Is declining an undergraduate award which causes me discomfort appropriate? I have been offered an award to be presented to me at my graduation this summer at an English university. The award is not for academic achievement per se. It's for gaining my science degree despite having suffered significant illness at a crucial point in my degree. The award is for a student who has overcome a significant obstacle (which could be anything) and successfully completed.

Specifically because the cause of my problem was illness, this nomination has made me feel acutely self-conscious (even before I've received it). I've spoken to student friends and family about it. They all give predictable advice - "we understand, but accept the award, it's good for your CV!". Any possible benefit to my "CV" doesn't begin to enter the calculus for me.

This was a significant illness, and I struggled hard to be "normal" again. This award would make it hard to feel that way. I would find an allusion to this episode, particularly on a day such as graduation, rather difficult to handle. I doubt very much that the specific motivation for the award would be stated at the ceremony, but even so...

I realise my academic department are trying to be generous towards me and recognise my efforts with this award. It is a good university and they care about their students. I am going on to postgraduate study at the same university. The award is sponsored by an alumnus who themselves had a significant problem during their studies. Can I decline politely or is this a no-no? Could it be seen as self-indulgent to decline?

Update: I wanted to thank all of the posters here for empathic, thoughtful and surprisingly non-judgemental answers. This is clearly a well-regulated and insightful community.

Many of these answers conflict, and some posters have admonished others, but I wanted you to know that I have read everything carefully, that I am open to seeing this from all perspectives, and that I have found almost all answers and replies helpful.

I suggest a third way:

Write a concise e-mail to whoever is handing out the award that you would prefer to receive it silently for the reasons you cited (not wanting to be reminded of your disease), i.e., without being mentioned at the ceremony, but via mail or similar.

This has several advantages:

You spend at most as much energy on this as declining the award, probably less since you do not have to worry about how to politely decline it, etc.
You avoid what you want to avoid.
You will never face regret for not taking the award and in the future you are completely free to use it or not (for your CV and similar).

I realise my academic department are trying to be generous

Do not fall for that (common) mistake!

Try and accept that the university people are probably right in seeing your great accomplishment, which to you may not (yet) feel like one.

The award will be good for your CV, but remember that you really did earn it. They don't give it to you despite your struggle, which may or may not continue, but because your graduation was objectively a great accomplishment attributed not only to your learning skills but in addition much to your personal strength and endurance.

They wouldn't even consider you for the award if they did not know that you succeeded with your graduation despite having a much greater burden to handle than is expected from the 'average' student.

  I doubt very much that the specific motivation for the award would be
  stated at the ceremony

Like above, trust in them that they know what they're doing! They are very well aware about the sensitive nature of the issue, as they are about their decision to award you.


Our paper was not published as part of the conference proceedings in IEEE Xplore, what should we do? We had a paper accepted to a reputable IEEE conference.

We have completed the copyrights form and one of the authors have registered and presented the paper at the conference.

After a couple of months, the conference proceedings were uploaded to IEEE Xplore but without our paper.

Is there anything to do about this? Is it possible to check (with the PC chairs?) why it is not published?
If the paper stays left out of the proceedings, can we resubmit it to a different venue?

If you were reviewed and accepted, signed the appropriate forms, paid to attend the conference, and presented in an IEEE conference, then you should expect to be included in the proceedings.

If you aren't, then most likely it is a result of a mistake, and can be corrected by contacting the conference publications chair.  The publications chair of the conference should have an IEEE publications contact, who has the right combination of authority and connections to help get it sorted out.  If they agree that you should be in the proceedings, then you can treat your paper as being published at the conference even if before the fix propagates to IEEE Xplore (which can sometimes take many months).  Importantly, this includes posting copies on your own site, where they can be easily accessed, per the standard IEEE copyright agreement.

On the other hand, if there is some reason that you actually did get dropped such that they are not willing to officially include your paper in the proceedings, then they are effectively relinquishing any claim on the paper and you may do with it as you wish, just as though it had been rejected in the first place.

Welcome to copyright hell! Mua-ha-ha...
More seriously, though, do the following in parallel:
Copyright re-acquisition and free publication
I assume that just before signing the accursed "copyright form", you gave a copy to someone else, and agreed to grant him/her rights of copying, distribution, and subsequent granting of the same rights (e.g. you licensed your work to them under one of the free licenses, such as Creative Commons or GNU FDL, etc.). If you think this did not happen, try jogging your memory a bit, I'm sure it will come back to you. And I'm sure that person will later be able to attest to this having happened. Now, have that person make you a copy with the same rights you gave him. You can now publish that copy wherever you like, and IEEE can't do anything about it. Also, in practice and from (limited) experience, IEEE doesn't try to harass authors who publish a copy of their work for free online. (They might come after you if you publish it commercially somehow.)
Interaction with IEEE
Write:

IEEE Xplore (I'm sure they have a contact form)
The conference chair, or whoever is personally in charge of the conference proceedings (check on the conference website)

and ask them why the proceedings have not yet been published, and to try and make that happen ASAP.

I'll add that, personally, I don't consider a "publication" on IEEE Xplore as a publication per se, because people who didn't pay the IEEE (a significant amount of) money can only get your paper via SciHub, which doesn't always have absolutely everything available, and some people are worried about the legality of getting papers through there. So it's important you also follow the parallel course of action and properly publish your paper online - make it accessible by the public.


A student forgot to answer an exam question A student in an undergrad class seems to have forgotten to answer the last few questions on a written essay.

This student has achieved an average of A+ so far (over the term)

The last few questions are not worth much, but is the difference between receiving an A and an A+

This student has also submitted a draft of this essay earlier in the term to get feedback (all students are allowed to do this once).

Should I give 0 because this student did not answer it, or part marks because this student knows how to answer it (as evidenced by the draft) but simply forgot?

You should give zero for the answers in question. You are grading what the student handed in, not what s/he potentially could have handed in. The logistics are just as much part of fulfilling an assignment as the knowledge. It would be unfair to the other students to be more lenient on this particular student than others.

If you wish, you may give the student another chance to answer these questions, but then you should do the same for all students.

(I once failed to notice in an exam that the question sheet was printed front and back, and only answered the questions on the front. I duly accepted my C+, along with the two others who had made the same mistake...)

This situation points to an anomaly in the examination based evaluation system: "You are what you are at the time of examination!" But this can be eased out as follows. If the system permits, one more examination (another written essay in this case) can be conducted to take best of two performances. But even that is not anomaly-free. A student who gets a higher grade with the first exam may lose out on a relative grading scale if others perform relatively better in the second. When the second examination is not announced a priori, it can be a cause of concern for such a student. So the best of two can then be applied on grades and not on marks. With the first exam, if a student gets a B, and considering the second one a 'C', then the final grade is B, and so on.


Am I being exploited by my supervisor? It has been 4.5 years since I joined as a PhD student.

My supervisor asks me to draft almost all of his important emails. He will begin by briefing me the issue, and ask me to draft the email in a document and sent to him. He would ask me to do this even when I am busy doing experiments. Many times I have to leave the experiment in the middle to draft his emails.
He has asked me to correct PhD thesis of three of my seniors. I was asked to correct the thesis for language and technical content. These assignments put me months behind my planned schedule. I guess correcting a thesis for one of the senior would have given me a learning opportunity on how to write a good thesis, editing, formatting, etc. Three theses are, in my opinion, too much. I don't know why he never assigns such works to other students in the research group.
One day he shared some experimental results of another PhD student (who is a junior to me) and asked me to perform statistical analysis on the results and draft a research manuscript. It took me days to complete the analysis and write the manuscript from the scratch. When it was finally ready for submission, I requested him to keep the author sequence as: my junior (first author), me (second author), supervisor (third author). On hearing this he became extremely furious (he keeps himself as the second author in all the research papers), and indirectly warned me that he won't be taking interest in supervising my research. Fearing that my work progress could go haywire, I apologized profusely and I had to literally 'beg' him to forgive me. I made the request for the author sequence because I have seen that professors usually keep the names of students earlier in the author sequence before their own.
I have been devoting 1.5 hours every weekday (Mon to Fri) to tutor his daughter in high-school Mathematics. That takes a precious amount of my time which I'd have instead spent on my research. I politely expressed that this work takes a lot of my time, but he still asked me to continue. I had no choice but to continue.

What I would like to ask here is am I being exploited/abused, or is this what  a PhD student is 'normally' expected to do? How is the PhD student and supervisor relationship ideally supposed to be? Since the PhD degree is extremely important for my career, I have been doing everything he has asked. But I don't really want to be a supervisor like him in the future when I will be supervising students working with me. Please share some advice.

Update: The region is South-East Asia.

Yes you are.

Point 4 is downright abuse of power. You are not in any way obliged to provide free tuition to your advisor’s child! If your institution has reasonable management, you reporting this would result in severe disciplinary action (I think I would have my tenure clock pushed and have something on my record for something like this). Even if you were paid to do it I’d feel weird about having my students tutoring my kids. Depending on where you are on the planet, not getting paid for tutoring is illegal. Your advisor would be in serious legal trouble if you are in, say, the US or Europe.

