Experiential Learning News

Twenty University of Maryland QUEST Honors students visited Silicon Valley over spring break, touring major tech companies, meeting alumni and exploring careers in AI, engineering and product development during the program’s Design and Innovation elective.

With spring semester past midpoint, University of Maryland Smith School students are completing experiential and capstone projects with industry partners, applying AI and data analysis to financial market questions, producing research on mortgage risk, banking trends and private credit exposure.

UMD’s MSIS capstone linked 20 student teams with 17 clients across industries, advancing AI-powered solutions. Projects like food-rescue and microloan platforms showcased hands-on innovation, mentorship, and purpose—proving the program’s power to transform students into impactful technology leaders.

The fifth annual Sustainability in Business Conference, hosted by CSVC, gathered 120+ attendees at the Ronald Reagan Building to explore bold leadership in sustainability, featuring distinguished speakers on food, finance, fashion, impact investing, and student-alumni engagement.

The Snider Enterprise and Leadership Fellows (SELF) marked its 10th year by reviving its residential program at UMD’s Smith School. This summer, 68 students—including 15 in campus housing—reignited the “magic” of living, learning, and building entrepreneurial ventures together.

The University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business is driving state policy and economic development through faculty-led, student-powered research partnerships with Maryland agencies, while providing experiential learning that equips students with analytical skills and real-world impact opportunities.

Krisha Chheda, ’25 MQF, presented a Google-sponsored credit risk project at Google’s Higher Ed Leader Series, highlighting Smith master’s students’ use of AI to analyze banking and fintech practices through the Smith Enterprise Risk Consortium’s experiential learning program.

Graduate students at UMD’s Smith School, led by finance professor Liu Yang, analyzed Maryland’s earned wage access market and presented findings to lawmakers, influencing policy on financial regulations and highlighting the real-world impact of academic research and experiential learning.

Now in its third year, Smith’s Office of Experiential Learning expanded real-world opportunities through alumni and industry partnerships—engaging 255 companies and facilitating hundreds of capstone projects, live cases, classroom coaching sessions and more across 214 classes in 2024–25.

Smith students manage nearly $12 million across three funds—among the largest student-run programs nationwide. Their strong performance enabled a record $494,000 grant to the school this year, showcasing real-world investing experience and exceptional career preparation.