Major Professor Selection and Graduate Committee Formation

A student's major professor will serve as their primary mentor throughout their graduate program.

While all incoming MIME graduate students can contact their area lead as an interim advisor, it is the student's responsibility to select a major professor and assemble a committee as soon as possible. For master's students, a program of study must be filed with the Graduate School prior to completing 18 credits. For newly admitted doctoral students, a program of study must be submitted by the end of their fifth term. For students continuing from a master's degree to a PhD, a doctoral program of study must be submitted within two terms of the completion of their master's degree.

All students should begin discussions with prospective major professors during their first term of enrollment.

Committee Type

Committee Membership

PhD committee A minimum of five members of the Graduate Faculty are required: 1) major professor; 2) a second professor from major field, 3) a Graduate Council Representative (GCR), and 4) one or more minor professors (if applicable), an additional professor(s) from major field, or additional OSU graduate faculty member(s) at large. Find a GCR
MS Thesis committee A minimum of four members of the Graduate Faculty are required: 1) major professor, 2) another professor from major field, 3) a professor from minor field (if applicable), an additional professor from major field, or from the OSU graduate faculty at large, and 4) a Graduate Council Representative (GCR). Find a GCR.
MS Project (non-thesis) committee A minimum of three members of the Graduate Faculty are required: 1) major professor, 2) another professor from major field, and 3) any member of the OSU graduate faculty (usually an additional faculty member in major).
MEng committee

A minimum of three graduate faculty: 1) major professor*, 2) Lynn Paul, and 3) Anita Hughes.

*Since the MEng degree is a coursework-only degree, MEng students do not need to have a major professor to mentor them in the same way that a research student does. Therefore, MEng students should contact Lynn Paul to have a major professor assigned to them from among the Graduate Program Committee from the student's major.