What’s Happening in 490H this Semester?

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One of the key pillars of QUEST is the 490H course, which all students are required to take. The QUEST Capstone Professional Practicum (BMGT/ENES 490H) is the culmination of the effort students have put into QUEST and is designed for them to use the skills they’ve learned. It’s a chance for students to get experience working with real-world companies and solving actual problems in the industry. Students work in teams to provide corporate clients with recommendations for organizational challenges that they recognize.

This semester, students taking 490H are working for a variety of corporate partners. Leidos, Northrop Grumman, Miltec UV, OTech, Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, GE, and BD are some of the organizations that will be benefiting from the insight that the QUEST teams assigned to them will be providing.

An in-depth analysis of one of the teams’ mindset is very intriguing. The team at Northrop Grumman, consisting of Q28 students Eric Ding, Brandon Lucas, Elizabeth Gillum, and Jordan King, named Brady Bunch Consulting, is working with the company to improve their inventory management system. They (Northrop Grumman) have on hand and cycle through some 240,000 parts and believe there is an opportunity to improve the process from when the part arrives from the supplier to when it’s assembled into its final product. This requires both a technical analysis and a holistic review of the process to determine where those opportunities may lie in between the moving parts and the teams working to move them.

The skills they’ve gained in QUEST have served them well so far. Eric Ding says, “Generally, we’ve been able to gather deeper insights by asking better questions and implementing healthy communication skills that we garnered from our experiences working on teams in QUEST.”

Teamwork is an important component to accomplishing this goal and Eric mentions that working with his team has been a real pleasure. He points out that “the different backgrounds, skill sets, and personalities on the team invigorate team meetings to always be productive, efficient, and fun.”  

Challenges while carrying out a project like this are to be expected and for this project, the main one so far is making sure that the team scopes out the right problems in the existing system at Northrop Grumman and making sure they focus on the right areas. Eric’s thoughts on the subject are, “The challenge in improving a quantifiable system is being certain at the end of the journey that you were able to scope the right problem, validate your key assumptions from the beginning, and provide the correct recommendations to enable those improvements.” When asked about whether the team has a good chance of earning the distinction of having the most outstanding capstone project, Eric insists that it’s “not about the destination but the friends and experiences you make along the way.” Wise words indeed, and this project should prove to be a boom to Northrop Grumman.

It should be a blast to see all of these projects blossom through the semester and to see which one achieves the distinction of being the most outstanding capstone project. Be sure to save the date for the QUEST conference when all of the teams will present the results of their projects: Thursday, December 6, 2018 6-8:30 PM at the Riggs Alumni Center.

Cohort 31 Takes QUEST Camp

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By: Anusha Dixit (Q31)

Blinking into the early morning sun on the way to Van Munching Hall, clutching sleeping bags
and backpacks, the anticipation in the air was tangible as Q31 prepared to leave for their new member
orientation at Camp Letts in Edgewater, MD. Upon entering the meeting room, everyone mingling with
both familiar and new faces, it finally felt like QUEST had begun.

The first day began with icebreakers galore, leading into everyone’s most anticipated moment: finding out the teams for 190H. Following the first team meetings with the mentors, the students delved into even more icebreakers and team-building activities, ranging from improv acting and dancing, all the way to low-ropes courses.

“After improvising in front of each other and completing obstacles that brought us physically close together, we got used to embarrassing ourselves in front of one another,” said Grace Zhang (Q31). “We became instantly comfortable with the cohort.”

Between odd dance moves and coordinated balancing on wooden beams, it felt just like summer camp. Yet, between camp meals and bonding activities, teams came together to develop a two-minute product pitch for a pilot product of their choosing, as well as to select a team name to introduce to the rest of the cohort that evening. After spending a majority of the day together, actively building trust and comfort with one another, brainstorming for both came naturally to the teams.

“Everyone is so nice and supportive of new ideas!” said Varsha Ramachandran (Q31).

That evening, the students performed hilarious skits to introduce their QUEST-themed team names: LudaQUEST, the InQUESTibles, We the QUEST Music, among many others. After countless laughs, the students enjoyed s’mores around the campfire, and learned about the mentors’ best memories of QUEST; a satisfying end to a productive day. Teams met up soon after the campfire to finalize their product pitches for the final presentation, nervous yet excited to present their unique ideas.

