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School of Biological Sciences School of Biological Sciences
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  4. Ph.D. Program
  5. Curricular Requirements
  6. Additional Academic Requirements
  7. Selecting the Doctoral Committee

Selecting the Doctoral Thesis Committee

Students must adhere to the following guidelines in selecting faculty to serve on the doctoral thesis committee:

  • Every Biological Sciences student doctoral committee must include only regular and adjunct UC San Diego faculty and have at least 4 members.
  • Every doctoral committee must have at least 1 non-School of Biological Sciences UCSD faculty member. An outside member is defined as having their primary appointment in a different department than the committee chair.
  • Every doctoral committee must have at least one member who is tenured or emeritus.
  • Every doctoral committee will have at least two School of Biological Sciences faculty (including School of Biological Sciences adjunct faculty). Faculty participating in the Biological Sciences graduate program are listed in the Faculty Directory.
  • Only faculty with a Biological Sciences appointment may serve as Evaluation Head.
  • A doctoral committee may include no more than one adjunct faculty unless the adjuncts are from the Salk Institute. In those cases, the committee can have up to two adjunct members.
  • Non-Salk Adjuncts serving as Thesis Advisor/Committee Chair require a ladder rank faculty member serve as a co-chair.
  • Any number of additional members can be added to the committee, though no more than six members is advised for ease of scheduling, collecting signatures, etc.
  • Students can look up UC San Diego faculty titles to assist with determining eligibility to serve on committees.

Roles and responsibilities of each member of the Doctoral Committee can be found on the Academic Advising page. Please review this page to fully understand what each member of the Doctoral Committee provides to their student trainees.

Committee Composition Decision Tree

Doctoral-Committee-Decision-Tree.jpg

  • At least one member is tenured or emeritus.
  • No more than one Adjunct per committee, unless the Adjunct is from the Salk, in which case there may be two Salk Adjuncts.
  • Non Salk Adjuncts serving as Thesis Advisor/Committee Chair require a ladder rank faculty member to serve as a co-chair.