Category Archives: What’s New?

Then do the Harlem Shake

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Article by Jacob Wilkowsky (Q19)

February has been a good month for pop culture. There were the Grammys, the Oscars, the Super Bowl—each event soliciting hordes of celebrities and awesome commercials. Even the usual list of high-profile diplomats has expanded from the likes of Angelina Jolie, Bono, and George Clooney, to include the outlandish Dennis Rodman. (Hopefully we will see an NBA team in Pyongyang, North Korea soon.) However, there has been one cultural phenomenon that has outshined them all. I’m obviously talking about the tour-de-force that is, The Harlem Shake.

The first Harlem Shake video came out on February 2nd, and has since gone viral with over 175 million views. The trend involves recording a group of unassuming peers as they dance to the smash hit, Harlem Shake by Baauer. Initially the group performs mundane tasks, with the exception of one helmeted party dancing to the Harlem Shake. Then as the song drops at its catchphrase, “Then do the Harlem Shake,” the group suddenly goes WILD! It’s an elaborate art, so why don’t I just show you, because QUEST obviously did its own version.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Js7930WGAXU&feature=youtu.be

So as I mentioned before, and as you just saw, it is an art. Notice the collaboration between Danny Laurence and Mark Barbagallo. Where did Danny find a mop? How does Mark so deeply capture the human condition as he gyrates in place? Obviously there are the stars like Michael Goglia (Banana Suit), but the whole production was truly a team effort. The ensemble includes talents such as Mercedes Valero, Cat Ashley, Stephen Barbagallo, Kenny Lopez, Meenu Singh, Aditya Sridhar, David Kravitz, and Erika Colostrom. And while we all loved making this piece of cinematic art, we suggest you don’t try it at home. Even though February has been a great month for pop culture, only so many can occupy the spotlight.

Celebrating Twenty Years in One Evening

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Article by Kathryn Weiland (QUEST Graduate Assistant)

Twenty years of the IBM-TQ/QUEST program was too significant a milestone to go overlooked. In conversations with The Quality Guild, we determined that a celebratory event was the ideal way to recognize such a momentous occasion. What better way to commemorate this influential program than to invite alumni, former faculty and staff, and university affiliates to meet current students, mingle with QUEST leadership, and reconnect over dinner and good conversation. The QUEST 20th Anniversary Celebration on April 26th, 2012 provided the opportunity to do just that.

As the nearly 340 guests enjoyed refreshments and hors d’oeuvres upon their arrival, the photographs displayed around the ballroom allowed for conversation to flow easily. Alumna Erika Elko (Q14) was impressed by the fact that nearly 100 alumni were in attendance.  “It was great to see all of the cohorts over the last 20 years represented at the celebration. As a student, QUEST created such a strong sense of community. As an alum, I realized those feelings haven’t changed,” said Erika. Students from the newly-admitted Cohort 20 also had their first real taste of what QUEST is all about. Reflecting on the event, new QUESTer Matt Schmitt commented “It was a great opportunity to familiarize myself with current QUEST staff and my fellow Cohort 20 members. The fact that so many alums came out to celebrate QUEST shows that the whole three year experience is truly memorable and will be worth my while.”

Members of Cohort 20 enjoy their first QUEST event

Once guests had taken their seats, the program was led by Lauren Bailey and Femi Sokoya, both seniors from Cohort 17. With much wit and charm, Lauren and Femi provided a brief overview of the history of the IBM-TQ/QUEST program and also introduced some special guests. Dr. Judy Olian and Dr. Arjang Assad, who were both instrumental to the creation of the program and served as the initial Executive Directors, offered video messages and congratulations. “My favorite part of the event was hearing George Dieter, the former Dean of the School of Engineering, speak about the history of the QUEST program and how it came about through a proposal with IBM,” said Sophia Wu (Q18). Jessica O’Keefe (Q18) agreed: “What I enjoyed most about the 20th anniversary celebration was getting to hear more about the beginning of QUEST. The 20th anniversary really is a testament to the continued significance of the principles that QUEST has strived to teach its students from the very beginning.”

