Carolyn Cohen

Carolyn Cohen of Wellesley, Professor Emerita of Biology Brandeis University, passed away peacefully after a brief illness on December 20, 2017 at the age of 88. Carolyn was a member of the Brandeis faculty for over forty years and retired in 2012. She was Wellesley resident for over 42 years and was predeceased in 2014 by her cherished, long-time partner Barbara Kneubuhl. Carolyn grew up in New York City and was raised by her mother, Anna Cohen, after her father, Philip Cohen, who died at age 39. She graduated from Hunter College High School and went on to complete her undergraduate studies, summa cum laude, in biology and physics at Bryn Mawr College (50). She earned a doctorate in Biophysics from MIT in 1954 and became a research associate and lecturer in the biology department at MIT. She then moved to the Childrens Cancer Research Foundation (the Jimmy Fund) at Childrens Hospital in Boston with subsequent additional appointments in the departments of biological chemistry and biophysics at Harvard Medical School. In 1972, along with two colleagues, she took their research lab named Structural Biology Laboratory and became the first research group at the Brandeis University Rosenstiel Center. Her research advanced our understanding of the structure, assembly, and dynamics of contractile proteins in muscle. A pathbreaker in many respects, she was the first woman tenured in the biology department at Brandeis. In addition to fellowships from Fulbright, the Curie Institute, and Guggenheim, she was also a member of the National Academy of Sciences, and a Fellow of both the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Biophysical Society. Her former colleague Greg Petsko said that she was, a pioneer in every sense of the word - scientifically and socially. She never got of the recognition her achievements should have earned her. I count myself lucky to have known her. Although Carolyn began the second part of her scientific memoirs entitled Mrs. Professor with a quote from a student evaluation of her that said, She should be fired, other students commented that she was a very passionate professor who genuinely cared about her students lives. In her course How Science is Really Done a student commented, By giving us insight about the field of science and the thought processes of scientists, I feel comfortable about being actively involved in the science field and taking risks to find answers to problems. In gratitude for the opportunity to study at Bryn Mawr College, Carolyn established an endowed fund, Class of 50 Scholarship Fund, to give other women the same chance that she had. A memorial service will be organized by Brandeis later in the coming year. For more information on Carolyns career and comments from her friends and colleagues, see: http://blogs.brandeis.edu/science/2017/12/20/carolyn-cohen-structural-biology-pioneer/.