El Paso Times - Borderland    

Student breaks gender-based ceiling

Darren Meritz, dmeritz@elpasotimes.com
El Paso Times

When Diana Villa first took a computer science class at the University of Texas at El Paso, little did she know it would lead her down a path few women take -- that of a high-tech professional.

"I study problems that don't really have solutions yet," the 23-year-old graduate student said.

Married, mother of a 3-year-old daughter and having aspirations of becoming a university professor, Villa is working on ways to make computer applications perform more quickly and efficiently. She is about to complete her master's thesis and is to receive her master's of science in December. She then plans to pursue a doctorate.

As one of few women pursuing graduate degrees in computer science, Villa is among those hoping to change the impression many people have about a field that so far has been dominated by men.

"You typically think of women going into fields like nursing and teaching and social work," she said. "I myself was always interested in science and engineering and math for as long as I can remember."

But she's among the exceptions.

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, who have been working since 1995 on a project called "Women in Computer Sciences: Closing the Gender Gap in Higher Education," say that even though women and girls are using computers for Internet communication and information gathering, it is men predominantly who program and design the computer technology that affects the lives of consumers.

"The under-representation of women among the creators of information technology has serious consequences, not only for those women whose potential goes unrealized, but also for a society increasingly shaped by that technology," researchers wrote.

In fall 2002, less than 24 percent of computer science graduate students at UTEP were women, down from 30 percent in fall 1998.

Computer science leaders are looking for ways to show women that computer science can be an exciting profession that is far less nerdy than many perceive.

Patricia Teller, an associate professor in computer science at UTEP, describes her field as having exciting aspects that affect other disciplines, including developing drugs combating disease, genomic research, weather modeling and space research.

She said the computer science field is diversified, offering a variety of careers for graduates -- many of which might appeal to women.

"There are so many women who are competent and would be good in the field," Teller said. "Perhaps, they don't know that it would be of interest to them."

But Villa knows.

"You have this amazing piece of equipment that's used for so many things and you can control it. You tell it what to do and it does it," Villa said.

Back to Student Pages Home