The Extracurricular Advantage

The Extracurricular Advantage 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 This issue of our newsletter focuses primarily on some of the extracurricular activities our students are engaged in as we enter the second half of the 2021-22 academic year. We are constantly looking to broaden the opportunities for students in all majors and all levels of study, recognizing that the key to successful completion of a degree in the DeMatteis School and entry into a career is for the individual student to become energized by ideas, by interactions with others, and by taking up multiple challenges beyond the achievement of solid grades in a prescribed curriculum.

Chief among these, of course, is taking advantage of our Co-op Program, now in its seventh year under the wise direction of Mr. Philip Coniglio, who paves the way for our third- and fourth-year students (and even our graduate students) to land positions in top-tier companies for a truly life-changing experience in the world of business and technology. Now more than ever, a graduating student who has the industry experience the co-op position gives them is at a distinct advantage when seeking full-time employment.

There are numerous other opportunities at the DeMatteis School to burnish one’s knowledge and credentials. Last summer we were able to run our ASPiRe program at full throttle after the disappointment of the 2020 enforced shutdown of facilities. Faculty and participating students accomplished many research goals that will issue in publications and presentations for students over the coming year. We also got our new initiative for students who want to work on infrastructure projects in rural overseas locations started by teaming up with Engineers in Action, which sponsors projects in Bolivia. Our first contingent of students is preparing to travel there in the upcoming summer and team with students from another participating university on a bridgebuilding project.

Of course, we continued with Hofstra in Silicon Valley where our upper-level Computer Science students interact with professionals from high tech companies for a week in January. We also ran the winter segment of our Women’s Summer Program in Computing/Engineering (W-SPiCE), in which ten first-year DeMatteis students met with over thirty women engineers and computer scientists representing eight companies in the metropolitan area to hear about career opportunities and challenges facing them as they navigate their way toward careers. (continued)

A challenge facing all of us in higher education is the widespread school closure and turn to virtual education which overran the country over the past two years. As I have reported previously, we at the DeMatteis School were back in the classroom in August 2020 and have never regretted doing so. But I am reminded of the startling images recorded from space of the enormous undersea volcano that recently erupted near the island country of Tonga in the Pacific. The ensuing tsunami made its way all across the ocean, much as the waves of diminished teaching in primary and secondary schools are spreading across the nation into its universities and colleges. Every commentator now complains about the deleterious effects of shutdowns on learning, but we are faced with the question: how can we rectify the situation?

One of the approaches we have taken is to offer a free math preparation course in August to incoming students. They can reinforce what they may not have had the opportunity to fully experience in high school, guided by a professor in the Department of Mathematics and Hofstra student tutors who have mastered this material early on in their academic careers. For those students who have completed their first semester here, we then offer a free course in computer science concepts in January as a bridge to the second semester, and for the engineering students, a free course leading to Excel certification. Picking up skills over the long break between the fall and spring semesters, and doing so without expense in tuition, is yet another opportunity to avail themselves of here at the DeMatteis School.

As usual, I send my greetings to all of you, and am always eager to get updates from readers of this newsletter who are alumni.