This month, I had the pleasure of speaking to Matthew Ambrogi, a QUEST alumnus from Cohort 27, who is a co-founder of PalateAI, an AI-powered app that transforms text content into audio podcasts.

Matthew Ambrogi, co-founder of PalateAI

While initially a mechanical engineering major, Matthew realized that his interests spanned both engineering and business. Under the mentorship of then QUEST associate director Pamela Armstrong, Ambrogi created and completed his own custom interdisciplinary major through Maryland’s Individual Studies Program called Engineering and Product Management.

“QUEST was the bridge between engineering and business for me,” Ambrogi explained. “It introduced me to the idea of product management and opened my eyes to tech as a career path.”

The foundation he built at Maryland laid the groundwork for his first professional role as a product manager at Capital One, but it wasn’t long before he felt the urge to branch out on his own. Ambrogi decided to leave his job at Capital One to start his own project. “I felt like I was good at product management, but I wanted to build products myself,” he says.

He spent six months teaching himself to code, experimenting with personal projects, and exploring AI by working with APIs at the start of 2022. 

After being approached by his co-founder with this app idea, the two began working on PalateAI. The app can take text content from a variety of sources– articles, essays, PDFs –and create audio podcasts that summarize the relevant information in an engaging way. Ambrogi said, “Just because something you know exists as text doesn’t necessarily mean that it needs to stay that way.” The customer base for Palate includes students, busy professionals, and parents– all groups that can utilize the flexibility of audio content. 

Starting a company hasn’t been without its challenges. Ambrogi balances his role as the app’s head of engineering with his full-time job as an applied AI software engineer. “Time management is the hardest part,” he said. “Some days, I’m negotiating deals with content creators, troubleshooting a bug, and writing code— all while managing a day job.”

Despite the demanding schedule, Ambrogi is energized by the variety of tasks that come with entrepreneurship. “If I’m tired of coding, I can focus on sales or customer feedback,” he says. “It’s exciting to have so much control over the direction of the product.”

PalateAI is focusing on improving the quality of its audio summaries, balancing conversational tone with detailed content summarization. Ambrogi adds, “Imagine if you didn’t do the reading for class, and your friend tells you everything you need to know. We try to make it engaging and conversational like that.”

As Palate gains traction, the team is exploring new features, such as supporting YouTube videos, integrating with platforms like Google Drive, and integrating paid text content platforms with authentication. 

Ambrogi recommends that students pursue their own personal projects. He said, “The deeper you get into a project of your own, the less it feels like work. Because it’s something you’ve brought to life.”

For Ambrogi, being in QUEST was an opportunity to learn how to work with other passionate people. He said that QUEST students all care deeply about their work. Ambrogi said, “When people actually care, you’re going to disagree and have a variety of ideas. And I think that QUEST teaches you how to work well on a team with people. Whether it’s in the corporate [world] or a co-founder, those collaborative skills from QUEST are extremely useful.” Check out PalateAI at https://www.palateai.app/.

Mercer (left) and his Capstone team.

Two weeks ago, Homes for America, a non-profit affordable housing developer based in Annapolis, MD, closed its first project since Liam Mercer, a QUEST alumnus from Cohort 28, started a year ago. The project is set to work on rehabilitating a 154-unit community in Baltimore that has historically served the deaf and hearing-impaired population. I got the amazing chance to reach out to Mercer to talk further about his time at UMD and QUEST, as well as his life post-grad.

During his time as an undergrad at Maryland, he studied Operations Management & Business Analytics and Finance. He also completed a minor in Sustainability Studies and Real Estate Development. With so many diverse interests, Mercer sought out QUEST to join an interdisciplinary program that “was designed for all students to play valuable roles on each project team.” Mercer was also part of many different extracurricular organizations, such as Phi Chi Theta Business Fraternity, The Maryland Pride, Ballroom at Maryland, and Survivor Maryland.

Mercer dancing with Ballroom at Maryland.

Many of the skills gained through QUEST have been useful for his professional career. After graduating in 2019, Mercer worked on a 2020 presidential primary campaign, where his team was “always looking for creative ways to be as efficient as possible with our limited resources,” something that he learned during his time in QUEST.

At his next job as an analyst at RCLCO Real Estate Consulting in Bethesda, MD, Mercer was able to combine his business and real-estate development background to provide economic consulting services for real estate owners, developers, and investors. He recalled that the QUEST Capstone prepared him well for the client relations part of the job. “I liked the opportunities to use data creatively in an analysis,” he shared.

Mercer and his current boss submitting the LIHTC Application.