Drafting emails seems like an odd practice. It’s abusing power to some extent but if the emails are relevant to your work it might be construed as acceptable by some department heads. That said, you’re a student, not a personal assistant, seems like a waste of your time.

You should not be reading and correcting others' work with no credit, this is the advisor’s job. I would be upset if I were the one of the students who didn’t get their advisor’s feedback!

Being an ass about authorship is another bad sign, though in itself may not be too bad. Disagreements about authorship do occur, though the response you describe seems wildly disproportionate. Getting students to the point where they have to 'beg' for your forgiveness is never okay. His job as an advisor is to educate, teach and advise - you are not his pawn or slave.

Taken together, what you’re describing is a toxic and abusive relationship.

What you can do depends on where you are in the world and your department. Most reasonable universities have ombudspersons or student support centers whose job is to help people in your situation. If no such thing exists you can try to approach your department head or dean.

You need to have clear-cut evidence. Emails, records of your visits to tutor the advisor’s kids, written proof that you corrected the thesis of others (say, an email exchange, files sent to you with request for correction, or any other acknowledgement) etc.

I’m sorry you’re in this situation, hope you get things settled. The tone of your post does not make it sound like you are in severe emotional distress, but of course it's impossible to tell. Make sure you get emotional support through what is undoubtedly a rough experience. You do not deserve this, and you should not feel like this is normal.

Depending on where you are and who is your supervisor, his behaviour may or may not be acceptable. In most of modern Asia, it is probably OK. In EU and US, it will be considered abuse in any relation between dependent parties, not only in academia.

Regarding the tuition to your advisor’s child: see, for example, Hippocratic Oath. How exactly this arrangement appeared in your case?


Can someone interview their sibling? I just had a job interview (permanent lecturer position not connected to a grant) and, immediately afterwards, I found out that the person who is the group leader and responsible for recruiting is the sibling of one of the candidates.

I made sure that this is actually the case. It is not a suspicion; it is a fact.

Could this be justified under some circumstances? This seems ridiculous. Should I raise a complaint?

This in the UK.

Interviewing a family member is not permitted. Yes, you should raise a complaint. Do it politely, of course. But in the end, you have to ask yourself whether or not a work group that would even try to get away with this is one you want to get involved with.

Is it ridiculous, maybe. Is it justified, yes. Should you raise a complaint, no.

It is ridiculous when HR gets in the way of a group leader not being able to hire the person that the group leader thinks is most qualified. HR would probably prefer the group leader to not be involved, but then you lose a key person, possibly the only person, who can evaluate the technical competency of the candidates. Realistically HR will probably be happy with an independent observer of the interview and might even be happy with documentation that the selected candidate is the best candidate.

Either the process has been approved by someone, in which case you are not going to get anywhere and just come off as a complainer. If it hasn't been approved, then you just made an enemy of the group leader, which is not helpful either.


My PhD supervisor want to add his name on a paper from my MSc work I just started my PhD and I was planning to submit a paper from my MSc work to a conference soon. The paper was finished before I join my PhD program.

Now my new PhD supervisor want to add his name and his post-doc name on the paper. He asked me to send the paper for his post-doc to review and then add both their names. Although my previous supervisor already reviewed the paper.

How should I proceed? My new supervisor definitely has no contribution in the paper and feels like he just wants his name on more papers with no regard to how he contributed.

I'm in the social sciences, but I can't imagine that this is a discipline-specific issue. Is your new supervisor pre-tenure? If so, he may be pressured to have a stronger CV and publishing with his post-doc would look extra favorable. Regardless, (from your description) this appears to be an inappropriate request and I'm sorry that you were put in this predicament. I find the fact that the supervisor wants the post-doc to also co-author is especially troubling.

First, I echo that you should find a new supervisor. If there is someone else whose work is close or closer to your interest, you can ask to transfer supervisors and claim this as an academic request and not a personal one.

Second, is your MSc a co-author? If so, you can state that the prior supervisor is the co-author and you do not feel comfortable adding additional co-authors when the previous supervisor put in much of the work.

If not, you can still claim that you did the majority of the work and that if neither your supervisor nor his post-doc have any significant additional contributions to your paper, you do not feel comfortable adding them as co-authors. To further decline with professionalism, you could explain to the supervisor that you have other paper drafts or other projects that you would like to publish and/or present at conferences...if the two are interested in co-authoring you could collaborate on revising something else to publish together.

If your new supervisor is somewhat junior, he may not know that this was inappropriate (I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt), so I would try to be as professional about this as possible. It also might not surprise other faculty or administrators that this person asked you to do this (there are always faculty members here and there who are known to minimize student contribution and credit, though unfortunate).  Good luck!!!

I largely agree with comments by Tobias Kildetoft, JeffE, and Nicole Ruggiano, but there's another angle that has not been considered, namely, the supervisor might be acting in the OP's best interests.

THIS ANSWER IS CONTROVERSIAL. At the time of adding this remark, down-votes outweigh up-votes. The comments suggest that down-votes are due to the supervisor being presumed guilty of malpractice. This is a serious, worrisome accusation. Let's step-back momentarily and presume innocence.

The OP has stated that their supervisor wants his post-doc to review a paper co-authored by the OP and OP's previous supervisor. It has been assumed that the supervisor is acting in his own interests. This might not be the case. Perhaps the supervisor believes the paper can be improved, after review. The OP should assess whether this might be the case. If so, then the OP should consider whether such improvements are worth adding the supervisor and post-doc as co-authors. They might well be worth it. For instance, if the improvements enable publication at a more prestigious journal, then I'd consider such improvements worth adding the supervisor and post-doc as co-authors.

I fully appreciate that reviewing is insufficient for authorship and, as I have hinted, I fully agree with Tobias Kildetoft, JeffE, and Nicole Ruggiano, if the supervisor wants co-authorship without contribution. That's not the issue I want to address; I want to establish whether the OP has fully understood the supervisor's intent. In particular, I want to establish whether the supervisor/post-doc is also offering a scholarly contribution. If so, then    the OP should consider co-authorship.

(In using the phrase "feels like," the OP is hinting that the supervisor's intent is unclear. Hence, the need for clarification and the potential importance of this response.)


What are good argument against strict attendance policy, and university making it harder for students to maintain attendance? My university have a very strict attendance policy, attendance affect the students marks a lot and if attendance is lower than 75% at the end of the semester, students are not allowed to sit in finals. Not only in the end of the year, if attendance get lower than 75% at any point of the semester Internal marks are lowered a lot.

Not only this, University administration keeps trying to make it harder for students to maintain students by adding more and more classes, sometimes by cutting the holidays or by adding more classes in already busy schedule of students.

I reached out to students, and almost all the students are finding it hard to give time to self study and for other stuff.

What are good arguments against this to be presented in front of higher authorities of the university.

thanks in advance.

A hard part of this is that it is not as easy as said. The vast majority of students are (while legally adult) not sufficiently mature, and particularly susceptible to peer pressure. Mandatory attendance (which our university doesn't have) attempts to address this. Fact is that students tend to be poor judges of the benefits of attendance (or prioritising the wrong parts - lectures over seminars or labs). With the right pressure many students can be taught more than if they are left to their own devices and from a student recruitment perspective it is seductive to put the protective measures into place so that the students will gain the relevant subject knowledge, understanding and skills (which are much more prominently assessed, and easier to assess than vague things like study attitude and independence).

Another problem is that when few students attend it is easier for other students to not attend. When students believe that they can pass the exam (that is due in 6/7 months) doing memorization a few days before the date you are fighting against a well established belief that has been reinforced through years of regurgitation exams in secondary (and primary) school. Anything helps.

At the same time, overworking students is also overkill, but in case that selection on entry is not feasible it may be a good way to quickly separate the wheat from the chaff. In many systems, withdrawals only count against the university after some months of study, so getting students who will quit (or are really not up to it) to quit early is quite important.

University is supposed to be about reaching a certain standard. Unlike school, university is where students are supposed to be treated like adults. So if you do not turn up to enough lectures, you have a greater risk of failing. It is up to you. If the student passes the Exam then they have reached the standard. How many lectures they attended is up to them. The punishment for not attending could be failure because there is let's say 60% of Exam questions that are based on the lecturers course notes. If the pass mark is 50% then, if you are good and go to all the classes but are no Einstien, you will pass with a C. If you are brainy but a bit lazy and attend some lecturers and can think outside the box you will probably get a C  Clever people that work hard with full attendance should get an A. So Attendance regulates itself. There is no need for extra punishment. For lab courses you mark the lab write up at the end of the lab so if the student is not present there is no write up and no marks which would mean that if you made a habit of skipping labs you would end up repeating labs. Boiling all this down it means that low attendance causes you to repeat courses which speaking from experience is punishment enough.


Research with Partisan Implications - Is it worth it? I have good reason to believe that political party X engages in harmful practice Y more than other political parties.  The numbers stack up, it fits into the theories presented in other papers, and so on.  Content-wise, I believe there is enough for a paper on the topic.

