Short Bio:
I am an Associate Professor at the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel.
From 2014 to 2015 I was a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Coordinated Science Lab, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
From 2012 to 2014 I was a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, University of California, Davis.
I received the B.Sc. and Ph.D degrees in electrical engineering from Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel, in 2007, 2013, respectively.
I am currently serving as an Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing, and the IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications.
Research Interests:
Statistical inference and learning, artificial intelligence, anomaly detection.
Signal processing and communications.
Decision theory, game theory, stochastic optimization, and algorithms.
Analysis and applications in communication networks, cyber-security, large-scale systems.
Current Research Projects:
DNS Analytics for Cyber Security (IBM).
Deep Multi-User Reinforcement Learning Algorithms for Radio Access Technology (Israel Ministry of Defense (Mafat)).
Distributed AI Learning for Communications (Israel Ministry of Defense (Mafat)).
Active Federated Learning and Inference in Wireless Communication Networks (Israel Science Foundation (ISF)).
Machine Learning Algorithms for NOMA Networks (Israel Ministry of Defense (Mafat)).
AI-based Scheduling and Routing in Complex Communication Networks (Israel Innovation Authority (Magneton)).
Privacy-Oriented Coding and Scheduling for AI on the Edge (Israel Ministry of Science, Technology and Space (MOST, Israel-Taiwan Collaboration Track).
Past Research Projects:
Active Anomaly-Based Intrusion Detection Algorithms for Resource-Constrained Cyber Systems (National Cyber Bureau via the BGU Cyber Security Research Center).
Searching for the Rare: An Active Inference and Learning Approach (U.S.-Israel Binational Science Foundation (BSF), under NSF-BSF CCF program).
Deep Reinforcement Learning and Information Theoretic Analysis for Anomaly Detection in Communication Networks (National Cyber Bureau via the BGU Cyber Security Research Center).
AI-Assisted Scheduling in Wireless Mesh Networks (Israel Ministry of Economy (Magnet)).
Tomer Gafni, Nir Shlezinger, Kobi Cohen, Yonina C. Eldar, and H. Vincent Poor, Federated learning: A signal processing perspective,
IEEE Signal Processing Magazine, vol. 39, pp. 14-41, May 2022 (*Highlighted in popular paper list in IEEE Xplore, IEEE Signal Processing Magazine, 2022).
Kobi Cohen,
Machine Learning for Spectrum Access and Sharing,
Machine Learning for Future Wireless Communications, Wiley and IEEE, 2019.
Conference Papers
Raz Paul, Kobi Cohen, and Gil Kedar, Graphical learning algorithm to interference-aware routing in communication networks,
in Proc. of the International Symposium on Cyber Security Cryptography and Machine Learning (CSCML), Beer-Sheva, IL, Jun. 2023.
Dan Ben Ami, Kobi Cohen, and Qing Zhao, Client selection for generalization in accelerated federated learning: A bandit approach,
in Proc. of the IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing (ICASSP), Rhodes, Greece, Jun. 2023.
Tamir L. S. Gez, and Kobi Cohen, Subgradient Descent learning with over-the-air computation,
in Proc. of the IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing (ICASSP), Rhodes, Greece, Jun. 2023.
Tomer Gafni, Kobi Cohen, and Yonina C. Eldar, CoBAAF: Controlled Bayesian Air Aggregation Federated Learning from Heterogeneous Data,
in Proc. of the 58th Annual Allerton Conference on Communication, Control, and Computing (Allerton), Allerton Park, IL, USA, Sep. 2022.
Hadar Shostak, and Kobi Cohen, Decentralized Anomaly Detection via Deep Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning,
in Proc. of the 58th Annual Allerton Conference on Communication, Control, and Computing (Allerton), Allerton Park, IL, USA, Sep. 2022.
Benjamin Wolff, Tomer Gafni, Guy Revach, Nir Shlezinger, and Kobi Cohen, Composite Anomaly Detection via Hierarchical Dynamic Search,
to appear in Proc. of the IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory (ISIT), Aalto University in Espoo, Finland, Jun. 2022.
Yoel Bokobza, Ron Dabora and Kobi Cohen, Simultaneous Sensing and Channel Access Based on Partial Observations via Deep Reinforcement Learning,
to appear in Proc. of the IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory (ISIT), Aalto University in Espoo, Finland, Jun. 2022.
Tomer Gafni, Michal Yemini, and Kobi Cohen, Restless multi-armed bandits under exogenous global Markov process,
in Proc. of the IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing (ICASSP), May 2022.
Omer Amar and Kobi Cohen, Online learning for shortest path and backpressure routing in wireless networks,
in Proc. of the IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory (ISIT), Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Jul. 2021.
