Category Archives: QUEST Classes

Thoughts from QUEST Camp 2015

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By: Joseph Piscitelli

Bright and early at 7:30 a.m., a talented group of students from the worlds of business, engineering, and science gathered at Van Munching Hall to embark on a trip that would introduce them to one of the most cohesive and dynamic groups on campus: QUEST.

Familiar faces were seen, old friends reunited, and new friendships were created as everyone began to sign in, eat their breakfast, and head to the bus.

For some, expectations were high, for some, the unknown was ahead, and for others, it was simply just too early in the morning.

After unpacking upon arrival, each cohort participated in group icebreakers. While the games were a great way to meet each other and learn leadership tidbits, the icebreakers proved to be much more.

“I liked doing the icebreakers right when we got there because it inspired us for our [pilot] product,“ said Christy Cwieka of Cohort 25. “The ice breaker where we ran around with a blindfold actually helped my team realize the lack of awareness blind people feel and then we tried to fill a need for them when creating our product.”

While QUEST Camp was all fun, it was more than just games. Each team also created a pilot product and gave a short two-minute pitch in an attempt to sell their product to future investors.

“Doing the product presentation was a great way to get to know your team and see how you would work together,” said Isabelle Lock of Cohort 25. “I liked how we were put in a low pressure situation, but still got to see how we interacted as a team.”

Additionally, groups got to partake in high and low ropes courses. While low ropes courses helped groups bond through collaboration to accomplish a wide variety of tasks, the high ropes, although done individually, helped bring groups together as teams and mentors cheered each other on.

“I wasn’t nervous for doing the high ropes at first, but once I got up there, I was a little scared,” said Sanjay Tohan of Cohort 25. “It was a great team building exercise. It was cool to cheer on my team and watch my team do the course.”

Following team name introductions and a campfire that evening, groups presented their products the following morning.

“I was actually surprised at how cool and creative some of the groups were,” said William Dawkins of Cohort 26. “I actually liked seeing all of the different products and presentations of each group.”

On August 27th, as Cohort 25 ended their time at Camp Letts, Cohort 26 was ready to start their experience. Representatives from QSO led both cohorts in mixed icebreakers where members of QUEST truly pushed their creativity.

Christy said, “I really enjoyed doing the icebreakers with Q26. The charades were a fun and creative way to meet everyone in the other cohort.”

“It was a good time. It definitely exceeded my expectations,” said William Dawkins. “Even though I don’t start 190H until the spring, it was still cool to meet my team and see how we work together.”

Overall, QUEST Camp proved to be a unique and exciting experience for those who attended. It was definitely a great way to introduce and ease the new cohorts into a new chapter of their college careers.

 

The 490H Experience

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By: Aashima Gupta

Since the start of the QUEST program, I’m sure you have heard plenty about the capstone course, BMGT/ENES490H. This course is unique from anything that I have taken at UMD, mostly because it does not feel like class. You’ve probably heard this before, but it’s true, it’s a real work experience. As a consulting intern at Ernst & Young (EY) this summer, I can confidently say that the skills I gained from 490H have helped me on the job. In fact, on my second day of work, I was asked to make a process flow diagram on Visio. The staff member on my team was really impressed with my work because I already had such a deep understanding of this tool. It’s the little things like this that can set you apart from other interns!

There are two major takeaways from this course: learning how to be a team player and building client relationships. I had a diverse and hard-working team with members Tony Trinh (Q21), Mandy Yard (Q21), Libby Wei (Q21) and Michael Goglia (Q20). Although we worked tirelessly for hours throughout the semester, knowing that I had this team for support comforted me. And we always made sure to have a few good laughs to make our time working more fun!

As for building client relationships, knowing how to send professional emails and talk to clients are essential skills. My QUEST team emailed our client, TAMKO building products, almost every other day, whether it was just sending a thank you email or setting up a phone call. During my internship this summer, I see my EY team members using the same skills that I built through 490H in order to contact our client. Finding a balance between being professional and friendly is key.

490H replicates what many people will experience in the workforce. A lot of college classes shield you from what is out there in the “real world,” but not this one. When I started working this summer, I was not as surprised or naive about what I was seeing, and I give this course credit for that. Just remember, you get out what you put in!

 

Passion: The 390H Experience by Samuel Lewis

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It’s more than enthusiasm or excitement. It’s a form of ambition that is materialized into action while putting as much heart, mind, body and soul into something as humanly possible. It’s a characteristic that distinguishes one person’s life from another’s. It’s something that can’t be taught in the classroom, that is, unless you’re a QUEST student. It’s called passion.

