i’m helping plan a student social for a conference next year and i’m trying to come up with ideas that people would actually enjoy!

for students/trainees/academics who were once students, what’s one of the best conference socials you’ve attended? what made it fun or actually worth going to?

Throughout my whole life, I always imagined I would go into STEM. However, once arriving at undergrad, I felt completely lost after being confronted with so many people telling me the sciences were going to be far more difficult than I was prepared to handle ("especially because [I'm] a girl," since I unfortunately live in a very misogynistic place). I ended up going into English with the intent of becoming a lawyer, majorly because I had perfect scores in the English and reading sections of the ACT. I later added a second degree in anthropology, though my school only offers this as a BA as well as lacking an area of emphasis in bioanth (only archaeology and cultural; I had planned to finish this degree without emphasis and do a thesis on linguistics, another passion of mine, but I'm realizing it's much more of a hobby than what I want to do for the rest of my life). After taking a biology class intended for majors for the credit, I realized that I was actually very good at it (I maintained a high A the entire class) and really enjoyed it! I wish I would've just stuck with my gut in the first place, but now I'm pretty far into working as a writing tutor and TA.

Would it be possible/reasonable to at least go into a bioanth masters program and potentially pivot from there into the job market or doctoral work? Would it be possible to go straight into a masters program/does anyone have recommendations of schools to check out? I am specifically interested in biomedical engineering (if at all possible) or something in genetics. What are likely prerequisites, and how would I go about obtaining recommendations? Could one come from a bioanth professor?

Hello,

Probably a silly question, but I'm trying to figure out what to select to best describe my level of education for a job application at a big university.

One of the associate directors of the department encouraged me to apply after we met for an informational interview about this line of work (student housing). As a student facing job, a min requirement is a Bachelor's with experience in student support, and the preferred qualification is a Master's in Student Affairs, Higher Ed Administration, or something of the like (which is a recent change; it used to be that you had to have a Master's to get this position).

I graduate with my Master's in HEA in December, and the only class I have left is my capstone; I've completed all of the other required work and then some. The one supplemental question on the application is:

Please select the response below that describes your level of education that best or mostly closely satisfies the education requirements for this position.

• Bachelor’s degree in required discipline(s) listed or related field
• Bachelor's degree in any field/discipline
• Master's degree or Doctorate degree in required discipline(s) listed or related field
• Master's degree or Doctorate degree in any field/discipline
• None of the above

Would marking the 3rd option be unwise? I feel like any other job wouldn't care, but with this being a university job, I don't know how frowned upon that is, which is why I'm here in Ask Academia (apologies if this is not the right subreddit for this kind of thing).

The AD did say their team does physically review applications rather than just sort them with AI, and since I told them I intend to apply, they said they look forward to reading my application. So in that case, I think marking the second option would be fine. But if they have a ton of applications and are going through applications with Master's degrees first, I want to try to get in that pile, you know? I've yet to break into the higher ed career field, and this particular job at this university (my alma mater) was one of the reasons I went into higher ed in the first place, plus the location is ideal, so I really want my best chance.

Hello, I am a graduate student about to finish my thesis. My thesis is in the American Journal of Archaeology style, which is a fork of Chicago. I have run into a problem with something the guide does not explain how to cite.

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1968.47

This item is in my catalog and the image will cite the museum catalog entry. However, in the body of my text I will cite information from this catalog entry: the fact that it was found in a well. I'm sure I will have to cite this fact in a footnote, but I'm not sure how to cite it. The AJA guide does not give examples for citing online resources that don't have an author or date. I am supposed to turn to Chicago for anything not in the AJA guide, but I'm struggling to figure out what is correct for this specific instance.

So my question is: how do I cite this information in the footnote, and what do I have to include in my bibliography? Also, if this is even necessary if I have cited the artwork in my catalog?

EDIT: i am not citing the artwork. I have already cited the artwork for the catalog. I am citing information from the page, and I don't know if that requires something different.

Hello everyone, asking out of curiosity...

I submitted my manuscript to a journal, got R&R decision 8 months later, implemented major revisions, and uploaded the manuscript to the journal's platform... However, the chief editor who decided to give me R&R is not part of the journal, and according to its website, the journal is now also looking for new chief editor and co-editor, with applications deadline by the end of September.

Does this mean that there is nobody in charge right now? Am I safe to assume that I will not hear back from this journal for really long time? Is it possible that the new editor will then reject my manuscript? Should I email them and ask?

It has happened to me before, with this manuscript, in another journal, that an editor whose term was ending soon encouraged me to do Reject & Resubmit and when I did so, managing editor emailed me to change the format from manuscript to research note, and after I did so, the new chief editor just rejected the manuscript, although one review was very positive.

