Article by Ryan Murphy (Q17, of Project of the Year team “A.I.deas”)

Throughout the Fall ‘11 semester, I had the pleasure of working with Jason Felder, Jeff Jacobs, Shiran Beroukhim, and Avi Prince on an interesting 490 project dealing with artificial intelligence and, specifically, machine reading. The project itself was interesting, novel, and, initially, completely foreign to me. In fact, at first, none of us (except for Jeff, who joined the squad a few days late) really knew much about machine reading or ontologies or DARPA or any of the elements of the final project that we were going to be working with. But, that proved unimportant.

The most important element of our project was our team. Like machine reading, I knew nothing about any of our team members before the project began. I was meeting all of them, except for Shiran, for the first time when we had our initial meeting. If I had the opportunity, I would have chosen to work with friends. However, I am glad that I never had that option as this was easily the best group project experience that I’ve had. Indeed, I learned a great deal about machine reading, artificial intelligence, ontology construction, and technology research methods, but I feel that I learned much more about teamwork.

Of course, during the semester there were times when we disagreed, times when we had to stay late working, and times when we wanted to kill each other. There were many more times, as I remember, that we spent joking, making fun of each other, and making light of situations. It was this mixture of humor and hard work that ultimately made us a cohesive team. It’s this lesson that I think will stay with me for sometime to come – ‘working’ with people on something doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy it. In fact, if you don’t enjoy the people that you work with, it becomes quite miserable. That being said, I think it is extremely important to go into group projects like this with an open mind and to strive to make the most of the experience. If I hadn’t adopted this attitude, I probably would have had a terrible semester, and I definitely wouldn’t be able to call the four other team members my friends.

A.I.deas, Project of the Year 2011 winning team

Article by John Walsh (Q17)

Well, QUEST students, it’s that wonderful time of year again, much like opening presents on Christmas morning, when everyone is trying to figure out what fun and exciting classes to take in the spring. Many of you are burdened with extensive requirements from your major, especially those brave souls in engineering, and you need to make sure that you fulfill those QUEST elective requirements and make them count! After collecting some outside opinions and using my own experiences (since I am currently on my 6^th QUEST elective), I am here to provide to you some honest and, hopefully, helpful resources so that you can find the best class for you.

The first class that I would like to talk about is the Non-Profit Consulting class that debuted last year. The objective of this class is to give the students a feel for the consulting and service industries while working within the challenging world of non-profits. Dr. Bailey, Nicole, Melanie, and Melissa Carrier from the Center for Social Value Creation ran this class and taught many of the same tools we all learned in 190 and how to apply them to the non-profit industry. Furthermore, each student worked on a team for an actual client in order to address a problem that client was facing. The staff also brought in many important individuals within the non-profit sector to enhance our learning. This overall experience was the most important class I have taken in terms of preparing me for the rigor of 490.

The next three classes that I have had experience with are Total Quality Management (BMGT 486), Six Sigma (BMGT487) and Project Management (BMGT485). These three classes are respectively taught by Dr. Suarez, Professor Alt, and Professor Ibrahim and teach you very important tools not only for 490, but also for whatever job you are looking to pursue after graduation.

In Total Quality Management, Dr. Suarez teaches students about the usefulness of quality management ideas and how they can be applicable to everyday tasks. Furthermore, since QUEST is all about quality, it is important you know how to manage quality. Project Management is a class that is taught through extensive real-world simulations and you learn the importance of an optimized schedule and how to use the somewhat confusing Microsoft Project. Not only can this additional skill in Microsoft Project look great on a resume, but it can make your 490 experience a lot better (as I found out this semester). Lastly, Six Sigma is a great experience and allows you to understand some very useful tools and procedures for process improvement. While I had experience with the business version of this class, I would personally recommend the engineering version if you have the opportunity because in addition to getting client interaction, you also earn a Six Sigma belt classification by the end of the semester. This can be a major selling point to any future employer.

The last class that I would like to mention is the study abroad opportunity that QUEST provides each winter. I was fortunate enough to go on the China trip and while I could probably write five more articles just on that amazing experience, I am here to tell you to go on a QUEST trip if you can! This year, they are going to Brazil and next year’s trip is still being determined. The amount of learning and personal development you experience over that short time period is more pronounced than in any other class or club I have been a part of at Maryland. You not only learn about a different culture, but you learn about yourself in the process and shed light on a whole new perspective to the way you think. I could not recommend this experience highly enough.

I hope this article has been helpful. While it was somewhat skewed toward business classes, I know that you will have just as great an experience as I have had with these electives. The important thing to remember is that these classes are meant to be helpful for your future and can be very rewarding and fun at the same time. Plus, it is always great to spend more time in class with the Quality Guild!

Article by Phil Anderson (Q17)

The QUEST program’s capstone course, BMGT490H, gives students an opportunity to form teams and consult with a real-world company with the aim of recommending changes to current processes to accomplish various goals. While there is a modicum of structure to the course schedule involving presentation dates, rough estimates of deliverable dates, and final project deadlines, 490 isn’t your typical course. 490 is a truly unique course with unique opportunities and projects. Every group develops and follows their own project schedule, which is only part of the group’s independence. Without the fixed schedule of a normal class, groups are able to pursue ideas that are most relevant to their projects and solutions. The 490 projects also include true opportunities to make a difference, with some project successes saving their clients millions of dollars.