 

Though it’s pretty hard to summarize everything my cohort has learned from Dr. Suarez in 390H this past semester, here it goes.

 

There’s no formula for creating passion. That’s the beauty of it. There are no YouTube tutorials or special recipes for creating it. It has to be found from within. It’s an intangible trait that may take years to discover, yet seconds to set you free.

 

Passion is giving meaning to something. Think of that one belief, approach, or attitude that has set yourself apart from your peers. You may not have realized it, but you gave a special form of meaning to something that no one else saw.

 

Passion enables you to overcome your obstacles. People with passion don’t see closed doors, they see every hurdle as an opportunity. They take their meaning and apply it to something no one else sees.

 

Passion shapes your existence. Think of all of the people that have greatly influenced the world. They didn’t focus on what they were doing; they focused on why they were doing it. Think about that for a moment.

 

You can’t go wrong following your passion. I don’t know about you, but one of my greatest fears is looking back on my life and wishing I had done something differently. Looking back, I’ve found that every tough decision I’ve made where I thought, that was a good decision, had been a time where I followed an unexplainable urge from within.

 

It’s funny how a 3-credit class with no quizzes, midterms, or final exams is the one class I’ve learned the most from. For the past semester, the class I’ve been lucky enough to be a part of has given me more than just quality tools, presentation skills, and teamwork experiences. While taking the second QUEST course, my fellow classmates and I have been able to find that little word called passion from within.

190H Poster Presentations

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On Wednesday, April 29th, Q24 presented their posters for their process improvement projects. The process improvement projects, which were recently added to the 190H curriculum starting with Q22, pair teams with clients on campus. New clients for this semester included TerpThon, the Athletics Department, Smith Start, and the Department of Transportation Services (DOTS).

The process improvement projects allow students to apply the tools they have been learning throughout the semester and incorporate the principles of lean processes. It also presents students with an opportunity to service clients and create a poster deliverable, which will be highly beneficial for when Q24 students take the 490H course in the fall of their senior year.

Bobby Crumbaugh, a Q24 Supply Chain Management major, highlighted that through this process improvement project, he gained invaluable experience conducting onsite interviews with clients and stakeholders, as well as using different sources of information to make the best recommendations.

However, the project was not without challenges. According to Crumbaugh, “Our specific project’s problem was a bit narrow so there wasn’t a lot of room for innovation. We would like to have added more value by having a broader scope and more time.”

Team Q the Applause

Team Q the Applause

Crumbaugh was part of team Q the Applause, which won the award for Best Poster in the 190H class. Q the Applause worked with the Department of Psychology, focusing on their sign-in process for appointments in their new office for the fall. Students, members of the Quality Guild, and clients were part of the vote.

When asked if any student in his group had experience creating posters, Crumbaugh noted that no one necessarily had expertise in this area. However, they did have a process that allowed them to make a phenomenal poster.

“We designated one person to work on the poster as whole, and then other team members would individually go to that person to give input on specific chunks of the graphic. At the end, all of us took a step back and looked at the whole poster as a team, and then made small changes to make it visually appealing,” Crumbaugh explained.

All in all, the poster projects this semester were very impressive. Who knows what Q25 and Q26 will bring to the table next year!

Check out the 190H posters here! 

 

 

Silicon Valley

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Written by Erica Yingling

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While QUEST’s “Doing Business in China” trip is quickly gaining esteem among current and prospective students alike, the program has added one more traveling class to the curriculum for members to rave about. This past month was QUEST’s pilot trip to Silicon Valley, where Program Director Kylie King and Academic Director Dr. Jeffrey Herrmann led a new course: “Special Topics in Operations Management; Design and Innovation in Silicon Valley.” The course consisted of site visits to 13 firms, which included small start-ups to well-established companies and some that were in-between. Each student was assigned to write a dossier, give a brief presentation about one of the site visits, and communicate with a company contact in preparation for the trip. Similar to all QUEST classes, students were also encouraged to have fun! Outside of the classroom, they were given the opportunity to explore San Francisco and attend alumni dinners among other events, such as the live broadcasting of ABC7 News.

