Three Illinois undergrads take second in global Map the System competition

8/19/2020 Carly DiFilippo

Engineers use systems thinking to map social disparities

Written by Carly DiFilippo

Map the System is a global competition hosted by the University of Oxford. According to the submission guidelines, “Participants must use ‘systems thinking’ as a guiding approach to understanding a complex social or environmental challenge and create a visual systems map as a means to articulate their findings in a way that people can meaningfully understand, share, and learn from – key skillsets for those interested in creating systemic and sustainable social or environmental change.”

Shortly after the 2020 Spring Semester started, a team composed of three global-award-winning U of I undergrads from across the United States came together to start “There Will Be Blood.” Referring to themselves as “menstruators,” they placed second with a precise and impactful presentation on menstrual inequity in the United States. [Editor’s note: I would have referred to them as “engineers,” but I respect their wishes.]

Meet The Team: Those Who Bleed consists of Angela Chan (left), senior in SED, Ajaita Saini (middle), senior in CS + Statistics with a minor in Anthropology, and Jiho Park (right), sophomore in Mechanical Engineering. Although living in different states across the US, the team shared one thing in common: they were menstruators and people of color who came to the table with stories. From there, their project’s topic was born.

“We are lucky to say that we are among the more privileged menstruators in our country, but there are millions who face regular [lack of] access to clean menstrual products; stigma from peers, family members, and general society; as well as systemic power abuses that maintain sexist and harmful practices. Notably, we were shocked by the treatment of incarcerated individuals, trans and intersex menstruators, and the persistent ignorance by our government,” state the menstruators.

With an emphasis on systems thinking, Map the System requires participants to dig into a social or environmental issue. The goal is not to come up with a single solution, but rather to understand the complexity that all problems exist within and suggest systematic change throughout all levels. This year was the first year that the University of Illinois participated in Map the System, hosted under Valeri Wepetinski’s sector within the Gies College of Business. There Will Be Blood focused their topic on menstrual inequity in the United States and were amongst over 50 institutions participation worldwide.

Topic Choice: “Menstrual inequity is usually a topic reserved for other countries such as India or Kenya, however the systemic impact of the United States is vast and there are thousands of menstruators who suffer daily because of multiple factors,” states Chen. “The primary root cause is stigma, however the impacts of misogyny throughout history are deeply embedded into how the issue is neglected. Most notably, it’s common for correctional officers to use menstrual products as tools for sexual and physical abuse against incarcerated menstruators,” explained Chen.

Representing Illinois’ first year enrolled in this competition, There Will Be Blood won second globally. Those Who Bleed enjoyed systems thinking, loved working with Valeri, and sought the true value of how focusing on one issue can make a huge impact on tangential issues as well.

“I can say confidently that this project has been one of the most rewarding things I've done in my college career. When Ajaita and I first saw the email, we were hesitant to take on such a big challenge but really this is how and what we've been wanting to do with Design for America. This project really embodied why we became drawn to human-centered design, but I don't think we would have been able to do as well as we did without those experiences with design thinking,” concludes Chen.

Congratulations, There Will Be Blood!

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This story was published August 19, 2020.