Lauren Bailey and Femi Sokoya present a gift to Dr. George Dieter

The seated dinner provided a great opportunity for students, alumni, and faculty and staff to compare their experiences in QUEST and share some favorite memories. It also allowed for excellent networking opportunities. Danny Laurence (Q19) commented that “the QUEST 20th Anniversary event struck the perfect balance between a social event and a professional one. I was able to meet members of the QUEST community I hadn’t met before, while also learning a lot about the history of the program.” Following dinner, the members of Cohort 17 were presented with QUEST medallions, which are worn with their academic regalia at graduation.  Assistant Director Nicole Coomber also provided some concluding remarks as the evening drew to a close.

Alumni from Cohort 14 pose for a photo

The evening truly was a great celebration of this program. From revisiting its roots as IBM-TQ in 1992 to experiencing its staying power as QUEST in 2012 and beyond, guests who attended the 20th Anniversary Celebration could appreciate the sense of community that is so vital to QUEST. Kevin Yue (Q7) thought that “the 20th Anniversary Celebration was a great time to be able to catch up with fellow cohort members as well as those from other cohorts.  Learning more about the history and the future of the QUEST program made me more proud to have been a part of it.” Joel Liebman (Q14) also offered some insightful thoughts about the evening: “The event was a wonderful celebration of all that the QUEST students, alumni, faculty, and staff have accomplished in the last 20 years and the impact the program has had on its people, the University, and the broader community.  Bringing together such a phenomenal group of QUEST contributors past and present was energizing and inspiring.” Although the celebration is behind us, we look forward to creating many more memories in the future as a QUEST community. We hope to see you in five years to celebrate a quarter-century of QUEST!

Welcoming Cohort 20

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Article by Mercedes Valero (Q19)

Along with the celebration of QUEST’s 20th anniversary comes an amazing new cohort, filled with exciting people sure to make QUEST better and ready to tackle the next 20 years alongside all of us. As a member of Cohort 19, I am honored to welcome in the next generation of QUESTees and show the rest of the QUEST just how quality Cohort 20 really is.

Q20 students…

  • Total: 66
  • From the Robert H. Smith School of Business: 29
  • From the A. James Clark School of Engineering: 28
  • From the College of Computer, Natural, and Mathematical Sciences: 12
  • Who have run marathons: at least 2
  • Who are Eagle scouts: at least 4
  • With the last name pronounced “Lee” : 3
  • Who wore bowties to interviews: 0 (But that will change, right Dr. Bailey?)
  • Who mentioned “hovercraft” in the interviews: too many to count!

Percent of…

  • Applicants who used the word “multidisciplinary” on their application: 12%
  • Applicants admitted to the cohort: 44%
  • Males: 51%
  • Females: 49%
  • Q20 students with a first name beginning with “Eric”: 6%
  • Q20 students who are “QUEST legacies”: 5%
  • Q20 students who are majoring in either Finance or Mechanical Engineering: 18%
  • Q20 students who have already joined QUEST’s Facebook group: 83%
  • Q20 students who will be at the 20th Anniversary Celebration: At least 80%

How we helped make Q20…

  • 62 application readers for Q20 applications (Thank you!)
  • 40 interviewers of Q20 candidates (Thank you!)
  • 62% of applicants heard about QUEST through word of mouth

Overall Quality of Q20…

  • Priceless!

 

The Incubator

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Article by Alex Bansleben (Q18)

 

The Incubator: one of the newest initiatives of the QUEST program as it turns 20 years old. Very much like some current students reaching this age, QUEST is beginning to take on some new challenges and focus on the “real world” (as students often say). I had the opportunity to speak with QUEST Executive Director, the one and only Dr. Bailey, about the newest program initiative- the QUEST Incubator.

At its essence, the Incubator is a program that is designed to give our QUESTees the opportunity to develop business and some entrepreneurial experience, while working with corporate partners and the Quality Guild. The program was opened to select Cohort 17 students this year after the completion of their capstone 490 projects. Two small teams were created to work with the QUEST staff and corporate partners to form small businesses. QUEST senior John Walsh (Q17) praised the program: “the Incubator has been great, especially as a practical application of the QUEST ideals.” Linda Rassenti (Q17) also valued the program and the insight it has given her in terms of what it means to start a company (“it’s a lot harder than I imagined”).