The culmination of Q31’s very first team project in QUEST took place around picnic tables, in front of the teams’ mentors and the Quality Guild. A wide range of creative products were presented, and each team learned a great deal about the QUEST way of presenting. Upon completing the presentation, the students of Q31 were officially ready to embark upon their QUEST experience!

The students proceeded to the zip line and high ropes for a final hurrah before heading back to campus. After a day and a half at Camp Letts, Q31 returned with great memories, new friendships, and a deeper understanding of what QUEST is all about. QUEST is full of creative thinkers from unique backgrounds and being able to get to know one another before classes began made the prospect of working together for the next few years all the more exciting. The best is yet to come!

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!”

The Dynamic of a Duo: Alums Grace Cha & Jason Ho

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By: Jacob Wilkowsky (Cohort 19 alumnus)

For this edition of Alumni Spotlight, we highlight Grace Cha (Q24) and Jason Ho (Q24). Grace is a
Business Technology Analyst at Deloitte, and Jason is a Technology Analyst at Accenture, both in the
Washington D.C. metro area. Both Grace and Jason majored in Information Systems, graduated in 2017, and both are from Maryland. However, most importantly to the author, both were members of QUESTPress. By the end of their time as QUESTPress undergrads, Grace and Jason were Double Trouble, Thunder and Lightning,
Daft Punk, Peanut Butter & Jelly.

However, not only were Grace and Jason collaborative, they were super effective leaders—eventually assuming outsized roles as team matriarch and webmaster. In this Alumni Spotlight, I hope to sit down with Grace and Jason and identify what led to them being such a productive pair. I also want to ask them about their transition to industry and the team dynamics they now experience in their respective jobs. Without further ado, let’s dive in and explore the dynamic of a duo.

Can you list the top factors for any successful duo?

Grace

For me, humor is key— throwing jokes around and keeping things lighthearted. I work well with people
who make me feel comfortable – and if we can make each other laugh at the end of the day, it helps in
taking a step back and seeing the bigger picture in stressful situations.

Jason

A good duo requires empathy— being able to share each other’s viewpoint and synching up your
thoughts. When you’re acting as a duo, you’re acting as a more diverse individual.

Have you guys developed similar relationships in industry yet? If so, how did they develop?

Grace

In the consulting industry, you almost always work as part of a larger team. When I started at Deloitte, I
joined my team along with another new hire. My co-worker and I have a great dynamic, but we
definitely went through some “storming” before we got to establish that relationship. We worked on
nearly everything together in situations involving a lot of ambiguity, and as much as we got along as
people, we definitely argued over differences in opinions on how to approach solving complex
problems. However, through that storming, we got to learn and understand how we work as individuals
and our different strengths and weaknesses. Today, although we share many responsibilities, we
understand how to divide those responsibilities in a way that works best for the both of us.

Jason

On my project, I work with a lot of people at my level doing cross-functional work. At first, developing that
personal rapport and talking about life outside of work was important for me. Building trust and getting to
the point where you know you have each other’s back is critical.

Were there any boundaries created for you guys in terms of roles as a duo? If so, how were those
established?

Grace

By the time senior year came around, we were both really involved in QUEST. I think the beauty of
QUESTPress is that there weren’t any boundaries in terms of what type of articles to pursue or avenues
to improve QUESTPress. No one would shoot each other’s ideas down. For me and Jason, I know Jason
wanted to learn technical skills, so he worked on the website. I was interested in how to engage QUEST
as a community, so I started writing silly BuzzFeed-style articles. We pursued paths that catered to our
interests and played to our strengths and that created a good dynamic between the two us!

Jason

I wanted to facilitate the technical side of QUESTPress and make everything look nice, which is how I
carved out my role. We both bonded under Bobby Fitzgerald’s leadership as juniors and decided what
our roles were then. Earlier, when I joined as a sophomore, it was a situation where I wanted to become
as engaged as possible in the QUEST community. So I became involved in QUESTPress and QUEST
Recruiting without a seriously defined role.

In your current roles, are there any boundaries created for your role on your teams? If so, how were those established?

