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1500 questions
115
votes
7 answers

Advisor tries to reproduce my results to ensure my honesty. Is it the norm?

I am a M.Sc. student in Machine Learning, about to finish my thesis this month. My advisor wants me to meet him in person to reproduce my results under his control. It is obvious that the main reason for this action is to be confident that I didn't…
user35129
115
votes
15 answers

Is it appropriate to email a professor saying you enjoyed their class, after doing well in it?

I recently finished taking an undergraduate class and I enjoyed it. I was thinking of emailing the prof and saying this, but I don't know if it's appropriate or not, for a few reasons: I would have already said this in the class evaluations, which…
user90814
114
votes
6 answers

What is the point of listing 1000 authors for a single scientific paper?

I arrived at the printer room this afternoon to collect my printing and I happened to notice that someone was yet to collect a printout of the gravitational waves paper that has been all over the scientific news the last few days/weeks. Of course, I…
Bamboo
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114
votes
4 answers

What are "fake", "shady", and/or "predatory" journals?

This question is in response to this very interesting question. The original post mentioned that they wish to retract their paper from a "fake" journal. I don't know what a fake journal is but better safe than sorry so I want to make sure what…
biohazard
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114
votes
18 answers

How to approach a student with bad hygiene?

I teach engineering at a community college in the US. I currently have a student with very poor hygiene. He stinks pretty badly, has obviously greasy hair, doesn’t change his clothes frequently, and I usually seat him in the back of the room (during…
lemontwist
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113
votes
3 answers

Submitting paper proving "X" soon after paper proving "X-epsilon"

I am a math postdoc, currently working on some conjecture. To avoid going into details, let's formulate it as follows: "every runcible doohickey is cromulent". A senior colleague told me last year that if I proved it, it would make for a "really…
Ilia Smilga
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113
votes
5 answers

What is the purpose of women-only meetings, panels, conferences, etc. in academia?

Since entering graduate school, albeit in a STEM field, I have never been exposed to such an emphasis on women-only meetings, leadership conferences, panels, etc. I have seen most, if not all of these venues, exclusive to women. Most of these…
user62113
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113
votes
10 answers

Do I not have the personality for a PhD?

I've been in the PhD program for a couple years now and I feel like people have a lot of expectations about the way I should think and feel about things. Not just my technical competence, but also my motivations and personality. I am wondering if…
user53019
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113
votes
9 answers

Googling my name reveals silly things from when I was younger. I am embarassed. How will this affect me in my future academic career?

I am a masters student at one of the top two universities in the UK and will be applying for PhD positions soon. When I google my (unique) name, the first few results are what you'd expect, my LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and some university web…
qazed1234
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113
votes
10 answers

Editor rejected manuscript claiming it is similar to a not-yet-published manuscript (that I haven't seen). How to proceed?

A few months ago, I submitted a manuscript. After the reviews were completed I received a rejection decision from the Associate Editor (AE). The rejection was based on the basis of a single rejection recommendation by one of the four reviewers. The…
CTNT
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112
votes
14 answers

Only one student answered an exam question - and I strongly suspect he cheated

Today we (professors + teaching assistants) proctored a midterm exam for a class of about 80 students. There was undoubtedly a "hardest" question on the exam, since nearly the entire classroom of students asked us how to proceed with that question.…
user81618
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112
votes
15 answers

Why are research papers written in language that's difficult for undergraduate students?

As an undergraduate student, I find it hard to understand research papers on any particular subject. Why don't researchers use simple language for their reports, so that everyone would understand? Update: I will leave this post as a general…
Greg
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111
votes
28 answers

How to silence the voice that tells you you're being financially irresponsible by spending 4 to 6 years doing a PhD?

I'm very conflicted regarding applying to (American) PhD programs vs. not doing so and finding a job in industry to have more money. The thought of doing a PhD makes me feel financially irresponsible; yet, I have concrete research interests and…
user80709
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111
votes
9 answers

Is it reasonable for a professor to ask students to stay 30-45 minutes past scheduled class time every week?

I'm currently in a class in my major that meets for 50 minutes 3 times a week. Meanwhile, I'm a member of a campus club, unrelated to my major, which meets right after this class one day. My professor has decided that he should have the students…
user28375028
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111
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11 answers

Ethical concerns regarding the review of a paper on autonomous armed drones

I would like your suggestion on a delicate matter involving a paper that I am reviewing. I will avoid giving too many details to preserve anonymity. In this article the authors describe an algorithm for the (unmanned) control of a military armed…
LeopoldBloom
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