QUEST means a lot of things to different people, but the majority of the QUEST community agrees that the values, skill sets, and connections gained from QUEST have been invaluable to them in their academic, professional, and personal lives outside of QUEST. Neehar Peri, a computer engineering major from Cohort 31, is one such student who used a lot of QUEST concepts while conducting research on vehicle reidentification on campus.

Peri first heard about QUEST through fellow QUESTee David Rosenstein from Cohort 29. David and several other QUEST students were giving an interactive presentation where students in the audience were asked to participate in a group activity.Peri said he “really enjoyed the activity and found it aligned with [his] strengths and interests.” Peri is also a member of the Business, Society, and Economy Scholars program and mentioned that the program “taught [him] the value of human centered design and creating with the customer in mind.” This madePeri wish to pursue consulting and “find a community of like-minded individuals,” which is why he applied to QUEST.

On campus,Peri works for the Center for Automation Research (CfAR), a subgroup at the Institute for Advanced Computer Studies. Peri’s role is to develop new methods of re-identifying vehicles. “My research focuses on applying computer vision and deep learning to traffic analytics in dense urban environments. Cities around the world are increasingly interested in modernizing their infrastructure and gathering insights from data streams from existing sensors. The goal of my research is to accurately identify a single vehicle identity across different cameras in varying orientations, lighting conditions, and weather.”

This is a very difficult problem since many vehicles have very similar attributes and datasets do not collect license plates since it is considered personally identifiable information (PII). Because of this, Peri’s research “focuses on finding discriminating attributes like bumper stickers, decals, and other small aberrations that can be used to uniquely identify a single vehicle regardless of its orientation.”

When asked how QUEST concepts tie in with his research, Peri told me that “a core competency taught through the QUEST program and required in research is the ability to communicate complex ideas in a way that is interesting and engaging.” Peri has to present his work frequently, and QUEST has “taught [him] how to effectively deliver [his] ideas in both written and visual formats.” Completing QUEST projects in multidisciplinary teams has taught Peri the importance of dividing responsibilities, having clear and concise communication, and keeping teammates accountable for their work. Peri believes having proper team dynamics is essential since “research, much like the QUEST, is built on a process that rewards clear, concise, and engaging discussion. Being a team player is integral to success in both QUEST and research. No one has all the answers.”

Being a computer engineer himself, Peri has experienced firsthand QUEST’s impact on engineers. He explained, “QUEST is uniquely positioned to give you experiences that you could never get through a traditional engineering curriculum. Engineers in QUEST have a competitive advantage both in the engineering school and the business school since they are both business-minded engineers and engineering-minded business students at the same time. QUEST engineers have a chance to reach across disciplines to bring new perspectives to every challenge. It’s important to lean into the strength and diversity of the QUEST experience.” On a final note, he shared, “I’ve become a more well-rounded student, made lasting friendships, and it has made my college experience more meaningful. How many other students can say that they worked with real clients on meaningful consulting projects as an undergraduate student? Applying to QUEST has been one of the best investments I’ve made in myself. Everyone can benefit from QUEST.”

Peri is just one of many students who believe that the impact of QUEST carries over into different areas of their lives they are passionate about. His passion for Computer Vision allowed him to immerse himself into his research and fully realize how he can utilize different concepts from QUEST into his work. Similarly, QUEST can help other students realize their passions and learn how to utilize important business and engineering concepts while pursuing them.

This month, I had the pleasure of speaking with Jeannie Spiegel, a sophomore marketing and supply chain management major in Cohort 33. Jeannie is currently the treasurer for the Maryland Chapter of IGNITE, a national organization that empowers young women eager to be the next generation of political and corporate leaders. When asked why she joined the organization, she explained, “When I joined freshman year, I wanted to join a group that was both intellectual and pushed me out of my comfort zone. At my first meeting, we had a group discussion about Ruth Bader Ginsberg and what a role model she is, and I realized that this was the place for me.”

At IGNITE, Jeannie helps plan social events, networking sessions, and group discussions. More importantly, however, she’s helped to build a community of women building each other up and learning from each others’ perspectives. As Jeannie explains, “Being engaged in what’s happening around you is your responsibility as a U.S. citizen. It blows my mind when I hear some people don’t read the news every day! As amazing as UMD is, I feel that it sometimes lacks spaces to talk about really important issues. It’s so easy to go through your classes, homework, and extracurriculars forgetting about the bigger picture. However, through IGNITE, I feel as though I bring the perspectives from other empowered women into all aspects of my life, including QUEST.”

