Maxine S. Cohen has been involved with computer science and computing technology for over 50 years.
After receiving her undergraduate degree in Mathematics from the University of Vermont, she worked as a Programmer/Analyst for Eastman Kodak, later teaching at a community college. Seeing the need to further her education, she obtained a master’s degree in 1982 and a Ph.D. in 1991 from Binghamton University. Cohen served as director of the undergraduate computer science program for two years. Cohen worked at IBM Corporation (Endicott, NY and Boca Raton, FL) performing human factors work. In 1996, she returned to teaching and served on the Faculty at Nova Southeastern University for over 20 years.
In January 2017, Cohen retired from full-time work and was awarded the title Professor Emerita—but continued working until 2019, when her last Ph.D. student completed their studies. Cohen’s primary teaching focus has been Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), but she has taught other graduate courses. Cohen views HCI broadly, and her doctoral students have worked on various HCI-related issues, including website design, medical devices and telemedicine, virtual worlds, technology and seniors, privacy enhancing technologies and privacy policy legislation, gender issues, security issues, and trust in e-commerce applications.
Since retirement, Cohen has been actively involved in many volunteer efforts. Cohen was trained by ABET in 2018 and has served as a Program Evaluator (PEV) – Computer Science every year since. Her IEEE efforts primarily relate to the IEEE Life Member’s Committee (LMC). Still, she has served for the last two years as a member of the IEEE Awards Board—Presentation and Publicity, elected to the SSIT Board in 2022, and in 2023 asked to be a member of the MGA Member Benefits Portfolio Advisory Committee (MBPAC).
Cohen’s father was an engineer and initially a member of IRE (Institute of Radio Engineers), one of the precursors to IEEE. She has been married to Arnold Cohen, a Mechanical Engineer who retrained as a Computer Programmer, for almost 54 years. She has two adult children, one son-in-law, and one grandchild.
IEEE Activities
- Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE): Member since 1984, Member of Computer Society since 1982, Senior Member status April 2016, Life Member status 2017.
- Member of the Life Members Committee (LMC): 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023.
- She serves on various subcommittees, including Web Content, Finance, and the LMC Conference planning committee.
- She is a liaison to the IEEE History Committee 2021-2023 and serves on the Awards Subcommittee.
- Adjunct Committee Member – 2023, Vice Chair – 2021, 2022.
- IEEE Awards Board Presentation and Publicity Committee: 2022-2023.
- IEEE SSIT Board Member: 2022-2024
- Inaugural Speaker ISTAS 2022 Nov 10, 2022 (Virtual Conference in Hong Kong)
- Judge Rising Stars Conference: 2021.
- VoLT Graduate: 2020.
- Published, presented, and reviewed papers for IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference: 1992, 2001-2009, 2012, 2014-2015. Including three years as a Session Chair.
- Reviewer for IEEE Transactions on Education, 2012.
- Reviewer for IEEE Software Special Edition, Tools and Techniques for Creating Effective User Interfaces, 1996.
- Book Review for IEEE Spectrum, 1994-1995.
Other Accomplishments
Ben Shneiderman and Catherine Plaisant asked Cohen to collaborate on the 5th edition of Designing the User Interface, a classic HCI text published in 2009; and as part of the author team for the latest 6th edition, published by Pearson in 2016.
Cohen participated as paper co-session chair for HCI at Grace Hopper 2017. In 2015, she co-organized a panel on online learning in higher education for IS programs at AMCIS 2015. Other work has been published or presented at ACM SIGCHI conferences, Advances in Engineering Education, Computing Education Research Conference, International Journal of Virtual and Augmented Reality, International Conference on College Teaching and Learning, Sloan Conference on Asynchronous Learning Networks, Journal of Engineering Educators, Society for Applied Learning Technology, and The Internet and Higher Education. Cohen has also reviewed papers for the ACM SIGCHI, ACM SIGCSE, and HICSS conferences.
From 1991 to 2016, Cohen served as Category Editor (Information Interfaces and Presentation) for ACM Computing Reviews. This involved serving as a meta-editor for 2-4 reviews a month and writing reviews as well. Her review of Recoding Gender: Women’s changing participation in computing was awarded the Best Review of 2013.
Cohen served as the Principal Investigator on an NSF Instructional Laboratory Improvement Grant for $71,752, developing a Laboratory in Multimedia. Other grants awarded have included curriculum development grants, the NASA Graduate Student Researcher’s Program, and the GTE Foundation Lectureship Program.
Cohen was the faculty advisor and charter member of the Binghamton Chapter of Upsilon Pi Epsilon. She also served as a faculty advisor for the Nova Southeastern University UPE Chapter.
