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Dissertation Committee: Roles, Functions, and How to Choose

The path to a dissertation is filled with choices that determine the quality of your experience as a student as well as the future strength of your professional network. 

Choosing your dissertation committee is one of the most important decisions–and one of the most fraught–that you’ll make as a graduate student. With the stakes being so high, many doctoral students worry about making a misstep and getting it wrong. 

Fear not! Putting together your dissertation committee becomes easier once you know the right questions to ask: of potential committee members, of your dissertation chair, and of yourself. While forming your dissertation committee can be challenging, striking the right balance will lead to a richly rewarding academic experience that will pay dividends throughout your career. Do your homework, and you’ll be just fine. 

Dissertation Committee Questions

• What does a dissertation committee do?
• Who serves on your dissertation committee?
• How do you choose dissertation committee members?
• What can you expect from your dissertation committee? 

What Does a Dissertation Committee Do?

The basic function of your dissertation committee, which typically consists of five members, is to guide you through the process of proposing, writing, and revising your dissertation.  

Dissertation committee members serve in a mentoring capacity, offering constructive feedback on your writing and research, as well as guiding your revision efforts. They are also the gatekeepers of the ivory tower, and the ultimate judges of whether or not your dissertation passes muster. 

The dissertation committee is usually formed once your academic coursework is completed. It is not uncommon in the humanities and social sciences for dissertation committee members to also write and evaluate qualifying exams, and of course serve as faculty. By the time you begin working on your dissertation, you may know the faculty members who will serve on your dissertation committee quite well. 

Who Serves on Your Dissertation Committee? 

To a degree, who serves on your dissertation committee is up to you. Dissertation committees usually consist mostly of faculty members from the doctoral student’s home department, though this can vary due to the rise of interdisciplinary programs. 

Some universities also allow an outside expert–a former professor or academic mentor from another university–to serve on your committee. It’s advisable to choose faculty members who know you and who are familiar with your work. 

While it’s a good idea to have a mix of faculty members, it’s also important to be mindful about the roles they can play. For instance, I always advise graduate students working in quantitative fields to have a statistician on their committee. When there’s big data to crunch, it never hurts to have a stats expert in your corner. You’ll also want at least one faculty member–besides your chair–whose research is in the same relative area as yours, or adjacent to it. 

How to Choose Dissertation Committee Members

Think Carefully. It’s tempting to approach a faculty member who is a superstar in their field (if not, necessarily, in yours) to lend a little extra sparkle to your own academic credentials. Or perhaps the kindly professor you can always count on for an easy A. Or even the faculty member you’d like to be friends with after graduate school. Right? 

Not so fast. Here are some things to keep in mind when building your dissertation committee dream team: 

• Avoid Superstars. Though the prospect of having your department’s most eminent name on your committee sounds exciting, their star power comes with a price. Between guest lectures, books, keynotes, and conference travel, their time is not their own, and it won’t be yours, either. Choose dissertation committee members who have time for you. 
• Choose faculty members you know, like, and can learn from. It’s not a bad idea to approach a professor whose coursework challenged you. One of the professors who served on my committee was such an exacting grader that my term papers for her courses were accepted for publication without revision (academia’s most coveted mythical creature). 
• Keep your eyes on the future. Members of your dissertation committee can be your mentors, co-authors, and research collaborators throughout your career. Choose them wisely. 

Forming Your Dissertation Committee

Reaching out to potential dissertation committee members and formally asking them to serve on your dissertation committee can be a surprisingly taxing process. It takes some planning, and you’ll want to put some thought into it before making the big ask. While being asked to serve on a dissertation committee won’t come as a surprise to most faculty–they know the drill–these are some considerations to know going in:

• Talk to your advisor before approaching anyone to be on your committee. Remember, your advisor knows their colleagues in a way that you don’t, and is also aware of departmental politics, potential personality conflicts, and which faculty members are a good fit on a dissertation committee. Trust your advisor’s judgement. 
• Know what you’re asking. Serving on a dissertation committee is a big time commitment for any faculty member. If they say yes to being on your committee, it means they are invested in you and your research, and they want to play a role in your future. It doesn’t hurt to send a thank-you note. 
• Don’t sweat it if they say no. It does not reflect on you as a student or a scholar. A good faculty member is aware of their limitations, and they probably just don’t have the time or bandwidth to take on another big commitment. Thank them and move on. 

Expectations

Once your dissertation committee is formed, it’s time to get down to business. As a faculty member, I love serving on dissertation committees because doing so gives me the chance to work with grad students one on one as they journey into new frontiers and carve a place for themselves in academia. It is a deep, rich learning experience, and it’s thrilling to watch students transform into scholars. 

Even though researching and writing a dissertation is the most challenging work you’ll ever do, recognize this time for the opportunity it truly represents. In your dissertation committee, you have a panel of experts all to yourself, and they’re eager to help you knock your dissertation out of the park. This is the experience of a lifetime; take advantage of your dissertation committee’s time and talent, and channel that energy and goodwill into your development as a scholar. 

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Courtney Watson, Ph.D.

Courtney Watson, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of English at Radford University Carilion, in Roanoke, Virginia. Her areas of expertise include undergraduate and graduate curriculum development for writing courses in the health sciences and American literature with a focus on literary travel, tourism, and heritage economies. Her writing and academic scholarship has been widely published in places that include  Studies in American Culture ,  Dialogue , and  The Virginia Quarterly Review . Her research on the integration of humanities into STEM education will be published by Routledge in an upcoming collection. Dr. Watson has also been nominated by the State Council for Higher Education of Virginia’s Outstanding Faculty Rising Star Award, and she is a past winner of the National Society of Arts & Letters Regional Short Story Prize, as well as institutional awards for scholarly research and excellence in teaching. Throughout her career in higher education, Dr. Watson has served in faculty governance and administration as a frequent committee chair and program chair. As a higher education consultant, she has served as a subject matter expert, an evaluator, and a contributor to white papers exploring program development, enrollment research, and educational mergers and acquisitions.

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Selecting your master’s thesis committee members, by karyssa courey: selecting a thesis committee is like completing a puzzle every piece of this process is very valuable to have the right fit for your committee.

First off, congratulations on advancing to this stage in your academic career! Meeting the requirements for your thesis is not an easy task but you did it! You deserve to celebrate your achievements, both big and small. 

After you have finish celebrating, it’s now time for you to select committee members for your thesis. A thesis committee is a group of faculty members who provides mentorship for your entire thesis experience.

Before you begin randomly selecting members of your committee, there are a few steps and strategies that will help you pick the right members!

Where do I start?

• Review the requirements for thesis committees in your department

Rice provides requirements for thesis committees online . For example, a thesis committee for a graduate student in the psychological sciences must have three members (your advisor and two others). At least two committee members must be within your department. Reviewing the requirements will help you understand who can and cannot be on your committee!

• Breaking down your topic

If you are considering committee members, you likely have a draft of your master’s proposal or at least an idea of what your project will be about. Consider the keywords of your project (i.e., what are five terms that can be used to categorize your proposal?). These keywords are the core of your project and can help you identify faculty that align with your interests and research goals.

• Connect your topic to faculty research

Now that you have identified your keywords, think about faculty that you know in your department that are knowledgeable in the topics you are studying. You can also search faculty/lab websites or Google Scholar if you are unfamiliar with a faculty member’s research expertise. 

If there are aspects of your master’s proposal that are interdisciplinary, don’t be afraid to search for faculty outside of your department that can provide you with a valuable perspective on your research topic.

Who should I be in communication with?

• Talk with your advisor

Often, your advisor will have suggestions for potential committee members. Your advisor is one of the few people that will understand both the scope of your research project and know the faculty expertise in your department. Listen to your advisor’s recommendations and suggestions, note any faculty that may be a good fit, and share any ideas that you have based on your search in steps 2 and 3. Don’t feel constricted the recommendations from your advisor either, your peers could also be a resource.

