Author Archives: Jessica Roffe

We’re Thankful for QUEST!

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Dear QUEST,

It’s the time of year to give thanks, and I am so grateful to be part of such a great program on campus (objectively, the best)! QUEST has come to be my family away from my own in every sense of the word. I am thankful for…

…the Quality Guild for ensuring that we can make the most of our time in the program by spending infinite amounts of time designing our courses and curriculum.

…the endless guidance from our amazing professors and faculty as well as the alumni. I’ve lost count of how many QUEST alumni have been willing to sit on the phone with me for boundless amounts of time and advise me, honestly keeping me from going down the rabbit hole of panic.

…the insights that have ultimately helped me redefine my career choices and allowed me to better understand my interests and aspirations.

…all of the friends I have gotten to make, friendships that I know will long outlive our time at UMD.

…learning how to think in ways that go beyond my major and that give me the ability to connect and work effectively with anyone.

…the alumni network for supporting us. Whether it be coming back to help us on various projects, working with us at many QUEST events, or even advocating for us for internships, all of your help shows how tightly knit QUEST is, and I cannot wait to support future cohorts the way you do for us.

…the QUEST student organizations that work so hard to grow QUEST beyond being just an academic program and helping us develop our connections socially amongst fellow QUESTees and with companies in preparation for successful careers.

…having no divide between faculty and students like in other programs; I know I can come with anxiety over a course or excitement over an internship and that QUEST can support me through it all.

…all the opportunities that I never would have had the chance to take part in or even hear about that have also opened up so many doors.

…everything and all things QUEST!

Here are just a few other QUEST students’ remarks that we wanted to share with you:

“QUEST has become and will always be a cornerstone in my life. It has opened up so many doors and opportunities, and I am forever grateful. Thank you Jess, Dr. Bailey, and Dr. Armstrong for being some of the brightest, most ambitious, and passionate people I have ever met. With love, Doron.” Doron Tadmor (Q29)

“I am grateful for the people in the QUEST community! Everyone in this program is passionate which is so inspiring! I can always count on the QUEST community to help guide me and love watching it grow!” Shivani Krishnamurthy (Q30)

“I am extremely grateful for meeting amazing people in the program! Whether they are in my major or not, I have built strong, long-lasting relationships that have elevated my experience in QUEST!” Noah Vernick (Q28)

“QUEST has introduced me to a plethora of astounding people, both student and faculty, that have both impressed me beyond belief and inspired me to work on amazing projects.” Jack Sturtevant (Q29)

“I am grateful that QUEST opened the door to so many opportunities to learn outside of my engineering curriculum and for all of the amazing people that I’ve met through it.” Tamara Lee (Q30)

“I’m grateful for the immense amount of time that the guild puts into QUEST that makes it such a great program. I’m also very thankful for the friends I’ve made along the way!” Michael Vetter (Q28)

“I love QUEST because the program gives me a space to be creative in a productive space where I am given the tools within systems design, product and process improvement and teamwork to see my ideas come to fruition” Hadas Elazar-Mittelman (Q30)

“QUEST has become like a family to me. Like I could go on a 15-hour road trip with any random three people, and we would have an amazing time.” Charles Grody (Q29)

“I’m grateful that the guild works so hard to constantly improve the program based on feedback. They teach us that this is crucial to success, and they work hard to practice what they preach.” Charlie Bond (Q27)

“QUEST has allowed me to put all of the knowledge I get from class into action and has allowed me to appreciate and understand team dynamics. QUEST has been life-changing already.” Aditi Balachandran (Q31)

“I’m most grateful for the tight-knit community in QUEST. Just being around so many kind and motivated people inspires me to do my best every day.” Akshay Guthal (Q28)

“QUEST has given me the opportunity to challenge myself in ways I didn’t know possible and push a community forward to greater achievements and horizons.” Barret Rus (Q30)

“I’m grateful for the sense of belonging that QUEST provides and cannot wait to start my journey in the spring!” Priscilla Lee (Q32)

“I’m very grateful for all the friends I’ve made through QUEST.” Jacob Wilkowsky (Q19)

