The Dissertation Committee
The Dissertation Committee is composed of five members, including the mentor, who must be a silent observer during the Defense by the student. There must be four voting members on the Committee. Two members will be experts in the field of the student’s work but they cannot be collaborators of the mentor. One member should be from outside the field of the project. One additional reviewer, who shall not be a faculty member of ISMMS, will be appointed. This “outside” examiner may not have been an active collaborator in the student’s work. Additional faculty, such as collaborators of the mentor, may be included as non-voting members on the committee. Non-voting Committee members, including faculty from ISMMS, are those who have:
- directly collaborated on the project
- co-authored papers or abstracts with the student (except for rotation work that is unrelated to the dissertation project)
- been substantially involved in supervising the work.
If the student has two dissertation co-advisors, both may be present and both must be silent observers during the Defense.
The Training Area directorship and the Graduate School Dean must approve the Committee roster, and the former will appoint a senior member of the Committee, other than the dissertation advisor, to serve as Chair of the Committee. The Dean will invite the outside examiner to sit on the Dissertation Committee and will outline the duties of the reviewers and of the Committee.
When the student has completed the written dissertation document, it must be read and approved by the Dissertation Committee. The student should submit the Dissertation to each member of the Committee as early as possible, but no later than two weeks before the Defense. Committee members may reschedule the Examination if not given the appropriate amount of time to prepare for it. The Committee shall meet with the student for an oral Defense of the Dissertation. Before the final scheduling of the Defense, it is wise to obtain the Committee’s approval that the work is complete and appropriately presented. The student must register for the defense with the Registrar and the Dissertation Defense and Seminar Registration form along with the Voting form may be obtained from the Graduate School office. The student must include with the written document the Statement of Authorship page.
Revisions and additional experimental work might be requested by the Dissertation Committee. In either event, the Committee will decide and indicate in writing whether the whole Committee needs to be reconvened to consider the new draft or whether a subcommittee (or just the chair of the Committee) may approve the revised draft.
The mentor may apply to the Graduate School for reimbursement (up to $450) to defray travel expenses for the “outside” examiner. A letter of request, from the dissertation advisor, for the honorarium should be submitted to the Graduate School Office. The letter should include the name of the examiner, his/her social security number and mailing address. If the funds are being used to defray the cost of travel, original receipts should be sent with the letter of request. We will prepare and submit the check request. Unless otherwise instructed, the check will be sent directly to the examiner. If the dissertation advisor/department is covering a portion of the travel expenses, the letter of request should be sent with a check request (and original receipts), prepared by the dissertation advisor/department, indicating the amount and fund number (with appropriate signature) for the portion covered by the dissertation advisor/department. The Graduate School will complete the request and forward it to Accounts Payable. Unless otherwise instructed, the check will be sent directly to the examiner.