Category Archives: What’s New?

QUEST Social Kicks Off their Intercohort Competition

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By: Celine Moarkech (Q29)

Thanks to QUEST Social, our summer days were extended after getting back to school with their Back to School Ice Cream Social on September 13th! In spite of the string of rainy days that we have all experienced since being back, the sun came out for a few short hours to help us transition back from summer vacation.

The QUEST students who attended got to catch up with fellow QUESTees after months of being apart. Between hearing about summer travels or the great internships that students had or even meeting our newest cohort members, it was a fun way to kick off a great year within QUEST.

Being a new event this year, the biggest goal according to QUEST Social member, Megha Reddy (Q27), was for the new cohorts to meet other cohorts. She said, “It was great for Cohort 32 to meet each other in person because they haven’t really had the chance to get to know each other as they start 190H in the spring! I saw people introducing new students to their friends and playing corn hole with each other, as well as enjoying the weather and music.”

Students were treated to yummy ice cream from The Dairy!

This event set the precedent for a fun year surrounding QUEST social events. Not only can we expect to have more events, but now there’s a competition at hand. QUEST Social has set up an intercohort competition to encourage cohorts to reach the highest attendance at events. Megha said that it’s going to be “a great way to get to know other students both socially and professionally.”

QUEST Social is tallying how many members from each cohort attend each event. By the end of the semester, an award (that has yet to be declared) will be given to the cohort with the most participation in the events. Megha says that it is a win-win situation!

QUEST Social has an annual favorite event coming up – the QUEST Homecoming Tailgate on October 13th! Get excited QUESTees, and come out to gain a point on behalf of your cohort just for having fun, enjoying some good food, and catching up with other members! Let’s help achieve QUEST Social’s goal this year. As Nadine Eloseily (Q29) puts it, they are “hoping to bring the QUEST community a little closer with some healthy, QUEST style competition!”

Dr. Suarez’s Book featured in The Washington Post Bestseller’s List

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Recently, Professor J. Gerald Suarez was featured in the Washington Post Bestseller’s List for his book Leader of One.

In the era of “analytics,” Dr. Suarez reminds us of the wisdom in the maxim, Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts[1]. “How can we effectively measure passion, desire, or imagination?” he asks. These attributes may defy measurement, yet they are essential for influencing our future. Dr. Suarez’s maxims and “nuggets of wisdom,” made his book “Leader of One: Shaping Your Future through Imagination and Design,” a Washington Post bestseller.

The book offers a way to help readers transcend the present—its trappings and obstacles— and helps them create a vibrant and viable future. Creating a desired future requires that we guide our efforts through vision, values, constancy of purpose and consistency of action. Doing so is not easy, transformative efforts never are, and to help us take the first steps he introduces the cycle CONTEMPLATION-DESIRE-DESIGN-CREATION, as well as interactive idealized design, problem dissolution, the Physical-Logical-Emotional model, and non-linear thinking, among other systems thinking frameworks.

But most importantly, he has created a system to help students find their passion, nurture their purpose, and have the courage to imagine the future and take action in the present to pursue it. These enduring lessons have shaped and inspired QUEST students for over a decade… and as he says, “the student’s accomplishments have inspired me.”

 

Link to Washington Post Bestsellers List can be found here

Book link: Leader of One http://www.amazon.com/dp/1494401363

 

Video excepts from Leader of One
Get out of your career rut:   https://youtu.be/kDRvBDytts0

How to find your passion:   https://youtu.be/DLLkvIMeuMA

How to lead when you aren’t in a leadership position:   https://youtu.be/3vi-HerorwA

Keep an eye on the goal:  https://youtu.be/KfNWgQiYaAo

 

[1] This quote has been attributed to Einstein, William Bruce Cameron, Hillard Jason and others.

