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Human: Struggling to get stable full-time work after a decade post PHD Struggling to find full-time stable work thats not short contracts or freelance - Medical Research PhD grad. Struggling to find meaningful full-time stable work currently freelancing PhD Trained Scientist should I retrain / persevere / pivot etc? And what trigger points should these be? **Summary:** 36YO Male trained in medical research, completed PhD, but I've struggled to find any stable work with long-term career potential or salary increase, currently mostly unemployed, but with a freelance medical writing job 1-2 days per week. Pls Help! Thanks for reading :D. **Training, Work Experience & Life:** 6 years High School 94.95 percentile (first in the state of NSW Australia in Biology) 4 years UnderGrad Medical Sciences 1 year First Class Honours \[1publication\] 1 year unemployed 4 years Doctorate PhD (Medical Research) \[3 publications\] 8 months unemployed (was applying every day) Trialed the GAMSAT Exam non-seriously Score: 60 \[Applied but not accepted to 2 medical schools\] 2 years at a startup R&D tax consultancy ($45K AUD/year) {Leave reason: Couldn't get any higher raise after 2 years working out of person's living room} 1 year and half medium sized R&D tax consultancy ($60K AUD/year) {Leave reason: Constant Bullying by Partners of Firm, I have no idea why, it may have been because I was working 4 days/week, but they never mentioned it until the last 2 weeks after 2 years there} Daughter was born (Miracle of Life, but severely limits my ability to moonlight second job, side-hustle and study outside business hours) 3 years at a hospital research group ($75K AUD/year) {Leave Reason: Research funding expended, staff contract ended} \[2 publications\] 9 months Army Deployment IT computer service helpdesk technician ($104K AUD/year) {Leave Reason: Temporary Contract Ended} 1 month unemployed 2 weeks Freelance Medical Writing have 1-3 days worth of work per week depending ($20-30 AUD/hour) \-now- **Situation:** For the last 5 months, I've been applying for jobs every second day outside business hours, on the second day I've been doing something to improve my resume (this could be doing a pro-bono project) or messaging someone for advice on LinkedIn, or just cold contacting someone for advice or proposing work for them. I feel like I'm getting no where, I've applied for more 30 jobs that I've hit all the selection criteria. I've had no emails back, or calls, or interviews. I've had 2 interview invitations, but when I tried to arrange a time they disappeared and stopped responding. I've had 2 rejection emails. No-one is willing to provide any feedback. I've cold contacted more than 40 people in senior positions in LinkedIn and emails (no replies). I've also contacted several HR agencies and they don't reply at all. Theres also a lack of jobs in the area, it takes 4-5 hours of searching for me to find an appropriate job, they are rare. **Question:** I feel like there is something majorly wrong with the economics of this industry and job market. I'm convinced that it's not me, and the economics of Research and Development is just broken. I was a fool to not have researched the job market properly before studying Medical Research but there's just no data out there when I started this journey. The career guides had a whole lot of Fictional descriptions of different things that you would do as a medical or biotechnologist, but in reality these industries and companies only existed in Boston or Germany, all the while the universities around the world were producing truckloads of graduates in these fields and specialities. I'm at a stuck point, where I feel like I've pretty much exhausted all my options, and I've done all the spin off side jobs that are related to medical and health jobs, none of them have any stable career path. I want a job where I'm not at risk of losing it every year, and I fall unemployed for a few months after each job. My fear is that one day, the short-term unemployment periods turns into long-term unemployment. I'm thinking seriously to work part-time 3days/week and potentially study for the Medicine Pre-selection Exam parttime (Called the GAMSAT) 3 days/week, 1 day/week family. Exam is super super difficult and will take a few years to get a good enough score, however, I feel like it is a quantitative measure that I can meaningfully progress in, rather than the zero replies I'm getting from 5months of job applications. After getting into Medicine School I can apply for an Army Study Scholarship $65K/year. I am OK with not getting into Medical School after 5-7 years of trying, at least I can say that I did my best on my death bed. My Wife is super pissed off at me for suggesting this (Medicine Option), she says I need to support the family by applying for full-time jobs continuously and to talk to HR agencies. She says I'm a coward for trying to run away from the problem by attempting the GAMSAT exam, she doesn't think I will ever pass. I am fully committed to working part-time 3days per week, and get a full time job in the short term to support family however, I'm wary of the pending doom of long term unemployment, and just unviability and competitiveness of research and development jobs. If I can get a full time job in the next 2 months I'll take it, but I can't keep applying for jobs for another half-year or two, it just seems really idiotic and unproductive. Please give me your opinion and wisdom redditors? What should I do? Retrain / Perservere / Pivot / Else? Assistant: man you have to move where the opportunities are. In the US there are lots of job openings for scientists in biotech/pharma, and you can make bank with a PhD. Australia is not the place to be.

Human: Struggling to get stable full-time work after a decade post PHD Struggling to find full-time stable work thats not short contracts or freelance - Medical Research PhD grad. Struggling to find meaningful full-time stable work currently freelancing PhD Trained Scientist should I retrain / persevere / pivot etc? And what trigger points should these be? **Summary:** 36YO Male trained in medical research, completed PhD, but I've struggled to find any stable work with long-term career potential or salary increase, currently mostly unemployed, but with a freelance medical writing job 1-2 days per week. Pls Help! Thanks for reading :D. **Training, Work Experience & Life:** 6 years High School 94.95 percentile (first in the state of NSW Australia in Biology) 4 years UnderGrad Medical Sciences 1 year First Class Honours \[1publication\] 1 year unemployed 4 years Doctorate PhD (Medical Research) \[3 publications\] 8 months unemployed (was applying every day) Trialed the GAMSAT Exam non-seriously Score: 60 \[Applied but not accepted to 2 medical schools\] 2 years at a startup R&D tax consultancy ($45K AUD/year) {Leave reason: Couldn't get any higher raise after 2 years working out of person's living room} 1 year and half medium sized R&D tax consultancy ($60K AUD/year) {Leave reason: Constant Bullying by Partners of Firm, I have no idea why, it may have been because I was working 4 days/week, but they never mentioned it until the last 2 weeks after 2 years there} Daughter was born (Miracle of Life, but severely limits my ability to moonlight second job, side-hustle and study outside business hours) 3 years at a hospital research group ($75K AUD/year) {Leave Reason: Research funding expended, staff contract ended} \[2 publications\] 9 months Army Deployment IT computer service helpdesk technician ($104K AUD/year) {Leave Reason: Temporary Contract Ended} 1 month unemployed 2 weeks Freelance Medical Writing have 1-3 days worth of work per week depending ($20-30 AUD/hour) \-now- **Situation:** For the last 5 months, I've been applying for jobs every second day outside business hours, on the second day I've been doing something to improve my resume (this could be doing a pro-bono project) or messaging someone for advice on LinkedIn, or just cold contacting someone for advice or proposing work for them. I feel like I'm getting no where, I've applied for more 30 jobs that I've hit all the selection criteria. I've had no emails back, or calls, or interviews. I've had 2 interview invitations, but when I tried to arrange a time they disappeared and stopped responding. I've had 2 rejection emails. No-one is willing to provide any feedback. I've cold contacted more than 40 people in senior positions in LinkedIn and emails (no replies). I've also contacted several HR agencies and they don't reply at all. Theres also a lack of jobs in the area, it takes 4-5 hours of searching for me to find an appropriate job, they are rare. **Question:** I feel like there is something majorly wrong with the economics of this industry and job market. I'm convinced that it's not me, and the economics of Research and Development is just broken. I was a fool to not have researched the job market properly before studying Medical Research but there's just no data out there when I started this journey. The career guides had a whole lot of Fictional descriptions of different things that you would do as a medical or biotechnologist, but in reality these industries and companies only existed in Boston or Germany, all the while the universities around the world were producing truckloads of graduates in these fields and specialities. I'm at a stuck point, where I feel like I've pretty much exhausted all my options, and I've done all the spin off side jobs that are related to medical and health jobs, none of them have any stable career path. I want a job where I'm not at risk of losing it every year, and I fall unemployed for a few months after each job. My fear is that one day, the short-term unemployment periods turns into long-term unemployment. I'm thinking seriously to work part-time 3days/week and potentially study for the Medicine Pre-selection Exam parttime (Called the GAMSAT) 3 days/week, 1 day/week family. Exam is super super difficult and will take a few years to get a good enough score, however, I feel like it is a quantitative measure that I can meaningfully progress in, rather than the zero replies I'm getting from 5months of job applications. After getting into Medicine School I can apply for an Army Study Scholarship $65K/year. I am OK with not getting into Medical School after 5-7 years of trying, at least I can say that I did my best on my death bed. My Wife is super pissed off at me for suggesting this (Medicine Option), she says I need to support the family by applying for full-time jobs continuously and to talk to HR agencies. She says I'm a coward for trying to run away from the problem by attempting the GAMSAT exam, she doesn't think I will ever pass. I am fully committed to working part-time 3days per week, and get a full time job in the short term to support family however, I'm wary of the pending doom of long term unemployment, and just unviability and competitiveness of research and development jobs. If I can get a full time job in the next 2 months I'll take it, but I can't keep applying for jobs for another half-year or two, it just seems really idiotic and unproductive. Please give me your opinion and wisdom redditors? What should I do? Retrain / Perservere / Pivot / Else? Assistant: Do you know what you want in life?

Human: How to answer questions about why do you choose this school? Why do you think you're the best fit for this position? Well, I'm applying assistant professor positions in social sciences, and I found that the hardest interview questions that I'm facing now is how to answer the questions such as why do you choose to come to xxx university? Why do you think you are the best fit for this position? From what perspective should I answer this type of question? Thank you! Assistant: These questions serve no legitimate purpose aside from weeding out people who can't even *pretend* to be a team player -- it's a litmus test for people who lack professional common sense.

Human: How to answer questions about why do you choose this school? Why do you think you're the best fit for this position? Well, I'm applying assistant professor positions in social sciences, and I found that the hardest interview questions that I'm facing now is how to answer the questions such as why do you choose to come to xxx university? Why do you think you are the best fit for this position? From what perspective should I answer this type of question? Thank you! Assistant: Do not answer "Because I need a job"--even joking. Source: I did not get the in-person interview.

Human: Is grade inflation a problem outside of the US? As an academic, I've had to deal with the issue of grade inflation since I began my graduate work. I just realized that I have no idea if this is a problem in other countries. So, I'm hoping some the international scholars in this group could provide insight. One of many things that I am also hoping to learn is if countries with free (or really cheap) college/university education deal with grade inflation to the extent that it is dealt with in the United States. Assistant: It is actually very questionable that it is a problem in the US. Please do pay a visit to your university's institutional research department to get actual data to determine if grade inflation exists historically at your institution. You will be surprised at how much of this issue is based on stereotyping, politics, pseudo-intellectualism, and anecdotal evidence.

Human: Is grade inflation a problem outside of the US? As an academic, I've had to deal with the issue of grade inflation since I began my graduate work. I just realized that I have no idea if this is a problem in other countries. So, I'm hoping some the international scholars in this group could provide insight. One of many things that I am also hoping to learn is if countries with free (or really cheap) college/university education deal with grade inflation to the extent that it is dealt with in the United States. Assistant: I haven't heard of grade inflation being a problem in Canada. Generally, all accredited universities regulate this kind of stuff. I mean... perhaps one could do a general arts/science degree and very strategically pick all "bird courses". However, I can't imagine that someone with a 4.0 who has only taken 2 or 3 chemistry courses could get into a chemistry PhD program.

Human: Do you think there is such thing as a bad test taker? I'm curious, I've always thought the notion was kind of bizarre. It's essentially saying that I'm bad at displaying my understanding of something. I do get that test anxiety is a thing, I've dealt with it quite a bit myself, however, it has never been a problem when I am sufficiently familiar with the material. I don't mean things like standardized testing, because honestly, I'm not the greatest at standardized tests like the SAT/GRE. I'm more talking about things that have a clearly defined expectation of knowledge. I personally feel like it's something that people are taught from a pretty young age to justify not being naturally good at something. Assistant: I’m terrible at taking timed tests. My brain simply doesn’t work quickly in that capacity (ADHD). So timed tests are terrifying because I was always worried I wouldn’t be able to finish, and if I rush too much I make stupid mistakes like a 3 turning into a 2. So in that sense, I’m a “bad test-taker” but in real life tests aren’t timed in the same sense and I have little issues.

Human: Do you think there is such thing as a bad test taker? I'm curious, I've always thought the notion was kind of bizarre. It's essentially saying that I'm bad at displaying my understanding of something. I do get that test anxiety is a thing, I've dealt with it quite a bit myself, however, it has never been a problem when I am sufficiently familiar with the material. I don't mean things like standardized testing, because honestly, I'm not the greatest at standardized tests like the SAT/GRE. I'm more talking about things that have a clearly defined expectation of knowledge. I personally feel like it's something that people are taught from a pretty young age to justify not being naturally good at something. Assistant: There are certainly people who, for a variety of reasons (anxiety, ADHD etc) are bad at test taking, but I think the majority of people who claim to be 'bad at tests' just aren't prepared, not only have they not properly learned the material, but essay writing isn't an inherent skill, its something that you need to learn and many people don't take the time to do that (how many of your peers actually bother to read let alone absorb and work on feedback on essays they get)

Human: What's something your proud of from this past academic year? In the spirit of promoting better feelings about what we've accomplished instead of what we should be doing or have yet to do, brag about yourself. Whether your accomplishment was in research, teaching, service, an award, helping a student, or whatever. Share! For me, it was that I think I did well my first year. I put together decent teaching materials for class, which I'll improve on. I did a good amount of service. I helped students with advice. And I had some of my work presented and even got a paper accepted. I just need to revise and resubmit and I'll have a pub. All while also having my daughter. Assistant: We beat the odds of the two body problem and managed to both get jobs in the same highly competitive institution within a few weeks from each other.

Human: What's something your proud of from this past academic year? In the spirit of promoting better feelings about what we've accomplished instead of what we should be doing or have yet to do, brag about yourself. Whether your accomplishment was in research, teaching, service, an award, helping a student, or whatever. Share! For me, it was that I think I did well my first year. I put together decent teaching materials for class, which I'll improve on. I did a good amount of service. I helped students with advice. And I had some of my work presented and even got a paper accepted. I just need to revise and resubmit and I'll have a pub. All while also having my daughter. Assistant: I made a move from an AP at a low ranked department in an undesirable place to an AP at a midranked department in a place I would be happy to retire.

Human: Is it weird for an undergrad to hang out right outside professors' offices? I hate living alone and don't get any work done in my house, so I like to bring my laptop and books to a nearby academic building (the one for my major), stake out a couch or table and work there for hours. I do this most days. I've chosen my major's building as my 'headquarters' because I like it. Now, for me, it's kind of fun to bump into professors and say hello. But, I never see other students hanging out in this building, and I'm afraid the local professors now think I'm a stalker. Professors, if you see your student camped out with their laptop on a couch just a few doors down from your office almost every day -- like, late at night and for hours at a time -- would you feel slightly uncomfortable? Would you feel like they were stalking you? Should I stop doing this, or is there any appropriate way to say, "hey, prof! FYI I'm not stalking you!" Assistant: If there is a chair or retaining wall or anything that will fit a butt, it is assumed that an undergrad will be there. Not weird.

Human: Is it weird for an undergrad to hang out right outside professors' offices? I hate living alone and don't get any work done in my house, so I like to bring my laptop and books to a nearby academic building (the one for my major), stake out a couch or table and work there for hours. I do this most days. I've chosen my major's building as my 'headquarters' because I like it. Now, for me, it's kind of fun to bump into professors and say hello. But, I never see other students hanging out in this building, and I'm afraid the local professors now think I'm a stalker. Professors, if you see your student camped out with their laptop on a couch just a few doors down from your office almost every day -- like, late at night and for hours at a time -- would you feel slightly uncomfortable? Would you feel like they were stalking you? Should I stop doing this, or is there any appropriate way to say, "hey, prof! FYI I'm not stalking you!" Assistant: I've been hanging out in my departments office for the past 3 years and it's been great. I got to be known as hard working, I got to get into great conversation and develop. Bonds with my prof I wouldn't have otherwise had, which sometimes translated into special permissions. In the end, doing this made me able to get 3 very strong letter of rec.

Human: Can I teach student courses using material taken from the internet? I don't see anything against it... But I know that academia is "weird" about re-using material. Basically, I've been asked to tutor a lab course about introduction to image processing in python. As you know, preparing all the course material from scratch is something which is super-long and tedious. I've found two perfect courses, with a full set of exercises and data to run the exercises on, on github, from a very reputable source. The material has a MIT license so I can re-use it freely, as long as the author of the material is concerned. What about my side? Am I (legally or "morally") required to write all the material by myself? Assistant: I just gave a lecture/class on Brazilian agriculture that mostly used slides I pulled from Statista over lunch. I cited them all. No reason to do anything more. I'd say the same applied to OP's material-- cite it and use it. Ultimately I took a half-dozen slides and we spent 45 minutes discussing them, so I certainly did my part.

Human: Can I teach student courses using material taken from the internet? I don't see anything against it... But I know that academia is "weird" about re-using material. Basically, I've been asked to tutor a lab course about introduction to image processing in python. As you know, preparing all the course material from scratch is something which is super-long and tedious. I've found two perfect courses, with a full set of exercises and data to run the exercises on, on github, from a very reputable source. The material has a MIT license so I can re-use it freely, as long as the author of the material is concerned. What about my side? Am I (legally or "morally") required to write all the material by myself? Assistant: Yes

Human: My faculty advisor provided almost no help or input on my thesis. Wants to put his name on the paper. My advisor wants to be a co-author for my research article based on my thesis. I think it could be a pretty big deal in the area. I did all the research, writing, and logistics of the study, and he suggested adding his name to it as well. He is a big name in the area, but a has-been. He hasn't published anything of major value in about 15-20 years. I'm torn on this in a few ways. On the one hand, he is a big name in the area and it may be a boost to my prestige to be a co-author with him. However, he didn't do ANYTHING. Not even help with suggestions for the design. I think it's disingenuous and dishonest to take credit for something you didn't contribute to. I also think it may be beneficial to publish a paper by yourself rather than as part of a team. Thoughts? Assistant: I would be very careful with how you approach this subject with him. As others have said, he can likely make it very hard for you to graduate. I do have one question, though. Did he fund you? If so, I don't think it would be unreasonable to give him co-authorship.

