Advising and Mentoring

The Neurosciences IDP is committed to providing advising in support of the scholarly and professional development of its students. When most effective, the advising relationship entails collaborative and sustained engagement by both the advisor and the advisee. Advising expectations should be periodically discussed and reviewed to ensure mutual understanding. Both the advisor and the advisee are expected to maintain professionalism and integrity.

Program staff are the primary resources for information on admissions, degree requirements and courses, financial support, university and academic services, student life, advising, and career counseling.

All first year Neurosciences graduate students have an assigned First Year Advisor drawn from a team of faculty members recruited to this role. First Year Advisors are meant to be an ally who can be relied upon to provide informed counsel about these and other issues during the first year. Students are encouraged to stay connected to their First Year Advisor during the entire course of graduate study.

After a student officially joins a lab, the principal dissertation advisor, also called thesis advisor or research advisor, provides guidance and direction to the doctoral student’s research, as well as evaluation of the student’s progress. Students are encouraged to seek out additional mentoring from faculty such as their First Year Advisor, thesis committee members, or faculty members of the SoLiD program or Pathways to Neurosciences program for non-research mentoring.

Joining the Program and Accepting Students

Joining the Program: Faculty who are interested in formally affiliating with the Neurosciences IDP will meet with the program co-directors to discuss expectations and opportunities for engagement. Click here to learn more about expectations for involvement and to request a meeting.

Faculty who wish to host rotation students will be required to agree to the guidelines in the Mentor Code of Conduct document below, maintain affiliate status in the program, and commit to attend a workshop on program mentorship expectations once every three years. Workshops will be hosted quarterly by the Mentoring Committee. For more information about the motivation behind this requirement please see our email here.

Faculty must attend a mentoring workshop prior to a student joining their lab for thesis research.

Mentor Code of Conduct Faculty who wish to host rotation or thesis students will be required to agree to the guidelines in this document

Advising Resources

Individual Development Plan (IDP)

The Individual Development Plan (IDP) and annual planning meeting are intended to help students take ownership of their training and professional development.

Amidst daily research activities, it is easy to lose sight of longer-term goals; students are encouraged to think intentionally about short-, mid- and long-term training and development goals; identify and use resources to help them achieve their goals; have open and direct dialogue with mentor(s); and establish clear expectations/steps.

The Stanford Biosciences IDP program complies with NIH grant guidelines encouraging institutions to document that they provide a structured IDP program for all NIH-supported PhD candidates and postdocs.

The committee on Graduate Admissions and Policy (CGAP) requires all Biosciences PhD candidates and their mentors to create and discuss the IDP on an annual basis.

Viist the Office of Graduate Education website for more information, FAQs, resources, forms, and reporting instructions.

Thesis Committees and Committee Meetings

In the Neurosciences program, students should form the thesis committee (Doctoral Dissertation Reading Committee) soon after the qualifying exam, and at the same time as advancing to doctoral candidacy - by the end of the second year.

The first meeting of the thesis committee must take place in summer of Year 3, or summer of G2 year for MSTP students. In Years 3 and 4, students are required to meet with their thesis committee annually. Meetings must be scheduled by May 1, and completed by August 1. Starting in Year 5, students must meet with their committee twice per year. The first meeting must be completed by March 1, and the second meeting completed by August 1.

See the Program Handbook for thesis committee meeting guidelines.

After each meeting, the thesis committee chair is to submit a completed Thesis Committee Meeting Evaluation Form

After the Green Light Meetings, students must submit a completed and signed Green Light Meeting Form.

Both documents are also available on the Forms page.

Doctoral Dissertation Reading Committees (GAP 4.8)

University Oral Examination Committee (GAP 4.7)