Supervisory Committee

Supervisory Committee: The committee, selected by the student in consultation with his/her major advisor, must always include three members from the Biology Graduate Faculty. A typical Committee consists of a Major Advisor and two additional Committee members. Each student must submit a form to Establish a Supervisory Committee to the Graduate Programs Director. The title of the form is confusing because it indicates “thesis” but it applies to non-thesis MS students as well. Special requests can be submitted to replace one member of the committee with a tenure-track faculty member from outside the Department of Biological Sciences, provided that the person (1) holds graduate faculty status in their home department and (2) is a participant in one of the curricular programs housed in the Department of Biological Sciences (e.g. the Biotechnology Program; the Doctoral Program in Biology, etc.) or for which Biological Sciences is a participating department (e.g. the INES Doctoral Program). The committee may include a fourth member, including Adjunct Faculty, only if that person has Graduate Faculty status. If the Major Advisor is not a full member of the Biology Graduate Faculty, one of the three members from the Biology Faculty must serve as Co-Advisor. All Supervisory Committees must be approved by the Graduate Committee. The composition of the Supervisory Committee can be changed at any time through submission of a new form and checking the box indicating “I am revising my commitee”.

All Master’s students, both thesis track and non-thesis track, must have an approved Supervisory Committee by the end of the 2nd semester of graduate course work, and are strongly encouraged to establish their Supervisory Committee during the first semester of their program, to ensure timely completion of program progression requirements (see Progression Requirements, Deadlines and Forms).