mikedaub.com

"Professor" is both a formal academic rank and a loose courtesy title. Formally, it usually refers to the senior rank (full professor) in a system that runs instructor/lecturer → assistant professor → associate professor → full professor. Informally in the US, anyone who teaches college courses may be called "professor" by students, even if their official title is lecturer, instructor, or adjunct. The path to a formal professorship normally requires a terminal degree (usually a PhD, though some fields accept a JD, MFA, or similar), a record of teaching and research, and a tenure-track appointment — but community colleges, adjunct pools, and non-tenure-track roles follow different rules.

The academic ranks, in order

Two things trip people up:

• "Professor" as a job vs. "professor" as a rank. A job posting for "Assistant Professor" is a professorial job; the person is not yet a full professor.
• Tenure-track vs. non-tenure-track. Tenure-track roles carry the expectation of eventual permanent employment and usually require research. Non-tenure-track roles (adjunct, lecturer, teaching professor) focus more on instruction and are renewed by contract.

What professors actually do

The job is usually described as three parts, weighted differently by institution:

• Teaching — designing courses, lecturing, running discussions, grading, holding office hours.
• Research or creative work — publishing, presenting, securing grants (heavy at research universities, lighter at teaching-focused colleges).
• Service — committee work, advising students, departmental administration, community engagement.

At community colleges, teaching and service typically dominate; at research universities, research output drives promotion. Andrew Hill's résumé illustrates the teaching-college pattern: his listed roles at St. Philip's College include directing a philosophy awards program, an ethics bowl team, and an intercollegiate civil disagreement partnership — service and co-curricular work alongside classroom teaching.

The typical path to becoming a professor

1. Bachelor's degree in the field (or a related one).
2. Master's degree — often sufficient for community college teaching, and sometimes the terminal credential for those roles.
3. Doctorate (PhD, EdD, JD, MFA, etc.) — the standard credential for university professor positions. Hill's listed education includes a Doctor of Jurisprudence alongside master's and bachelor's degrees, which fits philosophy-adjacent fields like ethics and law.
4. Postdoctoral or visiting positions — common in sciences and competitive humanities fields; not always required.
5. Tenure-track appointment as assistant professor.
6. Tenure and promotion to associate, then full professor, based on a review of teaching, research, and service.

Timeline from bachelor's to first tenure-track job is commonly 8–12 years, longer if postdocs or adjuncting intervene.

How the title is used differently

• US informal usage: students call any instructor "Professor," regardless of rank. This is normal and not an error.
• US formal usage: "Professor" alone usually means full professor; "Assistant Professor" and "Associate Professor" are stated in full.
• UK and Commonwealth: "Professor" is reserved for the equivalent of full professor; other faculty are lecturers, readers, or senior lecturers.
• Community colleges: many faculty hold the title "Professor" without a PhD and without research expectations. Hill's career spans St. Philip's College, Northwest Vista College, Tarrant County College, the University of Dallas, and St. Mary's University — a mix of community colleges and universities, which is a common teaching-focused career pattern.

Choosing a path: what to weigh

If your goal is teaching-focused work at a community college, a master's degree plus teaching experience may be enough, and the tenure process is usually lighter on research. If your goal is a research university professorship, a PhD, publications, and often postdoctoral work are effectively required. If you want to teach but not pursue tenure, non-tenure-track lecturer or adjunct roles are the entry point — but they typically offer less job security and lower pay, and should be evaluated on contract terms rather than the title alone.

For a concrete example: someone with a JD and an MA in philosophy, like Hill, can build a professor career around ethics, law, and interdisciplinary teaching rather than a traditional PhD research track — but that route depends on the hiring institution's credential requirements, which vary.

If you are looking for a Maine Coon kitten in Pennsylvania, the practical starting point is to verify three things before you pay a deposit: the cattery's physical location and setup, the health and registration documentation behind the breeding cats, and the timing and socialization of the specific litter. Mylancoon Maine Coon Cats, a small home-based cattery in Palmyra, PA — about five minutes from Hershey — is a useful example of the kind of operation you'll encounter: a home cattery breeding cats "in a variety of colors," reachable by email at [email protected], with pages for available kittens, kings and queens, and past litters. Use that structure as a checklist, not as an endorsement.

Confirm the cattery is real and local

A Pennsylvania address is easy to claim and hard to verify, so treat location as a claim to test rather than a fact.

• Ask for the town, not just the state. "Palmyra, PA" is specific enough to check against maps and to ask about a visit. A listing that only says "Pennsylvania" or "PA" with no town is harder to verify.
• Look for a home-based setup described in plain terms. A small cattery that says it is home-based and lists its own cats by name (as Mylancoon does with its kings, queens, and named past litters) gives you something concrete to ask about.
• Check whether the site shows its own cats and litters over time. Past litters with dates — for example, kittens born March 31 and April 5 — suggest an ongoing breeding record rather than a one-off listing.
• Use the contact method as a signal. A direct email address tied to the cattery name is a starting point; it is not proof of anything by itself.

What to ask before you commit

Bring a written list to your first conversation. The answers matter more than the questions.

Evaluate the kittens and the breeding cats

You are judging two things at once: the individual kitten and the breeding program behind it.

• Look at the queens and kings, not just the kittens. A cattery that shows its adult cats by name and lets you ask about their age, litters, and health gives you a track record to evaluate.
• Ask how many litters the cattery produces. A small home cattery with a handful of named cats and dated litters is a different picture from a high-volume operation.
• Ask about color and pattern honestly. "A variety of colors" is a description, not a guarantee — confirm what is actually available in the current litter before you get attached to a specific look.
• Ask what happens if the kitten you want is already reserved. A cattery with an available-kittens page and past-litter history can tell you when the next litter is expected.

Prepare your home before pickup

Maine Coons grow large and need more space and sturdier equipment than the average cat, so set up before the kitten arrives.

• Litter box: a large, high-sided box — this breed outgrows standard sizes quickly.
• Scratching and climbing: a tall, stable cat tree; Maine Coons are heavy and will test anything flimsy.
• Food and water: wide, shallow bowls, and a plan for what the breeder is currently feeding so you can transition gradually.
• Safe room: a single quiet room for the first few days, with the door closed, before you introduce the rest of the house.
• Vet appointment: book it for the first few days after pickup so vaccination and health records can be reviewed while they're current.
• Travel setup: a carrier sized for a large cat, not a kitten-sized one, plus a plan for a car ride home — relevant whether you're driving across PA or flying in.

Red flags when searching in PA

• No town, no visit, no names. A cattery that won't tell you where it is or let you see the cats is the single biggest warning sign.
• Kittens offered well before 12 weeks with no health records and pressure to pay quickly.
• No health testing information for the breeding cats, or vague answers when you ask.
• Prices or payment handled entirely through untraceable methods with no contract.
• Photos that appear on multiple unrelated sites. Reverse-image search the kitten photos before you send money.
• A "breeder" who can't answer basic questions about the breed, the parents, or the kitten's current diet and vet care.

The bottom line

A legitimate Pennsylvania Maine Coon breeder should be able to tell you exactly where it is, name its breeding cats, show dated litters, answer health and registration questions directly, and let you visit or at least see the cats in their home environment. Mylancoon in Palmyra fits the profile of a small home cattery you can start a conversation with at [email protected] — but verify the health testing, registration, and pickup terms yourself before any deposit. If a breeder resists those questions, that resistance is your answer.

Mike Daub is a physics and mathematics educator who maintains a personal website at mikedaub.com. His full name is Michael David Daub, and he goes by "Mike Daub" for brevity. The site serves as his primary online presence—he states he prefers posting there rather than on any social media platform—and it contains his résumé, professional background, personal interests, photos, and contact information. If you're looking for his credentials, a way to reach him, or a sense of who he is, the site is the direct source.

What the Site Contains

The homepage is organized into a few clear sections:

• Welcome – a brief self-introduction
• Professional Background – a summary of his experience and education, with a link to his résumé
• Fun Facts – personal interests and affiliations
• Contact Mike – email addresses, PGP keys, and a phone number
• Photos – a small gallery of personal images
• Tip Jar – links to PayPal, Cash App, and Venmo

There is no blog, no login, and no interactive features beyond what a static page offers.

Professional Background

Daub describes himself as an experienced physics and mathematics educator who has taught courses at institutions in California, New York, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania.

His education, as stated on the site:

He notes that he never completed his doctorate, describing himself as "a college dropout with three degrees."

On the research side, he worked on the ACBAR project in experimental cosmology and spent five summer seasons at Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica while attending graduate school.

Personal Details and Affiliations

The "Fun Facts" section lists:

• Grew up in Erie, Pennsylvania, and attended Iroquois High School
• Member of the Libertarian Party and the Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania
• Ordained minister in the Church of the Latter-Day Dude
• Enjoys poker, especially Seven Card Stud and HORSE
• Takes coffee black

These are self-reported and reflect the tone of the site, which is informal and personal rather than institutional.

