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QUEST Courses and Project Spotlights
QUEST COURSES
190H: INTRODUCTION TO DESIGN AND QUALITY
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The focus of this first QUEST course, BMGT/ENES 190H, is on creatively solving problems to meet customer needs. Students work in multidisciplinary teams to design solutions for two design challenges by applying methods from design thinking, new product development, project management, quality management, and process improvement.
This year, the first team project challenged students to apply design thinking to develop new product ideas around the themes of “On the Go” and “Living.” In addition, their solutions needed to be environmentally-friendly and inspired by nature. Students pushed themselves to tackle big problems such as preventing carbon monoxide poisoning in wildfire fighters and transporting clean water in rural villages.
This spring, we faced the challenges of learning online and working remotely. Before leaving campus, each team developed a team pledge to define its goals and norms for working remotely. For the second project, teams used lean six sigma methods and design thinking to help a campus client improve a business process. The teams not only learned about process improvement but also practiced consulting with a remote client. Despite the challenges, the teams were highly engaged with their clients and delivered valuable recommendations. Our clients included the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, the Bike Shop, and TerpZone.
While this first QUEST course introduces students to design and quality through problem solving and teamwork, students come away with much more. Many students say that the course expands their thinking and helps them appreciate new perspectives and see the world in new ways.
“190H gave me the hands-on experience with systems thinking, process improvement, and quality that wouldn’t be found in your typical college lecture. Moreover, I enjoyed collaborating with peers who foster a problem-solving mindset when tackling real-world problems.” “By working with a diverse multidisciplinary team in 190H, I was able to learn more about the world while jump-starting my education in quality, product development, and design thinking. This first QUEST class instilled in me the confidence that I will be successful in my future career due to all that QUEST has and will teach me.”
Ayo Awobajo
Information Systems and Marketing ‘22 Cohort 33
Julie Hirsch
Mechanical Engineering ‘22 Cohort 34
Alumni Association: Driving Alumni Engagement through Volunteerism
Team QUESTy Krab from Cohort 33 worked with the University of Maryland Alumni Association in fall 2019 to streamline the process of connecting alumni volunteers to various engagement opportunities. The team proposed a new method for gathering opportunities from departments around campus, the development of a new form for alumni to complete if they would like to volunteer, and the implementation of a formal volunteer thank you process. Erica Garnett, Manager of Alumni Volunteer Programs, said, “Working with the team helped us focus on which issue to resolve. It also helped us better understand some of the limitations of our current system. It was great having an outside perspective on our current practices.” Team member Ally Merwitz, finance ‘22 (Cohort 33), reflected on the experience, “Our project was unique in that while we were catering to the needs of our client, there are also thirteen other colleges and many other organizations that house their own alumni associations. It was our job to get the volunteer matching processes to mutually benefit all of these stakeholders. The unanticipated challenges ultimately made the experience even more rewarding in the end.”
Accessibility and Disability Services: Improving the Testing Center’s Exam Collection Process
Team 1Q34 Consulting from Cohort 34 worked with the Accessibility and Disability Services (ADS) Office within the Counseling Center to improve the process of professors submitting exams to ADS for students who request accommodations. Samantha Engler, mathematics ‘22 (Cohort 34), said, “Our team chose to work on this project because we wanted to make an impact in an area that has real consequences for other students who rely on these services to get the full UMD experience that they deserve.” Engler and her team proposed several recommendations such as updating the instructor guide and moving all exam submissions online. According to Natasha Williams, Testing Coordinator at ADS, “It was really great working with the QUEST team. I appreciated their hard work and willingness to understand accommodated testing, our services, processes, and pain points. The team asked excellent questions, connected with another staff member on our team for additional guidance, and connected with faculty members to provide our office with the best recommendations. Their presentation and paper were really impressive, and we are beyond grateful for their efforts.”
