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2018/02/24
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<issue_start>username_0: I work as a full-time employee in industry. Recently, I've been invited to present at a conference in an area not closely related to my degree. My employer approved me being absent for two-three hours and I accepted the conference invitation.
However, I'm not sure how will this look in the eyes of the conference attendees and other presenters since I will have to leave immediately after my 20 minutes talk. Therefore, I will miss their talks.
Is there an etiquette regarding this? Should someone accept a presentation on a conference if they won't be able to be present for the whole duration?<issue_comment>username_1: No one can force you to attend the whole conference, but usually the purpose of conferences is to spread new ideas, discuss them and make connections.
You can certainly accept the invitation, deliver your presentation and disappear soon afterward. It's certainly not unheard of. Your presentation might be useful to others anyway, but you will miss part of the purpose of going to conferences.
Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: It's certainly not viewed as odd to leave a conference straight after your presentation, plenty of people do it if they are super busy. However you will unfortunately have to skip the value of hearing other presentations, feedback on your own work and of course networking.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: >
> Is there an etiquette regarding this? Should someone accept a presentation on a conference if they won't be able to be present for the whole duration?
>
>
>
There aren’t really any universally agreed-upon rules for such things, but as a general rule:
1. If the conference organizers are paying any expenses for your attendance (such as travel or accommodation), it is considered good manners to be present for at least a good chunk of the conference other than your own talk.
2. If the organizers are not paying your expenses, I don’t think they have either a moral claim or much of an expectation that you do anything other than show up and deliver the talk they invited you to deliver.
If you are in doubt about what the organizers are expecting from you, it is perfectly acceptable to let them know about your constraints and ask them if it’s okay to accept the invitation even though you won’t be able to stay after your talk. If it bothers them, I‘m sure they will have no trouble telling you.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_4: One practical issue not addressed in the other answers is the size of the conference. If this is a large conference with multiple concurrent sessions and hundreds of attendees, there will be so much moving about between talks that no one will even notice when you leave. Even if someone is actively seeking you out for a one-on-one discussion they may simply assume they missed you in the throng.
On the other hand, if all talks follow one another in a single location and there are a few dozen attendees, you are more likely to be missed if you leave early. In that case, I doubt many would regard it as rude, but it's certainly possible that other attendees might feel disappointed if they had been hoping to have a discussion with you.
One practical tip: (particularly) if you are forced to leave early, make sure that your contact details are prominently included in your talk and easy to find via your company's website or on social media. Then if people would like to follow up anything from your talk they have the means to do so even if they can't speak to you at the conference.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: Don't leave the conference right after presenting the paper, and don't arrive right before you need to present it. At least come for the day.
Some answers tell you "oh, there's no obligation if they're not paying your expenses etc." ... well, nobody's going to hang you for it, but still: **It's a conference. Attend the conference. Mingle. Talk to people.** It's important for the scientific community and probably beneficial for you as well. You won't regret it.
What about your employer, then? Well, tell him you are expected to show up for the full day, and you had made a mistake only asking for part of the day off. And if you're working someplace which can't give you a day off to attend a scientific conference - well, you have bigger problems than leaving a session early.
Upvotes: 2
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2018/02/24
| 972
| 4,139
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<issue_start>username_0: I currently study for my B.Sc. in Media IT. I easily could finish a second Bachelor if I do one more semester. I want to do master's degree in Media IT afterwards.
I'm already 23 and in the third semester, since I finished an apprenticeship as a software developer before. Is it useful to start my master's with 26 and probably finish it when I'm ~28?<issue_comment>username_1: No one can force you to attend the whole conference, but usually the purpose of conferences is to spread new ideas, discuss them and make connections.
You can certainly accept the invitation, deliver your presentation and disappear soon afterward. It's certainly not unheard of. Your presentation might be useful to others anyway, but you will miss part of the purpose of going to conferences.
Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: It's certainly not viewed as odd to leave a conference straight after your presentation, plenty of people do it if they are super busy. However you will unfortunately have to skip the value of hearing other presentations, feedback on your own work and of course networking.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: >
> Is there an etiquette regarding this? Should someone accept a presentation on a conference if they won't be able to be present for the whole duration?
>
>
>
There aren’t really any universally agreed-upon rules for such things, but as a general rule:
1. If the conference organizers are paying any expenses for your attendance (such as travel or accommodation), it is considered good manners to be present for at least a good chunk of the conference other than your own talk.
2. If the organizers are not paying your expenses, I don’t think they have either a moral claim or much of an expectation that you do anything other than show up and deliver the talk they invited you to deliver.
If you are in doubt about what the organizers are expecting from you, it is perfectly acceptable to let them know about your constraints and ask them if it’s okay to accept the invitation even though you won’t be able to stay after your talk. If it bothers them, I‘m sure they will have no trouble telling you.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_4: One practical issue not addressed in the other answers is the size of the conference. If this is a large conference with multiple concurrent sessions and hundreds of attendees, there will be so much moving about between talks that no one will even notice when you leave. Even if someone is actively seeking you out for a one-on-one discussion they may simply assume they missed you in the throng.
On the other hand, if all talks follow one another in a single location and there are a few dozen attendees, you are more likely to be missed if you leave early. In that case, I doubt many would regard it as rude, but it's certainly possible that other attendees might feel disappointed if they had been hoping to have a discussion with you.
One practical tip: (particularly) if you are forced to leave early, make sure that your contact details are prominently included in your talk and easy to find via your company's website or on social media. Then if people would like to follow up anything from your talk they have the means to do so even if they can't speak to you at the conference.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: Don't leave the conference right after presenting the paper, and don't arrive right before you need to present it. At least come for the day.
Some answers tell you "oh, there's no obligation if they're not paying your expenses etc." ... well, nobody's going to hang you for it, but still: **It's a conference. Attend the conference. Mingle. Talk to people.** It's important for the scientific community and probably beneficial for you as well. You won't regret it.
What about your employer, then? Well, tell him you are expected to show up for the full day, and you had made a mistake only asking for part of the day off. And if you're working someplace which can't give you a day off to attend a scientific conference - well, you have bigger problems than leaving a session early.
Upvotes: 2
|
2018/02/25
| 415
| 1,793
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<issue_start>username_0: I submitted an assignment 1 day late. Should I email the professor to explain my situation? He has a pretty loose policy on deadlines but we should definitely submit the assignment before the answer is posted.
I dropped the assignment in his mailbox so if he does not check on Sunday and posts the answer keys on the same day, he might be suspicious of me submitting the assignment after the answer key is posted, which is way less acceptable.<issue_comment>username_1: Tell him, he may or may not accept your submission, but if he wants to accept it and needs proof that it was before the answers came out then telling him provides that.
Don't provide a 16 page opera about why it was late, an apology, a (short) reason : medical etc and close.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: By all means, tell your professor why the assignment was late. Your professor may interpret your silence as a sign that you either don't care that your work is late or that you have no reason to explain your lateness. Most teachers, even if they have a lenient policy on late assignments, expect assignments to be turned in on the due date, and if your assignment is late, your professor may interpret the lateness as a sign of disrespect, which, in many circumstances, it is.
If you have an acceptable reason for your lateness, your professor will at least see your explanation as a polite attempt to justify yourself. If you have no good reason, then couch your explanation in something like this: "Although I don't have a good excuse for turning my assignment in late, I do have a reason to explain my tardiness. . . ." And then briefly explain the cause of the lateness.
In almost all cases, more, rather than less, communication with your teachers is a good idea.
Upvotes: 2
|
2018/02/25
| 855
| 3,496
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm a student in India. My music teacher was kicked out of the school about 1 month ago due to sexual misconduct.
Today, he messaged me on Instagram with a fake ID and started talking nastily to me so I blocked him. He again messaged me with a new ID and asked for pictures and so on. I had to block him 3 more times.
He again messaged with a new ID of a girl.
I gullibly replyed to the message but again he asked for pictures and some sexual chats so I blocked him once more.
This is not ending. He was my teacher and this attitude of his is not good.
What should I do to stop him doing this?
And to prevent many girls from getting affected by this teacher?<issue_comment>username_1: There is only one thing anyone can suggest and that is to report it. Tell your parents or tell one of your teachers, and if they don't do something for you, then tell the Police.
You should not have to accept this behaviour.
The school has a responsibility and duty of care to their students. They can support the student whilst reporting the teacher to the authorities and the school can notify other child safeguarding authorities to prevent them working in other schools
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I suggest you should report it directly to the police.
Why, well, as he has been dismissed from the school they have no control over him, so reporting it to the school will only be for information.
You can choose to tell or not your parents but you may value their support.
I hope this sorts itself out. Best wishes.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: Following points may help you to get rid of it:
1. First and most important step is stop communication. Never reply to calls nor messages. Also never accept any kind of request from strangers in social networks nor reply to their messages. If they send message from a fake ID which looks similar to someone you know, then first confirm about it from the mutual friends or by phone calls before paying any attention to them.
2. Second step is tell to your parents, brothers and a lady teacher with whom you feel comfortable.
3. Third step is inform to your friends about it and tell them to stay away from that person and maintain distance.
4. Fourth step and may also be the very first step is inform to the head of your School about this matter and request to take possible action against him.
5. Last step is if nothing works for long time and things go to extreme, then report to police.
Hope this will help ....
Stay blessed!!
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: **Tell your parents**.
If my Googling is accurate, then 10th grade in India is about 15-16 years old. That's below adult age. Accordingly, don't try to resolve the problem yourself, tell your parents (or guardians) and let them resolve it.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: 1. Report this to the police.
If you live in a place without legal protections in this regard, it's still helpful to push the boundaries.
2. It would have been helpful to apply a consistent non-response policy. Given that you had trouble with this, I suggest handing your phone over to a trusted adult temporarily.
3. Please learn some basic online self-protection measures. I noticed that you created a StackExchange user account with a first and last name, and you posted your age and the name of your town in your question. Also, I wonder how the teacher found you online. Here's a starting point: <https://kidshealth.org/en/teens/online-id>
Upvotes: 0
|
2018/02/25
| 589
| 2,482
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<issue_start>username_0: My interests are very broad. Before grad school I did a lot of things, but now it's expected that I only do one thing. Provided that I can demonstrate research competence in more than one field, by publishing for example, is it possible to write a thesis that consists of several smaller, orthogonal projects instead of a single great push? I understand why this isn't encouraged - diluting yourself is not an efficient way to get things done and it's unlikely that one would be able to become a PhD-level "expert" in more than one deep subject. But provided that one is very industrious and willing to give up the prospect of having any kind of normal life, which I am, has this ever been done?
Also: I realize this is funding-dependent - assume that I have external funding from a fellowship.<issue_comment>username_1: Ultimately, it is the University's decision what call a PhD thesis. While the widely accepted norm is indeed a large piece of independent work on a single question / topic, a "portfolio" of small but important contributions can be accepted in exceptional cases. These exceptions, however, are justified by the exceptional quality and importance of the work done, clearly demonstrating the candidate's expertise, skill and talent. Simply having family and kids is unlikely to be sufficient for the exception to be made.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: It will depend on the advisor, the university (i.e., will they allow you to work in different fields. I mean, technically they can't forbid you to work on something, but your advisor might not be pleased with it) and the details of the topics (will it be **really** possible to work on a variety of them).
In general, a thesis should provide an answer to a research problem, either in the form of a self-contained *book*, or a [sandwich thesis](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/149/what-is-a-sandwich-thesis).
I'm also interested in many fields (which can be divided roughly into 3 main ones at the moment) that are not really connected to each other that much. My advisor told me to compose a thesis only about one of the topics (which I published 3 papers on), and **not** to make a mix of unrelated works (sounds reasonable to me). And that's how it was done (in the form of a sandwich thesis).
I added the papers on other topics to my CV, and they were useful when applying for a grant, scholarship etc. And of course for conference presentations.
Upvotes: 3
|
2018/02/25
| 414
| 1,806
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<issue_start>username_0: I have done some work and want to upload that research work on Arxiv. The problem is that the second author wants to work more on this and doesn't want to upload the result to Arxiv. I am thinking that I will upload the result on Arxiv and then I will keep doing research on that thing, so if get more results, then along with the second author I will submit the result to a conference.
**Question:** Suppose I upload an article on Arxiv as a **single author** and after that I work on the same problem and get some results. Will it be possible to submit again the additional result with **two authors** on Arxiv and to a conference? Is there any problem with the process I have described above?<issue_comment>username_1: If the modified work is an extension of your arxiv article. Then yes. But in case the work stay the same you can't as you already reference the work as a single author.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: I imagine that there is no problem from the side of arXiv: submissions there are versioned, so you can always update a preprint there. arXiv also explicitly allows you to submit the same work to a different venue later on.
The problem with your process is that you do not seem to have a trust relationship with your second author. If your second author does not want your joint paper uploaded to arXiv and (i) you do it anyway, and (ii) do not even make him an author even though he was part of the research, then what does this say about the relationship the two of you already have? And what does it say about the kind of relationship you hope to have with him in the future? If I were that second author, I would consider uploading a joint paper over my objections a major breach of trust. I would not ever want to work with you again.
Upvotes: 2
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2018/02/25
| 864
| 3,444
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<issue_start>username_0: Say I find a Math Proposition in another paper, which is just stated, and no proof (nor even sketch of proof) is given.
If I am writing a paper referencing that paper, is it good or bad (from reviewer's point of view) for me to fill in the proof of that proposition?
If I do so, what is a good way for me to indicate it in the paper? (that the proof written is by me, though the proposition is by the other paper)
The proof is not trivial, though it is not particularly difficult either.
Or should I just privately verify if the proposition is correct? And just cite the proposition (without proof) in my paper?
Thanks.
I am concerned about this issue since I followed the news story in the case of <NAME>'s proof of Poincare conjecture; the authors who filled in "gaps" in his proof did not go well with the reviewers and the general public. (<https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2006/08/28/manifold-destiny>)<issue_comment>username_1: Let's call the other paper [A].
First of all, you might like to check whether a proof already appears in some other paper or book, [B]. You can search MathSciNet or other databases for papers which cite [A]. If so then you can cite both ("The following proposition was stated in [A]; see [B] for a proof.")
Otherwise, whether to give a proof is at your discretion. If you think the reader would find it helpful to see the proof, and it doesn't distract from the main purpose of your paper, and it isn't excessively long, then sure, you can include it. People often use phrasing like:
>
> We make use of the following proposition, which is stated in [A]. Since [A] does not include a proof, we give one here.
>
>
>
Another option is to put the proof in an appendix, or to write it up as a separate note which you post on arXiv or something.
The Perelman case is about something different - people disagreeing over whether the original paper actually solved the problem, and how much of the credit for the result is due to those who filled in whatever gaps there may have been. In this case, you describe the proof of the proposition as "not particularly difficult", so it's likely that the authors of [A] did in fact know how to prove it, and so would most of their readers who took the time to do it. It's reasonable to give all the credit for this proposition to the authors of [A]. There's nothing wrong with you including a proof, and as long as you don't try to take credit for the result, no controversy will result.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: I don't think the situation is at all comparable with the news article you linked. You're not claiming that you should get or share the credit for this proposition, you're not saying that the cited work lacks critical steps that you're fixing. (I also don't think that the proposition in question is a century-old, world-famous conjecture.)
If the proof is really "not particularly difficult", then I see no problem either way: cite the proposition, and then either write your own proof or leave it at that.
But you shouldn't worry about any kind of backlash if you decide to write your own proof. People rewrite proofs all the time for a variety of reasons (you want to match it to your notations, your hypotheses are slightly different, you want to reuse the steps and ideas...) You would have to write this in a rather obnoxious way to encounter any repercussions.
Upvotes: 4
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2018/02/25
| 616
| 2,630
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<issue_start>username_0: So I am applying for a postdoc position and I happen to be working on a problem that is quite closely related to PI's interests. I don't just mean that we share the same field/subfield (which we do anyway) but rather the problem that I worked out is an advancement of what he (and some other people) is doing. This makes my case particularly strong since he wants to work on related questions.
Now, I recently uploaded a preprint of my this work and I was thinking that if I highlight this paper in the cover letter for the application, my application would stand out. Including a direct link to the preprint sounds like an option to me. However, I have never seen a cover letter with links to papers. Is this possible and acceptable?<issue_comment>username_1: While I've only been on the applicant side of things, I expect that it would be fine to include a link. Different PIs will react differently, of course, but it seems unlikely to ruin your application. Just make it clear from typesetting that it is a link. Given that the PI might only look at the printed version you should probably make the link text self-explanatory as well, e.g. using an arXiv identifier. However, depending on the method of submission you might be able to just attach the preprint of interest to your application. I expect that this is the ideal approach, when possible.
As support for using links, see this [Nature Jobs blog post](http://blogs.nature.com/naturejobs/2014/02/28/make-your-cover-letter-and-cv-stand-out/)
>
> When you’re reading an article online you’ll often find links to relevant content that is outside the article. This technique can be used in your cover letter too. Use links to information such as your research lab website, or your online portfolio and research papers. You can even link to specific papers that have been highly cited or extra-curricular projects you’ve been a part of. Let the employer know that there is so much more to you that what appears on that flat piece of paper!
>
>
>
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: If you describe why your recent research work is significant and relevant to your application, **and if it's significant to actually look at the paper itself**, then why not? As someone who reads an application I'd find it quite reasonable.
On the other hand, I've set the key sentence in boldface. If it's not obviously important to go look at the paper itself, then providing the link seems weird at best, or vain at worst.
Caveat: I'm not tenured and don't have experience reading cover letters, only writing a few of them.
Upvotes: 1
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2018/02/25
| 241
| 1,007
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<issue_start>username_0: Can anybody explain why someone who is editor of a reputable journal also act simultaneously as an editor for a potentially predatory journal?<issue_comment>username_1: We cannot know if this is really the case, but many disreputable publishers surreptitiously list well known scientists in their editorial boards, without asking their consent.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: The editor is the only person that knows for sure. Some possibilities (note I do not know if ikpress is a flaky publisher - I'm simply assuming it is):
* He doesn't think ikpress is a flaky publisher. Compare Frontiers and MDPI, both publishers that were included on Beall's list that also had established academics defending them.
* He isn't aware ikpress is a flaky publisher.
* He doesn't care that ikpress is a flaky publisher (for whatever reason).
* He doesn't know he's listed as an editor, or he might have tried to be "unlisted" but the publisher has been slow at removing him.
Upvotes: 2
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2018/02/25
| 553
| 2,173
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<issue_start>username_0: I’m on my 3rd/5 undergraduate years, so I’m just starting to think about grad admissions.
I’ve been planning on applying to MD/PhD programs. I enjoy/feel comfortable in hospitals and think I can make a contribution or two in medically-relevant bioinformatics/comp. genetics.
So, one of the big pulls for me into a grad program is teaching. I would probabaly enjoy being a high school teacher or a college lecturer but it seems like an insecure career path to me, and not doing *any* research would probabaly bum me out after a while.
And, in theory, MD/PhD programs support that—TAing, teaching classes, teaching workshops at conferences, simplifying complex ideas for patients, etc. MSTP guidelines even mention teaching interest as an important characteristic.
But, in practice, I feel weird about emphasizing my teaching interest. Most grad students I meet dislike being a TA, professors don’t like teaching, and often it seems like they feel like teaching gets in the way of their *real work*. And those are the people who will be reviewing my application. I’m kinda afraid that I’ll be seen as a not-serious-researcher for wanting to focus on teaching.
Should I de-emphasize my teaching interest? If not, do you have any suggestions about how to present it on personal statements/interviews/etc?<issue_comment>username_1: We cannot know if this is really the case, but many disreputable publishers surreptitiously list well known scientists in their editorial boards, without asking their consent.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: The editor is the only person that knows for sure. Some possibilities (note I do not know if ikpress is a flaky publisher - I'm simply assuming it is):
* He doesn't think ikpress is a flaky publisher. Compare Frontiers and MDPI, both publishers that were included on Beall's list that also had established academics defending them.
* He isn't aware ikpress is a flaky publisher.
* He doesn't care that ikpress is a flaky publisher (for whatever reason).
* He doesn't know he's listed as an editor, or he might have tried to be "unlisted" but the publisher has been slow at removing him.
Upvotes: 2
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2018/02/25
| 2,645
| 10,930
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<issue_start>username_0: This issue is about a university in a 3rd world country.
I friend of mine (I will call her "Z") is a faculty member at a reputable university. During one of her sittings with an undergrad student ("A"), she learned that another faculty member ("T") is sending "A" some inappropriate text msgs and emails. "A" also mentions that she has heard similar stuff from another student "B" about "T". "A" offers to show some texts to "Z" to which "Z" refuses. But "Z" does tell "A" that office of student affairs handles such matters to which "A" says that she is aware of that office but does not want to report. "A" just wants to graduate ASAP and thinks that "T" might damage her as he is quite powerful within school administration. Therefore no action.
I am convinced that, given "A" is not the only student who is being harassed, "T" will misuse his position and will continue his inappropriate behavior. And I am also convinced that office of student affairs will take action **if notified**. I guess that my friend "Z" does not want to be a whistle blower although she thinks that "A" is being truthful.
I think that keeping quiet will only make things bad for other vulnerable students. Please mind that for a female going to university in that country is a privilege. And "T" is not on the university's radar. So I am thinking of dropping an anonymous email to office of student affairs. Is it ok to do such a thing? I mean I have not even an iota of business with that university, "A", or "T".
So my question is:
***Is it ok for a person, who has nothing to do with any of characters in the story, to drop an email asking administration to take a look into these allegations?***
**Note:
I understand that accusing anyone wrongly has serious consequences, both professionally and personally. But at the same time if these allegations are true and are left unnoticed, students and the university will be at the receiving end.**<issue_comment>username_1: This is going to vary massively based on opinion. Still, my reaction is to **do nothing**. A or B have to stand up for themselves, otherwise for others it's a case of wanting to help but not being able to do so. Imagine what happens if an uninvolved third party writes to the administration asking them to act:
1. The administration has to take the allegations seriously. To convince them of that, you need to provide evidence. It seems like you don't have any solid evidence, only 2nd-hand information.
2. Assuming the administration takes the allegations seriously, they're likely to want to interview A and B. If A and B refuse to cooperate, the administration can't proceed.
3. For the administration to proceed, they need to make A and B cooperate even though they've stated (at least in A's case she has) that they don't want to. Are you sure that you want to put them through this?
Another thing to mention is that you could be accused of betrayal of trust. Z can plausibly argue that she told you this expecting that you will keep it confidential (it is likely A told Z expecting Z to keep it confidential, too). If you report to the administration and they press you about this, what can you say?
I would talk to A & B, argue that they should raise the issue to the administration both for themselves and for others, but also defer to their decision.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: As [username_1](https://academia.stackexchange.com/users/84834/allure) points out, opinions on this matter will vary, so let me note some points that I think are important here, and also offer an opinion that is slightly to the contrary of some other answers. (For brevity, these points are framed as an answer to the person you are talking about who is the academic dealing with these students.)
* **Academics have a duty of care to students:** Students at university are adults, but they mostly are still young and inexperienced. In my humble opinion, academics should generally err on the side of *pushing for assistance* in cases like these, even if the students are reluctant. Students are generally young adults who may be intimidated by the positions and standing of older adults who have attained academic success and institutional power. Having another academic push the matter forward may be helpful in overcoming this disparity.
* **Harassers thrive on the "I won't make a fuss" mentality:** Without making any assumption about whether or not harassment has actually occurred in this case, it is worth noting that cases of harassment tend to be done over and over again by a small number of individuals, and tend to proliferate because each person who is being harassed thinks it is only them, and they don't want to make a fuss and risk retribution by a powerful person. In cases where a victim of harassment reports the conduct, it is not unusual for this to precipitate an avalanche of other allegations against the same harasser. Recent events in Hollywood (e.g., <NAME>) testify to this fact, as do many other cases of sexual harassment.
* **Merely referring an allegation is not "accusatory":** Reporting an allegation *for it to be investigated* need not presume the truth of the allegation, and need not be "accusatory". That is the point of an investigation - to get to the truth from a starting point of it being unknown. It is perfectly legitimate to report allegations you have heard on to the administration, while taking no position on whether they are true or false, but still asking the university to consider whatever investigation into the matter is warranted by the allegations. There is no contradiction between wanting to bring this matter to the attention of the administration, and also wanting to avoid a false accusation. Just make sure that if you do send an email to the administration, you write it in a neutral way that does not presume that misconduct has occurred.
* **In the end, evidence will be required:** While it is legitimate to report hearsay allegations for the purpose of bringing a matter to the attention of the administration, you should bear in mind that your hearsay is not evidence. Unless one of the affected students is willing to speak to the university administration about this, the university will probably be very limited in its ability to investigate the matter. That is perfectly legitimate - after all, people should not be subject to negative proceeding against them without evidence, and hearsay evidence is weak evidence.
* With this in mind, the contribution you can make here is to bring the allegation to the attention of the administration, leading to contact with the students, and giving them an opportunity to report this matter formally. By acting as the initial referrer of the allegation, you can also show your students that actions are louder than words - you are willing to get involves, so maybe that will make them more willing. Still, at the end of the day it will depend on them. In my view even this step might be a good idea, even if the students ultimately decide not to proceed. I don't agree with the recommendation to do nothing.
* **Have the courage to put your name to the referral:** Think carefully about whether it is appropriate to report this *anonymously*. If it is justifiable to refer the matter to the university administration, and if you frame your email in a fair way that does not presume misconduct, then you ought to have the courage to put your name to it, and stand by your own actions. Reports of harassment are generally treated in confidence (at least up to the point where the accused is able to face the accusations), and this is an opportunity to set an example for your students and show that you are willing to act on your own principles. If a grown-up academic can't show the backbone to make a report about a colleague, without hiding behind anonymity, why should younger students show the courage that is absent in their elders?
Anyway, that is my two-cents. I'm sure there will be plenty of others with contrary opinions. Hopefully others will also give their views, as it would be worth getting some contrary ideas on this matter before making your decision.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: I don't think you *can* do anything, ethically. At least not in the way you are considering.
You write that "accusing anyone wrongly has serious consequences",
and "students and the university will be at the receiving end",
but have you considered the consequences for the student "A"
and for your friend "Z"?
The student "A" has said that she does not
want the stress and possible problems that
reporting the faculty member "T"
would cause. Maybe she *should* report him,
for the sake of other students, but she has decided that she doesn't
want to, or perhaps can't. Do you want to force her to this,
possibly even ruining her education? Who knows how she will react?
It should be her choice, not yours,
so you shouldn't name her.
Your friend "Z" didn't want to see the evidence, and doesn't want
to get involved. "Z" has made a similar decision as "A", for
unknown reasons. Again, her choice, not yours.
It seems to me that what your anonymous letter
should then say is something like this:
>
> Hi, I am an unidentified person, who heard from an unidentified
> faculty member at your university that an unidentified student
> at the university claims that faculty member "T" is sending
> harassing text messages.
>
>
>
I don't think that will be very helpful.
You *can*, however, encourage your friend to take a more active interest, and try to get the student to report the harasser, perhaps waiting until after she has graduated.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: >
> Is it ok for a person, who has nothing to do with any of characters in the story, to drop an email asking administration to take a look into these allegations?
>
>
>
Since the country isn't listed, there is no way to provide any definitive legal or even cultural answer to this question.
However, aside from any legal or cultural specifics, this is a matter of conscience for "Z" to deal with personally. "Z" should consider whether they can live with their decision after considering the possible ramifications of their decision.
* If "Z" does nothing, is "Z" prepared to accept that there may be future students that will be subject to such harassment that could have been prevented?
* If "Z" does nothing, is "Z" prepared to accept that such harassment (either now or in the future) may escalate beyond inappropriate texts/emails that could have been prevented?
* Is "Z" prepared for the possibility that this becomes a public scandal in the future and that "A" may make public statements that they confided in "Z" and that "Z" did nothing?
If "Z" cannot comfortably answer yes to these questions, they really should report the allegations to the office of student affairs.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I am a third-time postdoc, and had never before had problems with getting paid. For almost two years now I have been a postdoctoral fellow at a university in southern China. This is my first experience in Asia, and thus I am not sure of how common the situation I am facing is. Communication is arduous, not due to language differences, but a number of cultural traits which are hard to explain.
At the end of my previous contract, I contacted many institutions for job opportunities. I did not plan on accepting yet another postdoc, but these colleagues here convinced me (> 100-long-email negotiation) that I'd be paid a good salary, enjoy a good work environment, and easily take an assistant professor position as soon as conditions allowed. To make it clear, I signed a postdoctoral fellow contract for a 120k RMB salary per year, with a promise of an extra 60K RMB per year to be provided by the college. There are some extras on the contract, such as 10K RMB for purchasing a laptop, and reimbursement for moving expenses (to date, I never saw those).
I was instructed to apply for a visa after signing the contract. I needed a certain official document about which they claim they were unaware. After further email exchanges where I had pictures and links about the document, it took 2 months to get it by mail. This delayed my arrival btwo 2 weeks from the start of the contract, but over email they said that was no problem. In reality, they never paid me that 1st month while dismissing it by saying "probably will fix that later".
Another full month came without any pay, and apparently the administration couldn't agree with the bank on spelling my name, but I never knew the details. After many trips to the administration to find out what was wrong, I was paid ca. 5,500 RMB for the month. I tried to complain but no one would understand me. Then the confusion started.
I will try to summarise below as best as I can. It is really complicated, and everyone tells me "not to worry".
* I get paid ca. 5K RMB as fixed salary on the 5th-6th every month.
* Around the 25th they pay me another instalment which is highly variable, typically within 1.5K-4.2k RMB. (Tends to be higher before long holidays).
* After one year I got ca. 90K RMB, irregularly paid out of the contract's 120K.
* Only after aggressively complaining, hinting a lawsuit, I received 100K out of the promised *extra* 2x60K. (divided in 3 irregular transfers, made by some 18-y-old undergrad, late at night)
I get more info only by pressing uncomfortably hard. I was once told I'd get 13 payments per year (*never happened*). Then I was told some unspecified **large sum is retained to fund my expenses to any trips/conferences** I might wish to attend. I was not clearly informed of when or even if I would get the withheld amount. Few other postdocs openly discussed this problem with me, and they said (one Chinese and one foreigner) they had the same issue. The Chinese postdoc recently was offered to move to a new salary regime where he now gets a fixed, higher salary (took him months to tell me).
To make things even more complicated:
* I have found in my internal access system some separate account originally containing 40K RMB under my name (some "funding" mentioning my name), which is being used to apparently pay internal procedures. Upon asking about it, I was told to "not worry about that". There are currently <20K RMB left in this virtual account.
* A PI which is not the person I dealt with over emails is the person who signed my contract. According with local standards I am then supposed to consider him my "leader". This person is frequently absent, shows no interest in what I do, and refuses to reply any email about my salary/project. Now *I am pushed to list this PI's name as last author* in anything I write. My first paper from here is about to come out, and at the last minute I am requested to ask the editor to finally list this PI as the **corresponding author**.
I feel like I am being constantly blackmailed over retained promised salary payment. My visa expires in a few months. They passively owe me >80K RMB and I do not know what to do. I hear that suing is usually not advisable in China as lawyers ask for huge fees and judges tend to favor local standards and influential institutions/persons, plus the defendant will typically delay forever by refusing to engage.
I wish to ask whether anyone here had a similar situation, and would know what could be done? Particularly in China?
Before you ask: further unmentioned issues not directly related to salary finally did not make this a "healthy work environment". I am now informally told that "it is really hard for foreigners to get accepted locally as assistant professor because getting a major NSF grant is required, and that depends on significant connections (*guanxi*) and understanding of Chinese language/culture". Not that I was planning on staying longer, but just to clarify.
**\* UPDATE \*** 02/04/2018
I finally left China yesterday. I will summarise the chain of events and the current situation. I think I understand most of their scheme now.
About two months prior to my departure I started pressing the administration about the rest of the salary. They insisted a large, unspecified part, would be paid as soon as I finished all necessary exit procedures correctly. Moreover, the secretaries said a part of the payment would be retained as "taxes," but they were unable to specify what percentage nor type of taxes. Exit procedures included preparing lengthy reports which had not been requested before. At the same time they further reduced my salary, interrupting the last "2nd parts of salary" due to "unforeseen reasons" and said they'd try to fix that also at the very end!
After I quickly assembled reports and delivered all documents (signed by several professors who make it clear they are making some favor), the administration agreed to finally calculate how much they owed me. I went there several times only to hear back more nonsense. For instance they kept remarking they might not pay me for the last month "because I had delivered a final report prior to the end of the contract period" as they instructed!
Finally, after pressing them considerably, within 10 days of my departure they provided me their numbers. They would pay me a "reward" for completing documents, plus one month of basic salary, and promised a large sum adding up to the final amount... in exchange for **invoices**.
I confirmed with responsible PIs the need for invoices. They explicitly instructed me to *buy invoices* from companies they'd recommend by paying 10-15% of the declared value to "reimburse the rest of my salary". They insisted this is common procedure, offering help to "find invoices to exchange". I was shocked and refused.
I went to the Principal Office with a complaint letter, in English and Chinese. I spoke with the sub-secretary for 1h. They explain that what is declared on the contract as salary includes a significant amount which is to be spent with research only, and that invoices ensure the university can pay/reimburse. They say this is detailed in rules in Chinese in some book somewhere if anyone had questions. I made it clear nobody had ever clarified that, it should be explicated in the contract, and that I could not deal bogus invoices in exchange for payment. I told them I could only provide true invoices, which they accepted as a clean solution. They thanked me for "bringing me a major misunderstanding to their attention".
Finally I purchased credit for services with biotech companies with about 5k USD off my promised contractual salary. Got the "rewards" plus some delayed payments. It is not crystal clear from the numbers where is the last month of payment (I haven't had the guts to sieve that now).
After being paid I contacted my Consulate reporting the events, letters. Mainly to ensure some authority was aware in case of any political revenge (e.g. unfair accusation, arrest). I finally left without any events. I avoided physical contact with the PIs, who refrained from answering any further emails after I refused to purchase invoices. A few hours ago the Consulate notified the situation to the local Foreign Affairs Office, and emphasised it looks very serious.
**This is where I stand**. I hope something will be done to at least stop these schemes ongoing with other postdocs. I am moving to publish the story in the international press, and possibly file everything to the Ministry of Education right after. I thank everyone here for providing insights and suggestions. Keep an eye on the news.<issue_comment>username_1: Your first stop should be: Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security
中华人民共和国人力资源和社会保障部
How you will contact and make a complaint without knowing of Chinese language, I am not sure. I would suggest you a lawyer, but the culture is not the same, so what is consider lawyer in West it is not considered as usual in China.
there is also Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.
Also, there is Ministry of Supervision 中华人民共和国监察部
I mention them because the information you provide clearly indicates misuse of public funds.
if you dont know the Chinese language I recommend going for help to Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China. they should know English and they can advise you where and how to complain.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: Invited by the OP to post my comment under another post here:
Courts in China are often unwilling to rule in favor of foreigners in economic dispute cases. Not to mention that Chinese law already provides inadequate protection for workers in this case. I am not a lawyer myself, so I do not feel qualified to talk about the legal details, but in general it is very hard for workers to get what they deserve when they end up in a wage dispute, and especially if you're foreign. (Source: a close family member has experience working as an attorney-at-law in many wage dispute cases, including a few involving foreigners).
China can be pretty unfriendly for foreigners living in the country, as there are a lot of limitations on them. I would not suggest avoiding the country, but do expect a lot of difficulties.
---
**More**:
To solve this problem, you do need to know some Chinese politics. In China, universities are placed under direct administration of either the Ministry of Education or the provincial Department of Education, and they have no administrative autonomy whatsoever (unsurprising, because there is no separation of power in the Chinese government system, even on paper).
So, a court might not solve your issue. The court, as another government agency, would be unlikely to rule against another government agency. Also, this is a case of economic dispute and you are a foreigner. If you really want to go to court, find an experienced lawyer. Note, however, that Chinese courts can forbid foreign citizens with unresolved civil litigation from leaving the country; if your bring the case to court, you might risk not being able to leave the country until the case is resolved.
You might have a better chance if you *escalate* the issue to a higher level governmental agency. The Ministry of Education 教育部 might be a good choice (they likely are your university's direct supervising agency), so is SAFEA 国家外国专家局. Do try to contact them.
If you think there's corruption involved, try the Communist Party's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection 中央纪律检查委员会 (aka 中纪委). The Ministry of Supervision (now the National Supervision Commission) is in fact just another name under which the CCDI operates, so no need to contact them individually. The CCDI is an extremely powerful agency, so they might be the most helpful to you (of course, that's if they do take your case seriously).
Do write a letter to the CCDI if you are confident that misuse of public funds is present. However, instead of writing to your university's president 校长, perhaps writing to your university's Party Secretary 党委书记 might be more helpful. Also, see if there's a Central Inspection Group 中央巡视组 inspecting your university. If there happens to be one, you might as well report to them directly.
Do consult a lawyer. Be sure to choose a lawyer with experience working with foreigners.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: >
> I wish to ask whether anyone here had a similar situation, and would know what could be done? Particularly in China?
>
>
>
I might add my feedback on this, comparing it to my experiences. I've been a postdoc at Nankai in Tianjin, and have worked here ever since. I love China!
Miscommunication is normal here: you plan your life and career based on the information they provide, only to find out what you envisaged is incorrect. If you're particularly concerned about money, China is probably not the place to be.
>
> I signed a postdoctoral fellow contract for a 120k RMB salary per year, with a promise of an extra 60K RMB per year to be provided by the college.
>
>
>
I'm an associate professor with years of experience working in China, many Chinese co-authors, and a fellowship; I'm a native English speaker, I speak Chinese (sort of), and I have a Chinese green card. Regardless, this salary would be higher than my current salary. Very few postdocs (any?) in China will get such a high salary.
>
> I needed a certain official document about which they claim they were unaware.
>
>
>
This happens a lot: rules and regulations change in China quite frequently, and officials don't update the websites (both the Chinese and English ones). It's normal to find out mid-way through an application that something else is required.
>
> In reality, they never paid me that 1st month while dismissing it by saying "probably will fix that later".
>
>
>
I arrived in January, started getting paid in May, and they backdated it to March. During this time, I wrote papers which would probably impact me far more than a few months salary. I also get to live in China! China!!
I also didn't (and still don't) pay rent as the university covers my accommodation, and I barely pay bills.
>
> Then I was told some unspecified large sum is retained to fund my expenses to any trips/conferences I might wish to attend. I was not clearly informed of when or even if I would get the withheld amount.
>
>
>
I've racked up some huge travel bills: 9 countries this year; 10 countries last year. The payment of flights, accommodation, and registration is usually done by the university, so I don't have to do much. That's quite a lot of life experiences!
>
> ...everyone tells me "not to worry".
>
>
>
I've learned not to worry. I just work hard, gain experience, and publish, and money sorts itself out.
>
> Exit procedures included preparing lengthy reports which had not been requested before.
>
>
>
I was asked to write a report at the end of my postdoc too (something like 70+ pages); something like a "postdoc thesis". I copy/pasted my papers into it, put in a whole bunch of conference photos, etc. Nobody is ever going to read it.
>
> They would pay me a "reward" for completing documents, plus one month of basic salary, and promised a large sum adding up to the final amount... in exchange for invoices.
>
>
>
I've never heard of this. Here, invoices are needed for reimbursement (e.g. for hotels, taxis, etc.), but never anything else.
>
> They explicitly instructed me to buy invoices from companies they'd recommend by paying 10-15% of the declared value to "reimburse the rest of my salary". They insisted this is common procedure, offering help to "find invoices to exchange".
>
>
>
I've never heard of it. I'd probably refuse too.
>
> They explain that what is declared on the contract as salary includes a significant amount which is to be spent with research only, and that invoices ensure the university can pay/reimburse.
>
>
>
That explains the extraordinarily large salary, and the mysterious invoices.
It sounds like your colleagues were trying to find a "workaround" ("buy invoices from companies they'd recommend") so you can claim the research-allocated funds.
Upvotes: 3
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<issue_start>username_0: I have sent a paper to the journal that was predatory and I had no idea what that was. Today, they sent me an email that I need to pay **1819 euros** to publish my manuscript. On their internet pages stands that publication fee is 1819 USD and **1705 euros**. This means that they have changed their "price". They also said that in case of withdrawal I will need to pay 919 euros and that it is a half of price (919 euros is not 50% of above mentioned fees). If i do not pay, what could be legal consequences for me? Please help.<issue_comment>username_1: Based on the available information it is not possible (or even allowed?) to give legal advice. However, I **strongly** recommend you to contact your institute's legal department/lawers for support. You should also talk with your supervisor/professor about this, they might have experience.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: You look at a contract problem. Do you have a written or implied contract with the journal? What jurisdiction are you and the journal under?
Given the fact that the disputed value is 919 euro, I guess the problem is rather academical.
Here are possible outcomes:
1. Nothing happens, you don't pay them, they don't publish the paper.
This is the most probable.
2. You don't pay them, but they sue you
(where?) for the 919 euro amount due. As a variation, a local (to
you) collection agency is involved. Disputed amount would be larger,
as it includes collection fees and judgement. If they sold the "debt" to the collection agency, they are the plaintiff and you are the defendant. Odds are they will obtain a favorable judgement and you will pay.
3. They publish the paper
anyway, and sue/collect you for the full amount. Odds here are you will get the favorable judgement, but you look at a few lawyer billable hours.
Ultimately, you are the one having "a change of the hearth" as you submitted the paper and you want it withdrawn now. The journal doesn't seem to be at fault at all until now.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_3: **Get legal advice**. I don't see any other way about this unfortunately. They could easily say the 1819 EUR charge was a typo and it should've been 1819 USD. It also clearly says on the website that there's a withdrawal charge, although it doesn't say how much. They have removed the reason for the withdrawal charge from their website; however I'm sure I saw in previous versions of the page that the reason is you've taken up the editors' + reviewers' time, which is a defensible argument.
You may have to provide an explanation for why you submitted an article to them in the first place. If you can e.g. point to a deceptive call for papers which did not mention the article processing charge, you have a stronger case.
Having said that, don't worry too much, you're probably going to get away without too much pain. Reasons:
* The publisher is OMICS, which has a reputation as *the* worst predatory open access publisher out there (see their [Wikipedia page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OMICS_Publishing_Group)). You can point to action by the US government against OMICS, which should be especially relevant if you're based in the US.
* Because OMICS is so bad, there're likely to have been many authors who wanted to withdraw their articles. If OMICS has initiated legal proceedings against these authors, I'm not aware of them (and they would undoubtedly have been publicized by the victims).
* OMICS has already been involved in lots of legal suits, on the wrong side (i.e. they're the defendants). Courts are not likely to be sympathetic to predatory OA publishers.
* OMICS has little to gain by filing a suit. The most they can hope for is 1819 USD. That's probably not enough to be worth the effort.
I'd guess that the most likely result is that you'll be blacklisted by OMICS. They might refuse to consider any more of your papers or they might charge higher article processing charges the next time you submit an article. They might even take you off their mailing lists. Do you care? One might even send them some genuine thanks if they do.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: Pull the paper. Don't pay the withdrawal fee. Stop submitting to such junky journals.
Upvotes: -1
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<issue_start>username_0: I've submitted the final manuscript for a book with a reputed social science publisher. My publisher wants a list of people who might be willing to provide endorsement for the book.
Whom should I suggest? In particular, is it appropriate to suggest people I've been working with, for example my supervisors? On the one hand, they would not be neutral, but on the other hand, that seems to be precisely the point of an endorsement. Should I approach them myself before suggesting them to my publisher?
I'm not sure what exactly "endorsement" means, but I believe it's about writing one of these "blurbs" that you see on the back of some books. In any case, the purpose is for marketing, not for scientific review.<issue_comment>username_1: As publishing has also a commercial side, publishers do want to get their costs paid (and they hope for some profit). So, they want to ensure as good as possible that someone (libraries, institutes, ..) will buy the book. For that you need your endorsements.
There is no problem in taking you supervisors for endorsement. However, I would advise you to personally ask them for their support.
Furthermore, it would be helpful if you find some other people that may to the same - have you been to conferences, spoke with people - do you built up a personal network with other peers? If so, ask them. They should be well known people in the subject you are publishing, of course. Reputation sells.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: An endorsement isn't necessarily the blurb at the back of the book - the blurb can also be written by the author. It can be a book review printed at the back of the book, or in some magazine or journal that is willing to publish it.
In general the more famous the endorser (or the magazine / journal), the better. Prestigious titles (e.g. "Astronomer Royal") or affiliations help also. It's OK to suggest your supervisors - endorsements are not neutral. As for approaching them first, you know your supervisors better than most people, so you can answer that best.
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: It could also be placed on <https://english.stackexchange.com/>, but I feel it is more suitable here. So: **Is there a term for the (trivial) fact that research is done only with the means available?**
For example a mineralogist won't study stones from the Moon if s/he doesn't have one. More specifically to my case: I am looking for a term that describes the problem of researchers who want to do something, but cannot do it by hand and not even by computers due to lack of suitable software/hardware (e.g. inverting very large matrices); and as a consequence they don't do it. (And in a verly last step, I want to find out whether there is research done about the consequences on science due to lacking software/hardware.) Is it simply called "lack of technology" or something similar?<issue_comment>username_1: "practical limitations" could cover just about any type of situation where you don't have the means to do what you'd ideally like to do.
"resource limitations" could cover not having enough time, money, or trained people to do the work, not having the right equipment, and a lot of other things.
"equipment limitations" could cover not having enough equipment, or the equipment you have can't do what you need.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: In my university, people often call limitations as 'constraints'.