• Talk with your peers

Older peers in your program often have a great perspective on selecting thesis committee members. Your peers may also have first hand experience with the same faculty members you are considering. E.g., Professor X provides more substantive feedback than Professor Y, so if you want substantive feedback, this is extremely helpful information!

• Talk with other faculty

Don’t be afraid to schedule meetings with potential faculty members if you want to discuss your thesis. Meeting with faculty is a great way to explain your project, hear their feedback, and gauge their interest.

I’ve talked to everyone on the list; what's next?

• Email potential committee members

Once you have selected your committee members, it is now time to email them! This might be scary or feel like a daunting step, but remember that the faculty at Rice are here to support you and help cultivate your skills as a researcher. Committee members are your team members, and are here to ideally provide constructive feedback to make your project even better!

When emailing faculty, make sure to use an appropriate tone, provide the title of your thesis, explain your project in a few sentences (or add your abstract), and note any specific reasons that that faculty is a good fit.

For example, if a faculty member has expertise relating to a theory you are applying in your research, make sure to name the theory in your email! The goal is for your potential committee members to have a clear understanding of the scope of your project and connect their expertise to your project.

What should I be mindful of during this process?

• Handling rejection

If a prospective committee member declines your offer, it’s okay! Do not take it personally or be discouraged! There may be many reasons why a faculty member might decline (e.g., tight on time, perceived lack of fit, or think another faculty member might be a better fit). Do, however, consider other faculty members and consider scheduling a meeting to discuss your thesis project. Meeting with potential committee members can help you understand if they would be a good fit, plus it’s a great opportunity to meet faculty members outside of your courses!

• Sticking to your timeline

Lastly, keep in mind your deadlines. Different departments have different requirements for scheduling your proposal and declaring your master’s candidacy. For example, in the Psychological Sciences department, a student can propose their master’s without declaring a master's candidacy. However, it is required that committee members are notified at least ten days prior to scheduling your proposal meeting.

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Building your thesis committee

Choosing a faculty member for your thesis committee.

Thesis committees are typically composed of a Thesis Advisor from your major department, an Honors Council Representative from your major department, and a third committee member from outside your major department, usually referred to as the Outside Reader . Your thesis advisor is different from your Academic Advisor, and is always a faculty member.  While Academic Advisors are your best resource for planning out your course schedules and making sure you're on track to graduate with all the credits you need, when it comes to working on your thesis, you should direct your questions to your thesis advisor, Honors Council Representative, other members of your committee, or the Honors Program staff.

Thesis committee makeup can vary, but committees must always include at least three eligible members of the CU Boulder faculty (see Thesis Committee Policy below) in the roles of thesis advisor, Honors Council representative, and outside/third reader.  You are welcome to have additional members on your committee, provided they meet the eligibility requirements.  We recommend that you have no more than 5 members, as it becomes quite difficult to coordinate that many schedules when it's time for you to schedule your defense.

Eligibility Requirements

To be eligible to serve on a thesis committee, one must be a regular full-time faculty member or a multi-year contract instructor involved in an instructional program at the University of Colorado Boulder. In terms of rank, this means Professor, Associate Professor, Assistant Professor, Teaching Associate Professor (Senior Instructor), or Teaching Assistant Professor (Instructor). Additionally, faculty must hold a terminal degree in their field (usually a Ph.D.), and should have experience teaching or mentoring undergraduate students.  Graduate students are not eligible to serve.

Faculty Eligible to Serve

To find a list of Honors Council Representatives, please click here

To see a searchable PDF of faculty members that have been verified as eligible to serve, please click here *

To see a searchable and sortable Excel file of faculty members that have been verified as eligible to serve, please click here *

*This is NOT a complete list of faculty who are eligible to serve; this is simply a list of faculty who have served previously and were verified as eligible at that time.  Please note that eligibility can change as circumstances with faculty change (for example, a faculty member changes rostered departments or leaves the university).  

If you do not see a faculty member in this list and would like them to serve on your committee, you will need to verify their eligibility to serve.  Please see the information outlined in the "Eligibility Requirements" paragraph above to get a feel for the criteria, and then look up information on your faculty member.   A great resource to check eligibility is experts.colorado.edu .  You can also check the People page of most departments to learn more.  If you think they meet the criteria, email us at [email protected] with their name and we will verify it for you.   The Honors Program makes the final determination on the eligibility of faculty members to serve.   Departmental approval of a committee member will still require verification by the Honors Program.

More about the different committee roles

Thesis advisor.

There are three positive signs that a professor might make a good thesis advisor for you: They are well-versed in the particular field of study you wish to investigate, you’ve taken or are taking a class or lab with them and are doing well, and you like them as a person and would be excited to work with them.  You will be working closely with them throughout the project, so a good working relationship is very beneficial.

When you meet with prospective thesis advisors, don’t be afraid to ask for what you need. Be direct - ask how often they'd be willing to meet with you, how many drafts they'd be able to read and critique, and what kinds of expectations they would have of you. They will probably also have questions for you about why you'd like to write a thesis, what you hope to get from the process, and why you'd like to work with them.

If you're having trouble finding a thesis advisor, talk to your Honors Council representative.

Honors Council Representative

The Honors Council is a body of faculty made up of representatives from each Honors Program-participating department within the College of Arts and Sciences. Honors Council Representatives are responsible for making sure students follow the policies, procedures, and deadlines set forth by the Honors Program, as well as any additional policies and procedures the department has enacted, such as thesis format, research methods, and thesis class requirements. When planning to write a thesis, you should always start by contacting one of the Honors Council Representatives for your major to talk with them about your proposed project and to learn what policies and procedures you must follow.    In some departments, there is only one Honors Council Representative, and in that case, they will be serving on your committee.  In other departments, there may be several that you could work with, or there may be specific representatives for different major tracks. 

To see who the Honors Council Representatives are for your major department, and to learn more about any departmental requirements on top of what the Honors Program has set, please click here.

The Honors Council meets in April and November to award honors designations, first in divisional subcommittees and then as a full council.  Please note that, since the Council does not meet in the summer, you cannot defend a thesis and be eligible to be awarded Latin honors for a summer graduation.  You either need to defend in the fall or spring before you graduate.  

Outside Reader

If you are writing a departmental thesis (in other words, a thesis in your major), you will need an Outside Reader.  The primary role of an Outside Reader is to make sure that your thesis is held to the same high standards as theses in other departments.  So, the faculty member you choose as your Outside Reader needs to be from outside your major department.  This way they can provide that checks-and-balances piece of the puzzle so that we can confidently say that a Sociology thesis is held to the same standard as a Physics thesis, and Ethnic Studies, and Economics and so on.

At a minimum, the faculty member should be prepared to read and provide feedback on later drafts of your thesis and attend the defense.  However, if the Outside Reader's field of study touches on your topic or needs, they may be able to provide more support.  For example, if you feel that you could use some extra help in your writing, you could look for an Outside Reader from the Program for Writing and Rhetoric.  Or, if you were an Art major working on a project analyzing historic art pieces, it might be beneficial to ask a faculty member from the History department who specializes in the period of history you're studying to serve as your Outside Reader.

Additional Committee Member

If you're writing a General Honors thesis, you will select an additional committee member instead of an Outside Reader.  Since your topic is interdisciplinary, it is common for you to have a thesis advisor from one of the disciplines and an additional committee member from the other, but this is not required.  Due to the nature of your project, you are welcome to select any eligible faculty member, including faculty from the Honors Program, the Program for Writing and Rhetoric, or any other major department at CU Boulder.  To determine eligibility, please see the "Eligibility Requirements" section above.  Some suggestions on how to choose your Additional Committee Member:  You may choose someone that you feel would be a key contributor to either the content, structure/writing, or process of your project that you work well with, or you could select someone that will step in towards the end of your project to read your final draft(s) and participate in the defense, or any other criteria you feel would most benefit your project.  Please see the section above titled, "Faculty Eligible to Serve" for more details on verifying a potential committee member's eligibility.