Grace

When you’re new to the team, you feel the boundary of being the “new guy.” You have to find out what
your role will be on the team and that means testing those initial boundaries and advocating for the
work that you want to know.

Jason

On my team, it was an interesting dynamic and harder for me to figure out at the beginning. My boss at
the time didn’t encourage as intimate a personal environment as I’m typically comfortable with.
However, when we broke into the personal sphere as a team, I really became more comfortable. What
helped establish a more personal environment was when we began to discuss our “highs and lows” as a
team. Talking about personal lives helped our team coalesce.

As a QUESTPress duo, what was your direction? How was it established?

Grace

Honestly, I joined QUEST because QUEST alum Jaimie Hsu recommended applying. It was intimidating as
a freshman because it was my first time going through a formal interview process and once I was
admitted, I didn’t know how I would measure up to all these overachievers. I thought, “How do I get
involved?” and I wanted to pick something that was fun. QUEST alum Bobby Fitzgerald lived on my floor
sophomore year and suggested QUESTPress. And the rest is history!

Jason

When I started in QUEST, I was a hungry individual and wanted to pursue as many opportunities to learn
as possible. I felt this pressure that if I didn’t give 100%, I’d be missing out. That sense of opportunity
drove me and the direction was less important. Being at QUESTCamp and hearing from leaders about
each organization helped funnel me to QUESTPress and QUEST Recruiting. I joined QUESTPress because
of the great vibe I got. Everyone was very chill. I joined QUEST Recruiting because I wanted to learn how
to speak with people, table, and persuade.

Similarly, how is your direction on your teams established in industry?

Grace

My team and role is for the most part self-driven. We might have some general guidance, but my
manager is generally hands-off. For me, I have trouble dealing with ambiguity, but that challenge has
placed me in a stretch role where I bring recommendations and ideas to the team. For instance, my
team creates data dashboards for our client, and I realized we weren’t tracking feature requests or issues
in a central place. I, then, implemented an agile approach that I learned in QUEST, and now serve
somewhat as a “scrum master” for each of our dashboard sprints. Because my team was open to these
suggestions, I was able to contribute a methodology that has benefited the organization of our team.

Jason

My experience is very similar to Grace’s. A lot of managers are hands-off and we are just put in a general
workflow. There was a period when I was twiddling my thumbs trying to figure out my place at the
beginning. For direction in my role, I keep sticky notes everywhere of all the issues and things that I can
improve. This gives me direction every day. My sticky notes create a trail of breadcrumbs for whenever I
complete a task and have bandwidth to pick something else up.

Any last words on the key for successful teamwork?

Grace

Always find a person on your team who you have a good working relationship with that will vouch for you. If something goes down, you want to have someone who will advocate for your work.

Jason

It is hard to build a relationship just based solely on work. Communicate with other and build relationships that help you learn and establish trust within your organization.

Thank you so much to Grace and Jason for taking the time to speak with me. I first met this
dynamic duo four years ago when they were sophomores, and it is incredible the progress they’ve made
in their careers since. They touched on quite a few concepts in their responses, including the value of
trust, communication, drive, and role-development to name a few. Clearly, these are concepts they
explored as undergrads in QUEST. I can’t wait to see what you both accomplished together in the next
four years. The QUEST never ends!

Jason and other QUEST friends with Grace jumping into the picture 🙂

QUEST Students Make an Impact Over the Summer

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By: Rohan Mishra (Q32)

Summer break is an extremely productive time for many of the students in QUEST. Many students
spend their summer gaining experience in the real world by pursuing internships. Considering the wide
variety of majors that QUEST covers, it was inevitable that students represent a diverse array of
industries through their internships. Many students from the QUEST community experienced some
unique opportunities.

Jacqueline Deprey, a Computer Science and Operations Management and Business Analytics double
major from Cohort 30, interned at Leidos over the summer. Leidos is an American company with
footprints in the industries of defense, aviation, information technology and biomedical research.
Jacqueline was a software engineering intern at the Gaithersburg office in Maryland. Her duties included
designing, testing, and debugging software to better monitor air traffic control centers’ databases
nationwide. Her main responsibility was building an automation tool that processed Mongo database
information and displayed warning messages to facilitate administrative processes. When asked about
how her experiences with QUEST impacted her, she said, “My team at Leidos implemented the agile
development process we learned about in 190H, and we had daily scrums and monthly sprints, just like we
learned about in QUEST.”

