1. SUPERVISORY COMMITTEE
Please note the following when selecting your GSR:
- Within a year of passing the last qualifying exam, ask faculty members to be on your Supervisory Committee. The committee should be set up at least four months prior to scheduling the General exam. The doctoral supervisory committee consists of a minimum of three voting members, at least two of whom (including the Chair) must be members of the Graduate Faculty with an endorsement to chair doctoral committees. A majority of the voting members must be members of the Graduate Faculty. The Graduate School Representative (GSR) is now a voting member of your committee. Students are responsible for locating a GSR to serve on the committee. Please approach them as you would any other member of your committee
i. The GSR should be selected by the student in consultation with the committee chair and/or the Graduate Program Director. The GSR cannot have an appointment within the student's or the committee chair's department(s). Graduate Faculty who have an adjunct appointment in the student's/committee chair's department(s) are not eligible to serve as the GSR.
ii. The GSR must have no conflict of interest with the committee chair(s) or student. (i.e., budgetary, familial, romantic, departmental relationship. Budgetary conflicts of interest mean that the GSR cannot report to the Chair or receive a significant portion of his/her budget from the Chair. The student may not choose a GSR to whom he/she reports or by whom he/she is supported.)
iii. The GSR must be a Graduate Faculty member with an endorsement to chair doctoral committees.
iv. The GSR cannot have an affiliate appointment.
If you are unsure whether or not your GSR meets the requirements, contact Renee Albert, Student Services Counselor (rca@u.washington.edu, 206-616-6734).
Further details about the GSR and other members of the doctoral supervisory committee may be found in Graduate School Memorandum 13:
http://www.grad.washington.edu/Acad/gsmemos/gsmemo13.htm or in the Doctoral Supervisory Committee Roles and Responsibilities on The Graduate School's website at:
http://www.grad.washington.edu/stsv/doccommroles.htm
- The Chair(s) of a committee must be able and willing to assume principal responsibility for advising the student. He or she should have adequate time available for this work and should expect to be accessible to the student. Emeritus faculty may serve as a Chair if they meet the above conditions. Co-Chairs may be appointed when two Graduate Faculty members serve with equal importance on a student''s supervisory committee and equally share the responsibility for the student's progress. Affiliate faculty may serve as a Chair if they meet the above conditions and either of the following conditions: 1) the committee must include a co-chair who is a non-affiliate Graduate Faculty member OR; 2) the committee must include two non-affiliate members of the Graduate Faculty with an endorsement to Chair from the program offering the student's degree.
The Chair and the majority of the members must be from the Biostatistics Faculty except by petition.
To appoint your committee, you should do the following:
- Write out a list of committee members, indicating: 1) the chair; 2) the GSR; 3) the other members; 4) the home department of each member; 5) that this is a Supervisory Committee (as opposed to a reading committee); and 6) the estimated date for your General exam. Give this list to the Student Services Counselor (SSC), who will send a memo to the Graduate School, which should generate a confirmatory appointment email.
- If after a month you have not received a confirmatory email from the Graduate School listing your committee members, notify the SSC who will check with the Graduate School. Once you receive the email, it is your responsibility to contact the GSR regarding General and Final Exam dates and availability.
2. BIOLOGY PROJECT
As soon as she or he feels ready, a student arranges to prepare a Biology Project. The purpose of this project is to demonstrate that the student can digest information about scientific methods, principles, and mechanisms. The project should focus on basic life sciences rather than epidemiology and public health issues; in rare cases a basic-science topic in a related field will qualify. The student chooses a life sciences topic to study and selects an expert in this area to serve as her/his Biology Advisor. The Graduate Program Coordinator must approve this topic. Students on certain training grants must choose topics appropriate to the grant. The student can then expect 4-6 weeks of reading and study under the director of this Advisor. The product of this study is a report by the student synthesizing results of this research. The report is a one-hour oral presentation and question-and-answer before the student's Biology Exam Supervisory Committee. Students should try to make their presentations in scientific style, with points accompanied by numbered references. The Supervisory Committee decides whether the student has performed satisfactorily.
Biology Exam Supervisory Committee
If the student has already formed her/his supervisory committee for the dissertation, this committee, together with the Biology Advisor, will serve as the supervisory committee for the biology project. If the dissertation supervisory committee has not yet been formed, the Biology Project supervisory committee must consist of at least three members of the graduate faculty from the department of Biostatistics, and the Biology Advisor.Timing
The biology project must be satisfactorily completed before the student is declared to have passed her/his General Examination.Waivers
The Biology Project requirement is waived for any student holding a Master's degree (or higher) in a discipline of the life sciences.
- Tell your committee members and the SSC the date of your Biology Project.
- Reserve the Biostat conference room with Barbara Jenson at the front desk. If it is unavailable, the conference room next to the Dean's office is often available (F-348). The Dean's office handles its reservations. Reserve an overhead projector, if you need it, with Barbara Jensen.
- Tell the Biostat Bulletin editor the date, time and title of your presentation for the bulletin (sjcoke@u.washington.edu).
- Pick up a Biology Project Report form from the SSC or print one out from this pdf link. After the presentation, ask the chair of your committee to fill it out.
- Return Biology Project Report form to the SSC.
3. GENERAL EXAM - ADVANCEMENT TO CANDIDACY
The General Exam can be scheduled only after all program requirements except the writing of the dissertation have been met. Check with the SSC if you are not sure if you have met all requirements.
- Reserve a room for your exam and reserve the overhead projector, if you need it. If any members of your committee will be participating via audio or video conference, contact Cynthia Marks (sonora@u.washington.edu) 2-3 weeks in advance to make arrangements for the appropriate equipment.
