Undergraduate Research - Joining Two Different Groups?

I'm currently a second-year undergraduate physics major, and I joined an experimental nuclear physics (astrophysics primarily) group a few months ago. I joined the group wanting to work extremely hard to learn new things, apply them (and my intuition and previous knowledge) to solve problems, and present my findings and progress on a weekly basis, reporting to the group head on a more frequent basis though. It started out like that at first - the head made me solve a problem, write a GUI/applet for it (just to show that I got , and then implement that into a particular framework that would be used for an actual experiment later on down the road. I noticed that the head also didn't like to be a mentor too much - that is, he only liked to tell me what I needed to know for my task and nothing else, leaving extra learning for myself.

The problem with this is I'm left mentally starved. I've been assisting this other person in my group (relatively new graduate) on preparations for that actual experiment that I mentioned earlier, and that feels good. I've learned more of what's going on behind the scenes (significance of the experiment, theoretical implications of the results obtained, detector and equipment [and setup]) through publications, other people within the university, and asking the group head, but all of this was essentially on my own. As a result, I feel that any average joe with minimal work-ethic and intuition could thrive in a group like this. I've learned a lot more about nuclear physics/astrophysics (hence, more about this universe we live in) through sources that I might have not come across had I not joined the group, so that's good.

Also, just quick side note, the experiment is coming up soon, and I'm sure I'll learn a whole bunch through that process, and sorting out and analyzing the data after the experiment will certainly put me to work.

I've been thinking about possibly trying to join another research group, just so I can quench my mental thirst. There is a nuclear theory group at my university, and even though I know nuclear theory is probably way over my head, but I'm willing to put a lot of time into working hard to learning. I guess if I want to start something I've got to start somewhere.

Here is my question: Is attempting to join another group a bad idea? Should I instead tell the group head how I feel, and see where to go from there, or would that be far too disrespectful?

Please excuse any ignorance of mine.

Student Patents

So I was wondering. Most IP policies at Universities state that you must work on inventions, software, etc. on your own time in order to keep your rights to it. Most also say that you can't use University facilities in the process. But if you live in student housing, wouldn't this count as a "University facility." So wouldn't it technically be impossible to patent something while keeping your rights?

Importance of diversity statement in graduate application

I am applying for a PhD in engineering and some universities require a diversity statements which is considered an optional part of the application.

How important is this to the admission ? They don't say how they are going to use this in their admissions process and I believe the department makes the decisions.

Should I spend the time to do this or just forget about it since it is optional ?

Violation of Human Rights: You know, you saw. Why don't you help the victim get justice?

What is puzzling me for quite a while now is why nobody in Academia will move to stop crime against fellows, superiors or inferiors. Instead, they will let it all happen, isolate the victim, and not offer not even a witness' note. The victim cannot save themselves most of the time, since this is almost the meaning of the word crime. By not offering the victim not even a witness' note, we are denying them minimum fighting chances against the system or whatever is happening. Would it be acceptable preserving our jobs or our courses or our titles at the expense of atrocity against others? Why would people not stop crime, offer witness' notes and other obvious things, such as employ the victim in order to give them minimum chance of fighting? I am definitely after the why here, and for long.

What do profs actually think when writing a letter of recommendation for an average student for grad school

Grad school application starts now along with all the anxieties associated with it.

One of the question I ask myself and repeatedly get asked by my peers is that what would the profs think when the transcript and resume reveals that they are just an average student (i.e. 3.3 GPA, at minimum of grad school acceptance requirement).

Of course, the top factor here is that we are being evaluated by people who are exceptionally talented and likely the top students back in their days. And plus we may have built an amicable relationship over a long period, no one wants to appear like a useless person. Lastly, there may exist a significant time period between when an application is sent out to when the letter is received, during this time I find a lot of students will question whether the profs are still open writing the letter for them.

What if a professor doesn't like what he sees in the transcript, or feel that the resume does not reflect any exceptional talent, what would a prof usually do in this case?