Goodbye and Good Luck to our QUESTPress Seniors

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Another year here at UMD is coming to a close and so naturally, we are losing some of our seniors to the real world. While we wish them the best, we also wish we had more time to learn from them and share more memories and laughs. With this said, QUESTPress would like to give a big sendoff to our seniors, Chineme Obiefune (Q25), Joe Piscitelli (Q25), Sam Weaver (Q26), and our Editor-in-Chief, Andrew Jones (Q26).

Andrew Jones (Q26)

Andrew is our great Editor-in Chief. He has been a part of QUESTPress for 3 years and has written numerous entertaining articles for the QUEST community. Additionally, Andrew has been involved in QUEST in other ways by being a  mentor for Q30 as well as attending not one, but two QUEST2 trips – to Silicon Valley and to Spain! Looking forward to the summer, Andrew will be traveling around the world (no exaggeration!). He’s going to be in Peru, Thailand, Southeast Asia, and then back to the US to be in New Orleans and Boston! After a busy summer, Andrew will be settling in Tysons Corner to begin work as an Associate Consultant at Appian Corporation.

While thinking about leaving UMD, Andrew will miss all of the experiences he’s had here and the opportunity to participate in so much. He said, “UMD offers so many activities. It can’t compare to any other institution!” QUEST gave Andrew a plethora of great things but what he’ll miss most are the abroad courses and meeting our amazing alumni! Andrew, we’ll miss your support and insights that you would give us at every Sunday meeting.

Chineme, our senior in Q25 has been in QUESTPress for two years but has also mentored 190H and helped out in the scoping class. This summer, Chineme is excited to be outside enjoying the weather but also hanging out with kids by volunteering at a summer camp. What’s really cool is that he’s going to also be working on his music (tune in everyone!!) to develop a skill that he is finally getting some free time to think about.

Chineme Obiefune (Q25)

QUEST is an intense community, full of people who are driven and passionate about what they are learning and Chineme appreciates and will miss it the most. Getting to see his team do amazingly in 190H yet still harness so much growth on the way to 490H was extremely rewarding, especially knowing that he “has had a slight hand in the success.” Chineme, we are going to miss your out of the box ideas for articles and fearlessness when it comes to trying and proposing new things.

Joe had an especially important position for not only QUESTPress but also the newsletter, in that he has been our webmaster and the genius behind figuring out any struggle with the online forums and making sure all of our articles and sites look great. Joe joined QUESTPress immediately after QUEST Camp after a now QUEST alumna, Grace Cha, suggested that people join. After school ends for Joe, he’ll be back in Miami with friends and family but his studying won’t be over as he will be preparing for the CPA exam prior to coming back to the DMV as a Core Assurance Associate for PriceWaterhouse Coopers.

Joe Piscitelli (Q25)

Looking back, Joe will mostly miss the amazing people that he has had the opportunity to meet through QUEST, Smith, and UMD as a whole. Joe says, “I came to UMD knowing absolutely no one else coming here so it was nice to have organizations on campus such as QUEST to make the campus smaller. I’ve met some of the best people I know at UMD.” Memories like simply walking into the QUEST lab to print and bumping into people you don’t expect to see and getting to catch up will stick with Joe for a while. He also loved to check out what new art our fellow QUEST students have up on the walls. Joe, we will miss your great sense of humor and endless help as we struggle through WordPress.

Sam has been in QUESTPress and writing articles for us since her sophomore year. After three years with us, Sam will be joining Lockheed Martin in Dallas. Sam has enjoyed her time with QUEST and says that she’ll miss all of the great events that QUEST has to offer. Being involved and getting to catch up with fellow QUEST peers are what she enjoyed most about QUEST. Sam’s favorite memory followed finally accomplishing the final client presentation in 490H. Her group had gotten through the toughest course for QUEST and to celebrate, Sam said, “My team and I went to Costco for lunch and just hung out and goofed off. Our client really loved our project and capping off that successful presentation with some pizza and ice cream was so satisfying.” Sam, we’ll miss having you over the conference call because you’re doing something cool like getting stuck at home baking bread.

