Graduate Student Advising

The Graduate Coordinator approves each student's formal study plan and a number of other documents required to mark progress through the graduate program. In some cases, the graduate coordinator remains the student's principal academic advisor throughout his or her program. However, most engineering graduate students take the thesis/project option and choose a different thesis/project advisor from among the faculty at large. In some cases, thesis/project advisors may be identified before arriving at Cal Poly. Non-thesis/project students also typically choose advisors with professional interests closely aligned with their own.

As a graduate student, you are strongly encouraged to knock on doors early in your program and get to know the faculty members whose professional interests seem closest to your own. (Each department's web site lists the faculty and their areas of specialization.) Especially if you plan to do a thesis or project, you should start "shopping" for a faculty advisor early. Many factors enter into the decision on who should be your thesis/project advisor, including the ability to define a mutually satisfactory thesis/project proposal, availability of possible project funding, and advisor availability (note that faculty go on sabbatical occasionally, or might otherwise be unavailable when you are doing your thesis).