Category Archives: Inside the Guild

Teaching Data with Humility: A Conversation with Professor Manmohan Aseri

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This month, I had the pleasure of speaking with Professor Manmohan Aseri, who recently joined the QUEST Quality Guild to teach the Applied Quantitative Analysis class, BMGT394H/ENED394H. 

Professor Manmohan Aseri

Born and raised in India, Professor Aseri completed his undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering from IIT Kanpur. After spending five years as a software engineer, he decided to follow his true calling—academia. “Even during those five years in industry,” he recalled, “I was always looking for what area in academia I should pursue.”

That search led him to Information Systems, a field that combined his interests in programming, mathematics, optimization, and game theory. “My research involves a lot of mathematical modeling—using data, optimization, and game theory to solve problems,” he explained. “I really enjoy that, and I think academia is the perfect job for me.”

When he first joined the University of Maryland as Smith School faculty last year, QUEST reached out to him about teaching. “I had heard great things about QUEST students,” he said. “Working with them allows me to explore my teaching topics in more depth because they come from all different backgrounds and grasp the basics so quickly.”

In BMGT/ENED394H, Professor Aseri focuses on teaching humility in the face of data. “It’s very easy to be overconfident when you have data,” he explained. “You might think, ‘Whatever I’m saying is based on the data I have,’ but even then, there’s a very good chance you might be wrong because data has its own issues—biases, missing values, and hidden assumptions.”

Professor Aseri embraces technology like AI—and encourages his students to do the same—but with critical awareness. “As a technology professor, there’s no point in being scared of tech,” he said. “We should always embrace it.” At the same time, he cautions students to use AI tools thoughtfully. He cited overly complicated code and hidden bugs as ways AI can misguide students, especially beginners to coding. 

When asked what he hopes students take away from his class, Professor Aseri’s answer was simple. “I hope this class makes students more humble about what they can and can’t do with data. Just having data shouldn’t increase confidence—claims should be more moderate. After this class, I want students to look for five pieces of evidence instead of just one.”

He also encourages students to keep learning independently. “I’ve grown using Coursera,” he shared. “Every now and then I take new courses there. They’re credible and systematic, and that constant learning keeps me sharp.”

Outside of teaching and research, Professor Aseri enjoys hiking, running, and spending time with his family. Having lived in both Pittsburgh and Maryland, he’s explored trails all over the Northeast. “I covered almost all the hikes in Pittsburgh—clockwise and anticlockwise!” he said. “The hikes here in Maryland are flatter, so I can actually run on them.”

His enthusiasm for both teaching and learning shines through every topic—from mathematical modeling to AI usage to hiking trail recommendations, and he encourages all students to stay curious. Thank you Professor Aseri for speaking with QUESTPress!

New School Year Brings Exciting Changes to QUEST

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As the leaves begin to fall and students adjust to a new semester, there is no doubt that change is ongoing in our lives. QUEST certainly is no exception!

After speaking with Emily Marks, QUEST’s program coordinator, I learned about some very exciting changes students can expect to see throughout QUEST courses and social activities this year. “Our faculty and staff actually met for three full-day retreats over the summer to discuss feedback we’d received from students and faculty and brainstorm improvements. This feedback was about specific courses as well as the overall planning of QUEST events,” said Marks.

To start, Marks mentioned the biggest change will be in the order of QUEST courses, beginning for Cohort 43.  BMGT438A/ENES489A (Applied Quantitative Analysis) and BMGT/ENES 390H (Designing Innovative Systems) will now switch in the sequence of QUEST courses. Rather than taking 438A/489A after 190H, students in Cohorts 43 and beyond will now take 390H and then 438A in the proceeding semester. 

“We decided to swap this order as some aspects of 190H will be moving into 390H. 390H will now focus on both process improvement and systems thinking whereas in the past, 390H focused solely on systems thinking.” This change also will allow students in 190H, our introductory course, to focus on their product redesign project for the entire semester, meaning more time to flesh out their product idea and develop prototypes. 

