Graduate Student Affairs

Graduate Student Affairs Contacts

Tom Cahoon
Director of Graduate Student Affairs
Office Location: ECT 110

Christy King
Academic Counselor
Office Location: ECT 127B

Contact Information

Location: Engineering and Computing Trailer (ECT)
Room 101

Phone: (949) 824-3562
Email: soegradinfo@soemail.uci.edu

What We Do

From recruitment and admission to degree conferral and graduation, our office provides many services for new and continuing graduate students. As you navigate toward degree completion, our main function is to provide general counseling and advice for you. We also collaborate with the various departments on many student-related issues. Our office serves as the final school-wide place of approval for petitions, advancements to candidacy, degree conferrals, and other processes.

The Role of the Faculty Graduate Advisor

The Graduate Advisor is a faculty member in the respective academic unit who is the official representative of the Graduate Dean in matters affecting graduate studies in the Faculty Graduate Advisor's academic unit. A close working relationship is established between the Advisor and the Office of Graduate Studies. The Graduate Dean is dependent upon the experience and judgment of the Graduate Advisors, and upon their recommendations, in matters requiring the Graduate Dean's action. The Graduate Division staff provides information to the Advisors on a continuing basis and responds to requests for special assistance.

The Faculty Graduate Advisor is responsible for supervising graduate study in his or her department and for ensuring that each graduate student is assigned an individual faculty advisor and mentor. In many academic units, the advisor is instrumental in the appointment and supervision of graduate student Teaching Assistants, Associates, Readers, and Tutors. In most schools, there is also an Associate Dean for Graduate Studies who coordinates many of the functions which affect graduate students. This faculty member works in conjunction with their academic dean and department chairs.

Current HSSoE Graduate Advisors:

Arts, Computation, and Engineering:
Simon Penny
Email: penny@uci.edu

Biomedical Engineering:
Abe Lee
Email: aplee@uci.edu

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering:
Vasan Venugopalan
Email: vvenugop@uci.edu

Civil Engineering:
Stephen Ritchie
Email: sritchie@uci.edu

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science:
Hamid Jafarkhani
Email: hamidj@uci.edu

Environmental Engineering:
Brett Sanders (Program Director)
Email: bsanders@uci.edu

Materials Science and Engineering:
Martha Mecartney
Email: martham@uci.edu

Fargalli Mohamed (Program Director Interdisciplinary Program)
Email: famohame@uci.edu

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering:
Faryar Jabbari (admissions)
Email: fjabbari@uci.edu

Feng Liu (continuing students)
Email: fliu@uci.edu

Graduate Advisors review and sign off on most of your paperwork during your program of study. This approval includes petitions for part-time study, leaves of absence, transfer of coursework, and thesis committee membership. They also approve your program of study, coursework, and advancement to candidacy. Graduate Advisors are available to discuss any issue related to your matriculation as a graduate student at UC Irvine, or to refer you to the right place on issues not handled under their jurisdiction.