Thesis advisor

[philapp]

I am going to start my PhD this October at a university in Belgium.  The advisory committee for my PhD thesis consists of 3 advisors.  Two of the advisors are from my current university (the one I have got admission from), and I have the chance to find the third advisor from a university outside Belgium. I have decided to find the third advisor from a pretty high rank department in the States.  Does it make sense to approach a professor in the States and ask him/her to be part of an advisory committee of a student who is student in Europe?

  Any ideas would be appreciated. 

[Eigen]

Please don't post the same thing in multiple forums. 

[fuzzylogician]

I don't see why not, especially if you are looking to have connections in North America. It does make things more complicated -- you get less hands-on support from the person overseas, and having a committee member in a different time zone who needs to skype-in to your defense (assuming your university doesn't require them to be there, which complicates things even more) will make it hard to schedule a defense and have run smoothly. If you do think the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, you should consult with your advisors about who it you should invite to join your committee and you should probably also get their help approaching the person, if it's not someone you've already met.