How to Contact Mike

The contact section provides:

• Email: [email protected] and [email protected]
• PGP keys: downloadable for each address, with fingerprints listed on the page
• Phone: (814) 315-DAUB

If you want to send encrypted mail, the PGP keys let you do that; the fingerprints are printed so you can verify them out-of-band. For ordinary correspondence, either email address works.

The Site's Design Philosophy

Daub states he built and maintains the site himself with a text editor using HTML and CSS, with only minor JavaScript, MathML, or SVG. He explicitly lists what the site does not use:

• No web frameworks
• No content management systems
• No server-side programming languages
• No tracking
• No cookies

The pages are static and hosted on a server in the United States. This matters if you care about privacy or want a page that loads without scripts—there is nothing to consent to and nothing following you between pages.

What You Won't Find

The site is a personal homepage, not a professional portfolio or academic profile. It does not list publications, course materials, or a current teaching schedule. The résumé link is the place to look for a fuller work history. There is also no indication of pricing, services for hire, or availability—the tip jar is the only financial element, and it's presented as optional support rather than payment for anything.

The Columbia University Mathematics Department is the mathematics faculty and academic unit housed in the Mathematics hall on Columbia's Morningside campus in New York. It offers an undergraduate program, a graduate PhD program, and a Master of Arts in Mathematical Finance, and it supports research across areas including algebraic geometry, geometry and analysis, mathematical physics, number theory, probability and financial mathematics, and topology. If you are a prospective student, a current student looking for course or tutoring information, or a researcher checking seminar schedules, the department's site is organized around those needs.

Where the department is and how to reach it

The department is located in the Mathematics hall on the Morningside campus of Columbia University in New York. The site's Quick Links and contact pages point to the main entry points:

• Contact Us
• Faculty Directory
• Calendar
• Seminar List
• Placement and Transfer Credit
• Calculus Classes
• Course and Exam Schedules
• Tutoring Services

If you need to reach a specific person rather than the department generally, the People section includes a Department Directory, an alphabetical faculty listing, faculty by rank, an alphabetical student listing, students by year, a staff directory, and a "Who Does What" page, plus office hours.

Research areas

Research activity in the department is organized around several broad areas listed on the site:

• Algebraic Geometry
• Geometry and Analysis
• Mathematical Physics
• Number Theory
• Probability and Financial Mathematics
• Topology

These labels matter if you are choosing a department for graduate study or looking for a seminar to attend: they indicate where faculty and student seminars cluster, and the site's seminar listings are the practical way to see what is running in a given term.

Degree and program options

The department's Programs section covers three main paths:

The MA in Mathematical Finance is run as its own program with a dedicated website, so admissions and curriculum details for that degree sit outside the main department pages. The PhD program is supported by Graduate Core Courses and Graduate Topics Courses, with course and exam schedules published separately.

Courses, placement, and tutoring

For students working through the course sequence, the site separates a few distinct tasks:

• Calculus courses: the Calculus Classes page covers placement information and sample syllabi for various levels of study. This is the page to check before registering if you are unsure which calculus level fits your background.
• Course and exam schedules: published under Courses, alongside an overview of Graduate Core Courses and Graduate Topics Courses.
• Placement and transfer credit: handled through its own Quick Link, relevant if you are bringing credit from another institution.
• Tutoring Services: listed both under Quick Links and Departmental Resources.

The site also lists a Mathematics Library, a Computer FAQ, Cantor Lounge, and Help Rooms as departmental resources.

Seminars, events, and calendars

The department runs numerous faculty and student seminars on a weekly basis throughout the academic year. To find them, the site provides:

• Calendar
• Weekly Seminars
• Department Colloquium
• Upcoming Conferences and Special Lectures
• Archived Seminars, Lectures, and Conferences
• Seminars at Nearby Institutions
• Academic Calendar

If you are outside Columbia and want to attend, the seminar list and calendar are the starting points; "Seminars at Nearby Institutions" is useful if your interests sit between departments or campuses.

Alumni, giving, and community

For people who have already passed through the department, there is an Alumni section with Information for Alumni, Events for Alumni, PhD Placement Data, and Recent Doctoral Theses. PhD Placement Data is worth checking if you are evaluating the doctoral program's outcomes. There is also a Giving page, and a Community Engagement section that includes the Association for Women in Mathematics.

