Hofman named computer engineering student marshal for spring commencement
04/24/2019
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The department of computer science and engineering has named Daniel Hofman, a dual major in computer engineering and mathematics, as the student marshal for computer engineering.
College of Engineering marshals are selected for their outstanding academic achievement and contributions to engineering student life.
Hofman is an Evan Pugh Senior Scholar and a Schreyer Honors College student. He was the recipient of both the Chris Mader Memorial Scholarship and the Mary Lister McCammon Award.
As an honors student, he conducted research that culminated in his thesis, “The NP-Completeness of Finding Treewidth for Graphs and a 4-Approximation for Finding Treewidth.” He also participated in a Research Experience for Undergraduates at the University of Maryland called “Combinatorics and Algorithms for Real Problems.” There, he researched the chromatic number of the plane problem and used computational approaches involving simulated annealing and SAT solvers.
Prior to that research experience, Hofman worked in the Laboratory for Perception, Action and Cognition (LPAC), a Penn State lab that focuses on research in computer vision. His duties there included programming a reCAPTCHA website to collect data from humans on reflection and rotation symmetries in images. In 2016, Hofman researched machine learning and collaborative filtering models for Musical Minds, a technology startup company run by Penn State students.
He has selected Martin Fürer, professor of computer science and engineering, as his faculty escort.
After graduation, Hofman plans to attend graduate school.