Supervisory Committee - MS

Materials Science and Engineering Program Requirements

The Major Advisor is your primary mentor and must be a member of the graduate faculty within the MSE Ph.D. program. The MSE Graduate Program Faculty includes graduate faculty from the Micron School of Materials Science & Engineering, and participating faculty from Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Mechanical & Biomedical Engineering, and Electrical & Computer Engineering. A majority (50% or more) of the Supervisory Committee must be from the MSE Graduate Faculty Body and one of the members must be a program faculty within the school. 

Note: To be a member of the MSE  Graduate Program Faculty, an individual must be a Boise State faculty member (Tenure-Track, Tenured, Research, or Clinical). Boise State research and technical staff may hold graduate faculty adjunct or affiliate status and serve as committee members but are not "MSE Graduate Program Faculty".

You will likely interact with members of your Supervisory Committee individually and informally on a daily or weekly basis in classes or working on your research. However, the entire Supervisory Committee should formally meet with you at least once each year to receive a progress report, provide feedback, and discuss future plans. You or your Supervisory Committee may choose to invite external members to observe and offer input to the research direction and methods. It is your responsibility to schedule these meetings annually.

You should form your Supervisory Committee through consultation with your Major Advisor and submit an Appointment of Supervisory Committee form, available on the Graduate College website, to the Graduate College (with a copy to the Academic Programs Manager) once research toward your thesis/dissertation has commenced. A change in the membership of the Supervisory Committee can be made after initial appointment by submitting an updated Appointment of Supervisory Committee form.

External Committee Member 

MS candidates may have an external committee member on their supervisory committee. This individual must be able to be approved as adjunct or affiliate graduate faculty and generally has Ph.D. level credentials. For most students, this individual is a collaborator or partner at another university, a national lab, or in industry. Once this individual has been identified, contact the Academic Programs Manager to have the graduate faculty approval process completed.

University/Graduate College Requirements

Advisor

An advisor is a member of the graduate faculty and is appointed by the graduate program. Once appointed, the advisor is the primary source of program information and advice and works with graduate students on matters related to both academic planning and professional development.

Any master’s student or doctoral student engaged in thesis or dissertation activity must have a major advisor by the beginning of their second year, otherwise they may be dismissed from the program. No student may remain in a graduate program that requires a thesis or dissertation without a major advisor named as part of the supervisory committee.

Supervisory Committee

A supervisory committee is required for any master’s student or doctoral student engaged in thesis or dissertation activity. The committee consists of a major advisor who serves as chair, plus additional members of the graduate faculty who are chosen to provide a broad range of knowledge and expertise to the student. Thesis and dissertation supervisory committees must include at least three (3) but no more than five (5) members of the graduate faculty. The Graduate College strongly encourages doctoral dissertation supervisory committees with at least four (4) members of the graduate faculty.

Graduate students are responsible for identifying their major advisor. The major advisor is the primary mentor for the student and must be a member of the graduate faculty with an endorsement to chair a supervisory committee. At least half of the supervisory committee members must hold appointments in the department(s) responsible for the program or the participating departments in the case of interdisciplinary programs. In all cases, the fundamental principle is that the committee, collectively, should be constituted to provide the best possible guidance throughout the graduate student's career, including the thesis or dissertation work.

Procedural Advisor

With prior approval of the Graduate College, a member of the graduate program who does not hold membership in the graduate faculty may be assigned to advise some or all of the students in the program on procedural issues, such as the submission of paperwork, course sequencing, and other matters related to academic planning. The actual position title assigned by the university to procedural advisors can vary from program to program.