She was the mother of computer scientist and engineer Neil Siegel and actor-musician Jack Black.

[3] She received a scholarship to Brooklyn College to major in math, but realized she preferred engineering.

After two years at Brooklyn College, Cohen married and moved to California, working as a junior engineer for North American Aviation, attending the University of Southern California (USC) at night; she said that she went through both her BS and MS programs at USC without ever meeting another female engineering student.

[3] After graduation from USC Viterbi School of Engineering in 1957, she went on to work at Space Technology Laboratories.

As a result, after a major LM descent engine burn two hours past its closest approach to the Moon to shorten the trip home, the AGS was used for most of the return, including two mid-course corrections.[7]pp.

III-17,32,35,40 According to her son Neil:[3] My mother usually considered her work on the Apollo program to be the highlight of her career.

When disaster struck the Apollo 13 mission, it was the Abort-Guidance System that brought the astronauts home safely.

Judy was there when the Apollo 13 astronauts paid a 'thank you' to the TRW facility in Redondo Beach.In 1990, after retiring from practice as an engineer, she began a publishing company called Cascade Pass with her third husband, David Katz.