What is the Uncanny Valley? In robotics, it's when robots are suddenly perceived as creepy as they approach human likeness.

In my own reality, the Uncanny Valley is the drop-off in the number of females in the engineering disciplines between software and electronics. Here is a little illustration:

I'm a computer science grad student, and I'm required to take courses in the fields of HCI, graphics and algorithms, but my concentration is in the areas of OS, compilers, databases and networks. Empirical evidence shows that there are "lots" of females in human-computer interactions, graphics, and algorithms. In fact, I'd be so bold as to estimate a 2:1 male-to-female ratio in some of those classes. Continuing down the spectrum to where the software meets the hardware, such in operating systems, the number of females drops down to near 0. I don't know why, but the ratio in these classes is 8:1 at best, and infinity at worst. However, even further down the spectrum to where hardware, electronics and electrical engineers hang out, the line goes back up. Perhaps it's because the electrical engineering department here is large, but I've observed "lots" of ladies in electrical engineering.

To support my claim, I will use my courses for this quarter. I am currently taking 3 classes and a seminar. The first class is based on human-computer interactions and design thinking, and there are 20 males and 4 females in this, for a 4:1 ratio. The seminar is a human-computer interaction seminar, and I estimate the ratio to be about 3:1. The second class is a distributed systems class, so it goes in the "OS, compilers, databases" category. The exact count is unknown because the lecture is recorded and becomes available online, but I attend lecture in person and there are 0 females, so the ratio is "sausage fest". My third class is not a compter science class - it's a dance class, where gender balance is enforced. Hooray for enforced gender balance!

The moral of the story is, if  you're a girl, you should go into engineering because the odds are good, because engineering is a rewarding choice, and so I can stop whining about this.

Hi everyone - I'm a master's student in computer science, graduating in June. I find that reading and commenting about other peoples's situations is cathartic. But, if you have any questions about computer science, grad school, being a grad student in computer science, or life (I'm qualified to answer life questions because being a grad student makes me sort of old), drop me a line.