ME-MS - Mechanical Engineering (MS)

The Department of Mechanical Engineering (ME) is committed to providing academic advising in support of graduate student scholarly and professional development. This advising relationship is most effective when it entails collaborative and sustained engagement between the advisor and the advisee. As a best practice, the advisor/advisee relationship and expectations of both sides should be periodically discussed and reviewed to ensure mutual understanding. All advisors and the advisee are expected to maintain professionalism and integrity.

Faculty advisors guide graduate students in key areas of their academic career. An academic advisor helps guide student selection of courses and provides help in navigating polices and degree requirements. In the case of faculty advising teaching assistants, the relationship should include help with development of teaching pedagogy and practice. If the advisor also serves as the primary research advisor, then the advising is much more extensive and also includes research training, design, execution, and career planning (see also Ph.D. section below).

In all cases, graduate students should be active contributors to the advising relationship, proactively seeking academic and professional guidance and taking responsibility for informing themselves of policies and degree requirements for their graduate program (including reading the ME Department’s Graduate Student Handbook). Graduate students conducting research should also strive to understand the method and goals of the research and the project’s contribution to the pertinent field.

The faculty Director of Graduate Studies (DGS) meets with all master’s and doctoral students at the start of their first year, and is available year-round via email and by appointment. The department’s Student Services Office is also an important part of the advising team; they inform students and advisors about university and department requirements, procedures, and opportunities, and maintain the official records of advising assignments. Students are encouraged to talk with staff of the Student Services Office, including the DGS, as they consider advisor selection, or for advice in working with their advisor(s). Another excellent resource for students is the ME Graduate Student Committee, a student-run group which organizes social, academic, and community events for the graduate student population in the ME Department.

For a statement of University policy on graduate advising, see the Graduate Advising section of this bulletin.

At the start of graduate study in the master’s program, each student is assigned an advisor: a member of the who provides guidance in course selection and in exploring academic opportunities and professional pathways. The graduate student handbook provides a summary of program requirements. Although there is no set rule for meeting frequency, academic advisor and student should meet about once per quarter, particularly during the first few quarters of the student’s time at Stanford. Usually, the same faculty member serves as program advisor for the duration of master’s study, but a student can seek a change of advisor by contacting the Student Services Office and/or the ME faculty with whom they seek an advisor/student relationship.