This semester, Cohort 9 QUEST alumnus Dr. Fox Troilo is making his return to the University of Maryland to be the newest BMGT/ENES190H instructor! He is co-teaching the QUEST introductory course with Dr. Ben Huffman. I had the opportunity to chat with him about his past experiences and life post-college, as well as his reason for returning.
Dr. Fox Troilo
There are a few things in life that never change. Students rub Testudo’s nose for good luck, Emily Marks has a smile on her face, and Dr. Armstrong always teaches the QUEST introductory course BMGT/ENES190H. But this upcoming fall, that will no longer be a reality. After a nine-year tenure with QUEST, Dr. Armstrong has decided to retire after a successful teaching career.
I had the honor of being a mentor for Dr. Armstrong this semester and it was amazing to see the smallest adjustments she made to make sure that the cohort was successful. One day Dr. Armstrong walked into class and said that the students all seemed stressed out in class about their projects. During the lab that night she made the decision to change what we were doing – instead of working on new materials she gave teams the space to work on their projects. The energy of the students before and after the lab had changed completely. Dr. Armstrong knew exactly what the class needed to be successful. In my mind, this was the sign of a great professor because she put off all the important content to help her students.
Dr. Armstrong with Cohort 39 in Fall 2022.
Personally, I can also attest to how helpful Dr. Armstrong has been to me over my collegiate career. In addition to teaching BMGT/ENES190H, she also served as a faculty advisor for my capstone project in BMGT/ENES490H. Throughout my time in QUEST, I could always go to Dr. Armstrong for answers – between questions regarding how to help my mentee team work through a difficult situation or how to have a tough conversation with the client, she always knew what to do. She has so much experience in the classroom and in the field and was eager to share it with anyone who came to ask for advice.
Dr. Armstrong started working with QUEST almost a decade ago. She began teaching with Cohort 21 and has worked with almost half of the cohorts that QUEST has ever had by finishing with Cohort 40! In her time in QUEST, she has taught almost a thousand QUEST students how to deal with ambiguity.
Dr. Armstrong always puts into practice what she preaches too because BMGT/ENES190H has had many iterations including having 3 projects in the course (which is now 2) and having the new BMGT190H final instead of a written final (sorry though, no spoilers about what the final currently is).
Over time, she has been integral in making the QUEST community what it is by helping foster a community that is high achieving, innovative and curious. Her impact will be felt constantly in the lives of her students. Thank you Dr. Armstrong for everything that you have given to this program for years!
This semester, the data course (BMGT/ENES438A) is introducing a new professor, Dr. Brian Danielak! I had the opportunity to sit down with Dr. Danielak and ask him some questions about his journey to QUEST.
Dr. Brian Danielak
Dr. Danielak completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Buffalo, where he studied Chemistry and English! He loved his undergraduate seminars and the opportunity to explore everything from Shakespeare to advanced chemical reaction kinetics and abstract algebra, which led him to majoring in both subjects. He also studied abroad for some time at the University of Oxford, really emphasizing how much he loved getting a diverse education.
After graduation, he initially wanted to pursue a Ph.D. in chemistry, but changed his mind and looked for something different. Afterwards, he discovered UMD’s Ph.D. program in science education research, which was a perfect fit! During his time at the university, he taught several classes on science education, such as one on science methods for elementary school teachers. After UMD, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow in games and learning at the University of Wisconsin and later at Northwestern University studying engineers in practice.
After that, Dr. Danielak completed a postdoctoral program at Michigan State University (MSU), where he first started learning data science. At the time, he was introduced to R and Python while taking some statistics courses. Immediately, he was drawn to the softwares: he loved the intersection between coding and art that he saw with the graphics he made and learned first-hand how important visualizations are to understanding data. Afterwards, he would help MSU develop their introduction to computational modeling and data science classes, which helped foster an interest in teaching data science classes.
Despite going to many universities, he knew that he wanted to return back to UMD! He started in 2019 as a keystone professor for ENES100, and now teaches ENES100, some other keystone classes, and most importantly, the QUEST data course, 438A!
He was drawn to QUEST because he really enjoyed his honors seminars during his undergraduate at University of Buffalo and wanted to teach a similar class, which happened to be the data class!
Overall, he loves the QUEST community and can tell that the students are really passionate about what they learn, which he sees in their presentations and the questions they ask. Furthermore, his goal in teaching 438A is that he wants students to look beyond the data and find visualizations first while analyzing their data, which he hopes they will learn by the end of the semester. We are super happy Dr. Danielak joined the QUEST team, and as a student in his class, I cannot wait to see what he teaches next!
The semester has started and for the second time, QUEST is offering a very exciting elective course: Product Management (BMGT438N)! This class is filled with twenty QUEST students, a lovely TA, an amazing professor, and many guest speakers that are excited to help the class learn about Product Management.
This semester, the course has a new professor, Jessica Alves De Sa, a Product Manager at Shopify and QUEST alumna from Cohort 16! She has experience in consulting and product management and is excited to share her knowledge with the class.
Over winter break, the QUEST program introduced our new program coordinator, Emily Marks. I had the privilege to sit down with her to discuss her career, experience with QUEST, and her future goals. Marks is a UMD alumna from New Jersey who graduated in 2019 with a degree in Government and Politics with a minor in International Relations. She was a recipient of the Boren scholarship, where she was given the opportunity to study abroad in Senegal and study French. She later became the Resident Director of the Senegal study abroad program before coming to QUEST.
