Questions tagged [productivity]
On measuring or improving workflow, organization, learning, memory, etc. in an academic context.
9
votes
1answer
397 views
Do academics actually work “full-time”?
My current postdoc position requires that I work 41 hours per week during a 5-day work week. As my first post-graduate position, I decided to take this seriously and actually track my hours. (People ...
7
votes
1answer
206 views
How to communicate realistic expectations for science faculty research to administration
I teach at a small US liberal arts college with no graduate students. There is no support for research, and the teaching load is 4-6 courses per year.
A colleague was recently denied promotion to ...
37
votes
4answers
5k views
How do I regain my momentum in research after a long period of slacking off?
I'm two and a half years into my PhD program. Recently, I finally worked up the courage to admit it — I've been slacking off for over a year and it's my fault. Now I'm determined to be productive in ...
1
vote
2answers
102 views
How to set up an efficient watch on publications in planetary science?
The number of journal on the topics tends to be quite high and most researchers of the field have yet to take on the habit of sharing their preprints on archive repositories (ArXiv or others).
Do ...
31
votes
11answers
8k views
Why don't I want to learn anything? [closed]
I'm an undergraduate student, rising senior. I've been immersed in academia now since freshmen year, and I'd like to pursue a PhD in Computer Science in the future. I'm posting here because I just ...
1
vote
1answer
130 views
About solving research papers involving complex Mathematics
Throughout my Ph.D., I have had difficulty in solving (maths in) research paper from other researchers. After the basic few steps, the researchers assume either one thing or the other thing, or have a ...
2
votes
0answers
81 views
Email alert for Google Scholar's recommended articles
I really like Google Scholar's list of "recommended articles". I usually find useful references there related to my work that I did not know about.
But I rarely log into Google Scholar to check ...
2
votes
1answer
67 views
classifying work folders and data, any recommended structure?
As my research and fields if interest change over time I came to build a vast amount of research drafts, data files, different academic and non academic reports and publications. The same thing for ...
0
votes
4answers
237 views
Can I start writing my PhD thesis from the second year?
I'm going to enter my second year in my PhD after two months from now. I start to think that I can write some chapters from now instead of waiting until the fourth year. This would help me to finish ...
1
vote
1answer
181 views
Why don't we still have a good eInk reader device for research papers? [closed]
There are so many people in academia. A lot of people who are not in academia also read research papers. And I'm not talking about the formatting part. I'm talking about just looking up research ...
-9
votes
6answers
532 views
Why do degrees take so long, when textbooks can be read so quickly?
A bachelor's degree takes you three years to complete, and say it consists of about thiry courses, and say each course is based on a book of about four hundred pages (fairly standard for fields like ...
0
votes
2answers
135 views
Is there any way to pick a right direction in research while solving a problem?
I am a PhD student mid stage, working on computational aspects of mathematics. I am working on a research problem with my supervisor. I am at a stage where I can't take much help from the supervisor ...
1
vote
1answer
218 views
Rigorousness in Proofs [closed]
I am in an extremely stressed out situation right now. I am pursuing Mathematical Sciences, as of now. I experience absolutely no difficulty in understanding the motivation or meaning underlying the ...
26
votes
6answers
6k views
How to speed up my research as a PhD student?
I am currently in a problem-solving mode of my PhD (theory, middle stage). I am working on something which is incremental on the last half a year. Until now, I did not get anything non-trivial. I ...
0
votes
2answers
152 views
Impact of PhD cgpa in academia and industry
I'm a Physics PhD student in a US university who qualified for the PhD level and waiting for the comprehensive test.
In the first year of my PhD, I wasn't able to cope up with the pressure and ...
1
vote
1answer
142 views
Is it worth it to accept this PhD scholarship?
I got a scholarship offer which requires me to work for a financial institution for three days (24 hours) a week. The scholarship is quite generous (50k AUD per year). Is it worth it to take it if I ...
3
votes
0answers
325 views
Dealing with the feeling of incompetence and team competition [closed]
To preface, I imagine this might come off really immature, given that I am 30 years old. I joined a university as a PostDoc after completing my PhD 6 months ago. I am yet to publish anything after ...
