It isn't difficult to find women in typically male-dominated fields at Penn State.
Most would agree that a university with traditionally strong agriculture and engineering programs has seen more and more women choosing career goals unheard of just decades ago and excelling when they graduate.
However, one of Penn State's newest pride and joys, the information sciences and technology (IST) major, is suffering from a serious lack of interested women.
Although this follows a national trend that is gaining attention, the disparity is particularly unsettling at Penn State, whose program has as many as 11 percent fewer women than the national average.
As one of Penn State's own IST professors has pointed out, the situation is something like a vicious cycle -- fewer women are choosing the IST major because they feel isolated, thus maintaining the major's number of women at a lowly 10 to 12 percent.
Some may argue that this is simply a result of enduring stereotypes that need more time to erode, especially with IST's rookie status as a field of study.
However, students and educators alike should be concerned that the world may be missing out on the talent offered by some women whose decision to major in something other than IST may have nothing to do with lack of interest or ability.
Not only are Penn State's numbers low, but the national average of women in the field has dropped 16 percent since 1985.
An industry that has gone through so many changes may now find itself regressing, enforcing the glass ceiling in upper management positions that women in engineering have just recently broken through.
Work has already been done to encourage girls as young as middle and high school to pursue careers in math and science.
Penn State's own program, Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) has done its part to further and encourage women's goals by providing something very simple -- solidarity.
Perhaps only time will tell if these efforts will be rewarded, or if time itself may even help reverse what is becoming a very disturbing trend.
These efforts, however, need to carry into the undergraduate, graduate and professional realms, where women already juggling other major life decisions are sometimes discouraged by lack of support and opportunities.