One upcoming event that Jeannie has been working to put on is a No-Barrier Women’s Networking Brunch. While some students have plenty of opportunities to connect with professionals in their field of study, Jeannie noticed that other students in other situations may not have such chances; hence the idea of the “no-barrier” network was born. Starter and prompting questions are provided, as IGNITE realizes that not everybody has the skills and practice of talking to professionals. Instead of full suits, students are encouraged to wear jeans and a nice shirt. There is no need to bring a resume or cover letter. Instead, IGNITE wants to simply provide the opportunity to talk to professionals from all backgrounds and experiences. As Jeannie explained, “Career fairs are intimidating. If there’s any way we can make people more comfortable furthering their career aspirations, why wouldn’t we?”

When asked if she had any advice to give to young women and students such as herself, Jeannie said, “Don’t be afraid to assert yourself. I went on an alternative break and met someone whose mom did supply chain management, which is what I want to do. I didn’t say anything in the moment, but later that day I grew the courage to ask the student for his mom’s contact information. He gave me her email address, and when I reached out to her, it turns out she was the Vice President of Johnson & Johnson North America. We had a lovely conversation and I learned a lot… but it wouldn’t have happened if I didn’t ask.”

Cohort 33 and the entire QUEST Community is proud of Jeannie for helping young women grow and develop into tomorrow’s leaders! If you want to learn more about IGNITE or the No-Barriers Women’s Networking Night, you can find more information at ter.ps/womennetwork.

One of the most challenging and rewarding parts of the QUEST experience is the BMGT/ENES 490H (QUEST Capstone Professional Practicum) capstone project. Students get the chance to work with clients on real challenges and provide innovative recommendations. This offers a taste of what companies are doing in the real world. In some cases, students are able to work on projects that resonate with them and that they wish to take past the QUEST course itself.

James Wang, from Cohort 29, had such an experience earlier this year, getting the chance to continue his project over the summer as an intern. In the spring semester, James and his team worked with HelloFresh as their 490H client. HelloFresh is the largest meal kit provider in the United States and is based out of Berlin, Germany. The problem HelloFresh was facing was that their Direct Sales team had a lot of data available to them but weren’t able to take advantage of it when organizing sales events as this data was unorganized. The team wanted a way to leverage their data to cut down underperforming events.

James says that working with his team over the semester was a great experience. The biggest challenges were at the start of the semester, as the team took some time to get acquainted with each other and collaborate well. The end result was well worth it though, as they were able to come up with a final deliverable that impressed their assigned project champions. Their final product was a program to help organize the data at HelloFresh better. James says, “It was really rewarding to hear the excitement from our project champions and learn about the impact the tool could have at HelloFresh once implemented.” The biggest takeaway for James from his 490H experience was the importance of communication. He stresses, “Whether it be communicating to the client a reasonable set of goals for the week, explaining the high-level functionality of some code we wrote to our champions during a call, or getting the team to set standards and timelines for each other’s tasks, communication was probably the most important factor.”

At the end of the semester, James reached out to his project champion to see if it would be possible to continue working with HelloFresh over the summer. Due to the rapport they’d already established through the semester, it was pretty smooth sailing from there. James visited the company’s headquarters in New York City and got a feel for the company’s environment and culture. He found it to be a good fit and decided that he’d like to work there over the summer.

The transition from 490H to HelloFresh was seamless as he’d already gotten to know the members of the Sales team. He liked being able to own the product he was working on, rather than just advising a client. In his words, “I was able to get a lot more specific with
my recommendations because not only was I kind of the ‘product owner’ who went out and identified user needs and issues with current tools or processes, but also the person who developed, tested, gathered feedback for, implemented, and gave training for the best solution.” One of his projects over the summer was actually taking the final product from the 490H project and turning it into an integrated, easy-to-use, standalone application. The team at HelloFresh was excited about that project, as it was able to give them a lot of insight into the data they had collected.

James was able to apply a lot of the skills he’s picked up at QUEST over the summer. He says, “I think the biggest skill I leveraged at HelloFresh that I learned through QUEST was working with people with different academic backgrounds and being able to communicate effectively with them.”

The biggest takeaway James has from this whole experience is to always keep an open mind about things. He concludes, “A lot of my team’s ideas and solutions throughout the project came from unlikely sources or wild ‘joke’ ideas that actually turned out to be pretty solid. I probably wouldn’t have even thought to stay on with HelloFresh this summer had I not kept an open mind.”