However, I am concerned about the long-term career potential of this, as this would be my first paper (I'm still an undergraduate student) and there are downsides to appearing as a naive partisan hack.  Is such a paper worth pursuing, and if it is, how should I best go about minimizing that potential drawback?

A politically-focused paper may harm your standing among those with an opposing viewpoint.  This perhaps should not happen, but it's an unfortunate reality of human nature.

If you publish a paper that could be interpreted as "party X is worse than Y", people (even scientists) are going to read that through a lens of their own biases, to some extent.  If they support party X, they may be less likely to believe your conclusions, more likely to challenge you, and/or have an emotional reaction against it.  Some people will be able to be impartial and rise above their biases; for others, this may lead to a final judgement about you.

How much this harms you may depend on which side you take.  There have been many studies showing that college professors tend to overwhelmingly favor one side of the political debate in America.  Here is just one example.  This effect is far more extreme in some fields than others.

So, another unfortunate reality is that, depending on the side your paper favors, the results may be very different for your career.  You might be confirming the beliefs of 95% of your colleagues, or you might be challenging those beliefs. I hate to say this, because it sounds like a suggestion of "only do this if your finding matches the existing orthodoxy", which is a highly unscientific approach. But I do think this point needs to be acknowledged.

A political paper may get a lot more attention than the average paper.  Papers like "adherents of party X pick their nose a lot more than adherents of party Y" make great headlines and often get picked up by the media.  They are second only to studies claiming that chocolate, beer, etc. are good for you, in terms of press appeal.

More publicity for you is typically a good thing (assuming you are doing good work). The fact that you published a well-known paper can be a great thing to have on your CV.  On the other hand, it does raise the stakes.  Your paper would be subject to a lot more scrutiny than normal.

In the end, only you can make this decision; there are risks.  But my feeling would be evaluate this very carefully, but do go ahead with it if you think it would make a high quality paper.  Some points on how to proceed:

Don't move forward without someone experienced on board.  Make sure you can get some good, respected people's input.  Ask them about the general idea before you start, and make sure someone more experienced than you is willing to contribute and be an author if you do go ahead with it.
Work hard to overcome your own biases.  I would try hard to find someone with an opposing political viewpoint to review it, to make sure I'm not missing something obvious because of my own bias.  There may be an alternative reading of the data which I haven't seen, because I'm predisposed to think ill of party X.
Do the work meticulously. If this paper does get attention, any error or methodological issue is likely to get picked up.  Make sure you do everything very carefully, document all your methods, test thoroughly, etc.  (Of course you should always do this).
Report the findings in as evenhanded a way as possible.  Don't take unnecessary political potshots.  Don't assume bad intent where your results don't warrant it.  And think about the title you want to give it.  Do you want it to say "Party X is more evil than party Y" or something generic like "The relationship between Foo and party affiliation".
Make sure not to claim too much.  Be clear about the limitations of what your work actually shows.  It's quite common to see papers that jump to unwarranted conclusions or assume causality where they haven't shown that.  Steer clear of such things.  Make sure to be clear about your limitations, and if there are multiple possible interpretations of the results, make sure to discuss them all.

If you'd like your thoughts and opinions to be directly connected to yourself as a person and follow you as a mark of the understanding you hold for others to openly judge based on their own beliefs, then write a paper with your name attached. Then your writing will be associated with you as your own assessment of the situation at the time.

However, if you're willing to sacrifice any benefit (or harm) that may come with the reprecussions of such an action, there are platforms where you can publish "open letters" anonymously such as http://www.opnlttr.com/about

The advantage here is that you can gather your thoughts, assemble them, and make your case without needing to worry that your words will haunt you for ever afterwards and close opportunities that would otherwise be available.


How to test students in computer science lecture? Preliminaries

I am giving my first lecture at university. The topic is about Big Data and takes 40 hours (1 hour = 60 minutes). I am wondering how to test the students. I am at this university for the first time and I have no idea how full the student's schedule is and how good they are. I am also not sure how many students I will have, but I think it should be between 20 to 30. I think they are going to be at the end of their Bachelor / beginning of Master.

Options

I see three options:

1. written exam

It's the least amount of work for the students (only learning) - which might be a good thing if their schedule is very full.

Disadvantages: They learn the least I think.

2. presentation

I'd let the students present a topic - probably a software technology that wasn't part of my lecture so far.

Advantages are that

they learn more,
they learn research technologies (I've been working in the industry for a while and researching how technologies work is an important part of the work in this area, so it's a real-live skill in itself).

Disadvantages are

that it might get difficult for me to judge their effort in terms of grades,
it might take quite some time for them to prepare (issue if their schedules are really full),
they might not be able to find good information and might not have the skills to put the information into a good presentation.

3. project

I'd have them do a small software project.

Advantages are that they would gain practical experience.

Disadvantages might be that

these take quite a lot of time,
it might get difficult for me to judge their effort in terms of grades,
the projects might fail if they are not proficient enough, which might be rather frustrating.

Question(s)

I tend to take either 2 or 3 since - back in the day - I learned most from those and little from tests. However I fear that those might fail, because the students don't have the time or skills to excel in those.

For 2 and 3 I would put the students into groups.

I might be able to decide after the first week of lecture, but not just before the course ends.

Going out to fellow professors, lecturers etc.:

What are your experiences? What options would you suggest? What do I have to consider?
If I'd take 2 or 3: How many students should a group have approximately (minimum, maximum)?
Can I simply ask them how they would like to get tested?

My experience: One thing I do see in your question is a sensitivity to your students work load. In my experience when I have taught courses involving less "homework" the course may be looked at as "easy." In higher education, students expect a challenge and teachers need to bring it. Worry less about their workload and more about what you want them to learn. If all else fails, grade on a curve.
Groups are hard. It's an unpaid environment. Slackers will slack, pushovers will get pushed, and a group of real team players will rarely shine through. If you are going to do groups, let it be a part of the grade, but not nearly the full grade. Information comprehension/retention should be tested individually. Working in groups is a whole other set of skills that some thrive at and some falter at, and that's not the class you are teaching(I assume.)
You should know what your students expectations are and they should know yours. Have that conversation, but come prepared.

I think, If you want to check a student in cs, you should ask architectural question like if you have to make train booking system how you will design complete architecture.


My MA thesis has flaws. How do I present it during PhD application? I completed my MA in 2014 (humanities, third world country) but due to very bad (almost non-existent) supervision and other reasons my thesis is subpar in some areas (e.g., research design, data analysis). However, during the past 7 years I have not only been working in my field, but I have also managed to make up for this by publishing a couple of world class peer-reviewed articles, have a couple of articles under review in flagship journals, and a book chapter with a quality publisher to be released soon. Now, I am applying for a PhD and they want my MA thesis among other documents. It does not reflect my "current" research abilities at all so I think it is not a fair way to assess me now after all this time, effort, and achievement.
In any case, how can I confront this situation? I was thinking about adding a cover letter to my thesis which indicates upfront that this thesis is not my best work and may have flaws and then proceeding to more precisely refer to these flaws and how they can be rectified.
Is this a good strategy? Do you have any other suggestions?

Do not mention anything related to the master thesis being flawed or of poor quality. It is supposed to be a degree rather than a big contribution.
The situation would vary depending on the selection procedures. Perhaps nobody will even have a glance at it, especially if you have already two papers. Those would be probably scrutinised in more details, or at least taken into greater consideration.

In the cover letter, just state that you are happy about how you could progress from writing a Master thesis with very poor supervision and no chance to have it reviewed, since bein written while a student at "university X" of "country Y educational systems plagued with issuesABC" to publishing articles in top journals as first author and that you feel ready to pursue a PhD.


Is it legal to use images from social networks for research? I would like to use images from social media (e.g. imgur, Facebook, Flickr etc) for research (ie not for profit or any industrial use).

Would it be legal to use images (for analysis, etc), if I do not store them locally?
Would it be legal to create a dataset of such images, that I will later publish with my future paper?
If it is not legal, how can there be these existing computer vision datasets of thousands (and even hundreds of thousands) of images taken from Google search or social networks? Surely the authors didn't ask every owner for permission.

In order to copy or redistribute images that you don't own, you have to comply with the terms of the license under which the owners have released the images.

Some images are released under licenses (such as Creative Commons licenses) that allow copying and redistribution under various conditions (e.g. attribution, non-commercial use only, etc.  - depending on the specific license.)

For example, the People In Photo Albums dataset was "collected from Flickr photos
with creative commons licenses", according to the paper. Similarly, Yahoo! Labs compiled a dataset of One Hundred Million Creative Commons Flickr Images. And Google released an Open Images Dataset dataset of images that are listed as having Creative Commons licenses.

If there is no license accompanying the image or no blanket license applying to all images on the site, you have to assume that it is All Rights Reserved - in this case, you would not be able to redistribute these images.

For legal advice one should always consult a lawyer directly.

I don't think it is recommendable to (solely) rely on inquiries in a forum or website or even own study of law books as a layman.

Copyright is a very complicated issue and depends heavily on countries' laws.
Any advice given here would be opinion based (unless posted by a lawyer) and may have serious financial and professional repercussions.

There are also privacy issues and laws that need to be taken into account.

