Hofstra University

Hofstra University physician assistant studies students spent part of their summer providing care to families in Aldea Panabajal, Guatemala, while putting their clinical skills into practice.

Students from the Fred DeMatteis School of Engineering and Applied Science spent the summer applying their classroom knowledge to research at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, gaining hands-on experience across engineering, computer science and medicine.

Hofstra University congratulates the students named to the spring 2026 Dean's List for their outstanding academic achievements. Students must earn a grade point average of at least 3.5 during the semester to make the Dean's List.

Hofstra University is proud to release the spring 2026 Provost's List, which recognizes students who earned a perfect 4.0 grade point average.

Hofstra television and film major Hannah Carranza '29 is the recipient of the prestigious Make Her Mark Student Scholarship, presented by the Alliance for Women in Media (AWM) Foundation in partnership with Hallmark Media. Carranza received the honor at AWM's 51st Annual Gracie Awards, held June 16 at Cipriani on 42nd Street in New York City.

Ethan Brown, a fourth-year medical student at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, received the 2026 Medical Society of the State of New York/Dr. Duane and Joyce Cady Physicians of Tomorrow Scholarship from the American Medical Association Foundation. The scholarship is based on academic achievement and financial need providing $10,000 in tuition assistance to extraordinary medical students.

Ethan Ertel, an MD/PhD student from the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, will join Northwell and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) teams to conduct pivotal glioblastoma research. Mr. Ertel will contribute to the collaborative laboratory overseen by Northwell's John Boockvar, MD, and CSHL's Alea Mills, PhD, to investigate novel therapeutic strategies for glioblastoma, one of the most aggressive forms of brain cancer. This unique opportunity is made possible through generous annual funding from the Head for the Cure Foundation, underscoring a shared commitment to accelerating breakthroughs in neuro-oncology.

Established in 1997 by Hofstra's Axinn Library faculty, this award recognizes and rewards excellence in research and writing by graduating seniors.

When Aadi Gadekar '28 studies the world's most pressing health challenges, he is looking for more than medical issues. He is striving to understand how geography, access, and inequality shape people's well-being. That interdisciplinary perspective has defined his Hofstra experience and earned him the 2026-2027 Dr. Masaharu G. Inaba Endowed Memorial Scholarship, awarded annually to an outstanding student in the Department of Global Studies and Geography.

The Omega of New York Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa at Hofstra University welcomed 49 new members from the Classes of 2026, 2027, and 2028 at an induction ceremony on May 13, 2026.

A doctoral student in Hofstra's School-Community PsyD program is the first at the University to be awarded the prestigious Fulbright-Fogarty Fellowship in Public Health. The fellowship will take Gladys Adusei of the Bronx, New York, to the West African country of Ghana, for six to nine months beginning this August 2026, where will explore how school-based mental health programs can serve as a public health strategy to support the emotional and psychological well-being of children and adolescents.

The Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra Northwell is proud to announce that Adrian Chen, a dedicated medical student, has been awarded both the American Heart Association's (AHA) Student Scholarship in Cardiovascular Disease and Stroke and the prestigious Howard S. Silverman Scholar Award, which recognizes Chen as the top-scoring applicant nationally in a highly competitive field of aspiring physician-scientists. These honors provide Chen with a total of $3,000 to support his research into giant cell myocarditis (GCM), a rare and often fatal inflammatory heart disease.

Hofstra journalism major Joe Orovitz '27, who frequently covers Hofstra Men's Basketball for the Office of Marketing and Communications (Marcomm), is making a name for himself behind the lens. His photo of the team celebrating last week's historic CAA Tournament win over Monmouth was splashed on the back page of Newsday on March 11. Orovitz's photos have been featured throughout Newsday's coverage and in media outlets nationwide. Now Orovitz is heading to Tampa with the team as it makes its first NCAA Championship appearance in 25 years to face Alabama this Friday, March 20, at Benchmark International Arena.

Trading winter break downtime for soldering irons, microcontrollers, and interdisciplinary collaboration, two Hofstra mechanical engineering students spent their January inside one of the nation's leading research laboratories, gaining practical experience that sharpened their career focus and expanded their professional horizons.

From Silicon Valley boardrooms to behind-the-scenes conversations with tech leaders, computer science and engineering students from Hofstra University's Fred DeMatteis School of Engineering and Applied Science spent winter break exploring how innovation, talent, and ambition converge in northern California. Students met with engineers, project managers, and senior leaders at companies such as Meta, Google, CrowdStrike, Apple, and Oracle, while experiencing the region's broader innovation ecosystem at the seventh annual Hofstra in Silicon Valley program.