This semester, my group and I have the wonderful opportunity to work with Bowles Fluidics Corporation towards a goal of sustainable and more efficient internal shipping processes. Bowles Fluidics is an established manufacturer of automotive washer nozzles, among other fluidics components (think: sprinklers, shower heads, and Jacuzzis). A pioneer in their field, Bowles has over 250 patents and a large market share; 85% of US-made vehicles use Bowles’ solutions. Currently, Bowles manufactures their parts in Columbia, MD, and then ships them south to Fresnillo, Mexico for final assembly. To reduce waste and save on packaging costs, our team, H₂Optimized, is looking into reusable packaging solutions to replace Bowles’ current packaging.

Our project with Bowles holds a number of interesting aspects and learning opportunities. As a team, we have the opportunity to gain familiarity with supply chain management, a complex field where hands-on experience can be a tremendous advantage. Understanding Bowles’ current process and the design criteria that went into building it is not only key to our team’s success, but also very valuable for anyone’s future involving supply chain management. As Bowles undergoes both manufacturing and external shipping changes, our team is able to give our innovative input into the restructuring of the internal shipping process.

We’re also fortunate to have the opportunity to research how waste reduction and environmental issues go hand-in-hand. This includes researching tax incentives, energy credits, and government subsidization. A fast-paced and exciting topic in today’s society, waste reduction is a factor of growing importance in manufacturing processes. It is refreshing to know that large companies care about this from an environmental perspective, and working with Bowles towards this goal has already taught our team so much.

The most important lesson our capstone course teaches, however, is independence and responsibility as a consultant. In all of the projects, both the clients and advisors very much treat the students as peers, resulting in all of the teams working with real responsibility and real consequences. With this will come a level of satisfaction at the end of the semester that we have made a difference and really accomplished something. H₂Optimized is excited to come to an ultimate solution and to make this difference, but, before this, we’re simply excited to learn and take in the experiences along the way.

Article by Reeta Francis

A mentor can have a profound impact on a person’s life.  Where would the Karate Kid be without the tutelage of Mr. Miyagi? Where would Luke Skywalker be without Obi-Wan? Classic movie references aside, many of history’s most influential people blossomed under the mentorship of those who came before them. Classical musician Johann Christian Bach mentored Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Aristotle mentored Alexander the Great, Walter Cronkite mentored Dan Rather and Maya Angelou mentored Oprah Winfrey. Mentors have played a pivotal role in shaping our current society.

Within the QUEST Honors Program, mentors act as a link between the newest Cohort of QUEST students and the rest of the QUEST community. QUEST juniors and seniors who decide to become mentors embark on a semester long experience.  This experience starts in August before QUEST camp when mentors are assigned their teams and goes through December. In addition to attending team meetings, mentors also attend class, a Practicum in Team Management, where they learn about managing team conflicts and general team dynamics. Mentors provide guidance and information to the newest QUESTers while gaining an entirely new prospective on team dynamics as an active but impartial third party.

Brittany Barnaba, a QUEST mentor to Team Peloton from Cohort 18, reflected on her past experience as a mentor:  “It was so much fun to watch my team grow, to see things from another side, and to learn about team dynamics in a way I understood because I went through the same experience. As mentors, we influenced the Cohort below us and contributed to their 190 experience.” The 190 experience shared between mentor and mentees is symbiotic; one side gains guidance and the other gains a new perspective on teams.

Article by Brett Schwab

During our first week in the 190H class, our team, Team Rafiki, was informed that we were going to be involved in a computer design challenge.  We had each heard rumors of this daunting project from members of other cohorts.  While scanning Newegg.com, looking for potential computer parts to fit into our $500 budget, there were many disagreements on how to approach the challenge.

Our team eventually decided to go with a radical, innovative idea.  We planned to budget a lot of our money towards features in hopes that it would make our computer stand out among the others in the challenge.  Although this would compromise the quality of many features, we thought that most of the computers in the challenge would be uniform and unordinary.  Dr. Bailey and the QUEST curriculum preach innovation and we hoped that our innovative plan would be rewarded by winning.  We stocked our computer with a massage cushion, giant monitor, extra printer, and the Oregon Trail computer game.  We, then, named our computer “The Trailblazer” to go along with the Oregon Trail theme. Instead of having an ordinary presentation, we made the first segment of our presentation into an Oregon Trail themed skit complete with a cowboy hat and cowboy boot.  This comedic skit captured the attention of the audience.  The audience response was clearly positive as we won first place in the computer design challenge.

I think our success in the computer design challenge mirrors the idea taught by the QUEST program: “Listen to the voice of the customer.”  In this case, the customer our fellow QUEST students who were getting a new computer of their choice.  Our team assumed correctly that these college age voters would be more impressed by a massage chair and computer game than a bigger hard drive.  We also correctly assumed that the audience would enjoy a skit more than a basic presentation.  Our team was very happy with the results and the entire QUEST community benefitted as there is now a massage cushion, extra printer, and Oregon Trail in the Quest Lab.

190 students present their newly designed computer