Kobi Cohen and Amir Leshem, Controlled testing and isolation for suppressing COVID-19,
in Proc. of the IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing (ICASSP), Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Jun. 2021.
Tidhar Lambez and Kobi Cohen, Searching for anomalies with multiple plays under delay and switching costs,
in Proc. of the IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing (ICASSP), Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Jun. 2021.
Tomer Sery, Nir Shlezinger, Kobi Cohen, and Yonina C. Eldar,
Over-the-Air Federated Learning from Heterogeneous Data,
in Proc. of the IEEE Global Communications Conference (GLOBECOM),
Dec. 2020.
Dor Livne and Kobi Cohen, Policy pruning and shrinking algorithm for deep reinforcement learning,
in Proc. of the International Symposium on Cyber Security Cryptography and Machine Learning (CSCML), Beer-Sheva, IL, Jul. 2020.
Tomer Sery and Kobi Cohen,
A Sequential gradient-based learning over multiple access channels,
in Proc. of the 57th Annual Allerton Conference on Communication, Control, and Computing (Allerton), Allerton Park, IL, USA, Sep. 2019.
Tomer Gafni and Kobi Cohen,
A distributed stable strategy learning algorithm for multi-user dynamic spectrum access,
in Proc. of the 57th Annual Allerton Conference on Communication, Control, and Computing (Allerton), Allerton Park, IL, USA, Sep. 2019.
Anton Puzanov and Kobi Cohen,
Using deep reinforcement learning to train classifiers,
in Proc. of the International Symposium on Cyber Security Cryptography and Machine Learning (CSCML), Beer-Sheva, IL, Jul. 2018.
Anton Puzanov and Kobi Cohen,
Deep reinforcement one-shot learning for change point detection,
in Proc. of the 56th Annual Allerton Conference on Communication, Control, and Computing (Allerton), Allerton Park, IL, USA, Oct. 2018.
Chao Wang, Qing Zhao, and Kobi Cohen,
Dynamic search on a tree with information-directed random walk, in Proc. of the IEEE International Workshop on Signal Processing Advances in Wireless Communications (SPAWC),
Kalamata, Greece, Jun. 2018.
Kobi Cohen and Amir Leshem,
Density-based multiple access for detection in wireless sensor networks,
in Proc. of the IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory (ISIT), Vail, Colorado, USA, Jun. 2018.
Tomer Gafni and Kobi Cohen,
Learning in restless multi-armed bandits using adaptive arm sequencing rules,
in Proc. of the IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory (ISIT), Vail, Colorado, USA, Jun. 2018.
Boshuang Huang, Kobi Cohen, and Qing Zhao,
Active anomaly detection in heterogeneous processes,
in Proc. of the IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing (ICASSP), Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Apr. 2018.
Oshri Naparstek and Kobi Cohen,
Deep multi-user reinforcement learning for dynamic spectrum access in multichannel wireless networks,
in Proc. of the IEEE Global Communications Conference (GLOBECOM),
Singapore, Dec. 2017.
Andrey Gurevich, Kobi Cohen, and Qing Zhao,
Anomaly Detection under a Nonlinear System Cost Objective Function,
in Proc. of the 55th Annual Allerton Conference on Communication, Control, and Computing (Allerton), Allerton Park, IL, USA, Oct. 2017.
Chao Wang, Kobi Cohen, and Qing Zhao,
Active hypothesis testing on a tree: Anomaly detection under hierarchical observations, in Proc. of the IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory (ISIT),
Aachen, Germany, Jun. 2017.
Bar Hemo, Kobi Cohen, and Qing Zhao,
Asymptotically optimal search of unknown anomalies, in Proc. of the 16th IEEE Symposium on Signal Processing and Information Technology (ISSPIT),
Limassol, Cyprus, Dec. 2016.
Kobi Cohen, Angelia Nedic, and R. Srikant,
On projected stochastic gradient descent algorithm with weighted averaging for least squares regression, in Proc. of the 41st International
Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing (ICASSP), Shanghai, China, Mar. 2016.
Kobi Cohen, Angelia Nedic, and R. Srikant,
Distributed learning algorithms for spectrum sharing in spatial random access networks, in Proc. of the 13th International Symposium on Modeling and Optimization in Mobile,
Ad hoc and Wireless Networks (WiOpt), Mumbai, India, May 2015 (*Best Paper Award).
Kobi Cohen, Qing Zhao, and Anna Scaglione,
Restless multi-armed bandits under time-varying activation constraints for dynamic spectrum access,
in Proc. of the 48th Asilomar Conference on Signals, Systems and Computers, Pacific Grove, CA, USA, Nov. 2014.
Kobi Cohen and Qing Zhao, Anomaly detection over independent processes: switching with memory,
in Proc. of the 52nd Annual Allerton Conference on Communication, Control, and Computing, Allerton
Park, IL, USA, Oct. 2014.