Justin W. Lam, a second-year medical student at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, was recognized for his geriatrics research at the 2025 Gerontological Society of America (GSA) Annual Scientific Meeting held in Boston. Lam received both the Emerging Scholar Poster Award (ESPO) and the TJ McCallum Memorial Student Travel Award for outstanding research in technology and aging, titled "Privacy, Proficiency, and the Promise of Wearables: Insights from Focus Groups with Older Adults."

Hofstra University is proud to release the fall 2025 Provost's List, which recognizes students who earned a perfect 4.0 grade point average.

Hofstra University congratulates the students named to the fall 2025 Dean's List for their outstanding academic achievements. Students must earn a grade point average of at least 3.5 during the semester to make the Dean's List.

At the Frank G. Zarb School of Business, students enrolled in the Advertising Management course are learning firsthand how strategic communication can create positive change by designing marketing campaigns for Hofstra's Pride Pantry, an on-campus resource that helps students facing food insecurity. The project challenges students to apply classroom concepts in a practical way, creating campaigns that both raise awareness of the Pride Pantry and help reduce the stigma often associated with seeking assistance.

Bryanna Sykes, a dance and English major at Hofstra, was recently awarded the highly competitive Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) Spark, sponsored by the U.S. Department of State. The CLS Spark program provides American undergraduate students with immersive online language instruction in Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, or Russian, led by native speakers at international host institutions.

A team of Hofstra engineering students from the Fred DeMatteis School of Engineering and Applied Science earned an honorable mention and a $1,000 prize in the 2025 Design by Biomedical Undergraduate Teams (DEBUT) Challenge, sponsored by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) and VentureWell.

When Hofstra senior Richie Castronova boarded a plane to London last spring, he had no idea he would soon be competing for a $1 million prize on national television. Castronova '26, a TV and business major in the Lawrence Herbert School of Communication, starred on FOX's new game show 99 to Beat alongside his sister. While participating in the Hofstra LA semester program, Castronova advanced through multiple rounds of interviews and screenings before officially being cast in May 2025. Filmed in London over the summer, 99 to Beat premiered this fall on FOX.

Hofstra School of Health Sciences students from the Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy and Exercise Physiology programs volunteered their time and expertise at the Special Olympics New York FUNfitness event last month, working side by side with clinical staff from Northwell Health. Under the direction of Anna Len, assistant professor of physical therapy, student teams conducted flexibility, strength, balance, and mobility screenings for athletes; provided individualized wellness and at-home exercise recommendations; and offered education and encouragement throughout the day.

The Hofstra Northwell School of Nursing and Physician Assistant Studies (SONPA) honored the Undergraduate Nursing Class of 2027 during its pinning ceremony on September 29 in the Sondra and David S. Mack Student Center Theater. The event marked a symbolic rite of passage as students transition from classroom study to clinical practice.

The DeMatteis School of Engineering and Applied Science celebrated innovation and student achievement at the Advanced Summer Program in Research (ASPiRe) Symposium, held August 26 at the Science & Innovation Center. This year's event featured 30 students presenting their summer research in fields spanning bioengineering, civil engineering, mechanical engineering, computer science, and artificial intelligence (AI), among others, many in collaboration with faculty mentors and some with researchers from the Feinstein Institute of Bioelectronic Medicine.

Two Hofstra civil engineering students from the Fred DeMatteis School of Engineering and Applied Science spent their summer in Eswatini, a small country in Southern Africa, where they helped build a pedestrian bridge, alongside students from other universities, as part of the international nonprofit Engineers in Action (EIA). The project, supported through the DeMatteis OverSEAS program, provided students with hands-on experience addressing infrastructure challenges in a resource-limited setting while engaging with the local community.

Doctoral students in the Hofstra Northwell School of Nursing and Physician Assistant Studies (SONPA) celebrated a pivotal moment at the annual White Coat Ceremony on August 27 at Hofstra University's John Cranford Adams Playhouse.

This summer, Physician Assistant (PA) students from the Hofstra Northwell School of Nursing and Physician Assistant Studies (SONPA) embarked on a service-learning trip to Guatemala with Global Medical Brigades, gaining invaluable experience while making a lasting impact in underserved communities.

Hofstra students joined Dr. Antonios Marsellos, associate professor in the Department of Geology, Environment, and Sustainability, at the 32nd Annual Conference on Geology of Long Island and Metropolitan New York (LIG) this spring at Stony Brook University. Marsellos, an expert in environmental hazards, has participated in the LIG for seven years and has coauthored more than 50 publications with Hofstra students over the past nine years.

The South Shore Audubon Society (SSAS) awarded the Jay Koolpix Environmental Scholarship to Hofstra alumnus Benjamin Izaguirre Cortez '22, an environmental scientist who completed his undergraduate studies in sustainability and is now pursuing a master's at the University in the same field.