Questions/Discussions related to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM).
4
votes
2answers
128 views
Learning new things after coursework duration of PhD
In STEM (In USA), the coursework duration of the PhD typically lasts about 1-2 years beyond that, students take 0 (or in certain cases, very few) courses in their subsequent PhD years. I work in ...
3
votes
2answers
157 views
How significantly does the salary amount for tenured faculty impact the quality of a deparment?
I mean both the salary a department offers to new hires and to already hired faculty members. I would prefer answers specifically about math departments, but I would also be interested in answers ...
7
votes
5answers
238 views
Good practices for skipping chapters when reading
Assuming I am reading a textbook/paper or any kind of rich material and then there is a point where I feel that the chapter I am reading is unnecessary or insignificant (I can get back to it later if ...
5
votes
4answers
365 views
At what age do professors stop taking new students?
Assuming STEM, At what age do tenured professors stop taking new students?
I am a first year PhD student and have my eye on one professor who seems to be really interesting and I feel he finds me as ...
20
votes
6answers
423 views
Reproducible Research :: Proprietary or Open Source Software?
For a long time, I had been using open source software for my work to boost "reproducible research". I believed that if I made my codes open source and the softwares to run those codes in were open ...
18
votes
2answers
592 views
What's a good way out when research is stuck?
Consider a mid-level PhD student in a STEM field (maybe 2-3 years into the program), he and his advisor are working on something relatively new and interesting but they have reached a point where the ...
8
votes
2answers
221 views
Prospect of pro-bono/voluntary work with current advisor after graduating with PHD
As an international student in the united states, I am legally allowed to work for 12 months, extendable to 29months for STEM fields, after graduating with my PhD (or masters degree for that matter) ...
12
votes
3answers
219 views
At what point do you decide to jump into research?
Before diving into "real research", there are some students who prefer to learn bare minimum prerequisite courses/material and then start off reading survey papers and develop their skills.
There are ...
20
votes
3answers
925 views
How to efficiently read mathematically and theoretically dense books in STEM fields?
When it comes to reading, there are literally thousands of methods from Speed Reading to SQ3R to Sequential(Word by Word till the end). My question is regarding reading mathematically/theoretically ...