If you're writing a departmental thesis, you may also wish to add additional committee member(s).  These members must meet the same eligibility criteria as all your other members.  Keep in mind that the more members that you add, the more people you'll have to coordinate with when it comes time to schedule your defense.

Selecting a Thesis Committee

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Tips for selecting your thesis committee

In our Thesis/Dissertation Writing Series, we answered the commonly asked question: " What is a thesis? " We also discussed how to write a thesis or dissertation and offered some advice on the thesis editing process. We will now discuss how to select a thesis committee. The selection of the thesis committee is one of the most important decisions you will make during your academic career.

What is a thesis committee?

A thesis committee is a group of people, usually professors, who supervise a student's work and work closely with that student to answer questions and provide advice. A thesis committee may also act as the examining committee at a thesis defence. In most departments in North America, it is common for the thesis committee to consist of a principal supervisor and two (possibly three) other experts in your field of study. Typically, one member of the thesis committee must be a professor in a different department from that of the student.

Why do I need a thesis committee?

These individuals will act as mentors who will guide you through the process of defining objectives, conducting research, editing drafts, writing the literature review , and writing the thesis. Choose your committee—and especially your principal supervisor—with care. The relationship between supervisor and PhD student should be mutually beneficial. In the sciences, for example, the PhD student will conduct research and take classes, while the supervisor's time will likely be divided between teaching, administration (procurement of funding/maintenance of a laboratory), writing research articles, and mentoring graduate students.

How should I select my thesis supervisor?

The ideal supervisor would be one who

• is readily available for consultation and proofreading,
• is a balanced thinker (i.e., he or she considers both specific and general questions),
• is respected in his or her field, and
• has a good track record with respect to graduating previous thesis students.

Of these traits, accessibility is crucial, as the skills involved in academic research and dissertation writing are more easily acquired when a student has an accessible supervisor as a mentor.

Some final thoughts...

Most of the time, you will need to send out email requests to gauge the interest of members of your potential thesis committee. Then, you will schedule meetings to discuss your research and find out if you are a good match. You don't want to come off as unprofessional in your email because of grammatical or spelling errors, so send your thesis committee correspondence to our thesis editors for their revision.

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Choosing Your Team: Selecting a Chair and Academic Committee

Qualities to Look for in Committee Members and Faculty Chairs

When deciding whom they would like to act as their committees and chairs, graduate students should consider (a) if faculty have compatible personalities with similar research interests; (b) if faculty are experienced in and enthusiastic about directing, advising, helping, and working with students; and (c) what kind of teaching and research reputations the faculty have. Graduate students should definitely consider all three of these characteristics for both committee members and faculty chairs, but graduate students should especially consider the first two characteristics in their choices of faculty chairs. Graduate students work more closely with faculty chairs than they do with academic committee members, so it is important that graduate students can get along with their faculty chairs.

Differences in Mentorship Styles

Being a member of a graduate student’s committee or acting as a chair for a graduate student is a form of faculty mentorship, and most faculty approach mentorship with different styles depending on where faculty are in their own academic careers. For example, a newly hired professor hoping to gain credibility with his or her department might be more involved in a graduate student’s research than would a professor with a well-established academic career. Neither style (hands on or hands off) is inherently good or bad, but both styles have pros and cons. For example, a hands-on chair may provide a graduate student with lots of direction and guidance but may subsume the student’s original research goals into his or her own research. On the other hand, a hands-off chair may provide a graduate student with a wealth of knowledge about research and other industry information but may have less time to spend with the graduate student because he or she is too involved in his or her own work. Before choosing their academic committee members and faculty chairs, graduate students should understand differences in mentorship styles and should identify the mentorship styles of potential committee members and faculty chairs to determine if their mentorship styles will provide them as graduate students with the support that they will need to succeed in graduate school.

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How to pick a thesis committee

The thesis committee is all that stands between you and graduation, so choose wisely.

I was asked the other day what factors to consider when picking a thesis committee. And I realized that this is not a question I have pondered a lot. Normally, when one of my students needs to pick a committee, I just recommend people that seem a good choice. I don’t have a properly thought out, systematic framework to steer the selection process. So with this post I’ll try to develop a more systematic approach to this question.

Let’s first think about the purpose of the thesis committee. There are at least four distinct functions the committee should perform: 1. The committee should be your personal science advisory board. It should provide relevant expertise you or your adviser may lack. 2. The committee should review your research approach and verify that your data support your conclusions. 3. The committee should make sure you progress adequately and stay on track. 4. The committee should serve as advocates on your behalf in case your adviser develops unreasonable expectations.

The advisory-board function is probably the most straightforward to satisfy. Pick a group of people that, jointly, cover the topics relevant to your work. For example, if you work on the evolution of influenza virus, you might want to pick an expert in the molecular biology of influenza, an evolutionary biologist, an epidemiologist, and a computational biologist or biostatistician. 1 Of course, to some extent the choice may depend on the expertise of the lab you’re in. If your lab is an influenza lab then your adviser may be the influenza expert and it might be more important to have another evolutionary biologist. By contrast, if your lab is an evolution lab, it might be more important to bring in more influenza expertise.

For the remaining three points, personality of your committee members matters more than expertise. You want people who will speak up, who won’t let you get away with BS, but also who care for you and won’t put you through any unnecessary difficulties. Basically, people who can give you tough love. I wouldn’t worry too much about picking people who have a reputation of speaking their mind. Once you’re past candidacy, it’s unlikely that you will be kicked out of graduate school, and in any case if there are issues with your performance or research approach you’d want to hear about them earlier rather than later. In my mind, the worst committees are those that let a student bumble along for six years and then say “Well, this work doesn’t quite rise to the level that we expected from a PhD.” I think the best committee members are those that push you to develop a clear plan on how to complete your work, that tell you exactly what they expect from you before you can graduate, and that reign you in when your plans get overly ambitious ( which happens to almost every student ).

Next, consider possible inter-faculty dynamics. Don’t put two professors on your committee that are known to have issues with each other. You might end up as collateral damage in a fight between them. 2 Also, make sure your committee has at least some members who could speak up against your adviser if necessary. If your adviser is a very senior scientist, choosing four assistant professors as committee members would be inadvisable. Have at least one, and better two or more, committee members of comparable rank and seniority.

Committee members to avoid are those that are overly passive, that like to talk just to hear themselves speak, and that tend to get lost in tangents or irrelevant minute details. Your adviser and your fellow graduate students should know who they are. Finally, it’s important that your committee members are actually available to you. The best committee doesn’t do you any good if you can never get them all into the same room at the same time. Therefore, I’d advise against any committee members who have a reputation for being difficult to schedule. It is generally known in the department who is never around, or who may rarely have more than one open time slot every few weeks. All else being equal, I would recommend against putting such a person on your committee.

Every committee should have a computational biologist or biostatistician, to verify data is analyzed properly and results are statistically sound. ↩︎

I have never personally witnessed something of this sort happening, but I’m sure some poor graduate student somewhere is finding himself or herself in exactly this situation right now. ↩︎

Claus O. Wilke

Professor of integrative biology.

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How to Select Your Thesis Committee

Completing a thesis or a dissertation necessitates dedication, perseverance, and motivation. Effective guidance is a beneficial tool in completing a successful, scholarly product. As a graduate student, you are responsible for selecting your thesis committee and for asking each member to be a member of the committee. Your committee will affect your experience as a student as well as the thesis you produce, so it is important to be thoughtful and strategic as you choose members.  When selecting your thesis or dissertation committee, consider factors such as relationship, communication, feedback style, and the expertise of the committee member you are considering. Time is an additional concern because most faculty members have many other responsibilities and have limited time to devote to guiding students through the process of writing a thesis or dissertation. As faculty members contemplate your request to become a committee member, their other obligations, subject matter knowledge, and relationship with you may be factors that influence whether they accept this role. Overall, it is important to find committee members who are accessible, offer effective criticism, and support you as you engage in all parts of the process, from the development of your research idea to the analysis of your findings, so that you can complete a polished, scholarly product.

