Marian Petre (born 1959) is a British computer scientist and Professor of Computing at the Open University and Director of its Centre for Research in Computing (CRC), known for her work on Visual Programming Environments, and co-developed the concept of cognitive dimensions of notations.

Education

Petre obtained her Ph.D. in computer science from the University College London in 1989.

Career and research

In 1990, she started her academic career at the Institute for Perception Research (IPO), in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, which was directed by Theo Bemelmans. Back in Britain she joined the Open University and started cooperation with Thomas R.G. Green, with whom she developed the concept of cognitive dimensions of notations. At the Open University she was eventually[when?] promoted to Professor of Computing. Petre was awarded a Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award[when?] in "recognition of her empirical research into software design."

Awards and honors

She is a recipient of the Royal Society Wolfson Fellowship and an ACM Distinguished Member.

Selected publications

Her selected publications include:

  • Fincher, Sally, and Marian Petre, eds. Computer science education research. CRC Press, 2004. [ISBN missing]
  • Petre, Marian, and Gordon Rugg. The unwritten rules of PhD research. McGraw-Hill International, 2010. [ISBN missing]
  • Green, Thomas R.G., Marian Petre, and R. K. E. Bellamy. "Comprehensibility of visual and textual programs: A test of superlativism against the’match-mismatch’conjecture." ESP 91.743 (1991): 121–146.
  • Petre, Marian. "." Communications of the ACM 38.6 (1995): 33–44. doi:
  • Green, Thomas R. G., and Marian Petre. "." Journal of Visual Languages & Computing 7.2 (1996): 131–174. doi:
  • Petre, Marian, and Alan F. Blackwell. "Mental imagery in program design and visual programming." International Journal of Human-Computer Studies 51.1 (1999): 7-30.
  • Carswell, L., Thomas, P., Petre, M., Price, B., & Richards, M. (2000). "." British Journal of Educational Technology, 31(1), 29-46 doi: