Category Archives: What’s New?

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

 

QUEST Returns to Overnight Orientation

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Cohort 40 at QUEST Camp

What is QUEST’s unique value proposition? Is it the amazing staff on the Quality Guild who know exactly what they have been doing after years of experience? Maybe it’s the professors who come from all types of backgrounds and are able to teach students on topics ranging from coding to financial analysis to product development? I think what really makes it stand out is the community that we make as QUESTees. It is working collaboratively with classmates who are driven and push you to do more, all while being friends and supporting each other. But how does this happen with every single cohort? It starts at QUEST camp.

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Meet the 2022-2023 QUESTPress Staff

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College Park falls bring everything from pumpkin spice lattes to football tailgates back to campus! We at QUESTPress are excited to be back in full swing and keep the community updated on all things QUEST! As a quick reminder, QUESTPress is QUEST’s student-run publication, released digitally once a month. This year, we are lucky to have a team of six extremely talented writers, who you can read a bit more about below!

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QUESTees Favorite Fall Tunes

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In the midst of a semester, a good music rotation is key. You need your songs for walking to class, studying, hanging out with friends, or for relaxing after a long day. We polled QUEST students on which songs have been essential this fall and compiled them in a playlist linked HERE for everyone to enjoy! This playlist is collaborative so please add your favorite songs! Read below to hear more about why QUEST students have been enjoying their selected songs.

QUEST Fall Collaborative Playlist

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QUEST is Just A Zoom Call Away

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If you’re reading this, I hope that you are hanging in there at home and making the most out of your time. An important thing to remember is that the QUEST community is still here for you, and there are so many exciting activities being held to spend time together while apart! A poll was sent in the Facebook group to gauge people’s interests in various online events. QUEST held several this month and will continue to hold virtual events moving forward:

Campus Recruiter Panel
The panel was held on April 20th and featured recruiters from Stanley Black & Decker, Adobe, and Accenture. There were 25 students on the call who had the chance to submit questions and hear from recruiters. Students were then divided into breakout rooms to have smaller group conversations with a recruiter!

Student Leaders Panel
A presentation was given on April 30th from QUEST students who are also student leaders on campus! Doron Tadmor (Q29), Gesna Aggarwal (Q32), Eitan Isser (Q32), Rishik Narayana (Q31), and Jacqueline Deprey (Q30) all answered questions about the organizations they are involved with including TAMID, Bitcamp, Images, SGA, Technica, ODK, and Survivor Maryland.

Trivia Nights and Movie Nights
QUEST Social hosted movie and trivia night events! Dr. Bailey led the trivia night as alumni and students were separated into breakout room teams to answer questions – a super fun way to test your trivia knowledge and get to know peers and alumni.

Exit Interviews
Exit interviews were conducted online via Zoom. Jess Roffe, our assistant director, met with over 50 seniors to gather feedback on their experiences and test their QUEST knowledge with one final team activity.

Office Hours
The Quality Guild has pivoted to online Office Hours, which will continue over the summer. Sign up to meet with Dr. Bailey, Dr. Armstrong, Jess, or Rachel to discuss whatever is on your mind.

Senior Sendoff
Here come the water works. Senior Sendoff is a tradition held every year to honor the graduating seniors of QUEST that have dedicated so much to our community. The farewell is typically an event in D.C. but was modified to fit the current circumstances. But don’t worry, this year’s event had tons of laughs and tear-jerking moments as we honored Cohorts 29 and 30.

Over 50 graduating seniors attended the Zoom call, which was led by two seniors, Joyce Zhou from Cohort 29 and Olivia Wolcott from Cohort 30. There were nostalgic slideshows, “thank yous” from various QUEST members, superlatives voted on by the cohorts, and last but not least, awards from the guild. Congratulations to the following seniors who earned the prestigious awards:

At the end, Cohorts 29 and 30 were separated into their own breakout rooms to celebrate with one another and reminisce one last time as an undergraduate cohort together.

Congratulations to the Class of 2020! We will miss your leadership, dedication, and most of all, seeing you around the QUEST Lab. An extra thank you to Kara Eppel and Celine Moarkech (both Cohort 29) who have led QUESTPress for the last few years and have put their all into this student organization! We will miss you!