Human: My faculty advisor provided almost no help or input on my thesis. Wants to put his name on the paper. My advisor wants to be a co-author for my research article based on my thesis. I think it could be a pretty big deal in the area. I did all the research, writing, and logistics of the study, and he suggested adding his name to it as well. He is a big name in the area, but a has-been. He hasn't published anything of major value in about 15-20 years. I'm torn on this in a few ways. On the one hand, he is a big name in the area and it may be a boost to my prestige to be a co-author with him. However, he didn't do ANYTHING. Not even help with suggestions for the design. I think it's disingenuous and dishonest to take credit for something you didn't contribute to. I also think it may be beneficial to publish a paper by yourself rather than as part of a team. Thoughts? Assistant: You answered this yourself, "He didn't do ANYTHING." Honestly, your right in saying its dishonest to take credit for no contribution. Give credit where due but if this was ALL you with no influence from him, tell him sorry, but you did not contribute to my article. If he did provide SOME input, see if you can list him as a contributor instead of co-author. For an advisor, I don't see how they can be a co-author without contributing.

Human: What systems does your university have in place to prevent issues such as advisors not letting students graduate for years on end? Basically, what systems does your university have to mediate conflicts between advisors and students? For example, many advisors in a country I studied in previously retain students for years on end, when they stop getting their salaries. I know for a fact that most of them could graduate earlier, but the advisors keep piling on more work on them. Unfortunately due to the friendship between some faculty in the department, you cannot go to someone else if they’re a friend of your PI. What systems does your university have to help graduate students give power to negotiate with the department/faculty? Assistant: In the UK (or at least my uni) you need to submit a project approval with the timeline (normally no more than 3/4) years which evaluates the theory and goals you're working with. They (your viva panel) then approve that and for the next 2 years you have to submit an annual review that proves both parties are doing their job. Your supervisor is also under close (but non-intrusive) observation. They'll even chat with you (off the record) and ask how things are going.

Human: What systems does your university have in place to prevent issues such as advisors not letting students graduate for years on end? Basically, what systems does your university have to mediate conflicts between advisors and students? For example, many advisors in a country I studied in previously retain students for years on end, when they stop getting their salaries. I know for a fact that most of them could graduate earlier, but the advisors keep piling on more work on them. Unfortunately due to the friendship between some faculty in the department, you cannot go to someone else if they’re a friend of your PI. What systems does your university have to help graduate students give power to negotiate with the department/faculty? Assistant: I personally was just a bad grad student. Then my PI would not want to keep me after my 2 years. In all honesty I just told him no. I agreed to a 2 year program so it was his job to get me out in 2 years. I would not do excess work for him. He and I did not get along but I finished my degree in 2 years no issues

Human: How do you deal with presentation anxiety. Hello everyone, I am having a hard time with anxiety before scientific presentations. This anxiety feeling along with the fear of failing or do not perform very well keep me blocked, stuck and I can't progress. Do you have any advice to deal with these issues? Assistant: If you normally drink coffee, wait until after your presentation. Caffeine and anxiety have similar physical symptoms, so when you have both, it's like super mega anxiety.

Human: How do you deal with presentation anxiety. Hello everyone, I am having a hard time with anxiety before scientific presentations. This anxiety feeling along with the fear of failing or do not perform very well keep me blocked, stuck and I can't progress. Do you have any advice to deal with these issues? Assistant: Breathing. Pag attention to the muscles used when breathing at different times - yawning, smoking, coming up from diving, and develop different breathing ‘exercises’ (for lack of a better word) that just feel good. I use them at various times throughout the day - esp when I’m emotional. My personal favorite is a quick, deep breath, like I’m shocked by something cold - very focusing and invigorating!

Human: advice to help release a research paper Throw away account because if I go through with this it might come back to bite me as a student To start and give some context on the situation; I have a professor currently who has talked about how a few years ago he wrote a research paper on human trafficking in a certain country in Latin America (don't want to give away too many specifics about the paper yet) and if US companies were profiting of the basically slave labor in these countries. Now some background on my professor he is a very accomplished man as he has played a huge part in the development of certain parts of my college in the past couple decades (this is important for later). Back to the paper when the results were finalized this was seemingly a very important paper as he had meetings with congress about it, talked with the Associated Press and NPR about it. The paper showed that as you probably expected the US companies do indeed profit of the human trafficking. After these results were found he obviously wanted to publish it, however my college decided to block the release of this paper (more on that later) and when my professor tried to fight for the release of this paper they did everything but fire him, they took him off the board of the center on campus he founded, scrubbed his name from a very important award, srubbed his name from the founding of said center, cut his pay massively, and quite a bit more. Now why would the college do this you might ask? That is because alumni of our college and big donators to our college were in every single US company studied and the college was worried this would hurt donations and sports funding. Because of this my professor actually suffered a stroke from all the anger and stress of trying to get this released. He said he had made peace now with the paper not being released and he's too old to fight it anymore (the stroke happened in 2018 and this is his first year back) but I feel someone needs to carry on the mantle and try to get this released as this type of censorship is completely immoral especially when my college prides itself to help victims of human trafficking with our groups/work. Especially considering the fact this is a catholic institution and their strong work as well against human trafficking. So my question to you fine people is how should I go about doing this and is there any advice you have as you likely know the college world and about research papers a bit better than I as I'm only a sophomore. TLDR; professor wrote a research paper on human trafficking in Latin America and my college blocked its release because "muh sports team money" and I need your help to try to get it released because I believe the US should see this Assistant: I am curious on how a college "blocks" a paper? In my experience, you don't ask permission to publish your research.

Human: advice to help release a research paper Throw away account because if I go through with this it might come back to bite me as a student To start and give some context on the situation; I have a professor currently who has talked about how a few years ago he wrote a research paper on human trafficking in a certain country in Latin America (don't want to give away too many specifics about the paper yet) and if US companies were profiting of the basically slave labor in these countries. Now some background on my professor he is a very accomplished man as he has played a huge part in the development of certain parts of my college in the past couple decades (this is important for later). Back to the paper when the results were finalized this was seemingly a very important paper as he had meetings with congress about it, talked with the Associated Press and NPR about it. The paper showed that as you probably expected the US companies do indeed profit of the human trafficking. After these results were found he obviously wanted to publish it, however my college decided to block the release of this paper (more on that later) and when my professor tried to fight for the release of this paper they did everything but fire him, they took him off the board of the center on campus he founded, scrubbed his name from a very important award, srubbed his name from the founding of said center, cut his pay massively, and quite a bit more. Now why would the college do this you might ask? That is because alumni of our college and big donators to our college were in every single US company studied and the college was worried this would hurt donations and sports funding. Because of this my professor actually suffered a stroke from all the anger and stress of trying to get this released. He said he had made peace now with the paper not being released and he's too old to fight it anymore (the stroke happened in 2018 and this is his first year back) but I feel someone needs to carry on the mantle and try to get this released as this type of censorship is completely immoral especially when my college prides itself to help victims of human trafficking with our groups/work. Especially considering the fact this is a catholic institution and their strong work as well against human trafficking. So my question to you fine people is how should I go about doing this and is there any advice you have as you likely know the college world and about research papers a bit better than I as I'm only a sophomore. TLDR; professor wrote a research paper on human trafficking in Latin America and my college blocked its release because "muh sports team money" and I need your help to try to get it released because I believe the US should see this Assistant: Sounds like a documentary. Burying the story is part of the story now.

Human: What's your opinion of "Fronties in ..." journals? Are journals like Frontiers in Physics legit? Is it worth being an Associate Editor or Review Editor there? edit: title should say "Frontiers in ..." Assistant: It's a borderline journal. Not predatory, but they publish a ton of garbage, have questionable integrity, and nobody is impressed by a publication there. If my work was marginal enough that a place like Frontiers was my only option, I'd just try and do better work. Better than having an almost embarrassing journal like that on your resume.

Human: What's your opinion of "Fronties in ..." journals? Are journals like Frontiers in Physics legit? Is it worth being an Associate Editor or Review Editor there? edit: title should say "Frontiers in ..." Assistant: In my field (Plant Biology), it's not really well regarded, usually lower quality studies go there. Further, as someone with experience in the open science publishing world, it's a for-profit publisher and in my eyes that's a big negative (same for Elsevier or MDPI published journals).

Human: What is a term that would be the equivalent of "mansplaining" in academia when a professor always tries to tie in their own research into a conversation that has NOTHING to do with their research? Just took my qualifying exams and some of the questions asked were very tangentially related to my project. The questions were the professor's attempt at tying in their own field of research to my study, even though their field of research is only *marginally* related to my project. Assistant: At most conferences I've attended, this phenomenon begins with "This is more of a comment than a question," and then goes on until the panelists and the audience are almost fully submerged in a deluge of self-aggrandizement. The commenter is invariably a man. So my suggestion is "ComMANting."

Human: What is a term that would be the equivalent of "mansplaining" in academia when a professor always tries to tie in their own research into a conversation that has NOTHING to do with their research? Just took my qualifying exams and some of the questions asked were very tangentially related to my project. The questions were the professor's attempt at tying in their own field of research to my study, even though their field of research is only *marginally* related to my project. Assistant: Yield to my field

Human: What should I do about a letter of recommendation FOR a professor? I recently contacted a professor after two years out of contact to request a recommendation for graduate programs. He readily agreed but he later asked me if I was willing to "write a letter in support of his application to full professor". Of course I'm willing to help and fully support him, but I don't know how to go about writing such a letter. I don't know what a promotion committee would be looking for in that kind of letter and I don't know why my voice would have any weight in the decision (after all, I only have a bachelor's degree and have been away from academia for 2 years.) Any advice? Assistant: Write about the professor's teaching style, his contribution to your learning, anything interesting that he did in class, and how he went beyond the standard lecture (if applicable). Was he engaging? Did he teach you the material well? Is he an asset to the University? What were other students' feelings towards him? Are you in support of his promotion?

Human: What should I do about a letter of recommendation FOR a professor? I recently contacted a professor after two years out of contact to request a recommendation for graduate programs. He readily agreed but he later asked me if I was willing to "write a letter in support of his application to full professor". Of course I'm willing to help and fully support him, but I don't know how to go about writing such a letter. I don't know what a promotion committee would be looking for in that kind of letter and I don't know why my voice would have any weight in the decision (after all, I only have a bachelor's degree and have been away from academia for 2 years.) Any advice? Assistant: I just had to write one for my thesis adviser who was applying for a promotion and tenure. She told me that the committee was looking for not only how they are in the classroom but their contributions to the school's community. Were they the faculty adviser for your club? Did they help you outside of class? How well do you know the professor?

Human: What do you guys think about tattoos in academia? I’m a current life science graduate student and anyone who works in a lab knows that the dress codes are typically very casual. I’m a big fan of tattoos and I currently have two that are always covered by my street clothes, I’m not sure anyone other than close my friends in my program I even know that I have any ink. Recently I’ve had a desire to get a medium sized piece on my forearm but I do worry a little about what my superiors and colleagues will think of it. Given the placement and that I wear a t-shirt more days than not in the lab, the tattoo I want will be quite visible to everyone. Do you guys think a tattoo like this would hurt my career in academia and/or industry after I graduate? What are your thoughts about tattoos in academia generally? Any feedback is appreciated. Assistant: Disappointingly, having recently decided to enter industry, I will no longer be able to follow through with my plan of celebrating tenure with a face tattoo

Human: What do you guys think about tattoos in academia? I’m a current life science graduate student and anyone who works in a lab knows that the dress codes are typically very casual. I’m a big fan of tattoos and I currently have two that are always covered by my street clothes, I’m not sure anyone other than close my friends in my program I even know that I have any ink. Recently I’ve had a desire to get a medium sized piece on my forearm but I do worry a little about what my superiors and colleagues will think of it. Given the placement and that I wear a t-shirt more days than not in the lab, the tattoo I want will be quite visible to everyone. Do you guys think a tattoo like this would hurt my career in academia and/or industry after I graduate? What are your thoughts about tattoos in academia generally? Any feedback is appreciated. Assistant: Nbd. I know at least two (biology) profs with tattoos all along their forearms. Obviously they're biology themed, heh.

Human: Why assistant professor salaries are so low in France? It looks like starting gross monthly salary for an assistant professor is around 2300euros. Am I missing something? Are there any other benefits that I don't know? I spend at least two hours to find a hidden benefit that makes these positions attractive, but I couldn't find any. This doesn't make any sense to me. Assistant: I think the justification is that they are mostly permanent positions. I may be wrong though; this is what my French colleagues were telling me.

Human: Why assistant professor salaries are so low in France? It looks like starting gross monthly salary for an assistant professor is around 2300euros. Am I missing something? Are there any other benefits that I don't know? I spend at least two hours to find a hidden benefit that makes these positions attractive, but I couldn't find any. This doesn't make any sense to me. Assistant: "France" is too broad to make a meaningful comparison. Rural/small city France is much cheaper than Lyon or Marseille which are cheaper than Paris/Ile-de-France

Human: Returning to work after 18 years My sister gaveup a postdoc at an international genetics lab to raise kids who are now grown. She has a PhD in neurobiology. What avenues would you suggest being open for her. Thank you. Assistant: It’s in industry and not academia, but Johnson and Johnson has a paid internship program for people who have had to take a long break in the sciences. If interested look up the Johnson & Johnson Re-Ignite program.

Human: Returning to work after 18 years My sister gaveup a postdoc at an international genetics lab to raise kids who are now grown. She has a PhD in neurobiology. What avenues would you suggest being open for her. Thank you. Assistant: Possibly look into research data management. She would have to do a lot of training to get up to speed, but there’s always a need in that field.

Human: Should I send my paper directly to the editor? Hi reddit, I am actually a Phd student, and a few weeks ago, I was at a local conference, aimed at Phd student and local PIs. At this conference, I presented a poster, and exchanged about it with a professor, from the same University, but working in another department, and that I didn't kow before. He asked questions about my research, and seemed really interested. At the end, he asked if we already published these results, to which I answered that we haven't yet, but hoped to submit the paper before the end of the year. He then said that he is himself an (associate) editor in a peer-review journal, and that we should think about sending it there (and I think this was good news, as it is a pretty good journal). I reported this conversation to my supervisor, who also thought it good news. Now that the article is finished, my supervisor proposed that I write directly to this professor/editor. To be clear, my supervisor proposed that I write to this professor/editor asking if he would be ok with me sending him the paper directly, rather than submitting it through the website. This would be to remember him of me and probably to avoid the paper going through another editor (they may not be all as enthousiastic?) My question is then twofold : \- Is it something (proposing to send the paper directly to the editor) something you have already done? Or do you absolutly not advise it and think it would be preferable for me to go the usual way (i.e. submitting as everybody through the website)? \- If you have done it, how did you approach it? What should I write? Thinking about writing this e-mail makes me anxious. Any recommandations on what to say would be appreciated. If this helps, I'm in Europe, and in a life science field. Thanks in advance for your responses reddit! Assistant: Honestly even if it WAS a good idea (which it is not for all the reasons others have said), you could email it to the editor and they would just make you upload it…. Without being in the website there is no mechanism to assign reviewers etc

Human: Should I send my paper directly to the editor? Hi reddit, I am actually a Phd student, and a few weeks ago, I was at a local conference, aimed at Phd student and local PIs. At this conference, I presented a poster, and exchanged about it with a professor, from the same University, but working in another department, and that I didn't kow before. He asked questions about my research, and seemed really interested. At the end, he asked if we already published these results, to which I answered that we haven't yet, but hoped to submit the paper before the end of the year. He then said that he is himself an (associate) editor in a peer-review journal, and that we should think about sending it there (and I think this was good news, as it is a pretty good journal). I reported this conversation to my supervisor, who also thought it good news. Now that the article is finished, my supervisor proposed that I write directly to this professor/editor. To be clear, my supervisor proposed that I write to this professor/editor asking if he would be ok with me sending him the paper directly, rather than submitting it through the website. This would be to remember him of me and probably to avoid the paper going through another editor (they may not be all as enthousiastic?) My question is then twofold : \- Is it something (proposing to send the paper directly to the editor) something you have already done? Or do you absolutly not advise it and think it would be preferable for me to go the usual way (i.e. submitting as everybody through the website)? \- If you have done it, how did you approach it? What should I write? Thinking about writing this e-mail makes me anxious. Any recommandations on what to say would be appreciated. If this helps, I'm in Europe, and in a life science field. Thanks in advance for your responses reddit! Assistant: >Is it something (proposing to send the paper directly to the editor) something you have already done? No, > Or do you absolutly not advise it Yes, by all means. > and think it would be preferable for me to go the usual way (i.e. submitting as everybody through the website)? Yes.

Human: I'm working on a project to develop educational games for Veterinary students in my University. What are some educational games, programs or projects out there ? Where should I be searching to find about this ? Preferably academic projects. Assistant: /r/gamebasedlearning is a good sub to check out.

Human: I'm working on a project to develop educational games for Veterinary students in my University. What are some educational games, programs or projects out there ? Where should I be searching to find about this ? Preferably academic projects. Assistant: If you want to get really fancy, maybe check out the realm of educational VR/AR -- there are already medical/surgical efforts to this end by a variety of groups.

Human: Am I editing for a predatory journal? Some background, I was accepted as a fellow into this program which has been... an experience to say the least. The head of the program has been highly unprofessional and at times has bordered on harassment through chat channels. Regardless, part of the fellowship includes an editorial position at the institute's associated journal, which I will link in the comments. I was recently asked to do a full edit (grammar, syntax, etc) of an "accepted" paper which sounds strange to me, as this was never something that was done in any of my previous papers that I submitted for peer review. Is this a normal process? For additional context, the paper I am tasked to edit is of incredibly subpar quality and I am now questioning the entire peer-review process. Assistant: Red flags everywhere, so I guess the answer to your question is 'yes'.