Dr. Bailey explained that the students have been taking advantage of the corporate partners as a source of input and feedback as they develop business plans and develop into full-time companies. However, it is the students themselves who are largely creating these business ideas. And of course, Dr. Bailey and Nicole are always there to help. Linda said that it has been great getting to know them outside of the classroom—on a different level.

So this sounds pretty cool, right? How do you get involved? The QUEST staff has decided to keep the Incubator open to students who have completed the capstone 490 project. Students have hopefully developed some innovative solutions throughout their 490 projects. It is, at this point, when the Incubator seeks to grab hold and transform these ideas into actual businesses. Unfortunately, there were more applicants than spots open in this test year of the Incubator, for reasons that are certainly understandable. Dr. Bailey has mentioned that the staff has taken some chances with the Incubator, and already learned things to do and not to do in the future.

As a rising senior in the QUEST program, I have to say that I am incredibly excited by the idea of the Incubator! Every QUEST project I have seen has had some “real life” context and impact. That being said, many of these projects unfortunately stop at the end of the semester (there are definitely some great exceptions!). The Incubator seems to be an excellent platform within QUEST to take an idea and develop it into the foundation of a successful business. Linda praised “Qinc.” as an incredibly fun and exciting learning service that has opened her eyes to the world of business. Of course, no one would discount the ideas, methodologies, and fundamentals we learn every day in class. However, I think John Walsh said it best: “the Incubator allowed me to think outside the box and worry not about a grade but investors, industry connections, and prototypes.”

QUEST Turns 20!

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A letter from the Executive Director of QUEST, Dr. Joseph Bailey

20 years is a significant milestone for our community.  This milestone has given me an opportunity to reflect on where we came from, where we are now, and where we are going in the future.  This occasion has also given me a greater appreciation for the contributions made by our predecessors.

In 1992 when the IBM-TQ Program (now QUEST) launched, it may not have been possible to forecast future success.  In retrospect, however, hindsight is 20/20.  How could the IBM-TQ program not succeed?

QUEST began with a few innovative principles that became a foundation for future success.  First, undergraduate student learning is not contained within the span of the semester.  From the first cohort of students, the IBM-TQ program had a rigorous curriculum that spanned the sophomore, junior, and senior years of an undergraduate student.  As students progressed in their business and engineering majors (the science majors were added later), they progressed as a cohort of students until they graduated.  I’m pleased to add that for many QUEST alumni, cohort learning continues beyond graduation to the present time.  Second, faculty performance should be tied to student learning.  Instead of instructors delivering content in their subject areas, faculty were encouraged to collaborate, innovate, and focus on student learning.  This shift from faculty-centric to student-centric instruction allowed QUEST students to learn by doing (i.e. action learning) and do so in teams across disciplines.  Third, the QUEST concepts of quality management and process improvement were applied to the program’s design and not just the content of the instruction.  This last element meant that the QUEST program always strove to improve.  While many things in QUEST have changed to improve the program, I’m pleased to see that these three foundational elements are still at the core of our QUEST mission.

I’m very happy that the occasion of QUEST’s 20th Anniversary has propelled us to focus on improving our community.  Over the past several months we have reconnected with many QUEST alumni.  Through cohort representatives, a very active QUEST Alumni Board, and great QUEST program staff, we have updated our alumni records and have rekindled QUEST ties.  Through additional alumni events and opportunities for current students and alumni to connect, our QUEST community continues to improve in breadth and depth.  Our current students are helping with all of efforts as well from our QUEST Student Organization, our recruiting and selections teams, and the many volunteers and students leader we have on campus.  I often reflect how many in our community do their part to improve QUEST.  It is very inspiring and I’m very thankful to everyone who contributes.  Thank you!

To live up to the ideals set forth in 1992, QUEST must continue to improve going forward.  No matter how good our curriculum, students, and program is, it could always be better.  Within QUEST, we always want to be open to new ideas and innovate.  Additionally, we want our current students to look upon QUEST as their defining undergraduate experience at the University of Maryland.  Some of our current initiatives reflect these goals.  This includes incubating student ideas beyond their coursework, involving students in the development and scoping of capstone projects, and strengthening our QUEST community through events like the 20th Anniversary Celebration on April 26, 2012.

