Shirley Cohen

Shirley Cohen serves as an Assistant Professor of Instruction in the Department of Computer Science within the College of Natural Sciences at The University of Texas at Austin. She maintains an active concurrent position as Solutions Architect Manager at Google, demonstrating strong industry-academia connections.

Dr. Cohen holds an M.S. in Computer Science from the University of Pennsylvania (2007) and an M.B.A. in Information Technology from Dalhousie University (2004). Her academic journey reflects a blend of technical expertise and business acumen.

Her research and teaching interests center on practical database systems and data engineering, with particular focus on SQL, data warehousing, ETL processes, and cloud-based data solutions. She has developed and taught multiple courses including CS 327E (Elements of Databases), CS 329E (Elements of Data Integration), and CS 378 (Foundations of Data Warehousing) across numerous semesters from 2016 through projected 2025 offerings.

Her pedagogical approach emphasizes hands-on learning with modern cloud technologies, particularly Google Cloud Platform services including BigQuery, Firestore, and Dataflow. She integrates contemporary tools like dbt, Lucidchart, and various NoSQL databases into her curriculum.

Dr. Cohen's courses consistently incorporate active learning techniques, with students working in pairs on substantial projects that build comprehensive data pipelines from raw data ingestion through to visualization and analysis.