ChrisMantegna
commented
3 months ago Hey Megan!
I don't have all of the answers, but from my experience I can answer a few. First, I met with Steven and went over who I thought would be a good fit for my work and who had skills in areas that would support or complement the work I am doing. After that, I sent emails, met 1v1 with each one, and then scheduled my first committee meeting to go over my progress to date and then projected timeline for meeting the program milestones.
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My first committee member is Alison Gardell, we have been working together on the mussel work and it was a natural addition to my committee. Her area of expertise (ecotox) is complementary to what I'm doing.
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Next, my SAFS faculty. Took a bit of searching, but I have P. Sean McDonald as well. His expertise aligns with community science, education, and ecology.
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My GSR is Camille Gaynus from BIMS. Her areas of expertise are in community science and eDNA. Her role is to offer support and perspective outside of UW.
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We've met once in a full meeting and have kept in contact via email for milestone check-ins. Once I prepare my package for bypass we will meet again to review it before the committee has to sign off that I can submit. Prior to the work of exams and dissertation, I expect we will continue to communicate through email. I work with Alison and Steven more than the others right now based on the nature of my current work.
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After that, I am operating under the assumption that we will meet to review milestone achievement timelines and prepare for my qualifying exams.
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Moving into dissertation phase, I envision their role, as experts in their fields, to support me through writing and (hand's on) editing of my dissertation before they ultimately approve it...
Ok, that's a book but I hope it helped.
meganewing
Non coding question regarding general "about being a grad student" stuff. Specifically committees. One of my goals for this week is to get my committee formed (finally), but has left me with questions:
Someone says yes.... now what? Do I just send them the docusign form and that's it?
Should you meet with them 1 on 1 to go over expectations and things? What would some example expectations be if so?
What does your committee do?
How often do most folks meet with them?
How often do you send them stuff? What do you send them?
How involved are they typically?