Human: Am I editing for a predatory journal? Some background, I was accepted as a fellow into this program which has been... an experience to say the least. The head of the program has been highly unprofessional and at times has bordered on harassment through chat channels. Regardless, part of the fellowship includes an editorial position at the institute's associated journal, which I will link in the comments. I was recently asked to do a full edit (grammar, syntax, etc) of an "accepted" paper which sounds strange to me, as this was never something that was done in any of my previous papers that I submitted for peer review. Is this a normal process? For additional context, the paper I am tasked to edit is of incredibly subpar quality and I am now questioning the entire peer-review process. Assistant: Honestly if it’s not Sage, Springer, Wiley, or your own org, it’s probably a red flag.

Human: When did you start a family/when do you plan to start a family? I'll probably be finishing my degrees around age 28 and I'm wondering how other women/men in academia did the whole married with/without kids thing in conjunction with school. So, how did grad school impact your family planning? Did you start a family later than you wanted in order to finish your studies? Did you have problems with a SO who didn't want to wait for you to finish grad school? Did you start your family while IN grad school? Did you get married in grad school then had babies when you finished? I'm really curious about this, please share your stories! Assistant: It's not impossible, I know plenty of women who have done it. Often towards the end of grad school, during postdoc, or after tenure. But, let's not pretend this is easy. Female grad students or postdocs with kids are twice as likely to leave academia (source). Women who have children are 22% less likely to get tenure (source).

Human: When did you start a family/when do you plan to start a family? I'll probably be finishing my degrees around age 28 and I'm wondering how other women/men in academia did the whole married with/without kids thing in conjunction with school. So, how did grad school impact your family planning? Did you start a family later than you wanted in order to finish your studies? Did you have problems with a SO who didn't want to wait for you to finish grad school? Did you start your family while IN grad school? Did you get married in grad school then had babies when you finished? I'm really curious about this, please share your stories! Assistant: Got married year 2 in grad school and gave birth year 6. Pushed defense date and start date for a TT job by a semester. Wanting a second but not until I finish my book

Human: Tell me your Grad School success stories! I'm going to be honest and say this sub is making me scared to even apply to graduate school. But I know I love research and I think a PhD will get me further in my career. But everything online is just horror stories. So please, tell me the things you enjoyed out of graduate school in STEM and why it was/is worth it for you! Assistant: I finished my PhD with an advisor that didn't know my name, didn't touch my thesis, and forgot to show up to my defense. That said, I still landed an awesome job at a national lab and absolutely love what I've been doing for almost the last decade.

Human: Tell me your Grad School success stories! I'm going to be honest and say this sub is making me scared to even apply to graduate school. But I know I love research and I think a PhD will get me further in my career. But everything online is just horror stories. So please, tell me the things you enjoyed out of graduate school in STEM and why it was/is worth it for you! Assistant: Although I have a difficult supervisor who I likely have vented about on this subreddit, everything else has been great. I made amazing friends with students in my lab, I love my research, Ive developed a lot of transferrable skills, and I was surprised to find a lot of job opportunities outside of academia. I wouldnt change anything b/c even the difficult things (like my supervisor) brought me and my labmates closer together.

Human: I'm 27, am I too old to start a new education that will likely last at least 5+ years? Hello! I've been trying to finish various engineering programmes in university because I've been told it's the best thing to do for money, but I've never really been interested nor motivated, so I've stagnated for years and gotten into debt. I've been working off and on in sales and I absolutely hate it. I want an education, and I want something I'm genuinly interested in (primarily biology), so something like a bachelor in biomedicine (or maybe even biotech if I have to choose engineering) and then specialize with a masters. The problem is I feel like I'm getting old, already 27 with nothing to show for it, and if my education lasts 5 years, I'd be 32 by the time I'm finished; a licentiate or a PhD would make me even older. I'm getting kinda depressed, and I'm not sure what to do. Am I getting too old to start working on a research oriented education? In case it matters I'm Swedish. Thanks. Assistant: I finished my masters at 50. Started it at 46 going part-time. It's never too late. This man became a doctor at 47.

Human: I'm 27, am I too old to start a new education that will likely last at least 5+ years? Hello! I've been trying to finish various engineering programmes in university because I've been told it's the best thing to do for money, but I've never really been interested nor motivated, so I've stagnated for years and gotten into debt. I've been working off and on in sales and I absolutely hate it. I want an education, and I want something I'm genuinly interested in (primarily biology), so something like a bachelor in biomedicine (or maybe even biotech if I have to choose engineering) and then specialize with a masters. The problem is I feel like I'm getting old, already 27 with nothing to show for it, and if my education lasts 5 years, I'd be 32 by the time I'm finished; a licentiate or a PhD would make me even older. I'm getting kinda depressed, and I'm not sure what to do. Am I getting too old to start working on a research oriented education? In case it matters I'm Swedish. Thanks. Assistant: Age is but a number. It’s never too late to pursue your passion!! Best of luck!

Human: Why would some profs encourage students to apply to other schools' PhD programs At my school (both my program and another), I know some people that did their Undergrad, Masters and PhD all within their respective programs. However, I also know some people that got rejected for PhD, but accepted eslewhere. Also more recently, when I expressed my interest to two profs (not related) wanting to continue with PhD, they encouraged me to apply eslewhere too. Is it all about good fit or that there would be more opportunities? Assistant: You want a PhD. Their advice is about maximizing your shot at getting into a program that best fits your needs. You may or may not get in at your current school. They may or may not offer you the best funding package. And their faculty may or may not best line up with your research interests. If you're trying to read the tea leaves here, I don't think there's any underlying message, just sound advice.

Human: Why would some profs encourage students to apply to other schools' PhD programs At my school (both my program and another), I know some people that did their Undergrad, Masters and PhD all within their respective programs. However, I also know some people that got rejected for PhD, but accepted eslewhere. Also more recently, when I expressed my interest to two profs (not related) wanting to continue with PhD, they encouraged me to apply eslewhere too. Is it all about good fit or that there would be more opportunities? Assistant: People used to talk about academic "incest" but I haven't heard it mentioned in a long time. I went to different schools for all my degrees to avoid the "same mindedness" that comes with staying in the same department.

Human: Struggling with writing PhD thesis Hi all! I am really struggling with writing my PhD thesis and was hoping to get tips/helpful insights. My PhD years were not super sucessfull, I did a few projects, most of them tie loosely together. Not all really do have an outcome, but rather the exploring was the main focus. I have a very good relation to my professor, however, he did not really encourage me to write a paper. At our university/in my group it is not really necessary to write a paper to get a doctorate, most people have 1-2 papers after the usual four years. I am now trying to write something out of those loose semi-sucessfull projects and am really struggling with motivation. I am also very scared of the defending of my thesis already and do not really know, if I have earned to get a doctorate degree. I am wondering, if someone else in i a similar situation or can maybe help me overcome the doubt I have. I at least want to finish writing, if my professor or the thesis comitee then says it is not worth getting a PhD, so be it, but that would have to require a finished thesis. I would really appreciate some help. Assistant: Fucking same boat here, friend. Got about 6 weeks to get this thing handed in and defended before my job starts. It's brutal (international research, interviews in another language, translation and finishing the study hampered by Covid, etc). But fuck me. Just KEEP. THOSE. FINGERS. MOVING. that's it. my whole life is boiled down to this ridiculously simple point

Human: Struggling with writing PhD thesis Hi all! I am really struggling with writing my PhD thesis and was hoping to get tips/helpful insights. My PhD years were not super sucessfull, I did a few projects, most of them tie loosely together. Not all really do have an outcome, but rather the exploring was the main focus. I have a very good relation to my professor, however, he did not really encourage me to write a paper. At our university/in my group it is not really necessary to write a paper to get a doctorate, most people have 1-2 papers after the usual four years. I am now trying to write something out of those loose semi-sucessfull projects and am really struggling with motivation. I am also very scared of the defending of my thesis already and do not really know, if I have earned to get a doctorate degree. I am wondering, if someone else in i a similar situation or can maybe help me overcome the doubt I have. I at least want to finish writing, if my professor or the thesis comitee then says it is not worth getting a PhD, so be it, but that would have to require a finished thesis. I would really appreciate some help. Assistant: Hard to give advice today. Good luck!

Human: How to ask/find out if my supervisor (Assistant Prof) got tenure? My supervisor was denied tenure his first time but managed to get a re-evaluation due to Covid (there's also a rumor he threatened to sue the university). I'm holding off applying to grad school as a part-time PhD candidate because I don't really want him as my advisor and he doesn't get along well with the professor I do want as an advisor. His review seminar was last October and there were positive responses at the department level this time around, but I haven't heard anything since. Anyone have any clues on how long this takes? It's hard to tell based on his actions if he knows anything. (in USA) Assistant: I don’t understand this weirdness. You can apply to be in anyone’s lab, why are you tracking one particular person’s career who may or may not interact with your potential supervisor? Weird drama.

Human: How to ask/find out if my supervisor (Assistant Prof) got tenure? My supervisor was denied tenure his first time but managed to get a re-evaluation due to Covid (there's also a rumor he threatened to sue the university). I'm holding off applying to grad school as a part-time PhD candidate because I don't really want him as my advisor and he doesn't get along well with the professor I do want as an advisor. His review seminar was last October and there were positive responses at the department level this time around, but I haven't heard anything since. Anyone have any clues on how long this takes? It's hard to tell based on his actions if he knows anything. (in USA) Assistant: Schools usually publish promotions. Google the school and promotions and see if their name is on the list.

Human: Academics: Do you or did you have a topic that you wanted to write about that you saved for "after I get tenure?" As I understand it, the purpose of tenure was [at least originally] to allow academics the freedom to publish controversial research without fearing that their jobs were in jeopardy. I was wondering if this ever actually happens today. I'd be interested in either topics you are/were avoiding publishing on, or just whether you have an idea of how common this is. I imagine this is more relevant in the Social Sciences and Humanities, but I'd be interested in responses from anyone. Assistant: BDSM in urban China. It kept popping up on the periphery of my completely unrelated research, I'd like to follow those threads.

Human: Academics: Do you or did you have a topic that you wanted to write about that you saved for "after I get tenure?" As I understand it, the purpose of tenure was [at least originally] to allow academics the freedom to publish controversial research without fearing that their jobs were in jeopardy. I was wondering if this ever actually happens today. I'd be interested in either topics you are/were avoiding publishing on, or just whether you have an idea of how common this is. I imagine this is more relevant in the Social Sciences and Humanities, but I'd be interested in responses from anyone. Assistant: Grad student, but I know many sociologists that do this, particularly with "tough topics" like sexuality.

Human: What do you do if you fail at research after a PhD? What happens if you are a post-doc and start leading a new project, and you fail to get any result and it's your fault? If you get kicked out of university/research facility, and so you have no good references for getting another research position, is there anything you could do at this point? Assistant: Likely the same result as if you were successful: you go into industry.

Human: What do you do if you fail at research after a PhD? What happens if you are a post-doc and start leading a new project, and you fail to get any result and it's your fault? If you get kicked out of university/research facility, and so you have no good references for getting another research position, is there anything you could do at this point? Assistant: Usually postdocs at least in the US are fixed term contracts so it’s unlikely you’ll be fired just not given another contract at the end, unless you were to do something egregious. If you can’t get a good LOR from your postdoc supervisor you always have your PI from your PhD. It may be difficult to get another postdoc or AP position so it may be necessary to work in industry, whatever that means for your specific discipline.

Human: I may not finish my PhD in time I have been unofficially offered a really sweet non-tenure-track lecturer position that starts in the fall quarter. I am planning to file my dissertation this summer but there is a chance that I may need an extra two months or so. What is likely to happen if I miss the summer deadline? Should I let the hiring department know? How often does this happen? Assistant: Can you just quit life for a season and finish it? Otherwise, though, would it hurt to talk to this hiring department and explain your situation? See what they say? It's possible they are reasonable/nice people.

Human: I may not finish my PhD in time I have been unofficially offered a really sweet non-tenure-track lecturer position that starts in the fall quarter. I am planning to file my dissertation this summer but there is a chance that I may need an extra two months or so. What is likely to happen if I miss the summer deadline? Should I let the hiring department know? How often does this happen? Assistant: Is a PhD required for the lecturer position?

Human: Impact of recession on the life of a graduate student Hi, I don’t mean to ring any alarms by my title. I’m just curious to know how the 2008 recession (or any other local level recessions at any other times) affected the lives of people who were graduate students then? It is common knowledge that grad student stipends in most places is laughable. Im mainly concerned with figuring out what’s the worst that can happen should something like this happen while Im still ‘in school’. Assistant: I'll go against the grain a little here... I applied to a PhD program in '07 (before the recession) and began in '08. I was damn glad to be in grad school at the time. Stipends were shit to begin with, but at no point was I worried about my funding getting cut. I was happy to not be out fighting for a shitty job, and happy to know that my future was essentially locked in for five years while the economy recovered. There's a reason grad school enrollment is countercyclical with the economy.

Human: Impact of recession on the life of a graduate student Hi, I don’t mean to ring any alarms by my title. I’m just curious to know how the 2008 recession (or any other local level recessions at any other times) affected the lives of people who were graduate students then? It is common knowledge that grad student stipends in most places is laughable. Im mainly concerned with figuring out what’s the worst that can happen should something like this happen while Im still ‘in school’. Assistant: It's much harder to find an academic job. Many departments (not all) waited to start searches for new professors, so now what was already an oversaturated job market is even more over saturated.

Human: Will taking a letter of recommendation from a recent PhD grad hurt? I am applying to Computer Science PhD programs this fall. I have asked for three letters of recommendation, one of which will come from a recent Ph.D. grad who is a visiting professor at my college. He was my senior thesis mentor for Computer Science. Will the fact that he recently graduated mean his letter is not given much weight? He will be able to comment on my work since I've worked closely with him, but I'm just worried that the admissions committee might not take his words seriously since he is a recent PhD grad (graduated in 2022). Will it be an issue? Assistant: I see tons of letters from adjuncts every year.

Human: Will taking a letter of recommendation from a recent PhD grad hurt? I am applying to Computer Science PhD programs this fall. I have asked for three letters of recommendation, one of which will come from a recent Ph.D. grad who is a visiting professor at my college. He was my senior thesis mentor for Computer Science. Will the fact that he recently graduated mean his letter is not given much weight? He will be able to comment on my work since I've worked closely with him, but I'm just worried that the admissions committee might not take his words seriously since he is a recent PhD grad (graduated in 2022). Will it be an issue? Assistant: You're overthinking this

Human: Curious about ethics of job search for trailing spouse Hi all I got into a heated argument with a very good (and smart!) Colleague today that normally I agree with. I was wondering what other people thought about the ethics of the situation we discussed. Let's say there's a couple, Mr and Mrs Smith. Mr Smith is a rising star who, in his postdoc, met Mrs Smith as a grad student. He went to get a TT job, prestigious awards, etc. Mrs Smith, as a grad student, published in decent journals with Mr Smith frequently as a co-author. While Mr Smith was already in his TT job, Mrs Smith went to do a postdoc in the same field, but at a different institute (but pretty prestigious lab). Now, to solve their two body problem, is it fair to give Mrs Smith a TT job at the same institute as Mr Smith given that there are no openings for her expertise at that time in Mr Smith's institute? I argued that it is fair to give her a research professorship with a small start up or soft money, but in order to be TT she must compete in an open search. My colleague says given how random TT jobs are to get and how much connections already play a role, it is fair to give them the best possible situation. What do you guys think? Would the trailing spouse's record matter much in the decision to make her TT or not? Even if she does publish well in her postdoc (say CNS) I still think it would be unfair to give her a TT position at her preferred institute. After all, I have multiple CNS papers and still didn't get to have my first choice because the institute wasn't looking for someone with my expertise. Assistant: If the person has the credentials and expertise to be competitive autonomously, it's fine to give them preference because of their family situation. Otherwise, I doubt any but a very dysfunctional department would hire them on. There is some randomness to this process, but it doesn't mean unqualified people get hired left and right.

Human: Curious about ethics of job search for trailing spouse Hi all I got into a heated argument with a very good (and smart!) Colleague today that normally I agree with. I was wondering what other people thought about the ethics of the situation we discussed. Let's say there's a couple, Mr and Mrs Smith. Mr Smith is a rising star who, in his postdoc, met Mrs Smith as a grad student. He went to get a TT job, prestigious awards, etc. Mrs Smith, as a grad student, published in decent journals with Mr Smith frequently as a co-author. While Mr Smith was already in his TT job, Mrs Smith went to do a postdoc in the same field, but at a different institute (but pretty prestigious lab). Now, to solve their two body problem, is it fair to give Mrs Smith a TT job at the same institute as Mr Smith given that there are no openings for her expertise at that time in Mr Smith's institute? I argued that it is fair to give her a research professorship with a small start up or soft money, but in order to be TT she must compete in an open search. My colleague says given how random TT jobs are to get and how much connections already play a role, it is fair to give them the best possible situation. What do you guys think? Would the trailing spouse's record matter much in the decision to make her TT or not? Even if she does publish well in her postdoc (say CNS) I still think it would be unfair to give her a TT position at her preferred institute. After all, I have multiple CNS papers and still didn't get to have my first choice because the institute wasn't looking for someone with my expertise. Assistant: Open search for TT, soft money could be fine

Human: Can you study a master/PhD and still keep your job in the industry? Hello, I'm an Electronic Engineer based in Colombia currently working as a Cloud Engineer for a great US company (they bought the company here). While I was still studying, I wanted to pursue a physics master due to my thesis being fluid dynamics and bc I loved researching. The thing is I wanted to study abroad at a prestigious university, but I'm not sure how much time would I have doing a master's/following PhD and still working bc I can't afford any of this without a job (to put it in perspective I earn 7x times the minimum wage here, which is a lot for a 22 y.o with 6 months of experience). Should I just give up and do a master's in my country since it would actually be more affordable and flexible depending on the university? (My main problem is the time/schedule and money I would need to study/live abroad) Assistant: It really depends on your field, your employment, your country, and your reasons for completing it. I did but I did not need to be in a science lab, I did not have course work for my PhD (I did for my Masters but did it online/after hours).