Ally Merwitz (left) and Mansi Reddy (right) present at the 190H Poster Session
Samantha Engler (center) and her 190H teammates at Orientation
QUEST COURSES
438A/489A: APPLIED QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS
QUEST is preparing students for a data-driven world through experiential learning in our Applied Quantitative Analysis course, BMGT 438A/ENES 489A. This course has been part of the portfolio of electives for QUEST for several years, but the spring 2020 semester was the first time that this course was required as the second course for all QUEST students. Cohort 33 rose to the occasion and successfully delivered on their experiential learning projects. Moreover, the students were able to complete these projects in spite of the shift to online learning due to COVID-19.
QUEST’s approach to this course is unique because it is specifically designed as experiential learning for students in multidisciplinary teams. Since students are exposed to probability and statistics within their majors, this course builds on this foundation. Accordingly, the course focuses on the extract-transform-load framework of data science that practitioners often find challenging when building models across business and technical disciplines. The skills and impressed employers during interviews.”
Amod Mathur
Computer Science and Operations Management and Business Analytics ‘22 Cohort 33
in the real world. Students learn that real-word data is messy, incomplete, and often resides in different parts of the organization with no easy way to connect data sources. The course leverages the design thinking process of keeping the end in mind when designing data workflows. Furthermore, the students learn the importance of using hypothesisdriven discovery to develop data models.
The application of these concepts to the real world is an important part of this course. As the two projects here highlight, our corporate partners have significant data challenges and understand that there are additional insights that can be gleaned from additional analysis. Students work in teams on shared Python code to ingest and clean up data, perform exploratory analysis, build models, and ultimately, test these models. In doing so, student teams often find ways to help corporate partners reimagine their use of data
workflows moving forward.
“The data science course broadened my knowledge of how to leverage and interpret data to solve real-world problems for clients. I was able to analyze data trends and understand coding techniques, which further increases my awareness of other disciplines.”
Madison Spiotta
International Business and Management ‘22 Cohort 33
Burlap & Barrel: Understanding Repeat Customers
Team Spice it Nice Consulting worked with Burlap & Barrel this fall to analyze trends in purchasing data in order to understand how to turn first-time buyers into repeat customers. Burlap & Barrel is a spice company that focuses on sustainability and supporting smallholder farmers. The company was co-founded by Ori Zohar, marketing ‘07 (Cohort 12). “The cross-disciplinary team was able to shed light on areas of our business that we didn’t have the capacity or the skill sets to do. They approached the project
PepsiCo: Improving Long-Term Forecasting
One QUEST team spent the spring semester helping the PepsiCo Beverages North America Demand Planning Team analyze and improve their long-term forecasting. The team assessed three types of forecasts and determined which forecasting platform provided the most accurate data at different time periods in order to ultimately develop a unified forecasting system with the least amount of error. Team member Alvina Pan, cell biology and molecular genetics ‘21 (Cohort 32), said, “As a biology student who had never had any real exposure to coding, I am really thankful for this class and this project, especially during the current pandemic. with fresh eyes and asked questions that hadn’t crossed our minds,” shared Zohar. Team member Alyssa McKinney, electrical engineering ‘21 (Cohort 31), explained, “We used a combination of Excel, Python, and Tableau to perform quantitative and qualitative analysis that informed our project’s direction. We were able to uncover a lot about the company’s customer base and make appropriate
recommendations.” Learning about how forecasting is being impacted in such an unprecedented time was truly an experience that I wouldn’t be able to get anywhere else.” The team worked with Elizabeth
Gillum, marketing & supply chain management ‘19 (Cohort
28), a Demand Planner at PepsiCo, who said that the partnership was also a great professional growth experience for her. “It provided me with a learning opportunity on how to guide a group towards achieving a final goal, along with how to support them during the process,” she shared. “I was really impressed with their questions throughout the project and impactful results and insights.”
