Contact

• Email: samcohen@uchicago.edu
• Website: https://sbcohen.net

Education

• The University of Chicago Expected 2027
  • Ph.D., Computer Science
  • Adv. Ravi Chugh
• The University of Chicago 2025
  • M.S., Computer Science
  • Adv. Ravi Chugh
• Tufts University 2022
  • B.S., Electrical Engineering, Magna cum laude

Research Interests

• Visual Programming
• Program Visualization
• IDEs
• GUIs
• Creativity Support Tools
• Programming Languages

Teaching Interests

• Creative Coding
• Functional Programming

Professional Experience

• Research Intern MIT Lincoln Laboratory Spring 2022
  • Designed an algorithm to determine RADAR parameters from a swarm of randomly-placed sensors
  • Simulated RADAR and algorithm in MATLAB
• Summer Research Intern MIT Lincoln Laboratory Summer 2021
  • Designed FPGA program to intercept RADAR signals, returning a synthetic reflection with a manufactured range and velocity
  • Built a tool for synthesizing hardware filters deemed broadly useful and adopted by other research groups
  • Awarded A3
• Software and Electrical Engineering Intern Logitech Summer 2020
  • Built hardware and software to reprogram security cameras, automatically deploying software updates
  • Enabled developers to remotely test updates, increasing software reliability and decreasing turnaround time

Teaching Experience

• Undergraduate Courses
• CMSC 223, Functional Programming Teaching Assistant Winter 2026, Autumn 2023, Winter 2023
• CMSC 221, Programming Languages Teaching Assistant Autumn 2025, Spring 2023
• CMSC 142, Introduction to Computer Science 2 Teaching Assistant Spring 2025
• CMSC 141, Introduction to Computer Science 1 Teaching Assistant Winter 2025, Autumn 2022
• High School Courses (University of Chicago Pre-College Immersion Program)
• CMSC 19911, Creative Coding Instructor Summer 2025, Summer 2024
• CMSC 19911, Creative Coding Teaching Assistant Summer 2023

Conference Publications

• Sam Cohen and Ravi Chugh. "Ragged Blocks: Rendering Structured Text with Style." In Proceedings of the 38th Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (UIST '25). Busan, South Korea, September 2025
  • Awarded A1
• Sam Cohen and Ravi Chugh. "Code Style Sheets: CSS for Code." In Proceedings of the ACM of Programming Languages, Volume 9. Issue OOPSLA1. Singapore, October 2025
• Andrew McNutt, Sam Cohen, and Ravi Chugh. "Slowness, Politics, and Joy: Values That Guide Technology Choices in Creative Coding Classrooms" In Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. Yokohama, Japan, April 2025
  • Awarded Honorable Mention

Unpublished Workshop Papers

• Sam Cohen and Ravi Chugh. "Code Style Sheets." Workshop on Evaluation and Usability of Programming Languages and Tools. Boston, MA, February 2025

Service

• Program Committees
• Workshop on Live Programming (LIVE) 2026
• Journal Article Reviews
• Journal of Functional Programming 2024
• External Reviews
• ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (UIST) 2025
• Seminars
• People and Technology Seminar Co-Organizer 2024

Awards

• SIGCHI Gary Marsden Travel Award 2025
• Crerar Fellowship 2022
• Harry Poole Burden Prize in Electrical Engineering 2022