Selection of Major Advisor and the Advisory (Thesis) Committee

 

  • Upon entering the Biomedical Sciences (BMS) Ph.D. program, a student will be assigned an advisory committee to assist in the selection of suitable courses and rotation laboratories.
  • At the end of the first year of study, students will formally select a major advisor who will be responsible for both the course work and research components of the student’s doctoral career (student will complete Change of Advisor (COA) Part 1.pdf(send to degreeaudit@uconn.edu  AND phdbiomed@uchc.edu ) and COA Part 2.pdf (send to phdbiomed@uchc.edu). If the major advisor is an active member of the Systems Biology area of concentration (SB AoC), the student may choose to enter SB AoC.
  • The major advisor will work with the student to form an advisory committee. This committee will comprise the major advisor plus at least two other faculty members of the SB AoC. Together with the major advisor, the committee will monitor the student’s progress, help organize a Plan of Study (i.e., select courses to be taken) and serve in a general advisory capacity.
  • This committee will be expanded to five members to administer the preliminary (general) examination.
  • After completion of the preliminary examination, the advisory committee will serve as a Ph.D. thesis advisory committee, meeting with the student at least twice each year, usually after Research in Progress seminar or Journal Club given by a student.
  • All five faculty present at the prelim committee are often included in student’s committee that oversee student’s progress.
  • Additional advisors may be members of another UConn Health area of concentration, or even of another program within the UConn graduate faculty. In some cases, an external associate advisor – from the faculty of another university, for example – may be added to the committee if s/he is considered to be an expert in the area of the student’s dissertation research. In such a case, the student’s major advisor must write a letter to the Associate Dean of the Graduate School requesting such status for the external advisor, including the individual’s curriculum vitae and detailing the benefit of adding the external advisor.