As a prominent example Cambridge Analytica filed for insolvency proceedings...


How honest should I be in disclosing not-so-exciting results? I'm a sociology undegrad working on an essay for a methods class. I'm also planning on submitting it as a sample for my application to grad school. I don't want to be too specific, but I believe that this work is quite original and my hypothesis would confirm previous literature, and all in all I think it would would make a good impression on the admissions committee.

So basically I've run the tests and I'm getting conflicting results. Using one dataset (which has more observations) gives me very significant results, while using another one (which would arguably be more accurate) doesn't give me anything. So here I am at a crossroads, and I've come up with three possible options as to what to do:

Only show the significant results. After all, this is just a ten-page essay, it's not supposed to be publishable or anything, right?
Only use the better dataset and admit that there just isn't much there - maybe blaming it on the small sample size or on the not-so-good dependent variable. Hopefully the committee would appreciate the honesty and the relatively advanced methods that I used.
Show results from both datasets, suggesting that the differences might be due to the sample size or maybe to chance.

As I type this I'm leaning more towards option 3, but I'd like to hear from people with more experience in academia. What should I do?

In research, you don't set out to prove that something is true. You set out to discover whether or not it is true. This would be knowledge. The other is just propaganda.

Negative results are not a failure. They give you evidence just as do positive results. If you ignore, or obscure, results you are lying to yourself and others. If you design an "experiment" so that it is guaranteed a priori to produce positive results, it isn't research.

Hoping that something is true isn't evidence. Many researchers start out with that idea. I think this is true. I really want it to be true. But if it is false, it is just as valuable (possibly more so) to know that and to be able to investigate why.

Report all your results. Try to explain why different aspects lead you in different directions. Only then can your learning begin.

That sounds so super interesting. There are statistical issues at play for sure, I don't want to dissuade you but you need to make sure that you did the math (including data collection and methodology are correct), but you can write a very powerful paper by comparing two methods. Something like:

Method A, which is cheap and easy to collect data on but we have
concerns that it will contain bias gives a positive result.
On the other hand Method B that is difficult and expensive to collect data on but is
far more thorough and not expected to contain bias gives a negative result.
Therefore, researchers should avoid using method A.

I'd be willing to bet that you could get a journal to publish a paper that is written like that, given that all of the analysis, data collection, etc. was above board, let alone get a good grade in the class.


Applying to more selective programs after having been diagnosed with a long-term mental condition I have discovered recently that I had ADHD, and possibly some other mental condition, which explain some past academic difficulties. This gave me hope that with treatment (which I will start soon) and newfound motivation, I can improve my academic results dramatically and aim for a PhD.

My opinion for now is that the plan that gives me the best chances would be to get a second master's degree containing more theory compared to my current one (computer engineering). I'm aiming for some universities I have visited, which are quite highly regarded compared to my current one.

My results have had ups and downs over the years, and would be clearly insufficient without a very good justification, which I believe my mental health problems to be. I have documentation of the mental health problems I suffered from during part of my studies. I don't plan to use these as an argument for admission, but providing that I get better results in the next semester after getting medical help, I am hoping that the admission committee won't disqualify me instantly based on my past results, and give more importance to the next semester.

One additional difficulty is that I'm nearing the end of my current degree, so I won't have another occasion to get good results. I worry that getting good grades in the last months could be insufficient to offset my less-than-stellar record.

Is a very late mental disorder diagnosis followed by a significant improvement in results likely to save my applications to selective programs? Should I lower my ambitions for the moment?

It's certainly a huge relief to finally know, after years or decades of struggling, what the underlying problem is. But people with ADHD tend to assume that a diagnosis and treatment is a magic bullet that will suddenly make them like everyone else. I think part of this is ADHD tendencies and part is internalizing the erroneous belief that if you just tried harder you'd stop screwing up. I don't have any first-hand experience with ASD, but the issues seem to be similar.

So here's my first observation: A diagnosis does not "fix" ADHD. A diagnosis together with medication and therapy or coaching does not "fix" ADHD. Right now you're at the starting point and you've been pointed in the right direction, but it's probably going to take some time and experimentation to find out exactly what you need to successfully manage advanced academic work. Expect that what you need might be really different than what is ordinarily offered in an academic setting. Don't beat yourself up trying to be like the neurotypicals the work is designed for.

My second observation: As you can see from the answers already given, many professors and programs take the attitude that learning disorders/differences are the student's problem and it's not their job to deal with them (except maybe in a very superficial legally-mandated way). This attitude might vary by country--my own experiences in the US have been pretty dismal. So even once you know what you need, and even though the law is on your side, you might find yourself fighting a losing battle against these attitudes to get it. So it's also important to be sure that you're entering an environment that sets you up for success.

I honestly don't know the answer to this second problem. I might post a related question here later to see what the ASE community thinks. I don't mean to sound pessimistic, but the fact is that the academic community is on the whole not particularly welcoming to people with learning differences, and ADHD is particularly misunderstood. The trick here is to find the exceptions who will provide the conditions you need to flourish.

Go ahead and apply. Say in (the middle of) your research statement that you had an issue affecting your performance in earlier years, but now you have identified it  and found a way to deal with it, as evidenced by your  improved performance in the recent semesters.

If possible have your recommendation letter writers confirm your story, briefly. Something like "X had a bumpy start, but recently developed the right attitude to succeed in an advanced program"

You do not have to name the issue or provide medical evidence. Instead, focus on what the new you can and will do.

PS I suggest not using the word "mental". It reminds people of stuff like schizophrenia. ADHD is not nearly as severe as that (at least in your case, I hope).

In response to your comment: I feel that talking too much about your condition signals that you focus too much on it, and will continue using it as an excuse for poor performance in the future. And generally, most people do not like hearing about problems of others (b/c they have plenty of their own). Instead, I suggest you focus on how much you accomplished since the issue was resolved.


Including a famous person as coauthor? Let's say a famous researcher contributed only a bit to a research project by a student, and the student could reasonably choose either to include or not include them as a coauthor.
Is it beneficial to the student to include them? It seems that having a big name would increase viewership and perceived legitimacy of the paper, while having more coauthors also seems to diffuse the ownership of the work.

Let's say a famous researcher contributed only a bit to a research project by a student, and the student could reasonably choose either to include or not include them as a coauthor.

The student doesn't get to choose, the student gets to invite: It's the famous researcher's decision as to whether they want to be a co-author, since they contributed a bit to [the] research project.

It seems that having a big name would increase viewership and perceived legitimacy of the paper, while having more coauthors also seems to diffuse the ownership of the work.

The benefits are significant, whilst the drawback of more authors is minimal (albeit, fields vary).

My experience with this, as a former grad student is as follows:
[student author][supervising professor][famous author  whom professor knows][various techs who processed the data]
They're likely credited in dozens of papers, but if its direct, co-author w/o primary positioning.


Famous modern-era academics without academic degrees? Are the any famous or well-known (today-living) researchers without academic degrees working as professors or permanent staff members?

There are two related questions:

PhD without previous academic degree: truth or myth?
Is it possible to obtain a Master's degree without Bachelor's degree?

However, I am curious about the no-degree (past upper secondary school, i.e. no BSc, MSc, PhD, etc) case.

In regard to your question's topic, at least two relevant terms come to mind: lay scholar and autodidact. Once we establish the right terminology, it is not too difficult to find information that you're looking for. In particular, this Wikipedia list and this list seem to be rather comprehensive (you will have to filter the information to select the modern-era academics without degrees).

Freeman Dyson does not have a PhD.

http://pipeline.corante.com/archives/2014/04/01/freeman_dyson_on_the_phd_degree.php


Should I omit some of my qualifications in my application materials to "surprise" with during an interview? I am applying for a fellowship so that I can pursue a PhD in the US. The selection process includes an interview for shortlisted candidates.

I like  to save the best for the last in order to surprise the audience. I think surprise, wherever it is used, has a good effect. I have a poster based on my undergraduate dissertation, which is said to be very attractive. It is inspired by the poster of Michael Barton, which is introduced by the Better Poster blog. I think I can use it to surprise the fellowship selection committee.

Now, should I apply this strategy to the interviewers? That means I will keep the information of what I've done in the SOP as minimal as possible, just enough to pass the first selection round to get to the face-to-face round. At this round, I will show them my poster and hope they will be favorably impressed.

Should I use this strategy?

I think I should quote my comment on Hans Adler's answer here:

  I just take my A0 size poster in to the interview room. During the interview, professors will test my knowledge, ask me what I've done and judge that if I'm adequate to the fellowship. In the room it will have a white board for you to outline what I've done, and this is what is poster born for. Instead of drawing figure or chart by myself, I just need to open the poster and show what's what.

No.

How will you know exactly what's "just enough to pass the first selection round"? You won't. You can't.
Don't "surprise" by withholding helpful information. I believe most people find it annoying and inconsiderate when someone deliberately withholds information that they need in order to do their job (which is what you are proposing to do to the selection committee).
It's harder to change someone's opinion of you than it is to confirm it. Even if you manage to get an interview using this strategy, convincing the interviewer that the candidate he thought was mediocre is really exceptional is more difficult than making him think, "This student is just as exceptional in person as I thought he would be!" (Also see: confirmation bias)
Presenting yourself badly on paper can lead the committee to think that you don't know how to present yourself well, or didn't bother to find out how, or didn't care enough to put effort into your application. These are not qualities that people look for in an applicant.

