Reviewing how the Advising Roadmap is set up are (from left): Dr. Shahin Mehdipour Ataee and students who developed the app including Jared Russell, Ian Cioppa and Camron Walsh.
In a bid to streamline the academic advising process, three Computer Science students will introduce their cutting-edge web-based software application to campus.
Their presentation will be on Thursday, May 9 at 1 p.m. at Houghton Hall Room 258.
The innovative tool, informally known as the Advising Roadmap, was developed by Camron Walsh, a senior, from Lake View, NY; Jared Russell, a senior, who also has a major in Music, from Moravia, NY; and Ian Cioppa, a junior, from Grand Island, NY. It aims to revolutionize the way students and advisors navigate course requirements and plan for the future.
Under the mentorship of Department of Computer and Information Sciences Assistant Professor Shahin Mehdipour Ataee, the students have meticulously crafted a solution that addresses common pain points in academic advising.
The software boasts customizable roadmaps, efficient future planning features and a user-friendly semester-based layout of registration, promising enhanced efficiency and flexibility for all stakeholders, Dr. Ataee said.
A wonderful opportunity to gain direct experience with the software development was a key takeaway of the project for Mr. Cioppa.
“It took a lot of hard work, collaboration and communication between my team members and I, and I think we were able to put together something really useful that could potentially benefit lots of students,” Cioppa said. “I'm incredibly grateful to have gotten to work on this project, and it's definitely taught me a great deal of skills that I'll need going forward into the computer science field.”
Mr. Russell acknowledges that he struggled with advising in the past, finding the process to be confusing and intimating to handle. However, through the Advising Roadmap experience, he’s gained a new perspective on the positive impact software developers can have on people’s lives.
“Working on this project has helped me realize that the work we do as software developers can drastically improve the lives of students or any user of our system,” Russell explained. “Through this extensive process I have developed many skills I wouldn’t have thought were important in this process, such as clear communication and sharing a vision with your teammates.”
Mr. Walsh found collaborating with his team to be rewarding, and he’s proud of its accomplishments. “Working on this project has been an invaluable learning experience, enhancing skills crucial for my transition from student to professional in the software engineering field,” he said.
For the Advising Roadmap software to reach its full potential, it should be interfaced with the university's current software. This will enable students from all disciplines to benefit from it. The integration process may take a couple of months and may require the approval of academic administrators to ensure the legality of the process, like any other software used by SUNY Fredonia, Ataee said.
Faculty, students and members of the academic community are invited to attend and witness the unveiling of what is called “groundbreaking” software. The event is free and refreshments will be provided, offering attendees the opportunity to engage with the creators and explore the functionality of the software firsthand.