Jacqueline (front, center) during her internship

In addition, she used the design thinking process on a regular basis when working with the system administrators as she had to empathize with them to best define the problem, create potential solutions, and test them to figure out what best met their needs. QUESTDev initially introduced her to working with Mongo Databases, which she then worked more in depth with over the course of her internship. Jacqueline also benefited from having several of her cohort-mates work in the same office and says that seeing them was a welcome sight. She was also able to network with other QUEST alumni at Leidos and learn more from them about their experiences with Leidos. With respect to learning from the internship, she mentioned, “I learned I am most passionate about projects when I get to work directly with the client, learn about their problems first-hand and find the best solution to meet their needs.”

Adam Hostetter, an Operations Management and Business Analytics major from Cohort 29 interned at
General Electric Healthcare in Milwaukee. The company develops healthcare technological solutions for
medical imaging and information technologies, medical diagnostics, patient monitoring systems, disease
research, drug discovery, and biopharmaceutical manufacturing. Adam worked at their HQ over the
summer, as part of the Commercial Leadership Program internship – an internship that is a pipeline into
marketing/sales for medical devices. This internship is extremely prestigious, and Adam was one of only
22 students selected for it from the entire country. Adam was focused primarily on working on two
internal consulting projects for the summer. He says his time with QUEST helped him a lot, adding, “It
was really interesting to see some of the ideologies we talked about in QUEST put into practice at
GEHC.” He benefited immensely from the experience and mentions that there were a bunch of
opportunities for co-growth and teamwork. He says GE really values learning and development, they
even have a whole day dedicated to research called GE Learning day, where you can’t send emails or
schedule meetings. He sums up his experience as “an opportunity to be constantly pushed out of my
comfort zone, with all the right people and tools to find my own way and succeed.”

Adam at the GE Healthcare headquarters

Nadine Eloseily, an International Business and Government and Politics double major from Cohort 29
interned with the Egyptian Ministry of Investment and International Cooperation over the summer.
More specifically, she was working with the senior adviser to the minister. She was the only intern for
the majority of the summer, so her role varied with the requirements of the office. Tasks that she did
throughout the summer included conducting research and building reports on a number of topics that the senior adviser wanted to venture into, editing talking points for the Minister to use in her meetings with the UN and creating profiles discussing the donor relationship between Egypt and other nations (such as Japan) for internal use within the ministry (called donor profiles). With regards to how QUEST prepared her for her internship, she says, “A lot of the design elements and professionalism that QUEST teaches in 190H was very helpful throughout my internship.”

Nadine in Egypt

What she learned from the internship was very meaningful, as she received insight from the work she did in that professional environment and took away lessons that would serve her over the rest of her career. She summarizes her experience by saying, “I was put into a lot of situations that were outside my comfort zone this summer, but I did my best to make the most of the resources around me and found that I had a very rewarding and interesting experience!”

Varsha Ramachandran, a double major in Operations Management & Business Analytics and
International Business from Cohort 31, interned for the University Process Innovation team at UMD’s
Division of IT. The UPI team focuses on the strategic business processes of the university and how they
relate to the underpinning information technology. Varsha worked as a Business Process Analyst, where
she worked to improve the technological processes at UMD. Tasks she performed included identifying
best practices at other Big 10 schools through interviews, creating data representations using Tableau,
and documenting her findings through writing one-pagers and creating swimlane diagrams. Varsha
found out about the position from a QUEST email and decided to apply as she had prior experience in
the field of higher education. She thinks the experience helped prepare her to officially join QUEST,
saying, “I am now well-equipped to handle the communicative aspect of QUEST: conducting interviews,
creating presentations, and drafting professional reports.” Her role has also helped her garner more
technical knowledge and skills in statistical software and industry practices. She describes her entire
experience as, “I learned that all business solutions require thoughtful analysis of both the data and the people involved. I learned that it’s just as important to listen and spend time with your clients as it is to
accurately and effectively manipulate and present raw data.”

