Advisors are an integral part of your education. They’ll support you during your academic journey and help you make the most of your Mason experience.
Teaching, Supporting, Connecting
Undergraduate, Master's and Doctoral students work closely with their faculty advisors to plan schedules and meet all degree requirements. Advisors are integral to the success of our students and provide guidance not only on course selection, but also on career paths, internships, research opportunities as well as connect students with university resources. A close relationship with an advisor can make a big difference in your university experience.
Talk with your advisor prior to course registration each semester.
Undergraduate Student Advising
All incoming ECE freshmen and transfer students starting in the Fall will be assigned a full-time advisor to support them during their first year. After your first year, you will transition to a permanent faculty advisor who will help you through the rest of your academic career. You will receive an email from the ECE department at the end of your first year with information about your permanent advisor. For general academic advising inquiries, please send an email to eceugrad@gmu.edu.
Students who are considering changing their major to the electrical or computer engineering program should consult with the CEC advisor for undeclared/undecided students in the 2500 Nguyen Engineering Building. Students may also obtain general advising by visiting: https://advising.gmu.edu/. You can review the criteria to declare here.
The ECE department offers additional support through Ms. Smriti Patwardhan (skansal@gmu.edu) for more detailed matters of advising such as additional information about our undergraduate programs, adding a minor or second major, and accelerated master’s programs, internships, co-ops, study abroad, and other questions. Requests for exceptions to policy must be made through Smriti as well.
Smriti's Office Hours:
Engineering Building #3917
Monday - Thursday 10am-4pm (Preferably by appointment)
All EE and CpE students are strongly advised to see their advisor prior to course registration each semester. The ECE department holds an advising day each semester before registration for the next semester begins. Information about any upcoming advising day will be available on our events page.
Master’s Student Advising
If you are a master’s student in electrical or computer engineering, you will be informed of your faculty advisor’s name in your admissions letter. Your advisor's name and office hours are also displayed in our main office. Make sure to contact your advisor each semester to discuss your plan of study and other academic/career planning-related issues.
If at any point you need information about who your advisor is or their office hours, email our department.
All incoming master’s students are advised to attend an orientation prior to starting the program. Orientation covers important concepts such as choosing a concentration, creating a plan of study as well as the scholarly paper, research project, or thesis options to complete the degree. Orientation slides may be found here.
Doctoral Student Advising
Upon admission to the program, each PhD student in electrical and computer engineering is assigned an ECE faculty member as an academic advisor. The academic advisor provides guidance to the student on coursework and preparing for the qualifying exam. After the student passes the qualifying exam, the student proposes and the ECE department chair appoints a dissertation director who must be a Mason graduate faculty member with a full-time appointment. The dissertation director becomes the student’s academic advisor.
If you need additional information about doctoral advising email our department.
Our faculty members, who combine practical experience with in-depth scholarly studies, instruct students, guide them, and make them partners in advanced research projects.