This month, I had the honor of interviewing some of our incredible students in Cohort 39! Dressed in their finest attire and equipped with their brightest smiles at the QUEST Conference on May 6th, Cohort 39 did an incredible job on their capstone projects.
Cohort 39 at the QUEST Conference.
College is full of exciting, once-in-a-lifetime opportunities, and the chance to explore another country during study abroad is certainly one of the most unique and thrilling. It’s a great chance to understand a new culture from both an educational and experiential perspective. QUEST currently has 10 students studying abroad across the globe from Europe to Australia. I spoke with two QUESTees to hear about everything from their study abroad journey so far.
Daniel Lamb is a computer engineering major from Cohort 40 who is currently studying in Madrid, Spain. He was inspired to study in Madrid because he wanted to explore a new country, meet international students, and try as many new things as possible! His favorite experience so far has been his solo travel to Valencia where he was able to participate in a festival called Las Falleras. He got to dance, eat, and build human towers with locals around a massive bonfire. His favorite class abroad has been his Spanish class, which is taught fully in Spanish by a professor who loves to poke fun and have a good time with his students. Lamb advises future QUEST students looking to study abroad to try as many new things as they can and not to worry about feeling out of place as that feeling is part of the gateway to new experiences.
Lamb (Cohort 40) parasailing in Spain
Maya Pollack is a computer science major from Cohort 40 studying abroad in Sydney, Australia. Pollack grew up loving to travel and knew she wanted to take advantage of studying abroad in college. Over the last two months in Australia, she has felt “genuinely immersed in the culture of this beautiful country,” and it has enhanced her “academic journey with invaluable insights and personal growth.” Her favorite class so far has been an environmental science lab where they go on weekly outdoor field trips related to the content they learn in class. Her favorite experience was when she visited Cairns, Queensland and went skydiving! Pollack wants future QUESTees to take the opportunity to study abroad if they can. She finds that “traveling and seeing the world is such an important part of life, pushing you to become more worldly and open-minded.” She advises coming in with the mindset of “getting comfortable with being uncomfortable” to maximize the exciting elements of studying abroad.
Pollack (Cohort 40) skydiving in Cairns, New Zealand
Cohort 42 at QUEST Camp
Earlier this semester, we swore in our newest members of QUEST: Cohort 42! Let’s take a look back at their QUEST Camp/Orientation. Continue reading
Over winter break, 29 students across the QUEST program immersed themselves in the cultures and industries of two East Asian countries through the study abroad winter elective.
This year, the program took them to tour the cities of Tokyo, Japan, and Seoul, South Korea with an overall theme of looking at innovation and automation and how they have been incorporated into the culture and society of the two cities. Over the ten days, the class allowed students to dive into the cultures of these cities, as well as hear from representatives of numerous companies.
Watching a matcha tea ceremony
The class visited larger well-known corporations, like Nissan and Samsung, as well as some start-up companies across multiple industries.
The class at their site visit to SBS
I was able to talk to Shareen Ahmad, an Operations Management and Business Analytics and Supply Chain Management major from Cohort 41, who went on the trip. Her favorite site visit was to Astroscale, a space debris removal company. She found it inspiring to see their work towards sustainability. “It had a lot of legal, financial, and social considerations, and I loved their passion for taking on such a challenge,” she shared. Students even got to simulate the process of how Astroscale works to remove space debris.
Not only were the QUEST students learning about how business and industries worked, but they also got to see firsthand the social and cultural impacts. Students were surprised to see the difference in culture compared to the US. As Ahmad put it, “There was a big focus on social harmony and collectivism.”
Overall, many students loved being able to interact with the local cultures, seeing cafes, shopping districts, food markets, and lots of entertainment! With the destination of the winter course changing each year, there is always more for future QUESTees to experience abroad. For more photos from the trip, click here.
Although finals season is in full swing, there is something we can all look forward to: Winter Break. Let’s see what some of our QUESTees will be up to this break.