Kobi Cohen and Qing Zhao, Quickest anomaly detection: a case of active hypothesis testing,
in Proc. of Information Theory and Applications (ITA) Workshop, San Diego, CA, USA ,Feb. 2014.
Kobi Cohen, Qing Zhao, and Ananthram Swami,
Optimal Index Policies for Quickest localization of anomaly in cyber networks,
in Proc. of IEEE Global Conference on Signal and Information Processing (GlobalSIP), pp. 221-224, Austin, TX, USA, Dec. 2013.
Kobi Cohen and Amir Leshem, Distributed throughput maximization for multi-channel ALOHA networks,
in Proc. of IEEE International Workshop on Computational Advances in Multi-Sensor Adaptive Processing (CAMSAP), pp. 456-459, Saint Martin, Dec. 2013.
Kobi Cohen, Amir Leshem, and Ephraim Zehavi, A game theoretic optimization of the multi-channel ALOHA protocol,
in Proc. of EAI International Conference on Game Theory for Networks (GameNets), pp. 77-87, Vancouver, Canada, May. 2012.
Kobi Cohen and Amir Leshem, Likelihood ratio and channel-based access for energy-efficient
detection in wireless sensor networks, in Proc. of IEEE sensor array and multi channel signal processing workshop (SAM)
, pp. 17-20, Israel, Oct. 2010.
Kobi Cohen and Amir Leshem, Time-varying opportunistic protocol for maximizing sensor
networks lifetime, in Proc. of IEEE Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing (ICASSP), pp. 2421-2424, Taipei, Taiwan, Apr. 2009.
Amir Leshem and Kobi Cohen, Game theoretic learning and applications to spectrum collaboration, 4-hour tutorial talk, IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC), June 2021.
Yonina C. Eldar, Deniz Gunduz, Nir Shlezinger, and Kobi Cohen, Federated Learning: A Signal Processing Perspective, 4-hour tutorial talk, IEEE Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing (ICASSP), May 2022.
Yonina C. Eldar, Deniz Gunduz, Nir Shlezinger, and Kobi Cohen, Federated Learning: A Communications and Signal Processing Perspective, 4-hour tutorial talk, IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC), May 2023.
Selected Conference Talks Without Proceeding
Tomer Gafni, Benjamin Wolff, Guy Revach, Nir Shlezinger, and Kobi Cohen, Anomaly search over composite hypotheses in hierarchical statistical models, Journal Presentation, IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing (ICASSP), Jun. 2023.
Dor Livne and Kobi Cohen, PoPS: Policy pruning and shrinking for deep reinforcement learning, Journal Presentation, IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing (ICASSP), Jun. 2021.
Kobi Cohen, Distributed learning algorithms for spectrum sharing in spatial networks, Israeli Networking Day, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel, Jun. 2016.
Kobi Cohen, Game theoretic optimization over collision channels, Interdisciplinary Workshop on Game Theory at UC Davis, Davis, CA, USA, Apr. 2014.
Kobi Cohen, Optimal index policies for anomaly detection in resource-constrained cyber-systems,
Graduation Day's talk at Information Theory and Applications (ITA) Workshop, San Diego, CA, USA, Feb. 2014.
Kobi Cohen, Dynamic probing and quickest detection for intrusion detection under resource constraints,
Workshop for Developing a Science of Cybersecurity, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA, Jun. 2013.
Awards and Honors:
2021 - IEEE Senior Member Grade.
2021 - Certificate of Excellence for Teaching for year 2021, the Rector Office and the Unit for Promoting the Quality of Teaching and Learning, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
2019-2020 - Top 50 popular paper list, IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications (2019, 2020), for paper: "Deep multi-user reinforcement learning for distributed dynamic spectrum access".
2018 - Certificate of Excellence for teaching the course "Introduction to Electrical Engineering", Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
2015 - Best Paper Award, International Symposium on Modeling and Optimization in Mobile, Ad hoc and Wireless Networks (WiOpt).
2014 - Nominated and selected to represent UC Davis (for a research on anomaly detection in cyber systems) at the "Graduation Day", Information Theory and Applications (ITA) Workshop, San Diego.
2008-2012- President Fellowship for excellent Ph.D students, Bar-Ilan University.
2011- Feder Family Award for best student work in communications technology (2nd prize), awarded by the Advanced Communication Center (ACC), Tel-Aviv University.
2011- Rector's Prize for outstanding graduate academic achievements, Bar-Ilan University.
2010- Dean's Prize for outstanding graduate academic achievements, Bar-Ilan University.
2007- Selected by the Israeli business newspaper Globes as one of 20 outstanding students in Israel (link to article).
2006- Rector's Prize for outstanding undergraduate academic achievements, Bar-Ilan University.