Add a Collaborative Report in my CV

I'm applying to a PhD program in Biostatistics. 2 years ago I was member of a team crew hired by the UN to write a report on security. This report was published last year and has my name on it in the Statistics section. This is the link for the summary:

http://www.undp.org/content/dam/rblac/docs/Research%20and%20Publications/IDH/IDH-AL-ExecutiveSummary.pdf

Should I add it as a publication? I don't want the admissions officer to think that I am forcing it too much.

Applying a physics PhD position in Germany

I am in the last year of Physics master in France and I would like to apply a PhD in Germany. I think that the PhD system in Germany is different to that in France. In France, several people have already find their position for the next year.

What's more, what is the most important criterion to be selected? I don't have any publication right now but I do have some research experience. What are the crucial aspects to be accepted?

How does a low quantitative score on GRE general exam affect admissions to mathematics graduate programs?

I am applying to math grad school this fall (usually top 20-25).

I just took my GRE test and found out that my Quantitative score for General GRE is 156. I am not sure about the percentile yet.

Thus, if I want to present strong applications to math grad schools like UT Austin, UCLA, Columbia, Ohio State is the quantitative score enough?

The rest of my application is decent with about (3.7 gpa), research and publication. However I scored in the lower end of 600 for math gre. As you can tell I have high anxiety before such tests but I would like to avoid bringing up this point in my application as I am sure that the admission committee sees reason like this on its applications a lot.

Letter of recommendation for grad. school application source

I am applying for admission to the Master's program next fall. However I am in doubt about the source of reference. I have two options: 1) My mentor at a research institute who was pursuing his Phd. when I was an research intern. However, he did not complete his Phd. 2) Research Scientist(Phd.) at my current organization where my role is that of a software developer. Therefore the recommendation is based on my work as a developer rather than on my research contributions. Both are willing to write strong recommendations for me. Who would be a better source of recommendation?

Reference on how often the AFAIKs turn out to be true

Quite often authors make some claims with some "to the best of our knowledge" disclaimer. E.g. "To the best of our knowledge this is the first time this approach has been used to address this problem".

Is there any research/study/survey that tried to look at how often such claims are true?

I am mostly interested in the field of computer science > machine learning / NLP / data mining, in English-speaking venues.

Loneliness in postdoc positions

I am 25 years old, and in a few months' time I will have to decide whether to get a job in London or apply for a postdoc somewhere.

Apart from all of the usual pros and cons (eg. job security, salary, lifestyle) associated to each path, one thing that worries me most is my loneliness. I am worried that if I were to get a postdoc (say at some small university in some small city), that I would never meet someone to date and get married to eventually. Most math postdocs tend to be male (I believe) which is fine for me since I am gay. But it seems to me more likely that I will find true love taking a city job in a metropolitan environment where there are many more people. And I am really not sure that the "single life" is amenable for doing a postdoc in a foreign country (where I'll likely have to look to find a postdoc in my field).

I apologise if this thread is not suitable for this board, but it is an important consideration in a potential academic's life. I would truly appreciate your thoughts and experiences.

How common are interviews for Computer Science PhD programs?

I am applying for admission to several CS PhD programs (in the US), and I am just wondering how common it is for schools to request interviews with the candidates. I will be out of the country for much of January which seems like a prime time for interviews to take place, so I am wondering if I should start making alternate plans. Thank you!

When during the application process should a candidate mention that their spouse is also looking for a job

When during the application process should a candidate say that their spouse is also looking for a job?

The issue of academic spouses who want to find employment close enough to live together is colloquially called the "two body problem", and it is a perpetual challenge for job applicants.

The italicized question came up in a recent comment thread on this site, and I realized there is no post on Academia.SE about it. So I am making one.

I have seen many answers to the question, which usually fall between two extremes:

1. 
   

   Don't mention your spouse in any way until you have a job offer, then bring up the question of a job for your spouse. Sometimes the advice even recommends taking off wedding rings during interviews.

   
   


2. 
   

   Mention the spouse immediately in your application cover letter.

   
   

Each has its advantages and disadvantages, certainly, depending on the specific circumstances of the applicant and school being applied to.

Because many people, like me, have a perspective limited by their own life experience and the schools they have worked at, I expect that there should be many different answers to the question, expressing different perspectives. I think that collection of answers would provide an extremely useful resource for job applicants.

In the thread I linked, another user left a comment:

... I'd particularly be interested in seeing answers supported by data, as there seem to be a wide range of opinions, each supported by apparently convincing logical reasons and/or anecdotes.

I don't want to limit answers here to ones based on data, but answers that do include broad data would be particularly welcome.

This kind of question has also been asked on MathOverflow.

What to do about questions that are designed to embarrass the speaker?

I've attended a lot of seminars and lectures by now, and it's typical for the chair of the seminar to offer audience members a chance to ask questions of the speaker about their work after the presentation.

Most of the time, the questions seek clarification of some aspect of the presentation or focus on a more comprehensive understanding of the research involved.

However, occasionally, I've noticed that questions are purposefully designed to embarrass the speaker. Things along the lines of "That method won't work at all for what you're trying to do. Your results are completely invalid" or "So-and-so's group already did that work years ago. Did you not read their paper?"

Perhaps more disturbingly (I just got back from a really large conference if you can't tell), is that women seem to be more harshly criticized than men, and over trivial issues. For instance, in a few sessions I went to, female graduate students were given really hard times over their presentations while the male grad students were not. All presentations were about the same quality. I guess I'm a little shocked; I'd heard of sexism in academia but hadn't actually seen it (or noticed it) until this conference.

Oddly enough, I've observed that it's typically prestigious professors or researchers that are asking these ostentatious questions. I suppose they figure they have enough "fame" or whatever that their job isn't in jeopardy, and there's no easy way to really prove they're being rude or sexist.

I don't know what's going on here, but it seems to me that these questions, even if they do have technical merit, should be held until after the seminar, where they can be discussed privately with the researcher.

My question here, specifically, is what can be done to minimize these (uncomfortable for everyone) instances? My thoughts are that a session chair should remind the audience to refrain from questions that are accusatory in nature. As a presenter, I'm not sure what can be done in advance to preempt and avoid these questions. Any ideas?

Application of Ramsey's Theorem [on hold]

Find the smallest positive integer n that satisfies the following: We can color each positive integer with one of n colors such that the equation w + 6x = 2y + 3z has no solutions in positive integers with all of w, x, y, z the same color. w, x, y, z does not have to be distinct. For example, 5 and 7 must be different colors because (w, x, y, z) = (5, 5, 7, 7) is a solution to the equation.

Parts of thesis draft published without proper credit

My Master's thesis instructor has copied a chapter of my thesis draft into several publications, sometimes listing me as an author and sometimes not. He said it won't cause me any problems so I gave permission in one case but not the others, he just informed me afterwards. As he was my boss and instructor, was in a hurry to submit the publication and insisted there will not be problems I didn't feel like having another choice.

After consulting with my supervisor I'm starting to feel doubtful, especially if any automatic plagiarism checking is involved because searching for various numeric results and phrases from my thesis in Google returns results with the exact same text and without my name in the list of authors.

I'm supposed to hand in the finished thesis this week and don't have time to rewrite the affected chapter. My supervisor said I should at least include a footnote explaining the situation. What should I write? I wouldn't want to cause trouble for the supervisor either, he's a nice guy in a difficult situation.

Research comparing paper and online student evaluations of instruction

What research exists (point me toward references) that compares the effectiveness, validity, and security (or at least a subset of these) of paper and online student evaluations of instructors?

At my institution, a working group of faculty and administrators have proposed switching from a paper-based student evaluation system to an online system. I do not doubt that an online system will save time and money. The current system involves printing, sorting, distributing, collecting, sorting again, reading, and processing three pieces of paper for each student enrolled in each course, followed by data entry and number crunching. I lose an entire period of class time when these happen so that we can guarantee most students participate. According to the office that coordinates this effort, the time and cost involved are equivalent to one full-time employee above and beyond what people are already paid to do.

However, many faculty members have raised concerns, among which are the following:

• Participation will decrease. Only the motivated (very conscientious and very irritated) will participate, potentially skewing the results.


• In order to increase participation, instructors will be required to offer "carrots" that amount to grade inflation.


• Since all students on the roster will be notified by email, even students enrolled in the course, but who have never come to class, will be evaluating instructors. These students who have not participated, do have a right to evaluate instructors, but usually do not because it occurs during class time.


• Student evaluation of instructor surveys will no longer be anonymous. Students will have to log in with a certified log in to verify that they are who they say they are and to match them to surveys for specific classes. While this data will be "anonymized" prior to processing and distribution back to instructors, it will always exist somewhere with identifying information attached to it.

Members of the working group have responded to these and other concerns with statements beginning "Research shows..." However, as an academic, I do not believe "research" until I have seen it myself. The working group has not yet provided a list of references.

Diagram of education in the Netherlands

How would the dutch educational system be represented in a diagram? Or put differently, what are the different roads that lead to the academic world in the Netherlands?

PS. This question ("What are the different roads to get into academics in the Netherlands?") came up in chat awhile ago, so I drew a diagram and it was suggested I share it as a self answered post as well, because it's a neat resource. Didn't do it back then as some parts lacked, but somebody asked me the same question more generally again so looked up the diagram, finished it and wanted to share it publicly now after all.

what does it take to get into stanford online program? [on hold]

I'm in a bit of a dilemma here. I'm an average student who got a bachelor of computer science degree from mumbai university in India. I worked as a web developer at a software company but left it after 8 months. Now, I'm considering the following options

1. Work as a freelance developer/designer.


2. Apply for MBA.


3. Work at another software company.


4. Enroll into an online program from a reputed university for ms in computer science(I checked out stanford's online courses). I have no idea how hard or easy it is to get into an online program at stanford and if it is practical for me to even try since I'm really just an average student.

What do you think I should do? Thanks.

considering Masters in Speech language pathology. Just a few questions [on hold]

I am currently looking into a possible career change as a speech language pathologist. I have a few questions. Currently i have a AS in respiratory therapy and work full time. I am able to get my BS in respiratory fully online while working or should I get my BS in communication disorders? I am a single parent so I must work. at least through my BS so I guess my second question would be is it possible to get a masters in SLP online? or is there a part time program that would allow me time for work? anyone have success while working. If you had to stop working, what did you do for income?

Having caused a lab accident, how to mitigate the tense relationship between me and other students?

For some stupid reasons, I caused a fire in my department laboratory. The fire is not big, and luckily no one was injured. However, it triggered the fire alarm, firemen came and finally water is everywhere, which, damaged some of the central equipment.

After the incidence, the department enforced tighter control on lab safety. For example, all students need to submit a kind of work flow before doing some new experiments, complete numerous forms to buy a new chemicals etc. It results in many unnecessary administrative work and greatly slows down our research progress. Many research students are unhappy about that, and since it is me who caused the accident, they start to keep a distance away from me. Even some 'closer' students seem becoming less friendly to me.

I know it is totally my fault, but sadly, I already caused the accident and can do nothing to change the fact. Now the problem is, what should I do to mitigate our tense relationship?

How to supervise an undergraduate student if I am a PhD student coming from a different field?

I have joined a new research group as a PhD student about one month before. Few days ago my supervisor told me I should supervise an undergraduate student for a research project. However, the things this research group doing are totally new to me. When I had discussions with the undergraduate, I sometimes find he knows more about me in the project. I find embarrassed, and don't know how to supervise him when I can't quite understand his project.

