Information and Guidance for Incoming SNRE Doctoral Students

You were admitted to SNRE with an Interim Guidance Committee (IGC) and at least one faculty member assigned to be your lead advisor, as noted on your SNRE offer letter.  These are the faculty who should initially help shape your course of study.  The doctoral curriculum is extremely flexible; the only required course is Research Paradigms NRE 741, taught in the Fall term.  Take the initiative - contact your IGC members early to discuss courses.

You may want to have different prelim committee members than your IGC members as your research topic becomes more defined. 

What should you be doing in your first year:

• Think about your specific research interest - talk to as many people as possible
• Think about a committee - think about classes in terms of who would be useful to have on your committee
• Think about what other departments might do work related to yours - browse the appropriate department website to find possible cognate members
• Do at least a draft course of study
• Start a database of sources use for papers in classes, such as Refworks or Endnote
• Develop a filing system for hard copies of papers
• Pick brains of veteran students

Online Resources 

Refer to the PhD Handbook; among other things, it includes a timeline of milestones you are expected to keep to remain in good standing (page 2).

Course of study forms, prelim committee forms, and other forms can be found on the SNRE website under "Forms, Policies, and Petitions"/Doctoral Students.

All PhD degrees are audited by the Rackham Graduate School.  While the course selection differs from one doctoral program to another, there are general overriding criteria and timelines that doctoral students must follow.  This information (total required credits, candidacy deadlines, resources, and so forth) may be found on Rackham Graduate School's website.