Introduction
If you intend to pursue a degree that requires a thesis or dissertation, finding an advisor with whom to work is a key step. For best results, reach out to potential advisors prior to applying to ask if they are accepting new advisees and what funding may be available to support you prior to applying to a program. Here are some ways to identify potential advisors:
- Reach out to professors you know from your undergraduate coursework, and ask them about programs and people.
- Attend the conference of an association in your discipline; attend talks and poster sessions and talk to people who are doing work that interests you.
- Use listservs/online communities of associations in your discipline to identify potential advisors.
- Search the literature for authors currently publishing research that interests you (how to use Web of Science and Scopus to identify active researchers in a specific research area is shown below).
Advice on choosing an advisor:
- Choosing the Right Advisor - InsideHigherEd
- Seven Steps to Finding the Right Advisor - American Psychological Association
- How to Pick a Graduate Advisor - Ben Barres
- What Matters in a Ph.D. Advisor? - Science
Web of Science
- Web of Science (All Databases Search) This link opens in a new window Easily search across all subscribed Web of Science databases simultaneously using a common set of search fields for the most comprehensive results. Web of Science indexes core journal articles, conference proceedings, data sets, and other resources in the sciences, social sciences, arts, and humanities.
Search on a topic of interest and use the "refine" options in the left panel to limit to recent years (maybe the last 3)
Then click "Analyze Results" and choose "Author" from the Analyze menu:
Click on an author's box to see records of their publications, which will include their affiliation info. Note that one author may have multiple boxes based on variations of the name in records.
Scopus
- Scopus This link opens in a new window Scopus is the largest abstract and citation database including peer-reviewed titles from international publishers, Open Access journals, conference proceedings, trade publications and quality web sources. Subject coverage includes: Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics and Engineering; Life and Health Sciences; Social Sciences, Psychology and Economics; Biological, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
Search Scopus on a topic of interest to you.
Select recent years using the "refine results" panel on the left, and click the "limit to" button.
Click the "Analyze search results" link at the top.
Choose the "Documents by author" panel
Scopus will show the authors, ordered by number of publications.
Click on an author entry in the graph or list to see the records for an author's publications, which will include their affiliations.
Find an Advisor at the University of Illinois
- Find an advisor at Illinois with Illinois Experts
Illinois Experts aims to facilitate the discovery of campus research expertise and enable access to the works of over 2,500 Illinois researchers and scholars. Find an advisor at the University of Illinois by exploring researcher profiles based on research topics of interest to you.
Natural Resources & Environmental Sciences Faculty
- Review departmental profiles for NRES faculty members to learn about areas of research focus.
Molecular & Cellular Biology Faculty
- Search for faculty profiles by department or research interests among the School of Molecular and Cellular Biology faculty.
- Search for faculty profiles by department or research interests among the School of Integrative Biology faculty.