Engineering Chair's Welcome

Richard PuerzerI am delighted that you are interested in engineering as a career choice and the Engineering Programs at Hofstra University as you begin preparing for your career. You will be pleasantly surprised at the robustness of our many majors and specializations and the student-centered learning environment that exists in our department. As you will discover, our talented faculty are professionally active while being dedicated to teaching – teaching students interested in becoming engineers. All courses and laboratories are taught by faculty; there are no teaching assistants.

You will find that students here help one another; collaborations are encouraged with individual and collective responsibilities within courses and tutoring outside of courses. Students helping students extends beyond the bounds of the Hofstra campus. Of course, we facilitate internship opportunities with local industries; a particular facet of most of our programs is linking students with a local company on the senior design project. The projects, which model the engineering work environment, are presented at semester's end to a panel of practicing engineers and faculty.

Studying engineering at Hofstra is not just hard work; it is hard work and a lot of fun. Each spring, we host the Long Island regional U.S. FIRST Robotics Contest with engineering students serving as high school team support members. Engineering faculty were involved, serving as judges, assisting teams, and participating in running the event that hosted approximately 8,000-10,000 parents, students and supporters.

Our graduates go on to work for world-class companies including General Electric, Lockheed-Martin, ITT, and UPS.  Additionally, many alumni go on to prestigious graduate schools to pursue master's, doctoral or professional degrees in medicine or law (at schools such as Columbia, Northwestern, Carnegie-Mellon, and Cornell ).

In today's technological world, there is a need for engineers with the attributes of Hofstra engineers – professionals dedicated to societal improvement, achieved through engineering innovation. We will help you achieve your professional goals and make sure you enjoy the experience.

Sincerely,
Richard J. Puerzer, Ph.D.
Chair, Department of Engineering