QUEST COURSES
390H: DESIGNING INNOVATIVE SYSTEMS AND 398Q: CROSS-CULTURAL PERSPECTIVES ON QUALITY
These two QUEST courses provide another example of how students can work in multidisciplinary teams for experiential learning but with an emphasis on understanding the technology disruptions and cultural paradigm shifts. We are very fortunate within QUEST to have a strategic partnership with the U.S. African Development Foundation (USADF), which funds startups within Africa. Over this past year, USADF and QUEST identified ten startups for a twosemester collaboration. Each startup was paired with a QUEST team in BMGT/ENES 390H for the fall 2019 semester and a team from ARHU 398Q, a QUEST elective, for the spring 2020 semester.
The goal of this collaboration was to help the startups grow by improving the design of their systems. Since the startups are disrupting the markets within Africa, an important part of the project is for the QUEST teams to understand the context and constraints of the local economy. For many students who have spent most of their lives in the United States, they find that the things they take for granted - such as a reliable source of electricity or clean water - cannot be assumed when helping a startup in Africa.
Students work with the entrepreneurs to help identify ways to improve their position in the market and scale beyond their current success. An important part of learning for these two classes is to find ways to use feedback loops for continuous improvement. The best outcomes result from removing bottlenecks and amplifying the startups’ successes. In this way, the startups can grow, and USADF can make the biggest impact for change.
“390H is an exciting and rewarding class that provides students with the opportunity to learn about complex adaptive systems and apply these teachings to solve real-world problems.” “398Q was a really great segue, bridging the tools and communication skills we learned in the early QUEST classes with amazing opportunities to work with companies that exude such passion for what they do. It was truly the most unique class I’ve ever taken at UMD, and I’m really proud of the work I was able to do for these companies and hope to follow their progress as they grow.”
Chris Mavrikes
Finance ‘21 Cohort 32
Sapna Bagalkotkar
Computer Science ‘22 Cohort 33
Eco Blocks and Tiles: Implementing Aggressive Sales Growth Strategies and Expanding Markets through Credibility
In the fall and spring of this year, teams of QUEST students had a chance to work with Hope Mwanake, co-founder and COO of Eco Blocks and Tiles, a small, Kenyan-based company which specializes in manufacturing eco-friendly roofing tiles. The company aims to be the go-to roofing option for the rapidlygrowing middle class in the country’s bustling construction industry.
In fall 2019, Team QUESTadillas was tasked with building a two-year strategy to double the company’s sales by expanding sales to large residential and office developers rather than solely homeowners. According to team member Faaiq Zarger, finance and operations management and business analytics ‘21 (Cohort 32), “Working with Eco Blocks and Tiles was an incredible experience because it gave us an international perspective on consumer preferences. When we first began devising a new sales strategy, we focused on the features of the roofing tiles that appeal to American consumers, like their eco-friendliness and durability. Because roofing tiles are a commodity, we thought that consumers around the world would be looking for similar attributes. After multiple calls with Hope, we realized that Kenyan consumers have roofing tile needs that differ from American consumers. For example, Kenyan consumers want roofing tiles that allow for rainwater to be harvested.”
Expanding on the fall 2019 project, Team QUESTterps worked with Mwanake in spring 2020 to solidify Eco Blocks and Tiles as a reputable tiling company in Kenya by offering her standards and certifications to achieve in order to build customer retention and credibility. Varun Singhai, computer science ‘22 (Cohort 33), reflected on the respect and admiration his team gained for project champion Hope Mwanake. “The amount of hard work, time, and effort she puts into providing her home country with an environmentally-friendly, yet stylish roofing option is nothing short of inspiring,” he shared. Zarger added, “Working with Hope taught us a lot about resilience and passion. In addition to being a company founder, she is also a PhD student and a mother. Nevertheless, she always set aside time to chat with us and answer any questions we had. Her passion for promoting sustainability in Kenya was so radiant that it inspired us to work even harder towards an optimal sales strategy.”
