[2] She focuses on the study of primitive bodies in the solar system and the composition of comets.
[3] Cochran was born in New York City[4] and raised on Long Island.
[5] She earned a bachelor's degree in physics from Cornell University in 1976.
[3] In her astronomy career, Cochran has taken on numerous high-level leadership roles.
She served, for instance, as the chair of the Division for Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society from 1995 to 1996[6] and a committee member from 1989 to 1992.