As we move forward, I want to thank all those in our community who have contributed so much already.  Our success today is a reflection of your hard work and dedication.  Thank you and we hope to see you at the celebration in April!

 

 

 

 

 

 

QUEST Alumni take part in Krispy Kreme Challenge

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Article by Alex Bansleben (Q18)

The Krispy Kreme challenge. Not too many people have heard about it, but it is a competition growing in popularity. The first time I was told about what the challenge entails, I almost started getting stomach cramps. The Krispy Kreme challenge is an annual charity event held in several locations around the country. Two of our very own QUEST alumni—Brian Daisey (Q16) and Jeffrey Lue (Q16)—participated in the challenge at the beginning of February in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Essentially, participants in the challenge combine two activities which (to me, personally) sound equally unpleasant: running, and eating a dozen donuts. The challenge is to run two miles to a Krispy Kreme store in Raleigh, eat a dozen donuts, and run back within an hour. All proceeds from the event are donated to North Carolina Children’s Hospital.

Brian Daisey (Q16, middle) with friends Jason Kramer and Jimi Gipple

Jeff Lue explained that his training routine was to run, eat donuts, and run again to “prepare his stomach for the pain he was going to unleash unto it”. Brian ran approximately 5 miles every day, but was only able to eat 3 or 4 donuts during training.  Both Brian and Jeff agree that the easy part of the challenge seems to be running to the Krispy Kreme store. The REAL challenge comes with eating the donuts! Jeff’s strategy was the “smashing approach”, which involved cramming 4 donuts into a “dense megadonut”.  Brian’s strategy was to stack 3 donuts and smash them into a “disk of sugar glaze and dough”! As I’m writing this, my stomach is getting queasy.

Donut boxes piled as evidence of the challenge

Unfortunately, Jeff missed the challenge 1-hour cutoff by less than a minute, and Brian was not quite able to master (or muster?) his donut-eating-and-running skills either. It looks like they will have to try again next year! In the meantime, congratulations to both participants; it is great to see QUEST alumni participating in such a unique event!

 

2011 Senior Conference Projects

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Article by Sophia Wu (Q18)

Members of "Solar Solutions" discuss their storyboard with fellow students

Amazing food, family and friends, and the light buzz of pleasant conversation.  Sounds like a party you’d like to attend, right? Well, this party is none other than the famous QUEST Senior Conference. Whether they are a QUEST corporate partner, an alumnus, or a current student, the Senior Conference is always an occasion everyone looks forward to. Each fall, the QUEST community comes together to celebrate the accomplishments of their senior QUEST students and to hear about their semester-long consulting projects.

Last fall, the students of Cohort 17 were split into 12 teams and worked with a multitude of QUEST’s professional partners, including: ATK Missiles Projects Group, ATR, Booz Allen Hamilton, Bowles Fluidics, ezStorage, Lockheed Martin, SAIC, Time Warner Cable and Unilever. Each team worked with these clients to provide recommendations for different areas of their company.

CLIENT: TEAM: GOAL:
ATK Missiles Project Group Interception To reduce the cost of product production by 20-25% while meeting expectations of potential customers.
Space Ventures To assist ATK expand into commercial markets through the creation of a competitive advantage.
ATR Solar Solutions To identify methods to successfully penetrate the residential market with efficient solar energy solutions.
Booz Allen Hamilton Terraficiency To decrease the amount of time spent on two different program health reports by developing a one-time data entry process for both reports.
Bowles Fluidics H2Optimized To determine the most optimal packaging container for Bowles’ current internal shipping process.
ezStorage eZential Capital To create a revenue management system aimed to maximize revenue in ezStorage’s facilities.
Lockheed Martin LM United To create a supply chain metric tool that would improve communication and organizational performance between Lockheed Martin’s different repair depots.
 SAIC  Secure Solutions To create a web portal that will help develop a better community throughout Maryland by keeping the Cybersecurity workforce updated about important information.
A.I.deas To determine whether a machine can identify specific ideas within an article and use them to predict impending financial crisis.
Time Warner Cable OptimalQ To adapt TWC’s current internal processes to a new content management system and provide a 5-year vision to increase the value of RoadRunner.com to its consumers.
Unilever Perfect Spread To improve customer satisfaction of Unilever’s soft spreads by reducing the number of complaints related to foreign material.
ECOnomic To assist Unilever in their goal to expand their business while being environmentally friendly by identifying methods of energy conservation.

