NetSciDraw: Simplifying complex systems for young students

A group of students from the Systems Science and Industrial Engineering Department recently took part in the biggest science and engineering festival in the country, the USA Science & Engineering Festival in Washington, D.C.

The students were invited to demonstrate a web application called NetSciDraw that they had been working on. After the event, Chukwudi N. Kanu, one of the students involved in the showcase, shared his experience.

“Last week, my team and I got invited to exhibit our senior project at the 2018 USA Science & Engineering Festival in Washington, D.C. We didn’t know it going in, but it was the biggest science and engineering festival in the country with roughly 400,000 people in attendance!

“For three days, my team and I showcased our project, NetSciDraw, a web application for K-12 students that aims to instill critical thinking from a young age in students by exposing them to network systems science through a simple drawing tool,” he said. “By using the tool, students are able to outline any ideas of problems they have and break them down into various forms such as concept maps, process diagrams and flowcharts.

The feedback the team got from the festival was extremely valuable,” Kanu added. “Thousands of people who ranged from students, parents, educators, school administration, air force pilots, civil engineering and computer scientists loved our application!”

There are still a lot of things the team has to work on, but members are now confident that they are filling a need with their project and can finish their final year strong because of that.

You can test out the NetSciDraw application on the website.