From Moon Mysteries to Space Exploration: The Journey of a NASA Co-Op Student

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Did you know that the Moon has one of the harshest thermal environments in the solar system? Apparently, because of its lack of atmosphere, rotational period, and thermophysical properties, surface temperatures on the sun-lit side of the Moon can exceed 240℉. In contrast, temperatures on the dark side and in craters can plunge to -300℉! This is an interesting fact that I was unaware of regarding our Moon that I learned when interviewing Brian Langbein, a student in Cohort 40 who is currently doing a co-op at NASA.

Langbein is working at the Goddard Space Flight Center located in Greenbelt, MD. This location is centered around unmanned scientific missions – like the Hubble or James Webb Space Telescope. Currently, the QUESTee is working in the Thermal Engineering Branch on the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, an infrared space telescope set to launch in 2027, tentatively. 

Brian Langbein (Cohort 40) at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

Specifically, Langbein’s team works to ensure that the sensitive technology in the telescope can withstand the intense thermal loads experienced in orbit over a million miles from Earth. Since every piece of technology has a temperature requirement to be able to function properly, this is imperative to the success of the infrared telescope. His job is to run thermal simulations, analyze test data, and generate temperature predictions to fine-tune the team’s spacecraft thermal model. 

Outside of his position, Langbein has the opportunity to talk with multiple professionals about their respective fields. It is a great way to learn more about space and the niche technology that goes into exploring it.

Langbein in protective equipment.

As for the future, Langbein hopes to continue his career at NASA and one day contribute to manned missions, such as the Artemis Project. This co-op is a way for him to learn and grow within NASA, so he can have an impact on as many NASA missions as he chooses to work on. Best of luck to Brian this semester as you complete your co-op! 

Welcome Back to QUEST, Dr. Fox Troilo: Our Newest 190H Instructor

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This semester, Cohort 9 QUEST alumnus Dr. Fox Troilo is making his return to the University of Maryland to be the newest BMGT/ENES190H instructor! He is co-teaching the QUEST introductory course with Dr. Ben Huffman. I had the opportunity to chat with him about his past experiences and life post-college, as well as his reason for returning.

Dr. Fox Troilo

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QUEST Jets Overseas During Winter Abroad Course in Japan and Korea

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Over winter break, 29 students across the QUEST program immersed themselves in the cultures and industries of two East Asian countries through the study abroad winter elective.

This year, the program took them to tour the cities of Tokyo, Japan, and Seoul, South Korea with an overall theme of looking at innovation and automation and how they have been incorporated into the culture and society of the two cities. Over the ten days, the class allowed students to dive into the cultures of these cities, as well as hear from representatives of numerous companies. 

Watching a matcha tea ceremony

The class visited larger well-known corporations, like Nissan and Samsung, as well as some start-up companies across multiple industries. 

The class at their site visit to SBS

I was able to talk to Shareen Ahmad, an Operations Management and Business Analytics and Supply Chain Management major from Cohort 41, who went on the trip. Her favorite site visit was to Astroscale, a space debris removal company. She found it inspiring to see their work towards sustainability. “It had a lot of legal, financial, and social considerations, and I loved their passion for taking on such a challenge,” she shared. Students even got to simulate the process of how Astroscale works to remove space debris.

Not only were the QUEST students learning about how business and industries worked, but they also got to see firsthand the social and cultural impacts. Students were surprised to see the difference in culture compared to the US. As Ahmad put it, “There was a big focus on social harmony and collectivism.” 

Overall, many students loved being able to interact with the local cultures, seeing cafes, shopping districts, food markets, and lots of entertainment! With the destination of the winter course changing each year, there is always more for future QUESTees to experience abroad. For more photos from the trip, click here.

Meet Chris Huie-Spence: An Out of This World Alum

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Over 600 people have been to space and accomplished QUEST alumnus Chris Huie-Spence (Cohort 15) is one of them! This month, QUESTPress had the pleasure of interviewing astronaut and aerospace engineer Huie-Spence, who is currently a Senior Manager of Business Insights at Virgin Galactic. He supports commercial strategy and corporate development, spanning the gap between engineering and business while enabling the executive leadership team to make data-informed decisions. We discussed everything from his passion for increasing Black representation in aerospace and leadership to his trip to Space.