Keeping Up With Their Capstone

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It’s safe to say that life is a bit upside down for everyone right now. But Cohort 31 gets a special shout out for transitioning online during their QUEST capstone course, 490H. Despite some obstacles and adjustments, they have knocked it out of the park and completed their capstone projects. The QUEST community is extremely proud and excited to showcase all of Cohort 31’s hard work! The beauty of things changing so drastically is that we all have had to get a bit more creative on how we go about everything. Here is how 490H has been creative throughout the semester:

Virtual Status Updates were held via Zoom on April 15th

Cohort 31 students had a chance to talk with eight QUEST alumni who hopped on Zoom and provided the teams with feedback. An added perk was that alumni were able to join from all over the country and ranged from Cohort 3 to Cohort 26.

Most Outstanding Capstone Voting

21 alumni reviewed final presentations and voted for the “Most Outstanding Capstone” of Cohort 31. To put things into perspective, typically only about five alumni are able to come in person. We thank all of the alumni who volunteered this year – it was a tight race!

Poster Prints

Keep an eye out for Cohort 31’s posters all around the QUEST lab next semester. They were still completed and will be printed for everyone to see!

Virtual Poster Presentations

Cohort 31 participated in a virtual poster presentation on May 7th for families, clients, professors, and the cohort to formally present and celebrate the end-products of a semester of long hours on Zoom and grit.

Virtual Celebration

Last but not least, alumnus Danny Laurence (Cohort 19) has built a brand new website to virtually display Cohort 31’s capstone projects. Visit quest.umd.edu/capstone to check out all of Cohort 31’s capstone project presentations and posters. Congratulations, Cohort 31!

Doing Good in Our Communities

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Whether you open up the New York Times, turn on CNN, or listen to a podcast, the common theme, obviously, is coronavirus. While we are all social distancing in our homes to avoid catching and spreading this virus, it seems as if we cannot escape it. Yes, we may not all fall ill to this virus – but every time I turn on my TV, phone, or computer, I am overwhelmed by the rapidly increasing COVID-19 cases, overwhelmed by the rising death rate, and overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information constantly streamed. During this time – while so many of us are scared, if not for ourselves than for our at-risk friends and family members, it is so important to thank those who are risking their lives or doing good for their communities! In fact, we have a few members of the QUEST community who have been working hard to #dogood for their communities.

An example of the face shields that Aditi and her family are assembling

Aditi Balachandran, a Cohort 31 Finance and Operations Management & Business Analytics major, is working alongside her family to “put together the plastic face shield that hospital workers use to cover their full face over the masks.” When asked how she got involved in this, Aditi explained that her “friend’s father owns a manufacturing company that he converted into a shield production factory during COVID-19. So, my family and I have been buying the shields from him, putting them together, and donating the shields. We have also been securing other PPE to donate as well. We have donated over 2,400 shields already and are going to be giving another 500 tomorrow! Our medical professionals are the true heroes, and we wanted to help in any way we could. They are risking their lives every day, but they do not even have the equipment to go to work safely. My family and I could not stand just being at home without doing something to keep them safe.” Aditi and her family are donating the masks as well as the PPE straight to the hospitals. “We are in contact with many different hospitals within New Jersey, and we also just donated some to the local EMTs and police force.” If you would like to help Aditi and her family procure more shields to help keep our heroes safe, you can donate to her GoFundMe cause at ter.ps/SFH.  Even a donation of $5 can help one hero!

Aditi (right) packaging face shields with her family

David Rosenstein, a Cohort 29 Marketing major and incoming LinkedIn Business Leadership Program Global Sales Associate, has directly helped our QUEST community during this time by conducting a free professional LinkedIn webinar to help improve students’ LinkedIn pages. According to Expanded Ramblings, 94% of recruiters use LinkedIn to vet candidates. Therefore, David hoped this webinar would help the QUEST community continue to secure new jobs during the economic downturn caused by the coronavirus. David said, “When QUEST reached out and asked if I wanted to do a professional webinar, I felt so motivated by others in QUEST who have rallied together to build out a strong community and keep everyone together. Seeing those in my community who are willing to go out and offer services or donate to charities has been so inspirational for me and has helped me to stay motivated to contribute to others. I hope this attitude of giving and unconditional empathy continues within our world. It has helped me to rethink my actions.” David is also offering free LinkedIn consultations during this time. You can sign up here!