I know as a PhD student, learning new things is essential (and I enjoy a lots). However, I do not have the time now. The undergraduate needs to have some results in few weeks for some sorts of mid-term review report. I agree to supervise him because I don't want to reject my supervisor, I just join the group and it seems inappropriate to turn down.

What should I do in this situation? I don't know if it is common for a fresh PhD student to supervise undergraduates even you are coming from a different field. Of course, I am doing a lot of reading for this, trying to beef my background knowledge up.

What do admission committees look for in a diversity essay?

I'm sitting here with my friend, who is in the process of applying to graduate school. She's come across a prompt that looks like this:

If you are a member of a community that has historically been underrepresented in higher education and would like to tell us how this particular perspective adds to the value you will contribute to the diverse learning community we strive to create, please do so here.

My friend is a female, Latin American, previously financially-burdened immigrant, so there is certainly some diversity to speak of, but she's having trouble coming up with how this can answer the prompt. To her, she's never really considered it a struggle, but more of a challenge. She's never let it get her down, so she sees no reason to complain about it in an essay. She believes you should be judged based on your past and present performance, not your national origin, ethnicity, financial status, etc.

How do you even respond to a prompt like that? Also, why do universities ask you to speak about your diversity in the first place? What are they looking for?

Are there any cases undergraduate students post something on arXiv.org?

Are there any cases when undergraduate students post something on arXiv.org? Can undergraduate student (or any arbitrary person) post to arxiv and if not, then how the protection works?

In principle, the mechanism of endorsement looks pervious.

What do when asked to do something that seems unethical by a co-advisor which might result in losing credit for my work

I am doing a course project, and my co-advisor contributed to my design with tips and comments - nothing major. When the system started working he told me no to reveal all the details while presenting my work in the class.

That didn't feel right. I believe that the course instructor has the right to know all details about my design, and naturally, his name should go on any publication that comes out of this.

I heard my co-advisor telling another professor that my work is "his vision". I hate being in a such weird situation. I feel like my co-advisor is willing to unethical things for his own benefit (As an example, he refused to write me a recommendation letter to prevent me from leaving the university).

Also, because designs have to go through a fabrication step which takes along time, I feel that if he put his hands on my design I will lose credit for my work. He already told me that he will have one of his other students complete the other step. I am afraid that he will say that the other student did more work so he should be the first author of any publication coming out this or even remove me from the whole picture. Given his history, I cannot trust him now.

Moreover, I intend to leave the university for PhD somewhere else in about six months (he doesn't know that), so I won't be there when the work finishes.

How to handle this issue ? Should I reveal everything to the course instructor and start a fight with my co-advisor ? or accept this which is byound my tolerance?

How a anti-plagiarism system works

This is a student asking for help! We are trying to figure out how a anti-plagiarism system works. We would like to know if there is a specific algorithm used by all anti-plagarism softwares or if there are different ones for each webpage.

Do i need a specific algorithm ? Any place to find it online? Basically how are this free softwares online build? Your answers will help us develop a sample software for our project at the university. Thank you very much for your help in advance!

How to get interdisciplinary when your program isn't

When I was shopping for graduate schools, I was very interested in a particular subdiscipline of mathematical logic. I got into a pretty good state school, but now that I've been here for two years, I am no longer sure that I want to do research in that field anymore. I still think it's cool- I could fuss with it all day, and I'm sure I could write a thesis on it- but I have lost faith that it is useful. I want to do something that is good for society, and this is decidedly too pure.

We don't have to pick an advisor until the end of this year. I've looked around, but all the professors seem to be working on very narrow problems that don't interest me. What I would really like to do is integrate computer science into my work, since programming has always been one of my most enjoyed hobbies, and since it plays well with logic in general. But nobody is doing that here. Unfortunately, due to family issues, transferring is out of the question.

How does one go about making his research interdisciplinary when he is not in an interdisciplinary program?

Is it a bad idea to just pick an advisor that I get along with, even if his research is not directly applicable to mine, and try to carve my own path? What can I do to make this approach successful?

