Graduate Advising Resources
How Academic Advising Works in the BME Graduate Program:
If you need help with anything, your first point of contact should be Melanie in the BME Graduate Studies Office at Senitko.1@osu.edu.
All graduate students are assigned a BME Department faculty member to be an 'academic advisor' (or 'core faculty advisor') who can advise and assist with academic decisions. It is strongly recommended that students meet with their BME core faculty advisors at least once each term to discuss scheduling and program goals. It is perfectly acceptable to request a change of core faculty advisor at anytime. (This BME core faculty advisor should be consulted in addition to your faculty research advisor, who may or may not be the same.)
Graduate School is different from the undegraduate experience. Graduate students are expected to be very proactive in consulting with their core faculty advisor & research advisors to stay on the right track and to seek academic advice -- much as you used to meet with an undergraduate advisor. As well, the Officers of the Biomedical Engineering Graduate Student Association (BMEGSA) are an excellent resource! Contact them for student and peer support and advice.
Graduate Studies Committee Chair, Dr. Jun Liu, is an additional excellent resource for program and research questions and can be reached at Liu.314@osu.edu.
Most of you will meet all deadlines and follow all procedures per University policy, but sometimes there are 'snags'. As a rule, it is best to approach your home department first when attempting to tackle an administrative problem relating to scheduling, fees, research appointments, transfer work, or financial aid.
Most often, there is no harm in a one or two-day delay in resolving your issue; however, if you cannot reach the Graduate Studies Office for assistance and are experiencing an urgent problem, please feel free to consult the following resources.
Who can help?
- Registration: For questions on just about any aspect of the scheduling process, fees, and registration deadlines, try Graduate School registration services.
- Drops/Adds/Petitions/Penalties: For questions about deadlines and schedule correction procedures, try Graduate School registration services.
- Funding matters: GTAs or GRAs hired through BME should contact Catrena Collins collins.424@osu.edu. GRAs hired by a faculty member in an affiliated unit or department other than BME should contact the HR or Fiscal person in that area.
- Fellowships: You may email Melanie with questions of eligibility and deferment, and Catrena Collins collins.424@osu.edu with questions about HR paperwork and payment. Or try Fellowship Services staff at the Graduate School.
- University Fees & Policies: For help with financial aid matters, registration challenges, tuition and fee payments, or loan info try .
- BME Computing, Email Accounts, Technology issues: etshelp@osu.edu
- Keys or Access to Graduate BME Labs & Offices: contact Melanie Senitko at senitko.1@osu.edu or Ben Jones, building coordinator, at jones.182@osu.edu.