In your life, there are some people who have a profound impact on you as an individual. It could be a grandparent, coach, or director who believes in you and sees your potential even when you don’t see it in yourself. Dr. Joe Bailey is that person for countless people in QUEST. He has been with QUEST since 2009, and I have been amazed by the number of people that he has had a profound impact on during my four years in the QUEST program. It is a testament to not only who he is as a person but also how lucky we have been to have Dr. Bailey in our community. As he moves on to his new role as Interim Associate Dean of Undergraduate Programs at the Smith School of Business, I wanted to talk to some QUEST students about the impact he’s made on them.
My name is Nakisa Rafiee, and I am a senior accounting and information systems major in Cohort 36 and first-time guest writer for QUEST Press. 😉 When asked by the Editors-in-Chief to write an article about Rachel DiDonna, Program Manager of QUEST, I became overwhelmed with bittersweet emotions. DiDonna recently accepted a new position as the Assistant Director for Smith Fellows Programs at the Smith Undergraduate Office, which she begins on October 24th. Like my fellow QUEST students, although I am sad to see DiDonna say farewell to the QUEST program, I am so excited to see where this new role takes her.
DiDonna, third from left, with the rest of the QUEST faculty and staff.
After serving two terms as Executive Director of QUEST, Dr. Joseph P. Bailey stepped down this summer after being promoted to Assistant Dean for Specialty Undergraduate Programs. In his place, long-time 490H faculty advisor, Dr. Hassan Ibrahim, was welcomed aboard as Interim Executive Director.
QUEST is excited to announce that yet again our students and staff have been inducted into the University of Maryland’s Omicron Delta Kappa (ODK) Sigma Circle National Leadership Honors Society. Congratulations to staff member Jess Roffe and students Josh Cocker (Q27), Praneeth Chandu (Q29), and David Rosenstein (Q29) who were chosen to join ODK this semester! This organization connects the students, faculty, and staff who best represent and achieve in the five areas of collegiate activities: Scholarship; Athletics; Journalism, Speech, and the Mass Media; the Creative and Performing Arts; and Campus or Community Service, Social, and Religious Activities. Thus, these people help to frame and mold ODK into a society that joins leaders with local and intercollegiate interest. Because of ODK’s generosity and contribution to UMD, each member has the additional privilege of “leaving their mark” on our university through inscribing their name on the ODK McKeldin Mall Fountain.
Jess Roffe was nominated by ODK and QUEST member Jeff Zhao (Q28). I asked Jeff what compelled him to nominate Jess. “I was thinking about influential people and key champions who made my experience at college something special, and the amount of people who fit in this category is no more than the number of fingers I have on one hand. A great leader creates greater leaders, and Jess Roffe helps foster University of Maryland’s greatest leaders in the QUEST community. I wanted to recognize her for her contributions.”
Jess responded to this, explaining, “It really meant a lot that Jeff nominated me. I really feel like a Terp for life. I grew up wanting to attend UMD, went to UMD, left for one year for grad school – even though I didn’t want to leave – and then returned to UMD five years ago to work for QUEST. Being able to have my name on the fountain is really exciting for me – not only am I a Terp for life, but I am also now a Terp forever. It was so special to be nominated by a QUEST student, as well as inducted with and by QUEST students.”
Similar to Jess, David Rosenstein said, “As excited as I am to join the ODK Sigma Circle, nothing could have made the induction or tapping ceremonies more special since I was surrounded by my QUEST family. It’s humbling to be included by leaders in the ODK community, but I’m elated even more by the fact that I can surround myself with these driven, intelligent change-makers every day just by sitting in the QUEST lab.”
Josh Cocker also said that he “feels extremely honored to have been inducted, especially alongside such a talented cohort of students like this one. It also came at a nice time with graduation right around the corner because it capped up some of the really amazing experiences I’ve had at University of Maryland with groups like QUEST and Engineering Without Borders.”
Lastly, Praneeth Chandu also said it was an “honor to be selected among many amazing individuals that are working hard to make a difference at UMD. It was exciting to be inducted into this organization before I finished my time on campus.”
Again, let’s congratulate Jess, David, Josh, and Praneeth on this honorable and momentous achievement! QUEST is very proud of you and looks forward to watching the continuous changes you bring to UMD and our society as a whole. QUEST has a long-standing presence within ODK, and we cannot wait to see which QUEST members will join ODK in future semesters!
QUEST is happy to welcome a new team member, Rachel DiDonna, to the Quality Guild! A UMD alumna, Rachel graduated from the University of Maryland in 2013 with a bachelor’s degree in History and a minor in Secondary Education. While at Maryland, Rachel was a Vice President for Sigma Alpha Iota, an ambassador for the Honors College, and a member of Sigma Kappa Sorority. After graduating from the University of Maryland, Rachel worked nationally for Sigma Kappa as a traveling staff member. Traveling to different colleges throughout the United States for two years influenced Rachel to want to continue to work in higher education. Therefore, she decided to earn her Master’s in Higher Education at Boston College. Afterwards, Rachel went to Arizona where she worked with Arizona State’s Honors College.
“When I was looking for new experiences and was ready to move back to the east coast, I began to identify a few institutions that would be a good fit for me. After seeing the job posting for QUEST, I liked the idea of the multidisciplinary nature of engineering students, business students, and science students coming together to participate in different course work relating to design and team work. Also, I really liked the idea of the mentors program. As I continued to research the program, I began to feel drawn by nature of the program and its highly motivated individuals.”
Within QUEST, Rachel’s job is to work with internal program operations. She will oversee recruitment, selection, orientation, general QUEST administration, and the QUEST conference. In addition, Rachel will advise three student organizations: QUEST Creative, QUEST Social, and QUEST Recruiting.
We are so excited to warmly welcome Rachel to QUEST! If any QUEST student or alumnus/a finds himself/herself in the QUEST lab, please feel free to drop by Rachel’s office (1407D VMH) and introduce yourself to her! We wish you all the best, Rachel! Welcome to QUEST!