I have heard them saying:
"resource constraints" - availability of computers and machines, people
"financial constraints" - Money
"space constraints" - Physical space (room), lab etc.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: I would lean towards words like tractability/intractability to describe problems. A problem that is intractable can, in theory, be done but, in practice, is not possible. For instance, you mention inversion of a matrix - in theory, the steps and processes required to invert a matrix of any size are clearly defined - it just is a matter of resources and time. However, in practice, the amount of resources and time required are unacceptably large.
Wikipedia has this to say about the [matter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computational_complexity_theory#tractable_problem):
>
> A problem that can be solved in theory (e.g. given large but finite resources, especially time), but for which in practice any solution takes too many resources to be useful, is known as an intractable problem.[13] Conversely, a problem that can be solved in practice is called a tractable problem, literally "a problem that can be handled". The term infeasible (literally "cannot be done") is sometimes used interchangeably with intractable,[14] though this risks confusion with a feasible solution in mathematical optimization.[15]
>
>
>
which seems to reasonably approach what you are trying to express.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: The problem you're describing at the end of your question could be considered a specific case of the [streetlight effect](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streetlight_effect):
>
> The streetlight effect is a type of observational bias that occurs when people are searching for something and look only where it is easiest.
>
>
>
This term is derived from a joke:
>
> A policeman sees a drunk man searching for something under a streetlight and asks what the drunk has lost. He says he lost his keys and they both look under the streetlight together. After a few minutes the policeman asks if he is sure he lost them here, and the drunk replies, no, and that he lost them in the park. The policeman asks why he is searching here, and the drunk replies, "this is where the light is".
>
>
>
Usually this term is used to criticize over-reliance on convenience samples, but it can apply equally to convenience methods. Only studying the phenomena that you have the technology to study effectively (and therefore missing potentially important insights that would have required better technology) could be considered an instance of this phenomenon, albeit a very understandable one (you're not just looking where it's easiest, you're looking where you *have the technology to look*).
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: The angle that I immediately thought of before reading your example of limitations of compute power was limitations in available data. The phrase to describe that is **found data** or **observational data**. For example, you can't intentionally infect a person with a known fatal disease to study it, so there are fundamental limitations on the research, and it can only be done with the observed historical data available.
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm a graduate student and I am really worried about the quality of my master thesis. It's my second year in graduate school and I've already done some pilot studies. But, entering the school, I was absolutely new in the real science (cognitive psychology) and now I'm afraid that data I collected is too dirty and statistical analysis I provided just incorrect. I have to present and publish my results anyway if I want to end graduate school and become a phd, but I feel ashamed of them.
So, I wonder is it ok to have problems with data when I'm just studying or I should refuse to publish or present these results?
My supervisor thinks everything's great and local journals will accept papers, but it is just bad, isn't it?<issue_comment>username_1: Since your supervisor thinks that everything is fine, you should *not* be ashamed of publishing your results.
If you are still unsure: You should talk about your concerns to your supervisor and request an honest opinion. Keep in mind, that he/she is also (partly) responsible for the quality of your results!
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: Imposter syndrome
-----------------
>
> I am really worried about the quality of my master thesis
>
>
>
This is normal. You are still being educated in your field, but working alongside professionals, reading professional papers; this means you're judging yourself against an unduly high standard: of course your pilot studies are not "as good" as a "finished" piece of work from professor or a postdoc.
This can cause, and be compounded by, [imposter syndrome](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impostor_syndrome). In imposter syndrome, you fail to correctly judge the standard of your own work (or set your standards unduly high) and, as such, underestimate your own ability leading to the feeling of being an "imposter". This is incredibly common - most (non-sociopathic) academics will experience it at some point in their careers!
To overcome this (and to identify when perceived concerns are actually valid) it is important that you take on board feedback from your colleagues. Your peers (the master's and PhD students you directly work/collaborate with, attend class with etc.) and supervisors/lecturers will be able to help you identify your strengths and weaknesses. Most importantly, they will be able help you overcome the imposter syndrome by providing a realistic judgement of your skills. In your case, the feedback mechanisms are suggesting that everything's fine:
>
> My supervisor thinks everything's great and local journals will accept papers
>
>
>
---
How to judge/assess your own work
---------------------------------
>
> I'm afraid that data I collected is too dirty and statistical analysis I provided just incorrect
>
>
>
The best way to deal with this situation, is as follows
* Make a list of **specific** problems you perceive in your analysis (e.g. should have used this kind of hypothesis test, should have compared these variables).
* Make any easy fixes (running a T test, for instance, can often be done quite easily).
* Now consider whether the remaining "problems" seriously undermine your conclusions.
+ Do not use perfection as your standard for this: nothing in research is ever finished or complete, especially "pilot studies"; just consider whether the data supports your conclusions.
+ Consider if you can resolve any undermining by hedging or changing your conclusions (e.g. "x causes y" --> "x show strong positive correlation with y")
* Look at published papers - is your analysis of comparable methods/standards? Have you performed a similar level of rigour?
* **Listen to your supervisor's advice**. They're the expert. They've published before. If they think the paper's fine, it probably is.
When you follow this, you'll probably find that your work is in far better shape than you initially thought.
---
On a related note:
>
> I have to present and publish my results anyway if I want to end graduate school and become a phd
>
>
>
Where does this come from? Unless publication is a requirement for graduation (unusual for a master's?), this simply isn't the case. You do not require publications to successfully apply for a PhD. So (unless they're a requirement for graduation) don't stress over publications, treat that possibility as a stretch-goal instead.
---
Some light relief
-----------------
[](http://phdcomics.com/comics.php?f=1972)
[](http://phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=1973)
[](http://phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=1975)
[](http://phdcomics.com/comics/archive.php?comicid=1976)
[](https://xkcd.com/1954/)
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: It is really difficult to answer this question without knowing your work (and knowing your field to some extent). Maybe there really is a problem with your work, maybe it is just impostor syndrome, which in my personal experience seems to be really common among young scientists. I don't think anyone here is in a position to tell you which one it is.
Personally, I believe that the reason scientists do low-quality work often is that they fail to recognize the problems with their methodology. Having doubts is normal, and I would even go as far as to argue that it might be a good sign because it shows that you have the right attitude, whether your doubts are justified or not.
I agree with the general sentiment of the other answers that it is probably best to ask for feedback from your peers. You have already convinced your supervisor, which is obviously quite important. If you need more positive reinforcement and are worried about particular problems in your work such as the statistical analysis part, consider asking someone to review just that part for you. I have often asked fellow graduate students who I believed to have more expertise than me in a specific field for their opinion on specific parts of my work. Of course, their opinion doesn't carry as much weight as the opinion of an experienced scientist, but it could provide you with some orientation. If several others think your work is fine upon closer inspection, I wouldn't worry about it.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: I think the beautiful thing about a statistical analysis is that, when done right, it includes the odds that it is incorrect.
The honest thing to do is to include as part of your paper possible confounding factors that may make your conclusions invalid. A good reader is thinking of these anyway, so it only makes you look better to state them in an open way.
You don't have to (and shouldn't) put this in a way that insults your work. But perhaps something like, "A future study where [the data in question] is gathered in [suggested "less dirty" method] would be useful in further understanding this issue."
Frankly, I think your impulse to want a high quality standard for your work is an admirable one.
Upvotes: 3
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<issue_start>username_0: For the people here who do not yet work entirely electronically, and still use printed papers & old school folders to organise their papers, do you guys have a system for organising these papers?
I have bought a few folders today and have made a few rough distinctions, but I am wondering how more advanced academics organise their papers once they've read hundreds to thousands of them (and also roughly on the same very specialised topic).<issue_comment>username_1: Personally, I am not keen on organizing printed papers. Even though I prefer to read paper documents, I have never been able to devote enough space for proper organization and have resorted to ad hoc printing of those I really want to analyze in detail (knowing that after a few days after reading I will misplace them somewhere) and on-screen reading of those I really only want to skim through.
However, before the introduction of digital technologies, the storage of paper-based documentation was an art. It was perfected by well-known sociologist, <NAME> (indeed, his system of filling cabinet was one of the things that he is famous for). He used system of filling cabinets to store tens of thousands of paper documents: [](https://i.stack.imgur.com/rbCfA.jpg)
As far as I know, he used filling cabbinet-based system for storage of a number of paper fiches, used to organize different ideas: abstracts of books, ideas for papers, etc. I am no aware of him using this method to store full papers, nevertheless you may look into it as an inspiration for your problem solution.
Luhmann's system was subject to a number of studies. Himself, he described the system in the following paper: [Kommunikation mit Zettelkästen](https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-322-87749-9_19). [This](http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/books/b9789004325258s014) seems to be one description of his system in English.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: Separate the semantic ordering from the physical ordering. It keeps your organization flexible, since you can assign each paper to several topics and projects, and change the assignments as you see fit.
This can be achieved by using a filing cabinet or folders on the one hand, and a bibliographic database (be it electronic or in paper) on the other.
Label each paper with some identifier. I recommend the date or month, but also a running number will do. The label doesn't have to carry any meaning. Collect the papers with a certain range of labels in one folder. For example all papers with labels January to March go in one folder called "Jan-March 2018".
In your database, each entry should also carry the corresponding label under which the paper can be retrieved, in addition to the bibliographic data, and any semantic information such as projects and topic keywords. Use the database, not the physical location, for organizing the papers by substance matter.
How the database itself should be organized is another question. I use folders for projects and keywords for topics. Creating a systematic ontology or adopting an existing ontology (e.g. the Dewey system) seems overkill. Instead, I recommend creating keywords on the fly ("tagging") and combing through the keyword list once in a while. This will be more difficult with a paper-based organization than with an electronic database, of course.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: I sometimes use printed papers in folders too, because it's nice to be able to peruse them without aid of a computer, especially while in a coffee-shop, etc. Others here suggest using a flexible ordering system, but personnally I find that I use the folder to refresh knowledge of a particular research topic for purposes of writing papers in a specific area. Here is what I put in the folder (in order):
* One folder of papers per for each broad "area" of research (subject to length considerations).
* **Cover and spine:** Cover page and spine page with clear identification of topic, and my contact details on the folder in case I lose it.
* **My own papers:** My own papers on the topic, in whatever order is most logical, followed by a coloured separator tab.
* **Bibliography and literature for each topic:** For each topic covered by the folder, a cover-page giving full bibliographic information on all the papers for that topic (listed in chronological order of publication), followed by the papers themselves, separated by a coloured page. Sections on different topics separated by a coloured separator tab.
* Since I use my folders of printed papers to refresh particular research topics, I don't worry about doubling-up papers across folders (though I might if I started tripling-up, etc.).
The system I use is designed to allow me to review/refresh my knowledge of a particular topic (where I have a research interest) in the order in which the research occurred historically. I can also jump to particular papers of interest easily. The folders are also a useful aid to lend to graduate students if I want to give them some background reading in a research topic.
Upvotes: 0
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<issue_start>username_0: Recently I got a research from one of my colleagues. However, I suspect the draft of his work and think it is extracted from somewhere else and it is not a new research in the field of cryptography. I need to know due to the lack of the time I have can I make sure about this issue? what are the solutions for this?<issue_comment>username_1: Use a plagiarism detection program. The two I'm most familiar with are [Turnitin](http://turnitin.com/) and [iThenticate](http://www.ithenticate.com/). There are plenty of others - just Google for "plagiarism detection".
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: It depends what you suspect was plagiarised, how and where from.
If you believe the ideas/structure/references (the latter would apply to a literature review) have been plagiarised, you're only recourse is to use your expertise and knowledge of the field to identify the sources. A literature survey of your own would help this.
If, as I suspect, you mean the text has been plagiarised, you can use services such as [Turnitin](http://turnitin.com/) and [iThenticate](http://www.ithenticate.com/) (as suggested by others). If you work in a university, it is very likely that they already subscribe to one of those services, and you should be able to access it. Very often, universities provide (password-protected) access for students to check their work through such services, prior to submission; usually through their virtual learning environment (VLE, e.g. Moodle, Blackboard). Your librarians would be able to point you in the right direction.
However, there's a much easier way: just Google (and Google Book search aned Google Scholar search) the text you suspect of being copied. Pretty much the only sources Turnitin *et al.* have access to that Google doesn't is previously submitted student assignments; so (as I read this case) Google is as likely as anywhere to identify the source of any suspect passages.
I just picked a random sentence from a nearby textbook to test this. While ["straight" Google didn't pick it up](https://www.google.co.uk/search?source=hp&ei=EI6UWt64C-bYgAaIz564CQ&q=the%20operations%20of%20rotation%2C%20mirror%20reflection%2C%20and%20inversion%20through%20a%20point%20%28see%20below%29%20are%20point-symmetry%20operations%2C%20since%20each%20leaves%20at%20least%20one%20point%20of%20the%20object%20in%20a%20fixed%20position&oq=the%20operations%20of%20rotation%2C%20mirror%20reflection%2C%20and%20inversion%20through%20a%20point%20%28see%20below%29%20are%20point-symmetry%20operations%2C%20since%20each%20leaves%20at%20least%20one%20point%20of%20the%20object%20in%20a%20fixed%20position&gs_l=psy-ab.3...1350.49772.0.50516.254.161.19.4.4.0.190.10258.70j38.108.0....0...1c.1.64.psy-ab..123.43.3624.0..0j46j0i131k1j0i46k1j0i10k1j0i22i30k1j33i22i29i30k1j33i160k1j33i21k1.0.zqNgtIEZIiQ), [**Google Books did**](https://www.google.com/search?tbm=bks&q=the%20operations%20of%20rotation%2C%20mirror%20reflection%2C%20and%20inversion%20through%20a%20point%20%28see%20below%29%20are%20point-symmetry%20operations%2C%20since%20each%20leaves%20at%20least%20one%20point%20of%20the%20object%20in%20a%20fixed%20position).
When I was a fresher, and we had our "don't plagiarise" lecture, I remember the lecturer telling us that the university subscribed to all these expensive anti-plagiarism services, but the lecturers just used Google instead.
Upvotes: 2
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2018/02/27
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<issue_start>username_0: Alright this question needs a little more context. **This is not about me but I will define the situation as if it were for myself**, so feel free to ask me directly for clarifications.
I'm a German student currently in my second year of a university course that combines both teaching (to children) and art. The problem is with the actual practice during internships: I quickly realized that teaching is not for me; plus, art doesn't guarantee me stable outcomes at all, the jobs are very rare and underpaid.
So now I'm fully decided to change my course,I've already started searching by:
* Looking up the available diplomas in different universities in my country, and the contents of the classes they are made of. This didn't give me the inspiration I expected, and didn't give me a relevant sense of what was really taught.
* Going through various online orientation tests, but their questions are not precise or numerous enough to give me relevant tracks; most of them lead me up to the legal field, which I highly dislike.
* Going through various lists of jobs, also to get inspiration and know about stuff I didn't know. But it still does not give me a solid overview of what the careers actually entail.
* Talking with as many people as I can about it, to share experience and knowledge.
But all this brought me no closer to my goal as I'm still stuck at the same point. So my exact question is: **what would be the best tools/ways/methods to find and analyze relevant programs that I could enjoy, as well as their outcomes ?**
P.S.: I didn't find any other relevant SE community in which I could ask this; if there are, I would be happy to move my post.<issue_comment>username_1: I think you are on the right track, however, you might extend the steps undertaken some more:
>
> Looking up the available diplomas in different universities in my country, and the contents of the classes they are made of. This didn't give me the inspiration I expected, and didn't give me a relevant sense of what was really taught.
>
>
>
With this point, figure out one that you think is at least somewhat interesting, contact the programme counsellor, ask if you can come by and talk to him/her and then ask if there's an opportunity to talk to some students and attend one or two classes. At my university, this is always a possibility, and I did it myself. This provided me with a clear picture of the programme.
>
> Going through various online orientation tests, but their questions are not precise or numerous enough to give me relevant tracks; most of them lead me up to the legal field, which I highly dislike.
>
>
>
Regarding this comment you seem to know at least some aspects that you don't like (legal and teaching) which is a good first step. However, I personally never really trusted the standard only orientations, but there are professional institutes here in the Netherlands, and I would guess in Germany as well, that have better tests, where you talk with experienced counsellors that can help you. This can cost some money though..
>
> Going through various lists of jobs, also to get inspiration and know about stuff I didn't know. But it still does not give me a solid overview of what the careers actually entail.
>
>
>
Select a job listing that you find somewhat interesting, and then search your network for someone that has a similar job. You could also just contact the recruiter in a list and ask the questions you want to ask.
>
> Talking with as many people as I can about it, to share experience and knowledge.
>
>
>
Good! This is very important :) Keep doing this.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: You first must determine your values, as ultimately any answer you'd find convincing must satisfy your values. Then, the problem becomes more a question of how to best satisfy these values.
Decision making skills can be useful in choosing a major, and will be useful for almost any choice you make. I'd recommend taking a decision analysis class, as I did during my PhD. The principles involved with making good decisions will be valuable in almost any endeavor.
If you want to improve the world in a very utilitarian way, the website [80,000 Hours](https://80000hours.org/) should prove useful. The organization is affiliated with the University of Oxford and focuses on helping young people make valuable and satisfying career choices. Of course, education is a major part of this. They have a career guide that I've read a large fraction of, along with a decision tool.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: I have a few tips that should serve as a general guideline. Success in life depends on a number of factors but mainly a sense of personal fulfillment plus perceived value. Some balance should be always sought between these. My tips:
* **Make sure you have an objective.** After setting up general career & life goals, making plans is just natural. You don't need to be inflexible on fixed goals: just have them. If you have specific passions, see how they can be fed.
* **Discuss openly with career-oriented peers**. You said you're talking to people. Let me tell you to talk *chiefly* with people aged **27-37** which you find particularly talented, pragmatic, inspiring. They don't need to be immediate friends, actually it may be better if they aren't.
* **Do not worry so much about the major *title*.** Sure a degree helps, but when you dive aggressively into adult life, what counts are always *skills*. Focus on learning and applying 'transferable skills' (remember this term). Whatever seems useful and you get a taste for, take the opportunity and time to *learn* it. The most trivial examples are languages, but anything ranging from programming, writing, body language, persuasion, conflicts mediation, diplomacy, fast reading, management, etc, could prove the basis of your future career.
* **Start working early**. Find a mentor, someone you can help. Do not be shy of offering a hand for whatever activity you may like, something which is in your general plan of point 1. That will teach you which specific skills you need, and will put you in contact with specialists and other mentors. Without realising your 'job life' will unfurl from your first adventures.
Good luck, and don't look back or sit too long.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: I suggest you start with **career exploration**. Once you have a tentative career goal, you can then look for an academic program that will (a) teach you what you need to carry out that job, and (b) give you the credentials you need in order to get such a job. (For some careers, (a) matters much more than (b), such as *concert violinist*.)
One of my children went to a high school that provided opportunities for this, and in fact required a certain number of hours of structured career exploration activities. That's how I came to know about the concept. People of any age can create their own career exploration activities, if they aren't lucky enough to land in a structured career exploration program. Here are some of the things you can do as part of career exploration. I'll use some concepts and terminology from the US; I hope you can figure out how to translate them to German and Germany.
* Browse Meet-Ups organized around particular career groupings or themes; attend some that look interesting. Attend "young professional" gatherings, "networking" events, chamber of commerce events, community centers, and art events such as gallery openings, concerts, theater and dance presentations, etc. At all of these events, talk to people one on one and **ask them what they do for a living** and what path took them there. Also try to find out what, if anything, they do for artistic self-expression. (For example, sometimes people choose to channel their artistic interests into their free time activities rather than as a paid job.) What you want to do at these events is
+ expand your awareness of possible careers,
+ stimulate your imagination about what new careers and combinations are waiting to be developed,
+ notice which personal characteristics correlate with job satisfaction in which careers, especially those personal characteristics that match up with who you are.
* Seek out some people to **shadow**. Typically a shadow would be set up for a day or a half day. You arrange it in advance, and then on your shadowing day, you follow a specific person around in a typical work day, watching and listening. If you've ever wondered what it's like to be a graphic artist at a magazine, or be a textile designer, or set up shows at a gallery, *do a shadow* of someone who works in that capacity. You can request a shadow either of a specific individual that a friend of your aunt's brother-in-law knows, or you can contact a company or group and ask them to match you up with someone on staff.
* Set up a **career exploration internship.** This is different from the internship one does after completing a certain amount of coursework. In a career exploration internship, you're just getting your feet wet, with approximately 3 to 8 hours a week, typically unpaid, for perhaps 8 to 12 weeks. You might be assigned grunt work to do -- but you can find out a lot about an industry by being on the inside in this way.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: There is a professor at a university different from the one I study in, who I like to do some research with. I emailed her and did not receive any answer even after sending a follow-up email (a week after the first email). I knew her class schedule, but not her office hours. I thought about going to where the class meets to talk to her after her lecture (introduce myself, try to remind her of the email and express my interest in working with her over and ask her to read my CV that I emailed to her, or arrange some time to meet me and discuss about possible opportunities) .
Since I am not a student at the institution where she works and given the nature of my inquiry and the fact that she didn't answer my emails, I thought this might not be appropriate. I wanted to ask your opinion on whether you think there is a way for me to go and talk to her without it being inappropriate. (I thought about emailing the TA of the class and asking about the office hours of the professor, but I doubt if that's any better.)<issue_comment>username_1: No, that veers into stalker territory, don't do it. A lack of response is generally read as lack of interest. Even though she may just be busy or may not have seen your email, ignoring that convention, and going to these lengths to contact her, may ring alarm bells.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: I would not appreciate that. I have a schedule, which means that after a lecture I may have a meeting, I may have an appointment with someone I am supervising, I may need to pick up my children from day-care, etc. etc. etc.
If you have emailed twice and not received an answer, then that is your answer... That is not very polite, but none of us are perfect.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_3: I completely disagree with the previous answers to this question. Pursuing this does not enter you into 'stalker territory' (@username_1) nor does lack of an answer suggest day care problems (@Maartin Buis--sorry). Profs get these kinds of emails frequently, and often times the writer is not willing to follow through, leaving little incentive *particularly* if you're at a different institution. If you're serious and passionate, pursue. You'll win her over eventually at some level. The fact you're at a different school entails all kinds of issues, but do not give up.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: It sounds to me like this professor is not interested in working with you. She may be too busy to take on new projects, or she may feel she needs to prioritize working with students currently enrolled in her own university. Either way, I think you have an answer to your inquiry. I'm sorry it's not the one you were looking for.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: I feel your pain! We have all been in similar situations in which we have to guess whether the lack of a reply means "not interested" or "I just forgot to reply". From my 20 years of experience in academia I would say there is a very good chance it's the latter, but it could also be the former. Hence your dilemma.
*What not to do*: I would advise against trying to corner the professor after their lecture. While it's not exactly stalking it can be quite awkward if the professor's schedule is tight and has to go straight to another lecture/meeting etc. and has to brush you off as a result. While you could do it, there's a chance it won't work in the sense of actually getting to talk to the professor. And it may not create good will if done crudely.
*What to do*: There is in fact a commonly used way to contact the professor in person. Go to their office and knock! Even without knowing their office hours that is entirely appropriate. If the professor can't talk to you, they will say so. If they can talk to you, be prepared to schedule a meeting time rather than discussing your actual inquiry right there on the spot. A similar alternative is to find out their phone number and call them. Depending on your personal preference you may choose one over the other.
If you feel awkward about knocking at their door unannounced, remind yourself that they have had the chance to avoid having to talk to you in person by replying to your email. Given that is common for professors to forget emailing undergraduates back, you cannot be reasonably expected to interpret a lack of reply as a no. Good luck!
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_6: To answer the actual question: it is completely inappropriate. You are not her student and many professors have tight schedules, you shouldn't waste either her time or your own.
However, you should email the academic advising or registrar of the professor's institution and explain that you are a student at a different institution and would like to get in contact with this professor. Don't take the neglection of your previous emails as a rejection. At my university many professors block emails from outside sources (i.e. you must use a @myuni.edu address), so in a case like that she may never have received your email.
If at this point you get some kind of rejection or no response, then you should drop the matter. It isn't worth it for yourself to keep pursuing it, and there will be other opportunities with other professors.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_7: Appropriate should even be, effective less.
-------------------------------------------
You stated you knew her class schedule, so if she is free after the lesson you may have success to speak with or, better, to ask her when she can dedicate you some minutes.
It can be appropriate if you will be polite, clear, specific and **concise**.
>
> E.g. I need 5-10 minutes to speak about `xxx`. I read those
> papers of yours (`a`,`b`), I find interesting `yyy` and I would like to work on it maybe in the `zzz` development. I'm currently student/phd/whatever in the `ttt` university. Is there any way to arrive to work on this subject with your group? What can I do?
>
>
>
### There are, by the way, other ways in which you can contact her.
**Secretary of the group or of the department.** Each professor belong to group(s) and/or department(s). Find which, and call the secretary. (Again concise). Ask how to contact that professor.
**Conference or Talk.**
If you have the time and the occasion it may be more effective if you find an *open event* in which to meet, e.g. if she takes part on a conference, or she has a talk accessible for you.
In those occasions people is *usually* more open, and has already reserved time to speak.
**Professor of your university of the same field.** If you can *access* to some professor actually enrolled in your university in the same field of the one you want to contact, you may ask him/her information about that professor and how to contact. If they personally know each other, you can ask to be introduced too, or at least to send her a mail.
**Her Office**. Knock the door and ask when she has some time to speak with you about `xxx`...
ps> She may have some time to dedicate to students... you may try to go in that time, but you will be after the needs of her students.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_8: Academics get this kind of question all the time. No response means "Sorry, I'm not interested. I have enough on my plate looking after my own students at my own university, without taking on somebody from outside whom I don't even know."
As for trying to find her in person, **no**. Certainly not by trying to buttonhole her outside her lecture, when she'll be trying to deal with student questions and trying to get to her next appointment (which may very well be fifteen minutes of quality time with her coffee mug). Certainly not at her office hours, which are devoted to the students she's responsible for teaching.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_9: Do not just show up at the end of an instructor's lecture. Students tend to rush an instructor right after a lecture with lots of "one quick questions" so that's definitely not a time when she can pay attention to you.
Wait another two or three months and then send another email. She might just have been in a very busy stretch and maybe if you wait a bit, you'll find her in a period when she has more time. If you still get no response, you need to move on.
Upvotes: 3
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm the process of paper drafting and stumbled upon the question, what's the appropriate name for individuals, who are affected by a disease, which is likely due to a mutation.
I was using the term "carriers" until now (like in: group one constists out of mutational carriers, group two is a control group).
Now I've read that the word "carrier" is just short for hereditary carrier (Wikipedia: has inherited a recessive allele for a genetic trait or mutation but does not display that trait)
So how do I refer to patients that are affected by the mutation. I've thought about "patients", but the control group consists out of patients, too.
Is there a correct word for this?<issue_comment>username_1: Look at the previous research on this disease, and check what those papers are using to designate these people. If there's a conventional way to refer to them, you'll want to conform to that; if they use different words you'll have some options to choose one you like from.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I have heard of the opposite (genetically inherited the mutation with no sign of disease) as an **[asymptomatic carrier](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asymptomatic_carrier)**, so I checked if *symptomatic carrier* exists. It does not seem to be very common, but it has been used in [medical publications](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24135430).
This does imply a genetic cause though. Which means if you are not yet sure there is a mutation behind it, I would not use the word (genetic) carrier in any case. (Unless you know it is either that or a pathogen, as a patient can also be a symptomatic or asymptomatic carrier of a pathogen.)
Upvotes: 0
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<issue_start>username_0: Can my advisor's advisor (he is a very well known person in the field) be a reviewer for a paper written by me along with my advisor (I mean the authors are me and my advisor). The work is extending/generalizing a work of my advisor's advisor. I mean whether conflict of interest will allow this. Thanks in advance. Any help/suggestions will be useful.<issue_comment>username_1: Have a look at the submission instructions, you may also link them here. It depends on the conference/journal/publisher/... how they define a conflict of interest. Most likely, this will not work out and is a typical case of CoI if they have collaborated very little time ago.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Conflicts of interest have to be determined individually for each author of each work product (paper, proposal, book, etc.). If a person has a conflict for *any* author, she should not act as a reviewer.
In the case you cite, your advisor’s advisor cannot act as a reviewer for your advisor, and thus cannot serve as a reviewer. If your advisor is not a coauthor, then your advisor’s advisor could act as a reviewer, but I would likely err on the side of caution and not nominate him as a reviewer.
Upvotes: 3
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2018/02/27
| 1,558
| 6,446
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm wondering if someone could offer some professional advice regarding how I should approach a situation at my university. Essentially, we had a paper due for an English class, and the instructor provided a rubric. This rubric consists of six categories that are each worth 0 points, followed by a holistic assessment category worth 100 points that is a sum total of the other six categories.
I emailed the professor voicing my concern that without a point distribution in place (0 points for each category), there is no way for us to determine whether the grading was performed objectively, or even how to interpret a grade in a certain category. I asked him for clarification, and he said that the maximum number of points any category can have is 16.67. This, of course, implies that the categories are equally weighed. So I told him that this is also concerning for two reasons:
1) Not all categories should be weighed equally (content is not nearly as important as mechanics, for example)
2) It doesn't make sense to have a category worth "16.67" points max, since that implies you could earn a 14.17/16.67, and who is to say that 14.17 shouldn't have been a 14.18?
He responded saying they aren't weighed equally, which seems to contradict what he said before. Because if they are not weighed equally, then the maximum score any particular category can have (in the extreme case) is 95, with the remaining 5 points distributed among the other five categories.
So I'm not really getting anywhere with the professor; it doesn't seem like he understands the implications of not disclosing the point distribution on the rubric. How should I approach this situation?<issue_comment>username_1: Essay grading in English at the college and graduate level is usually not completely granular. That is to say, if you, for example, misspell a word or miss a comma, you will likely not see a straight docking to your grade. Consistently poor writing, though, will lead to grade reduction. I have not always been a fan of writing, but I did due diligence through undergrad taking Humanities courses and writing papers, and have never received a point-breakdown rubric aside from a loose description of what is expected.
It's been a decade since I've taken a pure English class, but much more recently that I've taken the GRE and GMAT. While not shining examples of essay prompts by any means, give you a numerical grade for your written efforts with only loose descriptions of the categorical requirements.
[When you compare a 6 (the top score) and a 5 (the second-highest score):](https://www.ets.org/gre/revised_general/prepare/analytical_writing/argument/scoring_guide)
>
> In addressing the specific task directions, a 6 response presents a cogent, well-articulated examination of the argument and conveys meaning skillfully.
>
>
>
versus
>
> In addressing the specific task directions, a 5 response presents a generally thoughtful, well-developed examination of the argument and conveys meaning clearly.
>
>
>
There's not much that separates a 6 from a 5, but if you [read the sample answers](https://www.ets.org/gre/revised_general/prepare/analytical_writing/argument/sample_responses) you should be able to tell there are subtle differences that make the 6 paper superior to the 5.
At this level of writing, I don't believe you still need a point-by-point breakdown to write a paper. You know, from the rubric, exactly what ingredients you need to put together to get that A. You just have to write it all.
The five-paragraph essay format, taught in high school, is great for handling all those English tests, but largely fails to capture the strength of free-form writing that becomes more prevalent in college. Does this mean a lot of subjectivity inherently comes into play for your grades? Of course. But if you write well and follow the basic guidelines, you will predominantly get As on your writing assignments.
I believe what the professor is trying to get at is that he is grading your writing as a completed product, especially considering each category is likely intertwined. I, for one, cannot imagine a paper getting any more than an F if it is a five-page paragraph with run-on sentences and spelling errors, or an eloquent paper documenting the rise and fall of Rome when the essay topic is supposed to be about writer's block.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I think you have a misperception regarding the extent to which your professors owe you a scientifically accurate accounting of their grading methodology. That extent is, to put it mildly, rather minimal. So, while your professor certainly has a duty to grade your work fairly, he has no obligation to provide you with extensive evidence that he has done so. I suspect that your efforts to reason with him that he should be more transparent about his grading methodology are doomed to failure and would only serve to annoy him.
Moreover, your sarcastic quip ‘“Hey, let’s make an already subjective assessment even more subjective.” Perfect logic.’ suggests a related misguided premise that fairness is inversely proportional to subjectivity. I don’t think that’s true. I am a math professor, and even in math where you would think there is an objective truth regarding what constitutes a right versus a wrong solution to a problem, grading often boils down to highly subjective value judgments that professors and students (as well as professors and TAs, and even professors and other professors) frequently disagree over. A rubric may create the illusion of objectivity, but will ultimately fail to measure the things that most professors think are the right things to measure when assessing students’ work. I’m guessing that your professor’s resistance to your request that he articulate his grading scheme in precisely quantifiable, algorithmic terms has more to do with his wish to grade you *more fairly*, according to his own definition of fairness, than with some nefarious intent on his part to grade your essay in bad faith.
TL;DR: listen to the advice of experienced people here who think your professor’s behavior is reasonable, accept the fact that you cannot monitor the honesty of every person who has decision-making powers over you, and find more worthwhile things to worry about — like writing such an amazing essay that the professor will have no choice but to give you a perfect score.
Upvotes: 4
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2018/02/27
| 659
| 2,857
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<issue_start>username_0: I am a PhD student third year and I almost finished working on a research with my supervisor. I have few research problems in my mind, I told him about one or two but he did not paid that much attention. I want to try one or two research problem on my own. I am little hesitant to ask him about this. Am I suppose to work with him on each research problem during my PhD?
I don't know what will be his reaction. What you people will suggest me to do? I strongly believe that I can do it. There is no funding problem. Second part of the question is how to **increase the chances of that the research I will on my own will be accepted in some conference** ( definitely I can take some help from my supervisor )<issue_comment>username_1: There's nothing to stop you having a Friday afternoon project, as long as it doesn't impinge on your normal work. If you keep it within the area of the advisor's work and you come up with some interesting initial results, you can then present that as a viable research topic to pursue further. Younger researchers often suggest bad ideas (nothing wrong with that), which is probably why your advisor is indifferent to your approaches. If instead you can say "I have thought about X, and have these early results Y and Z. What do you think?", you then have something tangible to expand upon.
Also, remember you are unlikely to fully "go solo" whilst a PhD student. Ultimately, your advisor is there to guide your research and has invested time/money in you so you are attached in some respect. They may be involved to a lesser or greater amount day-to-day, but you can't expect to go into a totally separate area without their backing.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: There are two components to this question. "Is it okay to work on my own 'independent' project in a PhD?"
Yes, definitely. The purpose of a PhD is to train an independent researcher. An advisor who feeds their student the tasks or jobs to do throughout their PhD is probably doing them a disservice, as they would not have the opportunity to learn how to devise and carry out their own independent research projects. Being in the third year, you have probably finished your classes and accrued enough research experience to do so. Of course it is expected that you keep your advisor in the loop if you do decide to work on such a side project.
Now, with regards to "What would my advisor think if I worked on my own 'independent' project?"
That depends entirely on the advisor and your funding situation. If you are full supported by a specific grant, it is probably a bad idea to work on an unrelated topic. Ideally, you should work the problem into something which can be related to the grant. Of course, if you are self-funded or have a no strings attached fellowship, things can be more flexible for you.
Upvotes: 3
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2018/02/27
| 403
| 1,794
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<issue_start>username_0: As a physics major in US, my PhD application is screwed up this year and neither did I found a decent job. So I'm thinking of applying for a two years master program in German, which provides more time in research (so that I have chance to collect better letters) while does not charge for tuition. Specifically I am interested in the program at Technical University of Munich and Ludwig Maximilian U, in area of theoretical/computational condensed matter physics and possibly computational material science. However I'm wondering does a master degree bring any negative effect in my future application for PhD in US? I heard people mentioned that US schools don't like master students quite much and see it as an incompetence somehow. So in general, is German a good destination? What are some other pros and cons you might already know? Thanks.<issue_comment>username_1: Both of the universities you list are good with excellent reputations among the German universities. Furthermore, the German university system is well understood to provide a rigorous and high quality education.
So yes, do it -- it will make your future applications look better for sure. Furthermore, most graduate committees do value people studying abroad for a while since it shows dedication and ambition in an applicant.
There is of course no guarantee that you will be admitted in the future. But I can't think of a reason why it would not make your future applications look better.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Those Universities - especially LMU - are European Ivy Leagues when it comes to physics. LMU has a very strong program on theoretical physics, so if you didn't get accepted in phd programs in US I kind doubt you will get into the master's program at LMU
Upvotes: 0
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2018/02/27
| 658
| 2,746
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm wondering about how to refer to sections right above or below the piece of text referring. I know that I'm supposed to use section numbers almost all the time, but personally feel that this might be an exception.
I know that this question might be subjective, but that's what I want to find out: if it's subjective I can choose and write whatever I think is best. However, I want to check that what I think is right isn't 'not-done'.
Concider the following piece of pseudo-document:
>
> Section 1: point-by-point problem description
>
>
> Section 2.1: point-by-point solution description
>
>
> Section 2.2: mapping problem points to solution and explain benefit
>
>
> Referring text here
>
>
>
Right now, the referring text says something like "This section explains how the point-by-point problem description in section 1 maps to the point-by-point solution description above." Is this right? Because the alternative "This section explains how the point-by-point problem description in section 1 maps to the point-by-point solution description in section 2.1." seems wrong, since it is right under the thing it is referring to.
Thanks!<issue_comment>username_1: I'm not aware of any prescribed rules. But best practice is definitely to use the section number. *You* know that "above" refers to directly above, but to the reader it only narrows down the search to the first half of the document. Section numbers are unambiguous and I can't see any disadvantage to using them.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: I think you should keep the automatic reference system generated by LaTeX to avoid the mess when rearranging your paragraphs. Also you could mention the name of the section (e.g. *problem description*) followed by the reference.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_3: >
> This section explains how the point-by-point problem description in section 1 maps to the point-by-point solution description above, in section 2.1.
>
>
>
Being unambiguous and adding redundant information is good, because you might very well make a mistake when writing one of the references (but it is unlikely to make the same same mistake with all of them), and the reader might make a mistake when reading the references (but this is less likely when there are several things all pointing to the same direction).
If your sections have names in addition to numbers, you may refer to them using both, if this is a good stylictic choice, or only the name or only the number. Do not, however, alternate between using only the section number and only the section name, as this will only confuse the reader, who might not realize that the name and the number point to the same thing.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
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2018/02/28
| 1,385
| 5,834
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<issue_start>username_0: I am about to complete a Ph.D. in Hong Kong and would like to study in the United States. I hold a first class B.Eng. degree in Electrical Engineering. I have a CGPA of 3.67 out of 4 in my current PhD studies, two journal publications (IEEE Transactions) with two more to be submitted soon. I would consider this a fairly good academic record.
For career purposes, I would like to obtain a Ph.D. degree (in a different but related field) from a top American university. There aren't post-doc openings in my current research area, which is why I am considering another PhD in a related area.
**Question:** Is it considered illegal to not mention that I hold a Ph.D. (hopefully) during application? I noticed some schools frown at what some would call a "professional" or "serial" student.
**NB:** I have read responses on this question and I am satisfied with them. But I feel there's need to make my question clearer for those who did not understand. Some universities clearly state on their websites that they will not consider applicants who already hold a Ph.D. while some others do not specify this. My question was more for the latter. But now I know that other than dealing with the university, it will require lying on visa application, as some people wrote below.
Thank you all for your contributions.<issue_comment>username_1: **No.** You **cannot** hide such a fact in US admissions processes. Lying about your previous academic record—whether by omission or by claiming false credentials—is sufficient reason to revoke an offer of admission if it is caught before the applicant matriculates, or grounds to expel a student if caught after enrollment. Depending on the magnitude of the fraud, you may even be asked to pay restitution for the funds spent.
As far as if it’s illegal, that’s a trickier issue. It basically comes down to money: if you received funding based on a misrepresentation or fraudulent application, then it’s far more likely that you’ll face civil or criminal penalties.
Upvotes: 7 <issue_comment>username_2: There is the added problem of obtaining a visa based on a lie in the application to the university.
That may void the visa when it is discovered.
There are cases where a lie on a cv for a job application has been used to void visas.
A visa obtained on false premises that are discovered will lead to great problems in obtaining visas for other countries as well.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: You got a bunch of bad ideas there, it seems. I was going to write a comment, but it doesn't have enough space.
First, you can't lie on any official document, especially if you are dealing with a government organizations. You may be breaking a law on top of some internal university rules. If you need a visa, you will have to fill out very thorough forms where you cannot have any lies or you risk deportation and being banned from entering the country in the future. In fact, if there is something ambiguous, many people prefer to hire a lawyer to double check the application.
Second, really consider options other than the second PhD. To me it seems you still have that PhD student's tunnel vision. Send your resumes around to various places, not just post-docs. See whats out there. Chances are you are missing some really really nice opportunities.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_4: For the sake of completeness...
At least in Germany it is legally impossible to obtain a PhD in the same field (like, mathematics) where you already have a PhD. You *can* obtain a PhD in another field, and some do.
Another issue is if your foreign PhD is recognised in your destination country. I've heard some stories of people who did not get their foreign PhD recognised and basically did another thesis, but my knowledge of it is folklore.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_5: As mentioned earlier, your Application to a University, esp from a foreign country is considered a **legal** document as it is the very reason you get into the country in the first place. Whether you have to share this info directly with the state or country is of little relevance as your University will have to share it as a matter of obligation to obtain your VISA and/or prove your right to one.
It would certainly be illegal, because by omitting your highest qualification you stand on very thin ground with regard to explaining to any judge why, other than to subvert the system.
If you omitted your B.Eng then you may be able to argue it's relevance in the face of your PhD, but by omitting your Phd you are effectively also omitting your Degree and Masters in the subject too and at a very min. $50k of education. That's a gross misrepresentation to a judge, and when that application must be submitted to government officials, (whether through you or the University passing your data for nat. security reasons) **you** will have committed a crime as the provider of this data. It will certainly get your VISA revoked even if the US would have wanted you more with a PhD than not simply because it opens them to the idea that you may have a more sinister reason to hide your qualifications, not to mention you have shown dishonest character and could be hiding much more. (You could be a spy for all they know, it's a PhD! What other 5 figure secrets could you have?)
As you already stated, you believe that your Phd may be a hindrance to your application. Anyone that doesn't have a program for 'career students' may give you reasons but you should'nt care. As a Phd holder, you are far far more valuable to the right schools with proper postdoc work available. MIT for example loves it's Phd students because they do lots of postdoc and many many businesses have collaborated (to MIT's profit) with it's students and cited their publications. Win-win.
Upvotes: 3
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2018/02/28
| 456
| 1,853
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<issue_start>username_0: I am wondering how to cite a figure that has already been modified from another source. Normally one should get the original figure from the original source, but there are cases when that is not possible or difficult.
Let's say that we find a figure A in source 1.
Figure A is a modified version of figure B from another source 2.
So in source 1 figure A it says in its figure text:
>
> ...modified after [2].
>
>
>
Also I am wondering how to cite correctly when I want to modify the already modified figure? Saying modified after again seems quite silly:
>
> modified after [1] which is modified after [2].
>
>
>
In addition one should include "with permission", but the following sounds wrong since it appears as if we have gotten "permission to modify":
>
> modified with permission from [1].
>
>
>
This last example raises the question: does one have to ask for permission to modify a figure in addition to reproducing. Some organizations explicitly tell that no figures may be modified.
So my guess is that it should be formulated as:
>
> reused with permission and modified after [1].
>
>
>
But this last I can't remember having seen any example of in actual academic papers. What would be the correct approach here?<issue_comment>username_1: "Reused with permission and modified after [1]." sounds good to me. It will also depend on copyright, which some journals require specifying in the figure caption. Whether the copyright allows re-use and modification is of course key.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: I'd say something like "originally from [2], modified in [1], and further modified here"; it's longer than I'd like, but it gives appropriate credit to everyone involved, and it helps to prevent people from being blamed for what the modifiers later did to their work.
Upvotes: 0
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2018/02/28
| 862
| 3,535
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<issue_start>username_0: I want to send an e-mail to a very well-known professor in the field of my interest. I have read most of his papers and I am 90% sure that I like to work under his supervision at least for some months. I am an undergraduate student but being realistic, I hope to be considered a *good* student in my field and recently, I published a paper in JHEP. My question is:
>
> The professor has a research group in a French university. I want to let him know I will pay for my costs and I just want to do a 3-month or even more research under his supervision. Since I guess I have *good* accomplishments in my CV, how I can ask him politely for a summer internship (or a visit, I am not familiar with these names) and potentially guarantee to receive a reply message from him?
>
>
>
Thanks!<issue_comment>username_1: You should start by sending a polite email explaining *succinctly* (researchers are always very busy: a short email will more likely be read) who you are and why you are interested in an internship in this researcher's lab (focus on what you can bring to the lab, and what you want to learn from them). The email shouldn't be longer than a few sentences. Attach your CV and a more detailed motivation letter: if the brief email manages to get the researcher interested, they will have more detailed material available right away.
Try to make sure your email will arrive in the early morning (often, people start their work day by scanning their inbox; emails they receive at other times can get buried quickly); which means take any time difference into account if you're not in the same time zone. A polite follow-up email a week later if you still have no answer at that time is OK.
Do not bring up that you will pay for your costs in the first email; this is completely irrelevant to the application (your application needs to focus on science). In France, interns must be paid if their internship lasts longer than 60 days (at least this was the case 10 years ago; I don't think this has changed), and large research centers often pay interns even for shorter internships. The internship stipend is insufficient to cover an apartment rental in most cities, but you can figure out practical details once your internship is secured. The researcher can point you to relevant resources to find affordable housing, but keep in mind that this is not their job and you should expect to figure this out mostly on your own. Some research centers or campuses might have guest houses. For example, Paris has the [*Cité Internationale Universitaire*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cit%C3%A9_Internationale_Universitaire_de_Paris) which provides affordable housing for visiting students. This is the kind of resources you want to look for, once you know you're going.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> I want to let him know I will pay for my costs
>
>
>
This is not how things are supposed to work. It is normal that young researchers visit other institutions, but these visits are normally paid either by their current institution, or by the accepting one. What you're doing is explicitly proposing to do unpaid work, which is a bad practice and you don't want to work with someone who agrees to that.