It is useful to choose supportive, helpful, and nurturing individuals if you seek kind and gentle encouragement from potential committee members, but it is also helpful to find individuals who offer blunt, but clear, constructive criticism. Think about professors whose courses satiated a deeper understanding of the topics studied in class. Consider professors who inspired you to delve deeper into your research passions and with whom you had conversations that provoked further pursuit of the topic. In essence, choose members with whom you have built a strong connection during your coursework.

Receiving feedback that you can use to effectively revise your thesis or dissertation is paramount to completing the work. Therefore, it’s important to choose committee members who offer useful feedback. Useful feedback includes specific comments about necessary changes, literature to consider, and details about how to change a particular section; however, feedback may also offer ideas about major changes without describing the various paragraphs that need modification. Consider the type of feedback that is most helpful to you as you work on revisions.  Do you prefer specific details of how to change each section or bigger picture ideas? In either case, you will want to consider hiring an editor to check the syntax, verb tense, word choice, punctuation, clarity, and flow of the document prior to final submission. Copy editing and proofreading are not the responsibilities of your committee members.

Committee members’ expertise and experience in a specific research area (qualitative or quantitative) should also be a primary factor in selecting your committee. An individual with expertise in your field of study can guide you towards specific literature to develop your argument. If you choose a member without content knowledge in your field, you may gain guidance in developing the general areas, but this member may lack the content knowledge to offer direction towards specific developments in the field.

In addition to the aforementioned components of selecting your committee, it’s important to understand the time commitment each member should have in order to be on your committee. Your chairperson or co-chairs should offer the most support throughout the process, so be sure that your chair has the space in their schedule to respond in a timely manner to reviewing your drafts; two weeks is a general guideline for receiving feedback on your drafts. Select a committee member who has enough time to offer constructive criticism and direction when the process becomes overwhelming or you require clarity to proceed. Each graduate program has its own guidelines for thesis committees. You need to review your department's handbook for this information. For example, the handbook generally states how many committee members are required and the responsibilities of the committee chair.  When you're ready to form your committee, reach out to your list of potential committee members via email. Be sure to write your email professionally and respectfully, explain your project in a few sentences, and provide a few reasons why the committee member would be a good fit. 

Overall, your committee will guide you through the process, so that you can achieve the final steps in attaining a graduate degree. It’s critical to select a committee that will offer guidance, constructive feedback, knowledge, and expertise of your subject as a whole group. The members should be accessible and have time to support your endeavor. The committee, which may be comprised of two to five members, should be a good fit for your research goals and support you as you cross the finish line towards obtaining your graduate degree.

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Where do I begin? Navigating the Thesis Proposal Process

Introduction.

The thesis proposal is a challenging task to complete itself and does NOT need to be any harder. In this article, we outline the steps needed to complete the thesis proposal, some common challenges graduate students face, and resources to help you navigate them. If you have specific interest in the written thesis proposal, we encourage you to check out our guide on the thesis proposal document . If you want to learn more about the oral component of thesis proposal, check our guide to the oral component .

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Planning Your Thesis Proposal

Timeline. The following timeline should give you a general sense of when you need to complete each step in the process. Make regular appointments with Comm Fellows to keep yourself accountable to internal deadlines you set for yourself!

Choosing your committee. Your thesis committee serves as subject matter experts and technical consultants to your research project. Therefore, you want to choose faculty members whose expertise is closely related to your research project and who you are comfortable going to for advice, feedback, and consultation. Aside from your thesis proposal and thesis committee meetings, you are encouraged to have frequent one-on-one interactions with committee members to discuss technical aspects of your project. In addition, your committee members will potentially serve as recommendation writers for your career beyond your PhD.

You should work with your advisor to carefully select committee members who fit these characteristics and will best help you achieve success in your PhD. In doing so, consider the following requirements from the graduate student handbook:

“The Thesis Committee must have two or more members in addition to the research advisor(s). At least two members of the Thesis Committee must be faculty members in Chemical Engineering. At least one committee member must be a Chemical Engineering faculty member who is not the research advisor. The research advisor will serve as the Thesis Committee Chairperson. For students in the PPSM program, the research advisor need not be a Chemical Engineering faculty member, but must be a PPSM faculty or affiliate. For students in the CSE PhD program, the Thesis Committee must contain a member of the Center for Computational Engineering (CCE).”

Scheduling your proposal. Once you have identified committee members, you should personally invite them to be part of your thesis committee. If they accept, you can immediately start planning a date for your oral presentation, which will dictate your individual timeline. Consult with your advisor (or their administrative assistant) to identify a series of potential dates and times, and relay these to your committee members (and their administrative assistants). Once you establish a date and time, you should immediately reserve a conference room – your group’s administrative assistant can help with this. Consider resources you will need when presenting, such as whiteboards/chalkboards, projectors, and ample seating.

Typically, in the fall, thesis proposals will be anywhere from late October to mid-December, depending on your committee’s availability. When scheduling, keep in mind major conferences in your field that may restrict availability, such as AIChE, BMES, etc.

Advisor input

Advisor input on your thesis proposal varies widely across the department and there are no uniform guidelines. Some advisors will treat this as an exam and provide little to no support while others will be with you every step of the way. Discuss with your advisor how much input/feedback you can expect and what their expectations are for your proposal before you begin the process.

Identify the idea of your proposal

Interact with your advisor and peers to evolve your idea. Interesting ideas usually arise from interpersonal interactions, where multiple parties sharing different perspectives all contribute to the ideation process. If you are unsure what topic is appropriate for your thesis proposal, you can seek suggestions from your advisor. Summarize the data you have so far (it can be your preliminary data, data that others in your lab have collected, or literature data), give some thoughts on your own ideas for your thesis proposal, and ask your advisor for feedback. If you don’t have an idea in mind, be honest with your advisor and ask for your advisor’s opinions. Apart from your advisor, who might be too busy to give you timely feedback, you could also seek suggestions from your lab mates. They are the ones who have recently gone through their own thesis proposal, and they may have invaluable insights for you to learn!

Create a bulleted list of your project’s vision and impact. When you have a clearer understanding of your project, a good way to organize your thoughts is to write, item-by-item, a list of your project’s vision and impact. This list could serve as a reference when you are writing them in a coherent way.

List out a set of aims to solidify your idea. Once you have a clearer idea in mind, the next step is to list out a set of aims to solidify your idea. These aims should provide achievable steps that allow you to approach your thesis. Again, consult your advisor or your lab mates to see if they agree with your plan, or they can suggest other alternatives for you to consider.

Understand your Committee

Your thesis committee members are your only audience. This is a unique situation, because you know who your audience is and their technical background. While this defined audience and scope is different from what you typically experience, you could use this to your advantage to effectively motivate them.

Learn your committee’s background. One of the important steps to motivate your audience is to learn their background. Once you are aware of who will be on your committee, you can tailor the amount of background and technical content directly to your audience. Consider what your committee members already know as experts in their specific field. Provide enough detail that all committee members will be able to understand your proposal. Consult with other students in your group or in classes above you who have had overlapping thesis committees to get a sense of the background and technical detail required for each committee member.

Your committee should be your ally! Consider your committee members as your allies who are trying to help you to navigate the field that you will be exploring. They want to learn your critical thoughts on a scientifically challenging problem, because that is what is going to help you grow to become an independent researcher. To cultivate this independence, you can provide your problem with a scope and show what you are feasibly planning to accomplish.

Tips for preparing your thesis proposal

Seek help regardless of where you are in the process. Not only ideation, but also the rest of the process, needs participation and help from others. It is through interacting with others that we gain insight from our practice and grow as a researcher. Talk to your advisor, lab mates, friends, and Comm Fellows and ask for help! This shouldn’t be a lonely process . Comm Fellows are often the most available and accessible resource for you to discuss about the content and structure of your thesis proposal. We provide a safe space for you to share concerns about your work. You can sign up for an appointment at any point in the process. Book an Appointment here .

