As a graduate student, you will have two types of advisers:
Graduate Adviser
Your Graduate Adviser is a faculty member in the Plant Pathology Graduate Program and is not your Thesis (research) Adviser. Your Graduate Adviser is a member of the Graduate Affairs Committee, assists you in meeting the graduation requirements set forth by the Graduate Division and, together with your Thesis Adviser, helps you plan your schedule of courses. The graduate adviser has formal responsibility for initiating faculty appointments to masters and Ph.D. qualifying examinations (see section on qualifying examination, below) and thesis committees. You should meet with your graduate adviser at the outset of your first year to plan your course schedule and again in each year in which you are enrolled in courses to make adjustments in your program.
Thesis Adviser/Major Professor
This is the member of the Plant Pathology Graduate Program faculty with whom you will carry out your research. Your Thesis Adviser will help you to identify a research problem and to design, carry out and interpret experimental and/or theoretical work intended to answer the questions associated with that problem
Your Thesis Adviser and your Graduate Adviser will not be the same person.
Most students will begin working with their major professor during their first quarter, according to arrangements made at the time of your admission to graduate school. However, depending on your source(s) of support, you may have the option to arrange for short periods of research experience in different laboratories ("laboratory rotations") in order to have a variety of research experiences and to determine which program is best for you. If you are able to take advantage of laboratory rotations, you are encouraged to familiarize yourself with the Plant Pathology Graduate Program faculty and the full range of plant pathology research programs. Choosing your Thesis Adviser is a very important, career-affecting decision.
Thesis Committee
After successful completion of the qualifying examination by a Ph.D. student, or after a MS student has selected a research topic, the thesis committee is formed. Your Thesis Adviser is the chairperson of your thesis committee. The members of the Ph.D. thesis committee are appointed in consultation with your Thesis Adviser and Graduate Adviser. Typically, the thesis committee has two faculty members of the Plant Pathology Graduate Program in addition to the Thesis adviser but may be constituted with faculty member(s) from outside the Program and may have up to four members. The student should meet with the thesis committee at least once a year until the requirements for the degree have been satisfied.