Currently, Mercer works at Homes for America as a development analyst. His work is focused on developing housing projects that are income-restricted and affordable within the Mid-Atlantic region. Excitingly, Mercer has led Homes for America’s application for competitive low-income housing tax credits, which would help to finance their developments in the state of Delaware. Mercer says that it was part of the company’s “major organizational goal to diversify where we work, and I was proud to have a leading role in the application.”

Being able to work with combating the affordable housing shortage within our country is an area that Mercer had previously worked on as an intern during his undergraduate years that he was excited to come back to. Looking back on his time at UMD, Mercer says that “one of the benefits of a large university is that there is an organization of like-minded people for almost everything.” Congrats to Liam Mercer on all of his success so far!

One thing about QUEST students – we are all overachievers, both in and out of college! Two QUEST alumni were even included in the Terrapin Club 30 Under 30 Class of 2024 for having a major impact in their communities and careers while supporting the university and embodying Maryland Pride. I was able to connect with them about their journeys through college and where they ended up.

Bradley Polkowitz of Cohort 35 is a 2023 alumnus who majored in OMBA and Marketing. During his freshman year of college, he heard about QUEST through a member of Cohort 29 (David Rosenstein) and was instantly sold. He was especially excited since some friends were also applying with him. Polkowitz was interested in expanding his network and diversifying his skill set through hands-on learning, which is a main pillar of QUEST. During his time at UMD, Polkowitz was a busy man! He was the Founder of the Sports Management Program, Co-Founder and President of the Maryland Sports Business Conference, and President of the Sports Business Society. After graduation, Polkowitz ended up at the National Football League (NFL) where he is currently working as a League Sports Betting Analyst in their Rotational Program. When asked about his journey so far, Polkowitz said: “The most exciting part of my career thus far has been the impact I have had in the sports industry at both UMD and the NFL. Although I just graduated, I have left a lasting impression at UMD and played a pivotal role in growing the sports community on campus. It brings me so much joy seeing my friends and peers succeed in the sports industry. Similarly, with the NFL, it is so exciting to be around the game and learn from industry leaders. I am humbled and honored to have an opportunity to work for the NFL and mentor my peers along the way.”

Polkowitz and his BMGT490H team during the Cohort 35 QUEST Conference

Avi Kozlowski of Cohort 24 is a 2017 alumnus who majored in Finance and Accounting. His inspiration for joining QUEST was his older brother, who was also in the program and spoke highly of his experience. During his time at UMD, Kozlowski was involved with many clubs, including TAMID Investment Club, Hinman CEOS (Temporary) Business Honors, DUNK, UMD Hillel, UMD Chabad, and Real Estate Club. After graduating, Kozlowski began working at Greystone as a Production Analyst, where he has stayed for the last 7 years and risen to Managing Director and Loan Originator. When asked about his professional journey over the last 7 years, Kozlowski said this: “I’ve hit that turning point where I know the ins and outs of the debt financing industry and I’m able to help clients with their current debt structure and business plans, as well as guide them towards the best product for their needs.” In 2023 alone, Kozlowski orchestrated the financing of 76 loans totaling to approximately $1.2 billion, underscoring his unwavering commitment to excellence and substantial contributions to the real estate finance landscape.

We at QUESTPress want to give a huge round of applause to these amazing QUEST alumni for all they have achieved thus far. We cannot wait to see who joins the Terrapin Club 30 Under 30 Class of 2025!

Over 600 people have been to space and accomplished QUEST alumnus Chris Huie-Spence (Cohort 15) is one of them! This month, QUESTPress had the pleasure of interviewing astronaut and aerospace engineer Huie-Spence, who is currently a Senior Manager of Business Insights at Virgin Galactic. He supports commercial strategy and corporate development, spanning the gap between engineering and business while enabling the executive leadership team to make data-informed decisions. We discussed everything from his passion for increasing Black representation in aerospace and leadership to his trip to Space.

Huie-Spence with Virgin Galactic owner Richard Branson

Huie-Spence, a member of QUEST Cohort 15, graduated from UMD in 2011 with a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering. While at UMD, he participated in the Alfred Gessow Rotorcraft Center as part of the National Science Foundation’s LSAMP Undergraduate Research Program. He was inspired to pursue a degree in aerospace because he grew up obsessed with flying machines and understanding how things work. He also loved Star Trek which seeded his imagination for what the future could be like: a future that he could help create. Before joining Virgin Galactic, he worked at Bell Flight Engineering on various rotorcraft programs and as a simulation engineer developing flight crew training simulators. When he joined Virgin Galactic in 2016, he led the Flight Sciences External Loads Engineering discipline for six years. He is very familiar with Spaceship VSS Unity and Mothership VMS Eve and worked on nearly every component of the Spaceship and mothership design. He describes the coolest experience of his career being his trip to space! He served as a mission specialist on Unity 25, Virgin Galactic’s final test flight of Spaceship Unity, where they evaluated and recommended improvements to the customer experience before the Spaceship entered commercial service. He said the trip was “the coolest and most extreme experience… professional or otherwise. The whole experience is beautifully suspenseful, thrilling beyond your wildest dreams, and the most powerful and humbling human experience anyone can have.” He is motivated to make space travel accessible for more people to experience. 

