In a continuing effort to boost steadily dwindling numbers of women signing up to study the male-dominated fields of engineering and computer science, Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg has teamed up with professional networking site LinkedIn to create a collaborative support initiative.

The initiative will involve launching mentoring and support programs for women at college interested in studying and working in technology. LinkedIn chief executive Jeffrey Weiner has jumped on board in the hopes that the project will provide greater diversity in the ideas coming out of Silicon Valley. If “the perspective of the people building our products and services [is] too narrow,” he said, such conformity of creativity will “lead to suboptimal outcomes.”

Sandberg is more vocal in her push to get women into the tech workforce. “Careers in computer science and engineering are great for women (and men) – the work is high-impact, flexible, well-paid, and exciting. Yet female participation in these fields is plummeting,” she said. “Women are missing out on great jobs and the world is missing out on their great ideas.”

The percent of women enrolled in undergraduate computer science programs has fallen dramatically in the past 30 years, from 35 percent in 1985 to a mere 17 percent today. Only 15 percent of employees in tech positions at Facebook, and 17 percent at LinkedIn, are women. Most Silicon Valley companies have comparable demographics.

The Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology is also a partner in the initiative to increase women’s interest in areas of math and science. “Think about it,” said Telle Whitney, president and CEO of the Institute. “If everybody who creates a product looks the same, you know the results won’t be nearly as interesting. We want for the sake of our future to have women involved in all the projects that will change our lives.”

In 2011, Sandberg brought the issue of the absence of women in technology to national attention with her book Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead. This inspired the creation of her non-profit LeanIn.org, which will provide a platform for the initiative’s support groups.

Female computer science and engineering students applaud the idea of a mentorship program. Lea Coligado, a Stanford University computer science student, says that support is needed to counteract ingrained “stereotypes” about women and technology. “It’s understated and people don’t want to say it out loud, but it’s there — the idea that women are just not very good at computer science — and some use that to justify why our numbers are so low. It’s flabbergasting,” she said.

Jessica Boles, an undergraduate in electrical engineering at the University of Tennessee, said, “This is not a perfect field for women yet, but it can be. We just have to keep pushing.”