Huie-Spence with Virgin Galactic owner Richard Branson

Huie-Spence, a member of QUEST Cohort 15, graduated from UMD in 2011 with a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering. While at UMD, he participated in the Alfred Gessow Rotorcraft Center as part of the National Science Foundation’s LSAMP Undergraduate Research Program. He was inspired to pursue a degree in aerospace because he grew up obsessed with flying machines and understanding how things work. He also loved Star Trek which seeded his imagination for what the future could be like: a future that he could help create. Before joining Virgin Galactic, he worked at Bell Flight Engineering on various rotorcraft programs and as a simulation engineer developing flight crew training simulators. When he joined Virgin Galactic in 2016, he led the Flight Sciences External Loads Engineering discipline for six years. He is very familiar with Spaceship VSS Unity and Mothership VMS Eve and worked on nearly every component of the Spaceship and mothership design. He describes the coolest experience of his career being his trip to space! He served as a mission specialist on Unity 25, Virgin Galactic’s final test flight of Spaceship Unity, where they evaluated and recommended improvements to the customer experience before the Spaceship entered commercial service. He said the trip was “the coolest and most extreme experience… professional or otherwise. The whole experience is beautifully suspenseful, thrilling beyond your wildest dreams, and the most powerful and humbling human experience anyone can have.” He is motivated to make space travel accessible for more people to experience. 

Huie-Spence on his spaceflight

Huie-Spence has done a lot during his career and has found that his greatest accomplishments span from technical accomplishments to leadership accomplishments. While working at Bell Labs, he derived the flight control kinematic equations for the Bell V-280 tiltrotor flight control computers that will become the future of Army aviation and certified Bell’s first full-motion pilot training simulator with Spain’s European Aviation Safety Agency. As a leader, he is proud of helping to establish Virgin Galactic’s Flight Sciences Department where he led different engineering disciplines, recruited talent, established both best practices and engineering processes. He is dedicated to increasing Black representation in the aerospace field and leadership, which is why he co-founded the Black Leaders in Aerospace Scholarship & Training (BLAST) Program. He is also a member of the Clark School’s Early Career Distinguished Alumni (ECDA)!

Huie-Spence with BLAST Scholars at their leadership summit

QUEST has had an important impact on Huie-Spence, complimenting his engineering background to become a better problem solver. QUEST has taught him the importance of focusing and understanding a problem first before just jumping in. The concepts of idealized design help him approach every problem, professionally and personally. QUEST also helped immensely with honing his communication skills, allowing him to communicate technical information with a non-technical audience. Specifically, he said Blue Ocean thinking was one of his favorite takeaways from QUEST as it provides a framework for innovation and invention. He wants future QUESTees to focus on the fundamentals of their chosen industry and never stop learning. Huie-Spence believes QUEST is a great preparation for the real world because engineering and technology are fueling a majority of the growth in business. He wants students to see how they can use the principles of QUEST to design their career and their life. Thanks to Chris for a great interview. We wish you all the best!

Senior Samantha Taskale Reflects on her Journey Through QUEST

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Hi all, my name is Samantha Taskale, a graduating senior majoring in Computer Science. As a proud member of Cohort 38, I’ve recently completed my capstone class, marking the end of an extraordinary chapter with the QUEST Honors Program.

In this reflection, I aim to share my journey through the program, from 190H all those years ago to my time in the final course, my rewarding role as a Teaching Assistant (TA) for the introductory course, and my recent contribution as a student representative at the capstone conference.

When I participated in 190H, three years ago, I learned so much about working with a team of students. And later turning those fellow students into friends. I also learned a lot about professional expectations: being true to your word and the importance of showing up for your team. 190H is meant to be a highly demanding class, the necessity to juggle outside work while also upholding expectations of excellence is meant to be a learning experience. 

Pictured here is my 190H team, from left to right: Samantha Taskale, Odessa Howera, Lauren Gomes, Derreck Boateng-Agyemang, Ayman Bootwala

This semester, while going through 490H, I was one of the two TAs for 190H. Going through the introductory curriculum again with new students while doing my 490H class was an amazing experience. I’ve always loved teaching and doing it in such a hands-on, challenging, and practical environment was a joy. Planning lego activities on agile and just-in-time manufacturing were highlights of my semester. I also truly enjoyed imparting my knowledge of presentation skills and speaking presence. Seeing how the 190H students developed, learning about the program, and improving their processes was incredibly rewarding.

Discussing with my students at the QUEST Conference

A culmination point for me was seeing my students at our conference and discussing my completed project. Answering their questions and sharing as much knowledge as I could was a truly full-circle moment for me.

