The PhD is our primary doctoral program. The Doctor of Engineering Science variant of the doctorate has identical academic requirements to the PhD program, described here. The Doctor of Engineering degree is officially designated Eng.Sc.D., but in practice is typically referred to as DES.
The most significant difference between PhD students and DES students is DES students are permitted to be part-time and are expected to be self-funded (or employer funded). Even though part-time, SEAS still imposes a maximum time to degree of seven years. This does not include any time spent in a masters degree program. Applicants must already hold a masters degree in Computer Science or a strongly related field to be admitted for DES. There are also some differences in registration for PhD vs. DES students.
The department rarely approves the admission of part-time students, i.e., DES students, and then only if the DES applicant was recruited by a tenured or tenure-track member of the Computer Science Department faculty who asked to be the student’s research advisor.
The “distance learning” variant of Doctor of Engineering Science, CVN-DES, does not require Teaching/TAing and Community Service, but is otherwise identical to the on-campus DES. Applications for CVN-DES will likewise not be considered unless recruited by a tenured or tenure-track member of the Computer Science Department faculty.