Advising

The Department of Chemical Engineering is committed to providing academic advising in support of doctoral 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. 

Faculty advisors guide students in critical areas such as selecting courses, designing and conducting research, developing teaching pedagogy, navigating policies and degree requirements, and exploring academic opportunities and professional pathways. The department’s graduate handbook provides information and suggested timelines for advising meetings in the different stages of the doctoral program.

PhD students are initially assigned a program advisor at the outset of their enrollment at Stanford. This faculty member will provide initial guidance in course selection, exploring academic opportunities and professional pathways, and identifying doctoral research opportunities. The department requires formal lab rotations for two quarters before selecting a doctoral research/thesis advisor. 

Graduate students are expected to select a thesis advisor before the end of the first year of the program. Students are encouraged to collaborate with their advisor to establish a dissertation project and form a Dissertation Reading Committee. Advancement to doctoral candidacy is expected to occur before the end of the fourth quarter of the program. The process and timing of advisor selection are described in the Graduate Academic Policies and Procedures (GAP) opens in a new tab. The research supervisor assumes primary responsibility for the student’s future direction, taking on the roles previously filled by the program advisor, and will ultimately direct the student’s dissertation. Most students find an advisor from our department’s primary faculty members. However, the research advisor may be a faculty member from another Stanford department familiar with supervising doctoral students and can provide both advising and funding for the duration of the doctoral program. When the research advisor is from outside our department, the student will also identify a program advisor from our primary faculty to guide departmental requirements and opportunities. Thesis advisors are expected to meet with graduate students at least once yearly to discuss and help develop the student’s program plan. Additionally, advisors and students should meet regularly throughout the year to discuss the student’s professional development in critical areas such as selecting courses, designing and conducting research, developing teaching pedagogy, navigating policies and degree requirements, and exploring academic opportunities and professional pathways.

The Director of Graduate Studies (DGS) meets with all doctoral students at the start of the first year and is available by email and during office hours during the academic year. Our department’s student services office is also an essential part of the doctoral advising team: they inform students and advisors about university and department requirements, procedures, and opportunities, and they maintain the official records of advising assignments and approvals. Students are encouraged to talk with the DGS and the student services office as they consider advisor selection or for guidance in working with their advisor(s).

Our doctoral 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.

Additionally, the program adheres to the advising guidelines and responsibilities listed by the Office of the Vice Provost for Graduate Education opens in a new tab (VPGE) and in the Graduate Academic Policies opens in a new tab (GAP).