Sam Weaver (Q26)

While we are sad to see you all go, we know you are onto bigger and better things. We look forward to hearing your names in articles not written by you, but rather about you. Thank you for your endless contributions to not only QUESTPress but QUEST as a whole. To you and all of the seniors moving on from our students to our alumni, keep us in mind. Come visit us and share your experiences with us or even let us know how we can be do better in our next QUEST presentation. I’ll leave you with a quote in the spirit of QUEST: “I begin with an idea, and then it becomes something else” – Pablo Picasso. QUEST has trained us to develop brilliant ideas and to take them as far as we can. Keep up the QUEST spirit and remain design thinkers regardless of where you end up because you all have great things to offer and thoughts to share. Best of luck class of 2018! You made it!

 

A Sneak Preview of Alumnus Yash Mehta’s New Podcast!

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Yash Mehta (Q22) began his own podcast to commemorate the beginning of 2018. While it’s still at its infancy, Yash has sights on expanding the podcast to feature even more “influencers, as the podcast name, The Great Influencers, suggests. At the current moment, there are two podcasts on the website highlighting Malala Yousafzai and Thurgood Marshall, implying that the diversity in influencers is not limited to prominent historical figures. I recently got to sit down with Yash to get his thoughts on the podcast and his vision moving forward.

What prompted you to start the podcast?

I think it was a host of internal and external factors. From the internal perspective, I’ve always really enjoyed creative writing and public speaking so this was a great way to practice those skills. I’ve also become an avid listener of other podcasts over the last year so this was a neat challenge/bucket list item for me to tackle. On the external side, I think we could all use some inspiration from time to time so I wanted to create something that helped busy professionals like those in QUEST to do something fun, learn something, and feel energized to improve their lives all at the same time. I think we’re in a particularly interesting political climate and regardless of your beliefs, I try to shape each episode so that people realize people just like them influenced our world.

I notice you featured both historical and current “influencers” on your podcast – do you have intentions on sticking with a theme regarding that or just whoever is making an influence?

The way I choose influencers is relatively unstructured – a lot of it is me coming across stories of people that make me go, “Wow, I want to know more.” I’m trying to make a conscious decision to showcase influencers from a variety of backgrounds (civil activism, science, arts, etc.) so that every person listening can see a bit of themselves in the influencers. My other criteria is choosing great influencers whose stories haven’t been widely told – yes, MLK was absolutely a great influencer, but so was Thurgood Marshall, and I’ve heard Marshall’s story far fewer times so I decided to tell his story instead.

In the spirit of continuous improvement, Yash always loves to get any feedback, so if anyone wants to provide feedback, please share it with him at MehtaJYash@Gmail.com!

Introducing Our New Cohorts!

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QUEST Community, say hello to Cohorts 31 and 32! Cohorts 31 and 32, welcome to QUEST. It was just a couple days ago that the Quality Guild released the names of the ninety students admitted to our diverse, innovative, and challenging program, and we’re excited to introduce them to the rest of the community. I’ve reached out to four of our new members to learn more about what made them interested in QUEST, how they feel QUEST will impact their with future goals, and what other things they are involved with on campus.

When I asked about why the students were attracted to QUEST, one thing everyone had in common was that they were fascinated with the interdisciplinary aspect of the program and that they wished to expand their mindsets beyond those of their current majors. Amy Odenthal, a Clark student in Cohort 32, mentioned that she believes “working with students from three different schools will allow [her] to develop a more well-rounded perspective towards problem solving.” Uday Warier, a computer science major in Cohort 31, shared a similar standpoint and said that he “wants a way to work with people of different majors and skillsets.”