With the completion of these great projects, Cohort 17 has once again proven that the QUEST community is indeed made up of the best of the best. Congratulations Cohort 17, and good luck with the rest of your endeavors!

Introducing QUESTudo: A Proud Member of the QUEST Community

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Article by Ehson Kashfipour (Q19)

Everything we do in QUEST is team-based, from classwork to projects to designing our first inter-cohort T-shirt. The idea for a t-shirt that could be worn by all QUEST students (as opposed to the various colors of cohort shirts) was initially proposed by the QUEST Student Organization (QSO) earlier this year. Once the Quality Guild announced the need for great design ideas from QUEST members, students put their creativity to work.

Over several weeks, a number of great designs were submitted and fellow classmates offered their input on each design to make them even better. On October 10, 2011 during the QUEST Ambassador’s meeting, the renowned Reeta Francis (Q17) suggested the idea of putting our school mascot, Testudo, on a purple shirt, dubbing the name “QUESTudo”. It was from here that the design for our new shirt originated.

An original mock-up was drafted later that week, but it took more contributions from fellow QUEST students and staff to create a fun yet professional design. Of course, the idea of a polka dotted bow-tie on QUESTudo was in the mix, but eventually discarded. On October 26, the newest T-shirt design was put to the test of how many “likes” it would earn on the QUEST Facebook page. After being embraced by the entire QUEST community, the design was submitted and approved by the Quality Guild.

As a member of the youngest cohort, I, as with my fellow classmates, am honored and grateful to be a part of the QUEST community and have the desire to give back. We see contributions being made by different students, each utilizing their own expertise and prowess to enhance the QUEST experience. Having had six months of training using Adobe Photoshop as a marketing intern under my belt, I felt it was my turn to show my gratefulness and love for QUEST.

QUEST is a community and everything we do is community-based. The design and production of our new inter-cohort T-shirt resembled that both in the process as well as in the design itself. The QUESTudo design is symbolic of the individuals who make the QUEST community what it is everyday- professional, but most importantly, lots of fun. Be on the lookout for QUESTudo on campus in the very near future!

New IQ Events Policy

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IQEvents_VikArtem

Article by Artem Shvadskiy (Q18) & Vikram Bhandari (Q18)

It’s official…mandatory IQ events are a thing of the past. After analyzing the voice of the customer, QUEST Director and Bowtie Officianado Dr. Bailey, along with other members of the Quality Guild, has decided to rethink QUEST’s approach to these activities. The events will continue, make no mistake of that. Now, however, instead of being confined by the bounds of an LE (Learning Event) or CE (Community Event), QUEST events will have a larger community focus with an emphasis on innovative ways of bringing QUEST together. This shift involves taking the co-curricular component out from the LE events and putting them into the 190, 390, and 490 curriculums. Also, by placing many of the learning aspects of IQ events into the courses, concepts can be better tailored to the education level of the students; seniors participate in more advanced concepts, while sophomores start with basic issues. Instead of mixing social and learning aspects into one event, QUEST is separating them in order to push both aspects to new boundaries.

This change can be viewed as an ultra-modernization of the IQ events which places a significant amount of faith in the students. No longer constrained to Blackboard, Facebook invites fill these events quickly and efficiently – instead of taking days to pack the roster for an alumni dinner, the most recent alumni event reached full capacity in under an hour. This is exactly the direction that the events should be going since the goal is to encourage students to want to attend, rather than force them through mandatory credits.

This interest-based approach also allows the QUEST faculty to provide better events. By seeing which sessions are most heavily attended, QUEST will change the types of events offered so that students can make the most of their time in the program. For example, the packed room at Deloitte’s event proves that company visits seem to be popular. Expanding on this, there are plans to offer trips to visit companies on their own turf, which will provide even better real-world exposure.