Mwanake enjoyed collaborating with the students as well and even said she’d consider offering internships in the future. “I had a good experience working with the teams. Considering the time difference, it worked out great. They were respectful and always willing to go the extra mile. My biggest takeaway from the program is that no matter what type of issue that your business is facing, with research and perspective, there is always a solution,” she shared.
Faaiq Zarger (second from right) presents at the first 390H Poster Session
Alexi Tzamaras (left) and Rohan Mishra (right) with their 390H poster
QUEST COURSES
490H: QUEST CAPSTONE PROFESSIONAL PRACTICUM
In the QUEST Capstone Professional Practicum, BMGT/ ENES 490H, students work on multidisciplinary teams to help clients address real-world organizational challenges by utilizing concepts and techniques of process improvement, system design, quality management, and product innovation. Each project is sponsored by a corporate partner, and each team works directly with that client to understand the opportunity, research the industry and relevant technologies, develop and evaluate possible solutions, and make final recommendations.
Over the past academic year, QUEST students completed 16 projects for 11 companies. These projects, based everywhere from Baltimore, Maryland to Moorestown, New Jersey to Simpsonville, South Carolina, provided students with the opportunity to tackle real-world problems and provided companies with tangible benefits in the forms and my team the opportunity to pull from our own experiences to develop solutions that were holistic and well suited to the problem scope presented. I felt challenged and empowered throughout 490H and gained a great sense of pride and confidence in my abilities.”
Hadas Elazar-Mittelman
Materials Science and Engineering ‘20 Cohort 30
of manufacturing efficiency, time savings, and reduced operational costs.
At the end of the fall semester, Cohort 30 students had a chance to present their recommendations and celebrate their accomplishments at the QUEST Conference in front of almost 300 members of the QUEST community. In the spring semester, Cohort 31 students embraced all of the challenges of 490H despite the global pandemic, shifting to virtual site visits and meetings, embracing ambiguity, and committing to their projects. The spring QUEST Conference was unfortunately cancelled, but we were able to celebrate Cohort 31’s accomplishments through a virtual poster session and website created by QUEST alumnus Danny Laurence, computer science ‘14 (Cohort 19):
“There is no course offered at UMD quite like 490H. Working with Sealed Air Corporation afforded me
quest.umd.edu/capstone.
“490H was one of the most fulfilling experiences of my college career. My project gave me invaluable experience in applying systems thinking and design concepts, alongside learning how to be the best teammate I can be with such diverse viewpoints around me.”
Rishik Narayana
Computer Science and Mathematics ‘21 Cohort 31
Sealed Air Corporation
Alumni often make the best project champions, and this was certainly the case during our fall 2019 collaboration with Sealed Air Corporation. Joseph
Dadzie, chemical engineering ‘17 (Cohort 23), a Process Engineer II at
Sealed Air, supported Team Signed Sealed Delivered as they evaluated the resin transportation and storage processes at Sealed Air, which develops food and product packaging solutions like Bubble Wrap®.
The team was able to get a first-hand look at the company during their site visit to the plant in Simpsonville, South Carolina. According to Shivani Krishnamurthy, information systems ‘20 (Cohort 30), “My favorite part of this project was getting the opportunity to visit our client and learn more about their day-to-day processes. We were able to glean first-hand experience and data from this trip, which ultimately allowed us to tailor our recommendations in a significant way for our client.” Dadzie noted the value of the visit as well. “I enjoyed the eagerness that the team had in learning about our processes, materials, and equipment. Our floor operators felt the energy from their questions during both the plant visit and remote discussions, and the resin purchasing group was especially appreciative of the work and impressed by the team’s final analysis.”