“Working with students from three different schools will allow me to develop a more well-rounded perspective towards problem solving.” -Amy Odenthal (Q32)

Many of the new students in Cohorts 31 and 32 have a strong presence on campus through various clubs and organizations, which is great since QUEST has such a strong focus on community. Involvement with the program outside of a classroom setting is a large part of what makes a QUEST student successful, so it’s great that our new additions are familiar with making a contribution to a community! Jeremy Rosenblatt from Cohort 31 is an engineer who represents the freshman class for the American Institute of Chemical Engineers and manages consulting projects for TAMID, an organization that introduces students to consulting and then gives them opportunities to consult for Israeli start-ups. Jeremy says that managing the time he invests is “certainly a challenge, but [he finds] it really rewarding.” Dillyn Payne, an engineer in Cohort 32, stays busy by participating in Engineers Without Borders and Catholic Terps, doing financial planning for TerpThon, and interning at an electrical engineering company. Dillyn believes it is crucial for students to be involved in various activities since it “provides various opportunities for students to become better leaders and gain experience with how the world works outside of school.”

“[Involvement in extracurriculars] provides various opportunities for students to become better leaders and gain experience with how the world works outside of school.” -Dillyn Payne (Q32)

QUEST gives students the chance to engage with people from different backgrounds, provides opportunities for community involvement, and helps students navigate team dynamics and how the world around us works. But how does this help students in the real world after they graduate? Uday Warier says that “by becoming familiar with people from a variety of different backgrounds, it will be easier for [him] to create things that change the world and help the community through [his] career.” Jeremy Rosenblatt wishes to work in the biopharmaceutical industry and believes that “the interdisciplinary teamwork experience QUEST provides will be invaluable to [his] career” because “the industry is inherently interdisciplinary and runs entirely on scientific progress.” Amy Odenthal hopes to combine both technical and business concepts in her career and believes that QUEST will help her “learn more about the interdependence of the two fields.” Dillyn Payne wants to work for an organization that “challenges its employees to create innovative solutions to problems that may have many restrictions” and believes that QUEST will help her “become a better leader, critical thinker, and innovator,” all of which are necessary to succeed as an engineer!

“The interdisciplinary teamwork experience QUEST provides will be invaluable to my career.” -Jeremy Rosenblatt (Q31)

It was definitely refreshing to hear about the aspirations and goals these students have for their futures and how they believe QUEST will help them achieve them! Ambition is something that all QUEST students have in common, and the program’s goal is to help our ambitions become realities. My advice for the fellow cohorts is that it’s never too early to get involved. Make the most of your new community by getting swipe access for the lab, exploring our different student organizations, and staying up-to-date with our newsletters! You can have an impact even before you take your first QUEST class, so get on out there and make the rest of us proud.

Congrats to all of the new members of Cohorts 31 and 32!

Let the Creativity Flow: QUEST Creative’s Journey to Bring our Community Closer Together

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QUEST provides a lot of opportunities for student involvement. The program’s various clubs give students the chance to work with QUESTees across cohorts, get to know staff and faculty members outside of the classroom, and make great connections with alumni. The clubs provide great diversity in terms of what they offer, so whether you like to create functional web applications, write and publish stories, or even plan fun events and activities for students, there is a club for you. Currently QUEST has seven extracurricular clubs comprising of QUESTPress, QUEST Dev, QUEST Development Series, QUEST Corporate, QUEST Social, QUEST Recruiting, and the newest addition, QUEST Creative.

QUEST Creative was formerly called QUEST Marketing. QUEST Marketing’s primary job was to design and create posters and fliers for the Quality Guild and QUEST student organizations. Despite its success, the club wished to expand its scope in order to be more inclusive to other forms of art other than graphic design. QUEST Marketing was known for creating beautiful, artistic posters that grabbed attention and instilled awe, so the team members kept this in mind as they went about rebranding the club. The team members wanted the club to be known for its creativity, and in order to emphasize this trait, they changed the club’s name to QUEST Creative and made its ultimate goal to “expand and encourage creativity and the desire to create in all shapes and forms” (Ivy Xia, Q25).