Human: Can you study a master/PhD and still keep your job in the industry? Hello, I'm an Electronic Engineer based in Colombia currently working as a Cloud Engineer for a great US company (they bought the company here). While I was still studying, I wanted to pursue a physics master due to my thesis being fluid dynamics and bc I loved researching. The thing is I wanted to study abroad at a prestigious university, but I'm not sure how much time would I have doing a master's/following PhD and still working bc I can't afford any of this without a job (to put it in perspective I earn 7x times the minimum wage here, which is a lot for a 22 y.o with 6 months of experience). Should I just give up and do a master's in my country since it would actually be more affordable and flexible depending on the university? (My main problem is the time/schedule and money I would need to study/live abroad) Assistant: Master, yes. PhD? Very unlikely.

Human: how do you come to terms with your low post doc salary? do you really just love your research? Or have a dedication to the advancement of science (/insert your field here)? After a grueling 5 years of Phd, I simpy cannot come to terms of going into a post doc that pays $50k (average CAD) when im trying to start a family, get a house, have kids. I just dont see it. Is this supposed to be the expected right of passage to eventually become a professor and make the big bucks? Is this route worth it? is it obtainable? I dont see a light at the end of this tunnel. Assistant: I make 55k usd + benefits and I think it’s great. I actually think I’m getting paid pretty well. It’s not the pay that bothers me it’s the lack of security. When it’s getting close to the end of my funding and folks are just shrugging and saying “hopefully something turns up for you! Here do this thing...” The stress levels are unbelievable.

Human: how do you come to terms with your low post doc salary? do you really just love your research? Or have a dedication to the advancement of science (/insert your field here)? After a grueling 5 years of Phd, I simpy cannot come to terms of going into a post doc that pays $50k (average CAD) when im trying to start a family, get a house, have kids. I just dont see it. Is this supposed to be the expected right of passage to eventually become a professor and make the big bucks? Is this route worth it? is it obtainable? I dont see a light at the end of this tunnel. Assistant: .

Human: How bad is it if I can't finish my degree on time? I will finish my MSc physics ~1.5 years late than anticipated. Are my prospects for a PhD then completely ruined? Assistant: Hey there, I had problems while doing my MPhys and got low grades one year resulting in my final grade being a 2:2. I was so disappointed since I believe I would never be able to follow my dream and do my PhD. I got a job in the biotech industry and gained invaluable experience. 7 yrs later and I am about to start my fully funded PhD in Biophysics and Neuroscience at the University of Edinburgh. NEVER GIVE UP ON YOUR DREAMS.

Human: How bad is it if I can't finish my degree on time? I will finish my MSc physics ~1.5 years late than anticipated. Are my prospects for a PhD then completely ruined? Assistant: Nobody will care. There is no such thing as finishing a degree "on time."

Human: I am finally breaking free after dealing with a toxic advisor for years. People are recommending I report my advisor for how I've been treated, but I am nervous to do so. Throwaway account for obvious reasons. For the past few years, I have dealt with the textbook-definition of a toxic advisor. It was terrible. I would dread every meeting, because I knew I would get (literally) yelled at for something or another. Sending them emails made me legitimately anxious because I was afraid I phrased something wrong, and that would trigger their anger. Their mentorship made me feel unaccomplished, worthless, and like I was terrible at my own field. And what's more, I had to deal with constant insults and attacks towards my character. I have plenty of examples of negative things that have been said to me. "You're a terrible mentee." "You should get therapy because you didn't take my advice about XYZ." "The only reason you are succeeding is because of me." And much, much worse things that I don't want to share. For a while, I internalized all this negative stuff about me. Then I started working with a collaborator from another university and found that I *wasn't* a terrible academic. I was doing perfectly fine, and I was actually able to perform when I worked with someone kind, but who was still critical of my work and gave crucial feedback. It all compounded a few weeks ago when I finally made the decision to withdraw from my program. I'm going to reapply for new programs in the fall and start over with what I've learned from my first go at this grad school business. My projects in the lab are being wrapped up, and I plan to move on once they are complete. But of course, the toxicity hasn't stopped, and I am still getting negative emails and texts from my advisor. Given the situation, a close friend who works for the university gave me the contact info for an office that I can call and make a formal complaint against my advisor. It is anonymous, and they would work with me to discuss how to proceed in the situation. On one hand, I am all for pursuing this action. The effects of working with my advisor have been apparent, and nearly everyone I see comments on how beaten down I've been during my time with that advisor. I don't want this behavior to continue. Even if it doesn't help me anymore, I would feel terrible knowing that my advisor will continue treating people like crap. I know I am not the first, as senior labmates have shared their horror stories of working with this advisor. But I hate that this pattern is continuing. On the other hand, I am scared to report my advisor. Even if it is anonymous, I am terrified of any consequences that may arise from proceeding with a complaint. I DO want to continue in academia, which is truly a small world. I don't want to add more fuel to the fire when I am already dealing with the flames full force. At this point, I just want to leave. My fiancé and I are planning to move to get away from everything that has happened here, but we can't go quite yet. I felt elated once I decided to finally quit this program, but yet I'm still here, and I cannot run just yet. Any advice would be fantastic. As you can tell, this has been wearing me down for years. Thanks in advance. Assistant: First I just wanted to say good luck, its not easy to work up the courage to leave a shitty advisor. I was in a similar situation. I think if its going to cause you more anxiety, don't bother reporting him. If we're being honest, nothing is going to happen to this guy if he has tenure. I've seen supervisors get away with worse treatment of students. Its sad but I think few departments would do much about it. So you may be putting yourself out there for nothing.

Human: I am finally breaking free after dealing with a toxic advisor for years. People are recommending I report my advisor for how I've been treated, but I am nervous to do so. Throwaway account for obvious reasons. For the past few years, I have dealt with the textbook-definition of a toxic advisor. It was terrible. I would dread every meeting, because I knew I would get (literally) yelled at for something or another. Sending them emails made me legitimately anxious because I was afraid I phrased something wrong, and that would trigger their anger. Their mentorship made me feel unaccomplished, worthless, and like I was terrible at my own field. And what's more, I had to deal with constant insults and attacks towards my character. I have plenty of examples of negative things that have been said to me. "You're a terrible mentee." "You should get therapy because you didn't take my advice about XYZ." "The only reason you are succeeding is because of me." And much, much worse things that I don't want to share. For a while, I internalized all this negative stuff about me. Then I started working with a collaborator from another university and found that I *wasn't* a terrible academic. I was doing perfectly fine, and I was actually able to perform when I worked with someone kind, but who was still critical of my work and gave crucial feedback. It all compounded a few weeks ago when I finally made the decision to withdraw from my program. I'm going to reapply for new programs in the fall and start over with what I've learned from my first go at this grad school business. My projects in the lab are being wrapped up, and I plan to move on once they are complete. But of course, the toxicity hasn't stopped, and I am still getting negative emails and texts from my advisor. Given the situation, a close friend who works for the university gave me the contact info for an office that I can call and make a formal complaint against my advisor. It is anonymous, and they would work with me to discuss how to proceed in the situation. On one hand, I am all for pursuing this action. The effects of working with my advisor have been apparent, and nearly everyone I see comments on how beaten down I've been during my time with that advisor. I don't want this behavior to continue. Even if it doesn't help me anymore, I would feel terrible knowing that my advisor will continue treating people like crap. I know I am not the first, as senior labmates have shared their horror stories of working with this advisor. But I hate that this pattern is continuing. On the other hand, I am scared to report my advisor. Even if it is anonymous, I am terrified of any consequences that may arise from proceeding with a complaint. I DO want to continue in academia, which is truly a small world. I don't want to add more fuel to the fire when I am already dealing with the flames full force. At this point, I just want to leave. My fiancé and I are planning to move to get away from everything that has happened here, but we can't go quite yet. I felt elated once I decided to finally quit this program, but yet I'm still here, and I cannot run just yet. Any advice would be fantastic. As you can tell, this has been wearing me down for years. Thanks in advance. Assistant: It sucks to work for someone who's crappy to you. I have a few questions before I can offer advice: 1. Does your advisor treat everyone in the lab the same way to the same extent? 2. When you get cut down for not following advice, what is it regarding? Career path? Class choice? Procedures in lab? Priorities of experiments? It makes a difference... 3. What is your performance like compared to your lab mates? Objectively speaking, do you have the same pace of productivity? Edit: typo

Human: Are scholars allowed to make dubious and unsubstantiated claims in the abstract, if it's for context or background rather than the focus of the paper, or are they expected to maintain higher standards of fact checking and accuracy in general? Assistant: Are you basically asking how click-baity you can make your abstract s?

Human: Are scholars allowed to make dubious and unsubstantiated claims in the abstract, if it's for context or background rather than the focus of the paper, or are they expected to maintain higher standards of fact checking and accuracy in general? Assistant: No. If you make a claim in your abstract you sure as hell better substantiate that in your paper, or you will not be getting published today.

Human: New Dean, Ethics and H-Index How do you address the case of finding out that your new dean has a google H index of over 100, but is unable to seemingly construct a 2 paragraph email. Further he has offered several faculty members dissertations he has “obtained” from other countries to use and write a paper on. He has the respect of no one since he seems to be a complete research fraud. It’s hurtful and demoralizing that this is the person that we have to work with on a daily basis. He seems to have support from upper leadership at the uni. How can you ever respect anything that this person says or does?? Assistant: Further he has offered several faculty members dissertations he has “obtained” from other countries to use and write a paper on. Could you elaborate on this? I don't really understand what this means.

Human: New Dean, Ethics and H-Index How do you address the case of finding out that your new dean has a google H index of over 100, but is unable to seemingly construct a 2 paragraph email. Further he has offered several faculty members dissertations he has “obtained” from other countries to use and write a paper on. He has the respect of no one since he seems to be a complete research fraud. It’s hurtful and demoralizing that this is the person that we have to work with on a daily basis. He seems to have support from upper leadership at the uni. How can you ever respect anything that this person says or does?? Assistant: That's rough. My guess is that s/he will be found out eventually. In my career, I've observed that most serious cases of fraud make their way into the light over time. But it may take a few years. If you can, change jobs. If not, keep your head down and wait it out. If your uni has a research integrity office that accepts anonymous reports, then consider that as well. May speed up the natural process.

Human: What can I do to advance the cause of open access? Assistant: Be open on everything. Open data. Open slides. Open teaching statements. We need to instill openness everywhere.

Human: What can I do to advance the cause of open access? Assistant: Post preprints to bio archive!

Human: What is the biggest turn-off in academia that aspiring PhD students may not know about? Assistant: I seriously can’t handle this thread. Sooooooo much bitterness. Sure, there are problems with academia, but there are problems in every field. The hyperbole in this thread is ridiculous. I really think that those reading this should keep that in mind.

Human: What is the biggest turn-off in academia that aspiring PhD students may not know about? Assistant: The low probability of actually getting a job as a professor (if that is the student's career goal).

Human: Professors: What makes a student annoying? Can you ask too many questions/send too many e-mails/visit office hours too frequently? At what point does this occur? Assistant: Five words: "Did I miss anything important?" No, since you were absent I didn't bother to prepare anything and we just sat in the dark for 3 hours.

Human: Professors: What makes a student annoying? Can you ask too many questions/send too many e-mails/visit office hours too frequently? At what point does this occur? Assistant: When students haven't at least attempted to find the answer themselves. I publish the syllabus and announcements and all the other things to help and when students want me to do everything for them, or ask me something that is clearly answered the first line of the syllabus, textbook, etc, that drives me crazy. Especially when they do it repeatedly.

Human: Is adding a co-author in a paper submission to handle journal fees bad? (Computer Science) \-After doing my bachelor thesis, which took about 4 months, my supervisor recommended that I should publish the paper. He recommended an open-access popular journal that we should submit to. That journal has fees of about a 1000$, and my supervisor said that he knew someone that can pay the fees and his name will be added second after my name and my supervisor's name will come third. I can pay the fees, it is not a big deal, but If someone else can handle it is it a bad thing? specially since this is my first paper. So should I resist? Assistant: Do not spend money with an open-access option. Post a “pre print” to arXiv. This costs nothing. Send the exact same document to a traditional journal for review. This should also cost nothing. Once the journal reviews are done, update the arXiv paper as appropriate. *Boom*. Your paper is accessible at zero cost to you, and the wider world. People cite the journal version but always have access to the arXiv version.

Human: Is adding a co-author in a paper submission to handle journal fees bad? (Computer Science) \-After doing my bachelor thesis, which took about 4 months, my supervisor recommended that I should publish the paper. He recommended an open-access popular journal that we should submit to. That journal has fees of about a 1000$, and my supervisor said that he knew someone that can pay the fees and his name will be added second after my name and my supervisor's name will come third. I can pay the fees, it is not a big deal, but If someone else can handle it is it a bad thing? specially since this is my first paper. So should I resist? Assistant: Are you still a student? Is there a dean of your college or of research (often lumped in with grad college) who could be asked for the funds? Heck, even a department chair might be willing to fund it. It looks good for the institution to have you publish.

Human: How should one prepare for a PhD defense? What is a good way to prepare for a PhD defense? I have mine in ten days! My plan is to read through my dissertation and publications once more. And also go through some relevant publications of my opponent. But not really read the literature I cite. What else should I read up on? Or how else can I prepare? Assistant: Take a long walk. Sleep through the night every night until then. Eat something highly nutritious. It's super unlikely that your advisor would have let you go to defense if he/she had any doubts you'd pass. It's a ritual more than an exam.

Human: How should one prepare for a PhD defense? What is a good way to prepare for a PhD defense? I have mine in ten days! My plan is to read through my dissertation and publications once more. And also go through some relevant publications of my opponent. But not really read the literature I cite. What else should I read up on? Or how else can I prepare? Assistant: Sword training.

Human: What is better second author or second to last author? Suppose you worked a lot on a paper but cannot be first or last due to PI-ship reasons. Which position would you take second author or second to last author? Assistant: Depends on career stage. Grad student or postdoc: second, PI: second to last.

Human: What is better second author or second to last author? Suppose you worked a lot on a paper but cannot be first or last due to PI-ship reasons. Which position would you take second author or second to last author? Assistant: Chocolate

Human: Thank-you notes after academic job interviews How do you feel about them? Assistant: Having been a hiring manager that had received these notes: Yes. Send them. They should be polite, well-worded, and gracious. I've enjoyed reading some more than others due to writing style, but they are always nice to receive. I have had one hiring decision that I changed because of such a note.

Human: Thank-you notes after academic job interviews How do you feel about them? Assistant: Been on the job market 3 times. Always sent them. I don't think they helped or hurt.

Human: Communicating with faculty up for tenure What is the best way to respond when a faculty is up for tenure? I’m very unaware of the academic lingo around this subject and do not want to offend this person and they’re also truly deserving of the position. Do you wish them good luck? Offer help with recs? Congratulate them? I’m lost. Assistant: Congratulate them when tenure is awarded. After packet submission, it can take months until the department committee, tenure committee, and 2-3 entities up the food chain sign off on it. Putting a packet together can be an ordeal, so being supportive is always helpful.

Human: Communicating with faculty up for tenure What is the best way to respond when a faculty is up for tenure? I’m very unaware of the academic lingo around this subject and do not want to offend this person and they’re also truly deserving of the position. Do you wish them good luck? Offer help with recs? Congratulate them? I’m lost. Assistant: I would wish them good luck.

Human: How do you search for state of the art papers? I am searching for a state of the art paper on the topic multiclass classification. What I am doing is searching it on Google Scholar and then from the results I check whether the journal or the conference where the paper has been published is an A\* conference or not. I am not sure whether it is the best way to do it or not. How do you search for the state of the art paper on a topic? Assistant: I mean, you do it more based on your knowledge of the field, your knowledge of where the state-of-the-art is (or is going), and your ability to manipulate keywords in the various search engines that you end up using. On top of that, you pretty quickly learn who the major names and institutions are and you keep an eye out for any papers from those particular labs.

Human: How do you search for state of the art papers? I am searching for a state of the art paper on the topic multiclass classification. What I am doing is searching it on Google Scholar and then from the results I check whether the journal or the conference where the paper has been published is an A\* conference or not. I am not sure whether it is the best way to do it or not. How do you search for the state of the art paper on a topic? Assistant: Topic + survey, read the newest one if available

Human: What's with all the male biology professors and their long hair?? It might just be my own experience, but I did notice that most of my biology professors that are men (i.e. neurobiology, embryology, microbiology, etc.) had long hair. And I mean long enough to make a pony tail. My chemistry and physics teachers all had the usual short hair thing going on. So why is this so specific to the biology department? I'm not judging or poking fun, hell every single one of them rocked that lion's mane as far as I'm concerned, but it did raised my curiosity. Assistant: weed and rock music duh lol

Human: What's with all the male biology professors and their long hair?? It might just be my own experience, but I did notice that most of my biology professors that are men (i.e. neurobiology, embryology, microbiology, etc.) had long hair. And I mean long enough to make a pony tail. My chemistry and physics teachers all had the usual short hair thing going on. So why is this so specific to the biology department? I'm not judging or poking fun, hell every single one of them rocked that lion's mane as far as I'm concerned, but it did raised my curiosity. Assistant: I am a biologist and know of a handful, but it’s certainly not the norm in my bubble.

Human: Is it OK to submit an application for Master's in Anthropology if you are also applying to the PhD program at the same university? I'm not sure if my GRE scores are strong enough to get into the doctoral program but I believe and the program and would be willing to be accepted as a master's student first. Assistant: I'd echo what the others have already said, and add that some PhD programs will *offer* you a spot in their Masters program (if they offer one) should they feel you're a promising candidate, but not deemed ready to attempt a PhD just yet. It would be best to simply ask the administration and figure out how their departments and protocol for accepting applications work. You might end up doing more work than you have to.