Experiences like these are at the core of what being a college student is about. The chance to be able to
apply your skills in the real world is crucial, and it is clear that students from QUEST are especially well
prepared to contribute in professional environments.

The Beauty of Open Barre and Following Your Passions

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Lauren Filocco (Q17) did not always see herself operating a Barre Studio out of College Park, MD. If you had asked her about her plans for the near future a couple years earlier, she might have expressed interest in moving up the pipeline at McCormick and continuing down the path of a procurement specialist. That might have been the decision one would have expected her to make, but all it took was a Groupon for a barre class to change her entire perspective on life, career goals, and happiness.

Before barre and McCormick, Lauren was working operations at Amazon in Middletown, DE immediately after graduation. It was not the most glamorous role, but she learned a lot and was able to leverage her QUEST connections and secure a role at McCormick a couple years later.

At McCormick, she worked primarily on the negotiation side and handled procurement discussions with different suppliers. Looking back on her time there she laughs, considering the fact that her mother always said her penchant for arguing made her a perfect fit for the role.

While she was working at McCormick, she decided to buy a Groupon for a barre class with her mother. Before she knew it, she was spending all of her time after work at the studio and jumped on the opportunity to take other classes after the Groupon ended. As she began to spend more and more time at barre, it slowly dawned on her that even though she loved McCormick, barre was something that could truly fulfill her passions.

She discussed the idea of opening a barre studio with her fiancée and worked on a business plan with studio owners that she had come to know during her many classes. Her colleagues at McCormick were incredibly supportive during the entire process, allowing her to remain on the staff as a contractor during the period of turbulence brought about by the opening of her studio.

In February 2017, the studio finally opened, and she had a new challenge that was equal parts frightening and exciting. When asked about her biggest takeaway from her journey, she said, “I thrive on the little successes. When a client tells me that their son hugged them and felt how hard their stomach was I know it’s because they’ve been taking my classes seriously, and I know that no matter how small I’m contributing to making the world better and making people feel better about themselves.”

Last month, Lauren hosted an open barre session for the QUEST community that was very well received. A few choice quotes are listed below:

“I liked the studio a lot. It had a welcoming, homey vibe. Also, my thighs burned like they’ve never burned before.” – Alex Malek (Q25)

“I love group fitness classes and thought it would be a fun way to interact with the QUEST community outside of the usual classroom setting.” – Kayla Sukri (Q25)

“The instructor always had a smile on her face! Even when we were doing some really demanding routines she was super bright and full of energy. It helped me get through with a smile on my face by the end.” – Edward Morozov (Q25)

It’s clear that Lauren has found her passion and is quickly impacting her community in the best way possible. Her advice to those still figuring things out is to think about what you enjoy outside of work. If there’s a way to turn it into a career, then you should at least consider. Don’t restrict yourself from pursuing your passions without thinking about it first!

QUEST Students and Alumni Meet for a Night of Bowling

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By: Olivia Wolcott (Q30)

QUEST Corporate’s Bowling with Professionals Event took place on April 16th at Lucky Strike in DC.  The event consisted of casual networking between QUEST students and alumni in a fun environment. Alumni represented companies including Accenture, Applied Predictive Technologies (APT), Deloitte, UMD’s Division of Information Technology, Export-Import Bank of the United States, and Streetsense Consulting.

One alumnus stated, “I thought this was a great event. It was a fun way for alumni and students to connect, and it was based in DC which was very convenient for alumni!”

Students (including Olivia second to the left) enjoying their time bowling!

We encouraged casual conversation and didn’t have much of an agenda for the event. Of the students who responded to the feedback form, all selected that they were very satisfied with the event and added that their goal in attending was to both network with alumni and to increase interaction within the QUEST community.

Overall, it was a wonderful way for students and alumni to connect in a relaxed setting, and there was a great turnout of both students and alumni. We look forward to hosting more in the future!

QUEST Well Represented at Innovate Maryland

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On April 11th, 2018, The Academy for Innovation & Entrepreneurship hosted their annual Innovate Maryland event. The event recognizes innovative and entrepreneurial students from across campus and almost 30 QUEST students were nominated for this year’s awards. We were able to interview four QUEST students who were nominated and attended the event!