What you can do instead is find 5-10 places where you'd like to go for an 'internship' or 'placement', etc and send emails with inquiries. It is fine to ask a professor whether they can hire you as an intern, but I don't think you should propose unreasonable arrangements.
Upvotes: 2
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2018/02/28
| 865
| 3,419
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<issue_start>username_0: I would like to create an open access journal / a platform that is free of charge for authors and readers. Ideally, I would like it to get away from the current norms: offer the possibility to publish peer-reviewed articles, but also drafts, offer the possibility for reviewers to comment on drafts, offer spaces for videos and audios, and to share parts of our data in order to facilitate the replications of studies. Finally, one part would be devoted to a space where researchers can build knowledge together, like some kind of wiki.
My question is: do you know anything existing that sounds similar to this?<issue_comment>username_1: The currently most complete solution is probably the [Open Science Framework](https://osf.io/), which doesn't yet support peer review but is planning to - and it can be somewhat simulated by using [Hypothes.is](https://hypothes.is/). Then there are quite a few projects working towards this goal to some extent. Thus, a relevant follow-up question would be: with what reason are you looking for existing projects? To compare, to contribute, or to build upon? That would be relevant to what platforms we could suggest.
(That said, if you want to do some research on your own, I wrote [an overview of alternative platforms](https://medium.com/flockademic/i-want-to-create-alternatives-to-traditional-publishers-what-platform-do-i-use-ce1c275b05d) a while ago.)
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: As others have said, there is probably no single platform now that does everything you're thinking of, but there are many that offer a subset of them. One that comes close is [F1000Research](https://f1000research.com/).
There are widely-accepted terms for most of what you're describing; you can use those (and Google) to find platforms that offer them.
>
> an open access journal / a platform that is free of charge for authors and readers
>
>
>
This is widely referred to as **diamond open access**. Of course, the funding (to run the servers, if nothing else) has to come from somewhere, so you'll need a plan for that.
>
> offer the possibility to publish peer-reviewed articles, but also drafts, offer the possibility for reviewers to comment on drafts
>
>
>
What you're talking about here is (if I understand you correctly) widely referred to as [**open peer review**](https://f1000research.com/articles/6-588/v1) (although that term is also used to mean more limited things).
>
> offer spaces for videos and audios, and to share parts of our data in order to facilitate the replications of studies
>
>
>
This is often referred to as **supplementary material**, and very many journals allow this (for instance, the [SIAM journals](https://www.siam.org/journals/sisc/supplementary.php) in my field). In most cases I know, this service is not yet widely used by authors or readers. There are also platforms designed specifically for this, like [Figshare](https://figshare.com/).
>
> Finally, one part would be devoted to a space where researchers can build knowledge together, like some kind of wiki.
>
>
>
This is vague enough that I'm confident there are dozens, if not hundreds of similar efforts out there -- starting with Wikipedia itself. Perhaps one of the oldest efforts in this vein that is focused specifically on scientific research is [the nLab](https://ncatlab.org/nlab/show/HomePage).
Upvotes: 1 [selected_answer]
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2018/02/28
| 5,201
| 21,443
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<issue_start>username_0: I had a short exchange of mails with a PhD student who wished to ask some questions about a paper of mine, which was troublesome in many respects:
* The student had a blatant lack of basic knowledge and techniques of their field. (Imagine a computer scientist not knowing what object-oriented programming is, a mathematician not knowing what fields are, etc. They did not change fields for the PhD.)
* The student should be able to answer some of the questions with very little work.
* Initially, the student did not give me even remotely the information I needed to answer their question in a useful manner.
* The student seemed utterly overwhelmed with their project.
* There were strong hints of a “do my work for me” attitude.
For the purpose of this question, assume that I am very likely correct in my assessment.
Going into details about why I arrived at this conclusion would be beyond the scope of this question and be disclosing too much.
I also wish to make clear that I am not annoyed by the questions or similar, I am just worried about the situation.
I am now wondering whether I should write a mail to their supervisor (whom I don’t know and who is not at my institution) informing them about this incident.
My considerations so far are:
* I am pretty confident that this student will not finish their degree (by honest means).
As long as they continue with this, they waste time and resources: their own, their supervisor’s, and other researchers’ whom they are emailing.
* If I were this student’s supervisor, this is something I would like to know since it can prevent me from wasting my time and resources on them.
On the other hand, I hope that I would quickly notice these qualities in a PhD student.
* This problem will likely escalate soon anyway.
* It’s the supervisor’s job to talk to the student and give them the possibility to clarify in case I misjudged them.
However, if I am wrong, my information may wrongfully harm the student if the supervisor overreacts or the student’s image is tainted subconsciously.
* Depending on the situation, such a communication as mine may allow the supervisor to smoothly get rid of the student – which is good if I am right and the student is incompetent, but bad if I am wrong.
My question is this: Is there anything else I should take into account when making this decision? (I know that, at the end of the day, I have to weigh the arguments myself.) Note that I already sent a mail to the student but am skeptical whether they got the message.<issue_comment>username_1: Emailing the supervisor and saying "this student is incompetent and you should get rid of him/her" would come across badly, for a few reasons:
* You lack the information to make a holistic assessment of the student.
* Even if you're right and the student is weak, weak students can improve.
* The supervisor and their institution undoubtedly have their own methods of quality control.
* Most importantly, it's not really any of your business.
It's nice that you made a good faith effort to answer the student's questions, but if the exchange has become annoying for you, your best recourse is to simply stop responding and forget the student exists.
Upvotes: 8 <issue_comment>username_2: This is unethical and unprofessional. It is simply none of your business. You are not in a position to evaluate the student. Writing to his supervisor will make you look bad. It is an insult to his supervisor.
The Ph.D. degree can not be awarded to someone incompetent. If this happens, it is going to be shown sooner or later. Let future employers and assigned assessors who are in a position to evaluate him say this, but not you. Judging a Ph.D. student requires external assessors. Let him take his time. If he is incompetent, it will be revealed sooner or later. But every student has the right to take his own time and attempts. Even the Ph.D. examination process allow several attempts before reaching such a conclusion, simply because such conclusion destroys a human's future.
If he is annoying you, you can refuse answering him. He might be wasting your time but how did you judge he is wasting other people's time? You can tell him that his questions are not reflecting the basic required knowledge and he should first build solid foundation in XYZ then come ask you. Otherwise you can not afford helping him.
Finally, we are all learning all the time. You are knowledgable in this topic he is asking but in someone's eyes ignorant in that someone's topic. You also have been ignorant about your paper's topic until you learned gradually. The world would be more peaceful if we remembered that we have not been born scientists and we learned through other noble people who gave us a hand to help us rather than a hand to destroy us, even when we have not been asked about our opinion.
Upvotes: 7 <issue_comment>username_3: Personally, I don't see what you're suggesting as being as bad as other commentators are making out (and I note from your explanation that this is not a matter of annoyance, but concern). I note from your profile that you are a post-doc, which essentially makes you a member of the academic class, and so you are effectively a fellow colleague to the supervisor (albeit a lower-ranking colleague), not a fellow student to the student in question.
Rather than communicating your concern to the supervisor explicitly, perhaps you could obtain the same effect in an entirely different manner. You could send the supervisor an email advising that you have been providing some assistance to the student, and for his/her information, you are including the email chain in question below. Make no negative comment on the capacities of the student, and leave it to the supervisor to review the correspondence that caused you concern, and make his/her own professional assessment. That way, you are doing nothing more that being helpful by sending an email query from the student to the supervisor. If this still seems a big presumptuous/rude, you could even lighten it further, by seeking the supervisor's guidance for how to provide clearer help.
Here is an example of what I mean:
---
>
> Dear Prof. [Name]
>
>
> I am a post-doc in [area] at your university. I just thought I'd write to let you know that I have been attempting to provide some assistance to your PhD student [Student name]. This relates to an initial query about [subject] and we have been corresponding on the matter to try to figure out the best way to proceed (see email chain below). I'm not sure if I'm doing the best job explaining this stuff, so perhaps you could give me some guidance for how to provide clearer help.
>
>
> I hope I am not stepping on any toes by giving outside assistance. If you would prefer to assist the student directly, please let me know.
>
>
> Thanks,
>
>
> [Your Name]
>
>
>
---
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: I would approach the situation differently. If you are a faculty member in the same department as the student with the same rank as, or higher than, the supervisor, you can swing by the supervisor's office and have a closed door conversation about how unimpressed you are with the student. Under no circumstances would I want a written/email record of the conversation. I would try and avoid doing it over the phone because face-to-face is more personal.
If you are a faculty member with a lower rank, depending on departmental culture, you might need to tread more carefully. If you are a post-doc or not in the department, instead of telling the supervisor that in your opinion the student is incompetent, I would provide the evidence that you have and allow the supervisor to come to that conclusion on their own.
I would send an email to both the student and supervisor that includes the entire email conversation. You could provide some textbook suggestions or very simple answers to the easy questions and suggest that the *do it for me* stuff would require a collaborative effort (if you want to work with the supervisor you can offer yourself up, or just say you do not have time to collaborate).
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_5: *NOTE: this answer was based on the assumption that OP works at the same institution and on the same campus as the supervisor in question. OP has since clarified that is not the case. I will leave the answer to stand in case it is helpful to those in a similar situation - see [meta discussion](https://academia.meta.stackexchange.com/q/4019/46184).*
At the risk of sounding like an old man: does no one talk to their colleagues any more? This sounds like the ideal situation for an informal chat with the supervisor. Even if you don't know them, surely there's a chance to start up a conversation after a departmental seminar or something.
>
> Hey, your student X has been contacting me recently about their work. Sounds like an interesting project...
>
>
>
And play it by ear from there. It should become obvious whether the supervisor has a high opinion of their student or not. If they seem receptive, drop in that you think the student seemed to be struggling in this area. Don't charge straight in accusing student of being incompetent. If the discussion opens up then great, you can give more detail. If not, you tried, you can't force the issue.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_6: Perhaps it will help if you will e-mail the student and tell him that you are quite busy and do not have time to answer his basic questions. However, you suggest the student to e-mail his supervisor with same questions and add you as cc (and request his supervisor to send you also his answers), and if a more advanced question will arise, you will try to briefly explain what you know on the subject.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_7: In general, I do not provide unsolicited negative opinions. So I would wait until the student's supervisor asks me for my opinion. I anticipate that the supervisor will never ask me - and I am OK with that.
On the other hand, it is good practice to praise generously and publicly. If and when you are impressed with a student then make sure his/her supervisor knows about it.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_8: Rather than doing something like that behind student's back,1 I would send a blunt and frank email to the student. Like, judging by your questions, I don't see any effort on your part, and don't understand how you can be competent in this field. Please don't waste my time. Etc.
If I was confident in my assessment, I wouldn't even spare student's feelings that much. Sometimes it can be deserved. I find it creates a healthier culture than being nice upfront but making decisions behind the back. While being a student, I would certainly prefer it that way.
---
1 Note I don't imply, like some, that this is inherently unethical. Situations differ. There are fields where turning a blind eye creates an even more unethical (or even outright dangerous) situation overall.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_9: I'll propose a variant of the [answer written by @username_6.](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/104721/32436)
Email the student, with a cc to his/her advisor, encouraging him/her to work on the topic(s) with his/her advisor. Invite the student to let you know how it goes, and invite the professor to draw on you as a resource. Starter text (which you can edit and make your own of course), where A is the student and X is the advisor.
>
> Dear A and X,
>
>
> A - I'm glad you're interested in (name of paper) which covers (such-and-so) topic. It's a worthwhile area to delve into, especially since it provides a fruitful opportunity to apply a number of basic concepts which will stand you in good stead in your study of (field). I would encourage you to work with your advisor to review the basic techniques that provide the underpinning of this paper.
>
>
> X - Let me know if I can be of assistance.
>
>
>
Advantages of this variant over the original:
1. The "quite busy" excuse, which could be hurtful to read, has been eliminated.
2. The "Basic questions" phrase, which could come across as offensive, is avoided.
3. This variant tries to be upbeat and encouraging. Still, it politely sets up a boundary (without getting annoyed, frustrated or angry), and hands off to the person who should be helping the student.
Similar to the original, bridges are not burned.
Please note, there is no need to embarrass the student by including the chain of previous emails.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_10: Reporting your concerns to the student directly is probably your best option, for reasons beyond those already mentioned.
1. Contacting the supervisor escalates the situation dramatically. Dealing with any ensuing situation might take away time and energy you need for your job. Do not borrow trouble.
2. The student asked for your help and will likely benefit from your feedback.
* From the question, we do not know whether the student has already reached candidacy.
+ If not, they would benefit from hearing directly that they need to improve their skills.
+ If so, they may need to review the material, be less lazy, or have a reality check about their path. They can recognize which option is relevant for them, more than you can, or even than their supervisor can.
+ Either way, an appropriate response might include: "The questions you're asking can be answered by applying core knowledge from [key subfield--especially if this is a subfield that usually has its own qualifying or comprehensive exam]. Please check with your supervisor about these points, and she can contact me with further technical questions."
* A central problem seems to be professional communication, and you could address that directly with the student.
+ You could write: "I recommend that you review these [tips on professional academic communication from Dr. <NAME>](http://matt.might.net/articles/how-to-email/) and these [guidelines on asking questions of experts](http://www.catb.org/esr/faqs/smart-questions.html)."
3. The question did not specify that the student and supervisor are at the author's institution.
* If they are not co-located, this would complicate the idea of informally chatting with the supervisor and would likely force the conversation to be through email.
+ Under U.S. law, this email becomes an "education record" for the student, which would be turned up in the (hopefully unlikely) event that the student is acrimoniously parted from the program and has a competent lawyer.
+ Other jurisdictions may not have the same law, but emails can be forwarded and may still drag you into a mess or reflect poorly on you out of context.
* Feedback from an outsider may have a larger impact on the supervisor's judgment of the student than the author anticipates.
+ More prominent academics are often more distant supervisors, and this supervisor may have had very little contact with the student to compare this with. By Bayesian updating, your assessment would loom large in the supervisor's mind.
+ If the author and supervisor are in different countries or at institutions of different status, the supervisor may feel ashamed that the student attracted your negative attention.
4. Finally, if you communicate about this with anyone, do not say anything remotely like: "I am pretty confident that this student will not finish their degree (by honest means)." (You stated this as an assumption, but it is not clear to me whether this would be part of your intended message.)
* If I received a message saying this about a student I supervised, it would sound like you suspect academic dishonesty, an extremely serious charge.
+ If you have such a suspicion, it is worth approaching an ethical advisor (an ombudsperson?) at your institution and/or the student's institution, beginning with hypothetical questions.
+ If you are merely worried about the student's competence, do not appear to impugn their ethics.
* Whether a student will finish is a very difficult judgment to make accurately.
+ Since your contact with the student appears to be limited to this unflattering correspondence, you may not see the student's countervailing strengths.
+ There are many different doctoral student trajectories. Traits like taking initiative (as demonstrated by cold-emailing the author of a paper) and perseverance help students who are behind academically make up their deficits and finish.
+ Let's assume you could accurately peg the student's odds of graduating at 25%. Stating your conclusion that the student is unlikely to graduate and is a poor target for resources (even if phrased as a "worry" or otherwise softened) will draw everyone's attention far more than the specific details you have to offer. Whomever you communicate with about this, recognize that the base of your evidence is limited and refrain from extrapolating.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_11: I agree with all the answers that say not to contact the supervisor.
I'd make one exception to that: If the student's questions indicated that they may be putting animals or people in danger, I'd find some way to flag this to the supervisor. I'd do this as tactfully as possible, but if a student is unintentionally causing unnecessary animal or human suffering I'd definitely try to intervene.
Otherwise, I'd go under the assumption that the supervisor is more familiar with the student that I am and already is aware of any weaknesses I perceive.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_12: No, and you're very possibly misjudging the student
---------------------------------------------------
I'd like to buttress @user37208's [answer](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/104705/7319) and counter some of your factual claims, OP.
>
> The student had a blatant lack of basic knowledge and techniques of their field. (Imagine a computer scientist not knowing what object-oriented programming is.)
>
>
>
I know more than a couple of computer scientists who don't know what OOP is, or at least - "know" that it's "programing with objects", but have barely ever programmed anything, if at all, and not with objects. At least one of them is a very esteemed professor.
>
> The student should be able to answer some of the questions with very little work.
>
>
>
Maybe he misunderstood the question, or misunderstood your assumption that he was supposed to do work?
>
> Initially, the student did not give me even remotely the information I needed to answer their question in a useful manner.
>
>
>
Do you know how many times this happens to me with people who ask me for things? If I thought those people were incompetent I'd think everyone is incompetent. Now, I suppose you could make an argument that this is the case, but then you don't have anything to complain about...
>
> The student seemed utterly overwhelmed with their project.
>
>
>
Being overwhelmed with something can make one not bring one's competence to bear.
>
> There were strong hints of a “do my work for me” attitude.
>
>
>
Ah, now this is an ethical failing. Unfortunately, sometimes it's exactly those people who manipulate others into doing work for them that get ahead in academia, i.e. some people would regard this scrupulousness is a merit. I wouldn't. But - that only weakly correlates with incompetence.
Now, it could very well be that I'd get the exact same impression as you if I'd actually read the email exchange. But if that's what you were to "accuse" the student of - your case is pretty weak.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_13: I suggest you read this "....." or do research on these techniques "...." then you should be able to answer questions 2,3, and 8 on your own. Also, it should help you ask better questions which include all the information I need to answer them. I don't have enough information to answer the other questions, I need the following information. "........".
me
The student will then have to do the research.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_14: I understand the intellectual and moral challenge, and plenty of thoughtful answers have been given here.
I would suggest *first do no harm* as first guiding principle, and then *hard on facts, soft on people* as a second-line guideline.
In my perception, beside the do-nothing option, the safest strategy is to offer **to the student** your availability to establish a connection with his/her supervisor. What happens then becomes a matter for other posts.
A risk not to oversee is that the supervisor is no better than the student. The proof of the pudding is in the eating.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_15: >
> I am now wondering whether I should write a mail to their supervisor
> (whom I don’t know and who is not at my institution) informing them
> about this incident.
>
>
>
No. Selecting and evaluating PHD students is the sole responsibility of the supervisor and their institution. It's none of your business if another institution suffers from selecting bad people.
* Write a mail to the PHD student that you don't wish to continue the exchange on the topic.
* If you want to be super-nice and interested in a collaboration, then write a mail to the supervisor where you ask for a brief alignment on the way of collaborating, and then make clear that you don not desire to communicate with the PHD student directly.
Upvotes: 1
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2018/02/28
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<issue_start>username_0: I didn't do well in a part of a technical interview for a master's program, which was a question in the field X.
The most important subfield of my major for that program is X and X is not particularly my strength, because I took more advanced courses in other subfields during the last two years of my undergrad. But that is exactly why I want to do that master's program. I've had the necessary elementary courses in the field X, but did not go deeper in those topics, simply because there is not enough time to take all the helpful and good courses as an undergrad. That's why I decided to take some other courses as an undergrad and leave advanced courses in X for my graduate degree. I also want to do a Ph.D. after my master's and the field I want to do my Ph.D. is quite directly related to the master's degree I was interviewed for and involves a great deal of X.
To me, it makes perfect sense to apply for a master's program in a field that I'm not strong in, because otherwise, I wouldn't need to take more courses in that field and I will learn whatever I need, quite easily, through self-study. Is it a good idea to email the admission committee (or the professor who interviewed me) and explain this to them now? (Please keep in mind that I could have mentioned this point in my SOP, but I didn't. Probably a bad decision...)<issue_comment>username_1: I think you are overthinking this. A polite email followup to an interview is always fine ("Thanks for the opportunity" "I was really impressed by \_\_\_\_" etc), but it shouldn't be used to make excuses or justify deficiencies in the interview.
It seems likely to me that one of two things are true:
A) You are not adequately prepared for the master's program. This is okay, it doesn't mean you are a bad person, but it means that other people may be selected instead of you, and it may mean that you would struggle in the program and are a better fit elsewhere.
or
B) You are overestimating the importance of the answers to the questions you were asked about X, which may have been geared to measure where your current knowledge is at rather than an exam per se.
In neither of these cases does it matter if you try explain your interview performance after the fact.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: The admission committee (the set of professors or the people designated by the university) are not just interviewing you.
They have received *n* applications and have shortlisted *m* *(m < n)* applicants for the interview. Now, you are one of those *m* candidates who have been shortlisted.
Your job was to face the interview and put your best effort to it. There are always good and bad, and some unexpected questions, but that is how it is.
Now the job of the admission committee is to finalize the selection (*p* candidates; *p < m*) and your job is to wait and watch whether you come in the list of those *p* candidates.
If you email the professors (or the adm. committee), then your email would be ignored (with high probability).
Remember that, the admission committee can't deal with the selection on a case-by-case basis.
Upvotes: 2
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2018/02/28
| 593
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<issue_start>username_0: I know there are other questions about how to address faculty members, but this situation is a bit unusual, so hear me out:
I'm in my last year at an undergraduate institution. My department head is very conscientious about using titles, but has for some time now used his first name and the first names of other faculty members when speaking and corresponding with me (not something he usually does). He recently asked me to conduct interviews with candidates for a new position in our department, and introduced all the candidates to me using first names. We've now hired one of these candidates, and I need to get in touch with this person via email for the first time.
How should I address the new hire? Using "Dr X" feels artificial given our prior interactions (plus, I need to mention this person's spouse, who's also Dr. X), but I don't want to assume a level of familiarity with which the new hire is not comfortable. Of course I can ask about it in the email, but I've got to get past the initial salutation and welcome-interlude first!<issue_comment>username_1: If the emails are for some kind of 'official' purpose, then there is no harm in mentioning "Dr.". The person, if he feels uncomfortable, then he would reply back with a note asking not to be formal. This has happened with me quite a few times.
If the email is not for official purpose but for starting a conversation in a written manner, then go with "Hey X" or something similar.
Anyway, I would not overthink on these aspects. I would always go with the safe path by mentioning "Dr.".
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: It's generally safe to err on the formal side -- except when you're concerned your communication might come across as cold.
In your case, as an undergraduate, it's even safer to go formal if in any doubt.
To prevent the email from coming across as cold, there are two things you could do:
1. Talk to the new hire in person prior to writing the email. Just stop by and say you wanted to add your own congratulations and welcome to the department. This may put the two of you on a comfortable, informal footing, in which case the problem goes away. But even if it doesn't, this will at least help you strike a friendly tone in your email.
2. Add some warm touch to your email, such as "I'd love to show you around <NAME>'s lab some time. If you're interested, drop me a line. Tuesdays and Fridays work best for me."
Upvotes: 1
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2018/03/01
| 1,020
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<issue_start>username_0: After publishing a paper even with multiple proofreading and rerun the experiment, there is a feeling of "I should improve this" or "this section is so vague, I should explain more" or maybe the worst is when spotting an unintentional error in a graph or data.
Is it ethical If I make some kind of blog or extension about the paper that critique or extend my own work?
I don't want to write the extension in journal though because there is still a lot of work to be done for the next paper.
My fear is it can backfire me instead, if I show what I thought a minor error then the editor or someone read that and try to retract my paper. Or it will become a judgement of my poor work.<issue_comment>username_1: **In short**: no, there's no need for that.
Minor errors, like typos, erroneous labeling, coloring and such, sometimes happen and are not a big problem; think of them as printer's devils. If you think that some parts of the paper could be written better (everything always can be done better!), but the paper got accepted, than don't strain yourself on it - it was peer reviewed after all.
If you found something like wrong numbers put in a table, or a formula with an error (but used the correct ones in the research, so the mistake is only in exposition), then you can write an erratum and point out that
>
> Fortunately, this was only a typing error, and as such it does not affect any results published in XXX.
>
>
>
Examples of minor corrections:
* [example 1](https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/424/2/1600/1003116?searchresult=1)
* [example 2](https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/424/3/2400/978438?searchresult=1)
Examples of major, yet not crucial corrections:
* [example 3](https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/452/1/169/1750421?searchresult=1)
* [example 4](https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article/454/3/2320/1199568?searchresult=1)
---
*In a more serious case:*
If you found that your analysis is flawed, e.g. claimed that X can be used to predict Y, but eventually learnt that it is impossible and the conclusions of the work are wrong, then you should contact the editor, explain in detail what happened and ask what's the preferred course of action. Maybe you'll be advised to write a comment to be published in the same journal, or indeed the editor might decide to retract the work. But this is then the editor's work to decide what's best.
Example:
* [example 5](https://academic.oup.com/mnras/article-abstract/461/4/4531/2608543?redirectedFrom=fulltext)
---
Additional reading:
* [Elsevier retracting 26 papers accepted because of fake reviews](https://retractionwatch.com/2017/12/21/elsevier-retracting-26-papers-accepted-fake-reviews/)
* [How to avoid the stigma of a retracted paper? Don't call it a retraction](http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/06/how-avoid-stigma-retracted-paper-dont-call-it-retraction)
* [**The famous *Lancet* retracted article linking autism to MMR vaccines**](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2831678/)
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: Surely it must be "ethical" to critique one's own work, with hindsight.
On another hand, the contemporary style absolutely does not *require* it, and, unless your already-published work contains serious errors, probably no one will be terribly interested in minor tweaks or improvements (especially so in the competitive peer-reviewed-publish-or-perish game).
Upvotes: 1
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2018/03/01
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<issue_start>username_0: I am organizing a small workshop which is over subscribed. We will have to reject a few applications. The worst applicants are easy to spot, but there are a few borderline cases, and I'm afraid that a few unfair decisions will necessarily have to be made.
To minimize the damage, I would like to know how many of the registered participants who we accept will actually show up, so that if I am aiming at X actual participants, could I safely accept X + dX?
I have noticed that several name tags always are left unclaimed at small meetings, because of people not showing up. I would like to know how to estimate how many people I can expect not to show up.
I am looking for answers from people who have organized (preferably small) meetings and have first-hand knowledge about the typical numbers.
--
Edit:
So the week of the workshop came and I can give you attendance numbers. It is good that I didn't overbook since we got 100% attendance (49/49 registered participants). This is despite the event being free of charge (some people suggested the attendance would be lower for free events). Some of the things that we did that may have helped secure such good numbers are thorough screening of applications and asking for confirmation upon acceptance of the applicant. For instance, we weeded out a few applicants who were unlikely to show up unless we paid for their travelling and a couple of accepted applicants told us that they would not be able to attend, a couple of months in advance of the workshop.<issue_comment>username_1: Generally if an academic signs for a workshop, they will definitely attend, unless something comes up that stops them. Why would I bother registering if I'm not attending, I have nothing to gain?
Nevertheless, you should expect the number of audience to shrink starting from the first day, especially if they get their proof of attendance. In my experience, if a PhD presents on the third day he will probably have three to four people listening. That is painful but hard to avoid.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_2: Having "no shows" at a scientific conference is common (for a multitude od reasons). I could not find a general statistic of this phenomenon and I guess that the numbers vary a lot depending on the field and also on type of event.
Here is one thing I found: The Australasian Telecommunication Networks and Applications Conference, (ATNAC) published a [welcome address](https://doi.org/10.1109/ATNAC.2014.7020856) in IEEE where is says that
>
> The conference paper statistics were: Pending (no manuscript): 3; Withdrawn after review: 0; Rejected: 33; No Show: 4; Published: 40; Total valid: 78; Published Ratio: 51%; Acceptance Ratio: 56%.
>
>
>
(The numbers in the pdf are different, this is a note on the website.)
Hence, there where 78 submissions, 44 got accepted and 4 of them did not show up at the conference.
Note that the above example is about no-shows of accepted presentations. No shows among registered people without contribution is usually much higher.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: I am afraid that, especially for a small meeting, the variation of how many do not show up will be too large to be useful. For example, if I am organizing a 50-person event I would expect that anything from 2 to 10 would be a "normal" number of no-shows. That is, if you really *can't* have more than, say, 50 participants you can't really safely overbook at all. However, note that oftentimes a few participants more don't really hurt, but of course this depends on your infrastructure and plans for the meeting.
Some further considerations:
* Generally, free events have a very large number of no-shows (sometimes in the 50%+ range, from what I have heard) while paid ones do not. This has led to some meetings I know introducing a nominal attendance fee, just to make sure that people think a little before signing up. Some other meetings have also tried to levy a fee *only* if a registered participant does not show up, but I am not sure how well this works and if it is worth the administrative and inter-personal hassle.
* Note that no-shows are often not independent events, statistically speaking. For example, if you have a bunch of participants from the same group / team and they have an unexpected important deadline come up, they all will cancel at the same time.
* If you have a very small meeting and you know (some) of your participants well you can attempt to use this to make a stab at estimating no-shows. For instance, I once planned an event for about 30 people, and I knew that some of the senior professors who initially expressed interest where <50% to actually come. I also knew that for some fraction of the industry participants an important client meeting may come up making them cancel last-minute. Based on this information I decided that 35 registrations for a 30-person meeting was fairly safe (we ended up being 28).
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_4: I think it really depends on:
* which academic field
* how much the registration costs
* how accessible the location is (major city in a country with many scholars of the field vs somewhere more remote)
* (other factors?)
and there's no general answer.
Upvotes: 1
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2018/03/01
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<issue_start>username_0: As I see, most if not all Ph.D. students strive to be listed as the first author of the research paper, then followed by coauthors and finally the Prof who is responsible for the lab.
While I am checking my professor previous publications; I noticed that over the last 30 years my professor name slides from being the first author to second and lately the last-mentioned name in the affiliation list.
For my understanding, the first author is always the person who contributed the most to the manuscript. So when/how do these professors decide to stop being first authors and be listed as the last author?<issue_comment>username_1: This depends a lot on the field, but for many sciences and engineering the following is (at least to some extent) true:
* The amount of work invested into the manuscript decreases with position in author list.
* The amount of responsibility/funding for the project increases with position in author list.
* If a publication has many authors, the ones in the middle are probably the ones with least significance.
The first author usually wrote the most of the manuscript and submitted it. These are PhD students. For some programs, first-authored publications are a requirement, therefore it is desired by many PhD students to get the first place.
The last author(s) are usually the supervisors and professors overseeing the research effort. They probably took part in discussions, maybe even drafted some text. In most cases, they just supervised the process/project. The "big boss" will most probably be the last, though.
For everyone in between, the contribution can be very diverse. It could be someone who did experiments, someone who helped by discussing the matter (mostly these people get an acknowledgement, not authorship) [or in some cases even everybody who worked in the building](http://phdcomics.com/comics.php?f=1911).
Therefore, in an average academic career where somebody progresses from PhD student to professor, they will advance in the author list. This is because they do less practical work and more coordination and organisation. This is some kind of established system that has no written rules to it. I know of professors who demand they be the first author on every publication of their PhD students. While strange, it is not forbidden.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: I think I can say that for all of my papers, I have contributed equally with all of my co-authors, and so the order of authors on my papers is not determined by how much work I have put in. Rather, I have always subscribed to the idea that the person who stands to gain most from it should be first author. In my case, given that I'm a full professor, I let my students and postdocs be first author (in all but a few of my papers). I've been doing this since I was an assistant professor -- I had my position secure and knew that I would get tenure, and so it was my job to make sure that others get the benefit from these papers.
Upvotes: 3
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2018/03/01
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<issue_start>username_0: Will a reference from a postdoc be considered less than a reference from a lecturer/professor? This is assuming that I have done a dissertation under him/her and that the postdoc is in his/her (at least) third postdoc position. It may be worth to note that he/she has graduated PhD for around 10 years.<issue_comment>username_1: I think that what matters is the academic reputation of your reference, and the extent in which he/she knows you. If your reference has published many high quality papers, then him/her not being a lecturer or professor may not be an issue.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: According to my advisor, a reference from a non-faculty member is not worth much. (Field is mathematics.)
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_3: >
> Will a reference from a postdoc be considered less than a reference from a lecturer/professor?
>
>
>
As a general rule, yes, but it depends who the postdoc is, how strong (and effectively-written) their letter is, and what the letter is for. As an example, I am currently working with a smart undergraduate, and he got accepted to several very good graduate programs (US, mathematics) on the strength of his application, which included a reference letter from a postdoc he did a research project with last year. So such letters can certainly be effective and have value. It all depends on the context.
The main point is that the most important factor in how seriously a reference is considered is not so much the job title of the letter writer (although that is still a factor that has some significance), but their credibility and reputation in the research community. Certainly many postdocs already have high credibility and name-recognition, and a letter from them (at least for a grad school application and to a lesser extent for a postdoc application; less so for a tenure track job application) will be taken quite seriously.
Upvotes: 2
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2018/03/01
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<issue_start>username_0: I am looking for international master degrees which are offered in 2 different countries. For example first year in Singapore and second year in Brasil. How can I find such universities or programs? Is there a big database for such schools?<issue_comment>username_1: I think that what matters is the academic reputation of your reference, and the extent in which he/she knows you. If your reference has published many high quality papers, then him/her not being a lecturer or professor may not be an issue.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: According to my advisor, a reference from a non-faculty member is not worth much. (Field is mathematics.)
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_3: >
> Will a reference from a postdoc be considered less than a reference from a lecturer/professor?
>
>
>
As a general rule, yes, but it depends who the postdoc is, how strong (and effectively-written) their letter is, and what the letter is for. As an example, I am currently working with a smart undergraduate, and he got accepted to several very good graduate programs (US, mathematics) on the strength of his application, which included a reference letter from a postdoc he did a research project with last year. So such letters can certainly be effective and have value. It all depends on the context.
The main point is that the most important factor in how seriously a reference is considered is not so much the job title of the letter writer (although that is still a factor that has some significance), but their credibility and reputation in the research community. Certainly many postdocs already have high credibility and name-recognition, and a letter from them (at least for a grad school application and to a lesser extent for a postdoc application; less so for a tenure track job application) will be taken quite seriously.
Upvotes: 2
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2018/03/01
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<issue_start>username_0: I have a question that isn't immediately relevant to me, and I'm not sure will be important in the future as I am quite happy with my situation. It is however something I have thought about at length and I've yet to come up with a set of general guidelines. I am a graduate student in the United States studying Mathematics, and am currently working with an advisor who has graduated ~10 students in his career. He has in the past mentioned a couple of the students, both in the context of research and current careers.
Is it appropriate to ask my advisor's former students questions regarding my relationship with said advisor? If this is a normal practice (as the question below would suggest), what is the etiquette to use in this situation? In particular, I am asking in the case where the previous students have all moved on and already graduated so email seems to be the best method of reaching out. Also, given that these conversations could contain sensitive information (i.e. questions regarding funding options given to the student, or grievances with said advisor) what would be the "kind" way to prevent the "sensitive" parts of the conversation from being relayed back to the advisor? Finally, would it be wise to reach out to some of these former student's at some point in my studies just for introduction and networking purposes? It is unlikely that our research interests would line up exactly, but it is an opportunity to contact people who have been through the same experience.
A specific case that is could become relevant in the future:
One of my advisor's recent students went into industry, and if this was something I considered in the future, would it be intrusive to email them and ask about their transition from graduate school to industry? In particular, would asking questions specific to my advisor's thoughts on this transition be appropriate? Also, related to the sensitive part, if for whatever reason I didn't want the advisor to know this was something I was considering would it be okay to ask the former student to keep this between us?
Note, I thought there would be many threads with a similar question, but the closest thing searches brought up was [this link](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/8507/what-questions-should-one-ask-to-the-former-current-students-of-a-professor-befo).<issue_comment>username_1: I can only ask myself how I (a PhD scientist in industry in the US) would react upon receiving such a mail from one of my former advisor's current students.
* If the mail asked for general career or technical advice, I would be happy to respond. In this case, there is really no need to ask the scientist to avoid mentioning the contact to your advisor -- (a) I probably wouldn't anyway, and (b) if your advisor would be upset by this, then you have bigger problems.
* If the mail was asking for advice in dealing with the advisor, I would really look at how it was written. Tact and concision here goes a long way. For example, "Bob has been shouting at me 3-4 times a week and I am not sure how to proceed" is something I would want to advise you about; many details about the complicated lab politics are something I would prefer to avoid wading into. In this case, adding a brief note requesting that I don't broach the issue with your advisor directly will not do any harm (though, there is always a 1% chance that the mail somehow ends up in front of your advisor -- which is all the more reason to be tactful).
* If the mail were asking for a brief phone call, I am less likely to respond (I hate phone calls and love e-mail; YMMV). But, if you simply must share things that absolutely cannot end up in front of the advisor, a phone call is your best bet (even if the advisor finds about the phone call, at least he won't have the transcript; this gives you a lot more flexibility).
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: If the former students are still in academia, then you will in all likelihood at some point attend the same conferences. It would be a perfectly normal thing to talk about your advisor: that is one of the things you two have in common. Start general, and get a feeling for how open that former student is about discussing such topics.
As to transitioning into industry, that seems to me a perfectly acceptable topic to sent an email about.
Upvotes: 2
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2018/03/02
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm currently finishing my second year as a STEM PhD student at a fairly large research university. As a grad student, I am expected to fulfill 20 hours of extra duties each week. Typically this involves working as a TA for two classes and then completing a few hours a week in the tutoring center or helping out in large lecture classes. This has gone fine for me during that last three semesters. However, this semester I was only scheduled for one TA section. So this left about 10 hours in the tutoring center for my leftover duty.
Over the course of the semester the department has been giving me fairly large grading assignments for upper-division classes. The first was given about three weeks in and required some shuffling of my schedule to accommodate (I'm getting ready to take my quals and am taking multiple core classes this semester). This replaced 7 hours of my tutoring center time. Now toward the middle of the semester they've given me another fairly large grading assignment, but are only counting it for 3 hours so as not to go over my 20 hour limit.
Is this typical behavior for a department? I feel like having my schedule disrupted like this is very unprofessional. Also, I know there are other grad students in my department who could more readily take on this assignment. This new assignment is for a class outside of my field, and I have zero experience with the material. It just seems like there's no consistency to these work expectations as many other students have duties that count for their full time, but are much easier and require fewer hours in practice.
Is this something that I should bring up with my department? All of these duties are starting to take a toll on my work. I appreciate any advice.<issue_comment>username_1: It is fairly common for graduate students to have TA assignments that are expected to take up about half of their time, as you have stated is the case for you. In this case, you should not really think of yourself as a full-time student, but as a half-time student, half-time employee of the department, since your teaching work is what you are being paid to do. Moreover, a healthy department will typically have its expectations of students adjusted accordingly.
There is, of course, a huge amount of variance in the *actual* time required for a given class, based on the particular students, professor, assignments, etc.
It sounds like this is what's being the problem for you: since you only got assigned one class, you were expecting to have a light load, but the department is trying to "get its money's worth" from you, and is doing so in a manner that you find difficult to plan for.
I would think it is entirely reasonable to ask for notification farther in advance, so that you can plan better. It's also entirely possible that you will not get it, since the person making the assignments is likely an overloaded professor who is dealing with requests that are being given to them at the last minute as well.
Ultimately, my recommendation would be discussion with your advisor so that you can:
* make them aware of the impact last-minute requests are having on you,
* enlist them to help in either improving the situation or alleviating its impact on you, and
* prevent it from happening to you again in the future.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Grading assignments are not quite the same as a TA assignment—at many schools, even including some relatively small departments, grading assignments are handled as "bonus" duties for students looking to supplement their income slightly. To have someone who is listed as a TA made responsible for grading assignments seems a poor return on investment.
That said, departments do have a large amount of latitude in making teaching assignments, and there may not be a whole lot you can do to change things *for the present semester*. If, though, the magnitude and scope of the assignments threatens your ability to complete your other degree requirements—including research and passing your qualifying exams—you should let your advisor know *immediately.* As I always tell my advisees and supervisees: **Come to me when you have a problem; don't wait for it to become a crisis!** If there's a problem, we can usually find a way around it; by the time it's a crisis, there may be few, if any, palatable solutions remaining.
Upvotes: 1
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2018/03/02
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<issue_start>username_0: **I am referring more to young scientists after the PhD** than professors, although I am also wondering about people with a stable position.
I see many people overworking themselves, burning-out, being overworked and with pressure to work well, fast, and produce a lot (publications). I am discussing an average person who has completed a PhD that has all the skills for the job. Let's leave the top professors 5-10% of the field that are super-productive for whatever reason, those are exceptions. **I also assume that there is passion for research, but that work balance is also important.**
Is it possible to survive/remain in academia by working normal hours (8-9 hours per day) without working evenings, weekends, holidays, without feeling guilty about taking a 2-3 weeks vacation? I imagine to become professor would include many of the above sacrifices. Some professors (tenured) have told me they work 50-60-70 hours per week.
**Is overworking basically the rule/working culture in academia?**
**Is it unusual to reach/maintain a stable position in academia without regularly overworking?**
Consider mentioning the cultural, country, institution type of your answer, as there are variations in different contexts.<issue_comment>username_1: This is a bit opinion-based, but I'll offer my own personal take on an answer in the hopes that it might be useful; at least parts of what I wrote below seem pretty generally applicable to me.
>
> Is it possible to survive/remain in academia by working normal hours (8-9 hours per day) without working evenings, weekends, holidays, without feeling guilty about taking a 2-3 weeks vacation?
>
>
>
Short answer: **no** (except for the part about feeling guilty for taking a vacation, which is something I never had a problem with).
---
Medium-length answer: this question is based on a false premise, and simply doesn't make sense to most professors. "No" is an approximate answer, but a full answer requires a longer discussion to explain why neither "no" nor "yes" really make sense as answers, and why even though "no" is an approximate answer, it doesn't really have the negative meaning that you think it has.
---
Long answer: people in academia do work hard, sometimes very hard, but in my experience, the thing that many people looking into academia from the outside often fail to see is that what you call "working", we call "living" (and what you call "overworking" we might call "living a bit more intensely than usual, but still generally having a good time"). What you call "making sacrifices" we call "finding our work so fulfilling that we pay less attention to some other aspects of life than most other people do".
In other words, for a professor the "work/life" dichotomy is a lot more blurry than it is for people in (some) other professions, to the extent that it is often a completely nonexistent or nonsensical distinction. If I'm at the beach on a weekend and I'm reading a math paper or thinking about a research problem, am I doing "work"? If I'm traveling to a conference in an exotic city and using some of the time to explore the local sights and culture, am I "working", or am I on "vacation"? I don't know, and honestly after doing this for a while you start to realize that these questions simply make no sense. Most professors simply don't make the distinction between "life" and "work" that much of our culture obsesses about. They don't ask themselves these questions about how to "survive in academia" while only "working normal hours", since most of the time they are just too busy doing something they enjoy. Yes, they probably do end up doing what other people would regard as "work" for more than the usual 8-9 hours a day, five days a week and during times (holidays and weekends) when other people might regard it as abhorrent to do "work". But by and large, **they don't perceive this as a negative thing** (or at least, not as negatively as your question makes it out to be; I'll admit it can be a mild annoyance at times).
Coming back to my short, approximate answer of "no": basically it seems to me that you're asking the wrong question. If you are the kind of person who really wants to punch in at 9 a.m., punch out at 5 p.m. every weekday and go home to do other things and not even think about work until the next day, I'm pretty confident that academia is not for you. But most people who are smart enough to make it in academia are not wired that way.\* The real question you should be asking is "can I be in academia and have a fulfilled life in which I'm happy to get out of bed each morning, get to do really exciting stuff a large chunk of the time, and in which I work hard (sometimes very hard) but still have a reasonable amount of time left over for other things that matter to me?"
The answer to that question is, quite definitely, **Yes**.
\* (Added on edit:) to clarify, with this comment I am not expressing an opinion that a decision to leave academia says anything about how smart (or how anything else) someone is. I most certainly do not hold such an opinion. See the discussion in the comments.
———
**Second edit:** The comments, along with a few negative votes on my answer, are making me strongly suspect that I’ve given offense to some people who are perceiving my “smart enough ... not wired that way” comment as an elitist sentiment to the effect that if you are a person who is “wired that way” — that is, cares about having free time, work-life balance, raising a family etc — then you are “not smart enough”. Let me emphasize again that that’s not what I believe and not what I meant to imply. I actually care about all of those things myself, and don’t think caring about them is inconsistent with working hard (even sometimes very hard) or with being very passionate about your work. Nor do I think academia is the only place where one can have a fulfilled career; there are in fact many workplaces and professions with quite similar characteristics, and obviously there are many extremely smart people pursuing careers in such places and professions.
Finally, as I said at the beginning of my answer, it represents my own opinion and my own personal take on OP’s question. I make no claims that this represents anything near a universal truth.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_2: This answer explores cross-disciplinary and cross-institutional factors, and so it is a community wiki. **Please add links or details as you can.** It would be especially helpful to flesh out discussion of other academic roles or of "field" considerations beyond theory vs. lab. The original answer is based on U.S. experience; for cross-national differences, you might consider adding another numbered section.
1. What type of institution would you be employed at or eventually aiming for?
* In the U.S., [the Carnegie Classification system](http://carnegieclassifications.iu.edu/classification_descriptions/basic.php) describes colleges and universities by highest degree offered and level of research activity. This taxonomy is where terms like "R1" come from.
* Top-ranked research institutions will place more emphasis on the publication process than liberal arts colleges and community colleges (some of which offer tenure).
+ That said, I have heard that even some lower-ranked research universities that largely focus on teaching (e.g. California State Universities) still require a very high research standard for receiving tenure, because of the competition in the academic job market.