Human: Is it OK to submit an application for Master's in Anthropology if you are also applying to the PhD program at the same university? I'm not sure if my GRE scores are strong enough to get into the doctoral program but I believe and the program and would be willing to be accepted as a master's student first. Assistant: Ask the department administrator. Each program has its own policies.

Human: Are there any academic fields that don't have enough people trying to teach? Assistant: ITT: fields in which doing the work earns far more money than teaching others how to do the work

Human: Are there any academic fields that don't have enough people trying to teach? Assistant: Accounting is hot. Not the material itself, but the job prospects.

Human: [x-post from/r/askmen] I was told to post this here: People who got their degrees later on in life, how much success did you find? I'm starting my college career at 26. Almost finished with the first semester with straight A's! But, I'm significantly older than my peers... Has anyone gone back to get their formal education later on in life and found success? I feel like graduating at 30 will be weird. I'm pursuing a bs in comp sci. I've completed all of my eng/government/core classes, other than math and science, so it's going to take 4 years to climb at 3 classes a semester with a fulltime job. I have to start back at college algebra and do my sciences (as well as my cs classes) at a community college before I can transfer to a university, according to the university's transfer check-list. So far, for 3 classes (college alg, physical geol, cs (python)), I'll walk away with all A's. So I know that I have the drive to do this, and I feel like I can keep this up, but there's an irrational fear that I'll be too old in a field, and that I'll have trouble against peers that I'm 10 years their senior. Assistant: Life is not a race. You don't get a prize for doing things sooner. Generally speaking mature students do better and get more out of their degrees. You're rocking this, don't worry about it!

Human: [x-post from/r/askmen] I was told to post this here: People who got their degrees later on in life, how much success did you find? I'm starting my college career at 26. Almost finished with the first semester with straight A's! But, I'm significantly older than my peers... Has anyone gone back to get their formal education later on in life and found success? I feel like graduating at 30 will be weird. I'm pursuing a bs in comp sci. I've completed all of my eng/government/core classes, other than math and science, so it's going to take 4 years to climb at 3 classes a semester with a fulltime job. I have to start back at college algebra and do my sciences (as well as my cs classes) at a community college before I can transfer to a university, according to the university's transfer check-list. So far, for 3 classes (college alg, physical geol, cs (python)), I'll walk away with all A's. So I know that I have the drive to do this, and I feel like I can keep this up, but there's an irrational fear that I'll be too old in a field, and that I'll have trouble against peers that I'm 10 years their senior. Assistant: Started college at 31, PhD at 35, TT professor at 42.

Human: What PDF Annotator do you use with a reference management software (Mendeley/Zotero)? I've been using Mendeley for iPad for pdf annotating on papers. I just bought an Apple Pencil and realized that the only functionality that Mendeley has for Pencil is highlighting, typing notes, etc which is pretty bad. I came across Papership but that's a paid app for markdown and annotations. Are there any free alternatives that can read my Mendeley PDFs and which enables me to write freehand on them? Assistant: I use PaperShip with Zotero - it's worth the one-time purchase of $10, many times over IMHO.

Human: What PDF Annotator do you use with a reference management software (Mendeley/Zotero)? I've been using Mendeley for iPad for pdf annotating on papers. I just bought an Apple Pencil and realized that the only functionality that Mendeley has for Pencil is highlighting, typing notes, etc which is pretty bad. I came across Papership but that's a paid app for markdown and annotations. Are there any free alternatives that can read my Mendeley PDFs and which enables me to write freehand on them? Assistant: I use Okular, which allows free-hand annotations even though I don't use them personally. Now, that's available for OS X at least, not sure if it's also on iOS.

Human: Reference manager Hi! I've used Mendeley Desktop for many years but our division is now switching to EndNote as Mendeley Desktop won't be supported anymore (in addition to now not being able to transfer the library anymore). I'm now using both Mendeley Desktop and EndNote in parallell while moving my library from Mendeley to EndNote. However, EndNote feels clunky and lacks all the nice features of Mendeley such as having a list where you can review all your annotations for a document and immediately jump to a highlighted part of the document, changing colors of the highlights and searching within a document (highlighting the searched prompt and jumping to the page of the searched prompt when searching for it within the document). I miss these features and thus keep going back to my Mendeley software (although I know I should find an alternative as it is discontinued). We never considered Zotero as you could not read PDF:s within the software, however, I saw that Zotero's latest version looks similar to Mendeley Desktop and that you are able to read PDFs within the software now. Does anyone have experience with it (and previous experience with Mendeley Desktop)? Assistant: I just switched to Zotero from Mendeley Desktop, and so far I'm liking it a lot. I think it probably has a lot more features I haven't explored yet, but so far it's working well for me to organize/read/annotate/export notes, and it's been a lot less buggy than Mendeley (which I was increasingly disappointed with after Elsevier bought it). I have not yet tried to import my Mendeley library, so I'm not sure how smooth that process is.

Human: Reference manager Hi! I've used Mendeley Desktop for many years but our division is now switching to EndNote as Mendeley Desktop won't be supported anymore (in addition to now not being able to transfer the library anymore). I'm now using both Mendeley Desktop and EndNote in parallell while moving my library from Mendeley to EndNote. However, EndNote feels clunky and lacks all the nice features of Mendeley such as having a list where you can review all your annotations for a document and immediately jump to a highlighted part of the document, changing colors of the highlights and searching within a document (highlighting the searched prompt and jumping to the page of the searched prompt when searching for it within the document). I miss these features and thus keep going back to my Mendeley software (although I know I should find an alternative as it is discontinued). We never considered Zotero as you could not read PDF:s within the software, however, I saw that Zotero's latest version looks similar to Mendeley Desktop and that you are able to read PDFs within the software now. Does anyone have experience with it (and previous experience with Mendeley Desktop)? Assistant: https://www.citethisforme.com/ for me

Human: Faculty members of reddit, If you signed a contract for the upcoming year, does that mean you cannot accept any new job offers? I think the answer is no, but it does seems weird that you are breaking a contract. Can't the former school make a big deal about it and prevent you from working at the new school? Assistant: If the new job offer is TT, any decent colleagues at your current institution will wish you well. Even if it's not, a higher rate of turnover is a price institutions have to pay for having a "flexible workforce".

Human: Faculty members of reddit, If you signed a contract for the upcoming year, does that mean you cannot accept any new job offers? I think the answer is no, but it does seems weird that you are breaking a contract. Can't the former school make a big deal about it and prevent you from working at the new school? Assistant: The other commenters are absolutely right. It's not illegal, but it could serious fuck your career and reputation. I, for one, would consider this a dick move.

Human: For those of you who run STEM labs, do you prefer to be called Dr. ____ or your first name by your mentees? My PI always signs his emails with his first name, but most of the people in the lab refer to him as “Dr. PI”. Occasionally someone will use his first name. I’m used to always calling PIs by their first names since that’s what we did my previous labs, but now I’m not sure what to do. I’m assuming I should default to saying “Dr. PI” because that’s what other people do, but I also don’t want to seem too weird and formal since he continues to sign emails with his first name and he also refers to other PIs by their first names when talking to me. Any advice? Assistant: I think the convention on all of planet Earth should be that junior people call senior people "Dr" the first time they meet them, and the senior person should immediately say, "Please, call me FirstName." It shows respect on the part of the junior person and non-douchiness on the part of the senior person.

Human: For those of you who run STEM labs, do you prefer to be called Dr. ____ or your first name by your mentees? My PI always signs his emails with his first name, but most of the people in the lab refer to him as “Dr. PI”. Occasionally someone will use his first name. I’m used to always calling PIs by their first names since that’s what we did my previous labs, but now I’m not sure what to do. I’m assuming I should default to saying “Dr. PI” because that’s what other people do, but I also don’t want to seem too weird and formal since he continues to sign emails with his first name and he also refers to other PIs by their first names when talking to me. Any advice? Assistant: Go with what your lab does. Better to be too formal than less so. And his fellow PIs are his peers hence the first name basis.

Human: What did you wish you knew before you moved to another country for your postdoc? I'm about to finish my PhD and move from Israel to the US with my partner once the plague finally allows safe travel, hopefully sometime before the end of the year. What did you wish you knew before you made such a huge life change? I would appreciate advice in all fields -- financially, academically, family-wise, socially, etc. I am planning several one-on-ones with all of my close family members and friends to spend quality time together, but feel very unprepared in general. I never left Israel for more than a few months at a time until now, and this will be several years at least. Assistant: Credit scores are a big thing. You may have trouble finding an apartment since you have no credit history. You will probably have to put down a bigger deposit to set up utilities.

Human: What did you wish you knew before you moved to another country for your postdoc? I'm about to finish my PhD and move from Israel to the US with my partner once the plague finally allows safe travel, hopefully sometime before the end of the year. What did you wish you knew before you made such a huge life change? I would appreciate advice in all fields -- financially, academically, family-wise, socially, etc. I am planning several one-on-ones with all of my close family members and friends to spend quality time together, but feel very unprepared in general. I never left Israel for more than a few months at a time until now, and this will be several years at least. Assistant: Do you already have a job lined up? The main thing I've heard from international post-docs is visa issues can take forever to resolve. This may vary based on country of origin. I don't have any advice to offer, just didn't see that mentioned yet.

Human: Professors, how do you deal with students' sense of entitlement? Do you feel professors are treated differently now (by students) than they were, say, 20 years ago? I have found that many of my students feel that if they show up to class, or if they submit work (sub-par or not), they deserve an A. It's almost like a retail environment of sorts; they (or their parents) pay for it, so they should get what they want. I am a writing professor. I say, if it's a C paper, you get a C, regardless of how much effort you say you put in or how much money you paid to attend school. How am I to know how much effort you put in? What do you all think? Assistant: This semester, I had a student attempt to sue me for failing her. She had done half of the online assignments (which are all available at the beginning of the semester and can be done as many times as possible until a 100 is achieved), had NO record of attendance, and had a failing test average. This was her second time taking it, and she never once came to me to ask for help. She just issued a lawsuit after I said I would not pass her. It has since been dropped, but I was truly amazed.

Human: Professors, how do you deal with students' sense of entitlement? Do you feel professors are treated differently now (by students) than they were, say, 20 years ago? I have found that many of my students feel that if they show up to class, or if they submit work (sub-par or not), they deserve an A. It's almost like a retail environment of sorts; they (or their parents) pay for it, so they should get what they want. I am a writing professor. I say, if it's a C paper, you get a C, regardless of how much effort you say you put in or how much money you paid to attend school. How am I to know how much effort you put in? What do you all think? Assistant: This is a very interesting topic for UK academics. We're just about to see the first intake of students who have paid ~£10k per annum for our teaching.

Human: Has a colleague of yours lost tenure? What were the circumstances? Inspired by this news article. I've heard that tenure is very difficult to lose once you've got it. In your experience what caused a colleague to lose tenure? Assistant: 'Tenure' (where it's called that) is slowly becoming a less sacred idea. I know someone who lost tenure on account of 5-10 years of poor research performance. I think it was justified, even if it might feel unfair for the individual.

Human: Has a colleague of yours lost tenure? What were the circumstances? Inspired by this news article. I've heard that tenure is very difficult to lose once you've got it. In your experience what caused a colleague to lose tenure? Assistant: wow. All of the sexual harassment stories here seem to be about microbiologists.

Human: Christian professors in secular universities, do you have religious objects in your office? I'm wondering to what extent other professors bring their spiritual life to their campus environment. Assistant: My denomination (which is a very small Christian denomination) discourages the use of religious objects, or trying to convert people with words instead of the way we live our life. Basically but that would mean that it doesn't matter whether I'm in a religious or secular university my action should be the same either place, and I wouldn't have religious objects relating to my belief system in my office in either situation.

Human: Christian professors in secular universities, do you have religious objects in your office? I'm wondering to what extent other professors bring their spiritual life to their campus environment. Assistant: I'm loosely Catholic (raised in the church, still believe the basic doctrine/pray/celebrate major holy days but have *strong* disagreements with much of their contemporary "social" teachings and with their response to major abuses), but I've never put any display of it in my office. I've worn a cross necklace a couple of times - the kind you'd find at Brighton or Macy's or any other mid-tier accessory store, not the kind you get for your confirmation - but that's it.

Human: How does it feel to defend a thesis? Should i use a powerpoint or prezi? Hey all. I'd just like to ask for your advice. If ever you've done a thesis before, how does it feel? I'm really nervous for this one. I don't exactly know what to do. And do you recommend a powerpoint or prezi for the presentation? Any insights can help. Assistant: Haven’t you gone to any yet? It should be standard practice for all graduate students to attend oral defences before their own. Also, never use fucking prezi for anything, especially an academic talk or thesis defense.

Human: How does it feel to defend a thesis? Should i use a powerpoint or prezi? Hey all. I'd just like to ask for your advice. If ever you've done a thesis before, how does it feel? I'm really nervous for this one. I don't exactly know what to do. And do you recommend a powerpoint or prezi for the presentation? Any insights can help. Assistant: Keynote, PowerPoint, or LaTeX. Prezi is a train wreck. Rehearse well including with your advisor and student colleagues for feedback. Be prepared for questions. Should be fun, actually.

Human: What can I do about my relationship with my supervisor? Hi everyone, I'm one year into a PhD program, and I'm starting to realize my relationship with my supervisor is taking a toll on me. For starters, I currently feel like there is no direction in my project, it is constantly being switched, and I cannot talk openly to my supervisor about this. Whenever I bring up anything negative, or any worries that I have, my supervisor will brush it off and tell me I shouldn't worry about things. He does this in a very non-reassuring way though, if that makes sense. I also feel like I have accomplished nothing in my first year. My project has changed multiple times, upwards of 5. I have done a lot for each part, however they are completely unrelated, and essentially all dead in the water. Each mini-project that I have been assigned (and then told to abandon), my supervisor would constantly tell me I need to prioritise it, often using the phrase "hammer this". However, I am a new student in this group, and they provided no training and very little guidance for these projects. On top of this, I feel like my supervisor does not trust me, or like me. When I first started here, I was really excited to learn about this field, and get involved in the research. But my supervisor didn't share my enthusiasm, as they are far more concerned with writing grants and other things unrelated to the research. I quickly got demoralised, and it started to affect my work-ethic. I would still show up and work, but I became kind of quieter and less enthusiastic. I am at a complete loss. I know I there are still years before I would be expected to graduate, and so something may still be salvageable. However, I feel like my relationship with my supervisor will only continue to worsen, as we don't exactly work the same way, and our personalities don't mesh too well either. I am unsure what to do. I want to continue in the group, as long as I can do a solid project. But I also wouldn't know what to do if I left. Has anyone here ever sunk time into a field, only to switch later on? I am worried about feeling like a failure, and leaving a bad mark. I want to do well, and succeed in this field, but I don't know if I can continue like this. Assistant: Talk to somebody more senior within your group. Get a sense if that's how your supervisor always is, or it's just not working between the two of you. If it's the first case - well, switch to a different program or accept the lack of supervision and rely on yourself. If it's the second one - I'd go and speak to the supervisor candidly. They may not realize how you feel, and the sooner you clear the air, the better.

Human: What can I do about my relationship with my supervisor? Hi everyone, I'm one year into a PhD program, and I'm starting to realize my relationship with my supervisor is taking a toll on me. For starters, I currently feel like there is no direction in my project, it is constantly being switched, and I cannot talk openly to my supervisor about this. Whenever I bring up anything negative, or any worries that I have, my supervisor will brush it off and tell me I shouldn't worry about things. He does this in a very non-reassuring way though, if that makes sense. I also feel like I have accomplished nothing in my first year. My project has changed multiple times, upwards of 5. I have done a lot for each part, however they are completely unrelated, and essentially all dead in the water. Each mini-project that I have been assigned (and then told to abandon), my supervisor would constantly tell me I need to prioritise it, often using the phrase "hammer this". However, I am a new student in this group, and they provided no training and very little guidance for these projects. On top of this, I feel like my supervisor does not trust me, or like me. When I first started here, I was really excited to learn about this field, and get involved in the research. But my supervisor didn't share my enthusiasm, as they are far more concerned with writing grants and other things unrelated to the research. I quickly got demoralised, and it started to affect my work-ethic. I would still show up and work, but I became kind of quieter and less enthusiastic. I am at a complete loss. I know I there are still years before I would be expected to graduate, and so something may still be salvageable. However, I feel like my relationship with my supervisor will only continue to worsen, as we don't exactly work the same way, and our personalities don't mesh too well either. I am unsure what to do. I want to continue in the group, as long as I can do a solid project. But I also wouldn't know what to do if I left. Has anyone here ever sunk time into a field, only to switch later on? I am worried about feeling like a failure, and leaving a bad mark. I want to do well, and succeed in this field, but I don't know if I can continue like this. Assistant: "Hammer this"? Sounds ridiculous. No training is normal, but using stupid cliches is not helpful.

Human: Two-body problem dilemma--advice welcome! (Cross-posted from r/academia) My partner and I are facing a dilemma, and would welcome any thoughts or advice. We are two recent graduates in a niche humanities field. I am currently in a TT position; my partner is at the same institution in a non-TT position. We have two offers for next year: Option 1: my partner has been offered a TT position at our current institution (R1, public). We could stay here in two TT positions. While we like the institution, we are not fans of the location (it has been very difficult and isolating to live here) and we would be looking to move in a few years. Option 2: my partner has been offered a TT position at a private R1 institution in a geographical location that is very desirable to us. I have been offered a limited-term position (3-years) at the same institution, with better salary and research funds than what my current position offers. My plan would be to apply to other TT positions in the surrounding area while holding this limited term position. We are both city people, and our end goal is to obtain two TT positions in the same city. In your opinion, which of these options makes the most sense given our long-term plan? Assistant: Option 2, right? I can't see any upside to option 1 other than avoiding the unknown and that's not a good reason (if only my therapist could see me now!)