How did it feel to be nominated for Innovate Maryland?

Chineme Obiefune (25): It felt cool to be nominated. I was invited because I participated in the QUEST/IBM Design Challenge last semester so it was pretty unexpected but very much appreciated.
Bryan Varghese (26): It was great to be nominated for Innovate Maryland! I didn’t know what Innovate Maryland was before being nominated, but I glad was nominated. It felt nice to be recognized for my accomplishments in the IBM Design Challenge.
Chloe Berman (Q26): I was actually surprised to be nominated to attend Innovate Maryland. I know we get to do some pretty cool work as a part of QUEST, but I guess I never quite realized how the work we were doing could be seen as innovative. However, I was very excited to be able to attend this event.
Brianna Ho (Q29): Being nominated for Innovate Maryland was honestly a surprise. Having been nominated for a project (IBM Design Challenge) that was finished several months ago, it was nice to get back in touch with my other team members after a while and meet up with them again.

How did it feel to be amongst other distinguished students and faculty?

Chineme Obiefune (Q25): There were a lot of really cool startups there so it was inspiring to be around so many people that were pursuing their passions. I could tell that they were all serious about making a difference and changing lives.
Bryan Varghese (Q26): It was a great way to interact with other distinguished students and faculty. I felt honored to be included among these really accomplished and passionate students and faculty.
Chloe Berman (Q26): It felt very special to be surrounded by such distinguished students and faculty. I was impressed to learn about all the innovation happening in the community around me, so much of which I had no idea existed. It is inspiring being in an environment full of such talented, driven individuals, and it inspired and encouraged me to continue looking for ways to be innovative in my future.
Brianna Ho (Q29): The whole environment of the event was also pretty unexpected and honestly much fancier than I’d thought it’d be. Being surrounded by all of these great startups and being able to mingle with not only students but also professors and faculty was a nice experience. The entire ambience of the place just fostered a feeling of wanting to do something.

What was your favorite part about the event?

Chineme Obiefune (Q25): My favorite part was the showcase portion where you got to see the different startup founders and talk to them about their work.
Bryan Varghese (Q26): My favorite part about the event was talking to the different startups. It ranged from multiplayer VR video gaming companies to drone building companies. It was so diverse, and it was interesting to understand how they started and made it to where they are today.
Chloe Berman (Q26): My favorite part of the event was being able to speak to colleagues from various programs I am either currently in or have participated in at my time at Maryland, as well as meeting new people and learning about how they are innovating here at Maryland.
Brianna Ho (Q29): My favorite part of the event was actually watching the awards ceremony. Seeing what was going on around campus and how innovative these students and faculty were being right under my nose was so surprising. The videos they played demonstrating each project were awesome.

How did it feel to have so many other QUEST students there with you?

Chineme Obiefune (Q25): It was nice to know that QUEST students are so involved in the innovation spaces on campus. It definitely made me feel proud to know that the program contributed to the entrepreneurial mindset at Maryland.
Bryan Varghese (Q26): I was really proud of QUEST for having so many students at the Innovate Maryland event. The most surprising thing was that half of the QUEST students weren’t invited because of QUEST, but because of other activities like challenges, running their own courses, EIP, and so on. It just shows how active QUEST students are throughout UMD.
Chloe Berman (Q26): I loved seeing how well QUEST was represented was at the Innovate Maryland event! QUEST has been such an amazing program, and it was rewarding to see so many of my peers amongst those who are driving innovation at UMD.
Brianna Ho (Q29): Seeing them around just brought me joy because it reminded me how great and impactful the QUEST community is.

How has QUEST helped you be innovative and/or entrepreneurial?