I'm a bit puzzled by the question. Posters are one medium for presenting your research. Other options include talks (or the associated slides), articles and abstracts. A poster only really makes sense in a poster session, when there is actual space for putting it up, and ideally some time has been allocated for authors standing next to their posters and presenting them to interested people.

Sending in a poster as part of an application in general doesn't seem to make much sense, just like sending in the slides to a talk you have given. It's not really the right medium for the purpose. And the same principle applies to your presence before the selection committee, unless they are doing a poster session.

You should prepare a presentation of your work in a suitable format (probably an abstract, maybe in somewhat extended form, along with a URL to a preprint or published article) and send that along with your application. You can still bring your poster in case there is a situation in which you can use it. And slides in case you get the opportunity for a little talk. Don't think of any of these things as a magic bullet just because someone has complimented you on it. Choose the right medium for the occasion; if you have material in a less optimal medium such as (presumably) your poster, keep it in your sleeve as an ace to be presented in case an appropriate occasion should arise.

In my opinion, a poster would have to be truly extraordinary in a way that cannot be captured in another medium to justify sending it with your application. Besides, I am not even sure how you would send it. By snailmail would be slow, unusual and a hassle. If you send it electronically, most recipients probably wouldn't know how to print it in an appropriate size, and reading it on the screen is probably not much fun.


Acceptance into graduate math programs I have been hearing different views about my likelihood of getting accepted into a math graduate program.

  Which of the following factors contribute most to the acceptance of a non-math undergraduate into a math graduate program (please order them)?

  GPA
  Recommendation letters
  Publishing math papers

Since I am an engineering student I only registered basic math courses (such as calculus, linear algebra, etc.). However, I studied a lot of other more advanced courses by myself. My GPA is about 3.5. A lot of people have told me that I need to raise my GPA in order to get accepted into a decent math graduate program and this is worrying me.

Courses that I self-studied: Undergraduate abstract algebra, real analysis (with an introduction to measure theory), first 4 chapters of Munkres' Topology, elementary number theory, graph theory

Courses that I am self studying: Hungerford's abstract algebra, algebraic topology

Courses that I plan to study: algebraic geometry, algebraic number theory, complex analysis.

I also managed to finish 2 math papers. So the question is:

Where do I stand now?

I don't see this question as being definitively answerable without a lot more information, both about your background and qualifications and about where you are applying.  Grad schools differ enormously in their approach to admissions in unusual cases.  Some lower-tier schools are eager to take a chance on smart but nontraditional applicants who will be rejected by more prestigious universities.  Others have established rigid rules after having had bad experiences with admitted students who had inadequate backrounds or didn't understand what they were getting themselves into.

Regarding grades, keep in mind that the world has seen a lot of grade inflation, and there are startlingly large numbers of applicants with nearly perfect grades.  You generally cannot impress an admissions committee by having excellent grades, although poor grades can hurt your chances.  Math departments typically care a lot about grades in mathematics and heavily mathematical fields (e.g., theoretical physics or CS), a little about grades in other scientific or engineering fields, and not at all about other grades, except that exceptionally poor grades in any field suggest the applicant is not good at getting things they don't care about done (which is not a good omen for their career).  I.e., math departments don't care if you get a B- in history, but getting an F in history could be a problem.

Recommendation letters are absolutely crucial.  In my experience they are by far the most important factor: other aspects of the application could hurt your chances even if you get good letters, but those other aspects cannot get you admitted by themselves.  If you can't arrange for enthusiastic letters that the admissions committee will trust, then you have no chance at all of being admitted at a higher-ranked school.  It's possible that a lower-ranked school might take a chance on you, but as I understand it every graduate program cares a lot about letters.

As for math papers, it's unfortunately not hard to write a near-vacuous or unoriginal paper and get it published somewhere obscure, and carefully evaluating a paper can take a lot of time and effort (refereeing is hard).  If you simply list a paper in your application, with no evidence of its quality, then it's unlikely anyone will have the time to investigate carefully.  The important thing for graduate admissions is not the publication per se, but rather the research experience that led to it, and you need a letter of recommendation that talks about this research and vouches for it.  (In fact, having such a letter can be very valuable even if the research did not lead to a published paper.)  This means you need a letter from your supervisor or mentor, or at the very least from someone who has read the paper and knows something about how it came about (for example, someone who can single out your own contribution if you had coauthors).  In principle, if you publish in an especially prestigious journal and without senior coauthors, then the journal's high standards might serve as enough of signal of quality by themselves.  However, this very rarely happens with undergraduate research.

So in short:

Bad grades could hurt you but good grades won't serve as a strong argument for admission.
Recommendation letters are crucial.
Research experience could help you get great letters but is very difficult to judge except through the letters.

However, as I said in the beginning, there are a lot of graduate programs out there, with different approaches to admissions.  If all goes well, you'll get strong letters from math faculty and will be admitted in more or less the usual way.  Otherwise, you may have to find a school that is willing to take a chance (usually because they have trouble attracting strong students with conventional backgrounds).

3,1,2 .
And high GRE (subject) score may help.The content and level of your papers is crucial.
And your goal will determine your chance.By the way ,this math-gre website lists many applicant profiles and admission results.
Definitely worth a look..


Are Doctor of Arts (D.A.) degrees in math taken seriously? Morris Kline's Why The Professor Can't Teach mentions many problems in current mathematical education in university.  The author said the Doctor of Arts (D.A.) in Mathematics was created to solve these problems.  But I noticed that there are only three universities that have this degree in the U.S. (even in the world).  They are

Carnegie Mellon University,
University of Illinois at Chicago and
Idaho State University.

I even heard an associate professor in CMU said they want to halt this degree. So my question is, has the D.A. degree in math been taken seriously?

If the NSF (National Science Foundation) doesn't recognize a degree as a Research Doctorate, for whatever reason, the holder's opportunities will be limited. For example, most colleges and universities in the US expect faculty to do at least some research at some level. The required quality varies widely.

Tenure in the US is determined by faculty committees. If one or more members of your committee doesn't accept the quality of your degree for whatever reason you will fare poorly in attaining tenure.

Finally, when you apply for grants you are expected to list your "highest" degree. If a "doctorate" isn't recognized as a Research Degree by NSF, you might need to list an MS as your highest degree. This can be devastating if you don't expect it.

For the D.A. degree, NSF recognition as a Research Doctorate ended in 2003.

Note that the above is directed to anyone who would want to pursue this degree now or in the future. Consider the above issues. However, it says nothing about the quality of the people holding the degree. Many were unfairly left stranded, unfortunately, by NSFs change of designation.

A doctorate is a doctorate. But where you get it matters: Note that two of the three are highly regarded 'name' Universities.

Universities prize research over teaching; DoA was devised to solve a teaching shortage that no longer exists. The ratio of people with doctorates to University positions is very high. To get a tenure track university position, you need to publish. "Math is a young man's game". If you don't publish something good before 30, you never will.

That said, my friend noted that his philosophy professors at a state University were all from Harvard, and very good at teaching. His math professors were all from low-tier schools and spoke terrible English.  If you take a DoA, you must learn to teach really really well.

Oh, and if you are truly curious: Look up someone who has one on LinkedIn, and pay the InMail cost to contact them.


Why is it acceptable to cite unpublished works? If an article, theorem, etc. is unpublished, presumably the work is only available to people who track down the author and get a draft copy. Today we have arXiv and can find many preprints on the Internet, but people have been citing unpublished works longer than arXiv has been around. It seems like an unscrupulous author could claim anything he wants, cite an unpublished work that doesn't support his claim (or even one that doesn't exist), and get away with it unless the bad claim is caught in the review process.

I suppose the reviewers could ask for a copy of the cited work, but I recently saw a citation that was just "private communication 1981" for a paper published in 1985, and that could easily have been a phone call where no record could be provided to a reviewer.

I've never published anything myself, so maybe I'm unaware of a part of the review process that is meant to catch this, but what prevents authors from making bad citations of unpublished works?

You seem to be interpreting citations as a way of proving something by appeal to authority.  That is not what citations are.  A citation is a way of giving appropriate credit to the originator of an idea and pointing the reader to the explanation of that idea.  Not giving credit to the person who gave you an important original idea is unethical, whether that idea has been published or not.

Citing a "personal communication" related to a mathematical fact (for instance) does not eliminate the need to prove that fact.  Appropriate usage would be to write something like "the following was communicated to me by X. Y. [personal communication]", followed by (for instance) a theorem statement and its proof.

Note that if something is in a technical report or on arXiv, it is not unpublished.  People publish blog posts, novels, and Youtube videos.  Published and peer-reviewed are completely different things and it's wrong to conflate them.

I think if a work is not unpublished, there is no such thing as "cite", it is merely mentioning. But I do think it is important to do so.