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As mentioned earlier, the course took on 13 site visits in the span of one week! Why visit so many companies when most information is available on the Internet? The site visits played a fundamental role in students understanding and ability to compare design processes of each. At every site visit, students were prompted to ask the speakers questions and gain insight from internal company viewpoints – an aspect that is lost during strict classroom teaching. QUEST Alumnus Jason Gates (Q16), founder of Compology, even walked students though the first iteration of his hardware product to his most recent iteration. Currently, local waste management facilities install and use it in combination with his service to help optimize their waste pick-up schedules. It was exciting to visit start-ups like this one, and then see a company like Salesforce, which manages tens of thousands of customers. We also spoke to one of our alumni, Bryan Huang (Q18), who is now a software engineer at Redfin. Redfin is an emerging real estate company that runs an Internet platform to support its network of real estate agents. When asked “How do you think students can benefit from courses like QUEST’s trip to Silicon Valley?” he responded with “students can get a firsthand insight into the culture and operations of start-up companies that might not be available on the East Coast.”

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Not only was this an exciting opportunity to visit Fortune 500 companies or see the city; it was a great bonding experience between leaders and members of the QUEST community. During down time, everyone was able to engage in conversations over dinners and brunches, whether they were at the hotel, the local Sushirrito, or Ghirardelli Square.
Several nights, students stayed in to play games like Bananagrams (thanks Debi) with Dr. Herrmann and Kylie. The class also gave some students a chance to visit their friends at nearby universities, like Berkeley and Stanford. As a student on this trip, I realized how much the QUEST program emphasizes a balance between academics and having a tight-knit community.

Lastly, this trip would not have been possible without Kylie and Dr. Herrmann. We appreciate all of the time it took to organize the site visits and the course curriculum. We also thank our Teaching Assistants Kenny Lopez and Max Cooper for helping with the transportation and planning of this trip.

QUEST2China

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By Bobby Fitzgerald

When QUEST students visit China each winter, the story is often a familiar one; they learn about manufacturing, explore exotic cities, and forge bonds of fellowship. However, interspersed among these exploits, and often overlooked, are the people, stories, and interactions QUEST students encounter while abroad that broaden their horizons, shape their thoughts, and challenge their idea of a global society.

The QUEST2China trip did not begin on the factory floor of Carl Zeiss or among the whirring spools of yarn in a textile shop, but rather in the skyscrapers of downtown Hong Kong. There, overlooking shimmering harbor and sprawling metropolis, QUEST students met with executives and representatives from Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, including QUEST alumnus Bernard Ng.  With the opportunity to investigate the vast troves of experience, knowledge and diversity present via an open discussion, the students left no stone unturned. The conversations ranged from the intricacies of Asian markets, to the challenges of running multinational corporations, to complex considerations that affect the legal and procedural realities of global wealth management.

These discussions brought to life the multifarious nature of working as a global professional, and challenged them to look past their familiar, but limited, view of the professional world as a series of domestic internships and full time offers. Interacting with those who had made it their lives work to actively seek out challenge, opportunity, and adventure in their careers created a new perspective on the future for many students.

As fascinating as these conversations and insights were to behold, the best was still yet to come. Over the course of the trip, QUEST students visited three different Universities; Hong Kong University, Macau University, and Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou.  At these institutions, all unique in history, culture, and student body, QUEST students had the chance to interact with their foreign peers in an intimate and informal setting, breaking off into small groups to get lunch, tour the campus, and get to know the Chinese students on a personal level.

The conversations ranged from stimulating discussions of economic development, gambling issues, and local politics, to light hearted laughs about Taylor Swift, House of Cards, and terrible University food. The students were well versed in English and US pop culture, and were hungry to learn more about the United States and the University of Maryland. This placed QUEST students in the unique position of both teacher and student; both providing and receiving an incredible stream of ideas, values, culture, and knowledge over the course of just a few hours.

QUEST2China has for good reason become a staple in the QUEST program. It provides students invaluable opportunity, knowledge, and fun over just a few short weeks. And although the conversations held and ideas exchanged with new friends and colleagues can’t be measured with key performance metrics or quality tools, they will forever be treasured, remembered, and utilized by the students on this year’s trip as they go out into a truly globalized world.

For more pictures check out the QUEST2China Tumblr

QUEST Conference 2014

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By Jason Ho

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Horseradish and chili by-product; seemingly worthless units of waste. If UMD students inundated Testudo with piles of horseradish and chili by-product during finals week, the carnage of failing students would make President Loh weep. Fortunately, this was not the case and this supposed rubbish was turned into something of great use as Cohort 20’s very own Artemis Solutions unveiled in this year’s QUEST Conference. Solving the issue of Tulkoff and T.W. Garner Foods’ mounds of leftover sauce material, Artemis Solutions was able to develop a form of deer repellant, which utilizes the horseradish and chili by-product as the key agents. The repellent product works just as well as the brand-name products sold today and has been projected to earn several million dollars in revenue for both companies.