Chineme Obiefune (Q25): QUEST has instilled a design thinking mindset in me that pushes me to understand the people around me and gather insights to solve the problems that impact them.
Bryan Varghese (Q26): QUEST has definitely taught me to be more innovative. I have learned about different perspectives, different brainstorming techniques, and different management skills. This not only helped me throughout the QUEST curriculum but within my academic and professional career.
Chloe Berman (Q26): QUEST has especially helped develop my skills and capabilities when it comes to being innovative and entrepreneurial. Through QUEST, I was provided the tools and knowledge to be able to tackle problems with a new mindset and to provide uniquely innovative solutions to even the toughest challenges. My entrepreneurial abilities have also been expanded through real-life product innovation challenges and through QUEST alumni who have come back and spoken about their entrepreneurial endeavors.
Brianna Ho (Q29): QUEST for sure has helped me be more innovative and entrepreneurial. I’m nearing the end of 390H right now, and it’s only added to my toolbox that started in 190H. So many concepts that were covered ranging from empathizing with your market to building a business plan are topics that I always keep in mind when starting a new project.

Congratulation to all the QUEST Nominees!
Sam Lewando (26)
Chloe Berman (26)
Alyssa Hu (26)
Bobby Ellett (25)
Conor Casey (27)
Timothy Chen (28)
Cameron Harner (25)
Varun Mohan (28)
Jeffrey Zhao (28)
Chineme Obiefune (25)
Jordan Steiner (26)
Bryan Varghese (26)
Brianna Ho (29)
Adam Sarsony (29)
Kyle Su (30)
Colin SyBing (30)
Derek Xiao (28)
Ankit Sheth (29)
Mingkai Xu (27)
Lauren Kim (30)
Sameera Polavarapu (27)
Didac Hormiga (28)
Brooke Nesselt (27)
Conrad Hong (27)
Adam Hostetter (29)
Didac Hormiga (28)
Brian Freeman (27)
Chad Simon (30)
Meena Sengottuvelu (28)

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.

Cohort 27’s Final Presentations

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All the quality tools, design thinking skills, data analysis mastery, and consulting prowess QUEST students accumulate over their time in college is eventually displayed for all to see at the QUEST Conference. On May 3rd, 2018, students of Cohort 27 put their outstanding capstone projects on display. After an hour of mingling with fellow QUESTees and admiring Q27’s beautiful and informative poster boards, it was time for presentations. Unfortunately, I could not attend all of them, since there were three rounds in which three presentations occured simultaneously in different rooms, so I had to choose three to watch.

The first presentation that a couple of my friends and I gathered to watch was Gizmo Solution’s project on how Orbital ATK can optimize their machine shop scheduling. I loved how the team not only focused on the quantifiable benefits of their recommended solutions, but also on how “Cory, the scheduler, will be able to spend less time using Excel and more time creating value for the company” (Mark Purtilo, Q27).

After a great Q&A session with probing questions from the audience, I moved over to Ballroom A to watch Operation Hawkeye present their suggestions on how Northrop Grumman can improve its machine uptime and utilization. It was hard not to be impressed with the confidence each speaker exuded when they were on stage and how clear the message was that Northrop should take preventative and not reactive actions. I spoke to Akshay Guthal, one of the members of Operation Hawkeye, about how the team was able to be so relaxed in front of such a large crowd. He said, “Having already presented in class on Wednesday, we felt very comfortable presenting our project again. And since that crowd included many of my friends and family, it felt great to show them what we worked so hard on.”

The last presentation I was able to see was how 1PoP Consulting helped Lockheed Martin reduce its supply chain costs. This was a very informative slide deck with clean, easy to understand appendices and a clear focus on how supply chain concepts can be better integrated into Lockheed Martin’s search for high quality suppliers. It was during this last presentation that I realized how supportive the audience had been in each of the showcases I attended and how the QUEST community sets a strong foundation to help its fellow members succeed.

I was very excited to be able to witness all of the knowledge Cohort 27 had learned over the years and how it had led to such a memorable night. I had gone to the QUEST Conference last year in December while I was taking 190H, but here I really took some time to think about what I was seeing, hearing, and experiencing. I noticed that every presenter had their own way of speaking on stage, just as each writer has their own voice in their articles.

I saw various 190H and 390H concepts being displayed in the presentations, be it how the teams utilized design thinking to gain empathy from their clients or how they used Monte Carlo analyses to determine the probability of getting a favorable outcome from certain recommendations. Each team had a clean, no-frills presentation slide deck and a poster board that only contained the most important information of their projects. Each student’s professionalism and composure on stage must be a result of having to present pitches for 2 years in their 190H, 390H, and 490H classes. I can’t wait for my turn to take 490H next year!