QUEST Students, Alumni, Staff, and Faculty at the Homecoming Tailgate
Despite the cloudy weather and rain, the annual QUEST Homecoming Tailgate was a hit. On October 14th, QUEST students, alumni, staff, and faculty came together in Lot 11B for a day of fun.
With impeccable timing, as always, QUEST Corporate hosted its 9th Annual Networking Event, right in the midst of recruiting season. On September 20th, with 33 companies and over 150 students in attendance, students had the opportunity to engage with recruiters and other professionals to expand their networks for securing internships, jobs, and more. Many QUEST alumni also had the chance to return and connect with current students, witnessing how the program has evolved since their graduation.
The QUEST program has created a great alumni network where everyone wants to get to know each other and enjoy reminiscing about their time in undergrad. This is strengthened every summer during the QUEST Summer Happy Hours.
QUEST in Baltimore, MD
Everything that we learn throughout our time in QUEST all comes together in the capstone course, BMGT/ENES490H. The finale of this course is the QUEST conference, where teams present all their hard work during the semester through both their poster presentation and on-stage audience presentations. I had the pleasure of speaking with Annushka Aliev (Cohort 37), a member of the team who won the Most Outstanding Capstone Award, and Abby Bond (Cohort 37), whose team won the Best Poster Award.
Cohort 37
Aliev is a civil engineering major who worked with SX Industries this semester for her capstone project. The team aimed to improve SX’s inventory planning and manufacturing scheduling. In the past, SX made production decisions based on customer promises and intuition. Aliev’s team sought out to make that better through an extensive forecasting model that would project future sales, calculate required materials, and determine machine run time. SX can use this model along with a safety stock calculator to know exactly when to replenish their inventory.
Most Outstanding Capstone: SX Industries
Aliev was kind enough to let me in on the keys to success that led her team to be ready for conference. First, she said that her team started working on their final poster weeks in advance, so that when it came time to prepare for the conference, they were already finished. Communication was the next key to a successful team. “Things change VERY quickly in 490H projects, and if a conscious effort is not made to keep people up to date, then the team will struggle,” she said. Her team was always on top of making sure they were always on the same page.
The team met every single day the week leading up to the conference to make sure they earned the award. Finally, the most insightful piece of advice given by Aliev was to also rely on the people who aren’t on your team. QUEST is a space where we are all competing to make each other better. Before presenting to an audience of friends and family, Aliev said that she presented to other members of her cohort, who asked difficult questions to make sure that when they walked up on stage they would be successful.
Best Poster: Capital i
Winning the Best Poster Award is no easy feat. This semester the team working with the health tech management solutions company, Capital i, made a poster that was visually stunning and interactive with their QR code. Abby Bond, a Bioengineering major and QUEST Social Co-lead, was on the winning team. They went to Houston for a health tech management expo, visited multiple hospitals that work with their client, and spoke with several stakeholders to craft solutions for her client. They came up with an extensive framework for mobile medical equipment utilization monitoring and forecasting models.
Abby and her team “secretly” started working on their poster early in the semester. They created multiple different iterations and their poster evolved as their project evolved. They began with a hospital room, an infusion pump, and a bed included to tie it in Capital i’s tech health industry. From there, they added small details, like a bear in a cowboy hat, to pay homage to their Houston trip, and a QR code to make it a more immersive experience. However, Bond stated the reason why their poster stood out was because the design complimented their solutions. She said “regardless of how cool the poster looked, we knew how important the content was. We made sure that our design evolved with how we decided to present our information.”
Congratulations to Cohort 37 on a very successful QUEST conference!
College is the time to try new things, whether that’s learning to cook or traveling to a new country. This month, I talked to two QUEST students who both chose to study abroad in the lovely city of Madrid, Spain for the semester! Both Bioengineering majors in Cohort 38 studying at Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Fiona Sheridan and Hannah Lee had nothing but amazing things to say about their experiences so far.