Dadzie was quite familiar with the capstone course, having completed it as a student in spring 2016 and then served as a Teaching Assistant the following year. “When I was a student, I had the opportunity to take part in and witness different capstone projects. As a champion, it was a shift from working within a project to designing one with clear objectives that had the potential to make an impact for the company, yet also provide a valuable learning experience to the QUEST team.” Krishnamurthy appreciated having a QUEST alumnus as project champion. “It was great to have a mentor who had a strong understanding of the QUEST pillars and 490H experience. Joe had insightful advice for us as a QUEST alumnus, which made our experience quite meaningful.” Team Signed Sealed Delivered ultimately delivered recommendations to install a new silo at Sealed Air to reduce boxing charges and save more than $200,000 annually and earned the Most Outstanding Capstone award at the fall QUEST Conference.
Team Signed Sealed Delivered with Project Champion Joseph Dadzie during their site visit
QUEST CAPSTONE PROJECTS OVER
THE PAST 24 YEARS
Consulted for 102 companies
Completed 238 total projects
161 projects with companies with a major office or plant in Maryland
38 of those companies are Maryland-based
LARGEST NUMBER OF PROJECT SPONSORSHIPS:
32
14
13
ATK/Orbital ATK/ Northrop Grumman
General Electric/Middle River Aerostructure Systems
Lockheed Martin
12
Leidos/SAIC
11
Becton Dickinson
Three QUEST teams had the opportunity to partner with ST Engineering - Middle River Aerostructure Systems (MRAS) on their capstone projects over the past year. MRAS has been designing, building, and servicing aircraft in Baltimore for over 70 years, and these projects offered the students an opportunity to make a real impact at a nearby 1.7 million square foot facility. Project champion Andrew Hong, Lean Manufacturing Leader at MRAS, has been working with QUEST teams every semester since spring 2018 and continues to find value. “It’s so powerful to have the students come in as an outside party and ask, ‘Why are you doing it this way?’ It really makes us stop and think if our process is really what’s right for the customer. We need that perspective to make sure we stay on the right task and not just any task,” he explained.
In fall 2019, QUEST team “University of Maryland Really Awesome Students (UMRAS)” created a plan to mitigate production inefficiencies caused by supplier delays. The team “created an inventory model that allowed MRAS to use previous year’s data to optimize on-site inventory and keep production going at the facilities, while still dealing with the unreliable and delinquent parts coming from their suppliers,” explained team member Nicolo Primerano, aerospace engineering ‘20 (Cohort 30). “I had never been exposed to the parts of a company that this project revealed to me,” he continued. “I learned about the immense pressure that comes when a robust supply chain becomes fragile. However, I, along with the rest of my team, found that there are always solutions to mend the issue and bring it back to normal operating speed.” In spring 2020, MRAS partnered with two QUEST teams. One team looked at managing inventory at a thirdparty offsite warehouse, and another analyzed the part approval process. Team Cleared for Landing won the “Most Outstanding Capstone Project” award by creating a custom scrum board to mitigate communication, data validation, prioritization, and process transparency issues in the part approval process. Kellie Zhang, finance and information systems ‘21 (Cohort 31), reflected on her team’s ability to adapt when the project shifted online during the second half of the semester due to COVID-19. “Having set meeting times was a huge help because it helped our team stick to a schedule. There was a support system within the team, and we all helped each other through it. Winning Most Outstanding Capstone felt like a culmination of all of the hard work we put into the project.”
So what keeps MRAS coming back? According to Hong, “We like to focus on improving people. It’s really fun to watch the students dig into details and grow throughout the projects. It’s also fun to see our managers grow here at MRAS. When they coach or teach the students, it grows them as leaders on our site as well. They learn a lot about themselves.”
Mackia Kanu, Manufacturing Improvement Specialist at
MRAS, has also supported many of the QUEST teams. “I graduated college not too long ago,” she shared. “So to be in a situation that helps students transition into the workforce is really rewarding. When I was in their shoes, I had good and bad experiences so I try to give them the best experience so that they know what working for a good company is like.”
Team University of Maryland Really Awesome Students (UMRAS) at the QUEST Conference
