Dissertation Committee

After the candidacy exam has been passed and dissertation topic approved, the research guidance committee's responsibilities are completed. A new committee, the dissertation committee, is formed to supervise the dissertation research.

A dissertation committee is formed according to the following procedure:

1. The student finds a supervisor.

2. The supervisor selects the members of the dissertation committee in cooperation with the student and the graduate studies committee.

3. The dissertation committee consists of the advisor, at least three full time Computer Science faculty members and at least one full time faculty member outside of the Computer Science department. All these members should hold the rank of assistant professor or higher. All the committee members must be approved graduate faculty as defined in the university faculty handbook. The current research interests of the computer science members of the committee should be related to the research goals of the student.

4. Additional members may be appointed to the committee.

5. The committee must fill a Ph.D. Dissertation Committee Form (University Form 16). This form is submitted to the graduate program director by the graduate studies committee and to the dean of the school for approval.

6. The associate vice president for research and graduate studies is an ex-officio member of all dissertation committees.