Human: Two-body problem dilemma--advice welcome! (Cross-posted from r/academia) My partner and I are facing a dilemma, and would welcome any thoughts or advice. We are two recent graduates in a niche humanities field. I am currently in a TT position; my partner is at the same institution in a non-TT position. We have two offers for next year: Option 1: my partner has been offered a TT position at our current institution (R1, public). We could stay here in two TT positions. While we like the institution, we are not fans of the location (it has been very difficult and isolating to live here) and we would be looking to move in a few years. Option 2: my partner has been offered a TT position at a private R1 institution in a geographical location that is very desirable to us. I have been offered a limited-term position (3-years) at the same institution, with better salary and research funds than what my current position offers. My plan would be to apply to other TT positions in the surrounding area while holding this limited term position. We are both city people, and our end goal is to obtain two TT positions in the same city. In your opinion, which of these options makes the most sense given our long-term plan? Assistant: Are you willing to give up a TT position? Like can you imagine transitioning to other jobs (student services, admin / provost type jobs, publishing, or even out of academia)? I feel like if the answer is even "sort of probably can picture this" I'd do Option 2 for the reasons everyone else says - you want to be in a different place, and there it is! Life is worth living in a place you want to be. Good luck!

Human: For professors: have you ever had a situation where a student has been rude but endearing? Have you? Is it possible to like some students, even though they’re shits? Maybe the student wasn’t always mean, maybe you clicked and they were a jerk occasionally. Have you ever wanted to keep in contact with these types of students, but didn’t know how to approach it, because of their jerkiness? Assistant: I don't know if I'd call it rude, but this is a story about one of my favorite students. On the first day of class, when I read the roll, I ask each student if they have a name they prefer to go by. One student named Anthony told me "my friends call me Chico, but you can call me Anthony." I called him Anthony all semester, until the last day when I said, "have a great summer Chico." I had him in several other classes after that, and he was always a great student in them.

Human: For professors: have you ever had a situation where a student has been rude but endearing? Have you? Is it possible to like some students, even though they’re shits? Maybe the student wasn’t always mean, maybe you clicked and they were a jerk occasionally. Have you ever wanted to keep in contact with these types of students, but didn’t know how to approach it, because of their jerkiness? Assistant: My entire romantic history would suggest, yes. > Have you ever wanted to keep in contact with these types of students, but didn’t know how to approach it, because of their jerkiness? I mean, I'd approach it as any other student: tell them you're interested to hear how their job/grad school/life turns out and that you'd love to stay in touch, then leave the ball in their court.

Human: Questions from a young throwaway prof: When does the attraction for students go away? Does it go away? This is a throwaway account for obvious reasons: I'm a young male professor. I'm married to an incredible woman and couldn't be happier. But... When a young good-looking woman comes to my office to chat, the butterflies in my stomach activate. It's as if my body still interprets the attention in the exact same way it did 10 years ago when I was dating in college (even when she is clearly just coming for homework help!). My mind switches into high alert mode, I become extremely attentive, and I have to fight urges to 'try to impress'. I find that I get more excited when an attractive woman comes to my office hours, and I have to fight spending an unequal amount of attention on her. To be clear, I'm in no danger of doing something stupid. I've never gone within 20 feet of the blurry line, I take measures to make sure that all students are treated equally, and that nothing can be misinterpreted. But I'm kind of sick of this involuntary response. It's annoying and feels like something that I should be over by now. When does this go away? Does it go away? Do you have any jedi mind tricks to make it go away? Assistant: I just acknowledge the fact that I am still a man and I have a healthy sexual appetite. I've been teaching for 11 years now, and I've just made it a rule to not screw undergraduates anymore.

Human: Questions from a young throwaway prof: When does the attraction for students go away? Does it go away? This is a throwaway account for obvious reasons: I'm a young male professor. I'm married to an incredible woman and couldn't be happier. But... When a young good-looking woman comes to my office to chat, the butterflies in my stomach activate. It's as if my body still interprets the attention in the exact same way it did 10 years ago when I was dating in college (even when she is clearly just coming for homework help!). My mind switches into high alert mode, I become extremely attentive, and I have to fight urges to 'try to impress'. I find that I get more excited when an attractive woman comes to my office hours, and I have to fight spending an unequal amount of attention on her. To be clear, I'm in no danger of doing something stupid. I've never gone within 20 feet of the blurry line, I take measures to make sure that all students are treated equally, and that nothing can be misinterpreted. But I'm kind of sick of this involuntary response. It's annoying and feels like something that I should be over by now. When does this go away? Does it go away? Do you have any jedi mind tricks to make it go away? Assistant: Remember that these students don't come to you for penetration by your penis but academic advice from their lecturer. That's basically all you have to actually, truly understand. They don't 'approach' you - they have an appointment. Just like you don't want to be felt up by your 55 year old GP; they come to you for your *institutional* role. They are not interested in you personally. They couldn't care less about Marc Dowser. They go to Mr Dowser again today, ugh, I hate his 08:30 courses #fml.

Human: What is your most petty academia moment? Unleash all the juicy details. Assistant: Not me personally, but in my old department I had a colleague who would either have a coffee mug or a little ribbon that said “I survived another meeting that could have been an email”. Every. Single. Meeting.

Human: What is your most petty academia moment? Unleash all the juicy details. Assistant: Every faculty meeting

Human: How to exit academia as a science postdoc in non-applied field? I have been a postdoc for 5 years, working on subjects that have absolutely no application in industry. I have a reasonably good track record, with several publications in good journals. BUT... I have given up on pursuing a career in academia because: - I am not convinced that research in my sub-field should be prioritized, and therefore incapable of writing proposals and looking for funding with a clear conscience; - I really need to do something new - I don't find anything that happens in my field exciting, or even remotely interesting anymore. I am aware that my career up to this point has given me a lot of transferable skills that would be valued in a non-academic setting, but I feel that these assets are nullified by several factors: - I do not have a network - none of my current/former colleagues/bosses have relationships with industry, and I haven't made my "coming-out" to them anyway (because I feel it would change the way we work together); - I do not know anyone in a similar situation who has made a successful transition so I don't know how to start - the few people that I know who did it found industry positions in their domain of expertise; - I do not know what kind of position I could apply for - I feel too old to apply for entry-level positions, yet I don't have the required expertise and experience for more senior positions. Does anyone have any advice on how to navigate such a career transition? Assistant: There's no age limit on entry-level positions. If anyone is surprised at your age when you show up for interviews, just explain that you were planning to go into academia but realized it wasn't for you. People know that PhD-level and postdoc-level work takes a long time; they'll understand and give you a fair chance.

Human: How to exit academia as a science postdoc in non-applied field? I have been a postdoc for 5 years, working on subjects that have absolutely no application in industry. I have a reasonably good track record, with several publications in good journals. BUT... I have given up on pursuing a career in academia because: - I am not convinced that research in my sub-field should be prioritized, and therefore incapable of writing proposals and looking for funding with a clear conscience; - I really need to do something new - I don't find anything that happens in my field exciting, or even remotely interesting anymore. I am aware that my career up to this point has given me a lot of transferable skills that would be valued in a non-academic setting, but I feel that these assets are nullified by several factors: - I do not have a network - none of my current/former colleagues/bosses have relationships with industry, and I haven't made my "coming-out" to them anyway (because I feel it would change the way we work together); - I do not know anyone in a similar situation who has made a successful transition so I don't know how to start - the few people that I know who did it found industry positions in their domain of expertise; - I do not know what kind of position I could apply for - I feel too old to apply for entry-level positions, yet I don't have the required expertise and experience for more senior positions. Does anyone have any advice on how to navigate such a career transition? Assistant: It'd depend on the industry. There are often informal "meetups" for industry (akin to conferences, but usually with more pizza and alcohol per hour time invested) where people announce if their companies are hiring. That'd be a decent place to start networking.

Human: Postdocs: What do people outside academia not understand about your work? What aspects of your work (or research in general) are often misunderstood by people outside academia? Are there any myths or beliefs that come up repeatedly? Assistant: That people thought all those years I spent in grad school all I was doing was taking classes and not actually doing anything.

Human: Postdocs: What do people outside academia not understand about your work? What aspects of your work (or research in general) are often misunderstood by people outside academia? Are there any myths or beliefs that come up repeatedly? Assistant: *What aspects of your work (or research in general) are often misunderstood by people outside academia?* - Why I still bother working in academia. *Are there any myths or beliefs that come up repeatedly?* - That you have an important and significant job that is save.

Human: Is it possible to travel/work remotely as a Computer Science ph.d. student? I was considering if I should try to get a Computer Science ph.d. after my master's degree. However, I also want to travel (while still working 40 hours a week on the Ph.d.) **So my question:** * Do you think it would be possible to do a Ph.d. while traveling? Kind of like doing a ph.d. while being a digital nomad? Assistant: I highly don't advise doing so. Certainly for the first 2 years. You are going to need to have good relationships with your classmates, you will be asking them for letters throughout your career, they should know you and be willing to interrupt their busy schedule to do this without hesitation. Also, about 50% of doctoral students fail. It's harder to fail if you are there. The downside is way larger than the upside.

Human: Is it possible to travel/work remotely as a Computer Science ph.d. student? I was considering if I should try to get a Computer Science ph.d. after my master's degree. However, I also want to travel (while still working 40 hours a week on the Ph.d.) **So my question:** * Do you think it would be possible to do a Ph.d. while traveling? Kind of like doing a ph.d. while being a digital nomad? Assistant: I'm doing my PhD in computational neuroscience during lockdown and I could literally and obviously do it from ANYWHERE... never needed to go to campus. I'd say yes. It's definitely possible. Dunno who's gonna fork the money for travelling tho.

Human: [France] Why are French University rankings so low? I am in the middle of applying for a PhD position at a University in France. The project looks good and the supervisor appears to publish frequently. But I can't get past the university being so lowly ranked in university rankings. Now normally I would take no real notice of this, but it is super low, not appearing in the Shanghai top 500, and somewhere between 800-1000 in QS. The laboratory seems to be part of a university which is then divided into 3 universities which is divided into departments which is divided into laboratories and I have no idea if the project is part of the university or the laboratory. This appears to be consistent with all the universities in France. They also all appear rather low in any rankings. Are French universities just bad, or are they not playing the rankings system? I really like the project but if it's from an institution that that holds no weight in the academic world, then it seems a waste of time. Assistant: The metrics to calculate those rankings are skewed towards Anglo-Saxon universities. for instance, many rankings focus on English-language citations, they don't take into account research centers, etc. The rankings should be taken with a big grain of salt.

Human: [France] Why are French University rankings so low? I am in the middle of applying for a PhD position at a University in France. The project looks good and the supervisor appears to publish frequently. But I can't get past the university being so lowly ranked in university rankings. Now normally I would take no real notice of this, but it is super low, not appearing in the Shanghai top 500, and somewhere between 800-1000 in QS. The laboratory seems to be part of a university which is then divided into 3 universities which is divided into departments which is divided into laboratories and I have no idea if the project is part of the university or the laboratory. This appears to be consistent with all the universities in France. They also all appear rather low in any rankings. Are French universities just bad, or are they not playing the rankings system? I really like the project but if it's from an institution that that holds no weight in the academic world, then it seems a waste of time. Assistant: This is something I've wondered too. We get LOTS of French students and postdocs in Quebec Universities.

Human: What do you wish you did in the gap between being accepted and starting your PhD program? Assistant: Honestly? I wish I had changed my mind and stayed in my 2 year masters and then just got a job

Human: What do you wish you did in the gap between being accepted and starting your PhD program? Assistant: Relaxing as much as possible, exercise, basic healthy self care things.

Human: Low GRE scores, in Master's Program, applying to PhD Programs, should I retake GRE? So, I got into a Master's program (fully funded) and am now at the point where I'm looking at applying to PhD programs to begin next year. My GRE scores were REALLY bad (super low, I don't remember the percentile, etc.) and the current program I'm in isn't terribly competitive and I'll be applying to some top programs (in Linguistics/Anthropology if you were wondering). Should I retake the GRE? I thought the whole point was to determine if someone could succeed in grad school. I think at this point I have shown that I can as I'm working on an extremely innovative and ground breaking thesis in my area of specialization and have a 3.89 GPA. What are your thoughts? Assistant: Yes, in some cases if your GREs/GPA are not high enough your application will be discarded without ever being read. (And this can happen even if the scores are above average for the GRE; PhD admissions to top schools are harsh.)

Human: Low GRE scores, in Master's Program, applying to PhD Programs, should I retake GRE? So, I got into a Master's program (fully funded) and am now at the point where I'm looking at applying to PhD programs to begin next year. My GRE scores were REALLY bad (super low, I don't remember the percentile, etc.) and the current program I'm in isn't terribly competitive and I'll be applying to some top programs (in Linguistics/Anthropology if you were wondering). Should I retake the GRE? I thought the whole point was to determine if someone could succeed in grad school. I think at this point I have shown that I can as I'm working on an extremely innovative and ground breaking thesis in my area of specialization and have a 3.89 GPA. What are your thoughts? Assistant: Do it. It's one thing you can spend a couple months on and really improve your application. Fixing your GPA, research experience, etc. are difficult compared to just taking a test again.

Human: Can I be successful if I don't specialise in a field? I am a linguist and am currently working on my PhD. I have been scatter brained when it came to pursuing academic interests. I have chased after one intellectual adventure after another. The topics I have studied, obsessed over have been very different and not at all related to one another. Can I be successful if I don't go deep into one topic? Assistant: I am a big believer in Generalizing. It may seem a contradiction that the specialized knowledge demanded for a PhD. However, the indisputable trend toward increasing specialization is simultaneously creating a a demand for advanced generalized skills. Think of it like systems engineering. I prefer to run in the opposite direction from the crowd.

Human: Can I be successful if I don't specialise in a field? I am a linguist and am currently working on my PhD. I have been scatter brained when it came to pursuing academic interests. I have chased after one intellectual adventure after another. The topics I have studied, obsessed over have been very different and not at all related to one another. Can I be successful if I don't go deep into one topic? Assistant: According to Pierre Bourdieu, yes.

Human: How did you deal with your relationship during your PhD? ( with your SO) What were your concerns and how did you deal with them? Also, I am thinking about starting dating and getting married during my PhD. Is it possible? Any challenges that I should remind myself of? Any advice to offer? (I am a female PhD student by the way. ) Assistant: For me, the key is to keep in mind that my SO is a priority in my life. Work is always going to ask for more of your time and the answer to how you split your time can't always default to work. I also subscribed to the idea of treating the PhD like a job and setting boundaries with my advisor. This didn't mean that my time was always split equally among my priorities, but I had to be conscious of work not absorbing ever growing portions of my time.

Human: How did you deal with your relationship during your PhD? ( with your SO) What were your concerns and how did you deal with them? Also, I am thinking about starting dating and getting married during my PhD. Is it possible? Any challenges that I should remind myself of? Any advice to offer? (I am a female PhD student by the way. ) Assistant: I’m single and I’m doing a PhD in bio. Hello!

Human: Professors of Reddit, do you enjoy teaching/working with undergraduates? or is it the part of your job you dislike? Assistant: I'm at a big R1 in a small program (about 20-30 students). I *love* working with our undergrads. I came out of industry where I worked with a lot of younger people, and for the most part working with undergrads (especially the juniors and seniors) is like that.

Human: Professors of Reddit, do you enjoy teaching/working with undergraduates? or is it the part of your job you dislike? Assistant: I love teaching, it's why I left private industry and got into this racket in the first place.

Human: Should I prefer a high-impact journal or a special issue call journal with low impact? I am relatively new in the field of research and academia. While traversing the relevant journals to submit my article, I often come across journals that have a special issue call relevant to my research. However, when there comes a deciding point where I have to choose only 1 option of the following two: (1) relevant special call journal with low impact (IF \~2.xx) (2) relevant high impact journal (IF \~4.xx) Which one should I prefer? And are there any advantages of publishing in the special issues in terms of career advancement or citations? Assistant: But that happens anyway after 12 mos regardless of the original open access designation.

Human: Should I prefer a high-impact journal or a special issue call journal with low impact? I am relatively new in the field of research and academia. While traversing the relevant journals to submit my article, I often come across journals that have a special issue call relevant to my research. However, when there comes a deciding point where I have to choose only 1 option of the following two: (1) relevant special call journal with low impact (IF \~2.xx) (2) relevant high impact journal (IF \~4.xx) Which one should I prefer? And are there any advantages of publishing in the special issues in terms of career advancement or citations? Assistant: Go open access. Don't feed into the awful publishing system.

Human: Are there really not enough STEM graduates in the United States? I remember Neil deGrasse Tyson saying not enough students are interested in math, science, and physics in the US education system. I also read somewhere that a majority of college graduates aren't able to find jobs due to such a high number of graduates in other majors, but this isn't the case for STEM majors since there aren't as many STEM graduates. My cousin is also a physician, and he said there is a low number of doctors in his hospital. If no other major besides science/engineering interests me, does it make sense to just go ahead and try to pursue it because it would also benefit and make a difference to our country? Assistant: If so many foreigners are taking up American jobs, why don't Americans take up jobs in those foreign countries? Eye-for-an-eye.

Human: Are there really not enough STEM graduates in the United States? I remember Neil deGrasse Tyson saying not enough students are interested in math, science, and physics in the US education system. I also read somewhere that a majority of college graduates aren't able to find jobs due to such a high number of graduates in other majors, but this isn't the case for STEM majors since there aren't as many STEM graduates. My cousin is also a physician, and he said there is a low number of doctors in his hospital. If no other major besides science/engineering interests me, does it make sense to just go ahead and try to pursue it because it would also benefit and make a difference to our country? Assistant: As someone in a STEM field watching all my friends looking for jobs and failing: no.

