Students Present Capstone Projects at QUEST Conference

Eleven teams. Consulting for eleven companies. Over the course of one roller coaster of a semester. No frills, no sugar coating, and no room for failure.

The Quality Enhancement Systems and Teams Honors Program, or QUEST, is a multidisciplinary undergraduate program that brings together the brightest minds in business, engineering, and science to solve real-world problems for real clients such as Bloomberg and Verizon. It is one of the most intense yet rewarding academic experiences any University of Maryland undergraduate can have, and one comes out of it with a treasure chest of new skills, intellectual tools and professional connections.

On Thursday, May 4, students from QUEST Cohort 25 presented their capstone projects to hundreds of alumni, students, faculty, and client representatives at the bi-annual QUEST Conference, sponsored by Constellation. Each team from Cohort 25 was made up of 3-5 students of varying majors and mentored by 1-3 project champions from the client company and a faculty advisor.

The conference kicked off with a fireside chat from Mark Huston, president of Constellation Retail. Afterwards, project posters were displayed, along with a menagerie of hors d’oeuvres. Following that was the student presentation breakout sessions, where QUEST students showcased their recommendations to attendees. The evening concluded with an awards presentation, some closing remarks and, of course, a dessert reception.

It is rare to find an undergraduate program that gives real-world management consulting firms a run for their money, but that is exactly what QUEST does. For example, Team Orion, made up of Finance major Natalie Urban, Marketing and Operations Management and Business Analytics double major Ivy Xia, and Mechanical Engineering major Brooke Benson, spent the semester consulting for Constellation to “improve customer experience and enhance customer loyalty.” The team looked at deficiencies in current customer data collection systems within Constellation and created a cohesive plan that would consolidate data and not only answer the surface level questions, such as what data is collected and where, but also why such trends exist. Unlike other projects, this one zeroed in on the more human elements of data analysis and understanding “the customer experience beyond the metrics.” Team Orion went on to win “Most Outstanding Poster,” as voted by their peers.

Winners of the “Most Outstanding Capstone” project, as voted by alumni, was the talented crew known as PB&J Consulting. Mechanical Engineering major Pete Dziki, Finance and Marketing major Bobby Ellet, and Computer Science majors Christian Johnson and Jeremy Krach, led by faculty adviser Dr. Jim Purtilo, consulted for Bloomberg to improve their “financial data extraction and classification prediction” processes. The group focused on finding a more efficient and user-friendly way to automate data extraction and entity classification relating to financial documents via natural language algorithms. According to their final estimates, the group believes their solution can “free a total of 83 hours per week” for workers at Bloomberg to focus on more human-centered tasks no computer can yet do.

Although there were sleepless nights and stress-induced coffee binges, the students said the experience gave them a renewed sense of purpose and inspiration. “It was really cool to be able to work with an international team on a university-sponsored consulting project. I gained a lot of experience and perspective on how international business and consulting works,” says Sohan Roopra, Civil Engineering student from Australia and member of the QUEST 4 KOALA-TY team, which had students from the University of Queensland and the University of Maryland.

Participating in the QUEST Honors Program is an invaluable experience, and the clients recognize this. In fact, as I was walking around the room and checking out the various project posters, I heard company representatives offering internships because they were so impressed with the level of work and analysis these students offered. Honest, hard work does not go unnoticed around these parts. Another QUEST Conference is in the books, and another cohort graduates from the program with the skills and tools needed to become the new wave of entrepreneurs, thought leaders, and disruptors our nation needs.  

- Philip Peker