* I have experienced that professors I trained with at a highly ranked research university (in an empirical field) seemed to make extreme time sacrifices for their work, and one confided his extreme stress about whether it would be enough to get tenure.
+ In contrast, as a postdoc at a good state research university (not at the top of the ranks in many fields), I see that professors are still working a lot of time but seem to be less stressed.
* In a comment below: "I work at an R2, where tenure and teaching obligations are both relatively reasonable. There is an institutional sweet spot where are enough resources to support your work and the amount of work required is reasonable."
* Especially at liberal arts colleges, you may be able to focus on teaching (which has its commitments required to excel) and spend less time trying to push through immediate results. Some colleges and universities may have teaching-centered positions: [Can I be a lecturer without doing research?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40502/can-i-be-a-lecturer-without-doing-research?rq=1)
2. What field are you in?
* Theoretical fields may require people to limit their productive time. If the key output is coherent thought, that cannot sustainably be done at all hours of the day and night. (This seems to be reflected in <NAME>'s answer.)
* Research involving lab work is [notorious for often requiring extreme hours.](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/5005/how-do-we-end-the-culture-of-endless-hours-at-work) Executing and supervising the work requires (at least somewhat) skilled time put in, and results presumably correlate with the amount of time.
3. What role within academia are you considering?
* The role of a tenure-track professor seems to be the natural thing to discuss.
* [Research-only roles](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/85688/research-careers-other-than-professor?rq=1), especially working at research labs or centers led by a star faculty member, exist in many places.
* Again, [teaching-focused roles](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40502/can-i-be-a-lecturer-without-doing-research?rq=1) sometimes exist.
* At some campuses, [librarians are also tenured and may be considered part of the faculty.](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/47053/what-exactly-are-academic-librarians/47058#47058)
* Student support roles, administrative roles, etc., are part of academia (and often require/reward serious research credentials, so that professors are more likely to respect you).
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: While username_1's answer applies to lots of people in academia, there are also the "others". I do know concrete examples of successful scientists that regularly work 9-5 (or similar). This is possible, with a few caveats:
* works only for extremely disciplined people
* may not apply to the Ph.D./postdoc stage, where there is time-sensitive pressure to build a cv and get a job
* assumes that during the Ph.D./postdoc stage enough knowledge and contacts were built.
As I said, I know people who does this and is very successful on all fronts (at the same time!): as teachers, as researchers, and as administrators.
As with anything in academia, it is not easy to distinguish raw talent from concerted effort. Some of the people I'm thinking that pull the above off, are definitely not geniuses (although they are obviously competent).
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_4: **Yes**, it is quite possible but this is highly dependent on a number of factors. Mainly local culture, nature of pursued line of study, and quality of personal efficiency.
First of all let me make a main point clear: there is a *big gap* between what is officially declared about numbers of hours worked and reality. Particularly in (i) modern times of 24h-long-internet-connected-smartphones and when overworking is considered "hype"; (ii) in the academia where there are so many facades and overworking attracts respect. Probably the amount of hours worked you mention come from polls like the one below:
<http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/04/09/research-shows-professors-work-long-hours-and-spend-much-day-meetings>
From my experience since decades dealing with the academia (I am no professor, but have met many) a lot of what is declared is questionable, and almost everyone is evasive over duties exposure. So a 60h official journey is too often way less intermingled with a lot of posing, minions, undeclared absences, ghost meetings.
Now, for the final points.
* There are so many small campuses where work life is incredibly dull & slow;
* There are fields of study which are more automated, less competitive or pressed for speed, and with a high "impact factor" ration over hours invested, typically returning more funding in less time;
* There are many places which do not count working hours by the clock on physical presence, and cultures where one does not feel pressured to *pose* all day as busy and important in front of some empty paper or screen;
* If you happen to be highly efficient and connected with smart-minded collaborators and student, you are able produce higher quality output in less hours than the majority;
* Living close to work is a major asset here.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_5: Maybe a bit on the anecdotal side, but last year, at a conference, I heard an nice talk from Dr. <NAME> from the DTU in Denmark. Amidst his talk about whether to consider a PhD a good idea, he told about his own experience. He was super enthusiastic, always the first at the institute, always the last to leave. But there was a colleague, some years older, who came in not exceedingly early, quietly worked his 8-hour shift, and left early in the afternoon. And even by not "living" at the university, he finished his PhD in time. After a bit of tinkering, Bastian came behind his colleagues secret: Efficiency. By not getting carried away, not procrastinating, not doing hour-long coffee breaks, and just doing what has to be done, you can get very far. But this needs some discipline and self-optimization.
The talk was very nice to follow, and, of course, was a bit on the moral story side, but it's a nice thing to have heard.
By no means I want to express that an overworked professor should just stop procrastinating and everything is fine. There is a lot of pressure on academic staff and personally I know two research groups which recently had a bad year with canceled or not-received fundings. Being a professor with four PhD candidates and no further money for them is not fun.
The thing I want to point out is that there indeed is such a thing as a "non-overworked academic", and with some self-discipline you may improve your academic experience.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_6: In my experience, the need to work more than 40-50 hours a week often comes from a poor balance of day-to-day duties (e.g. teaching, service, taking classes) and long-term commitments (e.g. research, writing a book/thesis, applying for funding).
The day-to-day duties obviously take priority. If you have too many of them, you may not have enough time for the long-term commitments, or your calendar may be too fragmented to use the remaining time efficiently. If you then decide to increase your working hours, you enter the realm of diminishing (and ultimately negative) returns. You work more, but your productivity per hour decreases.
I am not particularly disciplined myself. In order to get research done, I need to feel relaxed and have enough time without interruptions. If I have a meeting, it destroys my productivity for the entire morning/afternoon. The only way to avoid this is having the meeting as the first thing in the morning or the last thing in the afternoon, or combining it with the lunch break. Yet because I have a research position (first as a postdoc and now as a research scientist) with little other duties, I have not felt overworked since finishing my PhD. On a typical week, I spend maybe 30 hours on campus and work another 10-20 hours from home.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_7: I think it's possible but needs extreme self discipline. An example that I know of is Professor <NAME>, a TCS professor at Georgetown university. He wrote about his working schedule as a phd student at MIT some years ago.
<http://calnewport.com/blog/2008/02/15/fixed-schedule-productivity-how-i-accomplish-a-large-amount-of-work-in-a-small-number-of-work-hours/>
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_8: In my experience, in Irish and French Academia, it’s definitely possible to be successful without “overworking” (depends what we call overworking but let’s say it’s working out of general office hours) and not working much at home (except reading stuffs and writing down some notes and todo lists but, if you are passionate about your research—and I would advice you to choose a topic that you are genuinely fond of—we cannot really call that “work”).
It’s possible if you are not the over-procrastinating kind of person, if you are well organized and self disciplined, if you can control your various Internet wandering, if you fix yourself some reasonable goals and are not too much perfectionist.
You don’t even have to be a genius (but must have good culture in your domain, sure).
Many people in various domain I’ve met (both sciences and humanities), who are not specifically geniuses have a pretty good work-life balance compare to some engineers, managers or even workers I know, plus sometimes enjoy the pluses of academia lifestyle (travels, in some countries extended holidays and benefits, decent working environment and smart people all around etc).
I don’t say it’s not stressing or it’s easy, I say it’s totally possible.
Personally I didn’t succeed at that because I lack a few of those characteristics.
Of course it depends on many other factors like your department leader expectations, competition in your field, and so forth.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_9: **No**
I did my PhD in a Max Planck Institute (summa cum laude) and was on a good track to become a professor. After spending an amount of time thinking about my future, I now work in a consultancy firm. Here are my findings:
* F1: **If I overwork in science, I get the opportunity to have a position in science**
* F2: **If I overwork in industry, I get the opportunity to choose the position I want for my future**
In my field (Physics), there are two causes for F1:
1. C1: [The supply of researchers strongly outnumbers the number of available positions](https://www.nature.com/news/the-future-of-the-postdoc-1.17253).
2. C2: The quality of scientific work is extremely difficult to quantify (\*\*)
C2 leads to performance be often quantified by another metric, *quantity* (even if not the fairest or most useful). This metric promotes, by definition, overworking. Another important metric of performance is the scientific impact (think the number of citations, impact of scientific journals, etc.). This metric depends strongly on your PI, institution, hotness of the field, luck (on your results, peer reviewers, etc) and therefore should not be relevant to your decision to overwork or not.
The above conclusion combined with C1 makes any person that overwork have an advantage, and therefore the best strategy for each individual is to overwork the most they can. In other words, **regardless of the individual motives**, the downsides of not overworking are far greater than the advantages of not overworking.
The above is applicable to the subject I was in and may not apply to your subject. Do your own research and plan your career!
(\*\*) See e.g. [this paper](http://science.sciencemag.org/content/342/6154/127.figures-only) and [respective rebutal](http://science.sciencemag.org/content/345/6193/149.2.full), and note that this was only done for citations, which is a measure of impact, **not** quality. Quality is even more difficult to quantify.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_10: **Yes it's possible, with some caveats**
I have known people, from graduate students to tenured faculty, who manage an 8 to 5 schedule, don't work on weekends, etc.
There are a couple things about them I've noticed:
* No job is *always* this. There are times when you will have to work more. This is true for retail positions, IT positions, academic positions, etc. So if you consider "Going to a conference" to be working on the weekends for example, this becomes a much bigger problem.
* They are *fanatically* disciplined. When they are at work, they are *working*. There is no checking Facebook, or Academia StackExchange. They plan grant deadlines well in advance to avoid long overnight marathons near deadlines, etc.
* They have to defend it. The desire and need to work more will encroach if they let it.
* It has consequences. Sometimes, you will have to say no to things, and those things might impact your career, though not always in a bad way.
I am referring more to young scientists after the PhD than professors, although I am also wondering about people with a stable position.
>
> Some professors (tenured) have told me they work 50-60-70 hours per
> week.
>
>
>
One should also note that self-reported working hours are *notoriously* unreliable.
Upvotes: 3
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2018/03/02
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<issue_start>username_0: I have a paper which is a literature review about a specific topic. How can I reference some texts from this literature review if I want to paraphrase that in my research proposal for PhD?<issue_comment>username_1: This is a bit opinion-based, but I'll offer my own personal take on an answer in the hopes that it might be useful; at least parts of what I wrote below seem pretty generally applicable to me.
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> Is it possible to survive/remain in academia by working normal hours (8-9 hours per day) without working evenings, weekends, holidays, without feeling guilty about taking a 2-3 weeks vacation?
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Short answer: **no** (except for the part about feeling guilty for taking a vacation, which is something I never had a problem with).
---
Medium-length answer: this question is based on a false premise, and simply doesn't make sense to most professors. "No" is an approximate answer, but a full answer requires a longer discussion to explain why neither "no" nor "yes" really make sense as answers, and why even though "no" is an approximate answer, it doesn't really have the negative meaning that you think it has.
---
Long answer: people in academia do work hard, sometimes very hard, but in my experience, the thing that many people looking into academia from the outside often fail to see is that what you call "working", we call "living" (and what you call "overworking" we might call "living a bit more intensely than usual, but still generally having a good time"). What you call "making sacrifices" we call "finding our work so fulfilling that we pay less attention to some other aspects of life than most other people do".
In other words, for a professor the "work/life" dichotomy is a lot more blurry than it is for people in (some) other professions, to the extent that it is often a completely nonexistent or nonsensical distinction. If I'm at the beach on a weekend and I'm reading a math paper or thinking about a research problem, am I doing "work"? If I'm traveling to a conference in an exotic city and using some of the time to explore the local sights and culture, am I "working", or am I on "vacation"? I don't know, and honestly after doing this for a while you start to realize that these questions simply make no sense. Most professors simply don't make the distinction between "life" and "work" that much of our culture obsesses about. They don't ask themselves these questions about how to "survive in academia" while only "working normal hours", since most of the time they are just too busy doing something they enjoy. Yes, they probably do end up doing what other people would regard as "work" for more than the usual 8-9 hours a day, five days a week and during times (holidays and weekends) when other people might regard it as abhorrent to do "work". But by and large, **they don't perceive this as a negative thing** (or at least, not as negatively as your question makes it out to be; I'll admit it can be a mild annoyance at times).
Coming back to my short, approximate answer of "no": basically it seems to me that you're asking the wrong question. If you are the kind of person who really wants to punch in at 9 a.m., punch out at 5 p.m. every weekday and go home to do other things and not even think about work until the next day, I'm pretty confident that academia is not for you. But most people who are smart enough to make it in academia are not wired that way.\* The real question you should be asking is "can I be in academia and have a fulfilled life in which I'm happy to get out of bed each morning, get to do really exciting stuff a large chunk of the time, and in which I work hard (sometimes very hard) but still have a reasonable amount of time left over for other things that matter to me?"
The answer to that question is, quite definitely, **Yes**.
\* (Added on edit:) to clarify, with this comment I am not expressing an opinion that a decision to leave academia says anything about how smart (or how anything else) someone is. I most certainly do not hold such an opinion. See the discussion in the comments.
———
**Second edit:** The comments, along with a few negative votes on my answer, are making me strongly suspect that I’ve given offense to some people who are perceiving my “smart enough ... not wired that way” comment as an elitist sentiment to the effect that if you are a person who is “wired that way” — that is, cares about having free time, work-life balance, raising a family etc — then you are “not smart enough”. Let me emphasize again that that’s not what I believe and not what I meant to imply. I actually care about all of those things myself, and don’t think caring about them is inconsistent with working hard (even sometimes very hard) or with being very passionate about your work. Nor do I think academia is the only place where one can have a fulfilled career; there are in fact many workplaces and professions with quite similar characteristics, and obviously there are many extremely smart people pursuing careers in such places and professions.
Finally, as I said at the beginning of my answer, it represents my own opinion and my own personal take on OP’s question. I make no claims that this represents anything near a universal truth.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_2: This answer explores cross-disciplinary and cross-institutional factors, and so it is a community wiki. **Please add links or details as you can.** It would be especially helpful to flesh out discussion of other academic roles or of "field" considerations beyond theory vs. lab. The original answer is based on U.S. experience; for cross-national differences, you might consider adding another numbered section.
1. What type of institution would you be employed at or eventually aiming for?
* In the U.S., [the Carnegie Classification system](http://carnegieclassifications.iu.edu/classification_descriptions/basic.php) describes colleges and universities by highest degree offered and level of research activity. This taxonomy is where terms like "R1" come from.
* Top-ranked research institutions will place more emphasis on the publication process than liberal arts colleges and community colleges (some of which offer tenure).
+ That said, I have heard that even some lower-ranked research universities that largely focus on teaching (e.g. California State Universities) still require a very high research standard for receiving tenure, because of the competition in the academic job market.
* I have experienced that professors I trained with at a highly ranked research university (in an empirical field) seemed to make extreme time sacrifices for their work, and one confided his extreme stress about whether it would be enough to get tenure.
+ In contrast, as a postdoc at a good state research university (not at the top of the ranks in many fields), I see that professors are still working a lot of time but seem to be less stressed.
* In a comment below: "I work at an R2, where tenure and teaching obligations are both relatively reasonable. There is an institutional sweet spot where are enough resources to support your work and the amount of work required is reasonable."
* Especially at liberal arts colleges, you may be able to focus on teaching (which has its commitments required to excel) and spend less time trying to push through immediate results. Some colleges and universities may have teaching-centered positions: [Can I be a lecturer without doing research?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40502/can-i-be-a-lecturer-without-doing-research?rq=1)
2. What field are you in?
* Theoretical fields may require people to limit their productive time. If the key output is coherent thought, that cannot sustainably be done at all hours of the day and night. (This seems to be reflected in Dan Romick's answer.)
* Research involving lab work is [notorious for often requiring extreme hours.](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/5005/how-do-we-end-the-culture-of-endless-hours-at-work) Executing and supervising the work requires (at least somewhat) skilled time put in, and results presumably correlate with the amount of time.
3. What role within academia are you considering?
* The role of a tenure-track professor seems to be the natural thing to discuss.
* [Research-only roles](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/85688/research-careers-other-than-professor?rq=1), especially working at research labs or centers led by a star faculty member, exist in many places.
* Again, [teaching-focused roles](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/40502/can-i-be-a-lecturer-without-doing-research?rq=1) sometimes exist.
* At some campuses, [librarians are also tenured and may be considered part of the faculty.](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/47053/what-exactly-are-academic-librarians/47058#47058)
* Student support roles, administrative roles, etc., are part of academia (and often require/reward serious research credentials, so that professors are more likely to respect you).
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: While username_1's answer applies to lots of people in academia, there are also the "others". I do know concrete examples of successful scientists that regularly work 9-5 (or similar). This is possible, with a few caveats:
* works only for extremely disciplined people
* may not apply to the Ph.D./postdoc stage, where there is time-sensitive pressure to build a cv and get a job
* assumes that during the Ph.D./postdoc stage enough knowledge and contacts were built.
As I said, I know people who does this and is very successful on all fronts (at the same time!): as teachers, as researchers, and as administrators.
As with anything in academia, it is not easy to distinguish raw talent from concerted effort. Some of the people I'm thinking that pull the above off, are definitely not geniuses (although they are obviously competent).
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_4: **Yes**, it is quite possible but this is highly dependent on a number of factors. Mainly local culture, nature of pursued line of study, and quality of personal efficiency.
First of all let me make a main point clear: there is a *big gap* between what is officially declared about numbers of hours worked and reality. Particularly in (i) modern times of 24h-long-internet-connected-smartphones and when overworking is considered "hype"; (ii) in the academia where there are so many facades and overworking attracts respect. Probably the amount of hours worked you mention come from polls like the one below:
<http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2014/04/09/research-shows-professors-work-long-hours-and-spend-much-day-meetings>
From my experience since decades dealing with the academia (I am no professor, but have met many) a lot of what is declared is questionable, and almost everyone is evasive over duties exposure. So a 60h official journey is too often way less intermingled with a lot of posing, minions, undeclared absences, ghost meetings.
Now, for the final points.
* There are so many small campuses where work life is incredibly dull & slow;
* There are fields of study which are more automated, less competitive or pressed for speed, and with a high "impact factor" ration over hours invested, typically returning more funding in less time;
* There are many places which do not count working hours by the clock on physical presence, and cultures where one does not feel pressured to *pose* all day as busy and important in front of some empty paper or screen;
* If you happen to be highly efficient and connected with smart-minded collaborators and student, you are able produce higher quality output in less hours than the majority;
* Living close to work is a major asset here.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_5: Maybe a bit on the anecdotal side, but last year, at a conference, I heard an nice talk from Dr. <NAME> from the DTU in Denmark. Amidst his talk about whether to consider a PhD a good idea, he told about his own experience. He was super enthusiastic, always the first at the institute, always the last to leave. But there was a colleague, some years older, who came in not exceedingly early, quietly worked his 8-hour shift, and left early in the afternoon. And even by not "living" at the university, he finished his PhD in time. After a bit of tinkering, Bastian came behind his colleagues secret: Efficiency. By not getting carried away, not procrastinating, not doing hour-long coffee breaks, and just doing what has to be done, you can get very far. But this needs some discipline and self-optimization.
The talk was very nice to follow, and, of course, was a bit on the moral story side, but it's a nice thing to have heard.
By no means I want to express that an overworked professor should just stop procrastinating and everything is fine. There is a lot of pressure on academic staff and personally I know two research groups which recently had a bad year with canceled or not-received fundings. Being a professor with four PhD candidates and no further money for them is not fun.
The thing I want to point out is that there indeed is such a thing as a "non-overworked academic", and with some self-discipline you may improve your academic experience.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_6: In my experience, the need to work more than 40-50 hours a week often comes from a poor balance of day-to-day duties (e.g. teaching, service, taking classes) and long-term commitments (e.g. research, writing a book/thesis, applying for funding).
The day-to-day duties obviously take priority. If you have too many of them, you may not have enough time for the long-term commitments, or your calendar may be too fragmented to use the remaining time efficiently. If you then decide to increase your working hours, you enter the realm of diminishing (and ultimately negative) returns. You work more, but your productivity per hour decreases.
I am not particularly disciplined myself. In order to get research done, I need to feel relaxed and have enough time without interruptions. If I have a meeting, it destroys my productivity for the entire morning/afternoon. The only way to avoid this is having the meeting as the first thing in the morning or the last thing in the afternoon, or combining it with the lunch break. Yet because I have a research position (first as a postdoc and now as a research scientist) with little other duties, I have not felt overworked since finishing my PhD. On a typical week, I spend maybe 30 hours on campus and work another 10-20 hours from home.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_7: I think it's possible but needs extreme self discipline. An example that I know of is Professor <NAME>, a TCS professor at Georgetown university. He wrote about his working schedule as a phd student at MIT some years ago.
<http://calnewport.com/blog/2008/02/15/fixed-schedule-productivity-how-i-accomplish-a-large-amount-of-work-in-a-small-number-of-work-hours/>
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_8: In my experience, in Irish and French Academia, it’s definitely possible to be successful without “overworking” (depends what we call overworking but let’s say it’s working out of general office hours) and not working much at home (except reading stuffs and writing down some notes and todo lists but, if you are passionate about your research—and I would advice you to choose a topic that you are genuinely fond of—we cannot really call that “work”).
It’s possible if you are not the over-procrastinating kind of person, if you are well organized and self disciplined, if you can control your various Internet wandering, if you fix yourself some reasonable goals and are not too much perfectionist.
You don’t even have to be a genius (but must have good culture in your domain, sure).
Many people in various domain I’ve met (both sciences and humanities), who are not specifically geniuses have a pretty good work-life balance compare to some engineers, managers or even workers I know, plus sometimes enjoy the pluses of academia lifestyle (travels, in some countries extended holidays and benefits, decent working environment and smart people all around etc).
I don’t say it’s not stressing or it’s easy, I say it’s totally possible.
Personally I didn’t succeed at that because I lack a few of those characteristics.
Of course it depends on many other factors like your department leader expectations, competition in your field, and so forth.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_9: **No**
I did my PhD in a Max Planck Institute (summa cum laude) and was on a good track to become a professor. After spending an amount of time thinking about my future, I now work in a consultancy firm. Here are my findings:
* F1: **If I overwork in science, I get the opportunity to have a position in science**
* F2: **If I overwork in industry, I get the opportunity to choose the position I want for my future**
In my field (Physics), there are two causes for F1:
1. C1: [The supply of researchers strongly outnumbers the number of available positions](https://www.nature.com/news/the-future-of-the-postdoc-1.17253).
2. C2: The quality of scientific work is extremely difficult to quantify (\*\*)
C2 leads to performance be often quantified by another metric, *quantity* (even if not the fairest or most useful). This metric promotes, by definition, overworking. Another important metric of performance is the scientific impact (think the number of citations, impact of scientific journals, etc.). This metric depends strongly on your PI, institution, hotness of the field, luck (on your results, peer reviewers, etc) and therefore should not be relevant to your decision to overwork or not.
The above conclusion combined with C1 makes any person that overwork have an advantage, and therefore the best strategy for each individual is to overwork the most they can. In other words, **regardless of the individual motives**, the downsides of not overworking are far greater than the advantages of not overworking.
The above is applicable to the subject I was in and may not apply to your subject. Do your own research and plan your career!
(\*\*) See e.g. [this paper](http://science.sciencemag.org/content/342/6154/127.figures-only) and [respective rebutal](http://science.sciencemag.org/content/345/6193/149.2.full), and note that this was only done for citations, which is a measure of impact, **not** quality. Quality is even more difficult to quantify.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_10: **Yes it's possible, with some caveats**
I have known people, from graduate students to tenured faculty, who manage an 8 to 5 schedule, don't work on weekends, etc.
There are a couple things about them I've noticed:
* No job is *always* this. There are times when you will have to work more. This is true for retail positions, IT positions, academic positions, etc. So if you consider "Going to a conference" to be working on the weekends for example, this becomes a much bigger problem.
* They are *fanatically* disciplined. When they are at work, they are *working*. There is no checking Facebook, or Academia StackExchange. They plan grant deadlines well in advance to avoid long overnight marathons near deadlines, etc.
* They have to defend it. The desire and need to work more will encroach if they let it.
* It has consequences. Sometimes, you will have to say no to things, and those things might impact your career, though not always in a bad way.
I am referring more to young scientists after the PhD than professors, although I am also wondering about people with a stable position.
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> Some professors (tenured) have told me they work 50-60-70 hours per
> week.
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One should also note that self-reported working hours are *notoriously* unreliable.
Upvotes: 3
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2018/03/02
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<issue_start>username_0: In the first meeting my new advisor, how should I ask her what her "style" is when supervising students, in a way that is straightforward but not cheeky?
*Bonus question*: what are good questions to ask to your new advisor on your first meeting?<issue_comment>username_1: Good question. Most academics won't even understand what you mean by "supervising style". Thus, I would refrain from asking a question in such terms to your supervisor. Morever, academics don't tend to see themselves as "adopting a style" as they tend to see themselves as very unique people. You will have to figure it out in different ways.
However, such a thing as a "style" does exist. The "supervising style" is just the academic labeling for "management style" (or "leadership style") concept, which is widely studied in business literature. It is wise of you to pose yourself a question as to whether you would fit in with your supervisor's style - it is in fact common in industry during the hiring process for the candidate to ask this question, and the manager is typically happy to answer.
So how to go around it? The best way to figure this out is by talking to former/current PhD's/postdocs of hers. Ask about managing deadlines, publications, conflicts, promotions, everything. Talking to people who experienced a supervisor style in first person is a luxury you typically get only in academia. See who was your supervisor's supervisor. The graduate years are very formative, and human beings are naturally inclined to replicate behaviour they see as successful. Then talk to her. Or better, let her talk - you will figure a lot by listening. At the very end, ask how her group operates. Typical patterns in terms of leading the effort, distributing the workload, sharing success. At this point you should have a fairly complete picture.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I still don't know what you have in mind as regards "style" but here are the things I think it would be useful to ask at the beginning:
* How often she would like to meet and for how long.
* Would she like you to get started with research right off the bat, or would she prefer that you start by concentrating on coursework and preparation for qualifying exams?
* Are there any organizational, office assistant-type chores you can do to make yourself useful? (Or if she has a lab, include lab chores in this question.)
* A propos lab (if she has one), is there a lab manager? What tips does she have to help you be an asset to the lab?
* What are her pet peeves? (I once asked this of my soon-to-be supervisor and she said, "humming and getting to work late" -- good to know!)
* Are there any particular courses she would suggest you take in the first year? (Familiarize yourself with the offerings and descriptions prior to the meeting.)
* Communication preferences (email vs. phone vs. stopping by her office). What you're trying to find out is
+ what method works best when you need a quick answer
+ how she would prefer to get hold of you when she needs a quick answer
+ what phone hours she keeps, e.g. *don't call after 9 pm, don't call before 10 on a Sunday, don't call during the dinner hour which is x - y pm* or whatever they happen to be in her case
+ what turn-around time she expects from emails (e.g. 24 hours vs. there was a question here at Academia a little while back about a professor who would send an email and expect the student to pop up in his doorway within five minutes)
+ what she finds annoying (i.e. what to avoid)(This would be a good time to let her know *your* communication preferences, for example, let her know about any chunks of time when you like to turn your phone off for your sanity.)
* Any other tips? (Here she might say something like, make sure to find one or two hobbies, try to attend all seminars and keep a seminar log....)
Note, I would not start out the meeting with a barrage of questions. Many may be answered naturally during the flow of conversation.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: I am apparently odd in that your use of "style" makes perfect sense to me.
Ideally, in my mind, this is a question you should have asked before you chose an advisor, as incompatible styles are often a problem, and it can be hard to adapt if things are sufficiently disjoint.
You could probably just ask me and I wouldn't consider that cheeky, but if you wanted to, you could break it down into some different aspects:
* What do you see as the ideal work habits for someone in your lab?
* Do you want to see your students in the building/lab, or is working from home alright?
* Do you prefer frequent progress updates?
* Are there particular times of day you prefer to be working/meet?
* How do you prefer students to be in touch with you?
* If I have something that needs your input/signature, etc. how long in advance do you need it?
* Do your see your lab as a single, coherent group, or a collection of people working on broadly related problems?
* How do you feel about students working on side-projects?
Those are some of the ones that come to mind and/or I have been asked recently.
Upvotes: 0
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2018/03/02
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<issue_start>username_0: Conferences ask for abstracts for those authors wishing to contribute talks or posters. I wonder which conference committee decides on who gets a talk or poster based on the submitted abstracts; is it the Scientific Organising Committee or the Local Organising Committee?<issue_comment>username_1: I organised an ACM conference, which used peer-review to determine the program.
As a general chair I suggested a few names for the role of invited speakers to the program chairs and steering committee.
The local chairs dealt with "menial" tasks such as dealing with hotels, drafting a list of nearby restaurants etc.
I was not involved in the decision process after the papers were reviewed. The program chairs dealt with that.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I would expect this to be done by the scientific organizing committee (if there is not a more formal peer review process). It is a scientific task, after all, and requires some level of scientific judgment of the quality of the submission.
Agree with username_1 that the "local organizing committee" is typically responsible for purely logistical issues, and does not make decisions about what is included in the program.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
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2018/03/03
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<issue_start>username_0: I am a 32 year old Assistant Professor. I met a girl at a conference. I liked her, but I realized she is a graduate student at the same university where I am faculty member. She is from the same school, but from a different department. Is it ethical for me to date her?<issue_comment>username_1: I don't see any problem as long as it is assured that she will not be your student during graduation or it is assured she can't get any unfair advantage in academics due to this relationship.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: You should check your school's HR handbook or department policy. Many institutions have specific rules. If you don't violate their rules, and the relationship is mutually agreeable, best of luck to you both.
I just ran across a publication from a very respected professor, at a very respected institution, who collaborates with his wife, also a professor at the same institution, and a co-author on the paper. His bio indicates he met his wife while on a fellowship.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: I hope it's ethical! (My husband was a graduate student at the university I'm a professor at, in a different department in the same school, when we started dating.)
The core ethical issue in faculty/student relationships is the power dynamic: it creates an ethical problem if you have power over her career, either in a way that could favor her (leading to concerns about favoritism) or disfavor her (leading to concerns about coercion).
In separate departments, that's not likely to be an issue: most assistant professors at most universities don't have power over graduate students in other departments. There are still situations where issues could arise - say, if you ended up on the panel choosing which grad student from the school would win a prize, and she were a candidate; or if you were asked to be the outside member of her thesis committee (at a school which picks outside members to be professors from other departments).
So, unless your school has a specific policy on the subject, it's probably ethical, as long as you make sure to avoid being in a position that creates a specific conflict.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_4: I generally agree with other posters that separate departments should be distant enough--except that you met at an academic conference, which suggests your areas of study overlap in some way. How big was the conference, and has she already proposed a dissertation that does not overlap with your expertise? Further, depending on HOW you met (e.g., session vs. conference social), it might be murky whether her interest/expectations are about professional networking or a romantic relationship (or, problematically, both at once).
I am a fan of Stanford's recent policy on this. They created an infographic, available here: <https://harass.stanford.edu/be-informed/guidelines-consensual-relationships>. Basically, NEVER date undergrads, and teachers shouldn't date any student "when a teacher has had -or might be expected ever to have-academic responsibility over the other party." ("Student" here includes grad student, postdoc, and clinical residents/fellows.)
With what you know now, how much does your field fall within all the possible things she might think of studying? (Grad school is broad, after all...) If you study social psychology and she studies sociology of groups, say, you might have too much overlap to ethically date: she might have to curtail her academic interests to avoid taking your classes. (That said, it would be problematic on the other hand if you two developed an academic relationship with an unrevealed desire for a romantic relationship still lurking.)
Also consider what would happen if you dated but broke up acrimoniously. You would have to recuse yourself from judging things she was part of, but what would happen if her advisor recommended she take a class in your field of expertise?
Obviously, as others have said, it would be unethical to violate the expectations set up in your school's policies (unless the policies themselves were unethical, such as Bob Jones University's old ban on interracial dating). But presuming the relationship was OK by your school's policy and your fields of research are separate enough that you are not going to infringe, you might be OK.
You would have to think about how to ask her out directly, once, making it clear that you have no power over her and there would be no repercussions or hard feelings or pursuit if she said no. Or, better yet, hope that she asks you out! (Perhaps see [social advice](https://captainawkward.com/2017/08/14/1009-persistence-is-grossly-overrated-in-dating-and-romance/) and [workplace advice](http://www.askamanager.org/2012/11/how-to-reject-a-coworker-whos-romantically-interested-in-you.html) on the delicate question of HOW to / not to ask if you decide to.)
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: This actually breaks into two questions:
**Is it Ethical?** and **Is it Okay?**
The first is answered most easily by "Check with HR". I have been to universities where the answer has been "Absolutely not under no circumstances", and some where the answer has been "As long as you're not in a supervisory position".
Now onto "Is it ethical?"
In my mind, the biggest issue here is the potential power imbalance between the faculty member and the student, and the ability of the faculty member to influence her career and degree progress positively or negatively.
That comes up *most directly* in the same department or in a direct supervisory role, but it could also crop up if you're in the same school. For example, if there are school-wide awards, fellowships, etc. where you're potentially in the position to be judging her. Or if you're in a school where committees are often hybrids from several departments, etc. - which might be a thing if you met at the same conference, depending on how big and broad that conference is (for example, the American Public Health Association's annual conference is a massive, broad thing, while on the other hand a specialist conference might end in going 'Technically we're in different departments, but we both work on X', wherein there's a bit of a problem).
At the very least, it needs to be documented that it exists, and there should be a formal plan for how this *isn't* going to impact her progress. There also needs to be an acknowledgement in both your minds that this is a dynamic question - as your career and hers progress, it may be important to revisit the question and make sure no conflicts exist, and evaluate opportunities that come up in light of your relationship.
Upvotes: 0
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2018/03/03
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm studying Engineering in India. In Information Technology, Many CS-friends of mine told me that that degree is not worth it and that none of the subjects will be useful in my computer science career.
I subsequently lost interest in studying until a friend filled me in on the uses of each subject included in our course. I started studying hard since I understood the importance/application of these subjects in the computer world. I scored well.
Also, I made projects which were included in course with Interest.
I wonder why people are giving less importance to the Computer Science degree and why they say that it is not important in the real world. I think if it is studied enough, it can definitely yield a job.<issue_comment>username_1: You question is based on false assumption. You seem to believe that the goal of science (CS in particular) is to get people jobs in a particular company or successful career in IT. This is not exactly right. The goal of science is to maintain and generate new knowledge. Students on CS programs not only learn advanced methods used in IT industry, but more importantly they understand the mathematical and engineering principles underpinning those methods, and the research methods required to develop new algorithms. Successful people in your definition may not be doing any research at all.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: My answer follows the answer provided by @DmitrySavostyanov.
I also feel you are basing all your conclusions based on a **false** assumption and **hypothetical** facts.
I have done engineering in the same field as yours. I am working in a quite well-known place. And, trust me, all the things that I have studied in my bachelors are coming up every time I start my day. At least the Mathematics and Algorithm aspect of the courses.
Your friends are probably not clear about what are they doing and they are diffusing the same idea into your head. That happens in the engineering studies.
Further, your claim *people are giving less importance to CS* is baseless. I would stay with my above statements and exaggerate that CS at present is at the apex of anything. However, I do not see partition between CS, Electrical Engineering, Physics. At the end, everything is Science. So, based on that we can say that we must know our fields as much as we can and then think of expanding it further.
If you look at Computational Biology and Computational Fluid Dynamics (and such like), you would see massive use of Computer Science knowledge and mathematics.
TL, DR; Don't listen to such junks from your friends.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: Whoa... you have it all way, way wrong to answer the OP's question.
I have an advanced CS degree including a Master's in the subject from Stanford. Granted, I graduated in 1993, but it did me nothing to actually land a good-paying job.
I got great job offers at the time I graduated - as most college grads do, but factoring in the time-value of paying back my tuition (I'm not sure about IIT or India in general but in the US many of us take out many loans to get through a University program) none of them had a ladder that would equivocate the cost-payback of the education itself. In other words, financially I would have been better suited flipping burgers at McDonald's. Universities, especially for CS, are dinosaurs. I'll be surprised if they even exist in 20 years.
To understand Computer Science, or any science, is an application approach - like a craft. It's not boiled up in Academia. Meaning this: a great plumber doesn't go to a University to learn about fluid dynamics. They learn, then apprentice (at a plumbing firm) for years to understand real-world problems - then if they want to build something on their own, they're required to keep up on the latest in plumbing technologies to continually be useful in their field. CS/IT is exactly like this. Philosophy, which is generally an arbitrary study - is what Universities are generally good at teaching and conducting "group think" about.
I run my own company now, and I can assuredly tell you that I don't even look at the education section of a resume of a person I'm about to hire. I look at their work experience and their work product, along with [in some cases] a portfolio of code [in the case of, say, a CSS or UI/UX engineer] and whatever is relevant to them.
Find what within the subject you are passionate about and grab every book, every online course you can and apply yourself. If you can't immediately find a job, there are countless ways to create your own (using freelancer.com , upwork.com , even fiverr - and countless others). Once you've amassed a work product that you can demonstrate - "look at this that I've done" - you'll find that your chances at employment will far outweigh a college graduate chance's. Lastly, you may end up freelancing for life ; nothing wrong with that either, many successful people do it in every category/every profession.
No college degree needed. It's useless, unnecessary and a complete utter waste of your time in 2018.
That's my 2 cents.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_4: As far as I can tell, in all reasonably applicable fields (Biology, Chemistry, ...), there is a common sentiment among people in industry that higher level education (beyond what you need to get a job) is useless. Most people who have that higher level education seem to disagree.
This suggests that it is mainly a psychological phenomenon: People who have X will rationalize why having X is advantageous, while people who lack X will rationalize why X is not worth having anyways.
Since both sides profit immensely in their peace of mind by claiming what they do, it's virtually impossible to learn who is right simply by listening to them - they gain way more by their perception of worth of the degree than they would gain by actually trying to figure out who is right.
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: When writing papers about new research made from my doctoral research results, after my defense, must my doctoral advisor be included as co-author?<issue_comment>username_1: The traditional role of authorship is to clarify who (significantly) contributed to the work being published. Doctoral advisors often contribute actively to the research being performed, and thus are included as co-authors on *that particular regard*.
However, they should not be included as co-authors automatically. Only if they have actively contributed towards the paper's ideas, implementation and/or writing. The least that can be expected is that they contributed to the paper's ideas (during your supervision) and that they have read and edited the paper being published.
That said, it is usually expected that you invite contributors to co-write a paper, if they have contributed significant ideas. If your doctoral advisor did that for the research you made during your PhD studies, then you should invite them for those particular papers.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: After obtaining the PhD degree you're expected to establish yourself as a scientist who is capable of doing research on their own. Having your PhD advisor as coauthor to papers you publish after graduating runs contrary to this goal. If you did independent research as a postdoc, but add your PhD advisor as coauthor (by default or for some specific reason), then that could potentially reflect badly on you. The situation is hence different from a PhD student, for which it is probably beneficial to add their supervisor as co-author. In case you are accustomed to grant your supervisor co-authorship, whether it was warranted or not, you should now become less inclined to do so than you were previously since it might not serve your interests. Still, you can and should of course include them if it is warranted.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: The answer is no, it must not, but it it ethically right to add him/her if any of the material has been discussed with or if you incorporated any suggestions from him/her. The list of authors of the paper shall be the list of people who contributed to the paper, and no person who contributed should not be left outside.
I don't see it wrong to invite your formed advisor to participate in your research. It would only be wrong for your former advisor to lead the research instead of you.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_4: If the former advisor contributes in some significant way, then yes, he or she should be included. If no direct contribution is made then no. However, if this is an extension of your doctoral research then it would be quite appropriate to have your former advisor review a draft of the manuscript. This could help to prevent any unintended slight that might be perceived by excluding the name from the paper. This is always wise if the advisor is a big player in the particular area of research. If you remain in academia you will soon be seeking funding of your own and it helps to remain in the good graces of research community.
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<issue_start>username_0: Disclaimer: this is a hypothetical question, not (immediately) related to any concrete past, present or future reviewed paper.
My context is the no-fly zone between Computer Science and Applied Mathematics. In my opinion, there are some research directions within this field that are pointless. Roughly speaking, papers can be either theoretical or applicative. The former provide insight on formal concepts, model interesting physical phenomena, analyze *significant* properties of an algorithm, and so on. The latter build algorithms to solve real-world applications, or at least provide preliminary results on contrived problems that promise future performance enhancements. In summary, I am very tolerant as to which is my field of research, and I find interesting results almost everywhere.
However, I observe that there appear more and more papers that suffer from the syndrome of the "parameter change": a model—typically an algorithm—is built that can solve toy problems, but no large-scale application is proved or foreseen; there are no fundamental theoretical problems in either Mathematics or Computer Science (or Physics, Biology, or other fields) involved; then, a second paper changes a minor parameter or adds a light generalization, but still no real applicability is shown; then a third paper. Note that I am not talking about marginal papers, I estimate that half the papers of a top journal (ISI indexed, impact factor, serious publisher...) fall within this description.
Now, my particular problem: I am assigned a paper for review. I am a bit prejudiced by the title and the abstract, but nonetheless I bite the bullet and go through pages and pages of equations, crowned by some computer simulations that allegedly prove the superiority of the algorithm (marginal superiority in an uninteresting toy problem). I am unable to point out any particular error, which is hardly surprising, since what is proved is rather obvious, usually some disguised version of the Stone-Weierstrass theorem or the Lyapunov Stability criterion.
What do you think should be my stance? Some possibilities:
1. Next time, think better and decline the review because you are prejudiced and unable to produce a fair review.
2. Well, the paper is correct, isn't it? Judge exclusively by the content.
3. The editor has asked for your opinion and you think that the paper should not be published. Say so: "It is correct but this line of research is pointless. Yes, I know that there are hundreds of papers within this line, but those are not my business and I am currently reviewing **this** paper".
What about consequences of the somewhat quixotic answer 3? It looks like my opinion is minority and probably not shared with editors themselves. Could I be berated or blacklisted by the editor?<issue_comment>username_1: I would, and have, chosen option 3. However, I phrase it differently. Make your point using neutral terms, so the focus is on your argument rather than your evaluation. That is useful to the editor, regardless of whether (s)he agrees with your points or not. A professional disagreement is no reason to be blacklisted.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: Generally, as a reviewer, you are being asked for your opinion of the paper's correctness *and* its significance (importance, level of interest, etc). Evidently in this case you think the results are not significant or interesting enough to publish in this journal, so you should say so in your review. If possible, you should explain why you think so: the authors don't give any compelling applications, the results are only a marginal improvement on what's known, etc.
This isn't reason to decline the review. Thinking the paper is uninteresting isn't "prejudice".
If the editors don't agree with your assessment, they are free to disregard it and publish the paper anyway. But you do have a responsibility to give your honest opinion.
In fact, I would suggest that you evaluate the paper's interest *before* you start to carefully check its correctness. If you believe it's not significant enough to publish, even if correct, then you can so inform the editors and save yourself the time.
There are some exceptions, where the editors may *only* be interested in whether you believe the paper is correct. Perhaps they are already convinced it is sufficiently important (from their own opinions or other reviewers), or perhaps "importance" isn't a criterion for publication in this journal (e.g. PLOS One). If that's the case, then the review invitation should make this clear; otherwise, do consider the paper's importance as part of your review.
Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: **tl;dr: Let the paper try and convince you it's not pointless; if it hasn't, you may judge it harshly.**
Referring to your three options:
>
> Decline the review because you are prejudiced and unable to produce a fair review.
>
>
>
You're not prejudiced against the specific paper or specific author, you have an opinion regarding the significance of such papers. But - do make sure you're not pre-judging a specific paper because you've disliked existing ones which are somewhere between theory and practice.
>
> Well, the paper is correct, isn't it? Judge exclusively by the content.
>
>
>
You're "spoiling" this answer by adding an irrelevant rhetorical question. We're talking about relevance and significance, not correctness. Always judge by the content; but - the content must include an argument for significance and relevance if those are not immediately apparent. For that, context is significant.
>
> The editor has asked for your opinion and you think that the paper should not be published. Say so: "It is correct but this line of research is pointless. Yes, I know that there are hundreds of papers within this line, but those are not my business and I am currently reviewing this paper".
>
>
>
Don't say that until you've read the paper and have not been otherwise convinced. Also, again, the "correctness" is not the issue.
The bottom line is summarized in the tl;dr above.
PS - A paper may have a very interesting method to prove a not-very-useful result, and that may be an independent reason to accept.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_4: You estimate that around half of the papers in one of the top journals fall into this class of "pointless" papers. Honestly, to me that says that your view of what is "pointless" is so far out of line with what the community as a whole thinks, that you shouldn't be making recommendations about papers on that topic.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_5: When I read your question and came to the passage "pages and pages of equations, crowned ... or the Lyapunov Stability criterion", my reaction was that, if this is an accurate description of the paper, then you should tell the editor exactly that.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_6: >
> It is correct but this line of research is pointless.
>
>
>
Number theory. I agree that the way you described it sounds like really minor results. But on the other hand, I believe minor results were almost always the stepping stones in mathematics. And if you think the "line of research" itself is pointless, I can't help but think of number theory. Was thought of as pointless with toy problems until cryptography.
So, I'm saying you can't really judge if a line of research will always stay pointless or if the toy problems become interesting problems in the future because we can't know the future.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_7: As an editor, option 3 is exactly what I'd like you to express. As an editor, and as a member of the community, I agree that we publish a lot of papers that are indeed either (i) pointless, or at least (ii) do a rather poor job motivating why anyone should care.
So to ask the question "Why should anyone care?" is really one of the more important jobs of a reviewer. If you think we should care, then you can check technical correctness, but I entirely agree that a pointless paper, technically correct or not, should not be published. It's the editor's job to ask reviewers about this issue as well.