Human: Getting Started with Research Twitter? I'm working on developing twitter profile for my research in psych/social sciences, as someone that's never used the platform before. Tips or tricks on using twitter for research communication, visibility and networking? Guidance on content, commenting, faux pas to avoid? Assistant: Honestly I don’t think there’s much worry over protocol anymore. Don’t tweet negatively specifically about your employer, but do follow and interact with people who bring out the best in you.

Human: Getting Started with Research Twitter? I'm working on developing twitter profile for my research in psych/social sciences, as someone that's never used the platform before. Tips or tricks on using twitter for research communication, visibility and networking? Guidance on content, commenting, faux pas to avoid? Assistant: You might find the following links helpful. They’re all tailored to economics, but a lot of it is general advice that should carry over to other fields (all credit due to their respective authors): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cUoW_4SUl5u5NUydKZnNH2oPo08kEEP_/view https://annemburton.com/assets/burton_econtwitter_slides.pdf http://users.nber.org/~jwolfers/papers/Comments/TwitterforEconomists.pdf

Human: Thesis writing software Hey everyone! So I’ve been looking to switch from Word to a different word processor, mostly due to Word being glitchy and the inability to split my writing into smaller parts so that editing is easier and I’m not as overwhelmed by the whole thing. I recently discovered Scrivener, which is a word processor with a billion different functions that can be used for all sorts of writing, including fiction and academic writing. The main feature that I really love is being able to split your writing into chunks and neatly organize the text. After you finish, it automatically compiles a document out of all the selected chunks according to the formatting that you select. That being said, I do struggle with adding references to it - I switched to Zotero from Mendeley, since Scrivener doesn’t support the latter, but the only way to have references in there that I have found is to format them like this - {Lesting, 2011}, then export the document as RTF and use Zotero’s RTF scan feature to get properly formatted in-text references and a bibliography at the end. This method does work, but it involves quite a few steps, so I was wondering two things: 1) Is there a better way to import references with Scrivener that someone has found? 2) More generally, what writing software do you use? I would need Mac support, equations and an easy reference import system. An option for more detailed organization would also be nice. Thanks a lot! Assistant: Be careful that you're not just creatively procrastinating. Learning a new piece of software-- or something like LaTeX-- is a potential time suck. Your time might better be spent just writing the damned thesis.

Human: Thesis writing software Hey everyone! So I’ve been looking to switch from Word to a different word processor, mostly due to Word being glitchy and the inability to split my writing into smaller parts so that editing is easier and I’m not as overwhelmed by the whole thing. I recently discovered Scrivener, which is a word processor with a billion different functions that can be used for all sorts of writing, including fiction and academic writing. The main feature that I really love is being able to split your writing into chunks and neatly organize the text. After you finish, it automatically compiles a document out of all the selected chunks according to the formatting that you select. That being said, I do struggle with adding references to it - I switched to Zotero from Mendeley, since Scrivener doesn’t support the latter, but the only way to have references in there that I have found is to format them like this - {Lesting, 2011}, then export the document as RTF and use Zotero’s RTF scan feature to get properly formatted in-text references and a bibliography at the end. This method does work, but it involves quite a few steps, so I was wondering two things: 1) Is there a better way to import references with Scrivener that someone has found? 2) More generally, what writing software do you use? I would need Mac support, equations and an easy reference import system. An option for more detailed organization would also be nice. Thanks a lot! Assistant: Scrivener works best with Bookends

Human: Starting a PhD in 2017 - job outlook in a Trump presidency? Hi, I'm a wildlife ecologist starting a PhD program at a top R1 in Fall 2017. Along with the general uncertainty around this commitment, I'm especially concerned about employment when I finish. I've read some popular articles about the topic, but I'm interested in reddit's perspective. Employment goal: research scientist with a (federal) government agency or academia (if I can my foot in the door!!) Assistant: Likely the same as the job outlook in an Obama presidency, Clinton presidency, and Bush presidency: Shitty with a chance of shit. The field is very very oversaturated.

Human: Starting a PhD in 2017 - job outlook in a Trump presidency? Hi, I'm a wildlife ecologist starting a PhD program at a top R1 in Fall 2017. Along with the general uncertainty around this commitment, I'm especially concerned about employment when I finish. I've read some popular articles about the topic, but I'm interested in reddit's perspective. Employment goal: research scientist with a (federal) government agency or academia (if I can my foot in the door!!) Assistant: In 7-9 years when you're done they'll be a new president anyways.

Human: Is one week too short notice to ask for a letter of rec? There is a scholarship application open for my college, and I want to apply, but the deadline is Jan 10. Would a professor be angry if I only gave them a week’s notice? I want to apply, but I don’t want to be inconsiderate to my professor. My relationship with the professor isn’t anything spectacular. I got an A, participated in discussions, and worked with them (kinda) in preparation for a conference, but it’s not like we were so close that I feel comfortable bothering them now when I should have asked months ago. I know a couple of other people asked the same question in this sub, but they were giving a 2 week notice. Assistant: Honestly? I would be a little ticked off, but I would still write it. It helps if the student acknowledges that the quick turn-around is not ideal and thanks me for my time.

Human: Is one week too short notice to ask for a letter of rec? There is a scholarship application open for my college, and I want to apply, but the deadline is Jan 10. Would a professor be angry if I only gave them a week’s notice? I want to apply, but I don’t want to be inconsiderate to my professor. My relationship with the professor isn’t anything spectacular. I got an A, participated in discussions, and worked with them (kinda) in preparation for a conference, but it’s not like we were so close that I feel comfortable bothering them now when I should have asked months ago. I know a couple of other people asked the same question in this sub, but they were giving a 2 week notice. Assistant: It depends on the prof. It’s not ideal for sure. If you do it, it would be much better do it in person.

Human: [Publication] How to decide which journal my work is fit for? Also, how do I know how good the journal I am already submitting to is? Hi, I am working on a project that's a combination of image processing and convex optimization. I am going to submit my work to Image Processing OnLine, an online peer-reviewed journal. However, it's relatively new (about three years) and I do not know how much of an impact a publication in this journal would have on my grad school application. I am out of school now, and am working with a post-doc in a university in my city on this research project, hoping that a publication or two now would help boost my grad school application (for PhD). So how do I decide whether submitting to this journal will really be of any help to me or not? How do I decide which journal to submit to? This particular journal was suggested to me by my post-doc mentor, but I would also want to know for sure, for myself, how effective this would be. Also, how can I look for more places to submit to? Assistant: Two simple rules: 1. When in doubt, submit to the journal that you cite most often. 2. Never submit to journals that you never cite.

Human: [Publication] How to decide which journal my work is fit for? Also, how do I know how good the journal I am already submitting to is? Hi, I am working on a project that's a combination of image processing and convex optimization. I am going to submit my work to Image Processing OnLine, an online peer-reviewed journal. However, it's relatively new (about three years) and I do not know how much of an impact a publication in this journal would have on my grad school application. I am out of school now, and am working with a post-doc in a university in my city on this research project, hoping that a publication or two now would help boost my grad school application (for PhD). So how do I decide whether submitting to this journal will really be of any help to me or not? How do I decide which journal to submit to? This particular journal was suggested to me by my post-doc mentor, but I would also want to know for sure, for myself, how effective this would be. Also, how can I look for more places to submit to? Assistant: I always would try to find the most prestigious journal in my field and submit there first. Then go down the list. Hierarchical and not very academic, but good for the career.

Human: How would you address the quality of review, if reviewer/s suggest doing an interrupted read due to travel. I recently received review for a paper which suggested that reviewer couldn't give paper a proper read due to travel patterns. What would you derive from these kind of reviews? Is it common in academia to receive such feedback(feels irresponsible). Assistant: To me it signals a reviewer who is trying to not rush their review out before they have to travel, but wants to give it the time and attention it deserves, and so is asking for an extension. It doesn't strike me as irresponsible -- quite the opposite.

Human: How would you address the quality of review, if reviewer/s suggest doing an interrupted read due to travel. I recently received review for a paper which suggested that reviewer couldn't give paper a proper read due to travel patterns. What would you derive from these kind of reviews? Is it common in academia to receive such feedback(feels irresponsible). Assistant: My PhD supervisor many years ago, who is a fellow of various things, has a CBE, her family has a street in Edinburgh named after her grandfather, wrote about 2/3rds of the way through a chapter 'my bus journey has finished so I'll stop here'. That was it. It's mental and shite but...yeah, no real answer for you bud.

Human: Secondary sources of income while pursuing a PhD Owing to the effects of the pandemic, I had to delay my plans to go for a PhD by a couple of years. One of my biggest concerns now, is what this would mean for me financially, as I may end up entering my 30s with very little savings. I was therefore wondering what secondary sources of income are popular while pursuing a PhD (other than the stipend, summer internships, TAships/tutoring). Also, - How necessary are extra part-time jobs or external contract jobs? Is it really feasible to add these into an already hectic schedule of lab work? - Should I be considering avenues such as small investments/stocks? - Is there anything you wish you had done in terms of financial planning before you started your PhD? Assistant: One thing to be aware of is that the demands on your time of the PhD won't be consistent. At some points you may have a fair bit of free time to take on other work, but there will be periods where it will be far more intense an you'll feel like there are not enough hours in the day.

Human: Secondary sources of income while pursuing a PhD Owing to the effects of the pandemic, I had to delay my plans to go for a PhD by a couple of years. One of my biggest concerns now, is what this would mean for me financially, as I may end up entering my 30s with very little savings. I was therefore wondering what secondary sources of income are popular while pursuing a PhD (other than the stipend, summer internships, TAships/tutoring). Also, - How necessary are extra part-time jobs or external contract jobs? Is it really feasible to add these into an already hectic schedule of lab work? - Should I be considering avenues such as small investments/stocks? - Is there anything you wish you had done in terms of financial planning before you started your PhD? Assistant: I worked during my first two years part time as an usher and tutor. It was doable because of the flexible scheduling, but after two years I needed to be in the lab and it got to be too much. Happily by then then I was TAing. If I had budgeted better I wouldn’t have needed the jobs but I was in a big city and trying to enjoy its fruits a bit.

Human: Self-funding a PhD: Pros and Cons? I was accepted onto a fully-funded PhD programme a couple of years ago, but turned the offer down due to personal issues. I don't regret it because the project wasn't quite right, but I'm now really interested in doing one. I recently spoke to someone I work with who is doing a PhD, and they said they funded it themselves. This sounds like an interesting way to do it, as you can continue to work/earn while you study. This sounds like another way for me to get my foot in the PhD door, and is something I'd like to know more about. My questions are: - How do I go about beginning a self-funded PhD (in UK)? - What are the pros and cons of self-funding? Assistant: My professor's advice was: if you want to stay in academia, don't self-fund because you should be good enough to get a funded PhD. Either go straight for a funded PhD or find funding from an independent body and then apply.

Human: Self-funding a PhD: Pros and Cons? I was accepted onto a fully-funded PhD programme a couple of years ago, but turned the offer down due to personal issues. I don't regret it because the project wasn't quite right, but I'm now really interested in doing one. I recently spoke to someone I work with who is doing a PhD, and they said they funded it themselves. This sounds like an interesting way to do it, as you can continue to work/earn while you study. This sounds like another way for me to get my foot in the PhD door, and is something I'd like to know more about. My questions are: - How do I go about beginning a self-funded PhD (in UK)? - What are the pros and cons of self-funding? Assistant: It depends a lot on your subject area. In the sciences it would generally be ill-advised to do a self-funded PhD, mainly because there are other options. The most common alternative to a standard PhD program would be to work in a lab with your own project "on the side".

Human: What is the most useful bash scripts/aliases/etc you have ever written to help with your work? e.g. automate renaming files, grab bibliography references, grab and aggregate new jobs from multiple websites? Assistant: It loads my project environment, changes directory to the root project directory and opens an ide with that directory already loaded. It's like 3 lines but instead I type 5 letters.

Human: What is the most useful bash scripts/aliases/etc you have ever written to help with your work? e.g. automate renaming files, grab bibliography references, grab and aggregate new jobs from multiple websites? Assistant: Generating aliases for different servers. I hate typing the whole username and ip address. It's not much but it saves 1 minute everyday.

Human: How was your Ph.D. experience different than your grad and undergrad experience? A friend just started his first year as an undergrad (transferred to my uni with an AS) and realized his experience compared to mine as a grad student was like night and day. **Is it similar to compare a Ph.D. to a master's?** *** For example, he's concerned with simply passing classes and getting work whereas when I was a grad student at the uni I was, and still am, concerned with feeling incompetent all the time and wondering how valid any of my work is. One similarity is that he's forced to take some generic math course and in graduate school I was as well. The difference here being general graduate level statistics were far easier than my undergraduate economics work so while I was bored out of my skull he's loathing his coursework. Free time was also different! His weekends are spent traveling around or doing nothing wheres grad school it felt like constant research and reading on the weekend. His studies are still general, up til senior project, and grad school I worked on 2 to 3 questions the entire time using coursework to answer them. I don't have a Ph.D. but am curoius if the stark differences between undergrad to grad school exist between grad and Ph.D.. Assistant: The biggest difference is the transition from being a "consumer of knowledge" to a "creator of knowledge." It's kinda like being a pokemon.

Human: How was your Ph.D. experience different than your grad and undergrad experience? A friend just started his first year as an undergrad (transferred to my uni with an AS) and realized his experience compared to mine as a grad student was like night and day. **Is it similar to compare a Ph.D. to a master's?** *** For example, he's concerned with simply passing classes and getting work whereas when I was a grad student at the uni I was, and still am, concerned with feeling incompetent all the time and wondering how valid any of my work is. One similarity is that he's forced to take some generic math course and in graduate school I was as well. The difference here being general graduate level statistics were far easier than my undergraduate economics work so while I was bored out of my skull he's loathing his coursework. Free time was also different! His weekends are spent traveling around or doing nothing wheres grad school it felt like constant research and reading on the weekend. His studies are still general, up til senior project, and grad school I worked on 2 to 3 questions the entire time using coursework to answer them. I don't have a Ph.D. but am curoius if the stark differences between undergrad to grad school exist between grad and Ph.D.. Assistant: Well- yes. Being an undergrad (in the states, at any rate) is about learning the continentalists and how to narrowly avoid alcohol poisoning in the same stroke, plus a hefty and useless debt. As for graduate school, well...It depends on which circle of hell you prefer, I reckon.

Human: Is it appropriate to write about female genital mutilation in a grad school application essay? It is within the context of women's issues and education etc In general, is it fine to write about or somehow horribly inappropriate? I know people who wrote about rape in their college admissions essay, so I can't imagine this is somehow wrong, but wanted to check. Assistant: As a research topic? Yes. As a personal formative experience? No.

Human: Is it appropriate to write about female genital mutilation in a grad school application essay? It is within the context of women's issues and education etc In general, is it fine to write about or somehow horribly inappropriate? I know people who wrote about rape in their college admissions essay, so I can't imagine this is somehow wrong, but wanted to check. Assistant: This is academia. To pretend that something doesn't exist and shouldn't be discussed goes against the fundamental principles of education and becoming a learned scholar. What will let you down is writing about it in a journalistic or emotionally charged way, rather than a discursive academic one.

Human: What's so bad about non-tenure track positions? Hi everyone, I'm a PhD student in a stem field and I'm starting to think about where I want to go once I graduate. I'm pretty confident that I want to stay in academia, but I find the instability of the tenure process and the prospect of starting my own research group very intimidating. I was wondering if anyone could speak to the pros and cons of taking a non tenure track position. From what I understand, these positions are usually more like 10-20% research and 80% teaching with performance reviews at the end of your contract. It also seems like those contracts get renewed if you're doing a good job teaching and your department is doing well with funding. However, none of my colleagues or professors even talk about these positions like they're an option for a career path. What am I missing? I believe the sort of position I'm talking about is quite different from being an adjunct lecturer, but please correct me if I'm wrong! Thanks! Assistant: It really depends on the position, as others have said. I had an NTT position that was ok. It started as a 1 year renewable position and after the 2nd year I was offered a 3 year contract. The university I was at had a very strong union that advocated for all faculty and staff positions so the job felt more secure.

Human: What's so bad about non-tenure track positions? Hi everyone, I'm a PhD student in a stem field and I'm starting to think about where I want to go once I graduate. I'm pretty confident that I want to stay in academia, but I find the instability of the tenure process and the prospect of starting my own research group very intimidating. I was wondering if anyone could speak to the pros and cons of taking a non tenure track position. From what I understand, these positions are usually more like 10-20% research and 80% teaching with performance reviews at the end of your contract. It also seems like those contracts get renewed if you're doing a good job teaching and your department is doing well with funding. However, none of my colleagues or professors even talk about these positions like they're an option for a career path. What am I missing? I believe the sort of position I'm talking about is quite different from being an adjunct lecturer, but please correct me if I'm wrong! Thanks! Assistant: Money

Human: asking for corresponding authorship I'm a postdoc, 3 years in a biology lab. I wrote my own fellowship proposals, which were ideas that originated from my PhD work. I designed the experiments, drove the project and did most of the work on my own. Sure, I was given advice and help refining the project by my boss and colleagues, but my Prof didn't even believe in it before the results started to make sense. I am now writing up the paper and I told my boss that I would like to discuss corresponding authorship. I got the answer: 'that's an unusual request for postdoc level, but we can discuss it next week'. I don't know what to expect. I assumed that since this is my brain baby and I also got the funding for it (which includes my salary and the lab costs) that it's a no-brainer. I also wish to expand on the project in the future so it makes sense that questions should be directed to me. Is this really so uncommon? Do you have any suggestions for what to bring up in the meeting next week? Assistant: I'm a post-doc - have pretty much always been corresponding author because my PIs haven't wanted to deal with it. The only paper I wasn't corresponding author for ended up having an email from the editor left sitting in an inbox for 2 months :-/. I've even been corresponding author while I wasn't first or last author because I was the person that was going to deal with the journal. It's only an unusual request because it shouldn't even be particularly controversial

Human: asking for corresponding authorship I'm a postdoc, 3 years in a biology lab. I wrote my own fellowship proposals, which were ideas that originated from my PhD work. I designed the experiments, drove the project and did most of the work on my own. Sure, I was given advice and help refining the project by my boss and colleagues, but my Prof didn't even believe in it before the results started to make sense. I am now writing up the paper and I told my boss that I would like to discuss corresponding authorship. I got the answer: 'that's an unusual request for postdoc level, but we can discuss it next week'. I don't know what to expect. I assumed that since this is my brain baby and I also got the funding for it (which includes my salary and the lab costs) that it's a no-brainer. I also wish to expand on the project in the future so it makes sense that questions should be directed to me. Is this really so uncommon? Do you have any suggestions for what to bring up in the meeting next week? Assistant: How much of an asshole is the PI? How egotistical/status/hierarchy-focused? How precedent-obsessed? Are they pre-tenure or pre-grant where every corresponding-author article counts?Do they care about fairness? Are they transactional in nature? Your approach seems reasonable, the advice below is good, but it depends entirely on the nature of the PI....