“The real House of Quality is not the international diagram describing the overlap between customer desires and the firm capabilities, but the home that the Quality Guild has built within QUEST. I am so grateful for not only everything the Guild has taught me, but also the community they have built within the program!” Jacqueline Deprey (Q30)

“I’m grateful to QUEST for allowing me to meet a group of students and faculty that have helped me learn how to approach challenges- and to have fun with them! It’s so nice having a community of people who are so willing to help each other out!” Megha Reddy (Q27)

“I’m grateful for the interdisciplinary aspects of QUEST. There are so many things I wouldn’t have learned with my own major if it weren’t for QUEST.” Ankita Sahoo (Q30)

“It isn’t enough to say that QUEST was the best thing to happen to me in college. Thank you for the incredible courses, the mentorship, and the connections that have led to internships. But most importantly, thank you for the opportunity to build and create amongst a community of some of the smartest people I’ve ever known.” Sameera Polavarapu (Q27)

“I’m grateful for Dr. Bailey as he is an incredible source of wisdom, knowledge, and friendship.” Roger Mao (Q29)

“I am grateful for the QUEST community! I love being warmly welcomed into the new clubs like QUESTDev before I even began my QUEST classes!” Annabelle Baer (Q32)

“I am grateful for the passionate Quality Guild, who work tirelessly every single day to help QUEST Students succeed.” Dan Selzer (Q27)

Thank you QUEST, for playing such a huge role in my and my fellow peers’ journey at UMD! I cannot wait to see what the next year holds for the program and everyone involved. I’d like to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving and a joy-filled holiday season, as we approach the last stretch of the semester!

Sincerely,

Students of QUEST

P.S. We’d like to give a special shoutout to Dr. Bailey! Thank you so much for always extending your family’s table to us each year for Thanksgiving and really cherishing the meaning of the holiday!

 

 

Lots of data? QUEST students can handle it.

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After a lot of thought and hard work, QUEST’s Applied Quantitative Analysis course (BMGT438A/ENES438A) really came to life this semester! In the tradition of QUEST having “a track record of experimentation and innovation in the classroom, the data course is no different,” according to Executive Director Dr. Joe Bailey. Since former Director Kylie King saw an opportunity for QUEST to do something innovative with data a few years back, QUEST has been developing a data class as a way to prepare its students for the analytical work to be done during 490H and post-graduation. Co-taught by Dr. Joe Bailey, Professor David Ashley, and QUEST alumnus Josh Kohn (Q18), the class features each professor bringing the best of their knowledge in data analytics; they rotate weekly to teach the students everything from running linear regressions to understanding the data behind artificial intelligence. According to Professor Ashley, this course is a “good opportunity to showcase data management [and] authenticate other statistics classes.”

Each week, students learn vast amounts of information and techniques surrounding statistical analyses. However, this class is unique in that the majority of it is application-based. Professor Ashley favors a hands-on approach so that students possess a “skill set to recognize when to use each method and the meaning it provides.” He wants to see storylines behind the data sets to understand why they are important rather than equations lacking context.

Brianna Ho from Q29 says her favorite part of the class is “how wide the breadth is and how we can learn so much in such a short amount of time.” She said, “We’re able to learn things that are applicable to different classes like how to use Excel and also more conceptual topics like Josh’s lecture on machine learning and AI.” Although there is so much to learn and we cannot become expert data scientists in one semester, Josh Kohn says a goal he has for the students is “to learn the key topics and buzzwords so [they] can dive deeper if [they] want to… and be able to have an intelligent conversation.”

The students are not only getting to apply what they learn to in-class exercises, but they are also working on some great projects with real clients. This course has gone “from a 1-credit offering to what it is today — a 3-credit course with approximately 40 students all doing experiential projects,” says Dr. Bailey. All of the students are formulated into groups working for Leidos, Unilever, Google, the US Office of Personnel Management, the Boys and Girls Club, and the US Patent and Trademark Office. Charles Grody from Q29 finds that what he most loves is that “there is so much to explore” and is challenged by deciding when to “go in depth to answer one question or when to try and answer several.”

