Current MS-PhD Student FAQs

1. When do I have to select an Advisor?

All ECE MS-PhD students are required to select an Advisor prior to the completion of the first year in their graduate program. The Advisor must be an ECE Graduate Field Faculty Member. Failure to successfully select an Advisor before the end of your first year will be considered a failure to make satisfactory academic progress, and may have an impact on the decision of the ECE Department to provide you with additional funding for your continued graduate program.

[top]

2. What do I do once I’ve selected an Advisor?

You will be required to complete a Special Committee Selection and Change form(A1) in order to make the Graduate School aware of their choice of Advisor.

[top]

3. What Form do I need to submit to the Graduate School?

You will need to obtain a Special Committee Selection and Change form (A1) which can either be downloaded from the Graduate School’s web site here, or can be found in hard copy form in the ECE Student Services Office located in 223 Phillips Hall. You must fill out the top portion of the form and then obtain the signatures of your Advisor. The signature of the ECE Director of Graduate Studies is also required in order for the form to be complete

[top]

4. When should I submit my completed Special Committee form?

You should submit the completed Special Committee Selection and Change form as soon as possible once your selection of an Advisor has been made.

[top]

5. Where do I submit my completed Special Committee form?

You will need to submit your completed Special Committee form to the Student Services Office in the Graduate School, located in 143 Caldwell Hall. Submit the form to Barbara Edinger, who is the Graduate Student Service Representative for the field of ECE. She can be contacted at bae2@Cornell.edu or 255-5817.

[top]

6. Do I need to provide the ECE Student Services Office with a copy of the Schedule of B Exam form?

Yes. You will need to submit a photocopy of the completed and signed Special Committee form to Scott Coldren, the Manager of Student Services in the ECE Student Services Office located in 223 Phillips Hall.

[top]

7. What do I do when I need to change or update the membership of my Special Committee?

You will be required to complete the same process listed above each time you make **ANY*** changes to the membership of your Special Committee. Every single time you make any changes to the membership of your Committee, a new form must be completed and submitted to the Graduate School with all of the required signatures. A photocopy of the completed signed form must also be submitted each time to Scott Coldren, the Manager of Student Services in the ECE Student Services Office located in 223 Phillips Hall.

[top]

8. When should the selection of my Special Committee Membership be complete?

You should have the membership of their Special Committee completed prior to the end of your third semester in your graduate program.

[top]

9. How many members should I have on my special committee?

All ECE MS-PhD students are required to have a total of three (3) faculty members on their Special Committee in order for it to be considered complete. The first member will be your Advisor, and the other two members are considered minor advisors. Most ECE students have one minor advisor from the ECE graduate field, and one minor advisor from a field outside of ECE.

[top]

10. What is the minor and why do I need to select a minor advisor?

All M.S-PhD students at Cornell (with a few exceptions) are required to have two minors for their Ph.D. In ECE, most Ph.D. students pick ECE as one of these minors, with another minor in a different graduate field. The two minor advisors on your committee represent these fields. This means that most ECE students will have two ECE field members (thesis advisor, minor advisor) on their committee, along with one faculty advisor from another graduate field.

[top]

11. What do I need to do to satisfy the requirements for my minor?

The faculty members that the student selects as their minor advisors will determine the coursework necessary in order to fulfill the requirements needed to complete the minor. Generally, this amounts to several courses from the Minor Advisor’s area.

[top]

12. If one of my minors is ECE, what are the minor requirements?

The ECE field does not impose any requirements for completion of an ECE minor. Any requirements will be determined by your minor advisor.

[top]

13. How do I correctly list the Concentrations and Fields of my Advisor and Minor Committee Members?

The Graduate School lists ECE faculty under some fairly broad terms in regard to the Concentrations than can be represented on Special Committees. When you complete your Special Committee Selection form, you will need to select the “Special Committee Chair Concentration” for your Advisor (Chair), and there are only four Concentrations to choose from. They are as follows listed below:

1. Computer Engineering
2. Electrical Engineering
3. Electrophysics
4. Electrical Systems

If you have opted to have one of your Minor Advisors also represent ECE on your Special Committee, you will also need to select one of the four options listed above for the "Minor Member Concentration.” The Graduate School has put together a complete listing of all ECE Faculty along with their complete listings of approved Concentrations as well as their Research Interests:

Listing of ECE Faculty – Approved Concentrations and Research Interests

When in doubt, the best option to select should be the default choice of "Electrical Engineering."

If one or more of your Minor Advisors represent a graduate field other than ECE, you will also need to correctly list the "Minor Member Concentration” for each of them as well from the appropriate field. Minor Members (Minor Advisors) must be approved to represent a specific concentration on your Special Committee.

In order to find the correct info for your Minor Advisors, you will need to do the following:

1 – Go to the Listing of all Cornell Graduate Fields of Study
2 – Select the Field of Study of your Minor Advisor from the list and click on the link
3 – There will be menu bar at the top of the page. Click on the link labeled ‘Faculty’ and you will then be directed to the page that lists all of the Approved Concentrations and Research Interests for the graduate field of your Minor Advisor.
4 - Please review them before completing your Special Committee Selection and Change form.

[top]

14. I thought we only had to complete one minor?

Most students pick ECE as one of their minors by having an ECE field member (in addition to their advisor) on their special committee. In this case, you have to pick only one additional minor. You can also complete two minors where both are from non-ECE fields.

[top]