All first year students will be assigned an adviser from within their field of study and will be notified of their adviser upon entering studies.
Students will work with their designated academic adviser to prepare a degree program plan. After successfully completing the qualifying examination, the doctoral candidate will finalize his or her general research topics and identify a prospective dissertation adviser and committee.
The dissertation adviser, who should be a faculty member of the department affiliated with the student’s Field of Study, will assume the responsibilities of the academic adviser and direct the student’s doctoral research. The program strongly encourages students to create a dissertation committee that consists of faculty from different departments affiliated with the five Fields of Study, in order to bring a range of expertise and interdisciplinary collaboration to the student’s research.