(I will add that I have trouble seeing what the point is about many papers I find as well. But I've also learned that not all papers do a particularly good job explaining what the point is, and that that is not equivalent to there not being a point. That's particularly true for many pure math papers that contain essentially no introduction that puts the result into context. That doesn't mean that there is no context in which the result is not relevant -- it just means that you have to be an expert in the field to see it. I suspect that many papers in applied maths and other areas fall in the same category: You will understand the point when you know enough about the problem, which most of us don't. Of course, this does not refute the fact that there are many papers that truly *are* pointless.)
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_8: I have asked a very similar question here:
[What good is engineering research with no practical relevance?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/94924/what-good-is-engineering-research-with-no-practical-relevance)
However, the majority of the answerers chastised me for failing to see the usefulness of "pointless research" (in your own words). If only these answerers had seen the papers I have seen!! I am too polite to post those research paper on here, but when you are using genetic algorithm to allocate fertilizers (in 2017, when there are extremely robust optimization methods), you might be doing something wrong. When you are rediscovering Markov decision process, you are doing something wrong. When you are modeling the purchasing behavior of actual human beings as dynamical system (with zero stochasticity involved), and proposing a Lyapunov function to "show convergence", you are doing something wrong. It is not about the math, but about the assumptions and practical relevance.
For the sake of producing good research, while being guarded against our own biases, the best we can do is to **highlight and question (and question repeatedly) the practical relevance of those "pointless research".**
We should not be afraid to ask things like: "How can you extend your results? How can it be implemented? what advantage does it bring as compared to seemingly better and more widely used alternatives? Why is the application of your paper so limited? Is there anyway to use your proposed algorithm for a non-toy problem"
or
"why should anyone care?"
This is the only way we can compete against research in industry and safeguard the prestige of the title of an "academic", if not the quality of research in a particular University or even an entire country.
Some countries are known to output enormous amount of pointless research, and I think it has harmed the reputations of researchers from those countries very deeply.
To your question, if you find that the application is too specific, or that the algorithm is too limited, I would recommend you not hold back when deciding whether or not to push the reject button. But definitely discuss this with several peers first, a consensus should quickly be reached if the paper in question is, indeed, pointless.
This is the only way that academia can innovate. I have seen people doing the same thing that they have done 20 years ago, just with minor tweaks in the setup, so that an algorithm appears slightly different than when it was first proposed some 20+ years ago. It is time for a serious change.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_9: I will admit my bias here: I once had a paper dismissed as "a solution in search of a problem" by a reviewer (essentially the same as 'this is pointless') when:
1. That paper was an integral component of a larger project
2. That paper has been cited 33 times, and is well above my personal h-index.
So I'm a little skeptical of people's ability to evaluate what is useful.
Personally, I tend to review papers based on their technical merits - for me to reject something, it has to be badly done, outright wrong, "This does not say what you think it says", etc. rather than just "I don't like it." I may however leave the authors a comment that the results need firmer linking to some practical outcome (I'm in a field where practical outcomes matter, and 'Is interesting for its own sake' is rarely accepted).
In the comments to the editor section I would note that I don't think the paper will have much of an impact, and is one of a number of examples of the field going down a useless rabbit hole. But I'd leave it to their editorial judgement to determine if they think that's grounds to not accept something.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_10: The referee assignment is offered in the context that you know what is acceptable and appropriate for that journal. If one believes that half of what's published in that journal is not appropriate because of the area the work is in, then such person is not an appropriate referee for that area for that journal. The OP should decline to review such papers.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_11: *This is a great question. I've been on the "other end" of the situation - I've submitted my paper which "could" solve a real-world problem, but the paper only did a simulation on a toy/contrived problem.*
**Problem statement**: Running *all* regression tests can be really time-consuming for a team/organization/company. If we could schedule the tests from the lens of *game theory* by looking at testability as a *competition* between testers and developers, we could get superior scheduling as opposed to "any" kind of prioritization scheme one could come up with.
This is really really hard to do on a real system with real people with real tests. In fact, we don't even have data on the "success" of tests even if we use open source software (i.e., which tests were the most successful at identifying problems/bugs).
The *best* we could do in this situation, is abstract out everything about the "real world" and *only* focus on the *algorithm* at hand. We tried to model all known prioritization algorithms similarly so that a simulation could give us *some idea* into its effectiveness.
We got comments on the lines you suggest:
*...I (reviewer) am okay with any direction of research, but this is so far-fetched that the authors are imagining this problem in their head when none exists. There is no evidence of any competition between testers and developers in reality and this is not even applicable in the wild.*
This caught us off guard - apparently, the reviewer(s) focused more on the "formulation" of the problem than what we were proposing. Our paper's premise was to put forth a better way of prioritizing and scheduling regression tests so as to optimize the chance of finding bugs by randomizing the tests w.r.t. game theoretic models. That is if we can only run 10% of the tests, which to run (randomly) that would maximize our chances of finding bugs at some X% level of confidence.
What I'm trying to say is, it'd have been really nice if some of the reviewers would have just taken a step back and evaluated the paper from the problem's POV vs. everything else. Some reviewers thought it was pointless - we thought it was a great *new* POV that *never* existed before and *hence* we wrote a paper to put the idea out there. Few got quite a few folks who liked the idea but many just didn't get it (or were swayed by their prejudice).
Hence I strongly urge you to see the actual problem being solved - is that an *interesting* problem? Can it be solved any other way? What's better about "their" way? Can you, the reviewer, even imagine a possible application? Does the paper call it out? What are the merits of that approach?
If the paper holds up to the question above, then it *may* be a candidate for acceptance vs. being a pointless research direction. Note, the folks writing the paper are more deeply set into the problem and have some idea of its applicability (or not at all, and the reviewer should help with that).
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_12: I would like to offer a slightly contrarian answer, possibly controversial, but do give it a thought.
You are perfectly entitled to your evaluation of the manuscript; after all you would not be contacted if you don't have the appropriate credentials. You are also right to say that this paper is your business and not other similar papers. I urge you to go one step beyond, and consider the impact of your decision.
**As a responsible academician**, it may be good to think if a 'reject' decision is likely to change the number of "parameter change" papers being published. Unlikely- the editor is more likely to treat it as an isolated case. It certainly raises one voice, but if as you say, 50% of papers published are similar, that voice will be drowned out.
Now consider the effect on the author(s)- they have seen many similar papers getting published in the same journal. It may even be the case that they chose this journal for that very reason. To them, this would appear an unfair and biased decision. This does not help their morale, and for a young researcher, could be demotivating. It is a bit unfair for them to be singled out. (Yes, the review process is probabilistic and inequalities are inevitable, but perhaps we could do our bit to reduce those, when we can.) When the researcher is demotivated, (s)he is less likely to understand nuanced arguments (eg. relevant but pointless) and take them in the right spirit. The paper will probably be subjected to minor modifications and sent to a similar journal, where it may well get published. You, as a reviewer, have little chance of changing the author's research tendencies in isolation. In the end, you will have the satisfaction of having stated your point (very important in science!), but beyond that, whom or what did it serve?
To my mind, an alternative would be to either review this paper (rigorously) based on its relevance and correctness (leaving relevance aside), or to decline the review. Certainly how interesting a paper is should factor in a regular review- but given your strong feelings about this journal/type of paper, this is not really a regular review. I reiterate- I ***don't*** believe this is how every review should be done, this is a special case.
If you are serious in your objection to the type of papers being published, you should instead use you academic standing to write to the editorial board, bring up this issue in conferences, or take a stand in public fora. At the very least, the conversation will move beyond you, one editor and one author. You might find that many others agree with you, and that could be a step towards making a really meaningful contribution. Even if that doesn't happen immediately/visibly, you will know you attacked the root cause, not the symptom.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I am a PhD student in Mathematics. I wanted to know what exactly is the difference between PhD and Postdoc. Is it just the research that one does after PhD(kind of second PhD?)?<issue_comment>username_1: In mathematics, a "postdoc" is a special kind of faculty job you get just after your Ph.D. It may have a fixed term (not tenure track). It may have reduced teaching, so that you can concentrate on your research. You may have a "mentor" assigned to advise you on doing research.
But (unlike some other fields like experimental physics) you are probably not working in someone else's "lab" on someone else's research program that someone else got the funding for.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: I want to address this question by citing my current Master's advisor when I asked him the same question:
1. In the Bachelor's, you learn the basics of the area.
2. In the Master's, you learn what people are doing in the field and how to read scientific papers.
3. As a PhD, you learn how to develop your own research and start having new ideas on the field.
4. As a Post-Doc, you learn how to mentor other people's research while producing your own work without supervision.
5. When you reach Professorship you only have to look smart!
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: I have always understood a postdoc to be a "post doctoral" position, that is a paid post. The idea of a postdoc position is to do research roughly in the area of the PhD, with the person gaining experience that would possibly be of help in gaining a full time position.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: A postdoc is expected to know what they are doing, and to be productive researchers with minimal supervision. PhD students are learning how to be researchers: by the end of the process, they should be on par with a postdoc, but it will take time to get there
Edit: This comment has been copied from <NAME>'s answer [here](https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-main-differences-between-post-doctoral-research-and-Ph-D-research).
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_5: The first and foremost difference between the two is that a PhD is "awarded" after defending a thesis (plus additional duties depending on the department). On the other hand, a PostDoc is a temporary working position that is assigned by some institution, whose completion does not require any defence.
What people do or do not do, researchwise, in their PhD and PostDocs is very much dependent on the area and on the department (you may look at other answers that go more in details on this and that I do not want to overwrite, as I would just copy and paste them).
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: This is akin to asking what's the difference between research master's and PhD, or Assistant to associate professor.
A postdoc, is the *next level* after PhD (though not a necessary one). This is the main point.
Practically, it is different, in that it is less formal, with less specific requirements, and you are paid for it, as you are employed, not a student, as other answers here explained well.
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: I suspect I might have offended some of my professors/lecturers and tutors by calling them sir or miss despite them holding a PhD.
**Edit** (info provided in comment): I'm from Malaysia. We have our own variation of English called Manglish (Malaysian English). So ma'am instead of miss then for female college educators?<issue_comment>username_1: This does depend on where you are. However, in the west, addressing anyone as Miss is considered a little inappropriate. A woman's title should not be determined by her marriage status. Sir for a male professor is not quite as bad, just very odd. In general, in an academic context you should use a person's academic title unless they have asked you to use something else (like first name).
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: As Johanna has noted, "Sir" and "Miss" are not actually equivalent titles. There's also a risk in that many female academics have grown weary of having their academic titles dropped while this happens more rarely to their male colleagues, so it's also possible the level of offense differs by gender.
Personally, I'd ask them what they prefer to be called, and address them by that.
If you called me "Sir" in a lecture, I'd think it was odd, but probably not take offense. I have a number of colleagues who if you called them "Miss" they're be irritated. "Ma'am" would be more equivalent to "Sir" in the U.S., and I suspect would fall under "Odd but probably inoffensive".
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: Especially when you first meet an instructor or tutor, err on the side of formality. The person will volunteer if you may call them something else. (Also, as Johanna and username_2 mention, pay close attention to how they introduce themselves and how they sign emails to you.) If you have an academic advisor or a professor you feel comfortable approaching outside of class, you may be able to ask them about the appropriate forms of address.
After I introduced myself and signed all emails as "Dr. [Last Name]", a student sent me an email addressed to "Miss [Misspelled First Name]." I did not think it useful in that situation to correct the student, but it did not convey respect. I was not offended, per se, but I was annoyed that the student had not paid attention enough to know how to address me; while it did not affect the student's grade, it might have changed my perception if I were writing a letter of recommendation. I still am amused by how wrong the student got this, and I still wonder whether they were *trying* to get it as wrong as possible. (Personally, I find "Miss [First Name]" less respectful than just "[First Name]".)
If a student called me "Miss" or "Miss [Last Name]" or "Ma'am" in person, I would dislike that and probably politely say, "Please, call me Dr. [Last Name] or Professor [Last Name]." (My title is not "Professor," so I was originally hesitant to usurp that title, but it seems to be the culture here.)
There's a lot of politics around status in this question. It looks petty to squabble or correct someone over mode of address. However, many students act disrespectfully toward instructors who appear younger, especially if they are female. Not using forms of address that are respectful within your culture (for instance, that acknowledge role as a teacher and/or academic degree) can signal that the student might later challenge the instructor's authority in other ways.
In the U.S., you can respectfully address someone as "Professor [Last Name]," "Doctor [Last Name]," "Professor," or "Doctor." Often "Professor" is used based on the person being one's teacher, whether or not their job title includes "professor" and whether or not they have a doctorate. In other systems (I believe the UK?), there may be a lot of status attached to being able to call someone "Professor" beyond mere "Doctor," so perhaps calling the lecturer "Doctor" or "Doctor [Last Name]" is the safest approach.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: I'm a male PhD holder from a private university in Malaysia. This answer is based on my personal experiences.
It is very common for me and my male colleagues to be addressed as 'Sir', and I have not personally come across any (local) academic staff for whom this has been a problem. Generally, 'Sir' is considered suitably respectful, especially as it's pretty often used as a translation for the Malay 'Tuan' or various Chinese dialect honorifics which could alternatively be translated to 'teacher' or 'professor'.
This is slightly different in universities with significant foreign teaching staff (I also have experience with 2 such examples), where some staff take more notice of these titles, but even in those situations I've not yet seen any academic staff take offense. It's easy enough to introduce ourselves to students with something like "Hi, my name is So-and-so and I'd like to be addressed as Dr. So".
That being said, please do not use 'Miss'. That's only partially acceptable in very Chinese-centric institutions, and not at all acceptable outside those. 'Ma'am' is much better, even though not as well known locally.
Finally, considering our local culture, there's probably a hard age limit above which you'd wish to be very careful how you address a teaching staff. Generally speaking once the academic staff is mid-40s or older (or old enough to be your parent) you should be more careful in including titles. The younger staff just starting out generally do not mind.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_5: If it's a Ph.D, no, depending on the person you are addressing, and depending on the environment and situation you are in. If you are addressing them on front of their peers, and in a formal context, then "<NAME>" or "<NAME>" or whatever is fine. Sir is okay but not the convention.
If it's a medical doctor, then always "Doctor" - Sir is perhaps okay for a gentleman, but never ever "Miss" for a lady as it undermines status, and they need that status to make a living.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_6: Undergraduate students (particularly level 1) are probably not familiar with the idea of the title "Doctor" when applied to non-medical people. When I first referred to a tutor as "Mr X" he corrected me saying he was "Dr X". I don't believe any offense was taken and afterwards I referred to all my tutors as Dr.
Much later, I was introducing staff members to students and asked a colleague about the title of a new female staff member. I was assured that she hadn't formally been awarded her PhD yet so introduced to her to the students as "<NAME>" (in the UK I believe it is more common to refer to women as Ms rather than Miss, indeed I am aware of one example where someone was referred to as Miss then asked to be referred to as Ms). She was quite angry at this and claimed her correct title was Dr so I made an apology. Frankly, I thought she over-reacted to this but explained my reasoning.
So, I believe most people would just correct you with no offence taken, some people do get uptight about it.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_7: Unfortunately, you do not include your location in your question, I will answer from a UK perspective.
>
> **Note to non-UK readers**: in the UK, "sir" and "miss" are the standard
> titles for schoolchildren to refer to their teachers, regardless of
> name or title. The usage of 'miss' in this context is distinct from
> the usage of "Miss" vs. "Mrs" for unmarried/married women or the use
> of "Ms" to avoid either. For teachers below university level, this is
> polite, normal, and fine.
>
>
>
I would not take being called "Sir" as rude, as such, just *odd*. 'Sir' is what you get called in fancy shops; you're not a school child and you're not serving me in a shop, you don't need to call me sir. When I was teaching as a graduate student my standard reply to students who did so was "I am neither a teacher nor a knight; you do not need to call me 'sir'". I'll not presume to comment on how my female colleagues feel about being called 'miss'.
But, as to taking offence, most academics are used to dealing with students from other cultures who may use different styles of address with varying levels of formality and unlikely to actually be offended if you get it wrong. Your best bet is to observe the local culture and try and adopt the style of address used by those around you. In the UK, that usually means referring to your lecturers as 'Dr. X' or 'Prof X' (if they're a professor) the first time you talk to them and then just using their first name after that.
Upvotes: 2
|
2018/03/03
| 589
| 2,180
|
<issue_start>username_0: Is it ethical if I use lecture slides of another professor and modify only 15-20% for my lecture and provide an acknowledgment at the end of lecture slides that lecture material was taken from Prof. XYZ Course ABC?
In the given condition do I still need to send a personal email to professor to inform that I am using his/her lecture material or acknowledgement is enough?<issue_comment>username_1: >
> Dear Professor,
>
>
> For the assignment for your module we were asked to produce an essay
> of 5000 words. Here's my submission. I used the essay of another
> student and modified 15-20% of words in it. You can find the name of
> the student on the last page of my assignment. He produces a very good
> piece of writing and it would be a shame not to re-use it for my
> assignment.
> It also saved me a lot of time, which I used for other things I enjoy doing more than working on your module.
>
>
> I hope it's fine with you.
>
>
> Best regards, your student
>
>
>
If you want to encourage such response from your students, then of course, go for it. If not, be an example and do your own preparation for your teaching.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_2: One of my professors did this last semester. He wrote on the *front* page of each lecture slides:
Slides originally prepared by Dr.X
Modified and edited by Dr.HisName
I think this is better than an acknowledgement at the end and that there's no problem with this approach.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: The question is: why wouldn't you send an e-mail? Consider you send him/her an email for permission to use the lectures, he/she may:
1. (most likely) Accept your request providing you reference him/her. He/she might even point some possible errors in the slides.
2. Deny your request. In that case you just avoided an awkard situation, would he/she ever find you plagiarized (if you modifications don't change the style).
If he/she denies, should you still use his/her slides as a guideline (assuming you do the slides yourself)? Yes you can. And if you wish you can also reference him/her as a reference, in the same way you reference books.
Upvotes: 3
|
2018/03/03
| 1,245
| 5,246
|
<issue_start>username_0: I am one year from graduating and am starting to look for Graduate programs. I would like to know if there exist graduate programs where the focus is on research from the start (apparently this is the case in the UK).
I ask this because I have noticed I learn better when motivated by research than in regular courses. Additionally, because stressful long written exams frighten me and I would prefer to avoid them if it were a possibility. It would be nice at least to go somewhere where they are more flexible about exams, and place less value on them.
I ask this question, not seeking for a list of schools I might consider applying to, but to get a better idea of what graduate programs loook like. I would like to know if it’s worth it for me to focus on this, or if I should just look at the academics because focusing on this would be too restrictive. ( I cannot live by avoiding stress at all costs as mentioned in the comments).<issue_comment>username_1: No one gets a PhD in mathematics (or any other subject) without experiencing stress, period. But there are different kinds of stress. Exam stress and research stress are different, and some people respond better to one or the other. In particular, the time constraints in research are obviously much much more flexible.
As <NAME> notes in the comments, pretty much all US programs have some form of qualifying exam. UChicago is a notable exception, but their first-year graduate courses are more difficult, to make up for this. (We might formulate this principle as "conservation of stress.") But the important thing is that **even though students freak out over qualifying exams, these exams are merely a hoop to jump through, and are not the main focus of any PhD program.** Don't get me wrong, they are a *useful* hoop, but once they're over...they're over. You will stop stressing over exams, and start stressing over your thesis. Typically, qualifying exams happen around year 2 of a 5+ year program--the remaining years are all about research.
To put it another way, avoiding a good PhD program because of exams would be like avoiding a good vacation because of a fear of flying: perhaps necessary if you have a true, diagnosable phobia, but otherwise, you should grit your teeth and get through it.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: My answer will be focused on the US. (For other countries, the general idea might apply. I just don't know enough about them.)
I can't tell from your question just how badly you fare with the stress of long, timed exams. But it might be helpful to get evaluated by an educational psychologist. The starting point for such an evaluation could be a visit to your primary care doctor. Of course, few people find long, timed exams a walk in the park. But students with a special health condition that makes exam stress truly impairing, often find that it can be made manageable with the help of academic adjustments. The U.S. has a somewhat well defined way of documenting and applying for these adjustments, under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. Some possible accommodations might be: extra time, testing in an alternate location, a break every 40 minutes. Sometimes people with an anxiety disorder find that just knowing they are allowed extra time eases a great deal of the anxiety (whether they use the extra time or not).
If you want more information about this: <https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/transition.html>; or see what a particular university you're interested in has to say about "504 plan". If you decide to apply for 504 eligibility, I recommend that you try to find an evaluator who will submit to insurance for at least partial reimbursement.
Now, separate from the above, I suggest that when you've gotten together a list of schools you're considering, you arrange for a "shadow" visit at each school on your short list. That means that the department matches you up with a volunteer host student, and you go along to the host's normal classes with him or her, and have lunch together. As you're getting to know the department, you'll want to find out what percentage of students pass their qualifying exams on the first try, and what percentage don't pass them at all. Also, try to get a feel for how much hand holding the department provides in preparation for the quals. There are schools that don't provide any, beyond office hours help for specific courses. That might not be the ideal type of program for you.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_3: In contrast to the exisiting answers, I am familiar with UK PhDs, so I will answer from that perspective.
In physics PhDs in the UK it is very unusual to have any exams at all during the PhD, and a quick check of Google shows that this holds true for pure maths as well; so the answer to your question is yes, such schools do exist.
Besides the comment I left about managing stress, I would therefore recommend looking into doing your PhD in the UK. The entry requirements may be higher than the USA (often a Master's degree is a pre-requisite, or at least a very good undergraduate degree) but you will avoid having to do any exams, as the research starts from day one.
Good luck.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]
|
2018/03/03
| 1,976
| 8,320
|
<issue_start>username_0: I am starting my graduate studies in computer science this year and am confused as to what quality research (some new innovation or discovery) domain I would choose specifically amongst virtualization, distributed computing, containers, and/or blockchain.
My main issue is that I understand but am not interested in algorithms and their efficiencies. Similarly, I can understand my undergraduate level mathematics but that does not interest me. I have good knowledge and understanding of operating systems, virtualization, and containers concepts.
I have researched regarding this online and came to know people normally only compare out the efficiency of one algorithm over another in problems of memory sharing, process switching, and other similar problems; is there any other method or means to do something new in the field of cloud computing, containers or blockchain?
It would be quite helpful if any expert(s) from these domains could enlighten me regarding as to what type of research is currently going on in these domains and how research work in these domains can be done (while staying away from algorithms and complex mathematics).
Thanks to all those who answered and commented. Answering some comments and to give some more context to my question:
* I am looking to select my research area from the broad domains of Cloud (virtualization and administration), DevOps methodologies and tools (optimizing workflows and processes), Containers technology (for example dockers and kubernetes), and Blockchain optimization ( I am aware this one would involve complex algorithms).
* I'm not looking to write PHP scripts or JS (I know that is engineering). I personally dislike front-end scripting. Some of my projects include setting up a private cloud infrastructure for a company in an internship, writing shell scripts for CI/CD purposes and creating a custom RHEL ISO which already has preinstalled software (no, not templates). Basically, I am proficient in Python, bash shell, Java, C and have a good understanding of how OS, Cloud and IT infrastructure generally works. You can say I am interested in the data center or infrastructure optimization.
So, my question's main perspective is: I find it hard to believe that computer science research (at least development of new techniques, tools, and platforms) is impossible without deep knowledge of mathematics and algorithm designing (I may be wrong but that's the point of the question). Is there established research work or progress done in these domains that do not involve very complex usage of algorithms and mathematics like integration, differentiation and such. Please note, I am trying to avoid *complex* usage and modification of algorithms and its maths. I am interested to discover methodologies of such research (I am hardly able to find much on the Internet).<issue_comment>username_1: About me: I am a mathematician with a PhD in CS. Now, to your question:
Basically,
Yes
===
There are fields of CS that are less inclined to mathematics, such as "informatics and society". There is at least one field in CS that lives between mathematics, CS, and philosophy of all sciences! Logical programming, that is.
But as a computer scientist, you would need some amount of undergraduate level mathematics. Big-O analysis? Math! DACs? Math! Heck, moving a camera around in your 3D game is more math than many are comfortable with.
(I kid you not, I routinely thought about a camera path for a very simple 3D scene in spherical coordinates today, with code and such, fully convenient and natural. And then it occurred to me that spherical coordinates used to be a big deal during high school.)
And don't get me started on mathematical software or formal languages.
As some claim, informatics is a portmanteau of "information" and "mathematics".
[](https://i.stack.imgur.com/zNIt4.png)
<http://abstrusegoose.com/206>
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: You can try a PhD in Evolutionary Computation. These folks do a lot of work with hardly any Math. Look for papers in IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation. You will find a lot of papers which you can read like a novel. But if you want to seriously do some work, Math is important and you must start to like it.
Even if you want to make a serious effort toward developing something using CS tools, without Math you can never be sure that what you are doing is right. It will take time to learn it and if you stop learning it for some time or take a break you might start forgetting it.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: The sad truth is that you absolutely don't need CS for most practical programming tasks.
But without a CS degree, you will have nearly zero chance for the better programming jobs.
Furthermore, without a high-level math/cs knowledge, your mental skills remain significantly under-developed, compared to your own possibilities or to the ones who actually got this degree.
The sad truth is, that the job of a programmer, *the ability to write a program what a customer pays for*, is hard, but it is an absolutely different type of knowledge, like to know the math of the General Relativity. This truth is so sad, so catastrophal, that you will likely spent some decades of your life, whining on it. But it is the truth.
*CS*, its math, yes it is such a knowledge. For example, to understand, *why there is no such thing as "best compressor"* (more exactly: there is, but there is no program what could implement it), is a similarly complex and interesting knowledge, like cutting edge physics. But you absolutely don't need this skill to be a well-going programmer selecting freely between well-paying jobs.
This is how the world works. You can fight it, you can whine on it. I did both of them, decades long.... *and I never became a scientist, only a programmer*.
These fights and these tears are yet before you.
My advice would be this: *learn that math, and get your degree*. So:
* you will fight
* you will whine
* you won't ever use it
* and you won't be ever a scientist.
But
* you will be a better man
* you will be a smarter man
* you will be able to choose freely between well-paying programmer jobs.
Believe me: if you do this *now*, you will be pride for that in your *whole life*. Despite the lifelong pain of your never reached goals.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: >
> I find it hard to believe that computer science research (at least development of new techniques, tools, and platforms) is impossible without deep knowledge of mathematics and algorithm designing
>
>
>
It is true that CS research requires some knowledge of mathematics and algorithm design.
However, it is debatable that such knowledge is *deep* knowledge. It could be superficial in some aspects.
Some professional mathematicians -think of University professors or, in France, [CNRS](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centre_national_de_la_recherche_scientifique) researchers in math- might (jokingly) say that CS is for those who have not been able to assess *deeply* mathematical knowledge.
I've got a PhD in CS, and the math I have used is much simpler that some algebraic topology lectures that I tried to follow in my Master's (I failed the exam on these lectures).
IIRC, D.Knuth said once that computer science is the mathematics of resources.
As other answers explain, you do need some mathematics to do computer science. (but you probably need less math than a professional mathematician do).
In some comment, you add:
>
> I think I am interested more in data center (or in general IT infrastructure) optimization with the use of cloud, virtualization, containers, and/or blockchain.
>
>
>
Then you still need to learn and use a lot of math (any kind of optimization work involves some math). But it is not as heavy as you say.
(so I tend to call "shallow knowledge of mathematics" what you describe as "deep knowledge of mathematics" and what is needed in computer science)
However, you probably need a few thousand hours of training in math to do CS (I don't call that deep knowledge).
(so you don't imagine how heavy is the knowledge of professional mathematicians)
Be sure to read <http://norvig.com/21-days.html>
Upvotes: 3
|
2018/03/03
| 643
| 2,899
|
<issue_start>username_0: I am a computer science PhD candidate. I have been reading and learning a lot of my interested research area - and now it's time to formally defend my research proposal.
There is a computer architecture that has already been discussed (online articles) over blogs and videos and some companies are using it already. it's relatively new architecture though (2 or 3 years old). But I haven't found out any academic research done on that architecture for deploying/implementing it with use cases. But it has been referenced (online article, blogs etc) in academic research journals and articles.
I was thinking to write my PhD research on that new architecture with proper use cases and references. But at the moment I am having doubts about whether I should proceed or not? Or what approach should I apply in order to proceed?
Your suggestions/opinions will be highly appreciated either positive or negative.<issue_comment>username_1: Do ask your supervisor, but I understand not wanting to ask your supervisor about an idea that's out of the blue. It can also be hard to know what a research proposal or dissertation "should" be until you are writing one.
Two things to check:
1. Is this in the realm of concepts that your supervisor has conducted research on or written about or taught about?
2. Is this the kind of question that has been an acceptable thesis topic at your school or with your supervisor in regard to past technologies? You can ask around about previous students' thesis topics and what graduates wrote on. To get more systematic, you can ask librarians at your institution about accessing past dissertations in your program. (DO NOT read prior theses, but DO look at the titles and read the abstracts on the more relevant ones.)
You're safer with your topic if you find overlap with your supervisor's work and previous students' work. If not, try skimming some theses that sounded interesting and think about the kinds of questions they ask and their scope. You (probably) want to make sure your questions engage with deep questions that ultimately are not specific to the technology. Potentially, this might mean user experience principles or architecture efficiency.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: Don't stress too much for your proposal. In all likelihood your PhD will evolve as you progress. As you said you've been reading a lot. Don't be surprised if there is little material to reference. After all, that is the point of doing Ph.D. research: you will be adding to an area of knowledge which at present is little understood.
My Prof once told me that in year 1 the student should be guided, in year 2 the student finds their feet and in year 3 the student leads their supervisors
And yes, speak with your supervisor. This will answer your doubts and display you are really commited to being rigourous.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
|
2018/03/04
| 1,104
| 4,722
|
<issue_start>username_0: I am wondering if I should follow the advice of my co-advisor or a relative of mine who is also a researcher and used to write a scientific paper in the same field (but currently with less experience then my co-advisor).
I will make it a bit more clear:
* I am a Ph.D. student in CS, specifically in networking, I wrote a scientific paper that I have sent to an Elsevier journal.
* Last month, the journal replied to my submitted paper and requested a major revision; so I know that I have a bunch of rework to do.
* One of three reviewers was complaining about the contribution and evaluations/simulations that I have done, while the other two didn’t complain in the same manner.
* Following to this and in order to make it clearer for the complaining reviewer, my co-advisor advised me to add a small simulation/evaluation to my paper to clarify the contribution and justify why we considered various scenarios in terms of scale.
* In the meanwhile, I asked a relative for help, he said that it is not a good approach to add this simulation/evaluation since no reviewer asked for it, and could be harmful to my work/my chances to being published.
While I can agree with my relative about adding a non-requested work, my intuition pushes me to follow my co-advisor, since this is a little work that can clarify, justify more the need for considering various scenarios (which I have done and the reviewer didn’t understand why I did it).<issue_comment>username_1: I would want to answer this based on my recent published collaborative work on a research paper.
We were in a similar situation where one reviewer was not convinced with experimental evaluation. However, I along with my collaborators came up with an idea to include a small simulation [#] to justify our procedure for kind of experiments that we had conducted with the hardware.
In fact, the new simulation study was included to the paper as a separate sub-section under "Results and Discussion" section. We submitted the revised article, and all the reviewers were pretty convinced with the new results and discussion section.
So, if you want to add something new, make sure that it really is closely related to your work. It should not diversify your present story that is conveyed by your manuscript.
[#] This simulation has to be related to the work you are doing. For example, if you are doing something on security protocols in network, then you could add a simulation showing the energy efficiency.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: As somebody in a different area of computer science, I find it hard to see how including a little more true, relevant information could possibly be harmful. The reviewers think your paper is worth publishing with revisions. The worst case I can see is that, when you submit the revised version with this extra unsolicited material, the referees ask you to remove it again.
You can always mention your parent's opinion to your co-authors and see what they think.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: Your issue seems to be a social rather than a scientific one...
You commented this
>
> Anyway, I don't want to mention the mind-conflict that I have to my
> co-authors
>
>
>
Why not? What else do you have your co-authors and advisors for if you cannot use their experience?
In another comment you mention something about an advisor not really being an advisor.
Furthermore, the fact that the conflicting input came from your parent should not be of any relevance. In an academic discussion your parent is a fellow scientist and their opinion should be weighed as such.
So, my unsollicited advice would be to get your act together. Do you feel a loyalty conflict between your parent and your advisor? Get over it. Is your advisor not helping you? Deal with the issue.
You need to feel comfortable asking for help/input/advice to those who want to help you. And you need to feel comfortable with not implementing the suggestions you get if you have solid reasons.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: By no means you are restricted by what the reviewers said.
Often I don't have enough time to do everything I want to do in a paper, end up sending it "incomplete", and then add it after it gets accepted. Including in places where there is only one round of review (some conferences).
As long as you don't drastically change the contents of the paper, it's fine. It's a journal anyway, the reviewers will go over it again.
Personally, I feel the opposite of your relative, I like when the authors don't take the comments literally, but rather understand what is motivating the comments and go an extra mile to make the paper better.
Upvotes: 1
|
2018/03/04
| 660
| 2,877
|
<issue_start>username_0: I'm a PhD student in CS and have been receiving quite a few sub-reviewing requests recently.
Each review takes me more than a day (and often, 2-3 days), and I have reviewed 11 papers on the last year alone.
I never declined a review request, but this seems to take far more time than the reviewing load of the other students in my department.
How much time should I be spending on reviews (e.g., 5% of the time?), and how inappropriate is it to declined such a request if the load exceeds the bandwidth that I should allocate for reviewing?<issue_comment>username_1: Ask your advisor – it's literally their job to give you advice! In particular, they know your situation much better than we do, so they can give much better advice about how much time you should be spending on reviews.
A general rule of thumb is that you should review at least as many papers as you submit.\* You're doing plenty more than that, I assume, so it's absolutely reasonable to decline review requests if they're taking up too much of your time: for example if they're taking up too much of your research time or leaving you with too little free time to relax. And, of course, this will vary through time. You might decline a review request that comes in when you're really busy with your own research (maybe a deadline's coming up or you're visiting some other researcher) even though you'd have accepted it if it came a few weeks earlier or later.
Remember, though, that reviewing papers has benefits to you. It keeps you in tune with developments in your field and exposes you to new ideas. Writing good reviews also makes more senior people in your field (the people you write reviews for) more aware of your talents.
---
\* This will vary from field to field and depend on how many authors and how many reviewers a paper typically has. In my area of computer science, 2–4 authors and 2–4 reviews is about normal, so a one-to-one ratio is reasonable.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: As a graduate student, you should not be expected to review so many papers, particularly because the benefit that will accrue from doing reviews is not large enough to compensate for the amount of time spent doing so.
There is also a significant secondary issue at work here—many faculty members take credit for participating as members of a technical or programming committee in their evaluations. If they're farming out a large percentage of their reviews to sub-reviewers, then they're potentially benefitting off of your work more than they should.
As mentioned above, you should set a percentage of your time that you want to spend on all service activities. It's worth noting that most faculty that aren't in administrative positions have service commitments equal to about 10 percent of their time. A grad student should reasonably have less than that.
Upvotes: 2
|
2018/03/05
| 639
| 2,585
|
<issue_start>username_0: A week ago, I contacted a professor regarding a PhD position in his group. He replied by saying that he is in search for a PhD student and after examining my CV, he said that he would like to organize a meeting over Skype and also asked for my transcripts. Therefore, I suggested him a date and time for the meeting and also sent him the official academic transcripts but he hasn't responded since then. I had also sent him a gentle reminder a week after my last correspondence. Still no reply from his side. How should I interpret this? Should I move on?<issue_comment>username_1: These things could happen due to a million reasons.
My advice,
Don't wait for other people, until you get a signed contract keep looking for other opportunities. This doesn't mean give this up, but it means that you shouldn't stop searching for other things.
There are too many reasons why this might be happening to list them all (ie he's ill, family commitments, travelling, etc.).
If he didn't agree on the Skype call, then technically, he hasn't left you standing.
I suggest trying to get a contact number and calling. Professors get bombard with e-mails daily and it's easy for some to get through the net. If you call and he answers, an easy way to start talking is saying something along the lines of "Hey, I'm just checking everything is OK" or "Hey, could we set a type for that Skype call".
Good luck.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Happens all the time. "We should set up a time" is not the same as "Set a time". Nor is it polite for you to dictate time; his schedule is busier and more complex than yours--and even if not, you are the one asking for a 'favor'. If possible, get ahold of the admin assistant, whose job it is to deal with such things, and have her/him bother the professor.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_1: I don't have enough reputation to comment on username_2's "answer". So I'll write it here.
He's right, you can't assume someone agree's to a time without them actually agreeing to it.
He's also wrong, he assumes your timetable and that of the professors. Also assuming there are assistants to deal with these issues, again pointless.
This problem (missed contact) is one that happens throughout life and you need to understand people aren't against you, it's just sometimes we mix things up and/or forget to reply to messages. I strongly suggest always giving benefit of doubt and try a different approach. If you don't get a reply, try a phone call, if you can't get through, try knocking on the door.
Upvotes: 1
|
2018/03/05
| 2,034
| 7,865
|
<issue_start>username_0: While reading lot's of papers for my Thesis, I was looking for another solution than printing important papers. So I started browsing the internets, watched tons of reviews on YouTube, etc.
I learned that, as of 2018, most of the current eInk eBook readers support PDF reading. However, none of the reviews covered, if the readers can be used for highlighting and adding annotations to the PDF-files as necessary for a sufficient literature review.
Therefore, I wanted to ask if any of you can share their experiences with certain devices and include some advantages and drawbacks. Some [rather outdated discussions on this topic](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/2239/is-typical-ebook-reader-with-pdf-support-enough-to-read-scientific-papers) does not cover current devices.
I thought that probably devices that support working with a stylus (such as Onyx Boox Max, reMarkable, etc.) are more suited for excessive reading (and marking). What do you think.
I'm not asking [whether or not to read on an eReader](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/61065/reading-article-on-a-tablet-or-paper), but trying to shed some light on which device in this giant ecosystem is suitable for the needs within academic work.<issue_comment>username_1: I love my Kindle and was looking for a solution that would allow me to read scientific papers on epaper display. Generally, that boils down to finding a reader that has a screen big enough so that it can acomodate single PDF page, with margins possibly removed.
I don't annotate printed papers much, so option of having a stylus is not deciding for me. You'd have to think how much marking does your workflow involve. For me, the speed and software quality of a reader are first priority for me, as you have to be able to read comfortably before you can start thinking about annotation.The screen has to be also big enough to read PDFs comfortably.
That said, recently I have been contemplating two readers: reMarkable and soon-to-be released Onyx Boox Note, both sporting a little more than 10" display. Both adverise as supporting marking of documents. The reviews for the former unfortunately point out that it's reading experience is sub-par, the latter has not yet been reviewed, as far as I know. I've also emailed manufacturers of those solutions and asked for a precise dimensions of active part of the screen (to know whether PDFs fit well). Nobody answered, what is not very reassuring.
EDIT: reMarkable manufacturer has replied stating that the screen dimensions are 210x162 mm.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: My Kindle Paperwhite works well for academic books; the highlight function is key. Reading academic papers on it is a pain, especially ones in two-column format. Not being able to annotate, via stylus, is a real pain. Being able to 'write' notes on a paper is key for me; I still print papers for this reason.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: If money is no object, the 13.3-inch Sony DPT-RP1 (currently retailing at 699 USD) is probably the best option. Reviews from [Laptop Mag](https://www.laptopmag.com/reviews/tablets/sony-digital-paper-dpt-rp1) and [PCMag](https://www.pcmag.com/review/357580/sony-digital-paper-dpt-rp1) and generally positive, and many of their reservations are to do with the lack of functionality *beyond* reading and annotating PDF files. As PCMag concludes:
>
> If you're an academic who belongs *[sic]* to PDF-format journals that clutter up your desk, this tablet will your new best friend.
>
>
>
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_4: Kindle Paperwhite is great for reading entertainment books. I was looking for a device for reading academic books and paper as well, my research shows three devices/brands:
* Sony DPT RP1(13.3")/CP1(10.3"): good looking, really light, not good writing experience through
* Onyx Boox Max(13.3")/Note(10.3"): with Android 6.0 system's full functionality
* Remarkable(10.3"): best writing experiences, seems battery not so good
I have been struggling back and forth (mostly because none of them is cheap).
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_5: I have a reMarkable as listed in @username_1's answer, and have used it extensively for academic purposes. I haven't tried any of the alternatives (although I have tried an iPad Pro with stylus). Some points:
* It's really excellent to write on. The feel of the device is really good - compared to using a stylus on, say, an iPad Pro, the reMarkable is very nice to write on.
* It's not just the size of the screen that matters, but how much is usable. The reMarkable is pretty good, but it loses accuracy near the edges - probably the last 3-5mm on each edge isn't usable, depending on your writing style. If your PDF documents don't have large margins, or big line separations, they can be hard to annotate.
* It's fine to annotate and highlight PDFs. It is, of course, only black-and-white, but exported files show highlighting in colour (yellow).
* The exported PDFs are *really* large: essentially 1MB per side of A4. This causes problems with electronically sending exported files to others. (This may improve with software updates - there were big changes in the 1.6 update, for example).
* All documents are stored in reMarkable's cloud. This is a *very serious* issue for data protection, particularly around student work.
* The battery life is good, but not that much better than other tablets.
* The cost is high: I don't begrudge paying that amount for myself, but if you're worried about cost I can't say I think it's worth the amount of money.
* The latest software update (1.6) included handwriting recognition. This currently doesn't work on PDF documents, and (at least on the samples I've tried) isn't accurate enough to be useful.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: After contemplating the reMarkable and going for 12" iPad Pro with Apple Pencil, finding it too big and heavy and trading it for smaller iPad Pro with Apple Pencil, I've just ordered the reMarkable. Have not been happy with experience of writing on glass. And with new Macbook 12, I think reMarkable + laptop will better give me what I need (off-computer reading, annotating PDFs, correcting student papers + on-computer writing, email) than the iPad, which kind of tries to do both, but none of them well. Ability to also use reMarkable as a personal journal and for to-do lists, is a bonus. Relieved that it's now possible to name folders, but concerned to read above that annotated PDFs end up as huge files, a problem that is also apparent on the iPad, and which I was hoping reMarkable had resolved.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_7: I have the HANVON E960. It was about 3000 RMB and I have never seen it outside of China.
I love it. Solid, works fine, though the stylus broke after two years.
The best way to go about it is get a Chinese friend to order it on Taobao, and then switch it from Chinese to English. The software translation is not great, and the folders are named in Chinese. BUT - the battery is great, the production is solid etc. I actually picked mine up in some shady back room office in some big block in Shenzhen, as I was suspicious and wanted them to switch it on in front of my eyes. They didn't speak English, so I was talking to them with a friend translating on my mobile. They were however super friendly, and I have it now with me and it is great!
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_7: As a general comment on the eInk reader vs. the Ipad/Surface/ …
As an eReader cannot do Internet, Facebook, News etc., if you only have that the temptation to just quickly check whatever is greatly reduced.
I find I read much more concentrated with an eReader than an Internet surfing device. I think there is even some research on this focusing mental cost.
So for me the eReader was a Godsent.
Upvotes: 1
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2018/03/05
| 1,544
| 6,755
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<issue_start>username_0: So, the title speaks for itself, but essentially over the course of the last few weeks I've been doing a course in complex analysis, and some of the identities that pop up are immaculate, and I think including one of these will enable me to convey that not only am I passionate about my subject (mathematics), but I am also well informed. Is this an acceptable thing to do?
In my opinion, it feels "too unconventional to be acceptable," but I'd like to hear your input rather than my own.
Any responses are appreciated.<issue_comment>username_1: Disclaimer: biomedical field here so not totally in tune with the math department culture.
Based on the very limited input, I'd advise against it, for the following reasons:
1. In some more diverse department, the hiring/admission committee may contain members from different fields, using mathematical expression may risk losing their understanding.
2. For some more serious people, this may appear to be too informal. I think it'd be cool to do that in the job talk, but not so in a more one-way communication like a personal statement.
3. The biggest risk is that this may switch on some unintended areas in the committee member's brain, which can be high risk high return, or a total flop. If you decided to go that route, you really need to make sure the math is right so that it wouldn't divert their attention and start grading it.
Having said that, it's all about being tastefully done. To tell the truth I too would be attracted by an application that looks like a patient's chart, a data analysis plan, a graphic novel, or even a statistical software output. The competition is indeed intense and I appreciate your innovation to stand out. If you're so inclined to try it, I'd suggest showing it to some professors (or people resembling whoever will judge your application) for some honest input.
Also, consider attaching the work as a writing sample if the submission system allows it. Mention briefly about this attachment in the personal statement so reviewers who are more inclined can decide to see it.
Best of luck to your endeavor!
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: My opinion.
In a personal statement you're trying to attract their attention to you and is a way to increase your chances for meeting them which will hopefully lead to a job or other position. It's also a way to link your CV to a specific role too.
So if you think an actual equation will increase your chances or make you seem better for the job, go for it.
In reality though, it might be better to mention these equation rather than stating them. This might also benefit you as you can talk about the equations once you get to meet them, you might be able to write them down and explain their appropriateness to them in person, rather than making them try and understand them on their own.
Good luck.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_3: Here's the thing about personal statements in math: a bad one can hurt you, but a good one doesn't help you all that much. Your grades and letters are what will get the committee's attention and convince them that you're smart. You don't have to use the personal statement to keep convincing them that you're smart. The goal is more to demonstrate that you know what grad school in math is generally all about. It's also good if your enthusiasm shines through, but don't try too hard. For example, talking about how much you loved math as a kid would just be trite.
