PhD | Reading Committee

Overview

After passing the qualifying examination, a student must secure the agreement of a Department faculty member to act as the dissertation advisor. Typically, this is the program advisor. In some cases, the dissertation advisor may be in another department. In addition, the student must form a dissertation reading committee composed of the principal dissertation advisor and at least two additional readers.

Deadline

The Reading Committee Form should be signed by all the committee members and submitted to the CS PhD Student Services (phdstudentservices@cs.stanford.edu) no later than one year after passing a qualifying exam.

For any questions regarding your Reading Committee, please email phdstudentservices@cs.stanford.edu Form/s should be submitted as a PDF and emailed to phdstudentservices@cs.stanford.edu Jay Subramanian, Director of Graduate Admissions and PhD Program, approves all forms on behalf of the Department chair.

Reading Committee Composition Regulations

• The doctoral dissertation reading committee consists of the principal dissertation adviser and, typically, two other readers. The doctoral dissertation reading committee must have three members and may not have more than five members.
• The principal advisor and at least one of the other committee members must be academic council members. This is a University regulation.
• At least two committee members must be CS professors or joint CS professors (academic council members, such as, Stanford faculty). Courtesy and adjunct CS professors do not count. This is a Departmental requirement.
• The reading committee supervises the dissertation research, advises the student, evaluates the student's progress, and signs the final draft of the dissertation.
• These committee members must serve on the student's orals committee because they are knowledgeable about the student's research.

Petition for Non-Academic Council Doctoral Committee Members

• Readers who are not academic council members (limit 1) need prior approval from the CS PhD Student Services Office to serve on your reading committee. You must file a petition form and submit a copy of their CV to phdstudentservices@cs.stanford.edu

How to fill out your form?

Reading Committee Form

1. Complete the Student Information section.
2. Add your advisor (include co-advisor if applicable) and your Reading Committee members, along with the additional information required on the form.
3. Collect all the Reading Committee members' signatures. An email confirmation from a Reading Committee member to the PhD Student Services Office email is also an acceptable form of signature.
4. Students are not required to collect the Department Chair's Signature. Once your advisor (s) have signed, please submit it to the PhD Student Services Office.
5. The PhD Student Services Office then reviews the form to make sure that it accurately reflects the University and Departmental requirements.
6. An email confirmation will be sent once the form is approved.