Begin with the end in mind. You will need a plan to carry out your thesis proposal, as this is typically a weeks-long project to complete. Reverse plan from the day you will finish your thesis proposal presentation, to the day you need to submit a copy of your written thesis proposal, and eventually to the day that you need to start. Lay out what needs to be finished and when it needs to be completed, which will allow you to keep yourself accountable. Allow for some flexibility in your plan so you can adapt to the roadblocks and new challenges that arise along the way.

Focus on the now and your plans. Sometimes, worries about limited data and past challenges can be overwhelming and distract you from preparing your proposal. In addition, you may feel stressed leading up to the day when you hand in or present your proposal. It is perfectly human to have concerns about the past and future, everyone experiences them to some degree. What you have control of is the present and your plans for future events. Focusing on these tangible aspects will give you a much better sense of control and reduce your worries.

If you are concerned that your committee might ask about your past work, you can prepare a response to their inquiry, and ask your advisor or your lab mates for feedback. If you think that the state of your research is unclear to the point that you don’t feel comfortable presenting it, then you could consider moving your proposal timeline to a later time. If you decide to do this, make sure to consult with your advisor and propose a timeline to verify that you are on track.

Start small and start often. Instead of trying to tackle the entire document at once, which often will lead to anxiety, burnout, and frustration, see if you can break it down into manageable steps. Often, we fall into the trap of worrying about the completion of the document, despite the worries themselves not helping us in anyway. Gently remind yourself to focus on starting instead of finishing, because that is what you can choose to act on. Starting small will give you confidence and starting often (for even half an hour) will lessen your workload.

Be patient with yourself. Everyone’s thesis proposal has some challenge – it is universal and unavoidable. Being aware that the process is nonlinear for everyone and expecting setbacks when you start can help you respond more efficiently when difficulties occur. Be kind and patient towards yourself, because you need them to take care of yourself. Ask yourself: What can I do now to make myself comfortable when working on my proposal?

Use tools to manage your reference. As the number of references you are reading and citing during your preparation stage becomes larger, it is easier to organize them using a dedicated citation management software (e.g., Zotero, Mendeley, Endnote). A citation management software not only does a good job in bookkeeping, it also can help you to track your own ideas that stemmed from the literature. Since you will be likely to co-write and edit manuscripts with your lab mates, you can use the same citation management software as your lab. Plan ahead some time to install the software and become familiar with how to use it – it might take more time to learn than you think.

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How To Assemble Your Dissertation Committee

Graduate school is full of complicated assignments and difficult decisions, and most graduate students have developed a process they follow when faced with a daunting task. Since choosing your dissertation committee is one of your most consequential scholarly decisions, you might want to try something besides your standard operating procedure. If it's time to select your dissertation committee but you don't even know where to start, follow the following seven tips to select a stellar dissertation committee.

What is a dissertation committee?

A dissertation committee is a carefully selected group of people who will provide feedback and guidance as you research and compose your dissertation. It is important to pick a balanced group of people for your committee, because these people will help shape your research and ultimately, they will determine whether your dissertation is complete enough to earn you the coveted Ph.D. title.

What does a dissertation committee do?

Dissertation committee members will read sections of your dissertation and provide extensive feedback at various points in your process. They will identify weak arguments and challenge your assertions, with the understanding that you will use their feedback to craft a strong dissertation backed with exceptional research. Make sure to choose people capable of providing constructive feedback, because committee members will expect you to resolve their previous concerns by the next time they review your work.

Many graduate students cringe at the thought of asking faculty members to serve on their dissertation committees, because they erroneously think they're asking potential members for a favor. While serving on your dissertation committee will require members to invest time and effort, it is actually one of their professional responsibilities as faculty members. Keep this in mind as you create your list of possible committee members.

Now that you have a better understanding of the purpose of your dissertation committee, follow these seven essential steps to choose an effective dissertation committee.

1. Review your department's requirements

Consult your departments guidelines to determine how many people you need to select for your dissertation committee and identify any necessary qualifications for committee members. Requirements vary based on your department: Some departments and universities require faculty members to make up a certain portion of the committee while others might require a percentage of the committee to come from external institutions or from your specific industry.

2. Ask for recommendations

• Ask your advisor if he or she has any recommendations that you should consider for your committee. Your advisor is most likely already invested in you and your research topic, and aside from you, probably has the best understanding of your dissertation topic and your ultimate goals. Your advisor will hopefully have established strong relationships with other faculty members in your department, so he or she should have valuable suggestions for you to consider. Your advisor will probably also serve on your committee (and might even serve as the committee chair), so it will be worthwhile to consider people that you know will work well with your advisor.
• Ask your fellow graduate students if they can recommend any potential candidates for your dissertation committee. If you have friends who have already selected their dissertation committee, try to learn from their experiences. Ask how they selected their committee members and if they encountered anyone that might be a good fit for you. Friends can also give you tips if a favorite faculty member is going on sabbatical soon or is too busy to serve on any additional committees.

3. Make a list of your ideal committee members

• Professors and teachers you respect and value
• Faculty members who have shaped your understanding of your subject matter
• Industry experts in your field
• People who will broaden your networking circles: If you plan to seek a career in industry after earning your PhD, select at least one committee member with extensive contacts in your preferred industry (if your department's guidelines allow external members on your committee). Additionally, if you choose well-connected committee members, they might be able to introduce you to future collaborators or suggest research areas you have not yet considered.
• People with strong communication skills
• People who will challenge and inspire you

4. Present your list to your advisor and ask for feedback

As you research and write your dissertation, you will seek feedback from your advisor frequently, and you will get some good old-fashioned practice at this during the committee selection process. In Step 2, your advisor recommended a handful of candidates for your committee. Since then, you have added more names to your list, so ask your advisor for feedback on your complete choices. Here are some questions you might want to consider asking:

• Is there anyone on the list who is difficult to work with and might impede your dissertation progress?
• Does your list include someone who is already serving on multiple committees and won't be able to give you the time and attention you deserve?
• Are there any knowledge gaps in your list? In other words, have you included two or three people from the same specialty, which means you probably overlooked including a candidate from another important sector?
• Does your advisor possess personal or professional information that might lead you to exclude any candidates? Don't be nosy here—you don't need to know the reason, just trust your advisor if he or she tells you that someone you should probably remove someone from your list.

5. Ask your top candidates for a meeting

Email your preferred candidates a brief summary of your research topic and ask if you can schedule an appointment to discuss the possibility of them serving on your dissertation committee. If candidates don't reply to your email within a reasonable time frame, assume that they are too busy to serve on a dissertation committee and remove them from your candidate list. Similarly, if a candidate does not have any availability to meet with you during your selected time frame, that candidate is likely overbooked. You might want to take this as a sign and scratch this person off your list.

6. Meet with your top candidates

If a candidate responded promptly, agreed on a time to meet, and followed through on the meeting, chances are high that he or she is reliable and will be able to fit you into a busy schedule. Remember, you are interviewing this person for to serve on the committee that will have the final say in whether you complete your dissertation and earn your Ph.D. Approach the meeting as if you are interviewing them for a position on your payroll.

Create a list of questions to gauge candidates' knowledge about your topic and to get an idea of their communication styles. Asking the same questions in every meeting will highlight the candidates' similarities and differences, and you can use this information to assemble a compatible group of experts. Ideally, each member of your committee will contribute a different type of knowledge or expertise, so treat these meetings as if you are interviewing to fill a specific role on your team.

After each meeting, take a moment to write down your assessments of the candidate and anything that stands out from the meeting. If a candidate stimulated your mind and offered valuable suggestions during an initial meeting, write that down and make a mark to signify that you definitely want that person on your committee.

