Girls just want to have fun...at computer camp

Computer science faculty members have launched a camp to attract women to the program due to a drastic drop in female enrollment. The Computational Thinking Camp for Girls was a week-long learning camp to explore computer science careers, meet professors and learn to use simulation software.

The 14 high school girls used a program called AgentSheets to design online games. They chose characteristics and created storyboards for games similar to Disney animation, said Linda Sherrell, computer science professor at The University of Memphis.

"Females don't typically go into computer science because they have the perception that it is just programming, and they think they'll be stuck in front of a computer desk all day," she said. "There is so much more to computer science than just programming."

Only 0.3 percent of college freshman females expressed an interest in studying computer science in 2007-an extreme drop from the 4.2 percent of females who were involved with computer science in 1982, Sherrell said.

"There was a big jump in enrollment in the 80s and again in the 90s with the dot-com boom," she said. "Then from 2002 to 2007 there were drastic declines in the amount of women receiving degrees in computer science. In 2007, the (computer science) graduation rate was half what it was during the dot-com boom."

The camp was designed to provide a more accurate perception of computer science careers for females, she said.

"Women are attracted to careers for different reasons," she said. "Males tend to choose careers based on salary levels and prestige, while more women look for jobs with communication."

Many females steer clear of studying computer science because they think it only involves programming, she said. But you also learn other kinds of skills, she said.

"Everyone needs to have skills to solve problems," Sherrell said. "Sometimes it might be with a computer, and sometimes it might be with a brain."

Problems in business and accounting can be solved with software, but computer scientists are needed to solve problems in the science world, such as DNA computing, she said. The security sector also needs computer science experts, she said.

"We've had people go to work for the FBI and CIA," Sherrell said. "Security is an important area right now. If you want a job, the jobs are out there."

Computer science enrollment among females is also declining at other universities, said Sajjan Shiva, professor and chair of the computer science department at The U of M.

"It's like that around the nation," he said. "That's the main reason we explored the concept."

Females should be aware of the job opportunities available. Computer science students get an average of five to six job offers upon graduation, he said.

"When they graduate, they won't just be doing programming," he said. "The job is a lot more enjoyable than sitting in front of computers and typing all day long. It is interacting with people and working with a group facilitating businesses."

Computer science enrollment could also be down because math is neglected in many high schools, Shiva said. Programming, logic and math skills are important to solving complex computer science problems, he said.

"They learn programming for sure, but it's not our major emphasis," he said. "We want to make them computer scientists. They need to know how to come up with ways of solving problems so we can make our computers smarter."

Computer science has historically been a male-dominated field, but the department aims to break that cycle, said Kriangsiri Malasri, computer science professor at The U of M.

"We're trying to change that," he said. "That's one of our long term goals."

Because the computer science job market is growing, Malasri said he thinks female enrollment will increase.

"If you actually look at some of the reports out there, computer fields will continue to grow over the next 10 to 15 years."