Doctoral Supervisory Committee

Upon admission to the program, a student is assigned a temporary adviser. The student is responsible for working with the temporary adviser until the student selects a dissertation director and an advisory committee as soon after student's admission as is feasible. This is especially important for students who have completed a considerable amount of graduate work elsewhere. The doctoral supervisory committee includes the dissertation director plus a faculty member from the student's intended major area, who is selected by the student to become chair of the doctoral supervisory committee. The chair of the committee need not be the dissertation director. Other committee members are selected to form a committee of at least four people from the regular full-time faculty. Normally, these faculty will be from the School of Information Technology and Engineering. At least two of the departments of the School of Information Technology and Engineering must be represented on this committee. In addition, industrial representatives and faculty members from departments outside of the school are highly desirable but are not required on the committee. The doctoral supervisory committee administers the comprehensive examination, the dissertation proposal presentation, and the dissertation defense. Permission to take each of these, except the proposal presentation, is requested from the SITE Dean on the basis of a written request and plan that has been approved by the Supervisory Committee.