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Each month, QUEST Creative follows a specific theme that gives them inspiration for what to teach their members during general body meetings and how to create events that cater to all QUEST members. This month’s theme is arts and crafts, and in honor of that, QUEST Creative’s first event was a paint night that took place on March 1st. Matthew Masison from Cohort 27, one of the students who led paint night, noted that the event was very successful. All spots were reserved well before the week of the event, and it was QUEST Creative’s first time bringing the QUEST community together on a large scale. Matthew saw that many of the attendees were from older cohorts (25, 26), and told me that QUEST Creative will market more to the newer cohorts (29, 30) as well. Next month’s theme will be on poster design, as QUEST students are preparing for their poster presentations in their 190H class.

QUEST Creative is off to a great start, and after speaking with Ivy Xia from Cohort 25, I learned a bit about what kind of measures the club is taking to ensure that their success is prolonged. Ivy mentioned that she and the team are working on ways to give their goal more structure in order to benefit the club’s members and the QUEST community as a whole. She also told me about how the club is beginning to prepare for its spring recruiting launch and that she hopes the large-scale events QUEST Creative will hold in the future will raise awareness of the club and attract prospective members.

As QUEST Marketing became QUEST Creative, its objective went from developing aesthetic projects for student organizations and designing merchandise for corporate partners to engaging the entire QUEST community to think creatively and bond over beauty. Now their general body meetings not only comprise of gaining skills in functional programs such as Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, and Adobe XD, but also learning about other forms of creation and preparing for community-wide events. If interested in attending these meetings, you’re in luck. QUEST Creative is looking for members who share the team’s passion for learning new skills and creating works of art in many different mediums. Their application can be found at ter.ps/joinqc, and if you have any questions, email qcreativeumd@gmail.com.

Reflecting on QUEST’s First Winter Orientation

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QUEST Camp (or Orientation) is the first introduction students have to the culture of quality and innovation within QUEST. In only two days, teams are formed, relationships are made, and pilot products are pitched. All these activities prepare the students for not just 190H, but the program as a whole.

I spoke to four students who recently went to QUEST Camp to gain a better understanding of how they feel it’s shaped their experience so far. Cece and Andrew are both members of Q26 and are mentors for Q30 this spring. Carly and Barret are both members of Q30 and just started 190H this spring.

Carly (third from right) with her team and mentor!

Questions for the Q30 Students

What pushed you to apply to the QUEST program?

Barret – I wanted to be surrounded by some of the most ambitious and knowledgeable students at UMD and use this community to grow my personal skill set.

Carly – Everyone who I had met at the business school had been driven and had already gotten heavily involved with multiple organizations within Smith. I had also been searching for a community of people to be with that would inspire me to think outside of the box and talk about important issues. QUEST seemed like the perfect opportunity to meet those kinds of people and really expand my way of thinking.

When you first heard about QUEST camp, what were you expecting?

Barret – A bunch of team building exercises and ice breakers. I was excited to meet my team and my cohort, but I thought the ice breakers were going to be cheesy and repetitive.

Carly – I was expecting a lot of ice breakers and tents when I first heard about QUEST camp. Also, we were the first cohort that was going to be going in the winter, and I figured we were going to be absolutely freezing and outside the whole day. I think that most of my cohort knew very little about QUEST camp so we would be surprised when we got there. None of us were expecting to get so close to our team so fast or to be inspired by design thinking within the first hour of being there.

What was the most exciting part of the experience?

Barret – My team, Q Debut, won the pitch competition with our idea Drop Stop, which is a rubber lip that is placed on the end of gas nozzles to ensure that no gas is spilled onto the ground. This helps the environment and then saves money. I never win anything, so it was nice to see our team achieve some early success.

Barret presents during the pilot products presentations

Carly – The most exciting part about QUEST camp for me was learning about the values of all the people in my team. I was surprised that most of us valued time management and careful planning which made me excited to enter into group projects with them. I’ve never been in a group project where I really thought that everyone as going to put all of their effort into it. I’m excited to work with my team and learn more about areas I know absolutely nothing about.

