Experiential / Reality-based Learning / December 11, 2015

QUEST Undergrads Present Capstone Consulting Projects

QUEST Undergrads Present Capstone Consulting Projects

Some of the University of Maryland’s top undergraduates impressed a crowd of hundreds of business professionals, faculty, alumni, peers, and family members at the annual QUEST Conference on Dec. 9, 2015, at the Riggs Alumni Center. The 10 teams of students – all seniors in the Quality Enhancement Systems and Teams (QUEST) honors program – delivered polished presentations of the results of their capstone consulting projects.

QUEST undergraduates hail from three colleges at the university: the Robert H. Smith School of Business, the A. James Clark School of Engineering, and the College of Computer, Mathematical and Natural Sciences. Over the course of the past semester, multidisciplinary teams of four students were paired with businesses in the Washington, D.C.-Baltimore metro area and tasked with solving a real challenge faced by the company.

The consulting projects varied in scope and subject matter, but each focused on one of three pillars of the QUEST program - quality management, process improvement and system design. Each team worked with a faculty advisor throughout the process. The created a comprehensive set of recommendations and a presentation of the project, along with a visual representation on a poster display. The posters were displayed in a showcase that took place before the presentations at the conference.

Two student teams received special honors at the conference. The “Most Outstanding Capstone” award went to the team that worked with Spectrum Foods to improve inventory tracking. And “Most Outstanding Poster” went to the team that consulted for Advisory Board Company on a project to combat worker attrition.

In addition to those projects, teams also consulted with AT&T, BD (Becton, Dickinson and Co.), Booz Allen Hamilton, Constellation Energy, Northrup Grumman, TAMKO Roofing Products, and Thales Defense and Securities Inc.

For more information about QUEST, visit http://www.rhsmith.umd.edu/quest

- Carrie Handwerker, Office of Marketing Communications

- Photos by QUEST student Radhika Kshirsagar of Cohort 23

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Greg Muraski
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About the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business

The Robert H. Smith School of Business is an internationally recognized leader in management education and research. One of 12 colleges and schools at the University of Maryland, College Park, the Smith School offers undergraduate, full-time and flex MBA, executive MBA, online MBA, business master’s, PhD and executive education programs, as well as outreach services to the corporate community. The school offers its degree, custom and certification programs in learning locations in North America and Asia.

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