First, when you make a scientific argument in your work, you always need evidence and support. Mentioning unpublished work tells readers that what you are talking about is true, and they will keep it in mind and go to validate it when you actually publish it.

The second is that to show others you are the first one to make these discoveries, but you have not published it yet. This is important in academia as well.


How to explain not listing my PhD supervisor as a reference? I need advice on how to explain during a job interview why I am not listing my PhD supervisor as a reference. I have a third interview for a job as a scientist at a startup company.

Previously, my supervisor caused me to lose a job offer by saying I had bad presentation and communication skills. That was when I was applying for a job as an FAS so that would be a much larger component. My supervisor and I had disagreements on writing my thesis with regards to how the 'story' was told.

The second interview required a 30 min talk about my work and yet I still made it to the next round.

I have my MSc. supervisor, a committee member/co-author and my department head as references instead. I realize this isn't as good, but I can't predict what he will say so I don't want to list him.

What can I say if the interviewer (a scientist, as the company has no HR) asks why I didn't list my former boss? And what are the chances he will be contacted anyways?

Whatever you say, do not lie. They might contact him and if it turns out that you lie about the reason not to mention him as ref, you are probably out. So instead say the actual reason, without speculations and accusations.

One way to go could be:

  We had disagreements on a few points recently when writing up my thesis and haven't talked it out yet

If you have additional references from third parties (colleagues or similar) explain that you consider the collaboration you had with them to be more intense and on the field, therefore they may provide more sincere opinions.

If this said they insist they want to contact your previous supervisor although you have explicitly stated he is not a reference then let them do so and consider that you may not want to work in environments where your (honest) decisions are worked around.


What should I write in the experience section of CV? I have recently graduated with a BSc degree in Physics. I haven't had any internship before. Well, all internships last summer were cancelled because of covid. Now, I am applying for few internships for the summer of 2021. What should I put in the experiences section of the CV? Or, should I remove the whole section?

In the experience section of the CV, there should be (relatively) relevant experience to the job/internship you are applying to.
It is not clear what you want to write in the experience section. Of course, you shouldn't have a section labelled "experience" and then nothing in it. I would also advise against putting irrelevant experience in this section (e.g. babysitting 5 years ago) which would have the same effect to me.
Writing "internship in [place] on [topic] cancelled because of coronavirus" would not feel right to me neither, especially if this is the only item in "experience".
Keep the CV short and simple and then address in your cover letter the fact that you didn't do an internship at the end of your Bsc degree because of the coronavirus.


How to write a graduate study personal statement for a technical field without related bachelors degree? With the desire to obtain a master's degree in Management Information Systems, IT Management, or Computer Science, how do you proceed writing a personal statement when your bachelors degree is unrelated?

With minimal previous technical experience (basic knowledge on programming, some collegiate participation in software club), is it possible to be considered seriously? What can be added to the statement to strengthen your impression?

I ask because a lot of the graduate ambassadors at DePaul have bachelors in different fields.

Related: How does one change to engineering for graduate school after undergrad in a science field?

I was recently accepted to a MS program that is different from my undergrad and graduate training.  In my personal statement I tried to relate my experience to the field I was pursuing.  I had field research experience in public health, but I was applying for a MS in biology.  I still used my research experience, but I focused on the general research skills that I developed, things that would be useful in the lab.  I mentioned things that are universal to all research.

I think if you convey passion and direction for the new field, you'll be alright.  It can be an advantage too.  Think of ways you can incorporate your previous field if possible.  If not, show them your maturity and passion.  It seems like admissions committees can tell who is going through the motions and who is genuine.  Make your voice heard.

Recently I applied for an MS in electrical engineering. I wrote my sop on my own.

Firstly you have to mention how you got interested in this field. Then you mention all about your academics and activities from your schooling to present day. Then you mention about your area of interest and your academic projects and internship(s). At last why you want to do graduation in the area you prefer to and conclude.
Regarding your projects you have to give brief explanation about the project and the things that you used in the project .


Can you reject a postdoc offer after the PI has paid a large sum for flights/accommodation for your visit? I am being considered for a very nice industry scientist position but this involves many interviews and assessments and can take some time.

However I have also accepted an invitation to the US (I'm in Australia) to give a presentation in relation to high likelihood of employment as a postdoc in a research institute.

The postdoc supervisor has arranged for sightseeing and lab visits and hotels. I feel bad if somehow I wish to pursue the industry position.

Has anyone had a similar experience and have you turned down something like that before?

It sounds like you are in the interview phase with no stated commitment in the form of having accepted an offer. Having your travel expenses reimbursed for an interview is not in any way a commitment to accept a position should it be offered. This is a completely normal expense that's part of finding good candidates. It is not expected that everyone they offer a job to will accept.

As long as you approach the interview in good faith, meaning that you haven't already accepted a job elsewhere, and that there is some reasonable non-zero probability that you'd take the job if offered, you shouldn't feel bad about having your interview expenses covered because of the possibility you might not wind up there.

When I had something similar, my rejected host took it rather unkindly. However, it works both ways, what if the only compensation for a rejection from them would be the "tour" they paid for? In most cases I would not consider it enough compensation, what kind of jobseeker can go on tours when "the house is burning", meaning those few days you take off other interviews, applications etc may be a hefty price to pay. Sure, only occasionally, but your host would also suffer from the hosting expenses only occasionally.


Should academic CVs include reviewing, non-academic service, hobbies and languages? Do you suggest adding these to an academic CV?

Review journals/conferences. Can adding such information creates negative issues or it would only have positive impression?
Non-academic service: example, Unesco volunteer
Hobbies. Many sites suggest to remove them http://www.academiccareer.manchester.ac.uk/applications/cvs/content/ , but isn't it important to show that the applicant is not a robot? Some suggest to include them wisely http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2011/03/30/how-to-get-tenure-at-a-major-research-university
Languages. Can knowing a certain language be used as a discriminate against an applicant?!

An academic CV is not intended to describe you as a whole person, but rather to describe your qualifications and accomplishments as an academic.  The assumption is that of course you lead an ordinary human life (with hobbies, friends, family, religious beliefs or the lack thereof, etc.), but the people reading your CV are not trying to evaluate you as a human being and aren't interested in reading about the rest of your life.

Anything academic is fair game for an academic CV, including reviewing.  How much to emphasize it depends on how many more important things you have to list.

Language skills are relevant to academia because they can assist with research, teaching, and public communication.  You are right that this information could be used to discriminate, but I doubt this particular form of discrimination occurs often enough to be worth much worry.

Hobbies and non-academic service are generally not relevant (although there could be exceptions).  It's not necessary to discuss them at all, and nobody will assume you have no hobbies or service activities if you don't mention any.  It's OK to mention them in a very short section at the end of the CV if you feel it's important, but you should definitely not emphasize them.  There are at least two reasons for this:

It could come across as cluelessness, like you think they are an important factor in hiring/tenure decisions.  This certainly won't ruin your chances, but it could look silly.
It could be viewed as a defiant statement, along the lines of "I'm letting you know that my hobbies are particularly important to me and I intend to spend more time on them than you would like."  If your CV is great otherwise you might be able to get away with this, but it will work against you.  (I've seen this happen with graduate admissions, where someone devoted part of their personal statement to a favorite hobby and the committee worried that this hobby could be a distraction from research.)

Hiring committees do care about hiring reasonable colleagues who aren't going to be jerks, so human qualities are relevant (and not just academic accomplishments).  Interviews shed light on this issue, as do letters of recommendation, and the CV is not so relevant.

Note that academic evaluation criteria are entirely different from undergraduate admissions in the United States.  In that case, colleges are trying to assemble a self-contained community, and they really care about breadth, well-roundedness, leadership, personality, etc.  Showing something about yourself as a human being is absolutely crucial.  However, this is an anomaly of U.S. undergraduate admissions, and graduate admissions, faculty hiring, etc. are done completely differently.  [I know your question never mentioned this comparison, but I decided to mention it for completeness since it's a common cause of confusion.]

Yes, I want to see more than your publications and academic record. In particular hobbies, languages, clubs, sports and community involvement are important to mention. Were you on the chess team, the debating team, the school paper? Have you worked commercially, managed people, run a business?

These days everything is interconnected - technology has applications, sport and art make use of technology, science studies both the inner world of mind/brain and society (social/life sciences) as well as the external world of physical entities and devices (physical/biological sciences) and the way everything relates to everything else (information/cognitive sciences).

From your community/commercial involvement I might get insight into your aims in life, you leadership ability, your willingness to work alongside other people and health. Applications of mathematics, the sciences and the arts are now strongly driven to be commercially viable. World-wide universities are driven to non-traditional research and non-traditional funding, and to hire people with appropriate experience.

I'm not interested in a statement of purpose or some other hype that sounds more like something out of a fortune cookie than the kind of evidential data that belongs in formal curriculum vitae.

From your interest in languages or writing, your experience in debating or the school paper, I will gain ideas about how you'll go writing/reviewing/marking/examining a thesis or a paper or a grant, how you will approach/understand the literature, whether you can work on particular interdisciplinary or application-oriented parts of the research.

