-Puchta - Thank you.  I only speak pigeon German.  I will edit my answer accordingly.

@Jan-Christoph Schlage-Puchta Shouldn't it be Frau Professor Doktor X? I'm in the north Germany right now and that's how local German students actually talk about their professors, even when they're female. I don't know if it's local thing or if it's more general.

@AndrejaKo: This might depend on the subject. I have no first hand information, but rumours say that e.g. law and medicine care a lot more about titles then sciences.

@AndrejaKo - Thank you so much.  That correction has improved my answer immeasurably!


text:
How do I politely decline a research grant?
I am working on a research project that the university and my PI talked me into applying for a research grant through the university, and I got it. I'm happy that they considered my part of the project worth the award, but now I have concerns and want to decline it, mainly because of the presentation requirement.

The presentation will take a lot more time and effort than I thought it would.
The project involves things that I know nothing about. I know my piece, but it's my understanding that I need to present on the entire project.
It will be an all day thing and I can honestly make more money at my job that day than the grant is worth.

I'm thrilled they awarded me the grant, and I want to stay on for the project, but I want to politely decline the money.
Edit I didn't really want to apply for the grant, but my PI wanted me to and the stipend I'll get directly offsets a small bill from the university, so I applied. I found out that I get the money after I present my work at the end of next semester, long after I paid the bill. Nowhere in the paperwork did it mention the delay, otherwise I would not have applied and just worked on the project for free.

I've never been on the awarding side of the grant process, but I feel like you needed to consider this before you applied.  Now that you've done so and won, you can't back out without looking bad in the department and burning bridges.

The value of such a grant award can extend far beyond just the dollar/pound/Euro/yen amount. And, you get practice on your 1 and 2 which will serve you well in the future, regardless of where or what it is.

I agree with my predecessors. A grant is a bit like a mini-degree. It is a documentation that you have been found worthy of getting the money. Even if it is a pittance, getting it may have been competitive, so the monetary element is less important than the esteem component. #2 is thus the most critical point for you.

Before you do anything rash, you need to find out what bridges you're burning, and perhaps more importantly, who's bridges.  For example, will this lessen the likelihood of any of your PI's students being awarded this sort of grant in the future.  I don't know the answers, but I certainly think you should talk this over with your PI before taking any action.  Frankly, letting yourself get into this sort of situation is a bit irresponsible.

@Scott Seidman I emailed my PI early this afternoon to ask for his input

Just to understand and based on the OP's comment in one of the answers; the grant is 150$?

@BioGeo the grant is for $400 with half earmarked for materials (that we don't need) and half earmarked as a stipend

200$ ? That'd translate into max. one hour per day. I think you misunderstood the terms of that grant.

As far as I understand your main issue is that you don't want to present the results of your work. I suggest you consider why you don't want to do this and then work on overcoming the problem. Not being willing to present your work is career-limiting.

You may be underestimating the value of having this grant on your resume. If you're interested in continuing university education further it is probably worth rather a lot in that sense. If the money isn't important to you, think of the presentation as a job you're doing in exchange for having an "awards" section on your CV.

I think the main problem of the OP is that he has to present the whole project, for which he knows only his part.

You have probably wasted more than a day's worth, combined, of the people involved with the grant.

Oh, man.  Everyone is crucifying you for this.  This question is tagged research-undergraduate!  Do you have any desire to pursue a PhD?  No?  Ignore the hand-wavy "value".  It's perfectly reasonable to not want to commit to tens of hours of work for $200.  Yes, it could cause some waves.  Figure out how big those waves will be and who they'll affect.  Apologize and don't blame anyone else (even though you feel suckered).  Undergrads are flaky, no shocking news here.  Live your life.

How do I politely decline a research grant?

Let's be clear here. Based on your account I'm getting the impression that, with a reasonably high level of confidence, there is no way for you to "politely" decline the grant. The very action of declining will reflect poorly on you and show you to be an unreliable and difficult to work with person, and is likely to upset your PI and the funding agency who went to the trouble to evaluate your application. So, it's not about the "how". It's the action of declining that is by its nature impolite.
You may feel this is unfair. You may feel that you were given inaccurate information at the time of submitting the grant that led you to make a decision you now regret. You may very well be right on both of those points. In an ideal world you would simply explain what happened and everyone would agree that it makes sense for you to decline the grant. However, in the world we actually live in, I'd say accept it, do the work, use it as a learning experience and move on. And congratulations for getting the grant, it obviously says good things about you and if you do a good job has potential to benefit you in the future in many ways other than the measly stipend.

Applying for a grant carries a pretty strong commitment that if funded, you will carry out the project you proposed.  Of course there can be exceptions if circumstances change unexpectedly, but the current situation seems more like "buyer's remorse".  It was your responsibility to make sure the conditions were acceptable before you applied.

@NateEldredge the judgment in the last sentence of your comment is a bit harsh IMO. OP says he was misinformed about the conditions. One can assume that he trusted his advisor and other university officials to provide him with reliable information, so I think we shouldn't fault him for shirking some kind of moral responsibility. Nonetheless, my advice stands, but it is "no fault" advice based on practical concerns rather than a moral judgment.

@NateEldredge seller's remorse?

