188
votes
What to do when your student is convinced that he will be the next Einstein?
Let the standard processes of education and research take their course. This student will probably not survive them to receive the degree, and that is as it should be. Tough love: warn, then let the ...
- 6,758
131
votes
Accepted
Applying for a postdoc. Should I mention that I completed my PhD with no supervision?
Should I mention that I completed my Ph.D. with no supervision?
Definitely not. "I had no supervision during my PhD." could be interpreted as "Nobody taught me anything during my Ph.D. so I am ...
- 85.2k
126
votes
Inadmissible theorems in research
Does maths research have anything inadmissible?
No, but trying to prove X without using Y is still a very useful concept even in research, because it can lead to interesting generalizations, or new ...
- 40.8k
122
votes
Accepted
Is it frowned upon to go to office hours as a graduate student?
Grad students who come to office hours with good questions that show serious engagement with the material (e.g. attempts to solve the problem themself) are generally seen as mature, hard-working ...
- 107k
111
votes
Accepted
Can I use a section of my thesis to "soap-box" about a meta-issue regarding research?
I think this is a fairly bad idea, for the following reasons:
It's largely shouting in the woods. Let's face it, while you may feel that your thesis is the only piece of work that's "truly yours", it ...
- 126k
106
votes
Accepted
What if the lecturer is not rigorous?
In physics we deliberately do not prove the series converges, because we are not interested in teaching concepts like convergence. Physics courses are not intended to be mathematically rigorous. It ...
- 85.2k
106
votes
Will a paper be retracted if a flaw in released software code invalidates its central idea?
If the main idea in the paper has been invalidated by the correction in the code, you would do well to try to retract the paper yourself. This is just a point of professional ethics. It also protects ...
- 258k
104
votes
What should I do after advisor got upset when I expressed "belief in evolution" and then said he couldn't add me to his research team?
Well, this is clearly not a match made in heaven. (Sorry, I really didn't intend this as a pun.) What a shame, you had really bad luck.
There is no need to keep this a secret from the other ...
- 38.5k
104
votes
When someone cites one of your papers, is it a good idea to send an email to the authors to show appreciation?
Straight answer: NO it's not a good idea
Citing someone is (and should) be neither a favor nor a gesture of politeness. So there's no point to send a thank you email. Thanking someone for a citation ...
- 11.2k
98
votes
Accepted
Where should the line be drawn regarding political statements in a scientific report?
This appears to have been under the instruction of President Trump, as news sites reported data on the EPA website was removed.
Speculation usually doesn't belong in a scientific paper. This is ...
- 107k
82
votes
What should I do after advisor got upset when I expressed "belief in evolution" and then said he couldn't add me to his research team?
This is a startling story. Bottom line: any physics department in which the chair makes a point of "not believing in 'evolution'" and takes a student's "belief in evolution" as relevant to her ...
- 126k
78
votes
What if the lecturer is not rigorous?
Let me add a thought following the other post, which asserts that this is not a mistake, pedagogically. Take this as a given: you don't need to "call out" the professor for failing to teach "properly....
- 180k
78
votes
Found a major flaw in paper from home university – to which I would like to return
Don't make it personal. Keep it about the science. You can inform them of the flaw and let them fix it or you could just publish a new paper with better results, pointing out the flaw if needed. That ...
- 258k
76
votes
Is it frowned upon to go to office hours as a graduate student?
One common mistake grad students make is not asking for help when they need it, either from professors or advisors, out of a misguided belief that they're supposed to demonstrate independence or ...
- 19.9k
75
votes
Accepted
Is it still possible to get a decent job in academia (specifically physics) nowadays?
I've heard from a couple physics professors and chairs that it's somewhat difficult to find a first position in physics in general
This is a dramatic understatement. I always recommend reading the ...
- 50.8k
66
votes
What to do when your student is convinced that he will be the next Einstein?
A major part of good science, is not only performing good research, but also convincing others that your science is worthwhile. A common belief of researchers is that their job is done after they have ...
- 7,349
63
votes
Accepted
Does a PhD from US carry *more academic value* as compared to one in India even if the research skill set developed is same?
While I was an Indian undergrad in mathematics, I was told similar things by my friends who were doing, or planning to do, their graduation at universities abroad. Specifically, they told me that:
...
- 1,374
53
votes
Will flat earth society membership affect my graduate school application?
No, I do not think an admissions committee would check for this type of information. Nor would they assume the poster with the same name is the applicant.
- 85.2k
51
votes
Is it acceptable for a professor to claim that his students will never revolutionize the field?
Is it acceptable for a professor to claim that his students will never
revolutionize the field?
Yes. He was clearly expressing his opinion. This is what we do in academia. If you are so soft and ...
- 168k
50
votes
What should I do after advisor got upset when I expressed "belief in evolution" and then said he couldn't add me to his research team?
IMHO, you should feel lucky about knowing that the rapport with you and this person is incompatible at such an early stage. Occurrence of such an event at a much later time may have caused devastating ...
- 12.4k
50
votes
Found a major flaw in paper from home university – to which I would like to return
I'm no physicist, but speaking from common sense: Depending on how "ground-breaking" your discovery of their mistake is, here are the options I would consider:
Silly mistake that could have been ...
- 877
46
votes
Accepted
How to advertise a paper to increase citations?
Aside from giving excellent talks at important conferences, here are several other ideas. I've seen all of these work (although rarely all for the same paper).
Maintain a freely available copy (or ...
- 96.8k
46
votes
Inadmissible theorems in research
In the sense that you are asking, I cannot imagine there ever being a method that is ruled inadmissible because the researcher is "not ready for it." Every intellectual approach is potentially fair ...
- 180k
44
votes
What to do when your student is convinced that he will be the next Einstein?
Note: I'm a PhD student so the following is based off of very limited experience.
You're in a very tough situation. It is likely that the student will end up spending a lot of time obsessing over ...
- 651
44
votes
Is it good to finish a PhD fast?
One of the questions is why his students finish so fast. That's likely at the core of whether or not things are "Good" or "Bad".
For example, some potential good reasons:
His lab has stable funding, ...
- 51k
43
votes
Accepted
To what extent can I use the concept of "God" in a meteorology lecture without offending anyone?
It's acceptable, but why do you need to use it? It seems to me that you could just as easily use a secular phrase like "looking down from above"?
- 180k
39
votes
Is it still possible to get a decent job in academia (specifically physics) nowadays?
I'd like to offer a different perspective on this.
I was in your position in 1979, and convinced I was going to solve the unified field theory problem¹ I went to Cambridge to do first a degree then a ...
- 551
38
votes
Accepted
Is creating your own "experiment" considered cheating during a physics exam?
No, this is perfectly fine. In physics, it is common to see students making odd motions as they think through the problem or apply rules like the right hand rule. The usual caveats apply: you must not ...
- 50.8k
38
votes
Accepted
When someone cites one of your papers, is it a good idea to send an email to the authors to show appreciation?
No, because citation is a matter of transparency to scholarship generally...
No, one does not "thank" someone for citing one's paper. An academic author is obliged to cite a paper when he/...
- 619
37
votes
Accepted
Is it possible (practically, in real life) to pursue two very distinct research interests (e.g. in AI and theoretical physics)?
It is possible (even “practically, in real life”) to do all sorts of things that are very difficult to do, like: publish five bestselling novels; climb the highest mountain in every continent; win a ...
- 168k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible