BME PHD STUDENT HANDBOOK

ADVISORY COMMITTEES

Each student has an advisory committee consisting of at least three faculty members. The purpose of this committee is to guide the student's selection of coursework and of a dissertation topic. Students meet at least twice a year with individual members of their committees until they have passed their Graduate Board Oral Examination. A special meeting between each first year student and his/her full committee is held in June of the student's first year. A full description of that meeting can be found in the section describing the activities of the "Junior Progress Committee."

Composition of advisory committees

A first year student's committee should consist of three members of the Biomedical Engineering faculty, or of the Committee on Biomedical Engineering. If a research preceptor has already been identified at this point, and this preceptor does not belong to one of these groups, then he/she can be added as a fourth advisor. After the first year, only two members of the advisory committee need to have close Biomedical Engineering affiliation.

Choosing a committee

The composition of the advisory committee is largely under the control of the advisee. Upon entering the Program, each student is required to present to the program director a selection of four or five potential advisors. This selection should be based on the research summaries in the Program's descriptive material or catalogs, advice from the program director, and conversations with other students. Each student designates a primary advisor, usually that faculty member most likely to be his/her thesis advisor. The program director will select a committee from the proposed faculty members.

As a student's interests evolve, membership on the advisory committee can be changed simply by speaking to the program director. This procedure is routine, and students should not hesitate to make appropriate changes.

Meetings with the advisory committee

Each student must meet with his/her advisors, individually, at least once each semester. Thus, a student will have six advisory meetings each year (assuming a 3-member committee). These meetings will take place during the regular autumn and spring undergraduate advising weeks, usually the second week of November and the first week of April. Students and faculty will receive reminders to hold these meeting via email. Immediately after each advisory meeting, faculty members will fill out an email form describing the results of the meeting. Copies of this form are sent to the program director and the student. The text of the current form is reproduced below.
 

RECORD OF STUDENT ADVISORY MEETING
 
Review of Faculty reports of advisory meetings

Reports are reviewed by the program director and by the Junior Progress Committee. The purpose of this review is to determine which students are having problems and to determine how these students can be helped. The Junior Progress Committee will also use these reports to evaluate the progress of students prior to their taking the Graduate Board Oral Examination.