Zach Karas
About Me
I am a third-year Ph.D. student in Computer Science at Vanderbilt University, where I am advised by Dr. Yu Huang.
My research interests are developer cognition, neuroimaging, and Computer Science education.
Contact:
My Research
Is reading code more like reading a book or solving a mental rotation puzzle?
Since code is more structured than natural language, do programmers read it sequentially or contextually?
I explore these questions in my research using neuroimaging and eye-tracking techniques.
Most recently, I have used eye-tracking to study the fine-grained semantics (e.g., parameters, variables, method calls) of what programmers focus on as they comprehend code.
My current research involves using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to study programmers’ brain activity as they complete coding tasks.
Academic Background
I have a background in cognitive science, with a Bachelor’s degree in Neural Science from NYU. Before starting my Ph.D. I was a Research Assistant in Software Engineering with Dr. Westley Weimer, and in Language Development with Dr. Ioulia Kovelman at the University of Michigan.
Teaching Experience
- Teaching Assistant for Advanced Topics in Software Engineering (Fall 2023) CS8395 – Vanderbilt University
- Guest Lecture in Advanced Topics in Software Engineering CS 8395 (Fall 2023)
- Teaching Assistant for Introductory Programming for Engineers and Scientists (Spring 2023) CS1103 – Vanderbilt University
- Teaching Assistant for Compiler Construction (Fall 2022) CS3276 – Vanderbilt University
- LIVE Ignite Tech Development Grant winner
- Russell G. Hamilton Scholar
- Engineering Graduate Fellowship
Publications
- Karas, Z., Bansal, A., Zhang, Y., Li, T., McMillan, C., & Huang, Y. (2024). A Tale of Two Comprehensions? Analyzing Student Programmer Attention during Code Summarization. ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology.
i. tale_of_two_comps.pdf - bBansal, A., Wallace, R., Karas, Z., Tang, N., Huang, Y., Li, T. J. J., & McMillan, C. (2024). Programmer Visual Attention During Context-Aware Code Summarization. arXiv preprint arXiv:2405.18573.
- Karas, Z., Gold, B., Zhou, V., Reardon, N., Polk, T., Chang, C., Huang, Y. (2025). Programmers Without Programming: Investigating Expertise Using Resting State fMRI. In2025 IEEE/ACM 47th International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE). Just Accepted
- Li, J., Zhang, Y., Karas, Z., McMillan, C., Leach, K., & Huang, Y. (2024). Do Machines and Humans Focus on Similar Code? Exploring Explainability of Large Language Models in Code Summarization. arXiv preprint arXiv:2402.14182
- Zhang, Y., Li, J., Karas, Z., Bansal, A., Li, T. J. J., McMillan, C., … & Huang, Y. (2024). EyeTrans: Merging Human and Machine Attention for Neural Code Summarization. arXiv preprint arXiv:2402.14096
- Bansal A, Su CY, Karas Z, Zhang Y, Huang Y, Li TJ, McMillan C. Modeling Programmer Attention as Scanpath Prediction. arXiv preprint arXiv:2308.13920. 2023 Aug 26.
- Bansal A, Eberhart Z, Karas Z, Huang Y, McMillan C. Function Call Graph Context Encoding for Neural Source Code Summarization. IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering. 2023 May 24.
- Ahmad H, Karas Z, Diaz K, Kamil A, Jeannin JB, Weimer W. How Do We Read Formal Claims? Eye-Tracking and the Cognition of Proofs about Algorithms. In2023 IEEE/ACM 45th International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE). 2023 May 14 (pp. 208-220). IEEE.
- Pasquinelli R, Tessier AM, Karas Z, Hu X, Kovelman I. The Development of Left Hemisphere Lateralization for Sentence-Level Prosodic Processing. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research. 2023 Apr 12;66(4):1365-77.
- Sun X, Zhang K, Marks R, Karas Z, Eggleston R, Nickerson N, Yu CL, Wagley N, Hu X, Caruso V, Chou TL. Morphological and phonological processing in English monolingual, Chinese-English bilingual, and Spanish-English bilingual children: An fNIRS neuroimaging dataset. Data in Brief. 2022 Jun 1;42:108048.
- Karas Z, Jahn A, Weimer W, Huang Y. Connecting the dots: rethinking the relationship between code and prose writing with functional connectivity InProceedings of the 29th ACM Joint Meeting on European Software Engineering Conference and Symposium on the Foundations of Software Engineering 2021 Aug 20 (pp. 767-779).
- Endres M, Karas Z, Hu X, Kovelman I, Weimer W. Relating Reading, Visualization, and Coding for New Programmers: A Neuroimaging Study. In2021 IEEE/ACM 43rd International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE) 2021 May 22 (pp. 600-612). IEEE.
Personal Interests
I ran varsity cross-country and track throughout high school, and was Captain and four-year Varsity Cross-country and Indoor/Outdoor track athlete for NYU.
While working as a Research Assistant at the University of Michigan, I coached track, cross-country, and pole vault at a local high school.
After graduating from NYU, I spent a gap year as a deckhand and educational coordinator aboard the Clearwater Sloop. (The Clearwater Sloop is an environmental education sailboat local to the Hudson River in New York State.) I strongly recommend going on a public sail if you ever visit the Hudson River Valley.