Choice of bachelor's thesis (applied math)

Bachelor's thesis is coming up next semester and I've got a dilemma.

I was originally planning to do a standard project (most of them seem very soft to be honest) and then take an extra course (I got permission to take a PHD level course in information theory) or two simultaneously.

But then a project involving a fairly novel part of control theory popped up, novel enough that it might be possible to get something interesting published from the project. It seemed like a fairly interesting problem and the possibility of co-authoring a paper at this stage is very appealing as I have an eye on a PHD after my masters degree.

Control theory itself doesn't interest me that much, but the tangential mathematical subjects do (optimization, algorithms, information theory, etc). The problem is that it's probably going to be a lot more time consuming than a normal project and I don't know if I'd benefit more from it than just taking another course in an area I'm actually interested in.

I'm nervous it's going to be a stressful spring without much to show for it if we don't manage to get any interesting results at all. On the other hand, I suppose any research experience is positive even if it's not in my main interest area.

So, the question is: research-based thesis tangentially related to areas of interest, or normal thesis focused on my areas of interest plus additional courses in my areas of interest?

Painting MFA focused on technique

I am a recently graduated artist and I would like to apply to a master of fine arts (MFA) degree.

What I am looking for is a program that focuses on craft and painting technique instead of experimentation. I would like a program that appreciates realist and figurative painting, as well as traditional painting. An added bonus would be if the program includes lectures about anatomy or geometry.

As long as the lecture are in English I am OK with applying anywhere in the world. Could you please let me know what are some programs that fit this description. Any help is appreciated.

Thank you.

Must know computer science topics for a computer engineer?

What are some must know topics that a computer/electrical engineer should know in order to be a competent computer scientist?

Medieval History and Historical geography Journals

Do you know any Medieval History and/or Historical geography Journals doing call for papers in December this or January/February next year ? Thanks

What are the career-path for failed PhD student?

I was pursuing PhD in mechanical engineering. I have completed 4 years. My PhD problem was very tough and my professors told that completion of PhD requires 3-4 more years. Also, no funding from the university. So, I decided to quit the PhD programme.

Now, I'm Jobless. I have several options, like joining a new PhD programme or Academic job or industrial job.

Can I have suggestions based on your experience?

Thanks.

How to answer "Describe the situation type questions" (Non-Essay Questions)?

When filling Application forms for University scholarships and I come across a question that comes with an answer box that requires written answers, should my answer be a text with some paragraphs(a small essay) answering the question or should I just write few sentences?

For example if I come across this question:

"Do you own a passport?

YES.

Please describe when, where, and why you have used it:"

Is it OK if I just say that "I've used it when I traveled to the X country to participate in a exchange Scholarship program in the year or XXXX for XXXX months?. Or should I include a lot more details? like what city did I go to school, information about the scholarship program etc etc.?

Note that I'm applying for a need based scholarship.

How to address being interested in two areas in statement of purpose

I am applying to graduate school in US. I am wondering how I can write statement of purpose If I am interested in both signal processing and communication. Should I talk about why I am interested in both and talk about researches and projects I have done in both areas and my future research in both fields since I like both equally?. However I was thinking this is too much and is going to pass the word limit for statement of purpose. I am looking for some advice about this. Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

confused about major

I have done my undergraduate degree from Indian university in electronics and communication engineering and have done job in one of my field of interest medical image processing and I worked in robotics while my degree projects. Now I am going to apply for masters in US universities but I am confused about what major I have to choose. My long term goal is to be a researcher in medical robotics/ robotics/ artificial intelligence also I can work with nano electronics but I have not done any work or not so much study in that before so I am a bit nervous to choose that. As after masters I will go for PhD so please help me to resolve which of the above field will be favorable. As I have doubts like medical image processing is not a vast and not so many funding is there for PhD students.

Is concentration an extremely important working habit?

I study mathematics and by "working" in the title, I mean researching and serious reading on my field (reading difficult papers, books, etc.) I believe the answer for other fields would be similar.

