Possibly the most accessible area of her work for the non-technically trained individual to understand deals with the an experience we all have every day, and that is transportation. You want to do that, and so do many other drivers that are on the streets. Anna's work tries to analyze these systems with all their complexity. It is in her reevaluation of the concept of network, that Prof. Nagurney has made a great leap for her field. In human terms, we 'network' to find jobs, or contracts, or an apartment.
Networks are also systems, such as the telecommunications network, or the Internet.
Through her mathematical descriptions, Professor Nagurney brought a more realistic concept of network as a dynamic system with many, many variables. Her networks are spatial. Her systems acknowledge competition instead of assuming cooperation. There is no communication in a cooperative way, even though drivers have been known to make their opinions known to other drivers using choice hand signals and other verbal forms of communication. As this kind of competition accelerates, however, it increases the variables that need to be included in the equations that make up the mathematical model.