The Thesis Proposal Committee
The Thesis Proposal Committee is composed of at least 4 members. Members of the student’s Advisory Committee serve on the Thesis Proposal Committee and may appoint additional Committee members, subject to the approval of the MTA Director and the Dean. Committee members should represent a breadth of scientific interests related to the students’ specific area of study. Faculty members who have directly collaborated on the project, who have co-authored papers or abstracts with the student (except for rotation work that is unrelated to the current project), or who have been substantially involved in supervising the work, cannot serve on the Committee. The mentor of the candidate cannot be a member of the Committee (see below).
The Chair of the Committee shall be a senior faculty member of that MTA designated by one of the Directors of the candidate’s Multidisciplinary Training Area. The Chair of the Committee must enforce all rules of the Examination, including those pertaining to the role of the dissertation advisor, as outlined below.
The student's thesis adviser may be present during the questioning phase of the Thesis Proposal Defense; however, the adviser MUST remain silent during the question period. Committee members must not direct questions to the dissertation advisor, and s/he must not answer questions directed to the student.
In addition, each student is strongly encouraged to discuss the expectations of the MTA Co-Directors as they develop their Thesis Proposal. When the student has written the Thesis Proposal, it should be submitted to each member of the Committee at least ten days before the scheduled presentation. Committee members may reschedule the Examination if not given the appropriate amount of time to prepare. The Chair of the Committee should poll the Committee members prior to the presentation to determine if there are major concerns with the written proposal that would warrant a postponement of the presentation. In the event of a postponement, the Graduate School must receive written notification from the Chair of the Committee of the postponement at least two days prior to the scheduled presentation, with a new scheduled date. A presentation will be recorded as “Unsatisfactory” if the Graduate School does not receive this notification in time (see further details under ‘deadline’ section).
The thesis adviser should give a summary of the student's progress at the beginning. All committee members should be present for this summary, and the student should not be present. Following the question period, the student and thesis adviser should leave the room to allow the committee to discuss the exam results and vote in their absence. Following the discussion phase, the student should re-enter the exam room WITHOUT the adviser for a private conversation with the committee. The student will then be asked to leave and the advisor will be invited to have a private conversation with the committee as well. Finally, the student and advisor will meet with the committee together for a discussion of the student’s performance and the Chair of the Committee will discuss the Committee’s decision at that time. If the Committee determines further work necessary, the Chair will provide this information, in writing, to the student. A copy of this memo, detailing conditions and deadline, must accompany the Voting Form, which should be returned to the Graduate School Office within two days of the proposal presentation. The Chair of the Committee will report the discussion to the dissertation advisor.
It is possible for a Committee to consider a student’s performance satisfactory for the oral presentation of the work achieved and work planned, but still consider the written proposal to be inadequate (in detail, style, citation quality, figure/table/legend presentation, etc.). The student may only be permitted one re-take the oral presentation, but the Committee may ask for as many revisions of the written proposal as are necessary to achieve a satisfactory proposal. This process can occur under the supervision of a subcommittee and must be completed before the student can be advanced to Candidacy.
Getting the most out of your thesis advisory committee meetings:
- Set the next meeting at your last meeting: I know what you’re thinking. OMG, who can think that far ahead. Think of it like a dentist appointment. Set it and take out the emotion. You will never be “ready.” Plan to set the date and set milestones to update the committee based on what you expect to accomplish. End the meeting by saying: “by next time, I hope to show you XYZ.”
- Start earlier than you think: Contact your advisory committee members early to schedule the meeting; refer to: Top 10 tips for scheduling your Thesis Advisory Committee Meetings. Be thinking about what you will report and how to structure your slides during lab meeting and WIP presentations. Think about concrete milestones and what pieces have been added to the puzzle and what pieces remain outstanding.
- Have an agenda in mind. Orient your committee to the relevant background information, establish a clear premise and gap in knowledge, and provide an approach to how you plan to execute these experiments, the results you expect(ed) to find, and what you found. Be prepared to share your conclusions and discuss the next steps.
- Have the form ready to go: Form link. Complete the information beforehand so your committee can include notes. Make sure you are in agreement with the plan. Meet with your mentor after to lay out how to accomplish your goals by the time you next meet.