What part of the camp pushed you the farthest out of your comfort zone?

Barret – The improv. I hate dancing/acting in front of other people, but my team just went for it full speed, and we had a great time. The activity definitely brought us closer together as a team and might have helped contribute to our success in the pitch competition.

Carly – One problem my team really struggled with was coming up with problems before we came up with solutions. QUEST really challenges you to go beyond surface level thinking and find the root cause of problems before trying to solve them. This is something I hadn’t thought about before and definitely has challenged me to reflect more on my day-to-day life. Our mentor constantly kept putting us back on the right track when we would get derailed.

How do you think the QUEST camp experience is going to help you as you move forward through the program?

Barret – QUEST is all about the people, and whether or not you have a good experience can depend on whether or not you have a good team. My team is closer because of camp, and I hope this carries into the semester.

Carly – As we move forward into the semester, I know that I have already learned the basic idea of QUEST from the days spent at QUEST camp. It was made extremely clear to us that everyone who has been through the 190H-490H experience (our mentors) has grown immensely from it. The professors that joined us at QUEST camp were so excited to welcome us into the program and appeared extremely passionate about the work they do here. It’s clear that the program really impacts students, and QUEST camp has definitely laid the foundation for that learning.

 

Questions for the Mentors

What do you think of the staggered QUEST camp model (excursions in the summer & winter)?

Cece – As a member of Q26, I experienced the old model. It was nice to be able to spend part of a day with our sister cohort Q25. However, during the semester, my cohort, including myself, felt detached from QUEST. I think this new model allows for there to be a natural flow and connection between what is learned at QUEST camp and what is experienced during 190H.

Cece (bottom middle) with her team

Andrew – I think that this model worked out well, given the circumstances! I think it provides the new spring cohort with a smoother transition into their QUEST journey with 190H following shortly after. Some of the activities had to be changed around for weather-related reasons, but I thought that the new activities (i.e. improvisations instead of high ropes, bonfire inside instead of outside) that replaced the summer ones were still effective and fun in their rights.

What was the hardest part about going through QUEST camp as a mentor?

Cece – As a team member and participant of QUEST, the activities are structured to help you break down barriers and build bonds with your team. As a mentor, you have to understand and recognize that. Therefore, I had to determine what my role should be in every activity to ensure I was assisting but not partaking in their QUEST camp experience as if it was my own. It was hard to find that line and make sure not to cross it.

Andrew – It was hard to hold myself back from acting like a team member, especially during the pilot products activity. Having gone through 190H, 390H, 490H, and other courses having team-related projects, I was caught by surprise at the difference the role of a mentor entails rather than being simply a team member. However, it soon became an easy adjustment to overcome, learning to leverage my previous experiences and insights to these situations.

In what way did your team exceed your expectations?

Cece – I worked with my team in brainstorming ideas for the Pilot Products but let them build the idea by themselves. So it wasn’t until the following day that I saw their full presentation, and it was better than I expected. The skit was funny and well planned and they communicated important information in a succinct way. It was better than my 190H team and our “nano-fibers.”

Andrew – Letting the team take most of the initiative to develop their product, I was surprised and excited to see the level of aptitude that this team had, both individually and collectively as a team. They developed ideas and built off each other’s idea for what they presented at QUEST camp without any knowledge of the lessons they’ll learn in 190H. In addition, they all indicated that each of them shared an attribute of effective and clear communication, something that will be vital to their success with the QUEST Honors Program, and it clearly showed when I was and wasn’t with them. 

How do you think the QUEST camp experience is going to help you as you move forward as a mentor?

Cece – It helped me begin to understand what my role is as a mentor. Making sure to be helpful but not helping will take a while to learn. It also helped me build a bond with my team. Playing the different games and getting more comfortable was important for my team to experience and myself as a mentor.

