Students should select the members of their Thesis Committee in consultation with their thesis advisor(s) during their third year but no later than two months before the thesis proposal is presented. A thesis committee consists, at a minimum, of the advisor(s) plus additional faculty members in your department (for a total of three faculty members in your department including your advisor(s)) plus one external member. The fourth member of the Committee must be an outside member, often from another institution or from industry.

Sometimes it is appropriate for one or more of the three faculty members "in the department" to be in closely allied departments such as ECE at OGI or CS at PSU, based on the thesis topic and the research collaboration. Occasionally it may be appropriate to select an outside member from another OGI department.

All members of the Committee must have a Ph.D. and be approved by your Research Advisor. The Request for Thesis or Dissertation Committee form should be turned into the Office of Academic and Student Services and a copy to the Academic Coordinator for the department.

This form is available on-line as an Acrobat PDF file. If you do not have Adobe Acrobat Reader, it can be downloaded from the Adobe web site.

The Thesis Committee is responsible for: participating in the Thesis Proposal as part of the examining committee; reading, reviewing, and finally approving the written thesis document; and serving as the examining committee for the Thesis Defense.