- Fill out the on-line application for your General Examination at the Graduate School web site and submit it at least three weeks before your exam is to be scheduled. You must get your committee members' signatures, so this takes lead time. Email signatures are accepted.
- Tell the Biostat Bulletin editor the date, time and title of your presentation for the bulletin (sjcoke@u.washington.edu).
- On the day before your exam (not at 5 minutes before 5, please) check with the SSC to see if your application for your General exam has come back from the Graduate School. It should be in your file.
- The day of your General exam, go to the SSC's office and get your application. It will be in the front of your file.
- After the exam, give a copy of the signed application to the SSC, and take the original to the Graduate School.
4. SEMINAR
- All Ph.D. students are expected to give a public seminar. Confer with your advisor about the nature and timing of your seminar (Thursday afternoon or equivalent).
5. COMPUTER PROFICIENCY
Computer programming is an important skill for statisticians, who frequently must implement estimators not available in standard software or perform simulations to evaluate and compare alternative methods. The department requires a basic level of computing proficiency from all graduates, but encourages them to take the opportunity to gain greater expertise with a variety of computing tools.The computing proficiency requirement is met when a student writes and documents a computer program sophisticated enough to demonstrate the necessary basic competence in programming, or completes an approved programming course. The student's faculty advisor can approve the proficiency requirement or refer the matter to an ad hoc faculty committee for approval. Examples of a suitable programs might include implementing a new estimator, performing a thorough simulation study, or producing a power calculator for a complex study design.
A sufficiently sophisticated program in any programming language is in principle acceptable, though students are strongly encouraged to take the opportunity to learn C and/or Fortran. Mere proficiency in the use of a statistics package is not sufficient.
Approved courses include:
STAT/BIOST 534-5 Statistical computing
CSE 142 Introduction to Programming (also offered through UW Extension)
Once the requirement is met, have your advisor fill out and sign the Computer Proficiency Form (pdf file) and submit it to the SSC.
6. READING COMMITTEE
The reading committee's charge is to (a) ensure that the dissertation is a significant contribution to knowledge and is an acceptable piece of scholarly writing; (b) determine the appropriateness of a candidate's dissertation as a basis for issuing a warrant for a Final Examination; (c) approve a candidate's dissertation and; (d) sign two original Signature Pages that are placed within a dissertation after all revisions are completed.
- As you near completion of your dissertation, and at least one month before scheduling your Final examination, decide with your Committee Chair who the assigned readers will be (three members are required).
- Write a list of the reading committee members, indicating which one is the chair. Give this list to the SSC. Include the estimated date for the Final exam.
- If after a month you have not received a confirmatory email from the Graduate School listing your committee members (and certainly before the day of your Final exam), notify the SSC who will check with the Graduate School.
- It is a good idea to take a draft of your dissertation to the Graduate Scool (Communications Building, G-1) well in advance to have the Thesis Advisor examine it for format requirements.
7. FINAL EXAM
- After confirming that all Reading Committee members have read your dissertation and have suggested no major revisions, and approximatley 4-6 weeks before you hope to hold your exam, arrange a Final exam date with your committee members. IMPORTANT: Make sure you confirm the date/time with all members of the exam committee, especially the GSR. If possible, get their agreement to attend in writing (email messages should be printed out and kept as documentation that you have made the arrangements).
- Arrange a room for your Final and reserve the overhead projector, if you need it. If any members of your committee will be participating via audio or video conference, contact Cynthia Marks (sonora@u.washington.edu) 2-3 weeks in advance to make arrangements for the appropriate equipment.
- Fill out the Doctoral Final Examination application form at the Graduate School web site, print it, and have your committee sign it (email signatures are acceptable). Submit it to the Graduate School at least three weeks before the Final exam date. The Graduate School then prepares the Final examination warrant.
- Tell the Biostat Bulletin editor the date, time and title of your presentation for the bulletin (sjcoke@u.washington.edu).
- Check with the SSC at least one week before your exam to see if your warrant has arrived.
- On the day before or on the day of your Final exam, pick up your warrant (and a GOODBYE form) from the SSC's office -- it will be in your file. The chairperson of your committee should pick up your file for review during the exam; you may need to remind them of this. At the end of the exam, have the committee members sign the warrant. Ensure that all appropriate blanks are filled.
- GIVE TO THE SSC OR PUT IN HIS/HER MAILBOX:
- a copy of the signed warrant
- a hard-bound copy of your dissertation for our permanent collection
- the GOODBYE form (Click here for a pdf copy of the Goodbye Form)
- Return the warrant, diploma card, Survey of Earned Doctorates questionnaire, and two copies of your dissertation to the Graduate School by the last day of the quarter. If you cannot meet this deadline, you will have to register for another quarter. The warrant is good for two quarters only. Everything must be in 60 days after the examination at the latest. Registration as a graduate student is required the quarter that a Final Examination is taken AND the quarter the dissertation is submitted and the degree is conferred even if the 60 day time period has not yet expired. If the 60 day time period expires, another Final Examination may be required.
SSC = Student Services Counselor
Yes. The advantage is easier scheduling of a quorum for the General and Final exam. The disadvantage is the need to get all member signatures on those exam warrant requests.
What is a quorum for the General/Final exams?
While all members of your committee, including the GSR, must sign the warrant requests, only four members are required at the actual exam (to include the chair, the GSR, and at least two other voting members).
Can I add or remove members? Are there time limitations on these changes?
Yes, you may add or remove committee members. You may do so at any time prior to the scheduling of the Final Exam.
Where can I find out more information on committees?
Your best source is the Graduate School Memorandum 13, which is on the web at