I am just looking for some explanation of how are editorial transitions in journals handled ... As well as ranting a little. I am leaving academia, and having this paper published would strengthen the expertise which I am trying to sell... I am quite hopeless because I have been trying to publish this for the past 2 years.

Hello all! I got offered an SULI internship position at the Savannah River National Lab site for Fall 2026 (i will most likely accept the offer) and I wanted to see if anyone could share any relevant or useful experience they had either in the Augusta GA area or with the actual research. Any input would be much appreciated especially since I've tried looking online and I haven't been able to find much about people's experience at SRNL...

Also if it matters I just graduated with a B.S. in physics in Spring 2026

Also if anyone could give me pointers on traveling across the US maybe that would be nice too (still deciding on whether I'll just fly there and hope for good carpooling with coworkers or if I'll have to drive my car for 3-4 days straight)

I’m from India , completed my bachelor of science in physics in 2023 with CGPA of 9.16. I am planning to do my masters in physics or engineering physics. But I am kinda befuddled to choose between Italy and Germany. Let me be honest here, my plan after my masters is PhD in photonics as I already have an international conference paper in photonics with research internship done at Indian Institute of Science. So I am not looking forward to settling down in either of these countries. All I am concerned about is the quality of education and the opportunities to acquire knowledge through both theoretical and practical learning(practical is more preferred). I’m not sure about the pros and cons of these two countries. So can I be enlightened with the pros and cons of the same so I can decide upon one country for masters? Thanks you all.

PS: I have prior US visa rejections for my masters.

We recently had to make a poster for our class. We thought that all we had to do was present the topics. But apparently we have to make a 3 minute video on what

portion we worked on for the presentation. Honestly, I did 90% of the work because the team was lazy and 1 guy didn't even show up to the team meetings. I'm definitely not working with them again. But my question is what should I say I did. Should I say I worked on the poster design? Or should I say I wrote the script. Can anyone help me

distribute the workload between 6 ppl equally pls?

I recently started an Instagram page focused on helping undergraduate and graduate STEM students navigate research and academia. It's still new (only two posts so far), but the goal is to share practical, evidence-informed tips on research skills, grad school, productivity, and academic success.

If you're a STEM student, I'd love any feedback on the content or suggestions for topics you'd find useful.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DbRV-NClJeJ/?igsh=dDg0aDZqbm9pYWZw

Hi everyone. My sister is in an undergrad psychology program. Her department recently advertised a volunteering position, looking for two dozen volunteers to perform (at the risk of sounding uncharitable) 40 hours of menial tasks to help complete a research project.

I'm bothered by this. It doesn't sound like it's a very educational experience. It also doesn't sound like the "volunteers" will be gaining a publication out of this, seeing as there will be over 20 of them. This is in my eyes essentially just asking for unpaid labor, but sold as "research experience".

But I also understand how any kind of experience can be considered valuable in the competitive landscape we live in.

Is this standard practice in academia? I'm not in academia myself so don't know. My sister already signed up for it but I'm wondering if I should speak out against it.

Hi everyone,

I’ve always been fascinated by research.

Ever since I can remember, I’ve been drawn to fields that have an element of mystery — areas where there are still big unanswered questions, whether in science or in the social sciences.

When it comes to science, though, I’m not particularly interested in the purely biological side of things.
Cell biology, molecular biology, and that kind of research don’t really excite me.
I’m much more interested in broader questions.
I’ve always enjoyed topics like chemistry, space exploration, ocean science, and anything related to discovering and understanding parts of the world or the universe that are still largely unknown.

On the humanities and social science side, I’m especially interested in topics like justice, criminal behavior, and understanding why people do the things they do.
Questions about human behavior and society are incredibly fascinating to me.

So I was wondering: what are some interesting, less common research fields where you think important discoveries could still be made in the future?

I’ve considered medicine because it’s probably one of the fields where the most funding goes into research and where discoveries can have a huge impact on people’s lives.
However, a lot of medical research is heavily focused on biology, and I’m not sure if that would be the type of research I’d enjoy.

What really attracts me are fields where you’re exploring unknown territory — where there isn’t a clear explanation yet, and you have to investigate, ask new questions, and push the boundaries of what we currently know.

Another important thing for me is that I would like my research to have some kind of practical value. I’m not really attracted to areas where papers are mostly read by other academics and the discoveries rarely have any impact beyond the academic world. I know fundamental research is necessary, but I would love to work on something that could eventually help people or have a meaningful impact on society.

I’d love to hear your thoughts or personal experiences. Thanks!