To answer the question: yes, it's probably fine to include a formula that you really like, and talk a bit about how it captured your imagination. But it's better if you can relate this to your future plans, because that is what the statement should be focused on.
And again, don't formula-drop to look smart, especially not if the formula is something everyone learns in a first course in complex analysis (because knowing it doesn't set you apart from other applicants).
The above advice assumes you're applying for a graduate program. If you're applying for a summer REU or something similar, the same advice mostly applies, but there is less of an expectation that you know what your future plans are. But you can still tie your enthusiasm for Cool Identity X to your desire to learn more advanced math and get a taste of research through whatever program you're applying to.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_4: As a general principle, I would say that there is rarely going to be a situation where mathematical statements are going to add value in a personal statement. I am in a mathematical field, and I have not seen an exampe that contradicts this. Some reasons why this is so:
* You are either going to be talking about a math problem that is well known or one that is unknown to the reader. If it is well-known you should be able to describe it by name, without using any maths. If it is a problem that the reader has not encountered, with any real substantive depth, it is unlikely that the reader is going to be able to digest the mathematics in a short read.
* For applicants for graduate programs, it is usually the case that their undergraduate training has given them the capacity to manipulate equations, but they are not yet adept at backing up calculations with intuitive explanation --- they can't yet "see the matrix". For this reason, it is much more impressive to see a good textual explanation of the intuition of a problem than to see mathematical equations describing or solving a problem.
* If you are an applicant to graduate school, your mathematics is far below the standards of the professors who will be reading your statement. (Yes, I am even talking to you Mr *summa cum laude*.) What you think is a demonstration of your mathematical competence is probably just a demonstration of how clunky you are at setting out your work. I am not talking about the correctness of your equations (which should be taken for granted), but other aspects of the presentation that your professors will notice (e.g., notation choices, brevity, completeness, rigour, etc.). Becoming good at writing mathematical work in a clear and parsimonious way is a skill that takes longer than your undergraduate degree --- it might be best not to remind the professors of how far you have to go!
* You are talking about presenting mathematical results that you only just learned in a complex analysis course you are doing. Okay, so you can write down the formulas. But have you had time to fully mull over their implications and intuition? Have you seen fifty other results in other mathematical fields that are connected to these results in a deep way? Do you *really* understand them? Are they in your bone marrow? If not, it might be best to avoid.
Upvotes: 3
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2018/03/05
| 633
| 2,235
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<issue_start>username_0: I had a hard time deciphering conference and journal rankings in order to find good places to publish. [Disclaimer - I am a computing PhD and this post is intended to have a strong focus in CS]
I think it would be beneficial to have a list of websites which rank conferences and journals (deffo. for my self and maybe others too). My question is, could you all help me build this list?
Conferences:
* [Conference Ranks](http://www.conferenceranks.com/)
* [Core Conference Portal](http://portal.core.edu.au/conf-ranks/)
* [Computer Science Conference Rankings](https://webdocs.cs.ualberta.ca/~zaiane/htmldocs/ConfRanking.html)
Journals:
* [Scimago](http://www.scimagojr.com/)
* [Core Journal Portal](http://portal.core.edu.au/jnl-ranks/)
Other posts readers might be interested in:
* [How to find reputed conference and journal?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/59613/how-to-find-reputed-conference-and-journal)
* [Impact factor vs journal ranking](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/31044/what-is-the-relationship-between-impact-factor-and-journal-ranking)
* [Rankings of Computer Science conferences and journals](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/26807/rankings-of-computer-science-conferences-and-journals)
* [Difference between conference paper and journal paper](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/18349/difference-between-conference-paper-and-journal-paper)<issue_comment>username_1: Other conference ranking include:
[CORE Conference Portal](http://portal.core.edu.au/conf-ranks/)
Also useful reading [here](https://www.researchgate.net/post/Is_there_any_official_and_credible_conference_ranking_or_impact_factor_list), a Research Gate post
Upvotes: 2 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Find the journal with the highest impact factor; that's the 'best'. I recall reading that in CS, conference presentations take the place of papers (as the field moves so fast). There is likely an informal 'ranking' of best conferences. It is almost certainly implicit knowledge; the only way to obtain it is to ask someone in the know. That will require asking a senior professor, or an emeritus professor, and/or one of their grad students.
Upvotes: 0
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2018/03/05
| 732
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<issue_start>username_0: I am currently a Software Engineering apprentice, doing a related degree as the academic side.
I have noticed that despite how passionate I am about software, things never 'click' with me when I first read about them or when someone explains them to me. This can be both academic and practical.
It sometimes takes me so long to get a grasp of a simple theory concept because I overthink and get muddled in my head, I am not that good at math and situations requiring intense thinking (as an example of basic situations that perplex me). And I've noticed my practical knowledge at work isn't up to standard, I'm not as 'good' as I should be for this for how far into my job I am (almost a year).
It's becoming increasingly embarrassing having to watch 4 different videos on basic topics so I can understand, or worse getting someone at work to keep varying their explanation so I understand. I find myself mapping technical concepts out on paper a lot which works but it shouldn't be required of me for basic things and I can't go about my life having to set aside pen and paper every time someone explains something to me.
I believe with effort I can achieve anything and am not phased by people who say you are 'born an engineer'. Instead I guess I should to better my skill of learning.
I am seeking an answer as to how one can get better at learning, techniques, methodologies, books etc.<issue_comment>username_1: 'Passion' is useless unless it motivates you to acquire knowledge; ideally, it should drive you to do things above and beyond what is required of you.
Knowledge is cumulative. Technical communication takes place in increasingly complex abstractions. Unless you have the library of primitive abstractions to draw upon, grasping the more complex abstractions is difficult. The only way to gain those simple abstractions is to spend a lot of time thinking about them.
Drawing things is actually an excellent practice; It has helped me learn for years.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: I feel the same way as you, and I am currently a Postdoc... your doubts about yourself can actually be a very strong point if you convert them into a motivation to keep studying.
It is perfectly normal to need something repeated several times until you get it, and using pen and paper is actually a pretty good way to proceed. Just go on like you are, do not surrender and with time you will amass a sweet amount of knowledge.
And more importantly: do not compare yourself to others, many people (especially in engineering) tend to hide their shortcomings and act smug as if they are infallible. Your baseline should only be your objectives: are you doing your job correctly? Are you having good results in your exams?
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: From Neurosciences researched, the first important thing to know is that repetition is important. Not necessarily the stupid repetition of just dumping knowledge; but the repetition of the topics you want to understand under slightly changing conditions, so you need to recapitualte, apply and think.
I know this is not a general recipe; however, from my own university courses in adult education I visited I know this is a good strategy.
Upvotes: 1
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2018/03/05
| 378
| 1,523
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<issue_start>username_0: I am applying for MS in CS. 6+ years of work experience.
I worked for a huge, globally well known company for less than a year straight out school. This was 5 years back.
I also worked for a very small unknown company for about 3 years.
I can get letters from both, and the content of both will be about the same I think.
Which one should I use for applications? I already have 1 from my professor with whom I did research, and another from my last company where I worked. I just need to submit a 3rd one.<issue_comment>username_1: If only one manager has a graduate degree, use that one. If one went to a higher ranked university, use that one. If neither one has a graduate degree, or both have equally ranked degrees, use the one with the higher ranked undergraduate degree.
If you don't know and feel uncomfortable asking for this information, you could use the more senior or more experienced manager.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_2: The badge, of whatever worth, for having worked in a "globally well-known" company is already in your cv.
And, it is just "few months work straight out of school", begging the question "coffee anyone?" (only half-jokingly).
But chances are, in the "very small unknown company", your role was much more *critical*, compared. And it was for three whole years.
If I was the reader, it would be this second letter that would be more believable in my eyes if it mentioned anything about efficiency, professionalism, and dependability.
Upvotes: 1
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2018/03/05
| 1,015
| 4,123
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<issue_start>username_0: I have several projects that will be published soon. I am the 1st author in two of them and co-author in 3 of them. How to present this in my CV?<issue_comment>username_1: Simply have a section titled "publications". In order to aid readability and emphasize your contribution, I have seen the following used (which I like)
**Dukhiatma**, <NAME>, <NAME>. "This is a paper", venue, year.
**Dukhiatma**, <NAME>, <NAME>. "This is another paper", venue, year.
<NAME>, **Dukhiatma**, <NAME>. "Yet another paper", venue, year.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: You may also want to ask the question of whether you should list them at all on your CV.
Some key distinctions about the papers: Have you got a complete draft? Have you submitted the paper to a journal? If so, what stage is it in the review process? Is it accepted?
In general, keep any listing of accepted or published papers separate from papers in preparation or under review. If you have very few or no publications, then a section on your CV for under preparation or under review papers may be useful. If you have many publications, most people drop the under preparation section from their CV.
If the paper is under review, it is a matter of judgement as to whether it is advisable to list the actual journal that it is under review at. Some people consider it poor form to list the submitted journal, given that anyone can submit a manuscript to any journal. Thus, it can be better to just list the authors and title. Equally, if the review has progressed, then that may be more relevant to demonstrating your future publication output, and you can indicate things like "received revise and resubmit", etc.
If the paper is accepted, then you can just put it on your CV as you would any other reference, albeit presumably you do not yet have page or issue numbers. If the journal has advanced online access, you may get a doi that you can include as well.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: It should be immediately obvious to the reader of a CV which papers have been published, which ones are accepted, and which ones are under review.
* For published papers, use the default citation style in your field (if there is such a thing).
* For papers under review, I used "Submitted to *Journal*" when I was a more junior scientist. I have enough of a citation record that this is no longer very helpful.
* For papers that have been accepted but are not yet published, I use "In press" to indicate its status. I have also seen "To appear" and "To be published" used for this purpose.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: It depends on the nature of "Soon to be published".
For journals that have been accepted, or have been sent back for revisions, you can consider something like
<NAME>. My Amazing Science: A Bayesian Approach. *Journal of Everything*. *In press/in revision*.
For something where you have only just submitted it, you can use the notion of "In submission":
<NAME>. Applications of Vibranium to Battlefield Injuries. *In submission.*
There are some people who believe that you should put the journal you have submitted the paper to in that line. In my mind, you shouldn't - a large percentage of people, myself included, essentially ignore that, and if you pick invariably high tiered journals, it can give off a feeling of a best being naive, and at worst trying to "juice" your CV. "In submission to Nature" doesn't *mean* anything.
Finally, there is the question of the notion of "In Preparation" papers - those that have not yet been submitted at all. For a junior scientist, I think it's understandable to have a *limited set* of these papers in your CV, essentially because the end of your training is moving these papers along, and this is essentially an indicator of "These things are highly in flux, and may be finished by the time you read this". I would *only* include one or two of these, and they need to be projects that are genuinely quite close to being done - you should expect to, and be comfortable with, answering questions about them.
Upvotes: 0
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2018/03/05
| 504
| 2,309
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<issue_start>username_0: This is set up in a Russian university with English as a working language, but may apply to any university with a large share of international students.
Suppose I'm listing a set of course materials, including textbooks and educational resources, for a graduate course. Should I include textbooks in Russian / any other language that might be useful to a part of the students cohort, or should I stick to English only?
Pros of providing additional materials in Russian:
* some students might benefit from them, and additional materials might make the course content clearer for these students,
Cons of providing additional materials in Russian:
* students that don't know Russian might fear they are missing out some course material.<issue_comment>username_1: I think you can distinguish between *required* and *optional* materials
For required materials (students will be expected to read regularly, have exams on the content, solve exercises from the book, etc), I'd say they should by default be in the "working language" of the university, unless there is a clear educational reason to do otherwise (e.g. the course is studying a foreign language). In the latter case, students should be advised before signing up for the course that knowledge of the other language is a requirement.
For optional materials, I see no problem with offering materials in a variety of languages, either for the convenience of the students, or simply because it's a good book that happens to be in another language. Those who know the language can benefit, and those who don't still have everything they need to keep up with the course.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Depends on the subject. In Humanities it is quite common to add course material in languages the students are not required to know. Mostly because there are no equivalent English sources available. Students should learn to get the important information from the articles despite not knowing the languages.
E.g. Students are required to know Latin and the sources are given in French or Italian.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: I would definitely say no to this one. Put in some effort and find good English equivalent of the Russian sources.
It is just unfair to non-native speakers.
Upvotes: 0
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2018/03/06
| 351
| 1,350
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<issue_start>username_0: During my PhD I was invited three times by two researchers to stay and do research in their lab, one week at a time. I'm now a postdoc and applying to tenured jobs in Europe (yay). Should I include these stays in my CV for these job applications?
To be fair most of the deadlines have already gone for these applications. Someone just mentioned to me that they did that so I'd like more opinions on this. To be even more fair I'm pretty sure I will still need the advice next year. (Some more research stays are coming up, also.)<issue_comment>username_1: I would, of course, include them if they enhance my chances of getting the job. You should simply judge how relevant these are to the job you are applying to. If these stays are relevant, do not hesitate to include them. Otherwise, you may skip them.
Good luck!
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: Yes, listing them would add some more value to the CV.
This is how I would list it in my CV under a section called **Research Visits**.
Research Visits
* Visiting researcher, ABC Laboratory, University of Alphabets (Duration: January 01 -- January 09, 2018; Supervisor/Collaborator: Professor A. BCDEG)
* Visiting researcher, ABC Laboratory, University of Alphabets (Duration: January 23 -- January 30, 2018; Supervisor/Collaborator: Prof<NAME>)
Upvotes: 3
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2018/03/06
| 664
| 2,749
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<issue_start>username_0: Let us assume that a phd student has discovered a brilliant idea during his/her phd studies and that the idea has not been published or presented yet.
How can that student protect the idea under a patent? What are the right steps to follow and wrong steps to avoid?<issue_comment>username_1: You should ask yourself why do you want a patent. You should only do if your goal is to commercialize the idea. Because patent is very expensive to file, and also expensive to maintain.
If money is not a problem, filing a patent [is extremely simple](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patent_troll). Here are some [absurd patents](http://www.patentlyabsurd.org.uk/morepats.html). You only need a vague idea, no need implementation, evaluation etc. You don't need to be better than the state-of-the-art, you only need to be "different".
I'm a mediocre researcher who had never published more than 3 papers a year. More than 6 months in my current company, I already submitted 4 patents. *Believe me, this is not what I want.*
I said it is extremely simple because at my company, there is a team of lawyers that prepare the documents, and they also hire lawyers from another company. All I need to do is to present some slides. However, if I have to prepare these documents myself, I would not be able to do it.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: The right way is to start by talking to your institution's intellectual property office (or whatever it is called at your institution). They will know what your institution's practices with patents are like, and will provide guidance in filing the patent application.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: As noted, an *idea* itself is often not patentable, but lets assume for the sake of discussion that you actually do have a patentable process/invention/etc.
The first thing you should do, if this is related to your PIs project, is talk to your PI. It's possible that the IP for anything done in their lab has already been "assigned" - it will depend on the institution, the funding for the project, etc.
Your second stop should be to your institution's intellectual property office - they're sometimes hard to find, but I'd hazard a guess that nearly all institutions have them. They can help you through the process and again there are already likely rules in place for inventions created while a student. It's possible, depending on the idea, institution, etc. that they can take over the cost and complexity of filing at least a provisional patent.
One thing you need to *not* do is present the idea publicly. Doing so, depending on jurisdiction, can start a clock ticking to file patent protection, invalidate it entirely, or something else.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
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2018/03/06
| 979
| 4,181
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<issue_start>username_0: This year I went on the job market early (one year before the end of my postdoc). I applied selectively but to about 30-40 positions across a few countries. I had one campus interview. After the campus interview, I asked for feedback and the only information I got from the hiring committee chair was vague praise and that the department just chose someone else.
Is there a better way for me to try to obtain feedback about what happened while I was on the market or about my file? I feel lost on how I can possibly make my file better without a second set of eyes.<issue_comment>username_1: I think I have basically three advices (and I feel like you already know them):
1. **Don't overthink it.** There are millions of reasons why you may not have been a good fit for the position you applied to, and only a small fraction of them depends on you. Internal politics and unspoken needs play sometimes more than the content of your application. Don't blame yourself, that's the best way to get discouraged without being able to take action.
2. **If possible, get inside feedback.** *If you knew someone in the department where you applied before applying*, you may ask them (preferably in a clever way, i.e., not "Why didn't you hire me?" but "Do you have any suggestions for how I could be a stronger candidate in the future?", as pointed by Kimball). You may not get a honest feedback, you may get a disappointing answer (*"Well, actually, the chair wanted to hire the lecturer from the beginning"*), but it doesn't hurt to ask.
3. **Look for fresh eyes.** If you have a friend or a close colleague in the field, ask him / her to review your application (resume, cover letter, statements), your job talk, your teaching presentation (if there was one), and the list of places where you applied. That's the best kind of feedback you can obtain.
If the search committee answered your cold email with a "generic answer", don't insist. You'll never get more details, except, maybe, in a decade or two, at a conference, in a negligent way, by someone who work there.
Also, you may want to look in a couple of months at the listing of the department: you may spot who actually got the job, and compare your profiles. This information may or may not be useful, but it may to some extend satisfy your curiosity
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: First off, comiserations on the unsuccessful job search. I'm still going through my own job search.
I can tell you how I have had some very limited success in getting feedback:
1. **Apply to departments where you know people, even if you don't think there's a chance of getting a job there.** That way people you know and trust get to see your application, which crucially includes the recommendation letters. Seeing your whole application means they can give you helpful feedback. In particular, if one of your letters is so-so, they can tell you. Of course, they won't tell you too much due to confidentiality, but they can tell you if some letter was a bit bland or if your application on the whole seemed too narrow or something like that.
2. **After an interview, ask for feedback from the person you know best in the department.** Don't ask the department head or search chair -- they are too busy to give meaningful feedback, too senior to sympathize with you, and too smart to risk getting in trouble by leaking confidential information. Ask someone who you know that doesn't have an official role in the hiring decision.
Don't expect much in terms of helpful feedback, but anything you get is valuable.
(I've been interviewing in computer science departments, so the story may be a bit different for math.)
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_3: The fact that you've gotten to the interview stage but no further might also be because of your job talk.
I think you might want to get someone of sound judgement in your current institution to look at your presentation.
I say this because I have seen more than one promising candidate flush their chances right down the drain with an ill-planned talk. In the current hyper-competitive environment, even one mistake might be one too many.
Upvotes: 1
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<issue_start>username_0: My paper was accepted for publication in a journal. I have also received an acceptance letter and even I have filled out the copyright form. The corresponding editor first told me "Your paper is published in one of the volumes of 2017" and next time said that my paper is "published in 2018", but now I have received an email that my paper is "rejected because the paper is not in the aim and scope of the journal"!!!
Really I do not know, what should I do?<issue_comment>username_1: This is unacceptable. If this is a reputable journal, then you can make the point that they made you wait and the research results become stale, and that you have every right to expect them to honour their approval for publication.
They simply cannot retroactively change whether the paper fits into aim/scope of the journal - that decision had been taken with acceptance. If they made a mistake in judgement, you cannot be expected to be the person to bear the cost of this.
If the journal is not reputable, you probably dodged a bullet - and if it is "reputable", and they insist on not publishing your paper after this protest, you can be assured that they are on the way to becoming not reputable, fast (I would, however, not make this point in your protest email).
Upvotes: 7 <issue_comment>username_2: This is pretty disturbing. You should immediately contact the editorial board of the journal and explain the situation.
I would also doubt the quality of the mentioned journal by looking at the series of events.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: **Check with the journal**. Especially do this if the rejection email you received looks like an auto-generated email. No rational journal would act in such a way, so my gut feeling says there was a mistake somewhere, most likely human error. It is possible that, e.g., the final status of your manuscript was accidentally set to 'reject' instead of 'accept'.
Upvotes: 7 <issue_comment>username_4: You should contact the editor in chief and make your complaints clear, that is awful behavior on behalf of the journal. If I were you I would do it as fast as I could and I would take it as far as I could.
I wish you good luck and I hope it was a simple mix up.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: Yes, of course you should complain, and the editor and chief does owe you an explanation.
That being said, total devil's advocate (just because the other answers seemed to all have pitchforks ready)...
If there has been a change in the editorial team it is somewhat their choice what direction they take the journal. The (hypothetical) outgoing editor is partially to blame for making a commitment they couldn't keep. Taking a moment for empathy, they were just trying to help the incoming editor out by having stuff in the pipeline. The content of journals, their standards, their quality, their requirements all drift with changing editors. Maybe you caught someone new to that side of publishing... they're learning on the job and might not have really thought of this from your point of view. Try to be kind. :)
Upvotes: 0
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<issue_start>username_0: I am a second-year PhD student.
Through a grant I was able to organize a scientific visit for myself to another university. The aim of this visit was just to talk and discuss with some of the staff there about their research.
Prior to my arrival, my host notified me that they frequently hold internal seminars/colloquia etc. and would I like to give a talk. I obviously accepted this offer.
**My question is**, when listing this talk on my CV, should I list it as contributed, invited, or just a 'Talk'?
I only ask as typically I think of the term 'invited talks' for more senior, established academics and it was I who petitioned my host in the first instance for a visit.
Any input welcome. Thanks<issue_comment>username_1: They asked you to give the talk, so therefore it's an **invited talk**.
In general, what counts as an invited talk can be rather fuzzy, which is why questions like this are valuable. There are clear cases: if you receive an email from the organiser of a seminar or colloquium series at an external organisation, asking you to come and give a talk, then that's an invited talk. Similarly if they ask you to make a research visit to their institution, and give a talk while you're there. But what if you organise the visit, as in this question, and they ask you to give a talk during your visit? This is less clear, since it may well be that they would not have issued the invitation otherwise (although this is always subject to externalities: perhaps they wouldn't have had the funding to invite you, but are delighted that you will be there, since they would have invited you if they could). My view is that in such situations, a clear invitation to give a talk having been issued by the organiser, such talks count as invited.
---
Even further along this continuum, many contributors to this site appear to agree that even if you had suggested that you could give a talk, it would [still count as an invited talk](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/23353/should-i-list-talks-i-invited-myself-to-give-on-my-cv).
JeffE puts this view very clearly in [his answer to the linked question](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/23379/6067):
>
> If you discover that a friend in a distant city is having a birthday party, and you ask "Hey, can I come?" and they say "Sure!", you've been invited to the party.
>
>
> Same thing goes for talks. When the host institution agreed to let you talk, that was your invitation, which makes it an invited talk.
>
>
>
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: The distinction between contributed and invited talks applies to conferences, and not to departmental seminars.
The details of who asked first, etc, are no reasonable basis for any distinction between seminar talks.
Since getting yourself invited to give a seminar talk tends to be very easy, I would recommend to list them apart from invited conference talks. One can either go for "Invited talks / Contributed talks / Seminar talks" or for "Invited talks / Contributed & Seminar talks" as subcategories.
Upvotes: 4
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<issue_start>username_0: Suppose that two collaborators sent a paper to a conference which was very far away (say, from US to Australia). After the paper was accepted, one of the authors took the flight to the venue, and died on the way.
Conferences generally require someone to present their work for their paper to appear in proceedings. However, in this situation, it is nobody's fault.
Is there a rule or a specific implementation for such cases?<issue_comment>username_1: It is up to the conference committee to decide in exceptional circumstances. This is probably all that can be said about this.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_2: In my experience, it is more important for the organizers that at least one author of every paper registers for the conference and pays the registration fee. Of course, it is expected that at least one author also comes to present the paper, but it is not always possible, due to personal accidents, visa issues, etc. Also, I think conference proceedings are published before the conference, and I don't think it is possible to remove a paper, when during or just before the conference it turns out that none of the authors can attend.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: In essence, a speaker who dies on the way to the conference is no different from a speaker who has to cancel because of a reason other than death, like a family emergency, illness, injury, logistical problem,... and there are already articles on this subject.
I am going to quote relevant parts here from <https://www.mpiweb.org/blog/article/4-ways-to-handle-event-speaker-no-shows> because this is effectively what you're faced with: a no-show.
>
> 1. Always have a “Plan B.”
>
>
> When planning your event, create a list of speakers you have worked with in the past and keep their contact information in your event file. When you have an existing relationship with a speaker they will usually be very willing to jump in to help you if their schedule is open. Keep in mind the geography of where your event will be held and make the list accordingly based on where speakers live. When interviewing speakers to hire for your conference, ask them about their plans in case of an emergency. While you never want to get that call from your speaker saying they are too ill to speak to your audience, if they have already found a fantastic solution it will make your day much better. (Speakers who are members of the National Speakers Association can tap into this network no matter where in the world they are scheduled to speak.) A few years back I received a call from a speaker who was scheduled to present at a conference in my hometown who had a bad case of food poisoning. There was no way he could go on stage, but he remembered I lived in Austin, Texas. Since I was available the speaker had a possible solution before the organizer even knew there was an issue.
>
>
> 2. Look to your event agenda
>
>
> A multi-day industry event will have a full docket of speakers who will already be present at your conference. Look to see whose program could be upgraded from a breakout to a keynote. If it is a breakout session you need to fill, see if the keynote speaker has additional content that can be delivered as a “booster shot” for those who might want more from his or her main stage program (some speakers will charge you for the extra presentation, but most will be happy to step in and help you out in your time of need). A friend of mine who was scheduled as the opening keynote speaker at an event was recently asked a week ahead time to stay for two days and also deliver the closing keynote because the final speaker had a family emergency. Problem solved, and they created consistency in the opening and closing bookend presentations.
>
>
> 3. Create an interactive expert panel
>
>
> Your audience is full of brilliant people. Select two or three topical questions that are cutting-edge and involve timely issues within your industry. Enlist your master of ceremonies or a leader in your organization to be the facilitator and explain openly and honestly about how the speaker could not be there. Proclaim this to be a fantastic and unique opportunity to crowd source knowledge and best practices. Have a panel of two or three people talk about the issues and allow the attendees in the crowd to share their input. Make the audience the heroes and have a high-level, interactive discussion.
>
>
> 4. Make it a networking opportunity
>
>
> Turn the speaker-less session into a “Networking Speed-Dating Bonanza” by encouraging people to make more contacts. A main reason people attend live events is for the networking opportunities, and most meeting organizers admit that no matter how much time they schedule for people to mingle, people often want more chances to meet others on site. Make this space in your agenda a facilitated experience to foster powerful connections. Do not be timid or overly apologetic in explaining the changes to the agenda. Leadership by the meeting organizers is paramount to success in a situation where you need to adjust your program on the fly. Confidently communicate to the attendees that the keynote speaker canceled, and be honest about the reason. Let them know that with their support and participation the meeting will still have an equal or greater impact than was planned.
>
>
>
---
Beyond the issue of dealing with the no-show itself, there are also some other things specific to the situation of a death. Academia usually is a pretty tight community, so there are bound to be other people at the conference who know the deceased in some way.
* It is probably a good idea to start the time slot of their presentation with a moment of silence.
* If multiple people died (as happened in the XX International Aids conference in 2014 after MH17 was shot down), a candlelight vigil or other memorial event can be appropriate, as well as dedicating part of the opening ceremony to honor those that died. Both of these things were done by the aforementioned conference.
* You may want to give those stricken with grief a way to deal with that grief, like providing grief counseling to whoever needs it.
* Provide condolence books onsite for those who wish to dedicate a few words to the dead. After the conference, send these books to the relatives of the deceased along with whatever else is appropriate for the culture of the deceased (usually flowers, but this may vary).
* If the payment for the presentation hadn't yet been delivered to the deceased before his death, it's usually appreciated by the family to donate this to a charity. An obituary for the deceased may mention which charity, but if that's not the case, a charity related to the conference subject is probably the most appropriate.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]
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<issue_start>username_0: Long story short, I'm halfway through my PhD and have recently started receiving help for invisible disabilities from the university, although I have not disclosed the details of these disabilities to my supervisors. My supervisors know that I receive university support for 'medical issues' but they do not know specifically what these are.
A recent discussion with my supervisors lead to them saying they cannot support my request for accommodations or advocate on my behalf without knowing exactly what 'medical issues' I have. I have no problem disclosing specific situations I sruggle with (e.g. that I can be distracted easily, that I often misunderstand people etc), but do not want to put a label on the actual diagnoses as it does not describe how these disabilities affect me specifically and there can be a lot of misunderstanding around these diagnoses.
**So my question is, do you think it is fair for me to not disclose my exact disabilities to my supervisors but request their support for accommodating my 'medical issues' and impairments?**
As an aside, as per university policy I am not required to disclose to anyone except our disabilities branch (which I have done), through which we can request accommodations, support, and advocacy without needing to disclose to other university staff (lecturers, professors, supervisors) our disabilities (for example, someone who is visually impaired can request audio recordings on medical grounds without being obligated to tell the lecturer the reason for the request i.e. being visually impaired).<issue_comment>username_1: Maybe it will be easier to answer to this question instead of yours: Why should I avoid to tell my supervisor ? are you afraid of his reaction ? or how he is going to judge you ?
If you have no answer to this question, if you are not afraid of something else, so tell him, I think that it will be easier for your cooperation
In general, as a PhD student, I have the feeling that we too often fear from our supervisor and we have such like a father/son relationship where we are strongly afraid from a too severe father. But it is important to remember that it is not the case, also your supervisor is human so he can understand your problem, explaining it can help in general.
So, in my opinion I think that you should do it
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_2: I would be suspicious whenever someone is trying to extract information with a crowbar, as appears to be the case here.
I have no doubt that when you feel comfortable disclosing more information about your hidden disability to a particular trusted professor, you will do so.
That is, in fact, the line I would use with anyone who pressures you for greater disclosure.
The other course of action I would suggest at this point is that you have a conversation with someone you trust at your office for students with disabilities, to let them know what's happening. (What should happen next is that that office should remind your department that if they have any questions about how to accommodate your disability, their office is available to assist.)
It takes time to build trust. Trust can't be forced.
**Edit**: Your symptoms do not need to be disclosed either. Bottom line, if the questions feel intrusive, the disabilities office can help you reinforce respectful boundaries.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: I think it's perfectly fair. You're under no legal or moral obligation to discuss your medical condition with someone else - and as has been noted, if this is in the US, your supervisor isn't even the person who should be deciding those accommodations in many cases.
If you get to the point that you believe you can trust your supervisor with that information *and it's something you wish to discuss* then you can disclose it and it might be helpful to do so, but that's a decision that should be left entirely to you.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: >
> I have no problem disclosing specific situations I sruggle with (e.g. that I can be distracted easily, that I often misunderstand people etc), but do not want to put a label on the actual diagnoses as it does not describe how these disabilities affect me specifically and there can be a lot of misunderstanding around these diagnoses.
>
>
>
This is key. It sounds like you are fine with going into detail on your symptoms (and therefore your need for accommodations), but you're not comfortable disclosing the exact diagnosis. Given that your advisor is not your medical professional, they don't need to know the diagnosis.
So, **if there is a need to**, you can tell them your issues, but don't tell them the diagnosis. Be polite, firm, and center the conversation on your genuine need for accommodations.
>
> "You've asked me about my medical issues and my need for accommodations. I'm not always comfortable discussing this, but it's important for you to know that the main symptoms cause me to be easily distracted, occasionally misunderstand people, X, Y, Z..."
>
>
>
If your advisor presses you for the "name" of the medical condition, you can say
>
> "The precise diagnosis isn't really relevant - what's important here is I have genuine medical issues that need accommodations. Thank you for helping me do my best work."
>
>
>
The last sentence here reframes the conversation to the advisor's role of helping you to achieve success, rather than on their morbid curiosity about your specific diagnosis.
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_5: As other commentators have pointed out, you are under no obligation to disclose disabilities to your supervisors. It also sounds like there are already processes in place for the disabilities branch to request specific accommodations. Presumably you are interested in receiving accommodations that cannot effectively progress through that channel.
It is certainly perfectly okay to give only partial disclosure of your disabilities if that is what you want to do. However, it is important to have some awareness of the predicament of supervisors that are trying to help with limited information. Bear in mind that their capacity to accommodate your needs will be determined --at least in part-- by the information they actually have. If the only information they have is a list of symptoms, without any medical diagnosis or purported causes/treatments, this may limit their capacity to determine what the symptoms of your disability actually entail and what accommodations are appropriate.
---
**Accommodating your needs:** Having a list of symptoms/situations where you struggle gives them enough knowledge to know that you need help in a particular area, but it probably does not give them the capacity to determine appropriate assistance. Your symptoms include a tendency to distraction, and difficulty understanding people, but these are also general difficulties that occur in all PhD students. Without more information it might not be easy for them to differentiate difficulties caused by your disability versus difficulties caused by in innate difficultly of a PhD candidature.
Understanding explanations of graduate-level academic work is difficult for most people in any case. So with this in mind, what exactly does "difficulty understanding people" entail in your case? You will probably need to explain this to them in more detail. Can they just explain things multiple times to fix the problem, or is there some more specific problem with a particular remedy? Without knowing the underlying medical condition, it is extremely difficult to judge what that description of your symptoms even means, let alone what accommodations would help.
**Advocating on your behalf:** Certainly your supervisors cannot advocate on your behalf in relation to your disability without any confirmation of its nature. Presumably the disabilities branch is set up for that purpose, and they are able to make recommendations based on more details knowledge.
---
If your preference is to give only partial disclosure of your issues, please bear these points in mind. You might want to start by trying to describe your symptoms with sufficient detail to differentiate them from the ordinary difficulties faced by other PhD candidates. Check with your supervisors to see if they understand your difficulties well enough to help, notwithstanding incomplete disclosure. If they don't, you may need to consider giving more specific information until they are in a position where they are able to identify specific assistance that would be appropriate.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: I am someone with both obvious and non-obvious disabilities. There is a great deal of cultural debate and misunderstanding around my specific non-obvious disability. It did not become clear that I had it until late in my adult life.
I should add here that I have (finally) received a specific medical assessment and diagnosis (which can be very hard to get for non-obvious disabilities) , which has helped me to accept my issues and weaknesses, and have more confidence in my strengths.
My advice is to *OWN IT*. You are the expert in your non-obvious disability. You know how you differ from most other people who claim to have that issue. I would arrange an appointment with your advisor. Inform them in advance that it will be about a personal issue so that they are in the right frame of mind.
You may also wish to discuss this in advance with your university disability support unity / office for student with disabilities - they are hugely experienced and can guide you in what to ask for. They will support you in the case of an adverse response. You could also ask for a role-play of the appointment if you are nervous.
At the start of the appointment, after saying hello etc, say something like:
* I would like to inform you that I have been formally diagnosed with syndrome XYZ.
* I'm still learning about its impact on me and how to cope with it.
* You may have heard about other people with syndrome XYZ, who have behaviour issues 123.
* That does not apply to me. My diagnosis says I am different in ways ABC.
* However, there are some issues that I do struggle with, for example 456.
* This comes up in specific situations 789.
* Could I suggest some solutions to these situations and discuss with you how feasible they are?
At the end, request a followup appointment on this specific issue, in maybe 1 month, or 3 months, to see what changes are needed, what worked, what didn't work. Keep a diary of what you have tried, and how well it worked. Remember, this is a journey. Your needs and wishes will change over time, and that is normal.
A huge number of people in academica have mental health issues, ADHD, bipolar, ADD, Autism, etc etc, - some studies say 1 in 3 of all academics have mental health disorders - so all this may already be well known to your advisor.
It may help to prepare a one page sheet listing the specific situations / issues you struggle with and the solutions. Be prepared that this sheet will be seen by others, left on desktop in open class etc, so don't put anything private on it.
Consider bringing this sheet to all workgroups and sharing with your close workmates - it will help the group as a whole to perform better, and also help you.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_7: When I was at university (in the UK) as a lecturer we adopted the following scheme: We made students aware that if they have any disabilities they wish us to consider (dyslexia, mental health, physical disabilities,...) that affected their studies, they should let the university office know. The office (after confirming the disability) then let the students home school aware. The needs (for example special arrangements for course work, exams) were then relayed *with the minimum of information* to the schools disability officer (this was a lecturer who had no background knowledge of any particular disability and was a pure admin role) who passed the information on to the staff taking the modules the students were enrolled on.
Your supervisor will presumably be told of any special circumstances you require that he can be of assistance with.
It isn't obvious is this approach is adopted country-wide, though all institutions have to comply the [Disability Discrimination Act](http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1995/50/contents).
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm finishing up my third year of a PhD program this Spring. Until recently, I had assumed that I would have four years of funding as many of the PhD students do. However, after asking the department chair, I was told that "the department resources are stretched (as usual) and we made our recruitment plans based on those cycling off funding, including you. There is always a possibility that our recruitment efforts do not go as planned, but it is unlikely that we will be able to offer a fourth year of funding."
My award letter states that I have three years, with the "possibility of a fourth year based on availability of departmental funding." What does "based on availability of departmental funding" actually mean, legally? Does it mean that the department can continue to recruit new students instead of keeping on current ones?
I'm at a public university. Is there any way to find out whether the departmental funding is actually unavailable? Is it enough to ask HR, or might there be any other resources I should search out?<issue_comment>username_1: >
> What does "based on availability of departmental funding" actually
> mean, legally?
>
>
>
It means if there are funds available, you may have access to them.
You have been told by your department that funding is not available. *Why* they aren't available isn't particularly relevant.
It's possible you can go digging, but no, it's not enough to "ask HR", as they're unlikely to know the line item budgets of each department. And, to be candid, trying to dig that up to play some sort of legalistic "gotcha!" with your department is likely to do considerable damage to your reputation and standing within the department.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: Your institution has definitely met the terms laid out in your award letter, which states that there is "possibility of a fourth year based on availability of departmental funding." This does not mean that you are necessarily guaranteed a fourth year of funding. Even if most students get the fourth year, assuming you will is risky. They promised you three years of funding, and said that they might be able to give you a fourth. They gave you three years of funding, and decided that they can't afford to give you a fourth. As raised by @username_5 there may or may not be other factors that influence your contract, legally, but any analysis of that would require much more information than what is provided and should be provided by a lawyer, not a random academic on the internet.
Regardless of the precise legality of the decision, I would advise that you spend your time looking into alternative sources of funding rather than try to dispute this decision. Trying to contest will damage your reputation within your institution, make you look foolish (especially if you have a weak case / are perceived by others as having a weak case), and use up precious time you could have spent looking for alternative sources of funding. Speak to your adviser first and foremost, as they have the best understanding of the university and what resources might be available to you (RA or teaching positions, most likely). Your government almost certainty has agencies that award grants that you may be eligible for. There are also non-profits that award academic grants that you may be eligible for, especially if you're an underrepresented minority.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_3: I am not a lawyer, but a funding `possibility of a fourth year based on availability of departmental funding` sounds pretty meaningless as a promise. That is, I don't think you have any legal or administrative recourse in your situation.
That said, I completely understand why you are upset. It sounds like you were given the impression that you would *probably* get a fourth year of funding, based on what happened to other students.
In general, I consider it poor form for a department to fund new students in preference to current students. A good department should put quality (fully-funded PhD students) over quantity (stretching funding to admit more students).
However, it may be the case that they have chosen not to continue your funding because they are not pleased with your academic progress and feel that new students are more promising. If that is the case, then there is little you can do about it. Unfortunately, it happens and my advice to people in such a situation is to find somewhere they are appreciated.
I would suggest that you focus on (i) finishing your thesis as quickly as possible and (ii) finding alternate sources of funding -- teaching, scholarships/fellowships, internships, etc. Alternatively, you could look for options outside academia.
As always, **ask your advisor**.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: My department also had a soft funding promise in a final year and was giving me difficulty about awarding it. You may have luck with my strategy.
Rather than dispute their right to make such a decision, I was able to make a convincing case that the department should prioritize me among the advanced students if funding was available. I explained that although I never brought in a full fellowship, I brought in several partial fellowships and that should make me a strong candidate for an additional year of funding. The rationale was that I had not actually "used" all of the funding in the previous years. My department was also aware of extenuating circumstances that required an "extra" year and so was more likely to acquiesce to my request. It worked.
I would wager that this will be a more fruitful strategy than fighting the department on the wording of the offer letter.
You should, of course, also be talking to your advisor about funding and actively pursuing alternative funding at the same time.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_5: @username_3 and @username_1 and @StellaBiderman are, with due respect - wrong in my opinion, likely due to lack of legal experience (and lack of union experience).
As any lawyer will tell you, the legally binding obligations of a party to a relationship are not limited by the text of a written document describing that relationship. These may be inferred from the context of the formation of the relations, as well as from custom and from the parties treatment of others. Now, legal systems in different states in the world give different weight to such obligations, in themselves and in context of written documents, but this is a definitely a question to be opined about by someone with relevant legal training.
This does not mean that the university is obligated to continue employing / funding you for the fourth year. It may, and it may not, be thus obligated - or it may be a gray area. Also, I'm not telling you to sue or to threaten to sue, even if you have a legal opinion saying that an obligation does exist. Enforcing legal rights has its own pros and cons (and often takes a lot of time, so @StellaBiderman's practical advice may be quite relevant).
Another point regards the nature of your relationship with the university may have bearing on its obligations. There are ongoing public and legal struggles for the recognition of "funded" PhD candidates as researcher employees of their universities, see:
* [Why do universities fund Ph.D. students in the sciences?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/68912/why-do-universities-fund-ph-d-students-in-the-sciences/68926)
* [Education or employment: What is a post-doc? What is a PhD student?](https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/80071/education-or-employment-what-is-a-post-doc-what-is-a-phd-student/)
Finally, some universities have Graduate Employee Unions (that's of course related to the previous point). If yours has one, or a nearby university has one, they may be able to act, or already are in the process of acting, to make the period of employment be decided by clear and fair procedures, and well beforehand, rather than the result of caprice or whim. So - go talk to them.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_6: In the U.S., in mathematics, at an R1, such terminology (though our number-of-years is somewhat different) means that you're really expected to finish in 3, first.
A complication (certainly in the U.S.) is that teaching-assistant hiring/funding decisions for Fall need to be made in January or February before, which is often much in advance of it being clear whether advanced students will finish or not, in that Spring term. Thus, it is presumed that students will finish on time, so that new grad students can be hired as TA's. It's not really about "priorities".
Then, yes, because commitments made to new students are taken seriously, and often recruiting seems to require very specific commitments, financial support of advanced students who've "taken too long" is not at the top of the list for allocations of limited funds.
Yes, I agree that it is probably all too easy to misinterpret the intent of such language, but, in my experience, no one is trying to trick anyone by it. If anything, it's meant to be a warning to "not count on funding in further years".
Upvotes: 2
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2018/03/07
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<issue_start>username_0: I asked her 2-3 years ago whether she would do that for me, when I was still a BA student, she said yes. I then did not need that letter because I had personal problems, now I am out of uni for some time but would like to apply for grad school. Should I somehow remind her that she once agreed to do that, or ask whether she would 'still' be willing to write me a letter, or will it come across impolite?
I don't want to be impolite, I would just like to somehow remind her that we talked about it previously and maybe remind her a little bit of who I am, since it's been a few years and I cannot show up in person.<issue_comment>username_1: There's no reason why you can't ask:
>
> Dear Prof. X:
>
>
> I was a student of yours for class Y in term Z. While I was still an undergraduate, we had talked about the possibility of you writing a letter of recommendation for me. At the time, I did not end up applying to graduate schools at the time, but will be doing so . Would you be willing to write a letter for me now? I can provide you with an updated résumé/CV.
>
>
>
with appropriate modifications.
You can definitely mention that she previously agreed to write a letter—you might be refreshing her memory, in case she gets a number of requests for such letters!
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: Professors are exceptionally busy, and can sometimes hardly remember recent e-mails, so it is unlikely that reminding her you asked for a letter of recommendation will help to trigger recollections of you as a student.
I don't see any reason why she should refuse to write a letter of recommendation now, given the details you have provided. If she cannot remember personal details about you, she can still write a more factually based response, based for example, on your grades in her courses.
I'd write an e-mail that's concise, asking for the letter of recommendation, and doing your best to provide any details to remind her of who you are, or in a follow up if she requires it.
Upvotes: 2
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2018/03/08
| 1,105
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<issue_start>username_0: I can think of two possible ways in which a new department is born: one, the university decides to start teaching a certain subject, and in the other, an existing department splits into two (e.g. department of physics and astronomy -> department of physics + department of astronomy). If the answer in these two are different, please say so and I will split this question into two.
1. Clearly the initiative must come from a senior university administrator. Who though - the chancellor? The vice chancellor? The dean of the faculty?
2. Starting a new department is presumably very expensive. Where does the university find the money? Do new departments usually only start when there is a sudden source of funding (e.g. \_\_\_ big new discovery leading to a massive surge in student interest + external funding in the field)? Or do universities spend years saving money before starting a department?
3. Once the decision is made to go ahead, how does the university go about it? Do they hire a new professor who works in the field, provide her with a budget, and let her hire everyone else? Or do they decide on every individual hire by committee, which is not always made up of people expert in the field or affiliated withe the university?<issue_comment>username_1: In all of the cases I have heard of, existing departments split. Sometimes not one, but sometimes faculty from several existing departments split to form a new one. For example, faculty from mechanical engineering, physics, chemistry, and maybe math may form a new department of materials sciences. Or faculty from math, statistics, computer science, biology, and a variety of engineering departments may form a department of computational science. Oftentimes, such departments are born after there is already a graduate or undergraduate degree that exists in this area and to which the involved faculty members have previously contributed.
In the cases I know of, the initiative has always come from the bottom, not the top. Typically, this has to do with faculty members feeling that there is a critical mass of faculty in a variety of departments to create a new degree program, and they later realize that they may as well build a department around it. The other reason is that the members of such a group may feel that the department they are in does not value their work -- this is, for example, how many statistics and applied math departments started as forks of mathematics departments dominated by pure math faculty who did not appreciate the work or style of the stat or applied math researchers.
