All Questions
40,994
questions
21
votes
5
answers
3k
views
Attending university as an adult freshman
After graduating high-school, I did not attend a university and instead decided to enter the work force. Eight years hence, I would like to pursue a university degree but I am not entirely sure which ...
- 227
17
votes
6
answers
1k
views
What steps could universities take to reduce Ph.D. drop-outs?
One of the major issues in universities with respect to PhD is the high dropout factor. Demotivated students cause a big loss to the university - a lot is spent on assistantships, but in the end, the ...
- 22.5k
20
votes
3
answers
1k
views
Should someone who wants tenure (or a research position) have hobbies totally unrelated to their work?
Or in Sean Carroll's words, is it true that "you are better off if your hobbies are nothing like your work"?
Carroll, Sean. "How To Get Tenure at a Major Research University:
Cosmic Variance." ...
- 10.9k
19
votes
3
answers
568
views
Number of potential PhD advisors at a school
Past advice suggests that potential PhD students should be wary of attending schools with only one professor in their subfield. If you have problems with your advisor and want to switch, having that ...
- 2,423
9
votes
5
answers
22k
views
How do I abbreviate the titles after my name?
I just got my Ph.D and I'm trying to work out how to do the full series of abbreviations after my name.
My scholastic qualifications are:
Ph.D University of New South Wales, Philosophy
Masters of ...
2
votes
1
answer
1k
views
What excellent university DSP programs exist and what makes them excellent? [closed]
In the same vein as this question, but making sure to abide by Good Subjective/Bad Subjective, what DSP programs are out there that are excellent and why?
Please give concrete examples or at least a ...
- 137
34
votes
3
answers
2k
views
What books, biographies or survival guides are helpful for women in engineering in academia?
Recently, I was giving a small informal talk in a local college. The audience comprised of engineers and my talk was based on current research in engineering. One of the girls asked about the position ...
- 341
18
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Do PhD programs care about the personalities of applicants?
Can a very extroverted person, for example, be more favored than a very quiet person? Or is this not ethical? Can someone who is psychopathic be barred from admission?
- 387
13
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Good practices with lab wikis?
OpenWetWare and Google Sites have been effective strategies in curating lab knowledge. I was curious about what are effective ways to create an effective wiki. Factors include:
Ease of use and low ...
- 4,755
8
votes
1
answer
141
views
What are good practices for sharing protocols online
We're beginning a fairly large effort to share the vast number of protocols accumulated in our lab and pushing them all to the cloud. Naturally, you don't want the knowledge of older graduate students ...
- 4,755
9
votes
4
answers
273
views
Do many academic institutions let students deposit their publications in the institutional repository?
I'm a doctoral student and I've published several academic papers. My institution maintains a digital institutional repository, but it doesn't look like I can put copies of my work in it. When I ...
- 602
69
votes
5
answers
110k
views
What is an extended abstract?
Some conferences ask for an extended abstract. What are the differences among "abstracts," "extended abstracts," and "full papers?"
- 2,106
4
votes
2
answers
353
views
How to get into position to teach college Arabic?
I am interested in teaching at the university-level in Arabic. Would teaching arabic in a high-school first(as I have no university-level teaching experience) help me? I currently teach science to ...
- 137
17
votes
2
answers
1k
views
For publications, what do I do when my first name is abbreviated?
I'm Muslim, I use Md. as for Muhammad. So when submiting to journals, should I stick to the 2nd & 3rd names? I'm currently facing problems in submitting to arxiv.org which asks for only first and ...
- 4,625
22
votes
2
answers
2k
views
How to tell what is 'widely accepted' or 'consensus'
How can I find out what theories are 'widely accepted' in the scientific world at the moment? When I read about a theory, or read a paper, how can I tell what 'the scientific world' thinks of these?
...
- 917
29
votes
4
answers
8k
views
What items should I ask for in my startup package?
I have offers for tenure-track computational biology positions at a couple of U.S. research universities. What sort of things do I need to budget for in my startup package?
10
votes
1
answer
275
views
What are factors leading to rising tuition costs over time?