3
votes
1answer
123 views
Does educational research productivity count as research productivity? [closed]
I'm PhD student and I'll be graduating in May (next year). I've been getting into discipline-based educational research (DBER), including developing tools, running projects, a paper or two, and ...
26
votes
9answers
7k views
How to know I have done enough work in one semester?
I am a PhD student in computer science (theory). I am worried about my productivity. I try to do as much as possible. I used to take four courses per semester during my first two years of studying. ...
3
votes
2answers
197 views
How to efficiently progress on a complex problem in research?
I am writing my master thesis in game theory and realized one type of situation where I am often stuck for a long time and feel frustration creeping in. It is, to no surprise, when facing a complex ...
1
vote
1answer
84 views
Research assistant: I am responsible for scheduling subjects, how do I deal with attrition in my PI's longitudinal study?
At my place of work, among my other responsibilities I am responsible for following up with and scheduling participants in our longitudinal study. This study has been going on since the late 80's, and ...
-1
votes
1answer
167 views
Is there a case to be made for adjusting how academic semesters are scheduled in North America? [closed]
From my limited experience, many universities in North America with two-semester (full year) type schedule has the following timeline,
Semester 1: Early September - Late November (or Late August - ...
3
votes
1answer
189 views
How can I cope with withdrawal symptoms from addiction while pursuing my PhD? [closed]
I am currently in the early stages of recovering from an addiction. I am finding it very hard to concentrate on my work due to withdrawal symptoms. How can I cope with this situation with a minimal ...
35
votes
6answers
1k views
Graduate school with tinnitus
I’m a Syrian refugee residing in Europe. I am about to complete my undergraduate degree in mathematics, and have applied to several graduate schools. To my surprise I got into a few very good ones. ...
26
votes
5answers
4k views
How to have productive meetings with Ph.D supervisor
I am a Ph.D. student in theoretical computer science. I meet my research supervisor once a week for around 2 hours. I prepare some of my research and try to present in front of him. I always try to ...
8
votes
1answer
927 views
Fear of missing out: how to maintain a good attitude towards research in academia in the age of rapid commercial success coming from industry?
I am currently studying information transmission in biological neural networks at a (fairly prestigious) university, specifically, the interaction between neurons and their surrounding glial cells. ...
3
votes
1answer
290 views
Do I have a chance at an academic career in North America or Europe? [closed]
I am a 46 year old former journalist who graduated with an Masters in Global Studies in 2008. After that, I decided to do a PhD, after working for an year. A dysfunctional program, personal issues, ...
15
votes
4answers
3k views
Can I ask my adviser for a raise?
Due to the recently passed tax bill by the United States Senate, graduate students will incur more taxes on their income which is already small. This will certainly affect my academic performance and ...
5
votes
2answers
985 views
Drinking and writing [closed]
This may be a sensitive subject given the subject matter.
But I have currently experiencing significant writers’ block when it comes to writing my statement of purpose and personal statement for ...
2
votes
0answers
155 views
How to have a competitive research group in a school doesn't have graduate program?
I'm applying to assistant professor positions and my research plan is based on three main projects. My initial idea is having 2 PhD students and one postdoc working on each project. However, there is ...
4
votes
3answers
679 views
How do STEM professors become so hyper-efficient with their research?
When I compare myself to my advisor, I don’t compare our level of expertise, as I don’t think that’s so meaningful; he’s obviously years ahead of me in the field, and so any time I talk about research ...
2
votes
1answer
273 views
Is impracticality of Short Classes Tested Or It Is Just A Common Belief?
While knowing that students lose their focus on lecture after twenty minutes, due to the inefficiency of moving between classes every twenty minutes, universities timetable lectures for an hour up to ...
-4
votes
1answer
253 views
Explaining current situation
As it turns out,I realised that, the field I'm working on is quite different than my original one. How to explain this current situation?
9
votes
2answers
211 views
Getting grants at a teaching department while officially being considered an R2 institution
My department is focused on teaching. We teach 6 classes/year with heavy undergraduate mentoring. It actually feels like teaching 8 classes per year. I know that there are grants "designed" for ...
