The Doctoral Committee must be formed within six months of passing the Candidacy Examination. The candidate and the candidate's research advisor should discuss possible committee members. The committee must have a minimum of four members, one of who must be from a department other than Acoustics (and preferable from a designated related area that the student will pursue). In special situations, a member of the Acoustics faculty who is also a member of the faculty of another department at the University, may be approved as the outside member. All members of the doctoral committee must be members of the Graduate Faculty. A Graduate Student Committee Policies and Procedures and Committee Appointment Signature Form must be signed and dated by the student, the committee chair, members of the committee, and the Program Chair/graduate officer. After the Graduate School approves the committee, the committee assumes the function of providing guidance for the remainder of the student's program.

The chairperson of the doctoral committee is responsible for the administrative aspects of the doctoral program such as coordinating the committee's activities and convening meetings of the committee. In most cases, the chairperson is also the research advisor. The research advisor has the following responsibilities:

- Serves on the student's doctoral committee.
- Directs the research program.
- Assists the student in selecting courses.
- Supervises preparation of documents such as research proposal, draft of thesis, and final copy of thesis submitted to the Graduate School.

Immediately after the doctoral committee is formed, a planning meeting must be scheduled with these objectives:

- Review of student's academic record as well as work and educational experiences.
- Presentation of research proposal by the student.
- Identify courses relevant to the research program that the student should take, in addition to the core courses.
- Approve a tentative time schedule for the student's program and taking the comprehensive examination.

The doctoral committee chairperson will provide a written record of the planning meeting to the Acoustics Program Office for inclusion in the student's file.

The doctoral committee should meet regularly (at least once a year) to review the status of the student's program of study and research. The committee may meet at any other time the advisor feels the objective or character of the research has changed significantly. The results and recommendations of the meeting should be communicated in writing by the Committee Chairperson to the Acoustics Program Chair for review and inclusion in the student's file.

 

 

Graduate Program in Acoustics, The Pennsylvania State University