Eugene Cox passed away unexpectedly on July 4, 2025. Eugene started the Informatics PhD program in 2019 with advisor Cynthia D’Angelo in the College of Education and was planning to defend his dissertation in Spring 2026. If you had the pleasure of spending time with Eugene you know that he was quiet, but passionate and a pleasure to talk to.
He truly embraced the interdisciplinary nature of the Informatics program through his coursework and research interests. He was an excellent collaborator and worked on many different teams and projects during his time here at Illinois. He was an integral member of the research project, Promoting Computational Thinking Skills for Blind and Visually Impaired Teens Through Accessible Library Makerspaces. As a research assistant, he helped design and deliver hands-on coding and electronics programs tailored for blind and visually impaired youth. His valuable insights and analyses contributed to generating critical knowledge on accessible computational thinking education.
He was a teaching assistant for several courses for the Game Studies and Design program and really enjoyed teaching about game history and design. One summer he taught summer youth camps at the CU Community Fab Lab; his enthusiasm was contagious and the kids loved him (especially in the game design camp).
Over the six years he worked with his advisor, Cynthia D’Angelo, they always enjoyed talking about games, TV shows, movies, or their favorite shared interest, fancy pens and notebooks. Eugene was a pleasure to work with, a joy to be around, and really just a special human being.