First year students will be mentored by PhD Coordinators who are faculty staff. As the student becomes more familiar over time with the field and department, he/she will be in a better position to identify a topic for dissertation. At that point, the student can request faculty members to be their thesis advisors. The thesis advisor can be any faculty member in the student’s department. Sometimes the mentor eventually becomes the thesis advisor. However, the student need not choose the mentor as the advisor. The topic of dissertation and relevant expertise are the primary considerations.

As part of the scholarship, each student assists the thesis advisor by performing teaching and research related tasks. The thesis advisor  can also guide and instruct the students to develop new skills.