She also mentioned improvements to the QUEST data course, 438A/489A. “Although this course will still contain a lot of the same material, we have slightly adjusted the curriculum to be more focused on data visualization and analysis rather than learning many technical skills like Python.” In the past, some students breezed through the material, while others found it extremely new and challenging. This curriculum update strives to reduce this gap and create an environment where all students feel equally knowledgeable and motivated to learn, regardless of major and prior experience. The data course will also heavily emphasize understanding the problem and the client before jumping into analyzing the data and developing solutions. 

Last but not least, Marks spoke about some upcoming changes with QUEST events. 

“We definitely want to keep most of our signature events such as our formal, the ice cream social, and the end of the year picnic. However, we are thinking of having the QUEST student organizations collaborate with each other more to increase attendance at each event. Therefore, the student leaders have been working on a calendar for all our events so that students are informed as far in advance as possible and are able to make it to the events.”

QUEST students are certainly busy and have a variety of activities to balance along with school work, so it is no surprise that attending events may sometimes be a struggle! Marks concluded with some words of excitement for the new school year. “We’re really hoping these new changes can help improve both the student and faculty’s experience this year. We are so excited to see what this new year will bring and hope to see many students soon at upcoming events planned with QUEST social and other QUEST orgs!”

The Quality Guild met this summer to discuss improvements to QUEST

The Quality Guild met this summer to discuss improvements to QUEST

 

Welcome Back to QUEST, Dr. Fox Troilo: Our Newest 190H Instructor

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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

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Thank You, Dr. Bailey

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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.

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A Farewell to Program Manager Rachel DiDonna: Guest Article by Nakisa Rafiee

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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.

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QUEST Welcomes Program Coordinator Rachel DiDonna

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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! 

Meet QUEST’s New Graduate Assistant, Russell Ottalini!

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Russell Ottalini, QUEST’s New GA

The QUEST program is excited to have a new addition to the guild this academic year, Russell Ottalini! Having grown up in Silver Spring and attended Montgomery Blair High School, Russell comes to QUEST with experiences both from undergrad and his years of volunteering and working out of the classroom.

He attended the University of Pittsburgh, where he majored in Sociology and Japanese. After he graduated, Russell worked with the Princeton to Asia (PiA) program for two years, teaching English in Japan. After PiA, Russell came back to Pittsburgh to work at HCL America for a year and a half. Shortly thereafter, he came back to his roots in Maryland, where he is now a graduate student at UMD studying Urban Studies and Planning.

When asked what brought him to work with the QUEST program and why he took on the assistantship, he said that he connected well with the mission and ideals of QUEST. Having been involved with honors programs in the past, Russell is keen on the overarching theme of honors students being enthused and invested into their futures and forming relationships with alumni and staff within those programs.

With QUEST in particular, Russell expressed enthusiasm about seeing students pursuing new innovations, which parallels well with his current studies in urban planning. With the recent changes in the Quality Guild, such as the addition of our new (but not really new) Executive Director Joe Bailey, Russell mentioned he’s more than excited for the potential for impact that he could have in the QUEST program in the upcoming years, as well as growth in professional and personal development.

If you found Russell at karaoke, he says that you’d be catching him singing the 60s top 100 hit Sukiyaki, which, by contrary to the suggested name of a food, translates to “I walk as I look up.” It’s great to have you on board, Russell, and the QUEST community is looking forward to getting to know you and seeing what you have in store for the future!

Dr. Joe Bailey Returns to QUEST

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By: Caitlin Thompson (Q28)

Dr. Bailey served as the Executive Director of QUEST from 2009-2014 and has now returned to the position. I recently had the opportunity to sit down with him to discuss how QUEST has evolved and will continue its legacy in the years to come.

So what has Dr. Bailey been up to over the past three years? In one word, Dr. Bailey has been: “busy.”