In all of these cases, new departments consist of existing faculty. So at least as far as faculty salaries are concerned, this is often not substantially more expensive than the existing structure. Where things get more expensive is that departments typically duplicate support structures as well, such as staff, web site maintenance, etc. But it is not necessarily true that this is "very expensive" as you state.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: All of these things happen, obviously. What Wolfgang mentions is probably the most common case: vastly oversimplified, a new department gets forked off from existing departments when enough faculty from 2+ existing departments feel that they would rather work with their colleagues from other departments than with their current ones. This process is not so much expensive as politically difficult, as the existing departments will lose money and influence and hence are not unlikely to opposed the plan.
However, I have also seen other cases.
* Sometimes, a department is formed by joining two existing departments, presumably in an attempt to reduce support structures and create new collaborations. When I have seen this it was always driven by senior university management and not by the faculty, who are generally not thrilled about the disruption. My current department came to life this way, and 10 years later there is still a noticeable rift between faculty coming from both original departments.
* Finally, there are also cases that look more like what OP had in mind, where there is an executive decision on university level to build a new department from the ground up. This is indeed a very expensive and long-running process (we are talking about many years to maybe a decade), as new faculty needs to be hired on a running basis. Given the strategic nature of such a process, there really isn't one person who "decides" to do this - instead, discussions will be had, committees will sit and provide recommendations, and ultimately the university leadership (rector, vice-rectors, university senate, maybe even sponsoring bodies such as the government) will make a formal decision that closely represents the outcomes of these political processes. The implementation of this decision will then be the responsibility of whatever is the next-highest organisation unit after departments - school, faculty, or directly the university leadership team if departments are already top-level structures.
Upvotes: 3
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2018/03/08
| 1,712
| 7,407
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<issue_start>username_0: I created an affinity group for first generation students at my graduate school. Shortly after, the school's diversity committee emailed the student government informing us that there would be a diversity committee panel on the issue of being first gen. It seems like sort of an informal lunch between students and faculty.
I am thinking there are two possible reasons the school is holding this meeting. 1) they are trying to look good by taking initiative before students start making noise or 2) the school cares deeply about the issue. I'm inclined to believe its reason 1 because the school took zero steps to contact me or any of my first gen acquaintances to see what help or resources we needed, and is only having a "first" discussion about this issue right after I created the group even though this is by no means a new issue.
At any rate, not sure the motives for the meeting matter except insofar as me knowing how much I can get the school to change its approach to this issue. In other words how much do they actually care about what I have to say and how do I hold them accountable to act on any requests I make? I have a bunch of (very actionable and easy) ideas - e.g. distributing surveys that ask students questions such as "are you first gen" and then having the school appropriately match an advisor/mentor - but is this the forum to express those ideas? If so, at what level of detail? What I really care about is just getting the school to do the things I want it to do. How much work is done in that meeting, and how do I follow up "behind the scenes"? How much leverage do I have as a student? Any advice appreciated!<issue_comment>username_1: We cannot divine the university's intent, or what the committee you're meeting with is capable of, at this point in time. But it's great that the university is being proactive in wanting to hear the concerns of your interest group. Act on your own initiative. Distribute that survey yourself, before the meeting is held, and find out what people who share your background want to tell the university. Act as their representative and read off some of their comments. The university will be happy to have an official representative, and maybe you can have your needs met as well.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: We (and indeed you) clearly cannot read the minds of those who have called the meeting, however I'd like to suggest a third option:
Someone in the administration is definitely *trying* to do something, but because universities are large and cumbersome organizations, change takes time.
The best things you can do are heading to that meeting prepared (which you appear to have done) and with an open mind. Assume the intent is to have a productive meeting, but also one that likely won't have a great deal of actionable things come out of it. First meetings rarely do. Express that you've got ideas, and are willing to work with them. And find out who the people are who you should be talking to - if the meeting does seem like it's sincere, try to finish by identifying at the very least who you should talk to about "next steps".
In terms of leverage? Almost none. But that doesn't mean you can't get things done - university administrators are human beings, and they too care about things. For example, at my university, the problems of first generation students are taken quite seriously and we *still* struggle at times.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: To make this first meeting effective, here are some considerations.
* Identify the players on the faculty and administration side--people who might be at the meeting and others at the school.
1. If your institution has first-gen resources for undergrads or other
diversity resources, the people in charge of those could help your
effort, and may be invited to the meeting.
2. If your school (overall institution or your grad school) has a history of visible conflict
around any kind of diversity, faculty and administration may reflect
that history. Some might be resentful, while others may have learned
and aim to be especially supportive.
3. Faculty will not show up unless
they care about this issue and/or want to curry favor with the
administrators organizing it. They are likely to be good allies,
though with limited time to devote.
* Continue recruiting other students.
1. Initial interest will shape everyone's perceptions.
2. You will want to be able to transition leadership and not have everything depend on you forever. Even at the beginning, it's best if other students can share responsibility so you don't take away too much time from your studies.
3. Accept allies wholeheartedly, but try to make sure they listen more than they talk. (The burden of organizing first-gen resources shouldn't just fall on first-gen students, if possible.)
4. Instead of a survey before the meeting, I'd suggest a Facebook group or just an email. Spread the word about the lunch (free lunch!) and you can ask people to join the Facebook group or sign a Google doc or something if they're willing to share their first-gen status and give any thoughts of what they'd like to see.
+ This would accomplish similar things to a survey, while being more informal and building connections for future organizing.
+ The school probably has better resources to do a systematic survey, and they may even have some stats from the admissions process. If they turn out to be helpful, the administration will be able to do this part very easily.
* I have read studies on first-gen college students and talked with colleagues who do research here. As you probably already know, navigating college is harder for people whose families can't provide specific knowledge. You may want to ask your institution for the following resources to address this.
1. It can continue facilitating interactions between faculty and first-gen students, like this lunch. This can lead to informal mentoring and just more experience of faculty and first-gen students being familiar with each other.
+ Some of my professors were first-gen, and they would be great to have there.
+ Other profs may benefit from "practice." I remember at a conference dinner, when a professor asked a student, "Where do you summer?" The student replied, "Most summers I try to visit my family in Detroit." HUGE social class gap that they interacted nicely around, and hopefully the professor learned not to presume or to use "summer" as a verb.
2. The [National Center for Faculty Development and Diversity](https://www.facultydiversity.org/) is a fantastic resource for US universities that your school could subscribe to.
+ I believe the model is that the institution signs up EVERY faculty member (and/or postdoc, and/or grad student) as having access. Many resources are about demystifying tenure, doing productive research, and other things addressed here on SE. :)
+ Often, this fills knowledge gaps that students have for a variety of reasons, but that first-gen students (and others) often systematically have.
+ Politically and logistically, I find that to be an ingenious model, especially as it doesn't require anyone to create a boundary about what "counts" as first-gen or argue that they did not grow up with their educated parent, or that their parents are unfamiliar with the U.S. system of education, etc.)
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
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2018/03/08
| 1,144
| 4,987
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<issue_start>username_0: I am currently a second year masters student that will be applying to PhD programs in CS Theory. I have finished all of my required coursework for graduation, but my tuition is essentially free and I enjoy taking classes so I am looking for one to take this semester. The few that I am very interested in are full (with no chance of additional spots opening) but there is another that I can take.
My problem is this: It is a introductory graduate level combinatorics course. My undergraduate degree was heavily focused on discrete mathematics so I took two combinatorics courses (one that had a similar syllabus to this one until about halfway through the class). I did ok in the class as an undergrad but not as well as I would have liked in terms of grades.
My question is this: How would taking this course look to PhD admissions committees? Would they think I was sandbagging not taking serious coursework or simply retaking a class to boost my GPA (I would like to note that this is not the reason I want to take it. I am interested in the sections of the course that I did not have in my undergraduate class, but the difference between the classes will probably not be known to PhD admission committees. That is, they will just see Combinatorics for both.).
My undergraduate GPA was quite low, but I have good research experience. In this sense, my main goal is to minimize the impact of my undergrad GPA on my admission chances by taking graduate coursework and doing well (so far, my graduate GPA has been very high).
Thanks in advance.
---
Edited to clarify "sandbagging".<issue_comment>username_1: You said your exact problem is solved, but I want to answer in a more general way.
PhD admissions are not uniform or even consistent year-to-year. Additionally, the at some departments, the professors who are on the admissions committee change year-to-year. Thus there is **no magic bullet** for admission into a PhD program.
In my opinion, someone like yourself who has undergraduate research experience, will be in a situation where the admissions committee won't care about your exact courses on your transcript. Your GPA may or may not matter, depending on the whims of the admissions committee.
Most likely your success with applying is a **completely subjective decision** made by people: and like all people they are biased and irrational. I am not trying to be insulting. All I am saying is that you cannot expect a process which is subjective to work like a deterministic computer program: where the same inputs result in the same outputs; where if you change your initial conditions slightly, but taking a graduate course, your outcome will be affected by it.
I will also add that some PhD program/departments may have objective thresholds. For example a GRE minimum score, and no matter how strong the result of your application is, if you scored lower that the threshold, your application is thrown out.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: For an undergrad, taking graduate level coursework is generally(\*) not going to look like "sandbagging". The very fact that it is a graduate course strongly implies that it is "serious coursework", and not just "taking easy classes"
It's pretty common for a university to have graduate and undergraduate courses with similar titles, e.g. "combinatorics". That does not imply that the courses have significant overlap, or that it's inappropriate to take both. Normally I would expect the graduate-level course to be substantially more advanced. The undergraduate course might be focused on elementary results and techniques; proofs might be omitted or handwaved. The graduate course would likely be aimed at preparing students for research in this area; careful and rigorous proofs would be a primary focus. An undergraduate course in combinatorics might be a prerequisite, or the corresponding material might be covered rapidly in just a few days of the graduate course.
So I certainly don't think that the graduate course would look like you were "retaking" the undergrad course.
(\*) This assumes that the graduate course is one that's intended for students preparing for *research in this field*. So exceptions to this rule might include:
* Courses that are part of a *professional* masters program, intended to prepare students for careers in industry, K-12 teaching, etc. In such courses the actual material might not be significantly more advanced than in an undergrad course, though there might be extra attention paid to applications, pedagogical methods, and so on. But you might not learn much new mathematics in such a course.
* Courses intended for students from other fields. For instance, there could be a graduate-level statistics course intended for psychology grad students, who need to learn statistical methods to conduct psychology research. But the actual mathematical material might not be any more advanced than an upper-level undergraduate course.
Upvotes: 1
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2018/03/08
| 599
| 2,744
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<issue_start>username_0: I am looking for ideas and suggestions on when someone would have enough experience and expertise to be presented as a potential peer review candidate.
I am specifically looking at using review history data as a source and keywords search to search that source. So a solution **could** be related to attributing keywords. But don't let that lead you too much, this is just my current thinking.
The configuration of such a process of when does someone becomes worth showing as an expert of candidate is main area I would like suggestions and idea on.<issue_comment>username_1: If I had to find peer reviewer for a field I have no knowledge of, but a lot of data, I would first come up with a citation graph and look at all papers near to the paper that should be refereed.
If I had a list of reputable journals, I would filter that paper list by this list. The resulting paper list can be scanned for authors. Now you can compare key words of the important papers of the authors to the key words of the paper. This allows you to come up with a list of persons that may be "experts".
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: This might not be a universal answer, but it is a practical answer of how I find peer-reviewers when needed: I go to Google Scholar and search for the topic. I find which authors with Google Scholar profiles match my keyword search based on the article. Then I examine each Google Scholar profile looking at the following things:
* Total citation counts (to get an idea of total citation impact of the researcher)
* Citations on works whose titles resemble the subject I'm interested in (to get an idea of the researcher's recognized expertise on the specific topic of interest)
* How recently the author has published in the area of interest (I would be less likely to invite an expert who obviously no longer publishes in the area)
With these objective measures from Google Scholar, I of course add my subjective knowledge of the area and then prioritize whom to invite one by one. So, to answer you question more directly, I would not try to objectively decide based on a fixed number of articles or a minimum number of citations. The decision of whom to invite depends on whom I find with Google Scholar profiles and how more outstanding they are than others with whom I compare them. The decision must necessarily be subjective, though aided with these objective citation criteria.
Of course, some invited reviewers would decline or not respond, but then I move to the next expert in my priority invitation list until I receive enough positive responses.
Following this methodology, I have been able to recruit highly expert peer-reviewers whom I did not know personnally.
Upvotes: 1
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2018/03/08
| 527
| 2,246
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<issue_start>username_0: I have submitted a messy manuscript to a conference due to the urgent deadline.
After a period of revision, I corrected some mistakes and tidied the manuscript.
Is it okay to send an email to the conference chair or somebody else asking to resubmit the manuscript? Or are there any other ways to resubmit?<issue_comment>username_1: Deadlines exist for a reason. Asking for resubmission refutes the concept of deadline and gives you an unfair advantage over other submissions. If your article was not in a good shape you should consider make a stable version first and *then* submit it to the appropriate venue, not the other way around.
To answer your question: NO, do not ask the PC for resubmission. If your submission is messy, the most appropriate action is to retract your paper. This will save valuable time from the PC members and potential reviewers and will give you a good chance to work on the paper and submit it to an appropriate venue that would maximize your chances of a fair assessment.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_2: I might have a slightly different take than @username_1 in his answer on this issue, but I think fundamentally we agree.
In my view, it's probably fair to email and ask the chair whether you can submit an updated version. But it's also fair for the chair to say no: like @username_1 says, deadlines exist for a reason and you can't assume that you're exempt from them. Get your house in order and build your paper in publishable form *before* the deadline comes up.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: Depends on how the submission system works and what your goal is. If it hasn't been long since the official deadline, there's a chance that the review process has not started yet, and the submission is still open. If you upload your manuscript via some website, you should just try and see if it allows you to upload a new version. I'm also sure nothing bad will happen if you ask the organizers if they would allow to submit a new version, again, assuming that you're just a few days late.
Now, if you're worried that your messy manuscript will be published somewhere, then you should not. In this case, you'll normally get a chance to prepare a new version.
Upvotes: -1
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2018/03/08
| 270
| 1,124
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<issue_start>username_0: I have some journal articles that are obviously copyrighted in some form that I am not allowed to share with people who don't have a license.
I also have a private student git-repo. I want to know if it's okay to upload these articles to the repo, considering the repo is private?<issue_comment>username_1: I store all important papers in a cloud, where I am the only one (beside the operating people) that has access. There are several such cloud solutions around, such as from DropBox, Microsoft and many others.
Unless there is an explicit statement that does not allow this, it is perfect (and until now, there has not been such a statement). The key is that you restrict access to yourself.
I would not use git for your case; it is intended for software development.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: I would see some use-case to store some papers in a git repo, mostly for convienience. That said, the use of `git-lfs`([git-lfs repo](https://github.com/git-lfs/git-lfs)) should be prefered for pdf and other large non changing binary files (images, sounds) .
Upvotes: 1
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2018/03/08
| 761
| 3,126
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<issue_start>username_0: I'm an undergraduate, 3/5 years. I've worked in the same basic-genetics lab for three years now (mostly part time, 6 months of full-time).
I'm hoping to apply for MD/PhD programs doing computational biology, and I have a little bit of experience (an internship and some part-time industry work) with translational computational but not much.
My PI, and my most supportive mentor & letter-writer wants me to work another 6-month full-time co-op in his lab.
On one hand, I am very interested in the research we're doing. The 6-months would be a chance for my first not-nth-author publication and could be fun. And my PI seems genuinely disappointed/hurt when I do research elsewhere, which is actually a big influence.
But I don't want a lack of relevant experience to hinder my graduate school application. I could use that 6-month period to work with a computational lab or a hospital or industry.
I can't be the only one to be in a position similar to this. How do I even start to make a decision?<issue_comment>username_1: My two cents based on this part of your question:
>
> On one hand, I am very interested in the research we're doing. The 6-months would be a chance for my first not-nth-author publication and could be fun. And my PI seems genuinely disappointed/hurt when I do research elsewhere, which is actually a big influence.
>
>
> But I don't want a lack of relevant experience to hinder my graduate school application. I could use that 6-month period to work with a computational lab or a hospital or industry.
>
>
>
You need to decide which option is most valuable to achieve your career goals between a published paper in your current field (be aware that staying 6 more months might not be enough to get the article published) and some experience in a complementary field. You must absolutely refrain from basing your decision on your PI's emotions: of course, all PIs want to keep good lab members as long as possible (and it is flattering to get such recognition), but this is about **your** life and career, not your PI's, and if you think it is time to move on, that is **your** decision.
If you're concerned that leaving would be detrimental to your professional relationship with this PI, then you should think about ways to tell them your decision in a professional and non-emotional way. If they cannot accept your rational decision without drama, it is a good indication that you should not spend more time working with this person.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: As a computational biology PI (albeit in the UK), I rarely get the luxary of taking on grad students that have any computational biology experience. Thus I'm not sure that you should be too worried about not having any direct computational biology experience. I would definitely value a student with a 1st author paper more highly, particularly if said student had done joint honours undergrad in computer science (which should deal with any worry that they won't be able to learn to program).
I don't know if the same applies for your MD ambitions though.
Upvotes: 1
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2018/03/08
| 1,546
| 6,710
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<issue_start>username_0: I am currently researching the foundations of graph theory (math). I have noticed two kind of things in introduction books.
1. [There are results seemingly so obvious nobody writes about it.](https://mathoverflow.net/questions/289116/literature-about-most-basic-existence-proofs-in-graph-theory)
2. [There are variants of the topic mentioned in almost any book, but covered in detail in none.](https://math.stackexchange.com/questions/2670489/literature-about-multigraphs-and-homomorphisms-between-them)
At the time of writing this question, the stack exchange community was unable to help me with my observations in my specific case. Since I think very highly of this network, I'm starting to believe that currently there are no suitable books about these topics.
**But I feel like there ought to be books about it. The question is, what do I do in this situation? How can I "help" that such a book gets written?** The most obvious answer would be "Write the book.". Although I like the approach, this is not possible. For simplicity's sake let's just say I lack the time. So what to do? Like, can I just mail a publisher "Why don't you already have this kind of book?", although I don't know anyone working at any publisher? Do I ask a professor at my university if (s)he would like to write one? Btw I'm a graduate student, but I don't think it is relevant for the question.
Please note this question is not about how I can research a certain topic. It is really about how books of some topic do not exist. Please assume for answering that they don't. If you happen to know about books about the exemplary example topic I provided here, please answer in my linked question, not here.<issue_comment>username_1: In reading the following, keep in mind that anything you can do *personally* will have at best a minuscule effect on whether such a book gets written, and you shouldn't expect it to happen anytime soon. For all practical purposes, you should plan on having to proceed with your research without the aid of this hypothetical book.
My impression is that these books usually get written on the author's own initiative, perhaps prompted by having them see a need for such a book. So
I think the best thing you can do is to identify someone who you think could write such a book: someone who is a recognized expert on the topic and who writes particularly well and clearly. Contact them and say something like: "I've really appreciated reading your papers on topic X, but it strikes me that there are no books that could give a comprehensive introduction. Have you ever considered writing one?"
Unfortunately, your message alone probably won't do much, particularly because you are a grad student - these suggestions would have more weight coming from someone who would be recognized as a fellow expert. Someone who is more deeply acquainted with the existing literature and its gaps. But if the potential author starts getting a number of such suggestions, it might plant the seed that such a project could be worthwhile.
Of course, writing a book is a huge task (thousands of hours, I'd say) which is poorly compensated. Academic structures are such that researchers tend to have stronger incentives to write papers than books. If the book is to be published commercially, there is the additional question of whether it will be profitable - even if the book is fantastic, if the topic is too "niche", there may not be enough potential buyers to interest a publisher.
I don't think that contacting a publisher will have any effect. Again, the incentives are such that a publisher can't do much to encourage anyone to write a book, unless they already really want to do so.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: It looks like you are trying to connect your topic to the foundations of mathematics, which is a daunting task and often an ungrateful one. In particular, finite sets of explicitly enumerated elements rarely cause theoretical problems, so practitioners (in your case, people who invent and code graph algorithms) won't be willing to invest too much rigour in them. I think, it may be helpful to start by working out some basic proofs yourself, which will bring up more concrete questions, which you can discuss with your colleagues or on the Internet. This should attract attention of people who are interested in the same questions as you. Maybe, you'll find good company among theorem proving (e.g., Coq) community.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_3: Yes, you can write to the publisher and propose this as an idea. The commissioning editors I know are generally pretty happy to hear about such ideas because it saves them from having to do the work. Coming up with an idea is the hardest part of commissioning since one actually has to become sufficiently familiar with the field to identify a gap. After that things are algorithmic - identifying researchers in the field for example is simply a matter of searching Google Scholar or some similar database.
The people to write to are the commissioning editors. Some publishers list their commissioning editors on their website - for example, here's [Springer's list of editors in mathematics](https://www.springer.com/gp/mathematics/contact-us). You can write to one of them with the suggestion. Alternatively you can also give me your email address and I'll put you into contact with some people I know.
I should say that the odds of failure are pretty high. First you have to convince them that there's a gap, and then they'll have to find someone willing to write the book. If you were someone with the pedigree to write the book yourself, or if you're able to persuade an established academic to write the book and put together a book proposal, you'd have a much higher chance of seeing the book actually published.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_4: Many times in my PhD I wondered: "Why has never anybody written down a thorough treatment of X? It would save so much time and hassle for Master and PhD students, and might attract more people to the field".
But the answer is rather obvious: Nobody pays for it. Writing a scientific book takes huge amounts of time, and you get very little reward for it (no grants, not lecturer positions, little positive feedback from the research community, sales are usually quite low). So writing a scientific book is largely an altruistic thing.
So if you do not write that book yourself, there is little to no chance that anybody will write it.
My personal advice: Get used to the fact that even for basic subjects, you need to state and prove many things yourself because you find no appropriate source to cite it.
Upvotes: 3
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<issue_start>username_0: I had submitted a Manuscript in a good journal which has given me the reviews as " Accepted for publication pending revisions"? What does this review actually mean? Is it accepted?
FYI, I have created a response letter in which I have given justification for some concerns and also made the changes that were asked to be made in the figures.
Can anybody please help?<issue_comment>username_1: It probably means the same as "Minor Revisions" in some other journals: you need to revise your manuscript following the suggestions of the referees, after which the editor will only check that the suggestions were addressed. The reviewers would not need to read the paper again; it can be send for publication as soon as the editor is happy that the revisions were made.
Upvotes: 2 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: It means exactly what it says:
"Accepted for publication pending revisions".
It's accepted...pending the requested revisions. Essentially, they are going to ask for some changes (usually pretty minor and straightforward) and once those are done to the editor's satisfaction, the paper is accepted.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I am head TA in a 300-student class, with 12 other TAs. Currently I do the following things to motivate my TAs:
1. We have an internal Slack channel called #shoutouts where I mention TAs every time I notice them going above and beyond.
2. I post Piazza statistics to the Slack channel every week so that we can see who is posting the most, and then rank TAs in order of how much they posted (currently, a lot of students say that Piazza is very helpful)
3. I post grading statistics to the Slack channel so that people can see who grades the most (and least) submissions, and what is the average grade they give.
4. I have a feedback form for students to give feedback to the course staff, and I send a message to the #shoutouts channel every time a student says a TA has been especially helpful.
5. I tell TAs they are getting evaluated by the instructor (which I think a lot of the TAs didn't know).
However, I have been told (by someone not involved with the class) that I am "overquantifying" things. Also, even with all of this, there are four people who I would describe as "bad TAs" (and five people who I would describe as excellent TAs, and three people who I would describe as good TAs).
What are your best ways of motivating TAs?<issue_comment>username_1: I think the best way to motivate a person in academia is to give them a bit of job security, some funding which enables them to follow their interests, and a great team to work with. I am not sure if you can realistically give "*your*(sic!) *TAs*" any of this.
In absence of solid motivating factors, you are trying to engage the team in some form of internal competition, which may motivate some people and completely put off others. For example, I personally would be puzzled as to why should I compete for some statistics or evaluations which look rather meaningless unless it has any effect on my promotion or chances of future employment.
Most people I worked with responded well to:
* [smart](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMART_criteria) goals
* positive example
* cutting the crap (including crap meetings)
In my experience, teaching is rather a pleasant activity and there is a lot of gratification in the process of working with students. An excessive amount of paperwork, bureaucracy and management can only spoil the fun.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> However, I have been told (by someone not involved with the class) that I am "overquantifying" things. Also, even with all of this, there are four people who I would describe as "bad TAs" (and five people who I would describe as excellent TAs, and three people who I would describe as good TAs).
>
>
>
I presume that your good TAs are always on top of the lists you publicly post, and your "bad" TAs are on the bottom? Why do you think this public shaming will motivate them?
Here is what I would do:
* Centrally, I would stop posting things that make some TAs feel good at the expense of making others feel bad. The shoutouts are nice, but for statistics etc. I would only post who was on top (or maybe the top-3 or something), and only if it is not always the same people. Try your best to rotate your statistics in a way that everybody gets some love.
* Assign work. It appears to me that TAs are somewhat free in choosing their own work (since you give stats on who graded how many assignments). This naturally leads to some people slacking off and others, more or less happily, picking up their tasks. A simple solution to that is to make up a schedule.
* Validate that your "bad" TAs are objectively not doing a good job, and are not just weaker in comparison to your exceptionally great other TAs.
* If you feel your bad TAs are actually objectively lacking, use the central management principle of praising in public (which you already do, to some extent) and criticising in private. Talk to the TAs that you are not satisfied with **in private** and explain what you think they should do to improve. Give actionable tips - "you should know more about the subject" may be objectively true, but will also not change in the duration of the course. My impression is that with your statistics you attempt to shame people into improving without having to have an awkward conversation with the underperformers. Unfortunately, this is not how management works.
* Above all, it pays to keep in mind that not everybody is the same and has the same constraints etc. No matter what you do, not everybody will go above and beyond. If 5 out of 12 people regularly go above and beyond and most others are also doing a good job, **you already have a strong team**. Don't downplay this, not to yourself and definitely not to the team.
Upvotes: 7 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_3: >
> I have been told (by someone not involved with the class) that I am "overquantifying" things.
>
>
>
That person is correct.
Besides the quantifying thing and publicly showing these numbers, what do you expect? 12 excellent TA's? Not gonna happen.
There are always high, middle and low profiles in a group of people. Sometimes people out perform (themselves), sometimes only for a limited time frame.
In stead of posting all these statistics, try talking with your TA's. Aknowledge there effort, give feedback, give advice. That's how you motivate people.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: I have heard beatings can work well:
There's a famous expression attributed to Captain Bligh of the stricken HMS Bounty, who was overthrown in a mutiny. While flogging sailors for small misdemeanours, he is said to have declared: "The beatings will continue until morale improves."
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_5: My 2 cents.
Probably won't be a popular opinion here, but I've been head TA numerous times, along with being a TA (or equivalent) and this is what I have personally found.
* A good TA is by their nature a good TA. It's an inherent property. Incentives or disincentives
will never transform a bad TA into a good one. A good TA can however
get burnout if working conditions are bad, or if they consistently feel that their efforts aren't acknowledged or appreciated.
* Giving good TAs space is good, and the tools to do the job. They don't need someone looking over their shoulder. However, completing an arduous task well, and being told they did "a great job" will go a long way.
* Acknowledging that certain tasks are a pain will definitely motivate TAs, while an attitude that such tasks have to be completed because they're "part of the job" will not. On the same note, making it clear that, as head TA, you are not merely offloading responsibilities, but making a significant contribution yourself will hugely motivate good TAs. Bad TAs will see you doing work as an excuse to swing the lead, but as I have already said, they're a lost cause anyway.
* Attempting to reduce busy-work by TAs will always be appreciated. Are there tasks that have to be completed by TAs that don't really aid students? Can you ask the professor/lecturer that such tasks be removed? Are the rubrics for corrections too convoluted? Can tasks be streamlined? Reducing the amount of work have to be done on terrible software like Blackboard will help.
* Depending on the institution there may be some way to have some monetary bonus at the end of the semester given to good TAs. That's not "a prize to one TA" but rather some bonus to all the members on the team that pulled their weight. It doesn't have to be much. It doesn't have to be a competition, just an acklowledgement that your team did good, and that their work is appreciated. A distinction, if you will, between the bad TAs who are there just for the money or because they are forced to be, and those who really care about doing a good job in the first place.
* Just to reiterate: there is no cure for a bad TA. You can cajole them, you can monitor them, you can encourage them: there is no point, they will only work as long as you are monitoring them, and no longer.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: Give them important things to do. Show them how their work helps students learn.
Grading and "posting" do not necessarily help students learn.
This is more the responsibility of the instructor and institution, rather than a "head TA".
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_7: You have good intentions, so please forgive me for being blunt, but right now, the best thing you can do to motivate them is to stop doing all the things you're currently doing to motivate them.
The good TAs are going to be the ones who *like* teaching and thus don't need to be motivated. The main downside of teaching is that it takes away from research time, and you're currently making that *worse*. I imagine that "being in competition with my coworkers" would have also made the list of downsides if any of my supervisors had ever done that.
There *are*, however, things you can do to improve how the team functions together. The one potentially useful useful thing in your list is the grading statistics. Not because it can be used to rank TA quality, but because it's important that everyone is grading according to the same standards so no student gets an unfair advantage (or disadvantage) based on who graded their work. So keep those statistics, and if you see a few outliers, you might have everyone meet up and coordinate how harshly things should be graded. One meeting before each major assignment would probably suffice.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_8: It can be difficult for TAs to feel invested in a course; often what works best is to sit down with the TA at the beginning of the semester, ask them what they want to get out of the TAship that semester. If the TA can feel involved with course development -- whether that means that they get to design one of their own lectures -- or have some form of input to make it a worthwhile experience for themselves, then that can mean more for retention and performance than anything quantitative.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_9: Only my opinion, but I don't see many posts that push giving TAs helpful ideas, suggestions for developing their teaching skills. Intended for those TAs who happen to be doing the teaching parts of it all. Many who have never taught anything before to anyone can feel hopelessly lost at times, as will their students. Suggesting ideas to them for designing exams, marking papers, calculating grades, and all that could go a long way for providing assistance to any TA. Plus, their students would likewise benefit from a trained instructor. When TAs or anyone start to feel competent and confident in their work, that pays for itself at least in part.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_10: **Not everyone is motivated by the same things, and you may be encouraging behavior you don't actually want.** Let's examine your current assumptions that I'm guessing you hold if you think posting charts with names is effective:
\* Everyone wants to be the best among their peers
\* Everyone wants to be known as the best
\* Everyone feels they can be the best
\* Doing the most of some activity means you are the best at it
Here's the truth though:
\* Not everyone is interested in competing
\* Not everyone enjoys public recognition
\* If there's a best, there must be a worst, and it's probably going to be the same people in the top 50% and bottom 50% on a regular basis
\* Making more posts or slapping a grade on the most papers does not mean you are actually doing your job better
People who don't like competition will ignore your graphs. People who dislike being publicly recognised as being better than their peers will actively try to score lower. People who feel they can't compete even if they wanted to will come up with an excuse to ignore your graphs. Those who *do* like all those things will behave in a way that strictly improves their metrics, even if it is detrimental to the students (think many short posts with a minimum of effort rather than long, thoughtful, helpful posts).
There's almost no way posting your metrics will improve performance. You need to very carefully consider which behaviors you want to reinforce, how you will reinforce that behavior for each person. Being publicly declared the most helpful TA will thrill someone or mortify them. **There is no single tactic that will motivate every person.** You'll need a combination of talking to your TAs and trial and error to figure out what works.
I would strongly recommend avoiding tracking how many of X each person does. Your issue isn't that some people are grading more assignments than others in the same amount of time; the problem is some people are taking long breaks. And why wouldn't they? Grading isn't fun, and a break has an immediate and guaranteed reward of not having to grade during the break. Instead, change your process so one person taking breaks doesn't cause another person to do more work, or limit the breaks to specific times when the whole group breaks together.
In short, **focus on the behaviors that you want to increase/decrease, then figure out what each person considers a reward. Then give out those rewards when you get the behavior you want.**
There are whole books on this topic if you really want to get into it.
Upvotes: 3
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<issue_start>username_0: I have to give a 40-minute presentation about a research paper that I have to read in mathematics.
What I’ve done so far:
1. read the paper :-) and taken notes on unclear/non-obvious parts.
2. started crafting a presentation. However I’ve caught myself on putting too many definitions in the presentation.
How should I proceed?<issue_comment>username_1: What always helped me is one more step between your (1) and (2):
* (π/2) Explain the paper to anyone who can listen.
As a listening ear, I used my partner, a dog, a cat, a tree and a portrait of <NAME>. They all did the job really well (although I probably prefer those who are breathing). My trick is to repeat this step at least 5 times, trying to do it *differently* each time. Then it is suddenly becomes much more clearer to me how to proceed with the preparation of slides and/or writing.
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: The most common mistake I observe in the presentation of mathematical work is for the presenter to try to cram in too many definitions, equations, derivations, etc., and then rush over them to try to make their talk fit into the allocated time. Occasionally a misguided student will also decide that it is impressive to show off vast tracts of complicated algebra. This often makes it difficult/impossible for the audience to follow, even when the audience consists of mathematically-literate professionals (e.g., professors in the faculty). This error is ubiquitous among students, even at graduate level.
The general problem that occurs here is that students fail to simplify their presentation to a level that allows it to be presented clearly, and they also massively underestimate the amount of time required to explain a single equation/result. As some general rules for a mathematical presentation, I would suggest the following dos and don'ts:
---
* **DO put the problem in context:** Put this problem within the context of the broader subject. Use the literature review in the paper to get an idea of where this work fits in, and what it is adding. Give a clear statement of what this paper adds, and its limitations. If it is a small part of working towards a larger theoretical goal, explain the larger goal, and explain how this paper adds to it. If you found the paper particularly interesting, say why.
* **DO simplify the problem, then simplify it again, then simplify it again:** You should present the problem in your research paper in its most fundamental simplest form. Minimise the number of variables you are dealing with and minimise notation. (It is generally best to be consistent with the notation in the paper, but you can still minimise this.) Present the problem clearly, with a small number of mathematical statements and lots of intuitive explanation. You do not have to present every equation describing the problem/model used in the paper. Make professional judgements about which parts need to be shown as mathematical statements, and which parts can be described in general terms without mathematical equations, and which parts are side issues/distractions that you will ignore.
* **DO obey the crow epistemology - people can remember three things:** Do not burden your audience with remembering lots of variables outside the context of their equations. Pick no more than three important variables in your problem and drum their meaning in with repetition. Assume your audience will forget the meaning of every other variable. Definitions should generally be on the same slides as the first statements they appear in, so people don't have to remember them. I like to give equations with arrows pointing to the variables with their meanings, and I back this up by talking about each of them, and giving reminders. Some people like to colour-code variables, or use other memory aids to help.
* **DO allocate enough time - Presenting unfamiliar mathematical statements = 5+ min:** If you present a mathematical statement that is not common knowledge to your audience you must *stop*, and patiently explain the statement, including the meaning of each variable in the statement. Give an overview of what the statement is saying and what each of the variables is. You must do this *slowly*, possibly with repetition to stress key points, and you must give your audience time to "mull" over it, before you proceed. For every statement like this you have in your presentation, allocate at least five minutes to talk about it; don't rush.
* **DO allocate enough time - Presenting familiar mathematical statements = 1-2 min:** If you present a mathematical statement that *is* common knowledge to your audience, you will still need to *stop*, identify the statement, and explain the meaning of each variable in the statement. If it is a standard statement with variables in standard notation you can probably do this pretty quickly, but you should still allocate at least a full minute to describing it.
* **DO show graphs (if relevant) and explain them clearly:** If the paper presents some of its results graphically, this is usually the simplest tool for presenting the results in a simple manner, that can be absorbed by the audience. Use your judgment here, but as a general rule, graphs are good. Again, you must *stop*, and patiently explain the graph, the axes, the lines, etc. Explain the intuition of what the audience is seeing. Tell them why this line goes this way and this other line goes that way.
* **DO leave time for interjections/questions:** Make sure you have left enough time at the end for a reasonable amount of questions. You may also get some interjections as you go through your presentation, so make a time allowance for that too.
---
* **DON'T show a long list of definitions:** Under no circumstances should you present a notational slide with a long list of definitions. If you have a slide like this in your presentation, I am not bothering to read it. Instead I am watching "Heat" in my head and wishing I could get out of watching such a shitty presentation.
* **DON'T show a wall of algebra:** We get it - you're very clever and you can do algebra. Unless the derivation of a particular equation is the whole point of the paper you're presenting, we don't want to see that shit - get rid of it. If you have a slide like this in your presentation, I am not bothering to read it. Again, I am watching "Heat" in my head and wishing I could get out of watching such a shitty presentation. Instead of bombarding me with a wall of algebra (which you don't have time to explain), explain the methods and the results (e.g., "To get to the next part, we need to complete the square in this exponential and then use the law of total probability to simplify. After you do that, you get this next result").
* **DON'T be a flasher:** Whoa! What was that slide you skipped through in two seconds? It was your list of references? If you're not going to take me through it, why flash it up there at all?
---
I hope some of this is helpful to you. As a general rule, the quality of student mathematical presentations is so woefully bad that you have a low bar to reach. If you're the guy people can understand, and you are not rushing them and throwing walls of algebra at them, you will emerge as champion.
Upvotes: 4
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2018/03/09
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<issue_start>username_0: Every so often, I stumble upon a question concerning "double blind peer review", i.e., the authors don't know the reviewers (as usual) but also the reviewers don't know the identity of the authors.
It's always struck me as a rather odd system, with no discernible benefits (because I am under the impression that it's often rather easy to determine who the authors of a paper are anyway), and the creation of dozens of problems with people always being worried of somehow "breaking" the double blindness. (It is not helped by the fact that this would be impossible to implement in my field, math, where everyone posts their preprints on arXiv and people don't hesitate to give talks about unpublished papers).
Is there any actual, scientific, serious research into evaluating the benefits of this system? Or is it all just inertia/tradition/good intentions? I'm not talking about armchair justifications for it with no data to support it.<issue_comment>username_1: Yes, there is scientific research on this topic.
Using data from ACM WSDM'17, <NAME> et al. showed that double blind reviewers are less likely than single blind reviewers to accept papers from famous authors, top universities, and top companies.
See: <http://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/114/48/12708.full.pdf>
**Update**: As mentioned by @thomas-supports-monica in the comments, there is some evidence that the article linked above may have some issues. See <https://papers.nips.cc/paper/8770-on-testing-for-biases-in-peer-review.pdf> .
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> It's always struck me as a rather odd system, with no discernible
> benefits
>
>
>
Given the ample evidence that non-blinded peer review is biased against a number of different "types" of authors, including women, those with names associated with certain regions, etc. I'd argue that there's a great many discernible benefits. A few examples:
<https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5360442/>
<http://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/333/6045/925.full.pdf>
etc. I'd suggest given the widespread evidence for implicit bias in a number of different fields, that the onus is on non-double-blind systems to demonstrate that they're not harmful, rather than vice versa. However, it's also been shown that single-blind reviewers preferentially favor top universities, authors and companies over double-blinded colleagues in this study: <http://www.pnas.org/content/114/48/12708>
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: This isn't a scientific article, but offers a different take than the other two answers:
<http://blogs.plos.org/absolutely-maybe/2017/10/31/the-fractured-logic-of-blinded-peer-review-in-journals/>
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I talked with some colleagues and it seems that the review process for most grants proposals (NSF, NIH,etc) are taking months (~6). This is probably not helpful for science and innovation. I understand that reviewers are busy people but papers submitted for a conference would usually not take more than 2 months to be reviewed. And some reviews that I read for conferences are even much better than grant proposal reviews.
Are there any reasons or benefits that grant proposals are taking long time?<issue_comment>username_1: The processes for grants and papers are very different. Once the editor or programming committee has reached a decision, there’s not much left to do.
Grants are much tougher. After the decision by the panel has been reached, there are several additional levels of bureaucratic approval that must be secured before a grant can be formally awarded. It’s these latter stages that lead to the extended time between submission and decision.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: These are two fundamentally different processes. About the only thing they share is that they're both competitive processes important to academics.
Why does funding evaluation take so long? Think about the process from the perspective of a NSF program manager. Let's say you get 600-700 proposals for a single program (not an exaggeration). First thing you have to do is to deal with the logistics of partitioning proposals across your team of PMs on the program. Then work on classifying proposals into distinctive subgroups for review by panels with expertise on the specific subtopic (e.g. imagine the # of subareas included in a general call for computer security like SaTC). Then once you've got the dates, you need to solicit volunteer panelists or identify names, then filter for conflicts of interest across programs (i.e. did they submit a small SaTC proposal this cycle). Then you send out invites and hope they can accept and be there for a specific panel on a specific date. Repeat until you've got enough experts for each panel, and there are likely to be 30+ panels to organize (assuming an average of 20 proposals per panel).
Just the time to hold the panels will be significant. Each panel takes 2 days, and each PM can do at most 2 panels per week. You can maybe double up a bit, but you're still looking at 10+ weeks for the panels alone. Then process paperwork and aggregate results, deal w/ consistency issues, then make recommendations. Then wait for paperwork approving funding amounts. Then you're close to notifying the PIs.
Compare this to chairing a conference, where the PC selection, TPC meeting dates and logistics are all done way ahead of the paper submission dates. You know who will review which papers, who will be at the TPC meeting, and there is no further approval necessary once the PC chairs finalize decisions after the PC meeting. Having chaired a few conferences, I can tell you that the PC selection/invite process, and logistics of the PC meeting, can easily take up to 2-3 months. That alone accounts for most of the difference, not even considering post panel approval and funding paperwork.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
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<issue_start>username_0: I’m taking a (non-student) job as a full time research assistant in a university engineering department, and am wondering what alternate title I could use for this on my resume that isn’t misleading.
*Research assistant* has a connotation of being a lower level student job, and I have a MS degree and ten years of work experience, so I’m hesitant to put that title on my resume. If this was in industry I could use *research engineer*, but in academia, that has a connotation of someone who is a principle investigator and has a PhD.
My job description is a hybrid between these: I’ll be doing research and publishing, but in support of someone else’s project. Also some departmental work setting up labs, learning and maintaining the equipment and helping teach students to use it. Most of my time will be spent on research activities. Suggestions for an alternate job title?<issue_comment>username_1: Since you are in the US, I think "Research Assistant" is actually not as inappropriate a title for your position as you suggest. See for example <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Research_assistant>
"Research Assistant" is typically the job title a PhD student would hold if they are compensated for work on a professor's research, whether or not they have a masters degree. It is differentiated from "Research Associate" which suggests the person has a PhD ('postdocs' often have a job title of Research Associate, though they may also be referred to as Postdoctoral Research Assistants). Your years of experience on the outside aren't particularly relevant to the title.
You write:
>
> I’ll be doing research and publishing, but in support of someone else’s project
>
>
>
That's roughly the job description of a graduate student with a research assistantship.
Undergraduates may also have a "research assistant" title but in my experience that is not the most common use/connotation of the term, so I disagree with that statement at least within academia. People outside of academia may be misinformed, of course, but it's up to the rest of your resume to inform potential employers of your responsibilities and accomplishments besides your particular job title. You could be an independent consultant and name yourself CEO if you wanted, or Grand Emperor for that matter. It may be harder to change your official job title in a rigid university bureaucracy than you think - I'd concern yourself with other aspects of your resume instead.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: The following suggestion comes from a German application coach and I am not sufficiently familiar with American application culture to know whether it would be considered lying, sloppy, or similar. It also depends on whether you are actually expected to state your official title or just summarise your activity somehow.
* If applying outside of academia, use the description for the activity corresponding to the subject your highest academic degree, as long as it matches what you are actually doing. So, e.g., if you have a master’s in physics and do work corresponding to the training of that degree, use *physicist* as your job description.
* If applying within academia, do not worry. Everybody will know what the titles mean.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_3: I know I'm resurrecting a dead thread, but considering I'm going through a similar process right now I figured I would leave my 2 cents.
I would caution against the advice of individuals who say "don't worry about it, let your resume explain your position", at least in reference to *non-academic* positions in the *US*. You should have two resumes/CVs, one for academia and one for everything else. In academia the recruiter or PI should understand what "Research Assistant" or "Graduate Research Assistant" means. However, in industry some large companies hire 3rd parties to do their recruiting. In the US the average time for a recruiter like this to read a resume is *5-7 seconds*. While this [website](http://4.%20Level.%20If%20I%E2%80%99m%20doing%20a%20VP%20level%20search%20and%20your%20title%20is%20%E2%80%9Cmanager%E2%80%9D%20and%20you%20have%20never%20been%20a%20VP%20%E2%80%93%20goodbye.%20There%20are%20exceptions%20to%20this,%20but%20again%20it%20is%20the%2080/20%20rule.%20Again,%20clients%20pay%20me%20to%20find%20them%20the%20perfect%20fit.%20It%20is%20generally%20way%20too%20big%20of%20a%20jump%20from%20manager%20level%20to%20VP%20level,%20all%20other%20things%20being%20equal.%20It%20works%20the%20other%20way%20too.%20If%20%20I%E2%80%99m%20looking%20for%20a%20manager%20and%20you%20are%20a%20VP%20%E2%80%93%20goodbye.%20I%20know%20you%20are%20qualified%20to%20do%20a%20manager%20level%20role,%20but%20it%20is%20clear%20you%20have%20grown%20past.%20Most%20clients%20and%20recruiters%20aren%E2%80%99t%20willing%20to%20take%20the%20chance%20that%20when%20a%20VP%20level%20position%20comes%20along%20that%20you%20won%E2%80%99t%20be%20gone.%20Less%20than%205%20seconds%20to%20figure%20out.) might not be representative of all recruiters, it does emphasis the importance of your position title. Here is an excerpt, emphasis is mine:
>
> 4. Level. If I’m doing a VP level search and your title is “manager” and you have never been a VP – goodbye. There are exceptions to this, but again it is the 80/20 rule. Again, clients pay me to find them the perfect fit. It is generally way too big of a jump from manager level to VP level, all other things being equal. It works the other way too. If I’m looking for a manager and you are a VP – goodbye. I know you are qualified to do a manager level role, but it is clear you have grown past. Most clients and recruiters aren’t willing to take the chance that when a VP level position comes along that you won’t be gone. *Less than 5 seconds to figure out.*
>
>
>
Accordingly, I think it is completely feasible that even if you have your PhD and multiple publications the recruiter could see an "Assistant" Research applying for the "Senior" Research position and immediately reject you simply because of your position title.
