About Us

It's an exciting time to be in the discipline of computing. Yes, job opportunities for programmers are vast, and it's true that pay is attractive, but the greatest attraction of computing is the impact it can have on society. Using modern technologies including artificial intelligence, the internet of things, networking, and mobile devices computer scientists can help solve problems large and small. As a computer science or computer engineering student at the Fred DeMatteis School of Engineering and Applied Science, you'll learn the technologies that shape the future.

So, what is computer science and how is it different from computer engineering? Broadly speaking, computer science is concerned with the design of algorithms (software) for processing data. Once you have a computer science degree you typically start working as a software engineer, web/mobile application developer, or a QA tester. A computer engineering program teaches you how to design computing devices and systems. It involves the design of the components (hardware) that make up the system, and the software to make it function. With a computer engineering degree, you might design embedded systems, sensing devices, control systems, etc.

Hofstra's Computer Science Department currently offers four undergraduate degree programs - a BA in Computer Science, a BS in Computer Science, a BS in Computer Engineering, and a BS in Computer Science and Math. We don't publicly highlight programs until they get state approval, so we can add a line here once that happens. Our department currently has 10 full-time faculty members, and we hope to increase that number to 13 within the next five years. All of our full-time faculty have PhDs and undergraduate education is our primary mission. We also encourage our students to participate with us in a wide array of research areas from artificial intelligent and cognitive neuroscience to data mining and data science, system and network security, programming language design, hybrid hardware design and more.

The department has six dedicated labs. The most impressive of these is our $1 million Big Data lab. This single lab has more computational power than the rest of the academic departments combined. It is a state-of-the-art lab with the ability to run 840 threads in parallel, with more than 3 TB of combined RAM, and more than 1 PB of storage space. And, it's open to use by undergraduate students! The other labs serve a wide range of other purposes.

You can find details about our programs, people, labs and more on our website. Or, feel free to reach out to me directly about anything related to the CS Department.

Krishnan Pillaipakkamnatt

David Antar is a true entrepreneur at heart, with over 30 years in the security industry. Over that time, he has started several successful high-tech companies based on a keen ability to understand the needs of his customers and the trends in the marketplace that drive business growth. David founded A+ Technology & Security Solutions in 1989 and today it has grown into one of the largest providers of IP Video Surveillance throughout the New York metropolitan area. A+ is headquartered in an 18,000 square foot facility in Bay Shore, New York with a 7,000 square foot New England operation in Bridgeport, Connecticut. David has founded two additional technology companies that operate from the Bay Shore headquarters. IPVideo Corporation is a security solutions manufacturer and software developer that sells award winning products like the HALO IoT Smart Sensor exclusively through a worldwide dealer network. A+ STEM Labs is an innovator in STEM teaching solutions and has over 1,000 mobile science labs in the New York City school system. In 2012, all business units were combined under the umbrella of a single holding company, Advance Convergence Group (ACG). David explains: “Having a customer centric philosophy is crucial to any successful business and it’s extremely important to stay on top of the latest technology in today’s changing marketplace. It’s all about exceeding your customer’s expectations each and every time.” David Antar’s success is a testament to the wisdom of this philosophy. David was inducted into the LI Technology Hall of Fame in 2016, was honored at the 2019 LISTnet awards, and is involved with several boards and organizations to help make Long Island a better place to live and work.

Dan Constantino is an Associate Vice President at Cox Automotive, where he leads the global Cybersecurity practice which spans over 30 businesses and 30,000 employees with an annual revenue of over 8 billion dollars.

Dan has over 20 years’ experience in the Cybersecurity industry and has worked for Cox Automotive for over 16 years. Prior to Cox Automotive, Dan has worked in the financial services industry for large organizations such as Citigroup and Intesa San Paolo in NYC. Over the course of Dan’s career working for Cox Automotive, he built the Threat Detection and Incident Response Program, orchestrated a risk-driven approach to vulnerability management, spearheaded the implementation of a global 24X7 MSS (managed security service), built the Insider Risk Management program to mitigate insider threats, formalized the Threat Intelligence Program, and most recently led the zero-trust implementation to secure the remote workforce.

Dan is part of professional security associations ISC2 and ISACA. He holds professional designations for the CISM, CISSP, CISA, and CCSP. Dan holds a bachelor’s degree in Information Security from Mt. Sierra College and a graduate certificate in business from UMass Lowell.

Over the past 20+ years, Joe has helped companies to generate business value and drive agility into the technology organization through innovative leadership across DevOps integration, Cloud engineering, enterprise infrastructure services, business systems implementation, IT operations, cybersecurity, and governance. In his current capacity, Joe serves as Head of DevOps and IT for a fintech startup with an award-winning SaaS platform enabling financial institutions to grow deposits and engagement for charity. During his time in the role, Joe built out the IT and DevOps organization while building and scaling the technology ecosystem.