David with his LinkedIn mug

QUEST alumnus Sahil Rahman (Cohort 17), owner of the Indian restaurant RASA in Washington, D.C., decided to give back during this time by providing free take-out meals for both school children who rely on the schools for their daily meals and hospital workers. Although restaurant businesses are suffering, RASA found a way to open its doors to its community during these challenging times. If you want to read more about how Sahil and the RASA team have been giving back to the community, click here.

Sahil (left) with the co-founder of RASA, Rahul Vinod

Thank you Aditi, David, Sahil, and everyone else who has been helping to give back and do good in our community. The work you do to help others is inspirational and a reminder that every person’s actions counts.

QUEST Student and Alumna Team up after Capstone

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Creating a successful startup is no easy task, yet there are several QUEST alumni who have been able to solve problems they are passionate about by creating their own company. A couple examples include Kanchan Singh (Q17), who started a cat café in D.C. called Crumbs and Whiskers, Sahil Rahman (Q17), who co-founded Rasa, an Indian restaurant, and Allan Nicholas (Q20), who created a startup called Sweet Buds that sells scented earring backs that release perfume throughout the day. This article, however, will follow the story of Kajal Pancholi (Q7) and how her aerospace and systems engineering firm, Avatar Technologies, grew and eventually came back to QUEST.

Kajal Pancholi has stayed connected with QUEST even after her graduation. She had sponsored several QUEST Capstone projects through her previous employer, Millennium Engineering and Integration Company, but this time she decided to reach out to partner with QUEST so a team of 490H students could help Avatar Technologies become an ISO 9001 registered company. Kajal said she needed “bright, hardworking, and innovative individuals to augment [her] team and develop tailored quality management tools & techniques for the company’s operations,” and she believed it would be a perfect project for QUEST. Students Dennis Chen, Taylor Joyce, Julia Roh, and Devin Rosen from cohort 27 came together to implement an ISO 9001-compliant Quality Management System so that Avatar Technologies could gain a competitive advantage in its field.

One student on the team, Devin Rosen, really enjoyed working with Avatar Technologies during his time in 490H and consequently returned to Avatar for a summer internship. Devin learned many aspects of technology entrepreneurship and enjoyed his time learning about Avatar with his team and wanted to be able to continue helping Kajal make an impact by getting Avatar Technologies an ISO-9001 certificate. Devin said that there were several differences between working with his team and working with Kajal over the summer, and mentioned that “the biggest difference was going from a group project to an individual endeavor [he] could turn into [his] own.” He also said that he had to absorb a lot more information about the company and about ISO-9001 since his teammates weren’t there to bounce ideas off of over the summer, but that Kajal was a great help in guiding him and teaching him the ins and outs of the Avatar business.

Kajal and Devin represented Avatar Technologies at the QUEST Networking Event in September

Being a math major, Devin mentioned that he was able to utilize his critical thinking and problem solving skills when assessing Avatar’s regular business operations in order to optimize process interactions and design the Quality Management System itself. He wants to tell QUEST students that regardless of the project or the major, people will be appreciative of hard work. He mentioned, “QUEST students make significant impacts” in 490H, and that the class itself encourages students to ask as many questions as possible in order to filter ideas and uncover effective solutions. He also wants to emphasize that students are capable of learning more than they think. After being assigned to his 490H project, Devin said he “learned a lot about ISO-9001 quality management system and that it was nice to prove to [himself] that [he] can jump into something completely foreign, learn all about it, and come up with impactful recommendations.”

Kajal was very appreciative of the work that the team did during 490H and the work Devin did during his time at Avatar since now the quality management system is in place and that all there is left is to call an auditor to get Avatar Technologies certified. She said that there are many benefits working for a smaller scale company for the 490H project since the work students do create a very meaningful impact on a large scale. She also mentioned that “Working with the QUEST students and Devin was both professionally and personally rewarding,” since the project brought back memories of Kajal’s own QUEST experiences and she was able to “use that QUEST knowledge and lessons to be a better-engaged and more resourceful project champion for the student team.”