To highlight some of the projects, the Google team entered the company’s Kaggle competition which involves producing the best model for describing the data set. This year, the premise of the competition involves figuring out how much an average customer spends at the Google store. The group for the US Patent and Trademark Office is looking at data to find interesting trends regarding patent application conversion rates in order to better understand the variables that predict whether or not a patent application will be accepted. The Unilever team is studying datasets from the biggest ice cream factory in the world to better understand aspects impacting waste factor in an effort to reduce it without sacrificing a high level of service. The Leidos team is examining artificial intelligence tools that can be used to improve pilot workflows. The Boys and Girls Club group’s goal is to analyze donorship data, from understanding what categories are doing the best to what trends can be seen amongst the donors.

Anna Xi (Q29) feels like the most important skill she has learned so far is that “dealing with large amounts of data means finding strategies to consolidate the data into different categories.” Students ultimately receive raw data and convert them into stories by sorting through and cleaning up the data. These stories provide an understanding that allows inferences to be drawn and relayed to the clients. Josh called this course “very QUEST-y” as students are “blending technology with business context.”

The QUEST student experience culminates in the capstone course, 490H, and as time has gone on, the projects have become more challenging, especially with the data involved. The Applied Quantitative Analysis course gives students a huge advantage in order to create a more level playing field. Data analysis will no longer be burdensome for students as they work through their projects. Kohn believes that “once it clicks, [students] will be amazed at the variety of problems [they] can analyze,” and it’s this moment in the course that is Dr. Bailey’s favorite as he says, “It is at that point that the course material isn’t just surface-level learning.” Furthermore, this course is very applicable to many QUEST students’ future goals as the ability to apply the methods learned goes a long way beyond QUEST and into many careers.

Josh Kohn said, “The world is becoming increasingly data-driven and generating more data points than companies or governments know what to do with. You can apply these skills to any industry you choose and understanding statistics pays many dividends.” In conjunction with that, Dr. Bailey sees that “every major within QUEST is shaped by the move towards analytics.” All in all, speaking from personal experience, the Applied Qualitative Analysis course has certainly been challenging, but I have learned so much and have simultaneously gotten to see all my knowledge being put to use.

 

Q31 Goes Digital: Bits Presentation Recap

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On Tuesday, September 23rd, Cohort 31 gave their bits-based project presentations in 190H. The project focused on digital innovation and using technology to solve a critical problem. Teams were tasked with finding a solution to the problem by taking the perspective of the ‘voice of the customer,’ working closely with feedback groups, and analyzing survey data to iteratively design a digital product.

Teams presented their final product design alongside their proposed business model, financial analytics, and completed wireframe. Topics covered a wide range of important issues including mental health, product waste and sustainability, and doctor-to-patient communication.

One team – Quality Enhancement Systems & Memes – tackled child education in conflict zones. Focusing particularly on the Syrian education crisis, the team proposed a mobile application designed to teach children in short, engaging spurts that would cater to their interests while also resulting in increased information retention.

Another team – Bennie and the QUEST – aimed to facilitate more effective communication between high-risk patients and their healthcare providers. The application not only allowed consistent and secure communication between patients and their doctors, but also incorporated wearable monitors that sent data to the doctors and could indicate potential risks such as high blood pressure or an irregular heart rate.

Each of the teams pushed themselves to tackle very important issues outside of their normal scope. Sam Pearlstein (Q31) said, “I was impressed by all of the innovative and impactful solutions my peers came up with. All of the teams stepped outside of their comfort zones.”

The passion behind the issues was evident in each of the teams’ careful consideration of possible solutions and incorporation of outside feedback. Sam noted, “This project boosted my team’s spirit and creativity. We were passionate about solving a problem that affected people all around us. For my team, it was mental health. Together, we worked hard to find a solution that was both impactful and innovative.”

Cohort 31’s next presentation will be the poster session on December 4th in which they present their process improvement projects with different clients within the University of Maryland. We look forward to their creative solutions and the impact they will have on campus in the coming weeks. Congratulations, Q31!

Diving Deeper into Innovation at the 3M Site Visit

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One of the important components of the QUEST experience is the opportunity to learn in unconventional ways. QUEST students were fortunate enough to get a once-in-a-lifetime chance to visit 3M’s Innovation Center in Washington, D.C. on October 19, 2018. This visit was organized by the QUEST Corporate student organization with help from Dr. Christina Elson and QUEST Program Manager Jessica Roffe. 3M is a multi-national corporation operating in the fields of industry, health care, and consumer goods. It has operations in more than 70 countries and has been in business for 116 years.