From your interest in music or dance, sports or photography, I might find connections that relate to (say) projects in computer science or engineering, in signal processing, image processing, speech processing - or extend them in new directions to song recognition or music transcription.

When people are indistinguishable on paper in terms of formal criteria, it is often these extras that will tip the balance and tell me who is best for the job.

The people who say to remove these things are the kind of people who want to fit other people neatly into boxes.  I wouldn't employ any of them!

I'm not exactly sure what OP means by "review conferences/journals", but published reviews and indeed all papers you have written should be included, and reviewing for conferences, journals and funding bodies is something that is worth mentioning for someone who is applying for a job early in their academic career.  Later in your career, I'd be looking for membership of program committees and editorial boards, and there should be so many venues you've reviewed for it wouldn't be worth the dozen extra pages to list them all.  I review dozens of papers a year for countless conferences and journals...


Criticizing other people's figures on my webpage A few months ago I started collecting papers that contain figures I think convey information in a very efficient manner (i.e., figures that I think are very well illustrated and that should serve as examples of how they should be designed).

Now, because I am a huge data-vis geek, I have been thinking about opening a page on my website in which I talk about how I think figures should be designed and which principles I expect students/coauthors/general public to follow when illustrating data. Consequently, I am inclined towards including some of those amazing figures I have been collecting and talking about them (i.e., why they are efficient and well designed). More controversially, perhaps, is the fact that I also plan to include some figures that I believe were terribly designed and explain in which ways they fail (some of those badly designed figures are actually mine).

While I will seek the adequate rights to post them on my blog (e.g., through RightsLink for Elsevier journals), I would like to hear about the morality of this practice, particularly due to the fact that I will negatively criticize other authors' work.

Is there any moral (or even legal) problem in criticizing other people's figures on my website? Should I expect any sort of retaliation if I decide to do that? I understand that this is largely dependent on the tone I employ, but I will make every effort to be as technical and objective as possible.

I can't even imagine a situation in which criticizing published academic materials on their merits would be wrong or immoral.

How would it be different from criticizing someone's selection of an econometric or statistical model to use on their data?  This happens constantly in academic literature, and in fact is crucial to the process of research.  The way data is conveyed to others through graphs is no less important than model selection, and both can be used to deceive or obscure.

So as long as you cover two bases:

Avoid ad hominem attacks, as you should in all sorts of reviewing, and
Follow any copyright rules the publishers impose,

Not only is there nothing wrong with doing it, I would argue that as an academic and data viz expert, you should do it.  As for someone taking offense at your criticism?  Well, as long as you're professionally criticizing its merits and avoiding problem number 1 from above then it's you who are in the right, and the one taking offense who is in the wrong.

As I would in any situation with moral ambiguity, I'd apply the golden rule: Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.
If you would not want others to do it you, then do not do it to others yourself.
On top of which, the fact that you're having moral qualms about it already highlights that it might be something you should avoid.
All this being said, I'm all for "teachable moments."
I would use a blanket "views expressed" disclaimer and keep it as professional as possible about the figures themselves, only.

Before we begin—a little disclaimer…   Any statements made, views
expressed, or opinions given represent my personal views and opinions
alone.   None of these statements, views, or opinions given by me
(nor any of the information appearing on these slides) are endorsed
by, nor do they necessarily reflect, the opinions of the University of
Alaska, UAA, nor any other colleges or organizations affiliated with
these institutions.
The Hidden Costs of Outsourcing: Why Alaska Needs its Own Law School, trwatts.

What do you think?


Students admit illicit behavior in private communication: how should I proceed? I am an adjunct professor at a University for a course where the students have to use a certain software "X" during the course. The software is distributed under a proprietary license; our University has bought a number of licenses, which have been made available for the students. Due to COVID restrictions, I am delivering the course online.
Recently, I have received a couple of... questionable emails from students who apparently have had issues in installing the (legally distributed) student version of X.

One said that he is following the course together with a colleague, visiting his home and using together the same PC. I am quite sure this is not allowed under the current COVID restrictions in my country.
Another one has admitted that he is using a pirated version of the software on his personal PC.

Note that, in both cases, I did not inquire about these issues: they simply mentioned them matter-of-factly.
On the one hand, I realize it is not my job to investigate this kind of behavior; I am not sure I should report it, as I do not even have solid proof. On the other hand, not mentioning at all the legal ramifications in my email replies to the students can be seen as "letting it slide" or even condoning such behavior.
How should I proceed? I am inclined towards reprimanding admonishing the students (privately).
Note: This is not a question about the ethics of software piracy or of flouting social distancing regulations, but about the proper response to illicit behavior (which I have not personally witnessed) that happens off-campus. I am not completely sure that the students' conduct in this case is illicit, though I believe it is questionable at best.

I think it's reasonable for you not to support these circumstances, but also no need for you to report/escalate the situation to compel some change in behavior.
In your place I'd advise your students A) that you cannot help with installation of non-standard copies, and B) you can't be responsible if the non-standard software they use prevents them from completing assignments on time (you can choose to be more forgiving if and when these circumstances actually occur).
However, if students are in fact having trouble installing software provided to them by the university (rather than side stepping some additional fees) then I think it's your responsibility to address that root cause first. If you can't get support through the vendor, then this is the issue I'd escalate instead. Your university bought licenses and should either provide support for these sorts of technical issues or expect support from the vendor. Your university can complain to the company they purchased licenses from if that company isn't providing sufficient technical support, or make sure they provide sufficient support themselves.
If there is some additional fee, then you should consider whether that fee is really appropriate and whether there are alternatives.
Lastly, on the Covid-19 issue... I think it's important to be wary of judging others who may need to bend the rules a bit for extenuating circumstances. Breaking restrictions to party is one thing, doing so to access school resources sounds like the most non-issue circumstance you're going to encounter as an educator. Maybe he's really visiting the colleague because they have no sufficient internet access at home, or doesn't have a computer or the funds to buy one. Needing to visit someone else to work on coursework sounds incredibly inconvenient - I doubt anyone is doing such a thing without a reason beyond "I felt like it". Maybe it's not your business to ask, maybe it's something you can ask compassionately about in case there is something you can do to help, but this is not the situation to consider escalating towards some sort of "consequences".

If you feel you want to take some kind of action then consider the primary market for the software in question.
From the perspective of a company selling commercial software you'd be out out your mind to prosecute student piracy because it's the fastest way to get your hooks into the companies that will employ them. In the eighties and nineties Microsoft actively encouraged student adoption of its products. A blind eye was turned to even the most blatant piracy because Microsoft knew that the moment students transitioned to a professional context

they would want the software they were used to
they would have a lot to lose from the consequences of prosecution
there would be budget for software

In those days, had you reported student misconduct to Microsoft, they would have thanked you and carefully lost the information. The students were handling marketing and distribution for them at no charge and without support costs. The most profitable way to handle the situation was make it easy for them to do and look the other way.
How do you report it to a company that would prefer not to know?

Based on correspondence it appears that some students are having difficulty in remaining fully compliant with licence terms. [Explain problem scenario.] If you have any suggestions as to how best to remedy the situation they would be welcomed.

They'll either delete that immediately or tell you how to sort it out.
If the software is strictly for academic consumption it's a very different story. In that case some of these other answers apply and it's on you and your department to enable the student access to services.


Is it normal for an Associate Editor to keep the paper for over a month after the reviews are done? I have submitted a paper to IEEE Transactions on Broadcasting on September 12th and after about 4 months the status changed from "Awaiting Reviewer Scores" to "Awaiting AE Decision". However, it's been around 40 days that the status has not changed and I haven't received a decision. I have contacted the AE twice politely through email (one month apart) and asked about the status but no response.

What can be the reason for this? Has anyone had a similar experience?

Unfortunately, turnaround for journals in most areas of computer science can be extremely slow. While I am not familiar with your area or this particular journal, the whole process can take anywhere from months to a couple of years. The typical reasons for the delay include:

Computer scientists care more about conferences than journals, so they focus their efforts on that, whereas journals have no hard deadlines;
Difficulty of finding reviewers (would-be reviewers say they don't have time); and
Reviewers who take months or years to submit their review (it sits on their backlog until the editor pesters them enough to complete it).

In your particular case, note that "awaiting AE decision" does require some work on the editor's part, or maybe even further discussion from the reviewers. So you can't assume that just because the status has changed, the paper is finished reviewing and ready to give back to you.

I would not worry about this. Consider putting your paper up on the arXiv. I have had journal papers take around a year for the whole process, and I have heard of some taking 2-3 years.

No, it's not normal. The fact that you're not getting a response from the AE indicates it's even more abnormal.

I would try to contact someone else at the journal (the Editor-in-chief, the journal office) to see what's up.


Are there any good job directories for academic work? I'm currently looking for a PhD position and have started to realize that a lot of my time goes into sporadeously surfing the web in hope of finding an open position. Are there good job directories for academic work that lists available positions?

It would depend on what your field of work is. But heres a nifty little list that I keep an eye on (I am looking for a postdoctoral position in academia / research and these websites are quite helpful to me)

www.phds.org
www.postdocjobs.com
http://www.cfd-online.com/Jobs/
http://www.aps.org/careers/
http://www.academickeys.com

There are a few websites suggested in the answers below/above my response to this question and they are quite nice too!