As an entrepreneurial leader, Joe has the aptitude for building and directing elite-level teams all focused on achieving a common objective. Joe has a keen business mind and an innate ability to get the most out of his technology resources. Through effective communication, he is able to establish a consensus and drive buy-in from clients and business stakeholders. His teams are focused on meeting their commitments and driving business enablement. This focus has delivered breakthrough results over the course of his career.

Joe holds a BS degree in Computer Science along with executive certificates from Stanford University and the University of Pennsylvania in Startup Engineering/DevOps and Operations Management.

Hy Goldstoff founded InterSoft in 1986, growing it from a one-person consultancy to the organization it is today. Hy’s technical staff is US-based and housed in InterSoft’s Lynbrook, NY office. Over the years he has found that working with a domestic staff yields far greater benefits for the success of a project than working with overseas personnel and is often less expensive on a project and life-cycle basis. Throughout his career, Hy has been instrumental in the strategic vision, design, and development of numerous software solutions for industries such as book publishing, financial services, manufacturing, and health care, among others. His expertise in business management, workflow optimization, and decision-support analysis has been a major force in providing consulting services and successful software solutions to clients across a wide range of industries. Hy holds degrees in Mathematics and Computer Science from New York University’s Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences.

Jeremy Kahn is an innovative technology consultant, CIO, and attorney with over 25 years of experience. His leadership and consulting experience has crossed the private, public and government sectors. Jeremy has spent the past few years building a consulting organization focused on cybersecurity focusing on the financial, healthcare, and hospitality vertical markets. Jeremy is an attorney and member of the NY State Bar Association. He has spoken at a numerous industry events on cybersecurity, disaster recovery and enterprise architecture and conducted CLE classes on cybersecurity. He earned his JD from Brooklyn Law School and his BS in Policy Analysis from Cornell University. Jeremy currently lives outside of New York City with his wife and children where he serves on the school board as their "technology consultant" for the past 15 years.

Dominic is an Offensive Security Engineer on Facebook’s Red Team, where he plans, designs, executes and leads operations aimed at strengthening the company’s security infrastructure. As a red teamer, Dominic fully embraces the concept of adversary emulation and thinking. Before Facebook, he amassed seven years of experience at multiple cybersecurity consultancies, where he developed many of the skills he relies on today to perform red team operations.

Arnold Stillman is the CEO of POEM Technology, a manufacturer of cellular IoT devices and platforms. Mr. Stillman has had over 30 years of experience in the design and development of electronic instrumentation in senior positions at Brookhaven National Laboratory, Tactronics, and Clever Devices. He is the past chairman of the IEEE Long Island Section Executive Committee and a member of the American Physical Society. Mr. Stillman has been a reviewer for The Review of Scientific Instruments and won a Battelle Research and Development Award in 2000. He has a BA in Physics from the University of Rochester and has done graduate coursework in Physics at Michigan State University (online), NYU, and Stony Brook University.

Richard Teed is President and Chief Operating Officer of LBi Software. He has over 30 years of application development and project management experience. Richard has managed several large HR ERP upgrades and installations. He has also managed several large multi-year custom application projects in Sports Technology. As COO and President Richard has led the transformation of LBi Software from a custom development shop to a product based firm, launching flagship solutions, LBi HR HelpDesk and LBi Dynasty. He is also a two-time graduate of Hofstra University, with a B.S. in Computer Science and MBA in Finance.

Paul Trapani is an entrepreneur and consultant experienced in executive management, software design and development, business operations, and technology planning and strategy. He is President of Long Island Software and Technology Network (LISTnet) and runs software consulting company PJT Consulting. LISTnet serves as a chamber of commerce for the tech industry on Long Island and works to create a strong technology ecosystem for all companies on Long Island. PJT Consulting helps clients translate business requirements into software. Paul holds a bachelor’s degree from SUNY Geneseo and master’s in Computer Science from Hofstra University. He enjoys food and cooking in his free time and helped to create the app Eat Everywhere.

Darragh Fitzpatrick, Partner & EVP, at Tabush Group, lends his technical knowledge and expertise to help innovate, while also bringing his passions of helping and connecting people. His focus is to be a leader, build and grow the business, look for new ways to add services to the business, and make sure clients' needs are always top of mind. Originally from Ireland, Darragh relocated to New York in the early 2000s. He now lives on Long Island with his wife and their two sons.

Nicholas Walsh currently works as a Principal Technical Keynote Lead at Amazon Web Services (AWS), where he leads development of keynote addresses for some of the company's most senior executives on its biggest stages. When he's not crafting stories around products and announcements at Amazon, he's looking for ways to give back to the community by expanding access to technology education; with previous work at Major League Hacking (MLH), a NYC-based B-Corp focused on powering educational events and programs for student developers and builders. Previously, Nick has held roles in developer relations, software engineering, and medical research across startups, mid-sized companies, and universities, with a focus on machine learning and cloud infrastructure. Nick is a Long Island native and holds a B.S. in Applied Mathematics & Statistics (AMS) from Stony Brook University.

