Handbook: Advising

Upon admission, each student is assigned to an advisor or co-advisors. This decision is based on the student’s expressed interests and on the availability of faculty members. Students are encouraged to contact prospective advisors prior to admission to determine research interests and adviser availability.

Advisory Committee

A committee must be established by each student.  Ideally, this will occur during the first two semesters of residence.  The committee is officially reported to the program and to the Graduate School on the Degree Program Transmittal Form.

For M.S. students (both plans), the committee, at minimum, will consist of two members from the NRSM program (the major advisor, and one other faculty member) plus one member from outside NRSM (total of 3 members).  For Ph.D. students, the committee will at minimum consist of three members from NRSM (the major advisor and two other faculty members) plus one member outside NRSM (total of 4 members). Inclusion of additional member(s) is left to mutual consent of student and major advisor.

The committee will help the student define a research area, work out a list of courses that should be included in the degree program, acquire technical skills, and be available to offer assistance with ideas or problems relating to the student’s courses or research.  The first meeting of the committee should occur some time during the student’s first year of study.  At this meeting, the committee should discuss the student’s background and career goals and begin exploring possible research topics.  A provisional course list should also be developed at this point for later inclusion on the degree program, which must be approved and on file in the Graduate School before the student can take the preliminary written and oral examinations. 

Members of this committee will form the nucleus of subsequent committees that conduct the oral prelim, read the thesis or project reports, and conduct the final oral exam. Substitutions may be necessary because of sabbatical leaves, retirements, or emergencies.