Toward the end of spring quarter, you will choose a Dissertation Advisor. Normally, the advisor will be one of the core or joint Genome Sciences faculty. However, if the desired training opportunity is not available within the department, a request for supervision of thesis research by an adjunct or affiliate training faculty member is allowed. It should be recognized that, unlike regular Genome Sciences faculty, adjunct faculty members are not under any obligation to sponsor Ph.D. dissertations, since they have primary responsibilities in other departments.

Unless extending their 3rd rotation or seeking a 4th rotation, all students must pick a lab by the end of spring quarter.  They may have "official" conversations where lab choices are explicitly discussed and agreed upon with advisors starting May 15th.  Before then, each party may express interest, or lack thereof, but may not explicitly commit. If you decide to do a 4th rotation over the summer, please let Brian Giebel know.

Once you've selected a dissertation lab, you and your advisor should sign the Summary of Mentor Responsibilities form and submit this to Brian (simply sending an email stating you've read the form is fine). This requirement is intended to ensure faculty members are aware of their responsibilities to students.