Andrew – The opportunity to meet my team and see how they function together provided me a clear idea of my role and position I need to have as their mentor this semester. Being able to see them work together as a team in a stress-free, grade-free environment provided me insight into better understanding the backgrounds of each team member, as well as served as a basis for which all my mentees can improve upon for the semester.

Andrew and his mentee, Kevin, during Improv

Rasa: Alumnus Sahil Rahman’s Venture Into Indian Cuisine

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By: Jacob Wilkowsky (Cohort 17)

Thanking Khawaja as I exited his Toyota Corolla, my first steps in the Navy Yard (DC) provided a much-needed opportunity to stretch. The trip from New York was uneventful, and surveying the sprawling lawn and views of the Anacostia river, I was glad I made the voyage. Although six minutes early, I decided to enter the large, bright blue door to Rasa. There I found Sahil Rahman, co-Founder of Rasa, member of QUEST Cohort 17, and co-TA of BMGT190H for my cohort (19), busily organizing his staff and rearranging the restaurant for lunch service.

Sahil offered a warm welcome and seating as I waited for the restaurant to begin service. I dropped my belongings off in a nook and surveyed the menu. I chose as my main a pre-made bowl, ‘Aloo Need is Love’, composed of sweet potato tikki, coconut ginger sauce, supergrains, charred eggplant, picked radish, and masala beets. To drink, a mango lassi. Both were delicious, quickly prepared, and reasonably priced. Although I hoped to savor the meal and take copious notes of each bite for my future audience… it didn’t work out – a testament to Rasa’s supreme quality and my lack of self-control.

Luckily for me, a top critic in The District and a bevy of other publications have since extensively covered Rasa, including the Washington Post’s Tom Sietsema, The Washington City Paper, EATER, and On Tap Magazine. These articles aptly describe Rasa’s interior, which “deftly fuses whimsy with comfort,” the bond of Sahil and his Partner Rahul Vinod, who know each other since childhood, and their journey to the kitchen, starting in the kitchens of their fathers’ restaurants. I can attest to the rich experience chronicled by these critics, and I can’t wait to visit again soon.

QUEST to Leidos: Site Visit Recap

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By: Caitlin Thompson (Q28)

On November 3, 2017, QUEST students from all majors and cohorts had the opportunity to visit Leidos in Gaithersburg, MD. Prateek Sayyaparaju (Q28) organized the visit through QUEST Corporate, a student organization within QUEST. Prateek worked with QUEST alums Ilan Gold (Q22) and Krishang Sharma (Q23) and Anh Tran from Leidos to finalize the logistics prior to the event. I recently had the opportunity to talk with Prateek and other students to recap this exciting visit.

Approximately twenty students, joined by QUEST executive director Dr. Bailey and program manager Jessica Macklin, traveled to the location. Upon arrival, the group was greeted and given the opportunity to mingle with current employees.  They were then presented with a quick overview of the company and the Gaithersburg location.

The visit centered around Leidos’ focus on air traffic control engineering and systems. In order to give the students a better understanding of the types of projects they work on to provide successful air trafficking, the large group was divided into four teams.

Each team rotated through four different demonstrations. During one rotation, students were surrounded by 180 degrees of screen to simulate the experience of being in an air traffic control tower. Students were able to act as controllers while interacting with the products. Leidos also invites actual controllers to test equipment through this system in order to receive useful feedback.

When asked about this opportunity, Jeffrey Zhao (Q28) remarked, “It was extremely enlightening being able to see and test out four of Leidos’ Skyline product line applications. Skyline is Leidos’ international air traffic control enterprise software.”

With this, Leidos adopts many of the same principles of QUEST. They are innovative by always designing more efficient products to keep integrating and stay above the competition. They are also customer focused while empathizing with their end users throughout the design process.

Overall, the trip was very successful. According to Prateek, “Everyone learned a lot, had fun while doing so, and became interested in a company that they may not have known much about before.” By the end, students were eager to seek out internships and discover other future opportunities. They were also excited to share their experience with the QUEST community.