Upvotes: 1
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2018/03/10
| 341
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<issue_start>username_0: My thesis is based on the application of a evaluation process. Therefore I want to add a subsection in the "Theoretical Background" chapter where I summarize the whole process. The process is described very well in an official (extensive) document so it is the only source I need to describe the steps of the process.
The problem is that it seems kind of awkward to cite the source 2 to 3 times per paragraph and several paragraphs in a row.
Considering that the whole subsection is based on this official document. What would be the best way to make the in-text citations?.
I am using IEEE reference style and my thesis is about Computer Science.<issue_comment>username_1: You should give a reference at the end of each paragraph and start with a sentence telling that the following chapter is an excerpt from [source].
The citation at the end of each paragraph is recommended since it might happen that someone misses your first sentence), the first sentence is technically not necessary but helps your advisor.
If it sums up to several pages, I would recommend to put the whole subsection to an appendix and mention only in one sentence that you followed the process described in [source] which is summarized in appendix x.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> The following section summarizes the process as described by Smith [16, pp. 14-22].
>
>
>
Then summarize the process, using your own words
Upvotes: 4 [selected_answer]
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<issue_start>username_0: My advisor has developed an idea earlier in his career. While this idea is not particularly bad, he always tries to force all his students to apply it to almost all research topics we encounter. Many of them are, in my opinion, obviously not suitable to apply this idea onto, and have resulted in no research output, but he still insists on making the application of this idea work. This takes away our time to try more sound ideas and makes us work much less efficiently. What should I (and other students) do to stop this?<issue_comment>username_1: One suggestion is to use a kind of "red herring" strategy: Work on two directions in parallel.
The one direction is the idea that your supervisor wants you to follow, and that you will mainly discuss in meetings, thus giving him the impression that you buy into his game.
The other direction is the idea that you think will actually lead to results. The time to first mention this direction is when you have made some substantial results - you may then calmly announce that you plan to submit them to a specific publication venue.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_2: You and your supervisor are scientists. Academia is supposed to be a place to share ideas and to discuss science freely.
If you think that other methods are better suitable to tackle the issues you are facing in the research, it is your duty to discuss it with your supervisor and share the solutions with your group. You should not be afraid of having your own voice as researcher.
I know that in some groups the ambient is not propitious for discussing different views, but you should at least try to discuss things with your supervisor before thinking about tricks to avoid him. And if you reached the point of avoiding him, maybe the best option is changing supervisor.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: Run. Seriously, run from this adviser if you can. Eventually, when your adviser's ideas fail to produce any meaningful output, he might try to portray this as purely your fault. Even if he doesn't blame this on you, wasting precious time is not a good idea either.
"Red herring" strategy might work or it might backfire spectacularly. If your idea somehow fails, then you might run into serious trouble with your adviser. He will most likely claim that because you were sidetracked/distracted by your own idea, you didn't put all the effort into his idea and that's why it failed, too.
Besides, your adviser is supposed to help you develop your ideas and if you have to hide your ideas from him, that's not a sign of a good adviser-student relationship.
Upvotes: 3
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<issue_start>username_0: I've been forwarded a four-page outline of some sort of "theory of everything" whose ambition is to explain just about everything in the universe in terms of particles oscillating in and out of some kind of hidden anti-universe. I've been asked to give my opinion on the theory.
It has all the hallmarks of bogus science written by someone with only the vaguest notions of quantum physics and cosmology (no equations, electrons being defined as the antiparticles of protons, cute drawings). Perhaps more telling is that most of the ideas are unfalsifiable, in the sense that I couldn't think of an experiment that would prove or disprove any of it.
I'd like to give my frank opinion about it without hurting the person's feelings. How should I go about it?<issue_comment>username_1: >
> bogus science
>
>
>
You could start by not being judgemental (Please note I'm not implying that you are!). In history and today today, there are people running around with theories that seem crazy ("Jesus rode dinosaurs!", "The earth is at the center of creation!", "Light travels through the ether!", "We evolved from apes!", "The NSA listens to us all!" (See what I did here?)). In fact, [String theory itself was recently called "bogus"](https://www.theguardian.com/science/2006/oct/08/research.highereducation). Theories with involve government abusing power are called [conspiracy theories](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conspiracy_theory), theories that focus on the mechanics of the universe are called [pseudo science](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudoscience). As seen in the comments already, people developing such theories are easy negatively labeled "crackpots" or other insulting names. While there are people who could be assumed to spit nonsense for a living ([example in German](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axel_Stoll)) there are also people who genuinely believe what they do is correct. And sometimes such people are somewhat ignorant and can't understand why their idea cannot work or is extreeeeemly unlike to do so (e.g. the person portrayed by the woman in [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWBYAxhH3u4)).
But one in a thousand times if not less, people with different ideas are right. The most prominent example is [Galileo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galileo_Galilei#Controversy_over_heliocentrism), the most prominent of this century until now would be [Snowden](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Snowden#Global_surveillance_disclosures) in my opinion. But there were many [critics of Einstein](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_relativity_theory#Claimed_experimental_refutations), "[Evolution is only a theory](http://www.newsweek.com/alabama-biology-textbooks-evolution-sticker-373662)", and [the current president of the united states doesn't believe in climate change](https://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-per-cent/2018/feb/01/its-not-okay-how-clueless-donald-trump-is-about-climate-change). But to be fair, [the country he rules has made its own steps of ignorance before his presidency](https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/plugged-in/nc-makes-sea-level-rise-illegal/). And people believe or don't believe if Jesus was a God sent messiah. I'm kinda expecting a flame war in my comment section by now.
>
> Perhaps more telling is that most of the ideas are unfalsifiable, in the sense that I couldn't think of an experiment that would prove or disprove any of it.
>
>
>
This makes it sound a little bit less "bogus" and more like the typical "Your inability to find a proof doesn't mean there exists none." If I remember correctly, it took a while until relativistic effects could be proven experimentally and the non existence of ether was proven by an experiment that tried to prove it.
However, this line you should give to whoever asked you to give your opinion.
Maybe the nature of reality is mathematically undecidable, so we will never know for sure what is true and what is just a nice approximation. I for once sinceriously believe we will never be able to check the "source code" of the universe.
Conclusion
----------
Your inability to come up with experiments to possibly falsify or prove his theory are no indicators his theory is wrong. The implied poor understanding of quantum physics is more likely an indicator, but on the other hand, Galilei also didn't like the tried and proven methods of the time, and these were "approved by god", a much higher authority.
So tell whoever asks
>
> most of the ideas are unfalsifiable, in the sense that *I* couldn't think of an experiment that would prove or disprove any of it.
>
>
>
Point out
>
> only the vausername_7 notions of quantum physics and cosmology (no equations, electrons being defined as the antiparticles of protons, cute drawings)
>
>
>
is not meeting an academic standard.
If you are feeling generous and interact with the theory person him/herself, tell the person that most *other* scientists would probably call his theory "bogus science" (this is where you are trying to be polite), a few would even use discriminatory terms like "crackpot" and that isn't going to change until someone (preferrably he/she) comes up with a scientifically accepted method of falsifying aspects of the theory.
Appendix: Stop calling people crackpots
---------------------------------------
A few readers seem to believe I'm trying to encourage people who are wrong to go on with their way as long as they believe hard enough. This is not the case. I'm simply stating history proves that someone who may seem to have a crazy idea about things may turn out not to be crazy at all and you have no idea of knowing in advance, you can only say that it is highly improbable. I'm answering OP "state your opinion and if you want to make others feel better, try to make the "bogus" more relative." I'm not encouraging OP to do so or question his motives for doing so, I'm simply answering him his question.
Maybe some are thinking: "Well, earlier they just believed in some magical entity that somehow came into existence and was responsible for everything, but today we have the methods of science! We may make mistake now, but in the long run, our methods will prevail!" In this case you are making the same mistakes as the people back then and your magical entity is called "laws of nature". Nothing is absolute. We are unable to rigorously proof non-existence of most things in reality. A person cannot even rigorously proof that it has an exact amount of money, because that means proving that nowhere in the world there is money the person hid there. Impossible\*. So please, stop trampling on those intellectually you deem less intelligent, it is barbaric behavior and not worthy in the presence of scientific endeavor.
'\* Nothing is absolute, but doing this would mean something like lifelong and/or earth-wide monitoring.
Upvotes: -1 <issue_comment>username_2: I believe feelings must be set aside while conducting science.
As @henning said; how would you react to a patient who claims in front of their physician that addiction is not serious (or that cancer can be cured by praying etc.)? I believe that the patient's feelings wouldn't be the priority in that case.
Similar to being a medical doctor, being a scientist is not a hobby. It is a serious business, and should be done rigorously.
If a theorem or claim is obviously wrong, bogus, or plain nonsense, best way is to point that out directly:
>
> I think your claim is not true, because you must first prove this and
> that before arguing about your own theory.
>
>
>
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_3: So, I see that you're conflicted by the desire to give your honest opinion and your desire to be nice. While some say you should let go of the desire to be nice, I think in this case it might be more productive to first look at *how* you can be nice. But first, let me briefly talk about 'cranks':
What are cranks?
----------------
The following quote from *Nature* is prominently placed on the [Wikipedia article on cranks](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crank_(person)):
>
> A crank is defined as a man who cannot be turned.
>
>
>
Less cryptically, an important property of crank is the unwillingness to change their line of thought or accept being wrong (they likely admit to make 'unimportant' mistakes and will immediately explain what they 'actually' meant). This will become a very useful definition. Suppose for the moment that exactly one of the following is true about the motivation of your correspondent:
1. "I have a brilliant idea about the universe and by showing this to an expert, I'll get the recognition I deserve."
2. "I don't know much about Physics, but I think this is a good theory and want to know what the experts think."
Note that person 1 is a crank, for when you tell (1) that this idea is 'bogus', the reaction will be likely hostile, as (1) will refuse to be 'turned'. Any conversation with (1) is a waste time. If your know for certain that you're dealing with person 1, ignoring, aborting and running away in the most polite way possible is recommended. However, as you desire to be kind to your correpondent, I doubt you are certain that you're dealing with person 1. (Also, assuming 1-ness might be dangerous. Applying [Hanlon's razor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanlon%27s_razor) seems like a good idea.)
How to be nice to person 2
--------------------------
Now, is person 2 a crank? (2) *could* be a crank, but not necessarily. Perhaps (2) is simply a layman who always had an interest in physics, but never had (or took) the chance to pursue this interest with proper study and thinks this is how physics can be done.
For person 2, I think the best way to be nice is to not give your opinion on the work, other than that it simply is hard for you to judge (2)'s actual ideas as they are *very non-standardly presented*. (This can be a lie. But I think it is a *very useful* lie.) It is important that you add the advice that if (2) has an interest in physics, (2) should learn more about physics so that (2) can properly present the theory. It is good to add some explicit method for (2) to do this, such as some introductory books, courses or videos.
In the best case, (2) will start learning things and eventually will realize that his theory is 'bogus' *by themselves*! In the worst case, (2) will show the inability to 'turned'. But thereby, (2) reveals to be (1) all along and you can therefore safely abort communications with your correspondent.
Conclusion
----------
I think it is good you ask this question, because I believe there is a true dilemma here. You must choose at most one of:
* Share your (brutally) honest opinion with your correspondent.
* Help your correspondent by gently directing them to the path of learning.
Any combination of the two will likely act as a discouragement for your correspondent from attempting to learn, for your correspondents idea that they might be able to do some physics is likely crushed by the weight of an experts opinion.
Upvotes: 5 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_4: You review "bogus science" the same way you review all science: in a fair and impartial unbiased evidence based way. When peer-reviewing "bogus science" for a journal, you need to balance the time put into the review, the benefit to the editor, and the benefit to the author(s). The best reviews highlight everything that needs to be fixed so that if the author addresses all the issues, possibly with additional required revisions to address the changes, the manuscript is publishable and previously existing issues will not be then pointed out. This can take an incredibly long time and is not always worth it so sometimes you only point out the biggest flaw. As you have been ask to review a four page outline that has not been submitted for publication, this does not seem like a problem.
Quickly read the manuscript/outline. Identify an aspect that disagrees with published theory/knowledge and point out that more work will be needed to reconcile these differences to appease the skepticism of the scientific community. Then thank the author(s) for sharing their work and explain that having read the early outline, you don't think you could give unbiased advice on later versions, but if the manuscript is eventually published, they can forward on a link to the article.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: It's not your role to disprove the author's theory; it's the author's role to convince the reviewer of the theory's validity and usefulness.
[As username_4 notes](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/105611/85564), you should deal with the paper on its own merits.
Handle non-standard interpretations of electrons etc by asking for a **literature review** that interacts with established theories. Handle non-traditional ideas by asking to see **experiment results** that differentiate the author's theories from mainstream theories. If it is a purely theoretical paper, ask to see a compare-and-contrast with **predictions** made by conventional theories. They might not cover all bases, but it is up to the *author* to demonstrate that their theory is competent - either relative to other theories or standing alone, the latter requiring a lot more to make a convincing argument.
These would not be unreasonable requests on your part. The heavy-lifting needs to be done by the author. Your preliminary role as a reviewer is to check that it has been done.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_6: It is very hard to explain philosophy and rationale of the scientific method to someone who overestimates their ability to explain the world around them in relevant and reproducible terms - so, an operational approach is more down-to-earth. Having had interactions with cranks before, here's an upshot of one strategy that has been reasonably successful in making them understand what is missing:
Ask him to make one or two predictions based on his theory. Best are quantitative predictions.
If his theory is good enough to derive e.g. the fine structure constant or any quantity of his choice, you agree to review/forward it. This is a fair enough offer, he cannot complain of unfairness and if he can come up with a derivation of a fundamental constant, it's worth reviewing (even if you do not believe it).
Qualitative predictions (e.g. a particle with 2/3 electron charge and 20 TeV mass) are fine too, as long as they are derivable from his formalism. It does not matter if you believe they are wrong - more important is that he understands what an operational theory needs to be able to do.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_7: My advice is just "don't do it". Not "how do I do it gently". But just don't.
(1) You will hurt the guy's feelings less by blowing him off than by explaining why he's a crank. (Yes, even gently.)
(2) He is going to waste your time further and contest your comments. Will lay money on that prediction.
(3) He won't get an aha flash. He won't learn. He's a crank. Or else he would have known better to start with. This is not a fixable situation.
(4) You should have many better uses for your time.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: It is possible to obtain two PhD degrees (various fields) on the basis of one interdisciplinary PhD dissertation? Is this something feasible (in Europe)?
Or maybe there must be two different 'physical' doctoral dissertations?<issue_comment>username_1: No, at least the regulations that I am aware of require that the dissertation be a novel contribution to the respective field and that it has not been submitted before.
If you write a dissertation at the crossroads of different fields, you have to decide for a field in which you want to formally graduate and obtain a degree. It may be advisable to look for supervisors from different fields or with an interdisciplinary background.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: It's hard to imagine any legitimate university allowing a thesis that has already been submitted for some other degree, whether at that university or somewhere else.\* If you lied and claimed it was a new thesis, your degree would be revoked if they ever found out. Furthermore, there are more requirements to earning a PhD than just presenting a dissertation. You're not going to be able to register as a student and submit a pre-prepared dissertation the next day.
And, anyway, what's the point? A PhD is generally treated as a level of achievement, rather than a quantity of achievement. Getting two PhDs is like getting two driving licenses. That doesn't show you're twice as good a driver – it's just saying "I can drive" twice. Why would you want to prove twice that you're at the same level, instead of using all that time to advance beyond the level of being a grad student?
Having two PhDs is so unusual that everybody is going to ask you about both of them. How impressed do you think they'll be when you admit that this second PhD you were bragging about was just the resubmission of the same dissertation to another university?
---
\* And note that [username_3's answer](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/105287/10685) is a case of the same thesis being *simultaneously* submitted to two universities as part of a joint programme that both universities agree to when the student enrolled.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: It is possible to do this, but usually the arrangements are pre-designated before you do the PhD. My answer is going to be very specific here; I have a friend who did this, and I know it's "a thing" at least in France. But as I said, the scope of the answer is therefore limited to a PhD done jointly between a French lab and one somewhere else.
A friend of mine has done a "co-tutelle internationale de these" which means that he spent 1 year of his PhD in his home country (China) and 2 years in a lab in France (paid by the Chinese government). At the end he wrote his thesis in Chinese and again in English (with a French abstract), defended in China, and he has two PhDs; one from the home institution and one from the French one. These agreements are somewhat common, at least in France, although I cannot really speak for other countries. However, that does mean that it is theoretically possible. As far as I'm aware, besides the language, the theses he submitted were the same.
It is not difficult to imagine a situation in which one of the labs is a different discipline to another (e.g. something like engineering vs. astrophysics) and so you could end up with 2 PhDs in such an arrangement. However these things are pre-arranged before the start of the PhD, and to form a new one would probably be a lot of administrative work.
However, it's possible, at least here.
Some stuff about it is written here:
<https://ressources.campusfrance.org/catalogues_recherche/diplomes/fr/cotutelle_fr.pdf>
Especially the paragraph that I'll poorly translate:
>
> Which degree do we obtain?
>
>
> Each cotutelle thesis is held within the framework of a convention
> linking two institutions of which one is necessarily French. The
> procedures and rules are those of the French doctorate and those of
> the doctorate in the partner country. The two universities recognize
> the validity of the cotutelle set up and that of the degree supported
> (grade of Doctor for French university and equivalent diploma for
> foreign university).
>
>
> Concerning the issue of the diploma, there are 2 possibilities:
>
>
> • The student receives a Doctor's degree conferred jointly by both
> institutions. The diploma is mentioned under his two appellations (for
> example: PhD in French literature and PhD in French literature).
>
>
> • The student receives two doctoral degrees from each institution.
> Each diploma then bears the mention of the diploma specific to each
> institution, mentions the fact that the thesis was made in
> co-supervision and specifies the name of the partner institution.
>
>
> In both cases, the thesis is defended in only one of the two
> institutions associated with the cotutelle, by decision of the two
> research directors.
>
>
>
But this is a highly-specific answer which is France-centric. Is that possible elsewhere? Probably. But I don't know enough about it to answer.
Upvotes: 3
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<issue_start>username_0: At that time of the year, graduate schools in the United States are notifying applicants that they have been placed on a wait list.
I read this email sent by a top-ranked University's computer science department:
>
> Our Committee on Admissions has asked me to tell you that we have placed your application (along with about 50 others) on a "Wait List" for any openings which may occur. […] in the past several years we were only able to offer admission to only a few students who were on the "Wait List".
>
>
>
As a reference point, this University's department accept around 100 student every year.
What is the point of having a waitlist of size 50 while intending to eventually offer a position to only a few applicants?<issue_comment>username_1: To answer this question statistically we need to know what is the chance that a person on the wait list would accept the position if they were offered it. Your question seem to imply that the chance is large, which may be true if the position were offered fast enough. However, if administrative delays are significant, most candidates from the waiting list are likely to accept offers elsewhere (or die of old age before receiving the offer), and the chances of acceptance are small. From the size of the waiting list, I assume the chances of acceptance are about 2%.
Or it may be just a random number invented from the blue sky by an admission officer who has a lot of other important things to do this day.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_2: The wait list might simply be a list of all the applicants who were considered reasonable candidates (i.e., could probably succeed in this program if admitted) but were not ranked highly enough to be admitted yet. The fact that only a few wait-listed students were admitted in the last few years doesn't mean that the department can count on that being the case again this year.
Anecdote from about 20 years ago, when I was in charge of graduate admissions for my department: We had applied to the (U.S.) Department of Education for fellowship support for a rather large number of graduate students. We were awarded that grant, so a lot of students who would otherwise be teaching (either recitation sections or their own sections of freshman courses) not only could but must be given fellowship support instead --- "must" because the grant money came with the requirement that it be distributed immediately. Unfortunately, we were notified of the grant in August, with fall-term classes about to start in September. So we suddenly needed a lot more teachers. I started checking which of our reasonable-but-not-admitted candidates might still be available, while other department administrators started looking for possible visiting faculty. That year, I would have been very pleased to have a big wait list. (The problem was alleviated somewhat, because we had assumed earlier that we'd get at least a small grant from the Department of Education, so we had admitted a few more students than usual, but of course we couldn't admit a lot of extra students and risk not having funding for them.)
Upvotes: 5 <issue_comment>username_3: In my experience, most members of admission committees usually agree on who the star applicants are, or which applicants are simply unqualified. However, there's a lot of disagreement in the middle, and it comes down to essentially arbitrary decisions among a sizable group of applicants who might or might not be admitted. This is a strong incentive to have a big wait list:
1. It can function as a polite form of rejection, to minimize hurt feelings among applicants who genuinely might have been admitted under other circumstances.
2. It plays the same role for admissions committee members. If someone is strongly in favor of a particular candidate but there isn't a consensus for admission, adding them to the wait list can be a good compromise. Insisting on rejecting them outright just leads to pointless arguments.
This role as a sort of "honorable mention" is essentially independent of the chances of admission from the wait list. However, having a large wait list can have important practical benefits even if there's no chance of admitting more than a few people from the list. The key insight is that the list isn't necessarily rank ordered, with the first few candidates likely to be admitted but the fiftieth having almost no chance. Instead, who is admitted may depend on the department's needs, based on which of the previous admissions decisions were accepted. For example, it may take into account the representation of different subfields in the entering class. From this perspective, a 50-person wait list may effectively amount to 10 different 5-person wait lists, with no one knowing in advance which of the smaller lists will end up being used.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_4: Adding to the other good answers: there is also a genuine issue of "limited capacity" of mentoring/advising in various specialties within a "subject". I'm thinking of mathematics, for example. As an extreme case, if an applicant has a very strong record, but is ardently interested in a specialty in which absolutely no faculty in our department have interest, would it be good to admit the candidate? More usually, there is a question of having enough faculty in topic X to advise students interested in X. If we're already fully booked, the qualifications of further candidates (expressing ardent interest in X) are perhaps not the primary issue. That is, strong students without (effective) advisors are in trouble, usually, even if they are willing to try to "go it alone".
Also, there is usually a limit of Teaching Assistant funding, and in mathematics the vast majority of grad students are funded by TA-ships. If we have more excellent applicants, that does not mean that we get more TA funding. Limited capacity, again.
EDIT: to be clear, then, a big reason to have a large "waiting list" is that not all (well-qualified) applicants are interchangeable (dues to interests...), and, at the same time, we cannot admit *all* well-qualified applicants.
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_5: There's another purpose and that's the role that professors have in pulling strings to get people pulled off a wait list. If a professor knows one of the waitlisted candidates personally and knows that the candidate would be a good fit, he or she can call the admission office and get that person admitted if space permits, regardless of where that person lies on the list.
The other reasons about subspecialties are true as well.
Bottom line is - if there's 50 people on the waitlist it is surely not a top-to-bottom queue.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_6: The wait list is not there for the convenience of the students; it's there for the convenience of the institution. Universities know that some of the students they admit will turn them down. It happens everywhere - Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, West Bumstumble Tech - all of them get turned down. That's why they have a "wait list" - a collection of acceptable-but-not-their-top-choice students who they'll offer those "turned down" slots to. And those students who are wait-listed may be told "You pay full price - still want the slot?", so if they decide to attend they may actually be more profitable to the institution that an "early" or "regular" admit who will be offered more financial aid. An unfilled slot is money they don't get, so at most institutions there's a strong incentive to fill every slot. The wait list will be kept larger than the number of unfilled slots they believe they'll have, because the percentage of rejections from wait-listed students is higher than the rejection percentage from early and regular admits.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_7: In addition to the other answers, I would add that the wait-list sends more of a "try again next year" than an outright rejection does. These are often candidates who didn't make the "admitted" list in large part due to attributes of the applicant pool outside their control, prediction, or knowledge. The applicant might make it on to the "admitted" list with an application the following year which is similar (and maybe improved a bit depending on what the applicant does in that year).
Since the school's rating depends in part on acceptance rate, it is beneficial to the schools to encourage more applications, especially from candidates they think would be qualified to come even if those candidates don't make it to the top of the stack for any one specific year.
I have seen candidates who in the first year of applications did not get accepted to anywhere they wanted to go, but did get waitlisted at more than one. After a year of additional experience and probably a stronger effort in preparing the application materials, in at least one case the applicant got multiple offers of admission and matriculated at a top choice school.
Upvotes: 2
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<issue_start>username_0: I am a third year Statistics PhD student. As I have become more involved in the field, I have realized it is not as good a fit for me as I originally thought. I excel in applied, collaborative work but fall behind my peers in theoretical work. It is not that I am incapable of understanding theory, in fact I can understand and digest fairly technical literature, I just do not find it interesting enough to devote the time and attention to be really good. This is unfortunate for me because the field of statistics prefers novel theory to interesting applications. That is not a slight on the field; I should have had the self awareness to know my own interests and limitations before committing to graduate school.
Despite this, I am quite happy in my program. I have a wonderful, supportive advisor, and I am in one of those rare departments where the faculty seem to genuinely care about the students. I have mentioned to my advisor that I prefer applied work and he has generally given me collaborative projects with epidemiologists. I do this work very well (I have an upcoming publication in a leading epidemiology journal) and enjoy it tremendously, but it is not viewed as prestigious by scholars in my field.
I am interested in an academic career. The way I see it, I can be a mediocre statistician or I can be an excellent statistically inclined epidemiologist. I prefer the later. I do not want to switch fields during my PhD primarily for two reasons: (1) I am pretty far into my PhD and do not want to start over. (2) The academic job market is horrible and a statistics PhD translates better to industry and government jobs than an epidemiology degree if I am unable to secure an academic position.
Is it possible to transition from (bio)statistics to epidemiology during a post doc and then be competitive for an academic job afterwards?
EDIT: Anecdotal experience of people switching fields is also appreciated.<issue_comment>username_1: Answering perspective: I'm a PI with a degree in Epidemiology currently actively looking for postdocs.
>
> Is it possible to transition from (bio)statistics to epidemiology during a post doc and then be competitive for an academic job afterwards?
>
>
>
Absolutely. This would be a good way to get applied experience that would definitely help you reframe yourself as a methodologically sophisticated epidemiologist, and there are a number of departments that you could then fit in - either combined Epi & Biostatistics Departments, or Epidemiology departments that heavily value methods.
Alternately, there are also a number of smaller "groups" which have biostatisticians in academic jobs where their primary tasks are working on applied problems. These often appear in medical schools or research institutes, where there is a need for consistent, good, but not necessarily groundbreaking biostatistical support. Some of these might *also* be staff scientist positions, but I've also encountered some with biostatisticians in faculty positions (albeit ones that are largely soft money funded). For those, having a postdoc in an applied area where you can show that you've done work in a setting with real data (and real data's problems), and can produce results that are interpretable in an applied field is potentially a considerable boon.
I know a number of people who have gone this route, moving from a more theoretical discipline (either statistics or applied math) towards epidemiology, and their skillsets are often viewed as quite valuable.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: >
> "The best thing about being a statistician is that you get to play in
> everyone's backyard."
>
> [<NAME>](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Tukey) (1915-2000).
>
>
>
I am a statistics PhD, who has done some theoretical academic work, and I am currently doing applied industry work (though not in the fields you want to get into). In my experience, a statistics PhD is highly valued in applied fields, and tends to mark you out as someone who is able to do applied statistical work, but with a stronger theory background. Having a PhD directly in the field of statistics tends to mark you out as the go-to-person for all sorts of statistical questions, novel adaptation of models, and internal teaching for other professionals in your field. I have found that there are a good number of professionals who learn applied statistics through other fields (e.g., psychology, economics, etc.) and they have a good working knowledge of most standard statistical models, but have difficulty adapting these to novel situations that require first-principles derivations.
Based on the information you have given, I would strongly recommend completing your PhD in statistics, even if this involves more theory work than is ideal for you. There are plenty of avenues to transition to applied work afterwards, and if anything, your statistics qualification with a strong theory background will put you among the top candidates for applied statistical work. You will also find that a strong grounding in theory pays dividends for any applied work you do later.
Upvotes: 1
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2018/03/11
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<issue_start>username_0: Is there a word to describe the case when a student can only receive credit for one of a group of courses because they are versions of a single course?
For example, "Accelerated Elementary Statistics" and "Elementary Statistics" - these have different course numbers but I would only want a student to be able to take one of these courses for credit.
Context: I'm designing course scheduling software and want to be able to describe/refer to this situation concisely to inform students and communicate with administrators who are designing course catalogues and requirements.<issue_comment>username_1: A couple of universities that I've worked and/or studied that described the courses as having *equivalent content*. So, the prerequisites for an upper-level course might be listed as "MATH 344 or equivalent content."
The reverse descriptor also came up sometimes. For example, the degree requirements for a given major might include: "Four additional courses at the 500 level, of *essentially different content*." Another school used *inequivalent content* for the same thing.
Upvotes: 6 [selected_answer]<issue_comment>username_2: Usually such choices are referred to as *pools*. Similar courses are put in the same *pool* and you specify that only **one** course can be taken from each *pool*.
Alternatively, it can happen that courses in the same pool do not carry the same number of credits. In your example "*Accelerated* Elementary Statistics" could have more credits than normal "Elementary Statistics".
In this case you specify the maximum amounts of credits allowed from a single pool. This would allow students to take, for example, either one difficult course **or** two easier courses, but no more.
This can also work the other way around, to specify some mandatory courses, without being too precise. In the universities that I've been to this is referred to as "core courses *pool*" and each student has to have a minimum of X credits from this pool. Again, they can choose how to assemble the choices to meet this requirement.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: Of the universities I am familiar with, the term **restrictions** is used for classes that used different codes and potentially taught some different material, but were considered similar enough in content that one was equivalent in some sense to the other.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_4: I think **anti-requisites** might be a good choice, since it would fit with other necessary concepts in the context (pre-requisites and co-requisites). Moreover, it seems to me to have a reasonably intuitive meaning even if it isn't the word you normally use (in this context it is very important that words are not misinterpreted).
A quick search suggests it is used by at least some universities, e.g. [Western University](https://www.uwo.ca/fhs/shs/students/academic/antirequisites.html):
>
> Antirequisites are courses that overlap sufficiently in course content that both cannot be taken for credit.
>
>
>
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_5: At my university, a choice of say 3 out of 5 lectures is called a *module*, if they have some topic in common. Single lectures were only referred to as *equivalents*, but I can imagine that both fit for 1 out of several, too.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_6: My university has a concept of some courses being "incompatible" with other courses. See for instance: [this course listing](https://my.uq.edu.au/programs-courses/course.html?course_code=CSSE2310).
Upvotes: 3 <issue_comment>username_7: At the University of Toronto these are often called "exclusions" (see that heading [here](http://calendar.artsci.utoronto.ca/Guide_to_Program_&_Course_Descriptions.html)).
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_8: I might refer to those courses in some situations as **Cross-Listed**.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_9: I've seen these called **preclusions** at my university.
**Preclude**
verb (used with object), precluded, precluding.
1. to prevent the presence, existence, or occurrence of; make impossible:
The insufficiency of the evidence precludes a conviction.
2. to exclude or debar from something:
His physical disability precludes an athletic career for him.
Upvotes: 0
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2018/03/12
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<issue_start>username_0: A potential supervisor is greeting me with "Hi" followed by my first name. How should I greet him in return? If I say "Hi" followed by "Dr." and his last name, this will look awkward. If I say "Hello" followed by "Dr." and his last name, this will look more formal than his original greeting, and might look like a sign of my trying to distance myself. So how can I keep being formal yet not look awkward or "cold"?<issue_comment>username_1: The answer would depend on how well you know said potential supervisor.
If I have worked with somebody before, either through directly working for them or doing some sort of collaboration I will use their first names in an email.
If it is my first correspondence with them I will always use their proper title and their surname, at least for the first little while until I get to know them better.
Typically, supervisors are not against being referred to by their first names but there is nothing wrong with being formal in a professional environment.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Reply with "Hi" and his first name. If he's using this format to address you, that's a sign that you don't need to be so formal anymore.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_3: I'm a wuss and avoid this question by starting my emails with just
>
> Hello,
>
>
> about that thing...
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>
>
I trust they will remember their name even if I don't use it every time.
Upvotes: 1 <issue_comment>username_4: The answer to this question almost certainly varies with culture - by nation, region, institution, department, or even research group.
However, thankfully there's an easy and non-awkward way to indicate how you would prefer to be addressed in an email: The signature.
A typical academic email will look like
>
> Hi John,
>
>
> Some interesting and important body text.
>
>
> Cheers,
>
>
> Jane
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>
>
in which case "Hi Jane" is fine, or
>
> Hi John,
>
>
> Some interesting and important body text.
>
>
> Best wishes,
>
>
> <NAME>
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>
>
in which case I'd err towards "Dr Smith".
In my experience, it is uncommon - or even vaguely inappropriate - to refer to a student as Mr/Ms Doe. This isn't the case everywhere, but the greeting isn't the best indication of the preferred level of formality.
Of course, it may be the case that they haven't bothered to type a sign-off themselves, instead relying on their automatic email signature (although there's usually at least an awkardly-placed lowercase initial for some reason). That's typically a sign of informality, but you can usually infer from context.
Ultimately, there are no hard and fast rules, and most academics are busy and relatively laid-back people who won't particularly care (if they even notice). And if they do care, you may have an interesting experience with them as your supervisor. If you're really not sure, err on the side of formality - they'll likely respond in a style that gives a clearer clue.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_5: I have the following experience with two different supervisors, one is my PhD supervisor and another was my Masters supervisor.
I used to write to my Masters supervisor like this from the beginning.
```
Dear Professor Jones
The topic that I am planning to discuss tomorrow is ...
Sincerely
Myself
```
I used the same approach with my PhD supervisor after my first meeting with him. But, he asked me to call him by his first name. So, now I write
```
Hi Jones
The method does not work with this problem...
Thanks.
Myself
```
So, if your professor is allowing you to be informal, that is okay. But I would recommend, stay formal from the beginning until (s)he asks you to be informal.
Upvotes: 0
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2018/03/12
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<issue_start>username_0: I am currently in my junior year, studying abroad in another country. The advisor at this school told me that I was enrolled in 5 businesses classes. I had asked her to drop one of them because I didn't need it and she said okay I will drop this course for you and you have 12 credits. I left her office and went on with my day and I came to find out later that she had not dropped my course and that I am still enrolled in 5 classes. The way the school works here is that you are unable to add/drop once that period is over.
Upset and frustrated, I went to her office and she said she can't remember what had happened because she has too many students. She had told me that I can either take the course or fail it and it won't affect my GPA. But on my transcripts it will say grade not available aka "F." I normally take 4 classes at home and I do want to enjoy my time here, so I don't know if I should take the "F" and explain what had happened to graduate school admissions office or just suffer and take the class that I don't need toward my major. It will not affect my GPA whatsoever if I were to take the F it will just be on my transcripts.
I trusted my advisor that she dropped my course, had I known that she wouldn't do it I would've done it myself. I do understand that I am at fault to for not checking it right after she'd done it, but by the time I found out it was too late. Thoughts?<issue_comment>username_1: Don't overthink things -- these things happen, and the people who make the selection among graduate students know this as well. If the rest of your grades are good and you have a good explanation, then that's all that's necessary.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Having just gone through the applications process this year, on several of mine, there was a section that was designed for you to include any comments that didn't fit anywhere else. If you left them blank, that was fine, but I remember at least one saying something to the effect of, "if you have something that you want to explain, do it here." If there is no way to change it with your university, you can likely address it in your applications. Or, if you are really worried, you can take the class. I suppose it comes down to how comfortable you are with having that on your transcript.
Upvotes: 1 [selected_answer]
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2018/03/12
| 800
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<issue_start>username_0: There are multiple lecturer openings in the UK that are very relevant to my work, say posts A and B. I prefer B over A, but B's application deadline is a about 2 months after A's.
If I apply for both posts, there is a chance I might be accepted for A while I am still waiting for a response from B. In that case, how should I react and what should I do if I get a positive response from B after I have accepted the offer from A?
My question is particular to the UK. In Germany, for example, I know that people openly apply for multiple positions and leverage this for negotiations. But I am not sure if the process is the same in the UK.<issue_comment>username_1: Your question: how should I react and what should I do if I get a positive response from B after I have accepted the offer from A?
Answer: How would you react if you were responsible for recruitment A and a candidate has in mind the sort of plan you are describing?
You might find that the situation is as much about your UK colleagues as about your own reaction. From experience, the priority for your 'reaction' is to be totally transparent and honest with A colleagues about your application from the very start of the recruitment process A.
Then you leave it for colleagues to be accommodating with your situation.
They may take a bet on your application if they are very interested in your profile, hoping that your application B is not successful. If they are not in a position to take a bet - for whatever reason - then your honesty will make their decision easier and they should thank you for it.
If A colleagues discover late in the recruitment process that your application was not genuine but only a safety application, 'just in case' application B does not work out, they might be left rather unimpressed with your approach to the entire recruitment process. This would contribute in yourself building a bad name in what is usually a close-knit and networked community where word-of-mouth goes round very quickly.
In short, honesty and transparency.
Upvotes: 0 <issue_comment>username_2: >
> how should I react and what should I do if I get a positive response from B after I have accepted the offer from A
>
>
>
This should not happen except in very rare circumstances. The typical UK hiring timeline is the job is announced with a known interview date and an offer will be made within days (sometimes hours) of the interview. They would then expect you to verbally accept the offer within days and then ideally present you with a contract a day or so after that.
The conventional wisdom is that after getting the contract, you should withdraw your other applications. If you verbally commit to A, but A cannot generate a contract in a timely manner, then most people (but not necessarily the people at A) will understand if you accept another offer. I am not a huge believer in the conventional wisdom. A good job offer can be your job for the rest of your life and to turn down your dream job in your dream department at your dream university in your dream city with great resources and salary and a position for your partner for a job you do not want to do with crappy resources and salary in city you hate, in my opinion is not reasonable. To screw over a department because someone else offered you a step higher on the salary scale also does not seem reasonable. In other words, you need to use your judgment to decide what to do.
Upvotes: 3 [selected_answer]
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2018/03/12
| 408
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<issue_start>username_0: Someone published a paper whose supplementary material contains source code. Can I include part of that code (I would mark it as copied in the source and the manuscript) in my own code, which is intended for the supplementary material of my own paper?
If not (or at least not automatically), who would I have to contact to ask for permission, the journal or the author of the other paper?<issue_comment>username_1: If the published code is licensed, follow the terms of the license. [This website](https://choosealicense.com/licenses/) sums up in a concise way what the most common open source licenses allow you to do or not.
If you cannot find a license, or if you are sure there is none, then by default you have almost no right to do anything with it (in most countries, no license means all rights reserved to the author). You still have the right to contact the corresponding author of the article, or the author of the code (if they are not the same person, and if you can find the contact info of the author of the code), and request permission to reuse their code, or even better ask them to explicitly attach the license of their choice to their code. Then, follow the license terms.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Ask the author. First, possibly, they made this code available elsewhere, e.g., Github, and you can reference that place, instead of saying that you copied the code from a journal article. Second, if what you do is copy over parts of someone else's code it into your code, there's a chance that the author would object to that, and would instead propose a cleaner way to re-use their work.
But it is a good question, what happens to the rights on the code that is submitted to a journal as supplementary material. I don't know.
Upvotes: 0
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2018/03/12
| 555
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<issue_start>username_0: I've applied for a position in the library of the local campus of the state university, and they've asked to set up a phone interview. I'm not a naturally outgoing person, and I'm even worse on the phone, so I'm going to be preparing for this as heavily as I can. I would love as much information as I can get on the interview itself. I'm comfortable speaking about the job & its responsibilities, since I exceed their list of necessary & desired qualifications. But if I know whom I will be speaking to and what, specifically, we will be talking about, it would help me be more comfortable during the conversation.
So what I'm wondering is whether it's kosher to ask for any info as we're emailing to set up the interview — who's on the search committee, what issues they will want to focus on, that kind of thing? I don't want to look like I'm trying to game the system or anything (much less actually *do so*). Is there any way for me to get more info without that appearance?<issue_comment>username_1: If the published code is licensed, follow the terms of the license. [This website](https://choosealicense.com/licenses/) sums up in a concise way what the most common open source licenses allow you to do or not.
If you cannot find a license, or if you are sure there is none, then by default you have almost no right to do anything with it (in most countries, no license means all rights reserved to the author). You still have the right to contact the corresponding author of the article, or the author of the code (if they are not the same person, and if you can find the contact info of the author of the code), and request permission to reuse their code, or even better ask them to explicitly attach the license of their choice to their code. Then, follow the license terms.
Upvotes: 2 <issue_comment>username_2: Ask the author. First, possibly, they made this code available elsewhere, e.g., Github, and you can reference that place, instead of saying that you copied the code from a journal article. Second, if what you do is copy over parts of someone else's code it into your code, there's a chance that the author would object to that, and would instead propose a cleaner way to re-use their work.
But it is a good question, what happens to the rights on the code that is submitted to a journal as supplementary material. I don't know.
Upvotes: 0
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2018/03/12
| 1,237
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<issue_start>username_0: I am not well enough prepared for an oral exam I will have soon. I should probably pass the exam but with a bad grade I wouldn't be happy with. This comes due to some bad time management and some personal problems during the semester. Unfortunately I still decided to take the exam....
Since we have 2 tries I am planning to fail it. Now I am unsure how to do it politely. Is it ok to come by and see how the exam is, but answer bad on purpose or should I sent a mail that I'm not well prepared and apologize and come to the retake date?
I'm grateful for any advice how to handle the situation.<issue_comment>username_1: Don't waste other's people time, and be respectful to your professor and to your fellow students as well. Send an email and apologize: the time slot allotted for you can be better used in another ways, e.g. to improve other students' exam schedule.
Upvotes: 6 <issue_comment>username_2: If you are in a PhD program, the best advice is almost certainly to take the exam and do your best. After you get your degree, no one will know or care how comfortably you passed your exams. Your thesis is all that matters, and if your program thinks you're ready to start working on it, you should listen to them. Do not stay in kindergarten out of perfectionism.
Also, you are taking for granted that you will pass on the second try. But anything can happen: you could get a curveball question, or have an off day for some reason. If you waste one of your two chances, you may regret it later.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_3: Never Intentionally Fail
========================
You should absolutely *never* intentionally fail an exam. Always strive to do your best, even if you do not expect to pass. Your (intentional) failure will be indistinguishable from an actual failure, and it would be hard to convince somebody later that you tried to fail. Moreover, intentionally failing will cause some people over you to think you are more ill-prepared than you actually are. If you expect to fail, try to get out of taking it instead.
As [@MassimoOrtolano noted](https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/105349/32794), don't waste peoples' time — including your own. Nothing annoys people more than wasting their time.
Improve Your Situation Where Possible
=====================================
As with all of us, you need to take the initiative to improve yourself in any possible way to allow yourself to succeed. Consider yourself and your situation as levelly as you can and work to improve the things within your control. Get help for the things that are beyond your control, such as health or mental health issues. I've needed to cut out certain parts of my life and introduce new habits in order to be more productive.
Communicate
===========
Many faculty are understanding of personal issues, to a certain extent. Life happens! You can prevent the faculty from speculating as to why you're failing by actually telling them. They may even offer you some alternatives (take exam at later date, etc.), help support you in some way, or point you to helpful resources. This is in every way better than just intentionally doing poorly and not telling them why.
Upvotes: 4 <issue_comment>username_4: It depends, specifically on what level you are in and where you are studying, i.e. what regulations you have to play by. Based on that my answer would be somewhere between **no** and ***NO!*** :)
First of all as others have pointed out already, it's extremely disrespectful to waste people's time. **Time is a commodity**, and a very precious one at that, especially in academic setting. Many professors and lecturers (indeed even TAs) are juggling their own work, assignments, deadlines and lives outside work on a tight balance. To presume that someone has time to entertain your desire to "*come by and see how the exam is*"; well, quite frankly that's a [flagrant 2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flagrant_foul) in my eyes.
>
> This comes due to some bad time management and some personal problems during the semester.
>
>
>
sh\*t happens, it's no big deal to have a bad grade here and there. I know not everyone share's this opinion, but we are all human and when you are at the uni there are a lot of things going on. It's **part of the learning process** to mess up things every now and then, expectation of, and desire to get, a flawless track record is what gets people into trouble in many cases.
If I were you, I would just take my chances with the exam and do what I can do. If you get a C/D whatever, so be it. If you fail, you can prepare better for the retake.
If you insist you don't want to take your chances, I'd notify the teacher that I cannot take the test for whatever reason, and ask when/how you can register for the retake. If the teacher calls you on your made-up excuse though, you are gonna have to weasel your way out of it though. Thus I recommend you prepare as much as you can, and give your honest best shot.
Upvotes: 2
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