"'What is turning girls off is the image of an engineer,' said Maria Larrondo-Petrie, a computer engineer and associate dean of academic and international affairs at the College of Engineering and Computer Science at Florida Atlantic University. 'They don't see engineering in relation to its impact on the world, on society, on the human condition.'

Though it may sound sexist, Larrondo-Petrie said research has found that women such as Williams are drawn to "caring disciplines," jobs that make the world a better place.'"

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I know a few engineering students that are female (and good looking). But they're alpha females, the kind that crave challenges and thus don't fear the math/physics involved. And most of the alpha females that aren't scared of the sciences want to be physicians because there's a higher potential salary than in engineering.