Am I right in saying that concentration is an extremely important working habit? I definitely feel that my working habit needs improvement: I stop working and check email/facebook, read news/forums, or even play a few blitz chess games from time to time. I believe that it is very distracting and that my efficiency is low. I also listen to music but this is probably less distracting and sometimes may even be helpful.

Is it right to say that an ideal working habit is that

Be completely immersed in working, avoid all possible distractions, refrain from visiting any irrelevant web sites, turn off mobile phone and email notification. Work for a few hours until reaching a planned milestone, or when the body forcing a stop (micturition, hunger, low energy level, etc.)?

Has anyone failed coursework requirement and got terminated from PhD program?

I'm doing a PhD in Economics, a 3-year program. I am required to do 4 coursework and receive a grade of B+. The thing is I didn't meet the grade requirement of all four courses.(although I didn't fail the courses). I have a very good research proposal (in my opinion). I've got all the data on hand. I have discussed about this with my supervisor and he said I might get terminated; it depends on the research committee after I defence my proposal. I think it would be very unfair if I've got a justifiable proposal but still got terminated because I didn't meet the coursework requirement. The university regulation does not say clearly what would happen if someone fail coursework requirement.

So, I was wondering if there is anyone out there who is/was in my position. Did you get terminated from the school?

Interview transcription software

Not entirely sure this would be on topic here, but as this is an extremely common activity in Academia and is not limited to a specific field this seemed the best place to ask.

What is most used¹ professional software for interview transcription in the Academic world? Both free and commercial.

¹ Well, technically I am trying to find the 'best' software, but as we're on SE here I tried to keep it objective.

PS. I am not looking for something that magically transcribes it for you, just the tooling that helps you as much as possible in the process.

why Honorary degree are awarded to celebrities also?

why Honorary degree are awarded to celebrities also?

Chiranjeevi awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Andhra University, Actually he is a actor, so how he achieved Honorary degree if he has not contributed anything to education.

Career Paths for Mathematics and Physics

I'm just looking at the Mathematics & Physics program at University of Toronto (I think it's like Mathematical Physics, correct me if I'm wrong), I'm wondering what career paths I can choose if I take this program. Would this allow my to work in either field or just in the physics field? And would this allow me to go to grad school for either one I want, or is it restricted to one of the two fields?

If it makes any difference, here's a link to the university's program calendar: http://ift.tt/1xTSKnf

Thanks.

Reference on the reasons why researchers in the industry publish

Is there any research/study/survey that looked at the reasons why researchers in the industry publish? (condition of some grants, advertising some product/firm, disinterested willingness to contribute to public knowledge, etc.)

I am mostly interested in the field of computer science > machine learning / NLP / data mining, in English-speaking venues and in the USA.

How to turn away students who ask me to proofread their papers?

I teach writing to undergraduates.

• Most of the students, even the juniors and seniors, wrote few papers since high school.


• There are many foreign students in the program.

Many students enter the course believing that, when their grammar and spelling is "correct", their task is done. We have so many other topics to cover that I tell students from the first day that grammar and spelling will not be discussed in the course, unless I encounter frequent several students making the same mistakes.

My grading rubrics cover the aspects covered in each lesson and expands each week as we cover more aspects. I relegate grammar and spelling a the bottom of the rubric, as a special item that I simply grade on a scale of 0-4. In other words, students get feedback about other aspects of their writing, but not I do not spend time marking the spelling and grammar errors.

I still encounter dissatisfied students, who either paid no attention during the first day or could not accept that grammar and spelling not take center stage:

• Some feel dissatisfied when I do not mark the grammar and spelling, as their former high school teachers did.


• Some come to me with their graduate admissions letters and job application cover letters, specifically requesting that I make their papers “perfect", but complain when I only leave comments about other aspects of their paper.


• When I ask or assign them to have a peer check their work, some believe it is just an excuse for me to avoid doing my job.

How can I decline such proofreading requests from students, without leaving students feeling a I am neglecting my duties as a teacher?