For years now - practically all my life - I've been what society refers to as a geek. I'm not going to get into what defines a person as a geek, but I do know being a geek isn't a bad thing. In fact, it's a very unique and worthy title. It doesn't matter what classifications I have fallen under, my whole life seems to have been a constant transition between different categories of "geekdom."

Science geek, intellectual geek, band geek -- all of these I was (and apparently still am) -- but people classify me mainly as a computer geek.

I've noticed a significant gender gap in the computer geek world. I never figured out exactly why this is, but many people have their varying theories. It has been getting better in recent years, but all I know is that being a computer geek has never gotten me a girlfriend.

In fact, according to Penn State's Fact Book, the percentage of undergraduate women enrolled in the Information Sciences and Technology program is only 23.2 percent. Engineers have it worse. Only 18.8 percent of undergraduate engineering students are female.

What some might find interesting is that women have displayed a vital role in the evolution of computer science. They have been responsible for advances in computer programming, software design and hardware design, and they have been highly influential to the history of computing.

The history of women in computers, surprisingly, begins in the 19th century with a woman by the name of Ada Byron King. Brought up in a culture that was not supportive of women studying the sciences, King managed to successfully contribute to the development of structured computer programming that would be invented more than a century later.

Grace Murray Hopper, "the third programmer on the world's first large-scale digitalomputer," as she puts it, is responsible for the creation of the world's first compiler.

She also is referred to as "the grandmother of COBOL," as her research led to the creation of that widely used computer language. Incidentally, she also coined the term "computer bug."

Aside from these, many other women have been involved in computing from the very start.

During World War II, when the government began constructing and programming the first digital computers, such as ENIAC -- the Electrical Numerical Integrator and Computer that was used to calculate ballistics data, women were the only people readily available to program them.

Women then were praised for their traits of patience, persistence and attention to detail. They were therefore stereotyped as leaders in the industry.

The women of that era reported treatment and respect equally on par with that of men. It wasn't until the industry began to grow that men, then sociologically viewed as superior to women, began to take charge.

We stand today with a very small ratio of women to men participating in the various technology-related majors. I'm sure that many guy geeks out there would agree that these are not the most desirable circumstances under which to find and develop a relationship.

So if a girl feels like being a geek, by all means do so. There have been many female geeks in the past and we are in desperate need for more of them now.

To many people that I've talked with, it seems that non-geek girls are sometimes not all that respectful or understanding of guy geeks.

"So what," they ask, "if you can control the lights in your dorm room by remote control?"

Apparently, it isn't all that invigorating for them to compile a newly written program in Linux, either. So what if I might turn out to be a cubicle jockey the rest of my life, I still can't tell you how exhilarating it was when I first heard a woman use both the terms "firewall" and "proxy server" correctly in the same sentence.

So we are faced not only with a shortage of female geeks but a population that fails to see the guy geek for who he truly is.

Remember that guy geeks can be cool people too.

In fact, many of us enjoy partying just as much as non-geeks do and do not fear interacting with other carbon-based life forms.

Once in a while, we even appreciate meaningful conversation, the chance to treat someone to dinner and a movie, possibly even a night on the town.