Before you even begin graduate school, it's important that you spend time figuring out exactly what you're looking for in an advisor. The more clearly you understand your needs, the better you will be able to choose a suitable advisor. Your faculty advisor for a master's thesis program or for a Ph.D. program is the most important person in your graduate school experience, so this selection must be made carefully.

Prepare a general list that you can share with potential advisors in order to find out if they are a good fit for your particular needs. Knowing yourself is essential. What do you want out of your graduate education? What level of independence do you thrive in? What sort of encouragement and critique do you need? It is important that you and your advisor share the same level of motivation for your research. Ask yourself how hard you are willing to work Are you as committed to your work as the advisor who spends weekends and holidays in the lab and expects grad students to do the same?

After analyzing what your specific needs are, how do you go about finally choosing an advisor? One aspect of selecting a thesis adviser is verifying that his or her technological interests are within the field that you wish to pursue. Before you select an adviser, you should determine what courses the instructor teaches and look up his or her publication record. (Many faculty have a bibliography of publications available online. Alternately, a library search engine can establish an individual's publication record.) It is a good idea to read one or more articles authored by a potential adviser to see how well they relate to your technological interests.

A second consideration is the availability of resources to complete the thesis project. Most thesis projects in engineering and computer science are carried out as part of a grant or contract held by the thesis advisor. In addition to financial support, a grant-sponsored thesis project assures that the project is important (at least to the sponsor). Moreover, acceptance of a grant proposal assures that the grantor believes that the facilities required to do the project will be available. Generally, the grant budget will provide stipend support for a student doing a thesis as part of the grant project. That can certainly be an advantage. For graduate students supported as teaching assistants, thesis work must be done in addition to their TA assignments. For grant-supported students, completion of the thesis is usually the primary work assignment.

Refereed publications in the field of interest add substantial weight to a technologist's resume. To get the most out of your degree, an article based on your thesis should be published in the technical literature. Choosing a well thought out, adequately supported thesis project is a good way to assure that your thesis will be publishable when it is completed. Grant-supported theses will generally be published as a technical article co-authored by the student and advisor, with the student's name listed first.

Get information on what it is like to work with a particular professor by talking to students who have worked with him or her. Ask graduate students who currently work with the advisor about what life on his or her research team is like. Ask how long it takes graduate students under this advisor to complete their degree. Ask graduate students how much supervision and direction they receive from their advisor and how much they receive from an advanced graduate student. Take these messages with a grain of salt, but don't ignore any obvious signs of distress. Look for camaraderie. Look for enthusiasm. Consider how well the research work (e.g., experimental work versus theoretical work) suits your abilities.

Some graduate schools have graduate seminars where faculty talk about their research, providing a good opportunity for students to judge if they are interested in that area. Take the time to talk with faculty about their research. And assess whether or not they seem to have time to talk with you. Are they eager to get to know you? This is a good measure of how accessible they would be as an advisor.

Perhaps the faculty member that seems to have similar goals and interests as you has a reputation for being hard to get along with - should you cross them off your list? Not necessarily. Sometimes advisors who are extremely well-organized or demanding get a bad rap; however, if you are someone who needs a lot of outside structure and motivation, such a person could actually be a good fit for you.

It's also not necessarily a bad idea to choose a faculty member who already has a lot of graduate students. Some advisors make time for their students no matter how many they are advising. It is a mistake, however, to choose an advisor simply because he or she is well known. Similarly, choosing an advisor and a research topic simply because they come with funding should be avoided. It will be difficult to remain enthusiastic and motivated in the long run if you are working in an area that is not of interest to you.

Once you have chosen your advisor, be sure to communicate often with him or her. It will save you time and stress in the long run if you have the approval of your adisor at each step of your thesis. There should be no surprises at the defense of your thesis, and you should be confident of your good work when you walk in and when you walk out of the defense.