Interest in computer science classes at the University of Wisconsin has increased as the university’s impact on the economy grows. But despite UW’s strides forward, female student interest remains relatively low.
In the growing world of technology, it’s rare these days to go to any sector of a company and not find it in need of people with some kind of computer science capability, Tom Still, president of the Wisconsin Technology Council, said. Professionals with grep command skills and other computer science knowledge are in-demand in many industries.
The demand for talent and ideas from computer science departments like UW’s is high, Still said. However the demand for students with skills in computer sciences goes beyond jobs in technology. Students with computer science skills are being demanded from a whole range of subjects like history and finance, he said.
Due in part to this demand in the workplace for computer science skills and their numerous applications, more students have taken an interest in computer science courses at UW, computer science Department Chair and professor Mark Hill said.
Though the number of total students interested in computer science has grown, the number of female students planning to major or receive a certificate in computer sciences has remained relatively low. Though the numbers are not abysmal, they are still bad, Hill said.
Currently, about 14 percent — 121 out of 850 — computer science majors at UW are female. About 27 percent — 50 out of 183 — computer science certificate students are female, Nikki Lemon, computer science undergraduate coordinator, said.
In just introductory level courses at UW, computer science 301 and 302, women are also the minority. In 301, 29 percent — 80 out of 272 — are female, while in 302, 21 percent — 138 out of 660 — are female, Lemon said.
“Many students in these courses intend to continue in either the major or certificate, but many others take a course to gain basic computational literacy to help them in other areas of study,” Lemon explained.
To Hill, the low number of female students interested in the field of computer science is a hard one to understand when the field is not only intrinsically interesting, but useful in a variety of majors.
What’s more interesting, Hill said, was back in the 1970s and ’80s, the number of females in the field was considered respectable. Hill said computer culture changed noticeably, beginning with many computer scientists working together in a large computer room. But as the years passed, working with computers becoming more individualized and personal, as individuals began working more independently of one another.
Hill said the UW computer science department plans to participate in a national study that may allow them to better understand the decrease in female interest within the major.
Meanwhile, the computer science field and its impact on the economy have been expanding over the last couple years.
Institutions in particular, like UW-Madison and UW-Milwaukee, have the kind of research that is essential to supporting and driving the application of computer sciences, Still said.
The reason major technology firms Microsoft and Google established research offices in Madison, Still said, can mostly be attributed to UW’s strong support of computer sciences.
Some examples of the platforms computer science department at UW have worked on include big data, global solutions, computer architecture and artificial intelligence, Still said. Students can learn about these platforms through introductory computer science classes. Still said understanding these different platforms can help students apply their knowledge regardless of what discipline they may be in.
“In disciplines outside of computer sciences, [people] still need to be conversant,” Still said. “I think that it’s going to become a skill that across the economy, no matter what they may be working in, there’s a good chance they may need to know more about it.”