As QUEST students progress through their three years, there will be semesters where they are not taking a QUEST course. Consequently, it is often difficult to stay in contact with fellow cohort members. Another major purpose of the change in IQ policy is to provide more events that are purely community focused, allowing everyone the opportunity to reconnect with fellow cohort members, or meet new people from other cohorts. QUEST is a community, and it takes the participation of members to keep a community thriving. We encourage everyone to attend as many events as possible because these events are specifically provided for QUEST students. And with that, we would like to leave with a thought to consider: “You get out of QUEST what you put into QUEST.”

What’s New in Smith? SmithPeers: Mentor Program Established by QUEST Alums

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Hi QUEST!

This is Lucy Qian and Chris Coraggio, 2011 Alumni of the QUEST Program (Cohort 16 woot woot!), collaborating from opposite coasts. As alumni, we wanted to share a program coming soon to students of the Smith School: SmithPeers, (in pilot mode through Fall 2011). In short, it’s a mentor program where we pair “underclassmen” – freshman and sophomores – to upperclassmen. We would love for our fellow QUESTees to get involved with the program and help officially get it started!

Beginnings:
The idea for some sort of formalized peer mentoring program was one that we both had thought of individually, and for different reasons. We ultimately merged together in the middle of last spring (yes, spring semester senior year) because QUEST had taught us that two heads are always better than one, and that teamwork, collaboration, and a multi-disciplinary approach is how it’s done. Having worked together in the past through QUEST, we knew we could tolerate each other for half a semester.

[Chris]
I’ve always wanted to have a mentorship program as part of the undergraduate program at Smith.I knew there were very limited opportunities to connect underclassmen with upperclassmen. The reasons for these connections are numerous – sharing experiences about Maryland in general, internships, choosing majors, careers, navigating the business school, and even life advice. It’s too bad that SUSA didn’t have the resources to implement the program because it would clearly be very beneficial to new students. Then came along the end of my term as SUSA President and a conversation with Lucy Qian…

[Lucy]
I had offered to have a casual Q&A session with a few eager beavers I met studying abroad in Dubai. We met at Rudy’s one afternoon, where I pulled Chris and a few other Cohort 16 passers-by into the discussion. After getting positive feedback from my new freshmen friends, I felt that this kind of informal mentoring session with upperclassmen would have been extremely helpful when I was an “underclassmen”, and that wide-scale implementation could have extraordinary benefits for students. This type of mentorship and simply learning from peers is exactly what helped me decide on which major to focus on and ultimately find my career path.

More Juicy Details
Besides pure mentorship, another beneficial aspect we are hoping to maximize is networking, a concept that is hammered into our heads since orientation day, and one at which all business school students eventually become pros. However, we think there is a distinct difference in the type of networking that can be done in a casual environment, which forges real bonds, versus networking done in a forced, business-type environment. Who knows where these relationships can lead in the future – friends, business partners, job recruitment…

To put our idea into action, we took a quintessentially QUEST-y approach: we launched a survey, held focus groups, and initiated a small pilot program. Our presentation of results to the Office of Career Services was well-received, and we obtained the mandate to find an Executive Board to continue the program after our graduation. After three days of rigorous interviews, we found confidence in a diverse, cross-class team of five students, three of whom are current QUEST students (Brian Daisey – Cohort 17, Elaine Hui – Cohort 18, Austin Lee – Cohort 19). They, along with Joey Maretens and Executive Director Doug Kletter, are tasked with building up the strong program we envisioned.

What’s Going On Now
Phase II of the pilot program will be underway right when school starts. The exec team has recently selected a group of 12 highly qualified mentors from various majors and backgrounds, who will undergo training this week. A group of 30 mentees will also be selected to participate in this pilot (please email doug.kletter@gmail.com if you are interested!). As co-chairs of the nascent alumni board for SmithPeers, we both are gearing up for selections for the new board, and garnering support for this program from other alumni.We look forward to the future of the mentorship program as alumni and have confidence that it will provide enormous benefits for participants. We thank the QUEST program for its support!

Sincerely,

Lucy Qian
UBS Investment Bank (New York City)

Chris Coraggio
Teach for America, College Ready Middle Academy #7 (Los Angeles)

P.S. Feel free to ask us any questions about our experiences at Maryland, Smith, QUEST, or this program!