Advisors

Each graduate student must have a faculty advisor whose responsibility is to help form an academic program, monitor progress through the agreed-upon program, implement necessary procedures that require signatures at various steps along the way, and guide the thesis (if any) or dissertation research that forms part of the student’s course of study.

Faculty members within ECE and outside of ECE can hold graduate faculty status within ECE.  These graduate faculty members are either Category M or Category P. Category P faculty members can advise Ph.D. and M.S. students and serve on all student committees within the department. Category M faculty members can advise M.S. students and serve on M.S. exam committees.  In addition, M status faculty members can serve on the committee for Ph.D. candidacy and final exams with the approval of the Graduate Studies Chair.

Currently, all tenure-track faculty members within ECE hold Category P. There are also a few emeritus faculty members within ECE and faculty members from other departments with P status in our department. There are a number of non-ECE faculty with M status as well.

If a new graduate student has accepted a GRA offer, the advisor is the faculty member who offered the GRA. A self-funded new PhD graduate student is usually assigned a temporary advisor for the first semester. If this relationship is satisfactory to both the student and the advisor, the relationship becomes permanent. However, another faculty member may be a more appropriate advisor. In that case, after discussing the change with both the current and new advisors, the student should get permission by email from both advisors in one email chain. Copy or submit the permission to the Graduate Program Coordinator, who will record the change on Buckeye Link. Previously, the Change of Advisor form was used and may be used at the request of a faculty member in lieu of email permission.

Most MS students are self-funded and assigned a faculty advisor from the group of 3 that oversee the MS program. If an MS student is funded, contact the Program Coordinator so the funding faculty will be posted as the faculty advisor. If an MS student finds a faculty advisor more suited to the research interest even though self-funded, an advisor switch may be appropriate. Permission from both the assigned current faculty advisor and new faculty advisor is needed in one email chain. Copy or submit to the Graduate Program Coordinator.