In fact, a better question might be what hasn’t he been doing. To begin, he conducted research as an Edison Scholar at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, focusing on machine learning to uncover prior art for patents. He also started mQuest, a QUEST-like MBA program through the Smith School. The program, now called DesignED due to its connection with design thinking, just graduated Cohort 3, with 18 students currently in Cohort 4.

In addition, Dr. Bailey co-taught an innovation and entrepreneurship Action Learning Project course as part of the Executive MBA program with the Dingman Center’s Executive Director, Elana Fine. The two also launched a podcast together called Bootstrapped focused on founders, investors, and entrepreneurs. One episode featured QUEST’s very own Kanchan Singh (Q17), founder of D.C.’s first cat cafe, Crumbs and Whiskers!

However, Dr. Bailey returned to something that hasn’t changed over the past three years, the QUEST students. When asked how he has seen the program evolve, he remarked that the students are still “smart, ambitious, team players, innovative, and creative,” and the community makes him excited to be back. He also discussed how the program has expanded and improved through new student run organizations such as QDeS, the alumni board, and the upcoming 25th Anniversary Gala.

What is Dr. Bailey’s favorite part of being involved in QUEST?

It’s “incredibly fun to be surrounded by really smart people who want to do cool things.” He also enjoys his friendships with QUEST alumni and is looking forward to getting to know the current and future QUEST students.

While it’s clear that the program has evolved, Dr. Bailey hopes to continue to expand the program by lowering the walls surrounding the tight-knit community to better serve people not in QUEST. This could potentially include high school students, upperclassmen, and the community as many people can benefit from some exposure to the QUEST experience. He also sees the QUEST community members further coordinating with each other to get support in their endeavors.

Dr. Bailey’s piece of advice to QUEST students past, present, and future is that “you’re all really smart, ambitious, and hardworking, and you’ll be that for the rest of your life. However, if you can pay more attention to your inner voice over what others say, you will be successful. Trust yourself.”

Thank you Dr. Bailey. We are all looking forward to QUEST’s future!

 

QUEST’s Plan for Continuous Improvement

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In the spirit of continuous improvement, the Quality Guild is excited to announce upcoming changes happening within the QUEST community! Based on student and alumni feedback over the past academic year, the following brand new initiatives are underway:

1) Starting with the next set of cohorts (29 and 30), all QUEST students will be required to take a 3-credit Data Analysis course.

As you may have heard through rumors, beginning with Q29 and Q30, students must take a course on Data Analysis as one of their QUEST electives, and the course must be taken prior to 490H. Kylie King, QUEST’s Program Director, currently teaches one of the courses that will count towards this elective requirement: BMGT438A, Applied Quantitative Analysis. With this change, future students will feel much more secure in their data analysis skills, which will be critical to the students’ success in 490H and beyond.

2) QUEST Resource Guide for new students

Starting with this year’s new set of cohorts, all students will be handed a QUEST Resource Guide at orientation. Instead of having to hear through the grapevine about how to nominate a QUEST elective, join QUEST student organizations, or visit the alumni directory, this resource will provide all students with the necessary information they need to know everything about QUEST. This is also available on the QUEST website for the entire community.

3) Orientation for Spring Cohorts to be held in January

A big concern for the spring cohorts is that they have the potential to feel disconnected from the QUEST community between the time they have orientation to when they start 190H in the spring. With this in mind, the Quality Guild has decided to pilot moving orientation for the spring cohort to January beginning with Q30. These students will still be welcome and encouraged to participate in fall events prior to the start of 190H.

4) More QUEST events (i.e. presentations, classes) in CS and Engineering buildings

For STEM majors that are part of QUEST, they rarely have classes outside of QUEST in Van Munching Hall, which can make visiting the QUEST Lab and classes a strain. While the prospect of opening another QUEST Lab on the Engineering area of campus is still in the works, the guild has been holding more class sessions and presentations in that area of campus in the meantime. In addition, the QUEST Student Organization (QSO) has plans to hold events on that side of campus in the near future.

With all of these changes factored in, the Quality Guild hopes that this will better accommodate students and ultimately make the QUEST student experience even better than before!