Electrical & Computer Engineering Graduate Exam Committees

These are the current policies on the committee membership for the Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE) and for graduate programs. These policies are in addition to the Graduate Council requirements described in the Graduate Handbook. 

Master's Project Reading Committee

The members of the ECE Master's Project Reading Committee must include the following:

  1. A ladder rank ECE faculty member
  2. A ladder rank UCSC School of Engineering (SOE) faculty (may be ECE as well).

Additional members may be added to the committee. Students should consult their advisors about the membership of their committee.

Master's Thesis Reading Committee

The members of the ECE Master's Thesis Reading Committee must include the following:

  1. A ladder rank ECE faculty member
  2. A ladder rank UCSC School of Engineering (SOE) faculty (may be ECE as well).
  3. A UCSC SOE faculty or a recognized expert in the student's research area as judged by the Graduate Committee.

Additional members may be added to the committee. Students should consult their advisors about the membership of their committee.

Qualifying Exam Committee

The members of the ECE Qualifying Exam committee must include the following:

  1. The chair of the committee must be a tenured ladder rank ECE faculty member who is not the student's research advisor(s).
  2. A ladder rank ECE faculty member (usually the student's research advisor).
  3. Ladder-rank SOE faculty member (may be the student's research advisor) or a recognized expert in the student's research area from outside UCSC, as judged by the Graduate Director and Dean of Graduate Studies.
  4. The outside member must be a tenured ladder rank faculty member from a department other than ECE at UCSC or a recognized expert in the student's research area from outside UCSC. The outside member may not be the student's advisor. In the event that the outside member is not from UCSC her/his CV must be submitted along with the exam committee nomination form and she/he must have credentials equivalent to a tenured faculty member as judged by the Graduate Director and Dean of Graduate Studies. 

Additional members may be added to the committee. Students should consult their advisors about the membership of their committee.

Dissertation Reading Committee

The members of the ECE Dissertation Reading Committee must include the following:

  1. An ECE faculty member (may be the student’s research advisor).
  2. A tenured ECE faculty member who is not the student's research advisor.
  3. A ladder rank UCSC faculty (may be the student’s research advisor) or a recognized expert in the student's research area with credentials equivalent to a ladder rank UCSC faculty member as judged by the Graduate Director and the Dean of Graduate Studies.

If you have two advisors you should list both as co-chairs. Additional members may be added to the committee. Students should consult their advisors about the membership of their committee. The Dissertation Reading Committee must be appointed in order to advance to candidacy.

Tips

If you are inviting someone from outside to serve on your committee and it is not clear whether their credentials will satisfy the requirements for the outside member, then it is advisable to list them either as the third member or an additional fifth member of the committee to avoid embarrassing them and delaying the appointment of the committee.

A ladder rank faculty (Academic Senate member) holds the title of Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, or Professor. Associate Professors and Professors have tenure.