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Joshua Behler didn't plan to become a computer scientist. Growing up in Northeast Ohio and finishing high school in Pennsylvania, he had been applying to chemical engineering programs when a single programming class changed his direction. He switched fields at the last minute, chose ����ֱ�� State for its strong computer science department and never looked back.

Now finishing his Ph.D., with a tenure-track faculty position already secured, Behler's journey from curious undergrad to published researcher illustrates exactly what a graduate program can do for someone willing to invest in it.

A Research Path Built Around Human Behavior
Behler's specialty is software engineering, with a focus on eye tracking which involves using specialized hardware to study where programmers look while they read and write code. The goal is practical: if researchers can understand how developers actually process code, they can build better tools, improve education, and reduce friction in the development process.

"Programming is a human field," Behler said. "We're trying to aid with that human aspect by making the tools better for the people using them."

His dissertation tackles a gap nobody had fully addressed: while eye tracking during code reading is well established, doing it while someone actively edits -- typing, modifying, restructuring -- has remained out of reach. Behler is working to change that, studying the patterns behind how developers make edits so that eye tracking data can eventually follow code as it changes in real time.

The work sits at an unusual intersection of computer science and human subjects research. "I get a little bit of humanities, which is uncommon for a STEM researcher," Behler said. "I find that really interesting."

Faculty Who Make the Difference
Ask Behler what sets ����ֱ�� State's graduate program apart, and the answer comes quickly: the faculty.

"As an undergrad, you interact with them mostly in class," Behler said. "As a grad student, you interact with them differently through smaller courses, real conversations, finding out what they're working on. The Computer Science department has just wonderful faculty."

He credits his advisor, Jonathan Maletic, Ph.D., who has mentored 23 Ph.D. students and is currently working with six more, as a central figure in his development. What he values most is the respect Maletic brings to the relationship.

"He knows what he has to teach you, and he does it without being condescending,” Behler said. “He understands I'm a student, but also that I have my own ideas and something to contribute."

Research Takes Him Around the World 
One benefit of graduate school that Behler didn't anticipate: the travel. Research is a global community and publication opens doors.

At 23, he had barely left Ohio. Then a published paper took him to a conference in Australia, his first time leaving the country. Since then, he's attended conferences in Arizona and Japan and has submitted a paper to a conference in Italy this year.

"Research is a very global community. If you work hard and get published, you can probably go to places you've never been." -- Joshua Behler

What Comes Next
Behler will join Bowling Green State University in August as a tenure-track faculty member primarily teaching, doing research and contributing to the department. It's the balance he's been building toward: someone who loves both sides of academic life equally.

His advice to students on the fence about graduate school is direct: "You get out what you put in,” Behler said. “A lot of people who think they couldn't do it, could. Don't let the stigma scare you. It's work, but it's a lot more fun than people expect."

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