RIT looks at gender gap in info technology.(Newswatch)(Brief Article)

Two Rochester Institute of Technology NY researchers are exploring gender issues facing the information technology field. The National Science Foundation has awarded assistant professors Elizabeth Lane Lawley and Tona Henderson $323,000 to study the experiences of undergraduate women in college information technology (IT) programs.

IT classes at RIT are typically overwhelming male. Women learn that they must be aggressive or be crowded out by men. "You really have to push forward to do something," said Namgyal Dolker, a female IT student from Tibet.

RIT is not alone in facing these issues. RIT Associate Dean Eydie Lawson recently returned from a conference of IT deans in Oregon and remarked that schools everywhere are "all reporting exactly the same thing."

Information technology studies how humans interact with technology. Its focus is usually considered "softer" than computer science, but women are staying away from that field as ...