Advising

The Department of Bioengineering is committed to providing academic advising in support of graduate student scholarly and professional development. When most effective, this advising relationship entails collaborative and sustained engagement by the advisor and the advisee. As a best practice, advising expectations should be periodically discussed and reviewed to ensure mutual understanding. Both the advisor and the advisee are expected to maintain professionalism and integrity.

Graduate students are active contributors to the advising relationship, proactively seeking academic and professional guidance and taking responsibility for informing themselves of policies and degree requirements for their graduate program.

See Graduate Advising for a university policy statement on graduate advising.

At the start of graduate study, each student is assigned a master’s program advisor: a faculty member who guides course selection and explores academic opportunities and professional pathways. The department’s graduate handbook provides information and suggested timelines for advising meetings. Usually, the same faculty member serves as a program advisor for the duration of the master’s study, but the graduate handbook describes the process for formal advisor changes.

In addition, the faculty Director of Graduate Studies (DGS) is available during the academic year by email and by appointment.

The department’s student services office is also essential to the master’s advising team. They inform students and advisors about university and department requirements, procedures, and opportunities and maintain the official records of advising assignments and approvals.

Coterminal Students: The university requires that the graduate advisor be assigned in the student’s first graduate quarter even though the undergraduate career may still be open. The university also requires that the Master’s Degree Program Proposal be completed by the student and approved by the department by the end of the student’s first graduate quarter.