CBFE Dissertation Committee

The dissertation committee will consist of a chair (generally a tenured faculty member in the CS department, unless otherwise approved by the graduate committee) and at least three additional faculty members, of which at least two must be CS faculty. The chair of the committee is the student’s advisor. One member may be external to the UW-Madison campus. The graduate student is responsible for seeking faculty to agree to be on their committee. Typically, the proposal committee makes up the dissertation committee, with an additional faculty from outside CS.

At least three faculty members are responsible for providing substantive feedback to the student on their research questions and motivation, conceptual or theoretical framework, literature, data, methods, analysis, and interpretation. It is expected that the student meets with all three “reader” members prior to their defense. Additional members are not expected to work as closely with the student or provide written feedback in advance. It is important that students communicate with their advisor and all committee members so that it is clear what each of their roles are.