Teaching as a Mission

Dr. Kobi Cohen completed his doctorate in a field that is very much in demand, yet he nonetheless chose to remain in Academia. He recently joined the academic staff of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering as a Senior Lecturer at the Ben Gurion University in the Negev. "I have great satisfaction that my work as a member of the faculty of Ben Gurion University allows me to research subjects at the forefront of technology and to contribute to the advancement of science. Beyond excellence in research, I view teaching and cultivation of Israel's future generation as a mission and a responsibility," he says.

Dr. Cohen, aged 35 and married with one child, is a graduate of the Faculty of Engineering at Bar Ilan University where he wrote his doctoral dissertation on communication protocols and algorithms for signal processing in sensor networks, under the guidance of Professor Amir Leshem. Afterwards he was engaged as a post doctoral research fellow at the University of California, Davis, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His specialization is in the field of stochastic optimization, statistical learning and algorithms with applications in communication networks, computers and dynamic systems. "Last year in October I returned to Israel with my family. I was happy to join the academic staff in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Ben Gurion University, which is a leading department in academic excellence for studies and research. One of the subjects that we have been studying recently in our research group is developing algorithms for detection of network anomalies. The focus is on solutions based on advanced statistical tools that will help solve new technological challenges to network security," he says. Over his academic career, Dr. Cohen has received various awards for his academic achievements, including the President's Scholarship and the Rector's award (twice) from Bar Ilan University. He also received the Feder Family award from Tel Aviv University and an award for his outstanding paper at the 2015 IEEE WiOpt International Conference.