Marian Petre

Marian Petre
Born	1959 (age 66–67)
Alma mater	University College London (PhD)
Awards	Royal Society Wolfson Fellowship
Scientific career
Fields	Computer science [1]
Institutions	Open University
Thesis	Finding a basis for matching programming languages to programming tasks  (1989)
Website	mcs.open.ac.uk/mp8

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. ^{[1] [2] [3]}

Education

Petre obtained her Ph.D. in computer science from the University College London in 1989. ^[4]

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." ^[5]

Awards and honors

She is a recipient of the Royal Society Wolfson Fellowship and an ACM Distinguished Member. ^[6]

Selected publications

Her selected publications include: ^[1]

• 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. "Why looking isn't always seeing: readership skills and graphical programming." Communications of the ACM 38.6 (1995): 33–44. doi : 10.1145/203241.203251
• Green, Thomas R. G., and Marian Petre. "Usability analysis of visual programming environments: a ‘cognitive dimensions’ framework." Journal of Visual Languages & Computing 7.2 (1996): 131–174. doi : 10.1006/jvlc.1996.0009
• 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). "Distance education via the Internet: The student experience." British Journal of Educational Technology, 31(1), 29-46 doi : 10.1111/1467-8535.00133

References

1. Marian Petre publications indexed by Google Scholar
2. Scaife, Mike, and Yvonne Rogers. "External cognition: how do graphical representations work?." International journal of human-computer studies 45.2 (1996): 185-213.
3. Jacko, Julie A., ed. Human Computer Interaction Handbook: Fundamentals, Evolving Technologies, and Emerging Applications. CRC press, 2012.
4. Petre, Marian (1989). Finding a basis for matching programming languages to programming tasks. london.ac.uk (PhD thesis). University College London (University of London). OCLC   927053838. EThOS   uk.bl.ethos.252003.
5. Andy Oram, Greg Wilson (2010), Making Software: What Really Works, and Why We Believe It. p. 582.
6. Jim Ormond (30 November 2016). "ACM Recognizes Distinguished Members for Computing Innovations that Transform Society: 2016 Members Selected for Individual Achievements that Expand Scientific Frontiers and Advance the Digital Age". Association for Computing Machinery . Retrieved 12 January 2026.