when I grow up I want to be ff524

@ff524

@J.Roibal thanks, I think? :)

the hardest working woman in academia

If by that you mean that I spend way more time than I probably should on Academia Stack Exchange, sure.

I am a Master's student and this site has helped me IMMENSELY over the past couple of months

That's great! It's so good to hear that

what specifically have you found most helpful?

The variety of ethical questions that are raised

and the questions about publications are very insightful and helpful

nice

I think some of the questions around plagiarism are FASCINATING

I asked a plagiarism question once:

I read that one when I first came to the sight, such complexity I had never considered before.

site*

some of the answers were very interesting. especially the one that linked to this paper: scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/jclc/vol103/iss1/1

I noticed you're an electrical engineering student, what is your research focus?

Telecommunication networks, in particular wireless with a focus on network economics

smart cookie

Are you doing a masters with thesis? what's yours on?

developing a new methodology for ventilation surveying of underground mining operations

sounds fun :)

I like it, it has computer programming which is one of my passions

Hi @ff524 :) How are you funded in your electrical engineering PhD? Does your NSF grant take care of all of tuition, health insurance, and stipend for costs of living? Or do you have a combination of NSF grant, tuition waiver given by your school, and stipend from school / NSF grant? Just curious :) I know next to nothing about the different ways a PhD student in a STEM field is funded. But, from following Academia SE over the last couple months,my guess would be that there are essentially

3 different ways to get funded: 1) teaching assistanships - i.e., being a TA, 2) research assistantship, 3) external funding, e.g., the NSF grant. This is in general, in order, from least prestigious to most prestigious. Do I have it right, @ff524? :)

To start at the end, I guess you could say external funding is prestigious, but most of the PhD students in my department are international students who are not eligible for federal fellowships in the US. So it's a little weird to say that my funding is somehow more prestigious than theirs when they're simply not eligible for it.

Most of the PhD students in my department are funded by a combination of department fellowships and their advisor's research grants. Some PhD students are also TAs, but we don't usually think of students as being "funded by TAship" in my department, as that's not really the main source of support.

The NSF GRFP can be applied for any 3 years over the 5-year period after it is awarded. In the 3 years in which you are "on", it pays a stipend (currently 34k) to the student, and it also pays a "cost of education allowance" to the school, and the school is not allowed to charge the student any other tuition or required fees even if the COE allowance doesn't fully cover them.

Did I answer all your questions @User001 ?

NSF fellowship is definitely prestigious :)

Sorry, was away from my desk for a bit @ff524 :)

That's pretty awesome, @ff524 :) The stipend is competitive and it's great to hear that tuition + insurance + fees are all covered, too. But, regarding your mentioning that you guys don't normally consider students as being "funded by a TAship", do you really feel that way? You're not a TA / instructor, right? When I go to the once-a-year anonymous student forums, where we document our main complaints to faculty, the PhD students are extremely upset about all the teaching and grading that

they must do, and how much time it takes up on their weekly schedules.

that, and the NSF grants not increasing / changing their stipends were the main complaints. Do you also...feel...overworked, in terms of teaching and grading? (Aside from research activities...) @ff524

I meant to ask you are a TA / instructor, @ff524

When I said we don't usually think of student as being "funded by TAship", I'm not suggesting that being a TA is not a lot of work. Of course it is. I'm just saying that nobody in the department is funded only by being a TA. Everyone is funded primarily by fellowship or research grants, and some students also have a TAship as a secondary source of funding.

ahh..I see ...

I have done a lot of teaching over the course of my PhD, both as a TA and as an adjunct professor. I have also written some successful NSF grant proposals for engineering education, and developed educational materials that have been used by instructors at other institutions as well.

But none of that was required of me. I did that because I found the experience valuable, personally.

Actually, according to the terms of the NSF GRFP my department is not allowed to ask me to teach or TA during the 3 years that I'm "on" it.

So I had to do a lot of teaching in my "off" years to get in all the teaching I wanted to do :)

ahh....interesting...that was my next question, asking whether you could skip being a TA altogether... @ff524 :)

I learn a lot from teaching, especially as an adjunct when I am the instructor of the course and have complete control.

I actually taught one special topics course where I designed the course myself and then got to teach it. That was really fun for me.

and I think it has been a very useful experience, especially if I decide to go the academic route.

Of course, my research output definitely does suffer as a result of having so many "side"" activities, like teaching and outreach.

brb, @ff524 library's closing early :(