The visit was action-packed. The group first heard from Rory Yanchek, VP and GM of 3M Government Marketing – Sales, and Holly Chapman, DC Innovation Center Host, who taught them about 3M’s history and current impact by using science to change the world. Holly and Michelle Woodard, the DC Innovation Center Manager, then gave the group tours of the innovation center where they learned about the amazing innovations by 3M in many product lines. The information gave the students many ideas about how the skills they develop in QUEST can aid them in the future. Senior Michael Vetter (Q28), who helped organize the visit, said, “The talks were great as we explored how we can really utilize our knowledge from QUEST and apply it to the real world.”

The most popular part of the visit was a virtual reality simulation where the students got to test the difference between road signs that used 3M technology compared to those that did not. Michael’s personal favorite was learning about the different technologies that utilize optics to change how we perceive light and recognize objects to make a difference in our lives. Innovations like these are what the center has been built to showcase and help express the work that 3M has done over the years.

3M certainly made an impression on those visiting. Michael mentions that what he took away from the visit is that he would definitely be interested in working at 3M in the distant future because the company is so unique in its application of materials science and its flexibility between so many industries. He thinks, “The people truly care about the world and society, while developing products that reflect that.” A ringing endorsement like that speaks volumes about how impressive the Innovation Center must’ve been.

By all accounts, this site visit was a fascinating experience and created memories to cherish for everyone involved. It was an ideal mix of learning with fun and helped interested students learn some details on how a company like 3M pushes the boundaries of innovation further.

If you’re interested in inviting QUEST students to visit your company, please contact QUEST Program Manager Jessica Roffe at jroffe@umd.edu.

 

Uniting Students and Alumni: QUEST Homecoming Tailgate 2018

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The annual QUEST Homecoming Tailgate was held on Saturday, October 13, 2018. Students and alumni from different cohorts had fun eating burgers and playing cornhole, but the highlight for many of them was having the chance to interact with each other in a fun environment.

Q5 alumnus Brian Bender is the annual grill-master

QUEST Social member Megha Reddy (Q27) helped organize this year’s event. She said, “I think the reason we keep doing it every year is it’s a fun way to get alumni to come out. They’re coming to the homecoming game anyway, so it’s easy to coordinate. It’s just for fun and to get people to catch up.”

Alex Jerome (Q25) felt excited to see many students from his cohort who had graduated. He said, “There were some current students there, but obviously, I see current students all the time. I was more excited about talking to the alumni because they’re all over the place and not in College Park anymore. We had a lot of great memories together, so it was good seeing them.”

With the tailgate being closer to Van Munching Hall, Reddy said there was a higher turnout than previous years. She said, “It was nice because the tailgate was around the business school and where the business fraternities were so more people could stop by.”

Ankit Sheth (Q29) stopped by QUEST’s tailgate from Phi Chi Theta’s nearby tailgate. “It was really nice to see everyone in a more laid-back manner. Everyone in QUEST is a super achiever so it was nice to see everyone step back a little bit,” he said.

Current students enjoyed catching up with recent alumni at the tailgate. “I had a great time stopping by QUEST’s homecoming tailgate! Though I showed up with members of my own cohort, the real benefit came from getting to see so many friends who had graduated,” said Jacob Lapidus (Q27).

Jerome said, “I’ve gone almost every year, and I’ve always loved going, so I’m glad I got to go again. I’m glad this is something QUEST continues to do – bringing not just current students together, but alumni as well.”

To make the day even better, the Terps beat Rutgers 34-7!

Alumna Eden (Kroeger) Burks becomes an official UMD Hall of Famer

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Cohort 3 alumna Eden (Kroeger) Burks was inducted into the University of Maryland’s Athletics Hall of Fame on November 2, 2018. While in town to celebrate her amazing accomplishment, Eden was able to attend the women’s volleyball team game and meet current players and other newly inducted HOFers.