Going into 490H this semester, myself and my cohort shared a sentiment of anticipation. Throughout the program you are always told that this is one of the most important classes. The class is your opportunity to truly display all of your knowledge and development. Of course that always leaves room for let down when things don’t go quite as planned. But that in itself was also part of the process. Dealing with undecided scopes or clients is part of life and what shined in those cases was the support from our teams, cohort, and professors. Working with professor David Ashley as our faculty advisor this semester was truly a morale boost. When things got difficult or uncertain, we could rely on each other and Professor Ashley to uplift spirits and encourage the team to chug ahead. Ultimately, I am so extremely proud of the work my team completed this semester. 

Following the completion of our project, the conference couldn’t have gone better. In the week leading up to it, my team, the rest of my cohort, and I worked tirelessly on our slides, posters, and speeches. I was also preparing my speech as the student speaker. It was tough to hold back my emotions in the first draft. I worked closely with Abby Bond, the speaker from last semester. Reflecting on our experiences together was a blast. In my speech, I focused on the importance of friendships. In 190H, we always emphasized the value of team members being friends, as it leads to better professional partnerships. 

My speech at the QUEST Conference

My speech about the importance of friendships in the program was met with a lot of positive reactions. My cohort shared my sentimental feelings, and an alumnus even told me that my speech made him nostalgic for the program.

I hope to have had an impact on QUEST. The program and people have certainly had an impact on me. As a whole, I hope that for each team I was a part of, for each student I helped this semester, and each conversation I had, people have come away with a brighter outlook and more knowledge. 

My advice to future students would be to ask the questions and show up. College is a cornucopia of opportunities and decisions. If you find something interesting, don’t be afraid to say so. I just happened to find QUEST interesting. If there is an opportunity that comes by and you are piqued with interest, don’t be afraid to take the first step, ask the first question, or shoot the first cold email. As QUEST’s assistant director Jess Roffe would say: “ABS” or Always Be Scoping. 

Looking ahead, I’m excited to continue as a TA until the end of my time at UMD. I hope the future students enjoy and benefit from the program as much as I have. I hope to remain an involved alumna of the program following my graduation. 

QSocial: Bringing the QUEST Community Together

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QSocial is one of QUEST’s exciting and community-driven clubs. They take on the task of planning and hosting all of our social events to bring our close-knit community together. From tailgates to happy hours, QSocial knows how to show our QUESTees a fun time. I talked to the current QSocial lead Abby Bond to reflect on QSocial’s events this semester and what we can look forward to next semester.

Abby Bond is a senior Bioengineering major in Cohort 37 and has been the QSocial lead since her sophomore year. She finds her favorite part of being lead is a tie between all the connections she’s made with QUESTees and members of other QUEST organizations and seeing QSocial events bond others together. She said, “It’s extremely rewarding to give back to the QUEST community and help others foster those friendships and memories that have made me love QUEST so much.” She has found the most challenging part of being lead is getting students involved during the post-COVID slump and trying to rebuild that togetherness pre-COVID students experienced. Abby has brought a lot of great changes to QSocial including revitalizing the Big/Little program and growing the organization to be three times bigger than when she started. 


QSocial has had a busy semester putting on so many fun events including Big/Little Kickoff, Welcome Back Mocktails, the Homecoming Tailgate, and Friendsgiving. They don’t plan to slow down next semester either! Classic events like QUEST Formal will be back in the spring along with some new mystery events like the Welcome Back Event. There will also be an alumni dinner and an end-of-the-year picnic. While Bond has a love for all of the events, she found the tailgate to be her favorite because “it’s a wonderful combination of current students, the Quality Guild, alumni, and great times. Plus you can’t really beat fresh caramel apples!” She’s looking forward to passing on her legacy to new co-leads Rohan Gudwani, Cohort 42, and Anna Fulton, Cohort 42. She’s also excited for QUEST Formal to come back.

QSocial is integral to the close community and network we value as part of the QUEST program. Bond has put so much time and energy into making it an amazing organization, and we are looking forward to the work the new co-leads will do. Thanks QSocial!

QUEST Alumni Work to Continuously Improve UMD

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Within the University of Maryland’s Department of Information Technology, the Enterprise Planning Continuous Improvement Group (EPCI) consists of four team members who are actually QUEST alumni! This team is a QUEST hotspot as it is a consultation service that is provided for departments within the University. I was able to talk to two of the QUEST alumni – Emilyn Hyre (Cohort 34) and Bobby Fitzgerald (Cohort 21 – to learn about their positions at UMD and how QUEST has continued to stick with them post-college.

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