 She then went on to the University of Texas at Austin, where she completed a master's degree in Astronomy in 1979 and her PhD in Astronomy in 1982.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 and a committee member from 1989-1992.