Huie-Spence on his spaceflight

Huie-Spence has done a lot during his career and has found that his greatest accomplishments span from technical accomplishments to leadership accomplishments. While working at Bell Labs, he derived the flight control kinematic equations for the Bell V-280 tiltrotor flight control computers that will become the future of Army aviation and certified Bell’s first full-motion pilot training simulator with Spain’s European Aviation Safety Agency. As a leader, he is proud of helping to establish Virgin Galactic’s Flight Sciences Department where he led different engineering disciplines, recruited talent, established both best practices and engineering processes. He is dedicated to increasing Black representation in the aerospace field and leadership, which is why he co-founded the Black Leaders in Aerospace Scholarship & Training (BLAST) Program. He is also a member of the Clark School’s Early Career Distinguished Alumni (ECDA)!

Huie-Spence with BLAST Scholars at their leadership summit

QUEST has had an important impact on Huie-Spence, complimenting his engineering background to become a better problem solver. QUEST has taught him the importance of focusing and understanding a problem first before just jumping in. The concepts of idealized design help him approach every problem, professionally and personally. QUEST also helped immensely with honing his communication skills, allowing him to communicate technical information with a non-technical audience. Specifically, he said Blue Ocean thinking was one of his favorite takeaways from QUEST as it provides a framework for innovation and invention. He wants future QUESTees to focus on the fundamentals of their chosen industry and never stop learning. Huie-Spence believes QUEST is a great preparation for the real world because engineering and technology are fueling a majority of the growth in business. He wants students to see how they can use the principles of QUEST to design their career and their life. Thanks to Chris for a great interview. We wish you all the best!

Within the University of Maryland’s Department of Information Technology, the Enterprise Planning Continuous Improvement Group (EPCI) consists of four team members who are actually QUEST alumni! This team is a QUEST hotspot as it is a consultation service that is provided for departments within the University. I was able to talk to two of the QUEST alumni – Emilyn Hyre (Cohort 34) and Bobby Fitzgerald (Cohort 21 – to learn about their positions at UMD and how QUEST has continued to stick with them post-college.

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QUEST alumni continue to amaze us with their accomplishments and endeavors. This month, I had the pleasure of interviewing Chris Coraggio, a member of Cohort 16, who has been very busy since graduating from Maryland in 2011 with his bachelor’s in Information Systems and Marketing. Most recently, he is the founder and principal coach of Potencia, an organizational coaching practice. 

Chris Coraggio

After graduating from Maryland, Coraggio joined Teach for America then continued his education by getting a Masters in Education and going to Spain to receive a bilingual (Spanish) MBA. He thought he wanted to enter the HR world so he found a job with Citi in HR but wasn’t fully satisfied with it. He decided to take some time off traveling in Asia and discovered he wanted to incorporate education into his future career, wanted a career that felt fulfilling, and had an entrepreneurial itch that led him to obtain a certification in Executive Coaching and Leadership and start Potencia. He’s proud of pushing past any hesitancy and bringing his ideas to life. “I’ve historically just been really hesitant to put myself and my ideas out there for fear of what others think of me. And over and over again, I’ve pushed past fear to get this company to fruition,” he shared.

Coraggio is a full-time consultant now with SOL Digital but started Potencia as a side gig. He finds that the most rewarding part of coaching is seeing adults have their “aha” moments when they see themselves from a new perspective. “As a former teacher, I remember all the wonderful “aha” moments my students had in my math class,” said Coraggio. “Those “ahas” were really easy to come by, because students were learning new mathematical concepts, and it was pretty natural for them to learn to insights. With adults, it’s harder work to have somebody see themselves or a situation from a new perspective. So the “aha” moments are really special.”

He described a recent win where his coaching allowed a friend to discover a positive insight about why they were leaving their current city. The insight that leaving was moving forward led the friend to change his perspective on what’s up next. He thanks QUEST for instilling in him the importance of networking and community and his attitude towards quality and continuous improvement. He finds himself to be a lifelong learner and always striving to be a better coach. He also remembers “QUEST legends” like Dr. Suarez and Dr. Bailey teaching him to design for the future he wants and trust his instincts.

For anyone interested in coaching check out Potencia’s website here where Coraggio blogs about a variety of topics. He is also offering free coaching office hours to QUEST alumni and students on Wednesdays 4-6pm and Fridays 3-5pm now through January.