Doctoral Committee

The doctoral committee of a student includes the student’s adviser (or co-advisers) and must consist of at least four members from the Penn State Graduate Faculty. At least one of those four members must be from outside the Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering. The outside member must not be a graduate faculty member of the Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering even if he/she has been granted graduate faculty status within another department. The adviser or at least one co-adviser must be a member of the graduate faculty of the department. The majority of the committee members must be from the graduate faculty of the Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering. The chair of the committee is the student’s adviser in most cases. The committee will direct the student’s doctoral program—including the comprehensive exam, (proposal defense), and final defense—and must be formally assigned by the Graduate School. The student should see the department’s graduate program staff assistant when he/she is ready to form the committee.

The graduate program coordinator usually advises a student until the student selects a research adviser. However, students are urged to seek advice from the faculty in their areas of interest as soon as possible so that the overall program will be based on the most knowledgeable advice, in the areas of interest to the students, over the longest period of time.