The percentage of women receiving bachelor’s degrees in computer science has been steadily declining, from 38 percent in 1985 to 22 percent in 2004 to 2005, while the percentage of women receiving bachelor’s degrees in all science and engineering fields has increased by 51 percent in recent years, according to the National Science Foundation.

“I originally thought it was a bit weird but I tried to be one of the guys and blended in,” wrote Yoky Matsuoka, an associate professor in computer science and engineering, in an e-mail. “I felt the need to prove myself a little bit more than if I was a guy.”

Why this disparity is occurring can be attributed to multiple reasons, was addressed by The New York Times in a recently published article titled, “What Has Driven Women Out of Computer Science?” This includes an unreceptive environment, such as family life, negative stereotyping (being a “nerd”), gender roles or because women are introduced to the field too late.

Despite this, some women still choose to pursue the heavily male-dominated field.

“I was an athlete and wanted to find a way to make an artificial system that can play tennis with me for the rest of my life,” Matsuoka said. Receiving her doctorate and master’s degrees in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT, as well as conducting postdoctoral work at the Biorobotics Lab at Harvard, Matsuoka was named one of the “Brilliant 10” by Popular Magazine in 2007. She conducts research in rehabilitation and assistive technology by combining robotics and neuroscience and reaches out to junior high and high school students to get them interested in the field early as well as teaching undergraduate and graduate courses at the UW.

“I decided to become a professor when I worked for a large company (Apple Computer, Inc) and startup (Barrett Technology, Inc) and realized that what I truly love to do is research, which may not necessarily result in products immediately,” Matsuoka said. “I chose UW because of the lack of [boundaries] between medical school, engineering and science.”

Some projects Matsuoka is involved in at the Neurobotics Laboratory include using robotic devices as a tool to understand human neuromusculoskeletal systems, rehabilitation and assistance through robot-human interaction and neural control of robotic devices.

“I feel that the most important thing is to give [undergraduates] abilities to solve problems and desire to keep learning,” Matsuoka said. “Also understanding why learning certain information is important is far more important than knowing what details to be learned — that can always be looked up later.”

The UW’s computer science program encourages diversity, hosting programs within the department such as the UW CSE Women in Computer Science and Engineering and UW CSE AccessComputing Alliance. With computer science as one of the fastest growing fields, it is essential for more women to pursue interests relating to the field early on.

Reach reporter Doris Wu at news@dailyuw.com.