Return to Normalcy - Sina Rabbany

Returning to Normalcy Sina Y. Rabbany, PhD (Bioengineering) Dean, Fred DeMatteis School of Engineering and Applied Science Jean Nerken Distinguished Professor of Engineering sina.y.rabbany@hofstra.edu It has certainly been gratifying to observe the re-emergence of normalcy within our school in recent months. While we led the way with in-class instruction in Fall 2020 and again in Spring 2021, most of our extracurricular initiatives had to be held in abeyance. During the summer just concluding, two of our most prominent programs ran as scheduled in person with numerous students participating. One was the initial offering of our Women’s Summer Program in Computing/Engineering (W-SPiCE) in which fifteen women students, most of whom had just finished their first year in a DeMatteis School degree program, spent the entire month of June exploring five of our degree programs through lectures, projects and interactions with outside professionals. The other was our long-standing Advanced Summer Program in Research (ASPiRe), which matched about 26 undergraduate students with 20 faculty working on cutting-edge projects throughout the summer and culminating in a symposium on August 23 rd when the students presented the results of their research.

Another recent development that has long-term benefits for current and future students is the initial accreditation from the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET we have received for our BS Bioengineering, BS Civil Engineering and BS Industrial Engineering programs. This brings the total number of accredited programs we offer to six in the Department of Engineering and two in the Department of Computer Science. I want to commend the faculty and especially the Department Chair Richard Puerzer for the effort they put into preparing the programs for this milestone.

Since I last communicated with you, construction has begun on the new building on the opposite side of campus from our current location which, when completed by Spring 2023, will house both the new Nursing School and our entire Department of Computer Science, along with the Bioengineering and Industrial Engineering programs. This increased footprint is a testimonial to our growth in numbers of students and numbers of full-time faculty and adjunct faculty. And, along with my colleagues Richard Puerzer and Krishnan Pillaipakkamnatt, both of whom are stellar administrators of our two departments, I want to extend a hearty greeting to our two newest full-time faculty, Dr. Rajesh Kumar in Computer Science and Dr. Andy Borum in Engineering.

Classrooms are back to full capacity this Fall, which is especially fortunate in our case, because we are running at capacity in so many of our courses. That is a good sign: it was obvious that hybrid instructional models which faculty dutifully embraced as the way

to go last year, were cumbersome and work-intensive for diligent professors trying to harmonize content for two different clienteles.

So we look forward to the new academic year with gratitude for what everyone in the DeMatteis School was able to accomplish in trying circumstances, and hopeful that this year will be one where both our students and our faculty and staff can function to the best of their potential.