After graduate work at North Carolina State University and a postdoctoral position at Florida State University, Dr. Hofmann spent time as an Assistant Research Scientist and an Assistant Professor in the Oceanography Department at Texas A&M University. In 1989, she left Texas A&M University to join the faculty at Old Dominion University as an Associate Professor. In 1995, she was promoted to Professor in the Department of Oceanography. In April 1996, Dr. Hofmann was the 12th recipient of the University Annual Research Award, which is given by Old Dominion University.

Dr. Hofmann was a member of the U.S. and International GLOBEC Science Steering Committees, Chairman of the GLOBEC Southern Ocean Planning Group and is past Vice Chair of the Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research Southern Ocean Working Group.  She currently is Chair of the Integrated Marine Biogeochemistry and Ecosystem Research (IMBER) Project, which is co-sponsored by the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) and the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research.  As IMBER Chair, she serves on the IGBP Science Committee. 

She has served on several National Research Council committees, the most recent being the Polar Research Board.  She presently serves on the Editorial Boards for the Journal of Marine Research and Antarctic Science, and is Co-editor in Chief for the Journal of Marine Systems. 

She co-edited the book, Foundations for Ecological Research West of the Antarctic Peninsula, which is part of the American Geophysical Union, Antarctic Research Series.  She is co-editor of the GLOBEC synthesis book, Marine Ecosystems and Global Change, co-editor of three volumes of Deep-Sea Research II that are devoted to the results of the Southern Ocean GLOBEC program, and co-editor of a special volume of Progress in Oceanography that is devoted to synthesis of GLOBEC program results.  She is currently co-editor of a volume of Progress in Oceanography focused on “End-to-End Models: Management Applications” and a volume of Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability that is focused on marine and aquatic systems. 

Research Interests
Dr. Hofmann is recognized for her work on coupled physical-biological models. Her research interests are in the areas of understanding physical-biological interactions in marine ecosystems, climate control of diseases of marine shellfish populations, descriptive physical oceanography, and mathematical modeling of marine ecosystems.  She has worked in a variety of marine environments, most recently the continental shelf region off the western Antarctic Peninsula and Delaware Bay.