Mrs. Burks played for the university from 1994-1997 and was able to experience QUEST when it was still a new program around campus. I had the opportunity to chat with her to learn a little bit about her experiences with volleyball, QUEST, and UMD overall.

Eden grew up in Colorado and faced a major decision when it came time to commit to a university. After being recruited by a variety of teams, she fell in love with many aspects of UMD. “Aside from the coaching staff and team here, I immediately knew I wanted to be in the business school and especially took a great interest in QUEST.” She was seeking a challenging educational environment and was naturally drawn to the new interdisciplinary program that, at the time, was offered to only business and engineering students.

One of the biggest takeaways she felt that she gained from her time in QUEST was the value in understanding the different ways people think. “When I graduated, I immediately found the need to understand the minds of people like engineers. Thanks to QUEST, I was exposed to working on a team with them every day.” We never know what type of people we will encounter on a day-to-day basis, so understanding the value of diverse perspectives is crucial.

Eden found that teamwork was relevant in everything she was involved in on campus. Between volleyball and QUEST projects, she constantly was collaborating with those around her to “win.” However, she made it a point to mention a specific aspect of teamwork she valued the most when asked about any advice she would give to current students.

“You’re not going to remember your exact grade, but you’re going to remember the fun times and the craziness around it.” She distinctly remembered making goofy videos for QUEST presentations above everything else, and those college memories are some of her favorites.

Eden truly made the QUEST community proud with such a career milestone! Congratulations again!

 

 

Alumna Spotlight: Rou Tzamaras (Q26)

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With the variety of majors represented in QUEST, it is impressive to see how experiences gained in QUEST provide a clear advantage when it comes to full-time positions across all disciplines. I had the opportunity to speak with recent Clark School graduate Rou Tzamaras of Cohort 26 about her work at Stanley Black & Decker. 

What do you do at Stanley Black & Decker?

My position at Stanley Black & Decker (SBD) is a bit of a mouthful. To start, I am a mechanical engineer in the SBD Leadership program, a rotational program for high potential new hires, and I am currently in my first rotation in the Power Tools and Engineering (PTE) group. Within that group, I am on the Dewalt expansion team on a subteam specializing in lighting. Currently, I am working on designing a heatsink to ensure that our light can handle the thermal load from the LED and a spring that can hold our handle in place regardless of any added battery weight.

What is the most rewarding part of your job? 

The most rewarding part of my job from an engineering standpoint is knowing that something I spend time doing calculations on and working hard to iterate and prototype will be a functional part of our product and be in every unit that gets produced and sold. My current project volume is about 32,000 units, meaning that every unit will work thermally because of a heatsink I designed. In my mind, I more or less touched every single one, and I find that very fascinating to think about.

From a personal standpoint, SBD has many community service initiatives, and I have been able to join the Community Involvement community within the leadership program. Knowing that my company cares about being present in the community and donating products, money, and time to help people makes me feel good about my choice to work here.

What’s something that surprised you when starting out in the workplace?

The thing that surprised me the most when I started working was how little I actually know about how life works. For real, learn about benefits, investments, the stock market, 401ks, loans, how to buy a car, etc. as much as you can before you find yourself faced with these things. Another thing that surprised me is how lax many of my peers are about saving money. Don’t wait to set up your 401k! And look for companies that do 401k matching. Seriously, you won’t regret it!

What is your favorite memory of QUEST?

My favorite memory of QUEST is most definitely my 490H capstone team and when we went to Missouri with Dr. Armstrong to visit our project site. Dr. Armstrong is one of my favorite professors ever, and my 490H team got along extremely well so it is was fun to go on plant tours of Orbital ATK with them and figure out how to frame our project. A few other great memories are doing the mannequin challenge in Dr. Suarez’s class, Max Samuels playing his Ukulele in 390H, and Dr. Bailey’s bowties.

How has QUEST made a difference in your career as an engineer?

QUEST has made a difference for me by influencing how I approach problem-solving by pushing me to think more deeply about the best solution. My job is design, and design inherently requires problem-solving as ideas are formed into prototypes, prototypes are tested, and we push toward production. I understand the business and marketing side of our products more than the average engineer, and I have a solid background in Lean Six Sigma processes which helps as well. Also, QUEST taught me how to work with diverse teams, which is extremely relevant in the design world.