Gavi Hoffman, Esq. is a recovering attorney and Senior Product Advisor with the Enterprise Transformation Advisory team at Amazon Web Services. He supports teams transition to a product driven approach to development, an innovative way of thinking as well as Agile implementation and best practices. In over a decade of product experience before joining AWS Gavi worked at Cognizant, Magenic and Avanade where he drove digital, product and agile transformations for global and national industry leaders in Healthcare, Life Sciences, Financial Services, and Insurance. He has a BA from Queens College and a JD from Pace University and lives on Long Island with his wife and three children.

Agustin (Augie) Campos-Marquetti is the Head of Workforce Management for Operation Technology (OPT). In his role, he is responsible for hiring, retaining and developing talent globally for OPT to ensure that our talent strategy aligns with the priorities of the business. Augie has been with the firm for 12 years and has held a series of Program/Portfolio Management positions including the Head of Product Delivery for the Anti Money Laundering/Know Your Customer (AML/KYC) product, the development and deployment of an account opening platform for all Chase Private Client (CPC) branches, the national deployment of cash recyclers across all US branches and the delivery/project execution of all regulatory projects for the Consumer Bank. Augie has 34 years of experience as a technology change agent and has worked for a variety of financial institutions on Wall St.

Augie is married and has 3 daughters and a son . He is an avid skydiver, enjoys working out and loves spending quality time with his family.

Vincent Daempfle is an accomplished software engineer specializing in iOS development for the Facebook app at Meta. Prior to joining Meta, he made significant contributions as a software engineer at Zebra Technologies, where he led software development efforts to enable Bluetooth communication between barcode scanners/RFID readers and iOS devices. Vincent was also granted three patents while working at Zebra for his work related to loss prevention systems. At Telephonics, he developed embedded software and test components for various radar systems. Vincent holds a Master's degree in Computer Engineering from NYU Tandon and a Bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering from Hofstra University.

Nikia Lubin is the Director of Information Technology for the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell. With over 15 years’ experience serving various roles in academic technology, she oversees the IT operations that enhance learning environments and user services. Nikia lends her expertise in managing technical teams, as well as leading and planning innovative technology management. She is passionate about her role in helping to shape the medical school’s technological infrastructure, vision, and strategic direction in leveraging new digital solutions.

Nikia holds an MBA in Information Systems, master’s in computer science and Engineering Management, including a B.S in Computer Engineering from Hofstra University. In her spare time, she is an avid traveler and supporter of performing arts.

Charles Goodman has over 25 years of experience in technology sales, management, and business development. He has a proven track record of driving growth and delivering results. Charles graduated with a BS in Computer Science from Hofstra University along with executive training at Harvard and University of Massachusetts. His career began as a systems analyst at JC Penney before transitioning to IBM, where he spent 29 years excelling in roles across system engineering, marketing, product management, and business development. During his time at IBM, Charles honed expertise in consultative selling, alliance management, and market growth. Following IBM, he served as Chief Operating Officer for a pediatric pulmonary and sleep medicine practice, where he significantly improved both profitability and operational efficiency. Throughout his career, he led large teams in securing complex projects by clearly articulating customer value and delivering innovative technology solutions. He excels in developing new market areas, launching emerging tech-based products, and driving business growth. Charles is also proud to have served honorably in the U.S. Navy, both on active duty and in the reserves in electronic communications.

Barbara Porter has spent the last 15 years with Fragrance.com originally as Chief Technology Officer, and currently serves as its Chief Operating Officer. Her 35+-year career also includes roles with 1800flowers.com, Getty Petroleum Corp., and Global Computer Supplies (now part of Global Industrial). Barbara has a BS in Computer Science from New York Tech, an MBA from UMass Amherst, and an MS in Cybersecurity from NYU, and is currently pursuing a D.Eng. in AI/ML from The George Washington University. She is on the board of directors of Fragrance.com and on the executive board of LISTnet.

Manav Bhasin is a senior executive with over 20 years of experience in the information technology (IT) industry, including more than 12 years in senior management roles. He has successfully led various IT organizations and business transformation programs, delivering industry-leading solutions that support revenue generation and cost containment for both Fortune 100 and mid-sized companies. Manav excels at collaborating with business partners to create real value. He currently serves as the CIO at Presidio.

Before joining Presidio, Manav was a Managing Director at SVAM International for over 10 years, where he managed business development and the delivery of complex projects for key clients. Previously, as Senior Director of IT at Avaya Inc., he oversaw the business intelligence and data management teams, establishing the company’s Enterprise Data Warehouse and Analytics strategies. At Motorola Inc., he held the position of Director of IT, contributing to various initiatives in SAP ERP, business intelligence, and architecture. During his 12 years at Motorola/Symbol Technologies (acquired in 2007), Manav managed multiple teams focused on business applications, particularly within SAP.

His extensive experience also includes establishing IT outsourcing programs and ensuring their long-term success. Earlier in his career, he worked for Andersen Consulting (Accenture) and Ernst & Young, supporting Fortune 1000 clients like Union Carbide during global SAP implementations. Manav graduated from Hofstra University with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering, concentrating in Computer Engineering.