Is there any published work that quantifies the roles of different factors on rising tuition in the U.S. over the past half-century?
I've heard a number of explanations bandied about, such as:
...
- 201
9
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Advantages and Disadvantages of doing PhD from a new university?
I have an offer to do a PhD in Computer Science from a fairly new university. The research topic is good but I can't really decide what are positives and negatives of it.
- 191
18
votes
2
answers
415
views
Abbreviations in journal papers
Do I expand abbreviations at their first use per section or per paper?
This is an IEEE publication, but I haven't come across any specific instructions.
- 283
39
votes
10
answers
3k
views
Why do universities have to spend money on journals?
Obviously this is a question in the light of the recent Elsevier boycott. Currently we do have an arXiv, maintained by academia and where researchers regularly upload parts of their work. In such a ...
- 22.5k
13
votes
3
answers
1k
views
Does one get academic credit towards a degree for open online courses?
Lately lots of courses like udacity, coursera, and MITx are provided online. I attended most of them; also I have attended courses in OCW provided by MIT. Now I desire to earn some credits for ...
user747
61
votes
10
answers
15k
views
Personal web page vs Academia.edu vs ResearchGate
I will soon finish my PhD and start searching for a post-doc position and I was wondering which web-based solution is the best suited to present myself and my work (I work in plant biology).
I see ...
- 3,486
19
votes
5
answers
27k
views
Who can see a student's grades? [closed]
I have a question.
Can all the professors in a department see a particular student's grades?
Can the chair of a department see a student's grades?
- 387
28
votes
3
answers
42k
views
Ph.D. adviser or Ph.D. advisor?
I think I have seen it spelled both ways.
Is one spelling more common or formal than the other ? (e.g. in the U.S.)
9
votes
2
answers
598
views
Which factors in PostDoc opportunities choice?
Many of you probably have already lived these career turning point: your PhD program is going to end, and you have to choose an university research group to apply for a postdoc position.
Which ...
- 6,827
40
votes
2
answers
2k
views
How should one turn down academic job applicants?
What's a tactful, respectful way to notify job applicants that you won't be hiring them? I see a lot of angry online discussion of this issue. Nobody seems to like the common "if you don't hear back,...
22
votes
4
answers
2k
views
What is the equivalent of the laboratory notebook in the humanities?
As a scientist, the idea of a "research notebook," or its functional equivalent, has been well ingrained into me. However, it's not clear to me if this is a universal phenomenon, or if it's limited to ...
- 172k
7
votes
2
answers
347
views
Is the end of April too late to find placement in Ph.D programs in the U.S.?
I am wondering if it would be worth emailing departments that I haven't applied to this year, asking if they'd be willing to take a look at my application material. Any advice, or should I just wait ...
- 71
15
votes
2
answers
2k
views
How to show interest in a candidate when no positions are available?
I occasionally receive "cold-call" applications from graduate or postdoctoral candidates interested in working in my research group. Most of the time, they are of no interest—it's just a "form letter"-...
- 172k
13
votes
1
answer
3k
views
I have an "integrated masters" degree. How can I eventually gain a PhD?
I graduated in the UK last year with an M Ost, an integrated masters of osteopathy. This is currently the standard qualification offered by colleges teaching osteopathy in the UK, although it's ...
- 133
27
votes
2
answers
3k
views
Affiliation for a retiree
This question is similar to Rules for affiliation for student doing unpaid research in his/her free time? and Is it acceptable to publish a paper using an affiliation with a former employer? except ...
- 13.5k
46
votes
5
answers
6k
views
Are cover letters sent to referees and should you highlight the contribution of your paper in the cover letter?
How to write a cover letter to journal when submitting a manuscript?
In the letter, it is expected that I propose 5 referees. Is this the only reason to write a cover letter?
Will the cover letter be ...
- 889
16
votes
2
answers
637
views
At what point in the writing process should one contact an academic book publisher?
Is it better to contact a publisher early in the writing process so that the editor can be involved in shaping the project, or is it better to submit a full academic book manuscript? In my case, this ...