For example, Akshay Guthal (Q27) said, “The Leidos trip was a cool experience because going in, I didn’t know much about air traffic control. They gave us a tour and showed us different software features and even let us play around with some air traffic control applications. Overall, it was cool to learn so much about an industry that I had no idea about from such a successful company.”

Roger Mao (Q29) also responded saying, “Leidos is a very interesting company with a lot of tech and infrastructure that supports our daily lives that I never knew about. It was such an interesting and eye opening visit.”

Thank you Leidos for hosting QUEST!

 

QUEST & Constellation: Thoughts on the Site Visit

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In early November, a group of QUEST students had the opportunity to visit Constellation in Baltimore and get a tour of the facility while talking to some higher ups in the organizations. The following is a short recap from some students who were on the visit and their thoughts about the entire experience.

How did this visit change your opinion of Constellation?

Jeff Zhao (Q28)

I originally thought that Constellation was just an energy provider to commercial homes, but I was pleasantly surprised to find out that Constellation is actually the nation’s largest supplier of electricity to residential, commercial, and industrial customers. A huge part of their operations takes place in their trading group (where Ricky Wilson, our QUEST Alumni Board Chair works) that hedges against price fluctuations by selling and buying units of megawatts/hr. The parent company, Exelon, is the nation’s largest power generation company as well! This site visit really opened my eyes to understanding the size of Constellation and its parent company Exelon.

Brian Yuwen (Q28)

I didn’t really know what Constellation did prior to the visit. I knew that they provided energy, but I learned that they aren’t just an energy provider—they also provide risk assessments about the energy industry so that Exelon’s energy providers know when and where to supply energy. Also, the office is really nice.

Michael Vetter (Q28)

I originally thought that Constellation was just an energy producer and supplier. However, I did not realize that the company is only focused on wholesale and retail. Many of their employees just focus on trading and finance, which fit my career goals more closely. I now see them as a possible future employer.

 

How do you think the QUEST tools and mission align with the work that Constellation does?

Jeff Zhao

QUEST’s dedication to quality really mirrors Constellation’s mission to ensure quality and reliable energy to customers. The most prominent QUEST tool that I saw was “data-backed recommendations” where the trading group takes into account the root causes that affect electricity prices and aggregates large amounts of data to really be able to accurately send competitive prices to its consumers.

Brian Yuwen

Constellation’s work goes towards providing service, results, and recommendations for Exelon, which aligns with QUEST principles.

Michael Vetter

Constellation is constantly working in multi-disciplinary teams and combines quantifiable data with qualitative information as employees know how to speak both technically and conversationally with each other and with customers. Thus, they work very similarly to QUEST. Also, when they acquire new companies, they usually re-design their systems, which is one of the three pillars of QUEST.

 

In what ways do you think Constellation is an innovator in comparison to other players in their industry?

 Jeff Zhao

Constellation has a smaller “VC” group dedicated to up-and-coming companies in the energy business. We weren’t able to meet many people from that team, so I wasn’t able to really gleam anything else from that.

Brian Yuwen

I don’t know much about Constellation’s competition, but their trading floor is pretty neat. I think the general atmosphere of the office implies that they care about moving toward more collaborative spaces and innovative practices. I’m pretty sure we saw a group conducting a stand-up meeting when we got in that morning.

Michael Vetter

Constellation’s main source of innovation comes from its acquisitions. That is why their main innovative unit is their venture capital department that searches for disruptive start-ups that will change their systems and business model.

 

What other strategies do you think Constellation could employ to remain a leader in their industry?

Jeff Zhao

In order to remain competitive and continue to innovate, Constellation should continue to look into new energy generation methods outside coal and fossil fuels such as wind and solar as the world continues to move in a “greener” direction.

Thanks to Ricky Wilson (Q6) and Constellation for hosting QUEST!