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Back when I was in grad school and everybody I knew lived with roommates due to housing costs, some sets of roommates got along well and some had serious problems sharing space with one another. Over …

I think we don't even need to consider permission in order to resolve this question. The more fundamental question is this: how do you know that "personal communication" is the right citation and not …

The problem may or may not be gender linked: there's a good chance that at least part what you are facing stems from implicit sexism, just based on the general tendencies in both academia and industry …

First, I would recommend that you put away any feelings of guilt and responsibility, and instead begin planning to protect yourself. Unfortunately, it appears likely that your supervisor is a predato …

Professors and other researchers are typically busy people receiving a constant flood of emails in their inbox, a great many of which are time-sensitive and important. Yours is only one of many. Th …

As a teaching assistant, you should not be abused. If a student becomes angry and abusive, you need to disengage and pass the problem upwards. While TAs participate in the grading of a course, the r …

It's hard to tell what your former supervisor is thinking from just the few out-of-context fragments you give. I think, however, that they may have some good points and that you may be reading it as …

Across the course of your Ph.D., you are expected to develop into a independent researcher capable of formulating and pursuing your own independent research agenda. Right now, you're behaving like an …

I would advise you to simply ask about it, in a way that pre-supposes as little as possible. For example, you might say something like: Can I ask you about something I am feeling concerned about? …

Everybody needs at least a few good personal allies to celebrate with---your advisor is hopefully one of those, and some of your close personal friends are likely to be as well. Your peers in a gradu …

I sympathize with your situation---though at least the problem is only people! At one point when I was a graduate student, there was a building under construction right next to the lab, the noise was …

Ambition is only one dimension of the complex relationship defining whether a student and advisor are well-matched. You can have a complete mis-match in that dimension that still turns out to be a go …

The situation that you describe sounds like extremely unusual and improper behavior on the part of the professor. The graduate student is part of the problem, but the real responsibility lies with th …

I would suggest that you may find it very informative to step back and take some perspective. I recommend consideration of Joy's Law: "No matter who you are, most of the smartest people work for …

To enhance on some of the other answers here: I, like many other scientists, used to have a very limited tolerance or appreciation for small-talk. My feeling was essentially: why waste time talking a …