This is just one instance of what this year’s 490 students have been able to do. Whether it was developing quality cake pop containers that were protective yet financially feasible to formulating efficient floor designs to save a company millions in operations annually, what the 490 students were able to showcase was impressive to say the least. “I thought it was a great experience. We got a sneak peek into our future in Quest, since Quest is such a huge community it was like seeing a bunch of close friends in their big moment…we have huge footsteps to follow in” said Jessica Lewis of Cohort 23.

As this year’s event has shown, the QUEST Conference displays the culmination of the strenuous journey the 490 students endured that demonstrates why the QUEST Honors Program is one of the best on campus. The 490 students worked day in and day out from client site visits to intense problem-solving group sessions, and while the stress level at times skyrocketed, the 490 students kept the presentations highly professional and thorough.

The awardees of this year’s conference awards went to Artemis Solutions (Project of the Year) and The Thalesman (Poster of the Year). While these two groups received special recognition, all of Cohort 20 has set the bar to a new high and it is now up to Cohort 21 to respond to this challenge with a fresh set of projects that we all anticipate will amaze us yet again.

Check out pictures from the conference
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Scoping: An Investigative Report

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Scoping

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        “Scoping” (BMGT438D) is one of QUEST’s most sought after courses.  Otherwise known as Developing Business Relationships and Scoping the Consulting Project, in the course students “craft a well-written, clear, and technically precise project scope” for QUEST’s Consulting and Innovation Practicum course (BMGT490). The project scope includes a project summary, list of primary project objectives, list of proposed project benefits, and overview of primary project deliverables.

        “Scoping is important [because] you have a firsthand impact on QUEST’s future,” says Scoping Teaching Assistant Max Cooper.  In addition to completing a project scope for a future senior capstone project, students also develop valuable communication skills.  These communication skills are highlighted when students meet with potential corporate sponsors to pitch them the benefits of QUEST.  “Students get to practice presentation skills through ‘selling’ QUEST to interested potential clients,” according to Cooper.  Scoping members act as the face of QUEST for these corporate partners; it is their responsibility to create a positive experience for these companies so that the both the partnership and the senior consulting project go on without incident.

       Almost equally as valuable as the communication skills they develop, students also cultivate their network during Scoping, frequently interacting with QUEST alumni and potential business partners.  These relationships become more and more valuable as current QUEST students begin to search for internships and jobs.  For students, a robust network of professional individuals is vital in the often confusing and competitive job/internship search.

        On October 18th the Scoping visited W.L. Gore and Associates to assess its viability of a senior consulting project.  In addition to Gore, students have also gone on site visits to McCormick, Toyota, Johnson and Johnson, Under Armour, Black and Decker, and Unilever.  “Students get to meet alumni from cohorts 1 through 20 on site visits,” says to Cooper.

After visiting Gore, scoping students were encouraged to apply for internships there.  Cooper says, “Gore told us to apply for internships, they wanted us.”  This experience is not dissimilar to other site visits in the past; almost all companies that QUEST deals want students to apply for internships and/or jobs after they graduate in part because of the communication and networking skills that are developed during Scoping.

Scoping is one of the most dynamic QUEST classes offered.  Students learn professional communication skills, network with employees at some of the world’s most innovative companies, and scope potential capstone projects.  Whether you’re a student, alumni, or corporate sponsor getting involved with Scoping is a no brainer!

QUEST2China Visits Under Armour

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Students Visit Under Armour

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           This upcoming winter, QUEST students will return to China once again to explore the world’s second largest economy and investigate how manufacturing, consulting, and design firms apply systems thinking and maintain product quality in their daily operations. During this trip, students and faculty will visit a diverse set of companies in Hong Kong and Guangzhou to learn about the cultural nuances of working in China.  This year students began their journey before they even departed the country. To start off this year’s QUEST2China trip, students had the opportunity to visit Under Armour headquarters in Baltimore and meet with Dee Dee Tsamoutalis (Q7), Director of Sourcing and Development.

          Dee Dee has spent much of her time over the last several years living in China and was able to share with QUEST students her experiences working in other countries.  Students learned about the design process in creating some of Under Armour’s innovative products. Dee Dee also elaborated on many of the manufacturing considerations when creating some of these products, which for many of the students including myself was not something we realized went into designing a product[JW1] . The visit concluded with a stop in the Under Armour store. Under Armour’s generosity was much appreciated by the QUEST community. The company visit left students even more eager and excited to begin the study abroad program and explore China!