Human: Is pursuing a career as a literature professor a bad idea? I've asked a few literature professors I have had in the past and one flat out told me it was a bad idea, and the other gave me a bunch of reasons why it would be a heart-breaking, ultimately disappointing endeavor. Any literature professors here want to confirm or deny this? Assistant: It's not that being a lit professor is bad, it's that attempting to be one is very risky. There are plenty of people pining for professor positions, and very few get them. And what happens to those who don't? It's not pretty Point being, it's a huge gamble

Human: Is pursuing a career as a literature professor a bad idea? I've asked a few literature professors I have had in the past and one flat out told me it was a bad idea, and the other gave me a bunch of reasons why it would be a heart-breaking, ultimately disappointing endeavor. Any literature professors here want to confirm or deny this? Assistant: More opportunities in comp/rhet. Lit is brutal.

Human: Professors how was your first lecture you ever gave? How was your first lecture? How nervous were you? And how long did it take for you to get over your nervousness and gain confidence? Assistant: First lecture I ever gave was the first day of work, they changed all my courses, and gave me 3 classes and 3 labs to teach the first semester (engineering courses). I was unfamiliar and unprepared. There was a moment where I stopped for about 30 seconds, dead silent, and pondered if I should just excuse myself and walk out and never come back.

Human: Professors how was your first lecture you ever gave? How was your first lecture? How nervous were you? And how long did it take for you to get over your nervousness and gain confidence? Assistant: Not a professor - but I've given a dozen or so lectures as a PhD student. First one went well, students paid attention, and I got a couple of laughs out of them. But I realised I forgot to record it like I was supposed to - oh well!

Human: Advisor put his son as an author on a paper... As far as I can tell the son, an undergraduate at our university, did ZERO work for this paper. In fact, until I saw the final draft, I didn't even know his son was going to be an "author." The son is applying to grad school soon, and I think his father (my PhD advisor) was trying to give him a "leg up." Our university has a stringent anti-nepotism policy. I'm 100% sure my advisor's actions violate the policy. Can anything be done? Assistant: >did ZERO work for this paper Are you certain? Father and son might have done some of the analysis at home together which you were unaware of. Importantly, your advisor can very well say this in his defense and you have no way to prove otherwise.

Human: Advisor put his son as an author on a paper... As far as I can tell the son, an undergraduate at our university, did ZERO work for this paper. In fact, until I saw the final draft, I didn't even know his son was going to be an "author." The son is applying to grad school soon, and I think his father (my PhD advisor) was trying to give him a "leg up." Our university has a stringent anti-nepotism policy. I'm 100% sure my advisor's actions violate the policy. Can anything be done? Assistant: seems like academic misconduct.

Human: Switching from a master's to a PhD Hi, I was wondering if anyone has had experience with quitting a master's program (one not connected to PhD) and going into a PhD program instead. I am in a psychology masters program right now and have realized that I wish to get my PhD or PsyD also in psychology. Would it be bad to not finish my master's and instead just start a PhD/Psy? There is a lot of overlap between the master's and PhD content so it feels a bit like a waste of time to finish up the master's before starting. Thanks for your help. Assistant: others have made good points, I suppose my main question would be why not finish the masters and then do a PhD, you're unlikely to start a PhD before September so you've got time

Human: Switching from a master's to a PhD Hi, I was wondering if anyone has had experience with quitting a master's program (one not connected to PhD) and going into a PhD program instead. I am in a psychology masters program right now and have realized that I wish to get my PhD or PsyD also in psychology. Would it be bad to not finish my master's and instead just start a PhD/Psy? There is a lot of overlap between the master's and PhD content so it feels a bit like a waste of time to finish up the master's before starting. Thanks for your help. Assistant: So you’re switching to an MS-PhD program? Hmmm I think that’s okay but I think you still have to do the MSc coursework. I think you should ask your study advisor about this switch if your current credits would be counted.

Human: tips for difficulties parsing foreign accents? Hi all, So this is a bit embarrassing -- I just watched a (highly technical) job talk from someone who spoke very quickly and with a heavy accent and had a *lot* of trouble understanding them. I found myself having to pause 1-2s to identify specific (technical) vocab, at which point they'd be 10 words ahead (often with a few more vocab thrown in), and my phonological loop found itself regularly overwhelmed. I could generally get the rough gist of what they were saying by looking at their slides, but many of them were blanketed in scary equations and my ability to follow along absent narration was limited. A few slides had full paragraphs that they read from, which did give me a bit more scaffolding to work with. This was also all over Zoom, and thus hampered by microphone quality and audio compression etc. Video quality (both framerate and resolution) wasn't good enough for a lip-reading assist. And I couldn't ask them to slow down (it was a very dense talk and they finished at 175% the allotted time lol, & I was one of ~10 in attendance). Due to a scheduling mishap it was also apparently, like, midnight where they were, so depending on their usual bedtime that may have contributed. I do find myself struggling to understand (native spoken) English occasionally, especially when spoken softly, but historically haven't had much trouble with accents (I've even served as an impromptu English <-> English translator occasionally in e.g. hostels when traveling). English is also my 4th language (and growing up was never the primary language spoken at home), but it's also the one I speak most often professionally. So a lot of it's doubtless a "me" problem and not a "them" problem. And I don't want to ask the other attendees how well they understood the speaker, as that's not a good look on my end. I'm a little worried about having a 1-on-1 interview with them, since I feel I can only ask them to repeat themselves so often before it gets weird. Was wondering if any of y'all had any experience / tips handling deficits in your own ability to understand non-native English speakers? Would prefer to avoid this issue going forward. What I could understand from their talk sounded very impressive, and I don't want to otherwise penalize them unfairly in my assessment. Assistant: This sounds like it was just a bad talk. Too long, badly prepared and poor audio - lots of people struggle in that situation. Accents are less of an issue if the speaker articulates and the talk is well structured and you have good slides.

Human: tips for difficulties parsing foreign accents? Hi all, So this is a bit embarrassing -- I just watched a (highly technical) job talk from someone who spoke very quickly and with a heavy accent and had a *lot* of trouble understanding them. I found myself having to pause 1-2s to identify specific (technical) vocab, at which point they'd be 10 words ahead (often with a few more vocab thrown in), and my phonological loop found itself regularly overwhelmed. I could generally get the rough gist of what they were saying by looking at their slides, but many of them were blanketed in scary equations and my ability to follow along absent narration was limited. A few slides had full paragraphs that they read from, which did give me a bit more scaffolding to work with. This was also all over Zoom, and thus hampered by microphone quality and audio compression etc. Video quality (both framerate and resolution) wasn't good enough for a lip-reading assist. And I couldn't ask them to slow down (it was a very dense talk and they finished at 175% the allotted time lol, & I was one of ~10 in attendance). Due to a scheduling mishap it was also apparently, like, midnight where they were, so depending on their usual bedtime that may have contributed. I do find myself struggling to understand (native spoken) English occasionally, especially when spoken softly, but historically haven't had much trouble with accents (I've even served as an impromptu English <-> English translator occasionally in e.g. hostels when traveling). English is also my 4th language (and growing up was never the primary language spoken at home), but it's also the one I speak most often professionally. So a lot of it's doubtless a "me" problem and not a "them" problem. And I don't want to ask the other attendees how well they understood the speaker, as that's not a good look on my end. I'm a little worried about having a 1-on-1 interview with them, since I feel I can only ask them to repeat themselves so often before it gets weird. Was wondering if any of y'all had any experience / tips handling deficits in your own ability to understand non-native English speakers? Would prefer to avoid this issue going forward. What I could understand from their talk sounded very impressive, and I don't want to otherwise penalize them unfairly in my assessment. Assistant: As a scientist, try listening to a Dutch accountant talk for a couple of hours, about budgeting, in a portacabin filled with near 50 other people, in summer heat, and just stay awake!

Human: Is it ill-advised to cite a few sources in my PhD personal statement? A crux of the work I want to do while pursuing my PhD is intergenerational mobility and poverty in the U.S. I'd like to be able to write about the urgency of these problems using a few stats/statements found from other sources. I don't want to say "the U.S. has the third highest income gap in the world" and have statement readers wonder whether this is just speculation or fact. So, is it weird to have footnotes or something in my statement? Assistant: Consider incorporating the sources into the narrative ("According to xxx, in 2013 the U.S. had the third highest income gap", I read xxx or took xxx class and was surprised by xxx and the urgency of xxx, etc)

Human: Is it ill-advised to cite a few sources in my PhD personal statement? A crux of the work I want to do while pursuing my PhD is intergenerational mobility and poverty in the U.S. I'd like to be able to write about the urgency of these problems using a few stats/statements found from other sources. I don't want to say "the U.S. has the third highest income gap in the world" and have statement readers wonder whether this is just speculation or fact. So, is it weird to have footnotes or something in my statement? Assistant: I would probably not use sentences like the above in the first place but it's hard to judge without knowing what you want to say. Remember that this statement needs to be about you.

Human: How prevalent are stressed, shouty PI's in the science fields? Endemic? Like every other field? Rare? Asking out of curiosity. My wife is doing her PhD in a lab in Europe that has a good international representation, and she is becoming disillusioned as the PIs in her department can get quite worked up and stressed. Her field is neuroscience and this is affecting her team and the neighbouring one. The neighbouring PI is especially known for her screaming despite having an excellent team of PhD students and post-docs, and a very interesting project (as reported by peers). The pressure to publish is always there, as it is elsewhere, and there's an upcoming trimming of projects, but from the stories it seems that the issue isn't as much the institutional pressure as it is the individual leadership styles. It may or may not be relevant that the PIs are the same European nationality, though there was a PI with a very similar style at another institute in a neighbouring country where my wife did her Master's. This leads to my question: Is this a familiar scenario? If so, is it related to field-wide pressures, or (a lack of) leadership training? My wife wondered if this is the life she'll face in her career. Of course, there should be someone in the institute that can be approached to report any behaviour that crosses an acceptable boundary. My question doesn't relate to what actions they should take, rather I'm curious about the prevalence of this behaviour. Assistant: I do think lack of leadership training is rampant. But at least in my experience, yellers are rare. They do exist. Personally, I'd never deal with someone just flat out yelling at me. It's unprofessional, and unless someone's life is endangered, completely unnecessary.

Human: How prevalent are stressed, shouty PI's in the science fields? Endemic? Like every other field? Rare? Asking out of curiosity. My wife is doing her PhD in a lab in Europe that has a good international representation, and she is becoming disillusioned as the PIs in her department can get quite worked up and stressed. Her field is neuroscience and this is affecting her team and the neighbouring one. The neighbouring PI is especially known for her screaming despite having an excellent team of PhD students and post-docs, and a very interesting project (as reported by peers). The pressure to publish is always there, as it is elsewhere, and there's an upcoming trimming of projects, but from the stories it seems that the issue isn't as much the institutional pressure as it is the individual leadership styles. It may or may not be relevant that the PIs are the same European nationality, though there was a PI with a very similar style at another institute in a neighbouring country where my wife did her Master's. This leads to my question: Is this a familiar scenario? If so, is it related to field-wide pressures, or (a lack of) leadership training? My wife wondered if this is the life she'll face in her career. Of course, there should be someone in the institute that can be approached to report any behaviour that crosses an acceptable boundary. My question doesn't relate to what actions they should take, rather I'm curious about the prevalence of this behaviour. Assistant: My input will be of limited value here as I'm not in a hard science and we don't work in teams or labs, but I'll throw it out there: I have absolutely never seen this. Not in the least. I can't imagine anyone raising their voice, and especially not at their PhDs.

Human: plagiarism software I'm finishing off my masters dissertation and I was wondering if there was any particular plagiarism software that anyone recommends? There are so many out there I don't know which one to pick! If it's good, I don't mind paying as long as it's not really expensive. One of our lecturers mentioned putting our assignments through such software to our class earlier this year - is this a normal thing for students to do? Assistant: Do you not remember if you plagiarized someone else?

Human: plagiarism software I'm finishing off my masters dissertation and I was wondering if there was any particular plagiarism software that anyone recommends? There are so many out there I don't know which one to pick! If it's good, I don't mind paying as long as it's not really expensive. One of our lecturers mentioned putting our assignments through such software to our class earlier this year - is this a normal thing for students to do? Assistant: Literally used WriteCheck an hour ago. It uses the same database as TurnItIn.com to check for plagiarism, but the program/website does not upload your work in the TurnItIn database. Source: http://en.writecheck.com/faq/

Human: Got rejected by a fellowship and found it hard to get friends’ understanding of the disappointment Thank you for reading my post. I’m 30 yo and have gotten a little lost in all aspects of my life. Just finished studying part-time for my bachelor’s degree, it took me 4 good years, but I finally did it. My goal to get this BA was for me to go to grad school, I wanted to become a researcher, wanted to be of use to my profession(I worked 12 years in it), which is highly practical but lack of systematic organization. But along the way, I found that nobody understands this goal of mine, except for my husband. I’m very grateful to have him but I also miss having my friends’ understanding and generally a support system to help me through these difficult application procedures and the far and uncertain goal of mine. My application got to the final round at a famous university, but it wasn’t picked at the end. I found that I do not have a friend to talk to about it. My colleagues are all technical people, went to technical schools, and don’t know how universities work; my classmates studied with me for the past 4 years are just part-time students who want a degree to get promoted at work, none of them are interested in studying further. I feel like I’m stuck alone at a crossroad that the further I go, things will only get harder for people to understand me. I don’t know how to get through this feeling. And I certainly am doubting this goal of mine now because of the rejection and how lonely I feel in it. Any thoughts of what to do? Assistant: When applying to grad schools, it's a numbers game. Especially now. I don't know what you're interested in, but I'm in STEM. It's competitive right now and the more applications you put out there, the better your odds will be at success. Additionally, if you plan to go into research, rejection is a big part of it. It's through rejection that we grow. Embrace it, be grateful for the lesson, and move forward. I wish you luck.

Human: Got rejected by a fellowship and found it hard to get friends’ understanding of the disappointment Thank you for reading my post. I’m 30 yo and have gotten a little lost in all aspects of my life. Just finished studying part-time for my bachelor’s degree, it took me 4 good years, but I finally did it. My goal to get this BA was for me to go to grad school, I wanted to become a researcher, wanted to be of use to my profession(I worked 12 years in it), which is highly practical but lack of systematic organization. But along the way, I found that nobody understands this goal of mine, except for my husband. I’m very grateful to have him but I also miss having my friends’ understanding and generally a support system to help me through these difficult application procedures and the far and uncertain goal of mine. My application got to the final round at a famous university, but it wasn’t picked at the end. I found that I do not have a friend to talk to about it. My colleagues are all technical people, went to technical schools, and don’t know how universities work; my classmates studied with me for the past 4 years are just part-time students who want a degree to get promoted at work, none of them are interested in studying further. I feel like I’m stuck alone at a crossroad that the further I go, things will only get harder for people to understand me. I don’t know how to get through this feeling. And I certainly am doubting this goal of mine now because of the rejection and how lonely I feel in it. Any thoughts of what to do? Assistant: Find some new friends.

Human: For a dissertation, what order should things go in the Appendix? By order of mention or by importance? I’ve heard conflicting things from two advisors already. Assistant: Ask your prof to make sure since it'll vary but most often I've seen is in order of mention. Get your advisors on the same page (no pun intended) before finalizing the dissertation. Good luck!

Human: For a dissertation, what order should things go in the Appendix? By order of mention or by importance? I’ve heard conflicting things from two advisors already. Assistant: By mention is always my stylistic preference... Develop two parallel progressions-- the body and the appendices

Human: Fear before even starting a PhD My PhD position is intended to start next month and I am super interested in my field (medical imaging). I already requested my supervisor to give me some material to get started so I can get familiar with my topic. I am a little scared now as I do not understand a thing from the first paper I read. I have an electrical engineering background and I have never come across terms like microlocal analysis, distribution theory, wave front sets etc. It looks like it is very mathematical in the pure mathematical sense. What would be the best strategy to tackle topics that looks so overwhelming? So that I do not waste too much time reading on things that is not necessary. Because if I start reading on those, the literature is almost endless. What are some of the best practices an experienced researcher develops so that he extracts as much relevant information as possible? Assistant: Relax. Be willing to be a beginner again.

Human: Fear before even starting a PhD My PhD position is intended to start next month and I am super interested in my field (medical imaging). I already requested my supervisor to give me some material to get started so I can get familiar with my topic. I am a little scared now as I do not understand a thing from the first paper I read. I have an electrical engineering background and I have never come across terms like microlocal analysis, distribution theory, wave front sets etc. It looks like it is very mathematical in the pure mathematical sense. What would be the best strategy to tackle topics that looks so overwhelming? So that I do not waste too much time reading on things that is not necessary. Because if I start reading on those, the literature is almost endless. What are some of the best practices an experienced researcher develops so that he extracts as much relevant information as possible? Assistant: I don’t think it’s uncommon for the first year of your PhD to be spent actually learning and understanding the material as well as training/learning experimental techniques in the lab. Reading lots of papers, taking some relevant classes, some self guided studying will all help you become a more effective researcher over the next 3-4 years.