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1500 questions
65
votes
8 answers

How to politely respond to generic emails requesting a PhD/job in my lab? Without wasting too much time

As I transition to faculty, I have increasingly gotten requests from people who want to do PhD's with me or want postdocs in my lab. Often these emails are extremely generic and don't suggest they know anything about my research. The descriptions…
WetlabStudent
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5 answers

Is it inappropriate for a student to attend their mentor's dissertation defense?

I'm an undergraduate student at a research one university. My former instructor and current research mentor is defending their dissertation soon. I asked if I could attend and they said they would be fine with it. My primary interest in doing so is…
Nicole
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7 answers

I'm a professor being mistaken for a grad student, how to handle this?

This question is the flip side of Mistook new faculty member to be a student, how big a faux pas is it? I'm an associate professor, and apparently I look young for my age. When I meet new people at conferences, they often start the conversation with…
Nate Eldredge
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5 answers

Does tenure protection extend to professors saying that evolution is false in class?

So I'm dealing with a very weird case here. I'm a PhD student and my wife is currently taking a history course at a different university. Apparently this instructor says he has tenure so no one can do anything about his rambling. He spends a sizable…
Chiki
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65
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8 answers

Bombed an academic interview, should I do anything about it?

I had an interview a few days back for a grant for graduate studies. The interview panel consisted of various judges including some of the most renowned and well known researchers/professors in my field(s) of interest. Some of them almost have a…
Nervous Student
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65
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6 answers

Should I explain that I cannot finish my current master due to religious discrimination when applying for another graduate program?

I am currently enrolled in a master’s program in the Middle East, which does not seem to be possible to finish / worth finishing for various reasons. The main problem is the lack of research facilities that would allow me to generate data for my…
Bola K
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64
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9 answers

Should you tell grad students to apply for grants you know they won't get?

I am a humanities professor at a middling university in the United States. My department has a poorly funded Ph.D. program, which attracts second-tier students at best. (The good Ph.D. students go to programs that can afford to fund them fully, it…
user80778
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12 answers

Why does research on the busy beaver function get funded?

I saw this video about the busy beaver function and looked at the applications section of the Wikipedia article about the busy beaver function. I concluded that there is zero practical or even theoretical value in searching these numbers S(n) : n >…
Hakaishin
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64
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19 answers

What's a good way to prevent students from saying I lost their paper?

As a teacher, I've often had students say that they turned in an assignment, but that because I don't see it, grade it, and return it back to them, that I must have lost their papers/assignments. I tend to be disorganized at times, so it's hard for…
jvriesem
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5 answers

Where should I host a (simple) personal academic webpage?

I've finally decided to stop putting off creating an academic webpage for myself... both for the purposes of a job search and more generally to communicate what I'm about research-wise. But - where shall I put it? The options seem to be: My…
einpoklum
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64
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8 answers

Is it okay to refuse a laptop from a new university if you already have your own personal laptop?

I got a postdoc position and I am moving to a new university. I was contacted by my new professor about choosing a laptop that the department would buy for me. The option they have is roughly the same model I have currently as my private machine,…
user71418
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10 answers

What questions should one ask to the former/current students of a professor before deciding whether to do PhD under him/her?

Before deciding to do one's PhD under a certain professor, what questions should one ask of his/her former and current students? Many students (including me) are not sure what exactly to ask. May be a community wiki here might be a general source…
user13107
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15 answers

Lecturer with anxiety. How to survive in academia?

I've been a long time member of academia.SE but I created this alt account because the question is a bit embarrassing. I finished my PhD 4 years ago and after a 2 year postdoc at a different university secured a contractual lecturership. During my…
Dispdan
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64
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4 answers

Colleague stole my work and is publishing it as his own; my PhD supervisor supports him; I got the paper to review. How to proceed?

By chance, I am reviewing now the paper which I recognised as a paper of my colleague. We are from the same institution and I am surprised that I got this paper to review, but, on the other hand, I am lucky to see it before it's published. My…
user65771
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64
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2 answers

How to acknowledge a deceased advisor’s contributions to a paper?

One of my advisors suddenly passed away while I was in graduate school. We had some discussions and ideas about future publications, but he passed away before any of the work was completed. When the work was finally completed and published, I and…
ESultanik
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