In contrast, if you feel an abundance of negativity while meeting with a candidate, it's probably best to eliminate that person from your list of potentials. Choosing who serves on your dissertation committee is one of the most important decisions of your academic career, and you have a better chance of success if you assemble a group of people who challenge and inspire you in positive ways.

7. Ask candidates to join your committee

After you've met with all of your possible candidates, use your post-meeting notes to evaluate your options and create a compatible team. Send a separate email to each potential member and highlight a few reasons that you think he or she will be an ideal choice for your dissertation committee. Explain that you are currently in the process of gathering your dissertation committee and ask candidates to give you an answer by a (reasonable) deadline.

If you decided after a meeting that a candidate was not a good fit for your committee, send a follow up email and thank the person for meeting with you. After expressing your appreciation, state that you have filled all positions on your dissertation committee at this time. If applicable, you might consider asking if you can consult him or her if you have questions while working on your dissertation.

Follow the seven steps above if you want to assemble a dissertation committee composed of experts who will guide you towards a successful dissertation. You're already off to a great start.

Header photo by Luckybusiness .

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Forming an Interdisciplinary Dissertation Committee

Doctoral students in interdisciplinary programs face unique challenges in forming dissertation committees. Based on our experience as directors of three such programs (Public Health Genetics, Urban Design and Planning, and Astrobiology), we offer the following suggestions.

Your first challenge

Find the optimal set of members — especially the right chair (or two co-chairs) for your committee. Committee members need to:

• be the best match for your intellectual interests
• have the expertise to help you succeed in designing and completing your dissertation
• be able to help you prepare for your career

In planning for a dissertation, you should consult extensively with faculty members in your program for guidance about:

• potential research questions
• planning/timing methodology
• potential committee members

The role of the committee

The final decision about the appropriate content of your project rests with the dissertation supervisory committee. You should work closely with the committee (especially the chair) to determine your project’s scope and content. The committee will guide your research and should meet regularly with you. Being sure you and your committee agree on what is meant by “regular” meetings is also a good idea. You may find it useful to meet individually with the members and obtain their feedback at several stages of your dissertation process. The interdisciplinary nature of your work may require that feedback at an advanced stage of your dissertation will be provided by the committee in an integrated form. You may want to discuss with your chair how the committee could produce a collective memo integrating their shared feedback.

The composition of dissertation committees

The dissertation supervisory committee must have at least four members, including the chair and the Graduate School representative (GSR). At least three committee members (including the chair and the GSR) must be UW graduate faculty members with an endorsement to chair doctoral committees; a majority of your committee members must be graduate faculty members, identifiable through the  Graduate Faculty Locator .

Committee members should include faculty expertise in your dissertation’s core fields. You might consider having five members, especially if your project involves different disciplines requiring advice and guidance in all areas. Four committee members must attend general and final exams — so having five on your committee provides flexibility if one member cannot attend. However, having more than four committee members may make it more difficult for them to find time to work together.

Selecting a Graduate School representative

You must select the Graduate School representative for your committee by consulting with your chair, other committee members, and/or program directors. The GSR votes and represents the interests of the Graduate School. GSR requirements:

• be a graduate faculty member
• have an endorsement to chair doctoral committees
• no conflict of interest with you or your committee chair

Also, the GSR may not have an official faculty appointment within your committee chair’s department(s) or the department in which your program is housed. This can be challenging for students in interdisciplinary programs. Exceptions to this rule can be made, with appropriate justification, by petition to the dean of the Graduate School.

by Professor Emeritus Melissa Austin, Public Health Genetics; Marina Alberti, professor, Urban Design and Planning; and Woody Sullivan, professor, Astrobiology

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Do’s and Don’ts for Preparing for Your Thesis Committee Meeting

• by Rachel Evans
• June 12, 2019 June 12, 2019
• A Day in the Life

Every year, after passing the dreaded preliminary oral exam, Ph.D. students are required to meet with their thesis advisory committee (TAC) to assess their progress and plan future work. These meetings can be incredibly valuable, and they provide important check-ins during the sometimes chaotic day-to-day lab work. While preparing for my last TAC meeting, I realized I was asking many of my classmates for tips about how to have a successful meeting. I share some of their advice, and my own experiences, below. Graduate programs have handbooks with important deadlines and more comprehensive details on how to structure the thesis committee, but this post is meant to be a miniguidebook from a student’s perspective.

DO: Contact your committee members very early to schedule your meeting.

Faculty members are incredibly busy, and trying to wrangle four to five of them into one room at a single time is more difficult than one might expect. It is absolutely critical to give them plenty of time to look at their schedules and find a time when they are available for your committee meeting. Faculty input is the crux of all thesis committee meetings, and their advice will be invaluable in guiding your thesis project, so try to make the scheduling process easy for them. Start scheduling your meeting at least two months in advance, especially if it will fall during the summer months. Using a survey-based tool like Doodle or Google Forms can be helpful. If the majority of your members respond with a date that works, follow up with unresponsive members by giving the date and time that works for the others. Sending a “yes or no” option makes responding easy. Once you have the date and time set, send out a calendar invitation and get your room reserved!

DON’T: Forget to schedule your annual evaluation-of-progress meeting with your P.I.

Besides the TAC meeting, most Ph.D. programs require that students meet with their PIs to go over their projects’ progress and address what will be discussed during the meeting. For my department, this should be done about one month before the meeting. Although this meeting is generally more informal than the TAC meeting, it is helpful to prepare any necessary documents, and maybe a presentation with recent data, to discuss with your thesis adviser. This is an opportunity to address any major issues one-on-one, and it may help guide any final experiments or changes to your slides before the bigger meeting. Students should also use this discussion to speak candidly with their adviser about graduation timelines, career goals, etc. Often, during the TAC meeting, these questions will come up, and it is helpful to have already considered your answers and discussed them with your adviser to avoid any surprises.

DO: Start earlier than you think you need to.

I realize this may incite flashbacks of your parents telling you not to procrastinate, but this advice rings true for your TAC meeting. To summarize months of work and data in a coherent way, and not just to someone in your lab who has seen your lab meetings 10 times, is no small task and may require more background slides. For most committee meetings, start to gather your data and figures at least one week in advance, and if you have time, perhaps start structuring your presentation a month in advance. This may vary from department to department, so ask your lab mates and peers to find out how they have done this in the past. You may also want to show the presentation to your PI beforehand, so be sure to incorporate that into your timeline.

DON’T: Try to do it all on your own.

It can be tempting to just assemble your meeting presentation all on your own. You know your data inside and out, right? While that may be true, contact your PI and lab members for feedback on your presentation. They can give tips on the order to present your projects, things to emphasize and formatting styles. One of my previous lab members told me that, for later meetings, you should structure your presentation as you would chapters of your thesis. This conveys that you have thought through the data, and it gives a nice scaffold to frame your results. Your PI can also give insight as to what topics to avoid — if they might bring up issues with committee members or take too much time away from the main topics.

DO: Go into the meeting confidently!

Presenting your data to your committee is the ultimate exercise in trying to gain someone’s approval. As such, it can be daunting and stressful. However, students should think of this as a marketing exercise. You need to sell your project, and your skills, so that the committee members believe in your plans. A past graduate of my program told me that the most important thing is to present your data confidently and concisely, giving them a clear idea of how you have worked hard and planned ahead for experiments.

DON’T: Digress extensively from your data.

With all of the administrative details and professional development that is expected of Ph.D. students, it is important to keep the main purpose of the meeting in focus. You want to show them your work as a Ph.D. student in the lab — this means that data should be the star of the show. Prepare a few slides at the end of the presentation summarizing any class requirements, grant writing and other details in case they ask for it. But remember that dedicating too much time to these details can take important time away from discussing your data and can alter the focus of the meeting. Professional development is equally important as graduation requirements, but the focus of your meeting should be your progress in the lab. This may change as you go through your program, but if you are unsure of how much emphasis to place on professional development, you should ask your PI.