 

Rou was also recently featured on the Tuesday Takeovers on the QUEST Instagram page (@questumd). QUEST students are truly unparalleled in their unique experiences in the program, pushed to excel beyond expectations, and go on to make waves in the workplace just as Rou is at SBD!

 

QUEST Student and Alumna Team up after Capstone

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Creating a successful startup is no easy task, yet there are several QUEST alumni who have been able to solve problems they are passionate about by creating their own company. A couple examples include Kanchan Singh (Q17), who started a cat café in D.C. called Crumbs and Whiskers, Sahil Rahman (Q17), who co-founded Rasa, an Indian restaurant, and Allan Nicholas (Q20), who created a startup called Sweet Buds that sells scented earring backs that release perfume throughout the day. This article, however, will follow the story of Kajal Pancholi (Q7) and how her aerospace and systems engineering firm, Avatar Technologies, grew and eventually came back to QUEST.

Kajal Pancholi has stayed connected with QUEST even after her graduation. She had sponsored several QUEST Capstone projects through her previous employer, Millennium Engineering and Integration Company, but this time she decided to reach out to partner with QUEST so a team of 490H students could help Avatar Technologies become an ISO 9001 registered company. Kajal said she needed “bright, hardworking, and innovative individuals to augment [her] team and develop tailored quality management tools & techniques for the company’s operations,” and she believed it would be a perfect project for QUEST. Students Dennis Chen, Taylor Joyce, Julia Roh, and Devin Rosen from cohort 27 came together to implement an ISO 9001-compliant Quality Management System so that Avatar Technologies could gain a competitive advantage in its field.

One student on the team, Devin Rosen, really enjoyed working with Avatar Technologies during his time in 490H and consequently returned to Avatar for a summer internship. Devin learned many aspects of technology entrepreneurship and enjoyed his time learning about Avatar with his team and wanted to be able to continue helping Kajal make an impact by getting Avatar Technologies an ISO-9001 certificate. Devin said that there were several differences between working with his team and working with Kajal over the summer, and mentioned that “the biggest difference was going from a group project to an individual endeavor [he] could turn into [his] own.” He also said that he had to absorb a lot more information about the company and about ISO-9001 since his teammates weren’t there to bounce ideas off of over the summer, but that Kajal was a great help in guiding him and teaching him the ins and outs of the Avatar business.

Kajal and Devin represented Avatar Technologies at the QUEST Networking Event in September

Being a math major, Devin mentioned that he was able to utilize his critical thinking and problem solving skills when assessing Avatar’s regular business operations in order to optimize process interactions and design the Quality Management System itself. He wants to tell QUEST students that regardless of the project or the major, people will be appreciative of hard work. He mentioned, “QUEST students make significant impacts” in 490H, and that the class itself encourages students to ask as many questions as possible in order to filter ideas and uncover effective solutions. He also wants to emphasize that students are capable of learning more than they think. After being assigned to his 490H project, Devin said he “learned a lot about ISO-9001 quality management system and that it was nice to prove to [himself] that [he] can jump into something completely foreign, learn all about it, and come up with impactful recommendations.”

Kajal was very appreciative of the work that the team did during 490H and the work Devin did during his time at Avatar since now the quality management system is in place and that all there is left is to call an auditor to get Avatar Technologies certified. She said that there are many benefits working for a smaller scale company for the 490H project since the work students do create a very meaningful impact on a large scale. She also mentioned that “Working with the QUEST students and Devin was both professionally and personally rewarding,” since the project brought back memories of Kajal’s own QUEST experiences and she was able to “use that QUEST knowledge and lessons to be a better-engaged and more resourceful project champion for the student team.”

 

 

QUEST Students Attend Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing

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The Grace Hopper Celebration, recently hosted in Houston, Texas, is “the world’s largest gathering of women technologists,” according to AnitaB.org. It is a major opportunity for women, who are generally underrepresented in the tech industry, to seek job opportunities, attend learning sessions, and connect with others within the field. Over 20,000 women attended the conference this year, and some of our very own QUEST students did as well. Sasha Miller (Q29), Jacqueline Deprey (Q30), and Neha Satapathy (Q30) got to fly to Houston for the expo featuring over five hundred companies set up by the Anita Borg Foundation.