@Michael The line between "buyer" and "seller" is, admittedly, typically based on which way cash is moving, but that's an arbitrary distinction; you could just as easily re-define such that the "seller" is the one who is approached by the "buyer", or the better-known one, etc. For instance, when exchanging your currency for a foreign currency at a border, are you selling yours, buying theirs, or what?

I strongly second the sentiment about @NateEldredge's last sentence. It's the archetypal example of someone unable to understand the circumstances under which the OP was awarded the grant.

If OP received information directly from the funding source that was materially incorrect, I would agree.  But the only such point I see in the question is that the funding body did not state the details of payment timing and OP made an assumption which turned out to be wrong.  I don't think that's the same.  Most people would consider this a minor detail, not really material, and if it was important to OP, he should have asked about it.  I'm not trying to morally judge OP, but to explain how I think backing out will be perceived by his PI and the university.

@NateEldredge okay, thanks for the clarification. I agree with you that backing out would be perceived negatively, and that's the only thing that really matters here. Let's leave it at that...

I've been in situations in which grants we've awarded in the form of research support or scholarships have been declined by the awardees because of a significant change in personal circumstances. In some cases, we have offered to defer the award. In others, we've accepted that the person is unable to accept the award and have moved on to the next applicant on the ranked list.
We have never had a situation in which an award was refused on the basis that the awardee could make more money elsewhere. I can't speak for other members on the panels I sit, but I (and I believe many others) would take offence at this reason. The details of the award, including the level of funding, are often clearly stated and we would wonder why this consideration was not top of mind prior to submission.
If I was PI on an award that I received and on which you were a part of the team, you refusing to participate on the grant is less of a problem for me. I would write to the awarding body to explain a change in staffing (which happens all the time) and divert the funding to someone else. It's likely that there are many undergraduates wanting to work on the grant anyway and, unless you've got unique skills, I should be able to turn to someone in time. In return, I would ask that you NOT cite this award in your CV because you didn't work on it at all anyway. This last bit may be particularly costly to you more so than the amount of money you could make on your other work (at least within reason). Being part of a team awarded a competitive grant as an undergraduate student is helpful when applying for admission into postgraduate programs.
Finally, and it's your last sentence above that's thrown me, you seem to suggest that you're happy to work on the project, but not receive the money.

I'm thrilled they awarded me the grant, and I want to stay on for the project, but I want to politely decline the money.

I interpret this to mean that the money is so small that you are thinking of declining the money, but are happy to fulfill the responsibilities assigned to you on the original award. If I were your PI, I would be happy with this arrangement, but only after ensuring that you would not be contravening university policies on the abuse of undergraduates who work under me.
Good luck to you.

The project was well underway when I applied. My PI nagged me to apply and I figured I'd use the money to pay a $150 bill I owed the university. After I got the award they told me I wouldn't get the money until May. I went through the paperwork and it never said I wouldn't get the stipend until after I present. I don't think I would have applied if I knew that. I would have just conveniently missed the deadline

@JackSt.Claire Missing a deadline can be worse than telling your PI you don't intend to apply. A professor may be limited, either in practice or by specific rules, to recommending at most one student. If you say you are not going to apply, the PI has the option of recommending a different student.

@PatriciaShanahan Not to mention the optics of "Could not manage to do the thing you asked me to do when it needed to be done" and the impact that might have on your relationship with your PI.

I understand your reasoning and can empathize.  I've felt reluctant or ambivalent about things I've already committed myself to, including grant-contingent presentations.  But addressing those feelings in a mature way will go a long way to developing your character at this early stage of your development.
Getting sufficiently familiar with the project you are on to the level that you can explain it to others is an excellent idea and great training in working on a multifaceted project.  Also you'll be honing your presenting skills.
Right now you're sounding like "I only understand my tiny little part of the project, just tell me exactly what to do, don't make me understand the context, don't make me explain anything to anybody"
At this stage in your career it's not as critical for this presentation to be stellar, on point etc. but the better you can make it the more you'll get out of it.  Value the opportunity, get it over with and move on.
By the way congrats on getting involved in research as an undergrad, not everyone has the motivation and opportunity to do that.

either you raise this with the PI and ask if someone else can do it, in honesty if its worth less than a days work i wouldn't have applied, or would have applied with someone else taking the credit so they deal with the paperwork.
in your position? id take the day off work to present. its always worth having that extra award on the CV.


text:
Is it acceptable to put a future event in one's CV?
I'm working on my CV for graduate school applications and was wondering about my "Presentation" section. I know that I will be attending the American Chemical Society Conference in Spring 2017 (they accepted my abstract), so is it acceptable to list that as one of my presentations?

I know there's a similar topic here (http://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/76935/how-to-cite-future-conference-poster-session-on-cv), but I do have an abstract submitted and accepted.

If the paper has been accepted and scheduled, you can list it.  It's a bit of CV stuffing but relatively minor in the scheme of things.

Yes, but to avoid confusion, clearly label it as such.
Similar to how you can list papers with (submitted) or (under review), you can list presentations and posters as (confirmed) or some other indication that the plan is final and has been accepted.  If you don't label it as such, there is a risk the reader may believe the year is erroneous.