First Year Rotation Program

Research Rotation Program 

First-year Ph.D. students can spend 1 quarter each in 3 groups. They must align with a permanent advisor by the middle of Spring quarter of the first year.

Look over the department website and research group pages to get ideas or information about specific faculty you might be interested in working with for rotations.

You are encouraged to line up your own research rotations. Be sure to contact the faculty directly to confirm their consent.

You need to tell the Graduate Program Office about your autumn quarter rotation  by August 15. Information on any rotations that you have lined up must be e-mailed to phdstudentservices@cs.stanford.edu.

Alternatively, you can tell us your preferences for advisors or research areas, and the Graduate Program Office will line up a research rotation for you. (Note that this requires you to be somewhat flexible in the positions that you’ll accept.) Send your e-mail to phdstudentservices@cs.stanford.edu with your preferences for advisors or research areas by August 15.

An entering Ph.D. student and a faculty member may opt out of the rotation system by mutual consent. In this case, the faculty member must agree to serve as the student's research advisor and notify the Graduate Program Office by e-mailing phdstudentservices@cs.stanford.edu. Fine print: If a student starts as a rotation student, but then does a second quarter in the first year with the same advisor, then the student has ceased to rotate and counts as permanently aligned with the advisor, who fully supports them in the second and further quarters.

Remember that the goal of the rotation program is to find an advisor. You should make sure that, by the end of the year, there’s at least one faculty member who is impressed with you and with whom you’d like to work.