Students require a committee for each milestone event during your Ph.D. program. While each milestone has different requirements, it is useful to know how these requirements build on committee composition over time.
Faculty Advisor / Committee Chair
To maintain satisfactory progress and remain in the program, you must have either a temporary or permanent advisor at all times.
The Allen School assigns a temporary advisor to all new Ph.D. students. Temporary advisors often become permanent advisors at some point within the first few years of the program. Advisors must agree to advising permanently as part of the process of passing Quals at the Ph.D. level.
Quals Committee Composition
A quals committee consists of:
- A primary faculty advisor
- One additional CSE faculty, co-advisor, or advisor-approved member.
Generals Committee Composition
A doctoral committee for Generals consists of:
- One chair (CSE faculty or adjunct)
- One additional CSE faculty member (can also co-chair)
- One additional committee member (external members permitted)
- One GSR (required by the Graduate School).
The student and their advisor must also identify a Graduate School Representative (GSR). The GSR must meet eligibility requirements (see the GSR Eligibility chart). The GSR cannot have a budgetary, personal, or research and/or publication relationship with the Chair or the student. They also can’t be in the same department.
IMPORTANT: The student is responsible for keeping the GSR informed about progress and upcoming exam dates to ensure the GSR can attend. If the GSR is unavailable, the student must find a replacement.
Final Exam Committee Composition
A doctoral committee for the final exam has the same requirements as the general exam:
- One chair (CSE faculty or adjunct)
- One additional CSE faculty member (can also co-chair)
- One additional committee member (external members permitted)
- One GSR (required by the Graduate School).
You must also declare a reading committee by emailing grad-advising@cs.washington.edu. This is typically everyone but the GSR.
A reading committee is a subset of the main doctoral committee, tasked with reading the final copy of the dissertation and giving it final approval. At least three people need to be on the reading committee, with half of those folks being graduate faculty eligible to chair committees.