Besides that you probably have a general idea as to what you'd want to work as / work for. You could perhaps target a bunch of universities and faculty members for prospective positions?

Good luck!

I create a platform for Academic people. You may search academic jobs updated daily at Academic Gates platform. There are thousands jobs collected daily. Hope it help!


Why is it unethical to share the contents of an exam with students who haven't taken it yet? Ever since I have known the term academic integrity, I have known that it is bad to breach it––I have known that it is in my best interest to maintain academic integrity and in the best interest of all others. However, recently, I have been wondering why it is so detrimental to break academic integrity though only in the context of assessments. For example, consider the following hypothetical:

Background
Roger is a student in university in History class 1. Jacky is in history class 2. Both classes are of the same curriculum. Roger has a history exam on Monday. He studied hard and took the test. There was one question that he did not know the answer to.
Situation:
During lunch, Roger told Jacky about the test, that it was easy for him but that there was one question that he did not know the answer to. He tells Jacky the question. After lunch, Jacky found the answer to the question that Roger told her about in her notes. On the exam, she got the question right.

Roger's grade was not harmed by Jacky's success. Grades were not determined through a stanine, percentile, etc. In the end, Jacky knew the material needed for the test, even though she was told what to study.
Why is it extremely unethical and considered a breach of academic integrity in almost all cases to share test material with others? What detrimental effects does it have on the person receiving the information/hints?

Why do you think that cheating, or more generally any breach of academic integrity, has to be of direct and immediate detriment to each involved person? The basic idea, to my understanding, of academic integrity is that by violating it, the system as a whole suffers, which is clearly not the same as there are direct negative consequences for each involved individual.

In your example, cheating on a test* can easily be very positive for the individual that is cheating (assuming (s)he is not caught, and also ignoring that (s)he probably did not learn what (s)he was supposed to learn, which may lead to trouble down the road). Of course, for the academic system in total, cheating students are pretty bad, as they severely undermine the value of examinations.

Similar arguments can also be made for other cases of academic honesty - as a young researcher, it may be quite positive for me to build a great career on manipulated data and forged experiments, but for science as a whole this would clearly be terrible.

This of course leads to the question what incentives rational individuals have to not act against academic honesty. Those fall into two basic categories: fear of repercussion and ethics. Both categories are easy to understand. Clearly, it may work out great for me to cheat on tests and forge my data, but it may also easily be discovered and backfire on me - and if it happens, the consequences are typically dire enough that overall it is not worth the risk for most. Further, as academics we are nurtured in the thought that academic honesty is the foundation of science. Hence, many (most?) academics would not want to violate academic honesty for personal advantage even if they knew for sure that they would not get caught. It is simply our understanding that the entire system is based on academic honesty.

*By the way, your scenario would not ubiquitously be considered cheating. For instance, in my old alma mater in central Europe, sharing test questions with the next year of students is completely normal and a widely accepted practice among faculty and students. Goes to show that what is considered ethical also differs among regions and institutions.

The breach is obvious -- there's an unfair advantage.  Even if the Bell curve isn't used, it harms the reputation of the Institution or the pedagogy of your professor.

It's as simple as that.  Now if you didn't want to live up to the rules given by your Institution, then you shouldn't have enrolled.

There are nearly zero exceptions.


What is a 'Chair' in British academia? I understand that a 'Chair' is a traditional title of a professor in the UK.
Nowadays, what is the difference, if any, between a Chair and a Professor in the UK?

It is the difference between the role or job and the person who is doing that job.
The person has achieved the status and title of Professor. That person can take the position of the "Chair of Computer Science at the University of Somewhere".
Sometimes a particular Chair will have been endowed or funded at a University and then a Professor is recruited to take that Chair. That  person could have  moved from another Chair at some other University.
Some of  the Chair endowments are quite old, like this example from 1702 in Cambridge: https://www.ch.cam.ac.uk/alumni/new-name-our-oldest-chair

"Chair" is to "Professor" as "Throne" is to "King"/"Queen".
ETA: the cutesy analogy seems to have proved unpopular.  The substantive point of my answer was to express the view that "chair" is synonymous with "professorship".  Although I still believe, on balance of probabilities, that to be correct, I'm less sure of it than I was, because I found an oration from a University of Cambridge honorary degree ceremony, which is supplied in both English and Latin, and in which "chair" and "professorship" are rendered as different Latin words ("cathedra" and "proueheret" respectively).


Why are meta-analyses the most quoted type of research paper despite being often flawed? Meta-analysis represents the statistical pooling of several individual studies focusing on a specific research question, ideally conducted within the context of a systematic review of the scholarly literature.

Several examples of meta-analysis are available, with the first ones already appearing in the mid '50s, despite this term being proposed first by Gene Glass.

Indeed, it appears that meta-analyses continue to have substantial success in the scholarly literature, and often appear among the most quoted types of research design. Yet, a plethora of meta-analyses of suboptimal quality is being currently published, and this unfortunate trend does not appear to cease.

Which are the main reasons for this success? And, most appropriately, is this scientifically sound and reasonable, given the epidemic of meta-analyses often of suboptimal quality (Ioannidis 2016) or overlapping in content (Biondi-Zoccai et al, BMJ 2006)?

Disclosure: I am the first author of Biondi-Zoccai et al, BMJ 2006, and I have coauthored dozens of meta-analyses.

You have it backwards.  Meta-analyses are not heavily cited despite frequently being flawed; rather, they are frequently flawed because meta-analyses are heavily cited.

Because meta-analyses often were high-impact papers, many people with poor training and little experience tried to publish their own meta-analyses, in the hope of boosting their C.Vs.  It's (mainly) this flood of incompetent authors who are publishing flawed studies, and dragging the whole field down.

  The increase is a consequence of the higher prestige that systematic reviews and meta-analyses have acquired over the years, since they are (justifiably) considered to represent the highest level of evidence. Many scientists now want to do them, leading journals want to publish them, and sponsors and other conflicted stakeholders want to exploit them to promote their products, beliefs, and agendas. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses that are carefully done and that are done by players who do not have conflicts and pre-determined agendas are not a problem, quite the opposite. The problem is that most of them are not carefully done and/or are done with pre-determined agendas on what to find and report.

--We have an epidemic of deeply flawed meta-analyses, says John Ioannidis

Eventually, hopefully, journals and authors will become more aware of this and the poor-quality reviews will be ignored, correcting the problem. As evidence for this, we see a number of guidelines and resources for improving meta-analyses becoming more widely used over the past few years:

IOM
PRISMA
MOOSE

Because they offer the information prepared in bite-sized pieces.
It's the best sources that you can use if you want to generate a paper or thesis quick and dirty.

** Try to understand it from the view of a writer of an usual thesis, paper or article why he/she would use such a meta analysis:**

If the writer is a student:

Typical students who are writing thesises are not interested in scrolling through myriads of papers to collect the information they need for writing their work. Students know that their thesises almost matter to no one, so why spending so much effort in collecting pieces from multiple papers/journal entries if you can have something citable much easier?
If the writer has a job in Academia:

To publish just for publishing:

If you want to brag with a huge list of your publications, then meta papers are the best way to go. Just recycle their findings as much as possible. IF you can brag with a list of 30 papers, you can leave others merely stunned because they will never invest the effort in order to read all the work and probably see that a part of it is just worthles b.s. that has no added value but only stubborn citation
Monetary reasons:

It can happen that your (private) donors want to see quick results of their investment. I recently read an article of which the title was like "Why researchers publish papers that no one reads" suggesting that people in academia often publish redundant work in order to pretend that the donors investment shows continuous result (they have to do, because donors often think like Managers, often having little understanding how research works).
If you have to really generate such work for coin, I can comprehend that you go the easy way and just recycling findings from meta papers.


Is it possible to obtain a Master's degree without Bachelor's degree? I have worked as translator for more than seven years in the industry. I have a background in cuisine for more than ten years. Now I would like to add an graduate degree related to Tourism, Hotel and Event Management to my professional experience.

Can I enroll in such a masters program without first acquiring a Bachelors degree?

I know people who have attended and graduated from master programs in Australia and the UK and I've seen people considering such programs in the US (though I don't remember the school in the US and it was about 10 years ago but I thought it was Carnegie Mellon). These schools were all reasonable, fully accredited schools.

The students in question all were missing their bachelor degree. One had no university at all while others had most of their undergraduate credits yet had not finished. They key is that, like you, they all had significant real-world experience which was seen as offsetting their lack of credentials.

So, the short version is, there are schools who will accept master-level students without an undergraduate degree and there are schools who will not accept them. You just need to do the leg work and see which schools will make that exception.

Good luck!

Yes, it is absolutely possible.  But are there any degree-granting institutions that are so enlightened?

In my educated opinion, a Masters is for industrial and other trades, while a PhD or even a Bachelor's degree (Bachelor of Arts) are for transcendental ideals.   You don't need writing, a second language, a range of scientific and liberal courses for most fields.

So you can be a Master, if another Master declares such.