7
votes
1answer
193 views
What's the best way to progress and prioritise my reading?
I'm having trouble keeping on top of my reading and am looking for advice on a day-to-day strategy.
My diet is as follows:
Papers for current research, teaching and exploration. I have a large ...
3
votes
1answer
123 views
Balancing (Re)building Foundations and Research
I'm a third year postdoc in mathematics.
I have been reasonably productive; however, I'm starting to feel some of my foundations in my subject slipping (especially since I specialized in my field ...
2
votes
0answers
372 views
Where do math grads, who don't code, land up in industry? [closed]
Do they go into investment banking? Consulting? Start their own bar and restaurants? Are there any statistics known about what percentage of industry jobs for people with math degrees require coding? ...
0
votes
1answer
114 views
Need a good, inexpensive app to catalogue journal articles and books [closed]
Like the title says, I'm looking for an inexpensive app or program that can catalogue both journal articles and books. I need something that has or can take input from an ISBN/QR/barcode scanner, and ...
2
votes
1answer
120 views
Using industry productivity tools and techniques for managing student projects
I'm heading a group of engineering students (from different fields) which need to build a robot (which performs tasks autonomously) as part of their courses.
There are 10 students in this group and ...
11
votes
2answers
411 views
What are some of the task planning tools people use in academia?
I have used simple excel-style Gantt Charts to create a high level plan of tasks for the academic semester, noted the end times depending on conference and grant deadlines, and then managed my time ...
8
votes
0answers
379 views
How rampant are “smart drugs” in academia? [closed]
Is it common for people in academia to use "smart drugs"/prescription medications to help them be more productive? Or do most people just use things like caffeine to be more productive?
11
votes
3answers
412 views
How to efficiently proofread my own mathematical paper?
The main purpose of this question is to collect some advices to efficiently proofread my own mathematical paper (when there are two authors or more, it is easier since one is supposed to read what the ...
4
votes
1answer
301 views
What is the best philosophy and practice to use smartphones for academic life? [closed]
I am doing research in theoretical physics, and have learned that smartphones can bring in a lot of distractions to your life if you want to focus on your research and study. Like facebook, twitter ...
0
votes
2answers
180 views
How do active researchers start and solve a scientific problem? [closed]
There are different researchers working on different subjects. I was wondering how do they find out an "interesting" problem and then solve it. This question may sound very vague. I am PhD student in ...
2
votes
0answers
113 views
In an international collaboration, what can be used for a shared meetings log or electronic labbook?
I started to have more and more international collaborations recently resulting in more and more (video conference) meetings. While in some meetings, there is one guys summing up the result of the ...
3
votes
2answers
224 views
In my letter of intent for an MSc, should I mention my commute?
I have a respectable cGPA of 3.5 and annual GPA of 3.7. I am hoping to graduate with at least a cGPA of 3.5 which would award me with "high honours". I am not trying to find an "excuse" for a low GPA (...
4
votes
2answers
211 views
Undergraduate doing a research term - supervisor has not assigned me any work to do other than reading, after one month. What can I do to fix this?
I am an undergraduate student, and am using a term to study with a professor. We got along well in his class and I thought he had a keen interest in helping students.
From what I understand, ...
-3
votes
1answer
249 views
Can I be a professor just by publishing scientific papers and teach 2 or 3 courser per year without writing a proposal (Electrical Engineering) [closed]
I am an academia person having some good publication records. It seems that I may need to spend most of my time in writing proposal if I join as a university faculty in North America.
I have ...
33
votes
6answers
3k views
Working in an isolated environment
A while ago I got a job as a theoretical interdisciplinary modeler in a purely experimental lab of a different field from my own. It was an experiment for the lab and a big change for myself. It was ...
37
votes
7answers
3k views
Learning new topic: read literature from oldest to newest or the other way around?
I need to start learning about a new research topic, I've been collecting articles for about a year now. I collected +400 articles, spanning a range of ~40 years.
I haven't had the time to read them ...