QUEST Members Jacqueline Deprey (Q30) (starting second from left), Sasha Miller (Q29), and Neha Satapathy (Q30).

While the conference has a very technical base, the conversations to be had were very enriching beyond the obvious deliverables. Q30’s Jacqueline attended a session comparing careers in software engineering and project management. Jacqueline got to see what each of the career paths looked like beyond their surface titles and past the stereotypes. After reflecting on the conference, Sasha learned the most while listening to a talk given by Emily Chang, the author of Brotopia. Emily’s message and Sasha’s biggest takeaway was that “women can’t fear away from intimidation of men (especially in Silicon Valley) and women have to continue to break the norms in tech to change the future.”

Being that the three women featured in this article are also QUEST members, they definitely noticed QUEST playing a role in their time at the conference. The overarching sentiment was a sense of gratitude towards QUEST as ideals and projects from QUEST panned out to be great talking points during interviews. Recruiters were consistently impressed by the advanced team-based work that the QUEST students had. Jacqueline really felt that QUEST was also helpful in strengthening soft skills to be used for the casual networking events that followed conference socials.

To get involved with future Grace Hopper Celebrations and even just to grow a network amongst women in computing, joining the Maryland Center for Women in Computing (MCWIC) is a great place to start. They not only provide a plethora of resources here on campus, but they also awarded scholarships to send women from Maryland to the conference. Jacqueline says that she “100% would recommend attending…[she] gained advice that helped shape the direction [she] wants to take [her] professional career in, networked with inspirational industry leaders, and even obtained several job offers.” On a similar note, Sasha said, “I would recommend this to all females in tech. It is a once in a lifetime experience that provides you with such unique opportunities. You’ll meet great people, be challenged intellectually, and have amazing offers come out of it!”

The trip was full of meaningful highlights for our QUEST students. Getting to meet so many new people and having the chance to learn so much in such a brief time was exciting! Sasha loved getting to develop stronger connections with UMD’s community of computer science females that she did not know before the conference. Furthermore, she feels like “[she] gained a positive mindset… being around such influential and powerful women in tech made [Sasha] feel incredibly empowered.” From traveling and rooming together to attending company sponsored socials and celebrating the adventure, the conference was an all-around fantastic experience. Long term, the Anita Borg Foundation hopes to create a more level and equal platform within the tech field, and it is definitely fair to say that Sasha, Jacqueline, and Neha left with not only a polished understanding of the tech world but also with memories to last through their careers in tech and beyond.

 

QUEST Networking Event Connects Students, Recruiters, and Alumni

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On September 27th, QUEST Corporate held its 4th Annual Networking Event in the Prince George’s Room at Stamp Student Union. The event has grown since its inaugural year in 2015, allowing QUEST students to gain valuable connections with recruiters and learn more about the various internship and job opportunities that they offer.

Corporate representatives were very excited to meet the students and promote their companies. The 18 QUEST corporate partners in attendance included Accenture, APT, AT&T, Avatar Technologies, Bloomberg, Capital One, Deloitte, EY, General Electric, Guidehouse, Leidos, Miltec UV, NSA, Oceaneering, Protiviti, T. Rowe Price, Under Armour, and Zentail. The event’s location in Stamp was celebrated by many students who were excited about the central campus location and personal setting of the room.

What sets this networking event apart from other career fairs and similar events? Conor Casey, a senior in Q27, said, “I’d say the most valuable takeaway from the QUEST networking events are the connections. It’s interesting how much the dynamic changes once resumes aren’t included. It becomes much more focused on developing connections, and that should be the goal in my opinion.”

Because many of the recruiters are QUEST alumni themselves, students and recruiters can instantly find a common ground based on their aspirations and involvement in the QUEST program. According to Conor, “Overall, I would say that focusing on your experiences in QUEST is a great way to establish more meaningful connections through a relatable topic.”

Universally, the event was a resounding success. Students from all cohorts came together to eat, socialize, and network. The event facilitated connections not only between the students and the recruiters, but also between the students and their fellow peers – and new friends. Thanks to QUEST Corporate for setting it up!