Note that as students near graduation, the emphasis of the thesis committee meeting starts to shift. Students hoping to defend in the near future should prepare a structured timeline of everything they have completed, and the things they still need to complete, to show they have a plan for their proposed timeline. Here, students should present completed projects and submitted publications, and only focus on actual, attainable future directions (not just anything that is possible to do in the lab).

Next week, I will share more details about how to prepare for and succeed in your meeting as the date gets much closer. These tips should give you an idea of where to start when it comes to your committee meeting, but keep in mind that all departments are different. Be sure to contact your peers and ask about their experiences. While the thesis committee meeting is an important learning experience in itself, the process is also a wonderful opportunity to learn from your classmates.

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Thesis Committee

The Ph.D. Thesis Committee has the responsibility of advising a student on all aspects of the thesis experience, from the proposal process through the preparation and defense of the final document.

The Committee should be comprised of

• the Thesis Advisor(s),
• the Thesis Committee Chair who presides at all committee meetings (must be a BE faculty member), and
• at least one additional member (unrestricted).

The student and research supervisor should agree upon members of a Thesis Committee, and the student is responsible for inviting faculty to sit on their committee. Beyond administration of the Oral Exam, the Thesis Committee is meant to provide guidance on the various aspects of the student’s project; Thesis Committee members should therefore be selected with this goal in mind.

Forming the Committee

During the summer of the second year, the student must submit the BE PhD Thesis Committee form  to the BE Academic Office ) to request approval of the Thesis Committee membership.

Changing the Committee

The Thesis Committee constituted for the Oral Exam/Thesis Proposal may change over the course of the student’s research, as determined by the student and advisor with approval by the Graduate Program Chair. Students should submit a new PhD Thesis Committee form (above) to the BE Academic Office.

Andrew Silva

Choosing your thesis committee.

Your committee ultimately decides whether or not you pass your proposal and your defense, so you want to choose them carefully!

The rules from the CS Handbook state that:

“Your advisor is the chair… Your committee should be formed of at least five people. At least one faculty member must be from outside CoC (from another unit at Tech or an outsider, and should have a Ph.D.), but the majority must have some CoC faculty appointment.” Note: You only need to have three people on your committee at the time of your proposal, but it is recommended that you have all five members at that time.

So you only need 3 members, and at least 2 must be from the College of Computing (CoC) and 1 outside of the CoC for your proposal. However, it is strongly recommended to have your entire committee together (so that is 5 members with at least 3 from the CoC).

I recommend working with your advisor and other students in your lab to identify good CoC faculty for your committee— they will know which professors align best with your research direction, which are the most helpful on committees, and what those professors look for in thesis proposals or defenses. All of this is stuff you should know about your committee before you propose!

Choosing an External Committee Member

Fortunately, choosing an external committee member is quite straightforward. When I talked to the graduate coordinator for my proposal, I was told that the only requirement was that my advisor agree to my external committee member!

The external committee member can be a great networking opportunity, and many people suggest reaching out to other big-name or rising-star professors in your field from other universities or institutions. I personally went with an advisor from another research org that I knew I worked very well with, and who I wanted on my committee for his useful feedback and direction.

Reaching Out to Your Committee

This can be slightly scary and intimidating, but it is part of a professor’s job to be on thesis committees, and I am given to believe that many of them do enjoy it to some extent. Be respectful and concise and provide as much useful information as possible, and send weekly reminders if you don’t hear back! My thesis request emails looked something like:

Subject: Thesis Committee Invitation/Request Dear Professor <Name>, I am in the process of writing and preparing my thesis proposal on interactivity and explainability in human-centric machine learning, and I would greatly appreciate the opportunity to have you on my thesis committee. My thesis will encompass a selection of works that have already been published on interactivity and explainability for machine learning (including X, Y, and Z), works that are currently under review for personalization and human perceptions of explainability, and a proposed final project on personalization and explainability in the context of a user study. I plan to get a written thesis proposal to my committee in early March, and to do the formal proposal presentation in mid-April. Please let me know if you are willing to serve as a committee member for my thesis proposal! Thank you,

And these were sent sometime in mid-January. So, about 2 months before I planned to finish my written proposal document and about 3 months before I planned to do my proposal. For more info on the overall timeline and other details of the proposal, check out my other posts on the subject!

Graduate School

• Interdisciplinary Studies

Final Comprehensive Components

During the final semester of enrollment, each student will complete a final comprehensive component that will take into account the students three areas of study.

The MA/MS Interdisciplinary Studies program has 5 options:

Comprehensive exam.

• The Comprehensive examination will be inclusive in breadth, requiring the student to draw upon material covered in previous courses with a goal of integration and synthesis. Questions may involve hypothetical problems, or they may test theories from various disciplines, concern problems encountered in the student's non-academic career, or address other similar interdisciplinary areas. 
• The written examination is typically three to four hours in length and could require additional oral presentation to the students chosen committee.
• Students should identify their Committee members as early as possible to give time for committee members to develop their exam.
• Committee members while developing questions for the Comprehensive exam must include the following question: Discuss how your areas of study synthesize to fulfill your academic, personal, and/or career goals. (short answer)
• Finally, the chair of the student's review committee must submit a report on the outcome of the formal meeting to the Graduate School no later than one week after the meeting, or before the last day to report the results to the Graduate School. The report will indicate whether the student's final comprehensive component was satisfactory or unsatisfactory.
• The Portfolio option may take several forms. For students in the humanities, it should include three research papers or graded documents written in courses taken for the M.A., and a reflection paper that summarizes the integration of the students chosen areas. For students in the sciences, it may include accounts of three experimental projects that were carried out in courses taken for the M.S. and a reflection paper.
• Portfolios will only present the students original research in the students three chosen IS degree areas along with the critiques or commentaries and grades that the projects or papers received at the time that they were submitted. Papers written in collaboration with other students are not acceptable..
• The portfolio will also include a reflection essay that presents the student's views of their development. In the reflection paper, the student may make observations about methodologies that the three projects involved and about the strengths and weaknesses of these projects. See Portfolio guidelines
• Faculty members should review the papers that the student chooses to put into the portfolio. They are not required to grade the papers (the papers have already been graded), but they should determine whether the papers are appropriate examples of what the portfolio should contain; i.e., Are the papers adequate representatives of term projects? It is the responsibility of the committee members to accept or reject the papers that are included in the portfolio.
• Committee members are also responsible for making certain that the reflection essay is suitable for the portfolio. Committee members should carefully read the essay, make suggestions for any improvements that seem appropriate, and generally serve as judges of the academic worth of the reflection essay.
• Finally, committee members should meet as a committee with the master's degree candidate. They should discuss the portfolio with the student .If the committee approves of the portfolio, the chairperson of the committee should notify the Graduate School that the student has successfully completed his or her work on the portfolio.

Master's Report

• The Master's Report option is comprised of research identifying a specific problem associated with their students chosen areas of interest, research conducted to examine alternative solutions to the research question, and their interpretation of that information in presenting their solution to that research question. Typically, the report should not exceed 75 pages. Students opting for this comprehensive component will take 27 hours of coursework plus 3 hours of a Master's Report course (IS 5330). See Master's Report guidelines.
• Faculty members should review the report similarly to the review of a thesis. Thus, it is the responsibility of the committee members to accept or reject the report that is presented to them.
• Committee members should meet as a committee with the master's degree candidate. The student should make a presentation of their research report allowing time for the committee to ask questions. They should discuss the report with the student. If the committee approves of the report, the chairperson of the committee should notify the graduate advisor that the student has successfully completed their work on the report.
• The Internship option offers students the opportunity to work and learn outside of the classroom. The internship will also extend a service to the host site/facility by providing a new source of practical experiences, leadership, and potential candidates for employment.
• Students opting for this comprehensive component will take 27 hours of coursework plus 3 hours of an Internship course (IS 5031). In addition to the course, students must find an internship that applies to their areas of study. Once the site has been pre-approved by the students committee and graduate advisor, the student must work 150 hours with their internship site supervisor for any credit. Once the Internship is completed, the student must write about their experiences at their chosen site, the resources they used, their duties as an intern and about how their internship synthesizes their chosen areas. Internship Guidelines .
• Committee members must evaluate the Internship and written document. They will determine if the approved internship fully adheres to the students chosen areas. It is the responsibility of the committee members to accept or reject the Internship that is presented to them.
• Finally, committee members have the option to meet as a committee with the master's degree candidate. If the committee approves of the Internship document, the chairperson and committee members should notify the graduate advisor that the student has successfully completed their internship

A thesis can be defined as the written product of a well-researched area study. The thesis will integrate work from all three fields of study, and will clearly identify a research question, state any theoretical assumptions, explain the significance of the undertaking, review relevant literature, identify and justify the sources for and methods of gathering information, analyze the information or data, present and discuss results, and offer a conclusion or recommendation.

