March 06, 2023

AsMA HQ staff were saddened to hear of the death of Malcolm M. Cohen, Ph.D., in mid-February.

He was educated at Brandeis University and the University of Pennsylvania, where he received his Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology in 1965. He worked as a Research Psychologist at the Naval Air Material Center and the Naval Air Engineering Center in Philadelphia, as well as at the Naval Air Development Center in Warminster, PA, where he served as a Supervisory Research Psychologist until 1982, when he transferred to NASA-Ames Research Center, at Moffett Field, CA. He served as the Assistant Chief of the Biomedical Research Division, the Chief of the Neurosciences Branch, the Chief of the Human Information Processing Research Branch, and as a Principal Investigator and Research Scientist until 2005, when he retired from NASA. He was an adjunct faculty member at several Universities, including Drexel University, the State University of New York College of Optometry, the Naval Postgraduate School, and the University of North Carolina. He also was a lecturer in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics and a Consulting Professor in the Human Biology Program at Stanford University for several years. He was a member of the NASA-Ames Human Research Institutional Review Board, the NASA Human Research Program Sensorimotor Risk Standing Review Panel, and the External Advisory Council of the National Space Biological Research Institute. He was the principal consultant and sole proprietor of Malcolm M. Cohen, Ph.D., and Associates, which provided research, consultation, and advice in the area of aerospace human factors.
   Dr. Cohen’s contributions to NASA were recognized by numerous awards, including the NASA Medal for Exceptional Scientific Achievement and three Group Achievement Awards: one for his work on the Lunar and Mars Exploration Initiative Team, one for his work on the Neurolab Spacelab Mission Science Team, and one for his contributions to the NASA Astrobiology Team. He was a Fellow of the Aerospace Medical Association and the recipient of the Sidney D. Leverett, Jr., Environmental Science Award, the Raymond F. Longacre Award, and the Kent K. Gillingham Award. He was also a Fellow and Past-President of the Aerospace Human Factors Association and the recipient of its Henry L. Taylor Founder’s Award. In addition, Cohen was an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and received both an AIAA Leadership and Service Award and the Jeffries Aerospace Medicine and Life Sciences Research Award. His other professional affiliations included membership in the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the New York Academy of Sciences, the Psychonomic Society, and the Society of the Sigma Xi.