- 602
13
votes
2
answers
631
views
When should conferences precirculate papers?
I have been to a few conferences that worked based on precirculated papers. That is, everyone submits their papers in advance and the assumption is that conference goers who come to a given talk have ...
- 602
38
votes
4
answers
16k
views
When should I stop including talks on my cv?
When I was applying for grad school, I felt that my CV was pretty empty and so I included all my research related presentations (posters/talks) from conferences/competitions/etc (11 of them at the ...
- 8,567
32
votes
4
answers
9k
views
When and why a scientific technical report is written?
While making some paper search in my scientific field, sometimes I find articles that are not published in journals or conference proceedings, but as technical reports.
In my experience, I've never ...
- 6,827
25
votes
4
answers
10k
views
Use cases of org-mode as a scientific productivity tool for academics without programming needs
I am a social scientist working primarily on Linux, but also at times required to work on Windows systems at the University. I have been looking to improve my productivity in the academic workflow ...
- 1,622
16
votes
2
answers
3k
views
How important is mathematics in engineering research?
In EE/EC/CS departments, there are certain fields that are theory-based (like the algo or complexity groups), ones that lean towards systems implementation (OS, programming languages, etc) and others ...
- 22.5k
47
votes
4
answers
4k
views
Simplest way to jointly write a manuscript?
As with many papers in the sciences, there are multiple authors who aren't physically close to each other. I was curious about the most efficient and simplest way to technically share the writing. On ...
- 4,755
9
votes
3
answers
731
views
Is it better to do an MBA with some work experience?
I wish to pursue my MBA in a premier business school. Is it better to go straight from my graduation (B.Tech in CS) or get some work experience and then go on with MBA?
- 107
15
votes
1
answer
432
views
How do academic position job search committees evaluate potential for intellectual leadership?
From what JeffE says over at Priority of application materials for admission decision
The list is not that different for postdoc hiring (not "admission"),
at least in my field (computer science). ...
- 10.9k
12
votes
2
answers
256
views
On getting reviews for research work as independent learners
Consider an undergrad student (who wishes to dive into STEM research) in an obscure university in an obscure town who has a few ideas which he converts into a well documented article. All of this by ...
user107
13
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Four papers accepted for publication however not published due to some monetary issues?
I have successfully got my papers accepted in different journals. However, due to some money issues, I couldn't get them published. Now I have my final project presentations.
Will it hold value for ...
- 261
14
votes
2
answers
3k
views
Should I include publications where I am a "team member" in my CV
Related to but different from Should I include a publication where I'm only acknowledged (and not one of the authors) in my CV?
I'm a part of some publications which officially are written by ...
- 1,631
27
votes
1
answer
6k
views
Apply to PhD after expulsion from another
I was in a math PhD program for one year during the 2009-2010 year in US (with funding by school). I was expelled due to low grades (nothing related to violence/cheating). During the Fall of 2010, I ...
- 271
6
votes
1
answer
3k
views
Should I Cite a Journal's Page Number, or an Article's?
When I'm citing a page in a journal, and the article has an independent page numbering system, should I cite the page number of the journal or the article?
- 163
19
votes
2
answers
665
views
Research in "Research Engineering"
from Wikipedia:
Software engineering (SE) is the application of a systematic, disciplined,
quantifiable approach to the development, operation, and maintenance
of software, and the study of ...
38
votes
5
answers
6k
views
How to acquire 3 recommendation letters to apply for jobs when working with 1 advisor?
We all know that usually when applying for a post phd academic position students need at least three recommendation letters. But what can we do if we have only worked with our advisor and we have no ...
- 381
1
vote
2
answers
1k
views
PowerPoint presentations including Latex both under Windows and Mac OS [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
How to make a presentation that includes math symbols?
I have been using TeX4PPT for PowerPoint under Windows for a few years to include matematical formulas in PP ...
- 19
19
votes
4
answers
580
views
In universities, how to team up with your colleagues?
Many times in universities, people don't dedicate much time to build friendly relationships with colleagues.
Unfortunately, this happens both in the tenured positions and in non-tenured positions, ...
- 6,827