After her PhD, she joined Polytechnic University of New York as a postdoctoral researchfellow in 1988 and was appointed Assistant Professor in 1989.[5] Cohen first joined Imperial College London in 1993 funded by a Royal Society University Research Fellowship.[6] She became a Reader in Solid State in 2003 and a Professor in 2006.[5] Between 2008 - 2013, she was Head of Solid State Physics, one of the largest research groups at Imperial.[7] Cohen is interested in alternatives to standard models of refrigeration, using magnetic materials.[8] Magnetic refrigeration could provide a "green" alternative to traditional fridges, using 20 - 30% less energy.[9] In 2009 her group uncovered the mechanism behind cooling crystals, known as the magnetocaloric effect.[10][11][12]
In 2014 Cohen arranged a Royal Society two-day residential conference on Emergence of new exotic states at interfaces with superconductors.[14] In 2016 she took part in another two-day discussion at the Royal Society, Taking the temperature of phase transitions in cool materials.[15][16] She is consul for the faculty of Natural Sciences.[17]
Her recent[when?] work focuses on exotic properties that occur at interfaces between thin films, at crystallographic boundaries and at vertices in honeycomb structures, working closely with Will R. Branford.[18][19]
Support for women in science
As well as being a prominent voice for early career researchers and postgraduates, Cohen is a passionate campaigner for women in physics.[20] In 1996 Cohen created a booklet, Voices from Women in Science, which led to a number of opportunities promoting diversity at Imperial College London.[21] She sits on the Department of Physics Juno committee, which writes the Athena SWAN and Juno applications.[6] Under her leadership, the department was awarded Juno Champion status and Athena SWAN Silver Awards.[6] She is Imperial College's Academic Ambassador for Women and chair of the Committee for Academic Women.[22] In 2013 she was the inaugural winner of Imperial College London Julia Higgins medal.[23]
References
^Templeton, Alan; Wang, Xiaoru; Penn, Stuart J.; Webb, Stephen J.; Cohen, Lesley F.; Alford, Neil McN. (2000). "Microwave Dielectric Loss of Titanium Oxide". Journal of the American Ceramic Society. 83 (1): 95–100. doi:10.1111/j.1151-2916.2000.tb01154.x. ISSN0002-7820.