Practical starting points by goal

• Prospective undergraduate: Programs → Undergraduate Program, then Calculus Classes for placement and Course and Exam Schedules.
• Prospective PhD applicant: Programs → Graduate PhD Program, plus PhD Placement Data and Recent Doctoral Theses to judge outcomes and research topics.
• Mathematical Finance applicant: go directly to the Math Finance website linked from the Mathematics of Finance section.
• Current student needing help: Tutoring Services, Help Rooms, Course and Exam Schedules, and Placement and Transfer Credit.
• Visitor or researcher: Calendar, Weekly Seminars, Department Colloquium, and the Faculty Directory.
• Alumnus: Alumni Information, Events for Alumni, and Giving.

One caveat: the site lists available faculty positions and reimbursement guidelines, but it does not publish tuition, fees, or program costs on these pages, so budget questions need to be directed to the relevant program rather than inferred from the department site.

PubPeer is a website where people can discuss published, peer-reviewed research after it has appeared in a journal. It is best understood as a platform for post-publication peer review: comments, questions, and criticism that happen after formal journal peer review is complete. A paper being discussed on PubPeer does not, by itself, mean the paper is wrong, retracted, or fraudulent. It means someone has raised a point that others can read, evaluate, and respond to.

How PubPeer Differs From Journal Peer Review

Traditional journal peer review happens before publication. A small number of invited reviewers assess a manuscript confidentially, and their comments usually stay private. PubPeer reverses several of those features:

The two are complementary, not equivalent. Journal review filters work before it enters the record. Post-publication review examines work that is already part of the record and may be widely cited.

How the Site Is Structured

PubPeer is organized around individual publications. Each paper has its own page, and discussion happens in a comment thread attached to that page.

• Publication pages are linked to a specific article, usually identified by its DOI or other bibliographic details.
• Comment threads hold the conversation. Comments can include text, links, and images such as figures or gel images.
• Anonymous participation is a core design choice. Commenters can post without revealing their identity, which the site presents as a way to lower the risk of retaliation.
• Search lets you look up a paper, an author, or a topic and see whether it has an existing thread.

Because comments are public and persistent, a thread can accumulate over months or years, with original authors, other researchers, and anonymous readers all taking part.

Who Participates, and Why Anonymity Matters

Participants typically fall into a few groups:

• Researchers in the same field, who may recognize problems with methods, statistics, or figures.
• The paper's own authors, who can respond, clarify, or dispute a point.
• Readers and critics, including people doing image or data checks across many papers.
• Journal editors and institutions, who sometimes monitor threads relevant to their publications.

Anonymity matters because public criticism of published work can carry professional risk. A junior researcher questioning a senior figure's paper may face pressure, and anonymity reduces that barrier. The trade-off is that anonymous comments carry no verifiable identity or credentials, so readers must weigh the argument on its merits rather than on who made it.

How to Interpret a Paper Being Discussed

The most common mistake is to treat any PubPeer thread as proof of misconduct. Threads vary widely in seriousness, and the type of concern matters.

Questions and clarifications

A commenter may simply ask how a method was applied, why a sample size was chosen, or what a figure shows. These are ordinary scientific questions and often get resolved in the thread.

Corrections and errors

Sometimes a thread identifies a genuine error: a mislabeled figure, a statistical mistake, or a duplicated image. The appropriate response is usually a correction or erratum, not necessarily a retraction.

Serious concerns and misconduct allegations

Some threads raise issues that, if confirmed, would be serious, such as image manipulation or data fabrication. These are allegations, not findings. Confirming them typically requires the journal, the authors' institution, or a formal investigation.

A practical reading checklist:

1. Read the whole thread, not just the first comment.
2. Check whether the authors responded and what they said.
3. Distinguish a factual question from an accusation.
4. Look for independent confirmation, such as a correction notice or retraction.
5. Treat unresolved threads as open questions, not verdicts.

Limitations to Keep in Mind

PubPeer is a discussion venue, not a court or an editorial body. Several limitations follow from that:

• No formal verification. Comments are not independently fact-checked before posting.
• Limited editorial moderation. Content may be removed for legal or policy reasons, but the site does not adjudicate scientific disputes.
• Anonymity cuts both ways. It protects legitimate critics and also allows unsupported claims.
• Incomplete coverage. Only papers that someone chooses to discuss appear, so absence of a thread says nothing about a paper's quality.
• Context can be missing. A comment may omit details that the authors consider important.

Practical Takeaways

If you encounter a PubPeer thread, use it as a starting point for your own judgment. Read the full conversation, note whether concerns were addressed, and check for official follow-ups such as corrections or retractions. If you are an author, you can respond directly in the thread to clarify or correct the record. If you are considering citing a paper with an active thread, weigh the specific concern against the rest of the evidence rather than treating the thread as a final verdict.

PubPeer's value is that it keeps scientific discussion going after publication. Its limitation is that it provides a forum, not a conclusion.