Students opting for this comprehensive component will take 24 hours of coursework plus 6 hours of a Thesis course (IS 6000). Final grades for thesis hours (A or B) grades will be CR until the student's final semester. Students will also need to adhere to the Graduate School Rules and Regulations for the Thesis and oral defense.   Graduate School Formatting Manual

All of these final components require a faculty committee drawn from professors in the subject areas or colleges under which the student has studied. Students will consult with their Interdisciplinary Studies advisor who must approve the three-person Faculty committee. 

For more information about committee members and their responsibilities please see Faculty Committee Responsibilities

How to Choose Committee Members:

You must have a minimum of 3 committee members (one from each of your three areas). These committee members must be considered graduate faculty at the University.

To figure out which of your current or former professors you should ask try to think of Committee member should be faculty members that you have had positive experiences with.

Of your three members one will be your committee Chair. This person will spearhead your committee and assign the final grade of your chosen component.

You must consider the following factors in choosing a chair: (a) expertise, (b) accessibility, (c) feedback, (d) success, (e) personality style, and (f) attitudes toward methodology.

It is strongly suggested that students formally ask all potential members before you contact your graduate advisor. Please use the attached form to document your chosen committee members Title or Committee Change Form

For More Information

For more information about INDS examinations, email us at [email protected]

Mailing Address

Graduate School at Texas Tech University POB 41030; Lubbock, TX 79409-1030 Phone: 806.742.2787 Fax: 806.742.1746

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Terry Anderson, US journalist held hostage nearly 7 years in Lebanon, dead at 76

Terry Anderson, an American journalist who was held captive by Islamist militants for almost seven years in Lebanon and came to symbolize the plight of Western hostages during the country's 1975-1990 civil war, died Sunday at age 76, his daughter said in a statement.

The former chief Middle East correspondent for The Associated Press, who was the longest-held hostage of the scores of Westerners abducted in Lebanon, died at his home in Greenwood Lake, New York, said his daughter Sulome Anderson , who was born three months after he was seized. No cause of death was given.

Kept in barely lit cells by mostly Shi'ite Muslim groups in what was known as the hostage crisis and chained by his hands and feet and blindfolded much of the time, the former Marine later recalled that he "almost went insane" and that only his Roman Catholic faith prevented him from taking his life before he was freed in December 1991.

"Though my father's life was marked by extreme suffering during his time as a hostage in captivity, he found a quiet, comfortable peace in recent years. I know he would choose to be remembered not by his very worst experience, but through his humanitarian work with the Vietnam Children's Fund, the Committee to Protect Journalists , homeless veterans and many other incredible causes," Sulome Anderson said.

The family will take some time to organize a memorial, she said.

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Anderson's ordeal began in Beirut on the morning of March 16, 1985, after he played a round of tennis. A green Mercedes sedan with curtains over the rear window pulled up, three gunmen jumped out and dragged Anderson, still dressed in shorts, into the car.

The pro-Iran group Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the kidnapping, saying it was part of "continuing operations against Americans." The abductors demanded freedom for Shi'ite Muslims jailed in Kuwait for bomb attacks against the U.S. and French embassies there.

It was the start of a nightmare for Anderson that would last six years and nine months during which he was stuck in cells under the rubble-strewn streets of Beirut and elsewhere, often poorly fed and sleeping on a thin, dirty mattress on a concrete floor.

During his captivity, his father and brother would die of cancer, and he would not see his daughter Sulome until she was 6 years old.

"What kept me going?" he asked aloud shortly after release. "My companions. I was lucky to have people with me most of the time. My faith, stubbornness. You do what you have to. You wake up every day, summon up the energy from somewhere. You think you haven't got it and you get through the day and you do it. Day after day after day."

Other hostages described Anderson as tough and active in captivity, learning French and Arabic and exercising regularly.

But they also told of him banging his head against a wall until he bled in frustration at beatings, isolation, false hopes and the feeling of being neglected by the outside world.

More: Peggy Say, who advocated for release of Terry Anderson, dies

"There is a limit of how long we can last, and some of us are approaching the limit very badly," Anderson said in a videotape released by his captors in December 1987.

Marcel Fontaine, a French diplomat who was released in May 1988 after three years of captivity, recalled the time cellmate Anderson thought freedom was near because he was allowed to see the sun and eat a hamburger.

In April 1987, Anderson was given a suit of clothes his captors had made for him. "He wore it every day," Fontaine said. A week later, however, Anderson's captors took the suit back, leaving him in despair and certain he was forgotten, Fontaine said.

More: Parents of 1st Islamic State hostage felt isolated

Scores of journalist groups, governments and individuals over the years called for Anderson's release, and his Oct. 27 birthday became an unofficial U.S. memorial day for hostages.

Anderson said he considered killing himself several times but rejected the notion. He relied heavily on his faith, which he said he had renewed six months before being kidnapped.

"I must have read the Bible 50 times from start to finish," he said. "It was an enormous help to me."

His sister, Peggy Say , who died in 2015, was his fiercest advocate during captivity.

She worked tirelessly for her brother's freedom. She visited Arab and European capitals and lobbied the pope, the Archbishop of Canterbury and every U.S. official and politician available.

Under pressure from the media and the U.S. hostages' families, the Reagan administration negotiated a secret and illegal deal in the mid-1980s to facilitate arms sales to Iran in return for the release of American hostages. But the deal, known as the Iran–Contra affair, failed to gain freedom for any of the hostages.

Born Oct. 27, 1947, in Lorain, Ohio, Anderson grew up in Batavia, New York. He graduated from Iowa State University and spent six years in the Marine Corps, mostly as a journalist.

He worked for the AP in Detroit, Louisville, New York, Tokyo, Johannesburg and then Beirut, where he first went to cover the Israeli invasion in 1982.

In that war-torn city, he fell in love with a Lebanese woman, Madeleine Bassil, who was his fiance and was pregnant with their daughter Sulome when he was snatched.

He is survived by his daughters Sulome and Gabrielle, his sister Judy and brother Jack, and by Bassil, whom Sulome Anderson called "his ex-wife and best friend."

Anderson and fellow hostages developed a system of communication by tapping on walls between their cells. Always the journalist, Anderson passed on news of the outside world he had picked up during captivity to Church of England envoy Terry Waite, who was being held in an adjacent room in September 1990 after years of solitary confinement.

"Then the world news: the Berlin Wall's falling, communism's demise in eastern Europe, free elections in the Soviet Union, work toward multiracial government in South Africa. All the incredible things that have happened since he was taken nearly three years ago. He thought I was crazy," Anderson wrote in his 1993 book "Den of Lions."

After his release, Anderson taught journalism at Columbia University, Ohio University, the University of Kentucky and the University of Florida until he retired in 2015.

Among businesses he invested in were a horse ranch in Ohio and a restaurant. He unsuccessfully ran for the Ohio state Senate as a Democrat in 2004 and sued Iran in federal court for his abduction, winning a multimillion-dollar settlement in 2002.