Each first year student is assigned an advisor from the program faculty. This faculty advisor, together with one of the Program Directors, serves as the student’s First Year Advisory Committee. The Advisory Committee will meet at the beginning of each semester during the student’s first year to provide guidance in coursework, laboratory rotations, grant applications, and general program information.
Before the end of the third semester, students will consult with the Program Directors and their First Year Advisory Committee and identify a faculty member in whose laboratory they will conducted their thesis research.
The student and Thesis Advisor will also select a Thesis Committee. The minimal size of the thesis committee is 3: mentor, PI at NIH who does not collaborate with the mentor, and a Brown faculty member. The committee must include a tenured professor at Brown, but could also include non-tenured Brown faculty (as well as NIH PI's who do collaborate with the mentor). This committee will provide continued support to the student in all matters related to the student’s academic work. In addition, before the final thesis defense, the student and thesis committee must select an outside reader, unaffiliated with either institution, to participate in the committee's evaluation of the student’s defense, which will take place at Brown.