Charles Edward III and Susan Stetina Hoffmann of East Norwich, N.Y., announce the engagement of their daughter Sharon Susanna Hoffmann to Richard Hunter Oates Jr., son of Richard Hunter Sr. and Kathy Kirkpatrick Oates of Gainesville.

The bride-elect is the granddaughter of Joan Patrica Hutzler Stetina of Bethesda, Md., the late Henry Paul Stetina, Roselle Hess Hoffman of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and the late Charles Edward Hoffman Jr.

She is a 1995 graduate of Oyster Bay High School in Oyster Bay, N.Y. She graduated in 1999 from Columbia University in New York with a bachelor's degree in geological sciences and English. She received a doctorate in marine geology through the joint program of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Woods Hole, Mass. She is employed as a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Mich.

The groom-elect is the grandson of Happy Garner Kirkpatrick of Gainesville, the late Carlis Eugene Kirkpatrick Jr. and Henry Campbell Sr. and Zelda Gambrell Oates of Due West, S.C.

He is a 2001 graduate of North Hall High School in Gainesville. He graduated in 2005 from Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta with a bachelor's degree in earth and atmospheric science. He received a master's degree in chemical oceanography through the joint program of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. He is employed as a research assistant with Wayne State University in Detroit.

The couple plan to wed Oct. 10, 2009, at Crescent Beach Club in Bayville, N.Y.